Egyptian Literature

• Arab Republic of Egypt


  Capital: Cairo
• Official language: Arabic
• Without the Nile River, all of Egypt would be desert
• Four divisions of Egypt

  • Upper Egypt in the south
  • Lower Egypt in the north
  • Last two divisions were between red and black
• Religion: Islam
• Main exports: oil and gas
• Established Egypt's national identity

  King Narmer
• The Great Pyramid at Giza and the Sphinx


  • Iconic landmarks of Ancient Egypt
• The Great Pyramid


  Also known as the Pyramid of Khufu
• The Sphinx

  Attributed to pharaoh Khafra, is a mysterious half-human, half-lion statue
• Nefertiti, Akhenaten's queen, remains a mysterious figure in history
• Cleopatra, daughter of Ptolemy XII, married Julius Caesar and Mark Anthony
• Hieroglyphs


  • Main characteristics of Egyptian literature lies in the use of symbols and figures
  • Most recurrent themes was mythology
• Chisels


  Used to carve on the stones
• Calamus


  A cut reed similar to a paintbrush
• Scribes


  Dedicated writers
• Upper Social Classes could also read and had access to texts
• Main Periods in Ancient Egypt

  • Old Kingdom - "Age of Pyramids" or "Age of the Pyramid builders
  • Middle Kingdom - Classic age of Egyptian literature (The Period of Reunification)
  • New Kingdom - increased concern over dangers after death
  • Late Kingdom - written in demotic; the value of adaptability, cultural exchange
• Pyramid Texts


  Includes nonliterary and highly poetic spells
• Cannibal Texts


  Vivid bits of poetry representing dead kings attaining power in the afterlife by devouring the gods
• Proverbs of Ptahotep


  Book of sound but worldly advice
• Tale of Sinuhe


  Relates the flight of courtier Sinuhe from Egypt to Syria for political reasons
• Shipwrecked Sailor


  Simple folk tale of a sailor who meets an old fatherly serpent on an island
• King Cheops and the Magicians


  Several folk tales given in a framework story
• The Story of King Apophis and Seqenenre


  Concerns war expelling the Hyksos
• Voyage of Wenamon


  Tale of an official sent to Lebanon for cedar wood
• The Lamentations of Isis and Nephtys


  Setna and The Magic Book
• Hieroglyphics


  • Derived from Greek words "hieros" (sacred) and "glypho" (to carve)
  • Ideograms represented objects or concepts
  • Phonetic signs denoted sounds
  • Determinatives provided context to accompanying words
• The Rosetta Stone, found by French soldiers during Napoleon's campaign in Egypt, contained text in three scripts: hieroglyphics, demotic, and Greek
• Types of Egyptian Literature

  • Religious literature predominated in Egypt; Pyramid Texts - Coffin Texts - Book of Dead
  • Tales - The Tale of Sinuhe is the most famous. Other short stories are The Story of the Doomed Prince, Misadventures of Wen-Amond
  • Wisdom Literature - so-called Maxims and Instructions belong to the genre of didactic or wisdom literature
  • Love Lyrics - in many ways like those of any other country and run easily into English vers
• Notable Egyptian Writers


  • Alaa Al Aswany
  • Ahdaf Soueif
  • Yusuf Idris
  • Nawal El Saadawi
  • Miral al-Tahawy
  • Taha Hussein
  • Tawfiq al-Hakim
  • Naguib Mahfouz