Ancient Egypt
ancient egypt name
historical region
and significant culture
civilization ancient world,
existing in northeastern Africa. Story
Ancient Egypt has
about 40 centuries and is divided into 4
period:
1. predynastic
2. dynastic
3. Hellenistic
4. Roman
Refers to the final
prehistoric
period.
Prehistoric
Egypt - period in
history of Egypt, from
appearance of man before
formation
agricultural
Egyptian
civilization. Hellenistic
period
Papyrus with fragments of Euclid's "Beginnings"
Hellenistic period -
it is a synthesis with the Greco-Macedonian culture under
power
the Ptolemaic dynasty.
Hellenistic Egypt
became one of the main
Greek
Hellenistic culture.
Literature of this period
is natural
continuation of the Greek
literature. Hieroglyphics
Hieroglyphic writing
consists of small
drawings of objects.
The Egyptians called
hieroglyphs "words
god" and used them
for high goals
for example, to
communicate through
funerary texts
with the gods and
spirits afterlife.
Slab stele (c. 2590-2565 BC) Egyptian
Princess Neferetiabet from her coffin at Giza
hieroglyphs carved and painted
on limestone. Hieratic
Hieratic is simplified, cursive
form Egyptian hieroglyphs. Like the hieroglyphs
hieratic was used in sacred and
religious texts. Demotic
Demotic letter (obsolete enchorionic
letter) - one of the forms of Egyptian writing,
used to write texts in later
stages of the Egyptian language. Coptic script
Coptic script - adapted
variant of the Greek alphabet Literary genres And
Topics
The only genre of literature explicitly mentioned
the ancient Egyptians had a genre of teaching or "sebayt".
The rest genre classification was done
modern Egyptologists. Most texts
written in verse, but some narrative
stories
were written
V
prose.
Majority
ancient Egyptian verses were in the form of couplets, but
sometimes both tertiary and quatrain were used.
The word sebayt in the Egyptian language means
"teaching". instructive
literature
The genre has
didactic and
believed to be in
Middle Kingdom in
education program
scribe. Nevertheless,
teachings often include
narrative
elements
entertaining
character.
keywords V
teaching in texts
are "know" (rh) and
"teach" (sba.yt).
"Loyal
teaching" narrative
literature
This includes fairy tales and stories. Fairy tales and
stories
are,
probably,
least
submitted
genre
from
preserved
Literature of the Middle Kingdom and Middle Egyptian
language.
"The Tale of the Court of King Cheops" Literature
In one of the papyri of the era of the New Kingdom is contained in the highest degree
a wonderful place where the authors of ancient teachings are praised:
They did not build themselves pyramids of copper
And bronze headstones.
Left no heirs behind
Children who have kept their names.
But they left their legacy in the scriptures,
In the teachings given by them.
Doors and houses were built, but they collapsed,
The priests of the funeral services have disappeared,
Their monuments covered with mud,
Their tombs are forgotten.
But their names are pronounced while reading these books,
Written while they lived
And the memory of who wrote them,
Eternal.
Translation by A. Akhmatova Poetry
POWER OF LOVE
Love for you entered into my flesh and into
blood
And with them, like wine with water, mixed,
As with spicy seasoning - orange
Or with milk - fragrant honey.
Oh hurry to your sister
As on the lists - a flying horse,
Like a bull running headlong to the manger.
Your love is a heavenly gift
Fire that ignites straw
Prey beating from the fly hunting falcon.
A small excerpt
poems translated by Anna
Akhmatova and Vera Potapova. Poetry
BY THE RIVER
Sister is on the other side.
Blocking the path of love
The river flows between us.
There is a crocodile on the shore.
I wade along the waves, crossing the current.
The heart is full of courage. Firmament is like
river.
A small excerpt
poems in translation
Anna Akhmatova and Vera
Potapova. Poetry
Will be a living deity
Making retribution for evil.
Truly, who will go to the kingdom of the afterlife -
Will sail in a solar boat,
pouring out from there grace, pleasing to the temple.
Verily, who will go to the underworld
Will be among the wise, without interference
Speaking with the divine Ra. Functions of Literature
Throughout ancient Egyptian history,
reading and writing were the main
requirements for public service
institutions.
The scribes were responsible for preserving,
transmission and canonization of literary
classics, as well as for writing new compositions.
There was a practice oral reading texts.
Literature was created
predominantly male scribes.
It also served religious purposes. Conclusion
Thus, we can say that the ancient
Egyptian texts that have come down to us are prayers
gods and household records. artistic
literature was presented various genres
such as: the teachings of kings and wise men to their
sons, many tales of miracles and sorcerers,
story,
biography
dignitaries,
songs,
spells.
Egyptian fiction left us
a bunch of
fairy tales
various
content
And
origin.
The teaching genre became widespread. Egyptian literature, which arose as part of
Egyptian culture and disappeared with it,
lived a longer life than
an independent Egyptian state; starting from 332
BC the state becomes part of
political world Hellenism. though
original Egyptian culture continues to live
and develop in new political conditions
even in the first centuries of Roman domination.
Thank you!
M. A. Korostovtsev
LITERATURE OF ANCIENT EGYPT
(History of world literature. - T. 1. - M., 1983. - S. 54-82)
The first who drew the attention of the Russian public to the literature of Ancient Egypt was V.V. Stasov. In the October issue of the Vestnik Evropy magazine for 1868, he published an article on the famous Egyptian Tale of Two Brothers, in which he subjected sharp criticism not so long ago, widespread in the scientific world, the notion that in ancient Egypt "there was never any literature or poetry." “Many writers, the most competent and knowledgeable people,” wrote V.V. Stasov, “decided in their heads that we don’t know any remnants of Egyptian literature,” and “it means that it didn’t exist, and such a sentence was sent to the whole world ” and picked up by “historical textbooks”. According to Stasov himself, such statements always seemed deliberately erroneous, however, it was impossible to brush aside the reasons that gave rise to them. “But what was to be done with Egypt, when there were so many temples, statues and paintings of it before everyone’s eyes, but not a single literary work?” - the Russian critic asked and answered the question himself: to wait for the discovery of monuments of Egyptian literature. There was not long to wait.
In 1852, the Englishwoman Lady d'Orbinay acquired an Egyptian papyrus in Italy (now bearing her name and kept in the British Museum) and at the same time showed it in Paris to the famous French Egyptologist Emmanuel de Rouget. He read and, after examining the text, published its partial translation. The translation caused a sensation: for the first time a work of ancient Egyptian fiction became known. Over time, the name “Tales of Two Brothers” was established behind him, and it was about her that V.V. Stasov told the Russian reader. He first translated it from European translations into Russian, accompanied by explanations and comments.
Time passed, discoveries followed discoveries, and over the years, a rich collection of various works of Egyptian literature appeared before the astonished eyes of scientists and the entire cultural world, along with the oldest Sumerian in the world.
When getting acquainted with it, as, perhaps, with any ancient literature, the question inevitably arises: which of its monuments are artistic? After all, along with literary works proper, we have at our disposal a huge mass of other kinds of texts, for example, historical ones, sometimes very interesting and colorful. How should they be treated? Can they be considered part of the ancient Egyptian literary heritage in exact meaning this concept? Undoubtedly, a formal approach to resolving the issues raised is unjustified. The concept of "Egyptian literature" unites not only the totality of literary works proper, but also all texts or their fragments, which, regardless of their purpose, have aesthetic merits and which are characterized by an interest in the human person. Such, for example, are some autobiographical inscriptions of Egyptian nobles (for example, the inscriptions of Uni, Harkhuf and other dignitaries), some royal inscriptions of a historical nature (for example, those of the pharaohs Merenptah and Piankhi), certain passages from the Pyramid Texts, hymns to the gods Amun and Aton, etc. d.
Egyptian literature throughout its centuries-old history is a linguistic unity with a variety of forms of writing. The Egyptian language was written over a vast period spanning no less than three and a half millennia, and it is quite natural that this language has changed. Written monuments testify that over the thirty-five centuries of his life, he went through several stages in his development, closely related to the periodization of the history of the country itself dating back to the ancient tradition and established in science. These stages are:
I. Old Egyptian language of the era of the Old Kingdom (XXX - XXII centuries BC);
II. Middle Egyptian, or classical, the language of the Middle Kingdom (XXII - XVI centuries BC);
III. New Egyptian language of the era of the New Kingdom (XVI - VIII centuries BC);
IV. Demotic language (VIII century BC - III century AD);
V. Coptic language (from the 3rd century AD).
According to the tradition established in science, we call these stages, or stages, of the development of the Egyptian language separate languages, since they differ significantly from each other. However, these are still stages in the development of one language. Only Coptic, which is the last stage in the evolution of the Egyptian language, is so different from it that it is considered independent in linguistics.
We therefore have every reason to assert that Egyptian literature written in one language - Egyptian. This is all the more important because the Egyptians themselves were keenly aware of the continuity of their literary tradition. Literary monuments, for example, the Middle Kingdom, written in the classical (Middle Egyptian) language, were studied in the era of the New Kingdom and translated into the New Egyptian language. The classical language was often written in later times. Ancient literary plots and motifs lived for centuries and millennia, and the unity of the language created the necessary prerequisites for this.
Egyptian writing is one of the oldest in the world. Throughout their history, the Egyptians wrote in hieroglyphs and hieratic, in other words, they used two writing systems - hieroglyphic and hieratic. In the 8th century BC e. another one appeared - a complex and difficult demotic letter, which, despite its specificity, is a further stage in the development of hieratic writing. In turn, hieratic and demotic are italic hieroglyphs. According to the apt comparison of the outstanding Russian Egyptologist B. A. Turaev, the ratio between hieroglyphic, hieratic and demotic writing is approximately the same as between our printed, handwritten and shorthand signs. new york fashion week 2009
Egyptian literature, which is part of the Egyptian culture and disappeared with it, lived a longer life than the independent Egyptian state. Egypt in 332 BC e. was conquered by Alexander the Great, and in 30 BC. e. became part of the Roman Empire as a province. The original Egyptian culture continued to live and develop in the new political conditions. However, despite this and the fact that the study of Egyptian literature has long been an independent field of Egyptology, specialists in the periodization of its history prefer to be based on external signs and, based on the periodization of the history of the language and the history of the country already familiar to us, they distinguish between the literatures of the Old Kingdom, Middle Kingdom, New Kingdom and Demotic literature. The accepted periodization of Egyptian literature is forced, since it is mainly due to the state of the sources and the impossibility of tracing the development of the literary process itself step by step.
The literature of Ancient Egypt, like any other literature, is inextricably linked with the life of society and its ideology. And since in ancient Egypt religion was the dominant form of ideology, it is not surprising that Egyptian literature experienced its significant influence, and many works of this literature are saturated with a religious worldview in its various manifestations. However, it does not follow at all from this that Egyptian literature is represented only by religious or mythological texts. On the contrary, it has a rich genre diversity. Along with reworked folk tales (tales of papyrus Westcar, about two brothers, about a doomed prince, etc.), it also contains works describing real events(stories of Sinuhe and Un-Amon), inscriptions of kings and nobles historical character, religious (hymns to the gods) and philosophical writings (“Song of the harpist”, “Conversation of the disappointed with his soul”); mythological narratives ("The struggle of Horus with Seth"), fables, love lyrics. The Egyptians also knew theatrical performances, not only in the form of mysteries, but to some extent in the form of secular drama. Finally, there was an extensive didactic literature in the form of so-called "teachings" containing moral prescriptions and rules of behavior in society.
In a word, as Egyptian literature clearly testifies, Egyptian society in ancient times lived a tense, rich and many-sided spiritual life. The monuments of writing that have come down to us from those ancient times and are kept in museums and collections around the world are only insignificant remnants of a huge literature, which, unfortunately, has perished forever for us. But they also create an unusually bright, diverse and interesting picture.
Speaking of literature, it is impossible to pass over in silence its creators. All Egyptian texts that have come down to us were once compiled by someone, in other words, they had their own authors. Of course, in Egypt, as in other countries, folklore was widespread, but the works that have come down to us are undoubtedly not products of folk art in the strict sense of the word, even if they represent a written fixation of oral traditions. Nevertheless, in most of these texts there is not the slightest indication or even a hint of the author.
Naturally, questions arise, who were the authors of these works, what was their authorship, and why are their names absent from the Egyptian texts? These questions are undoubtedly related to another, more general question: were the ancient Egyptians aware of the concept of authorship? The accepted negative answer to this question is not entirely true. The concept of authorship existed, but almost exclusively in the sphere of didactic literature. As in other countries of Antiquity, and partly of the Middle Ages, this concept in Ancient Egypt did not become a lasting property of public thought. It only began to be recognized and strengthened precisely in the didactic genre, which the Egyptians themselves apparently considered the most important and essential: in most of the so-called "teachings", the name of the author, as a rule, is already at the very beginning of the text.
But there is new question: are the persons mentioned at the beginning of the teachings their true creators or are these teachings only attributed to them? It is impossible to give a definite answer, each case requires a special study. Let us first note, however, that when a teaching is attributed to a known historical face, who stood at the top of the hierarchical ladder and became famous for his activities, we have the right to doubt his authorship and assume that his name is inserted into the text only in order to give authority and weight to the teaching. If, however, an unknown Egyptian official is named as the author of the teaching, known only for this teaching, then one can hardly doubt his authorship: it was not he who decorated the teaching with his name, on the contrary, the teaching gave him fame. Thus, Ani and Amenemope, for example, can be considered the true authors of the teachings, whose writings will be discussed below.
In contrast to teachings, in works of a non-edifying nature, the names of the authors are extremely rare, but they still occur. It is unlikely, for example, that one can doubt that the autobiographical inscriptions of the nobles were composed by them themselves (this does not mean, of course, that they themselves inscribed them in their tombs). In turn, such outstanding literary works, as "Sinuhe's Tale" and Un-Amon's account of his journey. And although we do not know anything about the people who created these works, there is no reason to think that they were not their authors. We not only know by name the author of the famous annals of Pharaoh Thutmose III, the military scribe Chanini, but also found his tomb. Finally, papyrus Rylands IX, containing the history of several generations of priests who bore the same name of Peteise, says that this family chronicle was the last of them to be written down.
Most of the works of fiction - stories, fairy tales, fables, etc. - as we have already said, keep complete silence about their authors. At best, we only know the names of the scribes who copied the copies that have come down to us. And with such scribes, one way or another, all Egyptian literature is connected. You can inexpensively order a school bus for any period in our company.
The scribes of the most different provisions and ranks occupied a very privileged position in Egyptian society and led the entire administrative and economic life of the country. Even high-ranking nobles, listing their titles, liked to flaunt their position and the ability of "a scribe skillful with his fingers." The pharaoh himself, who was considered a “good god” on the throne and headed the entire huge bureaucratic system, did not disdain the title of scribe. And it was from this environment of the “bureaucratic intelligentsia” that inquisitive, intelligent, gifted, and sometimes outstanding people came out, whose interests were not limited to career and service. It was they who compiled teachings, religious, medical, mathematical and astronomical treatises, composed, wrote down fairy tales, rewrote modern or ancient texts.
It is impossible not to say about the very nature of creative activity in Egypt. It would be a serious mistake to equate an ancient Egyptian author with a modern one. First of all, it should be noted that in ancient times the concept of plagiarism was not known, and imitation played a huge role in literature. Therefore, speaking of an Egyptian author, we must remember that the concept of "authorship" does not always fit within the boundaries of the concept of "individual creativity" and very often the role of the author was reduced to imitation or more or less successful compilation from texts known to him, and the author often borrowed from these texts, not only individual expressions, but entire passages. There is no doubt, however, that each author even put something of his own into the compilation. And this contribution was the greater and the more significant, the more original and original the author himself was.
The Egyptians highly valued the creators of their literature. Papyrus british museum Chester-Beatty IV contains a remarkable teaching, the author of which, an unknown scribe, convinces his student that worthy, significant works, better than any tombstone, perpetuate the names of their authors:
But their names are pronounced while reading these books,
Written while they lived
And the memory of who wrote them,
A book is better than a painted headstone
And a solid wall.
What is written in the book builds houses and pyramids in the hearts of those
Who repeats the names of scribes,
To have the truth on your lips.
A person dies, his body becomes dust.
All his relatives disappear from the earth,
But the scriptures make you remember him
Through the mouths of those who pass it on to the mouths of others.
(Translated by A. Akhmatova)
In other words, we hear here the motif of the “non-hand-made monument”, which sounded on the banks of the Nile as early as the end of the 2nd millennium BC. e.
LITERATURE OF THE ANCIENT KINGDOM
(III MILLENNIUM BC)
A hundred years ago, not far from Cairo, the outstanding French Egyptologist G. Maspero discovered inscriptions inscribed on the walls of the interiors in the pyramids of the five pharaohs of the 5th and 6th dynasties and, therefore, dated approximately to the end of the 25th - the middle of the 23rd centuries. BC e. In science, the name “Pyramid Texts” was established behind them.
The study of many hundreds of lines of almost the oldest collection of religious and magical texts in world literature required the work - by no means completed - of generations of Egyptologists and made it possible to find "the first link in that continuous chain of funeral magical monuments that stretches throughout the Egyptian pagan (and partly Christian) civilization...” (B. A. Turaev).
It is well known that the tradition of supplying the deceased with food, drink, in general, with everything necessary for life in the other world was widespread among many peoples of the world, but only among the ancient Egyptians, as the German Egyptologist K. Zethe noted, there is a firmly rooted custom of burying with the deceased works of funeral literature, the first of which was the Pyramid Texts.
The ideas of the Egyptians about human nature, their views on death and the afterlife developed in the deepest antiquity, long before the formation of a single Egyptian state at the turn of the 4th - 3rd millennium BC. e. Unfortunately, our knowledge in these matters is far from sufficient. What is known can be formulated approximately as follows: a human being consists not only of a visible, physically tangible body, but also of several individual substances invisible in earthly life. Death, which strikes the body, violates the organic unity of the human being, necessary for the continuation of life, that is, the unity of the body and the mentioned substances. For eternal life in the other world it is necessary to restore it.
Science cannot yet definitely answer how many of these substances there were and how they were thought by the ancient Egyptians. Let us dwell on one of them - KA, which is especially essential for understanding the Pyramid Texts.
Judging by the texts, the Egyptians themselves had rather contradictory ideas about KA. It is not surprising that the definitions of KA proposed by Egyptologists are very ambiguous. Thus, according to G. Maspero, KA was the invisible double of a person, his exact likeness, which was born and grew along with the body. On the contrary, the German scientist A. Ehrman saw in the spacecraft a kind of vital force, the mysterious essence of people. What is indisputable is that after the death of the body, this substance, externally and essentially identical to man, awaits eternal life in the other world. The condition for the eternal existence of the KA was the care of the survivors.
Relatives of the deceased were primarily concerned with preserving dead body: the very existence of the KA depended on the safety of the human body, the twin of which the KA is. "Your bones do not break, your flesh does not hurt, your members will not separate from you"; “Protect the head [of the deceased king] so that it does not fall apart, collect the bones [of the deceased king] so that they do not separate,” we read in the Pyramid Texts. It was this idea that led to the emergence of the art of mummification and the construction of tombs.
KA had not only people, but also gods; the gods had several. The pharaoh also had several KAs - a “living god”, a “good god” on the throne of the country. It is clear that with the death of the pharaoh, only his human nature died and was buried. In the era ancient kingdom for the deceased pharaoh, a tomb was erected, with its shape and size sharply different from the tombs intended for others - a pyramid. In it, the mummified body of the deceased ruler was considered to be reliably protected from any dangerous accidents.
The posthumous fate of the king in the Pyramid Texts is described ambiguously: either he is close to the gods, or he himself becomes a “great god”, sometimes identified with the gods Ra or Osiris, the lord of the dead. For example, in an appeal to the deceased king, it is stated: "You must sit on the throne of Ra in order to give orders to the gods, since you are Ra." However, the proximity of the late king to the gods did not at all lessen the anxiety of the living for him, for wandering in the other world, inhabited not only by the gods, but also by countless evil creatures, the most terrible of which, it seems, were snakes, could be dangerous for the royal deceased. In addition, the introduction of the deceased to the world of the gods was facilitated by the creation in them of the impression of the extraordinary power and authority of the deceased pharaoh, which guaranteed him a proper position among the inhabitants of the other world.
And now, those living on earth surround the mummified, buried in the pyramid lord with further posthumous cares. They build mortuary temples at the pyramids, in which priests specially designed for this purpose make sacrifices to the KA of the pharaoh - of course, not only bread and beer, but also an infinite number of other supplies and potions necessary to maintain the life of the KA of the ruler of the country - and serve the funeral services. These latter consisted in reading magical texts that were supposed to guarantee the deceased ruler of Egypt eternal satiety and eternal life. The magic of the Pyramid Texts, which, according to B. A. Turaev, belongs to the field of ritual poetry and was intended for ritual reading by priests, was intended to facilitate the achievement of these goals.
What has been said about the Egyptian religion and the Pyramid Texts is enough to conclude that the most important thing in them is a reflection of the mortal's desire to become immortal, the naive faith of a person of those times in the ability to overcome death and become like the immortal gods. In the magical-religious and ritual content of the Pyramid Texts, we find purely human motives, an attempt by a person of those distant times to put all the means of religion and magic available to him to transform his temporary, earthly life into eternal life beyond the grave.
To enhance the magical effect, the Egyptians resorted to ritual poetry literary devices- alliterations, parallelisms, play on words. Many passages from the "Pyramid Texts" are distinguished by artistic expression, strength and material clarity of images. In the hymn to the sky goddess Nut, for example, the goddess herself is sung like this:
O Great One who became the sky...
You fill every place with your beauty.
The whole earth lies before you - you embraced it,
You surrounded the earth and all things with your hands.
(Translated by M. E. Mathieu)
The Pyramid Texts, as we already know, were supposed to guarantee the late king eternal life in the society of the gods. Let us ask ourselves a natural question: how was the afterlife of those whom we would call mere mortals, the close associates of the pharaoh, conceived at that time?
The monuments that have come down to us, including written ones, allow us to give a fairly complete answer to the question posed. Of course, the Egyptians loved life so much that, like their master, living on earth, they prepared to ensure that, in the words of B. A. Turaev, “not to die, despite death.” In the days of the Old Kingdom, the pharaohs themselves granted a tomb to some of their most worthy and faithful servants. Those of them who did not receive this highest award and honor built it for themselves at their own expense. Surrounding your master in life, noble people most often they sought to be near him even after death and built their tombs near the pyramid of the ruler. So there were huge necropolises - cemeteries of dignitaries and nobles.
“But their afterlife, of course, could not yet be identical with the royal one - they are not gods. The most they could count on was the continuation on the other side of the same conditions in which they were here,” B. A. Turaev notes. Their tombs had different sizes, which depended on the social status of the deceased and the attitude of the king towards him and his relatives. An example of a real “afterlife residence” is the “eternal home” of Mereruk, the vizier of the pharaoh of the VI dynasty of Teti. It has 31 rooms, their walls are painted with excellent images of episodes of the earthly life of the deceased nobleman. Here is Mereruk, accompanied by his wife, in a small canoe while fishing; Mereruk and his wife hunting in the desert; desert animals; a dog biting an antelope; a lion devouring a bull... In other frescoes, Mereruk, again accompanied by his wife, observes the work being done by his people. The same Mereruk is present at the cane reprisal against the delinquent headmen of the villages. In the same series - the scene of the offering of funeral gifts to the already deceased Mereruk.
Such frescoes or bas-reliefs cover the walls of the premises of many and many noble tombs, representing in the aggregate an unusually rich, talentedly executed encyclopedia of the life of the pharaoh's nobility.
But for what purpose, for whom were these "art galleries" created? After all, they were doomed to remain in eternal darkness after the mummy of the deceased was placed in the tomb, and the entrance to it was tightly walled up. It turns out that all these masterpieces of Egyptian art were intended for the deceased himself, the only inhabitant of the "eternal home". But for him they were not works of art at all - magic and prayers for the dead were supposed to revive the paintings and bas-reliefs, turn them into a true reality in which the KA of the deceased was to exist forever. It was an amazing, amazing purposefulness and naivete attempt to overcome death, an attempt to join eternal life with the help of magic.
The path of a mere mortal - even the noblest of nobles - to gaining immortality was, of course, no less thorny than the path of the pharaoh. And if the “Pyramid Texts” are full of spells about the inviolability of the royal name, then the funeral cares of ordinary people and their loved ones - along with the construction of the tomb already familiar to us and the burial of the mummified remains of the deceased in it, with the bringing of sacrificial gifts and the funeral service - are added care for perpetuate the name of the deceased.
The name was perceived by the Egyptians as a substance organically inherent in its bearer, the innermost part of his being, born by the mother together with the child. According to the apt expression of the Czech Egyptologist Fr. Leks, the Egyptians did not think like us: "Every existing thing has its own name"; on the contrary, they argued: "A thing without a name does not exist." It is natural, therefore, that the perpetuation of the name on tombstone immortalized life, and vice versa, the destruction of the name was tantamount to the destruction of its bearer. Over time, along with the name of the deceased, his titles and positions appear on the monuments, as well as lists of sacrificial gifts that were intended for him. To this purely ritual part of the text, little by little, in order to glorify the deceased, they began to add descriptions of the most remarkable episodes of his life, testifying to his merits before the pharaoh, about the latter's benevolence towards the deceased - in a word, everything that could elevate and exalt him. Thus, numerous inscriptions of nobles arose, which became the most important historical source of the era of the Old Kingdom.
The briefly described process of turning a ritual gravestone inscription into a detailed biography, a process that can be perfectly traced from the monuments, testified to the artistic talent of those who composed the inscriptions, and opened up wide scope for creativity. The “human” component in the inscriptions clearly begins to prevail over the ritual: interesting first-person stories about the life and work of important dignitaries of the Old Kingdom appear, devoid of any fantastic or religious elements.
Thus, in the poorly preserved inscription of Uashptah, the vizier and chief builder of the pharaoh of the 5th dynasty Neferkare, contains a dramatic story about the sudden death of this nobleman. The king, accompanied by his children and retinue, inspected the construction work, which was headed by Uashptah. He expressed satisfaction with their course and suddenly noticed that the vizier did not answer him. It turned out that he was in a faint. Pharaoh ordered to transfer him to the palace and immediately call the court doctors. They came with their reference papyri, but all their art turned out to be useless: the king's faithful servant died suddenly. Not only a fragmentary record of this story has come down to us, but a wonderful bas-relief has also been preserved, depicting its culmination - the death of a dignitary.
The Egyptians created a rich, rich interesting ideas and artistic images of literature, the oldest in the world. feature literary process in Egypt there was a continuous and successive improvement of the originally found literary genres and artistic techniques.
The development of literature as one of the most important parts of culture was determined by the nature of the socio-economic development of the country, the political power of the Egyptian state. At the same time, the direction of the literary process depended on the general character religious outlook, development Egyptian mythology and cult organizations. The absolute power of the gods, including the reigning pharaoh, the complete dependence of man on them, the subordination of the earthly life of people to their posthumous existence, the complex relationships of numerous gods in Egyptian myths, the theatrical cult saturated with symbolism - all this dictated the main ideas, the system artistic images and techniques of many literary works.
The originality of hieroglyphic writing, in particular the abundance of various signs-symbols, expanded creative possibilities authors, allowed to create works with a deep and multifaceted context.
Literature has become a breeding ground for oral folk art, from which the remains are preserved in the form of a few songs performed during labor processes(for example, the song of the bull-driver), unpretentious parables and sayings, fairy tales, in which, as a rule, an innocent and hardworking hero achieves justice and happiness.
The roots of Egyptian literature date back to the 4th millennium BC. when the first literary records were created. In the era of the Old Kingdom, the beginnings of some genres appeared: processed fairy tales, didactic teachings, biographies of nobles, religious texts, poetic works. During the Middle Kingdom, genre diversity increased, the content side and artistic perfection of works deepened. Reaches classical maturity prose literature, works of the highest artistic level (“The Story of Sinuhet”) are created, which are included in the treasury of world literature. Egyptian literature reaches its ideological and artistic completeness in the era of the New Kingdom, the era of the highest development of Egyptian civilization.
The didactic genre of teachings and closely related prophecies is most fully represented in Egyptian literature. One of the oldest examples of teachings is the "Teaching of Ptahotep", a vizier of one of the pharaohs of the 5th dynasty. Later, the genre of teachings is represented by many works, for example: “Instruction of the Heracleo-Polish king Akhtoy to his son Merik-ra” and “Instruction of Pharaoh Amenemhet I”, which set out the rules of government, “Instruction of Ahtoy, son of Duauf” about the advantages of the position of a scribe over all other professions.
From the teachings of the New Kingdom, one can name the “Teaching of Ani” and “The Teaching of Amenemope” with a detailed presentation of the rules of worldly morality and traditional morality.
A special kind of teachings were the prophecies of the sages who predicted the onset of disasters for the country, for the ruling class, if the Egyptians neglected the observance of the norms established by the gods. As a rule, such prophecies described real disasters that occurred during times of popular uprisings, invasions by foreign conquerors, social and political upheavals, such as at the end of the Middle or New Kingdom. Most famous works of this genre were "Speech of Ipuser" and "Speech of Neferti".
One of the favorite genres was fairy tales, in which the plots folk tales were subjected to the author's processing. Some fairy tales have become real masterpieces that have influenced the creation of fairy tale cycles of other peoples. ancient east(for example, for the cycle "A Thousand and One Nights").
Most famous examples there was a collection of fairy tales “Pharaoh Khufu and the sorcerers”, “The Tale of the Shipwrecked”, “The Tale of Truth and Krivda”, “The Tale of Two Brothers”, several tales of Pharaoh Petubastis, etc. In these tales, through the dominant motives of admiration for the omnipotence of the gods and the pharaoh, the ideas of goodness, wisdom and ingenuity of a simple worker break through, who ultimately defeats the cunning and cruel nobles, their greedy and treacherous servants.
The story "The Tale of Sinuhet" and the poetic "Song of the Harpist" became the true masterpieces of Egyptian literature. The Tale of Sinuhet tells how a nobleman from the inner circle of the late King Sinuhet, fearing for his position under the new pharaoh, flees from Egypt to the nomads of Syria. Here he lives for many years, performs many feats, takes high position with the local king, but constantly yearns for his native Egypt. The story ends with the safe return of Sinuhet to Egypt. No matter how high a position in a foreign land a person occupies, his Mother country, her customs, lifestyle will always be for him supreme value- this is the main idea of this classical work Egyptian literature. In the "Song of the Harper", for the first time in world poetry, doubts were expressed about the possibility of an afterlife and the idea of enjoying all the joys of earthly existence was proclaimed.
Follow your heart's desires
As long as you exist
Perfume your head with myrrh
Dress in the finest fabrics
Anoint yourself with the most wonderful incense
From the sacrifices of the gods.
Multiply your wealth...
Do your deeds on earth
According to your heart,
Until that day of mourning comes to you.
The weary heart does not hear their cries and cries,
Lamentations save no one from the grave.
So celebrate a beautiful day
And don't exhaust yourself.
You see, no one took their property with them.
You see, none of those who left did not come back.
Translation by A. Akhmatova
Among the various genres, a special place was occupied by religious literature proper, including artistic processing numerous myths, religious hymns and chants performed at the festivities of the gods. Of the processed myths, the cycles of tales about the sufferings of Osiris and about the wanderings in the underworld of the god Ra gained particular popularity.
The first cycle tells that the good god and king of Egypt, Osiris, was deceitfully deposed from the throne by his brother Seth, chopped into 14 pieces, which were scattered throughout Egypt (according to another version, the body of Osiris was thrown into a boat, and the boat was lowered into sea). The sister and wife of Osiris, the goddess Isis, collected and buried his remains. The avenger for his father is their son god Horus, who performs a number of feats for the benefit of people. The evil Set is overthrown from the throne of Osiris, which was inherited by Horus. And Osiris becomes king underworld and judge of the dead.
On the basis of these legends, theatrical mysteries were arranged, which were a kind of germ of the ancient Egyptian theater.
The hymns and chants sung in honor of the gods at the festivals were apparently popular poetry, but some of the hymns that have come down to us, in particular the hymn to the Nile and especially the hymn to the Aten, in which the beautiful and generous nature of Egypt is glorified in the images of the Nile and the Sun, are world-class poetic masterpieces.
A unique work is the philosophical dialogue "Conversation of the disappointed with his soul." It tells about the bitter fate of a man who is disgusted with earthly life where evil, violence and greed reign, and he wants to commit suicide in order to quickly get to the afterlife fields of Ialu and find eternal bliss there. The soul of a person dissuades him from this crazy step, pointing to all the joys of earthly life. Ultimately, the hero's pessimism turns out to be stronger, and posthumous bliss is a more desirable goal of human existence.
Ancient Egypt Ancient Egypt is the name of a historical region and culture of a significant civilization of the ancient world that existed in northeast Africa. The history of Ancient Egypt has about 40 centuries and is divided into 4 periods: 1. pre-dynastic 2. dynastic 3. Hellenistic 4. Roman
Predynastic Period prehistoric period. Prehistoric Egypt - the period in the history of Egypt, from the appearance of man to the formation of the agricultural Egyptian civilization.
Hellenistic period Papyrus with fragments of Euclid's Elements The Hellenistic period is a synthesis with Greek Macedonian culture under the rule of the Ptolemaic dynasty. Hellenistic Egypt became one of the main centers of Greek Hellenistic culture. The literature of this period is a natural continuation of Greek literature.
Hieroglyphics Hieroglyphic writing consists of small drawings of objects. The Egyptians called hieroglyphs "words of the god" and used them for lofty purposes, such as communicating through funerary texts with the gods and spirits of the afterlife. A slab stele (c. 2590-2565 BC) of the Egyptian princess Neferetiabet from her coffin at Giza with hieroglyphs carved and painted on limestone.
Hieratic is a simplified, cursive form of Egyptian hieroglyphs. Like hieroglyphs, hieratics were used in sacred and religious texts.
Demotic Demotic writing (obsolete enchorionic writing) is one of the forms of Egyptian writing used to write texts in the later stages of the Egyptian language.
Literary Genres and Themes The only genre of literature explicitly mentioned by the ancient Egyptians was the genre of teaching or "sebayt". The rest of the genre classification was made by modern Egyptologists. Most texts were written in verse, but some narrative stories were written in prose. Most ancient Egyptian verse was in the form of couplets, but sometimes both three and four lines were used. The word sebayt means "teaching" in the Egyptian language.
Instructive Literature The genre is didactic in nature and is believed to have been part of the curriculum of scribe education in the Middle Kingdom. However, teachings often include narrative elements of an entertaining nature. The keywords in teaching in the texts are "know" (rh) and "teach" (sba. yt). "Loyal Teaching"
narrative literature This includes fairy tales and stories. Fairy tales and stories are probably the least represented genre of the surviving literature of the Middle Kingdom and the Middle Egyptian language. "The Tale of the Court of King Cheops"
Literature One of the papyri of the New Kingdom era contains a most remarkable passage, where the authors of ancient teachings are praised: They did not build themselves pyramids of copper And tombstones of bronze. They left no heirs behind them, Children who kept their names. But they left their legacy in the writings, In the teachings they made. Doors and houses were built, but they collapsed, The priests of the funeral services disappeared, Their monuments were covered with mud, Their tombs are forgotten. But their names are pronounced, reading these books, Written while they lived, And the memory of the one who wrote them is Eternal. Translation by A. Akhmatova
Poetry THE POWER OF LOVE Love for you entered my flesh and blood And with them, like wine with water, mixed, As with spicy seasoning - orange Or with milk - fragrant honey. Oh, hasten to your sister, Like a flying horse in the arena, Like a bull, headlong running to the manger. Your love is a heavenly gift, Fire, igniting the straw, Prey beating the flying falcon. A small excerpt from a poem translated by Anna Akhmatova and Vera Potapova.
Poetry BY THE RIVER Sister is on the other side. Blocking the way of love, A river flows between us. There is a crocodile on the shore. I wade along the waves, crossing the current. The heart is full of courage. The firmament is like a river. A small excerpt from a poem translated by Anna Akhmatova and Vera Potapova.
Poetry Truly, who will go to the afterlife - Will be a living deity, Creating retribution for evil. Truly, whoever passes into the kingdom of the dead - Will sail in the boat of the sun, Pouring grace from there, pleasing to the temple. Truly, whoever passes to the afterlife will be among the wise men, without interference Speaking with the divine Ra.
Functions of Literature Throughout ancient Egyptian history, reading and writing were the basic requirements for service in public institutions. The scribes were responsible for the preservation, transmission and canonization literary classics and also for writing new essays. There was a practice of oral reading of texts. Literature was written primarily by male scribes. It also served religious purposes.
Conclusion Thus, we can say that the ancient Egyptian texts that have come down to us are prayers to the gods and household records. Fiction was represented by various genres, such as: teachings of kings and wise men to their sons, many fairy tales about miracles and sorcerers, stories, biographies of dignitaries, songs, spells. Egyptian fiction has left us many tales of various content and origin. The teaching genre became widespread.
Egyptian literature, which arose as part of Egyptian culture and disappeared with it, lived a longer life than the independent Egyptian state lived; starting from 332 BC this state becomes part of the political world of Hellenism. However, the original Egyptian culture continues to live and develop in the new political conditions, even in the first centuries of Roman domination. Thank you!
ancient egyptian language is one of the oldest in the world.
The ancient Egyptian language is one of the branches of the Afro-Asiatic language group and went through several stages in its evolution, coinciding with the division of the country's history into kingdoms: old Egyptian, classical, new Egyptian, demotic, and from the 3rd century. AD - Coptic, in which the Coptic church service is partially performed to this day.
Descendants of the ancient Egyptians, modern Copts speak Arabic.
The ancient Egyptian language was quite rich, today we know about 20,000 words. Some still live in modern languages: "papyrus", "oasis", "basalt", "natr". But! With rare exceptions, the pronunciation of ancient Egyptian words is unknown. Pronunciation, in particular, in Russian is purely conventional and lacks phonetic accuracy. The accepted rule of stress on the penultimate syllable is also purely conditional and is violated.
Deciphering hieroglyphs.
Attempts to understand Egyptian hieroglyphics have been made since ancient times.
The first to take the "correct" path was the Englishman William Urorburton. In 1738, he suggested that hieroglyphs are signs with sound correspondences.
Jean-Francois Champollion (1790-1832) from 1808, when he became acquainted with a copy of the text of the Rosetta Stone (ill. 26-a), took up deciphering. The reference points were the personal and throne names of the kings and queens of the Hellenistic period, enclosed in oval frames - cartouches, and geographical names. Champollion proved that, along with symbolic signs, the Egyptians already in ancient times used alphabetic hieroglyphic signs, and for the first time without a Greek interlinear read two ancient Egyptian names of the pharaohs. The merit of Champollion is in the discovery of the system of the Egyptian language and the disclosure of its patterns, the compilation of its dictionary and grammar, the establishment of a relationship between hieroglyphic and hieratic writing and both of them with demotic.
essence of hieroglyphics.
All signs of hieroglyphic writing are divided into three groups: ideograms, phonograms and a very important element - determinatives.
Ideograms are signs depicting an object or denoting it. For example, the sign o depicts the sun and means the sun. On the other hand, the name of, say, the god Amun in one and the same text could be presented both as a seated figure of the god with a Shuti crown, and as a group of phonetic signs.
Phonograms are called hieroglyphs, the main function of which is the designation of sounds - a combination of two or three consonant phonemes (for example, htp, nfr, mn, dw), and signs denoting individual vowel phonemes (f, n, h).
determinants signs are called that are not phonetically readable; they are always placed at the very end of the spelling of words and indicate the semantic category to which the given word. For example, the determinative depicting two legs was placed after a wide variety of verbs of motion.
There were hieroglyphs that indirectly hinted at the content of the word: a club was depicted - the country of Libya was meant.
A variety of pictograms were used to denote abstract concepts: for example, “breath” or “wind” was written out using the sign of an inflated sail, “old age” - in the form of a figure of a hunched man leaning on a stick.
The drawing expressed one or more consonants. As a rule, the Egyptians used a mixed verbal-sound system: signs-“letters” were attributed to the sign-drawing, which were contained in the word in front. At the end of the word they put a sign that was not readable, but explained its meaning. For example, the verb to open was conveyed by the drawing of a hare (vn), the sign of water (n), and the image of a door. As a determinant of abstract concepts, a drawing of a papyrus scroll was used.
Of paramount importance in the arrangement of hieroglyphic texts was the proportionality of the size of signs, certain rules for combining long vertical and horizontal signs with short ones, and their symmetry. The line of text was divided, according to modern scientific terminology, into so-called "squares", that is, into parts, each of which was densely filled with characters, more or less bound by meaning. The hieroglyphic text had no spaces.
Hieroglyphs usually denoted only consonants, but some semivowels ("y") could also be used.
The direction of writing and the arrangement of texts.
Based on the analysis of the surviving statues of scribes, scientists argue that most often the Egyptians, holding a scroll in their left hand, wrote from right to left, the lines of hieroglyphic writing could also be arranged horizontally or vertically. You can determine the direction of writing by turning the heads of the drawn figures of people and animals: they are turned to the right - the text is read from right to left and vice versa. It is believed that the direction of the lines depended on the desire of scribes or artists to arrange the text on the surface of a wall, column, obelisk or statue symmetrically - around images or architectural details, as required by the rules.
The arrangement of the texts on the walls of the burial chambers was deeply symbolic. So, for example, the arrangement of texts in the pyramid of Seti I (Old Kingdom) corresponds to the order in which the deceased pharaoh, rising from the sarcophagus, will read them, moving from the burial chamber to the vestibule and further along the corridor.
Literature.
“Until now, literary works are not known that, in antiquity, variety of forms, artistic perfection, could be compared with literary monuments Ancient Egypt". The concept of "Egyptian literature" includes all texts or fragments that have aesthetic merit, designed for artistic, emotional or moral impact, regardless of the purpose of the texts. Moreover, the authors resorted to special literary stylistic devices: repetitions, complex comparisons, wordplay, metaphors, metric construction of sentences. The structure of the "Pyramid Texts" was not metrically poetic in modern sense words, but was designed for lowering and raising the voice.
Most of the Egyptian texts found to date are either in one list, or only in parts transcribed at some time by future scribes on ostraca, with remnants of red ink with which the teacher corrected mistakes.
Headings are usually absent in Egyptian originals. The titles of the works were established after their translations in the 19th and 20th centuries.
It is only possible to attribute this or that Egyptian text to a strictly defined genre. There is a combination of different genres in one work. Nevertheless, they believe that fairy tales, stories, songs, love lyrics appeared in Ancient Egypt. Inscriptions of a historical nature, religious hymns, mythological narratives (“The Struggle of Horus with Seth”), official annals, posthumous biographies, have come down to us. There is evidence of the existence of fables.
Papyrus scrolls found in tombs contain mostly mortuary texts. The found so-called "libraries" contain hymns, magical and medical texts, teachings, fairy tales. The texts of legends, fables were recorded only from the Hellenistic period.
Although the scribe put his name at the end of the scroll with the rewritten text, the authorship of the work did not play much in Egypt. big role. All the literature of ancient Egypt is practically anonymous. Only in the teachings there were names (and it is not known whether they are real or imaginary). To give the teachings greater authority, they were attributed to the outstanding sages of antiquity (Imhotep) or put into the mouth of the pharaoh. The names of the scribes who made copies from the texts, the name of Januni, the court chronicler who accompanied Thutmose III on military campaigns, have been preserved.
The Old Kingdom texts are mostly private letters, grocery lists, business documents, and biographical inscriptions on steles. The earliest written document is the so-called "Narmer tablet", which conveys information about the pharaoh's military campaign.
The Egyptian tradition called oldest work"The Doctrine of Life" adviser to Pharaoh Djoser and architect - Imhotep.
Actually literary works appear only in the era of the Middle Kingdom. Many previously unknown genres of literature appear towards the end of the New Kingdom. Numerous scrolls from the time of the New Kingdom contain an exposition of myths in poetic and prose form and biographies of the pharaohs. At the courts of rulers, chronicles of kingdoms are compiled, and lists of pharaohs of different dynasties and eras are created in order to show the continuity of power.
The beginning of dramatic art.
The presence of dramatic / theatrical performances in ancient Egypt is not in doubt among scientists.
Despite the extreme scarcity of information, it is known that the representations actors which were gods, and their roles were performed by priests, took place already in the era of the Old Kingdom. Performances in honor of gods, god-men and heroes are called mysteries. The contents of the mysteries were episodes from mythologized and legendary biographies.
The most famous theatrical performances depicted in the form of a drama episodes from the life of Osiris, Isis and their son Horus. Performances could be in the form of national celebrations, and the actual mysteries that accompanied funeral rite. At festivals in honor of Isis, priests and processionists wore animal masks, depicting Egyptian deities. On the edge last month in the winter - the first spring, the priestesses in the images of Isis and Nephthys depicted the search, mourning and burial of Osiris, then Horus "fought" with Seth, in the final they erected a dzhed pillar, symbolizing the rebirth of Osiris.
Theatrical mysteries were played in the temple itself, in the fence of the temple, in front of the colonnades, on the sacred reservoir.
"Perfect Egyptian".
Summing up written sources, we can conclude how, in general, a person of Ancient Egypt saw or wanted to see himself: lived to old age, healthy, full of prosperity and prosperity, hardworking, brave and valiant in military campaigns, modest, meek, restrained, humble, not talkative, father of many children, selfless and compassionate to those in need, patient, obedient, but not absolutely...
