Ancient Egypt Ancient Egypt is the name of a historical region and culture of a significant civilization ancient world that existed in northeastern 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 sermon or "sebayt". The rest 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. keywords in teaching in texts are "know" (rh) and "teach" (sba. yt). "Loyal Teaching"
Narrative literature This includes fairy tales and short 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 New Kingdom papyri 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 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 oral reading 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 presented 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 left us many fairy 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 for more than long life how 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!
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 the totality of not only 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 human personality. 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.
Thus, we have every reason to assert that Egyptian literature was 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 hieroglyphics. 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 Westkar, 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 oral tradition. 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 figure, 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 "The Tale of Sinuhe" and Un-Amon's account of his journey go back to these inscriptions. 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.
The majority of 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 mortuary services. These last consisted in reading magical texts, which 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 it thought at that time afterlife those whom we would call mere mortals - close associates of the pharaoh?
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.
Written art originates from ancient Egypt. It was ancient Egyptian literature that laid the foundation for the rapid development of writing as an art. The origin lasted from the pharaonic period until the Roman domination.
Some sources mention that literary writing in Egypt first appeared at the end of the fourth millennium BC. in the form of hieratic and hieroglyphic writing. At the beginning of the period of the Old Kingdom, namely in the 26-22 centuries BC. literary creativity was manifested in letters, poems, funerary texts, religious hymns and even autobiographical records. But already at the beginning of the Middle Kingdom, narrative literature was born. Such a rapid development of the art of writing is due to the rise intellectual class scribes, the emergence of new cultural senses of individuality, and a significant improvement in literacy.
Following the verses narrative stories a new genre arises - commemorative graffiti, which were performed on the walls of coffins and temples and very quickly gained popularity among scribes. They were autobiographical inscriptions on the tombstone, which were applied to perpetuate and glorify the name of the deceased nobleman. Not only the name was reproduced on the plate, but also all the titles, positions of the deceased, and lists of sacrificial gifts intended for him were also applied. A little later, descriptions of various episodes of a person’s life, which testified to his merits before the pharaoh, began to be added to this “dry” inventory of titles. That is, everything that could glorify and embellish his personality was described. It was commemorative graffiti that laid the foundation for such a genre as autobiography. IN Hellenistic Egypt the prophetic text is revived.
The versatility of written art
It can be said with all certainty that Egyptian culture as a whole is one of the main sources of world culture. Ancient Egyptian literature was one of the most colorful, vivid and artistically valuable manifestations of this culture and a deep, original person in general. The art of writing was inextricably linked with society and its ideology, in which religion played a huge role. Therefore, it is not at all surprising that a religious trace was imprinted on ancient Egyptian literature, and often in the most various works can be found religious outlook in all its colors. But this does not mean at all that Egyptian literary art was mainly theological. On the contrary, this means that ancient Egyptian literature was rich in diverse and diverse genres.
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 the written sources, we can conclude how, in general, the man 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...
Introductory article and compilation by M. Korostovtsev
Approximately five thousand years ago, on the territory of modern Egypt, one of the ancient states on our planet. This historical fact was preceded by a centuries-old and almost unknown history of the struggle for hegemony in the country of small independent political entities (in modern scientific terminology, "nomes"). This struggle ended approximately at the turn of the 4th and 3rd millennium BC. e. the unification of all the nomes, of which there were about forty, into two larger state associations: the kingdom of Upper Egypt and the kingdom of Lower Egypt. In the end, the first of them subjugated the second by force of arms, and all Egypt was united under the rule of one pharaoh. The history of united Egypt covers a huge period of time - approximately three millennia - and according to the tradition established in science, it is divided into large periods: the Old Kingdom, the First Intermediate Period, the Middle Kingdom, the Second Intermediate Period, the New Kingdom, Late time. In 332 BC. e. Egypt was conquered by Alexander the Great, and in 30 BC. e. became a province of the Roman Empire. The listed periods are divided, in turn, into dynasties, and, thus, the dynastic sign underlies the periodization not only of the history of Egypt, but also of the history of its culture.
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.
The "dynastic" chronologization of Egyptian literature is forced, since it is mainly due to the state of the source and the impossibility of tracing the development of the literary process itself step by step. The following periodization of Egyptian literature is practically accepted:
I. Literature of the Old Kingdom, III millennium BC. A.
II. Literature of the Middle Kingdom, XXI-XVII centuries. BC 9.
III. Literature of the New Kingdom, XVI-IX centuries. BC e.
IV. Demotic literature, 8th century. BC e.-III century. n. e.
This periodization basically corresponds to large stages in the development of the language; Old Kingdom - Old Egyptian language: Middle Kingdom - Middle Egyptian, the so-called ((classical" language; New Kingdom - New Egyptian language and, finally, literature in the Demotic language (written in the so-called Demotic script). ( In Egypt all over it ancient history There were two types of writing: hieroglyphic and hieratic. The last is cursive; it is to hieroglyphs in much the same way that our handwritten texts are to printed texts. In the 8th century BC O. a complex and difficult demotic writing appeared, which, despite its specificity, is a further development of hieratic writing. All these types of Egyptian writing originated and developed independently in Egypt.)
From the era of the Old Kingdom, the so-called “Pyramid Texts” have been preserved, inscribed on the walls of internal corridors and chambers in the pyramids of some pharaohs of the 5th and 6th dynasties (c. 2700-2400 BC). The Pyramid Texts is perhaps the oldest collection of religious texts in world history. In this huge collection of magical formulas and sayings, the desire of a mortal to gain the immortality of the gods is captured with great force. The texts use such devices of eloquence as alliteration, parallelism, repetition (see in our volume the fragment translated by Anna Akhmatova [“To the Goddess”!).
In the era of the Old Kingdom, the Pyramid Texts were already archaic (under the pharaohs of the 5th and 6th dynasties, they were only written down). On the literature of the era of the Old Kingdom, we have very fragmentary data. However, there is no doubt that there was then a rich and varied literature, mostly completely lost to us. We know texts of a completely different type than the Pyramid Texts, although they also belong to a religious ritual. These are autobiographical inscriptions of nobles: it was necessary to perpetuate the name of the deceased on the tombstone. The mention of the name was accompanied by a list of titles and positions of the deceased, as well as a list 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 various episodes from his life, testifying to his merits before the pharaoh, the latter's favor to the deceased, etc., in a word, everything that could exalt and embellish his personality. The ritual tombstone unfolded into an autobiography. Historical and artistic value works of this genre is undeniable.
Thus, in a poorly preserved inscription of Uashpta, the wazir and chief builder of one of the pharaohs of the 5th dynasty, contains a dramatic story about how the king, accompanied by his children and retinue, inspected the construction work led by Uashpta. The king expressed satisfaction and suddenly noticed that Uashpta did not answer him. It turned out that the vizier had fainted. The king ordered to transfer him to the palace and immediately call the court doctors. The latter came with their papyri sayings, but all their art was in vain; The king's faithful servant died.
The inscription of the priest Sheshi is quite remarkable. We read: “I created the truth for its master, I satisfied him with what he desires: I spoke the truth, I did the right thing, I spoke the good and repeated the good. I reasoned with a sister and two brothers in order to reconcile them. I saved the unfortunate from the stronger... I gave bread to the hungry, clothes to the naked. I transported on my boat who did not have it. I buried my son who did not have ... I made a boat for him who did not have his own boat. I respected my father, I was tender to my mother. I raised their children." Such statements are not so rare in the texts of that distant era. More often they are found in subsequent times. This testifies to the presence of a strong humanistic stream penetrating the entire Egyptian literature in general and, in particular, the social thought of the times of the Old Kingdom.
Didactic literature was also developed. In the famous ["Instruction of Ptahotep"], which has come down to us in the edition of the Middle Kingdom, but compiled back in the era of the Old Kingdom, Ptahoten says to his son: evil. Justice is great, everything excellent is stable. An experienced old wazir with these words warns his son against cruelty and violation of laws ...
Already in the era of the Old Kingdom, the Egyptians valued eloquence, oratory. The same Ptahotep teaches: “If you are an confidant of the king, sitting in the council of your lord, be careful and be silent - this is more useful than ... [?]. Speak [only] after you have realized [that] you understand [the point]. This is a craftsman - a speaker in the council. [Smart] speech is more difficult than any work ... "
From the time of the Old Kingdom, no works of narrative genres have been preserved, except for the mentioned inscriptions of the nobles of the times of the Old Kingdom. However famous fairy tales papyrus Westcar, telling about the pharaohs of the Old Kingdom (although they have come down to us in the late edition of the Second transition period), undoubtedly testify that such literature already existed in the times of the Old Kingdom: at the same time, it must be borne in mind that the ancient core of these tales could and probably underwent significant processing in later times.
From the First Intermediate Period, that is, from the time between the end of the Old Kingdom and the beginning of the Middle Kingdom, that is, from the end of the 3rd millennium BC. BC, a remarkable didactic work has been preserved, known in science as the "Instruction" of the pharaoh, whose name we do not know, to his heir - Merikar. There we read, for example: “Imitate your fathers and your ancestors... behold, their speeches are enshrined in the scriptures. Unfold them, read them, imitate them in knowledge. Becomes a craftsman [only] trained. Do not be evil, self-control is beautiful, set up a monument [to yourself] by your disposition towards yourself [others]." This is followed by the wonderful words: "Be skillful in speech, so that you are strong ... speech is stronger than any weapon." The teaching addressed to Merikar is another evidence that by the end of the Old Kingdom in Egypt, a great literature was created, forever lost to us.
The time of the Middle Kingdom, not without reason, is considered in science to be the heyday of literary creativity, some monuments of which have come down to us. Such, for example, are [“The Story of Sinuhe”], [“The Tale of the Shipwrecked”], skillful, subtle adaptations of folklore - the tales of the aforementioned papyrus Westkar, the teaching of the founder of the XII dynasty (c. 2000-1800 BC) Pharaoh Amenemhat I, ["Instruction of Neferti"] or, more precisely, ["Prophecy of Neferti"].
Of the hymns of the era of the Middle Kingdom, addressed to the deities, the hymn to Hapi, the god of the Nile, has the greatest literary merit.
Several versions of the hymn that have come down to us date back to the New Kingdom, but there is no doubt that they are only later records, indicating the popularity of the work. The interest presented by the anthem is twofold; firstly, it colorfully reflects the attitude of the Egyptians to the mighty river, which not only created their country, but also fed its population for thousands of years (in other words, the hymn expresses the attitude of man to the nature he deifies); secondly, these feelings are expressed in it in a bright art form. A hymn is not a prayer, not a collection of requests, but an expression of admiration and gratitude great nature that gave life to the country and its people.
In the hymn to the god Osiris, inscribed on the tombstone of the time of the Middle Kingdom (stored in the Paris National Library), the deity, whose cult was widespread in the era of the Middle Kingdom, is sung: Osiris became something like a “ruler of thoughts” in Egyptian society. His name was associated with the idea of immortality beyond the grave accessible and desired by every mortal, and the cult of Osiris democratized and simplified the funeral ritual. The most modest tombstone in the form of a slab with sacred formulas inscribed on it and the mention of Osiris was enough to ensure eternal life in the other world.
As an antithesis of the widespread dogma about immortality, most closely associated with the cult of Osiris, in the era of the Middle Kingdom, the so-called (“Song of the Harpist”) appeared - a collection of about fifteen texts that came down partly from the period of the Middle, and partly from the beginning of the New Kingdom (the latter, however , are copies or versions of older Middle Egyptian originals). These texts are linked general direction thoughts, one attitude and attitude; everything on earth is mortal, absolutely everything is doomed to disappear; from time immemorial, generations of people descend one after another into the graves, memorials for the dead are destroyed and disappear, and not even a memory remains of these people. (See in our volume translated by Anna Akhmatova [“Song from the House of the Deceased Tsar Antef ...”].) Therefore, one must use all the blessings of life, have fun and enjoy, because nothing will avert inevitable death. Thus, [“The Song of...”] highly values earthly life and at the same time is full of undisguised skepticism in relation to afterlife beliefs. ["Song of the Harpist"], undoubtedly, reveals the presence in Egypt of the era of the Middle Kingdom of different currents of religious and social thought, sometimes directly opposed to each other.
A very interesting and, perhaps, not yet fully understood work of ancient Egyptian literature is the well-known "Dispute of the Disappointed with His Soul", contained in one of the Berlin papyri.
It is quite clear that "disillusioned" means some new social order and mores that are diametrically opposed to those that are dear and close to him ("no one remembers the past"). In a word, he feels lonely in the society around him, in which everything is alien and hostile to him.
Social upheavals in Egypt at the end of the III millennium BC. e., reflected in the content of “The Dispute of the Disappointed with His Soul”, left their mark on other works of Egyptian literature of the era of the Middle Kingdom - works, so to speak, of a journalistic plan. Moreover, a whole group of works of that time was inspired by the palace in order to strengthen and promote the authority of the pharaohs of the XII dynasty, which put an end to the previous century of political turmoil. This includes ["The Story of Sinuhe"] and ["The Prophecy of Neferti"].
The literature of the time of the New Kingdom is mainly the development of those literary traditions and genres that had already developed in the era of the Middle Kingdom. The main, although mostly only external, difference between the literature of the New Kingdom and the literature of the Middle Kingdom lies in the language - the literature of the Middle Kingdom is written in the Middle Egyptian, the so-called classical language, the literature of the New Kingdom is in the New Egyptian language.
The literature of the New Kingdom is represented by many fairy tales - such, for example, [“Two Brothers”], [“Truth and Falsehood”], [“The Doomed Prince”], as well as many didactic works - “teachings”. Of particular note is the story of the journey of a certain Ui-Amun to Byblos. This work does not contain any fairy-tale moments and, like the Middle Egyptian ["The Story of Sinuhe"], can be attributed to works that truly reflect historical time the events it describes.
By the time of the New Kingdom, there are also a number of works praising the military prowess of the pharaohs, as well as highly poetic hymns to various deities, for example, a hymn to the god Aten. The subtle love lyrics of these times are distinguished by special poetic merits.
Turning to the works of demotic literature, it should also be said that it developed, continuing the established literary traditions. Here are fantastic tales (for example, the tales of the cycle about the priest Khasmuas), epic tales about Pharaoh Petubast, teachings, for example, [“The Teaching of Ankhsheshonk”], fables - a new, previously unseen genre, in which the characters are only animals.
Of particular note is the content of Papyrus Thailand IX, which tells the story of one priestly family over three generations. This work is saturated with reliable everyday and historical realities and does not contain any fantastic details. This is perhaps the oldest work in world literature, the characters of which are three generations (grandfathers, fathers, grandchildren) of one family.
The well-known Belgian Egyptologist J. Kapar, based on the plot of the papyrus Rayland IX, wrote a fascinating novel from the life of ancient Egypt.
Egyptian society in ancient times lived a tense, rich and many-sided spiritual life. Egyptian culture as a whole is one of the origins of world culture. Egyptian literature, which is one of the most striking and artistically valuable manifestations of this culture, is original and deeply humane. It is inextricably linked with the life of society and its ideology. And since in the era of its development religion played a predominant role in ideology, it is not surprising that Egyptian literature experienced a significant influence of religion, and often in its works we find a religious worldview in its various manifestations. However, it does not at all follow from this that Egyptian literature is mainly religious or theological literature. On the contrary, it is represented by a wide variety of genres. Along with the folklore processed and recorded in the form of fairy tales - the tales of the papyrus Westcar, [“Two Brothers”], [“The Doomed Prince”] - there are stories about real events: ["Story (lshukhe"] and ["Story of Un-Amun"], inscriptions of kings and nobles of historical content; along with religious texts11 (hymns to Amon, Aton, Khapi, etc.) - works of skeptical content, for example, "The dispute of the disappointed with his soul "; along with mythological tales (the tale of Horus and Seth) - fables and love lyrics. (Whether the poems were known to the Egyptians in our understanding of this term - nothing definite can be copied, since the vocalization of Egyptian texts up to the present day is problematic .) The Egyptians were not alien and theatrical performances, and not only mysteries, but also to some extent a secular drama.
It has already been said above that a number of works of Egyptian literature were created under the impulse of contemporary political trends and, for example, some works of the era of the XII dynasty were inspired by the pharaoh and his inner circle. This was first noticed and convincingly proved by one of the most authoritative Egyptologists of our time, French professor G. Posner.
There is hardly any reason to doubt that this fact is by no means an exception in the history of Egyptian literature, that the pharaohs of later times did not miss the opportunity to use literature to strengthen their authority and popularize themselves. Under the great conquering pharaoh Thutmose III, the scribe Chenen was constantly present, who vividly and figuratively described the campaigns of the pharaoh, the brilliant victories of the Egyptian troops and the role of the king himself. There is no doubt that Chenen described everything as it was desirable for the king. Under another famous pharaoh, Ramses II, there was another similar scribe, whose name we do not know, whose work was copied by the scribe Pentaur. This work, well known to us, describes the famous Battle of Kadesh between the Egyptians and the Hittites, describes in detail and in a clearly exaggerated form the military prowess of Ramses II. The texts and images were produced by highly skilled scribes and artists, but Ramesses II himself influenced the content and direction of their work.
When talking about literature, it is impossible not to talk about its creators, about the authors. Here, however, we encounter very serious difficulties, which, of course, also apply to a number of other ancient literatures. All the Egyptian texts that have come down to us, of course, were once compiled and written by someone, even when they were a written record of oral traditions. However, in most of these texts there is not the slightest hint of the author. Who were they, these authors, and why are their names not in the texts? It is very difficult to answer this very important question unequivocally and quite definitely. Undoubtedly, this question is related to another, more general question: was the concept of authorship known or unknown to the ancient Egyptians? The negative answer to this question (and such a negative answer is widespread in scientific literature) is not true. The concept of authorship existed, but almost exclusively in the sphere of didactic literature.
As in other countries of antiquity, the concept of authorship in ancient Egypt was not yet a solid property of public thought. It only began to stabilize and be realized and strengthened precisely in didactic literature. Apparently, the Egyptians themselves considered this genre the most important and essential. One of the papyri of the New Kingdom period contains a most remarkable passage, 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.
A book is better than a painted tombstone
And a solid wall.
What is written in books builds houses and pyramids in the hearts of those
Who repeats the names of scribes,
To have the truth on your lips.
(Translated by A. Akhmatova)
We have a motive miraculous monument”, which sounded on the banks of the Nile at the end of the 2nd millennium BC. e. These lines serve as a vivid evidence of honor, respect and gratitude to the authors - wise men who enriched Egyptian culture with their works.
Such thoughts could be born only where literature was loved and appreciated, where creative work was deservedly considered the highest achievement of man. We confine ourselves to pointing out that the word "scribe" in the Egyptian language meant not only a professional clerk or copyist, but in general had the meaning of a "literate" or "educated" person. These monuments testify that scribes (something like the most ancient "intelligentsia") were recruited from all classes of the population (mainly from the ruling strata) and occupied the most diverse levels in the social hierarchy, from persons very close to the throne, up to the most modest officials and clerks. The scribes as a whole were a huge bureaucratic apparatus, very privileged, but mainly engaged in administrative and economic activities. II in this numerous bureaucratic mass there were always gifted and inquisitive people who could not be satisfied with the gray routine of bureaucratic duties, who strove for knowledge and creative work. So they became writers and scientists, the direct creators of Egyptian culture and literature.
The humanistic idea, which expressed the interest of society in man, and the philanthropic attitude towards him, inextricably linked with this interest, permeate the literature of ancient Egypt. Some scholars consider Egypt as the only homeland of many genres and literary plots that subsequently penetrated into other ancient literatures. This is an exaggeration, but one cannot deny the serious influence of Egyptian literature on other literatures of antiquity. Note first of all that Egyptian literature influenced the Bible. Although the determination of the scope of this influence causes conflicting opinions, however, the facts of such an impact are undoubted. The Bible story about the exodus of the Jews from Egypt contains the following episode: Moses "divided" the waters of the Red Sea, and on dry land, that is, the bottom of the sea, led the entire Jewish people from one coast to another. In the Westcar papyrus, the Egyptian priest also "parts" the waters of the pond. The biblical book "Proverbs of Solomon" in its structure and style resembles the Egyptian teachings. In [The Teaching of Amenemope] we read: "Give ear to your ears, listen to [the words] I have spoken, turn your heart to understand them." In Proverbs of Solomon: "Incline your ear, give heed to my words, and turn your heart to understand them." Such a coincidence, of course, is not an accident, the Egyptian text is in this case the primary source. The closeness of the biblical psalms 104, 110 and some others to Egyptian texts, etc., is striking. biblical stories, for example, [“Stay of Joseph in Egypt”] (“The Book of Genesis”) and others showed that they were inspired by Egyptian life and literature. Egyptian motifs through the Bible, and then through Coptic literature penetrated into Europe. Praise of the Roman general Stilicho by a Latin poet of the 4th c. AD Claudpanom contains very clear traces of the religious and mythological ideas of the ancient Egyptians. It should be noted that the researchers revealed the connection between Egyptian and ancient love lyrics. The so-called paraclausitron, that is, the love song of closed doors beloved (Plavt, Catullus, Proportions), traditionally regarded as the original antique genre. It turned out, however, that long before the ancient authors, the Egyptians knew this literary device. The facts presented are convincing enough, although far from being a systematic or exhaustive survey of the literary connections between Egypt and the ancient world.
On the whole, ancient Egyptian literature was more of a giver than a taker, an influence rather than an influence. Of course, it would be wrong to exclude any influence on Egyptian literature. In the demotic literature there is a cycle of legends about the pharaoh Petubast. In these legends there are non-Egyptian literary moments, and one can assume here the influence of the Iliad. as always happens with the mutual influence of two large literatures, Egyptian culture and literature, which perceived foreign elements, adapted to themselves, but at the same time losing their original appearance.
M. Korostovtsev
