Ancient Egyptian Literature
Ancient Egyptian literature is one of the oldest literatures in the world. That’s a pretty strong statement right there. The Sumerians beat us in the invention of writing systems, and they also contend with us for the “earliest literature in the world” spot.
But the great thing about ancient Egyptian literature is that, unlike the Sumerian, there is so much of it and it was so well preserved that we can still read it directly to this day. Not that we’re competing or anything 😉
The study of ancient literature has a special place in many people’s hearts because you can really get a glimpse into the thinking of generations of thousands of years ago.
And once in a while, you’ll link a character in a story you’re reading with someone in your own life, or perhaps find a similar philosophical precept that you follow without even realizing. Try it and see!
Here are some of my favorite religious hymns:
And here are some of the best legends & stories:
Then of course there are the Love Songs, The Harper’s Song, and the infamous Turin Erotic papyrus. King lists and historical records can be found on the history section of the website. And as for Myths, you can take a look at the list here.
And finally, we get to wisdom literature, called sebayt. Take a look here for one of the most important pieces of ancient Egyptian wisdom literature called The Instruction of Ptah-hotep.
Who Invented Ancient Egyptian Literature And Writing?
Well, historically it’s very hard to pinpoint… But “mythologically” we know. The ancient Egyptians believed the God Thoth was responsible for inventing writing and was the god of wisdom, knowledge, mathematics, astronomy and medicine.
He was the scribe that recorded what was happening during the weighing of the heart ceremony, and the great judge that made sure truth was told and all was fair.
He was also the God that gave things their names.
And of course, it’s natural that his affinity with language and writing, he was also considered the messenger of the gods – akin to the Greek Hermes or Roman Mercury.
Due to him being the god of writing and books, many great works of ancient Egyptian literature, especially religious texts, were attributed to him. These works were appropriately named Books of Thoth and were usually stored in the House of Life – the “libraries” of the temples.
If a scribe was given authorship, it was only because he was inspired by Thoth himself.
Kind of like how Homer asked the Muse to use him as her mouthpiece to create the Odyssey.
And speaking of this, I just want to add a side-note: some people like to recite the Invocation of the Muse in the beginning of the Odyssey before doing their work. If you’re intrigued, give it a try. Check out the T.E. Lawrence (Lawrence of Arabia) translation.
So anyway, this is a new section of EAE that I will be expanding regularly with a lot of great ancient Egyptian texts and info about them. So please do keep your eyes open for new posts about this HUGE topic coming your way. But for now, as a sneak-peak, here’s a quick breakdown of the different literary genres of ancient Egypt…
- Stories of Adventures and Travels
- Ancient Egyptian Funerary Texts
- Sebayt – Instructional or Moralistic Teachings
- Hymns to the Gods and Goddesses
- Myths and Fairytales
- Creation Myths
- Love letters
And more! And if you’re interested in getting a taste of ancient Egyptian literature yourself, you can download “The Instruction of Ptah-hotep” – a type of Sebayt, by signing up below to receive The Pyramid Scrolls free email updates.
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Thanks and take care!