Ancient Egyptian Literature: An Anthology

by John L. Foster (Translator)

Poetry, stories, hymns, prayers, and wisdom texts found exquisite written expression in ancient Egypt while their literary counterparts were still being recited around hearth fires in ancient Greece and Israel. Yet, because of its very antiquity and the centuries during which the language was forgotten, ancient Egyptian literature is a newly discovered country for modern readers.

This anthology offers an extensive sampling of all the major genres of ancient Egyptian literature. It includes all the texts from John Foster's previous book Echoes of Egyptian Voices, along with selections from his Love Songs of the New Kingdom and Hymns, Prayers, and Songs: An Anthology of Ancient Egyptian Lyric Poetry, as well as previously unpublished translations of four longer and two short poems. Foster's translations capture the poetical beauty of the Egyptian language and the spirit that impelled each piece's composition, making these ancient masterworks sing for modern readers. An introduction to ancient Egyptian literature and its translation, as well as brief information about the authorship and date of each selection, completes the volume.

Genres: Poetry, History, Egypt, Anthologies, Religion, Short Stories, Egyptology

272 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1901

Reviews

[Slow Reader · Rating 5 out of 5]

‘‘I think I’ll go home and lie very still’’

I think I’ll go home and lie very still,
feigning terminal illness.
Then the neighbors will all troop over to stare,
my love, perhaps, among them.
How she’ll smile while the specialists
snarl in their teeth!—
she perfectly well knows what ails me.


xiii
‘‘The farmer, he complains incessantly,
his cry more raucous than the raven’s;
His fingers go about their duties
through all the raging of the storm;
Wearied beyond reward down in the marshes,
he becomes a living wreck.
His storehouse is depleted by the lions,
worse ills from hippopotami are his;
His creatures there lack dwellings
so he must leave them unprotected.
He reaches home exhausted
and the taxman cuts him down."

"wearied beyond reward down in the marshes, he becomes a living wreck" is nuts, to me

[EJ · Rating 4 out of 5]

u know what i love: Mesopotamian literature

[Victoria · Rating 5 out of 5]

Although some of the pieces in this anthology date back almost 5,000 years, I was amazed by the parallelisms I noticed between the Egyptian poems/tales and the Biblical and Classic works I've studied. This is a comprehensive anthology of some of the most prominent works of Egyptian literature, and for anyone who desires to read Classic literature, Egyptian has now become, to me, an integral part of any study into ancient literature. Not only is the original message insightful -- and highly quotable -- but the translation is as poetic as its ancient counterpart. Foster's introduction to each piece displays great understanding of the writings and their meanings. I recommend this for any student of Classic literature or anyone who is looking for an interesting, quick read.

[Chris · Rating 1 out of 5]

I finished this book after my class ended, but not because I enjoyed it. This book has tons of information in it that is great for the study of Ancient Egpytian history. But nonetheless it is still just a textbook and I would ingore it on the level of a fun read, because that it is not. Please leave on the shelf unless absolutely necessary for research or class.

[Luke Arden · Rating 5 out of 5]

The oldest works presented in this book are from before 2300 BC. The inscriptions themselves date from the periods noted; some tell stories from centuries prior. They show that as far back as we have records, people weren't that different from us. There's little need for interpretation; the works speak for themselves. Some samples:

Akhenaten’s Hymn to the Sun, excerpt, ca. 1350 BC
(The Hymn to the Sun may have been composed by Akhenaten himself, says the book's author.)

Stanza 1

Let your holy Light shine from the height of heaven,
O living Aton,*
source of all life!
From eastern horizon risen and streaming,
you have flooded the world with your beauty.
You are majestic, awesome, bedazzling, exalted,
overlord over all earth,
yet your rays, they touch lightly, compass the lands
to the limits of all your creation.
There in the Sun, you reach to the farthest of those
you would gather in for your Son,†
whom you love;
Though you are far, your light is wide upon earth;
and you shine in the faces of all
who turn to follow your journeying.

* Aton: (also spelled Aten) the Sun God worshipped by Akhenaten.
† your Son: Akhenaten, who intercedes with God for humanity.

---

- Love hasn't changed at all in thousands of years:

‘‘Why, just now, must you question your heart’’, ca. 1200 BC

Why, just now, must you question your heart?
Is it really the time for discussion?
To her, say I,
take her tight in your arms!
For god’s sake, sweet man,
it’s me coming at you,
My tunic
loose at the shoulder!

---

- And neither has heartache:

‘‘I love you through the daytimes’’, ca. 1200 BC

I love you through the daytimes,
in the dark,
Through all the long divisions of the those hours
I, spendthrift, waste away alone,
and lie, and turn, awake ’til whitened dawn.
And with the shape of you I people night,
and thoughts of hot desire grow live within me.
What magic was it in that voice of yours
to bring such singing vigor to my flesh,
To limbs which now lie listless on my bed without you?
Thus I beseech the darkness:
Where gone, O loving man?
Why gone from her whose love
can pace you, step by step, to your desire?
No loving voice replies.
And I (too well) perceive
how much I am alone.

---

- Thousands of years ago, parents and teachers were warning their children to "stay in school":

The Instruction for Little Pepi on His Way to School
The Satire on the Trades, excerpt, reconstructed from fragments

("These vivid portraits of misery and even despair are meant to warn little Pepi of the kind of life that awaits him if he does not pay attention to his studies.")

Stanza 2

And he said to Pepi:
‘‘I have seen defeated, abject men!—
You must give yourself whole-heartedly to learning,
discover what will save you from the drudgery of underlings.
Nothing is so valuable as education;
it is a bridge over troubled waters.
Just read the end of the Book of Kemyt
where you will find these words:
‘A scribe in any position whatsoever at the royal palace
will never be needy there.’

---

- And lamenting when they didn't:

Rebuke Addressed to a Dissipated Scribe, excerpt, ca. 1200 BC

Now, as for what I have been told—
that you throw aside your studies
and live in a whirl of singing and dancing:
You go about from street to street,
and beer fumes hang wherever
Don’t you know beer kills the man in you?
It stiffens your very soul!
You are like a warped steering-oar
that gives no help to either side!
You are a shrine without its god,
a house with no provisions!
You are discovered scrambling up a wall
after breaking your confinement,
With people running headlong from you—
you deal them bloody wounds!
If you only knew that strong drink is destruction,
you would swear off the pomegranate wine,
You would not waste a thought on drinking-mugs,
and you would disown beer!

[Juniperus · Rating 3 out of 5]

The love songs were the best part. Just ordered his Love Songs of the New Kingdom. The rest were probably valuable for academic study but not too interesting to the casual reader. I really did love Foster's introduction where he argues that Kemetic lit should be studied alongside the Grecoromans as part of our classical canon.

[Daniel Kleven · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent in every way. Great selection, great introduction, great translation by Foster. Really beautiful literature, and I loved the inclusion of prints of the original hieroglyphics.

[Ellise · Rating 5 out of 5]

Interesting read, made somewhat difficult by the fact that most of the form was lost in translation. But a great start to Egyptian poetry.