Ancient Egyptian Literature

Ancient Egyptian literary compositions were generally copied on

papyrus paper, and this has generally not survived the damp and fire

of history (survival). The scale of destruction is revealed starkly by

the numbers of intact tales, teachings and reflective sayings - only

nine from the Middle Kingdom (about 2025-1700 BC), only seven

from the New Kingdom (about 1550-1069 BC) and Third Intermediate

Period (about 1069-664 BC) together. Nevertheless, these survivors,

with the more numerous compositions known only from fragments,

are enough to demonstrate the genius of the Ancient Egyptian art of

words.

Definition of literature

List of surviving literary compositions in Middle Egyptian see

the Teaching of Amenemhat I for most detailed treatment

List of surviving literary compositions in Late Egyptian

Many later literary works written in the demotic phase of the Egyptian

language are still being edited for publication: demotic literature

includes cycles of tales and teachings (for a summary see Tait 1996).

The extent of foreign influence in demotic literature remains a subject

of intense debate. There are fragments of demotic tales among the

papyri extracted from cartonnage found at Rifeh, now preserved in

the Petrie Museum.

Other topics to consider:

literary writing within the scope of writing in each period

circulation of literary manuscripts to readers

how many people could read and write in each period? the

history of literacy

the history of the book and of writing materials

groups of books: the history of the library

problems with using the words 'text' and 'author'

Further reading:

Loprieno 1996 (The most comprehensive recent guide to the

material and topics of current debate in Egyptology, with an

introduction by Hans Ulrich Gumbrecht)

Among the translations from the Egyptian language into the English

language, note:

Lichtheim 1973 / Lichtheim 1976 / Lichtheim 1980

Foster 2001

Simpson/Faulkner/Wente1972

Parkinson 1997