Presented by:Ma. Jessabeth Aluba

Pop Canata

Aleile Dela Rosa

Krystel Mae Lariosa

Kristine Oracoy

.Ancient Egyptian literature was written in theEgyptian language from Ancient Egypt'spharaonic period until the end of Romandomination.

along with Sumerian literature, it is consideredthe world's earliest literature.

The earliest remains are those carved on thedurable stone of monuments. Had it not beenfor the importance attached by the Egyptiansto a life after death, the most ancientliterature would never have been studied.

• The great tombs were the libraries in whichthe numerous writings were preserved, eitheras inscriptions on the walls or written onpapyrus.

-this substance from which our word“paper” is derived was made from a certainkind of seed growing in the Nile. It is a curiousfact that long after the living plant becameextinct in the Nile Valley, the dried pressedleaves bore silent witness to the ancientcivilization.

-Many of these papyri are nowscattered in libraries and museums throughoutthe world, some of the most important beingin London, Berlin, and Leningrad.

• Limited in scope and in style. It is limited intype, largely epitaphs, hymns in praise ofmonarchs and gods, religious and moralteachings, records, ledgers and letters.

• The most extensive work is The Book of theDead.

-consisting of religious formulas for theconduct of the soul after death.

• Laments, discourses, dialogues, and prophecies

• Poems, songs, hymns, and afterlife texts

• Private letters, model letters, and epistles

• instructions and teachings

There are 31 dynasties of kings that reigned inEgypt up to the conquest by Alexander theGreat in 332 B.C may be divided into 3 maingroups:

1) The Old Kingdom (to 3000 B.C.)

i) Which left stone inscriptions

ii) One of the most interesting is a letterof thanks written by a boy Pharaoh to ageneral who had sent him a captiveEthiopian dwarf dancer.

2) The Middle Kingdom (3000-1600 B.C.)

i) Introduced the use of papyrus andhas left many documents.

ii) One of the finest poems is the “Hymnto Usertesen III.

Hymn to Usertesen III

This hymn is the most remarkable example ofEgyptian poetry known to

us. It was found by Mr. Flinders Petrie near thepyramid and temple of Usertesen II.,

in the town which was founded there for theaccommodation of the workmen

employed upon these buildings, and for thepriestly staff who performed the

servnces for the dead Pharaoh in his chapel.The hymn is addressed to the son andsuccessor of that king — to Usertesen III., —

an active and warlike prince, who, as the poetalso testifies, used his power for the benefit ofhis country and the pious support of itsinstitutions. It is a marvel that the delicatepapyrus on which the hymn is written shouldhave been preserved for nearly 5,000 years. Ithas not, however, resisted the attacks of timewithout suffering injury; and the lacunae,together with the peculiar language em-

ployed by the scribe, are baffling to thedecipherer. Four stanzas only can be read withcomparative completeness and certainty.

• Major narrative works from the Middle Kingdom include the Tale of the Court of King Cheops, King Neferkare and General Sasenet, The Eloquent Peasant, Story of Sinuhe, and Tale of the shipwrecked sailor.

3) The New Kingdom (1600-332 B.C.)

i) Which included the time of theExodus of the Israelites under Moses,about 1300 B.C. up to the death-struggles with the eastern conqueringnations, Assyria, Persia, and Greece.

ii) This period produced the greatestbody of literature.

iii) After Alexander the Great, Egyptbecame just a Greek province. Her gloryhad become merely a tradition of thepast.

The New Kingdom corpus of tales includes the Quarrel of Apepi and Seqenenre, Taking of Joppa, Tale of the doomed prince, Tale of Two Brothers, and the Report of Wenamun.

While the Egyptian Kingdom dominated thevalley of the Nile, there was graduallydeveloping another civilization in the fertilevalley of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers.

• Assyro-Babylonian literature (alsoAkkadian literature) is the ancientliterature written in the Akkadianlanguage (Assyrian and Babylonianlanguages) written in Mesopotamia(Assyria and Babylonia) during theperiod spanning the Middle Bronze Ageto the Iron Age (roughly the 23rd to 6thcenturies BC).

• Drawing on the traditions of Sumerianliterature, the Babylonians compiled asubstantial textual tradition ofmythological narrative, legal texts,scientific works, letters and otherliterary forms.

The Great Babylonian and Assyrian empiresthat left a voluminous literature behindthem.

1. The Ancient Sumerians

-the earliest race, conquered about2900 B.C. by Senitic tribes, and unitedunder Sargon I. This great Babylonianempire reached the height of its powerunder the Dynasty of Hammurapi.

- the laws issued by him are among thethe most important remains of the timecomparing favourably with the Mosaiclaw in high moral standard.

-had an aboriginal language withwritten symbols composed of wedge-shaped characters.

-the reason of the wedge shape wasthat clay tablets pressed by the sharpedge of a stylus were used for writtenrecords.

2. The Assyrians

-swept down the Babylonians and madethem tributary.

3. The Assurbanipal

-an Assyrian monarch of the7th centuryB.C. assembled at Nineveh atremendous library of about 22,000 claytablets.

• Great epics record lives of the gods. Thegreat “Creation Epic of Babylon” centersaround the sun-god Marduk who battled withTrainat, the salt-water ocean, from whose slainbody he created heaven and earth. LaterMarduk created man from the blood ofanother rebellious god. The other dieties builta sanctuary to Marduk and hailed him lordwith a list of fifty honorary titles. The recital of

of the epic was part of the annual New Year’sfestival of the Babylonians.

• Isthar, goddess of love, identified with theplanet Venus, figures in manyof the epics.

-one of her story is “descent into Hades”resembles the greek myth Persephone, insymbolizing the death of vegetation duringwinter and its revival with the return of thegoddess in the spring.

Epic of Gilgamesh

- the most important of all the Babylonianepics.

- Gilgamesh is a two-thirds god and one thirdhuman.

The first half of the story discusses Gilgamesh,king of Uruk, and Enkidu, a wild man createdby the gods to stop him oppressing the peopleof Uruk. After an initial fight, Gilgamesh andEnkidu become close friends. Together, theyjourney to the Cedar Mountain and defeatHumbaba, its monstrous guardian. Later theykill the bull of heaven, which the goddess

Ishtar sends to punish Gilgamesh for spurningher advances. As a punishment for theseactions, the gods sentence Enkidu to death.

In the second half of the epic, Gilgamesh'sdistress at Enkidu's death causes him toundertake a long and perilous journey todiscover the secret of eternal life. Heeventually learns that "Life, which you look for,you will never find. For when the gods createdman, they let death be his share, and lifewithheld in their own hands". However,because of his great building projects, his

account of Siduri's advice, and what theimmortal man Utnapishtim told him about theGreat Flood, Gilgamesh's fame survived hisdeath. His story has been translated into manylanguages, and in recent years has featured inworks of popular fiction.

-The epic ends on a tragic note.Utnapishthism, the ancestor he consulted, wasthe Babylonian Noah, and in telling hisexperiences he gave us a version of theDELUGE which resembles in many of its detailsthat of the Bible.

The story of the deluge

-based from tablet XI of the epic.

-this story actually a narration of Utnapishtimto Gilgamesh of how he became immortal.

-He tells first that after the gods have decidedto send a flood to the earth, Ea, one of theleaders of the gods, mysteriously conveys tothe mind of the mortal the coming event andinstructs him to save himself and all life in aship which he is to build according to the god’sinstructions.

• Enlil or Ashur - god of the wind and divine ruler of the Earth and its human inhabitants, head of the Assyrian pantheon

• Adad or Ishkur - god of storms, venerated as a supreme power especially in Syria and Lebanon

• Inanna or Ishtar - goddess of fertility, love, and war

• Ereshkigal - goddess of Irkalla, the Underworld

• Enki or Ea - god of the Abzu, crafts, water, intelligence, mischief and creation

• Anu or An - god of heaven and the sky, lord of constellations, and father of the gods

• Nabu - god of wisdom and writing

• Marduk - patron deity of Babylon who eventually became regarded as the head of the Babylonian pantheon

Tammuz or Dumuzi - god of food and vegetation

• Sin or Nanna - god of the moon

• Shamash or Utu - god of the sun, arbiter of justice and patron of travellers

• Ninurta - champion of the gods, the epitome of youthful vigour, and god of agriculture

• Ninlil - goddess of the air; consort of Enlil

• Ninhursag or Mami, Belet-Ili, Ki, Ninmah, Nintu, or Aruru - earth and mother goddess

• Nergal - god of plague, war, and the sun in its destructive capacity; later husband of Ereshkigal

• Nanshe - goddess of social justice, prophecy, fertility and fishing

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