William Kelley Simpson - The Literature of Ancient Egypt: An Anthology of Stories, Instructions, Stelae, Autobiographies, and Poetry; Third Edition

THE LITERATURE OF ANCIENT EGYPT

AN ANTHOLOGY OF STORIES, INSTRUCTIONS, STELAE, AUTOBIOGRAPHIES, AND POETRY

Third Edition

Edited and with an introduction by WILLIAM KELLY SIMPSON

With translations by:

Robert K. Ritner, William Kelly Simpson, Vincent A. Tobin, and Edward F. Wente, Jr.

YALE UNIVERSITY PRESS / NEW HAVEN & LONDON

Published with assistance from

the William K. and Marilyn M. Simpson

Endowment for Egyptology at

Yale University.

Copyright 2003 by Yale University.

All rights reserved.

This book may not be reproduced, in whole or in part, including illustrations, in any form (beyond that copying permitted by Sections 107 and 108 of the U.S. Copyright Law and except

by reviewers for the public press), without written permission from the publishers.

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Printed in the United States of America by Vail-Ballou Press.

ISBN: 0-300-09920-7

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To the memory of sages of our own time

who have made outstanding contributions

to the study and appreciation of the literature of ancient Egypt

RAYMOND O. FAULKNER (1894 1982) WOLFGANG HELCK (1914 1993)

GEORGES POSENER (1906 1988)

List of Abbreviations

Introduction by William Kelly Simpson

PART I

NARRATIVES AND TALES OF MIDDLE

EGYPTI AN LITERATURE 11

King Cheops and the Magicians 13

The Tale of the Eloquent Peasant 25

The Shipwrecked Sailor 45

The Story of Sinuhe 54

PART II

LATE EGYPTIAN STORIES 67-69

The Quarrel of Apophis and Seknenre The Capture of Joppa 72

The Tale of the Doomed Prince 75

The Tale of the Two Brothers 80

The Contendings of Horus and Seth 91-104

The Blinding of Truth by Falsehood Astarte and the Insatiable Sea 108

A Ghost Story 112

The Report of Wenamon 116

PART III INSTRUCTIONS, LAMENTATIONS, AND DIALOGUES 125

The Instruction of Hardedef (First Part) 127

The Maxims of Ptahhotep 129

The Teaching for the Vizier Kagemni 149

The Teaching for King Merikare 152-166

The Teaching of King Amenemhet I for His Son Senwosret The Loyalist Instruction from the Sehetepibre Stela 172

The Instruction of a Man for His Son 175

The Man Who Was Weary of Life 178

The Admonitions of an Egyptian Sage 188

The Lamentations of Khakheperre-sonbe 211

The Prophecies of Neferty 214

The Instruction of Amunnakhte 221

The Instruction of Amenemope 223

PART IV FROM THE RELIGIOUS LITERATURE 245

Selections from the Pyramid Texts 247

Selections from the Coffin Texts 263

Book of the Dead 125: The Negative Confession 267

The Hymn to the Aten 278

Penitential Hymns 284

The Book of the Heavenly Cow 289

PART V: SONGS AND ROYAL HYMNS 299

Cycle of Songs in Honor of Senwosret III 301

The Love Songs and The Song of the Harper 307

PART VI: ROYAL STELAE 335

The Semna Stela 337

The Neferhotep Stela 339

The Kamose Texts 345-351

The Poetical Stela of Thutmose III The Israel Stela 356

The Bentresh Stela 361

The Victory Stela of Piye 367

The Famine Stela 386

The Satrap Stela 392

PART VII AUTO BIOGRAPHIES 399-401

Three Autobiographies of the Old Kingdom The Stela of Tjetji 414-418

Amenemhet and Khnumhotep II at Beni Hasan The Stela of Iykhernofret 425

PART VIII SCRIBAL TRADITIONS 429-431

The Satire on the Trades: The Instruction of Dua-Khety The Scribal Traditions in the Schools 438

PART IX DEMOTIC LITERATURE 443

The Prophecy of the Lamb 445

The Tale of Amasis and the Skipper 450-453

The Romance of Setna Khaemuas and the Mummies (Setna I) The Adventures of Setna and Si-Osire (Setna II) 470

The Childhood of Si-Osire 490

The Magician Hihor 492

The Fable of the Swallow and the Sea 494

The Instruction of Onchsheshonqy 497

Bibliography 531

Illustrations follow page XIV

Abh

gyptologische Abhandlungen

ADAW

Abhandlungen der Deutschen Akademie der Wissenschaften zu Berlin, Philosophisch-historische Klasse

AEL

Miriam Lichtheim, Ancient Egyptian Literature, vol. 1: The Old and Middle Kingdoms; vol. 2: The New Kingdom; vol. 3: The Late Period, Berkeley, 1973, 1976, 1980 gyptologische Forschungen

F

ANET

J. B. Pritchard, ed., Ancient Near Eastern Texts, 3d ed., Princeton, 1969

UAT

gypten und Altes Testament

BAR

James Henry Breasted, Ancient Records of Egypt, 5 vols., repr. London, 1988

BdE

Bibliothque d Etude IFAOC

BEHE

Bibliothque de l Ecole des Hautes Etudes, IVe section, Sci- ences historiques et philologiques

BES

Bulletin Egyptological Seminar

BIE

Bulletin de l Institut d Egypte

BIFAO

Bulletin de l Institut Franais d Archologie Orientale Bibliotheca Orientalis

BiOr

BSEG

Bulletin de la Socit d Egyptologie Genve

BSFE

Bulletin de la Socit Franaise d Egyptologie

CD

C. E. Crum, A Coptic Dictionary, Oxford, 1939 Chronique d gypte

CdE

CNI

Carsten Niebuhr Institute, Copenhagen

CRIPEL

Cahier de Recherches de l Institut de Papyrologie et d Egyp- tologie de Lille

DAIK

Deutsches Archologisches Institut Kairo

DE

Discussions in Egyptology

DFIFAO

Documents de Fouilles de IFAO

GM

Gttinger Miszellen

HB

Hildesheimer gyptologischge Beitrge

IFAO

l Institut Franais d Archologie Orientale, Cairo

JAOS

Journal of the American Oriental Society

JARCE

Journal of the American Research Center in Egypt

JEA

Journal of Egyptian Archaeology

JEOL

Jaarbericht Ex Oriente Lux

JESHO

Journal of the Economic and Social History of the Orient Journal of Near Eastern Studies

JNES

JSSEA

L

Journal of the Society of the Study of Egyptian Antiquities W. Helck et al., eds., Lexikon der gyptologie I VII, Wiesbaden, 1972 92

MS

Mnchner gyptologische Studien

MU

Mnchner gyptologische Untersuchungen

MIFAO

Mmoirs IFAO

MIO

MDAIK

Mitteilungen des Instituts fr Orientforschung Mitteilungen des Deutschen Archologischen Institut, Ab- teilung Kairo

OBO

Orbis Biblicus et Orientalis

OLA

Orientalia Lovaniensia Analecta

OLZ

Orientalistische Literaturzeitung

OMRO

Oudheidkundige Mededelingen uit het Rijksmuseum van Oudheden te Leiden

Or

Orientalia

RdE

Revue d Egyptologie

RevEq

Revue Egyptologique

RSO

Rivista degli Studi Orientali

SAGA

Studien zur Archologie und Geschichte Altgyptens Studien zur Altgyptischen Kultur

SK

SAOC

Studies in Ancient Oriental Civilizations

SBAW

Sitzungsberichte der Bayerischen Akademie der Wissenschaft, Phil.-hist. Abt., Munich

SSEA

Society for the Study of Egyptian Antiquities

StudAeg

Studia Aegyptiaca, Budapest

TUAT

UGA

Otto Kaiser, ed., Texte aus dem Umwelt des Alten Testament Untersuchungen zur Geschichte und Altertumskunde gyptens K. Sethe, ed., Urkunden

Urk.

VA

Varia Aegyptiaca, San Antonio