Ancient Egyptian literature
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Ancient Egyptian literature was written with the
Ancient Egyptian literature has been preserved on a wide variety of media. This includes papyrus scrolls and packets, limestone or ceramic ostraca, wooden writing boards, monumental stone edifices and coffins. Texts preserved and unearthed by modern archaeologists represent a small fraction of ancient Egyptian literary material. The area of the floodplain of the Nile is under-represented because the moist environment is unsuitable for the preservation of papyri and ink inscriptions. On the other hand, hidden caches of literature, buried for thousands of years, have been discovered in settlements on the dry desert margins of Egyptian civilization.
Scripts, media, and languages
Hieroglyphs, hieratic, and Demotic
By the
The Egyptians called their hieroglyphs "words of god" and reserved their use for exalted purposes, such as communicating with
Hieratic is a simplified, cursive form of Egyptian hieroglyphs.
By the mid-1st millennium BC, hieroglyphs and hieratic were still used for royal, monumental, religious, and funerary writings, while a new, even more cursive script was used for informal, day-to-day writing:
Writing implements and materials
Egyptian literature was produced on a variety of
By the
Preservation of written material
Underground Egyptian tombs built in the desert provide possibly the most protective environment for the preservation of papyrus documents. For example, there are many well-preserved Book of the Dead funerary papyri placed in tombs to act as afterlife guides for the souls of the deceased tomb occupants.[24] However, it was only customary during the late Middle Kingdom and first half of the New Kingdom to place non-religious papyri in burial chambers. Thus, the majority of well-preserved literary papyri are dated to this period.[24]
Most settlements in ancient Egypt were situated on the
Writings on more permanent media have also been lost in several ways. Stones with inscriptions were frequently re-used as building materials, and ceramic ostraca require a dry environment to ensure the preservation of the ink on their surfaces.
John W. Tait stresses, "Egyptian material survives in a very uneven fashion ... the unevenness of survival comprises both time and space."[27] For instance, there is a dearth of written material from all periods from the Nile Delta but an abundance at western Thebes, dating from its heyday.[27] He notes that while some texts were copied numerous times, others survive from a single copy; for example, there is only one complete surviving copy of the Tale of the Shipwrecked Sailor from the Middle Kingdom.[30] However, Tale of the Shipwrecked Sailor also appears in fragments of texts on ostraca from the New Kingdom.[31] Many other literary works survive only in fragments or through incomplete copies of lost originals.[32]
Classical, Middle, Late, and Demotic Egyptian language
Although writing first appeared during the very late 4th millennium BC, it was only used to convey short names and labels; connected strings of text did not appear until about 2600 BC, at the beginning of the
Hieratic was used alongside hieroglyphs for writing in Old and Middle Egyptian, becoming the dominant form of writing in Late Egyptian.
Literary functions: social, religious and educational
Throughout ancient Egyptian history, the ability to read and write were the main requirements for serving in public office, although government officials were assisted in their day-to-day work by an elite, literate social group known as scribes.[40] As evidenced by Papyrus Anastasi I of the Ramesside Period, scribes could even be expected, according to Wilson, "...to organize the excavation of a lake and the building of a brick ramp, to establish the number of men needed to transport an obelisk and to arrange the provisioning of a military mission".[41] Besides government employment, scribal services in drafting letters, sales documents, and legal documents would have been frequently sought by illiterate people.[42] Literate people are thought to have comprised only 1% of the population,[43] the remainder being illiterate farmers, herdsmen, artisans, and other laborers,[44] as well as merchants who required the assistance of scribal secretaries.[45] The privileged status of the scribe over illiterate manual laborers was the subject of a popular Ramesside Period instructional text, The Satire of the Trades, where lowly, undesirable occupations, for example, potter, fisherman, laundry man, and soldier, were mocked and the scribal profession praised.[46] A similar demeaning attitude towards the illiterate is expressed in the Middle Kingdom Teaching of Khety, which is used to reinforce the scribes' elevated position within the social hierarchy.[47]
The scribal class was the social group responsible for maintaining, transmitting, and canonizing literary classics, and writing new compositions.
There are some known instances where those outside the scribal profession were literate and had access to classical literature. Menena, a draughtsman working at Deir el-Medina during the
What may be revealed by Hori's attack on the way in which some Ramesside scribes felt obliged to demonstrate their greater or lesser acquaintance with ancient literature is the conception that these venerable works were meant to be known in full and not to be misused as quarries for popular sayings mined deliberately from the past. The classics of the time were to be memorized completely and comprehended thoroughly before being cited.[52]
There is limited but solid evidence in Egyptian literature and
Literature also served religious purposes. Beginning with the Pyramid Texts of the Old Kingdom, works of funerary literature written on tomb walls, and later on coffins, and papyri placed within tombs, were designed to protect and nurture souls in their afterlife.[57] This included the use of magical spells, incantations, and lyrical hymns.[57] Copies of non-funerary literary texts found in non-royal tombs suggest that the dead could entertain themselves in the afterlife by reading these teaching texts and narrative tales.[58]
Although the creation of literature was predominantly a male scribal pursuit, some works are thought to have been written by women. For example, several references to women writing letters and surviving private letters sent and received by women have been found.[59] However, Edward F. Wente asserts that, even with explicit references to women reading letters, it is possible that women employed others to write documents.[60]
Dating, setting, and authorship
Dating texts by methods of
Parkinson writes that nearly all literary texts were pseudonymous, and frequently falsely attributed to well-known male protagonists of earlier history, such as kings and viziers.[70] Only the literary genres of "teaching" and "laments/discourses" contain works attributed to historical authors; texts in genres such as "narrative tales" were never attributed to a well-known historical person.[71] Tait asserts that during the Classical Period of Egypt, "Egyptian scribes constructed their own view of the history of the role of scribes and of the 'authorship' of texts", but during the Late Period, this role was instead maintained by the religious elite attached to the temples.[72]
There are a few exceptions to the rule of pseudonymity. The real authors of some Ramesside Period teaching texts were acknowledged, but these cases are rare, localized, and do not typify mainstream works.[73] Those who wrote private and sometimes model letters were acknowledged as the original authors. Private letters could be used in courts of law as testimony, since a person's unique handwriting could be identified as authentic.[74] Private letters received or written by the pharaoh were sometimes inscribed in hieroglyphics on stone monuments to celebrate kingship, while kings' decrees inscribed on stone stelas were often made public.[75]
Literary genres and subjects
Modern Egyptologists categorize Egyptian texts into genres, for example "laments/discourses" and narrative tales.[76] The only genre of literature named as such by the ancient Egyptians was the "teaching" or sebayt genre.[77] Parkinson states that the titles of a work, its opening statement, or key words found in the body of text should be used as indicators of its particular genre.[78] Only the genre of "narrative tales" employed prose, yet many of the works of that genre, as well as those of other genres, were written in verse.[79] Most ancient Egyptian verses were written in couplet form, but sometimes triplets and quatrains were used.[80]
Instructions and teachings
The "instructions" or "teaching" genre, as well as the genre of "reflective discourses", can be grouped in the larger corpus of
Key words found in teaching texts include "to know" (rḫ) and "to teach" (sbꜣ).[81] These texts usually adopt the formulaic title structure of "the instruction of X made for Y", where "X" can be represented by an authoritative figure (such as a vizier or king) providing moral guidance to his son(s).[86] It is sometimes difficult to determine how many fictional addressees are involved in these teachings, since some texts switch between singular and plural when referring to their audiences.[87]
Examples of the "teaching" genre include the
Narrative tales and stories
The genre of "tales and stories" is probably the least represented genre from surviving literature of the Middle Kingdom and Middle Egyptian.
Parkinson defines tales as "...non-commemorative, non-functional, fictional
Narrative tales and stories are most often found on papyri, but partial and sometimes complete texts are found on ostraca. For example, Sinuhe is found on five papyri composed during the
Laments, discourses, dialogues, and prophecies
The Middle Kingdom genre of "
In Middle Kingdom texts, connecting themes include a pessimistic outlook, descriptions of social and religious change, and great disorder throughout the land, taking the form of a
Although written during the Twelfth dynasty, Ipuwer only survives from a
Poems, songs, hymns, and afterlife texts
The funerary stone
Funerary poems were thought to preserve a monarch's soul in death. The
Poems were also written to celebrate kingship. For example, at the Precinct of Amun-Re at Karnak, Thutmose III (r. 1479–1425 BC) of the Eighteenth dynasty erected a stela commemorating his military victories in which the gods bless Thutmose in poetic verse and ensure for him victories over his enemies.[126] In addition to stone stelas, poems have been found on wooden writing boards used by schoolboys.[127] Besides the glorification of kings,[128] poems were written to honor various deities, and even the Nile.[129]
Surviving hymns and songs from the Old Kingdom include the morning greeting hymns to the gods in their respective temples.
During the reign of Akhenaten (r. 1353–1336 BC), the Great Hymn to the Aten—preserved in tombs of Amarna, including the tomb of Ay—was written to the Aten, the sun-disk deity given exclusive patronage during his reign.[134] Simpson compares this composition's wording and sequence of ideas to those of Psalm 104.[135]
Only a single poetic hymn in the Demotic script has been preserved.[136] However, there are many surviving examples of Late-Period Egyptian hymns written in hieroglyphs on temple walls.[137]
No Egyptian love song has been dated from before the New Kingdom, these being written in Late Egyptian, although it is speculated that they existed in previous times.[138] Erman compares the love songs to the Song of Songs, citing the labels "sister" and "brother" that lovers used to address each other.[139]
Private letters, model letters, and epistles
The ancient Egyptian model letters and epistles are grouped into a single literary genre. Papyrus rolls sealed with mud stamps were used for long-distance letters, while ostraca were frequently used to write shorter, non-confidential letters sent to recipients located nearby.[140] Letters of royal or official correspondence, originally written in hieratic, were sometimes given the exalted status of being inscribed on stone in hieroglyphs.[141] The various texts written by schoolboys on wooden writing boards include model letters.[89] Private letters could be used as epistolary model letters for schoolboys to copy, including letters written by their teachers or their families.[142] However, these models were rarely featured in educational manuscripts; instead fictional letters found in numerous manuscripts were used.[143] The common epistolary formula used in these model letters was "The official A. saith to the scribe B".[144]
The oldest-known
During the late Middle Kingdom, greater standardization of the epistolary formula can be seen, for example in a series of model letters taken from dispatches sent to the
The epistolary Satirical Letter of
Biographical and autobiographical texts
Catherine Parke, Professor Emerita of English and Women's Studies at the
Olivier Perdu, a professor of
In her discussion of the
Beginning with the funerary stelas for officials of the late
Decrees, chronicles, king lists, and histories
Modern historians consider that some biographical—or autobiographical—texts are important historical documents.
Other documents useful for investigating Egyptian history are ancient
An Egyptian historian, known by his Greek name as
Tomb and temple graffiti
Fischer-Elfert distinguishes ancient Egyptian
Legacy, translation and interpretation
After the
The most recently carved hieroglyphic inscription of ancient Egypt known today is found in a temple of
It was not until 1799, with the Napoleonic discovery of a trilingual (i.e. hieroglyphic, Demotic, Greek) stela inscription on the Rosetta Stone, that modern scholars had the resources to decipher Egyptian texts.[186] The key breakthroughs were made more than twenty years later, in the work of Jean-François Champollion in deciphering hieroglyphs and Thomas Young in deciphering Demotic.[187] By the time of Champollion's death in 1832, it was possible to discern the general sense of Egyptian texts.[188] The first scholar able to read an Egyptian text in full was Emmanuel de Rougé, who published the first translations of Egyptian literary texts in 1856.[189]
Before the 1970s, scholarly consensus was that ancient Egyptian literature—although sharing similarities with modern literary categories—was not an independent discourse, uninfluenced by the ancient sociopolitical order.
Notes
- ^ Foster 2001, p. xx.
- ^ Parkinson 2002, pp. 64–66.
- ^ Forman & Quirke 1996, p. 26.
- ^ Wilson 2003, pp. 7–10; Forman & Quirke 1996, pp. 10–12; Wente 1990, p. 2; Allen 2000, pp. 1–2, 6.
- ^ Wilson 2003, p. 28; Forman & Quirke 1996, p. 13; Allen 2000, p. 3.
- ^ Forman & Quirke 1996, p. 13; for similar examples, see Allen (2000: 3) and Erman (2005: xxxv-xxxvi).
- ^ Wilkinson 2000, pp. 23–24; Wilson 2004, p. 11; Gardiner 1915, p. 72.
- ^ Wilson 2003, pp. 22, 47; Forman & Quirke 1996, pp. 10; Wente 1990, p. 2; Parkinson 2002, p. 73.
- ^ Forman & Quirke 1996, p. 10.
- ^ Wilson 2003, pp. 63–64.
- ^ a b c Wilson 2003, p. 71; Forman & Quirke 1996, pp. 101–103.
- ^ Erman 2005, p. xxxvii; Simpson 1972, pp. 8–9; Forman & Quirke 1996, p. 19; Allen 2000, p. 6.
- ^ a b Forman & Quirke 1996, p. 19.
- ^ Wilson 2003, pp. 22–23.
- ^ Wilson 2003, pp. 22–23, 91–92; Parkinson 2002, p. 73; Wente 1990, pp. 1–2; Spalinger 1990, p. 297; Allen 2000, p. 6.
- ^ Parkinson 2002, pp. 73–74; Forman & Quirke 1996, p. 19.
- ^ a b Forman & Quirke 1996, p. 17.
- ^ Forman & Quirke 1996, pp. 17–19, 169; Allen 2000, p. 6.
- ^ Forman & Quirke 1996, pp. 19, 169; Allen 2000, p. 6; Simpson 1972, pp. 8–9; Erman 2005, pp. xxxvii, xlii; Foster 2001, p. xv.
- ^ a b Wente 1990, p. 4.
- ^ a b Wente 1990, pp. 4–5.
- ^ Allen 2000, p. 5; Foster 2001, p. xv; see also Wente 1990, pp. 5–6 for a wooden writing board example.
- ^ a b c Forman & Quirke 1996, p. 169.
- ^ a b Quirke 2004, p. 14.
- ^ Wente 1990, pp. 2–3; Tait 2003, pp. 9–10.
- ^ Wente 1990, pp. 2–3.
- ^ a b c Tait 2003, pp. 9–10.
- ^ a b Wilson 2003, pp. 91–93.
- ^ Wilson 2003, pp. 91–93; see also Wente 1990, pp. 132–133.
- ^ Tait 2003, p. 10; see also Parkinson 2002, pp. 298–299.
- ^ a b c Fischer-Elfert 2003, p. 121.
- ^ Simpson 1972, pp. 3–4; Foster 2001, pp. xvii–xviii.
- ^ a b c Allen 2000, p. 1.
- ^ Allen 2000, p. 1; Fischer-Elfert 2003, p. 119; Erman 2005, pp. xxv–xxvi.
- ^ Allen 2000, p. 1; Wildung 2003, p. 61.
- ^ Allen 2000, p. 6.
- ^ Allen 2000, pp. 1, 5–6; Wildung 2003, p. 61; Erman 2005, pp. xxv–xxvii; Lichtheim 1980, p. 4.
- ^ Allen 2000, p. 5; Erman 2005, pp. xxv–xxvii; Lichtheim 1980, p. 4.
- ^ Wildung 2003, p. 61.
- ^ Wente 1990, pp. 6–7; see also Wilson 2003, pp. 19–20, 96–97; Erman 2005, pp. xxvii–xxviii.
- ^ Wilson 2003, p. 96.
- ^ Wente 1990, pp. 7–8.
- ^ Wente 1990, pp. 7–8; Parkinson 2002, pp. 66–67.
- ^ Wilson 2003, pp. 23–24.
- ^ Wilson 2003, p. 95.
- ^ Wilson 2003, pp. 96–98.
- ^ Parkinson 2002, pp. 66–67.
- ^ Fischer-Elfert 2003, pp. 119–121; Parkinson 2002, p. 50.
- ^ Wilson 2003, pp. 97–98; see Parkinson 2002, pp. 53–54; see also Fischer-Elfert 2003, pp. 119–121.
- ^ Parkinson 2002, pp. 54–55; see also Morenz 2003, p. 104.
- ^ a b Simpson 1972, pp. 5–6.
- ^ Fischer-Elfert 2003, p. 122.
- ^ Parkinson 2002, pp. 78–79; for pictures (with captions) of Egyptian miniature funerary models of boats with men reading papyrus texts aloud, see Forman & Quirke 1996, pp. 76–77, 83.
- ^ a b c Parkinson 2002, pp. 78–79.
- ^ Wilson 2003, p. 93.
- ^ a b Parkinson 2002, pp. 80–81.
- ^ a b Forman & Quirke 1996, pp. 51–56, 62–63, 68–72, 111–112; Budge 1972, pp. 240–243.
- ^ Parkinson 2002, p. 70.
- ^ Wente 1990, pp. 1, 9, 132–133.
- ^ Wente 1990, p. 9.
- ^ Parkinson 2002, pp. 45–46, 49–50, 55–56; Morenz 2003, p. 102; see also Simpson 1972, pp. 3–6 and Erman 2005, pp. xxiv–xxv.
- ^ a b Morenz 2003, p. 102.
- ^ Parkinson 2002, pp. 45–46, 49–50, 55–56; Morenz 2003, p. 102.
- ^ a b Parkinson 2002, pp. 47–48.
- ^ Parkinson 2002, pp. 45–46; Morenz 2003, pp. 103–104.
- ^ Parkinson 2002, p. 46.
- ^ Parkinson 2002, pp. 46–47; see also Morenz 2003, pp. 101–102.
- ^ Morenz 2003, pp. 104–107.
- ^ a b Wente 1990, pp. 54–55, 58–63.
- ^ Parkinson 2002, pp. 75–76.
- ^ Parkinson 2002, pp. 75–76; Fischer-Elfert 2003, p. 120.
- ^ Tait 2003, pp. 12–13.
- ^ Parkinson 2002, pp. 238–239.
- ^ Wente 1990, p. 7.
- ^ Wente 1990, pp. 17–18.
- ^ Fischer-Elfert 2003, pp. 122–123; Simpson 1972, p. 3.
- ^ Fischer-Elfert 2003, pp. 122–123; Simpson 1972, pp. 5–6; Parkinson 2002, p. 110.
- ^ Parkinson 2002, pp. 108–109.
- ^ Foster 2001, pp. xv–xvi.
- ^ Foster 2001, p. xvi.
- ^ a b c d Parkinson 2002, p. 110.
- ^ a b Parkinson 2002, pp. 110, 235.
- ^ Parkinson 2002, pp. 236–237.
- ^ Erman 2005, p. 54.
- ^ Loprieno 1996, p. 217.
- ^ Simpson 1972, p. 6; see also Parkinson 2002, pp. 236–238.
- ^ Parkinson 2002, pp. 237–238.
- ^ Parkinson 2002, pp. 313–319; Simpson 1972, pp. 159–200, 241–268.
- ^ a b c d Parkinson 2002, pp. 235–236.
- ^ Parkinson 2002, pp. 313–315; Simpson 1972, pp. 159–177.
- ^ Parkinson 2002, pp. 318–319.
- ^ Parkinson 2002, pp. 313–314, 315–317; Simpson 1972, pp. 180, 193.
- ^ Simpson 1972, p. 241.
- ^ Parkinson 2002, pp. 295–296.
- ^ a b c Parkinson 2002, p. 109.
- ^ Fischer-Elfert 2003, p. 120.
- ^ Parkinson 2002, pp. 294–299; Simpson 1972, pp. 15–76; Erman 2005, pp. 14–52.
- ^ Simpson 1972, pp. 77–158; Erman 2005, pp. 150–175.
- ^ Gozzoli 2006, pp. 247–249; for another source on the Famine Stela, see Lichtheim 1980, pp. 94–95.
- ^ a b Morenz 2003, pp. 102–104.
- ^ Parkinson 2002, pp. 297–298.
- ^ Simpson 1972, p. 57.
- ^ Simpson 1972, p. 50; see also Foster 2001, p. 8.
- ^ Foster 2001, p. 8.
- ^ Simpson 1972, pp. 81, 85, 87, 142; Erman 2005, pp. 174–175.
- ^ a b Simpson 1972, p. 57 states that there are two Middle-Kingdom manuscripts for Sinuhe, while the updated work of Parkinson 2002, pp. 297–298 mentions five manuscripts.
- ^ Simpson 1972, pp. 6–7; Parkinson 2002, pp. 110, 193; for "apocalyptic" designation, see Gozzoli 2006, p. 283.
- ^ Morenz 2003, p. 103.
- ^ Simpson 1972, pp. 6–7.
- ^ Parkinson 2002, pp. 232–233.
- ^ Gozzoli 2006, pp. 283–304; see also Parkinson 2002, p. 233, who alludes to this genre being revived in periods after the Middle Kingdom and cites Depauw (1997: 97–9), Frankfurter (1998: 241–8), and Bresciani (1999).
- ^ Simpson 1972, pp. 7–8; Parkinson 2002, pp. 110–111.
- ^ Parkinson 2002, pp. 45–46, 49–50, 303–304.
- ^ Simpson 1972, p. 234.
- ^ Parkinson 2002, pp. 197–198, 303–304; Simpson 1972, p. 234; Erman 2005, p. 110.
- ^ Gozzoli 2006, pp. 301–302.
- ^ Parkinson 2002, pp. 308–309; Simpson 1972, pp. 201, 210.
- ^ Parkinson 2002, pp. 111, 308–309.
- ^ Parkinson 2002, p. 308; Simpson 1972, p. 210; Erman 2005, pp. 92–93.
- ^ Parkinson 2002, p. 309; Simpson 1972, p. 201; Erman 2005, p. 86.
- ^ Bard & Shubert 1999, p. 674.
- ^ a b c Forman & Quirke 1996, pp. 48–51; Simpson 1972, pp. 4–5, 269; Erman 2005, pp. 1–2.
- ^ Forman & Quirke 1996, pp. 116–117.
- ^ Forman & Quirke 1996, pp. 65–109.
- ^ Forman & Quirke 1996, pp. 109–165.
- ^ Simpson 1972, p. 285.
- ^ Erman 2005, p. 140.
- ^ Erman 2005, pp. 254–274.
- ^ Erman 2005, pp. 137–146, 281–305.
- ^ Erman 2005, p. 10.
- ^ a b Simpson 1972, p. 279; Erman 2005, p. 134.
- ^ Erman 2005, p. 134.
- ^ Simpson 1972, p. 297; Erman 2005, pp. 132–133.
- ^ Erman 2005, pp. 288–289; Foster 2001, p. 1.
- ^ Simpson 1972, p. 289.
- ^ Tait 2003, p. 10.
- ^ Lichtheim 1980, p. 104.
- ^ Simpson 1972, pp. 7, 296–297; Erman 2005, pp. 242–243; see also Foster 2001, p. 17.
- ^ Erman 2005, pp. 242–243.
- ^ Wente 1990, pp. 2, 4–5.
- ^ Wilson 2003, pp. 91–92; Wente 1990, pp. 5–6.
- ^ Erman 2005, p. 198; see also Lichtheim 2006, p. 167.
- ^ Erman 2005, pp. 198, 205.
- ^ Erman 2005, p. 205.
- ^ Wente 1990, p. 54.
- ^ Wente 1990, pp. 15, 54.
- ^ Wente 1990, p. 15.
- ^ Wente 1990, p. 55.
- ^ Wente 1990, p. 68.
- ^ Wente 1990, p. 89.
- ^ Wente 1990, p. 210.
- ^ Wente 1990, p. 98.
- ^ a b c Wente 1990, pp. 98–99.
- ^ Parke 2002, pp. xxi, 1–2.
- ^ a b Parke 2002, pp. 1–2.
- ^ Perdu 1995, p. 2243.
- ^ Greenstein 1995, p. 2421.
- ^ a b c Koosed 2006, p. 29.
- ^ a b Koosed 2006, pp. 28–29.
- ^ Breasted 1962, pp. 5–6; see also Foster 2001, p. xv.
- ^ Breasted 1962, pp. 5–6; see also Bard & Shubert 1999, pp. 36–37.
- ^ Breasted 1962, pp. 5–6.
- ^ Lichtheim 2006, p. 11.
- ^ Lichtheim 1980, p. 5.
- ^ Lichtheim 1980, p. 6.
- ^ Gozzoli 2006, pp. 1–8.
- ^ Breasted 1962, pp. 12–13.
- ^ Seters 1997, p. 147.
- ^ Lichtheim 2006, p. 6.
- ^ Gozzoli 2006, pp. 1–8; Brewer & Teeter 1999, pp. 27–28; Bard & Shubert 1999, p. 36.
- ^ a b Bard & Shubert 1999, p. 36.
- ^ Lichtheim 1980, p. 7; Bard & Shubert 1999, p. 36.
- ^ Lichtheim 1980, p. 7.
- ^ a b Gozzoli 2006, pp. 8, 191–225; Brewer & Teeter 1999, pp. 27–28; Lichtheim 1980, p. 7.
- ^ a b c Fischer-Elfert 2003, p. 133.
- ^ Fischer-Elfert 2003, p. 131.
- ^ a b Fischer-Elfert 2003, p. 132.
- ^ Fischer-Elfert 2003, pp. 132–133.
- ^ Bard & Shubert 1999, p. 76.
- ^ Simpson 1972, p. 81.
- ^ Mokhtar 1990, pp. 116–117; Simpson 1972, p. 81.
- ^ Mokhtar 1990, pp. 116–117.
- ^ Gozzoli 2006, pp. 192–193, 224.
- ^ Wilson 2003, pp. 104–105; Foster 2001, pp. xiv–xv.
- ^ a b c d Wilson 2003, pp. 104–105.
- ^ Allen 2000, p. 8
- ^ Allen 2000, pp. 8–9Thompson 2015, p. 123
- ^ Gardiner 1915, p. 62
- ^ Bierbrier 2012, p. 476
- ^ Loprieno 1996, pp. 211–212.
- ^ a b c Loprieno 1996, pp. 212–213.
- ^ Loprieno 1996, pp. 211, 213.
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External links
- Internet Ancient History Source Book: Egypt (by Fordham University, NY)
- The Language of Ancient Egypt (by Belgian Egyptologist Jacques Kinnaer)
- Book: Literature of the Ancient Egyptians, Readable HTML format
- The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Literature of the Ancient Egyptians (E. A. Wallis Budge)
- University of Texas Press – Ancient Egyptian Literature: An Anthology (2001) (The entire preface, by John L. Foster)