Customer Reviews

The Literature of Ancient Egypt: An Anthology of Stories, Instructions, and Poetry, New Edition

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is a great book to add to your Egyptian Literature library. It contains many narratives, stories, lamentations, and poetry which can also be found in the three volume set by Miriam Lichtheim. Although many `stories' are fragmentary - it is not THAT excessive. The editors have provided footnotes and commentaries on the missing parts of the stories, which attempt to explain the missing parts. Each `story' starts with a commentary, and is followed by the text. Some pieces include: "Shipwrecked Sailor", "Story of Sinuhe", "Tale of the Doomed Prince", "Contendings of Horus and Seth", "Truth and Falsehood", "Teaching for Merikare", "Maxims of Ptahhotpe", "The Man Who Was Tired of Life", "Instruction of Amenemope", "Hymn to the Aten", "Instruction of a Man for His Son".

This is a great book to add to your Egyptian Literature library. It contains many narratives, stories, lamentations, and poetry which can also be found in the three volume set by Miriam Lichtheim. Although many `stories' are fragmentary - it is not THAT excessive. The editors have provided footnotes and commentaries on the missing parts of the stories, which attempt to explain the missing parts. Each `story' starts with a commentary, and is followed by the text. Some pieces include: "Shipwrecked Sailor", "Story of Sinuhe", "Tale of the Doomed Prince", "Contendings of Horus and Seth", "Truth and Falsehood", "Teaching for Merikare", "Maxims of Ptahhotpe", "The Man Who Was Tired of Life", "Instruction of Amenemope", "Hymn to the Aten", "Instruction of a Man for His Son".

I should say that the edition that I bought only last year, the new edition, is from 1973 and may not be exactly like the revised edition. My interest in these writings arose from an understanding that they had a not intangible effect on Biblical literature. But although I feel bad giving this book only 3 stars I should explain that there are reasons for this. First is that many of the stories, etc. are fragmentary or missing the entire beginning, end or both. If they were all complete it would get at least 4. The other reason is the often obscure quality of the readings, which is purely a function of our not getting enough exposure to books like this. Mostly if the story was complete, it was very enjoyable, but if broken up and missing parts, it seemed useless to the general reader. So I cannot say that the low rating is due in any way to the fault of the editors or translators. Other than that it was a charming array of tales and advice that is every bit as good as Biblical literature.