Customer Reviews

Love Lyrics of Ancient Egypt

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My introduction to the love poetry of Egypt came in a course on the Song of Songs (aka Song of Solomon) which used as a text Michael Fox's The Song of Songs and the Ancient Egyptian Love Songs. Ms. Fowler has translated these poems with philogical assistance from Fox. The result is a very readable translation - enjoyable on it's own. However, I found myself going back to Fox for the background to truly understand some of the poems - the cultural chasm and the passage of time eroded the meaning of the poems to me.

However, the translations are lightly footnoted with required information e.g. that Menqet is the goddess of beer or that a word is added for meter. While I prefer translations that stand on their own, this is a good choice for an introduction to a little known poetry that had significant impact on our culture indirectly via the Song of Songs

Literature on the subject of love is minute compared to the vast amount of writings we have from this lost civilization. It's interesting to note that these poems were by young lovers. In Egypt this translates to the VERY youthful (early teens). The poems, though, are obviously written by a mature and artistic hand; a literate hand, since writing was a high-status occupation known only to an elite class. This makes their content even more intriguing from a human perspective.

The allusions to anatomy, "When you bring IT to your sister's house & storm her cave, her gate will be raised...(to) slaughter it," may seem a little naughty but shows some of the limitations of the hieroglyphic script and how scribes made the best of it. Today's reader will find it amusing and, perhaps, enlightening. After millenia we still want to keep our youthful thoughts alive, just as the ancients did.

The Harris 500, Turin and Chester Beatty I, New Kingdom hieratic papyri texts are an eye-opener. This little book is a fast read for the young at heart. A few black & white images spot the pages nicely. A great little glimpse into the minds of ancient Egyptians and their ideas about living life.