AUTHOR'S PREFACE

My object in writing this book has been to make the extensive remains of Egyptian literature, which have been brought to light by the labors of Egyptologists scholars who study the history, language, and culture of ancient Egypt, accessible to lovers of Ancient History original: Antiquity. Most of this material has until now been known to no one but a very limited circle of specialists, as it has been published in books and journals original: periodicals that are only available to a few. Yet this literature deserves to be known, not only because it is the oldest non-religious original: secular literature that has developed in the world, but because it affords us an insight into an active intellectual life and into a poetry which may well hold its place beside the achievements of the Egyptians in the artistic and technical spheres. In any case, no one should pass judgment on the Egyptians and on the period in human development to which they belong if they are not acquainted with their literature.

I planned this book many years ago and did a great deal of preliminary work for it; but it was not until I began seriously to carry out my project that I realized what a risky original: hazardous undertaking I had embarked upon. I have stated below (on page 42 original: xlii; the author refers to the Roman numeral page in his introduction) the current situation regarding our translations. A great deal is still entirely unintelligible to us. Though we indeed know the approximate meaning of other passages, the exact significance of the words still escapes us, or the relationship between the sentences remains doubtful. In such cases, one would prefer to give up all attempts at translating.

Still, if we were to wait until all this uncertainty were removed, we would have to wait a long time—in the case of many texts this will never happen—and in the long run it is...