The Literature of the Ancient Egyptians

AUTHOR’S PREFACE

The scholars who have devoted themselves to this problem are numerous; if I mention here the names of Chabas, Dévaud, Gardiner, Golénischeff, Goodwin, Griffith, Lange, Maspero, W. Max Müller, de Rougé, and Vogelsang, the list is by no means complete. I have also played a part in making these literary texts accessible—more so, in fact, than my published works might suggest. It was my task to prepare most of these writings for the Lexicon original: "Lexicon"; this refers to the Wörterbuch der ägyptischen Sprache, a massive dictionary project which the German universities are currently producing. Furthermore, it was my privilege to teach and explain them in my lectures for more than forty years. It should be taken for granted that in these lectures I was not the only one contributing ideas, but also gained many good insights from my pupils, even though I can no longer provide a specific acknowledgment for each one. All these students have my thanks as I write this, especially those four members of our circle to whom this book is dedicated, and whom my thanks can no longer reach.

I could have greatly expanded the scope of my book. I could have also included the Demotic Demotic: a simplified, cursive script and stage of the Egyptian language used from roughly 650 BCE to 450 CE writings of the Greco-Roman original: "Græco-Roman" era; however, they certainly belong to a different world. Therefore, I have preferred to stop at the end of the late New Kingdom, which is where the great divide occurs in the life of the Egyptian people. It will be better to create a separate collection for Demotic literary texts. The same applies to medical and mathematical works; both are now even more clearly recognized as great achievements of the Egyptians, but they require a specialized type of treatment and, consequently, a book of their own. From the vast number of religious texts, I have selected only a few examples—less for their content than to give the reader an idea of their poetic form.¹ I have also exercised similar restraint regarding the countless inscriptions, even when they are written in poetic language, for it was my primary business to...

¹ Readers desiring more of these will find good translations in Roeder, Documents on the Religion of Ancient Egypt original: "Urkunden zur Religion des alten Ägyptens", Jena, 1915; Edv. Lehmann, Textbook on the History of Religion original: "Textbuch zur Religionsgeschichte", Leipzig, 1912 (translated by Grapow); Scharff, Egyptian Sun Hymns original: "Ägyptische Sonnenlieder", Berlin, 1920.