The Literature of Ancient Egypt: An Anthology of Stories, Instructions, Stelae, Autobiographies, and Poetry

Literature gives one access to understanding a people and culture: their values, weltanschauung, even their attitudes towards social heirarchy. The collection of stories in Simpson's anthology succeed brilliantly in providing just such a glimpse into the culture and people of ancient Egypt. The selection is not only broad in terms of subject matter, but also across the breadth of ancient Egyptian history, including writings from as early as the Old Kingdom's 6th dynasty through the Ptolmiac period.The texts are divided into 9 sections:Section 1: Narratives (Middle Kingdom)Section 2: Narratives (New Kingdom)Section 3: Instructional literatureSection 4: Religious Literature (primarily funerary in nature)Section 5: Songs and PoemsSection 6: Translations from Royal StelaeSection 7: "Autobiographies" (from tombs and stelae)Section 8: Satires (and what Simpson refers to as "scribal traditions")Section 9: Texts in DemoticSpeaking to the whole of the antholgy, I was struck by a number of features. First was the similarity of several narratives with other stories. For example, the Middle Kingdom story of Simuhe was reminiscent of the Bibilical tale of David and Goliath (as the small vanquished the powerful, even to the point of using the sword of the defeated to cut his head off) and the retelling of the capture of Joppa was similar in plot and feel to Homer's telling of the capture of Troy; the "Maxims of Ptahotep" (from the Old Kingdom) and "Instructions of Amennmope" (from the New Kingdom) strongly reminded me of the advice given in Ecclesiastes. Given the political and economic influence of Egypt on the ancient Near East, the similarities shouldn't be too suprising, but I suspect (at the risk of sounding like a Jungian) there is more than mere syncretism at work here - the ancient Egyptians, like the ancient Hellenes and ancient Jews, speak to universal themes in all of us.Second, the way in which ancient Egyptian values were illustrated in their literature also struck me: the way in which the Pyramid Texts combined political ideology and religion; the "negative confessions" and protestations of innocence in the "Book of the Dead" highlighting what to the Egyptians was ethical behaviour; the uniquely Egyptian emphasis on duality as it relates to the maintainance of ma'at (divine / natural order). In this instance, the autobiographies were particularly interesting to read. As Simpson writes, about Weni the Elder's (a 6th dynasty royal servant) autobiography, he portrays himself as "... (fitting) the Egyptian ideal of the selfless, self-effacing, effective royal servant ... reality is likely to have involved a degree of ruthless opportunism." Of course another salient feature is the historical value of the literature. "The Admonitions of Ipuwer", showing the world turned upside down reflects the social cataclysm of the First Intermediate Period, the "Hymn to Aten" (similar to Psalm 104) illustrative of the reformation movement of Akhenaten.Finally, there is also the purely literary aspects of what is presented here. Several of the narratives I found dull (almost painfully so): "The Contending of Horus and Set" and "The Tale of the Eloquent Peasant" to be the worst offenders in my opinion. Of course, there are also examples of great beauty as well, particularly in poetry (although I am partial to poetry, my bias showing here), especially poems about love. For example, in the "Cairo Love Songs" a poet writes, "My beloved has come and my heart exaults. / My arms open wide to embrace her, / And my heart is joyful within my breast / Like a fish in its pond. / Oh night, yuo will be to me for eternity, / For my mistress has come to me. / When I embrace her, her arms open wide before me ... Her lips open wide as I kiss her, / And I rejoyce (even) without beer."The translations are a bit clunky, Simpson choosing to have the translators use Egyptian grammar. For some readers this may be problematic; I found it interesting and that it didn't get in the way of my reading. The bibliography is also truly remarkable - it is comprehensive, lengthy and well organized (by topic and subject). While I can't imagine the "general reader" being interested in an anthology such as this, for students of ancient Egypt specifically or the ancient world in general, I highly recommend it.

This is officially the third edition of a volume of translations originally published in hardcover in 1972, and reprinted with expansions in paperback in 1973. That second version remained in print, with a change of covers (from orange to black, and with different art), for over two decades. Its 352 pages contained contributions by R.O. Faulkner and E.F. Wente, Jr., in addition to those by the editor, William Kelly Simpson. Although less comprehensive than Miriam Lichtheim's three-volume "Ancient Egyptian Literature" (University of California Press), it included material not found in that collection, and the quality and the reliability of the translations was at least equally notable. The only defect was that additions to the original selections had been shoved in at the back, instead of grouped with similar works, according to the original plan of the volume.There have been several new collections of translations in recent years, notably those by John L. Foster and R.B. Parkinson, and I am inclined to consider this "third edition" among them. The selection of material has been changed, Faulkner's selections have been dropped, and two new contributors, Robert K. Ritner and Vincent A. Tobin, have been added. The volume now runs over 600 pages, and only a small portion of the difference is due to greatly expanded bibliographies and generous layout.Mainly for the benefit of those who know something about ancient Egypt -- especially those familiar with the older version of the book, or the Lichtheim, Foster, or Parkinson collections -- the contents now include:Narratives and Tales of Middle Egypt (four stories, all familiar, but now based on the latest textual editions); Late Egyptian Stories (nine stories); Instructions, Lamentations, and Dialogues (thirteen texts); "From the Religious Literature," (selections from the Pyramid Texts, the Coffin Texts, and the Book of the Dead -- the "Negative Confession" from Chapter 125 -- and The Hymn to the Aten, Penitential Hymns, and the "Book of the Heavenly Cow," which is at once a myth, a spell, and funerary text); Songs and Royal Hymns (a cycle in honor of Senwosret III, and "The Love Songs and The Song of the Harper"); Royal Stelae (nine texts of widely varying dates); Autobiographies (four texts); Scribal Traditions ("The Satire on the Trades" and selected school exercises); and, finally, the entirely new section of Demotic Literature, including stories (Setne Khaemuas among them), prophecies, fables, and a late Instruction text ('Onchsheshonqy, including the frame story) (eight items).The useful set of illustrations surviving from the first edition remains unchanged, but has been relocated toward the front of the volume.Anyone with a serious interest in Ancient Egypt will want to have this book available. Beginners may find it all a bit overwhelming at first, but the introductory material and concise annotations should be helpful, and, with a very little effort from the reader, the stories, poems, and proverbs should begin to speak for themselves. It is clearly intended for serious adult readers, but I was in High School when I read the old 1923 Erman translation of "The Literature of the Ancient Egyptians," in Blackman's 1927 translation from the German, and this is far easier to digest, as well as a lot more up-to-date.(Come to think of it, Erman/Blackman was probably in the 1966 paperback edition, as "The Ancient Egyptians: A Sourcebook," for which Simpson supplied an introduction and bibliographic notes -- I suppose I've been reading his work even longer than I remembered.)The only real complaint I would make is that the cover too closely resembles the later printings of the second edition, which likewise featured a pharaonic bust on a black background; if I hadn't seen the thick spine, I wouldn't have looked at the back, seen "Third Edition" in somewhat subdued lettering, and taken time to read part of Simpson's Introduction, which gave me a reason to buy it.

Not the easiest book to read due to the many degraded texts with missing words/lines. However, I had heard mention in many other books on ancient Egypt of the vast body of literature that existed, & I was interested in reading the entirety of many of the stories that sounded interesting. The ones I enjoyed most are: The Tale of the Eloquent Peasant, The Tale of the 2 Brothers, & The Contendings of Horus & Seth. The love poetry was pretty nice, too.

It's something that should be added to any serious collector of Egyptian stories. There were a lot of stories I didn't know. They were engaging and thoroughly enjoyable. Highly recommended.

I was hesitant to use this book for my course on ancient civilizations but when I compared it to others (especially Lichtheim), I realized its great value. It has all the major tales (like Sinuhe, the Eloquent Peasant, etc), examples of ma'am both in this life and the afterlife, the Coffin and Pyramid Texts and parts of the book of the Dead, etc. Best of all, it is wonderfully readable. Too many ancient sourcebooks (true to their original, but not useful for the classroom have multiple sets of ellipses, blanks, archaic words, etc. This book has worked out wonderfully, and I learned from it and my students were able to discuss the parts of it very well.

I am no expert in Egyptology, but I was looking for a neat, clear, and high quality English translation of Ancient Egyptian literature to add to my book shelf, and this fits the bill perfectly. A fascinating book, well put together. A nice physical item, too.

A really great book - and a useful resource.