Ancient Egyptian Literature, Volume II

About the Book

First published in 1973 – and followed by Volume II in 1976 and Volume III in 1980 – this anthology has assumed classic status in the field of Egyptology and portrays the remarkable evolution of the literary forms of one of the world’s earliest civilizations.

Volume I outlines the early and gradual evolution of Egyptian literary genres, including biographical and historical inscriptions carved on stone, the various classes of literary works written with pen on papyrus, and the mortuary literature that focuses on life after death. Introduced with a new foreword by Antonio Loprieno.

Volume II shows the culmination of these literary genres within the single period known as the New Kingdom (1550-1080 B.C.). With a new foreword by Hans-W. Fischer-Elfert.

Volume III spans the last millennium of Pharaonic civilization, from the tenth century B.C. to the beginning of the Christian era. With a new foreword by Joseph G. Manning.

About the Author

For thirty years Miriam Lichtheim was Near East Bibliographer and Lecturer at University of California, Los Angeles. She retired in 1974 to devote herself to Egyptological research and later moved to Jerusalem where she taught at Hebrew University. She died in 2004. Hans-W. Fischer-Elfert is Professor of Egyptology at the Aegyptologisches Institut of the University of Leipzig.

Reviews

"Miriam Lichtheim’s three-volume set is the most complete compilation; it is accessible to the general reader and simultaneously useful to the scholar; its critical apparatus is excellent."—World Literature Today

"This is an admirable and valuable book. For the scholar it presents thoroughly reliable translations, with commentary and documentation. For the amateur of literature it presents a comprehensive selection of prose and poetry, felicitously put into English."—Cambridge Review of Middle East Studies

"The new collection of ancient Egyptian literary masterpieces in English translation from the pen of Miriam Lichtheim is both representative and up to date. It is a literary masterpiece in itself, a landmark in the translation of ancient texts, and a scholarly achievement of outstanding excellence."—Journal of Near Eastern Studies

Brief Chronology of the New Kingdom
Abbreviations and Symbols
Foreword by Hans-W. Fischer-Elfert

Introduction
Continuity and Change

PART ONE: Monumental Inscriptions
  I. Inscriptions from Private Tombs
  The Autobiography of Ahmose Son of Abana
  The Prayers of Paheri
  The Installation of the Vizier Rekhmire
II. Inscriptions from Royal Monuments
  Obelisk Inscriptions of Queen Hatshepsut
  From the Annals of Thutmose III
  The Poetical Stela of Thutmose III
  The Great Sphinx Stela of Amenhotep II at Giza
  Stela of Amenhotep III
  The Later Boundary Stelae of Amenhotep IV
  Akhenaten
  Dedication Inscriptions of Seti I
  The Kadesh Battle Inscriptions of Ramses II
  The Poetical Stela of Merneptah (Israel Stela)
PART TWO: Hymns, Prayers, and a Harper's Song
The Great Hymn to Osiris
Two Hymns to the Sun-God
Hymns and Prayers from El-Amarna
The Short Hymn to the Aten
Two Hymns and a Prayer in the Tomb of Ay
The Great Hymn to the Aten
A Prayer and a Hymn of General Haremhab
Three Penitential Hymns from Deir el-Medina
  Votive Stela of Nebre with Hymn to Amen-Re
  Votive Stela of Neferabu with Hymn to Mertseger
  Votive Stela of Neferabu with Hymn to Ptah
Prayers Used as School Texts
  Praise of Amen-Re
  Prayer to Amun
  Prayer to Amun
  Prayer to Thoth
  Prayer to Thoth
A Harper's Song from the Tomb of Neferhotep
  PART THREE: From the Book of the Dead
Chapters 23, 30B, 43, 59, 77, 105, 109
Chapter 125
PART FOUR: Instructions
The Instruction of Any
The Instruction of Amenemope
PART FIVE: Be a Scribe
Papyrus Lansing: A Schoolbook
The Immortality of Writers
PART SIX: Love Poems
From Papyrus Chester Beatty I
From Papyrus Harris 500
From the Cairo Vase 1266 + 25218
PART SEVEN: Tales
The Destruction of Mankind
The Doomed Prince
The Two Brothers
Truth and Falsehood
Horus and Seth
The Report of Wenamun