The great hymn to the aten sparknotes

THE LITERATURE OF ANCIENT EGYPT THE LITERATURE OF ANCIENT EGYPT AN ANTHOLOGY OF STORIES, INSTRUCTIONS, STELAE, AUTOBIOGRAPHIES, AND POETRY Third Edition Edited and with an introduction by WILLIAM KELLY SIMPSON With translations by Robert K. Ritner, William Kelly Simpson, Vincent A. Tobin, and Edward F. Wente, Jr. YALE UNIVERSITY PRESS / NEW HAVEN & LONDON Disclaimer: Some images in the original version of this book are not available for inclusion in the eBook. Published with assistance from the William K. and Marilyn M. Simpson Endowment for Egyptology at Yale University. Copyright ∫ 2003 by Yale University. All rights reserved. This book may not be reproduced, in whole or in part, including illustrations, in any form (beyond that copying permitted by Sections 107 and 108 of the U.S. Copyright Law and except by reviewers for the public press), without written permission from the publishers. Designed by Mary Valencia. Set in Simoncini Garamond and Michelangelo types by Keystone Typesetting, Inc. Printed in the United States of America by Vail-Ballou Press. ISBN: 0-300-09920-7 A catalogue record for this book is available from the Library of Congress and the British Library. The paper in this book meets the guidelines for permanence and durability of the Committee on Production Guidelines for Book Longevity of the Council on Library Resources. 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 To the memory of sages of our own time who have made outstanding contributions to the study and appreciation of the literature of ancient Egypt RAYMOND O. FAULKNER (1894–1982) WOLFGANG HELCK (1914–1993) GEORGES POSENER (1906–1988) CONTENTS List of Abbreviations xi Introduction by William Kelly Simpson 1 PART I NARRATIVES AND TALES OF MIDDLE EGYPTIAN LITERATURE 11 King Cheops and the Magicians 13 The Tale of the Eloquent Peasant 25 The Shipwrecked Sailor 45 The Story of Sinuhe 54 PART II 67 LATE EGYPTIAN STORIES The Quarrel of Apophis and Seknenre 69 The Capture of Joppa 72 The Tale of the Doomed Prince 75 The Tale of the Two Brothers 80 vii CONTENTS The Contendings of Horus and Seth 91 The Blinding of Truth by Falsehood 104 Astarte and the Insatiable Sea 108 A Ghost Story 112 The Report of Wenamon 116 PART III INSTRUCTIONS, LAMENTATIONS, AND DIALOGUES 125 The Instruction of Hardedef (First Part) 127 The Maxims of Ptahhotep 129 The Teaching for the Vizier Kagemni 149 The Teaching for King Merikare 152 The Teaching of King Amenemhet I for His Son Senwosret 166 The Loyalist Instruction from the Sehetepibre Stela 172 The Instruction of a Man for His Son 175 The Man Who Was Weary of Life 178 The Admonitions of an Egyptian Sage 188 The Lamentations of Khakheperre-sonbe 211 The Prophecies of Neferty 214 The Instruction of Amunnakhte 221 The Instruction of Amenemope 223 PART IV 245 FROM THE RELIGIOUS LITERATURE Selections from the Pyramid Texts 247 Selections from the Coffin Texts 263 Book of the Dead 125: ‘‘The Negative Confession’’ 267 viii CONTENTS The Hymn to the Aten 278 Penitential Hymns 284 The Book of the Heavenly Cow 289 PART V 299 SONGS AND ROYAL HYMNS Cycle of Songs in Honor of Senwosret III 301 The Love Songs and The Song of the Harper 307 PART VI 335 ROYAL STELAE The Semna Stela 337 The Neferhotep Stela 339 The Kamose Texts 345 The Poetical Stela of Thutmose III 351 The Israel Stela 356 The Bentresh Stela 361 The Victory Stela of Piye 367 The Famine Stela 386 The Satrap Stela 392 PART VII 399 AUTOBIOGRAPHIES Three Autobiographies of the Old Kingdom 401 The Stela of Tjetji 414 Amenemhet and Khnumhotep II at Beni Hasan 418 The Stela of Iykhernofret 425 ix CONTENTS PART VIII SCRIBAL TRADITIONS 429 The Satire on the Trades: The Instruction of Dua-Khety 431 The Scribal Traditions in the Schools 438 PART IX 443 DEMOTIC LITERATURE The Prophecy of the Lamb 445 The Tale of Amasis and the Skipper 450 The Romance of Setna Khaemuas and the Mummies (Setna I) 453 The Adventures of Setna and Si-Osire (Setna II) 470 The Childhood of Si-Osire 490 The Magician Hihor 492 The Fable of the Swallow and the Sea 494 The Instruction of ¿Onchsheshonqy 497 Bibliography 531 Illustrations follow page XIV x ABBREVIATIONS ÄAbh ADAW AEL ÄF ANET ÄUAT BAR BdE BEHE BES BIE BIFAO BiOr BSEG BSFE Ägyptologische Abhandlungen Abhandlungen der Deutschen Akademie der Wissenschaften zu Berlin, Philosophisch-historische Klasse Miriam Lichtheim, Ancient Egyptian Literature, vol. 1: The Old and Middle Kingdoms; vol. 2: The New Kingdom; vol. 3: The Late Period, Berkeley, 1973, 1976, 1980 Ägyptologische Forschungen J. B. Pritchard, ed., Ancient Near Eastern Texts, 3d ed., Princeton, 1969 Ägypten und Altes Testament James Henry Breasted, Ancient Records of Egypt, 5 vols., repr. London, 1988 Bibliothèque d’Etude IFAOC Bibliothèque de l’Ecole des Hautes Etudes, IVe section, Sciences historiques et philologiques Bulletin Egyptological Seminar Bulletin de l’Institut d’Egypte Bulletin de l’Institut Français d’Archéologie Orientale Bibliotheca Orientalis Bulletin de la Société d’Egyptologie Genève Bulletin de la Société Française d’Egyptologie xi ABBREVIATIONS CD CdE CNI CRIPEL DAIK DE DFIFAO GM HÄB IFAO JAOS JARCE JEA JEOL JESHO JNES JSSEA LÄ MÄS MÄU MIFAO MIO MDAIK OBO OLA OLZ OMRO Or RdE RevEq RSO SAGA SÄK SAOC C. E. Crum, A Coptic Dictionary, Oxford, 1939 Chronique d’Égypte Carsten Niebuhr Institute, Copenhagen Cahier de Recherches de l’Institut de Papyrologie et d’Egyptologie de Lille Deutsches Archäologisches Institut Kairo Discussions in Egyptology Documents de Fouilles de IFAO Göttinger Miszellen Hildesheimer Ägyptologischge Beiträge l’Institut Français d’Archéologie Orientale, Cairo Journal of the American Oriental Society Journal of the American Research Center in Egypt Journal of Egyptian Archaeology Jaarbericht Ex Oriente Lux Journal of the Economic and Social History of the Orient Journal of Near Eastern Studies Journal of the Society of the Study of Egyptian Antiquities W. Helck et al., eds., Lexikon der Ägyptologie I–VII, Wiesbaden, 1972–92 Münchner Ägyptologische Studien Münchner Ägyptologische Untersuchungen Mémoirs IFAO Mitteilungen des Instituts für Orientforschung Mitteilungen des Deutschen Archäologischen Institut, Abteilung Kairo Orbis Biblicus et Orientalis Orientalia Lovaniensia Analecta Orientalistische Literaturzeitung Oudheidkundige Mededelingen uit het Rijksmuseum van Oudheden te Leiden Orientalia Revue d’Egyptologie Revue Egyptologique Rivista degli Studi Orientali Studien zur Archäologie und Geschichte Altägyptens Studien zur Altägyptischen Kultur Studies in Ancient Oriental Civilizations xii ABBREVIATIONS SBAW SSEA StudAeg TUAT UGAÄ Urk. VA Wb. WdO WZKM ZÄS ZDMG ZPE Sitzungsberichte der Bayerischen Akademie der Wissenschaft, Phil.-hist. Abt., Munich Society for the Study of Egyptian Antiquities Studia Aegyptiaca, Budapest Otto Kaiser, ed., Texte aus dem Umwelt des Alten Testament Untersuchungen zur Geschichte und Altertumskunde Ägyptens K. Sethe, ed., Urkunden Varia Aegyptiaca, San Antonio A. Erman and H.