This month we read about poetry in Ancient Egypt.
Photo: Temple of Karnak, Thebes
Used by permission of Elizabeth Lewis, South Campus Gallery
Click the image above to see a timeline of Egyptian history. The poetry we'll be reading about was written during the New Kingdom period, which took place from 1539-1075 B.C.
"Ancient Egypt map-en" by Jeff Dahl - Own work. See #References for references used creating the map.Image renamed from File:Ancient Egypt map.svg (see #Original upload log).. Licensed under GFDL via Wikimedia Commons - http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Ancient_Egypt_map-en.svg#/media/File:Ancient_Egypt_map-en.svg
Notice that on this map of Egypt, "Upper" Egypt is actually to the South. "Upper" in this case means "up-stream," or closer to the source of the Nile. The poetry we are reading about was discovered around the area of Thebes.
Here's a list of the article's vocabulary on Quizlet. You can also view them as flashcards.
Click here to launch.
If pictures aren't enough, check out these videos.
The article we read suggests that Egyptian poetry was likely set to music and performed. This video features a performance by a modern artist who has built a reproduction of a djedjet, a 22-stringed New Kingdom harp, and sings a love song from the same period. No one knows what the Egyptian language sounded like spoken, so he's taken some liberties regarding pronunciation. What do you think of the performance?
Here's another attempt to recreate what ancient Egyptian poetry might sound like. You'll notice that the Semiticist (student of the language of the Semitic peoples) does exactly what the translators in our article talk about and have converted a poem written in hieratic script into hieroglypics.
This short video gives a quick overview of the history of poetry from the ancient world up to the present. It does not specifically talk about Egyptian poetry, but does mention poetry in Sumer and Greece.
Click the image above to go to National Geographic's website to read Cameron Walker's article on ancient Egyptian poetry.
Listen to "Ancient Egyptian Love Poems Reveal a Lust for Life"
Photograph by Kenneth Garrett.
Click the image above to read a little about the Valley of the Kings, which contained the most famous group of New Kingdom tombs.
Deir el Bahri is part of the Theban Necropolis (city of the dead). This photo gives you a good idea of the different types of land in Egypt: the green, fertile land next to the Nile and the dry, desert-like land further away from the banks of the river.
Photo: Deir el Bahri Used by permission of Elizabeth Lewis, South Campus
"AbbottPapyrus-BritishMuseum-August21-08" by User:Captmondo (Own work (photo)). Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons - http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:AbbottPapyrus-BritishMuseum-August21-08.jpg#/media/File:AbbottPapyrus-BritishMuseum-August21-08.jpg
Abbott Papyrus, a record written in hieratic script; it describes an inspection of royal tombs in the Theban Necropolis and is dated to the 16th regnal year of Ramesses IX, ca. 1110 BCE. The hieratic script used here is a less formal form of Egyptian writing than hieroglyphics.
"Thutmose III and Hatshepsut" by Markh - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Thutmose_III_and_Hatshepsut.jpg. Licensed under Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons - http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Thutmose_III_and_Hatshepsut.jpg#/media/File:Thutmose_III_and_Hatshepsut.jpg
This image is from the Red Temple at Karnak which was built to honor Hatshepsut, who ruled from 1479-1458 BC. Hieroglypics, like those seen here, were the formal version of Egyptian writing.
Click the image above to visit a website that gives more information about the hieroglyphic alphabet, and even allows you to download a hieroglyphic font.
Ancient Egyptian Literature in Anthology by John Foster Click here to find this ebook in the library's catalog. You can open it and read it online.
Ancient Egypt by Kathleen Deady Click here to find this book in the library's catalog.
Ancient Egypt in 101 Questions and Answers by Thomas Schneider Click here to find this book in the library's catalog.
O Hear, all you gods of heaven and earth!
Grant
That this girl, true child of her mother,
pursue me with undying passion,
Follow close on my heels
like a cow seeking pasture,
like a nursemaid minding her charge,
like a guardian after his herd!
For if you will not cause her to love me,
I must surely abandon the day
consumed to dust in the fire of my burning.
Ancient Egyptian Love Poem from the New Kingdom, 1550-1070 BC
Translated by John Foster
I think I'll go home and lie very still,
feigning terminal illness.
Then the neighbors will all troop over to stare,
my love, perhaps, among them.
How she'll smile while the specialists
snarl in their teeth! -
she perfectly well knows what ails me.
Ancient Egyptian Love Poem from the New Kingdom, 1500-1100BC
Translated by John Foster
I love you through the daytimes,
in the dark,
Through all the long divisions of the night,
those hours
I, spendthrift, waste away alone,
and lie, and turn, awake 'til whitened dawn.
And with the shape of you I people the night,
and thoughts of hot desire grow live within me.
What magic was it in that voice of yours
to bring such vigor to my flesh,
To limbs which now lie listless on my bed without you?
Thus I beseech the darkness:
Where gone, O loving man?
Why gone from her whose love
can pace you, step by step, to your desire?
No loving voice replies.
And I (too well) perceive
how much I am alone.
Ancient Egyptian Love Poem from the New Kingdom, 1300-100 BC
Translated by John Foster
Here are some of the things we'll be discussing about this reading. The first set of questions are to test your understanding of the reading.The second set are to make you think a little more about the reading.
Comprehension
1. How does Richard Parkinson describe Ancient Egypt’s poetry?
2. Why do poems give a different insight than historical accounts from tombs?
3. What two steps are needed for Egyptologists to read these poems?
4. Where were most of the Egyptian love poems discovered?
5. What do the poems tell us about life for women in Ancient Egypt?
Discussion
1. Which of the poems in the article did you like most? Why?
2. Why do you think the author of the article selected these poems as examples?
3. Pick one of the poems. In your own words, what do you think the writer was saying?
4. How do the Egyptian poems compare to other love poems you have read?
5. The Egyptians used their daily routine to inspire their love poems. What daily activity would you use as inspiration for a love poem?