Through the Eras

LiteratureEgyptian hieroglyphs which read “given life, stability, power, and health,” Temple of Amun, Ancient Thebes, modern-day Karnak,near Luxor. FORTEAN PICTURE LIBRARY. REPRODUCED BY PERMISSION.both male and female authors. The love poems representa rare window into the emotions of ancient people.CLASSICAL ALLUSIONS. One Twentieth-dynastyteaching, a form known from the Twelfth Dynasty, containsquotations from much older texts. The Instructionof Menna for his Son quotes the Twelfth-dynasty textsThe Shipwrecked Sailor and Eloquent Peasant. Thoughthe text is written in Late Egyptian, the author must havebelieved his audience could appreciate such an elevatedliterary technique.FICTIONAL NON-FICTION. The last two knownLate Egyptian stories take a non-fictional genre—thegovernment report and the letter—and use it as a basisfor telling a fictional story. The Report of Wenamun andthe Tale of Woe both were composed late in the TwentiethDynasty, based on the language used and the settingthe author describes. Yet they are known in uniquemanuscripts of the Twenty-second Dynasty (945–712B.C.E.). The language in both documents is the most colloquialLate Egyptian found in any narrative. It mostclosely reproduces everyday speech and avoids any literaryflourishes. Both stories recount unhappy experiencesand reflect the government’s failures as the New Kingdomcollapsed and central government once again retreated.Both stories, however, reflect a cultural vibrancythat demonstrates that political strength and flourishingartistic movements do not always overlap.REMAINING QUESTIONS. This picture of New Kingdomliterature remains unconvincing for many Egyptologists.Most scholars would expect that Eighteenth-dynastywriters would both copy Twelfth-dynasty predecessors andcreate new literature in that tradition. Yet there is noevidence that Eighteenth-dynasty authors wrote in thetraditional genres of their predecessors. There is noEighteenth-dynasty equivalent of Old Kingdom tombArts and Humanities Through the Eras: Ancient Egypt (2675 B.C.E.–332 B.C.E.) 137