Through the Eras

TheaterTHE SHABAKA STONE: THE FIRSTIDENTIFIED DRAMAINTRODUCTION: The Shabaka Stone was among the first textswhich the German Egyptologist Kurt Sethe identified asdrama. The text includes both narratives that Sethe understoodas stage directions and speeches by the godsthat Sethe viewed as dialogue. The major themes of thedrama include the battle between Horus and Seth to inheritthe right to be king from Osiris and the unity ofHorus, the rightful king with the god Ptah. The text waseither composed in the Fifth or Sixth Dynasty (2500–2170B.C.E.) and recopied in King Shabaka’s time (716–702B.C.E.) or composed during Shabaka’s time and attributedto ancient history to increase its importance.This writing was copied out anew by his majesty inthe House of his father Ptah-South-of-his-Wall, for hismajesty found it to be a work of the ancestors whichwas worm-eaten, so that it could not be understood frombeginning to end. His majesty copied it anew so that itbecame better than it had been before, in order that hisname might endure and his monument last in the Houseof his father Ptah-South-of-his-Wall throughout eternity,as a work done by the Son of Re [Shabaka] for his fatherPtah-Tatenen, so that he might live forever …[Geb, lord of the gods, commanded] that the NineGods gather to him. He judged between Horus and Seth;he ended their quarrel. He made Seth king of Upper Egyptin the land of Upper Egypt, up to the place in which hewas born, which is Su. And Geb made Horus king ofLower Egypt in the land of Lower Egypt, up to the placein which his father was drowned which is “Division-ofthe-Two-Lands.”Thus Horus stood over one region, andSeth stood over one region. They made peace over theTwo Lands at Ayan. That was the division of the TwoLands.Geb’s words to Seth: “Go to the place in which youwere born.” Seth: Upper Egypt. Geb’s words to Horus:“Go to the place in which your father was drowned.”Horus: Lower Egypt. Geb’s words to Horus and Seth: “Ihave separated you.”—Lower and Upper Egypt.Then it seemed wrong to Geb that the portion ofHorus was like the portion of Seth. So Geb gave to Horushis inheritance, for he is the son of his firstborn son.Geb’s words to the Nine Gods: “I have appointedHorus, the firstborn.” Geb’s words to the Nine Gods:“Him alone, Horus, the inheritance.” Geb’s words to theNine Gods: “To this heir, Horus, my inheritance.” Geb’swords to the Nine Gods: “To the son of my son, Horus,the Jackal of Upper Egypt—” Geb’s words to the NineGods: “The firstborn, Horus, the Opener-of-the-ways.”Geb’s words to the Nine Gods: “The son who was born—Horus, on the Birthday of the Opener-of-the-ways” …Reed and papyrus were placed on the double door ofthe House of Ptah. That means Horus and Seth, pacifiedand united. They fraternized so as to cease quarreling inwhatever place they might be, being united in the Houseof Ptah, the “Balance of the Two Lands” in which Upperand Lower Egypt had been weighed.SOURCE: “The Shabaka Stone,” in The Old and Middle Kingdoms.Vol. 1 of Ancient Egyptian Literature. Trans. MiriamLichtheim (Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of CaliforniaPress, 1973): 52–53.for rearranging the scenes was to make their order moreclosely resemble the order of some relief sculptures carvedin the Tomb of Kheruef, an official of King AmenhotepIII (1390–1352 B.C.E.), nearly 550 years after the dateof the papyrus. Though the scenes in Kheruef’s tombcontain some of the same subject matter as the DramaticRamesseum Papyrus, no scholar has been able to convincinglyargue that the order of the scenes in the papyrusshould be read in the same order as the relief scenes.SHABAKA STONE. Sethe’s second example of anEgyptian drama was the Shabaka Stone. Egyptologistsnamed this inscribed black slab of slate after KingShabaka (716–702 B.C.E.) who ordered that it be carved.The inscription begins with the note that it is a copy ofa papyrus that was written “in the time of the ancestors.”Some problems in understanding the text stem from thefact that millers used the Shabaka Stone as part of amillstone at some time. Many parts of the center of theinscription are so worn away that they are illegible. Furthermore,Egyptologists continue to question the truedate of this text. The first commentators thought it wasa Fifth- or Sixth-dynasty text which would date it to approximately2500–2170 B.C.E. These scholars saw similaritiesbetween the language used in the Shabaka Stoneand the Pyramid Texts, known to be written at that time.Others believe that scribes in the time of Shabaka purposelycreated a text that sounded old to validate currenttheological ideas and imply these ideas had anancient pedigree.DEBATE OVER TEXT. When Sethe studied the textof the Shabaka Stone, he concluded it was a drama, expandingon the ideas of his teacher, Adolf Erman. He256 Arts and Humanities Through the Eras: Ancient Egypt (2675 B.C.E.–332 B.C.E.)