The Ancient Egyptian civilization, famous for its pyramids, pharaohs, mummies, and tombs, flourished for thousands of years. Learn how Ancient Egypt contributed to society with its many cultural developments, particularly in language and mathematics.
Egyptian Museum in Cairo
The Forgotten Treasure: Poetry in Ancient Egypt
Ancient Love Letters | Echoes from Ancient Egypt
"Poetry is perhaps the greatest forgotten treasure of ancient Egypt," one expert says. Pyramids, mummies, tombs, and other icons of aristocracy and the afterlife dominate our images of ancient Egypt. But love poems composed thousands of years ago may provide a more intimate glimpse of the lives of everyday ancient Egyptians.
"Poetry is perhaps the greatest forgotten treasure of ancient Egypt," said Richard Parkinson, an expert on ancient Egyptian poetry at London's British Museum, home to the largest collection of Egyptian artifacts outside of Cairo. While historical accounts and biographies inscribed on the insides of tombs often give idealized accounts of ancient Egyptian life, poetry gives real insight into human nature and its imperfections, he said.
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A group of love poems have been found in an excavated workers' village on the outskirts of the Valley of Kings, where many pharaohs are entombed. The verses allow poetry lovers and Egyptophiles alike to tap into the emotional side of Egyptian daily life. "People tend to assume all ancient Egyptian writing is religious, so the secular nature of these songs and of much other poetry continue to surprise readers," Parkinson said.
Love Poems From the Workers' Village
Archaeologists have discovered most of Egypt's love poetry in Deir el-Medina, a village of tomb builders during the New Kingdom. Here, many skilled artisans worked on the tombs of pharaohs such as Ramses II and Tutankhamun. Findings indicate that these villagers may have been remarkably literate for their time. The local community-not just the scribes and students-may have contributed to the poetry of Deir el-Medina.
The love poems were likely set to music and used events from daily life and the natural world-growing grain, capturing birds, fishing along the Nile-as metaphors to talk about love.
The Crossing (Excerpt)
I'll go down to the water with you,
and come out to you carrying a red fish,
which is just right in my fingers.
(Translated by M. Fox)
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Women's Voices in Poetry
Women's voices were strong in Egyptian poetry-as the narrators of poems or as lovers making choices about their beloveds, for example. This strength confirms that women had a higher position in ancient Egyptian culture than in other societies at the time, Wilfong said. Women may even have written some of the poetry.
Egyptian Women playing music and dancing at banquet
The Harper's Song
One of Wilfong's favorite poems, a harpist's hymn, celebrates life in a culture often thought to be purely focused on the afterlife. Dating from about 1160 B.C., this poem was found on the tomb of Inherkhawy, a supervisor of workers at the royal burial ground in the ancient city of Thebes:
The Harper's Song for Inherkhawy (Excerpt)
So seize the day! hold holiday!
Be unwearied, unceasing, alive you and your own true love;
Let not the heart be troubled during your sojourn on Earth, but seize the day as it passes!
(Translated by J.L. Foster)
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From Hieroglyphics to Hymns
The earliest poetry in Egypt was likely part of an oral tradition. Hymns, stories, and prayers were passed down from speaker to speaker. It's likely that only one person out of every hundred could read and write, according to Jacco Dieleman, an Egyptologist at the University of California, Los Angeles.
The Egyptian hieroglyphic writing system was likely invented to help with trade, allowing merchants record their wares and account for their stock. Later hieroglyphic writing found on nobles' tombs gave biographical accounts of the tombs' occupants for passersby to read. Over time, longer biographies, narrative poems, and songs also began to appear.
To read ancient Egyptian poetry and other writings is a two-step process, Dieleman said. Much of the writing was done in hieratic script, a shorthand form of hieroglyphs. "When you have to write all of these beautiful [hieroglyphs] of birds, men, and women, it takes days to write a letter to your grandmother," Dieleman said.
To begin deciphering the ancient texts, Dieleman uses detailed photographs of excavated writings, along with his own observations of actual artifacts, if possible. He then translates hieratic writing into hieroglyphs. From there, he gives sounds to the hieroglyphic consonants and pieces out words, sentences, and entire passages.
Historical tales and hymns had been inscribed inside tomb walls, written on papyrus, and often scribbled onto shards of limestone pottery. "These shards are considered the scratch paper of the Egyptians," said Terry Wilfong, an Egyptologist at the University of Michigan.
Wilfong said that students in ancient Egypt inscribed many of the surviving examples of the culture's poetry. The students likely copied down poems from other texts and dictation as part of their lessons.
Papyrus
Examples of Ancient Egyptian Love Poems
Written during Egypt's New Kingdom (1539-1075 B.C.) but likely composed much earlier, these songs are surprisingly direct about love and romance in ancient Egypt, using metaphors, repetition, and other poetic techniques familiar to poetry readers today.
The Flower Song (Excerpt)
To hear your voice is pomegranate wine to me:
I draw life from hearing it.
Could I see you with every glance,
It would be better for me
Than to eat or to drink.
(Translated by M.V. Fox)
The British Museum's Parkinson still finds wonder and excitement in his favorite ancient Egyptian works.
Here are some other excerpts and examples of Ancient Egyptian love poems:
Kissing is described in the surviving Ancient Egyptian love poetry from the New Kingdom,found on papyri excavated at Deir el-Medina.
Finally I will drink life from your lips
and wake up from this ever lasting sleep.
The wisdom of the earth in a kiss
and everything else in your eyes.
I kiss her before everyone
that they all may see my love.
And when her lips are pressed to mine
I am made drunk and need not wine.
When we kiss, and her warm lips half open,
I fly cloud-high without beer!
His kisses on my lips, my breast, my hair……
Come! Come! Come!
Is there anything sweeter than this hour?
for I am with you, and you lift up my heart
-for is there not embracing and fondling when you visit me and we give ourselves up to delights?
...If you wish to caress my thigh, then I will offer you my breast also
- it won't thrust you away!
Would you leave because you are hungry?
- are you such a man of your belly?
Would you leave because you need something to wear?
- I have a chestful of fine linen!
Would you leave because you wish something to drink?
Here, take my breasts!
They are full to overflowing, and all for you!
She is one girl, there is no one like her. She is more beautiful than any other. Look, she is like a star goddess arisingat the beginning of a happy new year; brilliantly white, bright skinned;with beautiful eyes for looking,with sweet lips for speaking; she has not one phrase too many. With a long neck and white breast, her hair of genuine lapis lazuli; her arm more brilliant than gold; her fingers like lotus flowers, with heavy buttocks and girt waist. Her thighs offer her beauty, with a brisk step she treads on ground. She has captured my heart in her embrace. She makes all men turn their necks to look at her. 20TH DYNASTY, NEW KINGDOM EGYPT
Her necklace is made of buds. Her bones are delicate reeds. She wears a signet ring and has a lotus in her hand. ... I kiss her before everyone that they all may see my love. She enraptures my heart, and when she sees me, I am refreshed.
Oh beautiful one!
The voice of the dove calls,
It says: "The earth is bright."
What have I to do outside?
Stop, thou birdling!
Ta-'a-ti-plants are in it!
I take your garlands away,
When you come home drunk,
And when you are lying in your bed
When I touch your feet,
And children are in your [uncertain]
I rise up rejoicing in the morning
Your nearness means to me health and strength.
(an ancient Egyptian spell from 'The Coffin Texts')
I am the lord of fire who lives on truth,
The Lord of Eternity, Maker of Joy,
Against whom the otherworldly serpents have not rebelled.
I am the God in his shrine,
The Lord of Slaughter, who calms the storm, ...
Who drives off the serpents, the many-named one who comes forth from his shrine,
The Lord of the Winds who foretells the Northwind,
Many-named in the Mouth of the Ennead,
Lord of the Horizon, Creator of Light,
Who illumines heaven with his own beauty
I am He!
Make way for me . . .
Ancient Egypt: A Historical Overview
The term “Ancient Egypt” covers millennia of history. It evokes images of pyramids, mummies, and hieroglyphics but it is so much more. In reality, the centuries that could be considered Ancient Egypt were so noteworthy that it is necessary to divide this general time period into more specific sections. As an overview, Ancient Egypt can be separated into three different kingdoms all before the first millennium BC: the Old Kingdom (ca. 2686-2181 BC), the Middle Kingdom (ca. 2055-1795 BC), and the New Kingdom (ca. 1550-1069 BC).
While it is true that much of the ancient history from these periods has been lost, archaeologists have been able to decipher invaluable information from hieroglyphics inscribed on temple walls; poetry has been preserved in the same fashion.
The Reign of Akhenaten
One of the most famous families in the New Kingdoms was that of the pharaoh Akhenaten. Akhenaten, also known as Amenhotep IV, was father to Tutankhamun (commonly known as King Tut) and husband to Nefertiti. Though a second son to Amenhotep III, Akhenaten became the heir after his older brother died and ascended the throne around 1353 BC. Scholars disagree on whether Akhenaten co-ruled with his father during the first few years of his reign, as was tradition, or if Akhenaten only took power after his father’s death.
Ancient Egypt was polytheistic, with humans worshipping a number of important gods including Ra, Ptah, Isis, Anubis, Thoth, and Set, amongst others. The complex mythology is depicted on wall carvings and hieroglyphs. The sun was of paramount importance to Egypt, which relied on agricultural success to survive. It is no surprise that some of Egypt’s earliest surviving poetry concerns the cycle of planting and harvest, with the sun playing a major role in promoting fertility.
Sun deities had long been celebrated, but Akhenaten made a radical attempt to alter Egypt’s religious traditions when he decreed that Aten should be worshipped as the primary god. Aten, a personification of the sun-disk, was an aspect of Ra. In his effort to promote a monotheistic worship of the sun itself, Akhenaten sought to demote all other deities; he even went so far as to destroy evidence of other deities, such as chiseling out wall carvings depicting other gods. His endeavors to build a city dedicated to a newly stylized worship of the sun ended abruptly uon his death in 1357 BC. His successors, Nefertiti as regent and Tutankhamun as pharoah, did not furhter his efforts and the religious traditions quickly reverted back to what they were before Akhenaten took over.
We have selected poems dating from the 18th dynasty of Ancient Egypt, which was the first dynasty of the New Kingdom (ca.
Poetic Devices
Let’s take a deeper look at imagery. Imagery is the term we use to explain when a line, especially in a poem, sparks off the senses. Imagery uses “language to represent objects, actions, and ideas in such a way that it appeals to our physical senses. A poet could simply state, say, “I see a tree”, but it is possible to conjure up much more specific images using techniques such as simile (“a tree like a spiky rocket”), metaphor (“a green cloud riding a pole”) or synecdoche (“bare, black branches”) - each of these suggests a different kind of tree. Techniques, such as these, that can be used to create powerful images are called figurative language, and can also include onomatopoeia, metonymy and personification.
- A simile is a figure of speech that makes a comparison, showing similarities between two different things. Unlike a metaphor, a simile draws resemblance with the help of the words “like” or “as.” Therefore, it is a direct comparison.
- A metaphor is a figure of speech that makes an implicit, implied, or hidden comparison between two things that are unrelated, but which share some common characteristics. In other words, a resemblance of two contradictory or different objects is made based on a single or some common characteristics. In simple English, when you portray a person, place, thing, or an action as being something else, even though it is not actually that “something else,” you are speaking metaphorically.
- Personification is a figure of speech in which a thing - an idea or an animal- is given human attributes.
- Onomatopoeia is defined as a word which imitates the natural sounds of a thing. It creates a sound effect that mimics the thing described, making the description more expressive and interesting.
Analyzing Poetry
A close reading analysis of Poetry requires we think through its possible meanings as well as the relationship between and among the words, images, and other small units that make up a poem. Reading, in this context, requires rereading. Start by reading the poem or excerpt of poetry silently, then read it aloud. Repeat as necessary. Reflect on the poem and what it conveyed to you as a reader. You might not be able to fully and logically describe this but take note of what you noticed. You might consider jotting down your initial thoughts after your first reading, and then noting how your ideas changed after you re-read the poem.
Circle, highlight, underline, or otherwise note specific moments that caught your attention as you were reading and reflect on why you noticed them. These could be moments that made sense to you, profoundly confused you, or something in between. Such moments might be single words, phrases, or formal features (e.g., rhyme, meter, enjambment). Write these observations down. Once you have explored the poem intimately, think of the larger issues that might be explored by the poem. You are trying to assess the overall message. How did the poem affect you as a reader? The word “affect” can be helpful to consider here since it denotes the overall subjective experience one has in response to reading something (or seeing or experiencing anything, really). This can encompass thoughts, emotions, moods, ideas, etc.-whatever the experience produced in you as a person. You can ask yourself what affective, or emotional, atmosphere the poem produced, even if something about it is difficult to describe. What adjective would you use to describe the tone of the poem? Happy? Sad? Thoughtful? Despairing? Joyous? How did the poem make you feel generally? Does the poem have an identifiable speaker or addressee? Is the poem attributed to a specific speaker, or is this unclear or ambiguous? Is the speaker clearly addressing a specific second person audience, or a general one, or does this not come up? Is there a specific dramatic motivation driving the speaker to speak? What seems to be the larger theme, or point, of the poem? This is the first question to try to address. Even if the larger message of the poem seems highly ambiguous, it’s important to first try to get a sense of this before you can move into analyzing the poem more fully. Does the poem seem to be an attempt to understand something? To appreciate something? To express a feeling? To work through a complex idea? To convey an image? After considering these questions, keep in mind that it’s okay if the poem still confuses you or eludes your full understanding. In fact, this sense of mystery can encourage further thought when trying to understand a poem.
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