Ancient Egyptian Literature: History and Forms (Probleme Der Agyptologie, Bd 10) (Probleme Der Agyptologie, Bd 10)

This volume deals with the development and the characteristics of the literature of Ancient Egypt over a period of more than two millennia, from the monumental origins of autobiography at the end of the Old Kingdom (ca. 2150 BCE) down to the latest literary compositions in Demotic during the Graeco-Roman period (300 BCE-200 CE). This book, the result of an international co-operation among more than twenty scholars, is divided into sections devoted to the definition of literary discourse in Ancient Egypt; the history and genres of these texts, their linguistic and stylistic features; and the image of Ancient Egypt as displayed in later literary traditions of the Mediterranean world - Greek, Coptic, Arabic. With over thirty chapters, this volume provides an interdisciplinary account of current research in one of the methodologically most advanced fields of Egyptology. Title Page 4 Copyright Page 5 Table of Contents 6 Preface 10 Chronology of Egyptian History 16 Introduction 18 Does Egyptology need a “theory of literature”? 20 Part One: The Search for Egyptian Literature 36 Ägyptische Literatur und ägyptologische Forschung: eine wissenschaftsgeschichtliche Einleitung 38 Defining Egyptian literature: Ancient texts and modern theories 56 Kulturelle und literarische Texte 76 Auteur et société 100 Part Two: The Historical Setting 112 Der literarische Aspekt des ägyptischen Grabes und seine Funktion im Rahmen des “monumentalen Diskurses” 114 Die literarische Verarbeitung der Übergangszeit zwischen Altem und Mittlerem Reich 122 Individual and society in Middle Kingdom literature 154 Classicism and modernism in the literature of the New Kingdom 174 Demotic literature: forms and genres 192 Part Three: Phenomenology of Egyptian Literature 206 Die ägyptische Autobiographie 208 Didactic literature 260 Narrative literature 280 The “King’s Novel” 294 Types of literature in the Middle Kingdom 314 Verkünden und Verklären. Grundformen hymnischer Rede im Alten Ägypten 330 Die ägyptische Liebespoesie 352 Part Four: The Limits of Egyptian Literature 366 Théologie et littérature 368 Myth and literature 378 Archive 396 Loyalistic instructions 420 Is Egyptian historical literature “historical” or “literary”? 432 Belles lettres and propaganda 452 Part Five: The Language of Egyptian Literature 462 Metrik, Prosodie und formaler Aufbau ägyptischer literarischer Texte 464 Der Gebrauch rhetorischer Stilmittel in der ägyptischen Literatur 482 Die Arbeit am Text: altägyptische Literaturwerke aus philologischer Perspektive 516 Linguistic variety and Egyptian literature 532 The language of literature: on grammar and texture 548 Langue littéraire et diglossie 572 Part Six: Ancient Egypt and Later Literary Reception 582 Ancient Egyptian survivals in Coptic literature: an overview 584 Images of Egypt in Greek historiography 608 Medieval Muslim perceptions of pharaonic Egypt 622 General bibliography 646 Indexes (Authors, Names, Passages, Places, Texts, Topics, Egyptian Words) 710 PROBLEME DER ÄGYPTOLOGIE 744 Twenty scholars have contributed to this book which deals with the development and characteristics of the literature of ancient Egypt over a period of over more than two millenia, from the monumental origins of autobiography at the end of the Old Kingdom (ca. 2150 BC) down to the latest literary compositions in Demotic during the Graeco-Roman period (300BC-200AD). The book is divided into thirty chapters concerned with the definition of literary discourse, the history and genre of the texts, their linguistic and stylistic features and the image of Egypt as displayed in later literary traditions - Greek, Coptic and Arabic. Thoroughly interdisciplinary. An introduction to the history, genres, style, and later reception of Ancient Egyptian literature. Written from an interdisciplinary point of view, it offers an up-to-date discussion of the nature of literary communication in pharaonic Egypt.