EGYPTIAN
ARCHAEOLOGY
New work on old texts New research on papyri which have long been in museum collections is improving our understanding of ancient Egyptian literature. At an EES Study Day in June 2005 Roland Enmarch reported on the preparation of a new edition of the Middle Egyptian poem Ipuwer, and here describes his work. There has been much discussion in recent years about the definition of ancient Egyptian literature, but it is generally agreed that the Middle and Late stages of the Egyptian language each possess a relatively well-defined corpus of ‘literary’ texts.These include, among other things,tales such as Sinuhe and Wenamun, and teachings like those of Ptahhotep and Amenemope. Most of these compositions are known from papyri and ostraca which were first published decades ago, and discoveries of new literary texts from these periods are now rare. Nevertheless, advances in photographic imaging, palaeography and linguistics mean that there is still much new information that can be gleaned from the study of the older, Column 13 of the poem as seen in natural light, demonstrating the damage to the papyrus well-known manuscripts.A text that was and the darkening of the edges first translated a century ago often still contains many mysteries to be elucidated, such as how it The king replies that, far from being his responsibility is structured, whether it is prose or poetry, the manner in or the creator god’s, the fault lies in the evil nature of which it relates to other written sources from the same humanity itself, being predisposed to chaotic tendencies. period (not to mention any unwritten oral traditions) and, This dark subject matter contrasts starkly with the more perhaps most crucially, how the ancient audiences might positive outlook portrayed in most Egyptian monuments have understood,and enjoyed,the work.For these reasons, and texts. work on the literary classics is an ongoing priority. Interpreting the poem is hampered by a number of A case in point is the late Nineteenth Dynasty P. Leiden factors.The exact provenance of the only surviving manuI 344 recto, which is the only surviving manuscript of the script is unknown, but circumstantial evidence suggests Middle Egyptian poem called variously The Admonitions that it comes from Saqqara,and it is just possible that it was or The Dialogue of Ipuwer and the Lord of All. This poem found in a tomb of a member of the entourage of Prince belongs to the pessimistic tradition, and is one of the most Khaemwaset, son of Ramesses II. A more important culturally challenging texts to survive from the whole of problem is the fact that the manuscript is badly damaged, Egyptian literature. It contains a dialogue between someand the beginning and end are both lost. It also seems to body who is simply called ‘Ipuwer’, and the ‘Person of the have been blackened by exposure to resin, perhaps in the Lord of All’, who is probably the king. Ipuwer delivers tomb. After it was purchased from the antiquities dealer a lengthy series of laments about the dire state of Egypt, Giovanni Anastasi for the Rijksmuseum van Oudheden and then goes on to accuse the king and the creator god in Leiden in 1828, the papyrus was varnished. Although of bringing it about through their negligence. Ipuwer this was at the time considered best practice,over the years asks of the creator god: the varnish has steadily darkened and caused the papyrus to buckle, making reading more difficult. Look, why did He seek to create mankind, when the respectful A hand-drawn facsimile of the papyrus was published in man is not distinguished from the fierce-hearted? … It is said: the catalogue of the Leiden collection in the 1860s, and “He is the shepherd of everyone.There is no evil in His heart”, Alan Gardiner produced the first edition of the text in (but) His herd is few, even though He made the day to care for 1909.Subsequently,Gerhard Fecht,working from unpubthem, since fire is in their hearts! lished infra-red photographs of the manuscript, was able to suggest several important new readings of parts of the 34