I need your help. I'm writing an article about modern Egyptian authors, but I want to add a little about ancient Egyptian storytelling.
Can someone give me a reliable link about the history of ancient Egyptian story telling? Also I read that the story of Cinderalla originated in ancient Egypt is that true?
As far as the 'Cinderella' story, it's unfair to say that particularl theme originated in Egypt since the Cinderalla theme is in fact global and spans many cultures around the world from Nigeria to China etc. but yes the oldest recorded version is the Egyptian one.
As for Egyptian stories in general, I will say they are more similar to other traditional stories and fables in Africa that involved moral themes centered around peoples and supernatural beings or even animals. Some of the stories involving animals bear a striking resemblance to the Brer Rabbit stories of West Africa.
Ebony Allen Member # 12771
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I believe the Cinderella story in Egypt was invented around the Greek Hellenistic era and not Dynastic Egyptians. That's what I got from google.
T. Rex Member # 3735
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Does anyone know if the Egyptians had epics about mortal heroes performing great deeds a la Beowulf, Finn McCull, Rama, Hercules, Achilles, or Gilgamesh? The only heroic-sounding stories I've heard coming from Egypt involve gods as the protagonists (e.g. Horus against Seth, Ra against Apep). I've never known any Egyptian myth about a heroic mortal.
Djehuti Member # 6698
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quote:Originally posted by Ebony Allen: I believe the Cinderella story in Egypt was invented around the Greek Hellenistic era and not Dynastic Egyptians. That's what I got from google.
That is likely the case since, the 'Cinderella' character or herione of the story was not even Egyptian but a slave from Greece who was not even Greek herself but came from a country just north of Greece!
quote:Originally posted by T. Rex: Does anyone know if the Egyptians had epics about mortal heroes performing great deeds a la Beowulf, Finn McCull, Rama, Hercules, Achilles, or Gilgamesh? The only heroic-sounding stories I've heard coming from Egypt involve gods as the protagonists (e.g. Horus against Seth, Ra against Apep). I've never known any Egyptian myth about a heroic mortal.
It's funny you should say this considering about all of the epic heroes you mentioned are of divine or semi-divine birth. One big difference I've noticed between Egyptian myths and those of their contemporaries in the ancient world is that the Egyptian gods do not intermingle with mortals the way deities of those other ancient cultures do. So in Egyptian stories there are no half-god heroes who perform incredible feats. There are only gods who perform incredible feats or mortal heroes who are purely human. So in the case of human protagonists, although they cannot perform anything incredible, when explicable or extraordinary things happen to them, they would just find a plausible way of dealing with it. A case in point would be 'The Shipwrecked Sailor'.
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