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Can anyone recommend some texts on the Old or Middle Kingdom? For all the literature written duing this time, there is suprisingly little available today. It seems book story are dominated with New Kingdom personalities. I'm not really looking for the pyramids, mummies or deities. There is a ton of material on those subjects.
BTW, I already have Litchem's text on the Old/Middle Kingdom stories.
ausar Member # 1797
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What exactly are you looking for,Kem-au? Most of Egyptian literature is Instruction texts with some historial and pusedo-fiction stories. You have some poetry like the Herdman's Song or the Song of the Blind Harper from Intef's tomb.
Here is a nice book that chornicles the Voices of people from the period of the Middle Kingdom:
Voices from Ancient Egypt: An Anthology of Middle Kingdom Writings (Oklahoma Series in Classical Culture, Vol 9)
[This message has been edited by ausar (edited 24 January 2004).]
Osiris II Member # 3079
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One of the best and most interesting "read" is a translation of the Egyptian papyrus, a lamentation called "A mMan Tired of Life". A new translation has be recently published, called "Rebel In The Soul", tranlated by Bika Reed. Not everyone who reads it will agree with the conclusions presented by Reed, but it is fascinating to see such an unusual comprehension published. The original papyrus has never been definately dated, but many scholars feel that it is from the First Intermediate Period, between the Old and Middle Kingdoms.
Kem-Au Member # 1820
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quote:Originally posted by ausar: What exactly are you looking for,Kem-au? Most of Egyptian literature is Instruction texts with some historial and pusedo-fiction stories. You have some poetry like the Herdman's Song or the Song of the Blind Harper from Intef's tomb.
Here is a nice book that chornicles the Voices of people from the period of the Middle Kingdom:
Voices from Ancient Egypt: An Anthology of Middle Kingdom Writings (Oklahoma Series in Classical Culture, Vol 9)
[This message has been edited by ausar (edited 24 January 2004).]
I'm talking about something on the actual people of the old and middle kingdom. There are a ton of texts of Akhenaten, Ramses, Tut, etc. But I have yet to see one on Snefru (Snazaru?), Pepi, etc.
Kem-Au Member # 1820
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quote:Originally posted by Osiris II: One of the best and most interesting "read" is a translation of the Egyptian papyrus, a lamentation called "A mMan Tired of Life". A new translation has be recently published, called "Rebel In The Soul", tranlated by Bika Reed. Not everyone who reads it will agree with the conclusions presented by Reed, but it is fascinating to see such an unusual comprehension published. The original papyrus has never been definately dated, but many scholars feel that it is from the First Intermediate Period, between the Old and Middle Kingdoms.
cool, thx. i will look for this.
ausar Member # 1797
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Unfortunatley not many Egyptologist devote much time into the pharoahs of earlier period for some odd reason. Little bits and pieces of the life of Old kingdom and Middle Kingdom pharoahs is mostly from people like Manetho,Herodotus,and Diodorus Siculus. Prior to this you can gain some information from Egyptian texts like the Turin kings list,Abydos kings list,or a pre-dyanstic document going to the fifth dyansty called the Palermo Stone. Other than this,I don't know much about what there is out there about Old Kingdom pharoahs. I did,however,stumble upon some books you might be interested in.
Check out the following books:
1.The Pyramid Builder: Cheops, the Man behind the Great Pyramid by Christine el Mahdy 2.Conspiracies in the Egyptian Palace: Unis to Pepy I by Naguib Kanawati 3.Clayton, Peter. Chronicles of the Pharaohs. 4.Who's Who in Ancient Egypt
by Michael Rice
Imhotep is the only person who dates to the Old Kingdom period that Egyptologist spend lots of time on. Other than this,I cannot tell you any other text relavent to any pharoah during the Old Kingdom.
Kem-Au Member # 1820
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"2.Conspiracies in the Egyptian Palace: Unis to Pepy I by Naguib Kanawati"
ausar, have you ever read this? it's a little pricey and i'd just like to have an opinion on it before i start putting my pennies away. seems very interesting. btw, the national geographic magazine ran a cover story on this a few months back, but i haven't been able to find the book. when i do, i'll post some of the info.
ausar Member # 1797
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You can see if you can get the book through inter-library loan. This way you will not have to pay for the book.
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