3 ms·
As someone who has a decent grasp of Middle Egyptian hieroglyphs, I think your enthusiasm for these texts would be destroyed by reading them. I know from experi
by wl 6y ago
As someone who has a decent grasp of Middle Egyptian hieroglyphs, I think your enthusiasm for these texts would be destroyed by reading them. I know from experience that the quickest way to bore someone I'm guiding through an Egyptian exhibit is to start reading and translating inscriptions. The context for much of what is written is more impenetrable than the language itself. You pick up a lot of that context by necessity in learning the language but it doesn't come through in translation.
- narag 6y agoSo all those headless guys with their arms tied to the back all around the caskets are some kind of boring groceries list?
- wl 6y agoPowerful rulers subdue their enemies. It's a common formula seen over and over in various royal tombs and elsewhere. Sometimes, like in the case of the Libyans in some periods, the enemies the king claims domination over haven't been seen or heard from in generations. These kinds of inscriptions can tell us interesting things about foreign relations sometimes, but it's not the type of thing that's easy to extract. As karatestomp states, there are far more interesting texts out there. The Story of Sinuhe says more about the milieu it was written in than most monumental or funerary inscriptions. It also happens to be one of the world's earliest surviving literary masterpieces. The Story of Wenamun argues against the common notion that the ancient Egyptians didn't have a sense of humor.
- narag 6y agoIf you're still reading, thank you for the detailed explanation and references. I hadn't heard of Wenamun. Sinuhe rings a bell, maybe a novel? I have some digging to do :)