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Ancient Literature
Ancient literature comprises religious and scientific documents, tales, poetry and plays, royal edicts and declarations, and other forms of writing that were recorded on a variety of media, including stone, Clay tablet, clay tablets, Papyrus, papyri, Palm-leaf manuscript, palm leaves, and metal. Before the spread of writing, oral literature did not always survive well, but some texts and Fragmentology (manuscripts), fragments have persisted. An unknown number of written works have not survived the ravages of time and are therefore lost. Incomplete list of ancient texts Bronze Age Early Bronze Age: 3rd millennium BC (approximate dates shown). The earliest written literature dates from about 2600 BC (classical Sumerian language, Sumerian). Certain literary texts are difficult to date, such as the ''Egyptian Book of the Dead'', which was recorded in the ''Papyrus of Ani'' around 1240 BC, but other versions of the book probably date from about the 18th century BC. * 2600 BC: Su ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Metjen
Metjen (also read as Methen) was an ancient Egyptian high official at the transition time from Third Dynasty of Egypt, 3rd Dynasty to Fourth Dynasty of Egypt, 4th Dynasty. He is famous for his tomb inscription, which states that he worked and lived under the kings (pharaohs) Huni and Sneferu. Biography Family According to his tomb inscriptions, Metjen was a son of the high official Inpu-em-Ankh, a judge at the royal court of justice and a royal scribe. Metjen's mother was a high priestess named ''Neb-senet''. Metjen's children were mentioned, but not named.Toby A. H. Wilkinson: ''Early Dynastic Egypt''. Routledge, London/New York 2001, , p. 93, 112, 125 & 147.Wolfgang Helck: ''Untersuchungen zur Thinitenzeit'' (= ''Ägyptologische Abhandlungen'', Vol. 45). Harrassowitz, Wiesbaden 1987, , p. 268–274. Titles As a high-ranking official, Metjen bore several elite titularies: * ''Confidant of the King'' (Egyptian: ''Rekh-neswt''). This title allowed Metjen to receive audience ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Autobiography Of Weni
The Autobiography of Weni is a tomb inscription from Ancient Egypt, which is significant to Egyptology studies. Weni the Elder, or Uni, was a court official of the 6th Dynasty of Ancient Egypt. The location of the Tomb of Weni was lost as a result of Auguste Mariette's 1880 description of Weni's tomb being unclear (" nthe high hill which gives the middle cemetery its name"). It was rediscovered in 1999 by an American archaeologist team led by Dr. Janet Richards. More recent works in the necropolis of Pepi I in Saqqara uncovered a second tomb for Weni with a near-identical copy of his biography. Biography Weni began his career under Teti, and rose through the ranks of the administration under Pepi I Meryre, for whom he was in turn a judge, a general and a vizier. Later, Weni became the governor of Upper Egypt during the reign of Merenre Nemtyemsaf I. As judge he investigated the queen who was apparently suspected of involvement in a conspiracy. While he was general, he reorga ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Enheduanna
Enheduanna ( , also transliteration, transliterated as , , or variants; ) was the (high) priestess of the moon god Sin (mythology), Nanna (Sīn) in the Sumerian city-state of Ur in the reign of her father, Sargon of Akkad ( BCE). She was likely appointed by her father as the leader of the religious group at Ur to cement ties between the Akkadian religion of her father and the native Sumerian religion. Enheduanna has been celebrated as the earliest known named author in world history. A number of works in Sumerian literature, such as the ''Exaltation of Inanna'' feature her as the first-person narrator, and other works, such as the ''Sumerian Temple Hymns'' may identify her as their author. However, there is considerable debate among modern Assyriologists based on linguistic and archaeological grounds as to whether or not she actually wrote or composed any of the rediscovered works that have been attributed to her. Additionally, the only manuscripts of the works attributed to her ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Palermo Stone
The Palermo Stone is one of seven surviving fragments of a stele known as the Royal Annals of the Old Kingdom of Ancient Egypt. The stele contained a list of the kings of Egypt from the First Dynasty (c.3150–2890 BCE) through to the early part of the Fifth Dynasty (c.2498–2345 BCE) and noted significant events in each year of their reigns. It was probably made during the Fifth Dynasty.Dodson, Aidan (2004) ''The Complete Royal Families of Ancient Egypt'', p.62. Thames & Hudson, . The Palermo Stone is held in the Regional Archeological Museum Antonio Salinas in the city of Palermo, Italy, from which it derives its name. The Palermo Stone and other fragments of the Royal Annals preserve what is probably the oldest historical text that has survived from Ancient Egypt and form a key source for Egyptian history in the Old Kingdom.Hsu, Hsu, Shih-Wei (2010) ''The Palermo Stone: the Earliest Royal Inscription from Ancient Egypt'', Altoriental. Forsch., Akademie Verlag, 37 (2010) 1, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Maxims Of Ptahhotep
''The Maxims of Ptahhotep'' or ''Instruction of Ptahhotep'' is an ancient Egyptian literary composition by the Vizier Ptahhotep around 2375–2350 BC, during the rule of King Djedkare Isesi of the Fifth Dynasty. The text was discovered in Thebes in 1847 by Egyptologist M. Prisse d'Avennes.Simpson, W. K., ed. The Maxims of Ptahhotep. Las Vegas, Nevada: Evan Blythin, 1986. The Instructions of Ptahhotep are considered didactic wisdom literature belonging to the genre of ''sebayt''. There are four copies of the Instructions, and the only complete version, Papyrus Prisse, is located in the Bibliothèque Nationale in Paris.Simpson, William Kelly. The Literature of Ancient Egypt: An Anthology of Stories, Instructions, Stelae, Autobiographies, and Poetry. New Haven, US: Yale University Press, 2003. Accessed January 28, 2017. ProQuest ebrary. According to William Kelly Simpson, scholars tend to believe that the ''Instructions of Ptahhotep'' were originally composed during the Mid ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pyramid Texts
The Pyramid Texts are the oldest ancient Egyptian funerary texts, dating to the late Old Kingdom. They are the earliest known corpus of ancient Egyptian religious texts. Written in Old Egyptian, the pyramid texts were carved onto the subterranean walls and sarcophagi of pyramids at Saqqara from the end of the Fifth Dynasty, and throughout the Sixth Dynasty of the Old Kingdom, and into the Eighth Dynasty of the First Intermediate Period. The oldest of the texts have been dated to –2300 BCE. Unlike the later Coffin Texts and '' Book of the Dead'', the Pyramid Texts were reserved only for the pharaoh and were not illustrated. The use and occurrence of Pyramid Texts changed between the Old, Middle, and New Kingdoms of Ancient Egypt. During the Old Kingdom (2686 BCE – 2181 BCE), Pyramid Texts could be found in the pyramids of kings as well as three queens, named Wedjebten, Neith, and Iput. During the Middle Kingdom (2055 BCE – 1650 BCE), Pyramid Texts were not writte ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Urukagina
Uru-ka-gina, Uru-inim-gina, or Iri-ka-gina ( ; died 2370 BC) was King of the city-states of Lagash and Girsu in Mesopotamia, and the last ruler of the 1st Dynasty of Lagash. He assumed the title of king, claiming to have been divinely appointed, upon the downfall of his corrupt predecessor, Lugalanda. He is best known for his reforms to combat corruption, which are sometimes cited as the first example of a legal code in recorded history. Although the actual text has not been discovered, much of its content may be surmised from other references to it that have been found. In it, he exempted widows and orphans from taxes; compelled the city to pay funeral expenses (including the ritual food and drink libations for the journey of the dead into the lower world); and decreed that the rich must use silver when purchasing from the poor, and if the poor does not wish to sell, the powerful man (the rich man or the priest) cannot force him to do so. He also participated in several con ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Debate Between Sheep And Grain
The "Debate between sheep and grain" or "Myth of cattle and grain" is a Sumerian disputation and creation myth, written on clay tablets in the mid to late 3rd millennium BC. Disputations Seven "debate" topics are known from the Sumerian literature, falling in the category of 'disputations'; some examples are: the Debate between Winter and Summer; the Debate between bird and fish; the Tree and the Reed; and the Debate between silver and copper. These topics came some centuries after writing was established in Sumerian Mesopotamia. The debates are philosophical and address humanity's place in the world. Compilation The first sixty-one lines of the myth were discovered on the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology catalogue of the Babylonian sectiontablet number 14,005from their excavations at the temple library at Nippur. This was translated by George Aaron Barton in 1918 and first published as "Sumerian religious texts" in " Miscellaneous Babylonian ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Enlil And Ninlil
Enlil and Ninlil, the Myth of Enlil and Ninlil, or Enlil and Ninlil: The begetting of Nanna is a Sumerian language, Sumerian creation myth, written on clay tablets in the mid to late 3rd millennium Anno Domini, BC. Compilation The first lines of the myth were discovered on the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, catalogue of the Akkadian language, Babylonian section (CBS), tablet number 9205 from their excavations at the temple library at Nippur. This was translated by George Aaron Barton in 1918 and first published as ''"Sumerian religious texts"'' in ''"Miscellaneous Babylonian Inscriptions"'', number seven, entitled "A Myth of Enlil and Ninlil". The tablet is by by at its thickest point. Barton noted that Theophilus G. Pinches had published part of an equivalent Akkadian language, Akkadian version of the same story in 1911, noting ''"The two texts in general agree closely, though there are minor variations here and there."'' Another tablet ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hymn To Enlil
The Hymn to Enlil, Enlil and the Ekur (Enlil A), Hymn to the Ekur, Hymn and incantation to Enlil, Hymn to Enlil the all beneficent or Excerpt from an exorcism is a Sumerian language, Sumerian myth, written on clay tablets in the late third millennium BC. Compilation Fragments of the text were discovered in the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology catalogue of the Akkadian language, Babylonian section (CBS) from their excavations at the temple library at Nippur. The myth was first published using tablet CBS 8317, translated by George Aaron Barton in 1918 as "Sumerian religious texts" in "Miscellaneous Babylonian Inscriptions", number ten, entitled "An excerpt from an exorcism". The tablet is at its thickest point. A larger fragment of the text was found on CBS tablet number 14152 and first published by Henry Frederick Lutz as "A hymn and incantation to Enlil" in "Selected Sumerian and Babylonian Texts", number 114 in 1919. Barton's tablet had only ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
