First published in 1973 – and followed by Volume II in 1976 and Volume III in 1980 – this anthology has assumed classic status in the field of Egyptology and portrays the remarkable evolution of the literary forms of one of the world’s earliest civilizations.

Volume I outlines the early and gradual evolution of Egyptian literary genres, including biographical and historical inscriptions carved on stone, the various classes of literary works written with pen on papyrus, and the mortuary literature that focuses on life after death. Introduced with a new foreword by Antonio Loprieno.

Volume II shows the culmination of these literary genres within the single period known as the New Kingdom (1550-1080 B.C.). With a new foreword by Hans-W. Fischer-Elfert.

Volume III spans the last millennium of Pharaonic civilization, from the tenth century B.C. to the beginning of the Christian era. With a new foreword by Joseph G. Manning.

CONTENTS:

Brief Chronology of the New Kingdom
Abbreviations and Symbols                              
Foreword by Hans-W. Fischer-Elfert                     

                       Introduction 
Continuity and Change                                   

           PART ONE: Monumental Inscriptions
  I. Inscriptions from Private Tombs                  
        The Autobiography of Ahmose Son of Abana      
        The Prayers of Paheri                         
        The Installation of the Vizier Rekhmire       
 II. Inscriptions from Royal Monuments               
        Obelisk Inscriptions of Queen Hatshepsut      
        From the Annals of Thutmose III               
        The Poetical Stela of Thutmose III            
        The Great Sphinx Stela of Amenhotep II at Giza 
        Stela of Amenhotep III                        
        The Later Boundary Stelae of Amenhotep IV
          Akhenaten                                   
        Dedication Inscriptions of Seti I             
        The Kadesh Battle Inscriptions of Ramses II   
        The Poetical Stela of Merneptah (Israel Stela) 
           PART TWO: Hymns, Prayers, and a Harper's Song
The Great Hymn to Osiris                               
Two Hymns to the Sun-God                               
Hymns and Prayers from El-Amarna                       
   The Short Hymn to the Aten                         
   Two Hymns and a Prayer in the Tomb of Ay           
   The Great Hymn to the Aten                         
A Prayer and a Hymn of General Haremhab               
Three Penitential Hymns from Deir el-Medina        
    Votive Stela of Nebre with Hymn to Amen-Re     
    Votive Stela of Neferabu with Hymn to Mertseger 
    Votive Stela of Neferabu with Hymn to Ptah     
 Prayers Used as School Texts                       
    Praise of Amen-Re                              
    Prayer to Amun                                 
    Prayer to Amun                                 
    Prayer to Thoth                                
    Prayer to Thoth                                
 A Harper's Song from the Tomb of Neferhotep        
          PART THREE: From the Book of the Dead   
 Chapters 23, 30B, 43, 59, 77, 105, 109             
 Chapter 125                                        
                 PART FOUR: Instructions
 The Instruction of Any                             
 The Instruction of Amenemope                       
                 PART FIVE: Be a Scribe            
 Papyrus Lansing: A Schoolbook                      
 The Immortality of Writers                         
                 PART SIX: Love Poems              
 From Papyrus Chester Beatty I                      
 From Papyrus Harris 500                            
 From the Cairo Vase 1266 + 25218                   
                   PART SEVEN: Tales
 The Destruction of Mankind                         
 The Doomed Prince                                  
 The Two Brothers                                   
 Truth and Falsehood                                
 Horus and Seth                                     
 The Report of Wenamun     

AUTHOR:

For thirty years Miriam Lichtheim was Near East Bibliographer and Lecturer at University of California, Los Angeles. She retired in 1974 to devote herself to Egyptological research and later moved to Jerusalem where she taught at Hebrew University. She died in 2004. Hans-W. Fischer-Elfert is Professor of Egyptology at the Aegyptologisches Institut of the University of Leipzig.