Demotic literature

In ancient Egypt, demotic literature was primarily used for entertainment , which is why it can mainly be characterized as prosaic entertainment literature . Because of this classification, the demotic literature was classified as "non-classical" in contrast to the literature of the Middle Kingdom . In the training of the writing profession she was not considered, which is why she was not anchored in the general teaching assignment. Demotic literature is characterized by its versatility, as none of the otherwise usual literary requirements specified a specific literary framework.

Text genres

Demotic literature was developed between the sixth century BC. And the third century AD, the last time the Greek translation of the demotic work Homecoming of the Goddess , which is also known as the Myth of the Sun's Eye . It is true that as early as 650 BC The demotic literature , but in the initial phase there are only administrative texts that were written in the demotic language. Of the more than two hundred manuscripts available to date that can be assigned to the genre “ beautiful literature ”, most of them have not yet been published. About 67% of all texts belong to the sub-genre of short stories ; 20% of the wisdom teaching ; 12% are among the prophecies and mythological works and about 1% is accounted for by poetry .

Reports and administrative texts

Communications and records are the earliest forms of demotic writing. This area includes statistics, accounts, minutes, and communications for subsequent legal proceedings. Family chronicles also belong to this area, but have only rarely been documented so far, for example The Family History of Petesis .

stories

Inaros Petubastis texts

This genre is the most common form of demotic literature. It is characterized by its great length and diversity. What this genre of text has in common is a well-defined circle of people. The main actors here are the kings Inaros and Petubastis and the princes Pakreuris , Pemaus , Petechonsis , Wertepiamonnut and Taos . Historical figures from the second half of the eighth and seventh centuries BC form the basis of all the persons named. And the stories and decorations that emerged in the following years. The best known historical representatives are the story of Bes , the fight for the armor of Inaros , the fight for the benefice of Amun as well as Egyptians and Amazons .

The content of these tales consists of adventures and heroes who have to endure battles. The location is not limited to Ancient Egypt. In addition, the novel developed in this text genre , which no longer contains historical events as a basis, but rather shows the character of typical adventure and romance novels, which are provided with a historical cover. They thus show a strong resemblance to the early Greek novels. It is likely that the novels were an inner-Egyptian development, the origin of which lies in demotic literature. Greek influences can be excluded for the most part. In Egyptology , however, the question is discussed whether the Iliad acted-narrative to the demotic literature as a signal transmitter and the emergence of this genre inspired . One from the first quarter of the fifth century BC was not taken into account in this discussion. Aramaic version of the Inaros-Petubastis text , originating in BC . This finding in turn suggests a lack of Greek influence.

Magic stories

The text genre of the magic stories existed long before demotic literature, so it is not surprising that this element was carried over into demotic literature. Magic texts have always played a central role, as magic was a powerful tool to influence divine decisions. The demotic magic stories captivate with their great imagination, which allow the magician every imaginable means of magic to be able to cope with difficult situations. The narrative technique is characterized by sophistication, which, for example, similar to Lord of the Rings , allows various narrative strands to run in parallel at first in order to later bring them together in an amazing way.

The focus of this genre was the historical person Chaemwaset , son of Ramses II and high priest of Ptah in Memphis . Since Chaemwaset was particularly interested in ancient Egyptian history, his person was soon surrounded by the mythological description of a magician. His name "Setne", used in demotic literature, was derived from his office as a Setem priest . The creation of the magical stories First Setne History and Second Setne History dates back to about the fifth century BC. BC back.

Wisdom texts

The classification as wisdom texts, which is often carried out, is rather inappropriate, since it is predominantly a collection of sayings and the demotic "teachings" do not represent any profound philosophical treatises. Rather, proverbs were presented in a disconnected state and had at most an associative framework. The Papyrus Insinger is an exception , whose sayings are structured according to thematic aspects.

Particularly noteworthy is the teaching of Hasheschonqi , which also has a framework in which the proverbs were embedded. However, there are also manuscripts of the teachings of Chascheschonqi that do not contain a collection of sayings, which is why the classification as a borderline case between wisdom texts and narratives would be more appropriate. Among the published wisdom texts in addition include the teaching of Papyrus Brooklyn 47218135 , The large demotic wisdom book , The Teaching of Papyrus Louvre N 2414 , The Teaching of Papyrus Louvre N 2377 and the wisdom of the papyrus text Ashmolean Museum .

Prophecies

In ancient Egyptian mythology , the most important endeavor was to keep the world order, the so-called Maat , in balance and to prevent the chaos of the Isfet . On this basis, omen texts and prophecies had an important place in ancient Egyptian literature, which was also transferred to demotic literature. The demotic texts referred to the written repetitions of events from the past in order to be able to deduce the future fate in the associated omen. This resulted in written expectation texts that were linked to certain previous events. The best-known texts of this genre are The Lamb of Bokchoris , Demotic Chronicle and The Defense of the Potter .

Mythological animal stories

The animal stories, which belonged to the mythological-religious genre of text, had a special position. The generic term animal fable does not fully describe the characterization, as the content was always related to the ancient Egyptian deities, which have been associated with the appearance of animals since the early dynasty . The corresponding fables were mostly integrated into a framework story, for example The Lion and the Mouse , The Two Jackals and The Seer and the Listener in the extensive work The Homecoming of the Goddess , in which the main actors of the framework story appeared as divine animals. Another animal fable is The Swallow and the Sea .

The structure and composition of the animal stories required extensive knowledge of ancient Egyptian cultural history, which was only available to the elite priesthood . The texts used, which reached back at least to the New Kingdom , were partially connected with the representations in Ptolemaic temples. The special meaning of the content is also clear from the fact that attention was paid to the verbatim transmission. This feature is exceptional for demotic literature and highlights the exclusive religiosity of this genre.

literature

Friedhelm Hoffmann , Joachim Friedrich Quack : Anthology of demotic literature (= introductions and source texts on Egyptology. Volume 4). LIT, Berlin 2007, ISBN 978-3-8258-0762-7 .
Joachim Friedrich Quack: Introduction to the ancient Egyptian literary history. Volume III: The demotic and Graeco-Egyptian literature (= introductions and source texts for Egyptology. Volume 3). 2nd revised edition. LIT, Berlin 2009, ISBN 978-3-8258-8222-8 .