Pastoral story

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The pastoral story is a fragmentary work of ancient Egyptian literature . It originated during the early 12th dynasty and tells of a shepherd's encounter with a goddess .

Lore

The story is only handed down on the Papyrus Berlin 3024 together with a conversation between a tired man and his soul . The beginning and end of the text have been washed off with the intention of rewriting the papyrus . Only 24 lines are preserved.

content

The remaining part of the story begins with a verbatim speech by the shepherd. He tells how he went to a pond near the pasture and met a woman there whose looks and words had terrified him. This encounter is evidently connected with an impending flood, because the shepherd now turns to his comrades with the instruction to put the herd of cattle on a boat. Then he names a saying that should be recited during the boat trip .

In the last lines, the narrative perspective changes to an authorial narrator . The action takes place in the early morning. The Shepherd's instructions are being carried out. When he goes to the water again, the woman approaches him again, this time completely bare. At this point the text breaks off.

literature

  • Günter Burkard, Heinz J. Thissen: Introduction to the ancient Egyptian literary history I. Old and Middle Kingdom . LIT, Münster / Hamburg / London 2003, pp. 177–187.
  • Rosemarie Drenkhahn: pastoral story . In: Lexicon of Egyptology. Vol. II. Wiesbaden 1977, columns 1223-1224.
  • Alan H. Gardiner : Literary Texts of the Middle Kingdom II. The tale of Sinuhe and the pastoral story. Paragraph and translation . Hieratic papyrus from the Royal Museums in Berlin V. Leipzig 1909
  • Wolfgang Kosack : Berlin booklets on Egyptian literature 1 - 12 .: Part I. 1 - 6 / Part II. 7 - 12 (2 volumes). Parallel texts in hieroglyphics with introductions and translation. Volume 3: The report of the tired of life and his soul, the shepherd's story and the harpist's song by Christoph Brunner, Basel 2015, ISBN 978-3-906206-11-0 .
  • Richard B. Parkinson: The Tale of Sinuhe and other Ancient Egyptian Poems 1940-1640 BC (= Oxford World's Classics ). Oxford University Press, Oxford / New York 1997, ISBN 0-19-814963-8 , pp. 287-288.
  • Ludwig Morenz: Contributions to the literacy culture in the Middle Kingdom and in the 2nd interim period . In: Egypt and the Old Testament. Vol. 29, Wiesbaden 1996, pp. 124-130.