Harris 500 papyrus
The Harris 500 papyrus , also Papyrus British Museum 10060 , BM 10060 for short, is a papyrus from ancient Egypt that contains a collection of several literary texts, including the oldest known love poems from Egypt . The papyrus was created at the beginning of the 19th dynasty , during the reign of Seti I or Ramses II, and is named after the British merchant Anthony Charles Harris (1790–1869), in whose private possession it was once. After his death, the papyrus became the property of the British Museum , where it is still kept.
content
The papyrus measures 143.5 × 20.3 cm and is written on both sides in hieratic script . Both pages are divided into eight columns .
On the front (recto) there are three groups of love songs. The first group consists of eight independent poems, four of which are put in the mouths of a girl (No. 1, 2, 4, 8) and a boy (No. 3, 5, 6, 7). The original title of this group is no longer preserved, it is summarized by Siegfried Schott under the modern title "Power of Love". This is followed by a second group entitled “Beginning of the joyful chants for your beloved, the chosen one of your heart, when she comes from the hallway” and also consists of eight poems, all of which are assigned to a girl. This is followed by the so-called harper song of Antef , which is not about love, but about enjoying life, and finally a group of three other love songs, all of which are assigned to a girl.
The back (verso) of the papyrus contains two stories. The first, only very fragmentary, is The Conquest of Joppa . It comprises columns 1–3. Although the plot is fictional, it is still embedded in real historical events. The story tells of the capture of the city of Joppa (now Jaffa ) by the Egyptian general Djehuti during the reign of Thutmose III. The second story includes columns 4-8. Her modern title is The Enchanted Prince . It is about an Egyptian prince who is prophesied an unnatural death.
literature
- Günter Burkard, Heinz J. Thissen: Introduction to the ancient Egyptian literary history. Part I: Old and Middle Kingdom. Lit, Berlin 2008, ISBN 978-3-8258-6132-2 , pp. 7-17, 62-66, 83-89, 96-98.