Voices from the Nile: Ancient Egyptian Literature in Translation

Harvard FAS

Examines several literary genres, from the Pyramid Age through at least the New Kingdom (ca. 2500-1000 BCE), including royal decrees, autobiographies, the Pyramid Texts, legal documents, letters to the living (and dead), love stories and poetry, military texts, religious rituals, and tomb robber court trial transcripts. Special emphasis on classical tales of the Middle Kingdom ("The Shipwrecked Sailor," "The Story of Sinuhe," etc.). Lectures, class discussion; no…