Ancient Egyptian Poetry and Prose

by Adolf Erman, Aylward M. Blackman (Translator)

Selections include poetry from pyramid texts, morning hymns, instructions in wisdom, meditations, exhortations to schoolboys, love songs, poems to the king, and more. Also included are an outline of Egyptian history, an introduction to Egyptian literature, and extensive footnotes and commentary on the material presented.

Genres: Poetry, Fiction

384 pages, Paperback

First published October 30, 1995

About the author

1854-1937

Reviews

[Rachel · Rating 3 out of 5]

This volume, which usefully collects a multitude of fragments of surviving text from ancient Egyptian culture, could have been made vastly more useful with the implementation of a clearer graphic design scheme. This seems a minor thing to quibble about, but the unclear font and sizing made it difficult to differentiate between Erman's introductions and the beginning of the texts themselves. A clearer system of organization and style of introduction would also have been a benefit, as would a cover which did not appear to belong to a child's coloring book. Nonetheless, an essential collection for those interested in the study of ancient Egypt. Particularly fascinating are the personal letters occasionally included, which show, more clearly than anything else in the volume, how individuals interacted with one another in that society.

[Cliff Davis · Rating 4 out of 5]

Every lover of literature should read and own this book, for the window it opens into one of the world's earliest historical cultures.