Egyptian Tales, Translated from the Papyri; Second series, XVIIIth to XIXth

by William Matthew Flinders Petrie

This book was converted from its physical edition to the digital format by a community of volunteers. You may find it for free on the web. Purchase of the Kindle edition includes wireless delivery.

Genres: Egyptology

78 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1895

About the author

Sir William Matthew Flinders Petrie FRS, known as Flinders Petrie, was an English Egyptologist and a pioneer of systematic methodology in archaeology. He held the first chair of Egyptology in the United Kingdom, and excavated at many of the most important archaeological sites in Egypt, such as Naukratis, Tanis, Abydos and Amarna. Some consider his most famous discovery to be that of the Merneptah Stele. Petrie developed the system of dating layers based on pottery and ceramic findings.

Reviews

[Les Wilson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well worth reading if interested in Egyptology.

[Richard Seltzer · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read in preparation for trip to Egypt

[Sam · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sir William Matthew Flinders Petrie compiles an anthology of stories from early ancient Egyptian papyri (18th to 19th dynasties [or 1550BCE to 1189BCE]). In the second series, each of the four chapters ("The Taking of Joppa", "The Doomed Prince", "Anpu and Bata", and "Setna and the Magic Book") begins with the core story, and each is concluded with remarks that outline a brief historical context of the tale's historical era and recent scholarship on extant copies of the story. This publication includes a preface describing the scope of the 2-volume series and an argument for why the study of fiction is necessary to understanding cultures or society. I listened to the Livrivox reading by Timothy Ferguson. Some readers unfamiliar with Ancient Egyptian history might find the historical detail overwhelming, while other more familiar readers should be satisfied. Most memorable for me was relative sophistication of the stories, all of which vary in completion, which may evidence an even longer history of storytelling in world cultures.