He eats bread with his fingers, although he washes himself but once a day.It’s the year 2490 B.C. His strength has vanished through fatigue and stiffness, kneading all his excrement. His belt is a cord for his back, a string for his buttocks. When he must be outside in the wind, he lays bricks without a loin cloth. I shall also describe to you the like of the mason-bricklayer. He operates a pestle with his feet, with which he himself is pounded, penetrating the courtyard of every house and driving (earth) into (every) open place. His clothes being stiff with mud, his headcloth consists (only) of rags, so that the air which comes forth from his burning furnace enters his nose. He burrows in the field more than swine to bake his cooking vessels. The potter is covered with earth, although his lifetime is still among the living. The work is also known as the Satire of the Trades because Khety mocks all other professions in favour of the scribal one in order to convince his son to become a scribe: In the Teaching of Khety, Khety escorts his son to the capital of Egypt where his son is to be admitted to the scribal school. Three versions have survived on papyrus rolls, whereas six ostraca (inscribed pieces of pottery or limestone chips) reveal different parts of the same text. The exhibition Hieroglyphs: unlocking ancient Egypt displays no less than nine versions of the Teaching of Khety in the British Museum collection alone. As a result, multiple copies of the same literary pieces have survived. Scribes thus preserved the written memory of Egypt by copying, reinterpreting and reworking revered pieces of literature. Part of the training scribes received consisted of copying parts of real or model documentary and literary texts written in hieratic, a handwritten version of hieroglyphs. Such older literary works, written in Middle Egyptian (the language of the Middle Kingdom, around 2055 to 1650 BC, which became the classical language for writing literature and poetry), were studied in schools from about 1500 BC onwards. His Teaching stresses the dependence of the elite on their servants and subordinates: field-labourers should not be overworked lest they run away a harsh master ultimately undermines his own prosperity. The Teachings vary in their tone and didactic emphasis, one of the most exhortatory being the Loyalist Instruction of Kaires. These are didactic works, mostly ascribed to famous sages, which discuss general matters of life and moral principles in the form of short sayings and warnings. Some of the scribes mentioned are well-known from other sources, especially from so-called Teachings or Instructions. Is there another like Ptahhotep or Kaires? Let me remind you the names of Ptahemdjedhuty and Khakheperreseneb. Is there any here like Hordedef? Is there another like Imhotep? There have been none among our family like Neferti and Khety, their leader. These learned scribes were said to have foretold the future and their sublime writings caused them to be remembered: One of the texts from a private library at the village of Deir el-Medina near present-day Luxor commemorates eight 'great' authors of the past. The papyrus is also unique in attributing authorship to the scribe Inena.Īchieving long-lasting fame was a hallmark of greatness, though authorship was rarely attributed in pre-classical antiquity. Highly entertaining and sophisticated, the tale is one of the most famous Egyptian compositions that became popular in New Kingdom Egypt (1550–1070 BC). The story has variously been interpreted as a fairy tale, a historical allegory and a political satire. He elevates his brother, Anubis, to succeed him, overcoming the catastrophes that had beset the pair. Bata is reborn, now as her son, and becomes king of Egypt. A splinter from the tree flies into her mouth, 'she swallowed it and in a moment she became pregnant'. Bata's wife orders the tree to be cut down. To win her over Bata assumes a sequence of different forms, the last being a Persea tree. Unfortunately she rejects him in favour of the king. Meanwhile the gods have fashioned a wife for Bata. Anubis later discovers his wife's disloyalty and kills her, and the brothers are reunited. Believing his wife, Anubis initially turns against his brother and forces him to leave the family. Upset by the humiliation of his refusal, she claims that Bata attacked her. Their pleasant lifestyle is disrupted when the wife of Anubis unsuccessfully tries to seduce her brother-in-law. It begins by presenting an idyllic household consisting of Anubis, his wife and his brother, Bata. The Tale of the Two Brothers (and a flirtatious wife) features two semi-divine protagonists and their adventures.
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