2°4 ANCIENT EGYPTIAN LITERATURE
Who is mourned by multitudes in This, 8
Who is hailed by those belowI
Verso: Hymn to Min
(I) Recitation. The Deputy-treasurer Sobk-iry, born of the lady
Senu, the justified, speaks as one clean and pure:
I worship Min, I extol arm-raising Horus:
Hail to you, Min in his processionl
Tall-plumed, son of Osiris,
Born of divine u1s.
Great in Senut, mighty in I pu, S
You of Coptus, Horus (5) strong-armed,
Lord of awe who silences pride,
Sovereign of all the godsl
Fragrance laden when he comes from Medja-Iand,
Awe inspiring in Nubia,
You of Utent, hail and praisel'?
NOTES
I. Two-Mounds" is probably a place name, rather than a term for
Upper and Lower Egypt.
2. The necropolis of Giza.
3. Name of a sanctuary near Memphis.
4. The assembled sanctuaries of Upper and Lower Egypt.
5. A locality south of Heliopolis which in Ptolemaic times became
known as "Babylon."
6. Another place near Heliopolis.
7. Letopolis, on the west bank, opposite Heliopolis,
8. The hymn ends with a reference to the god 's tomb and tem ple at
Abydos.
9. Snwt designated a sanctuary of Min situated in the ninth nome of
Upper Egyp t, and 'Ipu: was a name for the nome-capital-Panopolis =
Akhmim . It was one of th e two principal cult centers of Min, the other
being Coptus, the metropolis of the fifth nome.
10. Utent was a region to the south or southeast of Egypt which has
not been prec isely localized. The words {3 bsw, hitherto left untranslated ,
I take to be two words for "praise"; {3 as short form of lsu: is not uncommon.
THE HYMN TO HAPY
Hapy, th e personified inundating Nil e, aroused feelings of thankful
exuberance which inspired some fine poetry. Pyramid T ext 581 speaks of
the "meadows laughing when the riverbanks are flooded ," and the great
hymn before us has woven the reactions of the people to the annual
miracle of the inundation into a highly effective composition, whi ch wns
much admired by th e Egyptians, as the numerous text copies attest , and
which we too 'can appreciate. The god Hapy did not have a regul ar temple-
THE MIDDLE KINGDOM 20 5
cult. But there were festivals in his honor, at which hymns were undoubt-
By very length and complexity , however, the great hymn
grves the rmpressron of being a specifically literary composition.
The undoubtedly dates from the Middle Kingdom, but none of
the su,,:,vmg manuscripts are older than the Eighteenth Dynasty. In the
New Kingdom , the hymn served as a classical text copied in schools.
Unfortunately, the aspiring scribes, sometimes writing from dictation or
from memory, produced copies incredibly garbled and corrupt. Only the
Eighteenth Dynasty manuscripts are reasonably good. But for the bulk
of the text we possess only Ramesside papyri and ostraca with their
abundance of errors.
The two complete copies , in P. Sallier II and P. Anastasi VII, are the
most corrupt. Better but fragmentary is P. Chester Beatty V. Good but
extant only in a few fragments is the copy of a papyrus in Turin which has
not yet been fully published. Portions of the text are preserved on numerous
ostraca. The most important of th ese is Ostr. Golenischeff, of the eighteenth
Dynasty, which contains slightly less than the first third of the hymn. The
large Ramesside ostracon ODM 1176, which gives a text similar to that
?f P. Ch ester Beatty V, provides some useful read ings . This translation
IS based on a combination of Ostr. Golenischeff, P . Sallier II, P. Anastasi
VII, P'. Chester. Beatty V, ODM 1176 , and th e published fragments of
P. Turin, The hne numbering is according to P. Sallier II .
Publicatio.n: Maspero, Hymne au N il (= P. Sallier II , P. Anastasi VII,
Ostr. ?olemscheff, and one fragment of P. Turin). Gardiner, Hierat ic
Papyri, pls, 23-24 (= P . Chester Beatty V). H . Grapow, ZAs, 52
(1914), 103-106 ( = two fragments of P. Turin). A. Hermann, z AS,
85 (1960), 35-42 (study of final portion according to P. Turin). E.
Bacchi, L 'Inno al Nilo (Turin, n.d.) (a composite text wh ich integra tes the
fragments of P. Turin but fails to identify them). Posener Ostraca
Vols. I-II. (= ODM 1027, 1028, 1033, 1034, '05', 1053,
and especially 1176 m Vol. II, pis . 27-3')' A list of th e manuscripts
known till 1948 was given by Posener as Annexe III to Van de Walle
Trannnunon. .. •
The new edition by W. Heick, Der Text des " Nilhymnus"
(W. esbaden, 1972) came too late to be utilized.
Translation: Erman , Literature, pp . 146- 149. Roeder, Kulte,
pp. 33 2-339 . J. A. Wilson in ANET, PV. 372-373.
(xi, 6) Adoration of Hapy:
Hail to you, Hapy,
Sprung from earth,
Come to nourish Egypt!
Of secret ways,
A darkness by day,
To whom his followers sing!
Who floods the fields that Re has made,
To nourish all who thirst;
Lets drink the waterless desert,
His dew descending from the sky.
206 ANCIENT EGYPTIAN LITERATURE
Friend of Geb, lord of Nepri,
Promoter of the arts of Ptah.
Lord of the fishes,
He makes fowl stream south,
No bird falling down from heat.
Maker of barley, creator of emmer,
He lets the temples celebrate.
When he is sluggish (xii, I) noses clog,
Everyone is poor;
As the sacred loaves are pared,
A million perish among men .
When he plunders, the whole land rages,
Great and small roar ;
People change accord ing to his coming,
When Khnum has fashioned him.'
When he floods, earth rejoices,
Every beUy jubilates,
Every jawbone takes on laughter,
Every tooth is bared,"
Food provider, bounty maker,
Who creates all that is goodl
Lord of awe, sweetly fragrant,
Gracious when he comes.
Who makes herbage for the herds,
Gives (5) sacrifice for every god.
Dwelling in the netherworld,
He controls both sky and eart h.
Conqueror of the T wo Lands,
He fiUs the stores ,
Makes bulge the barns,
Gives bounty to the poor.
Grower of all delightful trees-
He has no revenue;
Barges- exist by his might-
He is not hewn in stone.
Mountains cleave! by his surge-
One sees no workmen, no leader,
He carries off in secrecy .
THE MIDDLE KINGDOM 207
No one knows the place he's in,
His cavern is not found in books.
He has no shrines, no portions,
No service of his choice ;
But youths, his children, hail him,
One greets him like a king.
La wful, timely, he comes forth,
Filling Egypt, South and North;
(xiii, I) As one drinks, all eyes are on him,
Who makes his bounty overflow.
He who grieved goes out in joy,
Every heart rejoices j
Sobk, Neith's child, bares his teeth,
rThe Nine Gods exult'.
As he spouts, makes drink the fields,
Everyone grows vigorous.
Rich because another toils,"
One has no quarrel with him;
Maker of food he's not defied,
One sets no limits for him.
Light-maker who comes from dark,
Fattener of herds,
Might that fashions all,
None can live without him.
People are clothed (5) with the flax of his fields,
For he made Hedj -hotep" serve him;
He made anointing with his unguents,
For he is the like of Ptah.
All kinds of crafts exist th rough him,
All books of godly words,
His produce from the sedges. 7
Entering the cavern,
Coming out above,
He wants his coming secret .
If he is heavy. s the people dwindle ,
A year's food supply is lost.
The rich man looks concerned,
Everyone is seen with weapons,
208 ANCIENT EGYPTIAN LITERATURE
Friend does not attend to friend .
Cloth is wanting for one's clothes,
Noble children lack their finery;
There's no eye-paint to be had,"
No one is anointed.
This truth is fixed in people's hearts:
Want is followed by deceit.P
He who consorts with the sea,
Does not (xiv, 1) harvest grain.
Though one praises all the gods,
Birds will not come down to deserts.
No one beats his hand with gold,
No man can get drunk on silver,
One can not eat lapis lazuli,
Barley is foremost and strongl
Songs to the harp are made for you,
One sings to you with clapping hands;
The youths, your children hail you,
Crowds adorn themselves for you,
Who comes with riches, decks the land,
Makes flourish every body;
Sustains the pregnant woman's heart,
And loves a multitude of herds.
When he rises at the residence,
Men feast on the meadows' gifts,
(5) Decked with lotus for the nose,
And all the things that sprout from earth.
Children's hands are filled with herbs,
They forget to eat.
Good things are strewn about the houses,
The whole land leaps for joy.11
When you overflow, 0 Hapy,
Sacrifice is made for you;
Oxen are slaughtered for you,
A great oblation is made to you.
Fowl is fattened for you,
Desert game snared for you,
As one repays your bounty.
THE MIDDLE KINGDOM
One offers to all the gods
Of that which Hapy has provided,
Choice incense, oxen, goats,
And birds in holocaust.
Mighty is Hapy in his cavern.P
His name unknown to those below,
For the gods do not reveal it. IS
You people who extol the gods,
Respect the awe his son has made,
The AII-Lord who sustains the shoresl
Oh joy when you cornel-!
Oh joy when you come, 0 Hapy,
Oh joy when you cornel
You who feed men and herds
With your meadow giftsl
Oh joy when you cornel
Oh joy when you come, 0 Hapy,
Oh joy when you cornel
NOTES
1. Taking sw lJnmw as a 'temporal clause implies that Khnum
creates a new Hapy each year.
2 . In the Wilson Festschrift , pp. 66-68 , I pointed out that the hymn
describes the three modes of the inundation: the sluggish, insufficient rise,
which brings hunger; the excessive flood, which brings destruction and
turmoil ; and the flood in right measure, which creates abundance and joy.
What I there, in conformity with older translations, termed the "second
and th ird stanzas" I have here unified into a single stanza. Only P. Chester
Beatty V divides the hymn into stanzas ; what remains of these dividing
marks shows that the stanzas averaged ten to twelve sentences and clauses .
3. Though all copies write Imw, "barges, boats," the reading is dubious.
4. Bacchi gives [I]d '/w gww; from P. Turin?
5. Reading swsr w' m irt -n kyo
6. The weaver-god; this reading is preserved in P. Chester Beatty V and
several ostraca.
7. The papyrus plant from which books were made.
8. I.e. , if his rise is sluggish and insufficient.
9. In P. Sallier II and Anastasi VII the sentence is completely garbled,
but P. Chester Beatty V and OOM 1176 have preserved nn msdmt, "there
is no eye-paint. n
10. Introduced as a "saying" by means of m-!!d. this sentence may be
added to our meager store of Egyptian proverbs. The text is that of
P. Chester Beatty V and the literal rendering is "deceit after want." The
sentences that follow are generalizations on the theme "man lives by
bread."
 ANCIENT EGYPTIAN LITERATURE
210

II . Reading p. ts r-:IUI Qr ftft, with ODM 1176. V d ODM

12 Reading H'py m tphtf usr, with P. Chester Beatty .an
1176: The version of and Anastasi, has made hIS.cavern
Thebes," makes poor sense, after it has been said that the location of hia V. Prose Tales
cavern is unknown. I .
di g - pr ntrw hrf with P. Turin apud Grapow, oc, cat., p. 104·
13- R ea In un -' . If f U 1 It
Note the idiomatic prl hr, "to come out or to revea ') if thi
4
I .
As was pointed out by Hermann 10 zss, 85 (1960 ,35"
d I ' P Turin dreads w.g kJ
a
Perhaps more than any other genre of Egypt ian literature, these few
concluding song is correctly preserve on y 1 0 . • anha ted aurviving prose tales speak to the modern reader, for they are creations
{wok, w.g k. {w·k lJ'py, etc., which all other manuscripts ve corrup of the universal storytelling impulse, and of an imagination that roamed
to w.g kJ pta . and played upon experience , unfettered by the functional orientation of
most Egyptian literary works. It would be a mistake, however, to think of
these tales as being folklore, as being simply and artlessly told. Like all
Egyptian writings, the tales come from the sphere of the educated scribes
and from the amb ience of the court. It is true that the style of the Ship-
wrecked Sailor is considerably simpler than that of Sinuhe. It is nevertheless
written in a literary style that is qu ite distinct from the colloquial language
one finds in the pr ivate letters.
The Tale of the Shipwrecked Sailor, and the Tales from Papyrus WtItCaT
share the quality of fairy tales. They are tales of wonder, of miraculoua
events in which human beings encounter the supernatural. The Story
of Sinuhe, on the other hand, is the story of a life as it could have been
lived. In fact it may be a true story. It is told in the form of the autobio-
graphy composed for the tomb, and at least one scholar has voiced the hope
that the original tomb-text may yet be found. Whether or not it relates
the actual experience of an individual, the story reflects a true historical
situation-the death of Amenemhet I and the reign of Sesostris I. But to the
Egyptians it was above all a tale magnificently told, which, using all the
modes of a rich and refined literary art, created a character whose actions,
sorrows, and joys enthralled the listeners. It became a classic, endlessly
recopied, and it can still fascinate today.

THE TALE OF THE SHIPWRECKED SAILOR

The only preserved papyrus copy of the tale was discovered by

Golen ischeff in the Imperial Museum of St. Petersburg. Nothing is known
about its original provenience. The papyrus, called P. Leningrad II IS,
is now in Moscow. The work, and the papyrus copy, date from the M iddle
Kingdom.
The tale is set in a narrative frame. A high official is returning from an
expedition that apparently failed in its objective, for he is despondent
and fearful of the reception awaiting him at court. One of his attendants
exhorts him to take courage, and as an example of how a disaster may
tum into a success, tells him a marvelous adventure that happened to
him years ago. At th e end of his tale, however, the officialis still despondent.
Publication: W. Golenischeff, Papyrus hibatiqueI, pis. 1-8. A. Erman,
zAS, 43 (1906) , 1-26 . W. Golenischeff, Le conte du naufragi, Biblio-
theque d'etude, 2 (Cairo, 1912). A. M . Blackman, Middle Egyptian
Stories, Bibliotheca Aegyptiaca, II (Brussels, 1932), pp. 41-48.
211