Ancient Egyptian Literature, Volume I: The Old and Middle Kingdoms

Perhaps I am being a bit pedantic in my mediocre review of _Ancient Egyptian Literature_, but the flaws in the translation and the relative narrowness of its scope compared to other anthologies warrant a solid 3 star review. Lichtheim's introduction is fantastic - its explanation of the role and importance of Egyptian writing strikes a perfect balance between clarity and academic exposition. However her translation of the Htp di Nsw ("Hotep di nesu" - a formulaic prayer common throughout Ancient Egypt) immediately caught my attention.The prayer ("An offering the king makes ...") should be translated with the preposition "for" or better, "to" ("An offering the king makes to [insert diety here: Ra, Set, Anubis ...]") - yet Lichtheim has is as "An offering which the king gives and Anubis ..." which really makes no sense at all given the context and purpose of the prayer not to mention it is simply incorrect. Admittedly I am being nit-picky here, but such a basic error brought into question the accuracy of the rest of the literature she translates. This minor issue aside, the selection of literature in the anthology is good: Lichtheim includes autobiographical stelea, excerpts from the Book of the Dead, songs and hymns and a handful of prose tales. Taken as a whole, they give a solild overview of Old Kingdom and Middle Kingdom literature. Were this the only book on the subject, it would warrant a much higher rating from me. However, it is not.  The Literature of Ancient Egypt: An Anthology of Stories, Instructions, Stelae, Autobiographies, and Poetry; Third Edition  has many of the same inscriptions and narratives included here (and several that are not, although to be fair, Lichtheim's anthology here is only one of three volumes). To compare apples to apples, Simpson's anthology has more Old Kingdom narratives and instructions, and more Middle Kingdom religious literature._Ancient Egyptian Literature_ is fine - good, even. But if you are interested in more detail (with a better translation), I recommend Simpson's anthology.

Good feel

I took an Egyptian History class at Indiana University. Every week we had a writing assignment due and I often used this book to cite information and provide points for my arguments and assumptions. This book is very helpful and it is fascinating for anyone who is curious about Egyptian History. The stories can be a bit convoluted at times and many require rereading to understand but overall, this is a great book for anyone interested in Egyptian History.

I don't know about "plot". This is a collection of documents written for a variety of purposes not a story. What it did do was astonish me that the leaders of even the earliest of the Egyptian leaders displayed wisdom and intelligence to a degree I did not expect. Miriam Lichtheim did a marvelous job of presenting each piece before you read it so you know what you are looking at.

I needed this book for a class and had originally checked it out of a library. I ended up buying it because it was so interesting.

This is a wonderful, but somewhat too brief, survey of literature from the Old Kingdom to the Middle Kingdom. Texts such as The Maxims of Ptahhotep and selected passages from several versions of the Pyramid Texts are included. In fact, many of the didactic writings of OK to MK are included, which makes this book invaluable for anyone interested in ancient Egyptian conceptions of morality and correct behavior.

Great value

The thoughts, hopes and fears of men and women from the time of the very beginning of the written word, speak to us in this book and tell us the beginning of the story of a great civilization that lasted for three thousand years.

It's very nice to read a book filled with writings from the ancient Egyptians themselves! I never thought I'd find one since the ancient Egyptians are not as well known for their literature as the ancient Greeks or the Romans. The book is also filled with useful notes and commentary. I only wish that the book was bigger and included more of the texts that are sometimes only eluded to.