Imagining the Past: Historical Fiction in New Kingdom Egypt

360 Pages·2013·9.589 MB·English

by  Colleen Manassa

Imagining the Past
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Egypt and the Near East during the New Kingdom
Imagining the Past
Historical Fiction in New Kingdom Egypt
Colleen Manassa
1
1
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Manassa, Colleen.
Imagining the Past : Historical Fiction in New Kingdom Egypt / Colleen
Manassa.
pages cm
ISBN 978–0–19–998222–6 (hardback)
1. Historical fi ction, Egyptian—History and criticism. 2. Egyptian literature—
Translations into English. 3. Egypt—Civilization—To 332 B.C.
I. Title.
PJ1487.M36 2013
893'.1—dc23
2013036266
9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Printed in the United States of America
on acid-free paper
CONTENTS
Preface viii
List of fi gures and plates ix
List of abbreviations xi
Note to the translations xv
Chronology xvii
1. Intimations of an earlier age: History and fi ction in
New Kingdom Egypt 1
Imagining the past in New Kingdom Egypt 7
Th e intertextual universe of New Kingdom historical fi ction 13
Historical fi ction: An Ancient Egyptian literary genre 19
Historical fi ction as physical and linguistic artifacts of the
scribal profession 2 5
2. Th e Quarrel of Apepi and Seqenenre 30
British Museum EA 10185 (Papyrus Sallier I): An
introduction 3 2
Th e characters: Seqenenre, Apepi, and Scribes 34
Th e setting: Hutwaret and the “Southern City” 3 9
Introduction: Two kings and pestilence in Egypt 43
Apepi, servant of Seth 46
Apepi dictates a message; Seqenenre worships Amun-Re 51
Th e message delivered: “Expel the Hippopotami” 5 3
Seqenenre summons his council 58
Th e Quarrel of Apepi and Seqenenre and the “Instruction of
Letter Writing” 61
Riddles and intertextualities 63
3. Th e Capture of Joppa 66
British Museum EA 10060 (Papyrus Harris 500): An
introduction 6 8
Th e protaganist: General Djehuty 70
Th e place: Joppa 73
Strong drink and horses 7 5
A request with unintended consequences 82
Soldiers in baskets: Th e art of deception 88
Props: Baskets, ropes, and manacles 9 0
Foreign women and the “Mistress” of Joppa 9 1
An Ancient Egyptian “Trojan Horse”: Military strategem in
Th e Capture of Joppa 94
Djehuty congratulates Pharaoh 98
4. Th utmose III in Asia 102
Papyrus Turin 1940+1941: An introduction 104
A fragmentary beginning 1 05
Darkness, fowlers, and Paser’s speech 108
Divine interventions: A hostile wind with three Montus 111
Th utmose III defeats the enemy 1 14
5. Th e Libyan Battle Story 117
Papyrus Louvre N 3136: An introduction 120
Pharaoh, the divine son, in the palace 1 21
Fortresses in the Western Delta 1 28
Th e Libyan battle at the fi elds of Perire 130
6. A thematic survey of New Kingdom historical fi ction 143
Audience and function of Egyptian historical fi ction:
Entertainment and empire 1 44
Scribal victory:  Th e Quarrel of Apepi and Seqenenre 146
Charioteers, loan words, and menace: Th e Capture of Joppa 148
Recreating a battle: Th utmose III in Asia 1 50
Knowing the enemy: Th e Libyan Battle Story 151
Th eology in the tales 152
Historiography in the tales 156
Appendix 1: BM EA 10185 (P. Sallier I) 165
Appendix 2: BM EA 10060 (P. Harris 500) 177
Appendix 3: P. Turin 1940+1941 187
Appendix 4: P. Louvre N3136 195
Notes 203
Bibliography 275
Hieroglyphic Plates 319
Index 333
[vi] Contents
PREFACE
Th e present study is an attempt to defi ne a genre of historical fi ction in the
corpus of New Kingdom literature. While many authors have described Th e
Quarrel of Apepi and Seqenenre and Th e Capture of Joppa as “historical sto-
ries,” the following is the fi rst attempt to treat works of historical fi ction as
a source for historiographic traditions. Although it has been tempting to
intersperse anecdotes from my own favorite modern historical fi ction—
from Sir Walter Scott’s I vanhoe , to Sir Edward Bulwer-Lytton’s Th e Last Days
of Pompeii, and George MacDonald Frasier’s F lashman series—these asides
would detract from the philological project at hand, which seeks to defi ne
a genre that can be traced in the ancient Egyptian sources. Although no
reading of ancient literature can (or should) be completely objective, I have
sought as much as possible to defi ne the Egyptian genre purely within the
context of other ancient Egyptian (primarily New Kingdom) texts, and
when Egyptians sources lie silent about genre, I have utilized frameworks
of intertextuality and modern genre theory (particularly Mikhail Bakhtin’s
chronotope), without making comparisons to modern historical fi ction.
Th e diff erent components of this book—from the introduction to the uni-
verse of New Kingdom historical and literary texts to the translations and
commentaries of the texts themselves to the text notes in the appendi-
ces—make no claims to be comprehensive in all respects, but it is my goal
to bring the type of attention to these fragmentary tales that has been lav-
ished (and rightly so) on Middle Kingdom fi ctional literature. Th e present
work includes hieroglyphic transcriptions based on published photographs
or high-resolution digital photographs of each papyrus, in addition to per-
sonal examinations of the papyri in the British Museum. Th e text notes in
the appendices are intended to address lexicographic, syntactic, and gram-
matical aspects of the stories.
I am grateful to the Yale University Department of Near Eastern
Languages and the many members of the department who contributed
helpful comments throughout the writing of the book. My fi rst reading
of several of these stories was with William Kelly Simpson, and I thank
him for fond memories of those classes. Discussions of these papyri with
Hans-Werner Fischer-Elfert and Anthony Spalinger were useful in framing
the scope of the survey, and Prof. Spalinger kindly provided a study pho-
tograph of P. Louvre 3136. John Coleman Darnell off ered several helpful
readings of the hieratic texts and our discussions often led to new insights
into the understanding of the corpus. Edward Castle provided advice about
weights and measures. For references on the Arabian Nights, I would like
to thank Beatrice Gruendler; John Collins kindly provided references
for Greek and Biblical literary letters and Mohsen Ashtiany (Columbia
University) and Abbas Amanat assisted with the Shah Nameh and Persian
sources. Aaron Butts and David Klotz provided several useful references.
John Radcliff e and Janet Montefi ore off ered several references to Kipling’s
use of foreign words. In the course of teaching these texts, several Yale
graduate and undergraduate students helped me to see the text through
new eyes—to all of my former students, I give my sincerest thanks. Th ree
anonymous reviewers off ered an abundance of helpful comments, for
which I am most grateful.
Th is study would not have been possible without the kindness of the
staff of several museums. At the British Museum, I would like to thank
Neal Spencer, Richard Parkinson, Marcel Marée, and Elizabeth O’Connell.
At the Museo Egiziano, Turin, I am indebted to Eleni Vassilika and Sara
Caramello. My study trips were funded by the William K. and Marilyn
M.  Simpson Egyptology Endowment. Th e Oriental Institute of the
University of Chicago kindly provided permission to reproduce images
from the temple of Medinet Habu, and I would like to thank Julia Hsieh
and Alberto Urcia for preparing the line drawings and a papyrus facsimile.
I owe a tremendous debt to the dedicated staff at Oxford University
Press. I would like to thank Stefan Vranka for all of his assistance, as well
as Sarah Pirovitz. Susan Meigs copy-edited the manuscript, and her sug-
gestions improved several areas of the text. For the layout and proofs of
the book, I would like to thank Kate Nunn and a very dedicated group of
compositors at Newgen.
Last, but not least, I would like to thank my parents, Charles and
Cornelia, whose love and support has been a constant blessing.
[viii] Preface
LIST OF FIGURES AND PLATES
FIGURES
1.1 Pylon of the temple of Ramesses III “United with Eternity”
(Medinet Habu), Western Th ebes 9
1.2 Ramesses III in a chariot charging into Libyan enemies (courtesy of
the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago) 1 1
1.3 Scribes recording the number of severed hands following a military
campaign, from the temple of Ramesses III “United with Eternity”,
Western Th ebes (courtesy of the Oriental Institute of the University
of Chicago) 2 8
2.1 BM EA 10185 (Papyrus Sallier I), column 1 (courtesy of the
Trustees of the British Museum) 33
2.2 Lunette of the Four Hundred Year Stela (inking by
Julia Hsieh) 4 8
2.3 Stela of Seqenenre Djehuty-aa and Amun-Re, from Karnak Temple
(inking by Julia Hsieh) 5 3
2.4 BM EA 10185 (Papyrus Sallier I), column 2 (courtesy of the
Trustees of the British Museum) 54
2.5 BM EA 10185 (Papyrus Sallier I), column 3, with white box outlin-
ing the title “Beginning of the Instruction of Letter Writing” (cour-
tesy of the Trustees of the British Museum) 61
3.1 BM EA 10060 (Papyrus Harris 500), column 1 (courtesy of the
Trustees of the British Museum) 69
3.2 Golden Bowl of Djehuty (Musée du Louvre N713, Gianni Dagli Orti
/ Th e Art Archive at Art Resource, NY) 7 2
3.3 Ruler of Naharin carrying an awenet -staff , from the tomb of
Iamnedjeh (inking by Julia Hsieh) 8 5
3.4 BM EA 10060 (Papyrus Harris 500), column 2 (courtesy of the
Trustees of the British Museum) 89