Module 5 World Lit

ENGLISH 31
World Literature
Egyptian Literary Functions
•Social
•Religions
•Educational
Social
• Throughout ancient Egyptian history, reading and writing
were the main requirements for serving in public office,
although government officials were assisted in their day-to-
day work by an elite, literate social group known as scribes.
 The scribal class was the social group responsible for

maintaining, transmitting, and canonizing literary classics,
and writing new compositions.[48] Classic works, such as the
Story of Sinuhe and Instructions of Amenemhat, were copied
by schoolboys as pedagogical exercises in writing and to
instil the required ethical and moral values that distinguished
the scribal social class.
• Scribes
• A scribe is a person who writes books or documents by hand as a
profession and helps the city keep track of its records. The
profession, previously found in all literate cultures in some form.
• The work could involve copying books, including sacred texts, or
secretarial and administrative duties such as taking of dictation and
the keeping of business, judicial and historical records
for kings, nobility, temples and cities. Later the profession
developed into public servants, journalists, accountants, typists,
and lawyers.
• The Ancient Egyptian scribe, or sesh. was a person educated in the
arts of writing (using both hieroglyphics and hieraticscripts, and
from the second half of the first millennium BCE the demotic script,
used as shorthand and for commerce) and dena (arithmetics).
Education
• Literate people are thought to have comprised only 1% of
the population,[ the remainder being illiterate farmers,
herdsmen, artisans, and other laborers, as well as
merchants who required the assistance of scribal
secretaries.
 The Ancient Egyptians held education in high regard.
However, there were only a limited number of schools which
were attended by royalty and the wealthy or those whose
careers would be that of a scribe or a priest. These schools
were only attended by boys. The ordinary people were
educated at home. Men were educated by other men and it
was common place for a father to teach his profession to his
son.
Ancient Egyptian Subjects
•Astronomy
•Reading and Writing
•Music
•History
•Geography
•Math •Science
•Geometry •Medicine
Religion
• Literature also served religious purposes. Beginning with
the Pyramid Texts of the Old Kingdom, works of funerary
literature written on tomb walls, and later on coffins, and
papyri placed within tombs, were designed to protect and
nurture souls in their afterlife.
 This included the use of magical spells, incantations, and
lyrical hymns. Copies of non-funerary literary texts found in
non-royal tombs suggest that the dead could entertain
themselves in the afterlife by reading these teaching texts
and narrative tales.
• The religion of the Ancient Egyptians was extremely
important to them and touched every aspect of their life.
The religion of Ancient Egypt was a polytheistic religion
(with many gods). There was just one short period of
monotheism (the worship of one god), during the reign of
Akhenaten - who became known as the Heretic Pharaoh.
Egyptian Gods
• Egyptian religion has over 700 gods and goddesses with a
variety of beliefs depending on the time period of Egyptian
history which is being studied. Even the Egyptian recognized
the difficulty of following the multitude of gods and
goddesses as early as the Old Kingdom. They attempted to
simplify the religion by organize their gods in family groups
of eight or nine.
 Local and state gods were the main deity or deities in certain
locations in Egypt. For example, the crocodile god was
worshiped mostly in a certain region in Egypt. To add to the
mix, gods were sometimes combined with others to make a
new deity to be worshiped.
• Amun
• A Man with a ram-head wearing an ostrich
plumed hat. Amun was one of the most
powerful gods in ancient Egypt. At the
height of Egyptian civilisation he was called
the 'King of the Gods'. Amun was important
throughout the history of ancient Egypt.
However, when Amun was combined with
the sun god Ra he was even more powerful.
He was then called Amun-Ra.
 Anubis
 Man with a jackal head Anubis was the
god of embalming and the dead. Since
jackals were often seen in cemeteries,
the ancient Egyptians believed that
Anubis watched over the dead. Anubis
was the god who watched over the
process of mummifyingpeople when
they died.
• Osiris
• A mummified man wearing a white cone-
like headdress with feathers. Osiris was the
god of the dead, and ruler of theunderworld.
As well as being a god of the dead, Osiris
was a god of resurrection and fertility. In
fact, the ancient Egyptians believed that
Osiris gave them the gift of barley, one of
their most important crops
 Ra
 Man with hawk head and headdress
with a sun disk. Ra was the sun god.
He was the most important god of the
ancient Egyptians. The ancient
Egyptians believed that he travelled
through the underworld at night. In
the underworld, Ra appeared as a man
with the head of a ram.
Religious Practices
• Mummification
• The Egyptians believed that preserving the body in death was
important to keep their soul alive. In the process of mummification
the brain and the internal organs, except the heart, were removed.
The Ancient Egyptians believed that a physical body was essential for
an eternal life for the deceased. Without a physical body the soul had
no place to dwell and became restless forever
 The Book of the Dead
 A guidebook known as the Book of the Dead which contained
spells and instructions to ensure safe passage through the dangers
of the Underworld. Funeral prayers and spells were chanted to
Egyptian Gods and a papyrus scroll of the Book of the Dead was
buried with the Ancient Egyptians
• Hall of the Two Truths
• The God of the Dead Anubis would lead the dead in the Underworld
at the Hall of Two Truths to a set of scales where his or her heart was
weighed against the feather of truth and their fate would be decided
- either entrance into the perfect afterlife or to be sent to the
Devourer of the Dead
• The Ancient Egyptian religion held the belief that each person was
thought to have three souls:
• The "Ka" - "soul" or "vital energy" - a "double" of a living person. The

heart was considered to be the seat of the Ka
• The "Ba" - said to emerge from the body at death, similar to a ghost
who could visit previous haunts of the mortal world
• The "Akhu" - centerpoint of each person's divine soul

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ENGLISH 31

 The scribal class was the social group responsible for

• The "Ka" - "soul" or "vital energy" - a "double" of a living person. The

• The "Akhu" - centerpoint of each person's divine soul

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