U.S. Copts Association

Ancient Egyptian Literature, Part III

by Ed Rizkalla

                                    “Shere ne Maria: ti Theotokos”

                                    “Shere ne Maria: ethmav en Isos Pi ekhristos”

                                    “Shere ne Maria: ethmav en Eios Theos”

The Christians of Egypt, the Copts, celebrated the Feast of the Virgin Mary on Misra 16^th, 1724 AM on the Coptic calendar, August 22, 2008 AD on the Gregorian calendar. The Feast culminates the popular Fasting of Saint Mary, observed by the vast majority of the Copts, and many Muslims in Egypt who believe in the healing powers of God through the intercessions of Saint Mary. I would like to extend warm greetings to the Copts all over the world and wish them a blessed Saint Mary’s Feast.

Among the popular Coptic hymns of worship to the ONE Triune God of all creation, offering respect and love to the mother of all Christians, Saint Mary, is “Shashef en cop” or “Seven times“. This hymn includes some beautiful Coptic poetry, such as the verses quoted above, which can be translated into English as:

“Hail to you Mary: the Mother of God.

 Hail to you Mary: the Mother of Jesus Christ

 Hail to you Mary: the Mother of the Son of God.”

The readers will note two literary devices used by ancient Egyptian poets, which survived in the last stage of the Egyptian language, written in the Coptic script. The first literary device is the use of “parallelism of members” in the second part of every line, or more specifically repeating of the same idea or concept at least twice in a sequence of verses, in this case the Mother of God, the Mother of Jesus Christ, and the Mother of the Son of God. The second literary device of ancient Egyptian poetry used in this hymn is the repetition of a line at the beginning or end of a sentence to create stanzas, in this case”Shere ne Maria” or “Hail to you Mary”.      

As noted earlier, Adolph Erman’s “Literatur der Alten Aegypter” (1) became the text book of choice for studying ancient Egyptian literature for many years. Progress continued as more archeological finds were discovered in Egypt, thus expanding the body of knowledge about the Copts past history. Scholars also strived to come up with more accurate translations of ancient Egyptian literary texts and reinterpretations from different schools of thought. In our time, the progress achieved thus far is in fact quite substantial. William K. Simpson, a contemporary Egyptologist notes (2) “We are reasonably familiar with the art and architecture of ancient Egypt…The visual aspects of Egypt of the pharaohs have now become part of our (western) heritage. Yet it’s no less remarkable literature is still relatively unknown except for the specialists.” Simpson further notes other aspects of ancient Egyptian literature, specifically its two-way cultural influence during the Hellenic era. For example the “Adventures of Setna & Si-Osire” dated to the 1^st century AD is known to us, not only from its Demotic text but also from an Aramaic translation. The existence of an Aramaic translation points out to the appeal of the characters of ancient Egyptian literature in other cultures. These characters also became prominent in the then Alexandrian Greek novels. Simpson comments “Cultural influence however was hardly unidirectional, as two adaptations of Greek myth are clearly recognizable in Setnas’s harrowing of hell…however the basic Greek imagery has been recast for Egyptian cultural values”.

However some of the ancient Egyptian literary work did not remain within the domain of the specialists only, as some literary pieces tended to inspire modern authors. For example the tale of “Senuhi” has inspired the Australian novelist Guy Boothby (1867-1905 AD) in writing “A Professor of Egyptology” in 1904. The tale of “Senuhi” also inspired the Finnish novelist Mika Waltari (1908-1979 AD) in writing his famous historical novel “The Egyptian”. Some of the readers may recall seeing the Hollywood 1954 epic movie “The Egyptian”, which was an adaptation of Waltari’s historical novel. I hasten to add that Waltari’s novel “The Egyptian” though partially inspired by the ancient Egyptian literary work of “Senuhi” is in fact different. Waltari’s novel is about an Egyptian physician and a contemporary of kings Akhnaton and Horemheb from the 18^th dynasty. It draws on the theme of an Egyptian travelling in western Asia from the ancient Egyptian tale of “Senuhi”, and his youthful downfall due to an infatuation with a harlot from the tale of “Setna I”. The ancient Egyptian tale of “Senuhi” is about an advisor at the court of king Senwosert I, from the 12^th dynasty, who left Egypt to western Asia. The tale was considered to reflect a true story, however so far, no discovery of a tomb for Senhui has been made. Most Egyptologists tend now to believe the tale to “Senuhi” is an example of didactic wisdom literature as compared to a historical record. Many Egyptologists consider it to be the finest piece of literature to have survived from ancient Egypt. John L. Foster (3) indicates that its anonymous ancient Egyptian author can rightly be called the Shakespeare of ancient Egypt.

In the ancient Egyptian tale, Senuhi had to leave Egypt to travel and live in western Asia. Senuhi, like many of the contemporary Copts, through his courage, education, skill, and hard work, managed to become successful and well-off. Senuhi’s love however, for the black land of Egypt, “Chimie”, remained strong, and did not diminish with the far distance or the passage of time.  Senuhi continued to help the cause of Egypt and the Egyptians. One of the major themes of the tale of “Senuhi” is in fact, the love of Egypt, its people, and its civilization.

Though independent observers and the international media have documented the discrimination, persecution, and many repeated violent attacks against the indigenous Coptic population of Egypt, many writers in the Egyptian media continue to deny them. These writers continue to mischaracterize, malign, and rage against the Copts. Many of these writers tend to reserve special strident language and harsh attacks to lambast the migrant Copts, who help expose the facts about the human rights violations against the Coptic population of Egypt, and the ongoing persecution of the Copts by militant Islamic groups and their cohorts within the ranks in the Egyptian state. However, regardless of the Egyptian media mischaracterization and outright lies about the migrant Copts, these Copts, very much like their ancient Egyptian ancestors, continue to love and cherish Egypt, its people, and past civilization.

The peace of the Lord be with you all. Irene Passe.

References:

• (1) The Literature of the Ancient Egyptians: Poems, Narratives, and Manuals of Instruction, From the Third and Second Millennia B.C, By Adolf Erman, Translated into English by Aylward M. Blackman, Methuen & Co. Ltd, London, UK, 1927.
• (2) The Literature of Ancient Egypt, An Anthology of Stories, Instructions, Stelae, Autobiographies, and Poetry, edited by William Kelly Simpson, Yale University Press, New Haven, CT, 2003
• (3) Ancient Egyptian Literature, An Anthology translated by John L. Foster, University of Texas Press, Austin, TX, 2001

Acknowledgement: The writer would like to acknowledge and thank the staff of the Library of Congress, Washington, DC, for their assistance with research for background material for this article.

Ed Rizkalla is a management consultant and a freelance writer. He is the founder of Pharos on the Potomac Group (POPG), a non-profit organization at Annandale, VA. http://mysite.verizon.net/vzes76jv/pharosonthepotomacgroup