Discourses

This group of texts is the least well defined of the Middle Egyptian literary corpus. It lacks a clear ancient genre label, though it has been suggested that it might have been mdt, ‘‘speech, words’’ (Parkinson 2002: 110-11). In terms of content, these texts are neither primarily narrative, nor designed to inculcate good advice in the style of a teaching. Instead, these texts take the forms of lengthy monologues and dialogues marked by a strong pessimistic tone (often expressed in the form of laments), in which the speakers often ponder the most fundamental questions of the human condition. This group of texts is the closest thing in Egyptian literature to the philosophical discourse of the Classical world.

The Words of Neferti begins with a narrative frame set, like the Tales of King Cheops’ Court and the Teaching of Hardedef, at the court of the Fourth Dynasty, this time in the reign of Cheops’ father Snefru. There exists evidence to suggest that Snefru’s reign was perceived in later generations as a kind of golden age (e. g. Graefe 1990). A lector priest named Neferti is summoned to entertain the king, and delivers a prediction of the future. Neferti describes a land in chaos and disorder, divided by strife, overrun by foreigners, where even nature is turned on its head: the sun fails to shine, and the river has dried up. Neferti predicts the arrival of a future savior king, Ameny, who will re-establish order and protect Egypt’s frontiers. The Words of Neferti is a kind of prophecy after the event: the savior king Ameny is almost certainly a reference to the Twelfth Dynasty king Amenemhet I (Parkinson 2002: 197), under whom the text may well have been composed. The chaotic state of the land would then represent Middle Kingdom perceptions of the First Intermediate Period (see Morenz 2003), though the chaos descriptions are too schematic and self-contradictory to be read in any simple way as eyewitness accounts of the real conditions of that period.

The Words of Khakheperreseneb is a monologue addressed by the eponymous speaker (who is a priest at Heliopolis, city of the sun god) to his heart, in which he wishes for new language to express the anguish he feels at the terrible state of the world (Moers 2002). It is perhaps ironic that, after praising novelty, the laments that follow are, in fact, very similar to those found in Neferti, Ipuwer, and other pessimistic texts. Khakheperreseneb provides the most explicit evidence for the cathartic emotional impact that such laments may have had on their ancient audiences: he wishes to unburden himself to his heart ‘‘so that I might say ‘‘Ah!’’ because of my relief’’ (recto l. 9). The name ‘‘Khakheperreseneb’’ is compounded with one of the names of Senwosret II, implying that the composition of this text took place in this reign or shortly afterwards. This is a period where surviving evidence indicates Egypt was at peace and prosperous, suggesting that the terrible state of the land being lamented is a literary construct (Enmarch 2008: 20). The laments seem to have been appreciated by the Egyptians as an artistic exploration of their fears and concerns for the cohesion of their society, whilst simultaneously highlighting the manifest imperfection of lived experience even when that society is ordered and stable.

In The Dialogue of a Man with his Soul a man debates with his ba (bA), which in Egyptian religious thought was one of several incorporeal parts of the human being which resides in the tomb of the deceased and which maintains relations with the world of the living after death (iZabkar 1968). The man is disgusted with life, and looks forward to a much better afterlife, when he will be in the company of the gods. Ironically, his ba casts doubt on the man’s rosy picture of death, pointing out that no-one ever comes back up out of the tomb to see the light of day, and that those who built tombs in the past are no better off now than those who lacked a tomb or even a proper burial. Rather than idealizing death, the ba suggests that the man enjoy life, mobilizing the carpe diem theme and using parables to illustrate his point. The man retorts with a fine series of laments expressing his indignation at the wretchedness of life, and his optimistic view of death. At the end of the text, man and ba resolve to put aside their disagreement and reach a reconciliation: life should be lived to the full, and yet preparations should also still be made for death.

Although the beginning and end of the sole surviving manuscript of The Dialogue of Ipuwer and the Lord of All are lost, most of the text appears to be spoken by a man named Ipuwer, who addresses the ‘‘Lord of All’’ (nbrdr),a term which often refers to the solar creator god, though here it is more likely to denote the king as the creator god’s representative on earth (Enmarch 2008: 28). Ipuwer delivers a lengthy series of laments decrying the state of the land: family ties have broken down, there is civil war, foreign invasion, famine and death everywhere, the gods are nowhere to be seen in the chaos, and royal authority has collapsed. Ipuwer then moves to a more direct confrontation, accusing the king and the creator god of allowing the chaos to arise through their inaction. The brief and poorly preserved responses of the ‘‘Lord of All’’ imply that the chaos is the fault of humanity, who have chosen to behave evilly. The dialogue forms a darkly searching theodic exploration of the justice of the gods, and mobilizes an essentially negative view of humanity (as innately predisposed to chaotic action) which was one of the ideological foundations of Egyptian royal and religious ideology: in many ways, Ipuwer’s horrifying lamentations portray the state Egypt would be in without a strong divinely appointed king to keep his subjects in order.

Other Middle Egyptian literary discourses are only preserved in fragments, or in the case of the Words of Renseneb merely the opening words (Quirke2004: 176). The fragmentary Discourse of Sasobek seems to begin with a narrative introduction relating the eponymous speaker’s imprisonment and release, followed by a series of laments uttered by him on the uncertain nature of life and fortune (Parkinson 2002: 305-6). He seems to be addressing an audience, whom he partly denounces and from whom he perhaps seeks redress for the wrongs inflicted on him. The remaining passages from the Discourse of the Fowler seem to comprise speeches by a lowly fowler, who appears to be appealing to a higher official for redress of wrongs perhaps related to the destruction of the marshes where he earns his livelihood (Parkinson 2004a).