Egyptian prehistory is less spectacular than many of its counterparts elsewhere, but what emerges from this long period of preparation is unique (Bard in I. Shaw 2000: 61-88). Instead of the competing cities which are the norm for most early societies,
Egypt came up with the world’s first unified state. This centers on the figure of the king (the term Pharaoh, which originally referred to the royal palace, was later transferred to the monarch himself. In the first half of Egypt’s long history the term is often used, although strictly speaking this is an anachronism). The king united divine and human authority within himself, and was thought to merge with the god Osiris upon his death. Unification under the divinity of the Pharaoh was the ideal to which Egypt always aspired, even in periods where central authority had broken down, and the princes who succeeded in reunifying the country at the beginning of the Middle and New Kingdoms were given almost legendary honor. The concept of a single focus for authority is a remarkable feat of abstract thinking, one that is paralleled in other Pharaonic achievements, such as the creation of a streamlined calendar which was no longer shackled to the phases of the moon, and the adoption of a strictly decimal numbering system.
The Old Kingdom is often referred to as the Pyramid Age, after its most conspicuous monuments. These have attracted fascination, and fantasy, since the days of the ancient Egyptians themselves, and the literature on this subject alone is considerable, though of greatly varying quality (Lehner 1997 and Verner 2001 are clear and authoritative). Pyramids may be seen as the stone equivalent of the abstract thinking which produced the unified state in the first place, since each one is unique, yet is also the latest in a sequence which was meant to recreate itself for eternity. From the point of view of the literary historian, the value of the pyramids increases as they progress, since from the end of the Fifth Dynasty (c.2375 bc) the inner walls of the pyramid chambers begin to be inscribed with a series of religious compositions. These are known, correctly but unimaginatively, as the Pyramid Texts (Faulkner 1969). These recensions represent the oldest connected body of literature in the world, and some of the individual spells, or chapters, may well go back into prehistory. The value of these texts to the political historian is limited, but their importance to the history of religion can scarcely be exaggerated.
Inscriptions in private tombs are needed to supplement this picture, and the earliest autobiographical inscriptions are found even in the Third Dynasty (c.2650 bc). Most of these sources are collected in Roccati 1982. Among them is the account of the extremely versatile Weni, whose career embraced the roles of judge, confidential advisor, canal digger and organizer of a military expedition to the region of Mt Carmel in Palestine (Lichtheim I 1973: 18-23). Then there is the explorer and desert ranger Harkhuf, who went on a series of expeditions into the southern Sudan, on one occasion bringing back with him a dancing pygmy. His copy of the letter that he received from the young king Pepi II, with its mixture of officialese struggling with childish over-excitement, is one of the most vivid documents to have survived from the ancient world (Lichtheim I 1973: 23-27). There is also the less-known, but delightful letter sent by King Isesi to his vizier Rashepses (Roccati 1982: 78-79), part of which runs as follows:
My majesty was more happy at seeing your letter than anything else, because you know how to say what my majesty loves, and what you say is more pleasing to me than anything. . . Rashepses, I speak of you a million times, saying “a man who is loved of his lord, favored of his lord, one who is in the heart of his lord, and charged with his secrets.” Truly I know that Re [the sun god] loves me, because he gave me you. As Isesi lives for ever, tell me any wish whatever in a letter from you, now, this very day, and my majesty will grant it there and then.
Official documents from the Old Kingdom are scarce, but a small corpus of royal decrees has survived, and these are collected in Goedicke 1967. However, the principal source of our knowledge must be the archives from the funerary temple attached to the pyramid of the Fifth Dynasty king Neferirkare, which are known as the Abusir papyri (Posener-Krieger 1976; extracts in Roccati 1982: 277-87). These are essentially inventories and duty rosters, kept by the outgoing teams of priests as they handed over their monthly duties to their incoming replacements. There are also lists of deliveries from the various estates which supplied the cult of the dead king. Even the measurements of the cracks and blemishes on dishes and ritual vases were recorded meticulously, since these utensils were the property of the dead king, who was now among his fellow gods. More papyri from Abusir are now known, and the site is still being excavated (Verner 2001: 265-321).
World History
