Ipuwer papyrus

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

You have new messages (last change).

The Dialogue of Ipuwer and the Lord of All[1] is an ancient Egyptian poem preserved in a single papyrus, Leiden Papyrus I 344, which is housed in the National Archeological Museum in Leiden, Netherlands.[2].

The sole surviving manuscript dates to the later 13th century BCE. The dating of the original composition of the poem is disputed, but several scholars, have suggested a date between the late 12th dynasty and the Second Intermediate Period (ca. 1850 BCE - 1600 BCE).[3] The theme of this work has previously been taken either as a lament inspired by the supposed chaos of the Second Intermediate Period, or as historical fiction depicting the fall of the Old Kingdom several centuries earlier, or possibly a combination of these.

Ipuwer describes Egypt as afflicted by natural disasters and in a state of social collapse. The poor have become rich, and the rich poor, and warfare, famine and death are everywhere. One symptom of this collapse is the lament that servants are leaving their servitude and acting rebelliously. Because of this, and such statements as "the River is blood", some have interpreted the document as an Egyptian account of the Plagues of Egypt and the Exodus in the Old Testament of the Bible, and it is often cited as proof for the Biblical account by various religious organisations[4][5].

David Rohl recently proposed a revised chronology, dating the Exodus to the Second Intermediate Period, in which case Ipuwer might refer to that event. However, Rohl's chronology has been rejected by many Egyptologists.[6]. Moreover, the association of Ipuwer with the Exodus is generally rejected by Egyptologists, who when interpreting the Exodus as a historical event generally place it later, in the reign of Ramses II. Some have alternatively interpreted the poem's references to disturbances in nature as relating to the Thera eruption, which according to vulcanologists and geoarcheologists occurred ca. 1600-1500 BC.

Both the Exodus and Thera interpretations assume that the poem records a historical event, which is disputed by many Egyptologists.[7] Recently, the poem has instead been interpreted by some as an essentially ahistorical, timeless consideration of the theme of 'order vs. chaos'. On this reading, the references in Ipuwer to rivers of blood, and to slaves revolting, may be schematic 'world turned upside down' laments rather than reports of specific historical events.

The later passages of the poem contain a dialogue between two figures identified only as "Ipuwer" and the "Majesty of the Lord of All" (this term can be used either of the sun-god, or the king). Although these sections of the poem are badly damaged, they apparently debate the causes of evil and chaos in the world, and the balance between human and divine responsibility for them. This dialogue forms one of the oldest examinations in world literature of the question of theodicy.

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ English translation of the papyrus. A translation also in R. B. Parkinson, The Tale of Sinuhe and Other Ancient Egyptian Poems. Oxford World's Classics, 1999.
  2. ^ A new edition of this papyrus has been published by Roland Enmarch: The Dialogue of Ipuwer and the Lord of All
  3. ^ See e.g. Van Seters J. "A date for the "Admonitions" in the second intermediate Period". The Journal of Egyptian Archaeology 1964;50:13-23.
  4. ^ George Konig. "Evidence for the exodus". Christian Internet Forum (accessed 8 Nov 2005).
  5. ^ Mordechai Becher. "The Ten Plagues - Live From Egypt". Ohr Somayach (accessed 8 Nov 2005).
  6. ^ See e.g. Kitchen, Kenneth Anderson. [1996]. The Third Intermediate Period in Egypt (1100–650 BC). 3rd ed. Warminster: Aris & Phillips Limited.
  7. ^ See e.g. Luria, Salomo [1929]. ‘Die Ersten werden die Letzten sein (zur “sozialen Revolution” im Altertum)’. Klio 22, 405–31. See also Lichtheim, Miriam [1973]. Ancient Egyptian literature. A book of readings I. The Old and Middle Kingdoms, 150. Berkeley: University of California Press. More recently, see Morenz, Ludwig [2003]. ‘Literature as a construction of the past in the Middle Kingdom’, in Tait, John 2003 (ed.), ‘Never had the like occurred’. Egypt’s view of its past, 101–17. Encounters with Ancient Egypt; London: UCL Press.

[edit] Literature

  • R. Enmarch: The Dialogue of Ipuwer and the Lord of All, The Griffith Institute, Griffith Institute Publications, Oxford 2005 ISBN 0900416866
  • Stephen Quirke: Egyptian Literature 1800BC: Questions and Readings, London 2004, 140-150 ISBN 0-9547218-6-1 (translation and transcription)
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org../../../i/p/u/Ipuwer_papyrus.html"
In other languages