Ipuwer Papyrus

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The Ipuwer Papyrus is a single surviving papyrus holding an ancient Egyptian poem, called The Admonitions of Ipuwer[1] or The Dialogue of Ipuwer and the Lord of All.[2] Its official designation is Papyrus Leiden I 344 recto[3]. It is housed in the Dutch National Museum of Antiquities, the Rijksmuseum van Oudheden in Leiden, Netherlands, after being purchased from Giovanni Anastasi, the Swedish consul to Egypt, in 1828.

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[edit] History

The sole surviving manuscript dates to the later 13th century BCE (no earlier than the 19th dynasty in the New Kingdom). Egyptologist Dr Halpern believed that the papyrus was a copy of an earlier Middle kingdom copy. 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).[4] The theme of this work has previously been taken either as a lament inspired by the supposed chaos of the First 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 chaos, a topsy-turvy world where the poor have become rich, and the rich poor, and warfare, famine and death are everywhere. One symptom of this collapse of order 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[5][6].

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 most Egyptologists.[7]. Moreover, the association of Ipuwer with the Exodus is generally rejected by Egyptologists, those who interpret the Exodus as a historical event generally place it later, in the reign of Ramesses II. Some have alternatively interpreted the poem's references to disturbances in nature as relating to the Thera eruption, which according to dendrochronology and radiocarbon dating occurred ca. 1650-1600 BCE.

Both the Exodus and Thera interpretations (which can be combined with each other, and sometimes are) assume that the poem records a historical event, which is disputed by many Egyptologists.[8] 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.[9]

[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. ^ Enmarch 2005:2-3.
  4. ^ 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.
  5. ^ George Konig. "Evidence for the exodus". Christian Internet Forum (accessed 8 Nov 2005).
  6. ^ Mordechai Becher. "The Ten Plagues - Live From Egypt". Ohr Somayach (accessed 8 Nov 2005).
  7. ^ See e.g. Kitchen, Kenneth Anderson. [1996]. The Third Intermediate Period in Egypt (1100–650 BCE). 3rd ed. Warminster: Aris & Phillips Limited.
  8. ^ 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.
  9. ^ For theodicy in Ipuwer, see Roland Enmarch, "Theodicy" (April 13, 2008). UCLA Encyclopedia of Egyptology open version, Paper 1007. Available: http://repositories.cdlib.org/nelc/uee/1007/

[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)

[edit] External links