Literature + Funerary Texts in Ramesside Society (1 Viewer)

[xeuyrawp]

Pwar-Yeux - thanks for all of those resources and help! I'm actually doing an assessment on literature myself and i am a little confused with all the different genres. Are Monumental Inscriptions a genre in its own right (it includes private texts such as biographies as well as Royal monuments) - or are private inscriptiosn and royal monuments separate genres? I'm a bit confused with differentiating them. I know private inscriptions are things like biographies - but they can also be related to historical issues such as the royal texts as well right?

Sorry if that's all a bit muddled; it reflects my mind right now >_<

Heya,

Pretty much everything monumental is part of the same register.

You can have differing genres, though, depending on the context. For example, a temple's going to have a different genre to a tomb. A tomb will have a mixture of funerary texts (Book of Dead, etc) as well as a biography.

A temple might have a mixture of religious praises/hymns as well as maybe a bit about the king.

The bit about the king is going to be similar to a private tomb's biography; they're essentially both claiming to report historical facts, but of course it's propaganda.

Hope that makes sense.

 

[chocolatecookie]

yes thankyou for that - all these genres are just so confusing! Especially in the New Kingdom, because they were added to the genres and broadened them. Also - for my assessment, we do the Ramesside age of the NK - does that mean i look at the literature of the NK in general and then provide examples from the Ramesside period? And, the literature is a reflection of the moral, social and religious concerns of the age right?
Annddd... if i were to broadly group the genres of literature during the NK age i order to seperate my paragraphs, should i just follow the way in which Lichtheim has structured her book - like monumental inscriptions, hymns, religious texts, insctructions, school texts, love poems, and tales?

And lastly - what elements of continuity and change characterise NK literature?

THANKYOU <3
ooo and also, what would you consider to be "objective" texts?

 

[xeuyrawp]

yes thankyou for that - all these genres are just so confusing! Especially in the New Kingdom, because they were added to the genres and broadened them. Also - for my assessment, we do the Ramesside age of the NK - does that mean i look at the literature of the NK in general and then provide examples from the Ramesside period?

Er, you should *only* use evidence from the Ramesside period, I'm afraid.

And, the literature is a reflection of the moral, social and religious concerns of the age right?

Absolutely.

Annddd... if i were to broadly group the genres of literature during the NK age i order to seperate my paragraphs, should i just follow the way in which Lichtheim has structured her book - like monumental inscriptions, hymns, religious texts, insctructions, school texts, love poems, and tales?

Sounds good! I wouldn't be so rigid, though, I'd do something like religious texts, historical texts, socially historical texts (poems, letters, etc).

And lastly - what elements of continuity and change characterise NK literature?

Hah. How long have you got?

You can definitely read up on that one yourself. A relevant change is the shift of personal piety, as well as greater access to religious rites for people of lower stature...

THANKYOU <3
ooo and also, what would you consider to be "objective" texts?

Not sure what that means... Do you mean a text literally written on an object?

 

[chocolatecookie]

Sounds good! I wouldn't be so rigid, though, I'd do something like religious texts, historical texts, socially historical texts (poems, letters, etc).

Oh okay i seeee... i'm not very clear on historical texts though - do they just include inscriptions?

Hah. How long have you got?

You can definitely read up on that one yourself. A relevant change is the shift of personal piety, as well as greater access to religious rites for people of lower stature...

I gotta hand in a draft next week - but ive done quite a bit of research already and am well underway =) yesss i can and have read up on it - but just wanted to see what you had to say and if i was on the right track - seems as though i am, because thats a change ive referred to =)

Not sure what that means... Do you mean a text literally written on an object?

I just meant the texts which were just intended for providing information, like school texts and historical texts - but i guess they wouldnt be "objective" as such anyway would they? because they were meant for propaganda purpose and the school texts persuaded students to become scribes and stuff - i just read somewhere about objective texts, and i was kinda confused

anyways, thanks again :wave:

 

[xeuyrawp]

Oh okay i seeee... i'm not very clear on historical texts though - do they just include inscriptions?

Generally. Historical texts are generally narrative-based in Egypt - the king went north and smote the vile Kush. That sort of things.

I just meant the texts which were just intended for providing information, like school texts and historical texts - but i guess they wouldnt be "objective" as such anyway would they? because they were meant for propaganda purpose and the school texts persuaded students to become scribes and stuff - i just read somewhere about objective texts, and i was kinda confused

Oh I see what you mean. Objective/subjective. A better word is 'historicity'.

Usually Egyptian texts have elements of historicity, as well as propaganda. That's why texts need to be supplemented with archaeology.

 

[chocolatecookie]

thanks for that.
do you think you could answer one last quick question?
Is there a differentiation between myths, tales and legends? because i am just talking about all three under one paragraph as a collective group under myths... is that o.k to do? some texts refer to myths whereas others write tales - would it be better to talk about them under tales? because i related the myths as an aspect of religious literature...

thanks again

 

[xeuyrawp]

thanks for that.
do you think you could answer one last quick question?
Is there a differentiation between myths, tales and legends? because i am just talking about all three under one paragraph as a collective group under myths... is that o.k to do? some texts refer to myths whereas others write tales - would it be better to talk about them under tales? because i related the myths as an aspect of religious literature...

thanks again

I'd be careful with all of those words... They have too much baggage.

I'd stick simply with 'myth' if it's histo-religious (Horus and Seth, for example), and 'story' if it's something allegedly historical but probably not (Sinuhe, Shipwrecked Sailor, Wenamun, etc).

For official biographical, historical texts, stick with something like 'narrative', 'account', 'official text', etc.