Egyptian literature will influence some of the greatest works of other cultures, the most famous being the books of Hebrew scholars, which will eventually be included in the Bible. Short stories, novels, folk songs, prose poems, hymns, spells, biographies, autobiographies and other literary forms are all explored through ghost stories, adventure stories, love stories, teaching works and other genres, aiming at teaching a clear and obvious message.
These sermon stories, also known as wisdom literature, reached the height of expression in the Middle Kingdom of Egypt (2040- 1782 BC) and were generally regarded as the pinnacle of Egyptian art and culture. They sometimes take the form of father (king) addressing his son, just as King Amon Hamath I instructed his son Sen Roussette I. In other works, the plot begins with the narrator speaking to the audience in the first person (Ipwell's warning), or telling a well-constructed story in the third person (eloquent farmer). These are quite serious literary works, which are famous for clearly expressing the values in Egyptian culture, but there is also a part that combines serious suggestions with ridiculous exaggeration to show its significance. In fact, this is the first example of literary satire: Dua-Khety's instruction-also known as industry satire.
Narrative form and abstract
Industry satires draw inspiration from grand and solemn works, such as instructions from King Armond Hamat I or early works of ancient kingdoms, such as instructions from ptahhotep: A father is giving his son useful advice. However, in the case of Dua-Khety, most of the content of the manuscript is to make the boy wait for his rich life as a scribe by presenting all other work as endless pain.
The story begins with Duetti and his son Pepi sailing along the Nile to give the boy a school. There is not a word in the article that Pepi ever complained about becoming a scribe or expressed his willingness to do something else. Since Dua-Khety is obviously a scribe, his son will naturally engage in this profession. However, Dua-Khety started his instructions, just as Pepi objected.
In the first 22 chapters of scripture, the father described in detail all the fears that his son might encounter in any other job, and left him with the impression of the brilliant life of the scribes. Finally, he said, "But if you know the work, it will be better for you than my career before you" (Simpson, 435). Then, in the last eight chapters, he continued to put forward general suggestions consistent with the tone and seriousness of early wisdom literature.
Satire or serious work
The last eight chapters, obviously taken seriously, influenced the early explanation, claiming that this work should be taken seriously in the whole process to keep consistent with the old instructions. Miriam Lichtheim, an Egyptian archaeologist, said that even the great scholar Wolfgang Helck "denied its satirical nature and claimed that it was a completely serious and humorous work" (184). Given that this article is obviously for entertainment, Helck's thesis seems to be an almost inconceivable proposition. The descriptions of these industries are terrible. If they are true representatives of these jobs, no one wants to do them. There is no doubt that many aspects of these descriptions are true, but this is how satire works. Lichheim wrote:
What is the stylistic means of satire? An exaggerated and brisk tone is intended to arouse laughter and slight contempt. Our text achieves ironic effect by exaggerating the real difficulties of the occupation described and suppressing all its positive and beneficial aspects. If someone thinks that exaggeration should be taken seriously, then we have to come to the conclusion that the profession of scribe is deliberately cheating out of contempt for manual labor. This is a profound truth that humor cannot alleviate. However, this conclusion is covered up by all the literature and photo evidence. For the reliefs and figures in the tomb, they are happy and proud of the fruits of their labor. ( 184)
Today, people generally think that this work is satirical for entertainment, but the second half (chapters 23-30) has returned to the non-satirical wisdom literature paradigm. This part of the text, as well as other Egyptian works, such as "Amenemopism" (about BC 1570-BC 1069), will affect the author of Proverbs. The Egyptian archaeologist Jaroslav Cerny (A.D. 1898- 1970) confirmed that Amemoph's teaching and industrial satire obviously predated the proverbs and other books contained in the Bible.
text
The manuscripts of the Trade Satellite only exist in the copies of the 18 and 19 dynasties in the New Kingdom, which are called P. Sallier II and P. Anastasi VII, and both dynasties are now in the British Museum. The manuscript is complete, but the damage is enough to make some lines have many different interpretations and translations. However, in all these translations, the whole text is recognizable.
The following translation is from william kelly Simpson, following Wolfgang Helck's CE work 1970:
1. Dua-Khety from Tjel began to teach his son Pepy. At the same time, he sailed south to the residence and put him in the residence of the most outstanding person, the writing school for the children of local officials.
So I said to him: Since you saw the person who was beaten, you must concentrate on your composition. Looking at it by yourself, you can save a person's workload. Look, nothing can surpass words! They are like boats on the water. Read the end of Kemi's Book of Yahya again, and you will find a sentence in it: As for any office of the scribe in the official residence, he will not suffer.
He was not satisfied when he finished other people's orders. I don't think any position can be compared with it, and this motto can be related to it: I will make you love books more than your mother, and I will put their outstanding performance in front of you. It is really more important than any office. There is nothing like it on earth. He was welcomed with respect when he became strong but still a child. When he was sent on a mission, he dressed up as an adult before he came back.
I didn't see a stonemason performing an important task or the gold mine he was sent to, but I saw a coppersmith working in his mouth. His fingers are like crocodile claws, and they stink worse than fish eggs.
Every carpenter who carries poles is more tired than workers. His field is his wood, and his hoe is his axe. This will be the night to save him, because he must be overworked in his activities. But at night, he still has to light the lamp.
6. Jewelers wear beads on all kinds of hard stones. When he installed the eye protector, his strength disappeared and he was tired. He sat until the sun came out, his knees and back bent in a place called Aku-Re.
7. The barber shaved until the end of the evening. But he must get up early and shout loudly. His bowl is on his arm. He walked from street to street looking for someone to shave. He fills his stomach with his arms, just like bees only get paid according to their work.
8. Archers go north to the delta to get arrows. He must be overworked. He was tortured when gnats bit him and sand fleas bit him.
9. The Potter was covered in mud, although he was still alive all his life. He dug holes in the ground instead of roasting his cooker with pigs. His clothes were covered with mud and his turban was just rags, so the air from his burning stove entered his nose. He stood on his foot and pounded with his own pestle, penetrating every yard and pushing the soil to every empty place.
10. I also want to describe Mei Sen to you. His kidney hurts [his work pains him]. When he has to be windy outside, he will build bricks without a waist cloth. His belt is a rope on his back, not a rope on his crotch. His strength disappeared because of fatigue and rigidity, rubbing all his feces. He eats bread with his fingers, although he washes it once a day.
1 1. The carpenter who planed the beam was in great pain. This is the roof of a room 10 with a width of 6 cubits. A month has passed, paving the way. All the work has been finished. But as for the food that should be given to his family when he is away, no one supports his children.
12. The wine merchant pulled his shoulder chain. Every shoulder of him carries age. He has a lump on his neck, which is still festering. After spending noon in palm grove, he watered leeks in the morning and used coriander in the evening. So it happened that he finally sank and died in childbirth, not in any other occupation.
13. The hand of the battlefield cries forever. His voice is louder than a crow. His fingers festered with the stench. His work in the delta exhausted him. He did well among lions, but his experience was painful. Then forced labor tripled. If he comes back from the swamp over there, he will be exhausted by his home, because forced labor has destroyed him.
14. The weavers in the weaving room are worse than women. His knees rested on his abdomen. He can't breathe air. If he wastes a day not knitting, he will be whipped fifty times. He must give the doorman food and let him come out to see the light.
15. Exhausted weapons manufacturers walk into the desert. More than his own salary is the money he has to spend on his work. Great, he must give it to the field workers, so that he can embark on the right path to the source of flint. When he got home at night, the journey had ruined him.
16, the courier left the property to the children and went abroad for fear of lions and Asians. Only when he returned to Egypt did he get to know himself again. He got home at night, but the journey ruined him. But at that time, his house was just a dress and a paved road. There is no happy home.
17. The stove is soft, the fingers stink, and it stinks like a corpse. His eyes were red with smoke. Although he has been cutting reeds all day, he can't get rid of his dirt. He hates clothes.
18. The sandal maker always carries his bathtub, which is really a mess. There was a corpse in his shop, and he took a bite of rawhide.
19. Laundryman washes clothes on the river bank near crocodile. "Father, I want to leave the running water," said his son and daughter, "to engage in a more satisfactory career, a career that is more outstanding than any other career." His food is filthy, and nothing on his body is clean. He washes clothes during a woman's period. He cried there with sticks and stones all day. Someone said to him, "dirty clothes, come to me", and the edge overflowed.
20. Bird-catchers had a hard time finding the inhabitants of the sky. If sheep pass over his head, he will say, "I wish I had a net." But God won't let this happen to him because he opposes his activities.
2 1. I also mentioned fishermen. He is more miserable than any other profession. He works in the crocodile-infested river. He will sigh when the total amount of his account is deducted from him. He was not told that there was a crocodile standing there. Fear has blinded him. When he came to the running water, he fell down like the power of God. Listen, there is no office without a supervisor except the clerk's office. He's in charge!
22. However, if you know the work, it will be better for you than my previous career. Please look at the officials related to him and their families. A person's tenant can't say to him, "Don't stare at me all the time." Everything I did when I went to the mansion in the south was because I loved you. A day at school is good for you. Its mountain work is forever, I let you know that the workers hurry up, and I let the stubborn people hurry up.
23. I want to tell you another thing and teach you what the debate station should know. Don't go near controversial places. If a man blames you and you don't know how to oppose his anger, please answer it seriously in front of the audience.
24. If you walk behind the referee, please approach from behind the last referee. If you enter when the host is at home and his hand reaches out to another person in front of you, please sit with your hand over your mouth. Don't ask anything in front of him But do as he says. Be careful near the table.
25. Be serious and work hard for your own value. Don't tell any secrets. Because the person who hides his inner thoughts is the one who gives himself a shield. When you sit down with an angry person, don't say anything rash.
During lunch break, I will inform you to discuss the last part of the textbook in the yard after school.
When an official sends you on a business trip, say what he says. Neither take nor add. The impatient man is forgotten, and his name will not last. A wise man will not hide anything from him, nor will he refuse any position.
28. Don't speak ill of your mother. This makes officials sick. The offspring who do useful things are in the same state as yesterday. Don't indulge in a person who has no discipline, because I heard that you are not good. When you have eaten three slices of bread and swallowed two cans of beer, and your body is still not full, fight it. But if the other person is full, don't stand by and be careful not to get close to the table.
29. Listen, just write often. Listen to the officials. Then you can assume the characteristics of human children, and you can follow their footsteps. People value the cleverness of the scribes, because cleverness will change an eager person. Beware of remarks against it. Don't worry about your feet when you walk. Don't just get close to people you can trust, but associate with people who are more outstanding than you. But let your friends be your generation.
30. Listen, I put you in God's way. A person's fate, on the day he was born, was on his shoulder. He came to the people's court and the magistrate's court. You see, there are no scribes who lack food, the Royal lph[ Life, Prosperity and Health] rule. It was Mescht who turned to the scribe who appeared in the local court. Respect your parents, they set you on the road of life. Write down what I put in front of you and your children's children.
It's over peacefully.
The narrator first indicated that he was from Tjel. According to Simpson, Tjel is the city of Les (432) in the northeast delta of the Egyptian border. As Simpson said, this may mean that "this man and his son are described as citizens in remote areas far from the cultural and political center of Memphis", so they are immature (432). However, it may also mean that this man and his son are far away from polite urban society and are more accustomed to honest and frank remarks, which will help highlight the humorous side of the work: a person hears from the narrator who can't see anything that he is wrong because he knows that he is just telling the truth.
In the third chapter, the narrator firmly sets the tone and information, and asserts that although the scribes are still children, they are worthy of respect, and they can only gain greater respect with their age. Then chapter 3 begins to describe different industries, each as bad as the last one or worse, until the end of the narrator.
This part of this article can be understood as a modern "barbecue", where the host and guest are repeatedly abused by friends and colleagues. The absurdity of these descriptions is reflected in Chapter 20, when the bird catcher who goes out to catch birds has no net because God hates him, or in Chapter 16, when the courier (businessman) comes home, he has nothing but a shirt and a driveway. Because he's been gone too long.
These maxims were later translated by Hebrew writers who wrote the Old Testament and Greek writers who wrote the New Testament.
From chapter 23, the narrator began to seriously suggest how his son should express himself. He told Pepi not to deal with angry people, to be modest in front of superiors, not to reveal secrets, to respect parents and other suggestions.
These maxims will be translated later, just like Egyptian literature, by Hebrew writers who wrote the scrolls of the Old Testament and Greek writers who wrote the New Testament. Proverbs 22:24 corresponds to chapter 23; Proverbs 25:7 and Luke 14:7- 10 to 24 chapters; Proverbs 2 1:23 and James 3: 1 to chapter 25 and so on.
The beauty of this work is that it brings surprises and pleasure to the audience with the ancient teaching form of wisdom literature, and at the same time, it still provides the audience's expectation for such a work at the end. Any humor is based on the principle of surprise, so is industry satire. When Dua-Khety first begins to speak, the audience will expect serious representatives of these professions. Not an excessive condemnation of them. There are many people who do these jobs in the audience who watch irony, and those who can laugh at themselves must laugh very hard.