ABSTRACT

The modern preoccupation with Egyptian texts is, in part, a reflection of ancient Egypt’s own values. Few monuments or works of art were allowed to speak for themselves: most were enhanced with words, and many with texts that went beyond mere descriptive labels. Literary creations were prized more highly than material ones, as a Ramesside poem confirms:

The learned writers since the time of the gods . . . their names have become fixed for eternity. . . . Tombs and tomb-estates were made for them but have dissolved, their personnel gone, their stela covered with dirt. Their tomb is forgotten but their name is pronounced from their scrolls, as fresh as when they were made.