This week we’re diving into ancient Egyptian folklore. You’ve heard of pyramids and mummies and gods with animal heads, of course, but what stories did the ancient Egyptians actually tell? If that’s the question that keeps you up at night, then it’s book review of Egyptian Legends and Stories to the rescue!

This little anthology was written by an Egyptologist known for her work on Tutankhamun. She presents each story with a brief introduction and little line drawings of relevant deities or ancient Egyptian art. While her insights are helpful to understanding the context of each story, my favorite quote in the book comes from an ancient Egyptian advice text:

“‘Be not arrogant because of your knowledge, and have no confidence because you are learned. Take counsel with the ignorant as well as the wise, for the limits of knowledge cannot be reached, and no one really knows the end.”

“THe instructions of Ptah-Hotep,” seton-williams P. 1

And then, of course, there’s the stories themselves. The collection starts out with several versions of the ancient Egyptians’ creation story (one I’ve always enjoyed because the goddess of the sky, Nut, is literally portrayed as the sky). Then we have thirty other short stories, including:

  • How the goddess Isis cleverly inherited (or perhaps stole) magic from Re
  • origin stories for great leaders, including Queen Hatshepsut
  • the ever-popular “Story of a Shipwrecked Sailor,” which is a story within a story where someone is trying to console a ship captain who ends up saying rather stubbornly, “you can not help me . . . who gives water to a goose on the day it is to be killed?”

The stories stretch from truly archaic to a more “modern” ancient Egypt, with Egyptian versions of Helen of Troy, King Solomon, and Noah’s Ark. In all, it’s a nice little overview of ancient Egyptian stories–although some of the nuance and terminology might go right over the average reader’s head. As a historian myself with a purely amateur interest in ancient Egypt, I found this to be accessible and enjoyable. Its biggest strength, I think, is simply that it collects such varied stories in one volume–while recognizing that there is always more to learn. 😉

Official Citation

Seton-Williams, M.V. Egyptian Legends and Stories. New York: Barnes & Noble Books, 1988.

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