The Harper's Song

I do a lot of research for my worldbuilding. This usually has me delving into various world mythologies, making word lists from various languages, or trying desperately to understand various philosophical concepts. Quite often, I come across fascinating material. So I've decided to do occasional posts sharing some of the cool things I've learned that may or may not be used in my fantasy world and stories.

Today I'm sharing The Song of the Harper, taken from my copy of The Literature of Ancient Egypt, translation by Vincent A. Tobin.

The Song of the Harper

Fortunate is this prince,
For happy was his fate, and happy his ending.

One Generation passes away and the next remains,
Ever since the time of those of old.
The gods who existed before me rest (now) in their tombs,
And the blessed nobles also are buried in their tombs.
But as for these builders of tombs,
Their places(1) are no more.
What has become of them?

I have heard the words of Imhotep and Hardedef(2)

Whose maxims are repeated intact as proverbs.
But what of their places?
Their walls are in ruins, And their places are no more,
As if they had never existed.

There is no one who returns from beyond
That he may tell of their state,
That he may tell of their lot,

New Kingdom harp

That he may set our hearts at ease
Until we make our journey
To the place where they have gone.

So rejoice in your heart!
Absence of care is good for you;
Follow your heart as long as you live.
Put myrrh on your head,
Dress yourself in fine linen,
Anoint yourself with the exquisite oils
Which are only for the gods.

Let your pleasures increase,
And let not your heart grow weary.
Follow your heart and your happiness,
Conduct your affairs on earth as your heart dictates,
For that day of mourning will (surely) come for you.
The Weary-Hearted(3) does not hear their lamentations,
And their weeping does not rescue a man's heart from the grave.

Refrain:
Enjoy pleasant times,
And do not weary thereof.
Behold, it is not give to any man to take his belongings with him,
Behold, there is no one departed who will return again.

(1) "places" here refers to cult chapels for the dead.
(2) There is an existing fragment of an Instruction text of Hardedef, but there are no known writings of Imhotep in existence. Given Imhotep's reputation for wisdom, it makes one wonder what writings we may be missing due to the destructive force of time.
(3) "The Weary-Hearted"  is a title of he god Osiris.

I find The Song of the Harper fascinating. First, it appears to be but one example of a genre of writings called "Harper's Songs". This particular Song claims, in the text, to be from the tomb of an unidentified King Intef though it was found grouped with many "love songs" in Papyrus Harris 500. The Papyrus is from the New Kingdom, however the language of the Song indicates Middle Kingdom origins. Second, Harper's Songs seem to give a view of life and death in ancient Egypt somewhat divergent from the mainline religious beliefs. The sort of "eat, drink and be merry, for tomorrow we shall die" theme wasn't common in Egyptian writings and may express a viewpoint more in line with the people rather than the religious leaders.

For my world, these songs have been partial inspiration for my minstrel/bard character Bulsara of Akhet. A highly skilled musician, a bit of a rebel, a lady's man, a fun guy who's going to get into quite a lot of trouble with the religious establishment, setting off a series of, I hope, interesting adventures that will be good short story fodder.

Mythological Quote of the Week

For the first time since I began this blog, the Quote of the Week will not come from Ancient Egyptian literature. My recent research took me in a very different direction, North and West, to the mythology of the Emerald Isle. This might give some insight into the inspiration for my current WIP.

The following poem is from the Leabhar Buidhe Lecain or the Yellow Book of Lecan, written around 1400.

“The Tuatha Dé Danann of the precious jewels,
Where did they find learning?
They came upon perfect wisdom
In druidism (and) in deviltry.

Fair Iardanel, a prophet of excellence,
Son of Nemed, son of Agnoman,
Had as a foolish offspring the active Beothach,
Who was a hero of cleaving, full of wonders.

The children of Beothach, —-long-lived their fame-—
The host of valiant heroes came,
After sorrow and after great sadness,
To Lochlann with all of their slips.

Four cities,-—just their renown-—
They held in sway with great strength.
On this account they passionately made competition
For learning their genuine wisdom.

Failias and bright Gorias,
Findias (and) Murias of great prowess,
From whichi battles were won outside,
(Were) the names of the chief cities.

Morfis and noble Erus,
Uscias and Semiath, ever-fierce,
To name them,—-a discourse of need--
(These were) the names of the sages of nehle wisdom.

Morfis (was) the poet of Failias itself,
In Gorias (was) Esrus of keen desires),
Semiath (was) in Murias, the fortress of pinnacles,
(And) Uscias (was) the fair seer of Findias.

Four presents (were fetched) with them hither,
By the nobles of the Tuatha DO Danann:
A sword, a stone, a caldron of worth,
(And) a spear for the death of great champions.

From Failias (came) hither the Lia Fail,
Which shouted under the kings of Ireland.
The sword in the hand of the nimble Lug
From Gorias (it was procured), -— a choice of vast riches.

From far-away Findias over the sea
Was brought the deadly spear of Nuada.
From Murias (was conveyed) a huge and mighty treasure,
The caldron of the Dagda of lofty deeds.

The King of Heaven, the King of feeble men,
May he protect me, the King of royal parts,
The Being in whom is the endurance of spectres,
And the strength of the gentle race.”

Ancient Egyptian Quote of the Week

Since I missed last week, this time I will post three related quotes. The first is an observation by Greek Hecataeus of Abdera which is found in Diodorus' Bibliotheca historica. Hecataeus traveled throughout Egypt and also spent 15 years living in Alexandria from 320 to 305 B.C.E.

"The natives attribute very little value to the time spent in this life. But they attach the greatest possible significance to the time after death in which one is preserved in the memory through recollections of virtue. They call the dwellings of the living 'temporary abodes' because we only spend a short time in them. The tombs of the dead they call 'eternal houses' because the dead spend infinite time in Hades. Accordingly they give very little thought to the equipment of their houses, whereas the effort they put into the tombs can never be high enough."

A similar Egyptian testimony is found in this quote from an inscription in Theban tomb 131:

I erected for myself a magnificent tomb
in my city of eternity.
I equipped most lavishly the site of my rock tomb
in the desert of eternity.
May my name endure on it
in the mouths of the living,
while the memory of me is good among men
after years that are to come.
A trifle only of life is this world,
[but] eternity is in the realm of the dead.
Praised by god is the noble
who acts for himself with a view to the future
and seeks with his heart to find salvation for himself,
the burial of his corpse, and the revival of his name,
and who is mindful of eternity.

Such a vivid inscription I need hardly comment on. All too clear is the emphasis on eternity in the afterlife, the idea that this life is but the beginning. Egyptian tombs were not graves but houses. Life did not end with death. One was alive as long as his name was remembered, thus the emphasis on the permanence of stone tombs and monuments. And though Hecataeus refers to "Hades", the Egyptian afterlife was not truly a place of the dead, but a place of the living. The inscription from Theban tomb 50 which is known as the "Harper's Song" contains the following hopeful verse about the afterlife:

I have heard these songs that are in the tombs of the forefathers and what they tell to glorify the here-and-now and to belittle the afterlife.
Why is suchlike done to the land of eternity?
[...] Our people rest in it since earliest primordial time,
and those who will be in infinite years,
they all come to that place. There is no remaining in Egypt. [...]
The time that one spends on earth is only a dream. But
"Welcome, safe and sound!"
one says to him who has reached the West.*

All quotations were found in Jan Assmann's The Mind of Egypt: History and Meaning in the Time of the Pharaohs.

*("The West" is one way Egyptians referred to the underworld, as in, the place where the sun set and died to be reborn again in the morning.)

Ancient Egyptian Quote of the Week

Man, I just can't  seem to get my blogging/writing act together lately. For that I am sorry, my dear readers. I continually sit down to write a post only to be constantly interrupted or unable to focus. There are a few different series of posts I have planned for the upcoming months (one of which might run indefinitely) which I hope will be intriguing and thought provoking.I will try to get some of that started next week. (fingers crossed) Until then, here's the quote of the week.

Today is my 9th anniversary. Nine years of marriage to the most wonderful man in the world. So, in honor of the occasion, here is an Ancient Egyptian love poem. I am quoting it from the book The Literature of Ancient Egypt, translation by Vincent A. Tobin.

Your love has merged completely with my body
As [... mingled] with water, 
As a drug to which resin has been added, 
As when milk is mixed with [water].


Make haste to see your beloved, 
Like a horse in the open field,
Like a falcon [diving down] to its reeds,


For heaven has bestowed its love
Like the course of an arrow [...],
Like the swiftness of a falcon.

Ancient Egyptian Quote of the Week

I've decided to start doing a Quote of the Week again. I'll be posting them on Saturdays and they will come from my recent research. Up until now they've always been Ancient Egyptian. In the future, they may have other origins as I branch out into other research subjects. 

The Tomb of Petosiris

 

This week's quote comes from the inscriptions found on the tomb of a priest named Petosiris who lived in the last days of Egypt's independence before Alexander the Great came. (All following quotes taken from The Priests of Ancient Egypt by Serge Sauneron.)

It is useful to tread the path of the god, great are the advantages reserved for those who take care to follow it. It is a monument they raise for themselves on earth, they who set out to follow the way of the god. Those who hold to the path of the god, they will spend all their lives in joy, richer than their peers. They will grow old in their city, venerated in their nome*, all their limbs as young as a child's. Their children will be numerous in their presence and considered the first of their city, their sons will succeed one another from generation to generation... They will reach the necropolis in joy, embalmed beautifully by the work of Anubis, and the children of their children will live on in their stead.... You have walked on the path of your lord Thoth, and after granting that these blessings be given to you on earth, he will bestow similar favors on you after death.

*nome= region

Petosiris was by all accounts a particularly pious priest. He was know by several impressive titles:

high priest who sees the god in his naos, who carried his lord and follows his lord, who enters into the holy of holies, who performs his functions together with the great prophets, the prophet of the Ogdoad, chief of the priests of Sakhmet, leader of the priests of the third and fourth phyles; the royal scribe who reckons all the property in the temple of Khmun.

And when his tomb was found there was graffiti from Greek tourists found on it that testify to how renowned Petosiris was in his time as a most holy man. One of them says:

I invoke Petosiris whose body is underground, but whose soul is in the abode of the gods: a sage, he is united with the sages.

Now, Sauneron makes it quite clear that Petosiris was one of the bright stars of the Egyptian priest class. Most of them, while perfectly honorable and conscientious in their duties, did not reach the level of spirituality of Petosiris and are only known as a list of names and titles. Others stand out on the other side of the spectrum by their criminal activities. Temples could be very rich places and some priests became corrupted and stole greedily from them or fought among themselves for priestly positions and benefits even to the point of murder. Such is human nature.

Ancient Egyptian Quote of the Week: S is for Sinuhe

I've skipped doing my usual Quote of the Week on Fridays because of the challenge, but today I'm not feeling particularly inspired to write a post about the subject I had selected so I'm changing it.

Today S is for The Story of Sinuhe, one of the oldest pieces of literature in existence. Its author is unknown, but the many surviving copies of the story witness to its popularity in Ancient Egypt. The story is a simple one. Sinuhe, whose name means "son of the sycamore", is a "henchman" (or attendant, based on translation) of Prince Sesostris who has accompanied the Prince on a Libyan campaign. A message arrives telling the Prince that his father King Amenemhet I has died and Sinuhe overhears it. Apparently fearful that "there would be strife" and feeling that he has been cursed, Sinuhe flees into Canaan. There Sinuhe becomes the son-in-law of a tribal chief, fights for him and earns himself great prosperity.

I became great thereby, I grew large in my riches, I became abundant in my flocks. Thus God hath done, so as to shew mercy to him whom he had condemned, whom he had made wander to another land. For today is his heart satisfied. A fugitive fled in his season; now the report of me is in the Residence. A laggard lagged because of hunger; now give I bread to my neighbour. A man left his country because of nakedness; but I am clad in white raiment and linen. A man sped for lack of one whom he should send; but I am a plenteous owner of slaves. Beautiful is my house, wide my dwelling-place; the remembrance of me is in the Palace.

But even though Sinuhe has become great and has everything a man could desire, he is not quite content. He longs to return to Egypt

O God, whosoever thou art that didst ordain this flight, show mercy and bring me to the Residence! Peradventure thou wilt grant me to see the place where my heart dwelleth. What matter is greater than that my corpse should be buried in the land wherein I was born? Come to my aid! A happy event has befallen. I have caused God to be merciful. May he do the like again so as to ennoble the end of him whom he had abased, his heart grieving for him whom he had compelled to live abroad. If it so be that today he is merciful, may he hear the prayer of one afar off, may he restore him whom he had stricken to the place whence he took him.

Sinuhe's heart still dwells in the land of his birth and like any true Egyptian the all important thing is for him to be properly buried there. Sinuhe believes that his prosperity is a sign that the gods have granted him mercy and so he prays to be returned to his home in Egypt. His wish is granted. A decree from the King comes inviting Sinuhe to return which he does and lives the rest of his life in the royal favor of the King and Queen.

I could say much more about this story, but I don't want this post to be over long. If you are interested in reading this incredibly ancient tale, you can find a translation of it here.

A is for Akh

It has begun! Today is the kickoff for the Blogging A to Z challenge so I am incorporating my regular Quote of the Week post into the goal of the challenge and my worldbuilding theme.

Today, A is for Akh.

The meadows are satisfied, the canals are inundated for this N. on this day on which his akh has been given to him, on which his power has been given to him. Raise thyself, O N., take for thyself thy water, gather together thy bones, stand upon thy feet. Thou hast become an akh, the foremost among the akhs. Raise thyself for this thy bread which cannot grow moldy, thy beer which cannot become sour, in order that thou mayest become a Ba through it, that thou mayest become sharp through it, that thou mayest become powerful through it, in order that thou mayest give thereof to him who was before thee. O N., thou art an akh, and thy survivor is an akh.

Today's quote is a passage from the Pyramid Texts which I am quoting from Louis B. Zabkar's A Study of the Ba Concept in Ancient Egyptian Texts. It is an offering ritual performed to render the King into a ba after death. But tomorrow we'll talk about bas, today we're talking about akhs.

The akh is an aspect of what we would call the "soul", the eternal part of a person. It is used at times as an adjective:

"Akh" is a father for his son,
"akh" is a son for his father.

 In those cases it seems to refer to "effectiveness"or "usefulness". At other times when it refers to a part of the person, Jan Assmann translates it as "transfigured ancestral spirit". And in this sense it is used sometimes as something that a person becomes and sometimes as a separate entity that belongs to the person after death. (That same is true of the Ba as well.)

The Egyptians had a very unique view of "personhood". They did not divide a person into "body and soul" or a set of dual physical and spiritual aspects as western culture does. There were up to 14 different aspects of a person named in some texts including the akh, the ba, the "corpse" and two different kinds of "heart". A natural aspect of death was the dissolution of the connectivity between these different parts and their subsequent reassembly in the afterlife.

We cannot fully understand the Egyptian perspective on this subject since the texts take the understanding of it for granted. Some of it can appear contradictory or contrary to common sense. That was one thing I had to work out for my own fantasy world. My goal was to take those beliefs and try to put them together in a way that made sense within a natural world where they weren't just beliefs but were the true way the world works. I'll go into more detail on my results for tomorrow's B for Ba post.

Ancient Egyptian Quote of the Week

Just a quick one today because I'm working on prepping posts for at least the first week of April for the Blogging A to Z Challenge.

First let me admit that I'm taking the following quote completely out of context and I don't remember what text it came from. It's just something I copied into my notes from Jan Assmann's Death and Salvation in Ancient Egypt but didn't remember to properly attribute. Still, this one line really spoke to me. Sometimes you know things but need to hear them put in just the right words for them to really sink into your thick skull, you know?

Follow your heart so long as you live, and do not multiply concerns.

Now, when Egyptians are talking about the heart they don't mean feelings and emotions as we do in the West. At least, not just. To the Egyptians the heart was the seat of the emotions, memory, intelligence, will, etc. All those things that make a person a person. And they knew the heart as the source of the blood which brought its life giving connectivity to the body. To be "weary of heart" meant to be dead.


I like to think that this advice to "follow your heart" is a kind of "be true to yourself" message and a reminder to never rely on just your emotions or your reason, but to employ all those aspects of yourself in everything you do. They work best together in connectivity. And of course, I could definitely use a healthy dose of not multiplying concerns. Couldn't we all?

Ancient Egyptian Quote of the Week

This has been an eventful week! After participating in three blogfests, I've reached 55 followers! Thank you so much to everyone who has decided to follow me. It gives me all sorts of warm fuzzies. I've only been working on this blog for a little over a month and already I feel it's been a very successful venture and also a ton of fun. Particularly the blogfests. What a great way to find awesome new people and blogs to read. I'm really looking forward to the Blogging A to Z challenge all April long. I've decided that everyday I'm going to do a short post about a different aspect of the worldbuilding I've done for the fantasy world of my current WIP. For example, for E I'll post about the Ecology of the world. I think it'll be fun.

Anyway, on to the quote of the day. Today's passage comes from the Egyptian text known as the Amduat or Book of the Netherworld. Duat is the name for the Egyptian Netherworld and the book painstakingly records the journey of the sun god, Re, as he passes through Duat during the twelve hours of the night. The King, as a priest of the sun, was expected to contribute to the success of this journey by means of liturgical recitations. (Though in actuality it would have been solar priests appointed by the King that carried out this duty.) Toward that end, there was a very specific set of knowledge that the King and his priests were expected to have which was spelled out in the full title of the Amduat:

King N. knows
that mysterious language spoken by the eastern souls
as they sing the praises of Re
when he rises, when he appears in Light-land
when they open the door-leaves for him
at the gates of the eastern Light-land,
when he fares on the ways of the sky.


He knows their (actual, mysterious) appearance
and their embodiments,
their home (lit. "cities") in God's land.
He knows the place where they stand
when Re begins his journey.


He knows that language
that the two crews speak when they tow the barque of He-of-the-horizon.


He knows the birthing of Re
and his transformation in the waters.
He knows the mysterious gate through which the Great God emerges,
he knows the one who is in the day barque
and the great image that is in the night barque;
he knows your landing places in Light-land
and your steering equipment in the goddess of the sky.

("N" here refers to the name of the King, each book was personalized with the name of the person who owned it.)

The phrase "Light-land" is a literal way of translating the word that refers to the eastern horizon, where the sun rises. In Egypt, the eastern horizon was associated with life and rebirth and the western horizon was associated with death and the netherworld. I've chosen to use the word "Ahket" and its literal translation of "Light-land" as the name for my fantasy version of Egypt.

The journey of Re through the sky during the day and through Duat during the night is going to play a huge part in the plot of my story. In fact, a large part of the story will take place in Duat. Every fantasy needs an amazing quest, right? Well, when my characters make their journey through Duat, I think you'll be surprised at what the outcome is.

Stay tuned in April for more fascinating information about Ahket and how it pertains to the story I'm writing. :)

Ancient Egyptian Quote of the Week

I'm having real trouble with words this week. The kind of trouble I generally have well after midnight when... the words... they will... not... come... It could have something to do with being over 8 months pregnant with my 4th child and in a pretty much constant state of extreme discomfort. Yesterday I just stared at my notebook for a while before giving up and taking a nap. And there are many topics I want to post about and start writing posts about but those posts very quickly become nonsensical and... another word... To make a long story short, (Too late!) I'm going to let the Egyptians talk for me today...

Be artful in speech, that you may overcome,

[for] the strong arm [of a king] is (his) tongue.

Words are stronger than any fighting.

This text is from the Instruction for Merikare from the Middle Kingdom which I am quoting from Jan Assmann's book The Search for God in Ancient Egypt. (The brackets signify words that have been restored where there was a gap in the surviving manuscript. This is an extremely old text and much of it was destroyed by time.) The Instruction for Merikare is composed as if a ruler from the turbulent First Intermediate Period is instructing his son, a future king, in the art of ruling.

This quote represents a couple of different aspects of Ancient Egyptian thinking. First is the value of words. This was an idea that permeated Egyptian social, political and religious thought. Egyptians who became scribes were much more powerful and prosperous than those who could not read or write. And Sacred Words were the medium through which humanity was able to reach through to and influence the realm of the Gods. Knowledge and word were the tools to both political and spiritual power in Egypt. Second is the idea that while it was the right of the king to use violence to punish and to uphold peace, it should be used very sparingly. Elsewhere in the Instruction Merikare is reminded that those whom even the king executes will count against him at the Judgement of the Dead.

 

Fascinating stuff, right?

Ancient Egyptian Quote of the Week

The sun barque stands still and fares no further,
The sun is still where it was yesterday,
food is shipless, the temples blocked,
sickness there will turn disruption back
to where it was yesterday.
The demon of darkness roams about, time is not divided,
the figures of shadows can no longer be observed.
Springs are blocked, plants wither,
life is taken from the living,
until Horus recovers for his mother Isis,
and my patient also recovers. 

~An excerpt from an Egyptian spell used to heal serpent and scorpion bites as quoted in Jan Assmann's The Search for God in Ancient Egypt

I find this particular text very interesting. First, note that this is a spell that was used by Egyptian physicians who were also priests of the goddess Sahkmet and thus were magicians. Second, instead of asking the gods for an act of healing, the physicians are threatening the gods that they will cause the the sun barque to "run aground on the sandbank of Apophis" if the patient doesn't recover. The quote above describes the results of such an occurrence.

All of this is possible because of the Egyptian concept of the world as "dramatic", meaning the actions of the deities are constantly causing everything that happens and humans are capable of participating in this ongoing cosmic drama. Because everything in the world is being constantly acted out catastrophe of one kind or another is always possible and thus every sunrise is an event to be greeted with joy.

One such catastrophe the Egyptians feared was possibility of the serpent Apophis (or more accurately Apep) overcoming the gods in the sun barque during the period of time at night when Re traveled through the Duat or underworld. If Apophis was able to conquer Re then the sun would not rise again and, as the quote above describes, the world would be thrown into chaos. In fact, the Egyptians believed that Apophis did manage to overcome Re, at least temporarily, every time there was a solar eclipse. The idea of a more permanent solar death was probably one of the worst fates they could imagine.

Ancient Egyptian Quote of the Week

Today's quote is an excerpt of the Morning Song that would be sung in an Egyptian Temple by the Priests and Choristers as the sealed sanctuary that holds the cult statue of the god is opened when the sun rises.

Awake (O great god) in peace, wake peacefully.

Wake peacefully, wake beautifully, in peace! Wake to life, oh (god of this city)! The gods rise early to honor your soul, oh august winged disk shining in the sky! It is you who break the seal in the heavens and spread gold dust over the earth, who come to life in the east and vanish in the west and sleep in (your temple) each day.

Your eyes spread flame, your eyes light the darkness! Your brows wake in beauty, oh radiant visage that knows no anger!

May you wake peacefully... and spread gold dust over the earth.

(Quoted from Serge Sauneron's The Priests of Ancient Egypt.)

Ancient Egyptian Quote of the Week

This is an idea I picked up from Julianne Douglas of Writing the Renaissance. I really enjoy her Sixteenth Century Quotes of the Week and thought it would be fun to share some of the Egyptian quotes I pick up as part of my research. Though my posts tend to be much larger than just a quote when all's said and done, and end up as more of a mini lesson in some aspect of Egyptian belief.

This week's quote is not technically Egyptian, but Greek. The Greeks had a deep fascination and respect for the Egyptians. It was vogue for Greek sages and philosophers to visit Egypt to learn from the priests there. Even if a philosopher hadn't actually been to Egypt in their life, their biographers would often say that they had to give them more credibility. To Greece, Egypt was pretty much the font of all wisdom and knowledge. So we have this account found in one of Plato's Dialogues, Timaeus, about the Athenian statesman and poet Solon...

"In the Egyptian Delta, at the head of which the river Nile divides, there is a certain district which is called the district of Sais, and the great city of the district is also called Sais, and is the city from which King Amasis came. The citizens have a deity for their foundress; she is called in the Egyptian tongue Neith, and is asserted by them to be the same whom the Hellenes call Athene; they are great lovers of the Athenians, and say that they are in some way related to them. To this city came Solon, and was received there with great honour; he asked the priests who were most skilful in such matters, about antiquity, and made the discovery that neither he nor any other Hellene knew anything worth mentioning about the times of old. On one occasion, wishing to draw them on to speak of antiquity, he began to tell about the most ancient things in our part of the world—about Phoroneus, who is called 'the first man,' and about Niobe; and after the Deluge, of the survival of Deucalion and Pyrrha; and he traced the genealogy of their descendants, and reckoning up the dates, tried to compute how many years ago the events of which he was speaking happened. Thereupon one of the priests, who was of a very great age, said: O Solon, Solon, you Hellenes are never anything but children, and there is not an old man among you. Solon in return asked him what he meant. I mean to say, he replied, that in mind you are all young; there is no old opinion handed down among you by ancient tradition, nor any science which is hoary with age. And I will tell you why. There have been, and will be again, many destructions of mankind arising out of many causes; the greatest have been brought about by the agencies of fire and water, and other lesser ones by innumerable other causes."

The Egyptian Priest goes on to describe how while the rest of the world has been suffering destructive natural disasters over and over for ages, Egypt does not because of its unique climate. Every time a disaster would strike only a small remnant of the Greek people would survive, civilization would fall and would need to be rebuilt. Therefore Egypt is the one land that has been able to preserve knowledge of all former times.

"And whatever happened either in your country or in ours, or in any other region of which we are informed—if there were any actions noble or great or in any other way remarkable, they have all been written down by us of old, and are preserved in our temples. Whereas just when you and other nations are beginning to be provided with letters and the other requisites of civilized life, after the usual interval, the stream from heaven, like a pestilence, comes pouring down, and leaves only those of you who are destitute of letters and education; and so you have to begin all over again like children, and know nothing of what happened in ancient times, either among us or among yourselves."

Solon is amazed and asks for more detailed information about the past. The priest tells him of various things including the story of Atlantis...

"For these histories tell of a mighty power which unprovoked made an expedition against the whole of Europe and Asia, and to which your city put an end. This power came forth out of the Atlantic Ocean, for in those days the Atlantic was navigable; and there was an island situated in front of the straits which are by you called the Pillars of Heracles; the island was larger than Libya and Asia put together, and was the way to other islands, and from these you might pass to the whole of the opposite continent which surrounded the true ocean; for this sea which is within the Straits of Heracles is only a harbour, having a narrow entrance, but that other is a real sea, and the surrounding land may be most truly called a boundless continent. Now in this island of Atlantis there was a great and wonderful empire which had rule over the whole island and several others, and over parts of the continent, and, furthermore, the men of Atlantis had subjected the parts of Libya within the columns of Heracles as far as Egypt, and of Europe as far as Tyrrhenia. This vast power, gathered into one, endeavoured to subdue at a blow our country and yours and the whole of the region within the straits; and then, Solon, your country shone forth, in the excellence of her virtue and strength, among all mankind. She was pre-eminent in courage and military skill, and was the leader of the Hellenes. And when the rest fell off from her, being compelled to stand alone, after having undergone the very extremity of danger, she defeated and triumphed over the invaders, and preserved from slavery those who were not yet subjugated, and generously liberated all the rest of us who dwell within the pillars. But afterwards there occurred violent earthquakes and floods; and in a single day and night of misfortune all your warlike men in a body sank into the earth, and the island of Atlantis in like manner disappeared in the depths of the sea. For which reason the sea in those parts is impassable and impenetrable, because there is a shoal of mud in the way; and this was caused by the subsidence of the island."

So there you have it folks, the legend of Atlantis comes from the Egyptians.

I find the idea that while the rest of the world is being destroyed and rebuilding its self over and over the Egyptians survived in their stable Nile Valley watching and recording the history around them to be absolutely fascinating. I'm not sure how yet, but I think it's something I would like to explore and build on in my fantasy world.

*Quotations obtained through Project Gutenburg, text is translated by Benjamin Jowett.