The Tale of Sinuhe and other ancient Egyptian poems

“This is a wonderful collection starting with the most famous Egyptian poem, the Tale of Sinuhe. It’s short, only about 16 pages in this edition. Although numerous written copies are known, including versions used in teaching at Deir el-Medina, we think the life of these stories was primarily oral, performed by one storyteller or a group of performers, perhaps in court contexts…The Tale of Sinuhe…is the story of an individual who flees Egypt when the king dies; he is worried that he will be accused of conspiracy. He becomes very successful in his new life in Syria-Palestine but all this success is hollow because the only life that is meaningful is a life in Egypt.” Read more...

The best books on Ancient Egypt

Elizabeth Frood, Historian