Expedition to the ancestors. "Papyrus for Fun"
"Your shepherd, sheep,
in the water among the fish.
He talks with the catfish,
he is talking to a pike..."
Song of the Ancient Egyptian Shepherd
in the water among the fish.
He talks with the catfish,
he is talking to a pike..."
Song of the Ancient Egyptian Shepherd
History and culture. We continue to introduce VO readers to the art and culture of Ancient Egypt. And today we will again turn to Egyptian papyri as an extremely important source of information. A lot of them were found, and not just a lot, but a lot. But at the same time, the most important of them are even given their own names, both according to the names of their discoverers and according to the place of storage. Therefore, there are, for example, the “Ebers papyrus”, “Turin papyrus”, “Moscow papyrus” and many others.
Satirical plots of the "Turin Papyrus". Egyptian Museum, Turin
Reading them, you can once again be convinced of what a blessing writing is, both for civilization itself and for its researchers. Here, for example, is the same “Ebers papyrus”.
This is the oldest treatise on medicine, along with the Edwin Smith papyrus. It describes the symptoms of various diseases and methods of diagnosing them, describes the preparation of medicines and methods of treatment. Here you can find information from the field of parasitology, dentistry, and even gynecology, and... contraception. That is, the Egyptians understood all this, and quite well, although they did not disdain magical conspiracies, which, in their opinion, should have helped the doctor defeat the disease.
This papyrus also included astronomical observations that are important for dating historical events in Ancient Egypt.
By the way, the Edwin Smith papyrus was bought by him in Egypt back in 1862, and then bought for 15 thousand thalers in 1872 by Egyptologist from Germany Georg Ebers for the museum in Leipzig. Its length was more than 20 meters!
Unfortunately, during the Second World War it suffered greatly from the bombing of Leipzig by the Anglo-American aviation, and not only suffered - many of its parts were simply lost. Today, like a huge treasure, this papyrus is kept in the library of the University of Leipzig.
Equally informative, in terms of our acquaintance with the life of the ancient Egyptians, is the famous “Teaching of Kheti.” The “Teaching” was copied many times by Egyptian schoolchildren, so about 250 papyri from the 19th dynasty (1350–1200 BC) have reached us.
The text of the “Instruction” is preserved both on the hieratic papyrus “Salle I” and partially on the papyrus “Anastasi VII” from the British Museum. There are excerpts from it on various subjects. For example, the writing board from the Louvre, the Amherst papyrus from the Morgan Library and Museum, the 19th Chester Beatty papyrus from the British Museum, and more than 90 ostracons from the reign of the Ramessid pharaohs.
However, all these historical artifacts are serious documents. And today we will get acquainted with a “document” that is completely frivolous, but also helps to some extent to understand the life of the ancient Egyptians - with the “Turin Satirical-Erotic Papyrus” (or “papyrus No. 55001”), which today is in the Egyptian Museum of Turin.
Ostrakon of the XIX dynasty with a fragment of the Teachings of Kheti. Egyptian Museum, Turin
It was discovered by the first Egyptologist in human history who learned to read hieroglyphs - Jean Francois Champollion, in the 30s of the 1973th century. His attention was first drawn to his animalistic images. But then, upon closer inspection, he was struck by, as he himself stated, the “monstrous obscenity” of his other images. As a result, highly moral European Egyptologists for a long time even refused to study it, which is why copies of this papyrus appeared in print only in XNUMX.
People in the USSR have been familiar with this papyrus for a long time. “Pictures” from it, for example, appeared in print in graphic form back in 1955, but... they only related to the first part of this artifact.
The cat is herding geese. The drawing on the ostracon is clearly satirical. The era of the 19th dynasty. OK. 1120 BC e. Egyptian Museum, Cairo
By the way, how much did Egyptian artists receive for their work back then?
After all, they illustrated not only (and not even so much!) papyrus texts, but... they painted figurines and statues, painted the walls of burial chambers in tombs, painted sarcophagi and... ships, which also (judging by their models from the tombs) could be brightly painted.
We have at our disposal documents about the work and payment of the artist Maanakhtef, who lived in the 12th century BC. Thus, from his contract with the customer, for whom he painted his sarcophagus, he received a bale of cloth, a measure of fruit, a wicker bed and a copper dish. What the corresponding document was drawn up about.
From another document, which was compiled a little later, you can find out that some other artist received in payment for his work: a goat, a bale of cloth, a pair of sandals, two vessels with fat, a wooden bed, a mat, a vessel with paint and something... then from food. That is, the exchange was purely natural back then!
Funerary papyrus of the singer Amon Nani (19th Dynasty, c. 1050 BC), Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
But here is the “Turin Papyrus”... What to do with it? Did someone commission an artist to draw him too? Or did he, of his own free will, “take his soul to it”? Or is this papyrus the fruit of the creation of a joker-artist? Because the drawings on this papyrus are truly absolutely amazing in their content.
Erotic part of papyrus
By the way, the papyrus itself, measuring 2,6 m by 25 cm, does not meet the standards of ordinary scrolls of administrative or religious content. The drawings are made with black paint. Moreover, thematically, the papyrus consists of two sections. The first contains 12 erotic images, but the other, in a certain sense, is actually more interesting; it presents satirical scenes in which, instead of people,... animals are depicted.
As for “eroticism,” here one can see complete realism, which is completely unusual for Egyptian art. Thus, the papyrus depicts men of short stature, with sagging or protruding “beer” bellies, and genitals that are clearly larger than expected. That is, they absolutely do not correspond to Egyptian standards of male beauty. The women are also elderly, and are depicted with bindweed leaves in their hands, as well as lotus flowers. All these were symbols of the goddess Hathor, who in Egypt was the goddess of love, as well as intoxication, motherhood, fertility, fun and... dancing.
Continued…
But if everything is clear with “erotica,” then other images need explanation, and no one still knows how accurate they are.
After all, what do we see here?
The battle of cats and geese. A jackal shepherd with a goat... The cat gives the rat a gift of a goose. The lion and the gazelle are busy playing some kind of board game. Yes, it is clear that animals are depicted here, but only the nameless artist had something completely different in mind, namely: high-ranking people and even, perhaps, the pharaoh himself. That is, the artist used the well-known technique of fabulists who described various animals to ridicule human weaknesses and vices.
In one of the drawings, the artist dressed a donkey in the attire of a nobleman. His tall staff and staff reveal him as an important dignitary. It’s not for nothing that a cat stands in front of him on its hind legs in such a respectful pose. And the bull dragged her to the donkey for punishment.
Think about the hidden meaning of this cartoon. Isn't this a direct allusion to royal justice - a donkey in the role of a judge!
And then there’s just a scene from Krylov’s fable about the quartet. The only musicians here are the donkey, lion, crocodile and monkey - animals well known to the Egyptians. And the instruments they took were well known to them, depicted on frescoes in the palaces and tombs of Egyptian nobles - a harp, a lute, a lyre and a double flute.
There is also a battle scene on this papyrus. It is directly copied from countless paintings of military battles, which the warlike pharaohs of the New Kingdom loved and were so proud of. There is a siege of a fortress, archers, chariots, and furious hand-to-hand combat... Only instead of human warriors, cats and mice fight.
And it is no coincidence, of course, that the mouse king on a chariot harnessed to greyhounds is in the center. He is presented in exactly the same pose as the victorious and all-powerful pharaoh... It is clear that the Egyptians, especially the residents of the capital, could accurately guess what or who the author of this unusual papyrus had in mind, as soon as they looked at it .
Moreover, the courage of the unknown scribe is worthy of surprise. After all, one disrespectful word addressed to the earthly god - Pharaoh, and severe punishment could befall him. And here are whole detailed narratives, albeit without words, but completely understandable to everyone.
However, some consider these drawings to be illustrations of fables. There are other opinions. However, in any case, all these images are of an extremely curious nature and, in addition, also indicate that they were made by the hand of a professional and erudite scribe who had an independent character. It is possible that he lived between the late New Kingdom and the Third Intermediate Period.
In addition, the images of women and the lion on the Turin Papyrus are similar to similar images on the Lady Cheruben Papyrus. That is, at that time he was not the only one who drew like this - it was already a certain manner, characteristic of drawings specifically on papyrus.
Or maybe he drew all this just for fun, without even thinking about anything “like that”. A kind of “papyrus for fun”? Who knows…
Information