It's likely that only one person out of every hundred could read and write, according to Jacco Dieleman, an Egyptologist at the University of California, Los Angeles. Hymns, stories, and prayers were passed down from speaker to speaker. The earliest poetry in Egypt was likely part of an oral tradition. To hear your voice is pomegranate wine to me: Written during Egypt's New Kingdom (1539-1075 B.C.) but likely composed much earlier, these songs are surprisingly direct about love and romance in ancient Egypt, using metaphors, repetition, and other poetic techniques familiar to poetry readers today. "People tend to assume all ancient Egyptian writing is religious, so the secular nature of these songs and of much other poetry continue to surprise readers," Parkinson said. The verses allow poetry lovers and Egyptophiles alike to tap into the emotional side of Egyptian daily life. While historical accounts and biographies inscribed on the insides of tombs often give idealized accounts of ancient Egyptian life, poetry gives real insight into human nature and its imperfections, he said.Ī group of love poems have been found in an excavated workers' village on the outskirts of the Valley of Kings, where many pharaohs are entombed.
"Poetry is perhaps the greatest forgotten treasure of ancient Egypt," said Richard Parkinson, an expert on ancient Egyptian poetry at London's British Museum, home to the largest collection of Egyptian artifacts outside of Cairo. But love poems composed thousands of years ago may provide a more intimate glimpse of the lives of everyday ancient Egyptians. Pyramids, mummies, tombs, and other icons of aristocracy and the afterlife dominate our images of ancient Egypt.
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