DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.27180#0140
CHAPTER XIII
THE MIDDLE KINGDOM
We have Erman’s History of Literature in our book-box. It
contains the Exhortations of a Prophet and the Contest of the
Weary Man with his own Soul, two remarkable papyrus docu-
ments from a dark period. When the sixth dynasty came to
an end about 2300, a tornado must have broken over Upper
Egypt and wellnigh destroyed the land. The peaceful back-
ground behind the statues of the early kings and the quiet
limestone groups, which permit us to imagine an ideal of
domesticity, was suddenly shattered and replaced by a very
different setting which also appeals to the experienced
European. Suddenly the king’s divinity ceases. His images
are broken and his temples are laid low. Respect for antiquity
is reversed; the marvellous order that seemed to need no
bridle is turned upside down, and the golden age is over.
The prophet and the weary man do not bemoan an enemy
who has burst in from without to hold the land in subjection.
That would not have surprised us; for the quiet reliefs, so
unconcerned with military precautions, might have led us to
expect it. The catastrophe surpasses all uncertainty. The
enemy came from within; the tornado was social.
Egypt has anticipated us in everything, even revolutions;
and this one no doubt was fraught with all the usual con-
sequences. The numerous details in both writings indicate
the tremendous collapse of the social structure, particularly
the earlier distinction between rich and poor. An allusion to
the French Revolution would be misleading; the tornado
raged against not one but all existing institutions. It seems
124
THE MIDDLE KINGDOM
We have Erman’s History of Literature in our book-box. It
contains the Exhortations of a Prophet and the Contest of the
Weary Man with his own Soul, two remarkable papyrus docu-
ments from a dark period. When the sixth dynasty came to
an end about 2300, a tornado must have broken over Upper
Egypt and wellnigh destroyed the land. The peaceful back-
ground behind the statues of the early kings and the quiet
limestone groups, which permit us to imagine an ideal of
domesticity, was suddenly shattered and replaced by a very
different setting which also appeals to the experienced
European. Suddenly the king’s divinity ceases. His images
are broken and his temples are laid low. Respect for antiquity
is reversed; the marvellous order that seemed to need no
bridle is turned upside down, and the golden age is over.
The prophet and the weary man do not bemoan an enemy
who has burst in from without to hold the land in subjection.
That would not have surprised us; for the quiet reliefs, so
unconcerned with military precautions, might have led us to
expect it. The catastrophe surpasses all uncertainty. The
enemy came from within; the tornado was social.
Egypt has anticipated us in everything, even revolutions;
and this one no doubt was fraught with all the usual con-
sequences. The numerous details in both writings indicate
the tremendous collapse of the social structure, particularly
the earlier distinction between rich and poor. An allusion to
the French Revolution would be misleading; the tornado
raged against not one but all existing institutions. It seems
124