DOI Heft:
Nr. 3-4
DOI Artikel:Gardiner, Alan H.: Notes on the story of Sinuhe, [8]
DOI Seite / Zitierlink: https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.12743#0236
208
NOTES ON THF STORY OF SINUHE
such as Lachish, Gezer and Megiddo, havebeen excavated by arctueologists; in the taie
of Sinuhe not a word is breathed of the existence of towns in Syria, Is it not further
highly suspicious that with the exception of the more or less vague word Kedme (i. e.
"the East") the only place named should be Byblos', a place which the Egyptians
knew well not from their journeys by land through Syria, but from their constant
intercourse with it by sea? Sinuhe thus arrives by the land-route at the one place
towards which the Egyptian ships habitually made. The coincidence is remarkable,
especiallv if we remember that Sinuhe was fleeing from Egypt, and will presumably
have wished to avoid any place where Egyptians were likely to be found. If the in-
troduction of the narae of Byblos be purely and simply a literary artifice, the motive
for this is quite explicable : a sensé of reality is conveyed by the mention of a genuine
Syrian place-name. I am inclined therefore now to take a very sceptical view of the
value of our taie as a source of authentic knowledge of conditions in Northern Syria at
the beginning of the Twelfth Dynasty2.
Sinuhe's return journey followed the " way of the land of the Philistines", at a
later date the regular military road to and from Syria. He reaches the frontier of
Egypt at the garrison-town of Wawet-Hor "The ways of Horus", now known to
have been situated near El Kantara on the Pelusiac branch of the Nile3. Here he is
met by an escort of ships which convey him to the Court at Ethet-toui, the modem
Lisht, where the pyramids of Amenemmes I and Sesostris I still stand.
§ 3. The historical aspect. — Doubt has been cast in the preceding section on the
value of our taie as évidence of the state of culture in Northern Palestine at this period.
Hence we are led on to the question whether the taie is to be regarded as pure
fiction, or whether and to what extent it contains a historical nucleus. That the
author was well-acquainted with the history of the time about which he writes is
clear; he knows the names of the pyramids of Amenemmes I and Sesostris I, the
length of the former's reign, and the name of the Queen Nofru. The eulogy upon
Sesostris is such as would be likely to be composed by a contemporary writer, and in-
deed there is nothing in the taie which in the least suggests a later date. Further,
the manuscript B is evidently some distance removed from the archétype, and yet can
itself hardly be placed later than the end of the Twelfth Dynasty. I have stated
elsewhere my belief that Egyptian literary documents should be assigned to the date
to which they purport to belong, unless cogent reasons can be adduced to the con-
trary \ Both on gênerai and particular grounds, therefore, it seems probable that the
story of Sinuhe was written in the reign of Sesostris I, and is therefore contemporary
with the events that it relates.
The form of the taie so closely resembles other autobiographies that have been
1. Yaa is very possibly a wholly fictitious name.—That Kpny was the reading of the archétype I think to
have established by irréfutable évidence, see the note on B 29.
2. In other words 1 recant the view expressed by me in Sitzb., p. 8-9.
3. See note and Add. note on B 242.
4. A considération of Pap. Petersburg 1116 A, the Story of Wenamun, and the Procerbs of Ptahhotp
points in this direction; see Journal of Egyptian Archœology, I, p. 35-36.
NOTES ON THF STORY OF SINUHE
such as Lachish, Gezer and Megiddo, havebeen excavated by arctueologists; in the taie
of Sinuhe not a word is breathed of the existence of towns in Syria, Is it not further
highly suspicious that with the exception of the more or less vague word Kedme (i. e.
"the East") the only place named should be Byblos', a place which the Egyptians
knew well not from their journeys by land through Syria, but from their constant
intercourse with it by sea? Sinuhe thus arrives by the land-route at the one place
towards which the Egyptian ships habitually made. The coincidence is remarkable,
especiallv if we remember that Sinuhe was fleeing from Egypt, and will presumably
have wished to avoid any place where Egyptians were likely to be found. If the in-
troduction of the narae of Byblos be purely and simply a literary artifice, the motive
for this is quite explicable : a sensé of reality is conveyed by the mention of a genuine
Syrian place-name. I am inclined therefore now to take a very sceptical view of the
value of our taie as a source of authentic knowledge of conditions in Northern Syria at
the beginning of the Twelfth Dynasty2.
Sinuhe's return journey followed the " way of the land of the Philistines", at a
later date the regular military road to and from Syria. He reaches the frontier of
Egypt at the garrison-town of Wawet-Hor "The ways of Horus", now known to
have been situated near El Kantara on the Pelusiac branch of the Nile3. Here he is
met by an escort of ships which convey him to the Court at Ethet-toui, the modem
Lisht, where the pyramids of Amenemmes I and Sesostris I still stand.
§ 3. The historical aspect. — Doubt has been cast in the preceding section on the
value of our taie as évidence of the state of culture in Northern Palestine at this period.
Hence we are led on to the question whether the taie is to be regarded as pure
fiction, or whether and to what extent it contains a historical nucleus. That the
author was well-acquainted with the history of the time about which he writes is
clear; he knows the names of the pyramids of Amenemmes I and Sesostris I, the
length of the former's reign, and the name of the Queen Nofru. The eulogy upon
Sesostris is such as would be likely to be composed by a contemporary writer, and in-
deed there is nothing in the taie which in the least suggests a later date. Further,
the manuscript B is evidently some distance removed from the archétype, and yet can
itself hardly be placed later than the end of the Twelfth Dynasty. I have stated
elsewhere my belief that Egyptian literary documents should be assigned to the date
to which they purport to belong, unless cogent reasons can be adduced to the con-
trary \ Both on gênerai and particular grounds, therefore, it seems probable that the
story of Sinuhe was written in the reign of Sesostris I, and is therefore contemporary
with the events that it relates.
The form of the taie so closely resembles other autobiographies that have been
1. Yaa is very possibly a wholly fictitious name.—That Kpny was the reading of the archétype I think to
have established by irréfutable évidence, see the note on B 29.
2. In other words 1 recant the view expressed by me in Sitzb., p. 8-9.
3. See note and Add. note on B 242.
4. A considération of Pap. Petersburg 1116 A, the Story of Wenamun, and the Procerbs of Ptahhotp
points in this direction; see Journal of Egyptian Archœology, I, p. 35-36.