Lesson 2
Egypt and Arabia : Tales of the Nile and Arabian Nights
“Had I unknown phrases
Sayings that are strange
Novel, untried words…
For what has been said is just repetition,
What has been said has been said…”
- Ancient Egyptian poem (The Complaints of Khakheperre-sene)
“Don’t worry,
My sweetest,
You are in my poetry and in my words.
You might grow old in years,
But you are ever young in my pages.”
- Nizar Qabbani (Kitab al-Hubb)
Egypt is part of what is known as the Cradle of Civilization of Fertile
Crescent, a Middle Eastern region shaped like a crescent, which is
considered as the birthplace of history, science, writing, trade, urbanization,
agriculture and organized religion. It connects the Middle East to northeast
Africa.
The scholarly works in ancient Egyptian culture are largely based on the
recognition of scenes related to arts, theatre, literature, dance, music,
among others illustrated in tombs, monuments, and temples as well as on
the interpretation and translation of writings found on these. One of the
struggles of historians and archaeologists is the extraction of significant
information form Egyptian excavated art. Artists seemed to exhibit the
ancient society as the commissioner of the piece wished it to be presented
and not as it actually was, thus making it propagandized and idealized.
Egyptians always have their identity awareness as descendants of ancient
Egypt. As the largest Arabic-speaking nation, Egypt plays a big role in the
culture of the Arab world.
Arabia or the Arabian Peninsula is situated southwest of Asia. It is where
Islam and the Arab people originated. Four-fifths of the peninsula is Saudi
Arabia and the rest are Yemen, Oman, United Arab Emirates, Qatar,
Bharain, Kuwait, Jordan and Iraq.
Within nomadic and tribal culture began the Arabic literary tradition some
16 centuries ago. The nomadic tradition travelled far with the spread of the
religion, Islam, especially during 7th to the 10th century. Originally, it aspired
for the preservation of hospitality and courage as values while expressing a
love for both nature and animals. The rise of Islamic faith introduced the
original Arabian literature to the influence of other cultural traditions such
as Persian, Byzantine, Amazigh, Andalusian, and Indian. At the end of the
20th century, the strong influence of the West dominated, but the Arabian
Survey of Afro-Asian Literature | Cordova, M., Uytico, B.
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literature strived in maintaining the indigenous inspiration of its own
heritage while entertaining the approaches and models of the West.
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Egyptian architecture and art received much attention from the world
compared to its literature. Ancient Egyptian literature is a creation of the
civilization of the pharoahs and has huge f=differences from that of the well-
received standard of formal Greek literature. It is also dissimilar from those
of Western societies and other early and modern literatures of the East.
Ancient Egyptian literature presented itself to the world as engraved writings
on walls of tombs, temples, and other monuments. These inscriptions
indicate the religious qualities of the early literary forms reflected in the
hymns of worship to their gods and kings.
Autobiographies and offerings lists were the pieces of evidence of early
Egyptian writing from the Early Dynastic Period (c. 6000-c. 3150 BCE).
These writings were engraved on someone’s tomb for the purpose of
informing the living of the gifts rightfully offered to the deceased. From these
inscriptions developed the Pyramid Texts which were descriptions of a king’s
rule. The texts also served as an afterlife guide to the souls of the deceased
pharaohs as these contained incantations and spells written by scribes and
priests to release the ka (soul) from the Pharaoh’s body and assist it to rise
to heaven. These engravings were written in hieroglyphics, the Egyptian
writing system characterized by a combination of ideograms (symbols
signifying meaning), logograms (symbols that represent words), and
phonograms (symbols representing sounds). Here is a sample passage from
the Pyramid Texts:
“The King is the Bull of the sky, Who conquers at will, Who lives on the being
of every God, Who eats their entrails.”
Some texts were also written in papyrus, ancient writing material made from
the stalk of the plant, Cyperus papyrus. Ebers and Ani Papyri are examples
of these writings. Eber Papyrus (1550 B.C.) is a medical papyrus containing
herbal knowledge while Ani Papyrus (1250 B.C.) is a funerary text with
colored illustrations and cursive hieroglyphics. The Pyramid Texts, Coffin
Text, and Book of the Dead are three of the most significant texts that
survived up to this day. These are mostly incantations with the purpose of
bringing about comfort and salvation to the dead in the afterlife.
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Reading Lamp
Naguib Mahfouz is a recipient of the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1988. He
published more than 100 short stories as well as 30 novels, 16 of these were
adapted for films. He has been compared to the social realism tone of
Dickens and Balzac. His short story, Half a Day, emerged in English in the
book, The Time and the Place and Other Stories published in the year 1991.
(Sample text attached)
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Survey of Afro-Asian Literature | Cordova, M., Uytico, B.
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The peninsular nature of Arabian environment preserved the Arabic
language during the pre-Islamic times from the changes of outside forces. It
is deeemed to be the most-protected semitic languages model. Limited
written works appeared in the 6th century and earlier. Pre-Islamic literature
is labeled by muslims as Jahiliyyah (period of ignorance). It was in the 7th
century that Arabic culture and literature flourished with the Qur’an,
Islam’s Holy Book, as the powerful center and is still holding its place of
influence. The Qur’an was considered the leading and most powerful Arabic
literary piece. It holds 114 suras or chapters containing a massive collection
of 6, 236 ayat or verses. It comprises narratives, parables, homilies,
restrictions, instructions, direct addresses from Allah, and explanations on
itself.
The rise of Islmic faith across Africa and then into Asia created a gap
between the written and oral aspects of the language. The Arabic written
language set a standard based on the Qur’an which had endured limited
change over time. It is called the classical Arabic. At the other end of the
linguistic spectrum is the spoken language which developed great diversity
as Islam penetrated into various cultures. Persia’s Sasanian empire was one
of the earliest contacts of Arabian literature until it reached to the east with
India and elsewhere as Baghdad was founded in 762.
The contacts resulted to the advent of the The Thousand and One Nights
by Tahir Shah, the largest narrative collection of the world. The House of
Wisdom, a library that housed pieces from the Hellenistic culture translated
into Arabic, was also founded in Baghdad.
While Islamic political division in the 10th century ironically provided
support for scholars and writers, literary creation was marked by the
continuing crusades, invasions, and fall of Constantinople (1453), Granada
(1942), and Cairo (1517). In Arabic literature surveys, the period between
1258 and 1800 was declared “period of decadence.”
Modern Arabic literary tradition is characterized by: (1) improved contacts
with the Western influence; and (2) renewed attentiveness to traditional
heritage of Islam and the Arabic language.
Some Egyptian and Arabic writers and poets with their literary works are the
following:
The Proverbs of Ptah Hutep
The Eloquent Farmer
The Cairo Trilogy, Heart of the Bight, Cairo Modern, Love in the Rain
by Naguib Mahfouz
City of Love and Ashes, The Sinner (novel), The Cheapest Nights, The
Hero, Dregs of the City (short stories), Farahat’s Republic (play) by
Yusuf Idris
Death Song, A bullet in the Heart, leaving Paradise, The People in the
Cave, (plays) by Tawfiq al-Hakim
Umm Hashem’s Lamp (novel), The Mother of the Helpless, The Dawn
of the Egyptian Novel, Antar and Juliet (articles) by Yahya Haqqi
Wednesday Talk, A Man of Letters, and The Call of the Curfew by
Taha Hussein
My Blood, My Tears, My Smile, The Bullet is Still in my Pocket (novels)
by Ihsan Abdel Quddous
Survey of Afro-Asian Literature | Cordova, M., Uytico, B.
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Al-’Abkariat, Allah, Sarah by Abbas Mahmud al-Aqqad
Around the World in 200 Days by Anis Mansour
The Map of Love, Cairo: My City , Our Revolution by Ahdaf Soueif
To Whom Should I speak Today? By Thomas Eric Peet
Panegyrics (Public speeches) by Al-Mutanabbi
Panegyrics about military victories by Sayf al-Dawlah
Hamasah (Anthology of ancient Arabic poems) by Abu Tammam
Poems in defense of Muhammad by Hassan ibn Thabit
Zaynab (novel) by Muhammad Husayn Haykal
The Food of Paradise by Ibn Amjed
The Lady and Her Five Suitors from A Thousand and One Nights by
Tahir Shah
Bewildered Arab by Jami
Survey of Afro-Asian Literature | Cordova, M., Uytico, B.
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