Summary
Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss The Tale of Sinuhe, one of the most celebrated works of ancient Egyptian literature. Written around four thousand years ago, the poem narrates the story of an Egyptian official who is exiled to Syria before returning to his homeland some years later. The number of versions of the poem, which is known from several surviving papyri and inscriptions, suggests that it was seen as an important literary work; although the story is set against a backdrop of real historical events, most scholars believe that the poem is a work of fiction.
With:
Richard Parkinson Professor of Egyptology and Fellow of Queen's College at the University of Oxford
Roland Enmarch Senior Lecturer in Egyptology at the University of Liverpool.
Aidan Dodson Senior Research Fellow in the Department of Archaeology and Anthropology at the University of Bristol
Producer: Thomas Morris.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Just before this BBC podcast gets underway, here's something you may not know. |
| 0:04.7 | My name's Linda Davies and I Commission Podcasts for BBC Sounds. |
| 0:08.5 | As you'd expect, at the BBC we make podcasts of the very highest quality featuring the most knowledgeable experts and genuinely engaging voices. |
| 0:18.0 | What you may not know is that the BBC makes podcasts about all kinds of things like pop stars, |
| 0:24.6 | poltergeist, cricket, and conspiracy theories and that's just a few examples. |
| 0:29.7 | If you'd like to discover something a little bit unexpected, find your next podcast over at BBC Sounds. |
| 0:36.0 | Thank you for downloading this episode of In Our Time. |
| 0:38.7 | For more details about in our time and for our terms of use please go to BBC.co. UK slash radio 4. I hope you enjoy |
| 0:45.9 | the program. Hello in 1895 the archaeologist Flinders Petri was excavating a burial site in the ancient Egyptian city of Thebes. |
| 0:56.2 | He discovered the tomb of a priest who died around the middle of the 17th century BC and had |
| 1:00.8 | been buried with a chest containing a bundle of pens and several rolls of |
| 1:04.8 | papyrus. This hall of Egyptian text is one of the most important ever found and contains |
| 1:10.2 | a fragment of a work now seen as the masterpiece of ancient Egyptian literature. |
| 1:15.2 | The tale of Sinuha tells the story of a court official who flees Egypt after the death of |
| 1:20.4 | the Pharaoh and spends many years abroad before finally returning home. |
| 1:24.8 | He deals with events which are known to have taken place around 4,000 years ago, although it's not |
| 1:29.1 | clear whether the poem is a work of pure fiction on a some basis in reality. |
| 1:33.6 | It was widely copied for many centuries |
| 1:35.4 | after it first appeared, but why was it so popular |
| 1:38.1 | and what can it tell us about the ancient Egyptian world |
| 1:41.1 | and about early fiction? We'd me to discuss the tale of cinema are Richard Parkinson, |
| 1:46.0 | professor of Egyptology and fellow of Queen's College at the University of Oxford. |
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