Lexikon der gyptologie 5:619622 Simpson, William K.

: Schiffbrchiger The narrative of the Shipwrecked Sailor (Schiffbrchiger, Naufrag) is one of the most interesting, straightforward, and yet puzzling compositions in Egyptian literature. Unlike so many other literary texts, it is preserved in a single manuscript without any trace of other copies, even though there is a single, possibly doubtful allusion to it in a Ramesside literary letter. 1 The date of the composition is probably Dyn. 11 or early Dyn. 12. Although the preserved text appears to be complete, the absence of a heading and introduction suggests that the papyrus was cut just before the first columns and that the original text had a more conventional beginning. It is notable that the protagonists are designated by title but not by name, the commander (3tj-), the narrator (msw jqr), the serpent (*Schlange) (q3 Pwnt), his daughter, and the king; the individuals are thus not fixed historically. The opening scene is evidently set in *Elephantine, since the expedition has reached the limits of *Wawat and passed the island of Senmet (*Bigga). However, the island on which the narrator is cast by a wave is less specifically identified as an island of the *ka, perhaps a spirit or enchanted place (*Insel, *Meer), and both the talking serpent and the fact that the island will vanish beneath the waves suggest a mythical place. In any case, the products are typically African and characteristic of *Punt: elephant tusks (*Elfenbein), *myrrh, giraffe tails (*Giraffenschwnze), etc. Recent scholarship has identified the serpent as a manifestations of *Re-Atum, the 75 serpents as the forms of Re in the litany (*Litanei) of Re, and the little daughter as *Maat2, although the role of the serpent as fate (*Schicksal) has also been argued3. A parallel to a Ugaritic myth has been cited wherein 74 relatives of El and 70 guests of *Baal at the dedication of his palace are mentioned. 4 The text can also be read in part as an astronomical metaphor; the serpent as the sun, a falling star (*Meteor, *Sterne), a stay of four months, a return journey of two months, and a ship which sinks beneath the waves with 120 men only to reappear(?) later. Various aspects of the content of the text have frequently drawn attention: the love of home, family, and particularly country (*Heimatgebundenheit, *gypten im Selbstbewutsein des gypters), the story within a story within a story (*Dialog, *Literatur, *Mrchenmotive, *Mythos), the journey to the mining country (*Expedition[en], *Expeditionsberichte), the products of the island (*Affe, *Handel, *Punt, *Weihrauch, etc.), the god who loves men (*Anonymitt der Gtter), the fear of man before God (*Furcht, *Gott-Mensch-Beziehung), the cryptic final question (*Gleichnis) 5, the dedication of a burnt offering (*Brandopfer), royal praise and rewards (*Kenbet), and the description of an ideal land (*Landschaft-Beschreibung und Darstellung).
1 2 3 4 5

Simpson, in: JAOS 78, 1958, 5051; Brunner, in: BiOr 15, 1958, 196. Derchain-Urtel, in: SAK 1, 1974, 83104. Most recently by Goedicke, in: GM 39, 1980, 2731. Van Selms, in: UF 3, 1971, 249252; Vittmann, in: GM 29, 1978, 149152. Gilula, in: Fs Hughes, 1976, 7582.

Lit.: A) Editions: Facsimile in: Wladimir Golnischeff, Les papyrus hiratiques nos. 1115, 1116A et 1116B de lHermitage Imperial St. Petersburg, St. Petersburg 1913. Transcription in: Aylward M. Blackman, Middle Egyptian Stories, Brussels 1932, 4148; Adriaan de Buck, Egyptian Readingbook, Leiden 1948, 100 106. B) Translations (selection): James Baikie, in: Wonder tales of the Ancient World, London 1924, 93105; Friedrich Wilhelm von Bissing, Altgyptische Lebensweisheit, Zrich 1955, 5456; Edda Bresciani, Letterature e poesia dellantico Egitto, Turin 1969, 173177; Emma Brunner-Traut, Altgyptische Mrchen, DsseldorfCologne 1963, 510; Ernest Budge, Egyptian Tales and Romances, London 1931, 8894; Marguerite Divin, Contes et legends de lgypte ancienne, Paris 1934, 128135; Sergio Donadoni, Storia della letteratura egiziana antica, Milan 1958, 14ff.; Adolf Erman, Die Literatur der gypter, Leipzig 1923, 5663; id., The Ancient Egyptians, trans. Blackman, London 1927, 2936; ed. Simpson, New York 1966, 2935; F. Ll. Griffith, in: William M. F. Petrie, Egyptian Tales I, London 1895, 8196; Charles D. Warner, Specimen Pages of a Library of the Worlds Best Literature, New York 1896, 5233 5236; Gunn, in: Bernard Lewis, Land of the Enchanters, London 1948, 24 28; Kaster, Wings of the Falcon, New York 1968, 182287; Lange, in: Aegyptiske Aeventyr, Copenhagen 1925, 1319; Gustave Lefebvre, Romans et contes gyptiens de lpoque pharaonique, Paris 1949, 2940; Miriam Lichtheim, Ancient Egyptian Literature I, BerkeleyLos Angeles London 1973, 211215; Gaston Maspero, Les contes populaires de lgypte ancienne, Paris 1915; trans. Agnes S. Johns, New York 1967, 106ff.; Petrie, in: Wilson, The Worlds Greatest Literature, Egyptian Literature, New York 1901, 173179; Redford, in: A. K. Grayson and Donald B. Redford, Papyrus and Tablet, Englewood Cliffs 1973, 5458; Gnther Roeder, Altgyptische Erzhlungen und Mrchen, Jena 1927, 1722; William K. Simpson, The Literature of Ancient Egypt, New Haven 31973, 5056; Stasow, in: Vestnik Jewropy I, 1882, 580602; Karl A. Wiedermann, Altgyptische Sagen und Mrchen, Leipzig 1906 , 2533. C) Studies and Commentaries (selection): Bagnani, in: Aegyptus 12, 1932, 357364; Blackman, in: JEA 16, 1930, 63 72; JEA 22, 1936, 3544; Brunner-Traut, in: Kindlers Literatur Lexikon, 906 907; Bryan, in: Serapis 5, 1979, 313; Derchain-Urtel, in: SAK 1, 1974, 83

104; Dvaud, in: RecTrav 38, 1917, 188210; Erman, in: ZS 43, 1906, 1 26; Henry Fischer, in: Gs Otto, 1977, 155158; id., in: GM 49, 1981, 2527; Friedman, in: GM 17, 1975, 1521; Gardiner, in: JEA 1, 1914, 2036; Gilula, in: Fs Hughes, 1976, 7582; Goedicke, in: JNES 32, 1973, 494; id., Die Geschichte des Schiffbrchigen, A 30, Wiesbaden 1974; Golnischeff, in: ZS 14, 1876, 107111; id., in: RecTrav 28, 1906, 73112; id., Le conte du naufrag, BdF. 2, Cairo 1912; Kitchen, in: Or 40, 1971, 192, n. 34; Lanczkowski, in: ZRGG 5, 1953, 228229; id., in: ZDMG 103, 1953, 360 371; id., in: ZDMG 105, 1955, 239260; id., in: AA 4, 1960, 104; Lopez, in: BiOr 33, 1976, 1617; id., in: RdE 28, 1976, 191; Lucchesi, in: ZS 103, 1976, 148149; Maksimov, in: Drevnii Egipet, 1967, 94106; Malaise, in: CdE 52, no. 103, 1977, 272277; Marinatos, in: Cretica Chronica 4, 1950, 195213; Maspero, in: RecTrav 29, 1907, 106109; Meltzer, in: GM 22, 1976, 4750; id., in: Anthropological Journal Canada 15, No. 4, 1977, 7; Myers, in: JEA 34, 1948, 119120; Nibbi, in: GM 10, 1974, 3540; ead., in: GM 16, 1975, 2731; ead., in: GM 18, 1975, 39; E. Otto, in: ZS 93, 1966, 100111; Pieper, in: OLZ 30, 1927, 737738; id., Das gyptische Mrchen, Morgenland 27, Leipzig 1935, 714; Redford, in: SSEA Newsletter 6, No. 2, 1975, 1316; Sethe, in: ZS 44, 1908, 8087; Simpson, in: JAOS 78, 1958, 5051; id., in: Gs Otto, 1977, 493498; Spiegel, in: HdO 1, Abt. 2, 1 st ed., Leiden 1952, 123124. 127; 2nd ed. Leiden, 1970, 151152. 157; Van Selms, in: UF 3, 1971, 249252; Vergote, in: MDAIK 15, 1957, 275287; Vikentieff, The Metrical Scheme of the Shipwrecked Sailor, in: BIFAO 35, 1935, 140; id., in: Bulletin of the Faculty of Arts of the University of Egypt 4, 1936, 16ff.; id., Voyage vers lile lointaine, Cairo 1941; id., in: Bulletin of the Faculty of Arts, Fouad I University Cairo 10, 1948, 154; Vittmann, in: GM 29, 1978, 149152; Vycichl, in: Kush 5, 1957, 7072; Wainwright, in: JEA 32, 1946, 3138; id., in: JEA 34, 1948, 119. W. K. S.