Kullanıcı:Nephiliskos/Plan 1

Westcar Papirüsü, hiyeratik harflerle yazılan bir Antik Mısır papirüsü. Ne zaman yazıldığı tam olarak bilinmemekle birlikte Mısırbilimci Miriam Lichtheim papirüsün MÖ. 18. yüzyılda, Mısırbilimci Verena Lepper MÖ. 20. yüzyılda yazıldığına işaret eder. Papirüs serisi 5 hikaye içerir ve birinci hikayenin sadece son birkaç cümlesi korunabilmiştir. Diğer hikayeler kendisi bir mucizeye tanık olana kadar boğlu tarafından yazılan fantastik hikayelerle eğlenebilen firavun Khufu ile ilgilidir.

The tales of Papyrus Westcar

The first story is lost, only the last two sentences are preserved. They contain a sacrifice prayer made by pharaoh Khufu to one of his long since died ancestor, king Djoser.

The second story reports about a priest called “Ubaoner”, who is betrayed by is unfaithful wife. The woman is observed by the loyal caretaker and servant of Ubaoner. When the servant gives report to his master about the wife`s new lover, Ubaoner decides to punish them both: A crocodile figurine made of wax is bewitched to come to life when touching water, and the crocodile catches the secret lover when he takes a bath in Ubaoner`s private lake. The magic crocodile keeps the stranger captured as long as Ubaoner is recieved by his king, pharao Nebka. When coming home, Ubaoner tells everything to king Nebka. The pharaoh decides to order the crocodile to eat up the busted lover, the unfaithful wife is brought to a place of pharaoh Nebka`s palace and burnt alive.

The third story is a satire about pharaoh Khufu`s grandfather, king Sneferu. It tells about pharaoh Sneferu, who is bored and sad, and so the king seeks for distraction in his royal palace. When still unsuccessful, he asks his priest “Djadjaemankh” to entertain him. The loyal priest advises Sneferu to have a rowing trip on the royal lake. Twenty beautyful virgins are ordered to row and sing for the pharaoh. When doing so, the stroke maiden loses her favorite hair-pendant. All girls stop rowing when the stroke maiden becomes silent in grieve and shock. Pharao Sneferu offers a substitude, but the girl cannot be cheered up. So the pharaoh calls for the priest Djadjaemankh, who summons a magic spell that moves the waters of the lake aside. One half side of the lake is double in water hight, the other half side is dry now. The lost pendant is found and brought back to the girl. All protagonists are happy now and spend the rest of the day celebrating.

The fourth story reports about pharaoh Khufu, who is seeking for a secret treasure hidden in the shrine of the god Thot, lord of time and writing. Khufu hears from his son Hordjedef, that a old wise magician named “Dedi”, who is said to have already performed several wonders, would know about the secret treasure. Pharao Khufu orders Hordjedef to bring this Dedi for an audience. The old and wise magician follows the invitation and introduces himself to pharaoh Khufu. Then he demonstrates his magical powers: He decapitates a goose, a unnamed waterbird and a ox and reattaches the heads to every animal. The animals are all alive again. Then Dedi gives pharaoh Khufu a prophecy about a woman named “Ruddedet”, who will give birth to three boys which will rule over Egypt in future. And one of these kings will bring the wanted treasure to pharaoh Khufu. But the time of their birth is when the Nile is dried up due the summer`s heat. The old and wise magician Dedi promises to pharaoh Khufu to summon a flood that brings the ruler to the three boys.

The fifth and last story is about the earlier mentioned woman Ruddedet. The woman suffers badly, because the birth of her three sons is difficult. The god Ra, lord of the sun of Egypt, orders the godesses Isis, Nephthys, Meskhenet and Hekhet and the god Khnum (lord of the earth and potter of the human`s bodies) to rush to Ruddedet´s house to help the woman. The gods disguise themself into musicians to stay unrecogniced and use their magic to free the babies. All babies are of extraordinary apparition and the goddess Meskhenet, lady of birth and destiny, blesses every baby. The god Khnum makes their bodies strong and healthy. When about to leave, Isis has the idea to perform a wonder to the babies, so they would surely become kings one day. The gods create three lordly crowns and hide them in jars with barley. They please Ruddedet to store the barley until they would come back from a feast (in fact they planned to never come back). Ruddedet does as wished, but a view weeks later she orders her maid servant to fetch some barley, for no beer for her husband is left over. The maid servant finds the barley, but all of a sudden she hears music and cheerings coming out of the jars with barley. Ruddedet witnesses this wonder, too, and she is happy and excited, because she becomes aware about the meaning of all of this. Some further weeks later Ruddedet is bickering with the maid servant and beats her in punish. The maid servant swears to tell on the godlike birth of the triplets and the beating to pharaoh Khufu. She runs to her older brother to make him a accomplice, but the brother sees through it and beats her, too. When the maid servant goes to the Nile to get some water, a crocodile devours her. The brother, witnessing the happening, runs to Ruddedet, who is sitting on the treshold of her house, crying over the planned betrayal. He tells her what happened to his sister and at this spot the novel of Papyrus Westcar ends.

Modern interpretations and evaluations of the Westcar-novel

Today`s egyptologists such as Miriam Lichtheim and Verena Lepper give several and different evaluations to the stories told in Papyrus Westcar. Older evaluations by died-in-the-meantime egyptologists and historians such as Adolf Erman and Kurt Heinrich Sethe once depicted the Westcar-novel as a mere folklore, created simply for public entertainment. Lichtheim and Lepper instead point out, that numerous social and religious allusions and puns are hidden in the tales. The story of Ubaoner tells about justice and what happens to adulterers. The king in this story, pharaoh Nebka, is depicted as a strict and lawful djudge. The story of Djadjaemankh is some kind of satire, in which a mere priest acts smarter than a oh-so-mighty pharaoh. The pharao himself is depicted as being lazy and simple-minded. The story of Dedi is about magical performance and giving prophecies. Also it is about the conversion of pharaoh Khufu about what you may do with magic and what better not to do. Pharao Khufu is depicted as beeing ruthless and strict at one side, but also nosy, reasonable and generous at the other side.

It´s also thought by modern egyptologists, that Papyrus Westcar influenced later egyptian writers when composing and writing down similar novels. Numerous leter novels contain phrases and stilistic terms which are obviously nearly copied from Papyrus Westcar. This means, from the sight of modern egyptologists, that the heroes of Papyrus Westcar must have been known to egyptian writers for a surprisingly long time. All of this invalidate the older theory of a “mere folklore” that the Westcar-papyrus was once thought to be.