Papyrus Harris 500

The Papyrus Harris 500, also papyrus British Museum 10060, short BM 10060 is a papyrus from ancient Egypt, which contains a collection of several literary texts, including the earliest known Egyptian love poems. The papyrus was the beginning of the 19th dynasty, during the reign of Seti I. or Ramses II and is named after the British merchant Anthony Charles Harris ( 1790-1869 ), in whose private property he once was. After his death, the papyrus came into the possession of the British Museum on where it is kept still.

Content

The papyrus measures 143.5 x 20.3 cm and is inscribed on both sides in hieratic script. Both sides are divided into eight columns.

On the front ( recto ), there are three groups of love songs. The first group consists of eight independent poems, four of which a girl (No. 1, 2, 4, 8) and a boy (No. 3, 5, 6, 7) are placed in the mouth. The original title of this group is not obtained, it is summarized by Siegfried Schott under the modern title " Power of Love ". It is followed by a second group which bears the title " the beginning of the gladdening songs for your beloved, the chosen one of your heart, if it comes from the hallway " and also consists of eight poems, but here are all associated with a girl. It follows the so-called Harfnerlied of Antef who has not the love but the enjoyment of life on the subject, and finally a group of three other love songs, all of which are associated with a girl.

The back ( verso) of the papyrus contains two stories. In the first, only very fragmentarily preserved, it is the conquest of Joppa. It includes the columns 1-3. Although the plot is fictional, it is still embedded in real historical events. The story tells the capture of the city of Joppa ( Jaffa today ). Djehuti by the Egyptian General during the reign of Thutmose III The second story involves the columns 4-8. Your modern title is The enchanted prince. It is about an Egyptian prince, the unnatural death is prophesied.