Information about Ipuwer Papyrus

The Dialogue of Ipuwer and the Lord of All^[1] is an ancient Egyptian poem preserved on a single papyrus, Leiden Papyrus I 344, which is housed in the National Archeological Museum in Leiden, Netherlands.^[2].

The sole surviving manuscript dates to the later 13th century BCE (no earlier than the 19th dynasty in the New Kingdom). Egyptologist Dr Halpern believed that the papyrus was a copy of an earlier Middle kingdom copy. The dating of the original composition of the poem is disputed, but several scholars, have suggested a date between the late 12th dynasty and the Second Intermediate Period (ca. 1850 BCE - 1600 BCE).^[3] The theme of this work has previously been taken either as a lament inspired by the supposed chaos of the Second Intermediate Period, or as historical fiction depicting the fall of the Old Kingdom several centuries earlier, or possibly a combination of these.

Ipuwer describes Egypt as afflicted by natural disasters and in a state of chaos, a topsy-turvy world where the poor have become rich, and the rich poor, and warfare, famine and death are everywhere. One symptom of this collapse of order is the lament that servants are leaving their servitude and acting rebelliously. Because of this, and such statements as "the River is blood", some have interpreted the document as an Egyptian account of the Plagues of Egypt and the Exodus in the Old Testament of the Bible, and it is often cited as proof for the Biblical account by various religious organisations^[4][5].

David Rohl recently proposed a revised chronology, dating the Exodus to the Second Intermediate Period, in which case Ipuwer might refer to that event. However, Rohl's chronology has been rejected by most Egyptologists.^[6]. Moreover, the association of Ipuwer with the Exodus is generally rejected by Egyptologists, who when interpreting the Exodus as a historical event generally place it later, in the reign of Ramesses II. Some have alternatively interpreted the poem's references to disturbances in nature as relating to the Thera eruption, which according to dendrochronology and radiocarbon dating occurred ca. 1650-1600 BC.

Both the Exodus and Thera interpretations (which can be combined with each other, and sometimes are) assume that the poem records a historical event, which is disputed by many Egyptologists.^[7] Recently, the poem has instead been interpreted by some as an essentially ahistorical, timeless consideration of the theme of 'order vs. chaos'. On this reading, the references in Ipuwer to rivers of blood, and to slaves revolting, may be schematic 'world turned upside down' laments rather than reports of specific historical events.

The later passages of the poem contain a dialogue between two figures identified only as "Ipuwer" and the "Majesty of the Lord of All" (this term can be used either of the sun-god, or the king). Although these sections of the poem are badly damaged, they apparently debate the causes of evil and chaos in the world, and the balance between human and divine responsibility for them. This dialogue forms one of the oldest examinations in world literature of the question of theodicy.

See also

• Dudimose
• Pharaoh of the Exodus
• Shiphrah
• Thrasyllus of Mendes

External links

• The writing on the Ipuwer papyrus
• Same picture, German article (English version in production.)
• A comparison of the Ipuwer Papyrus and the plagues of Exodus

References

Literature

• R. Enmarch: The Dialogue of Ipuwer and the Lord of All, The Griffith Institute, Griffith Institute Publications, Oxford 2005 ISBN 0900416866
• Stephen Quirke: Egyptian Literature 1800BC: Questions and Readings, London 2004, 140-150 ISBN 0-9547218-6-1 (translation and transcription)
• The Admonitions of Ipuwer