Der Oasenmann: Eine altagyptische Erzahlung ubersetzt und kommentiert.

• Author: Quack, Joachim Friedrich
• Position: Book Review

Der Oasenmann: Eine altagyptische Erzahlung ubersetzt und kommentiert. By DIETER KURTH. Kulturgeschichte der antiken Welt, vol. 103. Mainz: VERLAG PHILIPP VON ZABERN, 2003. Pp. 153, illus. [euro]34.80.

The ancient Egyptian text treated in this volume is generally known to modern scholars as "The Tale of the Eloquent Peasant." The title chosen here, "The Man from the Oasis," does more justice to the actual occupation of the hero, who was not a field-cultivating peasant but rather a sort of trapper exchanging desert products for grain for his livelihood. The story is well known: the poor man is tricked out of his possessions by a rapacious low-level administrator and tries to get them back by making elaborate petitions. Enamored with his fine command of language, the high steward and the king detain the victim in order to get more out of him. When he finally despairs of his case, the plot is unravelled and justice done.

Obviously, this is a text that tells us quite a bit about ancient Egyptian life. It is certainly a good idea that the author of this book has decided to deliver it in a palatable form for a general audience. He has written an introduction that covers the factual background as well as the literary merits of the text and the possible motivations of the author. The translation of the text itself is followed by notes on selected difficult passages. It should be noted that Kurth has put much thought into the philological questions and even proposes a few new readings of the original hieratic text. The translation runs smoothly. The book is illustrated throughout with well-chosen pictures accompanying the literary text with Egyptian depictions of objects and activities mentioned in it.

As can be expected with a relatively complex and difficult text, the reviewer may not always agree with the author's choices for the translation. Some of the more important points should be mentioned here (cited according to the lines of the original manuscript for the sake of easy reference):

Although Kurth has limited himself to mentioning only a few modern studies (p. 99), I am somewhat surprised to see that K. P. Kuhlmann, "Bauernweisheiten," in Gegengabe: Festschrift fur Emma Brunner-Traut, ed. I. Gamer-Wallert and W. Helck (Tubingen, 1992), 191-209, goes unmentioned, especially since the questions of the actual route which Kurth discusses in detail are also treated there.

Concerning the localization of mdni.t (discussed by Kurth on pp. 14 and...