Ancient Egyptian literature was written in the Egyptian language from
Ancient Egypt's pharaonic period until the end of Roman domination.
Along with Sumerian literature, it is considered the world's earliest
literature. Writing in Ancient Egypt first appeared in the late 4th
millennium BC. By the Old Kingdom, literary works included funerary
texts, epistles and letters, religious hymns and poems, and
commemorative autobiographical texts. It was not until the early Middle
Kingdom that a narrative Egyptian literature was created. Middle
Egyptian, the spoken language of the Middle Kingdom, became a classical
language during the New Kingdom, when the vernacular language known as
Late Egyptian first appeared in writing. Scribes of the New Kingdom
canonized and copied many literary texts written in Middle Egyptian,
which remained the language used for oral readings of sacred
hieroglyphic texts. Ancient Egyptian literature has been preserved on a
wide variety of media, including papyrus scrolls and packets, limestone
or ceramic ostraca, wooden writing boards, monumental stone edifices
and coffins. Hidden caches of literature, buried for thousands of
years, have been discovered in settlements on the dry desert margins of
Egyptian civilization.
Read the rest of this article:
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancient_Egyptian_literature>
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Today's selected anniversaries:
68:
Roman Emperor Nero committed suicide after he was deposed by the
Senate.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nero>
1815:
The Congress of Vienna ended, redrawing the political map of Europe
after the defeat of Napoleon in the Napoleonic Wars.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Congress_of_Vienna>
1862:
American Civil War: Confederate General Stonewall Jackson concluded his
successful Shenandoah Valley Campaign with a victory in the Battle of
Port Republic.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jackson%27s_Valley_Campaign>
1928:
Australian aviator Charles Kingsford Smith and his crew landed their
Southern Cross aircraft in Brisbane, completing the first ever
trans-Pacific flight from the United States mainland to Australia.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Kingsford_Smith>
1946:
Bhumibol Adulyadej ascended to the throne of Thailand, currently the
world's longest reigning current monarch.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bhumibol_Adulyadej>
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Wiktionary's word of the day:
ukiyo-e (n):
A Japanese woodcut depicting everyday life
<http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/ukiyo-e>
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Wikiquote quote of the day:
Oh, give me land, lots of land under starry skies above.
Don't fence me in.
Let me ride through the wide open country that I
love
Don't fence me in.
Let me be by myself in the evenin' breeze
And
listen to the murmur of the cottonwood trees
Send me off forever but I ask you please
Don't fence me in.
--Cole Porter
<http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Cole_Porter>
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