Publisher's Synopsis
Makes available a difficult-to-find folkloric scholarship classic and illuminates it with contemporary commentary from a preeminent authority on Egyptian folktales.
Gaston Maspero is a towering figure in Egyptology. Popular Stories of Ancient Egypt offers a wealth of primary data and authoritative commentaries on ancient Egyptian culture, language, history, society, and ethnic groups as depicted in Egyptian and Greek-Egyptian narratives. The work provides the contextual data necessary for understanding the tale-texts and reflects Maspero's deep knowledge of many fields, from the classics to life in modern Egypt.
This new edition includes a contemporary foreword, which introduces Maspero and describes his scholarship. It also provides, for the first time, extensive identification of the ancient stories in terms of international tale-types and motifs. The new information places the anthology in a broader academic context and is a valuable resource for students of Egyptology, folklore, literature, history, and social and cultural anthropology.
- Makes available to modern readers the original 24 texts included in the 1915 English edition, including Tale of Two Brothers, the world's oldest Märchen
- Includes a thoughtful introduction by Hasan El-Shamy, which establishes the historical context and examines the debates surrounding these ancient texts
