Ipuwer Papyrus
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The Dialogue of Ipuwer and the Lord of All is an ancient Egyptian poem written on papyrus[English translation of the papyrus]. A new publication of this papyrus has been done by Roland Enmarch in The Dialogue of Ipuwer and the Lord of All. Griffith Institute Publications; Oxford, 2005.. The official name of this document is Leiden Papyrus I 344, after the town in The Netherlands where the papyrus is held (in the National Archeological Museum).
The dating of the composition of the poem is disputed, but several scholars suggest a date between the late 12th dynasty and the Second Intermediate Period (ca. 1850 BCE - 1600 BCE).See e.g. Van Seters J. "A date for the "Admonitions" in the second intermediate Period". The Journal of Egyptian Archaeology 1964;50:13-23. 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. Some have associated it with the Thera eruption, on the assumption that this event occurred in the 17th century BC. More recently it has been interpreted as an essentially ahistorical, timeless consideration of the theme of 'order vs. chaos'.
Ipuwer describes Egypt as afflicted by natural disasters and in a state of social collapse. The poor have become rich, and the rich poor, and warfare, famine and death are everywhere. One symptom of this collapse 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 believed the document to be 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 organisationsGeorge Konig. "[Evidence for the exodus]". Christian Internet Forum (accessed 8 Nov 2005).Mordechai Becher. "[The Ten Plagues - Live From Egypt]". Ohr Somayach (accessed 8 Nov 2005).. This association with the Exodus is generally rejected by Egyptologists, who if they interpret the Exodus as a historical event generally place it later, in the reign of Ramses II.
Other scholars have argued that these references in Ipuwer are schematic 'world turned upside down' laments rather than specific historical reports: for example, the worst thing a river of water can turn into is blood, and there are parallels for this motif in other cultures (e.g. in Virgil's Aeneid).
A generally overlooked feature of the poem is the fact that, in addition to a lengthy series of laments, the later passages 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). These sections of the poem are badly damaged, but 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.
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