The Egyptian ‘Dream Book’

The Ancient Egyptian Book of Dreams is the oldest manual of dream interpretation in the world.

It was found in Scribe Kenhirkhopeshef’s library which was old even in his time.

This book was used to interpret various types of dreams.

These interpretations lacked precision and similar dreams often had different meanings. In many cases the interpretation was the opposite of what the dream depicted.

This papyrus was found in the ancient Egyptian workers’ village of Deir el-Medina, near the Valley of the Kings.

The community could move freely in and out of the walled village but for security reasons only outsiders who had good work related reasons could enter the site.

This papyrus has been dated to the early reign of Ramesses II , who was famous for recording histories.

Each page of the papyrus begins with a vertical column of hieratic signs which translates as ‘If a man sees himself in a dream’.

In each horizontal line that follows, a dream is described, and the diagnosis ‘good’ or ‘bad’, as well as the interpretation is provided.

Thus, as an example: ‘If a man sees himself in a dream looking out of a window, good; it means the hearing of his cry’.

The good dreams are listed first, followed by the bad ones (written in red, as it is the colour of bad omens).

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Examples of  interpretations include the following:

• If a man sees himself dead this is good; it means a long life in front of him.

• If a man sees himself eating crocodile flesh this is good; it means acting as an official amongst his people. (i.e. becoming a tax collector)

• If a man sees himself with his face in a mirror this is bad; it means a new life.

Hieraticis a Greek word meaning ‘ priestly writing’, was a cursive writing system of Hieroglyphics.

Becuase it was easier then carving , Hieratic was used for documentation in Egypt as well as Nubia.

It was the most wide spread and most used version.

Once a student became a scribe, they would carry around the tools that they needed. This was typically a wood palette and the reed pens and brushes as well as a roll of papyrus.

It was also mostly written with reed pens, ink and on papyrus or other such materials, but was occasionally used almost like cuneiform.

This version of  allowed scribes to be quicker and more efficient in writing.

Hieratic was originally developed only for religious texts and was considered more of an important system of writing and was first taught to student scribes, while only very few talented scribes went on to learn Hieroglyphics.

Egyptians also used a Demotic script  –meaning ‘popular writtting’ which was derived from northern forms of Hieratic.

Eventually Demotic cursive replaced Hieratic as the main script in Upper Egypt and was strictly used as administrative, legal, and commercial texts while Hieratic and Hieroglyphics were used for everything else.

Scribes were people in ancient Egypt (usually men) who learned to read and write. Although experts believe that most scribes were men, there is evidence of some female doctors. These women would have been trained as scribes so that they could read medical texts.

In the social classes, scribes were near the top of the chart. Scribes didn’t have to pay taxes, be part of the military or do any of the manual labor.

It could take upto 12 yrs to fully train a scribe. Scribes didn’t only create new written information; they also edited existing writings.

Keeping the history of Egypt meant that the scribe had to be very educated. Certain positions in the Egyptian government required the training of the scribes -the highest level of scribe would be for the pharaoh’s court.

The Greek language started to replace Demotic and it helped with the development of Coptic.

Another interesting thing about the ‘Dream Book’ is that it was once part of an archive.

Around 108 dreams, which describe 78 activities and emotions, are recorded in the ‘Dream Book’.

These activities may be said to be things commonly undertaken by the average person.

It is interesting to consider whether the ‘Dream Book’ was regarded by the ancient Egyptians as a piece of ‘serious’ or a ‘popular’ piece of writing.

After all, if archaeologists of the future were to discover newspaper clippings of the ‘daily horoscope’ (without the knowledge of the social context of our age), they would probably be equally unsure as to whether these ‘predictions’ were meant to be taken seriously or not.

Obviously, how serious a reader takes these ‘predictions’ would be a whole different matter that could be explored as well.

Nevertheless, the Egyptian ‘Dream Book’ is a fascinating piece of work which shows the beliefs  held by the ancient Egyptians.

The papyrus probably had several owners before being finally being deposited in Deir el-Medina. Although it is unclear who its original owner was, some of its owners can be traced through their names on the papyrus.

For instance, we know that the scribe Qeniherkhepshef once owned the papyrus, since he copied a poem about the Battle of Kadesh which took place during Ramesses II’s reign.

In many ancient societies, such as Egypt and Greece, dreaming was considered a supernatural communication or a means of divine intervention, whose message could be interpreted by people with these associated spiritual powers.

Other sources also talk about dreams during this same time period.

In the Old Testament of the Bible , it also tells of Ramses and dream interpretation by  Joseph who was sold into slavery by his jealous brothers.

Joesph was sold to Potiphar  ,said to be the captain of the palace guard in Egypt.

Potiphar ‘s wife falsely accused Joseph of attempted rape and Joseph was thrown into prison.

Later, two of Pharaoh’s servants, a baker and cup bearer had nightmares.  Joseph then prays to God for the meaning and tells one he will die and the other he will be set free, which came to pass.

In return , Joseph asked the fellow prisoners to remember him , and to mention his plight to the Pharaoh.

The free servant forgot until the Pharaoh himself suffered nightmares. The servant , then recommended Pharaoh talk to Joseph who prayed to God for the meaning.

God told Joseph there would be a 7 yr famine ,which came to pass.

After Joseph’s interpretation of Pharaoh’s dreams and his subsequent appointment as overseer of Egypt, Joseph was (renamed Zaphnath-Paaneah) married Asenath, the daughter of Poti-Pherah priest of On.

Poti-Pherah may have been the same person as Potiphar, in which case Joseph would likely have been married to the daughter of the woman responsible for his false imprisonment.

In the Quran he is referred to by his title, Aziz.

The medieval Sefer HaYashar, a commentary on the Torah, gives Potiphar’s wife’s name as Zuleikha, as do many Islamic traditions .

Ramesses II  aka Ramesses the Great, won  victory over the Hittites at The Battle of Kadesh which resulted in the world’s first known peace treaty in 1258 BC.

Ramesses lived to be ninety-six years old, had over 200 wives and concubines, ninety-six sons and sixty daughters, most of whom he outlived.

His reign was so long,   a lot of his  subjects only remembered Ramses as pharaoh and there was widespread panic that the world would end with his death.

In the second year of his reign, Ramesses defeated the Sea Peoples off the coast of the Nile delta.

The Sea Peoples’ origin and ethnicity is unknown, but they were known as the Sherdan ,who were allies of the Hittites.

Ramesses laid a trap for them by placing a small naval contingent at the mouth of the Nile to lure their warships in.

Once they had engaged the meager fleet, he launched his full attack from both sides, sinking their ships.

Many of the Sherdan who survived the battle were then pressed into his army, some even serving as his elite bodyguard., similar to Potiphar.

In late 1275 BC, Ramses prepared his army to march on Kadesh and waited only for the omens to be auspicious and word from his spies in Syria as to the enemy’s strength and position.

When all seemed in his favor, he led some twenty thousand men into battle, the army divided into the four companies named after the Egyptian gods.

Ramesses led the Amun division with the others following .

They marched for two months finally reaching a place where he felt confident in arranging his army in battle formation for attack on the city and waited .

At this time, two Hittite spies were captured who, under torture,  gave  the location of the Hittite army which they said was nowhere near the city.

Reassured, Ramesses abandoned his plans for an immediate strike and gave orders for his division to encamp and wait for the rest of the army to arrive.

The Hittite army, however, was actually less than a mile away and the two spies had been purposefully deceptive.

As Ramesses was pitching camp, the Hittites roared out from behind the walls of Kadesh and struck.

Ramses’ division was completely overrun by the Hittites and the lines were broken.

The Hittite cavalry was cutting down the Egyptian infantry and survivors were scrambling for the safety of their camp.

Recognizing his situation, Ramesses fought back.

Ramesses had only just turned the tide of battle when the Ptah division arrived and he quickly ordered them to follow him in the attack.

He drove the Hittites toward the Orontes River killing manyof them while others drownedtrying to escape.

He had not considered the position his hasty charge might place him in, and was now caught between the Hittites and the river.

All Muwatalli II needed to do to win ,was to send his reserve troops into battle .

Ramesses and his army would have been destroyed. , but  some reason, the Hittite king did not do this. Ramses rallied his forces and drove the Hittites from the field.

Great Pillared Hall, Temple of Ramses II, Abu Simbel

After the Battle of Kadesh, Ramesses devoted himself to improving Egypt’s infrastructure, strengthening its borders, and commissioning vast building projects commemorating his victory of 1274 and his other accomplishments.

QUEEN NEFERTARI

The vast tomb complex known as the Ramesseum at Thebes, the temples at Abu Simbel, the hall at Karnak, the complex at Abydos and literally hundreds of other buildings, monuments, temples were all constructed by Ramesses.

Many historians consider his reign the pinnacle of Egyptian art and culture . The famous Tomb of Nefertari with its wall paintings is cited as clear evidence of this claim.

Nefertari was Ramses’ first wife and his favorite queen.

Many depictions of Nefertari appear on temple walls and in statuary throughout his reign.  Though she seems to have died fairly early in their marriage (perhaps in child birth) and her tomb,  was a work of art in construction and decoration.

The memory of Nefertari seems to have always been with Ramses. He had her likeness engraved on walls and statuary long after she died.

The royal building service was usually well run due to the importance of the work it carried out and paying proper wages was a religious duty.

However, the coming of the iron age and collapsing empire led to economic instability with inflation a notable feature.

In about the 25th year of the reign of Ramses III, laborers were so exasperated by delays in supplies they threw down their tools and walked off the job .

They wrote to the Vizier complaining about lack of wheat rations.

Village leaders attempted to reason with them,  but they refused to return to work until their grievances were addressed.

“We are hungry”, the crews claimed; “eighteen days have passed this month” and they still had not received their rations.

After the authorities had heard their complaints they addressed them and the workers went back to work the next day ,but  several strikes followed, but they soon restored the regular wheat supplies and the strikes came to an end for the remaining years of Ramses III.

However, since the chiefs supported the authorities the workers no longer trusted them and chose their own representatives.