Читать книгу A History of Ancient Egypt - Marc Van De Mieroop - Страница 27

Stories like The Instruction Addressed to King Merykara show that the Egyptians had knowledge about their past and that they knew who had ruled the country in earlier times. This is not surprising, of course, as they could see ancient monuments and writings as we do today. But especially in the Late Period, in the 1st millennium BC, the past also had a special status, giving authority and prestige. King Shabaqo of the 8th century, for example, had a narrative about creation carved on a stone slab claiming that it was a copy made from a worm‐eaten papyrus. The author of the text, The Memphite Theology, used a language modeled on that of the Old Kingdom, but it is most likely that the text was of a much later date and was presented as ancient to give it greater clout. In the 1st millennium BC as well, people had their tombs decorated with imitations of scenes from 3rd‐millennium tombs, carefully copying the ancient styles.