Studies On The Eloquent Peasant

The Eloquent Peasant is one of the longest and most completely preserved texts from Ancient Egypt. It is one of the masterpieces of ancient Egyptian literature, containing grandiose language and abounding in metaphors.As far as its contents are concerned, The Eloquent Peasant involves the political, economic, religious and social aspects of the Middle Kingdom of ancient Egypt. It is an outstanding work, showing the magnificent achievement of the ancient Egyptians in the literary sphere. The text provides us with the most important material for the study of contemporary Egyptian society, and is of particular academic value in Egyptology.The purpose of this dissertation is to expound the methods and results of my study of The Eloquent Peasant. Although this ancient text has been studied by western scholars, no scholarly work on it has previously been undertaken in China. My study involved examination and analysis of the ancient text and consultation of the works of modern western scholars, hi order to fill the gaps hi the knowledge of this field in China.This dissertation is arranged as follows:Chapter 1 involves the transliteration of the ancient text using the international latest orthography of ancient Egyptian, as well as literal Chinese translation, and a commentary on the text.Chapter 2 gives the discussions on the linguistic technique, the images, and the style of the text from different viewpoints.Chapter 3 deals with the background of law, the authority of law, the procedure of law, and the duty of judges as far as these are reflected in the text.Chapter 4 provides an explanation for the dating of the text, and the political, economic and religion background of this text.Chapter 5 is the conclusion, in which the findings of my study are summarized: The Eloquent Peasant sings the praises of the pursuit of seeking truth and upholding justice done by ancient Egyptians, and strongly condemns the darkness of ancient Egyptian society. It is also a eulogy to the ruling class represented by the king, who upheld truth and defended justice. The expectation of free from the corruption as well as seeking truth and upholding justice still has a very instructive meaning for us.