Le récit du Papyrus Westcar

Text, translation and interpretation

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Book in French. The Westcar Papyrus is one of the major texts of Ancient Egypt literature. The story begins at the court of King Cheops, where the magicians' miracles are told and performed in front of the King. It continues in Sakhebu with the magical birth of the first three kings of the Fifth dynasty.

Although the Westcar Papyrus is usually considered as an anthology of tales, this work has a definitely different approach, considering the stories as a whole. It is based on the assumption that the entire tale aims at the glorification of the future kings of the Fifth dynasty in order to establish their legitimacy to the throne. The Westcar Papyrus' date of composition is considered within the framework of an intertextual analysis with the Prophecy of Neferty.

This work contains an updated hieroglyphic transcription of the Westcar Papyrus' text, based on the most recent studies. This transcription, together with a personal translation and philological comments, highlights the grammatical structure of the text. The author deepens the literary analysis of the Westcar Papyrus and provides her own innovating and carefully argued interpretation. The reader will find a glossary of Egyptian terms and a bibliography at the end of the book.

The author

Laura Parys holds a Ph.D. degree in Egyptology at the Université catholique de Louvain.

Table of contents

Éditorial, par le Prof. Claude Obsomer

 Introduction. Contexte et sources     1. Histoire et description
      2. Contenu et datation
      3. Éditions et études
      4. Résumé succinct du récit du Papyrus Westcar
      5. Genre littéraire
      6. Historicité du récit
      7. Postérité du récit

Première partie. Texte transcrit, translittéré et traduit
      1. Les prodiges du passé
           1.1. Le prodige sous le roi Djéser          1.2. Le prodige sous le roi Nebka          1.3. Le prodige sous le roi Snéfrou     2. Le prodige sous le roi Chéops
      3. Le prodige relatif aux futurs rois de la Ve dynastie

Deuxième partie. Commentaires philologiques

Troisième partie. Traduction suivie

 Quatrième partie. Interprétation du texte

 Utilitaires
     Lexique
      Bibliographie 

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