Famine and Feast in Ancient Egypt

Famine and Feast in Ancient Egypt

Ellen Morris 

This Element is about the creation and curation of social memory in pharaonic and Greco-Roman Egypt. Ancient, Classical, Medieval, and Ottoman sources attest to the horror that characterized catastrophic famines. Occurring infrequently and rarely reaching the canonical seven-years' length, famines appeared and disappeared like nightmares. Communities that remain aware of potentially recurring tragedies are often advantaged in their efforts to avert or ameliorate worst-case scenarios. For this and other reasons, pharaonic and Greco-Roman Egyptians preserved intergenerational memories of hunger and suffering. This Element begins with a consideration of the trajectories typical of severe Nilotic famines and the concept of social memory. It then argues that personal reflection and literature, prophecy, and an annual festival of remembrance functioned-at different times, and with varying degrees of success-to convince the well-fed that famines had the power to unseat established order and to render a comfortably familiar world unrecognizable.

Series: Elements in Ancient Egypt in Context

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009070713[Opens in a new window]

Online ISBN: 9781009070713

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Print publication: 06 July 2023

• Summary
• 1
  Famine and Social Memory
• 1.1
  Severe Nile Failures Occurred Rarely but Followed a Predictable Pattern
• 1.2
  The Preservation of “Counterfactual” Social Memory Can Be Considered a Survival Strategy
• 2
  The Role of Witness Literature in Preserving Social Memory
• 2.1
  Scientific Studies Lend Credence to Ancient Reports of Suffering
• 2.2
  The Reception of the First Intermediate Period in Literature
• 2.3
  Witness Literature
• 2.4
  Overarching Lessons Concerning Starvation
• 2.5
  The Deliberate Avoidance of a Hero Narrative in the Most Pessimistic Literature Adds Authenticity
• 2.6
  The Problem with Encoding Memories of Extreme Suffering in Personal Narratives and Literature is Reception
• 3
  The Role of “Prophecy” in Preserving Social Memory
• 3.1
  Prophecy of Neferti
• 3.2
  Famine Stele
• 3.3
  Prophecy of the Lamb
• 3.4
  Oracle of the Potter (Known Anciently as Defense of a Potter to the King Amenophis)
• 3.5
  Demotic Chronicle
• 3.6
  Prophecy from Tebtynis
• 3.7
  Prophetic Narratives in Ptolemaic Egypt Likely Benefited from a Long Cross-Fertilization with Jewish Tradition
• 3.8
  How Effective Was Prophecy at Serving as an Unwitting Host for the Curation of Social Memories of Famine in Egypt?
• 4
  The Role of Rituals in Preserving Social Memory
• 4.1
  The Nile Festival Likely Began with an Invitation to Meditate on the Terrors of a Severe Famine
• 4.2
  Famines Have Often Sparked Profound Shifts in Social Power and Wealth
• 4.3
  In Europe’s Middle Ages, Elites Exaggerated Social Shifts in the Aftermath of Mass Mortality and Satirized Perceived Social Climbers
• 4.4
  The New Year’s Festival Drew on Inversions for Laughter to Counterbalance Fear
• 4.5
  The Performances Offered Different Lessons for Different Audiences
• Acknowledgments
• Ancient Egypt in Context
• Ancient Egypt in Context
• Footnotes
• References