Pepi II Neferkare - Literature

Literature

Only a small number of pharaohs were immortalized in ancient fiction, Pepi II may be among them. In the tale of King Neferkare and General Sasenet, three fragments of a papyrus dating from the late New Kingdom (although the story may have been composed earlier), report clandestine nocturnal meetings with a military commander - a General Sasenet or Sisene. Some have suggested this reflects a homosexual relationship; although it is disputed that the text relates to Pepi II at all.

The story is dated to the late New Kingdom though it was composed earlier and purports to describe the nightly exploits of Pepi II Neferkare; some like R. S. Bianchi think that it is a work of archaizing literature and dates to the 25th dynasty referring to Shabaka Neferkare, a Kushite pharaoh.

Read more about this topic:  Pepi II Neferkare

Famous quotes containing the word literature:

    The literature of the inner life is very largely a record of struggle with the inordinate passions of the social self.
    Charles Horton Cooley (1864–1929)

    In literature as in ethics, there is danger, as well as glory, in being subtle. Aristocracy isolates us.
    Charles Baudelaire (1821–1867)

    Everything is becoming science fiction. From the margins of an almost invisible literature has sprung the intact reality of the 20th century.
    —J.G. (James Graham)