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Sinuhe, R.B. Parkinson (Translator)The Tale of Sinuhe: and Other Ancient Egyptian Poems 1940-1640 B.C.
Fiction | Novel/Book in Verse | Adult | BCEA modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Part 1, Chapter 1Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Part 1: “Tales”
Part 1, Chapter 1, Parkinson’s Introduction Summary and Analysis
Parkinson describes “The Tale of Sinuhe” as an adventure narrative that explores the individual’s relationship with the king, a semi-divine and all-powerful figure. The tale is presented as a funerary inscription of the type commonly found on tombs, informing passersby about the dead man’s life and accomplishments. The tale goes on to include other genres but returns to autobiography at the end.
Parkinson summarizes the action as a movement from order to disorder and then back to order, suggesting that Sinuhe’s reintegration into the Egyptian hierarchy validates the Egyptian way of life. “The Tale of Sinuhe” is thought to have been composed in the first half of the 12th Dynasty, around 1875 BCE, and is set early in the 12th Dynasty. Four papyrus copies of the tale survive from the Middle Kingdom, along with several later copies. The work is now regarded as the masterpiece of Egyptian literature.
Part 1, Chapter 1 Summary: “The Tale of Sinuhe”
A list of titles, including Patrician, Count, Governor of the Sovereign’s Domains in the Syrian lands, and True Acquaintance of the King, identifies Sinuhe as the narrator, who then commences in the first person to identify his position as a Follower, a servant of the Royal Chambers and to Nefru, the Patrician Lady, Queen of Senwosret and Princess of Amenemhat.
In the Regnal Year 30, month 3, day 7 of the Inundation Season, the Dual King Sehotepibre, called Amenemhat, dies. His death is described as a god returning to heaven, uniting with the sun. The Residence, the king’s palace, is stricken with silence and grief.
The king’s son and heir, Senwosret, is returning from an expedition to the Libyan lands where he has seized captives and cattle. The Friends—court retainers—go to the border to meet the prince and inform him of what happened in the Audience Hall. The messengers reach him at nightfall, and the prince departs like a falcon with his followers, not telling the others. The royal children accompanying him are summoned, and when Sinuhe, who is on duty, hears the messenger describe the death of the king, he is so disturbed that he trembles, his heart staggers, and he hides himself in some bushes. After the messenger departs, Sinuhe travels southward, but not to the Residence.
Saying he does not think to survive his king, Sinuhe crosses Lake Maaty and the Isle of Sneferu. At Cattle-Quay he crosses the river in a rudderless boat and then turns north. At the Walls of the Ruler, made to hold back the Syrians, he crouches to avoid being seen by the watchman. He travels during the night and reaches Peten, on an island of Kemur. Just as he believes he will die of thirst, Sinuhe is approached by a Syrian leader who had once been in Egypt and recognizes him.
Sinuhe is revived with milk and water and makes his way to Byblos, then Qedem. There Amunenshi, the ruler of upper Retjenu, takes Sinuhe into his service. Sinuhe does not report the full truth of how the Dual King Sehotepibre died; he merely says he was not cast out, but ran away. Sinuhe speaks praises of the new king, calling him a lord of understanding and a powerful ruler who will extend his realm, a hero with a strong arm, stout-hearted, who smashes foreign armies and before whom barbarians flee. Sinuhe also calls the king a lord of great kindness, who is loved and admired. He encourages Amunenshi to make an alliance with the new king.
Amunenshi treats Sinuhe as a favorite. He gives Sinuhe his eldest daughter in marriage and awards him property, a good land called Iaa containing figs, grapes, fruit, barley, and cattle of all kinds. Sinuhe is well-supplied with food, sweets, wine, and roasted meat. He spends many years there and prospers; his children become heroes, and Sinuhe gains fame for his wisdom. He gives water to the thirsty, sets the wanderer on his path, and rescues those who have been robbed. He is the commander of Retjenu’s army and has many successful missions, killing many enemies and carrying away captives and cattle. Amunenshi regards him highly and sets Sinuhe to look after his children.
A jealous hero visits Sinuhe in his tent to provoke him into a fight. All Retjenu comes to watch. Sinuhe fells his opponent with an arrow, then cuts off his head with his own axe. Sinuhe strips the champion of his wealth and takes it for his own.
For all his success, Sinuhe still thinks of himself as a fugitive, led astray by God’s will. He prays to “see the place where [his] heart still stays” (34) and to be buried in the land where he was born. He laments that he is growing old, his body weakening. He longs for the king to be gracious and to see the Mistress of the Land and her children.
The Dual King Kheperkare, called Senwosret, sends a decree, which is written out in the narrative. He reminds Sinuhe that his flight was at the counsel of his own heart, not a banishment, and that the lady he served is still flourishing. The king summons Sinuhe to return to Egypt, where he can be given proper burial rites, instead of dying in a foreign country.
Sinuhe is moved by the king’s kindness. He thinks of his flight now as a dream, like a Northern man finding himself in Southern Egypt, and vows that he will return at his majesty’s command. Sinuhe hands his property over to his children, leaving his eldest in charge of his tribe along with the cattle, servants, and orchards. He then travels south to the Ways of Horus and sends a message to the Residence.
Laden boats arrive with royal bounty for Sinuhe and the Syrians with him. Sinuhe is taken to the royal palace, where he prostrates himself before the king on his throne and feels like his heart has left his body. The king commands, “Act against yourself no more!” (40). He introduces Sinuhe to the queen and the royal children, mocking him as an Asiatic, an offspring of the Syrians. The queen and children celebrate, praising the king for mercy to the barbarian returned to his homeland, who took flight in terror of the king. The king announces that Sinuhe will join his entourage and appoints him to run the household of a prince, where treasures fill every room.
Sinuhe feels age pass from his limbs. He shaves, combs his hair, dresses in fine linen, and is anointed with oil. He sleeps in a bed. He is given a house of his own, with meals brought to him; a pyramid is built for his tomb and filled with funerary gifts. Sinuhe enjoys the favors of the king’s giving until the day of landing, his death.
Part 1, Chapter 1 Analysis
“The Tale of Sinuhe,” though composed chiefly as an epic poem of exile and return, employs several poetic modes. It begins with the titles and praises that would be included in a funerary inscription. It includes laments, lists, an encomium of the king, a decree and its reply, and dialogue in its narrative form. The places and rulers in the story can be identified with historical counterparts, adding authenticity to the tale, but the poem is clearly a fiction designed to convey an emotional truth. The plot of the outcast wandering in a foreign land before eventually being restored to his native culture is an ancient one, recognizable in tales like the Greek Odyssey and Sumerian Epic of Gilgamesh. This puts the literary tradition of Egypt on equal footing with these foundational texts of Western literature.
The setting of nightfall when Sinuhe encounters the messengers, indicating the liminal space between day and night, represents the interregnum, a time of instability until the new king (the representative of the sun) can be instated. The reason why Sinuhe would feel terror at news of the king’s death is not explained, but his reaction to the new king’s decree suggests he feared he would be punished. Sinuhe may have feared being stripped of his role as official or implicated in a plot of assassination, which Parkinson says was plotted in the Women’s Chambers (48n47). This would explain why Sinuhe is reassured later to learn that his patroness was not part of the intrigue. He acknowledges that his own heart inspired him to flight, not any external circumstance. This internal conflict lends an emotional weight to the story: Sinuhe’s struggle is not with the fact of a regime change, but his fears about what it will mean for him, leading him on a journey of struggle, recognition, and reconciliation.
Sinuhe’s status demonstrates that prosperity is granted at the favor of the king in both Syrian and Egyptian lands, emphasizing The King as Representation of Natural and Divine Order in the region. The king is honored as a representative of the gods, semi-divine in his own right. As lord and owner of all, he disperses his property where he wishes, and his judgment is law. In Egypt, Sinuhe’s position as guardian indicates trust and authority, reflecting his worthy service and high character. He attains his position in Syria in the same way, by service to the king. Though the Syrians are viewed as outsiders—the term “Asiatic” is used to emphasize their otherness—Retjenu, under the rule of Amunenshi, follows the Egyptian model of kingship, which validates its authority.
Though the Syrians learn from and mimic Egyptian ways, they are contrasted as foreigners and barbarians to the sophisticated Egyptians, extending Sinuhe’s feelings of exile. Instead of cities they seem to live in tents, gathered in tribes, and instead of law, they achieve status through combat, as illustrated by the champion who challenges Sinuhe’s prosperity. Sinuhe fells his opponent with his own axe, indicating his superiority over barbarians with their weapons. Though his prosperity is described in terms of food and drink, cattle and descendants, Sinuhe leaves his wife and children behind when he is summoned back to Egypt. Since his wife is Syrian and his adult children have established lives of their own, there remains a sense that his bonds with them are separate from his core Egyptian identity.
When he returns to the royal palace, the queen and her children greet Sinuhe as if he were only gone for a short while, not decades. Sinuhe returns to Egypt as if his real life has been there all along, which substantiates Parkinson’s conjecture that the poem is designed to validate the Egyptian way of life.
