Story of Sinuhe

Their chief, Abisha, bears a Semitic name.

Footnote: His name has been shown to be a cognate with the Hebrew Abishai, first Samuel, chapter twenty-six, verses six through nine; second Samuel, chapter two, verse eighteen and verse twenty-four; chapter twenty-one, verse seventeen; and with the Chaldeo-Assyrian Absukhk, as does the sheik Amianshe, with whom Sinuhe took refuge.

Footnote: The name Amianshe at once recalls those of Amesatana, Amizadaga, and perhaps Amarabi, or Camarabi, of one of the Babylonian dynasties.

It contains, with the element Ami, a final Anshe.

In the time of the twelfth dynasty, southern Syria, the country of the lords of the sands and the kingdom of Kaduma were full of Egyptians whose eventful careers supplied the scribes and storytellers with the themes of many romances.

Sinuhe, the hero of one of these stories, was a son of Amenemhat I and had the misfortune to involuntarily overhear a state secret.

He happened to be near the royal tent when news of his father's sudden death was brought to User-tasan.

Fearing summary execution, he fled across the delta north of Memphis, avoided the frontier posts, and struck into the desert.

Their chief who had been in Egypt knew me.

He gave me water and caused milk to be boiled for me, and I went with him and joined his tribe.

But still Sinuhe did not feel himself in safety and fled into Kaduma to a prince who had provided an asylum for other Egyptian exiles and where he could hear men still speak the language of Egypt.

Here he soon gained honors and fortune.

It comes from ancient Egypt.

The tale of Sinuhe, composed around 1900 BC, follows an Egyptian courtier who flees his homeland after a palace crisis and rises to wealth among the tribes of the Levant.

His success attracts a challenger, a local strongman who wants his herds and announces he'll take them in single combat.

The whole tribe turns out to watch.

The champion charges, and Sinuhe puts an arrow through his neck, and then finishes him with the man's own axe.

After he takes out this local strongman, he claims everything the man owned, as well as the loyalty of all his retainers.

The story was already ancient when the Greeks were learning to write, and its narrative beats would repeat for the next 2,000 years.

In the time of the twelfth dynasty, southern Syria, the country of the lords of the sands, and the kingdom of Kaduma were full of Egyptians, whose eventful careers supplied the scribes and storytellers with the themes of many romances.

Sinuhe, the hero of one of these stories, was a son of Amenemhyet I, and had the misfortune to involuntarily overhear a state secret.

He happened to be near the royal tent when news of his father's sudden death was brought to Yusertasen.

Fearing summary execution, he fled across the delta north of Memphis, avoided the frontier posts, and struck into the desert.

Their chief who had been in Egypt knew me.

He gave me water and caused milk to be boiled for me, and I went with him and joined his tribe.

But still Sinuhe did not feel himself in safety, and fled into Kaduma, to a prince who had provided an asylum for other Egyptian exiles, and where he could hear men still speak the language of Egypt.

Here he soon gained honors and fortune.