Papyrus

This piece is known as the ‘Admonitions of Ipuwer’, because of the long story on the front of the manuscript, which is addressed to the king by one Ipuwer. It describes the misery suffered by Egypt during the civil war of the First Intermediate Period (2134-2040 BC), and urges that order be restored by the due observance of ancient traditions. This manuscript has been called the most important papyrus in the entire Leiden collection. Still, it is not an eye-witness account of the events it describes, but a literary composition written later. The text was copied out by a schoolboy during the New Kingdom as a writing exercise. A fellow pupil used the back to copy out hymns to the god Amon. Saqqara; c. 1307-1196 BC (19th Dynasty).