The Eloquent Peasant

E236611

The Eloquent Peasant is an ancient Egyptian literary tale in which a wronged peasant delivers a series of eloquent speeches on justice and morality, making it one of the earliest known works of rhetorical and ethical literature.

All labels observed (1)

Label Occurrences
The Eloquent Peasant canonical 3

How this entity was disambiguated

Statements (49)

Predicate Object
instanceOf Middle Kingdom Egyptian tale
ancient Egyptian literary work
didactic literature
ethical literature
rhetorical literature
approximateDateOfComposition c. 1850 BCE
centralTheme justice
moral order
rhetoric
role of the king in justice
social justice
characterNameVariant Khun-Anup the peasant
Khunanup
considered one of the earliest surviving works focused on rhetoric
one of the earliest surviving works focused on social justice
countryOfOrigin Pharaonic Egypt
surface form: Ancient Egypt
depicts corruption of officials
ideal behavior of a just ruler
didacticPurpose to teach ideals of Maʿat
featuresMotif persistence in petitioning for justice
the poor man versus the powerful official
genre court narrative
moral tale
historicalContext reign of King Nebkaure Khety
influenced later interpretations of Egyptian legal and moral thought
keyConcept Ma'at
surface form: Maʿat
kingNameVariant Nebkaure Khety
languageFeature parallelism and metaphor in speeches
literaryForm prose with poetic passages
mainCharacter Khun-Anup
King Nebkaure
Rensi
moralLesson eloquent speech can reveal truth and uphold Maʿat
justice should be accessible to all regardless of status
narrativePerspective third-person narrative with embedded speeches
notableManuscript Papyrus Berlin 3023
Papyrus Berlin 3023
surface form: Papyrus Berlin 3025

Papyrus Butler
numberOfPetitions nine
originalLanguage Middle Egyptian
plotSummary A peasant wronged by a landowner petitions repeatedly for justice with eloquent speeches before officials and the king.
preservationStatus incomplete but substantially preserved
protagonistOccupation peasant
setInPeriod Middle Kingdom of Egypt
structure series of petitions or speeches
studiedIn Egyptology
comparative literature
rhetorical studies
survivesOn papyrus manuscripts

How these facts were elicited

Referenced by (3)

Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.

Middle Kingdom of Egypt producedWork The Eloquent Peasant
Middle Egyptian notableText The Eloquent Peasant