Prophecy of Neferti

The Prophecy of Neferti is an Ancient Egyptian literary text published by Vladimir Golenishchev and stored in the Hermitage Museum. It is set in the reign of the 4th dynasty Old Kingdom king Snofru (c.2550 BC), but was actually written during the early 12th dynasty (c.1991-1786 BC). The text is a pseudo-prophecy, i.e. one written after the event.

In it, King Snofru holds court and a sage is introduced to entertain him with 'choice words'. The sage, called Neferti, asks him whether he wishes to hear about the past or the future, and the king chooses the future. Neferti then goes on to describe at some length a vision of a future Egypt riven with chaos, where all social and natural norms are inverted. Towards the end of the text, Neferti predicts the advent of a future king, called Ameny, who will restore order to the country.

The text has often been interpreted as a classic piece of Egyptian royal propaganda, since the saviour king 'Ameny' is generally interpreted as an oblique reference to the name of the first king of the 12th dynasty, Amenemhat I. Amenemhat I was not closely related to his predecessor, and his reign began in unsettled conditions. The Prophecy of Neferti can therefore be read as a political justification for his new dynasty. However, the chaotic descriptions of the text are more generally related to the broader Egyptian literary tradition of pessimistic laments, such as also occur in the 'Dialogue of Ipuwer and the Lord of All'.

An extract from the text, predicting the arrival of a saviour king:

Then a king will come from the South,

Ameny, the justified, by name

Son of a woman of Ta-Seti, child of Upper Egypt.

He will take the white crown,

He will wear the red crown;

He will join the Two Mighty Ones.

Asiatics will fall to his sword,

Libyans will fall to his flame,

Rebels to his wrath, traitors to his might,

As the serpent on his brow subdues the rebels for him.

One will build the Walls-of-the-Ruler

To bar Asiatics from entering Egypt

References

• Translation in R. B. Parkinson, The Tale of Sinuhe and Other Ancient Egyptian Poems. Oxford World's Classics, 1999.
• Stephen Quirke: Egyptian Literature 1800BC: Questions and Readings, London 2004, 135-139 ISBN 0-9547218-6-1 (translation and transcription)
• Lloyd, Alan B. 2000. The Oxford History of Ancient Egypt, edited by Ian Shaw. Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press.
• The Prophecies of Neferti English translation