Libraries in Ancient Egypt, c.2600–1600 BCE

Abstract

This chapter surveys the textual and archaeological evidence for libraries in ancient Egypt c.2600–1600 bce, discussing surviving administrative ‘archives’ as models for how literary texts could have been circulated and stored. The implications of the material form of surviving manuscripts for issues of manufacture and storage are discussed. Possible evidence for extensively centralized systems of circulation and storage is reviewed, together with specific case studies of private archives form the town of el-Lahun and examples of Middle Kingdom tomb-libraries—collections of manuscripts deposited in private individual’s burial chambers as displays of culture and prestige.