الفهرس 
IntroductionOnly 14 pages are availabe for public view
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Abstract
Ancient Egyptian literature rose and flourished in the bosom of religious beliefs, but it gradually expanded to cope with ordinary human life. Literary works have maintained a distinguished role in ancient Egyptian thought and civilization. Ancient Egyptians regarded literature as a means of spiritual nourishment and a special way of elevating the style of expression.
Ancient Egyptian Literature is a fertile theme in the study of ancient Egyptian culture as one may approach several facets of ancient Egyptian character.
Ancient Egyptian literature is rich in animal imagery, but few studies have concentrated on the use of this imagery.
The metaphor has been used since ancient times, and in the present research it is used as a broad concept that encompasses multiple speech figures. It has been taught for millennia to say one thing in terms of something else.
Metaphor is characterized as the interpretation of one conceptual domain in another conceptual domain. It’s a conceptual metaphor. The two realms included in the conceptual metaphor are the source domain and the target domain. The source domain is the domain from which a metaphorical expression is derived to understand another conceptual domain, the goal domain.
The importance of figurative language plays a key role in any sort of literary or linguistic work. Each word has a literal meaning, but it may also mean anything other than a literal meaning.
Egyptians’ close study and deep understanding of the natural world allowed them to classify certain animals with particular traits that could be used as a simile, a comparison, and a metaphor to explain certain features and characteristics.
Animalistic metaphors form a highly significant category of metaphorical classifiers. It is also likely that animal hieroglyphs could be more readily accessible than other icons for metaphorical use of the script due to their high degree of iconicity, which gives the metaphor immediate pictorial lucidity and beauty.
Animal imagery provides a rich pictorial reference that indirectly connects the King to the constellation of the leonine deities, both male and female.
Wild animals are a metaphor for the king’s strength and authority, since their hunting or domination act symbolises the preservation of order and the suppression of chaos.
A characteristic aspect of the historical military texts of the new kingdom is the use of animal similitudes and metaphors of wild, dangerous, violent and fast-moving (noble) creatures, such as lions, panthers, wolves, falcons and crocodiles, not only to symbolise the king’s strength, bravery, aggressive responses, and political influence, but also to highlight his role in the cosmology as a protector of order (Maat).
There are other traditional animals that often seem to stress the King’s prowess, strength, and power over his opponents by comparing them to frail, helpless, easily trampled, repugnant animals, such as fish, dogs, locusts, and tadpoles, to prove their inferior status.
As far as the military is concerned, the Pharaohs were also admired for their strength and might in war and in dealing with foreign rivals and hostages.
This study of the animal imagery of specific species, Egyptian opponents, and their meaning has shown significant findings of ancient Egyptian profound knowledge and precision in the choice of a particular animal with specific characteristics and in the application of these characteristics to the enemy in certain historical events.
The dualistic character of the crocodile is an evident concept in ancient Egyptian literature. Apart from the religious aspects, the crocodile may, on the one hand, represent the King’s power and violent reaction; while, on the other hand, the crocodile’s Sethian relation made it an apt metaphor and agent for the concealed and greedy evil.
The Locusts became the ideal symbol for the myriad of enemies, which often depicted countless and dangerous beings walking through the deserts battling for food. This was indeed an accurate description of the behaviour of a locust swarm, but still a non-threatening insect that could easily be trampled by the Monarch. It is worth noting the ancient Egyptian fixation on the relationship between the arrival of waves of Libyan enemies and the swarms of locusts on the western Egyptian oases and borders.
As hunting is an affirmation of the king’s right to rule, while its position in the low deserts, with the prey mostly of antelopes and other animals, can be compared with artefacts as ancient as the late Predynastic Hunters’ and Two Dog palettes. It is therefore no wonder that animal similitudes and metaphors are often used in royal inscriptions, for the object of these inscriptions is not to create the political authority of the King, but rather to emphasise his position in the cosmic structure as a whole.
Mice was an apt metaphor for the various and damaging rodents that threatened food stores and granaries in vast numbers, but were nevertheless small and vulnerable animals that could easily be trampled underfoot and destroyed by the King.
The fish metaphor was used to depict the enemy’s powerless, helpless, dead, and smelly condition, or to give a deep impression of the ugly smell of their cut organs after the war.
Tadpoles or young frogs were a symbol for multitude, regeneration and transformation that, despite their small size, could enter the fertile land of Egypt and cause a plague.
The jackal metaphor was used to refer to sly, clever, secret, yet vulnerable and easily managed opponents when the text dealt with the enemy’s threat on the western borders as a fitting metaphor for the existence of a small animal in its proper habitat.
Pigs are a frequent source of reference in many cultures and carry more than one characteristic. Most of the time, pigs are seen as unclean, rude, clumsy and lazy animals.
Democracy is typically represented by a bird of some sort. Free like a bird in the air is a feeling of liberation.
The tortoise is a sign of experience and wisdom, and is capable of protecting itself on its own. It embodies water, the sky, the earth, time, eternity, and fertility. Creation is related to the tortoise, and it is often claimed that the tortoise carries the blame of the entire universe.
Every treatment of animal imagery or animal metaphor in ancient Egyptian literature demands careful attention to its contextual meaning and cultural assessment.