The Victory of Sinuhe

Author: Traditional

Time Period: 5000 BCE–2500 BCE

Country or Culture: Egypt

Genre: Myth

PLOT SUMMARY

An Egyptian courtier named Sinuhe (Senuhet) flees Egypt after the death of King Amenemhet I (Ammenemes) and travels through the desert lands. The chief of Retenu gives him shelter. He has heard of Senuhet’s intelligence and is impressed when Senuhet praises Ammenemes’s successor, Senusret (Sesostris or Senwosret). After a brief conversation, the chief of Retenu decides to give Sinuhe a parcel of land and his daughter’s hand in marriage. Sinuhe becomes the leader of his own tribe, which provides food and other necessities for him. He is also placed in command of an army and enjoys many victories over Retenu’s enemies. Sinuhe becomes prosperous and shares his good fortune by helping others.

Seeing this prosperity, a strong man of Retenu becomes jealous and challenges Sinuhe to a duel. Having conquered every opponent in Retenu, the strong man wants to defeat Sinuhe and claim his riches. Sinuhe speaks with the chief of Retenu and then takes up the challenge, believing his victory is assured. He spends the night preparing his various weapons, including his bow and his dagger.

The next morning, the strong man of Retenu arrives to face him. The people following the chief of Retenu and those on the side of the strong man all come to witness the fight. The strong man brings various heavy weapons to choose from, but Sinuhe decides to fight him with a bow and arrow, an Egyptian weapon with which he is skilled. The two face each other in battle, and Sinuhe turns aside his foe’s weapons and then fires an arrow that lodges in the strong man’s neck. The strong man falls, and Sinuhe finishes him with his dagger. Sinuhe is declared the winner, and the chief of Retenu joyfully embraces him. The strong man had been known as a troublemaker, and the chief and his people are overjoyed to see him defeated. Even the men who followed the strong man are pleased to be freed from his oppressive rule. Sinuhe takes the strong man’s possessions, including a number of cattle, as his reward, just as the strong man had intended to do to Sinuhe. Even though he already has wealth of his own, it is increased by the spoils, and Sinuhe is able to live an even better life than before.

After his victory over the strong man, the aging Sinuhe grows dissatisfied with his life. Despite his success, he wants nothing more than to return to Egypt before he dies so that he can be buried properly in his homeland. He eventually petitions King Senusret and is allowed to return. All the riches Sinuhe accumulated in Retenu are passed down to his children, and he leaves everything behind in order to return to Egypt, where he lives out the rest of his days with peace and honor.

SIGNIFICANCE

The Egyptian myth of Sinuhe’s battle with the strong man of Retenu is one episode from a larger myth about Sinuhe’s flight from Egypt and eventual return. The myth is considered either a semifactual account of a historical Egyptian courtier or, more likely, a unique example of Egyptian fictional narrative written in an autobiographical style.

There are two important theories about the role this episode plays in the larger myth of Sinuhe. One interpretation is that this story was added later and possibly derived from a different source. The reasoning behind this is that the episode does not fit in with the parallel structure of the flight from Egypt and the return to Egypt, and some view Sinuhe’s fight with the strong man to be tangential to the main plot. Confusion about the role of this episode is compounded by difficulties understanding the language of the original text.

However, Egyptologist Hans Goedicke has examined the language of this episode and determined that Sinuhe’s victory is actually the myth’s most important and telling scene. Even the choice of weapons reflects the myth’s theme of the superiority of Egyptian ways over others. The strong man of Retenu brings many heavy weapons to the fight, but as the one who has been challenged, it is Sinuhe’s right to choose which weapons will be used. Sinuhe thus chooses his Egyptian weapon, the bow and arrow. His skill with this weapon is remarked upon several times in the story, suggesting that proficiency with the bow and arrow was considered an important skill for an Egyptian courtier. The triumph of the Egyptian bow and arrow over the desert-dwelling strong man’s heavy weapons thus becomes a metaphor for the myth’s overarching theme.

Supporting this theory is the fact that Sinuhe, while prosperous in foreign lands, is in a precarious position politically. The episode with the strong man allows him to prove himself to the chief of Retenu and strengthen his position, establishing with certainty the idea that his status and quality of life are equal in both locations. This becomes important in the second half of the myth, when it is shown that between two equally prosperous lives, his life in Egypt is the one he prefers. In that respect, this episode can also be regarded as a turning point; this victory ought to have made Sinuhe happy, but on the contrary, it is after this victory that he begins to mourn for the life he left behind, eventually petitioning King Senusret to be allowed to return to Egypt.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Baines, John. “Interpreting Sinuhe.” Journal of Egyptian Archaeology 68 (1982): 31–44. Print.

Goedicke, Hans. “Sinuhe’s Duel.” Journal of the American Research Center in Egypt 21 (1984): 197–201. Print.

Mackenzie, Donald. “Tale of the Fugitive Prince.” Egyptian Myth and Legend. London: Gresham, 1907. Print.

Pinch, Geraldine. Egyptian Myth: A Very Short Introduction. Oxford: Oxford UP, 2004. Print.

Simpson, William Kelly, ed. The Literature of Ancient Egypt: An Anthology of Stories, Instructions, and Poetry. New Haven: Yale UP, 1972. Print.