Ghosts in Ancient Egypt from a Literary Perspective: An Analysis of ‘Khonsemhab and the Spirit’. A Possible Pessimistic Tale of the Middle Kingdom?

Álvaro  Sánchez-Climent

doi:10.6000/2817-2310.2026.05.01

Authors

Álvaro Sánchez-Climent Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Facultat de Filosofía i Lletres – Carrer de la Fortuna, 08193, Cerdanyoladel Vallès, Barcelona, Spain

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.6000/2817-2310.2026.05.01

Keywords:

Story, Ghosts, Analysis, Pessimistic Literature, Middle Kingdom, Ancient Egypt

Abstract

In this study, we examine one of the most enigmatic compositions of Ancient Egyptian literature. Although preserved in a copy of Ramesside period from the New Kingdom, the text appears to be based on an earlier narrative tradition. The tale centres on the encounter and dialogue between its two eponymous protagonists: Khonsemhab, a priest of Amun, and Nebusemekh, a spirit. The narrative unfolds through their exchange concerning the spirit’s lament over the dilapidated state of its tomb, a condition that prevents it from attaining eternal rest, and the assurances offered by the priest to restore it—assurances which the spirit receives with scepticism, shaped by past disappointments. Owing to the fragmentary preservation of the text, the fate of both characters remains unknown.

Based on its formal and thematic features, it is plausible to suggest that this tale could be tentatively situated within the corpus of so‑called pessimistic texts traditionally associated with the Middle Kingdom. In this regard, it exhibits several noteworthy affinities with compositions from that period, such as its dialogic structure, the thematic tension between order and chaos, and the spirit’s expressions of despair in response to the neglected state of his burial place.

In this study, I examine the tale in detail and seek to address a central question at the end of the article: Could this story have originally belonged to the tradition of Middle Kingdom Pessimistic Literature?

References

Adams, Christina. 2016. “Shades of Meaning: The Significance of Manifestations of the Dead as Evidenced in Texts from the Old Kingdom to the Coptic Period.” Pp. 1-20 in Current Research in Egyptology 2006. Proceedings of the Seventh Annual Symposium edited by M. Cannata. Oxford: Oxbow books.

Allen, Jame P. 2000. Middle Egyptian. An introduction to the Language and Culture of Hieroglyphs. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Assmann, Jan. 1994. “Maat und die gespaltene Welt oder: Ägyp-tertum und Pessimismus.” Göttinger Miszellen 140: 93-100.

Assmann, Jan. 2005. Egipto. Historia de un sentido. Trans. by Joaquín Chamorro Mielke. Madrid: Adaba editores. [orig. Ägypten. Eine Sinngeschichte. München: Carl Hanser, 1996].

Beckerath, Jürgen von. 1992. “Zur Geschichte von Chonsemhab und der Geist.” Zeitschrift für Ägyptische Sprache und Altertumskunde (ZÄS) 119: 90-107.

Brunner-Traut, Emma. 2000. Cuentos del Antiguo Egipto. Trans. by Pablo Villadangos. Madrid: Editorial EDAF. [orig. Altägyptische märchen, Eugen Diederichs Verlag, 1963].

Callender, Gae. 2022. “El renacimiento del Reino Medio.” Pp. 197-240 in Historia Oxford del Antiguo Egipto, 9ª edición edited by I. Shaw. Trans. by José Miguel Parra. Madrid: La Esfera de los Libros. [orig. The Oxford History of Ancient Egypt, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000].

Gardiner, Alan. H. 1936. Late-Egyptian Stories. Brussels: Bibliotheca Aegyptiaca I.

Herrerín, Jesús and Miguel Ángel Sánchez. 2023. La momificación egipcia. La vida eterna paso a paso. Córdoba: Editorial Almuzara.

Jesi, Furio. 1968. “Note sui pessimismo egizio.” Aegyptus 48: 19-30.

Lefebvre, Gustave. 2003. Mitos y cuentos egipcios de la época faraónica. Trans. by José Miguel Serrano Delgado. Madrid: Ediciones Akal. [orig. Romans et contes égyptiens de l’epoque pharaonique, A. Maisonneuve, 1949].

Lichtheim, Miriam. 1973. Ancient Egyptian Literature: volume I: The Old and Middle Kingdoms. Los Ángeles: University of California.

Lichtheim, Miriam. 1996. “Didactic Literature.” Ancient Egyptian Literature. Pp. 243-262. History and Forms edited by A. Loprieno. Leiden: E. J. Brill.

López, Jesús. 2005. Cuentos y fábulas del Antiguo Egipto. Barcelona: Pliegos de Oriente. Editorial Trotta.

Moreno García, Juan. C. 2004. Egipto en el Imperio Antiguo (2650-2150 a.C.). Barcelona: Bellaterra Arqueología.

Pritchard, James. B. 1969. Ancient Near Eastern Texts Relating to the Old Testament. New Jersey: University of Princeton.

Posener, Georges. 1956. Littérature et politique dans l'Egypte de la XIIe dynastie. París: Bibliothèque de l` Ècole des Hautes Ètudes 307 Honoré Champion

Rosell, Pablo. M. 2010. “Consideraciones sobre el desarrollo de la literatura pesimista egipcia en el Reino Medio.” Trabajos y Comunicaciones 36: 231-247.

Ryholt, Kim. S. B. 1997. The Political Situation in Egypt during the Second Intermediate Period c. 1800-1550 B.C. Copenhagen: Carsten Niebuhr Institute Publications 20.

Salem, Leila. 2017. “Intertextualidad en los textos del antiguo Egipto: un análisis de los “bancos de arena.” Historia y Sociedad 33: 135-166.

Sarmiento, María. M. 2017. “Muerte, memoria y olvido: un análisis de Khomsuemhab y el espíritu”. Pp. 276-293 in Relatos del antiguo Egipto edited by A. Zingarelli and V. Mayocchi. Buenos Aires: Biblos.

Shaw, Ian. 2000. The Oxford History of Ancient Egypt. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Simpson, William K. 2003. The Literature of Ancient Egypt. An Anthology of Stories, Instructions and Poetry. New Haven: Yale University Press.

Taylor, John. H. 2001. Death and the Afterlife in Ancient Egypt. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press.

Wente, Edward F. 2003. “A Ghost Story.” Pp. 112-115 in The Literature of Ancient Egypt. An Anthology of Stories, Instructions and Poetry edited by W. K. Simpson. New Haven: Yale University Press.

Wilson, John A. 1953. La cultura egipcia. Trans. by Florentino M. Torner. México: Brevarios del Fondo de Cultura Económica. [orig. The burden of Egypt. An interpretation of ancient Egyptian culture, Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1951]