Unlike ancient Latin and Greek texts, Egyptian hieroglyphs have been mostly inaccessible for the average ancient history enthusiast. But this is beginning to change with a collection of texts that have been translated into English for modern readers and put into one volume for the first time. Stories and legal documents included in the work paint a clearer picture of what everyday life was like for the ancient Egyptians.
The new book, called Writings from Ancient Egypt is the work of Egyptologist Toby Wilkinson, a fellow of Clare College at Cambridge University. Wilkinson created the volume to enable the general public to witness the beauty and, as the Guardian says “rich literary tradition” that was created over 3,500 years, and covers countless papyri and tomb walls. Wilkinson told The Guardian, “What will surprise people are the insights behind the well-known facade of ancient Egypt, behind the image that everyone has of the pharaohs, Tutankhamun’s mask and the pyramids.”

One of the interesting items included within the collection is a will suggesting that family disputes are not a new phenomenon. The document, called The Will of Naunakht , tells the story of a woman who decided only some of her eight children should be recipients of her estate and clearly disinherits others for not taking care of her in her old age.

more here: http://www.ancient-origins.net/news-...similar-020967