Motifs of Ancient Egypt in the Poetry of Anton Novačan and Anton Aškerc

The poetic oeuvres of Anton Aškerc, Akropolis in Piramide (Acropolis and the Pyramids, published in 1909) and Anton Novačan, Večeri ob Nilu (Evenings by the Nile, published in 1933, 1938 and 1939) contain many specific references from ancient Egyptian history, religion and poetry. There are even some quotations and paraphrases of ancient Egyptian texts, such as the “appeal to the living” from the tomb of the governor Harkhuf at Aswan, which was translated by Novačan in the poem Vzdih iz groba (The Sigh from the Grave) and The Great Hymn to the Aten from the tomb of Ay, partially paraphrased by Aškerc in the poem entitled Amenhotep IV. The latter poem is a long description of the religious reform of Amenhotep IV, better known as Akhenaten. Both poets, who travelled to Egypt under different circumstances, mention the Great Pyramid and Pharaoh Khufu as a despot, obelisks, pylons and the most famous Egyptian gods, such as Isis, Osiris, Anubis and Amun. Anton Aškerc’s poems have many similarities with Idylls and Lyrics of the Nile, written by Hardwicke Drummond Rawnsley, published in 1894. The motif of the Greek philosophers searching for knowledge in the city of Heliopolis is just one example described by both poets. The works of Novačan and Aškerc, inspired by the ancient Egyptian civilisation, are a rare example of Egyptomania in Slovene poetry.