A household breaks apart
Anpu and his younger brother Bata work together, with Bata tending the animals and fields. When Anpu’s wife attempts to seduce Bata, he refuses. She then accuses him of the very offense she initiated. Anpu believes her and waits to kill him. The cattle warn Bata, who flees; Ra creates a barrier of water and crocodiles between the brothers. Across this separation, Bata explains what happened and mutilates himself as an extreme demonstration. Anpu returns home and kills his wife. The narrative’s violence should not be mistaken for an acceptable model of proof or punishment.
Bata goes to the Valley of the Cedar and places his heart in a tree. He tells Anpu that a sign in his drink will reveal when disaster has struck, and that finding and reviving the heart will restore him. This remarkable arrangement makes loyalty between the brothers important even after their household has collapsed.
Source: Egyptian Tales, Second Series: Anpu and Bata · Anpu and Bata, pp. 36–49
A heart, a bull, and two trees
The gods provide Bata with a wife. A lock of her fragrant hair reaches Egypt, and the king seeks its owner. Taken to the court, she reveals the location of Bata’s heart; the tree is cut down and he dies. Anpu recognizes the warning sign, searches for the heart, and eventually revives his brother by placing it in water.
Bata returns in the form of a splendid bull. His former wife recognizes the danger and has it killed, but drops of its blood produce two trees. When she has these cut down as well, a splinter enters her mouth and she conceives a child: Bata has returned again. The child becomes king, exposes what has happened, and brings his brother into the royal succession. Each attempted destruction transfers the threatened life into another form, until the relationship of power is reversed.
Source: Egyptian Tales, Second Series: Anpu and Bata · Anpu and Bata, pp. 49–65
A particular tale, not a universal code
The story contains patterns recognizable in later folktales: a false accusation, a hidden external life, a warning sign, and transformations. Recognizing those patterns can help a reader compare narrative techniques. It does not establish a route of transmission to a particular later story. The surviving manuscript gives evidence that this Egyptian version existed; it cannot identify the first person or community to tell any of its motifs.
The women’s actions are shaped by the tale’s hostile framing of betrayal, while the brothers’ reunion anchors its emotional resolution. The atlas describes that framing without extending its judgments to women in Egyptian society. Petrie’s old translation is useful for tracing the plot, but its nineteenth-century comparisons and cultural rankings are not reliable conclusions to inherit.
Source: Egyptian Tales, Second Series: Anpu and Bata · Anpu and Bata and the following “Remarks,” read critically
- Period / witness
- Papyrus d’Orbiney: late Nineteenth Dynasty, approximately thirteenth century BCE.
- Recording context
- Papyrus d’Orbiney, British Museum EA10183; the story’s Valley of the Cedar is a narrative landscape, not a securely identified place of composition.
A recording location is not necessarily a story’s origin. Dates of texts, copies, and translations answer different questions.
Explore time & place →Read the sources
These references support the explanation above. Rights and edition notes are recorded individually.
Egyptian Tales, Second Series: Anpu and Bata ↗
W. M. Flinders Petrie (1853–1942) · 1895; second edition 1913; ebook updated 2012
Edition & rights note