Choice for a Pharaonic historical setting is often made to affirm Egyptian nationalism and the specificity of Egyptian culture (reference). This was as opposed to pre-Islamic or early Islamic topics that stressed the Arab and Islamic cross-border component of Egyptian culture.
- Alfrīd Faraj’s (1929 – 2005, Egypt) play Suqūṭ Firʿawn (‘The fall of a pharaoh’, 1957) describes the inner conflict of the Pharaoh Akhnātūn (Akhenaten) between his new pacifist religion and his duties as monarch whose task it is to protect the state, which involves action and violence (reference). The pharaoh abdicates the throne to his son and devotes himself to teaching his new religion. One political interpretation of the play is the need for the state leader to be decisive and to act (reference).
- Rʾaūf Musʿād (1937-, Egypt) – Zahrat al-Ṣamt (‘Flower of silence’, 2016). Through the stories of a priestess mother and her young daughter who flee the Arab invasion of pharaonic Egypt, the novel describes ancient pharaonic histories and myths such as that of Iziz and Osiris. It relates these to an actual and imagined history of Egypt, Copts, and Arabs, especially the discrimination and prosecution of Coptic Christians, from the pharaonic time until now (reference) (also in R: Religion and Sectarianism: Christians and Christianity: Coptic).
Refrences:
In order of appearance
- Hilary Kilpatrick. 1992. “The Egyptian novel from Zaynab to 1980.” In Modern Arabic Literature. eds. Muhammad Mustafa Badawi. Cambridge University Press: Cambridge, 223-270, p. 236
- Ibtisām Abūdahab. 2016. “Masraḥiyah ‘Suqūṭ Firʿawn’ ʿan Hayʾat Quṣūr al-Thawāfah li-‘Alfrīd Faraj’.” www.youm7.com, 20 January 2016 https://www.youm7.com/story/2016/1/20/مسرحية-سقوط-فرعون-عن-هيئة-قصور-الثقافة-لـ-ألفريد-فرج/2547095 (last accessed 8 February 2022)
- Muhammad Mustafa Badawi. 1987. Modern Arabic Drama in Egypt. Cambridge University Press: Cambridge, p. 171-2
- Jamāl al-Qaṣāṣ. 2018. “al-Luʿab ʿalā Mafāṣil al-Tārīkh wa-al-Usṭūrah.” www.aawsat.com, 23 September 2018 https://aawsat.com/home/article/1404226/%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%84%D8%B9%D8%A8-%D8%B9%D9%84%D9%89-%D9%85%D9%81%D8%A7%D8%B5%D9%84-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%AA%D8%A7%D8%B1%D9%8A%D8%AE-%D9%88%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%A3%D8%B3%D8%B7%D9%88%D8%B1%D8%A9 (last accessed 17 November 2021)