Luxor: The Great Harris Papyrus

This wonderfully preserved papyrus, probably created around 1,200 BCE, is one of the longest papyri that has been preserved from ancient Egypt (it is almost 138 feet long). It is divided into three parts; this section is in the part describing the reign of Ramses III (1184-1153 BCE) and the internal civil conflict that was present in Egypt at the beginning of the 20th Dynasty (which lasted from 1186-1069 BCE). In part it describes his battles against the Peoples of the Sea. The text is written in hieratic, which is a cursive script that evolved from hieroglyphics (and was easier and quicker to write than the cumbersome symbols of hieroglyphics).