page_title: Satire
section_title: Ancient Egypt
hierarchical_section_title: Satire / Development / Ancient Egypt
caption_attribution_description: English: Ancient Egyptian "Satirical Papyrus", photographed and stitched together.Français&#160;: Papyrus humoristique illustré provenant de fouilles à Deir-el-Medineh, 1250-1150 AEC. H. 13 cm, L. 59 cm. British Museum. Les prédateurs semblent prendre soin de leurs proies habituelles. À l'extrême-droite un lion semble superviser l'embaumement d'un capriné&#160;: le lit, devant lui, est un lit funéraire. Peut-être s'agirait-il de l'illustration d'une fable populaire. Référence&#160;: Joël Cornette (dir.) et Damien Agut et Juan Carlos Moreno-García, L'Égypte des pharaons&#160;: de Narmer à Dioclétien 3150 av. J.-C. - 284 apr. J.-C., Belin, coll. «&#160;Mondes anciens&#160;», 2016 (réimpr. 2018), 847 p., 24 cm (ISBN&#160;978-2-7011-6491-5), Page 398.
context_page_description: Satire is a genre of literature and performing arts, usually fiction and less frequently in non-fiction, in which vices, follies, abuses and shortcomings are held up to ridicule, ideally with the intent of shaming individuals, corporations, government, or society itself into improvement. Although satire is usually meant to be humorous, its greater purpose is often constructive social criticism, using wit to draw attention to both particular and wider issues in society.
  A feature of satire is strong irony or sarcasm —"in satire, irony is militant", according to literary critic Northrup Frye— but parody, burlesque, exaggeration, juxtaposition, comparison, analogy, and double entendre are all frequently used in satirical speech and writing. This "militant" irony or sarcasm often professes to approve of the very things the satirist wishes to question.
  Satire is found in many artistic forms of expression, including internet memes, literature, plays, commentary, music, film and television shows, and media such as lyrics.
context_section_description: One of the earliest examples of what we might call satire, The Satire of the Trades, is in Egyptian writing from the beginning of the 2nd millennium BC. The text's apparent readers are students, tired of studying. It argues that their lot as scribes is not only useful, but far superior to that of the ordinary man. Scholars such as Helck think that the context was meant to be serious.
  The Papyrus Anastasi I (late 2nd millennium BC) contains a satirical letter which first praises the virtues of its recipient, but then mocks the reader's meagre knowledge and achievements.
caption: The satirical papyrus at the British Museum
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