Exploring the History of Translation and Interpreting Studies in Ancient Egypt

Abstract

This study examines multilingual mediation in Ancient Egypt (c. 2400–196 BCE) as a pre-classical case for Translation and Interpreting Studies (TIS). Using a qualitative historical-comparative and source-critical approach, it analyzes selected materials from the Pyramid Texts, Amarna Letters, Egypt–Hatti Peace Treaty, and Rosetta Stone through Descriptive Translation Studies, Skopos-oriented analysis, and Relevance-oriented analysis. The strongest comparative evidence comes from the Egypt–Hatti Treaty and Rosetta Stone, where structural correspondence coexists with selective functional, rhetorical, and cultural variation. The Amarna Letters document multilingual diplomacy without surviving parallel Egyptian translations, while the Pyramid Texts primarily illustrate diachronic textual transmission and intralingual adaptation. The findings show that these corpora represent different forms of linguistic mediation and should not be treated as equivalent evidence of translation or interpreting. The study contributes to translation historiography by extending TIS inquiry beyond conventional Graeco-Roman narratives while emphasizing the limits of retrospective theoretical analysis. It also proposes a pedagogical application for translator education.