What is Egyptian literature?
[[Image:PapyrusWestcar_photomerge-AltesMuseum-Berlin.png|right|400px|thumb|Copy of the [[Westcar Papyrus]] in the [[Ägyptisches Museum]], [[Berlin]]]] '''Egyptian literature''' is some of the earliest known literature. The [[Egypt]]ians were the first culture to develop the [[book]].<ref>{{Citation |last=Edwards |first=Amelia |title=THE LITERATURE AND RELIGION OF ANCIENT EGYPT. |url=http://digital.library.upenn.edu/women/edwards/pharaohs/pharaohs-6.html |accessdate=2007-09-30 |archive-date=2007-10-20 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071020082547/http://digital.library.upenn.edu/women/edwards/pharaohs/pharaohs-6.html |url-status=dead }}</ref> ==Ancient Egyptian literature== [[Image:Edwin Smith Papyrus v2.jpg|thumb|Plates vi & vii of the [[Edwin Smith papyrus]] at the Rare Book Room, [[New York Academy of Medicine]]]] The ancient Egyptians wrote on [[papyrus]]. They also wrote on walls, [[tomb]]s, [[pyramid]]s, [[obelisk]]s, and more. A well-known example of ancient Egyptian literature is the [[Story of Sinuhe]];<ref>{{Citation |last= Lichtheim |first=Miriam|title=Ancient Egyptian Literature, vol 1|publisher=University of California Press|year=1975|location=London, England|isbn=0-520-02899-6|pages=11}}</ref> ==Christian Egyptian literature== Alexandria became an important center of [[early Christianity]] from around the 1st to 4th century CE. Writing by Coptic Christians was important to Christian literature at that time.The [[Nag Hammadi library]] protected some books from being lost or destroyed. ==Islamic Egyptian literature== [[Muslim]] [[Arabs]] controlled Egypt by the eighth century. Libraries and literature were important in Arab Egypt.<ref>{{Citation |last= |first= |title=Groups of books and book production in Islamic Egypt |url=http://www.digitalegypt.ucl.ac.uk/writing/library/islamic.html |accessdate=2007-09-30}}</ref> Several important changes for writers happened at this time. Cloth [[paper]] replaced papyrus. Writers began using [[calligraphy]]. Also, writers began to write mostly about [[