The Tale of Sinuhe is the best-known text from ancient Egypt, and equally the one about which the most has been written. And yet its depths have not been fully fathomed, in respect neither to its cultural and literary value, nor to its grammar and lexicon.

The present volume originates in a conference held at Leiden University which took as its starting point two passages from the famous story: one from the beginning of the Tale, and one from the end. The idea was that the text could be opened up through them, from inside out. The ten essays of this volume discuss the Tale from many different viewpoints, bringing new insights to its grammar, its literary ambition, and its cultural setting.