Nearly four thousand years ago, a high-ranking Egyptian official named Sinuhe heard news that frightened him, and in the same night he slipped away from home and vanished into the wilderness. His tale, the most celebrated story to survive from the age of the pharaohs, follows a man who loses his country, his title, and every comfort he knows, then builds a new life among strangers in the highlands of Syria-Palestine. He earns honor, wealth, and a family, yet the ache for the Nile never leaves him — for in his time, to die unburied far from Egypt was a fate worse than death. Told in elegant verse, The Tale of Sinuhe is one of the oldest works of literature in the world and one of the most moving: a story of fear and courage, forgiveness and longing, exile and homecoming. This faithful modern-English edition honors the dignity and poetry of the Middle Kingdom original while welcoming today's readers. Part of The World Scriptures Library.