Abstract
In the rich corpus of Demotic narrative texts, there are a considerable number set in the court of a king. The best-known cases are the cycle of Inaros and Petoubastis and the cycle of Setne, but there are many others, such as the story on papyrus Vandier rt. and the story of Amasis on papyrus BN 215 vs. These texts feature audiences and deliberative meetings. They are among the most explicit sources concerning the rules of official protocol and manners of behavior within the royal entourage. At the same time, they also provide examples of conflicts and confrontations that threaten to disrupt the established order. The realities of these texts will be compared with conceptual realities, as conveyed by certain treatises, for example, concerning the positions of court members to the right and left of the king in the Geographical Papyrus of Tanis, Carlsberg Papyrus 204 rt., and pCarlsberg 23.
Furthermore, it is likely that the realities of the royal court served as a model for the conception of the court of the gods as described, with regard to Osiris, in papyrus BM EA 10822 (Setne II) or in Greek translation in the Dream of Nectanebo. These corpora will be compared through an analysis of their content, phraseology and key words.
