The Song of Antef, also known as the Lay of the Harper, was written in Ancient Egypt during the Middle Kingdom. The song appears in its entirety in hieratic script on the Harris Papyrus 500 from the New Kingdom, 18th Dynasty (British Museum, London). It is also partly preserved in hieroglyphs on the walls of the tomb chapel of Paätenemheb, from the late 18th Dynasty of the New Kingdom, which was transferred from Saqqara to the National Museum of Antiquities in Leiden in 1829. The introductory line states that the song was taken from the tomb of King Antef. During the Middle Kingdom, three pharaohs of the 11th Dynasty bore that name, and five in the Second Intermediate Period. This text is considered by researchers to be a copy of an authentic poem from the Middle Kingdom (2040–1783 BCE). The author's name remains unknown.