The Instruction of Ptah-Hotep and the Instruction of Ke'Gemni

About the book

Presented as counsel passed from an older generation to a younger one, these Egyptian wisdom texts consider speaking, listening, leadership, family relationships, and conduct among people of unequal rank. Ptah-hotep's instructions especially value measured speech, receptiveness to correction, and control over appetite and anger. The shorter surviving instruction associated with Ke'gemni places similar weight on restraint and social behavior. Battiscombe G. Gunn's volume supplies an introduction, explanatory material, and an appendix translating the Instruction of Amenemhe'et. Its early twentieth-century scholarship frames the encounter and should be distinguished from the ancient texts themselves. Beneath unfamiliar titles and social arrangements, the practical questions remain recognizable: how to judge a situation, respond to others, and transmit hard-won experience.

• Wisdom and instruction
• Speech and restraint
• Authority and conduct

Why read it

Discover concise ethical instruction rooted in ancient Egyptian social life and preserved through a historical translation.

English translation by Battiscombe G. Gunn, with introduction and appendix