The Maxims of Good Discourse (Ma'at)

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The Maxims of Good Discourseor the Wisdom of Ptahhotep

ca.2200 BCE

the art of hearing, listening & excellent discoursethe plumb-line of the scales & the state of veneration

by Wim van den Dungen

the Scribe of Saqqara

IVth or Vth Dynasty (ca.2600 - 2348 BCE)

Adjacent Pages :

plain textof the Maxims
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noteson the translationlexiconof special concepts

hieroglyphic textof the Maxims

Introduction1Did the historical Ptahhotep write the Maxims of Good Discourse ?

2Philological & Historical remarks and options.2.1Papyrus Prisse, the British Museum Papyri and the Carnarvon

Tablet.lexiconof major concepts,notesto the text, plaintext,hieroglyphictext

2.2Hermeneutics of Ancient Egyptian.2.3A few points of importance concerning the Memphite Kingdom.

3The Memphite Philosophy of Order through Just Speech.3.1Various perspectives on Maat.

3.2The hermeneutics of the Weighing Scene.3.3Hearing versus listening, ignorance versus wisdom.

Bibliography

INTRODUCTIONThe Maxims of Good Discourse, named after the 37 wisdom sayings whichmake out the bulk of this ancient text, is indeed a literary composition, i.e. atext which shows deliberate cognitive designbeyond that of a record, list orcollection of moral ideas. This ancient text (ca. 4400 years old), written by aman called "Ptahhotep" ("ptH-Htp"), has been labelled a "moral" text which

does not "amount to a comprehensive moral code", nor are its precepts"strung together in any local order" (Lichtheim,1975, vol 1, p.62) ...

Is the category "logical order" (in its Greek sense) applicable to the contextof Ancient Egyptianthought, writingandverbalisation? Besides morality,Ptahhotep also teaches, by example, anthropology, politics and theemancipation of everyman. Indeed, he touches "upon the most important
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aspects of human relations" (Lichtheim,1975, vol 1, p.62). Moreover, thecompositional backbone of this remarkable text, written as early as the lateVIth Dynasty (ca.2200 BCE), is "discourse" and its dynamics, which issuggestive of theverbal philosophy of Memphis.Furthermore, an "ascetical"approach to divinity is present, for none of the gods (except for his Majesty

the Pharaoh, Osiris, Maat and the "Followers of Horus") are mentioned byname. "Netjer" ("nTr", "god") is mentioned as one flagpole withoutdeterminative. The "netjeru" ("nTrw", the plural of "god" or "the gods") areinvoked by that word only once (line 24), and are next referred to as"they".

This absence of constellational elements contrasts with the contemporayroyal texts, such as the Unis-Texts and will remain typical fordidacticalliteratureas a whole. There we read that "gods" (like Pharaoh) "fly" andordinary men "hide" (Sethe,1908/1960,Utterance 302, 459a, vol.1,p.236). Ptahhotep thus also offers the Old Kingdom solution to thesoteriology of thenon-royal officials and commoners. The teaching itselfhowever, can be recommended to everybody, Pharaoh and non-royals alike.

In the expression "tjesu en medjet neferet" (line 33 - "Tsw n md.t nfr.t"),usually translated as "the maxims of good discourse", the word "tjes" ("Ts"),"maxim" can also mean "speech, utterance" or "phrase, sentence" (Faulkner,1999, p.308). The determinative of a papyrus roll (writing and thinking) isadded.

The word "nefer" ("nfr") has a complex field of semantical connotations,

being of use in more than one context. It shares this characteristic withother important Egyptian words, such as "hearing", "truth", "justice","becoming" etc. These "special" coordinated schemes, pre-concepts andconcrete concepts define the fundamental semantics of the edifice ofEgyptian philosophy was construed, i.e. notions & (pre-)concepts whichelucidate the origin & the continuity of creation and humanity in it. Othermeanings of "nefer" are "beautiful of appearence, kind of face, good, fine ofquality, necessary, happy of condition" (Faulkner,1999, p.131). So abroader context is suggested. The maxims describe a kind of discoursewhich produces a happy life. Although actions are important, proper speech

is even more. An element of necessity is invoked, so that one may say thatif a "good" discourse is made, the enduring effects will be generated "deopere operato". Morality (good or evil actions) is hence rooted in thought &speech (good or bad speech), and this in accord withthe theology ofMemphis).

In the mythical, neolithic mind, stability and order were sacred. Naturalcycles manifested the enduring as part of creation. Cycles related to birth,
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growth, death & rebirth became the domain of the "great goddess" of thesacred (in Ancient Egypt, ca. 4000 BCE). The notion that the humanskeleton represents the enduring within man is (still) part of Shamanism,the natural, unorganized, religious culture of the hunters & early settlers, soprominent in the Neolithic. Mummification takes the conservation of the

ephemeral a step further, for here that which is meant to disappear (flesh &blood), is sustained, to allow for an everlasting existence of the personality("Ka") and the soul ("Ba") with its mummy, i.e. a "second birth" in thekingdom of Osiris. To challenge the process of decay was one of theessential features of funerary preoccupations, indeed, characteristic of theAncient Egyptian mentality as a whole. The mummified viscera prove thepoint.

The message of Ptahhotep seeks to transmit that which endures in the realmof the heart, the abode of consciousness, free will, conscience, thought andspeech (in short, the "mind"). The maxims exemplify Maat. By trulyunderstanding each "example", the "son" (pupil, disciple), who heard andlistened, acquires rectitude of mind, affect and action, the proper balanceand steering capacities to navigate the heart in such a way that efficient andluminous results ensue and evil, injustice and irrationality flee. As a trueMemphite, Ptahhotep puts all his trust in the cognitive capacities, especiallyin speech. The wise acquires just speech. The hierarchy of justice typical forthe Old Kingdom is of course presupposed :

Order of

Creationdeities ONLY Re creates Maatthe state of the

spiritsimmortal & eternalOrder ofPharaoh

PHARAOH ONLYPharaoh returns

Maat the divine souldeified & immortal

Order of SocietyEVERYBODY Egypt circulatesMaat

the state ofvenerationjustified &surviving

Besides Pharaoh, nobody addressed the spirits (of the gods & goddesseswho abide in the sky) directly. He alone mediated between heaven and earthbecause he was the only god on earth. In particular, his voice-offerings werethe performance of rectitude, so that through them Pharaoh returned Maatto its creator, his father Re and by doing so guaranteed an order which couldat any time be disrupted. He (and his representatives) were the only one


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able to do so. Pharaoh embodied Egypt and the Nile embodied Egypt. Thisgrand river, flowing from South to North, yearly fed Egypt by inundating theTwo Lands. The circulation of goods along it, had been essential in theprocess of unification of the land, and the establishment in the "House ofPtah" at Memphis ("Men-nefer") of the "Balance of the Two Lands", as

theMemphis Theologyclaims :

"Then Heru stood over the land. He is the uniter of this land, proclaimed inthe great name : Tanen, South-of-his-Wall, lord of eternity. Then sprouted(14c) the two Great in Magic upon his head. He is Heru who arose as king ofUpper and Lower Egypt, who united the Two Lands in the Nome of the(White) Wall, the place in which the Two Lands were united. (15c) Reed(heraldic plant for Upper Egypt) and papyrus (heraldic plant for LowerEgypt) were placed on the double door of the House of Ptah. That means :Heru and Seth, pacified and united. They fraternized so as to ceasequarreling (16c) wherever they may be, being united in the House of Ptah,the 'Balance of the Two Lands' in which Upper and Lower Egypt had beenweighed."Memphis Theology: lines 13c - 16c

Endurance was also the motivation behind inscribing the divine words instone (another activity ruled by Ptah). To writing was attributed the capacityto abolish the temporal limitations of speech and to extend the latterinfinitely. The texts were inscribed on the walls of the tomb, the sarcophagus(coffin) and the mummy (in the form of amulets & talismans). The deceasedwas not supposed to "read" these words, but he or she remained in the

vincinity of their sacramental "sekhem" (power), eternalized through writing& ritual.

Old Kingdom religion envisaged two ways to explain the world. Eitherthrough self-creation or as a product of divine cognition & speech.

The Heliopolitans (Heliopolis, "Iunu") taught that order (creation) was self-caused ("kheper" - "xpr") in the midst of undifferentiated chaos, darknessand oblivion (the "Nun", or primordial water, a cultless deity). Chaoscontinued to lurk in the darkness of the deep, and might be encounteredduring sleep (bad dreams) or in the netherworld (when born again like

Osiris). Its most horrible manifestation in creation was the annihilation of aperson's name ("ren"), which might happen to the deceased if judgementwas negative and the person was notjustified (its heart eaten by themonsterous devouress of the dead or "am mwt", which had the head and thejaws of a crocodile, the hind quaters of a hippopotamus and the middle partof a lion).
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In the beginning, creation unfolded out of a point of absolute singularity.This alternation-point ("Atum", "tm", suggestive of completion, totality) wasconceived by the Heliopolitans (the dominant royal theology of the OldKingdom) as "causa sui" and fugal. Atum created himself by masturbating,taking his own seed into his mouth and spitting out (sneezing) the

constituents of creation (the nine basic elements of creation, Atum -themonadic principle- included). Together with Pharaoh (the 10th element orpyramideon), the sacred decad of order was realized, both in the sky (theEnnead) as on earth (the Residence of Pharaoh).

This primordial creative activity was imagined to "happen" in a realm whichexisted in-between pre-creation and creation, situated as the "first time",the "beginning" ("zep tepy" - "zp tpii"), absolute time (or no-time). Creationwas the ejection (cf. Big Bang) out of this point of singularity (Atum and hismythical deed of self-impregnation). This Crown of creation permanentlyoscillated between the order of creation and the mythical "first time". Thismonad simultaneously split into two fundamental creative principles (space -Shu- and time -Tefnut-), out of which the multitudes orderly emerged.

The Memphites taught that Ptah was the creator of the universe. He was thecreator of chaos and of Atum. In their theology, the whole Heliopolitanprocess happens in the "form" or "image" of events in the heart and on thetongue of Ptah. "Atum" is a creative verb, image, scheme or model. Itsfunctionality (and that of other important deities such as Horus and Thoth) isnot denied, but seen as an outward manifestation (theophany) of the all-encompassing cognitive activity of the speaking Ptah (cf. thecreative verb).

This focus on manifestation through speech can also be found in the royalfunerary texts (largely Heliopolitan) and in "Khemenu" (Hermopolis, the cityof Thoth &magic), were the sacred Ibis dropped the creative word in theprimordial ocean, therewith creating the universe.

These cosmogonic speculations, essential to understand the broader contextof any discourse on wisdom, belong to the order of creation (the deities) andto the order of Egypt (Pharaoh). Ptahhotep's work, adhering to theMemphite accent on discourse, aims to propose a "way of life" valid foreverybody. Although the base of the pyramid offers no panorama, its

fundamental role is unmistaken, for it carries everything above it. What canbe said of the situation of everybody ? Ptahhotep does not deny theexistence of higher types of rectitudes. The deities ("god" and "the gods")and Pharaoh are mentioned by name, but are not aimed at in the maxims,although the proper circulation of Maat depends on them. But what can bedone by someone with no divine soul ("Ba") ? How far does wisdom alonetake such a person ?
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The Weighing Scene

Papyrus of Ani - XIXth DynastyOne of the motivations behind these studies is the clarification of the

distinction between Egyptian and Greek philosophy, between ante-rationality(and its irrational foundation in mythical thought) and rationality. Indeed,Greek philosophy emerged as a culture of rational debate at the heart of the"polis", the city-state. The conflicts between systems of thought were muchlikepoliticaldifferences : they needed to be solved in public throughargument & dialogue, and logic and/or rhetorics were the means to realizethis. By realizing that pre-Greek, ante-rational speculation existed and byinvestigating these philosophical strands, one may disentangle the polemicnature of Greek philosophy fromgeneral philosophy,which is the persuit ofwisdom by all possible means (i.e. it is not exclusively rational, although

never irrational, i.e. purely mythical).In Egypt's Old Kingdom, the wisdom of the didactical texts dealt withthecontinuity of truth and justice. These wisdom texts can and should bedistinguished from schemata, pre-concepts & concepts related to naturalphilosophy (the origin of the world - cosmogony, which mainly flourished inthe New Kingdom - cf.Amun-Re& theAten) andverbalphilosophy (the ideathat words are creative). Although Marxist, atheist and humanist
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philosophers claimed that Ancient Egypt only produced a "cosmic" moralcode unableto separate "is" from "ought", the difference between thenatural (descriptive - how things are) and moral (normative - how thingshould be) order was indeed part of Ancient Egyptian philosophy (cf. infra).That their moral theory was in accord with their cosmology, does not reduce

the Ancient Egyptian sense of justice to their ontological scheme of howthings are. It is thanks to the hard work of post-war egyptologists of alldisciplines and nationalities that philosophers today may try to understandthe cognitive, philosophical, spiritual, religious & theological implications ofthe Ancient Egyptian heritage and its profound, complex influence on allcultures of the Mediterranean.

Hence, the words "wisdom" and "philosophy", although applicable in thegeneral sense as a conceptualized, practical investigation of the being ofcreation and man, do not have dialogal & polemic associations. And ofcourse, pre-Greek philosophies never worked with the "tabula rasa"principle, neither with the Razor of Ockham, but rather with a multiplicity(complementarity) of approaches (as evidenced by the differentcosmogonies). Different answers were as it were put on top of each other.Wisdom was tradition embedded in context. This absence of debate andlively discussions does not imply the absence of philosophy, i.e. the quest fora comprehensive understanding (within the limitations of the given modes ofcognition)of the universe and the situation of humanity, as shown by theMaxims of Good Discourse. That proto-rational thought is not a priori devoidof philosophical inclinations, may well a discovery which balances theHellenocentric approach of wisdom, so fashionable in the West since the

Renaissance.

In what follows, Ptahhotep and his text are highlighted. My translation wasinspired by the workofDvaud(1916),Zba(1956),Lichtheim(1975),Lalouette(1984),Brunner(1991) &Jacq(1993) and distances itself from an approach which deviatestoo much from the original text, such as the questionable translationofLaffont(1979), or which limits itself to the translation of only a fewmaxims.

1 Did the historical Ptahhotepwrite the Maxims of Good Discourse ?
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At the end of the corridor to the right of a pillard hall and then left isPtahhotep's burial chamber. The reliefs there are the best preserved of theOld Kingdom. The ceilings are imitations of the trunks of palm trees.

The mastaba of Ptahhotep isa double mastaba which heshared with his father, Akhtihotep. His room is quitesimilar to Ptahhotep's,although less decorated.

The tomb suggests thatPtahhotep must have held avery important positionduring the reign of Pharaoh

Djedkare (ca. 2411 - 2378BCE), the predecessor ofUnis (cf. theCannibalHymn).

In his tomb, Ptahhotepdescribes himself as a priestof Maat. He was also thevizier, the chief of thetreasury and the granary, as

well as a judge. The reliefsfound inside are not allcompleted.

The main corridor has reliefson both sides. On the left arewhat appear to bepreliminary drawings in red.Over the red are correctionsin black made by the masterartist.
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Other reliefs show fowl being carried by servants to Ptahhotep.Mastaba of Ptahhotep - Saqqara

Back into the pillard hall and to the left is the chamber of Akhti-hotep.Through a passageway to the left is a chamber that contains a mummy thathas not been identified. The passageway leads to the pillard hall and theentrance corridor.

Dyn. Pharaoh Vizier2 Ninetjer (?) Menka

3Djoser ImhotepHuni

KagemniNefermat

4

Snefru

Khufu HemiunuAnkhkhaf

Khafre Menkhaf

5 Nyuserre PtahshepsesIsesi Ptahhotep

6 Teti Mereruka

Within the courtiers ("Sniit")surrounding Pharaoh, the mosfavoured persons were called"friends" ("smrw"). The mostimportant dignitary bore the

title "tjati" ("TAti"), translatedas "vizier", who in the IVthDynasty, was regularly one ofthe royal princes. Later theoffice passed into the hands ofsome outstanding noble, andthen it tended to becomehereditary.

In the titularies of the earlyviziers, we find the title :

"superintendent of all theworks of the king" ("amii-r kAtnbt nt nsw"). He was also thesupreme judge, and bore theepithet "prophet of Maat".

The earliest attested reference


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Pepi II Djau11 Mentuhotep IV Amenemhat12 Amenemhat I Iyotefoker

18

Hatshepsut SenmutThutmose III Rekhmire

Amenhotep IIIAper-el

PtahmoseRamose

Akhenaten Ramose

20 Ramesses IX KhaemwasetRamesses XI Herihor

26 Psamtik I Sisobek

33 Cleopatra VIIYuyaAmenhotep

WbnRaMPtHoremheb

to this highest administrativeoffice was written in ink on astone vessel from the StepPyramid of Netjerikhet atSaqqara (the vizier Menka ofthe middle of the IIthDynasty). In the beginning ofthe Early Dynastic period, thevizier bore the titles "Tt". Thefuller form : "tAitti zAb TAti" isof later periods.

And official called "Tt" isdepicted on the Narmerpalette. He walks in front of

Pharaoh and carries his regaliaThe tripartite title held by thevizier may indicate histhreefold nature (Wilkinson,2001, p.138) :

"tAitti" or "he of thecurtain" is an epithetindicatingthe courtlyaspect of theoffice ;

"zAb" or "noble" is ageneral designation foran official;

"Tati", untranslatable ansuggestive oftheadministrative aspect

The word "vizier" is the French spelling of the Turkish "vezir", which was thetitle of the Sultan's prime minister. This in turn comes from the Arabic

"wazir", or "porter". In Ancient Egypt, the vizier wore a special garmentwhich remained unchanged for thousands of years. It was a plain smockmade of pure white cotton which symbolized his impartiality.
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The mastaba of Ptahhotep, East Wall, drawingDavies, N. de G.,1900.

Notice above the young Ptahhotep the cartouche of Pharaoh Izezi (top of second

column),whereas above the older Ptahhotep we read "in front of Maat" (third column).

The vizier was the head of the administration, but at various times, andparticularly at Thebes, the vizier might also be the chief priest. In the OldKingdom, the role of the Egyptian state was organizational : preventing localfamines by bringing in the surplus, lessening the effect of calamities(irregular inundations), arbitration and security. Irrigation works were theresponsibility of the local responsible. Viziers heard all domestic territorialdisputes, maintained a cattle and herd census, controlled the reservoirs andthe food supply, supervised industries and conservation programs, and werealso required to repair all dikes. The bi-annual census of the populationcame under their authority, as did the records of rainfall and the varyinglevels of the Nile during its inundation. All government documents used inAncient Egypt had to bear the seal of the vizier in order to be consideredauthentic and binding. Tax records, storehouse receipts, crop assessmentsand other necessary agricultural statistics were kept in the offices of theviziers. In addition, young members of the royal family often served under

the vizier. In this capacity, they received training in government affairs.

It is probable that throughout Egyptian history, the viziers were some ofPharaoh's most trusted allies. The vizier was usually in constant contact withhim, consulting him on many important matters. Family members,particularly those who might hold a claim to kingship, could often not betrusted. But viziers, even though at times did elevate themselves tokingship, were probably most often selected not only for their skills, but
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because Pharaoh could trust them to carry out his will without the fear theymight overthrow his rule.

In the tombs of viziers we see various crafts at work in different tasks. Hisresponsibility was not little. In the tomb of the vizier Rekhmire (XVIIIth

Dynasty), the latter is installed by Pharaoh Thutmose III with the words :

"His Majesty said to him : 'Look to the office of vizier. Watch over all that isdone in it. Lo, it is the pillar for the whole land. Lo, being vizier, Lo, it is notsweet, Lo, it is bitter as gall. Lo, he is the copper that shields the gold of hismaster's house, Lo, he is not one who bends his face to magistrates andcouncillors, not one who makes of anyone his client."The Installation of Rekhmire, his tomb at Thebes (N.de G.Davies,1944, pp.84-88 &plates xiv - xv).

Was Ptahhotep, besides vizier, also a teacher of wisdom ?Papyrus Prisse, belonging to the Bibliothque Nationale (Paris), contains theonly complete version of the Maxims we currently possess. It is in MiddleEgyptian, the language of the Middle Kingdom, and was probablymanifactured in the XIth Dynasty (in this First Intermediate Period, between

ca. 2198 and 1938 BCE, another interesting work of literature saw the light :theDiscourse of a Man with his Ba). The text itself situates the wisdom-teaching in the late Vth Dynasty, when Old Egyptian was still in use. If theteachings were indeed Ptahhotep's and he originally wrote them in OldEgyptian, then we are forced to assume considerable linguistic alterations toexplain how the Old Egyptian text became a Middle Egyptian one. For MiriamLichtheim, this is one of the strong arguments in favour of the idea that theMaxims are pseudo-epigraphic (Lichtheim,1975, vol.1, p.6).
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Interestingly, these wisdom-teachings do not stand alone. The "earliest"instruction is the Teaching of Prince Hordedef (son of Pharaoh Khufu, IVthDynasty, ca. 2571 - 2548). Only a fragment of the text has survived(namely the beginning -Lichtheim,1975, pp.58-59). It has been pieced

together using relatively late copies, namely 9 ostraca of the New Kingdomand one wooden tablet of the Late Period (Brunner-Traut,1940). The text isarchaic enough to be (late) Old Egyptian, i.e. a text supposedly transmitted(copied) without major alterations. If compared with the language of themonumental record, scholars situate its composition in the Vth Dynasty. Thetomb of Hardjedef, as he is also known, has been located at Giza, to the eastof the pyramid of his father Khufu. Hardjedef also appears later in storiescompiled during the Middle Kingdom. A lot of wisdom-teachings areattributed to him, but time has left us nothing but a few ostraca.

Ostracon

Mnchen 3400

The text of the Teaching ofPrince Hordedef had to be reconstructed out of nine ostraca of the

New Kingdom and one wooden tablet of the Late Period. The hieroglyphs of the Munich ostracon

bought by Emma Brunner-Traut in Thebes are given below. Parts of the translation based onother sources are italized.

The reconstructed fragment (Lichtheim,1975, pp.58-59) reads :

Fragment :The Instruction of Hordedef
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(Vth Dynasty - reconstructed)

Beginning of the written teaching made by the hereditary prince, count, King'sson, Hordedef ("Hrddf"), for his son, his nursling, whose name is Au-ib-re.

He says :

"Cleanse yourself before your own eyes, lest another cleanse you.(1)

When you prosper, found your household, take a mistress of heart,(2)a son willbe born to You. It is for the son that you build a house when you make a placefor yourself.(3)

Make a good dwelling in the graveyard, make worthy your station in the West.(4

Accept that death humbles us, accept that life exalts us, the house of death isfor life.(5)

Seek for yourself well-watered fields.(6)Choose for him(7)a plot among your fields, well-watered every year. He profitsyou more than your own son,(8)prefer him even to your (...) --- "(1) also in the Maxims, we find a warning at the start (line 43). But here, the Hordedefinstructs his son to purify himself, for otherwise someone else will wash off theunnecessary before he does. It is better to criticize oneself and do something about it,
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than to wait until another points to the defect and starts taking it away ;(2) a woman who is hearthy & jovial ;(3) what a man erects is for posterity (the "son") - what one does for oneself has onlyvalue if it also benefits posterity - actions are always based on what has been given by

the ancestors ;(4) this advice also recurs in theInstruction of Merikare- the "venerated place" (Maxims,line 537) is this "station in the West", the "tomb" which the greedy lacks (line 248)- this"place" was was also called the "place of silence" ;(5) the worthy station in the West is acquired by a good tomb because the offeringspresented to the Ka gratified the Ba. As a result, the Ka (the energetical double of thepersonality) endured (otherwise it perished) and the Ba (the soul) was gratified (vitalizedby the Ka) and beatified. The spiritual principle in touch with the Ba, namely the "Khu" or"spirit", was considered immortal and eternal. But it seems likely that the Ba could bedepleted (lacking its Ka by absence of offerings) ;(6) yearly inundated by the Nile (both physical as metaphorical) ;

(7) the funerary priest ;(8) the son will continue the tradition and draw his own vignettes of good examples.However, the (magical) power which will truly benefit the father, is the continuity of theofferings made to his Ka when his physical body has died and has been mummified &entombed. So the priest(s) must be well provided.

The third Old Kingdom instruction is that to Kagemni (serving under Huni &Snefru, IIIth to IVth Dynasty). Of this Instruction to Kagemni only the finalportion is preserved and the name of the sage is lost. But, the text is partalso of Papyrus Prisse and (after a blank stretch) it is followed by

the Maxims of Ptahhotep. Clearly, the fact that Papyrus Prissecontains bothtextsmakes it the oldest compendium of wisdom teachings extant onpapyrus. Although the context of the teaching (to Kagemni) claims to be lateIIIth Dynasty, its language is characterized by the schematics of MiddleEgyptian encountered in the text of theMaxims, which claims to be late VthDynasty. As the record makes the point of the difference between late IIIthDynasty and late Vth Dynasty literature, the "tangibly fictional nature of thisattribution"(Lichtheim,1975, vol 1, p.67) must be acknowledged. As onlythe wisdom teachings were transmitted in the name of a famous sage(allother literature beinganonymous), we may presume that this name is

indicative of a school of thought initiated by a historical figure of importance(another excellent example is Imhotep and later Amenhotep).

"Aus der in die Lehre genannten Zeit, den Regierungen des Knigs Snofru,ist ein Wesir mit Namen Kagemni nicht bekannt, dagegen existiert inSaqqara das Grab eines solchen aus der frhen 6.Dynastie, und es ist sehrwahrscheinlich, dass dieser Mann mit dem Empfnger der Lehre gemeint ist,zumal sich am Grab Spuren seiner Verehrung gefunden haben. Die Lehre
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wre dann, wie mache gyptischen Literaturwerke, in eine berhmdeVergangenheit zurckdatiert worden. Dass sie noch im Alten Reich, wennauch gegen dessen Ende, verfasst worden ist, drfen wir nach Inhalt undSprache annehmen."Brunner(1991, p.133).

Because we know : (a) many of the forms characteristic of Middle Egyptiancan already be found in the biographical inscriptions from VIth Dynastytombs and (b) the Maxims (together with the Instruction to Kagemni)fit "into the ambiance of the late Old Kingdom"(Lichtheim,1975, vol 1, p.7)and its monumental inscriptions, the author of the Maxims was most likely atwork ca.150 years aftervizier Ptahhotep, who indeed worked at the court ofPharaoh Djedkare Izez or Issa, died (namely after Pepi II). And as the periodbetween the probable first redaction in the late VIth Dynasty and the extantMiddle Kingdom versions is rather small (the end of the VIth and thebeginning of the XIth are only a century apart), only minor textualalterations have to be conjectured to bridge the gap between the firstredaction and the extant copy. The other line of thought, which suggests aVth Dynasty original (composed before the Unis Texts !), has to cope withthe difficulty of explaining how an Old Egyptian text got copied and wasaltered to become the early Middle Egyptian text of Papyrus Prisse ?

Fragment :The Instruction to Kagemni(VIth Dynasty - Papyrus Prisse I & II)
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-
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(01) these four sentences describe how to be among the "satisfied" : the quiet, silentattitude is well received. In the Maxims we read : "spacious the seat of him who has beencalled" (line 179). In the Pyramid Texts, Teti's seat is spacious with Geb (Utterance 402, 698a). Those who speak little are not likely to reveal what they hear.

(02) "Nn Hn nn is Hr sp.f" is difficult. I take "Hn" for "run, haste", and "sp" as "fault".(03) only a moment's effort is required ;(04) makes one feel stronger, vitalized and envigorated ;(05) the more one eats, the more one forgets that the food was given - i.e. the voraciousis ungrateful ;(06) feast not with a bad-tempered drunk ;(07) the crocodile snaps its meat voraciously and without consideration - if one attacksone's meat in the vincinity of the glutton, he will feel disadvantaged and spoil the meal ;(08) "Hrr (amended to "Htr") n Hr r dfA-ib" is difficult and probably corrupt - "dfA" is theproblem. Most scholars agree with "stolid", i.e. having or expressing little or no emotions,unemotional, but I prefer impassive, which has no pejorative connotations and fits better

in the context of the "silent" timid, whereas "stolid" retains negative associations, as does"slow-wittedness", which is totally inappropriate ;(09) the actions which are sealed by your name are better than your words in the wind ;(10) an inflated sense of personhood - the same advise is found in the Maxims ;(11) having become apparent, clear, evident ;(12) they conducted themselves, or lived, accordingly.

Although at present no consensus among scholars exists, I agree withLichtheim that the texts of Kagemni & Ptahhotep arepseudo-epigraphic.Thisdoes not exclude the possibility of a line of transmission going back to the

historical author. In the case of Ptahhotep, this would be suggestive of a"Memphite school" or a community of scribes working in the House of Life ofthe temple of Ptah at Memphis. Of this however, we only havecircumstancial evidence and no direct proof.

The actual redaction of this age old wisdom at the end of the OldKingdom, could also point to an attempt to exorcise the fortcoming collapseof the Memphite Kingdom under the pressure of the provinces and theirenriched nomarchs. Was it the aim of the unknown author to summarize thebest of what the past had given, because of the crisis of today, which

needed to be solved so that the generations of tomorrow might endure ? Thesame method would be used, much later, by PharaohShabakawhen herescued the "worm-eaten"Memphite theology.

In the Maxims, Pharaoh and pantheon play a passive part in the literarysetting of the teaching, whereas the discourse of the commoners waselucidated in the context of the avoidance of the collapse of the naturalorder and its rectitude by doing Maat for Pharaoh (who offered it for
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creation).

We shall treat the Maxims of Good Discourse as a pseudo-epigraphicwisdom-text written by an unknown author who, by means of a set ofliterary devices (such as a pseudo-epigraphic attribution, a compositional

context, a narrative structure, a "count" of good examples, etc.), tried toimpart the non-polemic, moral philosophyof the Old Kingdom. This authorsaw in the historical vizier Ptahhotep a recent, grand example of Maateverybody still knew, would recognize and might adhere to.

These considerations point to the following redactional levels : extant text : to be found on the oldest papyrus extant, dating XIth

Dynasty (ca. 2081 - 1938 BCE) ; original text : probably written in early Middle Egyptian in the late VIth

Dynasty (ca. 2348 - 2198 BCE) ; original ideas: not later as the period proposed in the extant text ?

Pharaoh Djedkare of the late Vth Dynasty, reigned between ca. 2411and 2378 BCE. The legend of wisdom-teachers goes back to Imhotep,the architect of Pharaoh Djoser of the IIIth Dynasty, ca.2654 - 2635BCE.

But is remains difficult to establish how far these wisdom teachings really goback. For example, in the early days of research, egyptologists datedthe Pyramid Texts as early as possible. For Sethe they were Predynastic !Most contemporary egyptologists go to the other extreme, and date the

origin of texts close to the time of their extant textualization(even if theassumption of earlier copies of the same text is not unreasonable or evenmentioned in the copy). The more we study the Predynastic Period (i.e.before 3000 BCE), the more it can be shown that important elements of theEgyptian cultural form were already present before the Dynasties started.But the introduction, in the Early Dynastic Period (Dynasty I and II, ca. 3000- 2670 BCE), of Pharaoh (the "Followers of Horus") was essential to theprocess of consolidating the elements of the unification of the Two Lands andits various deities. The advancement of language ran parallel with Pharaoh'soutstanding achievements. By the IVth Dynasty, Old Egyptian was writtendown.

As the language of the Maxims is indeed suggestive of the VIth Dynasty, themost reasonable earliest date is the one proposed by the extant text itself,namely de reign of Pharaoh Djedkare. Indeed, these instructions embodyteachings on justice & truth (Maat) which must have existed long before theVIth Dynasty. On the walls of the tomb of the pyramid of Pharaoh Unis (VthDynasty) and the rulers of the VIth, we read :


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"To say : 'May you shine as Re, repress wrongdoing, cause Maat to standbehind Re, shine every day for him who is in the horizon of the sky. Openthe gates which are in the Abyss."Pyramid Texts, utterance 586 ( 1582), translated byFaulkner(1969, p.238).

"Collect what belongs to Maat, for Maat is what the King says."Pyramid Texts, utterance 758 ( 2290), translated byFaulkner(1969, p.318).

Wisdom as a literary genre is the fruit of a society which knows leisure,peace & prosperity. When cultures are only surviving, no higher, lessmaterial and more spiritual values concerning life and oneself are possible.That this profound literary genre emerged more than 4000 years ago, ishighly remarkable and should mobilize more attention than it has. So thewisest sages of Ancient Egypt were pre-philosophers ? True, they did notargue in abstract, discursivecategories. Their schemes, pre-concepts andconcrete conceptualizations allow us to understand thought from anunexpected, ante-rational perspective, so that the aim of cognitivephilosophy is realized : an integrated rationality in harmony with ante-rationalist (and its instincts) & intellectual perception (and its intuitions).This is a rationality with a global perspective, working in the local context ofeveryday. It fosters sustainable harmonization instead of sustainabledevelopment, for enduring growth is an illusion. Only the balance itselfendures, not what lies in its scales.

Wisdom-literature remained a genre in Ancient Egypt from its legendary

start (Imhotep of the IIIth Dynasty who allegedly wrote the first "wisdom-teaching") untill the advent of the Christian era.
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2 Philological & Historical remarks and options.

2.1 Papyrus Prisse, the British Museum Papyri and theCarnarvon Tablet.

It is impossible to say, how early the Egyptians began to cut and press thestalks of the papyrus plant in order to make a material for the use of thescribe. But we know that papyrus was already employed for literarypurposes in the time of the IIIth Dynasty (ca. 2670 - 2600 BCE), whereasuninscribed papyrus has been found in tombs of the first Dynasty (ca. 3000BCE) ! We also know that it was used for cursive hieroglyphs (reservingstone for the lasting constructions of Pharaoh).


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The Maxims have survived in four copies :

Papyrus Prisse (P) : this is the most precious & oldest papyrus known(XIth Dynasty - ca. 2081 - 1938 BCE). It has been well styled "the

oldest book in the world" (Chabas,1858). It was bought by E.Prissed'Avennes (1807 - 1879), a French engineer, painter and masterdraughtsman who lived in Luxor. He was passionate about Arabic andEgyptian Art (cf. Histoire de l'Art gyptien, 1878) and also adistinguished scholar who, with the documentation collected during hismany travels in the Middle East, gave a decisive contribution to theknowledge of Arabian Art.On the East side of the Nile (ancient Thebes- Drah Abou'l Negga), he acquired the papyrus which wouldimmortalize his name. It contained the end of the "teaching" ofKagemni and a complete version of that of Ptahhotep. It clearly

appeared to be a Middle Kingdom copy of earlier copies.ForJquier(1911), this was "le texte littraire gyptien le plus difficule traduire". Breasted, Erman & Gardiner agreed ;

Papyri BM (L1):British Museum Papyri nos10371 - 10435 (publishedby Jquier, 1911) of the XIIth Dynasty - it consists of two series offragments and is incomplete (no beginning) ;

Papyrus BM (L2):British Museum Papyrus n 10409 (Budge,1910),bought at Thebes of the XVIIIth Dynasty - New Kingdom, is incomplete(only the beginning), but gives some clues as to punctuation ;

Carnarvon Tablet (C) : found in 1908 by Lord Carnarvon (CairoMuseum N 41790, published by Jquier, 1911) is of the XVIIth or

XVIIIth Dynasty - New Kingdom and also incomplete (only thebeginning).

In 1956,Zbarealized a decisive translation and also reproduced thehieroglyphs of these four sources in a comprehensive and clear way (whichwas absent in the work ofDvaud,1916). It is this publication which I usedand reproduced, i.e.Zba's hieroglyphspublished more than 40 years agoby the "Academie Tchcoslovatique des Sciences" of Prague (under theacademician Lexa), i.e. in former Czechoslovakia.

The translation of the American egyptologist Wilson, publishedbyPrichard(1950 & 1958) made use of all extant copies and as a result heworked from a text of his own. Recently,Brunner(1991) followed acomparative course. Other scholars likeLichtheim(1975) use Papyrus Prisseonly, which is logical, for it is the oldest as well as a complete version.

The present translation follows Papyrus Prisse and takes Papyrus L1inaccount (for both are Middle Egyptian). L2is used to understand
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punctuation, not contents. C is helpful to analyze the linguistic evolution ofthe text (being the extant terminus). My translation was directly influencedby the work of Zba (French), Lichtheim (English), Brunner (German) & Jacq(French), but always returned to the hieroglyphs.

plaintextlexiconof major conceptsnotesto the texthieroglyphictext

2.2 Hermeneutics of Ancient Egyptian.

Besides the general principles developed in the context of my studyofFlemish mysticism(cf. theSeven Ways of Holy Loveof Beatrice ofNazareth (1200 - 1268), and the last part of the Spiritual Espousals by Jan

of Ruusbroec (1293 1381), calledThe Third Life), Ancient Egyptianliterature calls for special considerations :1. semantic circumscription (Gardiner): to those unaware of the

semantical problem in mythical, pre-rational and proto-rationalthought and its literary products, the differences betweenvarioustranslations may be disconcerting. Ancient Egyptian literatureis a treasure-house of this ante-rational cognitive activity, andits "logic" is entirely contextual, pictoral, artistic and practical.The meaning or conception of the sense of certain words,

especially in sophisticated literary context, is prone to largediscrepancies. Gardiner spoke of "interpretative preferences"(Gardiner,1946). Furthermore, despite major grammaticaldiscoveries, Egyptian writing is ambiguous qua grammaticalform. Some of its defects can not be overcome and so a"consensus omnium" among all sign interpreters is unlikely.The notion of "semantic circumscription" was derived from thisquote by Gardiner : "If the uncertainty involved in suchtenuous distinctions awake despondency in the minds of some

students, to them I would reply that our translations, thoughvery liable to error in detail, nevertheless at the worst give aroughly adequate idea of what the ancient author intended ;we may not grasp his exact thought, indeed at times we maygo seriously astray, but at least we shall have circumscribedthe area within which his meaning lay, and with thatachievement we must rest content."(Gardiner, 1946, pp.72-
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73, my italics). To the latter, more attention to lexicography (adiscussion of individual words) and the rule that at least onecertain example of the sense of a word must be given wereconsidered as crucial. Personally I would add the rule that one

has to take into consideration all hieroglyphs (also thedeterminatives) and try to circumscribe the meaning byassessing the context in which words and sentences appears ;

2. the benefit of the doubt (Zba): amendments should beintroduced with great caution and for very good reasons.Indeed, some egyptologists change the original text with greatease, and consider that Egyptian scribes were careless andprone to mistakes. This is not correct.Zba(1956, p.11))prompted us to respect the original text and made it hisprinciple. He wrote :"Pour ce qui est la traductiond'un textegyptien dans une langue moderne, l'tude de divers textes(...) m'a amen au principe dont je me suis fait une rgle, savoir de considrer a prioriun texte gyptien comme correctet de m'en expliquer chaque difficult tout d'abord par l'aveude ne pas connatre la grammaire ou le vocabulaire gyptienaussi bien qu'un Egyptien. (...) et ce n'est donc qu'aprs avoirlongement, mais en vain, consult d'autres textes et nepouvant expliquer la difficult autrement, que je suis enclin croire que le texte est altr."

3. multiple approaches (Frankfort) : this notion implies that onehas to assimilate the Egyptian way of thinking before engagingin explaining anything. Their "method" being not linear,axiomatic (definitions & theorema) or linearecta.Frankfort(1961, pp.16-20) explains : "... the coexistenceof different correlation of problems and phenomena presents nodifficulties. It is in the concrete imagery of the Egyptian texts anddesigns that they become disturbing to us ; there lies the main sourceof the inconsistencies which have baffled and exasperated modernstudents of Egyptian religion. (...) Here then we find an abrupt

juxtaposition of views which we should consider mutually exclusive.This is what I have called a multiplicity of approaches : the avenue ofpreoccupation with life and death leads to one imaginative conception,that with the origin of the existing world to another. Each image, eachconcept was valid within its own context. (...) And yet such quasi-conflicting images, whether encountered in paintaings or in texts,should not be dismissed in the usual derogatory manner. They display
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a meaningful inconsistency, and not poverty but superabundance ofimagination. (...) This discussion of the multiplicity of approaches to asingle cosmic god requires a complement ; we must consider theconverse situation in which one single problem is correlated withseveral natural phenomena. We might call it a 'multiplicity of

answers'."4. integral acceptation (Zimmer) : in his study of Eastern

religions and exegesis of Hindu thought, the German scholarHeinrich Zimmer introduced a principle which implies thatbefore one studies a culture one has to accept that it exists orexisted as it does and claims. One should approach andinterprete its cultural forms as little as possible usingstandards which does not fit in, which focus on subjects whichwere of no interest to it (like the colour of the hair of royal

mummies) or which reduces it to what is already known. Thismeans that one, as does comparative cultural anthropologywith its methodology of participant observation, accepts theculture at hand without prejudices andprojections.Zimmer(1972, p.3) explains himself : "Lamthode -ou, plutt, l'habitude- qui consists ramener ce quin'est pas familier ce que l'on connat bien, a de tout tempsmen la frustration intellectuelle. (....) Faute d'avoir adoptune attitude d'acceptation, nous ne recevons rien ; nous nousvoyons refuser la faveur d'un entretien avec les dieux. Ce n'estpoint notre sort d'tre submergs, comme le sol d'Egypte, parles eaux divines et fcondantes du Nil. C'est parce qu'ellessont vivantes, possdant le pouvoir de faire revivre, capablesd'exercer une influence effective, toujours revouvele,indfinissable et pourtant logique avec elle-mme, sur le plande la destine humaine, que les images du folklore et dumythe dfient toute tentative de systmatisation. Elles ne sontpas des cadavres, mais bien des esprits possesseurs. Avec unrire soudain, et un brusque saut de ct, elles se jouent du

spcialiste qui s'imagine les avoir pingles sur son tableausynoptique. Ce qu'elles exigent de nous ce n'est pas demonologue d'un officier de police judiciaire, mais le dialogued'une conversation vivante."

5. non-abstraction: egyptologists are aware that the cognitive abilities ofthe Ancient Egyptians were not the same as the Greeks. Thanks toPiaget's description of the genesis of cognition, we can assess the
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Egyptian heritage with the standards of ante-rational thought, to wit :the mythical, pre-rational and proto-rational modes of thoughts, whicheach have their specific modus operandi. Hence, when we try tointerprete a text, the question before us is : in what mode or modes ofthought was this written (which kind of text is this) ? Indeed, because

of the multiplicity of approaches, the Ancient Egyptians left old strandsof thought intact, with an amalgam of approaches placed next to eachother without interference as a result ;

6. spatial semantics: Ancient Egyptian hieroglyphic writing was morethan a way to convey well-formed meaning (i.e. language), but triedto invoke the magic of the "numen praesens", involving the use ofspace (a contemporary equivalent is the Zen garden) as a additionalelement in the composition of meaning. TheShabaka Stone,discussedearlier, is only one (late) example of the principles of spatialorganization which governed Egyptian from the start (besides honorific

or graphic transpositions). Unsightly gaps and disharmoniousdistributions were rejected. Groupings always involved the use ofimaginary squares or rectangles ensuring the proportionedarrangement. This allowed for slight imperfections. Furthermore,important hieroglyphs were given their architectonic, monumental orornamental equivalent. Spatial semantics was at work in largemonumental constructions as well as in small stela or tiny juweleryand important tools (for Maat is at work in both the big and the small)... Egyptologists have not given this aspect of Egyptian "sacredgeometry" the attention it deserves (besidesSchwaller de Lubicz),leaving the horizon wide opened to wild stellar, historical &

anthropological speculations.7. metaphorical inclination: Ancient Egyptians "spoke in images". This

holds true in a linguistic sense (namely their use of pictograms), butalso with regard to their literary inclinations. When somebody grabbedhis meat violently, the Egyptian thought of the voracious crocodile whohas no tongue and who has to grab his food with his teeth and swallowit in one piece. When they saw the Sun rise and heared the baboonssing, they associated this activity with praise and the glorification oflight, etc. Some hymns speak in images, poetical phrases, metaphorsand other sophisticated literary devices. Literary and metaphorical

meaning overlapped and interpenetrated (for example : "He who spitsto heaven sees his spittle fall back on his face.) ... The epithets of thedeities too are full of visual elements. Some egyptologists tend torewrite this to comfort the contemporary readers. This offends thefluid nature of the texts and makes them dry and gray. The contrary(leaving these images intact) works confusing when Egyptian literatureis new. As a function of their intention to try to really grasp the sense,translators make a compromize between literal and analogical
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renderings. I myself tend towards the analogical (which was closer tothe Egyptian way of life), leaving room for explicative notes andcomments.

It goes without saying, that all the hermeneutical rules-of-tumb in the world

will not guarantee a perfect translation, which simply does not exist. TheItalian dictum "traduttore traditore" (the translator is a traitor), is especiallytrue for Egyptian. As with all texts of antiquity, large scale comparison is thebest option. Not only has the text to be contextualized, but one has toacquire the habit of looking up the same word or expression in variouscontexts across time (lexicography). But even then, one should be contentwith Gardiner's view that to circumscribe sense is the best one can do. Attimes, my guess is as good as any other ...

"Although we can approach its grammar in an orderly fashion (...) we areoften puzzled and even frustrated by the continual appearance of exceptionsto the rules. Middle Egyptian can be especially difficult in this regard ..."Allen(2001, p.389).

So the best one can do, given these difficulties -which can not be takenaway- is to publish the original hieroglyphic text along with new translations,influenced as they are by consulting the original texts along with those ofthe most published specialists at work in the field for the last century, i.e.peoplelikeBreasted,Sethe,Gardiner,Faulkner,Lichtheim,Allen,Hornung,Assmann,Grimaland otherdedicated contemporary scholars.In this way, alternative

translations can be made by the competent sign interpreter. This process isunending. I wholeheartedly admit to be an amateur compared withprofessional linguists like Gardiner, Lichtheim or Allen. The scope & intentionof my work is however different. Genuine philosophical hermeneutics tries tomake use of authentic, historical texts, which makes serious studies of theoriginal languages at hand unavoidable (cf. mySeven Ways of HolyLoveandThe Third Life,based on Middle Dutch, the Yoga-stra,based onSanskrit, andQ1,The Gospel of Thomas,theDidacheandThe MysticalTheologybased on Greek & Latin sources). Next, the various ideasexpressed in these texts serve as references in a philosophical inquiry for itsown sake. The philosopher has to be able to read the original text to thepoint of a good understanding of the signs present. This is not the same asto have an overall, detailed view of all grammatical rules with theirexceptions and examples. But to gain a good understanding of the contextand its problem (the reason why the original text had to be invoked), theamateur has to know all available linguistic tools well enough to identify apossible rule at work, and he must have the time to think all possiblesolutions over many times to "untie the knot" ...
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2.3. A few points of importance concerning the MemphiteKingdom.

Chronologyapproximative, all dates BCEPredynastic Period

earliest communities - 5000 Badarian culture - 4000 Naqada I - 4000 - 3600 or

Amratian culture Naqada II - 3600 - 3300 or

Gerzean culture Terminal Predynastic Period : 3300

- 3000Dynastic Period

Early Dynastic Period : 3000 - 2600 Old Kingdom : 2600 - 2200 First Intermediate Period : 2200 -

1940 Middle Kingdom 1940 - 1760 Second Intermediate Period : 1760

- 1500 New Kingdom : 1500 - 1000 Third Intermediate Period : 1000 -

650 Late Period : 650 - 343

The following points should be kept in mind regarding the Old Kingdom : population:Hassan(1993) estimated the population about 1.2 million

persons - the earlier semi-autonomous villages lost their independenceand all land was owned by royal estates ;

cultural density: the great edifices of cultural life were all erected in ornear Memphis - the major centres of population became capitals of
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administrative districs or provinces (nomes), with the capital of thecountry at the vertex of the Delta ;

royal residence : at the center of Egyptian civilization stood the "greathouse", an expression which referred to the monumental presence ofthe rule of the kings of Egypt, but which is also suggestive of the

"great household" which characterized the Old Kingdom, i.e. thecorporate organization & administration - the precise location of theWhite Wall ("Ineb-hedj"), on the west bank of the Nile, south ofmodern Cairo, the capital founded by Menes, has not yet beenestablished (scholars suggest Abusir in the Nile Valley, north-east ofDjoser's complex) - during the Old Kingdom, the royal residence didnot move away from Memphis ("Men-netjeret" was a stone buildingsouth-west of Djoser's pyramid).

A culture (or a sustained meaningful form) consists of social formations, aneconomy, common values, beliefs & practices, art, philosophy and religion.To faithfully recreate the picture of any culture of antiquity, we must knowthe shape of every layer. For this, we depend on physical evidence, rangingfrom archaeological, monumental & funerary evidence to linguistic,hermeneutical & philosophical studies of the available texts.

Linguistically, several stages may be discerned in Ancient Egyptian : schematic : as economy changes from hunting and gathering to

communal agriculture, humans make a much deeper impact on theirenvironments. They leave much more artefacts (deliberate, because

they are sedentary & as waste). Gerzean ware-design revealed theactivity of mythical schemata (Czerwinski,1995). The "great cow-goddess" (Hathor) dominated (Hassan,1992). We can consider this tobe the beginning of our understanding of Egypt's earliest myths. InPredynastic Egypt, the first communities start between 5000 and 4100BCE (cf. Merimda Beni Salama) ;

archaic: political unification & literacy (a written script) are achieved3000 BCE, although there are few extant literary sources for the first 4or 5 centuries - the scarcity of texts from these earliest times seems toindicate that the written language (the script) was not yet widely used;

early Old Egyptian: the first statues of scribes appear during the IVthDynasty, possibly indicating that the ability to write was still somethingreserved to the very limited few. Hence, the vast stratum of scribesthat later formed a social class in Egyptian society did not yet exist -this early Old Egyptian gives expression to the pre-rational mode ofthought ;
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Old Egyptian : in a few generations time, the script evolvedconsiderably - extant since the end of the Vth Dynasty (Pyramid Texts,i.e. ca. 650 years after the unification), it confronts pre-rationality withearly proto-rationality, leaving however the contradictions intact ;

Classical Egyptian : manifesting on papyri of the XIth Dynasty (Prisse),

but probably emerging at the end of the Old Kingdom (ca. 2200 BCE),Middle Egyptian develops and becomes the standard of literacy (MiddleKingdom) - it continued to be the language of the monumental,funerary & priestly record.

The long period of economical stability enjoyed by Egypt in the Old Kingdom,unassailed and living in plenty, explains why a considerable number ofpeople could be taken out of the production of food, housed, fed and -ifnecessary- healed to erect the pyramids. It is clear that this must havepressured the slaveless and moneyless Egyptian economy.


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"The treasury and its functions. The chart shows the principal operationscarried out by the treasury in the Early Dynastic period (based uponinformation from contemporary sources : seal-impressions, inscribed stonevessels, and the Third Dynasty tomb inscription of Pehernefer)."Wilkinson,2001, pp.126-127.

Three factors were of important in the Memphite economy : it was slaveless, so it had to be workable (rotation-system, chain-

labour, unit labour) ; Pharaoh owned everything and could give parts of his land away (and

so loose its surplus) ; there was no money : economical transactions involved commerce "in

natura".The fact these formidable Old Kingdom constructions were built, can only be

explained by a yearly overall surplus large & varied enough to compensatefor these "great works", and this without emptying the reserves needed foreventual local shortages, protection and administration (for production-techniques remained largely the same). These ongoing activities of Pharaohand his court changed Egypt profoundly. Finally, they heralded the end ofthe "old" Memphite system, for as soon as the yearly overall surplus wassmaller than the actual losses (and/or not varied enough), local shortages &famines could cause uprise and civil disorder ... As, by the end of the VIthDynasty, Pharaoh had given away too much of his own surplus(to hisrepresentatives, the temples and the nobles), direct means to compensate

were lacking and the overall good distribution of goods was lost, as well asPharaoh's power to act as a "deus ex machina" (he was bound by his owncontracts). The end of the Old Kingdom would thus prove to be the outcomeof a negative economical balance-sheet hand in hand with a commandingbureaucracy dominating an economically weakened Pharaoh. A falling apartcaused by loosening the cords and avoiding the standard of the plumb-line,spoiling the equilibrium of the scales ? Add to this a world-wide climatechange, causing drought and extremely low Nile floods for several decades,and the collapse of the Old Kingdom was at hand.

The Maxims of Good Discourseby vizier Ptahhotep (ca. 2400 BCE)after two Middle Kingdom copies
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This translation is based on the two oldest extantsources(MiddleKingdom). Technical elements (in teal) have been added to the text(in black) :

sources: the sources of the text are given as : P, L1, L2and C ; general composition: in 3 parts : I.Prologue, II.Teachings : 37

maxims and III.Epilogue with Colophon ; numbering: numbers of verses are new - the number of Dvaud

(1916) is indicated as : (D+number) ; hieroglyphs: the numbers of the 37 maxims are hyperlinked with the

corresponding section of thehieroglyphic textofZba(1956) ; notes: the hyperlinked notes refer to aseparate webpage; special words : the word "heart" has been italized to indicate that the

passage in question figures in thelexiconof heart, wisdom & religious

concepts ; theological concepts: all religious concepts (god, gods, etc.) are

in bold; plain text: to read the text without most technical elements :

clickhere; (...) : words added to clarify the text and allow for more fluency ; {...} : explanatory remarks ;

I PROLOGUE(P, L2& C)(01) Written teachings of(02) the overseer of the city, the vizier Ptahhotep,(1)(03) under the Majestyof Pharaoh Izezi,(04) King of Upper and Lower Egypt, may he live for ever and ever !

(05) The overseer of the city, the vizier Ptahhotep, he says :

(06) "Sovereign, my Lord !(07) Old age is here, old age arrives !(08) Exhaustion comes, weakness is made new.(09) One lies down in discomfort all day,(10) eyes are dim, ears deaf,(11) strength wanes, the heartis weary.(12) The mouth, silent, speaks not,
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(13) the heart, ended, recalls not the past,(14) the bones ache throughout.(15) Good becomes evil,(16) all taste is gone.(17) What age does to people(18) is evil in everything.(19) The nose clogged, breathes not,(20) difficult are standing and sitting.(2)

(21) May this servant be commanded to make a 'Staff of Old Age' !(3)(22) so as to speak to him the words of the judges,(4)(23) the ways of those before,(24) who listened to the gods.(5)(25) May the like be done for You,(26) so that strife may be removed from the people,(27) and the Two Shores(6)may serve You."

(28) The Majestyof this god said :

(29) "As for You, teach him then the sayings of the past,(30) so that he may become a good example for the children of thegreat.(7)(31) May hearing enter him and(32) the exactness of every heartthat speaks to him.

(8)

(33) No one is born wise."

II THE TEACHING

(34) Beginning of the maxims of good discourse,(9)(35) spoken by the prince, count, god's father, beloved of god,(36) eldest son of the King, of his body,(10)(37) overseer of the city, vizier Ptahhotep,(38) teaching the ignorant in knowledge,(39) and in the standard of good discourse,(11)(40) beneficial to him who hears,(41) but woe to him who neglects it. end of C

The Maxims of Good Discourse (P and L2)
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(42) So he spoke to his son :

1(D51)

(43) "Don't let your heartget big because of your knowledge.(44) Take counsel with the ignorant as well as with the scholar.(45) (For) the limits of art are not brought,(46) (and) no artisan is equipped with perfection.(12)(47) Good discourse is more hidden than green stone,(13)(48) yet may be found among the maids at the grindstones.(14)

2(D60)

(49) If You meet a disputant in his moment (of action),(15)(50) one who directs his heart, superior to You,(51) fold your arms(16)and bend your back.(52) Do not seize your heartagainst him,(53) (for) he will never agree with You.(54) Belittle the evil speech,(55) by not opposing him while he is in his moment.(56) He will be called a know-nothing,(57) when your control of heartwill match his piles (of words).

3(D68)

(58) If You meet a disputant in his moment (of action)(59) who is your equal, your peer,(60) You will make your excellence exceed his by silence,(61) (even) while he is speaking wrongly.(62) Great (then) is the discussion among the hearers, (and)(63) the knowledge the magistrates have of your name will be

good.(17)

4(D74)

(64) If You meet a disputant in his moment (of action),
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Documents

The Maxims of Good Discourse (Ma'at)