The Instruction of Ptah-hotep

What does Ptah-hotep say about Greed?

If you want your conduct to be good, free from every evil, then beware of greed. It is an evil and incurable sickness. No man can live with it; it causes divisions between fathers and mothers, and between brothers of the same mother, it parts wife and husband; it is a gathering of every evil, a bag of everything hateful. A man thrives if his conduct is right. He who follows the right course wins wealth thereby. But the greedy man has no tomb..

What does Ptah-hotep say about intellectual snobbery?

Be not arrogant because of your knowledge, and be not puffed up because you are a learned man. Take counsel with the ignorant as with the learned, for the limits of art cannot be reached, and no artist is perfect in his skills. Good speech is more hidden than the precious greenstone, and yet it is found among slave girls at the millstones..

What does Ptah-hotep say about Obedience to a Superior?

Bend your back to him who is over you, your superior in the administration; then your house will endure by reason of its property, and your reward will come in due season. Wretched is he who opposes his superior, for one lives only so long as he is gracious...

What does Ptah-hotep say about Marriage?

If you are prosperous you should establish a household and love your wife as is fitting. Fill her belly and clothe her back. Oil is the tonic for her body. Make her heart glass as long as you live. She is a profitable field for her lord...

What does Ptah-hotep say about Exhortation to Listen?

If you listen to my sayings, then all your affairs will go forward. They are precious; their memory goes on in the speech of men because of their excellence. If each is saying is carried on, they will never perish in this land...

What does the king say in reply to the mayor and vizier Ptah-hotep?

"Instruct him in the sayings of the past.. Speak to him, for no one is born wise."

The mayor and vizier Ptah-hotep said what?

"O king, my lord, years come on, old age is here, decrepitude arrives, weakness is renewed... Let it be commanded of your servant to make a staff of old age: let my son be set in my place. Let me tell him the sayings of those who obeyed, the conduct of them of old, of them who listened to the gods..."

When did the author of the "Instruction of Ptah-hotep" live?

Around 2450 BC

What does Ptah-hotep say about sons and fathers?

If the son of a man accepts what his father says, no plan of his will fail... Failure follows him who does not listen. He who hears is established; he who is a fool is crushed... A son who hears is a follower of Horous: there is good for him who listens. When he reaches old age and attains honor, he tells the like to his children, renewing the teaching of his father. Every man teaches as he has acted. He speaks to his children so that they may speak to their children...

What does Ptah-hotep say about Conduct as a Guest at Table?

If you are a guest at the table of one who is greater than you, take what he offers as it is set before you. Fix your gaze upon what is before you, and pierce not your host with many glances, for it is an abomination to force your attention upon him. Speak not to him until he calls, for no one knows what may be offensive; speak when he addresses you, for then your words will give satisfaction. Laugh when he laughs; that will please him, and then whatever you do will please him...

What does Ptah-hotep say about Patience with Suppliants?

If you are a leader be kind in hearing the speech of a suppliant. Treat him not roughly until he has unburdened himself of what he was minded to tell you. The complainant sets greater store by the easing of his mind than by the accomplishments of that for which he came. As for him who deals roughly with a petition, men say, "Why, pray, has he ignored it?" Not all that men plead for ever comes to pass, but to listen kindly soothes the heart.

What does Ptah-hotep say about Leadership and "Maat"?

If you are a leader, commanding the conduct of many, seek out every good aim, so that your policy may be without error. A great thing is truth (maat), enduring and surviving; it has not been upset since the time of Osiris. He who departs from its laws is punished. It is the right path for him who knows nothing. Wrongdoing has never brought its venture safe to port. Evil may win riches, but it is the strength of truth that it endures long, and a man can say, "I learned it from my father."...

What does Ptah-hotep say about Conduct in Council?

If you are a worthy man sitting in the council of his lord, confine your attention to excellence. Silence is more valuable than chatter. Speak only when you know you can resolve difficulties. He who gives good counsel is an artist, for speech is more difficult than any craft...

What does Ptah-hotep say about Behavior in Changed Circumstances?

If you are now great after being humble and rich after being poor in the city that you know, do not boast because of what happened to you in the past. Be not miserly with your wealth, which has come to you by the god's (the king's) gift. You are no different from another to whom the same has happened.

What does Ptah-hotep say about Relations with Women?

If you wish to prolong friendship in a house into which you enter as master, brother, or friend, or any place you enter, beware of approaching the women. No place in which that is done prospers. There is no wisdom in it. A thousand men are turned aside from their own good because of a little moment, like a dream, by tasting which death is reached... He who... lusts after women, no plan of his will succeed.

Beginning of the maxims of good words spoken by the ... mayor and vizier, Ptah-hotep,teaching the what, expounding the what, and the injury to him who shall what?

Ignorant to know according to the standard of good words. The profit to him who shall listen to it. Transgress it

The values pursued in a heroic age ordinarily are found described where?

In folk epics

In this text, the term maat, usually translated "justice", should be viewed as what?

In the more static sense of "norm", "path", "tradition", "truth", "correctness"

Who was the author of the "Instruction of Ptah-hotep"?

The vizier of a Fifth Dynasty pharaoh

What do these early precepts reflect no concern for?

Life beyond the grave

What does it not emphasize?

Mankind's dependence upon the gods.

What does Ptah-hotep say in conclusion?

May you succeed me, may your body be sound, may the king be well pleased with all that is done, and may you spend many years of life! It is no small thing that I have done on earth; I have spent one hundred and ten years of life, which the king gave me, and with rewards greater than those of the ancestors, by doing right for the king until death.

Are moral principles of good and evil involved?

No

Did this materialistic conception of maat outlast the Old Kingdom?

No

Does Ptah-hotep have any doubts about the value and eternity of maat, the creation of the gods that can be handed down from father to son like property: "A great thing is maat, enduring and surviving; it has not been upset since the time of its creator... it endureth long, and a man can say, 'It is the property of my father.'"?

No

Has Egypt left us any epics?

No

What does the "Instruction of Ptah-hotep" consist of?

Percepts addressed to the vizier's son instructing the young man in rules of behavior leading to worldly success.

What does this meaning of "maat" refer to?

That which is customary and accepted because it has always worked

What was maat undermined by?

The total disorder pronounced by a time of troubles- the Feudal Age or First Intermediate Period- and men were forced to create a new foundation for conduct in positive moral principles and redefine maat to embrace justice and righteousness.

What is the "Instruction of Ptah-hotep" an outstanding example of?

This early type of literary expression

Right and wrong are equivalent to what?

What works and makes for success and what does not

Where can the same zest for worldly success and fame can be seen in texts inscribed where?

Within the tombs of the kings and nobles of the Old Kingdom (2700-2200 BC).