Instruction of Ptahhotep
Wisdom is teachable, and the good life consists of self-control, listening before speaking, and treating rank as a temporary gift rather than a fixed truth.
- wisdom as a teachable craft
- self-control and restrained speech
- rank as impermanent
- the instruction genre (sebayt)
A wisdom text framed as an aging vizier's counsel to his son and successor, surviving chiefly in the Middle Kingdom Prisse Papyrus though set at the Old Kingdom court of Djedkare Isesi. Its maxims cover restraint in speech, fair dealing with subordinates, and humility before fortune, establishing the sebayt or instruction genre that runs through Egyptian literature for two thousand years.
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