SG :
1752-53
SCOTT :
1411-12
Ptahhotep
Ptahhotep
(ptāħ
ħwtp), sometimes known as Ptahhotpe or
Ptah-Hotep, was an ancient Egyptian official during the
late 25th century BC
and early 24th century
BC.
Life
Ptahhotep
was the city administrator and vizier (first minister) during the
reign of Djedkare Isesi
in the 5th
Dynasty. He is credited with
authoring The Instruction of
Ptahhotep, an early
piece of Egyptian "wisdom literature" meant to instruct young men
in appropriate behavior.
He had a son
named Akhethotep, who was also a vizier. He and his descendants
were buried at Saqqara.
Ptahhotep's
tomb is located in a mastaba in North
Saqqara where he was laid to rest by himself. His grandson
Ptahhotep Tshefi, who lived during the reign of
Unas, was buried
in the mastaba of his father.Their tomb is famous for its
outstanding depictions.
The Maxims of
Ptahhotep
Ptahhotep
wrote what is believed to be the first book in history by many
scholars, including Carole Fontaine. His book was
entitled The
Maxims of Ptahhotep. As
the Vizier, he wrote
on a number of topics in his book that were derived from the
central concept of Egyptian wisdom and literature which came from
the goddess Maat. She was
the daughter of the primordial
and symbolized both cosmic order and
social harmony. Ptahhotep’s instruction was written as advice
to his people in the hopes of maintaining this said
"social
order". He wrote perspicacious advice
covering topics from table manners and proper conduct for success
in court circles to handy hints to the husband for preserving his
wife’s beauty. Ptahhotep also wrote more social instructions
such as ways to avoid argumentative persons and cultivate self
control.
There are
authors who date the Maxims of Ptahhotep came much earlier than the
25th century. For instance, Pulitzer Prize winning historian Will
Durant dates these writings as early as 2880 BCE
within The Story of
Civilization: Our Oriental
History. Durant
claims that Ptahhotep could be considered the very first
philosopher in virtue of having the earliest and surviving
fragments of moral philosophy (i.e., "The Maxims of
Ptah-Hotep").
Ptahhotep's
grandson, Ptahhotep Tshefi, is traditionally credited with being
the author of the collection of wise sayings known as
The Maxims
of Ptahhotep whose
opening lines attribute authorship to the vizier Ptahhotep:
Instruction of the Mayor
of the city, the Vizier Ptahhotep, under the Majesty of King
Isesi. They take
the form of advice and instructions from a father to his son and
are said to have been assembled during the late Old Kingdom.
However, their oldest surviving copies are written in Middle
Egyptian dating to the late First
Intermediate Period of
the Middle
Kingdom.
The 1906
translation by Battiscombe
Gunn, published as part of the "Wisdom of
the East" series, was made directly from the papyrus in Paris,
rather than from copies, and is still in
print.
A manuscript
copy, the Prisse
Papyrus, is on display at the
Louvre.
Modern
influence
In the
popular 1960 book Initiation, author Elizabeth Haich
makes the claim that in a past life she
was the student and niece of Ptahhotep. Also, in an episode
of Quantum Leap
called "The Curse of
Ptah-Hotep", Sam Beckett
leaps into an archeologist named Dale
Conway as he and a colleague uncover the tomb of
Ptah-Hotep.
FROM
WIKIPEDIA
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