The Instruction of Ptah-Hotep and the Instruction of Ke’Gemni are Egyptian wisdom texts dating from the Old and Middle Kingdom periods — among the oldest literary works in the world. The Instruction of Ptah-Hotep, attributed to a vizier of the Fifth Dynasty (c. 2400 BC), offers guidance on conduct, speech, and relationships in a form that anticipates later Hellenistic and biblical wisdom literature.
This free EPUB edition is formatted for e-readers. As primary sources of extraordinary antiquity, these instructions are essential reading for Egyptologists, historians of religion, and anyone interested in the very earliest expressions of moral and practical philosophy in human writing.