Limestone Ostraca with the Instruction of Amennakht
1170 BCE
Late New Kingdom
The hieratic is a copy of ‘The Instruction of Amennakht’, written in literary New Egyptian, a rare example of a literary work composed by a known historical individual. His apprentice Hormin was the son of his colleague Hori and friend of his own son Amenhotep. The Teaching was probably circulated locally among the litterateurs of the village, as well as being used as a copying exercise for Amennakht’s apprentices. Some seven copies on ostraca are known, but all the others contain a shorter extract than this one.
Translation:
Beginning of the Instruction,
the verses for the way of life,
made by the scribe Amennakht
he says:You are a man who listens to a speech
to separate good from bad
- attend and hear my speech!
Do not neglect what I say!
Very sweet it is for a man to be recognized
as someone [competent] in every work.
Let your heart become like a great dyke,
beside which the flood is mighty.
Receive my utterance in all its matter;
do not be recalcitrant [so as to] overthrow [it]!
Let your eyes see every trade,
and all that is done by writing,
and you will realize the fact [that they
are] excellent, the observations I have spoken.
Do not neglect the matter!
I shall reject a long report as inappropriate.
Make great your heart (be patient?) in its haste
and speak only when you have been summoned.
You shall be a scribe and go around the House of Life
- this is how to become like a chest of writings!
(Source: The British Museum)