Instructions of Merikare
c. 2100–2000 BCE · First Intermediate Period / Early Middle Kingdom Egypt (c. 2100–2000 BCE) · Herakleopolis, Middle Egypt
*This translation is not currently available.* The Instructions of Merikare is a First Intermediate Period Egyptian wisdom text framed as the deathbed counsel of a Herakleopolitan king to his heir. The first complete English translation was John A. Wilson's version in Pritchard's *Ancient Near Eastern Texts* (1950); it remains under copyright. No pre-1929 complete translation exists. We are actively exploring ways to include this text. Subscribe to our email list at anunnaki.ai for updates when new texts are added.
notes
The Instructions of Merikare is one of the oldest surviving wisdom texts, a work of Egyptian political and moral counsel composed at some point during the First Intermediate Period or early Middle Kingdom (c. 2100–2000 BCE), and preserved in three papyrus copies of the New Kingdom (P. Hermitage 1116A being the most complete, though damaged). The text purports to be the deathbed counsel of a Herakleopolitan king (perhaps Khety III) to his son Merikare, who would inherit the throne during the political turmoil that preceded the reunification of Egypt under the Middle Kingdom. It is thus one of the earliest works in the world of what would become the "mirror for princes" genre — practical political instruction from an experienced ruler to his heir. The text's theological content is remarkable for its time. The passage on the making of man ("well cared for are men — the herd of God") is the earliest surviving statement of a doctrine that has echoes in later monotheistic traditions: God made heaven and earth for the sake of humanity, made the breath in men's nostrils, made the food for their tables, and hears them when they weep. The equally remarkable statement that "he made for them rulers from birth, a supporter to support the back of the weak" articulates a theory of divine right of kings some sixteen centuries before European feudalism. The advice against the death penalty ("Kill not — it is of no advantage to thee"), delivered from father to son as king to prospective king, is notably humane for its era. Translation: composed from Alan H. Gardiner, "New Literary Works from Ancient Egypt," Journal of Egyptian Archaeology, 1914; and Adolf Erman, "The Literature of the Ancient Egyptians," 1927. Public domain.
currently held: Papyri: Hermitage 1116A, Moscow 4658, Copenhagen
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