Sebayt

Sebayt (Egyptian sbꜣyt, Coptic ⲥⲃⲱ "instruction, teaching") is the ancient Egyptian term for a genre of pharaonic literature. sbꜣyt literally means "teachings" or "instructions" and refers to formally written ethical teachings focused on the "way of living truly". Sebayt is considered an Egyptian form of wisdom literature. In Eulogy of Dead Writers, written during the Twentieth Dynasty of the New Kingdom, a stanza lists the names of writers famous for their great works, most of whom are authors of noted sebayt from the Middle Kingdom: Is there anyone here like Hordedef? Is there another like Imhotep? There is no family born for us like Neferty, and Khety their leader. Let me remind you of the name of Ptahemdjehuty Khakheperraseneb. Is there another like Ptahhotep? Kaires too? Each of these authors (excepting Imhotep, none of whose works survive) including Ptahemdjehuty, can be attested as authors of various works from the Middle Kingdom. Many of the earliest Sebayt claim to have been written in the third millennium BCE, during the Old Kingdom, but it is now generally agreed that they were actually composed later, beginning in the Middle Kingdom (c.1991–1786 BCE). This fictitious attribution to authors of a more distant past was perhaps intended to give the texts greater authority. Perhaps the best-known sebayt is the one which claims to have been written by Ptahhotep, the vizier to the Fifth Dynasty pharaoh Djedkare Isesi, who ruled from 2388–2356 BCE. Ptahhotep's sebayt is often called The Maxims of Ptahhotep or the Maxims of Good Discourse (the latter being a phrase used as a self-description in the sebayt itself). The teaching appears on the Twelfth Dynasty Prisse Papyrus along with the ending of the Instructions of Kagemni. Another well known sebayt was attributed to the Fourth Dynasty ethicist named Hardjedef. Only a few fragments survive of his Instruction. Two sebayt are attributed to Egyptian rulers themselves. The first of these is entitled the Teaching for King Merykara, who lived during the troubled First Intermediate Period (2150–2040 BCE).