Ancient Egyptian philosophy - Wikipedia Ancient Egyptian philosophy From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Jump to navigation Jump to search Part of a series on Ancient Egyptian religion Beliefs Afterlife Duat Ma'at Mythology Numerology Philosophy Soul Practices Funerals Offering formula Temples Pyramids Deities (list) Ogdoad Amun Amunet Hauhet Heh Kauket Kek Naunet Nu Ennead Atum Geb Isis Nephthys Nut Osiris Set Shu Tefnut A Aker Akhty Ammit Am-heh Anat Andjety Anhur Anput Anubis Anuket Apedemak Apep Apis Apt Aqen Arensnuphis Ash Assessors Astarte Aten B Babi Banebdjedet Bastet Bat Bata Ba-Pef Bennu Bes Buchis C Cavern deities D Dedun F Four sons of Horus Duamutef Hapi Imset Qebehsenuef G Gate deities H Ha Hapi Hathor Hatmehit Hedetet Hedjhotep Heka Hemen Hemsut Heqet Hermanubis Hesat Horus Heryshaf Hu I Iabet Iah Iat Ihy Imentet Imhotep Iunit Iusaaset K Kebechet Khensit Khenti-Amentiu Khenti-kheti Khepri Kherty Khnum Khonsu Kothar-wa-Khasis M Maahes Ma'at Mandulis Medjed Mafdet Mehen Mehet-Weret Mehit Menhit Meret Meretseger Meskhenet Min Mnevis Montu Mut N Nebethetepet Nebtuwi Nefertem Nehebkau Nehmetawy Neith Nemty Nekhbet Neper P Pakhet Petbe Ptah Q Qebui Qetesh R Ra Raet-Tawy Rem Renenutet Renpet Repyt Resheph S Sah Satis Sekhmet Seker Serapis Serket Seshat Shai Shed Shesmetet Shezmu Sia Sobek Sopdet Sopdu Souls of Pe and Nekhen T Tatenen Taweret Tayt Ta-Bitjet Tenenet Thoth Hermes Trismegistus Tjenenyet Tutu U Unut W Wadjet Wadj-wer Weneg Wepset Wepwawet Werethekau Wosret Locations Neter-khertet Aaru Benben Duat Land of Manu The Indestructibles Symbols and objects Aani Abtu Ankh Atef Atet Book of Thoth Cartouche Crook and flail Deshret Djed Egyptian obelisk Egyptian pool Eye of Horus Eye of Ra Griffin Hedjet Hemhem crown Hennu Hieracosphinx Imiut fetish Khepresh Kneph Matet boat Medjed Menat Nebu Nemes Neshmet Ouroboros Pschent Scarab Seqtet boat Serekh Serpopard Set animal Shen ring Sphinx Tyet Uraeus Ushabti Was-sceptre Winged sun Texts Funerary texts (Amduat • Books of Breathing • Book of Caverns • Book of the Dead • Book of the Earth • Book of Gates) Related religions Atenism Hermeticism Thelema Kemeticism (Kemetic Orthodoxy • Church of the Most High Goddess)  Ancient Egypt portal v t e Today, there is some debate regarding ancient Egyptian philosophy and its true scope and nature.[1] Several of the ancient Greek philosophers regarded Egypt as a place of wisdom and philosophy. Isocrates (b. 436 BCE) states in Busiris that "all men agree the Egyptians are the healthiest and most long of life among men; and then for the soul they introduced philosophy’s training…"[2] He declares that Greek writers traveled to Egypt to seek knowledge. One of them was Pythagoras of Samos who "was first to bring to the Greeks all philosophy," according to Isocrates. Plato states in Phaedrus that the Egyptian Thoth "invented numbers and arithmetic… and, most important of all, letters.”[3] In Plato’s Timaeus, Socrates quotes the ancient Egyptian wise men when the law-giver Solon travels to Egypt to learn: "O Solon, Solon, you Greeks are always children."[4] Aristotle attests to Egypt being the original land of wisdom, as when he states in Politics that "Egyptians are reputed to be the oldest of nations, but they have always had laws and a political system."[5] One Egyptian figure often considered an early philosopher is Ptahhotep.[6] He served as vizier to the pharaoh in the late 25th, early 24th century BC. Ptahhotep is known for his comprehensive work on ethical behavior and moral philosophy, called The Maxims of Ptahhotep. The work, which is believed to have been compiled by his grandson Ptahhotep Tjefi, is a series of 37 letters or maxims addressed to his son, Akhethotep, speaking on such topics as daily behavior and ethical practices.[7][8] A text for the American Philosophical Association describes the 3200-year-old text "The Immortality of Writers", or "Be a Writer" (c. 1200 BCE), as a "remarkable example of classical Egyptian philosophy."[9] The text, which Dag Herbjørnsrud attributes to the writer Irsesh, states: Man perishes; his corpse turns to dust; all his relatives return to the earth. But writings make him remembered in the mouth of the reader. A book is more effective than a well-built house or a tomb-chapel, better than an established villa or a stela in the temple! [...] They gave themselves a book as their lector-priest, a writing-board as their dutiful son. Teachings are their mausolea, the reed-pen their child, the burnishing-stone their wife. Both great and small are given them as their children, for the writer is chief.[10] Herbjørnsrud writes: "In 2018, projects are under way to translate several ancient Egyptian texts for the first time. Yet we already have a wide variety of genres to choose from in order to study the manuscripts from a philosophical perspective: The many maxims in “The Teaching of Ptahhotep”, the earliest preserved manuscript of this vizier of the fifth dynasty is from the 19th century BCE, in which he also argues that you should “follow your heart”; “The Teaching of Ani”, written by a humble middle-class scribe in the 13th century BCE, which gives advice to the ordinary man; “The Satire of the Trades” by Khety, who tries to convince his son Pepy to “love books more than your mother” as there is nothing “on earth” like being a scribe; the masterpiece “The Dispute Between a Man and His Ba” of the 19th century BCE – in which a man laments “the misery of life,” while his ba (personality/soul) replies that life is good, that he should rather “ponder life” as it is a burial that is miserable – recently discussed by Peter Adamson and Chike Jeffers in their “Africana Philosophy” podcast series. Or we can read Amennakht (active in 1170–1140 BCE), the leading intellectual of the scribal town Deir El-Medina, whose teaching states that “it is good to finish school, better than the smell of lotus blossoms in summer.”[11] See also[edit] Philosophy in Coptic African philosophy Africana philosophy Wisdom literature Book of Thoth Notes and references[edit] ^ Juan José Castillos, Ancient Egyptian Philosophy, RSUE 31, 2014, 29-37. ^ "Isocrates, Busiris, section 22". www.perseus.tufts.edu. Retrieved 2019-06-19. ^ "Plato, Phaedrus, section 274d". www.perseus.tufts.edu. Retrieved 2019-06-19. ^ "Plato, Timaeus, section 21e". www.perseus.tufts.edu. Retrieved 2019-06-19. ^ "Aristotle, Politics, Book 7, section 1329b". www.perseus.tufts.edu. Retrieved 2019-06-19. ^ Fontaine, Carole R. "A Modern Look at Ancient Wisdom: The Instruction of Ptahhotep Revisited." The Biblical Archaeologist 44, no. 3 (1981): 155-60. doi:10.2307/3209606. ^ Browder, Anthony (1988). Nile Valley Contributions to Civilization. Karmaic Institute. ^ Simpson, W. K., ed. The Maxims of Ptahhotep. Las Vegas, Nevada: Evan Blythin, 1986. ^ Contributor, Blog (2018-12-17). "The Radical Philosophy of Egypt: Forget God and Family, Write!". Blog of the APA. Retrieved 2019-06-19. ^ "Writings from Ancient Egypt: Be a Writer". www.penguin.co.uk. Retrieved 2019-06-19. ^ Contributor, Blog (2018-12-17). "The Radical Philosophy of Egypt: Forget God and Family, Write!". Blog of the APA. Retrieved 2019-06-19. v t e Ancient Egypt topics Index Major topics Glossary of artifacts Agriculture Architecture (Egyptian Revival architecture) Art Portraiture Astronomy Chronology Cities (list) Clothing Cuisine Dance Dynasties Funerary practices Geography Great Royal Wives (list) Hieroglyphs History Language Literature Mathematics Medicine Military Music Mythology People Pharaohs (list) Philosophy Religion Sites Technology Trade Writing Egyptology Egyptologists Museums Book Category Portal WikiProject Commons Outline Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Ancient_Egyptian_philosophy&oldid=997717500" Categories: Ancient Egyptian philosophy Ancient philosophy by culture Navigation menu Personal tools Not logged in Talk Contributions Create account Log in Namespaces Article Talk Variants Views Read Edit View history More Search Navigation Main page Contents Current events Random article About Wikipedia Contact us Donate Contribute Help Learn to edit Community portal Recent changes Upload file Tools What links here Related changes Upload file Special pages Permanent link Page information Cite this page Wikidata item Print/export Download as PDF Printable version Languages العربية Azərbaycanca Español فارسی Galego Italiano Português Русский Српски / srpski Українська Edit links This page was last edited on 1 January 2021, at 22:13 (UTC). 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