Ptahhotep

Serving under Pharaoh Djedkare Isesi during the Fifth Dynasty, Ptahhotep held the highest administrative office as Vizier of the capital Memphis. In his advanced age, he compiled thirty-seven moral and civic maxims to instruct his son and successor in righteous conduct, public administration, and self-mastery.

Preserved on the famous Prisse Papyrus in the Bibliothèque Nationale in Paris, *The Maxims of Ptahhotep* advised humility, respectful listening to uneducated citizens, emotional composure, and fair treatment of women and workers, formulating the classical Egyptian moral ideal of *Ma'at* (truth, justice, and cosmic order).