Description: A new translation of a philosophical and practical advice classic of the ancient world, The Teaching of Ptahhatp, written in Egypt four thousand years ago and still relevant for modern readers today.
Brief description: Bill Manley has been working with archaeological projects in Egypt for three decades. He taught the ancient Egyptian and Coptic languages for more than thirty years at the Universities of London, Glasgow, and Liverpool, and was senior curator for ancient Egypt at National Museums Scotland. His books include Egyptian Art in the World of Art series and Egyptian Hieroglyphs for Complete Beginners.
Review Quotes: [Mr. Manley's] crisp translations are suggestive of the ancient Near Eastern and Egyptian traditions of wisdom literature, as well as more recent classics such as Castiglione's 'Book of the Courtier, ' the ruminations of Polonius in 'Hamlet' and Jordan Peterson's '12 Rules for Life.' Like Plato in Robin Waterfield's 1994 version of 'Gorgias, ' Mr. Manley's Ptahhatp speaks our language... Ptahhatp addresses the unchanging realities of politics, family and friendship within another, less tangible reality, the mutable metaphysical framework in which we understand our lives. This, Mr. Manley argues, makes the 'Teaching' not just 'the earliest complete statement of philosophy surviving from ancient Egypt, ' but also 'the oldest surviving philosophy book from anywhere in the world.' ... In Mr. Manley's adroit and pioneering translation, the 'Teaching' is philosophy ages before the Greeks had it.-- "The Wall Street Journal"