Through the Eras

Literaturecontemporary of Ptahshepses, also described an exampleof this king’s high regard for him. One day, accordingto the tomb inscription, Rawer stood next to the kingon a boat sailing on the Nile. The king unintentionallystruck Rawer with the royal scepter, probably due to themovement of the boat. The king apologized and orderedthat his apology be described in Rawer’s tomb. Both theking and the nobleman regarded this apology as a specialmark of favor. The king accorded a certain dignityto his official by apologizing. By the late Fifth Dynasty(about 2350 B.C.E.) noblemen began to claim in theirtomb inscriptions that the tomb owner followed maat,a quality that the king both liked and required. This isa subtle shift from the idea that all self-esteem comesfrom the king’s favor. Now man’s right behavior is thedirect source of self-esteem. This view prevailed throughoutsubsequent Egyptian literature.GOODNESS IS INNATE. Fifth-dynasty nobles also beganto express in their autobiographies the idea thatgoodness was innate. They used the expression “sincebirth” to make this claim. Thus Werhu, a priest of thecult of King Menkaure, could write in his tomb, “I neverlet anyone spend the night angry with me about a thingsince my birth.” Likewise the Sixth-dynasty noblemanMetjetji could claim, “Never did I make anyone unhappysince my birth.” Such statements continued through theFirst Intermediate Period (Dynasty Seven through thefirst part of Dynasty Eleven, 2130–2008 B.C.E.). By theTwelfth Dynasty (1938–1759 B.C.E.), when noblemenserving kings were again writing autobiographies to placeon stelae (upright pieces of stone), they described knowledgeand skills as innate since birth. But during the laterOld Kingdom (Dynasties Five and Six), noblemen describedonly good qualities as innately part of a person’scharacter. Lichtheim observed that the same progressionfrom qualities to skills and knowledge being innate wasalso true of the king, but such statements were first madein regard to nobles. Egyptians also believed that onecould be evil at birth. The Twelfth-dynasty text attributedto the Old Kingdom prime minister Ptahhotepspeaks of “one whose guilt was fated in the womb.” Butthe Egyptians also understood that instruction couldbring out the best in people. Thus they recognized thatboth nature and nurture played a role in the way a personbehaved. By the Nineteenth Dynasty (1292–1190B.C.E.), the wise man Any wrote that a person couldchoose between good and bad impulses that are bothinnate.SIDING WITH GOOD. As early as the Fourth Dynastynobles declared in their autobiographies that theyalways sided with the good. The Sixth-dynasty architectMORAL DECLARATIONS FROM THEAUTOBIOGRAPHY OF NEFER-SESHEM-REINTRODUCTION: From the Fourth Dynasty (2625–2500B.C.E.) to the Sixth Dynasty (2350–2170 B.C.E.), thebasis of autobiographies’ claims to the moral lifedepend on changing grounds. The earliest autobiographiesspeak only of fulfilling obligations to theimmediate family, especially the father. Subsequently,obedience to the king becomes the highestmoral value. Finally, in the Sixth Dynasty, menlike Nefer-seshem-re claim a much broader understandingof social obligations that constitute the basisfor moral action.I have gone from my town,I have descended from my nome,Having done Maat for its lord,Having contented him with what he loves.I spoke truly [using the word ma’a], I did right [usingthe related word ma’at],I spoke the good [using the word nefer], I repeatedthe good [nefer],I grasped what was best [using the phrase thatliterally means “I seized” and the form tep-nefer,the abstract idea of goodness],for I wanted the good for people [using the phrasethat literally means “I desired the good (nefer) forall people in general].I judged two trial partners so as to content them,I saved the weak from one stronger than he as best Icould;I gave bread to the hungry, clothes to the naked,I landed one who was boatless.I buried him who had no son [to do it for him],I made a ferry for him who had none;I respected my father,I pleased my mother,I brought up their children.SOURCE: “Autobiography of Nefer-seshem-re,” in MoralValues in Ancient Egypt. Trans. Miriam Lichtheim (Fribourg,Switzerland: University Press, 1997): 12.Nekhebu makes this claim in its most developed formwhen he wrote, “I am one who speaks the good, and repeatsthe good. I never said an evil thing against anyone.”Nekhebu speaks here of avoiding speaking ill ofothers. But the Egyptians also assumed other definitionsof the good by the Eleventh Dynasty (2008–1938Arts and Humanities Through the Eras: Ancient Egypt (2675 B.C.E.–332 B.C.E.) 127