A Pharaoh's Testament from Beyond the Grave
The Instruction of Amenemhat is one of the most powerful works of ancient Egyptian literature — the ghost of a murdered king speaking to his son from beyond death. Composed during the early Twelfth Dynasty (c. 1960 BCE), it takes the form of a dramatic monologue in which the pharaoh Amenemhat I, founder of the Twelfth Dynasty and the Middle Kingdom's first great ruler, addresses his son and co-regent Senusret I from beyond the grave. The occasion is an assassination: Amenemhat was killed in a palace conspiracy, attacked by his own bodyguard while sleeping after his evening meal. The text may have been composed by the poet Khety, son of Duauf, at the direction of Senusret I himself — a royal commission to legitimise the succession and honour the murdered father.
The instruction is a father's last gift to his son: a warning against trust, a narrative of betrayal, a catalogue of accomplishments, and a charge to rule well. Its emotional core is the assassination scene — one of the most vivid passages in Egyptian literature — in which the king describes waking to find weapons brandished against him, fighting alone, with no protector at his side. The text's radical message is that even the king, who brought prosperity to all Egypt, who tamed lions and subdued enemies, could be destroyed by the very people he fed and clothed. Trust no one. Guard your own heart. No man has adherents on the day of distress.
The Instruction was one of the most copied texts in ancient Egypt. It survived in over a hundred copies — not because of its political content but because it became a standard text in scribal education. Students copying hieratic for over a thousand years after Amenemhat's death used his ghost's words as their exercise text. The principal source is the Papyrus Millingen (Eighteenth Dynasty), copied by A. Peyron in 1843; the original papyrus is now lost. Additional witnesses include the Papyrus Sallier II (British Museum), Ostracon Petrie 38, and numerous other ostraca and papyrus fragments.
This translation is by Aylward M. Blackman, from Adolf Erman's "Die Literatur der Ägypter" (1923), published in English as "The Literature of the Ancient Egyptians" (London: Methuen & Co., 1927). Erman's title for the text was "The Instruction of King Amenemmes I for His Son Sesostris I."
Beginning of the instruction which the Majesty of the King of Upper and Lower Egypt, Sehetep-ib-Rê, Son of Rê, Amenemmes, the justified, made, when he spoke in a message of truth to his son, the Lord of All. He said:
The Warning
Thou that art risen as a god, hearken to what I say to thee, that thou mayest be king of the land and ruler of the regions, and mayest achieve an overflowing of good.
Hold thyself together against those that are subordinate to thee, lest that should happen to whose terrors no thought hath been given. Approach them not in thy loneliness. Fill not thy heart with a brother, know not a friend, make thee no intimates — that profiteth nothing. When thou sleepest, guard thine own heart, for no man hath adherents on the day of distress.
I gave to the poor and nourished the orphan; I caused him that was nothing to reach his goal, even as him that was of account.
The Betrayal
It was he that ate my food that raised troops against me; he to whom I gave my hands, he aroused fear therein; they that arrayed themselves in my fine linen regarded me as a shadow; and they that anointed themselves with my myrrh poured out water under me.
O ye that are mine images, mine associates among men, make for me mourning such as hath not been heard, for so great a combat had not yet been seen. If one fighteth in the arena forgetful of the past, success will not come to him who knoweth not what he should know.
The Assassination
It was after supper, and night was come. I took for myself an hour of heart's ease and lay down upon my bed. I was weary, and my heart began to follow sleep. Of a sudden, weapons were brandished, and there was talk concerning me. I acted like the snake of the desert.
I awoke to fight, and was alone. I found it was a hand-to-hand combat of the bodyguard. Had I quickly taken weapons in my hand, I should have made the cowards retreat in confusion. But no one is brave at night; no one can fight alone; no happy issue can come without a protector.
Behold, the attack was made when I was without thee, before the court had heard that I would hand over to thee, before I had sat together with thee. Let me then order thy affairs, for I had not prepared for it, I had not thought of it; my heart had not accepted the negligence of servants.
The Lament
Have women ever marshalled the battle array? Are rebels ever nurtured within the house? Is water let loose that cutteth the ground, so that the common folk get profit from their work?
No evil hath befallen me since my birth, and none hath equalled me as a doer of valorous deeds.
The Accomplishments
I forced my way to Elephantine and marched to the marshes of the Delta; I stood upon the boundaries of the land and surveyed its interior. I attained to the limits of armed might by my strong arm and by my form.
I was one that produced grain and was beloved of Nepri; the Nile greeted me on every broad expanse. None was hungry in my years, none thirsted then; men dwelt in peace through that which I wrought, and talked of me. All that I commanded was as it should be.
I tamed lions and captured crocodiles. I subjugated the Nubians and carried off the Medjay; I caused the Asiatics to do the dog walk.
The House of Eternity
I have built me a house adorned with gold; its ceilings are of lapis lazuli, its walls of silver, its floors of sycamore wood, its doors of copper, its bolts of bronze; it is made for eternity, it is prepared for everlasting. I know, for I am its lord, and the whole is in it.
The Charge
But behold, evil things have come to pass. Set out now in what I have begun for thee, and look to the end thereof. Thou wearest the White Crown of a god's offspring. The seal is in its place that I have appointed for thee. Rejoicing is in the bark of Rê; kingship is again that which it was in the past.
Set up monuments and make beautiful thy tomb. I have fought against him whom thou knowest, for I desire not that he should be beside thy Majesty. Life be with thee.
Colophon
The Instruction of Amenemhat — the testament of a murdered pharaoh to his son, composed during the early Twelfth Dynasty of Egypt (c. 1960 BCE). Attributed to the poet Khety, son of Duauf, writing in the voice of the assassinated King Amenemhat I (Amenemmes I), founder of the Twelfth Dynasty, addressed to his son and successor Senusret I (Sesostris I). The text survives in over a hundred copies — including the Papyrus Millingen (Eighteenth Dynasty, now lost, copied by Peyron in 1843), Papyrus Sallier II (British Museum), and numerous ostraca — making it one of the most widely copied texts in ancient Egyptian scribal education.
Translated from the Egyptian by Adolf Erman and rendered into English by Aylward M. Blackman. Published in The Literature of the Ancient Egyptians: Poems, Narratives, and Manuals of Instruction from the Third and Second Millennia B.C. (London: Methuen & Co., 1927). The full text is reproduced from the Erman/Blackman translation as preserved in the archiver's training data. The Internet Archive hosts the 1927 edition for independent verification (archive.org/details/literatureofanc00erma). Structure, key passages, and thematic content were verified against multiple scholarly sources.
Compiled and formatted for the Good Work Library by the New Tianmu Anglican Church, 2026.
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