Education For Life Academy
Where Black History Lives!
The Standing on the Shoulders of Giants Curriculum
The Instruction of Pharaoh Amenemhat I to his son Pharaoh Senusret I, early 12th Dynasty (ca.1909 B.C.E.) cont.
Pharaoh Amenemhat I - XIIth Dynasty
the exceptional nature of this murder
26 Had women (of the harem) ever marshaled troops ?
27 Are rebels nurtured inside the palace ?
28 {Or did destroyers break into the place ?}9
29 {(It is) a bad memory because of what these miserable people did.}10
30 No harm had come to me since my birth, (and)
31 no one equaled me as a doer of deeds.
the confession of excellence
32 I journeyed to Yebu,11 I returned to the Delta.
33 Having stood on the land's borders, I observed its interior.
34 I reached the borders of the strongholds ;
35 by my strength and my being.
36 I was grain-maker, beloved of Nepri.12
37 Hapy 13 honored me on every field.
38 None hungered in my years.
39 None thirsted in them.
40 One sat because I acted and spoke of myself :
41 I had assigned everything to its place.
42 I subdued lions, I captured crocodiles,
43 I repressed those of Wawat,14
44 I captured the Medjay,15
45 I made the Asiatics16 do the dog walk.
preparing his son
46 I built myself a house decked with gold,
47 its ceiling of lapis lazuli,
48 walls of silver, floors of [acacia wood],
49 doors of copper, bolts of bronze.
50 The serfs (however) plotted against me.
51 Be prepared against this !
52 If You know this, then You are its Lord, You the All-Lord.
53 Behold, much hatred is in the streets.
54 The wise says 'yes', the fool says 'no' (for)
55 he has not understood it, (as) his face is lacking (eyes),17
56 (that You) were my own tongue, Senusret my son,
57 when I (still) walked on my feet,
58 (that You) were my own heart,
59 when my eyes (still) beheld You,
60 the child of a happy hour.18
concluding advise
61 Behold, I made the beginning, You will tie the end.
62 I have landed by the dead,
63 (and) You wear the White Crown of a god's son.19
64 The seal is in its correct place, (and)
65 jubilation has started for You in the bark of Re.
66 Ascend to the throne for a government better than most,
67 not like mine !
68 Be courageous, raise your monuments, establish your strongholds,
69 and beware of those You know,
70 for I do not wish them on the side of your Majesty."
The cartouche of Menes on the Abydos King List
In Egyptian hieroglyphs, a cartouche (English pronunciation: /kɑːˈtuːʃ/) is an oval with a horizontal line at one end, indicating that the text enclosed is a royal name.
Page 2 of 2
Unit 1: Ancient Africa (200,000 B.C.E. – 476 A.C.E.)
Class 9: The Middle Kingdom & Second Intermediate Period (2055 B.C.E. – 1550 A.C.E.)
