The teaching of Khety and its use as an educational tool in ancient Egypt

Jurjens, J. (2024)

Doctoral Thesis

This dissertation examines The Teaching of Khety, also known as The Satire of the Trades, an ancient Egyptian text that is over 3000 years old and was extremely popular at the time. Hundreds of pottery shards and limestone pieces (so-called ostraca) with passages from The Teaching of Khety have been preserved, as well as a number of papyri and writing tablets. The first part of the dissertation presents about one hundred new sources of The Teaching of Khety, all of which have been studied and deciphered. The full text of these new sources is given, together with the textual witnesses that were already known. The result is an up-to-date edition of The Teaching of Khety, which can serve as a basis for further research. The second part of the dissertation shows how The Teaching of Khety was used in ancient Egyptian education. Countless of generations of school children had to copy the text, but little is known about ancient Egyptian educational practices. In this part of the dissertation, the objects themselves (e.g. ostraca) are discussed. These sometimes contain elements besides the text itself, such as colophons, dates and corrections, which help to shed light on ancient Egyptian educational practices.

• Paratextual elements
• Education
• Instruction of Khety
• Material philology
• Scribal practices
• Ancient Egyptian literature
• Colophon
• Ostraca
• Hieratic
• Synoptic text

• All authors: Jurjens, J.
• Supervisor: Kaper, O.E.
• Co-supervisor: Demarée, R.J.
• Committee: Berg, G.R. van den; Dijk, J. van; Hagen, F.N.; Parkinson, R.B.
• Qualification: Doctor (dr.)
• Awarding Institution: Leiden University Institute for Area Studies (LIAS), Faculty of Humanities, Leiden University
• Date: 2024-10-23
• Sponsorship: Dutch Research Council (NWO)