(2) (fl. 14th century B.C.E.) A sage of the New Kingdom
He lived probably during the reign of AMENHOTEP III (r. 1391–1353 B.C.E.) and was the author of the Instructions of Amenemope. This text was found in a papyrus now in the British Museum in London. He was a resident of AKHMIN, and described himself as an agricultural official who set up the royal titles to land uncovered by the lowering of the Nile water each year. Amenemope, whose wife was Twasoret, also served as the overseer for taxes for the Akhmin area and administered the distribution of crops locally.
He wrote his Instructions for his son, and this work reflects the spirit of MA’AT, nurtured on the Nile over the centuries. His work was composed of more than 80 sections and was written in short lines. Amenemope translated the ideals of Egypt into everyday tasks of a common person’s life. The Maxims of Ptah-hotep is another example of this type of literature. Such didactic LITERATURE was popular in the Nile Valley. Amenemope was buried in a pyramid in Akhmin. Amenemope’s work was discovered on various writing boards, on an OSTRAKA, and in a fragmentary papyrus.
