The work, which is believed to have been compiled by his grandson Ptahhotep Tjefi, is a series of 37 letters or maxims addressed to his son, Akhethotep, speaking on such topics as daily behavior and ethical practices.
"[5] The manuscript, attributed to the writer Irsesh, states: Man perishes; his corpse turns to dust; all his relatives return to the earth.
A book is more effective than a well-built house or a tomb-chapel, better than an established villa or a stela in the temple!
This has been described as a "monotheistic revolution" by egyptologist Jan Assmann, though it also drew on previous developments in Egyptian thought, particularly the "New Solar Theology" based around Amun-Ra.
[8] According to Goldwasser (2006) the Hyksos king Apophis (c. 1550 BC) may have been "the first to introduce into the history of ideas, the option of a "single god and no other," the first step on the long winding road of monotheism".