Loyalist Teaching

The first half of The Loyalist Teaching is found on a Twelfth-dynasty biographical stela at Abydos made in honor of Sehetepibre,[1] a high government official and seal-bearer who served under the Pharaohs Senusret III (r. 1878–1839 BC) and Amenemhat III (r. 1860–1814 BC; overlapping reign dates due to coregency).

[6] William Kelly Simpson—a professor emeritus of Egyptology at Yale University—asserts that The Loyalist Teaching can be classified under the Egyptian "literature of propaganda" that extols the virtues of the king.

[7] This is in contrast to works of the "literature of pessimism," such as the contemporaneous Prophecy of Neferti, which describe a time of chaos and a need to reestablish values that ensure a stable society.

[7] In the second section of The Loyalist Teaching, the author of the text instructs his children that they must also respect the common people and uphold their allotted duties in society.

[4] Since Sehetepibre's stela was modeled after that of the vizier Montuhotep—who served during the reign of Senusret I (r. 1971-1926 BC)—it has been conjectured by scholars that Montuhotep was the author of The Loyalist Teaching,[8] although Parkinson affirms that there is no evidence to support the claim.