[4] According to William Kelly Simpson, scholars tend to believe that the Instructions of Ptahhotep were originally composed during the Middle Kingdom, specifically the Twelfth Dynasty.

[2] The king approved of Ptahhotep's son succeeding him as vizier, but noted that the young cannot be born with wisdom and that they need the experience given by advanced age.

[4] This demonstrated the significance of growing old in ancient Egyptian society and the importance of having the wisdom to make the right decisions.

The Instructions of Ptahhotep were texts that were constantly read and copied by students, scribes, and men that held a higher position.

[2] The text helps to reconstruct the social context of that time by describing the cultural space in which the writings were influential.

with his tongue, his lips are accurate when he speaks...[6] The lines followed here by question marks are of uncertain meaning and subject to interpretation by each translator.