The genre known as "instructions" or "wisdom literature" is one of the oldest in ancient Egyptian literature. The first instructions appear in the Old Kingdom and wisdom literature continues to be written for over 2000 years into the Ptolemaic and Roman periods. While the content and the structure of the instructions varies throughout these periods, the purpose for these texts remains the same. Usually taking the form of a father addressing his son, these instructions provided their audience with moral, ethical and practical guidelines for living a successful life and presented the compiled wisdom of the society in which they were written.

This work focuses on Demotic wisdom texts, Papyrus lnsinger and Onchsheshonqy as well as several of the "minor" wisdom texts. While other scholars have argued that the structure and content of the Demotic texts exhibit considerable foreign influences, this dissertation argues that these late instructions are part of an unbroken literary chain which can be traced back to Egypt's Old Kingdom.

In chapter one, the genre of wisdom literature is presented and discussed. The comparative native Egyptian corpus of pre-Demotic instructions are introduced including compositions from the Old Kingdom, Middle Kingdom, New Kingdom and Late Period. Chapter two introduces the Demotic corpus of wisdom texts. Examples are drawn primarily from "The Instruction of Onchsheshonqy" and Papyrus Insinger, however, comparative material is also taken from P. Louvre 2414, P. Louvre 2377 and some of the other minor Demotic instructions. Chapter Three reviews Miriam Llchtheirn's thesis in which she argues that the Demotic instructions contain significant foreign characteristics and themes.' It is argued in Chapter four that a closer reading of Ucbtheim's arguments suggests that this foreign influence has been over-estimated. Chapter Five supplies additional native precedents for topics and themes present in the Demotic wisdom texts.

While it cannot be denied that Egypt was a multicultural society at the time when these texts were composed, these texts continue to reflect an Egyptian view of the world, emphasizing native Egyptian moral values and culture. The same topics and motifs that were present in the earliest Egyptian wisdom texts continue to be advocated and explored in the later Demotic works.