Ancient Egyptian didactic poetry in the light of biblical studies. Dedicated to the 130th anniversary of the discovery of “Instruction of Amenemope”.

This article acquaints the reader with the little-known in Russia monument of the literature of Ancient Egypt which is named “Instruction of Amenemope”. The author also considers the connection of this literary work with the Book of Proverbs of Solomon. In addition, the article gives the first complete translation of the text “Instruction of Amenemope” into Russian (from English). It is believed that the “Instruction of Amenemope” is a genuine masterpiece of didactic (instructive) ancient Egyptian poetry, written by a court scribe for his son. Discovered in 1888 and studied in detail by Western scholars throughout the 20th century, this monument of ancient Egyptian literature still remains unexplored in our country. Also, the “Instruction of Amenemope” was hardly considered by Russian biblical scholars in the context of the influence on the instructive books of the Old Testament, while researchers in the countries of Western Europe and the United States devoted entire monographs and dozens of articles in scientific oriental studies to this question.