R. A. Orekhov

Tridtsat' vtoraia maksima poucheniia Ptakhkhotepa (Pap. Prisse 14,4–14,6): viden li bereg? [32 Maxims of Ptahhotep-s Teaching (Pap. Prisse 14,4–14,6): is the shore visible?]

The main problem faced by most researchers who tried to interpret the 32nd maxim of Ptahhotep's teaching (prohibiting a certain type of sexual behavior) is the difficulty of translating the phrase Hmt Xrd, "woman-boy". The range of opinions regarding the translation of the maxim is quite wide: a ban on homosexual relations based on male characteristics, incest, a taboo on sexual intercourse with a pregnant woman, and a ban on pedophilia. But only F. Kammerzell and M. I. Toro Rueda tried to read this phrase grammatically correctly. As a solution to the problem in the construction Hmt Xrd, they proposed to consider the disjunction and translate it, accordingly, as "woman or boy". The author of the article is convinced that the scribe, who compiled the text, used the technique of false apposition. In this case, the translation of the inscription may sound different — "do not have sexual intercourse with a young man as with a woman." Consequently, the maxim tabooed homosexual relations.

Keywords:
Egyptian didactics, teaching of Ptahhotep, the 32nd maxim, interpretation of a term Hmt Xrd.

Original language — Russian.

DOI: 10.24412/2686-9276-2024-00011.

Referring: Orekhov R. A. 32 Maxims of Ptahhotep-s Teaching (Pap. Prisse 14,4–14,6): is the shore visible? [in Russian] // Egypt and neighbouring countries 3 (2024): 27–39. DOI: 10.24412/2686-9276-2024-00011.

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