The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1893-08-31
OLDEST COOK IN THE WORLD.
The "Fapyrus Prisse." which Was Prob
ably Written About 500 Years Ago.

TIC "Fapyrus Prisse." which Was Prob
ably Written 4 beut $500 Years Ago.
The only complete work that with
ont question. can lay claim to being the
Oldest book in the world is known as
the ''Papyrus Prisse." and now forms
one Of the treasures Of the BibliotheQue
Rationale. IT was presented to the
great library of Paris by Frenchman
OF the name of Prisse. VINO discovered
the papyrus al Thebes. The tomb in
which 1t was found contained the num-
my of one of tire Entcys of the elev-
enth.or first The ban. dynasty. The date
when the manuscript was written, can
not. therefore. been later than 2,50G B.
{. But if the exact age OF this iden-
teal copy should be doubtful. We know
precisely. from the text itself, the date
of its composition, as i states it was
compiled by one Ptah-hotep,' who
lived in the reign of King
ASA. The full title runs: Pre-
ccp;s OF the Perfect ptab-hotep. under
the king Of the south and north, ASA"
As this king was tha last but one Of the
fifth dynasty, Ptahhotep. who -four
ished in the reign of this Pharaoh and
held the distinguished Office OF pre-
feet, must have compiled his work
about $3.50 b. c. Divided into forty
four paragraphs. or chapters. the work
is something very much more than
literary curiosity. 1t is written in the
Egyptian hieratic character: is rhyth-
mic, if not poetic: is addressed to the
educated classes and en- bodies through
out high and noble principles for the
regulation of individual life and CON
duet. and for the maintenance Of good
government The man III authority is
enloined by this very ancient writer to
labor at all times to be srue gentle
man, lest from his own defects of char
acter he suffer the authority given him
by favor Of the Supreme Being to be
weakened. An Egyptian project was
the highest dignitary in the lam,
second only in authority to Pharaoh
himself. It was the Office held By Jo-
seph in the biblical story: Only in the
throne will | be greater than vou.''
The project had the custody of the kew
of the larit or royal granaries, to
without the production of the prefecto-
rial seal. The holder of the Office was
at once the Egyptian first lord of the
treasury. chancellor of the excheuuer
and. in his judicial capacity, lord chief
justice Of Egvpt
All our greatest Psychologists bear
testimony 10 the extraordinary civiliza-
tion of ancient Egypt. The work of
Ptah-hotep fully confirms this position.
1t testifies to height of culture and
refinement obtaining in Egyptian So
ciety 5,240 years ago that to our west
ern circumscrihed notions of modern
superiority are simply inconceiva bic.
The teachings of the ''Precepts" more
than justify all that has been said nv
Psychologists. 1T is certain" saws
Prof Renouf, that at least three
thousand years before Christ there was
IN Egypt powerful and elaboratelv
organized monarchy ENJOYING a mn
terial civiliza ton IL many respects not
inferior to that of Europe in the last
century, Leptius writes: The fourth
dynasty assembled the throne about 1924
r. G.. and IT that time long before our
usual ideas Of the development of ma
lions. there is found a people highly in
structcd in all arts of peace: state
carefully organized: hierarchy firmly
founded. infinitely divided and orcan-
lied even 10 the smallest external
matters; universally 6ifused
system of writing and the COM
mon use OF papyrgS: in short. a
civilization which in all essential
points has already attained its full
maturity, and only by close investica-
ton Is further Development in some
directions discovered. So also Prof.
Masaero: In one Of the tombs of
Glzeh, q high officer OF the first period
of the sixth dynasty n. c. 37oS) takes
the title az Governor of the House Of
Books. Not only WAS there ALREADY 7
literature. but this literature was suf
fciently large TO fill libraries, and its
Importance was so great that one Of
the court officers was specially desir
mated for the keeping of the roval
library. The wisdom and high moral
teaching embodied in the precepts Of
Ptah-hotep abun6antly confirm this
testimony knowledge.