This book surveys and analyzes twenty-seven major collections of wisdom sayings from antiquity, including texts from ancient Egypt, the ancient Near East, ancient Israel and early Judaism, early Christianity, and the Greco-Roman world. Through the diversity of these selections, readers are exposed to wisdom literature from a wide array of historical, cultural, and linguistic settings, which unfolds into a larger understanding of how different ancient peoples articulated a gnomic understanding of life.

Throughout this useful guide, Walter Wilson keeps a constant eye on the relation of the wisdom texts to the worlds from which they emerged—paying close attention to each text’s distinctive thematic profile and how its moral agenda was mapped onto the reader’s social landscape. Where appropriate, he discusses affinities between the different collections and draws conclusions about ancient wisdom literature as a genre.

For further study, each entry includes a short bibliography directing the reader to an up-to-date translation of the collection in question and other relevant secondary texts, making this an ideal starting point for anyone studying wisdom literature of the ancient world.

Table of Contents

Introduction

1. ’Abot

2. Ahiqar

3. Amenemope

4. Anii

5. Ankhsheshonqy

6. Ben Sira

7. Cato

8. Counsels of Wisdom

9. Democritus

10. Epictetus

11. Papyrus Insinger

12. Isocrates

13. Menander

14. Merikare

15. Pseudo-Phocylides

16. Porphyry

17. Proverbs

18. Ptahhotep

19. Publilius

20. Pythagorean Collections

21. The Seven Sages

22. Sextus

23. Shuruppak

24. Silvanus

25. Sumerian Proverb Collections

26. Syriac Menander

27. The Gospel of Thomas

Appendix: Minor Collections