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The Political Realism of the Egyptian Elite: A Comparison between The Teaching For Merikare and Niccolò Machiavelli’s Il Principe

The Political Realism of the Egyptian Elite: A Comparison between The Teaching For Merikare and... A comparison between The Teaching for Merikare and Niccolò Machiavelli ’s Il Principe produces some astonishing results. While Machiavelli ’s treatise is generally thought to be representative of the dawn of modern Western political realism, its essential properties are already present in Merikare . This includes the firm belief in strong authority, the fallibility of man, the need to appease the masses, and, if necessary, the demand to repress any developing threat to the power of the elite. In terms of the history of political thought Merikare is placed between the works of the moral realism of Greek philosophers like Plato and the political realism of Thucydides and Machiavelli . With the latter being heavily influenced by ancient authors, questions regarding the genesis of Greek political thought can be asked. It may well be that Greek political thought was, at least indirectly, influenced by Egyptian political thought. http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Journal of Egyptian History Brill

The Political Realism of the Egyptian Elite: A Comparison between The Teaching For Merikare and Niccolò Machiavelli’s Il Principe

Journal of Egyptian History , Volume 8 (1): 49 – Aug 24, 2015

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Publisher
Brill
Copyright
© Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, The Netherlands
ISSN
1874-1657
eISSN
1874-1665
DOI
10.1163/18741665-12340020
Publisher site
See Article on Publisher Site

Abstract

A comparison between The Teaching for Merikare and Niccolò Machiavelli ’s Il Principe produces some astonishing results. While Machiavelli ’s treatise is generally thought to be representative of the dawn of modern Western political realism, its essential properties are already present in Merikare . This includes the firm belief in strong authority, the fallibility of man, the need to appease the masses, and, if necessary, the demand to repress any developing threat to the power of the elite. In terms of the history of political thought Merikare is placed between the works of the moral realism of Greek philosophers like Plato and the political realism of Thucydides and Machiavelli . With the latter being heavily influenced by ancient authors, questions regarding the genesis of Greek political thought can be asked. It may well be that Greek political thought was, at least indirectly, influenced by Egyptian political thought.

Journal

Journal of Egyptian HistoryBrill

Published: Aug 24, 2015

Keywords: Political History; The Teaching for Merikare; Niccolò Machiavelli; Egyptian Political Thought; Political Realism; Ideology; Egyptian-Greek Interconnections

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