teachings of earlier sages. The title of a Ramesside text is “The Beginning of the Educational Instruction According to Old Writings,” implying that the maxims were culled from older books. The same notion of authorship appears in the Talmud’s explanation of the composition of Psalms: David wrote them down, incorporating the words of ten “elders” starting with Adam (b. B. Bat. 14b–15a). There is thus no contradiction between the claim of Solomonic authorship in Prov 1:1 and the ascription of various