On the history of ancient Egyptian «viziers»

Not a single vizier is known from the Heracleopolitan Period in Ancient Egypt, and the reason for this is not just the scarcity of sources. The article enlists several other points suggesting the elimination of this office in the Heracleopolitan monarchy. This fact accounts for many of the peculiarities of the «Teaching for Merikare», and for the very unique fact of the emergence of the «teaching» addressed to an heir to the throne.