Search

I. Theory of myth [German version] A. Definition Despite many attempts, it has proven impossible to arrive at a definition of myth (Gr. μῦθος/ mýthos; Lat. mythos) that would satisfy all disciplines. The most satisfactory one refers to G.S. Kirk and W. Burkert who described myth as a ‘traditional narrative of collective significance’ [1; 2]. Still, this definition fails to fully represent the function of myth in the time after Classical Antiquity, when we find myths in entertaining narratives such as Ovidius's ‘Metamorphoses or Nonnus's Dionysiaká. The term ‘traditional’ implies…

[German version] (Greek Πετεησις/ Peteēsis; Egyptian p′č̣i̯-s.t, 'the one given by Isis'). According to PRylands 63 [4], Egyptian priest in Heliopolis [1] who teaches Plato about melothesia (allocation of parts of the body to astral magnitudes) [2. 81]. Presumably the same traditional figure of a sage as the P. who is mentioned in several variants in Dioscorides, De materia medica 5,98 as an author, possibly also the Petasius of the alchemistic corpus (CAAG vol. 3, 15,3; 26,1; 95,15; 97,17; 261,9; 2…

[German version] I. Mesopotamia In contrast with cultic  rituals, the secular ceremonies of Mesopotamia have up to now rarely been the subject of academic research. On the whole, it has to be assumed that individual and communal life in the societies of the Ancient Orient in general and that of the  ruler in particular were dominated by numerous rules, resulting in more or less standardized patterns of behaviour. The reconstruction of such non-cultic ceremonies is largely dependent on secondary refe…

I. Religious studies [German version] A. General Sacrifice is one of the central concepts in describing ritual religion in ancient and modern cultures. In European Modernity, the term sacrifice (directly or indirectly influenced by Christian theology of the sacrificial death of Jesus Christ to redeem mankind) also has an intimation towards individual self-giving ('sacrifice of self'). The range of nuances in the modern meaning stretches to include discourses that have lost their religious motif and hav…

[German version] (Σάσυχις; Sásychis). According to Diod. Sic. 1,94,3 one of the great legislators of Egypt. The name has been variously connected with Egyptian proper names. It is most likely a variant of Asychis, who is recorded in Hdt. 2,136 as a follower of Mycerinus and whose name corresponds to Egyptian š-ḫ.t. Interpretations as Shoshenq (Sesonchosis) are phonetically problematic. Quack, Joachim (Berlin) Bibliography 1 A. Burton, Diodorus Siculus, Book I. A Commentary, 1972, 273 2 A. B. Lloyd, Herodotus Book II. Commentary 99-182, 1988, 88-90.

(Σεσόγχοσις, Σεσόγχωσις/ Sesónchosis, Sesónchōsis). Greek form of Shoshenq, Egyptian šš( n) q, name of probably five rulers of the 22nd/23rd dynasties. [German version] [1] Shoshenq I, Egyptian ruler, second half of the 10th cent. BC The best known is Shoshenq I ( c. 945-924 BC) [1. 287-302], who according to 1 Kg 14,25 f. (there called Shishak) laid waste to parts of Judaea and was prevented from conquering Jerusalem by being paid large amounts of gold. A list preserved on the Bubastite Gate in Karnak names places in Judah and Israel allegedly conquered by him. Quack, Joachim (Berlin) …

[German version] [1] Nimbus vitreus Nimbus vitreus (‘glass clouds’), a pun by Martial (14,112), which has been misunderstood mostly since Friedländer's annotations [1. 322] and into the most recent commentary [2. 174] has been misunderstood and is translated as a ‘glass vessel for sprinkling liquids with numerous openings’. What is meant is the effect of such an instrument when wine is sprayed. Willers, Dietrich (Berne) Bibliography 1 L. Friedländer (ed.), M. Valerii Martialis epigrammaton libri (with explanatory notes), vol. 2, 1886 2 T.J. Leary (ed.), Martial Book XIV. T…

[German version] Egyptian pwn.t, construed from the New Kingdom on, by means of linguistic reanalysis, as p-wn.t. Omission of the apparent article creates a new name wn.t; this appears in some sources from the Graeco-Roman Period. According to Egyptian sources, a country in the far southeast; today usually sought in the region of Būr Sūdān (Port Sudan) [6] or around Eritrea and the Horn of Africa [1; 2]. In the Old Kingdom, trade goods from P. could reach Egypt by way of staging posts along the Nile; direct trading voya…

[German version] [1] Name to describe the plurality of gods In modern scholarship on religious history, the term 'pantheon' is used in systematizing the plurality of ancient gods (Polytheism). In the following, it will be used accordingly to denote all the many deities worshipped in a particular geographical area and socio-historical context. Richter, Thomas (Frankfurt/Main) [German version] I. Mesopotamia Sumerian does not have its own expression for a collective of gods corresponding to the term 'pantheon'. The Sumerian term A-nun-na, 'seed of the prince' (i.e. of Enki, …

[German version] (Οὐχορεύς; Ouchoreús). According to Diod. Sic. 1,50 the eighth child of Osymandias (Ramses [2] II) and the founder of Memphis, which he is supposed to have made into a strong fortress with an embankment and a large lake. Scholars like to identify it with the Ὀχυράς/ Ochyrás mentioned in the Book of Sothis in Syncellus (FGrH III F 28,110,9). The name is customarily explained as a corruption of ὀχρεύς ('the permanent') and considered to be a translation of the Egyptian mn (Menes [1]). Quack, Joachim (Berlin) Bibliography K. Sethe, Beiträge zur ältesten Geschichte Äg…

[German version] I. Introduction The term P. has found its way as a loanword from the Greek translation of the Bible into numerous languages. The Septuagint regularly uses prophḗtēs to translate the Hebrew substantive nābī, which is etymologically connected with Akkadian nabû(m) = 'one who is called'. Since then a very much wider use has emerged. For a more precise demarcation of the concept, it is useful to adopt Cicero's distinction between inductive and intuitive divination ( genus artificiosum, genus naturale: Cic. Div. 1,11,34; 2,26 f.) and to describe as prophets onl…

[German version] [1] City in the 4th upper Egyptian nome This item can be found on the following maps: Egypt | Commerce | Egypt The Egyptian Thebes, city in the 4th upper Egyptian nome. Quack, Joachim (Berlin) [German version] I. Names Actually Ws.t ('the strong'), from which derived, no later than the 17th dynasty, a female personification Ws.t nḫt.tj ('victorious Thebes'). Beginning with the Middle Kingdom ( c. 1990-1630 BC), often called simply njw.t, 'the city (par excellence)' - from which also the Hebrew form no (Ez 30:14 f.; Jer 46:25; Nahum 3:8) and Assyrian Ne [10. 260] -- o…

I. Material [German version] A. Term and manufacture The term papyrus was adopted into the European languages via the Greek πάπυρος/ pápyros, lat. papyrus, and ultimately is the source of the modern terms for paper, Papier, papier, etc.  Papyrus is hypothetically derived from an (unattested) Egyptian * pa-prro ('that of the king'). Papyrus, an aquatic plant with a long stem and a triangular cross-section ( Cyperus papyrus L.), was in its processed form a widespread writing material ('paper') in the ancient cultures of the Mediterranean. Papyrus is produced by p…

I. Ancient Near East [German version] A. Definition When applying the term wisdom literature (WL) to ancient Mesopotamian literature we need to distinguish between the idea of wisdom (Akkadian nēmequ, Sumerian nam.kù.zu, 'precious knowledge') [10; 11] as 'wealth of general human experience' and the concept of wisdom as expertise in a cult. On the one hand, there are a number of non-homogenous, formally different literary genres in which knowledge, procedures, advice and behavioural guidelines are passed on; on the other han…

[German version] (Μούθ/ Moúth; Egyptian mw.t). Egyptian goddess. Her name is written like the Egyptian word for ‘mother’, but is vocalized differently. Beginning in the 18th dynasty in Thebes (Thebes), M., Amun and Chons formed the Theban triad. Other cultic sites of M. can be found in Megeb (near Antaeopolis) as well as at various locations at the tip of the Nile Delta. The Heliopolitan ‘M. who is carrying her brother’ is associated with a fire altar used for punishing criminals. M. is one of the go…

[German version] (Egyptian Wsr-k-R.w). Egyptian king, according to the evidence of the Kings' lists in the Sixth Dynasty (c. 2300-2250 BC), after Teti I and before Pepi I (Phiops [1]); scarcely any contemporary record. He is sometimes regarded as a usurper or anti-king before or during the reign of Pepi I. Quack, Joachim (Berlin) Bibliography J. Vercoutter, L'Égypte et la vallée du Nil, vol. 1, 1992, 322.

I. General [German version] A. Notions of measuring time Most cultures have some method of measuring time, frequently based on periodical changes within nature or the stars. The oldest of these is the pars-pro-toto method, in which it is not a certain period of time as a whole that is connected, but a regularly recurring phenomenon within that time [1. 9 f.] (e.g. lunar phases). Metaphors of time or the measuring thereof play no great role in antiquity, with the exception of the field of  metrics. Usually, the focus was not on …

[German version] ( R), the most important god in the Egyptian pantheon. Essentially merely the word for 'sun' and as appellative still used as such in Coptic, translated into Greek as Helios. Re is the god who originated in himself, yet the primeval ocean Nun is considered to be his father. In Heliopolis he is linked with the god Atum, and his children are Shu and Tefnut (Tefnut, legend of). Often the epithet 'Horus of the horizon' (Harachte), is bestowed on him. The phases of the sun during the day are classified by the Egyptians as Chepre (morning), Re (midday) and Atum (e…

[German version] (Μίν/ Mín; Egyptian Mnw). Egyptian god, chief deity of Coptus and Achmīm, was responsible for the desert regions accessible from Coptus. Colossi of M. are preserved from Coptus from early times (3rd cent) [6], demonstrating the classical iconography - they are anthropomorphic, with relatively unstructured bodies, ithyphallic, with a tall plume on the head. One arm is raised and bears a scourge. This figure became the model for the ithyphallic form of Amun. The written character for M…

[German version] I. General ‘Multilingualism’ refers to two different things: on the one hand the ability of an individual to use several languages, on the other hand a situation where, within a social group, several languages are used (linguistic contact). As a result, research into multilingualism can look at multilingual individuals or a multilingual society; accordingly, points of contact arise to psycho- and neurolinguistics on the one hand or to sociolinguistics and historical linguistics (des…