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I. Name Re ( Rʿw, Akk. Riʿa, Heb. Raʿ) occurs as a theophoric element in Potiphera (פוטיפרע = PʒdjpʒRʿw, name of the father of Asenath Gen. 41.45), a short form of Potiphar (פוטיפר) the name of Joseph’s Egyptian employer, Gen. 37.36; Gen. 39.1) and Hophra (חפרע), Jer. 44.30 ( ḥʿʿjbRʿw, Gk. Apries, name of Pharao WʒḥjbRʿw). Re is the Egyptian god of creation, the sun and the state, for he symbolizes the cosmogonic energies and qualities that rule the universe and that find their terrestrial incarnation in Pharaoh. Re is the chief of the gods and the…

I. Name Amun, ʒmn, from jmn ‘to hide’: the “Hidden one”. The Greeks identified Amun with Zeus because of his function as chief of the Egyptian pantheon. Amun occurs as divine name in Jer. 46.25 ( ʾāmôn minnōʾ Amon of No: Amon of Thebes) and Nah. 3.8 ( nōʾ ʾāmôn No-Amon: the city of Amon). II. Identity The original nature of Amun is determined by two factors: 1. the close relationship with Min of Koptos, the god of kingship, fertility and virility; 2. the role of Amun as one of the personifications of preexistence (cf. Pyr. 466: Amun and Amaunet as feminine counterpart, alongside Njw and Naun…

I. Name Neith (|I.EI.F|, Nj.t, Gk. Νηιθ) occurs as a theophoric element in the name אסנת, Asnath, Gk. Ασεννέθ, the daughter of Potiphera, a priest in Heliopolis, and wife of Joseph ( Gen. 41.45, see el Sayed 1982 II:400–401 doc. 446). The etymology of the name is not clear, but associations point in two entirely different directions: 1. both the name of the goddess and the name of the crown of Lower Egypt ( N.t) might go back to a fuller form Nr.t, meaning ‘the terrible one’. This meaning connects well with the typical attribute of Neith: a shield with two crossed arrows; 2. In its form, N.t the nam…

I. Name Isis ( ʒst, Gk. Εἶσις, Ἶσις, Copt. ēse, isi), perhaps a theophoric element in the personal name Ἰαμβρες, Iambres ( 2 Tim. 3.8–9, var. Mambres); the identification seems very doubtful. Like Osiris, Isis does not belong to the early attested deities but makes her first appearance only in the Pyramid texts where she plays, however, a very prominent role (end of the 5th dynasty, over 70 occurrences). The etymology of her name is not clear. Her symbol which she often wears as a headdress is the seat or throne s.t which also serves in writing her name, but this writing has to …