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[German version] This item can be found on the following maps: Egypt | Commerce | India, trade with | Egypt (Μυὸς Ὅρμος/ Muòs Hórmos, Egyptian Dww). Port on the Red Sea, modern Quṣar. Only Ptol. 4,5,8 refers to this port as Leukos limen, probably the result of a mi…

[German version] The most important Egyptian hawk god, whose name (Egyptian Ḥrw, ‘the remote’) and form indicate his function as sky god. Any trace of his origins is lost in the mists of prehistory. The best-known H. god of historical times is H. Behedeti ( Bḥdtj) from  Edfu in Upper Egypt, however, there is evidence of a Lower Egyptian origin. H. soon assimilated other hawk gods and was closely linked with the sun god. H. is also regarded as the morning sun; his name is an appellative in the sense of ‘ruler/highest/sublime’ (e.g. in Harachte, ‘H. of the horizon’). Later the H. hawk is identified with the heavens; his eyes are interpreted as the sun and the moon. Already on pyramid texts a form of H. is known as the morning star. …

[German version] I. The Ancient Orient The ancient Mesopotamian calendar was based on the phases of the lunar cycle and was observed in the cult on a monthly basis (1st, 7th, 15th day). Annual feasts were frequently associated with the agrarian cycle (…

[German version] The Egyptian H., author of the Hieroglyphiká, possibly identical to H., the son of Asclepiades, came from a family of grammarians and philosophers from Phenebythis in Panopolites; was active in Alexandria around AD 500. H. is known, among other things, from the vita of the pupil of Proclus,  Isidorus [4], written by the Neoplatonist  Damascius, and from a Greek petition to an official of Phenebythis between 491 and 493 (pap. Cairo 67295). The Greek text of the Hieroglyphiká is recorded in MSS of the 14th cent. and, according to its title, has been translat…

[German version] I. Ancient Orient In Mesopotamia and its neighbouring regions, weights were made of stone (primarily haematite [Haematite], or else limestone and others) or metal (bronze, copper), often in the form of a barleycorn or a loaf, or figuratively as a duck (3rd to 1st millennia), and in Assyria from the 1st millennium also as a lion. Weights could be inscribed with a numerical value with or without indicating the unit, as well as with an inscription of a ruler, an institution, …

[German version] I. Definition The term 'creation of the world' ('CW') (κτίσις/ ktísis, Lat. creatio) in the narrower sense should be distinguished from two similar concepts. Unlike 'cosmogony', 'CW' refers to a personal act. Secondly, unlike 'fashioning of the world' in the sense of the craft of a demiourgos [3] (cf. [1]), 'CW' does not mean the mere modelling of existing material in analogy to the creative i…

[German version] I. Ancient Orient and Egypt In Egypt and Mesopotamia, hospitality was not regarded as a value in itself, but generosity to the needy was seen in both cultures as an obligatory norm, in the sense of…

[German version] I. Egypt and the ancient Orient The central Egyptian sources of information regarding banquets are the depictions of the funerary banquet in the tombs of Theban officials dating from the 18th dynasty (15th -14th cents. BC). The early pictures show the tomb's occupant with his spouse as the host in front of a table loaded with d…

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[German version] I. Ancient Near East Various concepts of square measures (SM) are found (even simultaneously) in Mesopotamia. The oldest, attested from the late 4th millennium BC, was based on the length measurements of squares or rectangles, and was thus suited to the needs of surveying fields: 1 rod × 1 rod (with 1 rod = 6 m) = 1 rod square ('bed') (36 m2). The fundamental unit for fields was 1 'field' or 'dyke' (0.36 ha). In the 1st millennium, the Babylonia…

[German version] I. Ancient Orient Measures of volume were used to measure liquids and especially grain and other bulk solids (dates, etc.). Therefore, they were employed in the administration of grain, including the issuing of rations. According to cuneiform sources, ordinary measuring vessels (especially the sea) were made of wood. Special measures for liquids can only be identified locally with a standard ‘vessel’ usually containing 20 or 30 litres. Despite all temporal and local differences, a relatively constant absolute size of the small unit (Sumerian sìla, Akkadian …

[German version] I. Ancient Orient Especially in the south of Mesopotamia with its river courses, canals and swamps, fish greatly supplemented the diet; in addition there was fish breeding in p…

I. Ancient Orient [German version] A. General In the more restricted sense, inscriptions are texts - usually of monumental character - that, because of their function, are intended to last, as well as texts that are written on other-than-usual writing materials, e.g. clay tablets,  papyrus,  ostraka, etc. Inscriptions are closely tied to other texts by commonalities of writing, form and content. Therefore, despite specific research efforts, ancient oriental epigraphy has not developed as an independent…

[German version] A. Introduction The cleansing of defilement or impurity (Greek kátharsis, katharmós) can be understood as a strategy for overcoming calamity [5. 149-155]. Purification in this sense was introduced to Greek civilization through contact with the Ancient Orient [6. 55-64]. Heinze, Theodor (Geneva) B. Religious [German version] 1. Ancient Orient and Egypt Althou…

[German version] I. Ancient Orient and Egypt The relatively few ancient Oriental testimonials that can be regarded as OM provide important pointers to the self-image of a culture, but have not yet been discussed from this perspective. Aetiologies primarily with respect to festivals and cult centres are to be found in the Egyptian tradition [7], more rarely in the Mesopotamian [4. 551f., 559f.] and the Hittite tradition [4. 571]; in the OT, they are particularly common in Genesis (e.g. Gn 28: Bethel). Gods were sometimes considered the …