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[German version] (Ῥαμψίνιτος; Rhampsínitos). According to Hdt. 2,121 f., R. was an Egyptian ruler. In scholarship, he is mostly (however, without conclusive arguments) equated with Ramesses [3] III. He is said to have been the successor of Proteus and the predecessor of Cheops. R. may be identified with a Remphis, who is mentioned in Diod. Sic. 1,62,5. The latter part of the name could contain the element s Njt, 'son of Neith', and possibly it should be corrected to Psammsinit, i.e. Psammetichus, son of Neith. R. is said to have constructed the western gateways of the Temple…

(Σαραπεῖον/ Sarapeîon, Σαράπιον/ Sarápion). [German version] [1] Burial and cult sites of dead Apis bulls in Memphis Term for the burial and cult sites of dead Apis bulls in Memphis (Apis [1]), and generally for cult buildings of the god Serapis derived from it in the Graeco-Roman world. Quack, Joachim (Berlin) [German version] [2] Name of various places As a reflexion of presumably Egyptian terms such as pr-wsjr-ḥp a place name in Greek and Latin sources (see also [1]). According to the Tabula Peutingeriana there were three such places in the Nile Delta; one w…

[German version] (Φερῶν; Pherôn). Greek rendering of the Egyptian pr-, Pharaoh, therefore not a personal name, but the Egyptian royal title. According to Hdt. 2,111 (similarly also Diod. Sic. 159), the son and successor of Sesostris I (1971-1928 BC). He is said to have thrown his spear into the flooding Nile and to have been blinded as a punishment, until he could wash his eyes with the urine of a woman who had always been faithful to her husband. After recovering his sight, he had all unfaithful wives …

[German version] This item can be found on the following maps: Commerce | India, trade with | Egypt Main city of the 5th upper Egyptian district (besides Ombos and Qūṣ), Egyptian gbtw, which became Greek κοπτός ( koptós), Copt. kebt and Arab. qifṭ. Important starting-point for expeditions into the Wadi Hamāmat and the Red Sea. Located in C. were temples for  Min (main god),  Isis (also referred to as ‘Widow of Coptus’) and  Horus; records also indicate a cult of Geb. Colossal stone statues of Min stem from the early 1st dynasty. Protect…

[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] 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] (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] (ξείνη/ xeínē, 'stranger'). According to Hdt. 2,112 term for a  manifestation of Aphrodite, with a temple in Memphis. Presumably it was a cult of the Syrian goddess Astarte, i.e. 'the Stranger', who had been worshipped there since the Eighteenth Dynasty [1. 45]. It is uncertain whether it can be identified with a temple of Aphrodite or Selene mentioned in Str. 17,1,31 [2. 136]. Quack, Joachim (Berlin) Bibliography 1 A. B. Lloyd, Herodotus, Book II, Commentary 99-182, 1988 2 J. Yoyotte, P. Charvet, Strabon, Le voyage en Égypte (transl. with comm.), 1997.

[German version] Group of myths about the Egyptian goddess Tefnut (Greek Τφηνις; Tphēnis), the daughter of Atum, who parted with her father in anger and is brought back from Nubia to Egypt by her brother Onuris with the aid of Thoth (Thot). Attestations of the legend can be found in temple inscriptions (mostly in the form of short epithets and allusions) mainly in Nubia and southern Upper Egypt, and in the Demotic Myth of the Eye of the Sun, which was also translated into Greek. This Greek translation (P. Lit. Lond. 192, ed. [4]) has been discussed by scholars as indicati…

[German version] (Θώνις/ Thṓnis). City on the Mediterranean coast of Egypt (Egyptian t ḥn.t), in the area of the Canopian mouth of the Nile, according to Str. 17,1,16 and  Sic. 1,19 once an important trading post. The recent find of a duplicate of the Naucratis stele has made identification with Heracleum likely. The place name T. is probably the origin of the figure of a homonymous hero who plays a part in the tradition of Helena [I]  in Egypt. Hdt. 2,113-115 tells of T. as a guardian of the mouth of the Nile, who notifies King Proteus of the arrival of Paris and Helen. Quack, Joachim (Berlin) Bibl…

[German version] (Σεσῶστρις; Sesôstris). Greek form of the name of three Egyptian rulers of the 12th Dynasty, Egyptian z (j)-n-Wsrt: S. I (1956-1911/10 BC), S. II (1882-1872 BC) and S. III (1872-1853/52 BC). In Hdt. 2,102-110 and Diod. Sic. 1,53-58, S. appears as the greatest general of Egypt, who conquered large parts of Asia and Europe. An alleged settlement of Egyptians in Colchis is reported to go back to his campaigns. He is supposed to have been brought up together with all other Egyptian men who were born o…

[German version] (Νεμανούς/ Nemanoús). According to Plutarch (Plut. De Is. et Os. 15,357 B) one of the names of the Queen of Byblos [1], wife of Malcathrus. She received Isis during her search for Osiris and made her the wet nurse of her children. She is also called Astarte and Saosis and is said to have been called Ἀθηναΐς/ Athēnaís by the Greeks. Her name is derived from nḥm( .t)- n, a frequent variation on the goddess's name nḥm( .t)- wy in the late period. She is the companion of Thot. In the late period (1st millennium BC), she was considered to be an aspect of Hathor. Quack, Joachim (Berlin) B…

[German version] ( al-Lišt). Modern Arabic name for the town that under the name iṯi-t.wi (‘who seizes the two lands’) was the capital city of Egypt (C.) in the Middle Kingdom [3. 53-59]. The pyramids of Amenemhet I and Sesostris I were situated there, the latter surrounded by smaller pyramids of the royal family [1]. An officials' cemetery continued to be used until the 17th dynasty. As an archetypal residence the place name was later used as a cryptographic symbol for the word ‘internal’, ‘residence’. Quack, Joachim (Berlin) Bibliography 1 D. Arnold, The Pyramid Complex of Senwosre…

[English version] (Ῥαμψίνιτος). Nach Hdt. 2,121 f. äg. Herrscher; wird in der Forsch. meist, aber ohne zwingende Argumente, mit Ramses [3] III. gleichgesetzt. Er soll Nachfolger des Proteus und Vorgänger des Cheops gewesen sein. Evtl. ist er zu identifizieren mit einem Remphis, der bei Diod. 1,62,5 genannt wird. Der Name könnte im hinteren Bereich das Element s Njt, “Sohn der Neith”, enthalten, evtl. ist er zu Psammsinit, d. h. Psammetichos, “Sohn der Neith”, zu verbessern. Rh. soll die westl. Torbauten des Hephaistos-Tempels (wohl in Memphis) erbaut und davor zwei…

[English version] (Μούθ; äg. mw.t). Äg. Göttin. Ihr Name wird wie das Wort “Mutter” geschrieben, aber die Vokalisation weicht ab. In Theben (Thebai) bildet M. ab der 18. Dyn. gemeinsam mit Amun und Chons die thebanische Triade. Weitere Kultorte der M. finden sich in Megeb (bei Antaiopolis) sowie an verschiedenen Orten an der Spitze des Nildeltas. Die heliopolitanische “M., die ihren Bruder trägt” ist mit einem Brandaltar verbunden, der zur Bestrafung von Verbrechern dient. M. gehört zu den Göttinnen…

[English version] Dieser Ort ist auf folgenden Karten verzeichnet: Ägypten | Handel | Indienhandel Hauptort des 5. oberäg. Gaues (neben Ombos und Qūṣ), äg. gbtw, daraus griech. κοπτός, kopt. kebt und arab. qifṭ. Wichtiger Ausgangspunkt für Expeditionen ins Wadi Hamāmat und zum Roten Meer. In K. befanden sich Tempelbauten für Min (Hauptgott), Isis (auch als “Witwe von Koptos” bezeichnet) und Horus; auch ein Kult des Geb ist belegt. Kolossale Steinstatuen des Min stammen bereits aus der frühen 1. Dyn. Schutzdekrete des späten AR…

[English version] (Φερῶν). Griech. Wiedergabe des äg. pr-, “Pharao”, also kein Eigenname, sondern der äg. Königstitel. Nach Hdt. 2,111 (ähnl. auch Diod. 159) Sohn und Nachfolger des Sesostris I. (1971-1928 v.Chr.). Er soll seine Lanze in die Nilüberschwemmung geworfen haben und als Strafe dafür erblindet sein, bis er seine Augen mit dem Urin einer Frau waschen konnte, die ihrem Mann stets treu war. Nach Wiedererlangung der Sehfähigkeit ließ er alle untreuen Frauen verbrennen sowie in Heliopolis [1] zw…

[English version] (Νεμανούς). Nach Plutarch (Plut. Is. 15,357 B) einer der Namen der Königin von Byblos [1], Gemahlin des Malkathros, die Isis auf der Suche nach Osiris aufnimmt und zur Amme ihrer Kinder macht. Sie wird auch als Astarte und Saosis bezeichnet und soll von den Griechen Athenais (Ἀθηναΐς) genannt worden sein. Der Name geht auf nḥm( .t)- n zurück, eine in der Spätzeit häufige Variante des Göttinnennamens nḥm( .t)- wy. Diese ist Gefährtin des Thot und wird in der Spätzeit (1. Jt.v.Chr.) als Aspekt der Hathor aufgefaßt. Quack, Joachim (Berlin) Bibliography 1 H.J. Thissen,…

[English version] Dieser Ort ist auf folgenden Karten verzeichnet: Ägypten | Handel (Λευκὸς λιμήν; nur bei Ptol. 4,5,8). Hafen am Roten Meer am Ost-Ausgang des Wadi Hammamat in der Höhe von Koptos, h. Marsa Koseir el-qadim. L.L. war Ausgangspunkt der Fahrten nach Punt (Küste von Erythraea). Seit der Ptolemäerzeit haben die Häfen Myos Hormos und Berenike [9] L.L. überflügelt. Ant. Reste sind kaum erhalten. Quack, Joachim (Berlin)