Author: Scriptural Research Institute
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781989852941
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 684
Book Description
In the mid-3rd century BC, King Ptolemy II Philadelphus of Egypt ordered a translation of the ancient Hebrew scriptures for the Library of Alexandria, which resulted in the creation of the Septuagint. The original version, published circa 250 BC, only included the Torah, or in Greek terms, the Pentateuch. The Torah is the five books traditionally credited to Moses, circa 1500 BC: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. The first edition was followed by the second, around 225 BC which added the books of Joshua, Judges, and Ruth, which was later known as the Octateuch. This version of the Septuagint was later carried south into the Kingdom of Kush by the Jews fleeing Egypt in 200 BC when Judea was in revolt and the Ptolemys attempted to exterminate the Jews in Egypt. The Octateuch later became the Torah of the Beta Israel community in Sudan and Ethiopia known as the Orit.A number of stories exist to explain the origin of the Beta Israel community, the 'Ethiopian Jews' indigenous to Ethiopia, Eritrea, and Sudan. The recorded story of the origin of the Ethiopian Jews was reported by Eldad ha-Dani in the late 800s AD. Eldad ha-Dani was a dark-skinned Jew from a country south of Kush, modern northern Sudan, who was captured by pagan Ethiopians, and ultimately sold on the coast of what might be modern Kenya or Tanzania, to a Jew from the Parthian Empire, who took him back to modern Iran. He later traveled through the Middle East and the Mediterranean Sea. He claimed that he was from a country of Jews, south of Kush, who were the descendants of the tribes of Dan, Gad, Naphtali, and Asher, who had left Israel during the civil war that split the Kingdom into Judea and Samaria. Modern secular scholars doubt there was a united kingdom of Israel, however, if the civil war did happen, it would have happened in 922 BC when Jeroboam I and Rehoboam split the kingdom of Solomon. If true, this would make the Ethiopian Jews neither Jews, nor Samaritans, but a third branch of the Judeo-Samaritan religions, and arguably, older than the others.The Christian text Kebra Nagast claims that Judaism entered into Ethiopia slightly earlier when the Ethiopian Queen of Sheba traveled to Israel and was impregnated by King Solomon. Her son Menelik I led a group of Jews to Ethiopia when he stole the Ark of the Covenant. Other than the Ethiopian Orthodox Christians, few consider the Kebra Nagast historically valid. Some members of the Beta Israel community claim the Ethiopian Jews were originally members of the Jewish tribes lead by Moses that chose not to enter into Canaan with Joshua, and instead traveled south and settled in the land of Moses' Ethiopian wife, mentioned in Numbers chapters 12. A third story of the origin of the Ethiopian Jews, took place shortly after the Greeks had taken control over Egypt and Judea, when King Ptolemy I resettled Judeans in southern Nubia. This would have taken place between 305 and 282 BC, and later the Jews migrated south for various reasons.However they ended up in Ethiopia, they have traditionally used a variation of the Octateuch, which they call the Orit. The Octateuch is documented as being the version of the Septuagint that was published around 225 BC. Like the Ethiopian Christian Bible, the Orit appears to have had sections 'updated' from Hebrew and Arabic sources over the past two thousand years. Octateuch: The Original Orit is a 21st-century translation aimed at restoring the original Orit.
Octateuch: The Original Orit
Author: Scriptural Research Institute
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781989852941
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 684
Book Description
In the mid-3rd century BC, King Ptolemy II Philadelphus of Egypt ordered a translation of the ancient Hebrew scriptures for the Library of Alexandria, which resulted in the creation of the Septuagint. The original version, published circa 250 BC, only included the Torah, or in Greek terms, the Pentateuch. The Torah is the five books traditionally credited to Moses, circa 1500 BC: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. The first edition was followed by the second, around 225 BC which added the books of Joshua, Judges, and Ruth, which was later known as the Octateuch. This version of the Septuagint was later carried south into the Kingdom of Kush by the Jews fleeing Egypt in 200 BC when Judea was in revolt and the Ptolemys attempted to exterminate the Jews in Egypt. The Octateuch later became the Torah of the Beta Israel community in Sudan and Ethiopia known as the Orit.A number of stories exist to explain the origin of the Beta Israel community, the 'Ethiopian Jews' indigenous to Ethiopia, Eritrea, and Sudan. The recorded story of the origin of the Ethiopian Jews was reported by Eldad ha-Dani in the late 800s AD. Eldad ha-Dani was a dark-skinned Jew from a country south of Kush, modern northern Sudan, who was captured by pagan Ethiopians, and ultimately sold on the coast of what might be modern Kenya or Tanzania, to a Jew from the Parthian Empire, who took him back to modern Iran. He later traveled through the Middle East and the Mediterranean Sea. He claimed that he was from a country of Jews, south of Kush, who were the descendants of the tribes of Dan, Gad, Naphtali, and Asher, who had left Israel during the civil war that split the Kingdom into Judea and Samaria. Modern secular scholars doubt there was a united kingdom of Israel, however, if the civil war did happen, it would have happened in 922 BC when Jeroboam I and Rehoboam split the kingdom of Solomon. If true, this would make the Ethiopian Jews neither Jews, nor Samaritans, but a third branch of the Judeo-Samaritan religions, and arguably, older than the others.The Christian text Kebra Nagast claims that Judaism entered into Ethiopia slightly earlier when the Ethiopian Queen of Sheba traveled to Israel and was impregnated by King Solomon. Her son Menelik I led a group of Jews to Ethiopia when he stole the Ark of the Covenant. Other than the Ethiopian Orthodox Christians, few consider the Kebra Nagast historically valid. Some members of the Beta Israel community claim the Ethiopian Jews were originally members of the Jewish tribes lead by Moses that chose not to enter into Canaan with Joshua, and instead traveled south and settled in the land of Moses' Ethiopian wife, mentioned in Numbers chapters 12. A third story of the origin of the Ethiopian Jews, took place shortly after the Greeks had taken control over Egypt and Judea, when King Ptolemy I resettled Judeans in southern Nubia. This would have taken place between 305 and 282 BC, and later the Jews migrated south for various reasons.However they ended up in Ethiopia, they have traditionally used a variation of the Octateuch, which they call the Orit. The Octateuch is documented as being the version of the Septuagint that was published around 225 BC. Like the Ethiopian Christian Bible, the Orit appears to have had sections 'updated' from Hebrew and Arabic sources over the past two thousand years. Octateuch: The Original Orit is a 21st-century translation aimed at restoring the original Orit.
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781989852941
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 684
Book Description
In the mid-3rd century BC, King Ptolemy II Philadelphus of Egypt ordered a translation of the ancient Hebrew scriptures for the Library of Alexandria, which resulted in the creation of the Septuagint. The original version, published circa 250 BC, only included the Torah, or in Greek terms, the Pentateuch. The Torah is the five books traditionally credited to Moses, circa 1500 BC: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. The first edition was followed by the second, around 225 BC which added the books of Joshua, Judges, and Ruth, which was later known as the Octateuch. This version of the Septuagint was later carried south into the Kingdom of Kush by the Jews fleeing Egypt in 200 BC when Judea was in revolt and the Ptolemys attempted to exterminate the Jews in Egypt. The Octateuch later became the Torah of the Beta Israel community in Sudan and Ethiopia known as the Orit.A number of stories exist to explain the origin of the Beta Israel community, the 'Ethiopian Jews' indigenous to Ethiopia, Eritrea, and Sudan. The recorded story of the origin of the Ethiopian Jews was reported by Eldad ha-Dani in the late 800s AD. Eldad ha-Dani was a dark-skinned Jew from a country south of Kush, modern northern Sudan, who was captured by pagan Ethiopians, and ultimately sold on the coast of what might be modern Kenya or Tanzania, to a Jew from the Parthian Empire, who took him back to modern Iran. He later traveled through the Middle East and the Mediterranean Sea. He claimed that he was from a country of Jews, south of Kush, who were the descendants of the tribes of Dan, Gad, Naphtali, and Asher, who had left Israel during the civil war that split the Kingdom into Judea and Samaria. Modern secular scholars doubt there was a united kingdom of Israel, however, if the civil war did happen, it would have happened in 922 BC when Jeroboam I and Rehoboam split the kingdom of Solomon. If true, this would make the Ethiopian Jews neither Jews, nor Samaritans, but a third branch of the Judeo-Samaritan religions, and arguably, older than the others.The Christian text Kebra Nagast claims that Judaism entered into Ethiopia slightly earlier when the Ethiopian Queen of Sheba traveled to Israel and was impregnated by King Solomon. Her son Menelik I led a group of Jews to Ethiopia when he stole the Ark of the Covenant. Other than the Ethiopian Orthodox Christians, few consider the Kebra Nagast historically valid. Some members of the Beta Israel community claim the Ethiopian Jews were originally members of the Jewish tribes lead by Moses that chose not to enter into Canaan with Joshua, and instead traveled south and settled in the land of Moses' Ethiopian wife, mentioned in Numbers chapters 12. A third story of the origin of the Ethiopian Jews, took place shortly after the Greeks had taken control over Egypt and Judea, when King Ptolemy I resettled Judeans in southern Nubia. This would have taken place between 305 and 282 BC, and later the Jews migrated south for various reasons.However they ended up in Ethiopia, they have traditionally used a variation of the Octateuch, which they call the Orit. The Octateuch is documented as being the version of the Septuagint that was published around 225 BC. Like the Ethiopian Christian Bible, the Orit appears to have had sections 'updated' from Hebrew and Arabic sources over the past two thousand years. Octateuch: The Original Orit is a 21st-century translation aimed at restoring the original Orit.
Septuagint: 1ˢᵗ Paralipomenon
Author: Scriptural Research Institute
Publisher: Digital Ink Productions
ISBN: 1989604234
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 111
Book Description
In the mid 3ʳᵈ century BC, King Ptolemy II Philadelphus of Egypt ordered a translation of the ancient Hebrew scriptures for the Library of Alexandria. The creation of the Septuagint resulted from this order. It is generally accepted that there were several versions of the ancient Hebrew and Samaritan scriptures before the translation of the Septuagint. The two books of the Paralipomena were translated into Greek and added to the Septuagint around 180 BC after a large number of refugees fled from the war in Judea and settled in Egypt. The two books of the Paralipomena were one book in the Masoretic Texts: the book of Divrei-hayyamim. Subsequent Latin translations were renamed 1ˢᵗ and 2ⁿᵈ Chronikon by Jerome in the 5ᵗʰ century AD. Subsequent English translations of the Old Testament labeled these books as 1ˢᵗ and 2ⁿᵈ Chronicles. The term Paralipomena, which means ‘things left out,’ is similar to the Hebrew name Divrei-hayyamim, which means ‘things in the days.’ The books are a collection of texts from various eras of Israelite history, spanning the era of the old Israelite Kingdoms, circa 1000 BC, through the Persian conquest, of circa 539 BC. Scholars have debated the origin of the books throughout their history, and there is no consensus within Rabbinical literature, Christian literature, or modern scholarship. The general Rabbinical view is that the two books of Paralipomena were written by one author, as Divrei-hayyamim, and then translated into Greek. The dominant early Christian view was that the books were written by Ezra the Scribe, circa 350 BC, however, this view was generally abandoned in Western Europe during the Protestant Reformation. Modern scholarly analysis has no consensus, however, the books do themselves indicate the eras they were compiled, nevertheless, the authors remain unknown. Based on the references within 1ˢᵗ Paralipomenon, the book was compiled sometime after 732 BC, when Tiglath-Pileser III deported the Reubenites, Gadites, and the people of Manasseh to other regions of the Assyrian Empire. The surviving Hebrew text of Divrei-hayyamim does, however, contain a reference to the Temple in Jerusalem as the ‘Temple of the Gods’, which means the original text of the book has to predate King Josiah’s reforms of circa 625 BC, and likely predates King Hezekiah’s similar reforms decades earlier. Both Hezekiah and Josiah are recorded as removing the idols of the gods from the temple, which had by all accounts been in the temple since it was built by King Solomon. The books of Paralipomena differ slightly from the later Masoretic book of Divrei-hayyamim, although the three are generally similar. In 200 BC the Greek Kingdom of Syria under the Seleucid Dynasty took Judea from Egypt and began an effort to Hellenize the Judeans, which included erecting a statue of Zeus in the Second Temple in Jerusalem and effectively banning traditional Judaism. This Hellenizing activity was partially successful, creating the Sadducee faction of Judaism, however, it also led the Maccabean Revolt in 165 BC, which itself created the independent Kingdom of Judea. This Kingdom had a tenuous alliance with the Roman Republic until General Pompey conquered Syria into the Roman Republic in 69 BC. Pomey’s goal was to liberate Greek-speaking communities in the Middle East that had fallen under the rule of non-Greeks when the Seleucids Syrian Empire had collapsed, and he carved up Judea, and Edom to the east, placing Greek-speaking cities under the protection of the Roman province of Syria. He also liberated several smaller communities that had been occupied by Judea, granting them self-government, including Ashdod, Yavne, Jaffa, Dora, Marissa, and Samaria.
Publisher: Digital Ink Productions
ISBN: 1989604234
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 111
Book Description
In the mid 3ʳᵈ century BC, King Ptolemy II Philadelphus of Egypt ordered a translation of the ancient Hebrew scriptures for the Library of Alexandria. The creation of the Septuagint resulted from this order. It is generally accepted that there were several versions of the ancient Hebrew and Samaritan scriptures before the translation of the Septuagint. The two books of the Paralipomena were translated into Greek and added to the Septuagint around 180 BC after a large number of refugees fled from the war in Judea and settled in Egypt. The two books of the Paralipomena were one book in the Masoretic Texts: the book of Divrei-hayyamim. Subsequent Latin translations were renamed 1ˢᵗ and 2ⁿᵈ Chronikon by Jerome in the 5ᵗʰ century AD. Subsequent English translations of the Old Testament labeled these books as 1ˢᵗ and 2ⁿᵈ Chronicles. The term Paralipomena, which means ‘things left out,’ is similar to the Hebrew name Divrei-hayyamim, which means ‘things in the days.’ The books are a collection of texts from various eras of Israelite history, spanning the era of the old Israelite Kingdoms, circa 1000 BC, through the Persian conquest, of circa 539 BC. Scholars have debated the origin of the books throughout their history, and there is no consensus within Rabbinical literature, Christian literature, or modern scholarship. The general Rabbinical view is that the two books of Paralipomena were written by one author, as Divrei-hayyamim, and then translated into Greek. The dominant early Christian view was that the books were written by Ezra the Scribe, circa 350 BC, however, this view was generally abandoned in Western Europe during the Protestant Reformation. Modern scholarly analysis has no consensus, however, the books do themselves indicate the eras they were compiled, nevertheless, the authors remain unknown. Based on the references within 1ˢᵗ Paralipomenon, the book was compiled sometime after 732 BC, when Tiglath-Pileser III deported the Reubenites, Gadites, and the people of Manasseh to other regions of the Assyrian Empire. The surviving Hebrew text of Divrei-hayyamim does, however, contain a reference to the Temple in Jerusalem as the ‘Temple of the Gods’, which means the original text of the book has to predate King Josiah’s reforms of circa 625 BC, and likely predates King Hezekiah’s similar reforms decades earlier. Both Hezekiah and Josiah are recorded as removing the idols of the gods from the temple, which had by all accounts been in the temple since it was built by King Solomon. The books of Paralipomena differ slightly from the later Masoretic book of Divrei-hayyamim, although the three are generally similar. In 200 BC the Greek Kingdom of Syria under the Seleucid Dynasty took Judea from Egypt and began an effort to Hellenize the Judeans, which included erecting a statue of Zeus in the Second Temple in Jerusalem and effectively banning traditional Judaism. This Hellenizing activity was partially successful, creating the Sadducee faction of Judaism, however, it also led the Maccabean Revolt in 165 BC, which itself created the independent Kingdom of Judea. This Kingdom had a tenuous alliance with the Roman Republic until General Pompey conquered Syria into the Roman Republic in 69 BC. Pomey’s goal was to liberate Greek-speaking communities in the Middle East that had fallen under the rule of non-Greeks when the Seleucids Syrian Empire had collapsed, and he carved up Judea, and Edom to the east, placing Greek-speaking cities under the protection of the Roman province of Syria. He also liberated several smaller communities that had been occupied by Judea, granting them self-government, including Ashdod, Yavne, Jaffa, Dora, Marissa, and Samaria.
Greek Apocalypse of Ezra
Author: Scriptural Research Institute
Publisher: Digital Ink Productions
ISBN: 1989852122
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 44
Book Description
In the early centuries of the Christian era, several texts called the Apocalypse of Ezra were in circulation among Jews, Christians, Gnostics, and related religious groups. The original is believed to have been written in Judahite or Aramaic and is commonly known as the Jewish Apocalypse of Ezra, as Ezra is believed to have been an ancient Judahite. This translation is referred to as the Judahite Apocalypse of Ezra, as the book has nothing to do with modern Judaism. This version of the Apocalypse was translated into Greek sometime before 200 AD and circulated widely within the early Christian churches. This prophet Ezra is not the scribe Ezra from the books of Ezra, but a prophet named Shealtiel who lived a couple of centuries earlier. In the apocalypse, he is called Ezra by the angel Uriel, which translates a ‘helper’ or ‘assistant.’ In the book, it is claimed that the prophet Ezra wrote 904 books, and its popularity seems to have inspired a number of Christian-era Apocalypses of Ezra, presumably beginning with the ‘Latin’ Apocalypse of Ezra which claimed to be the ‘second book of the prophet Ezra.’ The ‘second apocalypse’ was strangely attributed to Ezra the Scribe, and not the earlier exilarch Shealtiel, suggesting the author of the second apocalypse was not entirely familiar with the first apocalypse. The Greek Apocalypse of Ezra is a third Apocalypse of Ezra, which has only survived in two copies, both dating to before the 9th century. It is a separate text from the Judahite or Latin Apocalypses of Ezra and appears to be a Christian-era composite of various Ezra and Shadrach related materials. There is no consensus of when the Greek Apocalypse of Ezra was written, however, it is a Christian era Apocalypse, which refers to several Christian Apostles in heaven along with the Israelite Patriarchs. This Apocalypse uses a very inconsistent writing style and switches constantly between first-person and third-person as if it is a composite of material that originated in various earlier Ezra material. Some of the content repeats content found in the Judahite Apocalypse of Ezra, however, the bulk of the material is unique, describing Ezra’s journey through the sky (Heaven) and the underworld (Tartarus).
Publisher: Digital Ink Productions
ISBN: 1989852122
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 44
Book Description
In the early centuries of the Christian era, several texts called the Apocalypse of Ezra were in circulation among Jews, Christians, Gnostics, and related religious groups. The original is believed to have been written in Judahite or Aramaic and is commonly known as the Jewish Apocalypse of Ezra, as Ezra is believed to have been an ancient Judahite. This translation is referred to as the Judahite Apocalypse of Ezra, as the book has nothing to do with modern Judaism. This version of the Apocalypse was translated into Greek sometime before 200 AD and circulated widely within the early Christian churches. This prophet Ezra is not the scribe Ezra from the books of Ezra, but a prophet named Shealtiel who lived a couple of centuries earlier. In the apocalypse, he is called Ezra by the angel Uriel, which translates a ‘helper’ or ‘assistant.’ In the book, it is claimed that the prophet Ezra wrote 904 books, and its popularity seems to have inspired a number of Christian-era Apocalypses of Ezra, presumably beginning with the ‘Latin’ Apocalypse of Ezra which claimed to be the ‘second book of the prophet Ezra.’ The ‘second apocalypse’ was strangely attributed to Ezra the Scribe, and not the earlier exilarch Shealtiel, suggesting the author of the second apocalypse was not entirely familiar with the first apocalypse. The Greek Apocalypse of Ezra is a third Apocalypse of Ezra, which has only survived in two copies, both dating to before the 9th century. It is a separate text from the Judahite or Latin Apocalypses of Ezra and appears to be a Christian-era composite of various Ezra and Shadrach related materials. There is no consensus of when the Greek Apocalypse of Ezra was written, however, it is a Christian era Apocalypse, which refers to several Christian Apostles in heaven along with the Israelite Patriarchs. This Apocalypse uses a very inconsistent writing style and switches constantly between first-person and third-person as if it is a composite of material that originated in various earlier Ezra material. Some of the content repeats content found in the Judahite Apocalypse of Ezra, however, the bulk of the material is unique, describing Ezra’s journey through the sky (Heaven) and the underworld (Tartarus).
Septuagint: Song of Songs
Author: Scriptural Research Institute
Publisher: Scriptural Research Institute
ISBN: 1989852157
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 42
Book Description
The Song of Songs appears to be love poetry, exchanged between Solomon and one of his wives, however, is not clear who exactly the wife was. The wife describes herself as black, suggesting a Kushite woman. She also refers to herself as a Shulammitess, and makes clear she was not from Jerusalem. The town of Shunaam was located near the Jezreel Valley north of Mount Gilboa, in the tribal lands of Issachar at the time. It was also listed as one of the towns conquered by the Egyptian Pharaoh Thutmose III circa 1450 BC, and then again by Pharaoh Shoshenk I circa 925 BC, meaning there was a significant town was there for over 500 years. It was the hometown of King David’s last concubine, the 12-year-old Abishag, who Adonijah attempted to marry after David’s death, which suggests the author was Abishag the Shulamite. If this song was the work of Abishag, it means that it would date to the time of Solomon, and imply she was one of Solomon’s wives or concubines. The geography of the Song of Songs is curious, as it seems focused on northern Israel and southern Lebanon, not Judea. Jerusalem is mentioned repeatedly but as part of the phrase ‘daughters of Jerusalem,’ which is a group the author clearly does not see herself as being a part of. This suggests that she was living in the north, possibly in the palace Solomon built in the mountains of Lebanon, and saw the daughters of Jerusalem as her rivals for his affection.
Publisher: Scriptural Research Institute
ISBN: 1989852157
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 42
Book Description
The Song of Songs appears to be love poetry, exchanged between Solomon and one of his wives, however, is not clear who exactly the wife was. The wife describes herself as black, suggesting a Kushite woman. She also refers to herself as a Shulammitess, and makes clear she was not from Jerusalem. The town of Shunaam was located near the Jezreel Valley north of Mount Gilboa, in the tribal lands of Issachar at the time. It was also listed as one of the towns conquered by the Egyptian Pharaoh Thutmose III circa 1450 BC, and then again by Pharaoh Shoshenk I circa 925 BC, meaning there was a significant town was there for over 500 years. It was the hometown of King David’s last concubine, the 12-year-old Abishag, who Adonijah attempted to marry after David’s death, which suggests the author was Abishag the Shulamite. If this song was the work of Abishag, it means that it would date to the time of Solomon, and imply she was one of Solomon’s wives or concubines. The geography of the Song of Songs is curious, as it seems focused on northern Israel and southern Lebanon, not Judea. Jerusalem is mentioned repeatedly but as part of the phrase ‘daughters of Jerusalem,’ which is a group the author clearly does not see herself as being a part of. This suggests that she was living in the north, possibly in the palace Solomon built in the mountains of Lebanon, and saw the daughters of Jerusalem as her rivals for his affection.
Septuagint: Cosmic Genesis
Author: Scriptural Research Institute
Publisher: Digital Ink Productions
ISBN: 1998288889
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 483
Book Description
In the mid 3ʳᵈ century BC, King Ptolemy II Philadelphus of Egypt ordered a translation of the ancient Israelite scriptures for the Library of Alexandria, which resulted in the creation of the Septuagint. The original version, published circa 250 BC, only included the Torah, or in Greek terms, the Pentateuch. The Torah is composed of the five books traditionally credited to Moses, circa 1500 BC: Cosmic Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. The first of these five books was known as Cosmic Genesis in Greek, however, known as Bereshít in Hebrew, which translates as approximately ‘In the beginning’ the first few words of the book. The Book of Cosmic Genesis begins by recounting a fusion of ancient Akkadian and Middle Egyptian creation mythology, before telling the stories of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the ancestors of the Israelites. Their stories also include smatterings of Old and Middle Egyptian religious iconography, such as Jacob seeing the ladder up to the sky, which in Egyptian mythology was associated with Osiris since the Old Kingdom era. The book culminates with the Israelites, the descendants of Jacob, all moving to Egypt during a famine in Canaan. Based on the chronology in the Septuagint, his famine would have been during the collapse of the Egyptian Middle Kingdom, which led to a group of Canaanites seizing control of Egypt, as described a the end of Cosmic Genesis.
Publisher: Digital Ink Productions
ISBN: 1998288889
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 483
Book Description
In the mid 3ʳᵈ century BC, King Ptolemy II Philadelphus of Egypt ordered a translation of the ancient Israelite scriptures for the Library of Alexandria, which resulted in the creation of the Septuagint. The original version, published circa 250 BC, only included the Torah, or in Greek terms, the Pentateuch. The Torah is composed of the five books traditionally credited to Moses, circa 1500 BC: Cosmic Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. The first of these five books was known as Cosmic Genesis in Greek, however, known as Bereshít in Hebrew, which translates as approximately ‘In the beginning’ the first few words of the book. The Book of Cosmic Genesis begins by recounting a fusion of ancient Akkadian and Middle Egyptian creation mythology, before telling the stories of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the ancestors of the Israelites. Their stories also include smatterings of Old and Middle Egyptian religious iconography, such as Jacob seeing the ladder up to the sky, which in Egyptian mythology was associated with Osiris since the Old Kingdom era. The book culminates with the Israelites, the descendants of Jacob, all moving to Egypt during a famine in Canaan. Based on the chronology in the Septuagint, his famine would have been during the collapse of the Egyptian Middle Kingdom, which led to a group of Canaanites seizing control of Egypt, as described a the end of Cosmic Genesis.
Septuagint: Zephaniah
Author: Scriptural Research Institute
Publisher: Scriptural Research Institute
ISBN: 1989852521
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 40
Book Description
The Book of Zephaniah is generally considered one of the older surviving books of the Hebrew Scriptures, with most scholars dating it to before the Torah was written, or at least heavily redacted in the time of King Josiah. Most scholars accept that Zephaniah was written by a prophet called Zephaniah between 630 and 612 BC, however, very little is known about him. His world was very different from the later Kingdom of Judea that emerged in the 2nd-century BC, as the Israelites of his time were still polytheistic, worshiping the Canaanite gods, as well as statues of Iaw (Masoretic Yahweh), the God the Jews and Samaritans would later worship. Based on the contents of Zephaniah’s writing, the work must have been composed before the Fall of Nineveh, in 612 BC, and almost certainly before Josiah’s reforms, which began in 622 BC, shortly after the Chaldean revolt of 626 BC. The Chaldean revolt against the Assyrians captured Babylon in its first year and coronated Nabopolassar as King of Babylon. King Josiah switched allegiances quickly from Assyria to Babylon, and four years later began his religious reforms, banning the worship of all gods other than Yahweh, several of which Zephaniah mentioned as being worshiped in Jerusalem in his writing, confirming that he was writing before 622 BC. Zephaniah mentioned several gods in his book which were explicitly mentioned in 4th Kingdoms (Masoretic Kings), during King Josiah’s religious reforms. The open verses denounce the worship of Ba‘al, which is treated as a proper name, and therefore is a reference to Hadad, the Canaanite storm-god, commonly called Ba‘al. He then denounced those who those worshiped the army of Shamayim, which, based on the Book of Jonah, appears to have been the Canaanite (and Hebrew) name of the Assyrian god Asshur, who by the 7th-century BC had become known as Ansar, which translates as the ‘Whole Sky.’ Shamayim was the name of the Canaanite god of the ‘skies,’ and the god Jonah identified as the god of his Assyrian owner when he went to prophesy in Nineveh. As all of the geographic references in the Book of Jonah locate his life in Assyrian-occupied Samaria, and later the Assyrian capital of Nineveh, it is likely he was a Samaritan slave shortly after the Assyrians had occupied Samaria, as it is recorded that they reduced the entire population to slavery.
Publisher: Scriptural Research Institute
ISBN: 1989852521
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 40
Book Description
The Book of Zephaniah is generally considered one of the older surviving books of the Hebrew Scriptures, with most scholars dating it to before the Torah was written, or at least heavily redacted in the time of King Josiah. Most scholars accept that Zephaniah was written by a prophet called Zephaniah between 630 and 612 BC, however, very little is known about him. His world was very different from the later Kingdom of Judea that emerged in the 2nd-century BC, as the Israelites of his time were still polytheistic, worshiping the Canaanite gods, as well as statues of Iaw (Masoretic Yahweh), the God the Jews and Samaritans would later worship. Based on the contents of Zephaniah’s writing, the work must have been composed before the Fall of Nineveh, in 612 BC, and almost certainly before Josiah’s reforms, which began in 622 BC, shortly after the Chaldean revolt of 626 BC. The Chaldean revolt against the Assyrians captured Babylon in its first year and coronated Nabopolassar as King of Babylon. King Josiah switched allegiances quickly from Assyria to Babylon, and four years later began his religious reforms, banning the worship of all gods other than Yahweh, several of which Zephaniah mentioned as being worshiped in Jerusalem in his writing, confirming that he was writing before 622 BC. Zephaniah mentioned several gods in his book which were explicitly mentioned in 4th Kingdoms (Masoretic Kings), during King Josiah’s religious reforms. The open verses denounce the worship of Ba‘al, which is treated as a proper name, and therefore is a reference to Hadad, the Canaanite storm-god, commonly called Ba‘al. He then denounced those who those worshiped the army of Shamayim, which, based on the Book of Jonah, appears to have been the Canaanite (and Hebrew) name of the Assyrian god Asshur, who by the 7th-century BC had become known as Ansar, which translates as the ‘Whole Sky.’ Shamayim was the name of the Canaanite god of the ‘skies,’ and the god Jonah identified as the god of his Assyrian owner when he went to prophesy in Nineveh. As all of the geographic references in the Book of Jonah locate his life in Assyrian-occupied Samaria, and later the Assyrian capital of Nineveh, it is likely he was a Samaritan slave shortly after the Assyrians had occupied Samaria, as it is recorded that they reduced the entire population to slavery.
Septuagint: Wisdom of Joshua ben Sira
Author: Scriptural Research Institute
Publisher: Scriptural Research Institute
ISBN: 1989852319
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 175
Book Description
The Wisdom of Joshua ben Sira was likely the last book added to the Septuagint, in 132 BC, after Joshua ben Sira's grandson translated it in Alexandria. The book is known by several names, including Sirach, Wisdom of Sirach, Wisdom of Jesus Sirach, ben Sira, Ecclesiasticus, and the Book of the All-Virtuous Wisdom of Yeshua ben Sira. This diversity of names is based on the fact that the Masorites did not copy the text, however, an Aramaic copy and some fragments of the ancient Hebrew version have survived. As the Masorites did not copy the Wisdom of Solomon, it was ultimately dropped from most Protestant bibles, however, remains part of the Catholic, Orthodox, and Tewahedo Bibles. Hebrew and Aramaic fragments of the Wisdom of Joshua ben Sira were in circulation during the Herodian Dynasty, and fragments have survived among the Dead Sea Scrolls, including the 2QSir, 11QPsa, and MasSir scrolls, however, the fragments may not have been part of a book called the Wisdom of Joshua Ben Sira. The 2QSir and MasSir scrolls are so damaged that they are barely recognizable as being excerpts from Joshua ben Sira, and the 11QPsa scroll, while being one of the best-preserved scrolls found in the Qumran caves, includes random psalms and proverbs from multiple sources, including excerpts from Joshua ben Sira. As the Wisdom of Joshua ben Sira was itself a collection of proverbs that Joshua had collected, it is possible that these scrolls may have simply drawn on the same sources. Some elements of the hedonistic version of Judaism remain in the Wisdom of Joshua ben Sira, including the reference to Iaw reacquiring Israel as his portion when the Highest God divided the nations of humanity between the princes. This is a reference to the 70 or 72 Elohim who were placed over the 70 or 72 nations of humans, in the early Second Temple era hedonistic form of Judaism. This was first mentioned in the Song of Moses, in Deuteronomy chapter 32, and then again in the Talmud which mentions the story of Dobiel, the 'prince of Persia' who was once the proxy for Gabriel in heaven for 21 days after Gabriel angered God by allowing the Jews to leave Babylon, when God wanted the Babylonians to kill them. While be was Gabriel's proxy Dobiel allowed the Persians to conquer the known world, which was the explanation of the sudden rise of the Persian Empire in the early Second Temple era. Dobiel was again referred to as the 'Prince of Persia' in the Revelation of Metatron, which listed Samael as the 'Prince of Rome.'
Publisher: Scriptural Research Institute
ISBN: 1989852319
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 175
Book Description
The Wisdom of Joshua ben Sira was likely the last book added to the Septuagint, in 132 BC, after Joshua ben Sira's grandson translated it in Alexandria. The book is known by several names, including Sirach, Wisdom of Sirach, Wisdom of Jesus Sirach, ben Sira, Ecclesiasticus, and the Book of the All-Virtuous Wisdom of Yeshua ben Sira. This diversity of names is based on the fact that the Masorites did not copy the text, however, an Aramaic copy and some fragments of the ancient Hebrew version have survived. As the Masorites did not copy the Wisdom of Solomon, it was ultimately dropped from most Protestant bibles, however, remains part of the Catholic, Orthodox, and Tewahedo Bibles. Hebrew and Aramaic fragments of the Wisdom of Joshua ben Sira were in circulation during the Herodian Dynasty, and fragments have survived among the Dead Sea Scrolls, including the 2QSir, 11QPsa, and MasSir scrolls, however, the fragments may not have been part of a book called the Wisdom of Joshua Ben Sira. The 2QSir and MasSir scrolls are so damaged that they are barely recognizable as being excerpts from Joshua ben Sira, and the 11QPsa scroll, while being one of the best-preserved scrolls found in the Qumran caves, includes random psalms and proverbs from multiple sources, including excerpts from Joshua ben Sira. As the Wisdom of Joshua ben Sira was itself a collection of proverbs that Joshua had collected, it is possible that these scrolls may have simply drawn on the same sources. Some elements of the hedonistic version of Judaism remain in the Wisdom of Joshua ben Sira, including the reference to Iaw reacquiring Israel as his portion when the Highest God divided the nations of humanity between the princes. This is a reference to the 70 or 72 Elohim who were placed over the 70 or 72 nations of humans, in the early Second Temple era hedonistic form of Judaism. This was first mentioned in the Song of Moses, in Deuteronomy chapter 32, and then again in the Talmud which mentions the story of Dobiel, the 'prince of Persia' who was once the proxy for Gabriel in heaven for 21 days after Gabriel angered God by allowing the Jews to leave Babylon, when God wanted the Babylonians to kill them. While be was Gabriel's proxy Dobiel allowed the Persians to conquer the known world, which was the explanation of the sudden rise of the Persian Empire in the early Second Temple era. Dobiel was again referred to as the 'Prince of Persia' in the Revelation of Metatron, which listed Samael as the 'Prince of Rome.'
Septuagint: Isaiah
Author: Scriptural Research Institute
Publisher: Scriptural Research Institute
ISBN: 1989852831
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 147
Book Description
According to the Book of Isaiah, he lived during the reigns of several Judahite Kings including Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, spanning the late 700s and early 600s BC, working as a prophet for possibly more than 80 years. The Jerusalem and Babylonian Talmuds both report that he was killed by King Manasseh, who ruled between 687 and 643 BC, however, the stories differ somewhat. In the older Jerusalem Talmud Gemara, complied between 350 and 400 AD, reports that Isaiah was killed when a tree he was hiding in was cut down on the orders of King Manasseh, while the later Babylonian Talmud Gemara, complied between 400 and 500 AD, reports that King Manasseh had Isaiah sawed in half, not the tree he was hiding in. In both cases, King Manasseh ordered the execution of Isaiah as a heretic because he had claimed to have seen God, while in the Torah Moses claimed no one could see God and live. This seems inconsistent with the reports in 4th Kingdoms (Masoretic Kings), in which Manasseh was a polytheist, as polytheists could see at least some of their gods, such as the sun, moon, and earth. Therefore, it is more likely that if Manasseh did have Isaiah executed, it was because Isaiah denounced his rule of Judah, as Isaiah’s final chapters are clearly a denouncement of Judah, and could not have taken place before Manasseh’s time. The stories of how Isaiah died in the Torahs were likely copied from the earlier Lives of the Prophets, generally dated to the 1st-century AD, which also was later used by Muslim scholars who recognize Isaiah (أشعياء) as a prophet even though he was not mentioned in the Quran or Hadith. As Manasseh could not have executed Isaiah until after the death of Hezekiah, who Isaiah was closely allied with, Isiah could not have been killed until after 687 BC and must have been killed before 643 BC. It is reported in Rabbinical literature that Isaiah was the maternal grandfather of Manasseh, which, if true, would mean Isaiah was the father of Manasseh’s mother Hephzibah, and thereby father-in-law of King Hezekiah, which would support Isaiah’s claim to have been a major prophet in the time of Hezekiah’s father Ahaz’s reign, between 732 and 716 BC. Therefore his rise to prominence as a prophet must have taken place during the reign of King Jotham, circa 742 and 735 BC, and likely his predecessor king Uzziah between 783 and 742 BC. This indicates that Isaiah was in his 90s or older when Manasseh had him executed, which makes his climbing a tree unlikely and supports the alternate report, that Manasseh had him sawed in half, and not a tree he was hiding in. The book of 4th Kingdoms reports that Manasseh killed supporters of his father Hezekiah’s religious reforms, which would have undoubtedly included Isaiah, and therefore, while the execution of Isaiah is not itself found in the Septuagint or Masoretic Tanakh, it is implied. Archaeological evidence has shown that at the beginning of the era of Isaiah, the Kingdoms of Samaria and Judah went through considerable changes. When Uzziah reigned in Jerusalem, the larger Kingdom of Samaria to the north was the wealthiest and most populous nation in Canaan and had occupied the kingdoms of Aram and Hama to the north, giving the Samarians a dominant position in the region, occupying most of modern northern Israel, the northern Palestinian West Bank, eastern Lebanon, and western Syria. At the time, the coastal cities of Sidon and Tyre continued to be independent, as well as Judah to the south, and Moab, Ammon, and Edom to the southeast. This era of wealth and prosperity was suddenly and dramatically ended by a magnitude 8 earthquake circa 760 BC, which would have caused aftershocks for up to a year. Entire cities were leveled, and the Dead Sea fault Zone was radically altered, causing a drop in the water levels and a general drying of the Arabah region to the south of the Dead Sea.
Publisher: Scriptural Research Institute
ISBN: 1989852831
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 147
Book Description
According to the Book of Isaiah, he lived during the reigns of several Judahite Kings including Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, spanning the late 700s and early 600s BC, working as a prophet for possibly more than 80 years. The Jerusalem and Babylonian Talmuds both report that he was killed by King Manasseh, who ruled between 687 and 643 BC, however, the stories differ somewhat. In the older Jerusalem Talmud Gemara, complied between 350 and 400 AD, reports that Isaiah was killed when a tree he was hiding in was cut down on the orders of King Manasseh, while the later Babylonian Talmud Gemara, complied between 400 and 500 AD, reports that King Manasseh had Isaiah sawed in half, not the tree he was hiding in. In both cases, King Manasseh ordered the execution of Isaiah as a heretic because he had claimed to have seen God, while in the Torah Moses claimed no one could see God and live. This seems inconsistent with the reports in 4th Kingdoms (Masoretic Kings), in which Manasseh was a polytheist, as polytheists could see at least some of their gods, such as the sun, moon, and earth. Therefore, it is more likely that if Manasseh did have Isaiah executed, it was because Isaiah denounced his rule of Judah, as Isaiah’s final chapters are clearly a denouncement of Judah, and could not have taken place before Manasseh’s time. The stories of how Isaiah died in the Torahs were likely copied from the earlier Lives of the Prophets, generally dated to the 1st-century AD, which also was later used by Muslim scholars who recognize Isaiah (أشعياء) as a prophet even though he was not mentioned in the Quran or Hadith. As Manasseh could not have executed Isaiah until after the death of Hezekiah, who Isaiah was closely allied with, Isiah could not have been killed until after 687 BC and must have been killed before 643 BC. It is reported in Rabbinical literature that Isaiah was the maternal grandfather of Manasseh, which, if true, would mean Isaiah was the father of Manasseh’s mother Hephzibah, and thereby father-in-law of King Hezekiah, which would support Isaiah’s claim to have been a major prophet in the time of Hezekiah’s father Ahaz’s reign, between 732 and 716 BC. Therefore his rise to prominence as a prophet must have taken place during the reign of King Jotham, circa 742 and 735 BC, and likely his predecessor king Uzziah between 783 and 742 BC. This indicates that Isaiah was in his 90s or older when Manasseh had him executed, which makes his climbing a tree unlikely and supports the alternate report, that Manasseh had him sawed in half, and not a tree he was hiding in. The book of 4th Kingdoms reports that Manasseh killed supporters of his father Hezekiah’s religious reforms, which would have undoubtedly included Isaiah, and therefore, while the execution of Isaiah is not itself found in the Septuagint or Masoretic Tanakh, it is implied. Archaeological evidence has shown that at the beginning of the era of Isaiah, the Kingdoms of Samaria and Judah went through considerable changes. When Uzziah reigned in Jerusalem, the larger Kingdom of Samaria to the north was the wealthiest and most populous nation in Canaan and had occupied the kingdoms of Aram and Hama to the north, giving the Samarians a dominant position in the region, occupying most of modern northern Israel, the northern Palestinian West Bank, eastern Lebanon, and western Syria. At the time, the coastal cities of Sidon and Tyre continued to be independent, as well as Judah to the south, and Moab, Ammon, and Edom to the southeast. This era of wealth and prosperity was suddenly and dramatically ended by a magnitude 8 earthquake circa 760 BC, which would have caused aftershocks for up to a year. Entire cities were leveled, and the Dead Sea fault Zone was radically altered, causing a drop in the water levels and a general drying of the Arabah region to the south of the Dead Sea.
Septuagint: Numbers
Author: Scriptural Research Institute
Publisher: Scriptural Research Institute
ISBN: 1989852513
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 341
Book Description
Since the 1800s, the majority of Biblical scholars have interpreted the books of Leviticus and Numbers as a later addition to the original laws of Moses found in Exodus, with Deuteronomy being an even later addition during the Babylonian or Persian eras. Cosmic Genesis is either considered to be part of Moses' original work or a later addition in the Persian era, depending on the scholar. Leviticus and Numbers contain several amendments to Moses' laws in Exodus, as well as establishing the land rights of the various tribes of Israel within historic Canaan, including the assignment of several cities and their environs to the Levitical Priesthood. The most obvious amendment to Moses' laws, is replacing the sacrifice of the firstborn with the establishment of the Levitical Priesthood. Exodus 13 includes a requirement that the firstborn Israelites must be slaughtered as a sacrifice to the Lord, however, allowed an animal to be substituted. This law would not have been difficult for a group of nomadic shepherds to follow but would have become progressively more difficult as the Israelites became more urbanized in Canaan. The substitution of the Levitical Priesthood for the firstborn Israelites was established in Numbers chapter 3. This 'authorized' Torah also removed the Korahites from the Temple of Solomon, adding the Revolt of Korah to the Torah, set long before the Israelites entered Canaan. The Sons of Korah, or Korahites, were a rival priesthood to the Levites that administered the Temple of Solomon from the time of Solomon until Josiah. They are believed to have originally been the priesthood of El Elyon at the Jebusite Temple before David conquered them. Solomon, David's youngest son, was an unlikely heir, and not the original heir apparent, as his elder brother Adonijah attempted to succeed David by marrying Abishag the Shunamite, David's youngest wife, who was twelve years old at the time. However, Solomon's Jebusite mother Bathsheba, and the prophet Nathan conspired to place the fifteen-year-old Solomon on the throne and then purged the government of non-Jebusites, who appear to have all supported Adonijah. The Sons of Korah were the authors of some of the Psalms, and are documented as existing in Judea as late as the Persian era, although seem to have disappeared by the early Greek era. Some have theorized they may have formed the priesthood of the Essenes (Nazarenes) in the late-Persian era, as the Essenes had another Torah, and used different holy books from the other Jews, such as the books of Enoch and Jubilees.
Publisher: Scriptural Research Institute
ISBN: 1989852513
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 341
Book Description
Since the 1800s, the majority of Biblical scholars have interpreted the books of Leviticus and Numbers as a later addition to the original laws of Moses found in Exodus, with Deuteronomy being an even later addition during the Babylonian or Persian eras. Cosmic Genesis is either considered to be part of Moses' original work or a later addition in the Persian era, depending on the scholar. Leviticus and Numbers contain several amendments to Moses' laws in Exodus, as well as establishing the land rights of the various tribes of Israel within historic Canaan, including the assignment of several cities and their environs to the Levitical Priesthood. The most obvious amendment to Moses' laws, is replacing the sacrifice of the firstborn with the establishment of the Levitical Priesthood. Exodus 13 includes a requirement that the firstborn Israelites must be slaughtered as a sacrifice to the Lord, however, allowed an animal to be substituted. This law would not have been difficult for a group of nomadic shepherds to follow but would have become progressively more difficult as the Israelites became more urbanized in Canaan. The substitution of the Levitical Priesthood for the firstborn Israelites was established in Numbers chapter 3. This 'authorized' Torah also removed the Korahites from the Temple of Solomon, adding the Revolt of Korah to the Torah, set long before the Israelites entered Canaan. The Sons of Korah, or Korahites, were a rival priesthood to the Levites that administered the Temple of Solomon from the time of Solomon until Josiah. They are believed to have originally been the priesthood of El Elyon at the Jebusite Temple before David conquered them. Solomon, David's youngest son, was an unlikely heir, and not the original heir apparent, as his elder brother Adonijah attempted to succeed David by marrying Abishag the Shunamite, David's youngest wife, who was twelve years old at the time. However, Solomon's Jebusite mother Bathsheba, and the prophet Nathan conspired to place the fifteen-year-old Solomon on the throne and then purged the government of non-Jebusites, who appear to have all supported Adonijah. The Sons of Korah were the authors of some of the Psalms, and are documented as existing in Judea as late as the Persian era, although seem to have disappeared by the early Greek era. Some have theorized they may have formed the priesthood of the Essenes (Nazarenes) in the late-Persian era, as the Essenes had another Torah, and used different holy books from the other Jews, such as the books of Enoch and Jubilees.
Tale of the Shipwrecked Sailor
Author: Scriptural Research Institute
Publisher: Scriptural Research Institute
ISBN: 1990289215
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 39
Book Description
The Tale of the Shipwrecked Sailor is the earliest known surviving story of a shipwrecked sailor, and as such is the forerunner of many stories of nautical adventure encountering strange magical creatures, from Homer's Odyssey to Sinbad the Sailor. In a broader sense, it is generally considered the oldest piece of Egyptian fiction to survive to the present. Only one copy has been found to date, a single papyrus manuscript that resides at the Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg, Russia, and is designated pHermitage 1115. The exact origin of the papyrus was not properly documented at the time, which was common for early Egyptologists, however, it was most likely recovered in Vladimir Golenishchev's 1884-85 expedition to the Wadi Hammamat, which was the major trade route between the Nile in southern Egypt and the port of El Qoseir on the Red Sea. The papyrus does appear to be complete, however, the story is not. It begins abruptly and ends abruptly, and suggests that it was excised from an older text. The story begins as a ship's captain is returning home from Nubia, on a failed mission of some kind, and then segues to the narrator telling the disinterested captain of a time when was shipwrecked on an island near Punt. It ends as abruptly as it begins, but the scribe confirms that this is the end of the story. Based on the content, it appears that the point of the papyrus was to copy the section of text dealing with the island and the 'Lord of Punt,' which was copied from a longer text in which the captain returned from his failed mission in Nubia, and told the king a story his crewman had told him to make up for the fact that he had nothing to report, but also downplayed the fantastic story by making it clear that it was his boring crewman's story, and not his. The reason for the extraction of the story, was probably because at the time, in the early Middle Kingdom era, the Egyptians were re-exploring their world, and trying to find the lands their ancestors had been trading with. This short work of probable fiction was, nevertheless, about the fabled land of Punt, which the Middle Kingdom reopened trade with during the 11ᵗʰ dynasty. Under the 11ᵗʰ dynasty's Mentuhotep III, an officer named Hannu reopened trade with Punt, however, it is unknown if he personally sailed there or simply organized the expedition. The most probable time for Imenyas pen-Imeny to have excised the story was before that first mission of Hannu, when the Egyptians were scouring their records for information on Punt. The fact that it was abandoned in the Wadi Hammamat, the route taken from the capital at Thebes to the Red Sea port of El Qoseir, seems to be a pretty strong indicator that the navigator did not see any value in the text, and did not even bother carrying it all the way to the harbor.
Publisher: Scriptural Research Institute
ISBN: 1990289215
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 39
Book Description
The Tale of the Shipwrecked Sailor is the earliest known surviving story of a shipwrecked sailor, and as such is the forerunner of many stories of nautical adventure encountering strange magical creatures, from Homer's Odyssey to Sinbad the Sailor. In a broader sense, it is generally considered the oldest piece of Egyptian fiction to survive to the present. Only one copy has been found to date, a single papyrus manuscript that resides at the Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg, Russia, and is designated pHermitage 1115. The exact origin of the papyrus was not properly documented at the time, which was common for early Egyptologists, however, it was most likely recovered in Vladimir Golenishchev's 1884-85 expedition to the Wadi Hammamat, which was the major trade route between the Nile in southern Egypt and the port of El Qoseir on the Red Sea. The papyrus does appear to be complete, however, the story is not. It begins abruptly and ends abruptly, and suggests that it was excised from an older text. The story begins as a ship's captain is returning home from Nubia, on a failed mission of some kind, and then segues to the narrator telling the disinterested captain of a time when was shipwrecked on an island near Punt. It ends as abruptly as it begins, but the scribe confirms that this is the end of the story. Based on the content, it appears that the point of the papyrus was to copy the section of text dealing with the island and the 'Lord of Punt,' which was copied from a longer text in which the captain returned from his failed mission in Nubia, and told the king a story his crewman had told him to make up for the fact that he had nothing to report, but also downplayed the fantastic story by making it clear that it was his boring crewman's story, and not his. The reason for the extraction of the story, was probably because at the time, in the early Middle Kingdom era, the Egyptians were re-exploring their world, and trying to find the lands their ancestors had been trading with. This short work of probable fiction was, nevertheless, about the fabled land of Punt, which the Middle Kingdom reopened trade with during the 11ᵗʰ dynasty. Under the 11ᵗʰ dynasty's Mentuhotep III, an officer named Hannu reopened trade with Punt, however, it is unknown if he personally sailed there or simply organized the expedition. The most probable time for Imenyas pen-Imeny to have excised the story was before that first mission of Hannu, when the Egyptians were scouring their records for information on Punt. The fact that it was abandoned in the Wadi Hammamat, the route taken from the capital at Thebes to the Red Sea port of El Qoseir, seems to be a pretty strong indicator that the navigator did not see any value in the text, and did not even bother carrying it all the way to the harbor.