Egyptian Pelusium, on the map: an ancient 'Jewish' town?

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billd89
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Egyptian Pelusium, on the map: an ancient 'Jewish' town?

Post by billd89 »

Specifically: the settlement and its population, neighboring cities, its commerce and strategic significance, and as a Jewish town.

Big picture. Pelusion = Pelusium.
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J. Rennell's reconstruction of Herodotus' outline, re-imagined to 510-323 BC (1800):
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The 'Sethrum' is the land of Seth, Sethians. (Descendants of Seth = Jewish sect in the Syriad = Sethrum.)
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This shows the Port of Pelusium had a key position in the Delta: central to commerce, defense, etc. Pelusium was the Alexandria of its day.
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A small part of Pelusium:
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Jean-Daniel Stanley, Maria Pia Bernasconi and Thomas F. Jorstad, "Pelusium, an Ancient Port Fortress on Egypt's Nile Delta Coast: Its Evolving Environmental Setting from Foundation to Demise" in Journal of Coastal Research Vol. 24, No. 2 (Mar., 2008), pp. 451-462
https://www.jstor.org/stable/30137849
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billd89
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Re: Egyptian Pelusium, on the map

Post by billd89 »

WORKBOOK:
The Battle of Pelusium (525 BCE) was famous as 'The Battle of the Cats': the Jews and their cats! (Note: ancient Pelusium was certainly verdant.)
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The Latin 'Pelusium' comes from the Greek Πηλούσιον (Pelousion), presumably translated from an Egyptian name, perhaps Per-Amun (after the Temple of Sun-God Amun, a 'Zeus') or - for Palestine Semites: Sena/Saien = Σαῖν/Sin (Hebrew: סִין)/ -Chaldaic and Hebrew- Seyân (Aramaic).

The real story, I think, is how all this will establish that (my thesis here) the region around Pelusium (= Capthor) was the most important Jewish homeland in Egypt (the Sethrum = Syriad) and - by implication - a source-culture for some key Torah elements. Literary evidence (before 130 AD*) will broach the mystery, and get to the main questions of the Gods' identity soon enough.

Corinne Bonnet. "Typhon et Baal Saphon" in Phoenicia and the East Mediterranean in the first millennium B.C., Nov 1985, Louvain, Belgique. pp.101-143.
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-02021686/document

See John Pairman Brown, Israel and Hellas [1995]:
Excursus Β: The god of Kasios and his adversary.
{p.98}
Greeks knew two places called Mount Kasios, each with a cult of Zeus: one in Syria, the Jebel Aqraf, just south of the Orontes mouth; one (no more than a sand-dune) in eastern Egypt between Pelusium and Rhinocolura, where Pompey died and was buried. Semitic (and some Egyptian) texts attach to each place a divinity Baal-Saphon (xxxx; ba-al-ṣa-pu-nu; = Baal-Zephon). Although the Egyptian Kasios is earlier attested in Greek (by Herodotus) than the Syrian, two features indicate that the Syrian site is the original: it really is a mountain, and the divinity's name is Canaanite. The Tyrians made Baal-Zephon a god of storm at sea; Greeks made Zeus Kasios (from whichever site) protector of sailors from storm, as Hebrews did Yahweh. At each site Greeks regarded a figure called Typhon or the like as the god's adversary: at the Syrian site the dragon Typhon (in the variant forms of his name), successor to the Titans, whose home is Cilicia, defeated by Zeus; at the Egyptian site the demon Typhon otherwise called Seth, murderer of Osiris.

At each site Canaanites placed a victory of the high God over the watery powers of chaos: at the Syrian site a victory over the primeval sea; at the Egyptian site the triumph of the Exodus. Thus the twin cults mediated {p.99} between Canaan and Hellas (by all indications from Canaan to Hellas) the foundation myth of both societies: the vindication of the high God of order through his overcoming the forces of disorder. Hebrews historicized the myth at several points: at the original creative act (in its mythical version); at Noah's Flood; at the crossing of the Red Sea; at the return from Exile. Greeks kept it as a myth of how Zeus' kingship was confirmed (with an echo in Deucalion's Flood), until in Hellenistic Egypt they stumbled on a cultic version in the conflict of Osiris and Seth. In both societies the chaotic Sea seems to have features retained in folk-memory from the volcanic wave or tsunami of Thera {1550 BC}. It is possible that Typhon in his various forms continues the name of Zephon; and probable (Chapter 2.5 above) that the 'sickle' or 'sword' with which the high God kills his opponent has a common name.
[...]
Herodotus 2.158.4 (cf. 2.6.1) makes the Egyptian "Mount" Kasios the boundary between Egypt and Syria. Titus with his army passed by in AD 69 {p.100} Josephus BJ 4.661). Strabo 16.2.33 says that "the Kasion is a sandy hill without water forming a promontory, where the body of Pompeius Magnus lies and there is a temple of Zeus Kasios": εστι δέ τό Κάσιον θινώδης τις λόφος άκρωτηριάζων άνυδρος, οπου τό Πομπηίου του Μάγνου σώμα κείται καί Διός έστιν ιερόν Κασίου. Nobody would have called a sandhill a mountain if the name were not authenticated from elsewhere. Romans who did not know the area were misled by the name 'mountain' and gave the Egyptian site the characteristics of the Syrian: thus Lucan {c.65 AD} Pharsalia 10.434-5: Lucifer a Casia prospexit rupe diemque / misit in Aegyptum "Lucifer looked out from the cliff of Casius and sent Day into Egypt."
...
In the story of the Exodus, the site XXXX is close to the place where Pharaoh's army is drowned (Ex 14,2.9; Num 33,7).13 As a divinity, Baal-Saphon is known from an Aramaic papyrus from Egypt (KAI 50.2-3) of the 6th C. BC, where BS3 writes to her sister 'RSt "I have blessed you by Baal-Zephon and all the gods of Tahpanhes":
Albright, Chuvin-Yoyotte and Fauth give further attestation for the Egyptian cult of Baal-Zephon.

It does not seem possible to determine an 'original' meaning of XXX. Savignac thinks it a common noun 'storm.' Frequently in the Hebrew it {p.101} means 'north,' so that the mountain and its divinity could be 'Baal of the North.' But it seems also possible that the meaning of the mountain's name is unknown; and that it loomed so large in Hebrew mythical geography that it came to serve as 'north,' just as XXX 'Sea' served for the 'west'; cf. Genesis 13,14 "north, south, east, west" ...
[...]
A midrash on Exodus {Mekhilta de-Rabbi Ishmael 190, ed. Jacob Z. Lauterbach} understands that the place-name is also a divinity, "Baal-Zephon alone was left of all the deities in order to mislead the hearts of Egypt" XXXXX.

For Greeks Zeus Kasios was a god who protected sailors.17 Presumably a god capable of stilling storms can also raise them. Procopius (Hist.8.22.23-25) says that on Corcyra there was a ship of white stone dedicated by a merchant in a previous age to Zeus Kasios. ...
[...] {p.102} Chuvin-Yoyotte illustrate anchors dedicated to Zeus Kasios. In Achilles Tatius' novel (3.6), when Clitophon and Leucippe have been shipwrecked they come to land at Pelusium and find the agalma of Zeus Kasios, where they ask for an oracle about the fate of their shipwrecked comrades. Yahweh also saves from shipwreck (Psalm 107:25-32) and Jonah and Paul of Tarsus rely on him as such, even though Israel is so land-oriented.

A single text associates the Syrian Mount Kasios with the dragon Typhon. He was the offspring of Ge and Tartaros in the Cilician cave (Pseudo-Apollodorus {c.100 AD?} Bibliotheca 1.6.3, discussed p.80 above), "the earthborn dweller of the Cilician cave," (Aeschylus PV 351-2). Apollodorus goes on "When the gods saw him rushing at heaven, they made for Egypt in flight, and being pursued they changed their forms into those of animals"; here we have a hint of the Egyptian Typhon. "Zeus pelted Typhon at a distance with thunderbolts, and at close quarters struck him down with an adamantine harpê; and as the monster fled, he pursued him closely as far as Mount Kasios, which overhangs Syria." What can Apollodorus' source have been? Anyway his account, set at Mount Kasios, makes a strong link between two bodies of myth: all that Hellenes said about Typhon under the varieties of his name; all that Ugaritic and Hebrew say about the combat of the high God (El or Yahweh) with the sea-dragon — Leviathan, Rahab, Tannin — and often in the vicinity of {Syrian} Mount Saphon.

The Egyptian Kasios (says Herodotus 3.5.2-3) is between the Serbonian marsh and the sea; and in this marsh (the story goes) Typhon was hidden, λόγος τον Τυφώ κεκρύφθαι. Plutarch {c.100 AD, de Iside et Osiride 41 = Mor. 367D} tells us that the Egyptian name for Typhon is Seth, Σήθ. It is not easy in Plutarch's account of the myth to determine the point at which Typhon was hidden in the marsh; Herodotus rather tells us (2.156.4) that Typhon searched for the infant Horus-Apollo son of Osiris whom Leto hid (κατακρύψασα) in the "floating island," and (2.144.2) that later Horus deposed Typhon. At Herodotus 3.5 is 'Typhon' an error for 'Horus'? Plutarch {de Iside et Osiride 13 = Mor. 356C} tells how Typhon-Seth buried Osiris alive in a chest which came to land at Byblos; and later dismembered him, somewhat as Typhon dismembered Zeus (Apollodorus 1.6.3). Zeus Kasios of Egypt is shown as a youth (νεανίσκος, Achilles Tatius 3.6) and milder than the storm-god of Jebel Aqra; perhaps he is assimilated to Horus. Typhon-Seth has the destructive character of the Typhon of indigenous Greek myth, and of the dragon-opponents of El and Yahweh.
[...]
{p.103} Already then in Herodotus Typhon is the name for Egyptian 'Seth,' which latter he does not give, though he does mention Osiris, Isis and Horus. Did Greeks hit on the name 'Typhon' for Seth by a simple comparison from their own mythology? But then it is too much of a coincidence that Zeus Kasios in Egypt has an adversary with the same name as Zeus Kasios of Syria. Either Greeks in Egypt realized that the legends of the two gods Zeus Kasios should be related; or 'Typhon' in some language was the adversaryof the good god in both places from the beginning.22

Can we say anything about Greek Typhon in its various forms? It has long been suggested that in fact it is a simple takeover of Semitic Saphon. The nom. Τυφών (of the Egyptian adversary, Herodotus 2.156.4) is close to XXX sopown; Τυφάων (citable as the acc. Τυφάονα Hesiod Theog. 306 etc.) to the (unrelated?) serpent-name צפעוני tsı̂p‛ônı̂y {the Cockatrice: Winged Serpent, or Basilisk} Isaiah 11:8 etc. Hesiod {c.700 BC} Theogony 859 refers to Typhoeus as ἄνακτος 'lord' {also: mastery of smthg}; then *ἄναξ Τυφών {=Lord Typhon} (not exactly attested as such) would be a nice equivalent for XXX. But Greek Typhon both in Syria and Egypt is the god's adversary; while Baal-Zephon is the cult figure of the two sites.

Israelite theology, here more than elsewhere following Canaanite-Ugaritic, describes the great acts of Yahweh in history as a victory over the sea-dragon, the force of disorder. In the initial act of creation he "crushed Rahab like a carcass" (Psalm 89:11), and so at Job 26:12 (cited p. 114 below). At the Canaanite passage Isa 27,1 (cited p. 79 above) the killing of Leviathan is projected as if into the future. At Psalm 74:14 Leviathan and the Tannin become useful and edible (as tuna?~Chapter 3). At Genesis 1:21 the Tannin is domesticated and becomes part of creation, it sports in the sea (Psalm 104:26) and praises its maker (Psalm 148:7). The story of the Flood as we have it represents God as wholly in charge; Isaiah 51:10 "he dried up the sea, the waters of the great deep" evokes both the flood and the victory at the Red Sea. Rahab becomes another name of Egypt (Isaiah 30:7), and Pharaoh himself is a Tannin (Ezekiel 29:3; 32:2). {p.104} At Isaiah 51:9 again by a stroke of analogy the return from exile, precisely because on dry land, is made parallel to the Exodus. ...
[...]
Otto Eissfeldt (Baal Zaphon, Zeus Kasios und der durchzug der Israeliten durchs meer[1932], in summary p.71) boldly asks whether Israelites originally ascribed that miracle of the Red Sea to Baal-Zephon, at whose temple on Egyptian 'Mount' Kasios they found themselves, and only later transferred his power over the sea to Yahweh:
"If it really should have been the Baal-Zephon first, whom the Israelites thanked for their salvation, and only later did Yahweh take the place of this God,..."

Yahweh benefits from a comparable transfer of attributes also at the Syrian Mount Kasios, whether independently or not. We now can see that Zeus had almost exactly the same history: the desperate struggle of the Canaanite high god — El or Baal-Zephon or Yahwe — against the sea-dragon at the Syrian Mount Kasios is likewise transferred to Zeus; and the sea-dragon becomes Typhon, the even more dangerous successor of the Titans. But also Egyptian Horus has a parallel history; his adversary Seth in Greek versions takes on the name and attributes of Hellenic Typhon. The cult of Syrian Mount Kasios must have had exceptional power to infiltrate so deeply three cultures — Canaanite, Hellenic and Egyptian—and two of them without benefit of a common language. What was the source of that power? A convincing representation of a god protecting against storms at sea, taken up by the {p.105} three principal maritime powers of the eastern Mediterranean? No stone monument or literary text reveals it. One more reminder how wide the gaps in our knowledge are.

c.700 BC, Hesiod Theogony 859 refers to Phoenician Typhon of Tyre: φλοὴξ δεὴ κεραυνωθέντος ἀπέσσυτο τοῖο ἄνακτος = And a flux of flame exploded from the thunderstruck Master; flame shot forth from the thunderstruck lord. Baal-Zephon had become (Greek) Typhon by 700 BC.

Where Typhon is a Sea-Serpent, consider the older Ramesside myth (c.1300 BC):
Isis and the Name of Ra: "Then said Isis to Ra: 'Tell me your name, my divine father. ... 'I am the maker of heaven and earth, the binder of mountains, creator of what exists upon it. ... I am he who opens his eyes and there is Light, who shuts his eyes and there is Darkness, ... I am Khepri in the morning, Ra at noon, Atum who is in the dusk.'"

In Eusebius Praeparatio Evangelica 1.10, that deity suggests the Great Serpent of one mysterious (Judeo-?) Egyptian hierophant Ἐπήεις {Epias the Allegorist: c.750 BC??}, 'Divine Mind' in the form of a Basilisk or Cockatrice (i.e. hawk-headed serpent) according to Areius of Heracleopolis (c.500 BC??) for coastal Phoenicio-Egyptians: "The first and most divine Being is a serpent with the head of a hawk, very graceful: when he opened his eyes, the whole of first-born space is filled with Light: when he shuts them, it is Darkness." This hieroglyphic is an exquisite symbol for the Supreme Being, but closer to Agathodaimon. A more precise late-dating Semitic worship of a salvationist serpent Baal-Zephon still proves elusive.

Image

Dating the Myth:
Anmong Canaanites, we can assume Yam is an earlier form of Baal Zephon, pre-1538 BC. Egyptian Prince Amonherkhepeshef with the "winged Uraeus wearing the solar disk" (1155 BC) sets an early date for Semites adopting the Egyptianized Basilisk symbol. Baal-Zephon was transformed in subsequent centuries. If the Basilisk is none other than a variant of the Bronze Seraph, Nehushtan (Numbers 21:4-9), then predecessors of the Egyptian Mosaic cult still venerated the Great Serpent as a primary deity in the vicinity of the Sethrum (i.e. near Pelusion) c.800 BC. If 2 Kings 18:4 should be dated around 550 BC, the Nehushtan cult must have been officially repudiated in Israel by c.700 BC, although it endured in remote Egypt and Sinai.

Baal Zephon was worshiped in the Eastern Delta c.550 BC, though we cannot be sure what were the other Semitic gods of Tahpanhes. However, the salutation "To ʾArišat, the daughter of ʾEshmunyaton... " strongly suggests Phoenician Eshmun/Adonis of Phoenicia (Lebanon) (ʾEshmunyaton = Eshmun has bestowed) was worshipped at Tahpanhes. In Libya, Eshmun was associated with Herakles' junior, Iolaos (Young Apollo). Therefore or almost certainly, Baal Zephon = Zeus Kasios and Eshmun = Horus Kasios.

Hippolytus (c.210 AD) knew of relic Ophites and Naassenes in Egypt (which he assumed still existed, having adopted a 'Jesus Christian' veneer) but from written sources centuries older. Such relic cults (c.150 AD) lately called themselves 'Gnostics'; however, Hippolytus is less knowledgeable than Alexandrian Christians (i.e. Clement c.200 AD) about the Egyptian heresy, so these heretics were on the wane if not already gone or isolated by the 3rd C. AD. There's no hint of the Great Serpent (Typhon/Baal-Zephon) in Zeus Kasios c.120 AD, nor of an Egyptian form in the Phoenician theology of Sanchuniathon (c.150 BC; 135 AD). There is considerable archaeological and coin evidence for Agathodaimon worship in Alexandria and the Delta, c.300 BC - 200 AD. Some heterodox Jews probably participated in civic cults of Agathodaimon, which may well explain certain persisting Sethian beliefs.

Elements of the Apocalypse of Adam, c.25 AD.
Etc.

Known or unknown now, a more accurate chronology of the primary deities in this area (probably best expressed by a shifting Venn diagram) is wanting:

1600 BC ... Seth / Yam / ?
1500 BC ... Seth / Yam / Baal Hadad
1400 BC ... Seth / Baal Hadad
1300 BC ... Seth / Baal Hadad
1200 BC ... Seth / Baal Hadad
1100 BC ... Baal Hadad / Seth
1000 BC ... Baal Hadad / Seth
..900 BC ... Baal Hadad / Seth
..800 BC ... Baal Zephon /Amun Ra / ??
..700 BC ... Baal Zephon /Amun Ra / Melchizedek
..600 BC ... Baal Zephon /Amun Ra / Melchizedek
..500 BC ... Baal Zephon /Amun Ra / Melchizedek / Yahu
..400 BC ... Seth-Baal / Yahu / Melchizedek / Agathodaimon
..300 BC ... Zeus Kasios / Yahweh-Seth / Agathodaimon
..200 BC ... Zeus Kasios / Yahweh-Seth / Agathodaimon
..100 BC ... Horus Kasios / Yahweh-Seth / Agathodaimon
......0 BC ... Horus Kasios / Yahweh-Seth / Agathodaimon
..100 AD ... Horus Kasios / Yahweh-Seth / Agathodaimon
..200 AD ... Agathodaimon / Yahweh-Seth

1600 BC ... Apep / Lotan
1500 BC ... Apep / Lotan
1400 BC ... Apep / Lotan
1300 BC ... Apophis / Leviathan / (Basilisk)
1200 BC ... Apophis / Leviathan / (Basilisk)
1100 BC ... Apophis / Leviathan / (Basilisk)
1000 BC ... Apophis / Leviathan / (Basilisk)
..900 BC ... Apophis / Leviathan / (Basilisk)
..800 BC ... Apophis / Leviathan / (Basilisk)
..700 BC ... Apophis / Leviathan / (Basilisk)
..600 BC ... Apophis / Leviathan / (Basilisk)
..500 BC ... Apophis / Leviathan / (Basilisk)
..400 BC ... Apophis / Leviathan / (Basilisk)
..300 BC ... Typhon / Rahab / (Basilisk)
..200 BC ... Typhon / Seth-Baal
..100 BC ... Typhon / Seth-Baal / Belial / Satan
.....0 BC ... Ialdaboath / Belial / Satan
..100 AD ... Ialdaboath / Belial / Satan
..200 AD ... Ialdaboath / Belial / Satan

Reshep, Hauron, Ba’al, Astarte, Anat, Qadesh


Jan Willem van Henten and Ra'anan Abusch, "The Depiction of the Jews as Typhonians and Josephus' Strategy of Refutation in Contra Apionem," in Josephus' Contra Apionem: Studies in its Character and with a Latin Concordance to the Portion Missing in Greek, Feldman et al. [1996] LINK
pp.275-6:
:
Manetho's two fragments deal with Israel's history previous to the exodus from Egypt. They contain references to the terrible deeds of the ancestors of the Jewish people and characterize the Jews as outcasts. In the first fragment Manetho identifies the Hyksos as the ancestors of the Jews. 'O He describes the Hyksos as a people who invaded Egypt from the east, defeated the indigenous rulers, treated {p.276} the Egyptian population very cruelly, set the Egyptian cities on fire and razed the temples to the ground ICI 1.7576;. The name Hyksos may derive fom an old Egyptian phrase meaning 'Rulers of the foreign countries'. Josephus records that Manetho named them, based on the etymology of their name, the 'king-shepherds', CA 1.82; cf 9J, and associated them with 'captives' as well αιχμάλωτοι.* {* see Note} Modern scholars attempting to reconstruct the role of the Hyksos in Egypt imagine that they were a foreign group of Semitic or Hurritic origin which ruled Egypt from about 1650-1542 BeE. It is important for our discussion that Manetho refers to the foundation of a city in Egypt by the Hyksos called Avaris i. Gel I. 78; c[ 86;.11 This city was known as the city of Seth-Typhon, according to Manetho's second fragment. Manetho thus narrates a coherent history in which, after the siege of Avaris by king Thoummosis, the Hyksos leave Egypt again, move to Judaea and found the city of Jerusalem (Cel 1.8890)

* This name may be connected with Seth-Typhon, as is apparent from an Egyptian ritual text of the 4th C BCE and the Raphia-decrce which refer to typhonic figures as captives, see Van Henten, "Antiochus IV," 239-240,

pp.281-2:
The assumption that Chaeremon's version presents a historicization of mythic traditions linked to Seth-Typhon helps us to explain rather
easily both the similarities in details as well as most of the differences between Chaeremon's and Manetho's accounts. [...] One detail in josephus' refutation of Chaeremon, which seems unimportant at a first glance, catches the eye in the light of the SethTyphon traditions. josephus states in 1.300 that Ramesses, the son of Amenophis, "was born in a cave after his father'S death, and subsequently defeated the jews". 33 Thackeray's note in the Loeb edition [1926] that this is merely "a careless contradiction of Chaeremon's statement (§ 292)" is unsatisfactory, since this detail fits in exactly with the conflict myth of Horus and Seth-Typhon. Horus is born after {p.281} the death of his father at the hands of Seth-Typhon and takes up the fight against his antagonist when he has grown up [ct: Cl 1.292 (XVOP(J)8EV1:CX concerning Ramesses.. Chaeremon very probably has associated the Jews with Seth-Typhon and may have adapted his own source in order to enhance its similarity with the combat myth of Seth-Typhon, although he failed to do this consistently." Finally, two other details incidental to the narrative but crucial for unravelling the associations which fuel these texts confirm this assumption: first, reference is made to the revelation of Isis, a key figure in the myths concerning Osris, Horus and Seth-Typhon, and, second, Joseph. who is presented as the second leader of the impure people alongside Moses, is given the Egyptian name Peteseph xxxxxx, Cel 1.290, possibly a corruption of Peteseth meaning "The gift of Seth". In any case, this evidence makes it clear that the impure Egyptians and Pelusians in their role as ancestors of the Jews were associated with Seth-Typhon.






Byzantine interpretation of a Seraph as a 'fiery' serpent (watcher) possessed of healing powers and infinite wisdom.
Image

* At which point, presumably, the more literate orthodox Jews of Alexandria had been wiped out or fled, gone underground: their culture destroyed; they are wholly forgotten or unmentioned after 115 AD.
yakovzutolmai
Posts: 296
Joined: Mon May 17, 2021 6:03 am

Re: Egyptian Pelusium, on the map

Post by yakovzutolmai »

billd89 wrote: Wed May 04, 2022 7:50 am 1600 BC ... Seth / Yam / ?
1500 BC ... Seth / Yam / Baal Hadad
1400 BC ... Seth / Baal Hadad
1300 BC ... Seth / Baal Hadad
1200 BC ... Seth / Baal Hadad
1100 BC ... Baal Hadad / Seth
1000 BC ... Baal Hadad / Seth
..900 BC ... Baal Hadad / Seth
..800 BC ... Baal Zephon /Amun Ra / ??
..700 BC ... Baal Zephon /Amun Ra / Melchizedek
..600 BC ... Baal Zephon /Amun Ra / Melchizedek
..500 BC ... Baal Zephon /Amun Ra / Melchizedek / Yahu
..400 BC ... Seth-Baal / Yahu / Melchizedek / Agathodaimon
..300 BC ... Zeus Kasios / Yahweh-Seth / Agathodaimon
..200 BC ... Zeus Kasios / Yahweh-Seth / Agathodaimon
..100 BC ... Horus Kasios / Yahweh-Seth / Agathodaimon
......0 BC ... Horus Kasios / Yahweh-Seth / Agathodaimon
..100 AD ... Horus Kasios / Yahweh-Seth / Agathodaimon
..200 AD ... Agathodaimon / Yahweh-Seth

1600 BC ... Apep / Lotan
1500 BC ... Apep / Lotan
1400 BC ... Apep / Lotan
1300 BC ... Apophis / Leviathan / (Basilisk)
1200 BC ... Apophis / Leviathan / (Basilisk)
1100 BC ... Apophis / Leviathan / (Basilisk)
1000 BC ... Apophis / Leviathan / (Basilisk)
..900 BC ... Apophis / Leviathan / (Basilisk)
..800 BC ... Apophis / Leviathan / (Basilisk)
..700 BC ... Apophis / Leviathan / (Basilisk)
..600 BC ... Apophis / Leviathan / (Basilisk)
..500 BC ... Apophis / Leviathan / (Basilisk)
..400 BC ... Apophis / Leviathan / (Basilisk)
..300 BC ... Typhon / Rahab / (Basilisk)
..200 BC ... Typhon / Seth-Baal
..100 BC ... Typhon / Seth-Baal / Belial / Satan
.....0 BC ... Ialdaboath / Belial / Satan
..100 AD ... Ialdaboath / Belial / Satan
..200 AD ... Ialdaboath / Belial / Satan
My "Yam Hadad Vav Hamor = YHVH" concept may be a bit forced, but it certainly simplifies your process here. Yam correlates to the Levites and later Typhon (which is late). Hamor the donkey is Seth of the Hyksos. The Hamorites are the original inhabitants of Shechem and basically take in the Israelites while joining them. I think it's not a stretch to say the blessings and curses of Ebal and Gerizim represent the formation of the Israelite Confederacy surrounding its most powerful member which is nothing less than the last remnant of the Hyksos warrior-kings.

Keep in mind that Kohtar-wa-Khasis and Ptah are almost certainly Daedalus. And that even the far flung Saxons had a "Weylund" who was identitifed very affirmatively with Daedalus. Icarus flies rather close to the legend of Phaeton and this in turn has other versions even within the Greek canon. Yahweh was at first, within Israel, a Solar Bull. Here is Hadad's legacy.

I invoke Paulina from Josephus to conclude that Melchizedek of the Hellenic Era Jews must have been a version of Marduk. Judaized Marduk. Both are distinctly associated with Jupiter the planet. Among many other very strong connections. Marduk is not so much Sumerian as essentially Semitic via the Amoritic influence.

There are two, three, maybe four axes of Jewish thought in Egypt. Many more, perhaps more than we could imagine, in Mesopotamia along the Euphrates River Valley. And they certainly clashed, within pinnacle Hellenism. This is how I interpret the first century.
yakovzutolmai
Posts: 296
Joined: Mon May 17, 2021 6:03 am

Re: Egyptian Pelusium, on the map

Post by yakovzutolmai »

yakovzutolmai wrote: Mon May 09, 2022 8:51 pm
billd89 wrote: Wed May 04, 2022 7:50 am 1600 BC ... Seth / Yam / ?
1500 BC ... Seth / Yam / Baal Hadad
1400 BC ... Seth / Baal Hadad
1300 BC ... Seth / Baal Hadad
1200 BC ... Seth / Baal Hadad
1100 BC ... Baal Hadad / Seth
1000 BC ... Baal Hadad / Seth
..900 BC ... Baal Hadad / Seth
..800 BC ... Baal Zephon /Amun Ra / ??
..700 BC ... Baal Zephon /Amun Ra / Melchizedek
..600 BC ... Baal Zephon /Amun Ra / Melchizedek
..500 BC ... Baal Zephon /Amun Ra / Melchizedek / Yahu
..400 BC ... Seth-Baal / Yahu / Melchizedek / Agathodaimon
..300 BC ... Zeus Kasios / Yahweh-Seth / Agathodaimon
..200 BC ... Zeus Kasios / Yahweh-Seth / Agathodaimon
..100 BC ... Horus Kasios / Yahweh-Seth / Agathodaimon
......0 BC ... Horus Kasios / Yahweh-Seth / Agathodaimon
..100 AD ... Horus Kasios / Yahweh-Seth / Agathodaimon
..200 AD ... Agathodaimon / Yahweh-Seth

1600 BC ... Apep / Lotan
1500 BC ... Apep / Lotan
1400 BC ... Apep / Lotan
1300 BC ... Apophis / Leviathan / (Basilisk)
1200 BC ... Apophis / Leviathan / (Basilisk)
1100 BC ... Apophis / Leviathan / (Basilisk)
1000 BC ... Apophis / Leviathan / (Basilisk)
..900 BC ... Apophis / Leviathan / (Basilisk)
..800 BC ... Apophis / Leviathan / (Basilisk)
..700 BC ... Apophis / Leviathan / (Basilisk)
..600 BC ... Apophis / Leviathan / (Basilisk)
..500 BC ... Apophis / Leviathan / (Basilisk)
..400 BC ... Apophis / Leviathan / (Basilisk)
..300 BC ... Typhon / Rahab / (Basilisk)
..200 BC ... Typhon / Seth-Baal
..100 BC ... Typhon / Seth-Baal / Belial / Satan
.....0 BC ... Ialdaboath / Belial / Satan
..100 AD ... Ialdaboath / Belial / Satan
..200 AD ... Ialdaboath / Belial / Satan
Perhaps not in this context, but Zeus Kasios is exactly and uncontroversially the same as Baal Hadad of Ugarit. In his triumphant form. His pre-triumphant form is represented by Adonis. For the Greeks, Adonis IS Hadad. Zeus Kasios is a concession to Ugarit's recognition of Hadad as Zeus. One might speculate that post-triumph Hadad is Solomon. Solomon commanded divine power and had alliances with demons and djinn. Even in Iran there are fortresses attributed to Solomon. How could this be unless the concept of Solomon replaced an earlier mythological memetic?

Typhon is the same as Zahhak, who is also prominent in Media Atropatene as a tyrant who clashed with Kurdistan's Kothar-wa-Khasis - "Kaveh". I make the leap of associating him with Noah. The craftsman from that region who ruled it and from whom the languages and crafts of men disseminated.

So there is some ancient pedigree behind tying Zahhak and Kaveh's conflict in Iran to the idea of Typhon fighting Khasis and Hadad.

The figure of Atum is central. With all the animal form Egyptian gods representing principles, Atum is merely man-shaped and represents the uncreated first born. He is displaced by Amun, who has a profound and ancient history going back to Min (including Minos). Being later represented as Zeus/Baal Hammon.

I think the evolution of Jewish worship is more complicated than what your timelines present. But you are observing that they seem to be searching for something grounded in knowledge they had about their deity which we have lost.
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Re: Zeus Kasios, at Pelusion

Post by billd89 »

yakovzutolmai wrote: Mon May 09, 2022 9:02 pmPerhaps not in this context, but Zeus Kasios is exactly and uncontroversially the same as Baal Hadad of Ugarit. In his triumphant form. His pre-triumphant form is represented by Adonis. For the Greeks, Adonis IS Hadad. Zeus Kasios is a concession to Ugarit's recognition of Hadad as Zeus.
I appreciate Mircea Eliade, and long before him E. A. Wallis Budge; big theories and precise details.

However, in this case, 'Zeus Kasios' is not attested to in text until ~188 BC. I do believe this deity by that name existed earlier, but there is no hard evidence. The implication? ('First Evidence' is NOT 'Beginning' - Late Dating is wrong, simply.)

So the problem is: how do we identify the actual deities of Pelusium over? (Blunt conflation is insupportable.)

Look at the evidence.

1. The Eastern Frontier at Daphne of Pelusion (c.625-425 BC).

Herodotus (c.430 BC) does not confirm 'Zeus Kasios', even if he knew of Egyptian Kasion and its connection to Syrian Kasion. He (or someone much later, writing in his name) says (2.30):
In the reign of Psammetichus {c.660 BC} there were garrisons posted at Elephantine on the side of Ethiopia {and} at Daphnae of Pelusium on the side of Arabia and Assyria [...] And still in my time {c.430 BC} the Persians hold these posts as they were held in the days of Psammetichus; there are Persian guards [...] at Daphnae.

Daphne = Tahpanhes/Tall al-Dafana; it was a fortress-line or border-frontier at Pelusion (Δάφναι αἱ Πηλούσιαι). According to Herodotus, "Persians" were settled there for several hundred years. Their god should be Persian, or Chaldaean, or something Egyptian and Chaldaean. Furthermore, from archaeological evidence at Elephantine, these mercenaries at were certainly 'Jews' (worshippers of Yahu in communication with Jerusalem about religious rites). Tahpanhes should be no different, "Persians" = Proto-Jews. The narrow question remains 'what god(s) did Chaldaeans worship there?' because -AGAIN- we cannot make blunt assumptions otherwise.

Evidence establishes Baal Zephon was a High God for these particular Proto-Jews, in fact. That does not establish the identity of their 'Supreme God' OR the 'Young God', however.

As I wrote above, qualifying abit more:
Baal Zephon was worshiped in the Eastern Delta c.550 BC, though we cannot be sure what were the other Semitic gods of Tahpanhes. However, the salutation "To ʾArišat, the daughter of ʾEshmunyaton..." strongly suggests Phoenician Eshmun ... (ʾEshmunyaton = Eshmun has bestowed) was worshipped at Tahpanhes. In Libya, Eshmun was associated with Herakles' junior, 'Iolaos', who would be Horus-Apollo. Therefore or almost certainly, Baal Zephon = Zeus Kasios -- and -- 'Eshmun' = Horus Kasios.

Eastern Persians called Western Persians (i.e. Syrians) 'Cappadocians'. In Hebrew, 'Capthor' is a pun meaning both 'pomegranate' and 'Cappadocian'. The Young God of Kasios holds a Pomegranate. Jews parodied as (Baal) Rimmon as 'The Pomegranate'; Capthorim would be 'Pomegranate people'. Here we have them, in the Syriad (from 'Syria') or Sethrum of Egypt.
Zeus Kasios is exactly and uncontroversially the same as Baal Hadad of Ugarit. In his triumphant form. His pre-triumphant form is represented by Adonis.

Well, no.

Let's look carefully at the precise lineage the Phoenician on the Palmyrene Monument (121 AD): (left-to-right) to Baal-Shamin, Yarhibol, Aglibol and Bel. These gods were known, ancient and still worshipped. The Museum says: "The supreme deities of the Palmyrene pantheon are seated at the edges: the great god Bel on the right, and Baalshamin, god of fertility, on the left. Standing between them are Yarhibol, the sun god, and Aglibol, the moon god. Although connected in worship, they are rarely portrayed together. Each of the gods is holding a sceptre and wearing either Grecian or military clothing."

Image

#1 Bel/Baal, Supreme God here, reclines at far right: the Eldest, Grandfather. Baal is holding a pomegranate! (The 'Young God' of the Temple of Zeus Kasios/Baal Zephon also holds a pomegranate: the Family Symbol.)
#2 Baal-Shamin at far left is the Father-God. This Baal has the Modius and Apis Bull, like Egyptian Serapis. (The high god El, sometimes called 'Bull El' [e.g., KTU 1.2.iii.21; 1.4.iii.31] had been usurped by lower Baals by ~600 BC. The Bull has been associated w/Baal-Shamin.)
#3 Yarhibol, second left, is the First Son. This Baal (Iarhi-Bel) is the Solar God (=an Apollo).
#4 Aglibol, second right, is the Second Son. This Baal (Agl-Bel) is the Lunar God (=a Horus).


"Baal Hadad of Ugarit" (2000-1400 BC?) is not Baal Zephon, a god of the 14th Lower Egyptian nome (c.450 BC), 400 miles south and one thousand+ years later. As we all know, Zeus and Apollo are not the same god (though they may be closely related). So too at Byblos (Lebanon): the Young God Adon and Apollo were not the same god, and Apollo was NOT the Supreme God there (c.150 BC) either.

Image

Again, we should not conflate everything mindlessly. There is a lineage/descent and evolution to factor, and details of these accounts do clarify the truth. Baal Zephon was the Protector god of some Chaldaean Semitics at Daphne-Pelusion (c.625-425 BC). We may also presume that Eshmun (=Adonis, the Young God) was worshipped, though the evidence is debatable. "All the gods of Tahpanhes" confirms a pantheon or different gods, certainly; we want to correctly distinguish different deities wherever possible.

2. Inscriptions at Delos (c.188 BC) are three centuries later but come directly from a priest of 'the Young God' who had adopted Greek conventions. From his inscription, the order of this Pelusian pantheon (c.150 BC) is stated as follows:

___Role_______________Pelusion____________________Delos____________________Egyptian Equivalent_____
1. Great God ........... (Unnamed) ......................... ~Zeus Ourios .................. (Unnamed Supreme God?)
2. Ruling God ........... Zeus Kasios ........................ ~Zeus Kasios .................. (Serapis)
3. Consort ............... Tachnepsis* = 'Isis of Kasios' ..... ~Astarte Palaistine .......... (Isis)
4. First Son .............. Horus of Kasios (Young God) .... ~Herakles-Apollon ........... (Horus)
5. Second Son ........... Horus' Son ( = Priest?) ............ ~Horus ........................ (Man: Son of Horus/Son of God)

Palmyrene Monument, 121 AD:
___Role_______________Pelusion____________________Delos____________________Syrian Equivalent_____
1. Great God ........... (Unnamed) ......................... ~Zeus Ourios .................. Baal
2. Ruling God ........... Zeus Kasios ........................ ~Zeus Kasios .................. Baal-Shamem
3. Consort ............... Tachnepsis* = 'Isis of Kasios' ..... ~Astarte Palaistine .......... Astarte, etc.
4. First Son .............. Horus of Kasios (Young God) .... ~Herakles-Apollon ........... Yarhibol
5. Second Son ........... Horus' Son ( = Priest?) ............ ~Horus ....................... Aglibol

Elephantine, c.410 BC:
___Role_______________Elephantine__________________Delos____________________Syrian Equivalent_____
1. Great God ........... (Yaho/ Yahu Elaha?) .............. ~Zeus Ourios .................. Baal
2. Ruling God ........... Beth-El ............................. ~Zeus Kasios .................. Baal-Shamem
3. Consort ............... Anat Beth-El ....................... ~Astarte Palaistine .......... Astarte, etc.
4. First Son .............. Eshem-Bethel/Ashim/ʾAšim ..... ~Herakles-Apollon ........... Yarhibol
5. Second Son ........... Nabu (Scribe) .................... ~Horus ......................... Aglibol

Curiously, in Elephantine Eshem and Herem were worshipped as separate divinities AND manifestations of 'Ruler' Beth-El. The separation was incomplete. Versus (Eshem-)Bethel as 'Fighter/Destroyer of Life', (Herem-)Bethel as the 'Lover/Creator of Life' suggests a 'Child Issue' (i.e. Fatherhood leads to distinct generational gods). This is speculation, but Ashim ~ Eshmun to many scholars; see Sergio Ribichini, in Dictionary of Deities and Demons in the Bible [1995]: pp.583–587.

In the Sethrum, w/ close ties to Phoenicia, over time the gods evolved more consistently w/ Tyre, Sidon, etc.

To backtrack, and where Zeus Kasios = Baal Zephon, I would reconstruct the Syro-Phoenician pantheon of Pelusion (c.660-425 BC?), from Sidon, 550 BC in the third column to show correspondence:

___Role_______________Pelusion____________________Sidon____________________Judeo-Egyptian Equivalent_____
1. Great God ........... (Unnamed) ......................... ~ʾĒl (-Kronos?) ............... Baal/El Shaddai
2. Ruling God ........... Zeus Kasios ........................ ~ Ba'al of Sidon .............. Baal Zephon (First Son = Yahweh?)
3. Consort ............... Tachnepsis* = 'Isis of Kasios' ..... ~ʾAšerah /ʾĒlat .............. Asherah (Consort of Yahu)
4. First Son .............. Horus of Kasios (Young God) .... ~ Eshmun ..................... Ieud (Second, Sacrificed Son)
5. Second Son ........... Horus' Son ( = Priest?) ............ ~'Ieud' ?? ...................... (Man: Son of Horus/Son of God)

What's interesting about the Baal of Sidon is the common themes, that 1) he is "brother of Astarte" (i.e. in incestuous marriage), 2) Asherah was remembered as the Consort of El, 3) Eshmun replaced the other Ba'al(s) in prominence - after 400 BC. There are surviving inscriptions (c.96 BC? which I suppose is too late for Egyptian influence) suggesting Baalshama ('Baal Listens') = Baal-Shamin ('Lord of Heavens'), translated as 'Diopeithes' (="he who obeys Zeus"). So it is not clear from a survey of different scholars who this 'Baal of the Sidonians' was:

1 Kings 16:31 : And ... [Ahab] even married Jezebel the daughter of Ethbaal, King of the Sidonians, and he then proceeded to serve and worship Baal.

See John Wilson Betlyon, "The Cult of ʾAšerah/ʾĒlat at Sidon" in Journal of Near Eastern Studies, Vol. 44, No. 1 (Jan., 1985), p.54:
One story from Egypt* provides a variant of the Ugaritic epic of Ba'l and Yamm (Sea), in which Astarte is captured by Sea only to be saved by Seth, who played the role of the Storm-God. … Her full epithet, xxx “name of Ba’al” is known from Ugarit and is paralleled in a later Sidonian inscription from the 5th C. BC century as Pane-baal “presence of Ba’al”.

* W. F. Albright, Yahweh and the Gods of Canaan (1969), pp.132-3.

It is certain that Zeus Kasios is not the Young God; Zeus Kasios = Baal Zephon, NOT Apollo-Eshmun (or Horus-Harpokrates-Eshmun). What's more, and quite importantly: apparently, "Baal Zephon" does not come from Sidon or Tyre, but further north. This particular Ba'al came to be worshipped in the vicinity of Pelusion, c.1300 BC. In one ancient Egyptian text (c.1250 BC), "Baal Zephon" was associated with but not identical to Sopdu, the older Egyptian Young God. At any rate, the Pelusion Storm-God (Father) was not "Baal Hadad" and should not be assumed the Young God: Son or adopted substitute.

If in Byblos, Zeus Demarûs (= Baal Tamar) is Son of Zeus Adodos (=Baal Hadad) AND Father of Melcathrus/Herakles, then the Young God in Pelusion should likewise be a junior or nephew, Horus-Apollo (= Danaos/Isra/Palaimon/ Usorus/Ousous). This part is uncertain, undocumented, yet also befits a Sethian Mystery-Cult. In the Byblos myth, the Priest 'Jerubaal' further suggests a wrestling-cult, where Israel = 'El shall wrestle' (i.e. we fight for God) would be a fraternity among long-resident Chaldaean mercenaries.

Herakles was well-established in Egypt and Phoenicia by 500 BC. Though obscure, his (Greek) nephew/lover 'Iolaus', the Young God's true equivalent, is probably a Semitic Horus-Apollo. Egyptian homophobia (i.e. Seth Myth) may be relevant in the Sethrum. So Philo Judaeus, in his exposition (c.22 AD) on the 'cryptically Jewish' Therapeutae, forcefully rejects the Greek model of pederastry, by counterpoint. Was Philo repudiating a slanderous suspicion levelled against the (possibly) Sethian cult which he chose to defend? Unknown. From a different angle, the Pelusion model for a Semitic Apollon-Horus might otherwise be discerned from 'Big Brother-Little Brother' combinations in various regional Herakles Myths. Positively indentifying a Judaic Apollon-Horus pair in the Sethrum would be most interesting:

Melqart ........................ & ... Herakles

Herakles ....................... & ... Apollon
Herakles ....................... & ... Usorus/Ousous
Herakles ....................... & ... Danaos ....................... of the Denyen.
Herakles ....................... & ... Isra
Herakles ....................... & ... Palaimon .................... Palaimon the Great Wrestler

Heryshaf = Arsaphes/Osiris/Dionysius/Herakles. A Semitic warrior model?
Image

Back to the question of the statue of the Young God, unresolved in my mind:

a) if Horus of Kasios = Herakles-Apollon = Eshmun/Adon (i.e. all are basically synonymous) --- this, I doubt ---
b) if Eshmun = Herakles, then Horus of K. is the Junior variant (i.e. 'Iolaus') = Ieud --- this, I suppose ---
c) if originally a Chaldaean mercenaries' wrestling 'cult of Ieuo', w/ two grades: boys (i.e. Horus) and men (i.e. initiates, Apollon), then this Judeo-Egyptian military fraternity c.800-600 BC may be the first 'Israel'. (As w/ the Jacob Myth, the ysrỉꜣr should be wrestlers, grapplers, fighters.) --- this, I dare speculate ---

A few side-notes:
Eusebius tells us that Philo of Byblos (c.135 AD) records Sanchuniathon of Berytus "received records from Hierombalus the priest of the god Ieuo" and those books were "Hermetic." Based on other threads, logically working through dates, Philo's source material should be c.300-150 BC. If or if not Ieuo = 'Horus of Kasios' (= Horus-Harpokrates/Eshmun), in any case the Semitic priest of the god Ieuo is and indisputably 'Priest of the Son of God.' Whether Hierombalus = Jerubaal ('He that contends', ' - Grapples w/ God', etc.) OR Aleyn-Baal (~Adoni-Baal, Merib-Baal, or Baal-Mari all correspond to 'Hierombalos') this definitely sounds like a heterodox (Judaic?) cult. But scholars who imagine 'Ieuo' = YHWH are as wrong as those who assume the 'Young God' Horus-Kasios must be identical with Zeus Kasios/Baal Zephon. (The confusion, again, is lineage: Father/Son. 'Jesus' is not 'The Father', though 'they are one' etc.) Philo B's god Ieuo is expressely 'the Sacrificial Son of God' - that could not be Yahweh ... unless Yahweh is the Son of El, and himself Dying God, etc. It simply doesnt fit.

Whether this mysterious (Egypto-)Phoenician 'Son of God' Ieud = יוֹעֵד "the LORD is a witness" ; Yoed = Israelite in Egypt, that's also speculative. The earliest iteration Gnostic 'Book of Jeu' probably dates c.175 AD (therefore several hundred years after the source-content of Sanchuniathon) so it is weak support.

Whether "Baʿal Berith" is the god of Melchizedek, imported (later and?) to another part of Egypt, I am uncertain. Separate topic.

Cumont held that the Elephantine Yahu was definitely God #2 Baal-Shamin = (Father-God) = Zeus Megistos Keraunos; it is obvious this was debated. IF TRUE, God #1 = El = the First Theos Hypsistos (later, Yahweh).
Cf. Lidzbarski, Balsamem, Ephem. semit. Epigr., I, p. 251.--Ba’al Samain is mentioned as early as the ninth century B. C. in the inscription of Ben Hadad (Pognon, Inscr. sémit., 1907, pp. 165 ff.; cf. Dussaud, Rev. archéol., 1908, I, p. 235). In Aramaic papyri preserved at Berlin, the Jews of Elephantine call {Yahu} "the god of heaven" in an address to a Persian governor, and the same name was used in the alleged edicts of Cyrus and his successors, which were inserted in the book of Esdras (i. I; vi. 9, etc.)--If there were the slightest doubt as to the identity of the god of thunder with Baalsamin, it would be dispelled by the inscription of Et-Tayibé, where this Semitic name is translated into Greek as Ζεὺς μέγιστος κεραύνιος; cf. Lidzbarski, Handbuch, p. 477, and Lagrange, op. cit., p. 508.

To be investigated, Theos Hypsistos.

I see this only as a beginning; these Egyptian Semites became 'Jewish' in stages and over time - I think - much later than most historians believe. These people of the Sethrum are, I also suppose, the Sethians of the Syriad (=Sethrum) who Josephus mentions @ AJ 1.2.3.13 (i.e. "two stelae").
yakovzutolmai
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Re: Zeus Kasios, at Pelusion

Post by yakovzutolmai »

billd89 wrote: Tue May 10, 2022 8:51 am I see this only as a beginning; these Egyptian Semites became 'Jewish' in stages and over time - I think - much later than most historians believe. These people of the Sethrum are, I also suppose, the Sethians of the Syriad (=Sethrum) who Josephus mentions @ AJ 1.2.3.13 (i.e. "two stelae").
Re: Zeus Kasios as Hadad, it's something to the effect of if Phoenician and Greek merchants were arguing and pointing at Jebel Aqra, they'd agree that it is the same god they are referring, even if they used him differently. Perhaps not very relevant to the investigations you're pursuing.

I think you've done a good job of reconstructing proto-Jewish religion.

Do you think that Seth could be Hamor? The Hamorites of Shechem being the old Hyksos? Distinct from the proto-Jews. Balam and his ass, etc.
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Re: Seth & The Ass

Post by billd89 »

Not implausible! But this is murky to me, and I haven't yet sorted through the variant myths to give an informed opinion about Seth's origins. Ariel Golan (1991/2003) has elaborated something along these lines:
In Ancient Egypt it was an animal of Seth, i.e., of the underworld serpent; at the same time the donkey engaged in fights with Apop, who is also the underworld serpent. Christian theologians connected the donkey now with Jesus Christ, now with the devil (232, p.37 ). ... [2003] The festival of Osiris included a rite in which the “ass of Seth” was stabbed with a spear. In Egyptian beliefs, ass-headed demons guarded the gates of the netherworld, and demonic asses stood in the way of the sun in the underground. Sometimes the ass was depicted with a disk between its ears (95, p.21), which shows the ass analogous to the bull (cf. Fig.124). The Greeks associated the ass with the winged serpent Typhon and regarded it as a chthonic animal (430, p.38). In Rome, the ass was associated with Saturn or Priapus.

p.467:
The Book of Genesis mentions Ĥamor, the prince of Shekhem; the word means 'ass' in Hebrew. If an important person bears the name that is the appellation of an animal, this would mean that the animal is of importance, too. The Hebrew hamor is usually etymologized from hamar (“to be red"), which would imply “the red animal” (318, p.221). Analogously, the Spanish burro (donkey) is cognate with the Latin burrus (“red”). In Egypt, the “red ass" was a sinister mythic being of the otherworld. But asses are not red. The cause is something else: the animal has been linked with the god who was “red”. It is not hard to see that hamör is related to Greek himāros, a term for male goat. The word hamör has remarkable connections in the Hebrew language: hamar means 'to foam up, ferment', whence hémer (“wine"); hamur is 'severe'; homer is 'material'. All these notions can be perceived as connected with mythological ideas pertaining to the Black God . Hamor also may be collated with the root k.m.r , which gives such words as the Russian kumir ('idol'), Hebrew kómer ('idolatrous priest') and kimrir ('gloom') related to Aramaic kmirax ("black"); cf. ...

Recent news:
The donkey was domesticated in East Africa c.5000 BC, the animal was key to the desert trade. Did one ancient strand of the Jewish family tree domesticate and worship the Ass?

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