Ibises and Egypt in the Animal Apocalypse: A new identification
The allegorical quartet of birds which prey upon the sheep in 1 Enoch 90.2 have been variously identified by early-modern and modern scholars, with no solution reaching consensus. This article proposes the “hobay” should be translated as “ibises” and accordingly represent an Egyptian people-group. I...
| Main Author: | |
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| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
|
| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
Sage
2023
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| In: |
Journal for the study of the pseudepigrapha
Year: 2023, Volume: 33, Issue: 1, Pages: 3-18 |
| Standardized Subjects / Keyword chains: | B
Enoch 90
/ Birds
/ Ibis
/ Egyptians
|
| IxTheo Classification: | BH Judaism HB Old Testament |
| Further subjects: | B
Pseudepigrapha
B 1 Enoch B Apocalyptic Literature B roman Egypt B Egyptian Judaism B Animal Apocalypse |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) |
| Summary: | The allegorical quartet of birds which prey upon the sheep in 1 Enoch 90.2 have been variously identified by early-modern and modern scholars, with no solution reaching consensus. This article proposes the “hobay” should be translated as “ibises” and accordingly represent an Egyptian people-group. I first advance this argument with the help of a parallel usage of terminology in the Greek Testament of Judah. I next confirm the utility of this identification with a brief survey of roughly contemporary primary sources (textual and material) which connect ibises and Egypt. Finally, with these cultural discourses in mind, I re-integrate the ibises into the Animal Apocalypse, suggesting that the recasting of a graceful national bird as a carnivorous monster is a deviously clever imperial critique. |
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| ISSN: | 1745-5286 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: Journal for the study of the pseudepigrapha
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1177/09518207231153819 |