- Egyptology, Afroasiatic linguistics, Ancient Near East, Hebrew Bible/Old Testament, History of Humanities, Hebrew Bible and Ancient Near East, and 10 moreEgyptian History, Hebrew Bible, Mesopotamia History, Ancient Egyptian Literature, Ancient Egyptian History, Egyptian language, Philistines, Ancient Egyptian Religion, Hyksos, and Egypt and Canaanedit
Moses scholarship has long held that the name "Moses" is one of the irreducible elements of the Moses narrative and would be an essential link to the exodus tradition, if it indeed is derived from the Egyptian root mśy, "to be born". This... more
Moses scholarship has long held that the name "Moses" is one of the irreducible elements of the Moses narrative and would be an essential link to the exodus tradition, if it indeed is derived from the Egyptian root mśy, "to be born". This article reassesses the long-held Egyptian etymology of the name "Moses", constituting the first comprehensive treatment of the question since J.G. Griffiths' 1953 article, The Egyptian Derivation of the Name Moses, Journal of Near Eastern Studies 12: 225-31. This contribution adds to the debate an evaluation of the name's vocalization which is a major, hitherto unnoticed problem, and discusses ancient and modern hypotheses relating to Exod 2:10. The article concludes that an Egyptian etymology of the name "Moses" is difficult to maintain and that the debate about the name's, presumably Semitic etymology needs to be reopened.
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With J. Bunbury, J. Cooper, R. Hoath, S. Ikram, C. Johnston
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How did the academy react to the rise, dominance, and ultimate fall of Germany's Third Reich? Did German professors of the humanities have to tell themselves lies about their regime's activities or its victims to sleep at night? Did they... more
How did the academy react to the rise, dominance, and ultimate fall of Germany's Third Reich? Did German professors of the humanities have to tell themselves lies about their regime's activities or its victims to sleep at night? Did they endorse the regime? Or did they look the other way, whether out of deliberate denial or out of fear for their own personal safety? The Betrayal of the Humanities: The University during the Third Reich is a collection of groundbreaking essays that shed light on this previously overlooked piece of history.
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Amduat, one of the Egyptian guides to the underworld, provides specific descriptions and measurements relating to the first three hours after sunset, during which the sun god Re passes through an interstitial realm (the first hour) before... more
Amduat, one of the Egyptian guides to the underworld, provides specific descriptions and measurements relating to the first three hours after sunset, during which the sun god Re passes through an interstitial realm (the first hour) before arriving at two gigantic sweet-water oceans (the second and ...
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1. Ancient Egypt in Political Caricature Since the Napoleonic expedition,1 ancient Egyptian sceneries and artifacts have played an important role in political caricatures relating to events of Egypt’s own modern history.2 One example... more
1. Ancient Egypt in Political Caricature Since the Napoleonic expedition,1 ancient Egyptian sceneries and artifacts have played an important role in political caricatures relating to events of Egypt’s own modern history.2 One example discussed recently by Donald Reid is “The Wafd’s last cabinet in pharaonic guise” from 1950, by Iskandar Saroukhan, which taunts the government’s purported dedication to pharaonism (fig. 1).3 The caricaturist seems to have used ancient Egyptian templates for some of the depicted personae: E.g., as Reid noticed, the blind minister of education, Taha Hussein, is depicted as the Louvre scribe (with dark glasses). One may also compare Prime Minister Mostafa al-Nahhas who sits as Egyptian king on the throne to the left: with an individual depicted to his right (in a woman’s dress but representing a male cabinet minister), the blue crown on his head, the heqa sceptre in his left hand, and mace, flail and ankh in his right hand, this is precisely modelled on t...
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Research Interests: Sociology and Archaeology
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Text of the review published in JARCE 56(2020), 254-7
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Mandarin Chinese version of the article "Students should be Masters of Postgraduate Offerings", in: Times Higher Education Magazine, May 28, 2020 (Print version: Students should be the masters of choices in postgraduate degrees)
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Print version of an article published in the Times Higher Education Magazine on May 28, 2020. Title of the online version: Students should be Masters of Postgraduate Offerings
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According to the Masoretic text of 2Kg 17,4, Hosea of Israel approached “So, King of Egypt”, for help against the Assyrians. The older (Antiochian) textual tradition has him instead seek help from “Adramelech, the Ethiopian who lived in... more
According to the Masoretic text of 2Kg 17,4, Hosea of Israel approached “So, King of Egypt”, for help against the Assyrians. The older (Antiochian) textual tradition has him instead seek help from “Adramelech, the Ethiopian who lived in Egypt”. The present contribution attempts to show that the individual referred to here is Piye/Piankhi of the 25th Kushitic dynasty. The name ‘Adramelech’ would be a contraction of a possible Kushitic title Adra “lord” and melek “king”. 2 Kg 17,4 (ANT) would thus provide evidence that Piye/Piankhi conquered Egypt before 722/21 BCE.
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The article discusses and reassesses the relationship between medicine and magic (heka) in ancient Egypt.
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Public lecture at the Halbert Centre for Canadian Studies
Hebrew University of Jerusalem
December 11, 2018
In memory of Hans Jakob Polotsky
Hebrew University of Jerusalem
December 11, 2018
In memory of Hans Jakob Polotsky
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Published in: Tell it in Gath. Studies in the History and Archaeology of Israel Essays in Honor of Aren M. Maeir on the Occasion of his Sixtieth Birthday Edited by Itzhaq Shai, Jeffrey R. Chadwick, Louise Hitchcock, Amit Dagan, Chris... more
Published in: Tell it in Gath. Studies in the History and Archaeology of Israel Essays in Honor of Aren M. Maeir on the Occasion of his Sixtieth Birthday Edited by Itzhaq Shai, Jeffrey R. Chadwick, Louise Hitchcock, Amit Dagan, Chris McKinny, and Joe Uziel = Ägypten und Altes Testament 90. Münster: Zaphon, 2018, 562-576
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Text of a contribution published in: Juan Carlos Moreno Garcia and Thomas Schneider (eds.): Ethnic Identities in Ancient Egypt and the Identity of Egyptology. Journal of Egyptian History 11(2018), 241-244
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Text of a contribution published in: Juan Carlos Moreno Garcia and Thomas Schneider (eds.): Ethnic Identities in Ancient Egypt and the Identity of Egyptology. Journal of Egyptian History 11 (2018), 73–86
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The basic hypothesis that spurred this workshop is a proposed contemporaneity or close chronological proximity of king Sobekhotep IV of the 13th Dynasty and the 15th Dynasty Hyksos Khyan (correct ›Khayran‹), suggested by the presence of... more
The basic hypothesis that spurred this workshop is a proposed contemporaneity or close chronological proximity of king Sobekhotep IV of the 13th Dynasty and the 15th Dynasty Hyksos Khyan
(correct ›Khayran‹), suggested by the presence of seals of the two rulers within the same closed archaeological context at Edfu. A corollary hypothesis to facilitate this synchronism is to place Khyan early and not late in the 15th Dynasty. The chronological implications of this new hypothesis would be significant, including a larger overlap of the two dynasties than traditionally assumed, a possible shortening of the Second Intermediate Period, and new parameters for its overall political situation. This paper will look at these problems from the specific angle of the Egyptian chronographic tradition and then proceed to a broader evaluation of their chronological probability.
(correct ›Khayran‹), suggested by the presence of seals of the two rulers within the same closed archaeological context at Edfu. A corollary hypothesis to facilitate this synchronism is to place Khyan early and not late in the 15th Dynasty. The chronological implications of this new hypothesis would be significant, including a larger overlap of the two dynasties than traditionally assumed, a possible shortening of the Second Intermediate Period, and new parameters for its overall political situation. This paper will look at these problems from the specific angle of the Egyptian chronographic tradition and then proceed to a broader evaluation of their chronological probability.
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Manuscript of the article published in its definitive form in Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research (2018), pp. 103-112 Available for download at https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.5615/bullamerschoorie.379.0103 This... more
Manuscript of the article published in its definitive form in
Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research
(2018), pp. 103-112
Available for download at
https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.5615/bullamerschoorie.379.0103
This article attempts to advance the debate on the terms inscribed on an ostracon of the Egyptian 18 th dynasty from the excavation of Theban Tomb 99, suggested by Ben Haring to contain the first historical attestation of the Halaḥam sequence. It presents new etymologies for the words listed on the two sides of the document, all of them in Egyptian syllabic writing. The obverse contains at least the five initial consonants of the Halaḥam sequence; the words of the acrostic may form a mnemonic verse. Additionally, the reverse side may provide the first historical attestation of the beginning of the second and historically more consequential ancient alphabet sequence, the 'Abgad sequence. This sheds important new light on the history of the Semitic alphabets and Egyptian knowledge of alphabetic ordering in the 15th c. BCE.
Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research
(2018), pp. 103-112
Available for download at
https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.5615/bullamerschoorie.379.0103
This article attempts to advance the debate on the terms inscribed on an ostracon of the Egyptian 18 th dynasty from the excavation of Theban Tomb 99, suggested by Ben Haring to contain the first historical attestation of the Halaḥam sequence. It presents new etymologies for the words listed on the two sides of the document, all of them in Egyptian syllabic writing. The obverse contains at least the five initial consonants of the Halaḥam sequence; the words of the acrostic may form a mnemonic verse. Additionally, the reverse side may provide the first historical attestation of the beginning of the second and historically more consequential ancient alphabet sequence, the 'Abgad sequence. This sheds important new light on the history of the Semitic alphabets and Egyptian knowledge of alphabetic ordering in the 15th c. BCE.
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This contribution surveys and categorizes ancient Egyptian knowledge of areas beyond Egypt.
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Review article of Susanne Voss, Die Geschichte der Abteilung Kairo des DAI im Spannungsfeld deutscher politischer Interessen 1881-1929. Menschen-Kulturen-Traditionen 8,1. Rahden/Westf.: Leidorf 2013.
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Contribution published in: Peter Der Manuelian and Thomas Schneider (eds.), Towards a New History of the Old Kingdom. Perspectives on the Pyramid Age. Proceedings of the Conference at Harvard University, April 26th, 2012. Harvard... more
Contribution published in: Peter Der Manuelian and Thomas Schneider (eds.), Towards a New History of the Old Kingdom. Perspectives on the Pyramid Age. Proceedings of the Conference at Harvard University, April 26th, 2012. Harvard Egyptological Studies 1. Leiden and Boston: Brill, 2015, 425-451
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Manuscript of the contribution published in Hans Amstutz, Andreas Dorn, Miriam Ronsdorf, Matthias Müller and Sami Uljas (eds.): Fuzzy Boundaries. Festschrift für Antonio Loprieno. 2 vols. Hamburg: Kai Widmaier, 2015, 434-448.
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This study presents an example of the problems of Exodus research. Any attempt to trace and contextualize motifs of the narrative is obstructed by the complexity of the text’s history. Exegetical certainties of the twentieth century have... more
This study presents an example of the problems of Exodus research. Any attempt to trace and contextualize motifs of the narrative is obstructed by the complexity of the text’s history. Exegetical certainties of the twentieth century have vanished in the crisis of Pentateuchal research and given way to multiple scenarios of text composition and redaction, the interrelationship of major themes, and the provenance and historical context of phenomena mentioned in it. The received text of Exodus 12 describes the last plague brought onto Egypt by Yahweh—the killing of Pharaoh’s firstborn son and the firstlings of the country’s livestock—by Yahweh or alternatively, his “destroyer” who strikes the Egyptians but spares the homes of the Israelites. Several aspects of the Passover protection ritual have not yet been explained in a satisfactory way. After giving an overview of the intricate exegetical situation, this study proposes a new approach to the text by drawing on parallels from Egyptian rituals which would have been appropriated by the text’s authors for the Israelite cause. Particular attention will be given to Pap. Cairo 58027, a ritual for the protection of Pharaoh at night, and rituals aimed at the “Plague of the Year.”
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This article published in the digital Biblical encyclopedia "Wibilex" provides a comprehensive overview of the political, cultural and literary contacts between Egypt and Israel / the Hebrew Bible.
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Giuseppe Verdi’s opera Aïda, first performed in 1871, goes back to a scenario suggested in 1865 by French Egyptologist Auguste Mariette. It can be shown that Mariette took his inspiration from the five historical stelae discovered at... more
Giuseppe Verdi’s opera Aïda, first performed in 1871,
goes back to a scenario suggested in 1865 by French
Egyptologist Auguste Mariette. It can be shown that
Mariette took his inspiration from the five historical
stelae discovered at Gebel Barkal on the fourth
cataract of the Nile, the ancient Nubian capital city of
Napata, in 1862, as well as some additional sources.
Aïda is not an opera based on an actual historical
narrative; however, it incorporates motifs attested in
historical sources between the 8th and the 3rd centuries
b.c.e. that were combined by Mariette in a historical
collage. E.g., the priests’ plot to kill an innocent man
in the temple of Amun in Aspelta’s Banishment Stela
is paralleled by the trial and killing of the innocent
Radames by priests in Aïda. This article situates the
opera within the discovery of ancient Nubia in the
later 19th century C.E.
goes back to a scenario suggested in 1865 by French
Egyptologist Auguste Mariette. It can be shown that
Mariette took his inspiration from the five historical
stelae discovered at Gebel Barkal on the fourth
cataract of the Nile, the ancient Nubian capital city of
Napata, in 1862, as well as some additional sources.
Aïda is not an opera based on an actual historical
narrative; however, it incorporates motifs attested in
historical sources between the 8th and the 3rd centuries
b.c.e. that were combined by Mariette in a historical
collage. E.g., the priests’ plot to kill an innocent man
in the temple of Amun in Aspelta’s Banishment Stela
is paralleled by the trial and killing of the innocent
Radames by priests in Aïda. This article situates the
opera within the discovery of ancient Nubia in the
later 19th century C.E.
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Draft of a study published in: Not Sparing the Child: Human Sacrifice in the Ancient World and Beyond. Studies in Honor of Professor Paul G. Mosca. Edited by Daphna Arbel, Paul C. Burns, J.R.C Cousland, Richard Menkis, and Dietmar... more
Draft of a study published in: Not Sparing the Child: Human Sacrifice in the Ancient World and Beyond. Studies in Honor of Professor Paul G. Mosca. Edited by Daphna Arbel, Paul C. Burns, J.R.C Cousland, Richard Menkis, and Dietmar Neufeld. New York: Bloomsbury T&T Clark, 2015.
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Research Interests: Egyptology and Hatshepsut
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Personennamen sind eine wichtige Quelle für die Kulturgeschichte des Alten Orients. Davon sind die fremdsprachigen Personennamen, die uns aus Ägypten überliefert sind, in mehrerer Hinsicht bedeutsam. Für die Sozialgeschichte des Alten... more
Personennamen sind eine wichtige Quelle für die Kulturgeschichte des Alten Orients. Davon sind die fremdsprachigen Personennamen, die uns aus Ägypten überliefert sind, in mehrerer Hinsicht bedeutsam. Für die Sozialgeschichte des Alten Ägypten sind sie die wichtigsten Indizien zur Identi-fizierung von Ausländern in ihrer gesellschaftlichen Stellung und, über die Bestimmung ihrer Herkunft, zur Einschätzung des Einflusses anderer Kulturkreise auf die ägyptische Zivilisation. In linguistischer Hinsicht repräsentieren sie eine wichtige Nebenüberlieferung zu den onomastischen Hauptüberlieferungen der Herkunftssprachen und bieten gleichzeitig aufschlussreiches Material für das Transkriptionssystem der sogenannten " Gruppenschrift ". Die vorliegende Arbeit untersucht die vorderasiatischen Personenna-men in ägyptischen Quellen des Neuen Reiches (1540-1070). Sie stellt die erste, doppelt so umfangreiche Sammlung des Materials dar seit der Arbeit von W. Helck über die " Beziehungen Ägyptens zu Vorderasien im 3. und 2. Jahrtausend v. Chr. " (1962, ²1971) und die erste umfassende sprachliche Analyse überhaupt auf der Grundlage der semitischen, hurritischen und hethitischen Namenforschung.