Asenat

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Asenat is in the Old Testament the daughter of the Egyptian priest Potifera and wife of Joseph .

etymology

The Egyptian personal name is Asenat in the Hebrew transcription אָסְנַת 'āsnat . The reconstructed Egyptian form of the name is N.ś-Nt or 'iw.ś-nN.t . The name means "She belongs to Neith ". The Septuagint gives the name with Ασεννεθ Asenneth , the Vulgate with Aseneth .

Biblical narration

Asenat is EU in the Bible only in Gen 41,45  ; 41.50 EU and 46.20 EU called.

“The Pharaoh gave Joseph the name Zafenat-Paneach and gave him Asenat, the daughter of Potiferas, the priest of On, to wife. So Joseph became master of Egypt. "

- Gen 41.45

Asenat came from a wealthy Egyptian family. Her father, Potifera ("the one given by Ra "), who should not be confused with Potifar , was a priest of On , a cult center for the sun god Re . Asenat was given to Joseph as wife by Pharaoh after Joseph foresaw a seven year famine. She bore Joseph two sons, Manasseh and Ephraim , who were to become the progenitors of two tribes of Israel ( Gen 41.50  EU ).

Post-Biblical Traditions

In the story Joseph and Asenat , a pseudepigraphic Jewish script from the first century AD, the life of the Asenat is described in the form of a love and conversion story.

The later rabbinical tradition makes Asenath the daughter of Dinas and Shechem , who was merely adopted by Potifera . This solves the exegetical problem that Joseph was married to a gentile woman, even the daughter of a pagan priest.

Film adaptations

In The Bible - Joseph from 1995, Asenath was portrayed by the Italian Valeria Cavalli . In Josef and his brothers from 1960, Vira Silenti did this .

literature

See also