Bata (Egyptian mythology)

Bata is an ancient Egyptian bull deity from the New Kingdom . Up to Thutmose IV from the 18th dynasty he was also represented as a ram god. Bata comes from the city of Saka (Kasa) in the 17th Upper Egyptian Schakalgau , the cult center of Anubis . In the two-brother fairy tale (Papyrus D'Orbiney) from the Postamarna period, Bata is considered the brother of Anubis and still has Osirian features. Only in the late Jumilhac papyrus is Bata equated with his adversary Seth instead of Osiris .

precursor

The more recent research since Peter Seibert assumes that Bata von Saka is identical with a god of the dead Bt , documented in the Old Kingdom in Saqqara and Gizeh , who, like Cherti , is determined by a lying ram idol .

This god Bt occurs only in private graves such as the tomb of Ti, in personal names and dead domain names of the 5th and 6th dynasties , but not in the pyramid texts and coffin texts .

Evidence for such an equation is that Bata was marked (determined) as ( B3tjj ) under Thutmose IV instead of a bull with a standing ram . Another clue could be a Nubian rock inscription from the late 4th or 5th Dynasty . There a royal official from the 17th Upper Egyptian district writes that he came with 20,000 soldiers to “hack Wawat”. He bears the theophore (formed with a god's name) name Cha-Bau-Bet, where Bt is again determined by a lying ram idol. If the equation of Bt and Bata is correct, this would be the earliest evidence for Bata of Saka.

Bata in the Papyrus d'Orbiney

The two-brother fairy tale (Papyrus D'Orbiney) is a literary text , but at the same time a profane myth of the gods . Bata is considered the brother of the embalming god Anubis and, like Osiris, is a dying and resurrecting god. In fairy tales, Bata is known as the “bull of the nine ”, and when he is first transformed he becomes a bull.

Bata in the Jumilhac Papyrus

In the 20th dynasty there is a temple of Bata of Saka, which is also called Jumilhac in the late papyrus. In this “cult topographical” papyrus from the Ptolemaic period , the motif of Bata's castration from the Papyrus D'Orbiney is taken up and reinterpreted. Due to the more than 1000-year interval and the rule of the Libyans , Nubians and Persians , religious beliefs have changed and the previously ambivalent Seth is demonized. Based on the Horus myth by Edfu , Anubis pursues Seth. After Anubis overpowers him, Seth is emasculated as a punishment and then merges with Bata to form Seth-Bata. At least a memory of the two-brother fairy tale and the motif of Bata's self-castration have been preserved in a modified form, but more in the accompanying vignettes of the papyrus.

Further conclusions were rejected as unfounded by Susan T. Hollis, not least because of the time lag.

literature

Hans Bonnet : Bata. In: Lexicon of Egyptian Religious History. Nikol, Hamburg 2005, ISBN 3-937872-08-6 , p. 82.
Emma Brunner-Traut : Ancient Egyptian Fairy Tales. Diederichs, Düsseldorf / Cologne 1963 (free translation of the two brothers tale).
Jacques Vandier : Le Papyrus Jumilhac. Center national de la recherche scientifique, Paris 1961.

Web links

The Egyptian tale of two brothers

Individual evidence

^ Alan H. Gardiner: Late-Egyptian Stories. Brussels 1973, pp. 9-30a.
↑ Peter Seibert: The characteristic. Harrassowitz, Wiesbaden 1967.
↑ Notation in the mastaba of Ti , cf. Gudrun Meyer: The shepherd's song in the private graves of the Old Kingdom. In: Studies on Ancient Egyptian Culture. (SAK) Vol. 17, 1990, p. 243, text overview.
↑ Jean Yoyotte: Sur Bata, maître de Sako. In: Revue d'égyptologie. (RdE) Vol. 9, 1952, p. 158.
^ Jesús López: Inscriptions de l'ancien empire à Khor el-Aqiba . In: Revue d'égyptologie. Vol. 19, 1967, pp. 51-67; Wolfgang Helck : Snofru. In: Studies on Ancient Egyptian Culture (SAK). Vol. 1, Buske, Hamburg 1974, ISSN 0340-2215 , p. 215.
^ Susan T. Hollis: On the Nature of Bata, the Hero of the Papyrus d'Orbiney. In: Chronique d'Égypte. No. 59, 1984, pp. 248-257, with further literature and criticism of the more recent research.

[1] Alan H. Gardiner: Late-Egyptian Stories. Brussels 1973, pp. 9-30a.

[2] Peter Seibert: The characteristic. Harrassowitz, Wiesbaden 1967.

[3] Notation in the mastaba of Ti , cf. Gudrun Meyer: The shepherd's song in the private graves of the Old Kingdom. In: Studies on Ancient Egyptian Culture. (SAK) Vol. 17, 1990, p. 243, text overview.

[4] Jean Yoyotte: Sur Bata, maître de Sako. In: Revue d'égyptologie. (RdE) Vol. 9, 1952, p. 158.

[5] Jesús López: Inscriptions de l'ancien empire à Khor el-Aqiba . In: Revue d'égyptologie. Vol. 19, 1967, pp. 51-67; Wolfgang Helck : Snofru. In: Studies on Ancient Egyptian Culture (SAK). Vol. 1, Buske, Hamburg 1974, ISSN 0340-2215 , p. 215.

[6] Susan T. Hollis: On the Nature of Bata, the Hero of the Papyrus d'Orbiney. In: Chronique d'Égypte. No. 59, 1984, pp. 248-257, with further literature and criticism of the more recent research.