Elephantine papyri
The Elephantine papyri are a number of different papyri found on the Egyptian island of Elephantine , near Aswan , on the Nile . The military colony located there housed mercenaries of various origins, including Greek, Phoenician and Syrian groups. The desert climate favored the preservation of papyrus , therefore corresponding documents can be found in Demotic , Ancient Greek , Aramaic , Latin and Coptic from a period of around 1000 years .
Aramaic papyri
In Elephantine there was already before the year 525 BC A Jewish colony that had its own YHWH temple with a sacrificial cult . Otto Rubensohn found the archives of the Jewish community during his excavations. Hugo Ibscher was entrusted with the development and preservation of the still sealed documents. The preserved Imperial Aramaic documents of this colony date from 495–399 BC. They wrote important information about the Diaspora Jews in the 5th century BC in the Persian Empire , but also gave an insight into the administration of the Achaemenid Empire . Some of these are private documents such as loan agreements and marriage certificates, but also official correspondence with the Persian administration in Susa , with the satraps in various Achaemenid provinces and with the priests at the Jerusalem temple . However, no parts of the Tanach were found in Elephantine .
The background of the papyri was the destruction of the YHWH temple in Elephantine. The culprits, including the commander of the military colony, were found and sentenced to death. In spite of this, the community initially received no approval to rebuild the temple and to resume the sacrificial cult. Jedoniah and his fellow priests in Elephantine therefore wrote letters to Arsames, the governor of Egypt, Bagohi (Bagoas), the governor of Jahud (Judea) in Jerusalem, to Jehohanan, the high priest in Jerusalem and to Delajah and Shelemyah, the sons of Sanaballat , the governor of Samaria . The documents show much in common with the biblical books Ezra and Nehemiah in language and style, and some people are also mentioned in these books. The name of God is held יהוה throughout these documents as יהוreproduced, although this is probably not a different way of speaking, but a different orthography , in which the last letter is omitted in the short end vowel as mater lectionis .
Greek papyri
During an excavation in 1906 Otto Rubensohn found pots of Greek scripts and a number of ostracas in different languages from the Ptolemaic period in two places . The documents of the first find include documents such as the marriage contract, will and statements of an inheritance. The second find includes Greek and demotic writings in connection with the temple of Edfu , which was built under Ptolemy III. was built. The documents belonged to a priest named Estphenis, who was probably the high priest at this temple.
literature
- Otto Rubensohn : Elephantine Papyri , edited by O. Rubensohn, with contributions by W. Schubart and W. Spiegelberg. With 3 collotype plates, Weidmannsche Buchhandlung 1907, unchanged reprint by Cisalpino-Golicarda, Milan, no year in: Ägyptische Urkunden aus den Kgl. Museums in Berlin. Greek documents. Issued by the General Administration. Special issue.
- Eduard Sachau : Three Aramaic papyrus documents from Elephantine. In: Philosophical and historical treatises of the Royal Prussian Academy of Sciences from 1907. Publishing house of the Royal Academy of Sciences, Berlin 1907.
- Eduard Sachau, General Administration of the Royal Museums in Berlin: Aramaic papyrus and ostraca from a Jewish military colony at Elephantine . Ancient oriental language monuments of the 5th century BC Chr., Edited by Eduard Sachau, Tafeln, Hinrichs'sche Buchhandlung 1911. This work only contains photomechanical images of the Berlin papyri from Elephantine.
- Arthur Ungnad : Aramaic Papyrus from Elephantine. Small edition based on Eduard Sachau's first edition, edited by Arthur Ungnad, Hinrichs, Leipzig 1911.
- Willy Staerk : Jewish-Aramaic papyri from Elephantine , linguistically and factually explained. 2nd improved edition, Bonn 1912. (Text edition with dotted text and notes.)
- Eduard Meyer : The Elephantine papyrus find , documents of a Jewish community from the Persian era and the oldest surviving book in world literature, 2nd edition, Hinrichs, Leipzig 1912.
Web links
Tagesspiegel: The Elephantine memory