Geburt im Chaos und Belebung im Wirbelwind. Zwei neue Deutungsvorschläge zu NHC II,5

Abstract

ABSTRACT The mention of π∈ριCCON in On the Origin of the World (NHC II,5) 99,18 was in the past interpreted either as “afterbirth” (Painchaud, Layton) or “miscarriage” (Bethge). It is argued here (I.) that the context in which π∈ριCCON occurs and also its description as a watery substance don't match these interpretations. It is rather to be understood as the amniotic fluid which flows out of the womb of a pregnant woman shortly before birth. Evidence of the use of περíσσωμα in a comparable way in the gynaecological literature of late antiquity (Soranus) confirms this interpretation. In its last part (III.) the article therefore proposes a possible female authorship for On the Origin of the World since deeper insight in the actual birth process in antiquity was basically limited to the women themselves and their midwifes (only sometimes doctors as well). In its second part the article compares the passage when Yaldabaoth creates his own offspring in On the Origin of the World with a passage in The Hypostasis of the Archons where the archons try to give life (i.e. breath) to the first man they have made of dust and argues for a connection between the Coptic words ϣOγϣOγ and ϪOγϪOγ on the basis of τῦφoς/τυφώς.