Ancient Egyptian Religion Research Articles

Social Entertainment in Greco- Roman Egypt (Games and Sports)

There’s no doubt that sport represents a central cultural place in the mankind civilization also sport and physical activities can be traced to the beginnings of recorded history. The ancient Egyptians practiced a lot of today’s sports such as shooting, wrestling, weightlifting, fishing, ball games, long jump, rowing, and swimming as well as competitive sports such as wrestling and non-competitive sports such as hunting that practiced for recreation. Indeed, there was a strong culture between physical activity and the ancient Egyptian religion as well as was found a relation between the kings and the athletic prowess. Besides, athletic competitions included several sources of traditions derived from hero cults, funeral games, and initiation rituals as well as components of religious festivals, for example, gaming squares were found into temple roofs for the recreation of priests as well as religious and funerary contexts. While the kings, princes, and statesmen of ancient Egypt were eager to attend sports completions that provided with the necessary equipment. In other words, sports like the gym represented the most important parts of the most Greek men also fed the soul and the body of the athletics so the Greeks played games of several kinds such as competitions of physical athletics. Besides, the Greek thought that the gods liked to see human bodies as strong, fit, and graceful. Also, athletes in Roman Egypt enjoyed many privileges and benefits in their cities up to public offices, pension, and extension of public liturgies and these athletics activities perhaps are owing to the flourishing of metropolis life. Meanwhile, this paper aims to republished and shed light on the various sides of the entertainment social sides in daily Egyptian life but in specific studied the importance of sports and games and the symbolic of them for the ancient Egyptian in daily life as well as the religious importance of sports and several games. Specifically, this research contained the history of games and recreation in ancient Egypt such as sport flourished in Ptolemaic Egypt for example, Ptolemy IV who participated in a Greek contest.

The Milk Deity IAt ('I3At) in Ancient Egyptian Religion

This paper addresses the question of the deity (I3t/I3ty) in ancient Egyptian religion. To date, there has not been a comprehensive study of this deity. The author attempts to provide answers for questions concerning how the name was written, differentiating the male and female forms of the deity, outlining the deity’s character, describing his/her physical appearance and attributes, and his/her link to divine birth and milk production. Several issues related to this deity, such as its dual nature, remain uncertain. For example, although textual resources indicate a female form of the deity, no female form is actually shown. This study, based on linguistic, theological, and archeological sources, presents more documentation of this little-known deity in hope that it will serve as the basis for further research.doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.5913/jarce.56.2020.a001

THE SEVEN SPIRITS (Axw-sfxw) IN THE ANCIENT EGYPTIAN RELIGION

ABSTRACT:This paper deals with an important topic in the ancient Egyptian religion, it is the topic of Spirits. This term has been mentioned repeatedly in multiple written forms in religious texts from Middle Kingdom, New Kingdom, Saite and Late Periods. It seems that these seven deities as creatures or jinn were very important in the doctrine of the dead and their fate in the other world as evidenced by the frequent mention of it in religious texts. These deities are mentioned associated with a number of major deities such as Ra, Osiris, Anubis, Thoth and the four sons of Horus, and they also have a very deep and profound relationship with the deceased and the group of Big Dipper stars. The texts explicitly disclosed their seven names in detail, and that number was linked to the god Osiris, as they indicated their multiple roles during the deceased's journey in the next world. This study is based on a number of different textual sources.This paper deals with some points in the ancient Egyptian religion: 1- The attempt to explain the term ''Seven Spirits'' in ancient Egyptian religion.2- The various written forms of this term.3- The texts in which the Seven Spirits are mentioned from the Middle, New kingdoms and Late Period.4- The relationship of the Seven Spirits to other deities mentioned in the same texts as: Re, Osiris, Anubis, Thoth, Horus and The four sons of Horus.5- The relationship of the Seven Spirits to the symbolism of the number seven in ancient Egypt and its deep connection with the god Osiris, and their association with the group of stars in the northern sky.6- Their relationship with the deceased in the Underworld. تتناول هذه الورقة البحثية موضوعا هاما في الديانة المصرية القديمة وهو موضوع السبعة، وقد ذکر هذا المصطلح بصورة متکررة بأشکال کتابية متعددة في النصوص الدينية من عصر الدولة الوسطي والحديثة والعصر الصاوي والعصر المتأخر. ويبدو أن هذه المعبودات السبعة بإعتبارهم مخلوقات غريبة أو جن کانت علي درجة کبيرة من الأهمية في عقيدة الموتي ومصيرهم في العالم الآخر بدليل الذکر المتکرر لها في النصوص الدينية. ذکرت هذه المعبودات مرتبطة بعدد من المعبودات الکبري مثل رع وأوزير وأنوبيس وتحوت وأبناء حورس الأربعة وست، کما أن لهم علاقة قوية وعميقة جدا بالمتوفي ومجموعة نجوم الدب الأکبر . أفصحت النصوص صراحة عن أسماءهم السبعة بالتفصيل، وارتباط ذلک العدد بالإله أوزير، کما بينت أدوارهم المتعددة خلال رحلة المتوفي في العالم الآخر. تستند هذه الدراسة علي عدد من المصادر النصية المختلفة. هذه الورقة البحثية تتناول بعض النقاط في الديانة المصرية القديمة: 1- محاولة تفسير مصطلح الأرواح السبعة في الديانة المصرية القديمة.2- الأشکال الکتابية المختلفة لهذا المصطلح.3- النصوص التي ورد بها ذکر الأرواح السبعة من عصر الدولة الوسطي والحديثة والعصر المتأخر.4- علاقة الأرواح السبعة بالمعبودات الأخري الواردة في نفس النصوص مثل رع وأوزير وأنوبيس وتحوت وحورس وأبناء حورس الأربعة.5- علاقة الأرواح السبعة برمزية العدد سبعة في مصر القديمة، وارتباطه العميق بالمعبود أوزير، وارتباطها أيضا بمجموعة النجوم في السماء الشمالية. 6- علاقتهم بالمتوفي في العالم الآخر.

Ramses II in Face of Asian Deities: Some New Considerations

Ancient Egyptian religion had embraced many foreign gods and goddesses. Perhaps the reason behind this is the expansion made by the kings of the New kingdom, conquering many countries that include different civilizations and cultures from the ancient Egyptian civilization. Also, the military expansion made by the kings of the New Kingdom to the Egyptian borders which became an Empire. During the reign of king Ramses II, who had ascended the throne of Egypt after prominent kings, was able to establish a powerful empire. It is worth mentioning that king Ramses II who was always proud by his victories and military campaigns, was interested in showing himself humiliating all his enemies through reliefs, statues. So, art during king Ramses II played a vital role in reflecting this power and domination. This paper aims to shed light on the representations of king Ramses II with the foreign deities. It investigates the reasons behind king Ramses II’s choice of these gods and goddesses to be represented. The paper discusses these gods and goddesses’ costumes, positions, emblems. The paper concluded that king Ramses II is considered one of the most Egyptian kings who appeared in various representations with foreign gods, and artists tried hard to show these gods and goddesses with an Egyptian appearance that is in line with the Egyptian king while preserving the foreign tendency of each god. The artists had put a system during the reign of king Ramses II; they managed to Egyptianize all foreign deities. This means that all Asian and Palestinian gods and goddesses represented with king Ramses II were in Egyptian features while keeping their ethnicity.

The Conception of Pilgrimage in the Ancient Egyptian Religion

The concept of pilgrimage in most religions is similar to a great extent to the ancient Egyptian festivals and celebrations. This is shown in the way of performing the rituals and reviving of the religious myths. Festivals in ancient Egypt provided a good chance for people to gather and celebrate in a distinctive and traditional way.[i] Ancient Egyptians did not consider the celebration as representing a sort of their personal piety. Scholars debated that the ancient Egyptians thought of the celebrations was as a kind of change or an opportunity to alter their daily routine.[ii] So the research is focused on the religious concept behind the festivals and celebrations of the ancient Egyptians, and their relation to the personal piety. The research is applied to the festival of Osiris at Abydos as a model of the concept of celebration. It was chosen as a good example of the interaction of the public, and because they had a starring role in the rituals. The research compared the rituals performed during the Egyptian festivals pilgrimage to the religious proving that there are many points of similarity to religious pilgrimage. [i] Assmann, Religion and Cultural Memory, p. 40. [ii] Bleeker, Egyptian Festivals: Enactments of Religious Renewal, p. 23; Meskell, Private Life in New Kingdom Egypt, p. 171; Teeter, Religion and Ritual in Ancient Egypt, p. 56. [i] Assmann, Religion and Cultural Memory, p. 40. [ii] Bleeker, Egyptian Festivals: Enactments of Religious Renewal, p. 23; Meskell, Private Life in New Kingdom Egypt, p. 171; Teeter, Religion and Ritual in Ancient Egypt, p. 56.

Lovely Ugly Bes! Animalistic Aspects in Ancient Egyptian Popular Religion

The popular yet demonic guardian of ancient Egypt, Bes, combines dwarfish and leonine features, and embodies opposing traits such as a fierce and gentle demeanor, a hideous and comical appearance, serious and humorous roles, an animalistic and numinous nature. Drawing connections with similarly stunted figures, great and small cats, sacred cows, baboons, demonic monsters, universal gods and infant deities, this article will focus on the animalistic associations of the Bes figure to illustrate that this leonine dwarf encompassed a wider religious significance than apotropaic and regenerative functions alone. Bes was thought to come from afar but was always close; the leonine dwarf guarded the sun god Ra along the diurnal solar circuit; the figure protected pregnant women and newborn children; it was a dancer and musician; the figure belonged to the company of magical monsters of hybrid appearance as averter of evil and sword-wielding fighter. Exploring the human and animal, demonic and numinous aspects of this leonine dwarf will not only further our understanding of its nature and function, but also its significance and popularity.

A Szuda és az egyiptomi vallás

The Souda encyclopaedia brought into being around 1000 A.D. is a product of Byzantine humanism. This epoch is proud of its knowledge of classical antiquity, it wants to harmonize it with its own knowledge, and not make it forgotten. It equally wants to look upon the notions of ancient Egyptian religion in a correct way, and give a correct idea of them. In the encyclopaedia three variants of forwarding the Egyptian substance of myths can be detected. The first consists in regarding gods as former monarchs. It enlists the gods under the names of the Greek gods identified with them, and considers them as early monarchs of Egypt. This does not cause any difficulty as also Egyptian tradition is convinced of its first monarchs being creative gods. This in itself is not a new discovery. Earlier World chronicles described the histories of ancient peoples in a similar way; moreover it is exactly the texts of the former that Souda includes in the encyclopaedia. – The second variant mentions Egyptian gods by their own names, and describes them as being of godly character. You cannot feel any aversion in the encyclopaedia, apart sometimes from the euhemistic view, according to which a god was, in reality, an ancient monarch in whose honour a temple was erected after his death. – The third group of knowledge must, however, be a product of the new way of thinking. The editors of Souda preserve the neo-Platonist philosophers of the 5th century by including Damascus’ work. These philosophers fi ght, by means of the saint synchretism, for the preservation of the ancient religion in Egypt. The considerate description of the philosophers defending pagan cults against Christianism allows the emotional atmosphere of the epoch to unfold. The editor/editors of the encyclopaedia does/do not want to keep secret or make disappear the substance of knowledge and the way of thinking of ancient epochs. They want to preserve them and to build them into the substance of present knowledge in a way similar to the one, by which they try to connect, with each other, the traditions of diff erent peoples.

The Ancient Egyptians’ “Religious World”: The Foundation of Egyptian Law

The aim of this paper is to indicate the importance of religion in ancient Egypt and to indicate that this was the foundation for ancient Egyptian law. In order to understand ancient Egyptian law, it is important to understand the role of religion as background to its development. Religion played an important role in the ancient Egyptians’ understanding of their world, specifically the belief in maat. Religion, and specifically maat, influenced everything they did. Their whole life and the way they operated as a society was based on the principles of maat, since living in accordance with maat would ensure eternal life, life after death. It was essentially maat which made law necessary in ancient Egypt.

Review: Profane Egyptologists: The Modern Revival of Ancient Egyptian Religion by Paul Harrison

Book Review| May 01 2019 Review: Profane Egyptologists: The Modern Revival of Ancient Egyptian Religion by Paul Harrison Profane Egyptologists: The Modern Revival of Ancient Egyptian Religion. By Paul Harrison. Routledge, 2018. 230 pages. $112.00 cloth; ebook available. Ethan Doyle White Ethan Doyle White University College London Search for other works by this author on: This Site PubMed Google Scholar Nova Religio (2019) 22 (4): 133–135. https://doi.org/10.1525/nr.2019.22.4.133 Views Icon Views Article contents Figures & tables Video Audio Supplementary Data Peer Review Share Icon Share Facebook Twitter LinkedIn MailTo Tools Icon Tools Get Permissions Cite Icon Cite Search Site Citation Ethan Doyle White; Review: Profane Egyptologists: The Modern Revival of Ancient Egyptian Religion by Paul Harrison. Nova Religio 1 May 2019; 22 (4): 133–135. doi: https://doi.org/10.1525/nr.2019.22.4.133 Download citation file: Ris (Zotero) Reference Manager EasyBib Bookends Mendeley Papers EndNote RefWorks BibTex toolbar search Search Dropdown Menu toolbar search search input Search input auto suggest filter your search All ContentNova Religio Search This content is only available via PDF. © 2019 by The Regents of the University of California2019 Article PDF first page preview Close Modal You do not currently have access to this content.

“I am Mother to my Plants”

The tree stands as a sacred symbol in many faith traditions. Unsurprisingly, nature-based new religious movements are no exception. This article considers the manifestation of sacred trees in a number of religious traditions, including Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander spirituality, Abrahamic traditions, Ancient Egyptian religion, Buddhism, Hinduism, Norse mythology, the Shinto faith, and nature-based new religious movements. After this initial section, I present the findings of a fieldwork project undertaken in 2016. Using the survey as a tool, this project enquired into the use of trees, plants, and private gardens among practitioners from nature-based new religious movements. This survey makes use of both quantitative and qualitative survey methods, having been distributed to various nature-based new religious movements in New Zealand, Australia, Europe, the United States, and the United Kingdom. Despite extensive tree lore, these survey results present the tree as a peripheral plant in the practitioners' everyday practice, with the garden as a whole being more critical than any single variety of vegetation.

The Concept of «Transfer» in the Context of the Genesis of Religious Models of Culture

Objectives of the article are determined by the fact that the author seeks to study the most important stages of both formulation and formulation of the fundamental parameters of the phenomenon of reincarnation in religion, historical features of comprehension of the essence of this phenomenon, its manifestation in the realities of modern life.Research methodology. The original methodological principles of research are the dialectical principles of historicism, objectivity and comprehensiveness of consideration. An important methodological benchmark for the problem analysis is the comparative historical method by which the concept of reincarnation is analyzed in the context of the genesis of religious models of culture.Conclusions. The formation of the phenomenon of reincarnation in religion dates back to the period of development of the primary society, in which religion, art and morality arises, and where the foundations for the future of differentiated and professionally formed spiritual activities, in which one way or another the phenomenon of reincarnation manifested itself, laid the foundations. The further development of the phenomenon of reincarnation in religion acquired in the ancient Egyptian religion. More developed forms of the phenomenon of reincarnation gained in the religions of Ancient India — in Hinduism and Buddhism.The novelty of the study is to clarify the specific features of manifestation of the concept of reincarnation in the context of the genesis of religious models of culture.Practical meaning. The obtained results can be used in the development of appropriate training courses, further scientific developments on the identified issues.Key words: reincarnation, karma, reincarnation, religion, culture, art.

Коливання часу в давньоєгипетській релігії та мистецтві: уроборос як архетип для метафізики вічності

Коливання часу в давньоєгипетській релігії та мистецтві: уроборос як архетип для метафізики вічності

Dual Maat (<i>Mꜣꜥty</i>) in the Coffin Texts

Maat (mꜣꜥt) is an ancient Egyptian comprehensive concept connoting justice, truth, and fairness while focusing on the meaning of the order of the universe. This concept was deified as a goddess of justice or truth (mꜣꜥt) and appeared in various texts throughout ancient Egyptian history. This article analyzes the portrayal of goddess Maat in the Coffin Texts, which are known as funerary texts during the Middle Kingdom. In addition to the Pyramid Texts from the Old Kingdom and the Book of the Dead from the New Kingdom, the Coffin Texts are some of the most important resources for understanding ancient Egyptian religion. The Coffin Texts contain over 1,000 spells and include more than 190 descriptions of Maat requiring further examination.

The Ceremonial Posts of Wsir King in the Afterlife

The concept of nTrw has many assumptions, which had been used in the ancient Egyptian religion and literature, as gods, good spirits, evil spirits, snakes, king’s helpers, king’s enemies and other various meanings. The first conception is talking about the nTrw as Gods in positive and negative roles in general meaningwhich the word nTrw had been mentioned through in various texts, some of these texts are: n ir.tw nTrw ir nn pn , there is nothing which the Gods did against this king, (PT:1464b) [1] . This spell is considered as unhelpful appearance, because it refers to Seth and his followers “demons”, however there is another example to helpful spells appearance as: Dd mdw hA wsir nn .in n.k Gb @rw inD.f Tw in.f n.k ibw , he may save you, he brings to you the hearts of the gods.(PT:634b) [2] . The second conception is talking about the nTrw as nouns and Gods themselves, adjectives and also gathered with some of the king’s names to give the sacristy impact. Keywords: nTrw, Pyramid Texts, Ceremonial Posts, Myth, Rituals, Wsir, Afterlife.

THEONYMS IN THE HORROR STORY OF HOWARD PHILLIPS LOVECRAFT “IMPRISONED WITH THE PHARAOHS”

This article is devoted to the research of features of the specific onomastic lexis for denotation of divine creatures and its usage in the literary genre of horrors on the example of Howard Phillips Lovecraft’s short story “Imprisoned with the Pharaohs”. In the centre of author’s attention is the study of theonyms’ influence, as a lexical instrument, on the formation of the atmosphere of horror and construction of specific text space of works of horror literature. Theonyms are proper names of deities in some pantheon which belongs to a certain religion or mythology. In this research, we assess the use of separate theonyms from the pantheon of religion of ancient Egypt. The term “theonym” describes the phenomena of the ideal world, which differs in the understanding of people. Theonymic peculiarity of words can show off while solving problems not only of linguistic character, but also philosophical, culturological etc. This article studies set of characteristics, which are typical in the literature of horror. Such features are optional for a genre, but absolutely necessary for the creation of the story which states the task to “frighten”. Attention is focused on such characteristics: identity with the character, commonness of events, supersaturating of story with commonness, consequences of protagonist’s decisions, complexity of timelines, possible but optional absence of ending, use of “strong” words for the festering of atmosphere. Horror features are described through the direct dependence of theonyms use, which strengthen the effect of “terrible” and put the accent on certain historic character of events.

From an Immigrated Bird to a Deity: Pelican in Ancient Egyptian Sources

This paper traces the role of Pelican in daily life and his influence in ancient Egyptian religion. His appearance in the wall of tombs and temple of the sun and also the reluctance of Egyptian to eat him save his egg. This immigrated bird was known in ancient Egypt since the Predynastic period. Although his short stayed in Egyptian land and rarely depicted in Egyptian tombs, regarded as a deity, and mentions more than once in the Pyramid and Coffin Texts, and by one spell in the Book of the Dead. He had a magical powers and assimilated with resurrection and the birth of the sun.

Apotropaic Figures Based on Spell 182 in prt m hrw

The term (Altenmuller, 1977) means supposedly having the power to avert evil influences or bad luck. Apotropaic Figures refer to a large group of protective deities. They were represented either in the form of a complete animal and human or a mixture of them holding knives, lizards and snakes. Their aim was to create a protective environment around the deceased body and repel evil away from it. Those protectors were known since the Middle Kingdom as represented on the ivory wands. During the New Kingdom, they were shown on the papyrus rolls, on the walls of some royal tombs or taking the form of a three – dimensional wooden sculpture. In the Third Intermediate Period and Late Period, those protective deities appeared again on the walls of royal and private coffins and sarcophagi as well as papyri. They sometimes appeared in the form of stone figures with different forms and numbers. The current research was undertaken to define on the so-called apotropaic deities in Ancient Egyptian conception; to focus on the function of apotropaic deities in Ancient Egyptian religion; to determine the various forms and numbers (Taylor, 2010) of apotropaic deities throughout the history of Egypt beginning with their first appearance during the Middle Kingdom; to refer to creatures and tools held by the hands of apotropaic deities and their religious significance; to follow the development of representing the apotropaic deities from just scenes to three – dimensional figures in the New Kingdom royal tombs; and to mention the material and color of apotropaic figures. The results revealed that since the Middle Kingdom until the end of the Egyptian history, apotropaic deities in all their forms were considered as the responsible deities of repelling evil away of the deceased mummy and creating protective surroundings. Apotropaic deities are carved in the form of wooden and stone statuettes with different poses such as sitting, squatting, standing as well as half – turning.

The Representation of Heart in Sheikh Abd El Qurna Private Tombs during the 18th Dynasty

The current research was dedicated to shed light on the heart and its symbolism in the Ancient Egyptian conception; to study the importance of heart in Ancient Egyptian religion; to focus on the representation of heart in both daily and funerary scenes like heart necklace which is represented either worn by the tomb owner or offered to him in Sheikh Abd El Qurna private tombs; to spotlight on the religious symbolism of the different colors and numbers of heart in the scenes decorating the walls of Sheikh Abd El Qurna private tombs; to spotlight on the specific locations of heart in scenes and their relation with the Ancient Egyptian conception. as well as to focus on the chapters dedicated to the heart protection in the book of the Dead. The preliminary results indicated that heart was illustrated in different locations inside the tombs like on the walls of the hall, inner room, burial chamber and passage. Heart was represented in both the funerary scenes like purification and opening of the mouth and daily life scenes like offering food to the deceased in the 18th dynasty private tombs at Thebes especially in Sheikh Abd El Qurna Necropolis.

The Celestial Ferryman in Ancient Egyptian Religion "Sailor of the Dead"

The Celestial Ferryman in Ancient Egyptian Religion "Sailor of the Dead"

Egyptian Religion and Culture through Rabbinic Vision

EGYPTIAN RELIGION AND CULTURE THROUGH RABBINIC VISIONEgypt and Egyptians are mentioned in the Hebrew Bible more than any other foreign land or nation, in fact, no fewer than 680 times.1 This amount is approximately as much as the mentions of Assyria, (150x), Babylonia (287x), Aram (133x), and Edom (112x) altogether (total, 682x).2 Several stories of Israel's patriarchs, particularly Abraham and Joseph (Gen 12:1020; 37-50), took place in or against the Egyptian background. A number of biblical laws were defined in contrast to the Egyptian customs (e.g., Exod 8:22; Lev 18:3; Deut 4:15-19; Ezek 20:7), and the rational for some others was the Israelite slavery in Egypt.3 A nature-hymn (Psalm 104) engages with the hymn to Sun god (Ra') written by Akhnathen (Amenophis IV), and some biblical wisdom literature (e.g., Proverbs 22:17-24:35) is related to the teaching of Amen-em-apt. There are also many prophecies on Egypt and Egyptians in the Eiebrew Bible (e.g., Isaiah 19; Jeremiah 46; Ezekiel 29-32). Nonetheless, without a doubt, the narrative about the Israelite experience in and the Exodus from Egypt (Exod 1-15) have the greatest impact on the Israelite /J ewish collective memory, every generation, even as of today. It became the symbol of God's direct interaction in defense of His chosen people. That is to say, He Himself interfered and defeated the evil oppressors and their deities and saved Israel. No wonder, therefore, that scholars in all times and places, Jews and non-Jews, devoted numerous works on the Exodus and the ancient Israelite literary heritage and its encounters with that of the Egyptians.4Yet, although Egypt and Egyptians are mentioned in rabbinic literature much less than in the biblical literature, there are plentiful Egyptian elements in the various branches of the rabbinic literature.5 The knowledge of Egypt and Egyptian culture among the rabbis was based not only on biblical texts, but also on their own visits to Egypt, particularly the large Jewish Diaspora of Alexandria, and visits of Egyptians, particularly Jewish traders, scholars, and tourists, to the Land of Israel. Even though, except for a few essays on the encounter of the Egyptian religion and literature with rabbinic sources,6 there is not even a single monograph that systematically and comprehensively discusses this interesting theme. How could such a situation be explained? Seemingly, this state of the research does not stem only from the quantity and quality of the biblical material on Egypt and Egyptians in comparison to rabbinic sources. Rather, it stems also from the fact that the biblical and ancient Israelite history and literature-as part of Jewish and Christian canons-were and are predominant among Christians, and to some extent also among Jews, in all times and places. In contrast, rabbinic literature was almost exclusively studied and researched by Jews. Moreover, none of the important Egyptologists was or is engaged with rabbinic literature, and, vice versa, none of the rabbinic scholars was familiar with the Egyptian sources. The rare combination of an excellent scholar in rabbinic literature and well-trained Egyptologist is perfectly encompassed in Rivka Ulmer's work. Thus, evidently, the monograph under review should be considered as a pioneer work and unique contribution to rabbinic studies as well as Egyptology.Egyptian Cultural Icons in Midrash is large in quantity and rich in substance, insights, and methods. It investigates various tannaitic and amoraic sources, generally midrashic, that related to Egyptian religion, culture, language, and literature against their historical setting in the Greco-Roman world. Although the rabbis did not focus on historical analyses, often the construction of Egypt in rabbinic texts strikingly matches with what we currently know concerning the ancient Egyptian religion. Ulmer shows that Jews were engaged with the Egyptian cultural heritage far beyond the biblical literature and biblical period as well as beyond their own defined Jewish cultural sphere. …