The shepherdesses and the Egyptian official
Plutarch in "Table Conversations" (Book 4, c. VI) uniquely identifies the God of the Jews with Dionysus - the god of winemaking, orgies and religious ecstasy, in the Roman tradition known as Bacchus or … Lieber.
Also known as Bacchus in Greek mythology, he was originally a Thracian god whose cult was adopted by the Greeks very early. Due to the widespread winemaking in Greece, this cult took root firmly. According to legend, Bacchus was the son of the daughter of the Theban king Semele and Zeus.
It is difficult to say unequivocally what the lost (destroyed?) Part of the "Table Conversations" speaks about, but it turns out that Bacchus (Lieber) is "a Theban born of Semele" or … a Semitic? If we remember not about the Greek Thebes, but about Thebes in Egypt, then the city (ancient Egyptian Uaset, Greek Thebes) has been known since the III millennium BC, and reached its highest flourishing from the beginning of the New Kingdom in the era of the XVIII dynasty (16-14 centuries BC), which coincides with the time of the first mention of Thebes in Greece. Thebes became the political and religious center of Egypt, the borders of which in the south went into the territory of the present. Sudan, and in the west they reached Libya. Thebes was the center of the cult of the god Amun, the mythology of which echoes the combined mythologemes of Judaism - the cult of "those who escaped from Egyptian captivity."
According to the Jewish mythology of the Old Testament, which became a collection of legends of many peoples living in the Middle East, the Exodus took place in the 15th century. BC. So the “sons of Israel” left Egypt 480 years (~ 5 centuries) before the “construction of the Temple of Solomon” in Jerusalem (1 Kings 6: 1), the construction of which is conventionally taken to be attributed to the 10th century. BC.
However, with tz. historical school Exodus could take place in the 13th century. BC, because it was then in Egyptian documents (stela of Merneptah) that the name Israel first appears. The fact that the "Israelites" left Egypt through the Red Sea also speaks in favor of the later dating because the land communication with Canaan was blocked by the Philistines (Gen. 13:17), who did not appear earlier than the 13th century. BC.
The cult of Judaism could stand out from the monotheistic cult of Aton, which took its roots from the worship of the ancient Egyptian god of the Sun, then the king of the gods and the patron of the power of the pharaohs Amun.
Originally, Amon was the local god of Thebes, where he was worshiped as a heavenly deity. In addition to this local cult, Amon was also considered one of the deities of the Hermopolis Ogdoad, - the 8 original gods of the city of Hermopolis (Hemenu). The Ogdoada included 4 pairs of cosmic deities, from which the world arose. The gods were depicted with the heads of frogs, and the goddesses with the heads of snakes. Amon was a member of a pair of Amonets, considered the hidden gods or the embodiment of "nothing", the embodiment of air and wind. The mythological elaboration of the image of Amun is scarce. His wife was Uasret (later Mut). Amonet was only the female incarnation of Amun and did not have her own image (echoes the hidden cult of Shahina in Judaism and Kabbalah). The son of Amun and Mut was called the moon god Khonsu. Amon, Mut and Khonsu together constituted the Theban triad ("holy trinity"). Amun was also associated with Min.
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In the First Transitional Period, the first mentions of Amun appear not just as an independent deity, but as a demiurge and supreme god. In the mainstream of syncretism, he was identified with the ancient Heliopolis sun god Ra in the image of the god Amon-Ra, the king of the gods and the elder deity Ennead.
Akhenaten, is he Solomon?
Pharaoh Amenhotep IV (who later called himself Akhenaten), from the XVIII dynasty, who lived in 1375-1325. BC e., who ruled approximately in 1351-1334 BC. e., became the initiator of an incredible religious reform that shook all the foundations of ancient Egyptian civilization. The explanation could be that the origin of Amenhotep, the son of Queen Teia, who did not belong to the royal house, presumably having a Semitic origin, according to the rules of succession deprived this pharaoh of any legal right to the throne. In the eyes of the priestly estate, the young king was an illegal ruler, with all the ensuing consequences. Being under the strong influence of his mother and trying to strengthen his power, Amenhotep IV relied on unborn service people, the so-called nemkhu ("orphans"), opposed the priesthood,primarily against the priesthood of the main god Amon-Ra.
Like his father, in violation of tradition, he married not the eldest daughter of the pharaoh who reigned before him (the Egyptian throne was formally passed on through the female line, associated with Judaism), but his cousin (daughter of Ey, brother of his mother) - Nefertiti, who later took an active participation in its transformations. To strengthen his power over the priests, in contrast to the Theban god Amon, Amenhotep gradually began to put forward the monotheistic cult of the previously little-known god Aten (Yati), "personifying the solar disk."
Extremely painful in appearance, proclaiming himself the high priest of the new god, Amenhotep in the 3rd year of his reign began to build a temple in Thebes in his honor. In the 4th year, the decoration of the walls of the new temple began. Aton was portrayed as a man with a falcon's head, crowned with a solar circle. Around 1356 BC e. Aton is finally proclaimed the only god, and after 3 years the persecution of the veneration of all other cults begins, the construction of temples stops, the very words “god” and “gods” are eradicated (recalls the Jewish tradition of prohibiting the use of the word “God”).
In the 6th year of his reign, Amenhotep transfers the capital of the country from Thebes, the center of the priesthood of Amun, to the city of Akhetaton, founded by him ("The Sky of the Sun", modern Tel el-Amarna in Middle Egypt) and vows, together with Nefertiti, never to leave the capital, “the sacred abode of Aton. " Its center was a grandiose temple - the greatest building of antiquity, about 800 m long and 300 m wide (does not resemble the "First Temple"?).
Pharaoh changes his name to Akhenaten ("Useful to Aton"). He begins to write his name, adding the nickname ankh-en-maat - "living in truth" (almost like Lev Natanovich Sharansky) and proclaims himself an absolute deity, an eternal being, saving from eternal destruction.
Soon the cult of the "Theban triad" - Amun, his wife Mut and their son Khonsu was banned. At the same time, Akhenaten destroys the name "Amenhotep" on the monuments of his father (which for the Egyptian was by no means an act of symbolic murder) and destroys the sculptures of the sphinxes associated with him, throwing them off a cliff in the vicinity of Thebes. Egyptian officials, following Pharaoh, changed their names, removing the name of Amun from them.
Aton is referred to as "the ruler", his name, like the royal, is enclosed in cartouches. The solar disk of Aton began to be considered a heavenly "icon" of the king himself. Therefore, the very image of Aton changes. The previous image of a man with a falcon's head, crowned with a solar circle, was replaced by a new one - a circle with a solar or royal serpent (Uraeus) in front and many rays directed downward, which end in palms with the signs "ankh" - a symbol of life, strength and grace, which he extends to the converted to him in prayer.
To worship Aton, numerous temples are built, which are large open courtyards with pylons - from now on, man's prayers ascend to God himself, there are no barriers between them in the form of priests. One of the most famous images of this god is on the back of the golden throne of Akhenaten's son, Tutankhamun. He appeared already from Akhenaten's marriage to his own sister, whose name has not been established. The fate of Nefertiti, who gave birth to at least four girls to the pharaoh, the youngest of whom - Ankhesenpaaton - became the wife of Tutankhamun, after the appearance of Akhenaten's new wife, is unknown. From the new wife, Pharaoh had (presumably) 2 sons.
In the 17th year of Akhenaten's reign (the last, according to sources), his close relative (son or son-in-law) - Smenkhkara, married to Akhenaten's eldest daughter - was appointed his co-ruler. Soon Akhenaten was deposed and blinded. Smenkhkara, having reigned for only a year, passed the crown to his ml. brother Tutankhaton, who changed his name to Tutankhamun and moved to Thebes. A few years later, Smenkhkare tried to regain the throne, which led to the death of both himself and Tutankhamun. Tutankhamun was awarded a magnificent burial, while the body of his older brother was eventually found in a simple grave, like the body of their mother Teia, who committed suicide. After that, Aye ruled briefly in Thebes as the 13th and last pharaoh of the 18th dynasty. The dynasty died out, the names of its last representatives were destroyed by Horemb - the first pharaoh of the XIX dynasty, but, however,even under Tutankhomon there was an objection to the cult of the former gods and repressions in relation to the worshipers of Aten - i.e. to the "ethnatonic elite". The people who came out of it, obviously, began to lay the foundations of "ancient Judaism."
Considering that all the "facts" of Jewish mythology are completely absent in the Egyptian chronicles, and at the same time reject the conventions of the formation of the mythology of the Old Testament, Akhenaten could well serve as a prototype of the very "mighty King Solomon" - "Shlomo, who built the First Temple" - "during the construction of which the angels helped”, for which Moses led the“people of Israel”to the“promised land”. Why - we will consider in the next chapter.
Moses and monotheism
It should be noted that Sigmund Freud, in his work "Moses and Monotheism", also put forward the assumption of Jews as descendants of the "ethnatonic elite", calling Moses one of the high-ranking Egyptians during the reign of Akhenaten. The alleged name of Moses in ancient Egyptian sources Osarsif. Mentioned by the Egyptian historian of the Hellenistic period Manetho in the extant work History of Egypt, quoted by Josephus in his work Against Apion.
The work of Manetho reports that the prototype of the biblical Moses was Osarsef (a number of researchers note the similarity with the name Joseph) - the priest of the temple of Osiris in Heliopolis during the time of Amenhotep. This priest was chosen as their leader "by those who had filth on their bodies … lepers and other unclean" (I. Flavius. "Against Apion"). In a dream, Pharaoh was instructed to expel Osarsef and his followers from Egypt. They retired to Canaan, where they entered into an alliance with the local inhabitants, flooded Egypt, in turn, expelling from the country both Amenhotep and his son "Rampsses, also known as Set." The yoke of Osarsef and the "lepers" lasted 13 years in Egypt, until the pharaoh returned and restored the former order. Tacitus also repeats the story of the "Jews" as the sick, once expelled from Egypt.
It is quite possible that the figure of Osarsef hides historical memories of the reign of Akhenaten (deleted from the official annals), of the invasion of Egypt by the Hyksos shepherds, the founders of the XV and XVI dynasties. Both dynasties existed simultaneously and were contemporaries of the 17th dynasty of Theban pharaohs. Around 1600 BC e. Camos, the last pharaoh of the 17th Theban dynasty, at the cost of incredible efforts managed to drive out the hated foreigners. Against advice, he set out on a campaign down the Nile and won a series of brilliant victories, forcing the Hyksos to retreat to Avaris - their stronghold on the border with Palestine. Kamos was succeeded by his brother Ahmose I (founder of the XVIII dynasty). After a three-year siege, he captured and destroyed Avris, expelling the Hyksos to Asia. But the "servants" serving them remained in Egypt.
The figure of Osarsef can still be associated with the tyrannical rule of the vizier - the Syrian Irsu. By the will of the unknown Pharaoh, he was endowed with power and forced all of Egypt to pay tribute to him. To plunder the property of the rural population, the "Syrian" "united his fellow tribesmen, they treated the gods like people, sacrifices in the temples were not ruled" (Papyrus of Harris). In his biography, there are clear similarities with the biblical Joseph. Jan Assman considers it probable that Osarsef (Joseph?) Is a collective figure who has combined scraps of scattered historical memories [1].
Freud writes that after the destruction of the 18th dynasty and the fall in popularity of the monotheistic religion of Aton, Moses, for the sake of preserving his privileged position and maintaining faith in a single god of the Sun, heads the "opposition" consisting of the former "Akhenaten elite" of nemkh ("orphans", " lepers of Canaan "or representatives of the remnants of the" servants of the Ginkos shepherds "?). By introducing among them the traditional rite of circumcision, adopted by the traditional Egyptian elite for hygienic reasons, it carries out an unimpeded "exodus" of the Atonite-Nemkhus sect of the territory of Egypt.
Further, Freud suggests that Moses was killed as a result of a riot, and his religion for several subsequent generations was supported only by a group of people close to him. Later, feeling guilty for the murder of the leader, the followers of Atonism, the Jews, introduce ethical and religious elements into the cult of the god of the Sinai volcano, Yahweh, which preceded it and develop the idea of the Messiah. The name Aten takes on the sound of Adonai (Hebrew אדני, "Lord").
Yahweh Jehovich Ishkurov
“When in the middle of the 1st millennium AD. the keepers of the Jewish Old Testament tradition invented special signs to designate vowels, they added vowels from the word Adonai to the consonants of the name Yahweh. By doing so, they signaled that not Yahweh should be read, but Adonai. The result was never really existed and never read Jehovah (in the traditional spelling: Jehovah)"
I. Sh. Shifman, “What did the ancient Jews believe?”, Atheistic readings: Collection. - M., Politizdat, 1988.-- 343 p., Ill. (S. 182-183)
In modern Russian, pronunciation with an emphasis on the first syllable is accepted, but for Aramaic "Hebrew", the stress on the last syllable, that is, Yahweh, is typical. The Brockhaus and Efron dictionary, and other dictionaries, suggest that it is more correct to pronounce the Russian spelling “Jehovah” as Egova. According to the old rules, the letter "i" at the beginning of words before vowels was used instead of the current "y". The spelling of the word remained old, and the pronunciation was forgotten (in connection with the 70th anniversary of official atheism).
As we have already said, during the transition to monotheism, Yahweh had a spouse - which is still reflected in the Shahina cult. According to the Elephantine papyri, it was Anat [2] (echoes Amonet and Mut - the Egyptian pair of 8 "primordial gods of the Hermopolitan Ogdoad") according to other sources - Ashera [3].
The B. Testament mentions the worship of the ancient Jews to the "Queen of Heaven", against which the prophet Jeremiah fought (Jeremiah 7: 17-18, 44:17). Frequent archaeological finds of figurines of Ashera also indicate a wide spread of her cult in Palestine, at least until the 6th century BC. However, among researchers there is confusion between the names of the goddesses Ashera (the wife of the god El) and Ashtoret (Ishtar-Astarte), which differ in Ugaritic mythology.
Yahweh, he is Yehu, he is Poseidon, he is Baal, demanding human sacrifice
Yahweh (Yekhi, El or his son El, Ea, Il, Ilu, Elohim, Allah) - the supreme god of the essence of the Amorites, was identified with the gods - the Sumerian Ishkur and Akkadian Adad. He was also revered by some peoples of Canaan, in particular, he is identified with Ilu - the supreme god of the city of Ugarit. The sacred animal of El was considered a bull, as a symbol of fertility and wisdom; among the Palestinian shepherds it was associated with the golden calf. El was portrayed as a merciful old man, whose hallmarks are passivity and inaction [4].
The worship of Yahweh was widespread among the "primitive Jews" and among other Western Semitic tribes. Among the Phoenicians, he was known under the name Yevo and in the city of Byblos under the name Yehi (Yihavi) [5]. He was responsible for the sea element and was considered the patron saint of Beirut, where texts dedicated to Yevo were discovered, undoubtedly created under the influence of the myths of Baal, the strong bull, the supreme master and god of the storm, requiring human sacrifice. Baal was revered in Phoenician Carthage (Hannibal means "Baal's favorite", and the name Baltazar comes from him). Baal is married to his sister Anat. In Greek myth. known as Artemis. Baal was the son of the Ugaritic Ilu. The name "Ilu" passed into Hebrew in the meaning of "god", and the functions of Ilu (Ela) were absorbed by Yahweh. In Palestine, he was considered the patron saint of the ancient local alliance of tribes and the patron saint of Edom. He fights with Yammu (sea) and the leviathan and wins.
In the general West Semitic pantheon, Yahweh / Yevo was the lord of the water element, corresponding in the Sumerian-Akkadian mythology to the god Ea. The general confusion in related mythologies is that, according to other legends, Ea was the enemy of the formidable Enlil (called Yahweh in the Bible), who sent the World Flood. This confusion is typical of related but not overlapping mythologies, cf. Uranus / Zeus among the Greeks and Dyaus / Indra among the Indo-Aryans.
Yahweh (Yahweh) - among the southern Palestinian tribes was the spirit of the deity of the Sinai volcano Horeb.
Theosophists (Paracelsus, de Saint-Martin, Saint-Germain, Blavatsky) and a number of their followers identify Yahweh with Seth, the Egyptian god who has long ears, red mane and red eyes, although zoomorphic images of him may vary and he appeared in the form of various animals, including a snake. There is a myth about Set, who spat in the eyes of Horus / Horus, taking the form of a black pig. Because of this, pigs were considered unclean (the refusal of the Jews to eat pork).
During the 16th dynasty of "shepherd kings" who seized Egypt by the nomad-Hyksos who came from Sinai, Set was identified with their god Baal / Baal, and their new capital Avaris became the place of his cult as the main god.
Seth was originally revered as the "defender of the sun-Ra", the patron saint of royal power, his name was included in the names of a number of pharaohs. As the patron saint of rage, sandstorms, destruction, chaos, war and death, he was later demonized, becoming the antagonist of Horus and the personification of world evil. Those. Satan. At the same time, Horus and Seth could merge into a single two-headed deity, Heruifi. Obviously, it was in Judaism that this deity was transformed into "cherubim". Depictions of winged creatures in general have proven to be widespread in religious symbolism. Two winged creatures were placed on both sides of the throne of King Byblos Hiram, winged bulls stood at the entrance to the Babylonian and Assyrian palaces and temples; they were also depicted on incense altars found at Megiddo and Ta'anaha; winged sphinxes and griffins are often found in iconography.
In Hebrew, the word כְּרֻבִים, kruvim or keruvim, already has a plural form, in other languages it has been transformed into a singular one. In the Book of Genesis (3:24), a cherub armed with a "flaming sword" guards the entrance to the Garden of Eden (in Greek mythology - an analogue of the 3-headed dog guarding the entrance to Hell). In the Torah, the cherubim are also described as a means of transportation for God: “He sat on the cherubim and flew away” (Ps.17: 11).
Astarte is also associated with the name of Yahweh, who in Phenicia was revered as the main female deity, the "Divine mother", giving life, mother nature, which has 10 thousand names. The Phoenicians were associated with the moon and Venus. She was represented as a woman with horns, symbolizing the crescent moon of the autumnal equinox, after the defeat of her husband (the Sun - echoes the Egyptian Aton), defeated by the prince of darkness, and descended into Hades through seven gates, to which she descended on outstretched wings. Astarte mourns the loss of her husband, Tammuz, who was also her son. Astarte holds in his hands a cruciform rod, an ordinary cross, and weeps while standing on a moon sickle. The Christian virgin Mary is very often presented in the same way, standing on the moon, surrounded by the stars and mourning her son. Among the Phoenicians, Astarte was associated with Venus, and was considered by them,as an evening and morning guide. As the evening star, she personified Venus, and as the morning star, she was called Anunite or Lucifer.
The veneration of Astarte spread in Palestine, Egypt (1567-1320 BC), Asia Minor, Greece, as Aphrodite - Urania, depicted surrounded by lions and swans.
Aramaic texts from Verkh. Egypt is shown Astartu-Anat as the consort of Yahweh before the monotheistic reform, and her cult existed until the 6th century BC. e. During the Hellenistic period, Anatom and Astarte completely merge, she begins to be depicted as a naked woman with a lily or a snake (a symbol of fertility)