Prophecies

These have all been recently collected, translated, and discussed (Blasius and Schipper 2002; cf. Quack 2005a: 148-61). The main texts are the Prophecy of the Lamb (one Demotic papyrus, quoted in several Greek sources), the Prophecy of Petesis (two papyri, one Demotic and one Greek; the Greek version better known as Nectanebo’s Dream), a Sequel to the Prophecy of Petesis (three Demotic scribal exercises), the Prophecy of the Potter (several Greek papyri), the Prophecy of Amenophis (only known indirectly through Josephus, Contra Apionem 1.22ff; perhaps from a tale?), a newly published Demotic papyrus from Tebtunis, and the so-called Demotic Chronicle (one Demotic papyrus).

Leaving aside the Demotic Chronicle, the prophecies are all ex eventu (i. e. made after the actual event they refer to) and follow a fixed pattern. An introduction provides the background against which the prophecy was made. It is usually delivered in the presence of a renowned king, such as Amenhotep, Bokchoris, or Nectanebo II. This is followed by the prophecy itself, which contains an elaborate description of first the chaos that will befall Egypt and then the return of order and prosperity with the rise of the savior. The media may overtly seem very different in nature; a sage, a sculptor, a potter, and even a lamb. They do, however, have in common that they all share living-creating properties; the sage can create life through his magical abilities, the sculptor - ‘‘craftsman of creating life’’ - by his very craft, and both the potter and lamb are iconic representations of the creator-god Khnum. Several of the texts also have in common that the medium dies, thus rendering the prophecy irrevocable; they can no longer add or change any part of the prophecy. The lamb and potter both fall dead immediately, while Petesis is apparently consumed by fire, and Amenhotep takes his own life. In addition, some of the texts share an element in describing that the prophecy was committed into writing. This is presumably a literary device intended to explain how a prophecy made in the sometimes remote past about the future to come is now known. It is noteworthy that several of these features are already attested in the Prophecy of Neferti of the Middle Kingdom.

While the prophecies share a similar structure, they were originally composed under different political situations. The Prophecy of Petesis concerns the Persian occupation of Egypt and the Prophecy of the Potter Ptolemaic rule, urging the destruction of Alexandria. It is noteworthy that none of the texts explicitly mentions the Romans, although the extant prophecies all date to the Roman Period (with the exception of the Demotic Chronicle from the third century bc). The relevance of these texts during the first to third centuries AD still remains to be fully understood, as does the fact that several of them were translated and circulated in Greek. As for the archaeological context, at least the Prophecy of Petesis, the Sequel to the Prophecy of Petesis, and a third prophecy were included among the holdings of the Tebtunis temple library, while the Prophecy of the Lamb and a Greek translation of the Prophecy of Petesis were found as part of private archives (cf. above).

The texts contain many examples of intertextuality; there are allusions to specific historical situations such as invasions or past rulers, several of which have still to be identified, and the Prophecy of the Potter specifically cites the Prophecy of the Lamb. Especially remarkable is the composition of a sequel to the Prophecy of Petesis, which forms an independent prophecy (Ryholt 2002a, i. p.a). The original text describes in its introduction how Nectanebo II learns through a dream that the gods have decided to depose him because he had not completed the inscriptions at the temple of Onuris in Sebennytos. (The latter provides another example of intertextuality, since these inscriptions were, in fact, left unfinished when the king was forced to flee the country.) The prophecy itself is no longer preserved, but according to the sequel it described the Persian invasion and occupation. The sequel is also incompletely preserved. Just before the text breaks off, we are informed that the king presented offerings which is customary before consulting the god. Like other prophecies it must be expected that it concluded with the promise of a savior. It would, therefore, seem not unreasonable to connect the composition of the sequel with Alexander’s conquest of Egypt and to assume that its purpose was to proclaim him as the son and heir of Nectanebo II, drawing on the same propaganda as the Alexander Romance.