Ibises and Egypt in the Animal Apocalypse: A new identification

The allegorical quartet of birds which prey upon the sheep in 1 Enoch 90.2 have been variously identified by early-modern and modern scholars, with no solution reaching consensus. This article proposes the “hobay” should be translated as “ibises” and accordingly represent an Egyptian people-group. I...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Dugan, Elena (Author)
Format: Electronic Article
Language:English
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Published: Sage 2023
In: Journal for the study of the pseudepigrapha
Year: 2023, Volume: 33, Issue: 1, Pages: 3-18
Standardized Subjects / Keyword chains:B Enoch 90 / Birds / Ibis / Egyptians
IxTheo Classification:BH Judaism
HB Old Testament
Further subjects:B Pseudepigrapha
B 1 Enoch
B Apocalyptic Literature
B roman Egypt
B Egyptian Judaism
B Animal Apocalypse
Online Access: Volltext (lizenzpflichtig)
Description
Summary:The allegorical quartet of birds which prey upon the sheep in 1 Enoch 90.2 have been variously identified by early-modern and modern scholars, with no solution reaching consensus. This article proposes the “hobay” should be translated as “ibises” and accordingly represent an Egyptian people-group. I first advance this argument with the help of a parallel usage of terminology in the Greek Testament of Judah. I next confirm the utility of this identification with a brief survey of roughly contemporary primary sources (textual and material) which connect ibises and Egypt. Finally, with these cultural discourses in mind, I re-integrate the ibises into the Animal Apocalypse, suggesting that the recasting of a graceful national bird as a carnivorous monster is a deviously clever imperial critique.
ISSN:1745-5286
Contains:Enthalten in: Journal for the study of the pseudepigrapha
Persistent identifiers:DOI: 10.1177/09518207231153819