DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.11714#0028
16
phacusa, goshen, ramses.
give us the origin of the Greek name of
Phacusa. The Dutch scholar Van der Hardt1
had already remarked that this name must be
considered as being composed of two parts,
the name itself being cusa, preceded by the
syllable Pa or Pha, which may be either the
definite article, or the word " Pa," meaning
"house" or "temple." Champollion2 fully
endorsed this view, adding that the Coptic
name was kcjuc. Brugsch and Ebers3 have
also advocated the correctness of this interpre-
tation. Now we have the exact transcript of
the Coptic kcjuc in the name of Kes <$
which is twice found on the shrine, and
which, with the article, would be " Pa Kes"
ot Phacusa, the capital of the Arabian nome.
The strongest objection to this identification
lies in the resemblance between the names of
Fakoos and Phacusa. It may be that Fakoos is
the site of the Egyptian city of S j** © {Pices),
which has not yet been identified; besides, it
not unfrequontly happens that a name is shifted
from one place to another, the former place
being more or less abandoned. We know two
villages of Beni Hassan, two villages of Korein,
and it is not impossible that there may have
been two kujc in Lower Egypt, as there are
several in Upper Egypt.
When Van der Hardt interpreted the word
Phacusa, it was not only the Egyptian form of
the name which he discovered, but also the origin
of the famous name of Goshen. He considered
cusa as the equivalent of the first syllable of
the name V$*, which is read by the Greeks Teo-e/x,
Tecriv, Kaiaadv, Keaadv. In fact, it was near
Phacusa that the land of Goshen was to be
looked for. The Septuagint4 call it reaeix'Apa-
jSta?, Gesem of Arabia, and the Coptic translator
1 Apud Jablonski Op. ii. p. 89. Vid. also Prof. Paine in
"The Independent," July, 1885.
2 L'Egypte sous les Pharaons, ii. p. 76.
3 Durch Gosen zum Sinai, 2nd ed. p. 519.
4 Gen. xlv. 10.
makes it nKAgt rt veceju ftTe TA.pA.RiA.
The name of TA.pA.filA., Tarabia, in Coptic
corresponds to what the Arabs call the Ilauf,5
i.e. the land between the Nile and the Red
Sea, which constitutes the present province of
Sharkieh, and where the nome of Arabia was
situate. Tradition has always located Goshen
in that part of the country, giving to the land
that was granted to the Israelites an extent
which varies according to the authors. In my
opinion, most scholars have given it too large
an area. Tecrkjx, '^4pa/3tas I consider as having
a definite meaning: Gesem which is in the now,e
of Arabia; it may have applied to the whole
country occupied by the Israelites, but, pro-
perly speaking, the name referred to a limited
district.
This district we find in the Temple-lists. In
the Denderah list we see the god who bears on
his head the name of Sopt, of whom it is said:
j^^X^S^i i^'6 "]ie brings thee
Kesem of the East ;" Kesem being here written
with the determinative of a land. In the geo-
graphical lists of Edfoo it is written 8 J^^'
with the determinative of a city, and the text,
which is only fragmentary, adds that it con-
tains the statue oi"the god first born," which
as we have seen was one of the titles of Sopt.
Hence it is clear that Q t\ Q is only another
form of the word 0 which is on the
—h— ©
shrine, and I consider it as the civil name of
the district and city in which was the temple
of Sopt. I thus believe that we have dis-
covered what was properly the land and town
of Goshen, viz. the country around Saft, within
the triangle formed by the village of Saft,
Belbeis, and Tell el Kebir.
That Goshen was the nome of Arabia is still
farther proved by the recent discovery of the
narrative of a pilgrimage made by a woman
6 Champollion, 1. 1. p. 75.
6 Duern. Geogr. Inscr. iii. 25.
phacusa, goshen, ramses.
give us the origin of the Greek name of
Phacusa. The Dutch scholar Van der Hardt1
had already remarked that this name must be
considered as being composed of two parts,
the name itself being cusa, preceded by the
syllable Pa or Pha, which may be either the
definite article, or the word " Pa," meaning
"house" or "temple." Champollion2 fully
endorsed this view, adding that the Coptic
name was kcjuc. Brugsch and Ebers3 have
also advocated the correctness of this interpre-
tation. Now we have the exact transcript of
the Coptic kcjuc in the name of Kes <$
which is twice found on the shrine, and
which, with the article, would be " Pa Kes"
ot Phacusa, the capital of the Arabian nome.
The strongest objection to this identification
lies in the resemblance between the names of
Fakoos and Phacusa. It may be that Fakoos is
the site of the Egyptian city of S j** © {Pices),
which has not yet been identified; besides, it
not unfrequontly happens that a name is shifted
from one place to another, the former place
being more or less abandoned. We know two
villages of Beni Hassan, two villages of Korein,
and it is not impossible that there may have
been two kujc in Lower Egypt, as there are
several in Upper Egypt.
When Van der Hardt interpreted the word
Phacusa, it was not only the Egyptian form of
the name which he discovered, but also the origin
of the famous name of Goshen. He considered
cusa as the equivalent of the first syllable of
the name V$*, which is read by the Greeks Teo-e/x,
Tecriv, Kaiaadv, Keaadv. In fact, it was near
Phacusa that the land of Goshen was to be
looked for. The Septuagint4 call it reaeix'Apa-
jSta?, Gesem of Arabia, and the Coptic translator
1 Apud Jablonski Op. ii. p. 89. Vid. also Prof. Paine in
"The Independent," July, 1885.
2 L'Egypte sous les Pharaons, ii. p. 76.
3 Durch Gosen zum Sinai, 2nd ed. p. 519.
4 Gen. xlv. 10.
makes it nKAgt rt veceju ftTe TA.pA.RiA.
The name of TA.pA.filA., Tarabia, in Coptic
corresponds to what the Arabs call the Ilauf,5
i.e. the land between the Nile and the Red
Sea, which constitutes the present province of
Sharkieh, and where the nome of Arabia was
situate. Tradition has always located Goshen
in that part of the country, giving to the land
that was granted to the Israelites an extent
which varies according to the authors. In my
opinion, most scholars have given it too large
an area. Tecrkjx, '^4pa/3tas I consider as having
a definite meaning: Gesem which is in the now,e
of Arabia; it may have applied to the whole
country occupied by the Israelites, but, pro-
perly speaking, the name referred to a limited
district.
This district we find in the Temple-lists. In
the Denderah list we see the god who bears on
his head the name of Sopt, of whom it is said:
j^^X^S^i i^'6 "]ie brings thee
Kesem of the East ;" Kesem being here written
with the determinative of a land. In the geo-
graphical lists of Edfoo it is written 8 J^^'
with the determinative of a city, and the text,
which is only fragmentary, adds that it con-
tains the statue oi"the god first born," which
as we have seen was one of the titles of Sopt.
Hence it is clear that Q t\ Q is only another
form of the word 0 which is on the
—h— ©
shrine, and I consider it as the civil name of
the district and city in which was the temple
of Sopt. I thus believe that we have dis-
covered what was properly the land and town
of Goshen, viz. the country around Saft, within
the triangle formed by the village of Saft,
Belbeis, and Tell el Kebir.
That Goshen was the nome of Arabia is still
farther proved by the recent discovery of the
narrative of a pilgrimage made by a woman
6 Champollion, 1. 1. p. 75.
6 Duern. Geogr. Inscr. iii. 25.