DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.11714#0029
phacusa, goshen, eamses.
17
through Palestine and Egypt in the fourth
century a.d.1 In this interesting document,
which was found at Arezzo by Mr. Gamurrini,
occurs the following passage :2 " Desiderii
ersro fuit ut de Olesma ad terram Gesse exire-
mus, id est ad civitatem quaa appellatur Arabia.
Que civitas in terra Gesse est. Nam inde
ipsum territorium sic appellatur, id est terra
Arabia, terra Gesse que tamen terra Egypti
pars est." (Our desire was to go from Clusma
to the land of Goshen, that is to the city of
Arabia; this city is in the land of Goshen,
and the territory itself derives its name from it,
namely, the land of Arabia, the land of Goshen,
which, however, is part of Egypt.) Elsewhere
the narrative again mentions the identity of
Goshen and Arabia. I shall have occasion to
return to this document, which must, however,
be accepted with the caution which such narra-
tives always require. The repeated mention of
the fact that Arabia and Goshen are the same,
proves, however, that it was a well-established
tradition at the time when this pilgrim under-
took her pious journey.
We will now refer to other sources, and espe-
cially to the Arabic authors. Here we find,
first, the two translators of Genesis, Saadiah
and Aboo Said, who for Goshen invariably
employ Sadir. The French scholars, Silvestre
de Sacy and Quatremere,3 have determined this
place to be a region about Abbasseh, which
corresponds exactly to the district of Saft.
Macrizi points nearly to the same place when
he says that Belbeis is the land of Goshen
which is mentioned in the Pentateuch.4 Belbeis
1 Gamurrini, I Mysteri e gl' Inni di San Ilario ed una
Peregrinazione ai Luoghi Santi nel quarto Secolo.
2 I owe this unpublished quotation to the great courtesy
of Mr. Gamurrini.
3 Quatremere, Mem. Geogr. sur l'Egypte, i. pp. 61, 62 ;
ib. Memoire sur le Lieu ou. les Israelites traverserent la Mer
Rouge; Acad, des Inscr. et Belles-Lettres, t. xix. 1st part,
p. 458 ; and the authorities quoted by Dillmann, Genesis,
p. 425.
4 Quatremere, Mem. Geogr. i. 53.
being at that time the principal city of the
Hauf, which, as we have seen, corresponds to
the Arabia of the Copts, the geographer very
naturally cannot describe the region better than
from the name of its capital. This opinion is
shared by the famous Italian traveller, Pietro
della Yalle, who gives it as the Jewish tradition.5
Others, and among them the famous Rabbi
Benjamin of Tudela, have considered the land
of Goshen to be what was called Ain el Schems,
" the Spring of the Sun." This name has gene-
rally been considered as synonymous with Helio-
polis, the " city of the sun," near which was a
spring, still to be seen in the village of Matarieh.
Many authors have connected the abode of the
Israelites in Egypt with the country round
Heliopolis; a view which was entertained as
early as the time of the Septuagint, who, men-
tioning the cities constructed by the Israelites,
add to Ramses and Pithom of the Hebrew text:
" On which is Heliopolis." 6 We shall presently
see how the origin of this connection may be
traced in the hieroglyphic inscriptions.
Before going further it is necessary to state
that I fully agree with the great majority of
Biblical scholars7 on the equivalence of the
name of Goshen and Ramses, with this slight
difference—I consider Ramses as covering a
larger area than Goshen. I believe it is not
without reason that the Septuagint, writing
of Heroopolis, say that it is in the land of
Ramses, not Goshen. The name of " the land
of Ramses " is evidently a vague name, and
refers to a region called after this king either
because of the great deeds he accomplished
there, or because of the great buildings he
erected, or because it was his favourite resort.
It is not an administrative name. Now, at the
time when the Septuagint made their transla-
tion, Kesem was a definite district of the nome
of Arabia; a nome to which Heroopolis did not
6 Apud Jablonski, Op. ii. p. 87. 6 Ex. i. 11.
7 Jablonski, Dillmann (Genesis, p. 424), &c.
d
17
through Palestine and Egypt in the fourth
century a.d.1 In this interesting document,
which was found at Arezzo by Mr. Gamurrini,
occurs the following passage :2 " Desiderii
ersro fuit ut de Olesma ad terram Gesse exire-
mus, id est ad civitatem quaa appellatur Arabia.
Que civitas in terra Gesse est. Nam inde
ipsum territorium sic appellatur, id est terra
Arabia, terra Gesse que tamen terra Egypti
pars est." (Our desire was to go from Clusma
to the land of Goshen, that is to the city of
Arabia; this city is in the land of Goshen,
and the territory itself derives its name from it,
namely, the land of Arabia, the land of Goshen,
which, however, is part of Egypt.) Elsewhere
the narrative again mentions the identity of
Goshen and Arabia. I shall have occasion to
return to this document, which must, however,
be accepted with the caution which such narra-
tives always require. The repeated mention of
the fact that Arabia and Goshen are the same,
proves, however, that it was a well-established
tradition at the time when this pilgrim under-
took her pious journey.
We will now refer to other sources, and espe-
cially to the Arabic authors. Here we find,
first, the two translators of Genesis, Saadiah
and Aboo Said, who for Goshen invariably
employ Sadir. The French scholars, Silvestre
de Sacy and Quatremere,3 have determined this
place to be a region about Abbasseh, which
corresponds exactly to the district of Saft.
Macrizi points nearly to the same place when
he says that Belbeis is the land of Goshen
which is mentioned in the Pentateuch.4 Belbeis
1 Gamurrini, I Mysteri e gl' Inni di San Ilario ed una
Peregrinazione ai Luoghi Santi nel quarto Secolo.
2 I owe this unpublished quotation to the great courtesy
of Mr. Gamurrini.
3 Quatremere, Mem. Geogr. sur l'Egypte, i. pp. 61, 62 ;
ib. Memoire sur le Lieu ou. les Israelites traverserent la Mer
Rouge; Acad, des Inscr. et Belles-Lettres, t. xix. 1st part,
p. 458 ; and the authorities quoted by Dillmann, Genesis,
p. 425.
4 Quatremere, Mem. Geogr. i. 53.
being at that time the principal city of the
Hauf, which, as we have seen, corresponds to
the Arabia of the Copts, the geographer very
naturally cannot describe the region better than
from the name of its capital. This opinion is
shared by the famous Italian traveller, Pietro
della Yalle, who gives it as the Jewish tradition.5
Others, and among them the famous Rabbi
Benjamin of Tudela, have considered the land
of Goshen to be what was called Ain el Schems,
" the Spring of the Sun." This name has gene-
rally been considered as synonymous with Helio-
polis, the " city of the sun," near which was a
spring, still to be seen in the village of Matarieh.
Many authors have connected the abode of the
Israelites in Egypt with the country round
Heliopolis; a view which was entertained as
early as the time of the Septuagint, who, men-
tioning the cities constructed by the Israelites,
add to Ramses and Pithom of the Hebrew text:
" On which is Heliopolis." 6 We shall presently
see how the origin of this connection may be
traced in the hieroglyphic inscriptions.
Before going further it is necessary to state
that I fully agree with the great majority of
Biblical scholars7 on the equivalence of the
name of Goshen and Ramses, with this slight
difference—I consider Ramses as covering a
larger area than Goshen. I believe it is not
without reason that the Septuagint, writing
of Heroopolis, say that it is in the land of
Ramses, not Goshen. The name of " the land
of Ramses " is evidently a vague name, and
refers to a region called after this king either
because of the great deeds he accomplished
there, or because of the great buildings he
erected, or because it was his favourite resort.
It is not an administrative name. Now, at the
time when the Septuagint made their transla-
tion, Kesem was a definite district of the nome
of Arabia; a nome to which Heroopolis did not
6 Apud Jablonski, Op. ii. p. 87. 6 Ex. i. 11.
7 Jablonski, Dillmann (Genesis, p. 424), &c.
d