DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.4031#0016
ITS ORIGIN AND ITS NAME.
suten was the capital under the IXth and Xth
Dynasties, how can we picture to ourselves an
Egyptian city without its temple, the nucleus
of its foundation, the central point around
which the inhabitants gathered and built ?
The name of Heracleopolis Magna is in
Egyptian,. % "*"" or I ,___.„ W T2
with a great number of graphic variants.
Several readings have been proposed for the
name; they differ chiefly in the value given to
the sign S) which is polyphonous, and which
in manv instances is to be read Khen.5 The
correct reading seems to me to have been deter-
mined by Professor Brugsch,6 who quotes a
variant found in a papyrus of the XVTIIth
Dynasty,7 where the name is written 8 J^jL — 0©.
A /WWW I J J
Admitting that the two signs J_ 2j) have been
^
*~>
the
inverted, and should be written 3)
reading of the whole name would be Hunen-
siden, or abridged, Hunensu, whence we can
easily trace the origin of the grfHC of the
Copts, and the ^jJm>\ of the Arabs.
Are we to recognize in this name the city of
D.^!7 which is mentioned once in Scripture by the
prophet Isaiah (xxx. 4) ? In opposition to
the view of the majority of commentators, I
believe with Professor Brugsch and Professor
Duemichen that the city of Hanes mentioned
by Isaiah is to be looked for in the Delta. Let
us look at the context, at the circumstances
which induced the prophet to speak of Hanes,
and at the passage itself as given in the Eevised
Version.
' The plan which the Jews had hidden from
the prophet (xxix. 15) had been matured, and
ambassadors had been sent to Egypt with rich
5 Duemichen, Geogr. Znschr., Text, ii. p. 20.
6 Zeitschr., 1886, p. 76.
7 Naville, Todt., ii. pi. 293, Pf.
8 In the name §l\^ Duemichen, Geogr. Inschr., ii.
pi. xxxvi. 13, the sign f§i has the value
WW
presents. Isaiah makes of this accomplished
fact a ground for denouncing the alliance con-
cluded in enmity to God, and which will only
avail to put the J ews to shame."9 " Therefore,"
says the prophet, "shall the strength of
Pharaoh be your shame, and the trust in the
shadow of Egypt your confusion; for his
princes are at Zoan, and his ambassadors are
come to Hanes." The sense seems to be very
clear. Pharaoh is willing to side with the
Israelites, he will not turn his back against
them, on the contrary, he will receive them
with every sign of goodwill. His princes, the
chief of his troops are in Tanis, not very far
from the eastern frontier, and his ambassadors
are even farther, waiting for the arrival of the
Israelites who come to beg for his support.
It seems difficult not to understand the word
ambassadors as referring to men sent forward
to meet the Israelites, and in that case they
must be the vanguard of the king and of his
army. If his princes are in Tanis, his am-
bassadors cannot be a long way behind; they
must be in advance, at the eastern border of the
country. Thus we are compelled either to
admit the reading of the Chaldsean version
DC^?™? Daphnae, the eastern bulwark of Tanis,
or to suppose that there was in the Delta a city
called Hanes. This latter alternative seems to
me the more probable. If we turn to the great
inscription of Assurbanipal, in which the
Assyrian king relates his wars against Tahraka,
or as he calls him Tarqu, we find that among
the cities to which his father had appointed
governors there is one called1' Khininsi. Here
again Oppert1 and other Assyrian scholars have
admitted that the name referred to Heracleo-
polis. But as it occurs among the names of
cities which all belong to the Delta, immediately
after Athribis and before Sebennytos, Mendes,
9 Dillmann, Jesaia, p. 268.
1 Mem. sur les rapports de VEgypte et de VAssyrie, p. 91;
Haupt, Zeitschr., 1883, p. 86.
suten was the capital under the IXth and Xth
Dynasties, how can we picture to ourselves an
Egyptian city without its temple, the nucleus
of its foundation, the central point around
which the inhabitants gathered and built ?
The name of Heracleopolis Magna is in
Egyptian,. % "*"" or I ,___.„ W T2
with a great number of graphic variants.
Several readings have been proposed for the
name; they differ chiefly in the value given to
the sign S) which is polyphonous, and which
in manv instances is to be read Khen.5 The
correct reading seems to me to have been deter-
mined by Professor Brugsch,6 who quotes a
variant found in a papyrus of the XVTIIth
Dynasty,7 where the name is written 8 J^jL — 0©.
A /WWW I J J
Admitting that the two signs J_ 2j) have been
^
*~>
the
inverted, and should be written 3)
reading of the whole name would be Hunen-
siden, or abridged, Hunensu, whence we can
easily trace the origin of the grfHC of the
Copts, and the ^jJm>\ of the Arabs.
Are we to recognize in this name the city of
D.^!7 which is mentioned once in Scripture by the
prophet Isaiah (xxx. 4) ? In opposition to
the view of the majority of commentators, I
believe with Professor Brugsch and Professor
Duemichen that the city of Hanes mentioned
by Isaiah is to be looked for in the Delta. Let
us look at the context, at the circumstances
which induced the prophet to speak of Hanes,
and at the passage itself as given in the Eevised
Version.
' The plan which the Jews had hidden from
the prophet (xxix. 15) had been matured, and
ambassadors had been sent to Egypt with rich
5 Duemichen, Geogr. Znschr., Text, ii. p. 20.
6 Zeitschr., 1886, p. 76.
7 Naville, Todt., ii. pi. 293, Pf.
8 In the name §l\^ Duemichen, Geogr. Inschr., ii.
pi. xxxvi. 13, the sign f§i has the value
WW
presents. Isaiah makes of this accomplished
fact a ground for denouncing the alliance con-
cluded in enmity to God, and which will only
avail to put the J ews to shame."9 " Therefore,"
says the prophet, "shall the strength of
Pharaoh be your shame, and the trust in the
shadow of Egypt your confusion; for his
princes are at Zoan, and his ambassadors are
come to Hanes." The sense seems to be very
clear. Pharaoh is willing to side with the
Israelites, he will not turn his back against
them, on the contrary, he will receive them
with every sign of goodwill. His princes, the
chief of his troops are in Tanis, not very far
from the eastern frontier, and his ambassadors
are even farther, waiting for the arrival of the
Israelites who come to beg for his support.
It seems difficult not to understand the word
ambassadors as referring to men sent forward
to meet the Israelites, and in that case they
must be the vanguard of the king and of his
army. If his princes are in Tanis, his am-
bassadors cannot be a long way behind; they
must be in advance, at the eastern border of the
country. Thus we are compelled either to
admit the reading of the Chaldsean version
DC^?™? Daphnae, the eastern bulwark of Tanis,
or to suppose that there was in the Delta a city
called Hanes. This latter alternative seems to
me the more probable. If we turn to the great
inscription of Assurbanipal, in which the
Assyrian king relates his wars against Tahraka,
or as he calls him Tarqu, we find that among
the cities to which his father had appointed
governors there is one called1' Khininsi. Here
again Oppert1 and other Assyrian scholars have
admitted that the name referred to Heracleo-
polis. But as it occurs among the names of
cities which all belong to the Delta, immediately
after Athribis and before Sebennytos, Mendes,
9 Dillmann, Jesaia, p. 268.
1 Mem. sur les rapports de VEgypte et de VAssyrie, p. 91;
Haupt, Zeitschr., 1883, p. 86.