Poole, Reginald S.: The cities of Egypt (London, 1882)

ZOAN.

Si

exactly represents the Hebrew ' field of Zoan.' Thus
we have an uninterrupted pedigree to the time of Moses.
Yet the old Egyptian name of the city, as given in the
hieroglyphic inscriptions, is not Za'n, but Zal (Zar) or
Zalu. Both Za'n and Zal are not Egyptian, but foreign
words ; and we cannot consider them to be ordinary
varieties of dialect. It may be that they existed side
by side, that Zal was the classical, and Za'n the popular,
form, but this is mere conjecture. Pe-Ramses, short-
ened by the Hebrews to Raamses, or Rameses, presents
no difficulty. The name is historically important as a
link in the chain of evidence for the date of the Exodus.
The building of Rameses, as already shown, marks the
founder Ramses II. as the great oppressor of the
Hebrews. Consequently his son and successor Menptah
must have been the Pharaoh of the Exodus.1

The worship of Zoan cannot be satisfactorily known
until the site has been thoroughly explored. It seems,
however, that the first divinity was Ptah, the creator, the
god of Memphis. This was during the rule of the Mem-
phites and the old Thebans. The Shepherds set up the
worship of Sutech, a form of Set or Typhon, reverenced

1 The geographical identifications are adopted from Dr. Brugsch.
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