The Potters Oracle; Hellenistic Alexandria
The ‘Potters Oracle’ is an obscure fragmentary text, it’s meaning is derived from clues and hypothesis and our translation from three overlapping bits of papyrus[1] and in has been unsatisfactorily restored.[2] This give us one of the oddest expressions of national resistance, aimed at the Egyptian Elite who are becoming somewhat Hellenized in their behavior and thinking. It is imperative to read between the lines[3] when examining this piece of writing and being able to draw the parallels and understand the metaphors like the chaos causing Typhonians[4], the agents of Seth and the bringers of foreign domination being the Ptolemy’s; Greek leaders not native to Egypt and imposing their own customs on the country[5].
The Oracle illustrates the demise and aftermath of a foreign regime and indigenous attitudes towards foreign rule[6]; displayed on three distinct levels; a Divine or Cosmic level, of Gods and mythological figures, a Physical level[7] where the forces of nature rebel and a human level represented by individuals and communities. The Divine Level of this Oracle illustrates national resistance on a cosmic level with the Gods abandoning the foreign leaders and their city in favor for the traditional setting. The text states “The Sun will be darkened, not wishing to look upon the evil things in Egypt” the sun here is not alluding to the physical sun but to the Egyptian God of the Sun Ra; the supreme God of Egypt, who doesn’t want to be a part of Egypt under these usurpers, Ra is not the only Deity to do so “And then Agathos Daimon will abandon the city” the Agathos Daimon is somewhat the Patron of Alexandria, the Foreign Capital, this would mean that even the Patron God of this city can foresee its demise and flees and “The Great God Hephaistos will return to the city” Hephaistos here is the Greek for the God of Craftsmen Ptah and the ‘city’ therefore Memphis; the cult center of Ptah and the Old Kingdom Capital of Egypt, the first signal of the return to the Old ways of Egypt.
Down from this celestial Godly level of the prophecy is the natural level; even nature begins to reject foreign domination; “The river will flow without enough water” gives the impression that the inundation which is the heart and soul of Egyptian Agriculture has stopped, nature continues to turn on Egypt in the form of the land itself “Not welcoming the sowing of the seed” and the “Blasting of the wind” is another force of nature abandoning Egypt. However, at the end of this prophecy after the foreign domination has ceased nature flourishes in Egypt once more as “the trees will bear leaves” and “The forsaken Nile will be filled with water”
The last level this Oracle communicates the woes of foreign domination on is on a basic humanly level, the foreign regime brought war, death and despair; civil war especially common in this period “There will be a war which will destroy brothers and husbands and wives” civil war is alluded to several times “Friends murder friends” and the citizens “Perish at each others hands” death is also prophesized “much death will fall upon pregnant women” two deaths at once marking the destruction of not just one generation but the next, the people were so distraught that they “will abandon their own land and go to a foreign place” this forms the conclusion that the Gods, nature and humanity had abandoned Egypt.
The Oracle further illustrates themes of National resistance on a creational level, by choosing the trade of a Potter he has aligned himself with the primeval creator God who, in one version of the creation myth created the world off his Potter’s Wheel, he may even be suggesting that he is a reincarnation of this deity[8] this use of a Potter is a Metaphor for the Creator God; speaking through a tradesman to give a prophecy warning the Egyptian’s not to trust foreign domination.
The Potter’s Oracle speaks as a piece of Nationalist propaganda[9], warning those Egyptians who had aligned themselves with the foreign Greek leaders to return to their Egyptian heritage as the Gods, nature and humanity certainly would. These “unlawful deeds that they executed in Egypt” are about to be punished, the city by the Sea is in grave danger according to this document of resistance, the prophecy is directed to warn and educate those Egyptians who have aligned themselves with Greek Hellenization of Egypt that there would soon be a return to the Ancient ways.
[1] Maquarie University. (1983). Tarn's Alexander the Great, The Potter's Oracle, Poets and Patron at Rome Book Review. Sydney.
[2] J Kerkeslager, A. (1998). The Apology of the Potter: A Translation of the Potters Oracle. In I. Shirun-Gurmach (Ed.), Jerusalem Studies in Egypt. Wiesbaden: Kommission.
[3] Kerkeslager, A. (1998). The Apology of the Potter: A Translation of the Potters Oracle. In I. Shirun-Gurmach (Ed.), Jerusalem Studies in Egypt. Wiesbaden: Kommission.
[4] Maquarie University. (1983). Tarn's Alexander the Great, The Potter's Oracle, Poets and Patron at Rome Book Review. Sydney.
[5] Samuel, D. H. (Ed.). (1970). Proceedings of the Twelfth International Congress of Paprology. American Studies in Papyrology , Seven, 249-256.
[6] Kerkeslager, A. (1998). The Apology of the Potter: A Translation of the Potters Oracle. In I. Shirun-Gurmach (Ed.), Jerusalem Studies in Egypt. Wiesbaden: Kommission.
[7] Samuel, D. H. (Ed.). (1970). Proceedings of the Twelfth International Congress of Paprology. American Studies in Papyrology , Seven, 249-256.
[8] Kerkeslager, A. (1998). The Apology of the Potter: A Translation of the Potters Oracle. In I. Shirun-Gurmach (Ed.), Jerusalem Studies in Egypt. Wiesbaden: Kommission.
[9] Collins, J. J. (1994). The Sibyl and the Potter: Political Propoganda in Ptolemaic Egypt. In Religious Propoganda and Missionary Competition in the New Testament World (pp. 57-69). New York: E.J.Brill.