The Sibyl and the Potter: Political Propaganda in Ptolemaic Egypt

Abstract

Much of the literature of the Hellenistic Jewish Diaspora is generally held to have been written with propagandistic or apologetic intent. This is especially true of literature with Gentile pseudonyms (the Sibyl, Aristeas) or composed in traditional Greek forms (the tragedy of Ezekiel, the epic of Philo). This chapter focuses on the fountainhead of the tradition, in Egyptian Judaism in the Hellenistic period. The Sibyl apparently had originated in Asia Minor, but Sibylline oracles were extant in Italy by the late sixth century BCE. The fact that both the Sibyl and the Potter focus their expectations on a "king from the sun" invites a comparison between Jewish and Egyptian political propaganda in the Ptolemaic era. The Typhonians are the followers of Seth, the adversary of Horns. According to the myth, Seth revolts against Osiris and kills him. Keywords: Egyptian political propaganda; Hellenistic period; Horns; Potter; Ptolemaic era; Sibyl; Typhonians