Note 176 — Chapter III · THE EXODUS OUT OF EGYPT

Dr. Wilcken has pointed out (Zur Aegyptisch-hellenistischen Literatur in the Festschrift für Georg Ebers, 1897, pp. 146-152) that two fragments of a Greek papyrus published by Wessely in the Denkschriften der Wiener Akademie, 42, 1893, pp. 3 sqq., contain a legend which closely resembles that of the Egyptian version of the Exodus. In this, however, a potter takes the place of the seer Amenôphis, the desire of the king to see the gods is explained by his wish to know the future, the ‘impure people’ are called the ‘girdle-wearers,’ and the beginning of a Sothic cycle is apparently combined with the story. Moreover, it would seem that the papyrus does not yet know of the identification of the ‘impure people’ with the Jews.