Petosiris ( grc, Πετόσιρις), called Ankhefenkhons, was the

high priest The term "high priest" usually refers either to an individual who holds the office of ruler-priest, or to one who is the head of a religious caste. Ancient Egypt In ancient Egypt, a high priest was the chief priest of any of the many gods rever ...

Thoth Thoth (; from grc-koi, Θώθ ''Thṓth'', borrowed from cop, Ⲑⲱⲟⲩⲧ ''Thōout'', Egyptian: ', the reflex of " eis like the Ibis") is an ancient Egyptian deity. In art, he was often depicted as a man with the head of an ibis or a ...

Hermopolis Hermopolis ( grc, Ἑρμούπολις ''Hermoúpolis'' "the City of Hermes", also ''Hermopolis Magna'', ''Hermoû pólis megálẽ'', egy, ḫmnw , Egyptological pronunciation: "Khemenu"; cop, Ϣⲙⲟⲩⲛ ''Shmun''; ar, الأشموني ...

and held various priestly degrees in the service of

Sakhmet In Egyptian mythology, Sekhmet ( or Sachmis (), also spelled Sakhmet, Sekhet, Sakhet among other spellings, cop, Ⲥⲁⲭⲙⲓ, Sakhmi), is a warrior goddess as well as goddess of healing. She is depicted as a lioness. Sekhmet is a solar de ...

Khnum Khnum or also romanised Khnemu (; egy, 𓎸𓅱𓀭 ẖnmw, grc-koi, Χνοῦβις) was one of the earliest-known Egyptian deities, originally the god of the source of the Nile. Since the annual flooding of the Nile brought with it silt an ...

Amen-Re Amun (; also ''Amon'', ''Ammon'', ''Amen''; egy, jmn, reconstructed as (Old Egyptian and early Middle Egyptian) → (later Middle Egyptian) → (Late Egyptian), cop, Ⲁⲙⲟⲩⲛ, Amoun) romanized: ʾmn) was a major ancient Egyptian ...

and

Hathor Hathor ( egy, ḥwt-ḥr, lit=House of Horus, grc, Ἁθώρ , cop, ϩⲁⲑⲱⲣ, Meroitic: ) was a major goddess in ancient Egyptian religion who played a wide variety of roles. As a sky deity, she was the mother or consort of the sky ...

. Petosiris was the son of Sishu and Nefer-

renpet Renpet was, in the Egyptian language, the word for "year". Its hieroglyph was figuratively depicted in art as a woman wearing a palm shoot (symbolizing time) over her head. She was often referred to as the ''Mistress of Eternity'' and also pers ...

. He lived in the second half of the 4th century BCE, during the 28th Dynasty. In his tomb, located in the necropolis at

Tuna el-Gebel Tuna el-Gebel ( ar, تونة الجبل, cop, ⲑⲱⲛⲓ) was the necropolis of Khmun ( Hermopolis Magna). It is the largest known Greco-Roman necropolis in Egypt, dating from the New Kingdom to the Roman Period, and seeing heavy use in the ...

, Petosiris prided himself on having re-established the fortunes of the temples in which he served. There is a

pseudepigraphic Pseudepigrapha (also anglicized as "pseudepigraph" or "pseudepigraphs") are falsely attributed works, texts whose claimed author is not the true author, or a work whose real author attributed it to a figure of the past.Bauckham, Richard; "Pseu ...

onomantic text,

Petosiris to Nechepso __notoc__ Petosiris to Nechepso is a letter describing an ancient divination technique using numerology and a diagram. It is likely to be a pseudepigraph. Petosiris and Nechepso are considered to be the founders of astrology in some traditions. ...

, and it is possible that the priestly Petosiris described in this article is the inspiration for the attribution of authorship.

Nechepso Almost nothing is known of Nekauba (Ancient Greek: ). He is listed as one of the early kings of the 26th Saite Dynasty in Manetho's Epitome and ruled for six years. However, his status as king is not confirmed by any contemporary documents and h ...

lived in the 7th century BCE and that the text is likely 2nd century BCE.

Notes

References

* Lefebvre, Gustave: ''Le Tombeau de Petosiris'', L'institut Français d'archéologie orientale, Cairo, 1924 * Lichtheim, Miriam: ''Ancient Egyptian Literature'', Vol.3, University of California Press 1980, pp. 44ff. * Caroli, Christian A.: ''Ptolemaios I. Soter - Herrscher zweier Kulturen'', Badawi Artes Afro Arabica, 2007, , , pp. 148–158.

External links

The biography of Petosiris

Ancient Egyptian priests {{AncientEgypt-bio-stub