«Ptah of the southern wall (of his temple)» – to the interpretation of the epithet

Author(s):  R.A. Orekhov, candidate of Sciences, Center for Egyptological Studies RAS, Moscow, Russia, radamant67@mail.ru

Issue:  Volume 45, № 4

Rubric:  Topical issues of political science

Annotation:  In this article, the author studies the meaning of the most ancient of the god Ptah’ epithets – «who is south of his Wall». The first and only interpretation of this epithet was proposed by the German egyptologist K. Sethe in 1905, when he linked it with the name of the White Walls city (the earliest name of Memphis). Thus, according to K. Sethe, the Temple of Ptah was located to the south of the ancient capital. To clarify the situation, the author of the article refers to the «Memphite theology» and comes to an alternative solution. In the Old Kingdom (it is when this epithet appeared), the Temple of Ptah was not a building enclosed by walls, but a huge landholding, so the chapel or small temple dedicated to this god could truly be located in the south of this domain. Subsequently, when the Nile shifted eastwards, the domain territory became the core of the future Memphis. The correct interpretation of the most ancient epithet of the god Ptah – «He who is south of his wall» – seems to be an unusually important.

Keywords:  Ptah, the temple of Ptah, «He who is south of his walls», White walls, Memphis, the hypothesis of K. Sethe.

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