Topic
Rhampsinitus
About: Rhampsinitus is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 2 publications have been published within this topic receiving 2 citations.
Papers
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors analyse Pharaoh Rhampsinitus' descent to the Underworld, briefly reported by Herodotus (II, 122, 1) and included by the Greek writer in the legendary history of Egypt.
Abstract: [The purpose of this article is to analyse Pharaoh Rhampsinitus’ descent to the Underworld, briefly reported by Herodotus (II, 122, 1) and included by the Greek writer in the legendary history of Egypt. This short episode can be connected to the demotic cycle of Setne Khamwas, to be precise when this literary hero seizes a book of magic from a tomb after playing dice—the Egyptian senet—with the dead. These two stories share a common origin, arising possibly from the same folkloric tradition from the second half of the First Millenium B.C. But even if the adventure of Rhampsinitus is one of the many underworld motifs which occur in folklore throughout the world, it is important to note that the descent to hell is not a recurrent theme in Egyptian imagery. Here we are dealing possibly with a foreign topic, even an interpretatio graeca of the katabasis of Rhampsinitus, Herodotus being influenced by the echoes of the doctrines of the Orphics and the Pythagoreans, and trying to support the supposedly Egyptian belief in the transmigration of the soul, a clearly dubious statement., The purpose of this article is to analyse Pharaoh Rhampsinitus’ descent to the Underworld, briefly reported by Herodotus (II, 122, 1) and included by the Greek writer in the legendary history of Egypt. This short episode can be connected to the demotic cycle of Setne Khamwas, to be precise when this literary hero seizes a book of magic from a tomb after playing dice—the Egyptian senet—with the dead. These two stories share a common origin, arising possibly from the same folkloric tradition from the second half of the First Millenium B.C. But even if the adventure of Rhampsinitus is one of the many underworld motifs which occur in folklore throughout the world, it is important to note that the descent to hell is not a recurrent theme in Egyptian imagery. Here we are dealing possibly with a foreign topic, even an interpretatio graeca of the katabasis of Rhampsinitus, Herodotus being influenced by the echoes of the doctrines of the Orphics and the Pythagoreans, and trying to support the supposedly Egyptian belief in the transmigration of the soul, a clearly dubious statement.]
4 citations
Journal Article•
TL;DR: Agarwal et al. as discussed by the authors found the Tar-baby story in the Cape Verde Islands attached to the "Master Thief" cycle of tales-a cycle first presented to the Occident by Herodotus in his account of the robbery of King Rhampsinitus' treasuiry.
Abstract: BOUT tlhirty years ago the late Dr. Joseph Jacobs poinlted out that the "Wonderful Tar-baby Story" of Uncle Remus has a parallel in a tale of the Buddhist Jdtaka-book, where the most salient feature of the Negro story, the "Stick-fast motif, occurs.1 Since then studenits of folk-tales have discussed that story with an almost unldue respect for his enticing theory that it originiated in India, passed to Africa in very early, perhaps prelhistoric, times, spread over that great continient, and at last camne to our shores deep-rooted in the soiIls of our Negro slaves. What is more, since Dr. Jacobs first expressed his opinion, additionial evidenice has become available seeming to support at least the first part of his thesis, niamely, that India is the ultimate home of the story, although other parts of his proposition have beeni variously modified.2 For example, it has been suggested that the story did not reach Africa ulntil comparatively recelnt times, say the sixteenth cenitury, when it was taken there by Portuguese sailors. Latest, a well-known American folklorist has found the Tar-baby story in the Cape Verde Islands attached to the "Master Thief" cycle of tales-a cycle first presented to the Occident by Herodotus in his account of the robbery of King Rhampsinitus' treasuiry. On the basis of this discovery, she has sugg,ested a theory that the Tar-baby was originially a part of the Master Thief tale, that they both came from India to Western Asia anid Africa, and proceeded theniee to Africa. There the Tar-baby feature was clipped or detached from the larger story anid has since maintained an i-ndependent existence.3 The idea is ingenious, bult it is too much based oin unprovable hypotheses to be convincing.
1 citations
Related Topics (5)
Performance Metrics
| Year | Papers |
|---|---|
| 2011 | 1 |
| 1922 | 1 |