In Egypt known as Amun, the first god, the god before all the other gods who made the first man and woman out of clay.

Note the Shofar horns which are imitated today by jewish men with forelocks.
This is also the putting sins onto the ram and driving it into the wilderness.
The Septuagint never addresses the issues here. Everyone blew Shofar horns but there is no hint as to the origin of the use or custom as are forelocks unexplained. The sins onto the ram thing is also unexplained custom.
The Greek rulers in Alexandria had already tried to rehabilitate the image of the Egyptians with the invention of Serapis, a human god instead of the Apis bull. Here they simply declared their invented Yahweh had no physical form for the most part although in a couple places he moons people.

It figures! Lol

Does this have anything to do with a scapegoat?

(May 13, 2013 at 10:02 am)pocaracas Wrote: Does this have anything to do with a scapegoat?

I have not found a specific connection with goats. I am looking but I expect the goat was the local equivalent of the ram as I cannot find an Egyptian goat headed god.

I have found the Egyptian/Yahweh connections written up in obscure terms. Almost as though there is a deliberate attempt to hide the connection.

And vice versa. The first of the big ten would be more correctly stated "thou shalt not say any god is older than me" or "that I am not the first god" or something like that to show the "before me" means in time not rank or status.

And with that I realize I left something out. Not only did this god create the first people he created all the other gods.

I'm more impressed with the Mesopotamian link.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panbabylonism

(May 13, 2013 at 1:01 pm)Minimalist Wrote: I'm more impressed with the Mesopotamian link.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panbabylonism

Given thousands of years and popular themes being reimagined for local audiences I would expect nothing but a mix of them in any one place. I would expect to find local versions of all of them every place if I look hard enough. And as in inventing stories I expect them to draw upon existing mythology. Where would Buffy be without a vampire mythology to reimagine?

For me the ram-headed god was one of my successful guesses. I had never heard of this god at one time. I had even assumed Amun-Ra was just a later name for Ra. I read someone noting the unexplained things in the OT stories like the origin of the Shofar horn. Out of curiosity and speculation I googled for an Egyptian god with the head of a ram and found Amun. It was then also I found my first indication of Christian obscurantism. I heard tons about Ra and Amun-Ra but not about Amun alone.

And another thing I did not mention, prayers ending with the name of this god but spelled Amen. Regarding that I did come across a believer statement that we do not know what Amen means but it is not Amun. The obvious question is, if you do not know what it means how do you know what it does not mean?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amen#Etymology

Quote:Popular among some theosophists,[10] proponents of Afrocentric theories of history,[11] and adherents of esoteric Christianity [12][13] is the conjecture that amen is a derivative of the name of the Egyptian god Amun (which is sometimes also spelled Amen). Some adherents of Eastern religions believe that amen shares roots with the Hindu Sanskrit word, Aum.[14][15][16][17] There is no academic support for either of these views.

Curious though is this....

Quote:The word amen (pron.: /ˌɑːˈmɛn/ or /ˌeɪˈmɛn/; Hebrew: אָמֵן, Modern amen Tiberian ʾāmēn; Greek: ἀμήν; Arabic: آمين‎, ʾāmīn ; "So be it; truly") is a declaration of affirmation[1][2] found in the Hebrew Bible and New Testament. Its use in Judaism dates back to its earliest texts.

As we know, the earliest "texts" are the DSS which are not particularly early. The word does not appear in the Silver Scrolls artifact.

(May 13, 2013 at 1:42 pm)Minimalist Wrote: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amen#Etymology

Quote:Popular among some theosophists,[10] proponents of Afrocentric theories of history,[11] and adherents of esoteric Christianity [12][13] is the conjecture that amen is a derivative of the name of the Egyptian god Amun (which is sometimes also spelled Amen). Some adherents of Eastern religions believe that amen shares roots with the Hindu Sanskrit word, Aum.[14][15][16][17] There is no academic support for either of these views.

Of course no support just its use in bibleland prayer a week away on foot from the land of Amun where there there were so many Jews there was a Judean quarter in Alexandria. An incredible coincidence. It would take only one Egyptian prayer ending in Amun to seal the case. A custom to end a prayer with the name of the god it was to would be good enough except for true believers.

Quote:Curious though is this....

Quote:The word amen (pron.: /ˌɑːˈmɛn/ or /ˌeɪˈmɛn/; Hebrew: אָמֵן, Modern amen Tiberian ʾāmēn; Greek: ἀμήν; Arabic: آمين‎, ʾāmīn ; "So be it; truly") is a declaration of affirmation[1][2] found in the Hebrew Bible and New Testament. Its use in Judaism dates back to its earliest texts.

As we know, the earliest "texts" are the DSS which are not particularly early. The word does not appear in the Silver Scrolls artifact.

And of course the silver scroll although found near bibleland has no specific connection to it given Yahweh goes back to the pantheon found in the Ugarit texts.

OTOH the idea that it is Greek lets it be translated "So Be It" which is rather close to the Ptolemaic (and Star Trekkian) Make it so.

The issue then becomes it is classical Greek or Koine Greek, the Greek of Alexandria.

And then a serious question as to where else this Greek word is used. Like BYT suddenly meaning dynasty when believers want it I would like to be sure this word has not had a retroactive definition added.

But of course any Greek meaning adds to Made in Alexandria even if not in the way I am guessing now.

And thanks.