¹ Abbreviations: Andros = Isis aretalogy from Andros, (Inscriptiones Graecae 12/5 [Berlin: Reimar, 1903] No. 739)Google Scholar; Bernand, IG Philae = A. andBernand, E., Les inscriptions grecques de Philae (2 vols.; Paris: Editions du CNRS, 1969)Google Scholar; Bernand, Inscriptions métriques = Bernand, E., Inscriptions métriques de l'Egypte gréco-romaine (Paris: Belles Lettres, 1969)Google Scholar; Brugsch, Thesaurus = Brugsch, H. K., Thesaurus inscriptionum Aegyptiacarum (Graz: Akademische Druck- und Verlagsanstalt, 1968)Google Scholar; Cultes égyptiens = Roussel, P., Les Cultes égyptiens à Délos (Paris/Nancy, 1916)Google Scholar; Chalcis = Carpocrates Aretalogy from Chalcis (Harder, R., Karpokrates von Chalkis und die memphitische Isis-Propaganda [APAW 14, 1943; Berlin: de Gruyter, 1944])Google Scholar; Chassinat, Dendera = Chassinat, E., Le Temple de Dendera (Cairo, 1934–1965)Google Scholar; Cios = Anubis Hymn from Cios (CIG 3724; SIRIS 325); Coffin Texts = Ancient Egyptian Coffin Texts, ed. Faulkner, R. (Warminster; Aris & Phillips, 1973–1978)Google Scholar; Cyme = Isis Aretalogy from Cyme (IG 12 Supp. 5; Berlin: de Gruyter, 1939) 98–99; Cyrene = Isis Hymn from Cyrene (Roussel, P., “Un nouvel hymne grec à Isis,” REG 42 [1929] 150)Google Scholar; Esna = Sauneron, S., Le Temple d'Esna (Cairo: Institut français d'archéologie orientale, 1962–1975)Google Scholar; Heitsch, Dichterfragmente = Heitsch, E., Die griechischen Dichterfragmente der römischen Kaiserzeit (Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1963–1964)Google Scholar; Hopfner, Fontes = Hopfner, T., Fontes Historiae Religionis Aegyptiacae (Bonn: Marcus und Weber, 1922–1925)Google Scholar; Junker, Geburtshaus = Junker, H., Das Geburtshaus des Tempels der Isis in Philä (Wien: Bohlaus, 1965)Google Scholar; Junker, Pylon = Junker, H., Der grosse Pylon des Tempels der Isis in Philä (Wien: Böhlaus, 1958)Google Scholar; Junker, “Preis” = Junker, H., “Ein Preis der Isis aus den Tempeln von Philä und Kalabša,” AÖAW, Phil.-hist. Kl. 18, 1957 (Wien, 1958)Google Scholar; Kore Kosmou = Isis aretalogy from the Kore Kosmou (Festugière, A. J. and Nock, A. D., Corpus Hermeticum [Paris: Belles Lettres, 1954] 4, No. 23 (§§ 64–69)Google Scholar; Memphis = Isis Aretalogy from Memphis reconstructed from Cyme, Ios and Nysa aretalogies, and cited by Cyme verses; Maroneia = Isis Aretalogy from Maroneia (Grandjean, Y., Une nouvelle arétalogie d'Isis à Maronée [EPRO 49; Leiden: Brill, 1975])CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Mariette, Denderah- Mariette, A., Denderah (Paris, 1870–1873)Google Scholar; Medinet Madi = Hymns of Isidorus from Medinet Madi (Vanderlip, V. F., The Four Greek Hymns of Isidorus [Toronto: Hakkert, 1972])Google Scholar; OGIS = Dittenberger, W., Orientis Graeci Inscriptiones Selectae (Leipzig: Hirzel, 1903–1905)Google Scholar; RÄRG = Bonnet, H., Reallexikon der ägyptischen Religionsgeschichte (Berlin: de Gruyter, 1971)Google Scholar; Roeder, Urkunden = Roeder, G., Urkunden zur Religion des alten Ägyptens (Düsseldorf/Köln: Dieterichs, 1978)Google Scholar; SB = Preisigke, F., Bibabel, F., and Kießling, E., Sammelbuch griechischen Urkunden aus Ägypten (Strassburg/Beriin/Wiesbaden, 1913 — )Google Scholar; SIRIS = Vidman, L., Sylloge inscriptionum religionis Isiacae et Sarapiacae (RGW 28; Berlin: de Gruyter, 1969)CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Urkunden 1–8 = Urkunden des ägyptischen Altertums (Leipzig, 1903–1957)Google Scholar; Urkunden der Ptolemäerzeit (Leipzig/Berlin, 1927)Google Scholar; Wörterbuch 1–5 = Erman, A. and Grapow, H., wörterbuch der ägyptischen Sprache (Leipzig: Hinrichs, 1925–1931).Google Scholar

² On the question of date see most recently: ReeseJ, M. J, M., Hellenistic Influence on the Book of Wisdom and Its Consequences (AnBib 41; Rome: Biblical Institute, 1970) 8Google Scholar; Gilbert, M., La Critique des dieux dans la livre de la Sagesse (AnBib 53; Rome: Biblical Institute, 1973) 161–64, 172Google Scholar; Winston, D., The Wisdom of Solomon (AB 43; New York: Doubleday, 1979) 20–25.Google Scholar

³ Leila, A. A. di, “Conservative and Progressive Theology,” CBQ 28 (1966) 135–54, esp. 146–54Google Scholar; Reese, Hellenistic Influence, passim.

⁴ Larcher, C., Etudes sur le livre de la Sagesse (EBib; Paris: Gabalda, 1969) 183–85.Google Scholar

⁵ Ibid., 193.

⁶ Ibid., 208–23; Reese, Hellenistic Influence, 12–17; Heinisch, Paul, Das Buch der Weisheit (EHAT 24; Münster: Aschendorff, 1912) 149–57Google Scholar; Edouard des Places, “Epithètes et attributs de la Sagesse (Sg 7,22–23 et SVF I 557 Arnim),” Bib 57 (1976) 414–19Google Scholar; Ziener, Georg, Die theologische Begriffssprache im Buche der Weisheit (BBB 11; Bonn: Hanstein, 1972) 142–48Google Scholar, and passim.

⁷ Reitzenstein, Richard, Zwei religionsgeschichtliche Fragen (Strassburg: Trubner, 1901) 104–12.Google Scholar

⁸ Knox, W. L., “Divine Wisdom,” JTS 38 (1937) 230–37CrossRefGoogle Scholar, quotation, 236 (with reference to Sirach). Knox argues that in Wisdom a Stoic-Platonic-Pythagorean divinity has largely replaced the personal Sophia.

⁹ Thus on Proverbs: Kayatz, Christa, Studien zu Proverbien 1–9 (WMANT 22; Neukirchen-Vluyn: Neukirchener, 1966)Google Scholar; on Sirach: Conzelmann, Hans, “Die Mutter der Weisheit,” Zeit und Geschichte (Festschrift for R. Bultmann; Tübingen: Mohr, 1964) 225–34Google Scholar; Marböck, Johann, Weisheit im Wandel (BBB 37; Bonn: Hanstein, 1971)Google Scholar; Hengel, Martin, Judaism and Hellenism (London: SCM, 1974) 1. 157–62Google Scholar; 2. 101–2; on Wisdom: Reese, Hellenistic Influence, 42–49; Mack, Burton L., Logos und Sophia (SUNT 10; Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1973)Google Scholar; Winston, Wisdom, 34–38 and passim.

¹⁰ Heinisch, Weisheit, xli.

¹¹ Pfeifer, G., Ursprung und Wesen der Hypostasenvorstellung im Judentum (Arbeiten zur Theologie 1/31; Stuttgart: Calwer, 1967) 84 (my translation).Google Scholar

¹² Ziener (Begriffssprache, 18) rejects such influence as “weniger wahrscheinlich.” Larcher (Etudes, 402 n. 1) mentions influence of Isis on Judaism as one means to explain the personification of Wisdom but does not pursue the matter in detail. Larcher does argue that Pseudo-Solomon alludes to a festival of Isis (p. 193) but rejects the hypothesis that Isis-mysteries had any influence on the notion of immortality in the book (pp. 254–59).

¹³ Reese, Hellenistic Influence, 40.

¹⁴ Festugière, A.-J., “A propos des arétalogies d'Isis,” HTR 42 (1949) 220–28CrossRefGoogle Scholar: also Norden, Eduard, Agnostos Theos (Berlin/Leipzig: Teubner, 1913) 168–76.Google Scholar According to Festugière the Greek hymn consisted of four parts: (1) nature, origin, and cult centers of the divinity; (2) powers; (3) works, benefactions and discoveries; and (4) a prayer or invocation. Some of the hymns from Medinet Madi follow this pattern, but several other Isis hymns deviated markedly.

¹⁵ Reese, Hellenistic Influence, 44.

¹⁶ Ibid., 46–48.

¹⁷ See Festugière, “Arétalogies,” 224–25, and the hymns from Cios, Maroneia and the Isis hymn of Mesomedes (Heitsch, Dichterfragmente, 1, No. 2/5).

¹⁸ The so-called “Invocation of Isis” (P. Oxy. 1380) bears some formal similarity to Wis 7:22–23. Both consist of a list of names and functions of Isis and Sophia. However, this is also a regular feature of the Orphic Hymns. E. des Places (“Epithètes et attributs”) has pointed out the similarity between the twenty-one epithets of Sophia in 7:22–23 and Cleanthes’ description of “the good” (SVF 557 = Clement of Alexandria Protrepticus 6.72.2), which consists of twenty-six attributes.

¹⁹ E.g., Wis 7:10 // Medinet Madi 4. 32; Wis 7:22 // Kore Kosmou §64; Wis 7:29 // P. Oxy. 1380, 129; Wis 7:17 // Kore Kosmou §52; Wis 7:2 / / Cyme 18.

²⁰ Mack, Logos und Sophia (above n. 9 ).

²¹ Ibid., 65–66.

²² Ibid., 186. See also his “Wisdom Myth and Mytho-logy,” Int 24 (1970) 46–60.Google Scholar

²³ See, for example, Klasens, Adolf, A Magical Statue Base (Leiden: Brill, 1952)Google Scholar Spell I; Constantin Sander-Hansen, E., Die Texte der Metternichstele (Kopenhagen: Munksgaard, 1956) lines 50–70.Google Scholar Isis's role as savior of the sick and troubled derives from the Horus-Seth cycle where she saves her young son Horus from repeated assaults of Seth, finally arranging the defeat of Seth and vindication of Horus. See further Griffiths, J. G., The Conflict of Horus and Seth (Liverpool: Liverpool University, 1960).Google Scholar

²⁴ The term “evangelism” is appropriate only to the Greek Isis. As Siegfried Morenz has shown (“Ägyptische Nationalreligion und sogenannte Isismission,” Religion und Geschichte des alten Ägypten [Weimar: Bohlaus, 1975] 521–26)Google Scholar Egyptian religion tended, with some exceptions, to be parochial and nationalistic, little interested in evangelism.

²⁵ See n. 88.

²⁶ A complete documentation of the roles of the Hellenistic Isis is impossible here. See in general, Brady, Thomas A., The Reception of the Egyptian Cults by the Greeks (330–30 B.C.) (University of Missouri Studies 10/1; Columbia: University of Missouri, 1935)Google Scholar; Vandebeek, G., De Interpretatio Graeca van de Isisfiguur (Studia Hellenistica 4; Louvain, 1946)Google Scholar; Dunand, François, Le culte d'Isis dans le bassin oriental de la Méditerranée (EPRO 26; Leiden: Brill, 1973)Google Scholar; on the aretalogies see the outstanding work of Müller, Dieter, Ägypten und die griechischen Isis-Aretalogien (ASAW 53/1; Berlin: Akademie, 1961)Google Scholar; also Grandjean, Yves, Une nouvelle arétalogie d'Isis (EPRO 49; Leiden: Brill, 1975)CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Bergman, Jan, Ich bin Isis (Uppsala, 1968)Google Scholar; on the hymns of Isidorus, Vanderlip, Vera F., The Four Greek Hymns of Isidorus (Toronto: Hakkert, 1972). Ladislaus Vidman has collected inscriptions relating to Isis and Sarapis (but excluding Egypt and Delos) in SIRIS; for Delian inscriptions, see Cultes éegyptiensGoogle Scholar; and for some Egyptian inscriptions (Greek and Latin) see Bernand, IG Philae;, Bernand, Inscriptions métriques;, and Bernand, Etienne, Recueil des inscriptions grecques du Fayoum (Leiden: Brill, 1975).Google Scholar

²⁷ Nock, Arthur D., Conversion (London: Oxford, 1933) 79, 240; Reese, Hellenistic Influence, 149Google Scholar; Hengel, Martin, Juden, Griechen, Barbaren (SBS 76; Stuttgart: KBW, 1976) 139 and literature cited there.Google Scholar

²⁸ Reese, Hellenistic Influence, 117–21, 151–52; Winston, Wisdom, 18–20.

²⁹ It has been suggested that the address to kings may have been used because the author wished to appeal to influential Jews or to cultured persons of all times (Ziener, Begriffssprache, 161). Others regard the address as a literary convention, either biblical (Skehan, P. W., “Borrowings from the Psalms,” CBQ 10 [1948] 384–86)Google Scholar or classical (Reese, Hellenistic Influence, 149). Reese also draws attention to the influence of Hellenistic kingship tractates (Ibid., 71–87). Unlike the kingship tractates, however, Pseudo- Solomon represents himself as a king addressing his colleagues. This closely resembles the style and function of the letters ascribed to Anacharsis, a sixth-century Scythian king and sage. He was, in fact, regarded as one of the greatest sages (Diogenes Laertius 1.13.101–5) and a philhellene. The letters are spurious but nonetheless address Anacharsis's peers: Solon, Hipparchus, Tereus of Thrace, and Croesus of Lydia. But like Wisdom, their audience is much broader. The king became a mouthpiece for Cynic teaching on matters of conduct and morality. Like Pseudo-Anacharsis, Pseudo-Solomon exploits the reputation of the king as a sage and instructor of his colleagues (cf. 1 Kgs 10:23–24) in order to lend credence to the message.

³⁰ Pseudo-Phocylides addresses a similar problem but from the opposite direction. He employs the name of a famous gnomic poet (called here άνδρ⋯ν ⋯ σοφώτατος) in order to explain to hellenized Jews that “by remaining Jewish a Jew does not miss anything important in Greek culture, for already a highly esteemed, early Greek author fully agreed with the principles of the Jewish way of life” (Horst, Pieter W. van der, The Sentences of Pseudo-Phocylides [SVTP 4; Leiden: Brill, 1978] 71).Google Scholar

³¹ Contrary to older commentators, more recent writers tend to associate chap. 10 with chaps. 1–9. The three aorist passives in 9:18 (διωρϑώϑησαν, ⋯διδάχϑησαν, ⋯σὠϑησαν) are fittingly continued by chap. 10, a recitation of Wisdom's acts of salvation. But in chap. 11 the anaphora characteristic of chap. 10 (αὕτη—6 times) disappears, as does Sophia. Moreover, the emphasis shifts from the pursuit of Wisdom to a comparison of Jews and pagans and their respective fates. See further Reese, James M., “Plan and Structure in the Book of Wisdom,” CBQ 27 (1965) 391–99Google Scholar; Wright, A. G., “The Structure of Wisdom 11–19,” CBQ 27 (1965) 28–34Google Scholar; idem, “The Structure of the Book of Wisdom,” Bib 48 (1967) 165–84Google Scholar; Winston, Wisdom, 9–12.

³² Διχαιοσύνη: 1:1, 15; 2:11; 5:6, 18; δίχαιος: 2:10, 12, 16, 18; 3:1, 10; 4:7, 15; 5:1, 5.

³³ Σοφία: twenty-five times in chaps. 6–10, elsewhere three (four) times in chaps. 1–5, twice in 11–19 (14:2, 5).

³⁴ My colleague D. McGinn, in his as yet unpublished thesis, has shown how 6:1–21 provides a clever transition from the theme of justice to that of wisdom: the imperatives of 6:1–2 (listen—understand—learn—give ear) refer both backwards to the theme of justice and forward to that of wisdom (6:9–12). Moreover, 6:12, which uses the verbs ϑεωρέω, ⋯γαπάω, εὑρίσχω and ζητέω, resumes a very similar set of verbs in 1:1–2, which are used of justice and of God: ⋯γαπάω, φρονέω, εὐρισχω, ζητέω,. In 8:7 (along with 9:3 the only appearance of διχαιοσύνη in chaps. 6–10) justice is explicitly made a gift of Sophia.

³⁵ Σοφία in the first section (1:4, [5], 6; 3:11) does not have the same personal and mythical dimensions of Sophia in chaps. 6–10.

³⁶ On chap. 10 see Schmitt, Arnim, “Struktur, Herkunft und Bedeutung der Beispielreihe in Weisheit 10,” BZ 21 (1977) 1–22.Google Scholar

³⁷ Even Philo, who was much more given to the use of intermediaries, does not deny that God can act without such aid. See Wolfson, Harry Austryn, Philo (Cambridge: Harvard University, 1947) 1. 261–89.Google Scholar

³⁸ Winston, Wisdom, 37.

³⁹ On this topic see MacKenzie, Roderick A. F., “Ben Sira as Historian,” Trinification of the World (ed. Dunne, T. A. and Laporte, J.-M.; Toronto: Regis, 1978) 312–27.Google Scholar

⁴⁰ Πανσώτειρα: Bernand, IG Philae, 2. 134; sigmaώτειρα/σωτήρ: P. Oxy. 1380. 20, 55 (άνδρασώτειρα), 76, 293; SIRIS 179, 247; Cultes égyptiens 49, 194. The so-called ‘Counsels of Piety of Sansnos’ from the temple of Kalabsha (published in Bernand, Inscriptions métriques, 165) advises: Σανσν⋯ς γράφει ⋯ υἱ⋯ς Ψενο […] σέβου τ⋯ ϑεῖον, ϑ⋯ε, π⋯σι τοῖς ϑεοῖς, ⋯φ᾽ ἓχαστον ἱερ⋯ν ⋯πιπορεύου προσχυν⋯ν, ⋯γο⋯ μάλιστα τοὺς πατρῴους χα⋯ σέ-[β]ου ᾽Ισιν, Σάραπιν, το[ὺς με]γίστους τ⋯ν [ϑε⋯ν, σω]τ⋯ρας, ⋯γα- ϑο[ὺς, εὐμε]νεῖς, εὐεργέτας.

⁴¹ E.g., Cultes égyptiens 72 (Inscription from Delos, after 166 B.C.E.). A dedication to Sarapis, Isis, Anubis, and Apollo, for being saved from many and great dangers (σωϑε⋯ς ⋯χ πολλ⋯ν χα⋯ μεγάλων χινδύνων). Also SIRIS 198 (Rhodes, 1st century B.C.E.); Medinet Madi 1. 29–34.

⁴² Oneirocritica 2.39 ( = Hopfner, Fontes, 357).

⁴³ Herodotus 1.91: τ⋯ν πεπρωμένην μοῖραν ⋯δύνατά ⋯στι ⋯ποφυγεῖν χα⋯ ϑε⋯. Aeschylus Prometheus Bound 518: τούτων[Μοῖραι τρίμορφοι]ἄρα Ζεύς ⋯στιν ⋯σϑενέστερος; οὔχουν ἂν ἔχφυγοι γε τ⋯ν πεπρωμένην. A grave inscription from Alexandria expresses this well: Οrlupsilonδε⋯ς γ⋯ρ ⋯ξ- ήλυξε τ⋯ν μίτον Μοιρ⋯ν, οὐ ϑνητόφ, οὐχ ⋯ϑάνατος, οὐδ᾽ ⋯ δεσμώτης οὐδ᾽ αὖ τύραννος βασιλιχ⋯ν λχὼν τιμ⋯ν ϑεσμοὺς ⋯τρέπτους διαφυ- γεῖν ποτ᾽ ῴήϑη (published in Bernand, Inscriptions métriques, 71).

⁴⁴ Memphis 55–56 ( = Cyme 55–56): ᾽Εγὼ τ⋯ ἱμαρμένον νιχ⋯ ⋯μο⋯ τ⋯ ε⋯μαρμένον ⋯χούει. Also P. Oxy. 1380. 43; Apuleius Metamorphoses 11.18 (dea providens). Sarapis likewise controls fate in a fragmentary Sarapis aretalogy published by Heitsch (Dichterfragmente, 1. No. 50, lines 10–13). From the Ptolemaic period there are numerous statues of Isis-Tyche (Dunand, Culte, 1. 92–93) and the hymns from Medinet Madi (1. 2; 2. 1; 3. 19) consistently identify Isis as Agathe-Tyche, an identification widely attested (P. Oxy. 1380. 51; Cultes égyptiens 119, 120; SIRIS 412, 528). Inscriptions from Miletus dated 288/287 B.C.E. make Agathe-Tyche an associate of Osiris (Welles, C. B., Royal Correspondence of the Hellenistic Period [New Haven: Yale, 1934] 34, 22–24).Google Scholar

⁴⁵ See Müller, Aretalogien (above n. 26) 80–85. The functions of Shai (š3ytt ‘fate') and Renenutet (rnntt ‘growth'), including the determination of the length of life, were taken over by Isis. An unpublished MS cited by Muller (p. 84) calls her “Lady of Fate (nbt s3yt) who controls Rnnt” and “Lady of life, ruler of š3yt and Rnnt.”

⁴⁶ For other modes for overcoming Fate current in the Hellenistic world, see Schröder, H. O., “Fatum (Heimarmene),” RAC 7 (1969) 562–70.Google Scholar

⁴⁷ Bernand, IG Philae, 2. 168 (dated 191 C.E.): Ισιν τ⋯ν ⋯ν Φίλαις προσχυνήσας τις εὐτυχεῖ οὐχ ὅτι μόνον πλουτεῖ, πολυζῳεῖ δ᾽ ἅμα τοὺτῳ. The Cios hymn calls Isis μεγάλων [⋯γ]αϑ⋯ν [χ]ράντειρα βροτοῖ- σιν. See also Medinet Madi 3. 4–5.

⁴⁸ Memphis 12: ᾽Εγὼ ⋯χώρισα γ⋯ν ⋯π᾽ οὐρανο⋯(for the Egyptian equivalent see Müller, Aretalogien, 38). Medinet Madi 1. 9: σο⋯ τε χάριν συν- έστηχ ⋯ πόλος χα⋯ γαῖα ἅπασα. Cyrene 15: ⋯μο⋯ δ⋯ χωρ⋯ς γείνετ οὐδ⋯ν πώποτε Apuleius Metamorphoses 11.4: rerun naturae parens.

⁴⁹ Regulation is both cosmic and social. In Egypt Isis absorbed solar deities and thereby came to regulate the cosmos. “Isis … shines from her house like Re who repeats (his course). She treads the earth and drives away the darkness like the Horizon-dweller (3ḫhty)” (Junker, Geburtshaus, 77, 1–8). She even assumed a regulating activity with respect to the Ennead itself: “[Isis] who gives instructions to the Ennead and according to whose command it is regulated” (Junker, “Preis,” 271, 11; cf. also Junker, Pylon, 168, 17–18; 230, 3–4). The Greek epithet Διχαιοσύνη and phrases such as “I made what is right strong” signal a fusion of Isis with Maat, the principle of cosmic and social order. See Memphis 16, 28, 38; Cultes égyptiens 117, 122, 181; SIRIS 6; Plutarch De Iside 352B. For an Egyptian text making the identification, Chassinat, Dendera, 2. 221: “Isis the Great … (who is) Maat in Dendera.” See the discussion of the notion of Maat by Müller, Aretalogien, 43; idem, “I am Isis,” OLZ 67 (1972) 122Google Scholar; and H. Bonnet, RÄRG 430–34. Some Greek texts use Stoic language to describe Isis's regulatory actions: Diodorus Siculus 1.11.5 (διοιχεῖν); Plutarch De Iside 367C.

⁵⁰ Memphis 13–14: ᾽Εγὼ ἄστρων ⋯δοὺς ἔδιξα, ⋯γὼ ⋯λίου χα⋯ σελήνης πορείαν συνεταξάμην. Cf. Memphis 45; Cyrene 16–17; P. Oxy. 1380. 157–59; Apuleius Metamorphoses 11.4 (elementorum omnium domina).

⁵¹ Urkunden der Ptolemäerzeit 1.81.9–10 (The Dream of Nectanebos) calls her εὐεργέτεια χαρπ⋯ν. See also Medinet Madi 1. 1; 2. 2–3, 29; Memphis 7; Bernand, Inscriptions métriques, 19; SIRIS 317, 379, 724; Maroneia 36 (χεῖϑι γ⋯ρ πρ⋯τον τοὺς χαρποὺς ⋯ξέφηνας); Cyrene 12.

⁵² Memphis 39, 42, 43, 54; Hymn to Isis (Heitsch, Dichterfragmente, 1, No. 48) lines 10–11; Hymn to Isis by Mesomedes (Dichterfragmente, No. 2/5) lines 6–8; Medinet Madi 1. 10–13.

⁵³ The role is foreign to the native Isis but very common for the Hellenistic Isis: Memphis 15, 49 assigns to her the discovery of shipping, while many dedications are attested to Isis Pelagia (Isis of the Sea: Bruneau, P., “Isis Pélagia à Délos,” BCH 85 [1961] 435–46CrossRefGoogle Scholar; 87 [1963] 301–8; SIRIS 34, 259, 274; Pausanius 2.4.6) and to Isis Pharis (i.e., of the lighthouse on Pharos: SIRIS 358, 403).

⁵⁴ P. Oxy. 1380.69–70 (χυβερν⋯τις), 15, 74 (⋯ρμιστρία, “who brings safely to harbor”).

⁵⁵ The connection between sovereign power and the willingness to save appears in 11:23 (of God): ⋯λεεῖς δ⋯ πάντας ὅτι πάντα δύνασαι.

⁵⁶ Wis 7:24; 8:1. Compare similar statements made of Isis in Plutarch De Iside 367C.

⁵⁷ Seneca's dictum is paradigmatic (Ep. 107. 11): Ducunt volentem fata, nolentem trahunt. Cleanthes (Hymn to Zeus) makes the logos author of good and evil, acting whether or not humans are aware of it.

⁵⁰ (Δια) χυβερνάω also appears in 14:1–5, used of pronoia, in a context where Wisdom is also mentioned. The use of χυβερνάω in 10:4 and 14:3, while recalling Stoic terminology (SVF 3. 390, etc.), is closer to the usage of the term in Isis circles. Another Jewish writing of this period, Pseudo-Phocylides, much more closely approached Stoic usage: ⋯γρωὺς χα⋯ πόλιας σοφίη χα⋯ ν⋯α χυβερν⋯ (131).

⁵⁹ See nn. 53 and 54.

⁶⁰ See n. 47.

⁶¹ Medinet Madi 1. 29, 34. Cf. Memphis 48: ᾽Εγὼ τοὺς ⋯ν δεσμοῖς λύω. In the Horus-Seth cycle, Isis saves herself from the prison in which Seth has placed her. See the Metternich Stele, 49 (Roeder, Urkunden, 87).

⁶² Mack, Logos und Sophia, 91.

⁶³ Bergmann, Jan, Ich bin Isis (Uppsala, 1968) 289–92.Google Scholar

⁶⁴ CT 148 (Faulkner 1. 125–26).

⁶⁵ References to the conflict of Horus and Seth are numerous. See Gardiner, A. H., The Library of A. Chester Beatty (Chester Beatty Papyri 1; London, 1931)Google Scholar for the text and translation of the “Contendings”; also Book of the Dead, chaps. 151–56; Griffith, F. H. and Thompson, H., The Leyden Papyrus (New York: Dover, 1974) cols. 21, 35–36Google Scholar; Klasens, Magical Statue (above n. 23), esp. Spells 1 and 4; Sander-Hansen, Metternichstele (n. 23) passim; J. G. Griffiths, The Conflict of Horus and Seth (above n. 23).

⁶⁶ See the excellent discussion of Winston (wisdom, 211–23).

⁶⁷ For a similar instance of mythic and symbolic patterns permeating an early Christian tale of the death of Peter, see the brilliant essay of Smith, Jonathan Z., “Birth Upside Down or Right Side Up?” HR 9 (1969/1970) 281–303.Google Scholar

⁶⁸ The term ‘the justified one’ (m3˓-ḫrw) appears regularly as an epithet of Horus and Osiris (Wörterbuch 2. 15–17: Ḥr m3˓-ḫrw; Wnn nfrw m3˓-ḫrw) but it does not mean ‘the righteous one’; rather it has a forensic sense, referring to the vindication of the two gods after their struggle with Seth.

⁶⁹ See Lohse, Eduard, “Σολομων,“ TDNT 7 (1971) 459–65.Google Scholar

⁷⁰ It may be that the Stoic paradox “only the wise man is king” (Diogenes Laertius 7.122; SVF 3. 617–19) informs the thought of Pseudo-Solomon as it does Philo (Agr. 41; Sob. 57; Moses 1.156–58; Post. 138; cf. T. Levi 13: 7–9.

⁷¹ See n. 29.

⁷² Mack, Logos und Sophia, 90–95.

⁷³ Ibid., 95.

⁷⁴ Ibid., 87–90.

⁷⁵ Otto, Eberhard, Gott und Mensch nach den ägyptischen Tempelinschriften der griechisch-römischen Zeit (AHAW, Phil.-hist. Kl., 1964/1; Heidelberg: Winter, 1964) 16–17, 141–43.Google Scholar

⁷⁶ One of the most frequent epithets of Isis in the late period is “bestower of Life” (Junker, Geburtshaus, passim). This and related titles (Lady of Life, Mistress of Life; see Wörterbuch 1. 199) are probably to be seen in the context of Isis's functions in both the Osiris and Horus myths where she is the active agent reviving and sustaining life. Temple reliefs frequently depict her feeding the young king (Horus) with ˓nḫ w3s, life and good fortune (see Junker, Geburtshaus, 89,11 and passim).

⁷⁷ Junker, Pylon, 81, 3: “I give you all beautiful gifts in peace.” Esna 307, 23–24: “I give you all the flat lands and all the mountains, my divine son Pharaoh, most beloved. For you the mekes [symbol of rule] is the heritage of the whole earth, the full property is assured [?] by the triumph [?].”

⁷⁸ Junker, “Preis,” 271, 4, 8.

⁷⁹ Heinisch, Weisheit, 121; Winston, Wisdom, 156 (citing Goodrick).

⁸⁰ Diodorus Siculus 1.25.2–6; P. Oxy. 1380. 242–47. Cf. Wis 8:17.

⁸¹ Esna 307, 24.

⁸² Chassinat, Dendera, 2. 115, cited by Otto, Gott und Mensch, 137 along with other examples. See also Junker, Pylon, 174, 13; 76: Isis “prolongs the years of him who is submissive to her.”

⁸³ Συμβίωσις is the usual word for marriage. See J. and Robert, L., “Bulletin épigraphique,” REG 74 (1961) No. 79; 75 (1962) No. 292.Google Scholar

⁸⁴ Memphis 45: ᾽Εγὼ παρεδρεύω τῇ το⋯ ⋯λίου πορείᾳ. Andros 139: χα⋯ μ⋯ χαλε⋯σι πάρεδρον. Maroneia 17: σύνοιχον δ᾽ ἔλαβες Σέραπιν, χα⋯ τ⋯ν χοιν⋯ν ὑμ⋯ν ϑεμένων γάμον. Cf. also Plutarch De Iside 375A.

⁸⁵ Esna 307, 24.

⁸⁶ Ibid.Alliot, M., Le culte d'Horus à Edfou au temple des Ptolémées (Cairo, 1949–1950) 1. 214, col. 17Google Scholar: “divine mother (of Horus) and paredros at Edfou.”

⁸⁷ Ptolemy II Philadelphus revived brother-sister marriage, and several inscriptions attest the identification of his wife, Arsinoë, with Isis (following her death in 270 B.C.E.: SB 601, 602; OGIS 31; Urkunden 2. 81–105). A remarkable papyrus (P. Petri 3, 1 col. 2, 6–7; mentioned by Nock, , Essays [Oxford: Clarendon, 1972] 554–55)Google Scholar calls Bernike II, wife of Ptolemy III, “Isis, mother of the gods.” Many of the Ptolemaic rulers have “beloved of Isis” in their titulary and epigraphical evidence from Philae, showing that the royal couple shared the worship of Isis as “associate gods” (σύνναοι ϑεοί). See further the discussions of Dunand, Culte, 1. 35–36; Brady, Reception, 13.

⁸⁹ E.g., Klasens, Magical Statue, Spell 1: “My father taught me knowledge; I am his beloved daughter.”

⁹⁰ Reese, Hellenistic Influence, 47; P. Oxy. 1380. 111: ῾Ελλησπόντῳ μύστειν (= μύστιν).

⁹¹ Roeder, Urkunden, 138: “Isis was a wise woman.… she surpassed millions of Gods and had deeper insight than a million spirits. There was nothing which she did not know in heaven and earth, just like Re.” A common title for Isis is R˓t, i.e., “female Re” (Chassinat, Dendera, 4. 264, 14; Junker, Geburtshaus, 77, 1–11; Memphis 45).

⁹² The connotation of αἱρετίς (hapax legomenon) is not clear. Gregg, J. A. F. (The Wisdom of Solomon [Cambridge: Cambridge University, 1922] 80)Google Scholar thinks that it implies that Sophia has a voice in deciding “the order in which His works should proceed.”

⁹³ Junker, “Preis,” 271; Geburtshaus, 77, 1–11; Brugsch, Thesaurus, 1. 100–101.

⁹⁴ The separation of heaven from earth (Memphis 12) as well as the establishing of Maat is the essence of the creative act.

⁹⁵ P. Oxy. 1380.34, 40, 60, 124.

⁹⁶ Diodorus Siculus 1.11.4; Cios, line 9. This is anticipated by Egyptian etymological speculation that Isis (້st) was so named because she was older (້s) than her mother. See Bergmann, Ich bin Isis, 280.

⁹⁷ Š3˓t (Wörterbuch, 4.409).

⁹⁸ In CT 148 Isis predicts Horus's accession to the throne. Chassinat, Dendera, 1. 82: “[Isis] who announces what will come, what will happen in the future.” Cf. also P. Oxy. 1380. 43, 251–52 (χρησμῳδός of Isis? or Horus?), 266 (χοησμῳδός used of Horus); Chalcis 9 (used of Harpocrates).

⁹⁹ Thus apparently, Knox, “Divine Wisdom,” 236 (of Sirach).

¹⁰⁰ Reese, Hellenistic Influence, 50.

¹⁰¹ Mack, Logos und Sophia, 95.

¹⁰² Tcherikover, Victor A. and Fuks, Alexander, Corpus Papyrorum Judaicarum [=CPJ] (Cambridge: Harvard, 1957) 1. 38–39.Google Scholar But see Kasher, Arié, “Jewish Attitude to the Alexandrian Gymnasium in the First Century A.D.,” American Journal of Ancient History 1 (1976) 148–61Google Scholar; Kasher contends that Alexandrian Jews in the time of Claudius were not aiming at civic rights (through participation in the gymnasium) but equality between their politeuma and the polis. However, infiltration of the ephebate is clearly an issue in both the “Boule Papyrus” and Claudius's letter, and in the latter instance the context speaks of Jews aiming at “more than they previously had,” and the letter enjoins them to keep away from the gymnasial games and content themselves with “their own things” (τ⋯ οίχῖα).

¹⁰³ This may have been the case with Tryphon (CPJ, No. 151) who was a citizen of Alexandria even though his son was not so recognized.

¹⁰⁴ Josephus (C. Apion. 2.69–70) describes such a process by which some Egyptians obtained citizenship. The Boule Papyrus (CPJ, No. 150) complains of the infiltration of “uncultured and uneducated persons.”

¹⁰⁵ Third Maccabees, which must be dated after the imposition of the laographia (i.e., 24/23 B.C.E.; 3 Mace 2.28), admits with some embarrassment that some Jews accepted initiation into Dionysius mysteries in exchange for citizenship during the reign of Ptolemy IV Philopater. This probably indicates that similar grants were available in the early Roman period. See Tcherikover, V. A., Hellenistic Civilization and the Jews (Philadelphia: Jewish Publication Society, 1961) 317–18.Google Scholar

¹⁰⁶ Josephus Ant. 19.282, 288. Philo (In Flaccum 50) states that Augustus confirmed Jewish “laws”—probably meaning Jewish privileges with respect to their laws. See Tcherikover and Fuks, CPJ, 1. 56–57.

¹⁰⁷ In Flaccum 78–80.

¹⁰⁸ CPJ, No. 151, the petition of Helenos, who called himself “an Alexandrian.” The petition seems to be a request for exemption from the poll tax. A scribe or an official has crossed out “Alexandrian” and substituted the phrase “a Jew from Alexandria.”

¹⁰⁹ CPJ, No. 150.

¹¹⁰ See Tcherikover and Fuks, CPJ, 1. 59.

¹¹¹ CPJ, No. 153. For a discussion see Tcherikover's notes to CPJ, No. 153 and the prolegomena, CPJ, 1. 55–74. More recently, Kasher, Arié, “Les circonstances de la promulgation de l'édit de l'Empereur Claude et de sa lettre aux Alexandrins (41 ap. J.-C.),” Sem 26 (1976) 99–108.Google Scholar

¹¹² C. Apion. 2.65.

¹¹³ Tcherikover (CPJ, 1. 43–44) thinks that outside Alexandria there was probably a considerable degree of assimilation of Jews to Egyptian culture. Egyptian names were adopted by Jews and some perhaps spoke only Egyptian. Epigraphical evidence shows that some Jews from the Thebaid frequented the temples of Pan. E.g., OGIS, 73; 74; Bernand, A., Le Paneion d'el Kanais (Leiden: Brill, 1972) Nos. 24; 73.Google Scholar

¹¹⁴ C. Apion. 2. 31–32. For documentation of Egyptian anti-Judaism see the treatments of: Yoyotte, J., “L'Egypte ancienne et les origines de l'antijudaïsme,” RHR 163 (1963) 133–43Google Scholar; Sevenster, J. N., The Roots of Pagan Anti-Semitism (NovTSup 41; Leiden: Brill, 1975) esp. 48–50CrossRefGoogle Scholar, 184–88, 190–91; Gager, John G., Moses in Greco-Roman Paganism (SBLMS 16; New York/Nashville: Abingdon, 1972)Google Scholar chap. 3; on Chaeremon, a member of the delegation to Claudius, as an heir to Egyptian thought, see Merkelbach, Reinhold, “Ein griechisch-ägyptischer Priestereid und das Totenbuch,” Religions en Egypte hellénistique et romaine (Paris: Presses universitaires du France, 1969) 72.Google Scholar

¹¹⁵ A noteworthy exception is in 14:2, 5 where she is called τεχνῖτις(cf. 7:22) of a ship. Pseudo-Solomon apparently credits Sophia (like Isis!) with the invention of the maritime trades. It is perhaps not accidental that the terms διαχυβερνάω and πρόνοια — both of which were associated with Isis — appear here.

¹¹⁶ Suggs, M. Jack, “Wisdom of Solomon 2:10–5:23: A Homily Based on the Fourth Servant Song,” JBL 76 (1957) 26–33.Google Scholar

¹¹⁷ “Birth Upside Down or Right Side Up?” HR 9 (1969/1970) 295.Google Scholar

¹¹⁸ See also Collins, John J., “Cosmos and Salvation: Jewish Wisdom and Apocalyptic in the Hellenistic Age,” HR 17 (1977) 121–42.Google Scholar

¹¹⁹ Lévi-Strauss, Claude, “Structure and Dialectics,” Structural Anthropology (New York: Basic Books, 1963–1976) 1. 232–41Google Scholar; “Relations of Symmetry between Rituals and Myths of Neighboring Peoples,” Structural Anthropology, 2. 238–56.

¹²⁰ Turner, David H., Tradition and Transformation (Canberra: Australian Institute of Aboriginal Studies, 1974) 94–98.Google Scholar My colleague Leeuwen, Raymond C. Van (“Isa 14:12, Ḥôlēš ˓al gwym and Gllgamesh XI, 6,” JBL 99 [1980] 173–84)Google Scholar has recently proposed that Isaiah 14 inverts some of the elements of the Gilgamesh epic as part of its taunt.

¹²¹ Lévi-Strauss, “Relations of Symmetry,” 255.

¹²² Lawrence, P., Road Begin Cargo: A Study of the Cargo Movement of the Southern Madang District (Manchester: Manchester University, 1964) esp. 29–30.Google Scholar

¹²³ Douglas, Mary, Natural Symbols (Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1973) 166–67.Google Scholar

¹²⁴ I am indebted to Darrell McGinn and Paul E. Dion who read earlier drafts of this article and provided invaluable criticisms.