This article gives a detailed discussion of the so-called prophecy or oracle of the lamb preserved in the demotic Egyptian papyrus Vienna D 10.000. It presents the evidence about the papyrus’s provenance (Soknopaiou Nesos) and date (year 33 of Augustus, i.e., 4 CE), as well as the life of its scribe. The history of research and the different proposals for the underlying historical situation are presented, as well as a new translation and an overall historical interpretation. The text claims to be based on a prophecy a conjoined twin lamb delivered to its shepherd during the time of King Bocchoris, forecasting dire events but ultimately a time of happiness and prosperity. Most likely, the text originally came about as a tool of political propaganda during the later Saïte period, in connection with the active policy in the Levant of Nekho II and Psammetichus II. But there were redactional reworkings during later times, introducing the “Medes” (i.e., “Persians”) in one place, and perhaps also the Greeks, though the latter more likely references a Greek object. There is some probability that an Aramaic papyrus from 5th century BCE Egypt gives a version of this composition reworked for Amasis instead of Bocchoris.
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