The Apology of the Potter, a prophecy from Late Period Egypt, is analyzed here as a piece of scribal prophecy—a text genre otherwise better known from the Hebrew Bible. Like typical examples of scribal prophecy, the Apology makes its point by alluding to and directly citing older texts. Among these texts are, as is already well known, Egyptian texts such as the Oracle of the Lamb and Greek (especially Homeric) literature, but also–which is less well known–a text from the Hebrew Bible: The Alexandrian recension of the Apology of the Potter features a citation from the Book of Ezekiel (Ezek. 26:5), which was probably known to the authors in the Greek translation of the Septuagint. Since both the Apology of the Potter and Ezek. 26 can be identified as “oracles against foreign nations,” the observation serves as a starting point for further inquiry of the Apology of the Potter’s stance toward foreigners and the foreign political element in Hellenistic Egypt. The article underlines recent interpretations according to which the Apology of the Potter, despite its xenophobic makeup, actually has a highly complex standpoint regarding foreign affairs.
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