• From Isis and Horus in the Delta to Mary and Jesus in Ireland

    Author(s):
    Lloyd Graham (see profile)
    Date:
    2022
    Group(s):
    Egyptology, Irish Literature and Culture
    Subject(s):
    Egyptology, Egypt, History, Ancient, Folklore, Ireland, Area studies, Magic
    Item Type:
    Article
    Tag(s):
    healing spell, Isis-Horus complex, Metternich stela, folk-charms, historiolae, Ancient Egypt, Irish studies
    Permanent URL:
    https://doi.org/10.17613/byhs-kw16
    Abstract:
    The historiola of an ancient Egyptian spell (AEMT 90) describes how Isis becomes a fugitive to protect her unborn/young son Horus from Seth, the murderer of her brother/husband Osiris. As her travel-group seeks refuge in the Nile Delta, a noblewoman’s inhospitality to the unexpected visitors results in her young son being stung by Isis’s scorpion escort; however, the goddess takes pity on him and uses an incantation to assuage his pain and save his life. Christian equivalents of this spell – probably derivatives, but now framed around disguised holy men who inflict other ailments on members of the unwelcoming household and then cure them – have long circulated in southern and central Europe as folk-charms. This paper strengthens the case for a genetic relationship between the Egyptian spell and the European charms. It also highlights the existence of an Irish-language counterpart to the continental charms which is unusually close to the Egyptian prototype; in it, the protagonists are a wandering Virgin Mary and her young son Jesus. Some Irish variants even return the historiola’s setting to Egypt, where – in a striking parallel with Isis’s circumstance – Mary seeks to protect her infant son from the murderous Herod. The parallels between the Egyptian and Irish embodiments attest to the cohesion and latent unity of the Egyptian/European corpus of this charm-type as a whole – a family line in which the underpinning tale-type eventually recapitulates the configuration of the ancestral Ur-Tale.
    Metadata:
    xml
    Published as:
    Journal article     Show details
    Journal:
    Göttinger Miszellen
    Volume:
    265
    Page Range:
    77 - 105
    ISSN:
    0344-385X
    Status:
    Published
    Last Updated:
    2 years ago
    License:
    All Rights Reserved
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