Bata (god)

Bata is an ancient Egyptian bull deity from the New Kingdom. Up to Thutmose IV of the 18th Dynasty, he is also represented as a ram god. Bata comes from the city Saka ( Kasa ) in the 17th Upper Egyptian Schakalgau, the center of worship of Anubis. In the two brothers fairy tale ( Papyrus D' Orbiney ) from the Nachamarnazeit, Bata is considered brother of Anubis and still has Osirian traits. Only in the Late Period Papyrus Jumilhac is Bata, equated instead with Osiris with his adversary Seth.

Precursor

Evidence for such an identification is that in Bata still under Thutmose IV as ( " B3tjj " ) instead of a bull with a standing ram ( determined ) is. Another indication could be a Nubian rock inscription from the late 4th or 5th dynasty. There is writing a royal official of the 17th nome of Upper Egypt, that he came with 20,000 troops " to hack Wawat " around. He wears the theophoric ( with names of gods formed ) name Cha- construction -bet, where Bt is again determined with a lying Aries Idol If the equation of Bt and Bata is true, this would be the earliest evidence for Bata Saka.

Bata in the Papyrus d' Orbiney

The two brothers fairy tale ( Papyrus D' Orbiney ) is a literary text, but at the same time also a profanierter gods myth. Bata is considered here as brother of Balsamierungsgottes Anubis and Osiris is like a dying and recurrent first prospective God. In the fairy tale Bata is considered a " bull of the Ennead ," and in his first transformation he becomes a bull.

Bata in the papyrus Jumilhac

In the 20th Dynasty there is a temple of the Bata Saka, which is also called the Late Period Papyrus Jumilhac. In this " kulttopographischen " papyrus from the Ptolemaic period the subject of Batas castration from the Papyrus D' Orbiney is taken up and reinterpreted again. Due to the more than 1,000-year time interval and the rule of Libyans, Nubians and Persians, the religious ideas have changed, and the previously ambivalent Seth is demonized. Inspired by the myth of Horus of Edfu Anubis follows the Seth. After him Anubis has overwhelmed Seth is castrated as a punishment, and then merges with Bata Bata to Seth. At least here a reminder of the Two Brothers fairy tales and the motive of self-castration Batas has been preserved in a modified form, but rather in the accompanying vignettes of the papyrus.

Further conclusions were dismissed as unfounded, not least because of the time interval already by Susan T. Hollis.