Famine Ankhtifi as Antef (Intef)

by Damien F. Mackey Now, given the likeness of the name Antef, to Ankhtifi, my Joseph … and the likeness of Antef’s variants, Intef/Inyotef, to Imhotep (Joseph), plus the fact that a great Famine occurred during the time of Intef, I may have been somewhat remiss to date for not including Antef/Intef in my list … of potential candidates for the biblical Joseph. Ankhtifi is the name closest to Joseph’s given Egyptian name, Zaphenath paneah (Genesis 41:45) amongst the names of all of my many proposed historical identifications for the biblical Joseph in ancient Egypt - for instance all of these names (below) as listed in my article: Was this the original ‘Famine Stela’? (7) Was this the original 'Famine Stela'? The multi-named Joseph From what we have just read, Joseph’s names may include Imhotep; Khasekhemwy-Imhotep; Hetep-Khasekhemwy; Khasekhem; Sekhemkhet; Den (Dewen, Udimu); Khasti; Uenephes; Usaphais (Yusef); Zaphenath paneah; Ankhtifi; Bebi and perhaps also: Hemaka; Kheti From stark obscurity, the historical Joseph now abounds! And I suspect that this will not exhaust the potential list of Egyptian (also including some Greek) names for the biblical Joseph. …. By now I could potentially add to this list the names Semerkhet, “… in his reign a very great calamity befell Egypt" (Eusebius following Manetho), Henuka and Peribsen. Now, given the likeness of the name Antef, to Ankhtifi, my Joseph (see above), and the likeness of Antef’s variants, Intef/Inyotef, to Imhotep (Joseph), plus the fact that a great Famine occurred during the time of Intef, I may have been somewhat remiss to date for not including Antef/Intef in my list above of potential candidates for the biblical Joseph. It was in my article: Ankhtifi a Joseph type saving Egypt in an extensive Famine (8) Ankhtifi a Joseph type saving Egypt in an extensive Famine that I provided the following explanation of: Joseph’s new name Genesis 44:45: “Pharaoh gave Joseph the name Zaphenath-Paneah and gave him Asenath daughter of Potiphera, priest of On, to be his wife. And Joseph went throughout the land of Egypt”. Can the name Ankhtifi be found in Joseph’s given Egyptian name, Zaphenath-Paneah? This is a difficult matter since no two commentators seem to be able to reach a consensus on the meaning of Joseph’s new name. Here I turn to professor A. S. Yahuda who has proven in the past to be a trustworthy guide in matters pertaining to Egyptian linguistics. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zaphnath-Paaneah “Abraham Yahuda suggested for Zapheath-paneah, ḏfꜣ n tꜣ pꜣ ꜥnḫ, "the living one is the sustenance of (the) land", or ḏfꜣ n tꜣ pw ꜥnḫ "the sustenance of the land is he, the living one." (Yahuda, A. S. (1930). Eine Erwiderung auf Wilhelm Spiegelbergs "Ägyptologische Bemerkungen" zu meinem Buche "Die Sprache des Pentateuch". Leipzig. p. 7., cited by Vergote, p. 144)”. In professor Yahuda’s explanation of this Egyptian name I think that we can basically find, in hypocoristicon form, the three elements that constitute the name, Ankhtifi: viz., Ankh (ꜥnḫ); ti (tꜣ); fi (fꜣ). …. Egyptology currently proposes about eight (I-VIII) Antefs/Intefs. I suspect that a large degree of duplication may have occurred here, as with the similar amount (I-IX) of Sobekhoteps. On this last, see e.g. my articles: Abydos and Saqqara lists exclude Sobekhotep I-IX (9) Abydos and Saqqara lists exclude Sobekhotep I-IX and: Too many pharaohs named Sobekhotep (9) Too many pharaohs named Sobekhotep Sobekhotep Khaneferre was, in fact, the traditional “Chenephres” who married “Merris”, Egyptian Meresankh, the Egyptian foster-mother of Moses, and who gave Moses a hard time while the latter was officiating in Egypt during Israel’s Oppression: King “Chenephres” of Egypt - an ancient type of King Saul https://www.academia.edu/87167524/King_Chenephres_of_Egypt_an_ancient_type_of_King_Saul King “Chenephres” recurs in various dynasties, as e.g. Khafre/Chephren (Fourth); Pepi Neferkare (Sixth); Sesostris Neferkare (Twelfth); and Sobekhotep Khaneferre (Thirteenth). Like “Chenephres”, his wife, “Merris”, Meresankh/Ankhenesmerire, is like a golden thread weaving together parts of ancient Egyptian history that have become separated. In “Was this the original ‘Famine Stela’?” article (above), I wrote regarding the Famine at the time of Intef (perhaps duplicated here as, now Wahankh, now Nakht-Nebtepnefer): Arkadiy Demidchik, member of Saint-Petersburg State University, Oriental Faculty, has picked up what he calls “a fairly similar story” between the famous Ptolemaïc Famine Stela on Sehel Island and a far more ancient document of Wahankh Intef and Nakht-Nebtepnefer Intef of Egypt’s so-called Eleventh Dynasty (wrongly dated here): A ‘Famine Stela’ Episode under the Early XIth Dynasty https://www.academia.edu/36620751/A_Famine_Stela_Episode_under_the_Early_XIth_Dynasty This is what Arkadiy Demidchik has written about it: On the orders of the early XIth dynasty kings Wahankh Intef and Nakht-Nebtepnefer Intef, the chapels for the gods Satet and Khnum on Elep[h]antine were constructed with stone doorjambs, lintels, columns, etc. This is the oldest example of pharaohs’ monumental stone building for gods in provincial temples. What was the incentive for this grand and labor-intensive innovation in the troubled times when the young Theban monarchy controlled only a smaller part of Egypt? Careful scrutiny of the inscriptions from the chapels shows that Khnum was invoked there first and foremost as the lord of the sources of the Upper Egyptian inundation, believed to be situated at the First Cataract. Together with a good number of other texts examined in the paper, this indicates that the Intefs’ stone building project on Elephantine was undertaken in order to deliver their Theban kingdom from too low or unseasonable Nile floods which resulted in poor harvests. Almost two millennia later, a fairly similar story would be told on the famous “Famine Stela” about the pharaoh Djoser’s making lavish donations to the temple of Khnum on Elephantine in order to terminate the seven years’ famine. The idea of K[h]num’s revelation to a king in a dream, which is said to have happened to Djoser, is also attested as early as in the XXth century BC. [End of quote] But this is not all. The same Arkadiy Demidchik has also been able to point to what he has called: A Northern Version of the “Famine Stela” Narrative? https://www.academia.edu/36620738/A_Northern_Version_of_the_Famine_Stela_Narrative Here he writes: According to the “historical” introduction to the royal decree to the “Famine Stela” on the island of Sehel, the king Djoser managed to cease the seven years’ famine only due to the discovery of the source of the Upper Egyptian inundation and its gods by the sage Imhotep. However, since the Egyptians usually distinguished also Lower Egyptian inundation, with its own source near Heliopolis, there must have existed a kind of “northern” version of the “Famine Stela” story with Imhotep’s discovering the Heliopolitan source, regulated by Atum with his entourage. As early as 1999 this was pointed out by O.D. Berlev. There are mentions of “7 years” when the inundation-Hapi did not come, of the “temple of Atum of Heliopolis” and its high priest Imhotep on British Museum hieratic papyrus fragment 1065, first read by J. Quack. Could this not be scraps of that “northern” version of the “Famine Stela” narrative? [End of quote] Clearly, we are in the time of the highly famed Imhotep (Third Dynasty) - replicated in the so-called Eleventh Dynasty – the biblical Joseph, son of Jacob, when there occurred a seven-year Famine (Genesis 41-47).