Un oracle d’Hathor à Dendara. À propos de l’égyptien de la deuxième phase dans les temples gréco-romains

Abstract

An exceptional text known by two versions in the Dendara Temple (Dendara III 53, 5-54, 9; XIII 21, 5-23, 1) is argued to rely on a Hathor’s oracle signified via her sacred bark on the occasion of a feast procession. She is committed to protecting her town and insuring the prosperity of Egypt. The oracle, which shows strong Late Egyptian features, perhaps due to its having been originally stated during the Third Intermediate Period, raises the complex issue of the linguistic heterogeneity in Greco-roman temples: to what extent Second Phase Egyptian texts happen to take place next to First Phase Egyptian original texts (« égyptien de tradition reproductif ») and First Phase Egyptian mimetic texts (« égyptien de tradition productif ») and to what extent do they involve tinkering and making up?