"Heliodoros/putifar" y el culto solar de Heliopolis (o las Etiópicas, una Loa a Augusto)

Abstract

In this paper we argue that, if there was a solar cult in Heliodorus's í†thiopica, it is not the one from Émesa in the 3rd. century AD, but that of the ancient Egyptian city of Heliopolis, which set the basis for ancient Astronomy. The great priest of the temple of the Sun (Ra) at Heliopolis was called, in Hebrew, “Potifar”; in Greek, “Heliodoros”: extraordinary coincidence, since the motif of Potifar's wife from Genesis 39.7-20 is fundamental in the plot of the novel. However, Heliodoros' narrative does strictly rely on its Greek models. We also suggest that the composition of the work coincides with or emerges from Horace's Carmen Sí¦culare.