Misplaced Pages

Asenath: Difference between revisions

Article snapshot taken from Wikipedia with creative commons attribution-sharealike license. Give it a read and then ask your questions in the chat. We can research this topic together.
Browse history interactively← Previous editContent deleted Content addedVisualWikitext
Revision as of 21:42, 1 October 2006 editTherealmikelvee (talk | contribs)726 edits Revert some more Beit Or.← Previous edit Latest revision as of 12:09, 4 October 2024 edit undoBis-Serjetà? (talk | contribs)Extended confirmed users2,511 edits Changed wording and added saint title in infobox.Tag: Visual edit 
(264 intermediate revisions by more than 100 users not shown)
Line 1: Line 1:
{{Redirect|Osnas|the Russian doctor and soldier|Leo Osnas}}
According to the ], '''Asenath''' ('''אָסְנַת''', ] '''Asənat''', ] '''ʼĀsənạṯ''') was an ] woman whom ] gave to ] son of ] to be his wife. The daughter of ], a priest of ], she bore Joseph two sons, ] and ], who each became patriarchs of their own ]. Modern scholarship says her name derives from from the ] "holy to ]"; her name may be phonetically transliterated from the New Kingdom Egyptian hieroglyphs as ''Ns-Nt'', but according to ], it is transliterated from ''Iw-s-nut'', meaning "Belonging (or holy) to ]" or ''Ns-Nt'' meaning the same.
{{short description|Biblical figure}}
{{Infobox saint|name=Aseneth|image=Asenath.jpg|caption=Asenath from ]'s '']''|titles=the Fair|feast_day=] (Eastern Orthodox)<br>13 December<ref name=":4">{{cite web|title=Asenet (Asenat)|url=https://deon.pl/imiona-swietych/asenet-asenat,854|access-date=2021-12-12|website=DEON.pl|language=pl}}</ref> (Roman Catholic) |honored_in=]<br>]<ref name=":4" />}}
]
]
'''Asenath''' ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|æ|s|ᵻ|n|æ|θ
}}, {{Hebrew Name|אָסְנַת|ʾŎsnát|ʾĀsnaṯ}};<ref>{{Cite book |last=Khan |first=Geoffrey |title=The Tiberian Pronunciation Tradition of Biblical Hebrew, Volume 1. |publisher=Open Book Publishers |year=2020 |isbn=978-1783746767}}</ref> ]: Ἀσενέθ, ''Asenéth'') is a minor figure in the ]. Asenath was a high-born, aristocratic Egyptian woman.<ref name=":0">{{cite web|last=|first=|date=|title=The Egyptian woman Asenath in the Bible|url=https://www.womeninthebible.net/women-bible-old-new-testaments/asenath/|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160831091235/http://www.womeninthebible.net:80/women-bible-old-new-testaments/asenath/ |archive-date=2016-08-31 |access-date=18 November 2020|website=}}</ref> She was the wife of ] and the mother of his sons, ] and ].


There are two Rabbinic approaches to Asenath. One holds that she was an ] that converted to marry Joseph. This view has her accepting ] before marriage and then raising her two sons in the tenets of Judaism. This presents her as a positive example of ] and places her among the devout women converts. The other approach argues she was not Egyptian by descent, but was from the family of ]. Traditions that trace her to the family of Jacob relate that she was born as the daughter of ].<ref>{{Jewish Encyclopedia |inline=1 |title=1905-asenath}}</ref> Dinah was raped by ] and gave birth to Asenath, whom Jacob left on the wall of Egypt, where she was later found by ].{{Citation needed|date=January 2024}} She was then raised by Potiphar's wife and eventually married Joseph. However, in Bereshit Rabbah 80:11<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.sefaria.org/Genesis.34.26?lang=bi&aliyot=0&p2=Radak_on_Genesis.34.26.1&lang2=bi&p3=Bereshit_Rabbah.80.11&lang3=en&w3=all&lang4=en|title=Genesis 34:26|website=www.sefaria.org|accessdate=July 15, 2024}}</ref> she is not stated to be Dinah's daughter but rather Dinah's rape resulted in giving birth to Shaul the son of Simeon.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.sefaria.org/Genesis.34.26?lang=bi&with=Commentary&lang2=en&p3=Bereshit_Rabbah.80.11&lang3=en&w3=all&lang4=en|title=Genesis 34:26|website=www.sefaria.org|accessdate=July 15, 2024}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.sefaria.org/Genesis.34.26?lang=bi&aliyot=0&p2=Radak_on_Genesis.34.26.1&lang2=bi&w2=all&lang3=en|title=Genesis 34:26|website=www.sefaria.org|accessdate=July 15, 2024}}</ref>
Genesis records nothing more about Asenath, but her story is elaborated in the ]l ]. There, she is a virgin who rejects several worthy suitors in favor of Joseph, but Joseph will not have a pagan for a wife. She locks herself in a tower and rejects her idolatry in favor of Joseph's god ], and receives a visit from an angel who accepts her conversion. A ritual involving a ] follows, and Joseph now consents to marry her. She bears him their sons Mannaseh and Ephraim. Pharaoh's son wants Asenath for himself, however, and with the aid of Joseph's brothers ] and ], he conspires to kill her husband. The loyal brother ] interferes, and Pharaoh's son is ultimately slain. Asenath forgives the conspirators, and she and Joseph rule over Egypt for 48 years, after which they pass the crown to Pharaoh's grandson.


Asenath's importance is related to the birth of her two sons, who later become forefathers of two of the ].<ref name=":0" />
According to the Jewish ]im, Asenath was actually the daughter of Joseph's sister ], conceived in her rape by ].


==External links== ==Name==
*


Her name is believed to derive from the Ancient Egyptian '']]-]-]'', meaning "belonging/she belongs to ]". Neith was an Egyptian goddess.<ref name=":1">{{Cite web|url=https://jwa.org/encyclopedia/article/asenath-bible|title=Asenath: Bible {{!}} Jewish Women's Archive|website=jwa.org|access-date=2019-09-05}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |url=https://bibelwissenschaft.de/stichwort/14069/ |title=Asenat |date=July 2020 |website=Das wissenschaftliche Bibellexikon im Internet (WiBiLex) |last=Theis |first=Christoffer |publisher=Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft |publication-place=Stuttgart |language=de }}</ref>
⚫ ]

"Asenath" or "Osnat" is a commonly used female first name in present-day ].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/3847875/jewish/Popular-Jewish-Hebrew-Girl-Names.htm|title=Popular Jewish (Hebrew) Girl Names - Chabad.org|accessdate=July 15, 2024}}</ref>

== Portrayal ==
Asenath is mentioned in three verses of the Bible, all in the ]. First appearing in Genesis 41:45, Asenath is said to have been given by the ] to Joseph as a wife.<ref>{{Cite journal|jstor=43301987|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/pdf/43301987.pdf|last1=Aptowitzer|first1=V.|title=Asenath, the Wife of Joseph: A Haggadic Literary-Historical Study|journal=Hebrew Union College Annual|year=1924|volume=1|pages=239–306}}</ref> Here, she is referred to as the daughter of ], priest of On (Gk. ]).<ref name=":3">{{Cite web |last1=Brooks |first1=Ernest Walter |year=1918 |title=Joseph and Asenath - Translations of Early Documents |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VYDYAAAAMAAJ&dq=asenath+potipherah&pg=PR6}}</ref> Genesis 41:50 says that before the years of famine, ] had two sons with Asenath. The firstborn was named ] and the second ].<ref>{{Cite web|title=FAMILY BENEDICTION: THE ROLE OF ASENATH IN REMBRANDT"S JACOB BLESSING|url=https://repository.library.fresnostate.edu/bitstream/handle/10211.3/191670/FamilyBenediction.pdf?sequence=1}}</ref> Later, in Genesis 46:20, ] and Asenath are mentioned in the family of ]; the verse says that in Egypt, ] had two sons named ] and ], whom Asenath, daughter of ], the priest of ], bore to ].

In the ], generally considered to be ], Asenath is said to be given to Joseph to marry by the ],<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://livrepository.liverpool.ac.uk/3092832/1/EBR%20online_%20Marriage%2C%20Ancient%20Egypt.pdf|title=Encyclopedia of the Bible and Its Reception vol. 17 (pages 991 to 994)|accessdate=July 15, 2024}}</ref> a daughter of ], a high priest of Heliopolis, with no clarification as to whether or not this Potiphar is the same Potiphar whose wife falsely accused Joseph of attempting to rape her. While in the ] and ], she is said to be the daughter of Dinah, Joseph's sister, and Shechem, born of an illicit union, described as either premarital sex or rape, depending on the narrative.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://jwa.org/encyclopedia/article/asenath-midrash-and-aggadah|title=Asenath: Midrash and Aggadah &#124; Jewish Women's Archive|website=jwa.org}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.pseudepigrapha.com/jubilees/40.htm|title=Jubilees 40|website=www.pseudepigrapha.com|access-date=2019-09-05}}</ref><ref>'']'', chapter 38.</ref> A later-date ]l publication written in Greek, believed to be a Christian document, called '']'', supposedly details their relationship and their 48-year long reign over Egypt; in it, Asenath weds Joseph, whose brothers ] and ] plot to kill him for the sake of Pharaoh's son, who wants Asenath to be his wife, only for their efforts to be thwarted by Joseph's younger brother ].<ref>{{cite journal |last=Ahearne-Kroll |first=Patricia |title=Biblical Profile: Aseneth of Egypt |journal=Biblical Archaeology Review |date=Summer 2022 |volume=48 |issue=2 |page=27 |url=https://library.biblicalarchaeology.org/department/biblical-profile-aseneth-of-egypt/}}</ref>

== Depictions ==
<gallery>
File:The Repentance of Aseneth.png|This painted image, which is part of a 1475 painted Flemish manuscript of unknown origin, shows Aseneth repenting.<ref>{{Cite web|title=The Repentance of Aseneth (Getty Museum)|url=https://www.getty.edu/art/collection/objects/4155/unknown-maker-the-repentance-of-aseneth-flemish-about-1475/|access-date=2020-11-05|website=The J. Paul Getty in Los Angeles|language=en}}</ref> This image is likely inspired by an apocryphal text that describes Aseneth rejecting her pagan religion and repenting so that she may marry Joseph.<ref name="JeEn1905">{{JewishEncyclopedia|title=Asenath, Life and Confession or Prayer Of |last=Kohler|first=Kaufmann|url=http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/1905-asenath}}</ref>
File:Aseneth Offering Bread, Wine, and Honey to an Angel.png|This painted image, which is part of a 1475 Flemish manuscript, shows Aseneth offering honey, wine, and bread to an angel.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Aseneth Offering Bread, Wine, and Honey to an Angel (Getty Museum)|url=https://www.getty.edu/art/collection/objects/4156/unknown-maker-aseneth-offering-bread-wine-and-honey-to-an-angel-flemish-about-1475/|access-date=2020-11-04|website=The J. Paul Getty in Los Angeles|language=en}}</ref> This image was likely inspired by an apocryphal text that describes Aseneth being visited by an angel after she rejects paganism and offering the angel bread and wine. In turn, the angel gives Aseneth a honeycomb.<ref name="JeEn1905" />
File:Aseneth Requesting the Angel's Blessing of Seven Young Women.png|This image from a 1475 Flemish manuscript shows Aseneth asking for an angel's blessing for seven young women.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Aseneth Requesting the Angel's Blessing of Seven Young Women (Getty Museum)|url=https://www.getty.edu/art/collection/objects/4157/unknown-maker-aseneth-requesting-the-angel%27s-blessing-of-seven-young-women-flemish-about-1475/|access-date=2020-11-05|website=The J. Paul Getty in Los Angeles|language=en}}</ref> The image is likely inspired by an apocryphal text in which Aseneth, while being visited by an angel after converting from paganism, asks the angel to bless her seven slaves.<ref name="JeEn1905" />
File:Rembrandt - Jacob Blessing the Children of Joseph - WGA19117.jpg|This Rembrandt work shows Aseneth standing with her husband, Joseph, and her sons, Manasseh and Ephraim, as her father-in-law, Jacob, blesses her sons.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Web Gallery of Art, searchable fine arts image database|url=https://www.wga.hu/frames-e.html?/html/r//rembrand/15oldtes/21oldtes.html|access-date=2020-11-05|website=www.wga.hu}}</ref>
File:Jacob's Blessing of Ephraim and Manasseh.jpg|This image from an illuminated manuscript dating back to the 6th century shows Jacob blessing Joseph and Aseneth's sons, Ephraim and Manasseh, while Joseph and Aseneth look on.<ref name=":6">{{Cite web|last=Zdansky|first=Hannah|date=February 28, 2018|title="Of hiest God, Asneth, blessed thu be": Female Readers and The Storie of Asneth|url=https://sites.nd.edu/manuscript-studies/tag/aseneth/|archive-url=|archive-date=|access-date=November 10, 2020|website=Medieval Studies Research Blog}}</ref>
File:The Birth of Ephraim.jpg|This mosaic in the Venetian Basilica di San Marco shows a midwife presenting the newborn Ephraim to Joseph. Aseneth and Manasseh are also present.<ref name=":6" />
</gallery>

== Veneration ==
Asenath is venerated in Catholic Church as a saint. Her feast day is 13 December.<ref name=":4" />

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
{{commonscatinline}}
* {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190202173950/http://www.piney.com/DocEgJosAsen.html |date=2019-02-02 }}
{{Authority control}}


] ]
]
]
]
]
]
⚫ ]
]
]
]
]
]
]

Latest revision as of 12:09, 4 October 2024

"Osnas" redirects here. For the Russian doctor and soldier, see Leo Osnas. Biblical figure
Aseneth
Asenath from Guillaume Rouillé's Promptuarium Iconum Insigniorum
the Fair
Honored inEastern Orthodox Church
Roman Catholic Church
FeastSunday of the Holy Forefathers (Eastern Orthodox)
13 December (Roman Catholic)
Joseph and Asenath
Joseph meets Asenath (1490s painting).

Asenath (/ˈæsɪnæθ/, Hebrew: אָסְנַת, Modern: ʾŎsnát, Tiberian: ʾĀsnaṯ; Koine Greek: Ἀσενέθ, Asenéth) is a minor figure in the Book of Genesis. Asenath was a high-born, aristocratic Egyptian woman. She was the wife of Joseph and the mother of his sons, Manasseh and Ephraim.

There are two Rabbinic approaches to Asenath. One holds that she was an Egyptian woman that converted to marry Joseph. This view has her accepting God before marriage and then raising her two sons in the tenets of Judaism. This presents her as a positive example of conversion to Judaism and places her among the devout women converts. The other approach argues she was not Egyptian by descent, but was from the family of Jacob. Traditions that trace her to the family of Jacob relate that she was born as the daughter of Dinah. Dinah was raped by Shechem and gave birth to Asenath, whom Jacob left on the wall of Egypt, where she was later found by Potiphar. She was then raised by Potiphar's wife and eventually married Joseph. However, in Bereshit Rabbah 80:11 she is not stated to be Dinah's daughter but rather Dinah's rape resulted in giving birth to Shaul the son of Simeon.

Asenath's importance is related to the birth of her two sons, who later become forefathers of two of the Twelve Tribes of Israel.

Name

Her name is believed to derive from the Ancient Egyptian js.tj-(n)-n(j)t, meaning "belonging/she belongs to Neith". Neith was an Egyptian goddess.

"Asenath" or "Osnat" is a commonly used female first name in present-day Israel.

Portrayal

Asenath is mentioned in three verses of the Bible, all in the Book of Genesis. First appearing in Genesis 41:45, Asenath is said to have been given by the Pharaoh to Joseph as a wife. Here, she is referred to as the daughter of Potipherah, priest of On (Gk. Heliopolis). Genesis 41:50 says that before the years of famine, Joseph had two sons with Asenath. The firstborn was named Manasseh and the second Ephraim. Later, in Genesis 46:20, Joseph and Asenath are mentioned in the family of Jacob; the verse says that in Egypt, Joseph had two sons named Manasseh and Ephraim, whom Asenath, daughter of Potiphera, the priest of On, bore to Joseph.

In the Book of Jubilees, generally considered to be apocryphal, Asenath is said to be given to Joseph to marry by the Pharaoh, a daughter of Potiphar, a high priest of Heliopolis, with no clarification as to whether or not this Potiphar is the same Potiphar whose wife falsely accused Joseph of attempting to rape her. While in the Midrash and Targum Pseudo-Jonathan, she is said to be the daughter of Dinah, Joseph's sister, and Shechem, born of an illicit union, described as either premarital sex or rape, depending on the narrative. A later-date apocryphal publication written in Greek, believed to be a Christian document, called Joseph and Aseneth, supposedly details their relationship and their 48-year long reign over Egypt; in it, Asenath weds Joseph, whose brothers Dan and Gad plot to kill him for the sake of Pharaoh's son, who wants Asenath to be his wife, only for their efforts to be thwarted by Joseph's younger brother Benjamin.

Depictions

  • This painted image, which is part of a 1475 painted Flemish manuscript of unknown origin, shows Aseneth repenting. This image is likely inspired by an apocryphal text that describes Aseneth rejecting her pagan religion and repenting so that she may marry Joseph. This painted image, which is part of a 1475 painted Flemish manuscript of unknown origin, shows Aseneth repenting. This image is likely inspired by an apocryphal text that describes Aseneth rejecting her pagan religion and repenting so that she may marry Joseph.
  • This painted image, which is part of a 1475 Flemish manuscript, shows Aseneth offering honey, wine, and bread to an angel. This image was likely inspired by an apocryphal text that describes Aseneth being visited by an angel after she rejects paganism and offering the angel bread and wine. In turn, the angel gives Aseneth a honeycomb. This painted image, which is part of a 1475 Flemish manuscript, shows Aseneth offering honey, wine, and bread to an angel. This image was likely inspired by an apocryphal text that describes Aseneth being visited by an angel after she rejects paganism and offering the angel bread and wine. In turn, the angel gives Aseneth a honeycomb.
  • This image from a 1475 Flemish manuscript shows Aseneth asking for an angel's blessing for seven young women. The image is likely inspired by an apocryphal text in which Aseneth, while being visited by an angel after converting from paganism, asks the angel to bless her seven slaves. This image from a 1475 Flemish manuscript shows Aseneth asking for an angel's blessing for seven young women. The image is likely inspired by an apocryphal text in which Aseneth, while being visited by an angel after converting from paganism, asks the angel to bless her seven slaves.
  • This Rembrandt work shows Aseneth standing with her husband, Joseph, and her sons, Manasseh and Ephraim, as her father-in-law, Jacob, blesses her sons. This Rembrandt work shows Aseneth standing with her husband, Joseph, and her sons, Manasseh and Ephraim, as her father-in-law, Jacob, blesses her sons.
  • This image from an illuminated manuscript dating back to the 6th century shows Jacob blessing Joseph and Aseneth's sons, Ephraim and Manasseh, while Joseph and Aseneth look on. This image from an illuminated manuscript dating back to the 6th century shows Jacob blessing Joseph and Aseneth's sons, Ephraim and Manasseh, while Joseph and Aseneth look on.
  • This mosaic in the Venetian Basilica di San Marco shows a midwife presenting the newborn Ephraim to Joseph. Aseneth and Manasseh are also present. This mosaic in the Venetian Basilica di San Marco shows a midwife presenting the newborn Ephraim to Joseph. Aseneth and Manasseh are also present.

Veneration

Asenath is venerated in Catholic Church as a saint. Her feast day is 13 December.

References

  1. ^ "Asenet (Asenat)". DEON.pl (in Polish). Retrieved 2021-12-12.
  2. ^ "Asenath: Bible | Jewish Women's Archive". jwa.org. Retrieved 2019-09-05.
  3. Khan, Geoffrey (2020). The Tiberian Pronunciation Tradition of Biblical Hebrew, Volume 1. Open Book Publishers. ISBN 978-1783746767.
  4. ^ "The Egyptian woman Asenath in the Bible". Archived from the original on 2016-08-31. Retrieved 18 November 2020.
  5.  One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Singer, Isidore; et al., eds. (1901–1906). "1905-asenath". The Jewish Encyclopedia. New York: Funk & Wagnalls.
  6. "Genesis 34:26". www.sefaria.org. Retrieved July 15, 2024.
  7. "Genesis 34:26". www.sefaria.org. Retrieved July 15, 2024.
  8. "Genesis 34:26". www.sefaria.org. Retrieved July 15, 2024.
  9. Theis, Christoffer (July 2020). "Asenat". Das wissenschaftliche Bibellexikon im Internet (WiBiLex) (in German). Stuttgart: Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft.
  10. "Popular Jewish (Hebrew) Girl Names - Chabad.org". Retrieved July 15, 2024.
  11. Aptowitzer, V. (1924). "Asenath, the Wife of Joseph: A Haggadic Literary-Historical Study" (PDF). Hebrew Union College Annual. 1: 239–306. JSTOR 43301987.
  12. Brooks, Ernest Walter (1918). "Joseph and Asenath - Translations of Early Documents".
  13. "FAMILY BENEDICTION: THE ROLE OF ASENATH IN REMBRANDT"S JACOB BLESSING" (PDF).
  14. "Encyclopedia of the Bible and Its Reception vol. 17 (pages 991 to 994)" (PDF). Retrieved July 15, 2024.
  15. "Asenath: Midrash and Aggadah | Jewish Women's Archive". jwa.org.
  16. "Jubilees 40". www.pseudepigrapha.com. Retrieved 2019-09-05.
  17. Pirke De-Rabbi Eliezer, chapter 38.
  18. Ahearne-Kroll, Patricia (Summer 2022). "Biblical Profile: Aseneth of Egypt". Biblical Archaeology Review. 48 (2): 27.
  19. "The Repentance of Aseneth (Getty Museum)". The J. Paul Getty in Los Angeles. Retrieved 2020-11-05.
  20. ^  This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Kohler, Kaufmann (1901–1906). "Asenath, Life and Confession or Prayer Of". In Singer, Isidore; et al. (eds.). The Jewish Encyclopedia. New York: Funk & Wagnalls.
  21. "Aseneth Offering Bread, Wine, and Honey to an Angel (Getty Museum)". The J. Paul Getty in Los Angeles. Retrieved 2020-11-04.
  22. "Aseneth Requesting the Angel's Blessing of Seven Young Women (Getty Museum)". The J. Paul Getty in Los Angeles. Retrieved 2020-11-05.
  23. "Web Gallery of Art, searchable fine arts image database". www.wga.hu. Retrieved 2020-11-05.
  24. ^ Zdansky, Hannah (February 28, 2018). ""Of hiest God, Asneth, blessed thu be": Female Readers and The Storie of Asneth". Medieval Studies Research Blog. Retrieved November 10, 2020.

External links

Media related to Asenath at Wikimedia Commons

Categories: