Papyrus narrating the story of the wise chancellor Ahiqar. Aramaic script. 5th century BCE. From Elephantine, Egypt. Neues Museum, BerlineHow Ahikar Outwitted the King of Egypt (Henry Justice Ford)
The Story of Aḥiqar, also known as the Words of Aḥiqar, is a story first attested in Imperial Aramaic from the fifth century BCE on papyri from Elephantine, Egypt, that circulated widely in the Middle and the Near East.[1][2][3] It has been characterised as "one of the earliest 'international books' of world literature".[4]
The principal character, Aḥiqar, might have been a chancellor to the Assyrian Kings Sennacherib and Esarhaddon. Only a Late Babylonian cuneiform tablet from Uruk (Warka) mentions an Aramaic name Aḫu’aqār.[5] His name is written in Imperial Aramaic אחיקר and in Syriac ܐܚܝܩܪ and is transliterated as Aḥiqar, Arabic حَيْقَار (Ḥayqār), Greek Achiacharos, and Slavonic Akyrios, with variants on that theme such as Armenian Խիկար (Xikar) and Ottoman Turkish Khikar, a sage known in the ancient Near East for his outstanding wisdom.[6]
It is known as TAD C1.1, and catalogued as Berlin P. 13446A-H, K-L (Egyptian Museum of Berlin) and Pap. No. 3465 = J. 43502 (Egyptian Museum of Cairo).[3]
^Christa Müller-Kessler, "Ahiqar," in Brill’s New Pauly, Antiquity volumes, ed. by Hubert Cancik and Helmuth Schneider, English edition by Christine F. Salazar, Classical Tradition volumes ed. by Manfred Landfester, English Edition by Francis G. Gentry.
^"The Story of Ahikar | Pseudepigrapha". Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved 2021-01-23.
^ abJ. M. Linderberger, Ahiqar (Seventh to Sixth Century B.C.). A New Translation and Introduction, in James H. Charlesworth (1985), The Old Testament Pseudoepigrapha, Garden City, NY: Doubleday & Company Inc., Volume 2, ISBN 0-385-09630-5 (Vol. 1), ISBN 0-385-18813-7 (Vol. 2), p. 480. Quote:"The Aramaic manuscript was discovered by German escavators at Elephantine in 1907. Catalogued by the Königliche Museen zu Berlin as P.13446, most of the manuscript remanins in the museum's Papyrus Collection. Column vi (P.13446 J) was subsequently returned to Egypt along with a number of other papyri from Elephantine and is now at the Egyptian Museum at Cairo, where it bears the catalogue number 43502. [...] The Syriac and the Armenian (which also goes back to a Syr. tradition) are the versions most closely related to the Aramaic."
^Ioannis M. Konstantakos, "A Passage to Egypt: Aesop, the Priests of Heliopolis and the Riddle of the Year (Vita Aesopi 119–120)," Trends in Classics 3, 2011, pp. 83–112, esp. 84).
^J. J. A. van Dijk, Die Inschriftenfunde der Kampagne 1959/60, Archiv für Orientforschung 20, 1963, p. 217.
^The Story of Aḥiḳar from the Assyrian, Aramaic, Syriac, Arabic, Armenian, Ethiopic, Old Turkish, Greek and Slavonic Versions, ed. by F. C. Conybeare, J. Rendel Harrisl Agnes Smith Lewis, 2nd edition (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1913) archive.org
13446A-H, K-L (Egyptian Museum of Berlin) and Pap. No. 3465 = J. 43502 (Egyptian Museum of Cairo). In the story, Ahikar is a mythical chancellor to the...
Manasses was a character in the StoryofAhikar (not in Vulgata, but in Septuagint) told by Tobit on the point of death. The Vatican Manuscript mentions...
Odes of Solomon The Letter of Aristeas The Fourth Book of Maccabees The StoryofAhikar Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs 1 Esdras and 2 Esdras (150-100...
worthy of its sailor!' The moral drawn is that the evil come to grief from the company they keep. The West Asian variant occurs in the storyofAhikar, where...
known is the StoryofAhikar, a book of instructive aphorisms quite similar in style to the biblical Book of Proverbs. Consensus as of 2022[update] regards...
Queen of Sheba tests Solomon's wisdom), and in the Talmud. Sirach also mentions riddles as a popular dinner pastime, while the Aramaic StoryofAhikar contains...
Amyrtaios, in 400 BCE, Egyptian Museum of Berlin Aramaic Papyrus with StoryofAhikar, 5th century BCE, Egyptian Museum of Berlin Elephantine papyrus J 37112...
context of the time as a parable of the imperial stripping of Indian resources. The StoryofAhikar, London 1898, p.82 John Ray, A Compleat Collection of English...
Aramaic StoryofAhikar contains a long section of proverbial wisdom that in some versions also contains riddles. The Bible describes how the Queen of Sheba...
Truth, a Manual of the Paulician Church of Armenia (1898) The Story of Ahikar from the Syriac, Arabic, Armenian, Ethiopic, Greek and Slavonic Versions...
Centum et Quinquaginta Fabulae carminibus explicatae, poem 94 The storyofAhikar, London 1898 Children's literature portal 19–20th century illustrations...
Textbook of Aramaic Documents from Ancient Egypt, often referred to as TAD or TADAE, is a four volume corpus of Aramaic inscriptions written during the...
12th century Italy northwards to France, Switzerland and Germany. The storyofAhikar, London 1898, p.117 Text online Katharina M.Wilson, Mediaeval Women...
Ahasuerus of Daniel 9:1 In the Codex Sinaiticus Greek (LXX) edition, the two names in this verse appear instead as one name, Ahikar (also the name of another...
Bank of Spain Ahikar Azcona as Matías Caño (Pamplona; featured parts 3–5): a member of the group who largely guards the hostages in the Bank of Spain...
and his friend on the unrighteousness of the world. The 5th-century BC Aramaic story Words ofAhikar is full of sayings and proverbs, many similar to...
Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs", in the Proceedings of the Society of Biblical Archæology, xvi. 33 et seq.; "Contributions to the History ofAḥiḳar and...
Global Information
