[B-Greek] Act 27:14 TUFWNIKOS
George F Somsel
gfsomsel at yahoo.com
Wed Dec 6 06:42:02 EST 2006
TYPHON Τυφών
I. The adjective typhōnikos in Acts 27:14 indicates that the Eurakylōn was a stormy wind. The word derives from the noun typhōn which stands for a whirlwind in Philo, Deus 89. Both meanings can be connected with the monstrous figure Typhōn in Greek mythology. Josephus hints at a related god in Ap. 1.237.
II. Typhon appears in Greek myths as the opponent of →Zeus or even of all gods. He is the youngest son of Tartaros and Gaia and has several names (Typhōeus, Typhōs, Typhaōn and Typhōn), which were used interchangeably. In antiquity his name was derived from typhoō ‘to be crazy’ (e.g. Plutarch, De Iside 2, 351F) or typhō ‘smoke’, which is bound up with the idea that Typhon was the personification of vulcanism. The name resembles →Zaphon and there seem to have been connections between Typhon and →Baal-zaphon (Eissfeldt 1932; Bonnet 1987). According to Apollodorus, Bib. 1.41, Typhon flees to Mount Kasios, the mountain of Baal-zaphon. The myths about Typhon may be influenced by oriental forerunners like Ullikummi in Hurrite texts (Seippel 1939; Vian 1960). Typhon is described as a primaeval monster which was defeated by Zeus, but lived on beneath the earth after his punishment (under vulcanos or in the Tartaros). He has gigantic proportions, often a
lower part consisting of the bodies of snakes, further wings, a hundred arms, a hundred snakes’ heads (according to Apollodorus, Bib. 1.39, there were a hundred kephalai drakontōn attached to his hands), and a human head as well. He spits fire and is called a →Dragon (e.g. Strabo 16.2.7). His terrible voice(s) and insolent behaviour are often emphasized (see for an extensive description Schmidt 1916–1924).
Hesiod describes the struggle between Zeus and Typhon for the rule over gods and men after the defeat of the →Titans. Zeus eliminates Typhon with his lightning and throws him into the Tartaros (Theog. 820–868). According to other texts Typhon ends up under the Etna (e.g. Aeschylus, Prom. 351–372) or the (volcanic) coast of Campania, from where he still causes volcanic eruptions. Typhon is related to several other sites. According to one version of the combat myth he brings Zeus after the seize of his sickle and sinews to his residence, the Corycian cave in Cilicia (e.g. Apollodorus, Bib. 1.42). He is also associated with the river Orontes (Syria). The partly underground bed of this river was explained by the elimination of Typhon, who fled from Zeus’ thunderbolts and ploughed up the channel of the future river and disappeared into the ground and caused the fountain to break forth to the surface (Strabo 16.2.7; see for a related tradition Fontenrose 1980:75,
277–278). Typhon’s elimination is also linked with the sea. According to Nicander (see Antoninus Liberalis 28) Typhon tries to escape the lightning of Zeus and his burning by diving into the sea (cf. Valerius Flaccus, Argon. 2.25-29).
Typhon is connected with the Delphic Dragon Python (Fontenrose 1980:77–93). According to Hom. Hymn to Apollo 305–355 →Hera produced Typhon because of her anger at Zeus over the birth of →Athena and asked the Delphic dragoness to raise him. Gradually Typhon became associated with the →Giants (Hyginus, Fab. 151; cf. Pindar, Pyth. 8.17-18). From the sixth or fifth century bce onwards Typhon is identified with the Egyptian god →Seth (possibly already Pherecydes according to Origen, Contra Cels. 6.42; Herodotus 2.144; 156; 3.5; Diodorus Siculus, Bibl. hist. 1.21-22; 88; passim in Plutarch, De Iside), who was initially a royal god but developed in the first millennium bce into the prototype of evil and the god of the foreigners (Te Velde 1977). The element of the flight of the gods before Typhon in several Greek and Latin texts (e.g. Nicander according to Antoninus Liberalis 28; Ovidius, Metam. 5.321-331; Hyginus, Fab. 196) is probably inspired by Egyptian traditions
concerning Seth (Griffiths 1960). The combat myth of Typhon has a different character in the texts where Seth and Typhon are identified. Typhon’s opponents are in that case Osiris, →Isis and [Page 880] →Horus (→Apollo). Herodotus (3.5) mentions that Seth-Typhon ends up in the Serbonian Lake, at the coast near the eastern border of Egypt. The negative aspects of Seth matched well with the character of Typhon, who probably was the most prominent opponent of the Olympic gods (cf. Pindar, Pyth. 1.15 theōn polemios; Aeschylos, Prom. 358 pasin theois antestē; Hyginus, Astr. 2.28 acerrimus gigas et maxime deorum hostis; Nonnus, Dion. 2.571 theēmachos). This explains why Seth-Typhon came to be used as a kind of stereotype to characterize historical figures as the creators of chaos. Especially in texts from Ptolemaic Egypt there are several examples of a similar negative characterization of rebels or foreign enemies: Antiochus III in the Raphia decree, Harsiesis, the
Greeks in the Oracle of the Potter; possibly also Antiochus IV (for references see van Henten 1993:224–225 and 239–243; cf. Apollonius Rhodius, Argon. 2.38). The opponent of the typhonic enemy is usually the king, who was associated with Horus. The mythic conflict between Seth-Typhon and Horus was part of the Ptolemaic royal ideology, which is evident from the coronation ceremony and other places (Koenen 1983; Van Henten 1993:224).
Typhon also appears as a demon of storms, whirlwinds (see already Hesiod, Theog. 846; 869–880; Schmidt 1916–1924: 1426; 1442–1445; Fontenrose 1980: 126; 545–546, and Index A I s.v. motif 3G p 581) and earthquakes and the originator of volcanic eruptions. Aristotle, Met. 1.1 339a, and Pliny, Nat. hist. 2.131-132 mention typhōnes as whirlwinds without a reference to Typhon.
III. The use of typhōnikos in Acts 27:14 is bound up with the meaning ‘gale’ of typhōn and Typhon as originator of storm winds. Because of the context it is unlikely that a whirlwind or waterspout was meant by Luke. Philo uses typhōn in the sense of whirlwind metaphorically in Quod deus 89 (cf. LXX Ps 148:8 v.l.).
Josephus Ap. 1.237 can be understood against the background of the identification of Seth and Typhon. Josephus transmits a passage of Manetho relating that the abandoned city of Avaris in the eastern delta of the Nile was given to the impure who laboured in the quarries nearby. The city is connected to Seth-Typhon in this passage by the adjective Typhōnios, which might have a historical basis in the foundation of the city by the Hyksos. The foreign god of the Hyksos was probably identified by the Egyptians with Seth, the Egyptian god of the foreigners (Te Velde 1977:128). Because of Manetho’s association of the impure with the Israelites, however, the import of the passage becomes strongly anti-Jewish: the Jews are presented as adherents of the now very evil god Seth-Typhon.
Although Typhon is not mentioned in Dan 7–12 or Revelation it is quite possible that the typhonic type which was taken from Greek and Egyptian mythology was incorporated into passages of these apocalyptic writings in order to emphasize the appearance of foreign rulers as the tyrannical eschatological adversary. The vision in Dan 7 shows not only correspondences with Canaanite mythology (→Baal, →Sea), but also with texts on Seth-Typhon (especially concerning the eleventh horn; van Henten 1993). The battle against heaven and the stars in Dan 8:10–12 and Rev 12:4; 7–9; 13:6 of the little horn, the dragon and the first beast corresponds with the role of Typhon, who according to Apollodorus, Bib. 1.39-40, touches the stars with his head and attacks heaven (Claudian, Carm. 26.62-66; Nonnus, Dion. 1.291; 2.386-387). Valerius Flaccus (first century ce) even says that Typhon thought that he had captured the kingdom of heaven and the stars (Argon. 2.236-238).
According to several scholars also the pattern of Rev 12 shows strong similarities with a (Greco-Egyptian) version of myths concerning Seth-Typhon: the flight of Isis for Seth-Typhon; the birth and secret upbringing of Horus; and the revenge on Seth-Typhon by Horus for the killing of his father Osiris (sources: Herodotus 2.144; 156; 3.5; Plutarch, De Iside, esp. 12–21; Diodorus Siculus, Bib. 1.21-22; 88; Bousset [Page 881] 1906; Vögtle 1971; Bergmeier 1982). This does not exclude similar correspondences with other dragon myths (Python, cf. Yarbro Collins 1975). Seth-Typhon shares, however, with the dragon of Revelation the fact that he fights against several opponents (Osiris, Isis and Horus) and pursues the woman after she has given birth to a son. The attempt to overwhelm the woman with a river (Rev 12:15) corresponds with the site of the conflict of Seth-Typhon, the delta of the Nile (cf. also Typhon’s connection with the Orontes). If the author of Revelation
actually has incorporated pagan material in chap. 12, he probably also has used traditions concerning Seth-Typhon, e.g. in addition to the traditions about the pursuit of Isis and Horus, also the attack on heaven and stars. Even the beginning of the vision with the two heavenly signs matches with traditions concerning Seth-Typhon. Isis and Seth-Typhon are connected with stars and constellations, Isis with the dogstar (Plutarch, De Isid. 21 = Mor. 359D) and Virgo, Seth-Typhon with pole stars and the Great Bear, according to some scholars also with Hydra (Bergmeier 1982).
IV. Bibliography
R. Bergmeier, Altes und Neues zur ‘Sonnenfrau am Himmel (Apk 12)’, ZNW 73 (1982) 97–109; C. Bonnet, Typhon et Baal Saphon, Phoenicia and the East Mediterranean in the First Millennium B.C. (Orientalia Lovaniensia Analecta 22; ed. E. Lipinski; Louvain 1987) 101–143; W. Bousset, Die Offenbarung Johannis (Göttingen 1906) 351–356; O. Eissfeldt, Baal Zaphon, Zeus Kasios und der Durchzug der Israeliten durchs Meer (Halle 1932); J. Fontenrose, Python. A Study of Delphic Myth and its Origins (Berkeley/Los Angeles 1959; 19802); J. G. Griffiths, The Flight of the Gods before Typhon: an Unrecognized Myth?, Hermes 88 (1960) 374–376; Griffiths, The Conflict of Horus and Seth from Egyptian and Classic Sources (Liverpool 1960); J. W. van Henten, Antiochus IV as a Typhonic Figure in Daniel 7, The Book of Daniel in the Light of New Findings (ed. A. S. van der Woude; BETL 106; Louvain 1993) 223–243; L. Koenen, Die Adaptation ägyptischer Königsideologie am Ptolemäerhof,
Egypt and the Hellenistic World (Studia Hellenistica 27; eds. E. van ’t Dack, P. van Dessel & W. van Gucht; Louvain 1983) 143–190; G. Michaïlidès, Vestiges du culte solaire parmi les chrétiens d’Egypte, Bulletin de la Société d’Archéologie Copte 13 (1948–49) 37–110, esp. 84–100; J. Schmidt, Typhoeus, Typhon, ALGRM 5 (Leipzig 1916–1924) 1426–1445; G. Seippel, Der Typhonmythos (Greifswalder Beiträge zur Literatur und Stilforschung 24; Greifswald 1939); H. te Velde, Seth, God of Confusion. A Study of his Role in Egyptian Mythology and Religion (Probleme der Ägyptologie 6; Leiden 19772) [& lit]; F. Vian, Le mythe de Typhée et le problème de ses origines orientales, Éléments orientaux dans la religion grecque ancienne. Colloque de Strasbourg 22–24 mai 1958 (Paris 1960) 17–37; A. Vögtle, Mythos und Botschaft in Apokalypse 12, Tradition und Glaube. Das frühe Christentum in seiner Umwelt, FS K.G. Kuhn (eds. G. Jeremias, H.-W. Kuhn & H.
Stegemann; Göttingen 1971) 395–415; A. Yarbro Collins, The Combat Myth in the Book of Revelation (Missoula 1975) 57–100.
J. W. van Henten
Toorn, K. v. d., Becking, B., & Horst, P. W. v. d. (1999). Dictionary of deities and demons in the Bible DDD (2nd extensively rev. ed.) (879). Leiden; Boston; Grand Rapids, Mich.: Brill; Eerdmans.
george
gfsomsel
_________
----- Original Message ----
From: Oun Kwon <kwonbbl at gmail.com>
To: B Greek <b-greek at lists.ibiblio.org>
Sent: Wednesday, December 6, 2006 2:21:29 AM
Subject: [B-Greek] Act 27:14 TUFWNIKOS
Act 27:14 MET OU POLU DE EBALEN KAT AUTHS ANEMOS TUFWNIKS hO
KALOUMENOS EURAKULWN
The English word Typhoon is from Chinese meaning 'great wind'. Is the
Gk TUFWNIKOS originated from a Chinese (it would be surprising if it
did) or is the semblance coincidental?
Oun Kwon.
---
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