Osarseph

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Osarseph or Osarsiph (Koine Greek: Ὀσαρσίφ) is a legendary figure of Ancient Egypt who has been equated with Moses. According to Josephus, the 1st century CE Jewish historian, the story of Osarseph was recounted by the Ptolemaic Egyptian priest Manetho in his Aegyptiaca (first half of the 3rd century BC). Manetho's work is lost, but Josephus relates extensively from what he maintains are epitomes of the original. According to Josephus’s quotation of Manetho in Against Apion (I.26–31), Osarseph was an Ancient Egyptian priest from Heliopolis who led a revolt of people described as lepers and “unclean” against a pharaoh named Amenophis (the Greek form of Amenhotep, referring either to Amenhotep II or Amenhotep IV). The rebels allied themselves with the expelled Hyksos, who, according to Josephus, returned from the region later associated with Jerusalem in his narrative, to join them in despoiling Egypt, before being expelled once more when Amenophis regained power. Toward the end of the story, Osarseph is said to have changed his name to Moses. Later chronographers such as Africanus and Eusebius, attempting to align Manetho's narrative with known Egyptian dynasties, identified this Amenophis as a king “between two Ramesses”, sometimes calling him "Seti" and the “son of Ramses”. These identifications are not supported by Egyptian chronology: the Hyksos (c. 1650–1550 BCE), the Amenhotep kings (c. 1525–1350 BCE), and the Ramessides (c. 1290–1070 BCE) belong to distinct, non-overlapping periods. Modern Egyptology therefore treats Manetho's narrative as a composite legend rather than a literal historical record. Some later interpretations of Josephus's account suggest that the Hyksos established settlements in the Levant, including the city later called Jerusalem, though this is considered legendary and not supported by archaeology. Much debated is the question of what, if any, historical reality might lie behind the Osarseph story. An influential study by...