[Avodah] Sodom bed [was Torah Homeschooling|

[Micha Berger]

On Wed, Jun 17, 2009 at 09:15:23PM +0000, rabbirichwolpoe at gmail.com wrote:
: May I ask from a hard-headed analytical scientific POV:
: Is there any evidence that the Egyptians at the time of Moshe Rabbeinu
: worshipped the zodiac as we know it now?

The zodiac, pretty much as we know it, was found on the sarcophagus of
Ramses II (usually dated to 1223 BCE, a couple of centuries or so
off from Yetzi'as Mitrayim). It can be seen at the Louvre, or
at <http://www.dudziak.com/picture.php/egyptian_zodiac4927> (although
the oblique angle obscures making out the signs on it. Aries was
associated with their god Amon Ra, a sun god with ram horns.

Which both weakens and supports the Avudraham's point. Looks like they
had a ram god, so rams may have been special. However, Nissan being
about rams was definitely true.

And so, Google confirms the notion that the Zodiac wasn't gotten from
Hellenic or Roman culture but predates matan Torah. Although I have to
tell you, weeding out hits from authoritative sources (museums and
archeological journals) from nut-jobs was really difficult on this one.

Tir'u baTov!
-Micha

-- 
Micha Berger             Man is equipped with such far-reaching vision,
micha at aishdas.org        yet the smallest coin can obstruct his view.
http://www.aishdas.org                         - Rav Yisrael Salanter
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