The complete translation and commentary of five important theological texts from the Persian period in egypt marks a seminal contribution to the understanding of the histories of language, writing, religion, and theology of that era. The author has succeeded in enlightening previously unclear or misunderstood text passages, and in establishing relations heretofore unseen; he has done it by considering numerous text sources from a wide range of corpora.From the reviewer's point of view, a synthesising interpretation of all analysed texts, with regard to their position in (and importance for) the histories of religion and theology, is still required. while the various intertextual relations are pointed out by the author (e.g. p. 19), the suggested overall theological concept behind the hymns, namely 'Adoration of the Ram', remains rather ill defined. The elaboration of the iris motif, as well as the eye metaphors for the concept of divine transcendence and earthly effectivity (Chapter 7), are very deserving. However, one hesitates to identify this important aspect of the Amun-Re theology as the fundamental concept underlying all the texts.Furthermore, the reader looks in vain for arguments addressing the original dating of the theological and religious attitudes represented by the Hibis hymns. Rather incidentally, the term 'Ramesside' appears (e.g. p. 176), whereby the adoption of the concept of the 'ramessidische weltgott-Theologie', developed by Assmann, 13 is indicated. This assumption is substantiated by the fruitful, although problematic, discussion of the several additional text sources; problematic, since the method is carried out quite unhistorically, not simply diachronically. By this means, Assmann was already able to reconstruct the Ramesside 'weltgott-Theologie', lasting from the late New Kingdom through the Persian period until the Hellenistic and Roman era. There is no doubt that the New Kingdom theology influenced the development of subsequent centuries; however, to therefore minimise the importance of religious and textual processes during the Libyan, Persian, and Ptolemaic periods, is wholly inappropriate. One can only guess that the author assumes some theological development in the post-Ramesside millennium (cf. p. 180: 'This quotation adds a new dimension to the "hiding within the iris" theme …'). Possible considerations of literary and redactional criticism regarding the examined texts are left completely unmentioned; this oversight is surprising, as the author works by means of numerous text parallels from different times and arranges them synoptically. That the hymns of the Persian period, and indeed those from Libyan times, are not purely Ramesside period copies, is easily established. 14 The author should be encouraged to continue his promising work, by using his important and fruitful observations concerning philology and the contents of the analysed texts in order to undertake an overall interpretation. This, then, can mark a substantial contribution to answer the crucial questions surr...
