Egyptus

"This article is about the Book of Abraham's Egyptus. For the reference from Egyptian mythology, see Aegyptus."

In Latter-day Saint theology, Egyptus is the name of two women in the "Book of Abraham" in the "Pearl of Great Price". In the Book of Abraham manuscript, which can be viewed at the Brigham Young University Library, the name is written "Zeptah" which is the Egyptian form, whereas Egyptus is a Greek form of the name. One is the wife of Ham, son of Noah, who bears his children. The other is their daughter, who discovers Egypt. The younger Egyptus bears Pharaoh, the first king of Egypt. Egyptus and Pharaoh are described as righteous people, and Pharaoh is said to have ruled Egypt wisely during his reign.

Since her brother Mizraim's name means "two lands" (usually identified as Upper and Lower Egypt), the younger Egyptus must have been older than her brother in order for Mizraim's name to actually have any purpose. Egyptus may have founded Egypt and the later the land became divided, both events which occurred before Mizraim's birth. Later she gave birth to Pharaoh, (by one of her brothers, either Mizraim or Canaan) and he became the first king of either of the Egypts, or he may have reunited the land and became king. Since Mizraim is said to have reunited the land, it is possible that after Pharaoh's rule the land once again became divided. However, Egyptus and Pharaoh must have been good rulers, since the land became known as Egypt later, and the term Pharaoh became associated with Egypt.

There is some agreement among religious scholars that "Egyptus" was perhaps not the real name of these women, but was a later substitute for the original name, under the cultural tradition of retroactively renaming ancestors after the homelands, circumstances or descriptions, rather than by their given names.