Modern scholarship is finding an oriental connection with ancient Crete and trade ties between Egypt and the ancient Cretans
Jordan Pace's List: THE ANCIENTS
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Jun 23, 12
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1. Ham: 'Yt is observed that Cham, and his famely, were the only far Travellers, and Straglers into diverse unknowne countries, searching; exploring and sitting downe in the same; as also yt is said of his famely that what country soever the children of Cham happened to possesse, there beganne both the Ignoraunce of true godliness...and that no inhabited countryes cast forth greater multytudes, to raunge and stray into diverse remote Regions.'
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Thus far the comments of one William Strachey, who added to these words in 1612 the following damning indictment, accusing Ham's posterity of instigating: the ignoraunce of the true worship of God...the inventions of Heathenisme, and [the] adoration of falce godes and the Devill...' cit. Hogden, p. 262. See Bibliography. (Refs: 1DB 2:515. NBD 500. JA 1.vi.2. P 1:27)
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2. Cush: Josephus writes: 'Time has not at all hurt the name of Cush; for the Ethiopians, over whom he reigned, are even at this day, both by themselves and by all men in Asia, called Cushites.'
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The name of Cush (originally rendered Chus in Josephus) is preserved in Egypt's hieroglyphic inscriptions as Kush, these records referring to the country that lay between the second and third cataracts of the Nile. This same land was later known as Nubia.
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Additional information on this location is gleaned from the records of Esarhaddon, king of Assyria (681-668 BC), who tells us that he made himself king of Musur (see 11), of Paturisi (see 16), and Cush.
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Some have claimed also that the name of Cush was likewise perpetuated in that of the Babylonian city of Kish, one of the earliest cities to be built after the Flood. (Refs: 1DB 1:751. NBD 284. JA 1, vi.2. P 1:27)
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Strabo writes of their city of Sabai along with its harbour of Saba (same spelling as in Josephus), which lay on the west coast of the Arabian peninsula (see Map 2). (Refs: 1DB 4:260. JA 1.vi.2)
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3. Sebah: He founded the nation that was known to later history as the Sabaeans.
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His descendants settled on the east coast of Arabia looking out onto the Persian Gulf. Their land was known to the pre-Islamic writers as Hawlan, and to Josephus as Evilas.
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(There were two tribes of Havilah, one of them Semitic in origin, see Shem 25.)
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4. Havilah: The progenitor of the Hamitic tribe of Havilah.
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Kautsch renders the name as Huwailah, and confirms their settlement on the east coast of Arabia (see Map 2). (Refs: 1DB 2:537. NBD 506. JA 1.vi.2. P 1:29)
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They settled on the eastern side of the Arabian peninsula. Sabta's name is also preserved in that of the ancient city of Shabwat (modern Sabota), the capital of the Hadramaut (Hazarmaveth. See Shem 16). (Refs: 1DB 4:146. NBD i112.JA 1.vi.2. P 1:27)
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Ptolemy knew them as the Saptha, and Pliny called them the Messabathi.
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5. Sabta: Josephus records the name of his (Sabta's) descendants as the Sabateni or Sabathes.
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6. Raamah: We know from the inscriptions of ancient Sheba (see 7) that Raamah's descendants settled near to the land of Havilah (see 4), and to the east of Ophir (see Shem 24).
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They are known from other sources to have traded with the children of Zidon (see 22) in the city of Tyre.
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Ptolemy agreed with the LXX in the name Ragma, which Josephus rendered Ragmas. There is still a place called Raamah near Ma'in in south-west Arabia (see Map 2). (Refs: 1DB 4:1. NBD 1072. JA 1.vi.2. P 1
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7. Sheba: Minaean inscriptions from the north Yemen, and which date to the 9th century BC, tell us that Sheba was that kingdom's southern neighbor.
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The land of Sheba is also known to us from Assyrian inscriptions of the 8th century BC.
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Sheba was famous as the Land of Spices (there were four 'spice kingdoms'--Minaea, Kataban, and Hadramaut.)
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(See Shem 16), and we know from the vast archaeological ruins, some of whose walls still stand some 60 feet above the desert sands, that the land was extremely fertile, being watered by ingenious irrigation systems controlled by a great dam that once spanned the river Adhanat.
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In the year 542 BC, the dam collapsed after more than a thousand years of service, an event that is recalled in the Koran and described there as a judgment of God upon the people.(Refs: 1DB 4:311-2. NBD 1171.JA1, vi.4. P 1:27)
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Identified from various cuneiform inscriptions, their main place of settlement was the city that is known today as Al-ula, and which lies some 70 miles south-west of modern Taima (see Shem 62 and Map 2). (Refs: 1DB 1:812. NBD 305)
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8. Dedan: His posterity are known to have traded with the Phoenicians.
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9. Sabtecha: Identified by Josephus as the Sabactens or Sabactas,
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Sabtecha's descendants appear to have settled in southern Arabia, the modern Yemen (see Map 2). (Refs: 1DB 4:146. NBD 1112.JA 1.vi.2. P 1:27)
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10. Nimrod: Writing in 1876, George Smith tells us that: 'Nearly thirteen hundred years before the Christian era, one of the Egyptian poems likens a hero to the Assyrian chief Kazartu, 'a great hunter... and it has already been suggested that the reference here is to the fame of Nimrod. A little later, in the BC 1100 to 800, we have in Egypt many persons named Nimrod, showing a knowledge of the mighty hunter there.' (Chaldean Genesis. p. 313).
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Nimrod was undoubtedly the most notorious man in the ancient world who is credited with instigating the Great Rebellion at Babel, and of founding the vs, astrology and even human sacrifice.
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His name, for example, was perpetuated in those of Nimurda, the Assyrian god of war; Marduk, the Babylonian king of the gods; and the Sumerian deity Amar-utu.
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Moreover, there is much evidence to suggest that he himself was worshipped from the very earliest times.
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His image was likewise incorporated very early on in the Chaldean zodiac as a child seated on his mother's lap, and both mother and child were worshipped, she as the Queen of Heaven, and he as her erstwhile sacrificial son, the precursor of today's worship of the Madonna and Child.
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A mountain not far from Ararat, has been called Nimrud Dagh (Mount Nimrod) from the earliest times since the Flood, and the ruins of Birs Nimrud bear the remains of what is commonly reputed to be the original Tower of Babel.
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Nimrod was also worshipped by the Romans under the name of Bacchus, this name being derived from the Semitic bar-Cush, meaning the son of Cush.
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The Caspian Sea was once called the Mar de Bachu, or Sea of Bacchus, as is witnessed by the map appearing in Sir Walter Raleigh's History of the World, published in 1634.
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One of the chief cities of Assyria was named Nimrud, and the Plain of Shinar, known to the Assyrians as Sen'ar and the site of the Great Rebellion, was itself known as the Land of Nimrod.
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Iraqi and Iranian Arabs still speak his name with awe, and such was the notoriety of the man that his historical reality is beyond dispute (see Map 2). (Refs: 1DB 3:551. NBD 888. JA 1.vi.2. P 1:27)
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11. Mizraim: A collective name, these people settled in Egypt.
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Modern Israelis still use the name for that country; it is preserved as Msrm in the Ugaritic inscriptions; as Misri in the Amarna tablets; and in the Assyrian and Babylonian 4 records as Musur and Musri respectively.
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Josephus (rendering the name Mesraites) relates a curious episode that he called the Ethiopic War, incident that was apparently well-known throughout ancient world.
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Modern Arabs still know it as Misr.
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According to Josephus, some six or sevev nations descended from the Mizraim were destroyed, clearly a major conflict that would have had profound far-reaching repercussions in the world of those times.
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Josephus lists those nations as the Ludim (see 12); the Anamim (see 13); the Lehabim (see 14); the Naphtuhim (see 15); the Pathrusim (see 16); the Cashuhim (see 17); and the Caphtorim (see 19). (Refs: 1DB 3:409. NBD 833. JA Lvi.2. P 1:27)
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this people settled on the north coast of Africa and gave their name to the land of Lybia.
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They are known to have provided Egypt on more than one occasion with mercenary troops. The records that tell us this give the Ludim's name as Lebu.
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12. Ludim: Seemingly known in later records as the Lubim (which Josephus rendered Ludicim)
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Otherwise, Josephus records their destruction, or rather defeat, in the Ethiopic War (see Map 3). (Refs: 1DB 3:178-9. NBD 755.JA 1.vi.2. P 1:28)
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This may be due to the devastations of the Ethiopic War.
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13. Anamim: Few occurrences of this name can now be found in the surviving records.
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However, the Assyrian king, Sargon II, does tell us in his inscriptions of the land of the A-na-mi which lay adjacent to that of Kaptara (see 19).
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Josephus rendered the name Enemim. (Refs: 1DB 1:124. JA 1. vi.2. P 1:28)
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14. Lehabim: The Egyptians recorded this name as 'rbw', although it is uncertain where they settled.
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Some authorities (including Josephus who renders the name Lybyos) give Lybia (Libya) as their country.
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This people were, however, destroyed in the Ethiopic War (see Map 3). (Refs: 1DB 3:110. NBD 728. JA 1. vi.2. P 1:28)
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15. Naphtuhim: This people are known to have settled in Nile delta and the western parts of Egypt, where early cords refer to them as the p't'mhw--literally, 'they of the marshland.'
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Their name also appears as Na-patob-im in the same records.
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Josephus records their destruction in the Ethiopic War (see Map 3). (Refs: 1DB 3:510. NBD 865. P 1:28)
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The district of Pathros thus bears their name Esarhaddon, king of Assyria from 681-668 BC, records hi conquest of the Paturisi, thus showing that this particular tribe at least were not totally destroyed in the Ethiopic War as asserted by Josephus, who renders the name Phethrosim (see Map 3) (Refs. IDB 3:676. NBD 938. JA I.vi.2)
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16.Pathrusim: The people of this name migrated to Upper Egypt, where the Egyptians recorded their name as the p't'r or Ptores.
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17. Casluhim: The precise whereabouts of their country is uncertain, although the book of Genesis does record that the Philistines came from this people.
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Some cite Crete as their possible place of settlement, which, if true, would make the Ethiopic War of Josephus a truly international conflict, as he records the destruction of the Casluhim in that war.
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This, however, only serves to make Crete a most unlikely place for their settlement, the northern areas of Egypt being a far more reasonable proposition (but see 18 and 19 and Map 3).
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Or rather they could later have migrated (sailed) to the island of Crete; there to erect an early and great seafaring civilization
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Josephus gives their name as the Chesloim. (Refs: 1DB 1:541. NBD 201. JA
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After the Assyrian conquests of the 8th century BC, the Philistines effectively disappear as a coherent nation.
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18. Philistim: Better known to us as the Philistines, they were known to the Assyrians as the Palashtu and the Pilisti, and to the Greeks as the Palastine--hence the later name of Palestine.
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It is currently but wrongly believed that the Philistines did not appear until the 13th century BC, and that they are to be identified as the 'Sea Peoples' of Egyptian literature. But this view is erroneous.
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The Genesis record states emphatically that the Philistim occupied parts of Canaan as early as the time of Abraham, and far from implying that their place of origin was Crete, as currently taught, it is much more likely to have been northern Egypt (but see 19 and Map 3). (Refs: 1DB 3:791-5. NBD 'Philistines' 988-991. JA 1.vi.2. P 1:28)
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19. Caphtorim: Some confusion has reigned in recent years over the question of the geographical location of Caphtorim.
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This is mainly due to modernist efforts to identify Caphtor as Crete. This would allow the assertion that the Philistines (see 18) were the Sea Peoples of the 13th century BC, and that the Genesis record therefore errs when it speaks of the Philistines as the 19th century BC contemporaries of Abraham.
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In opposition to this view, however, the Genesis record gives the common sense and verifiable place of the Caphtorim's settlement as Egypt, or Mizraim (see 11) where the name of the Caphtorim was rendered Keftiu in a record that is conventionally dated to ca 2200 BC.
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Genesis tells us that the Caphtorim were descended from the Mizraim, and, through the absence of any qualifying remarks, leaves us with the strong implication that the Caphtorim therefore dwelt on the mainland of Egypt or North Africa either amongst, or in close proximity to, their forebears the Mizraim.
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I still contend that seagoing ships/boats were in operation and it is very likely and probable the Caphtorim and offspring of Mizraim could have settled ancient Crete...a later and larger migration invading coastal Palestine; effectively joining their blood kin in opposing the Israelites.
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Only the descendants of Japheth are said to have occupied the isles of the sea, e.g. Cyprus or Crete et al, whereas this qualification is entirely absent with either the Semitic or Hamitic race.
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But not perpetually...migrations and invasions not being confined strictly to classical and post classical times
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The early Cretans, we know, were not a Hamitic people, but rather were Indo-European in race, language and culture, which confirms their descent from Japheth (and not Ham) as provided in the Genesis account.
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Furthermore, Josephus relates the involvement and subsequent defeat of the Caphtorim (whom he names the Cephtorim) in the Ethiopic War, a conflagration that was confined to the borders of Egypt and Ethiopia, and which did not, as far as we know, involve the isles of the sea.
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The author is putting too fine a point on this issue in my opinion
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Moreover, Jeremiah 47:4 describes the Philistines as the 'remnant of the country of Caphtor', thus implying that by his own day the Caphtorim were a depleted nation.
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There is also strong evidence of a direct etymological link between the ai-Kaphtor of the Old Testament and the Aiguptos of Greek literature, Aiguptos being merely the archaic form of the western name for Egypt.
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That Caphtor's descendants were mainland dwellers is also confirmed in the Assyrian inscriptions in which they are named as the Kaptara; and in the Ugaritic inscriptions as the 'kptr'.
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Later, Egyptian records speak of the 'kftyw' or Kaphtur, a term that was used in relation to Phoenicia, not Crete.
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Intriguingly, the Septuagint translates the name as Kaphtoriim in Genesis 10:14; whereas in the book of Deuteronomy (2:23) the name is rendered Kappadokes or Cappadocians.
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Likewise, the Latin Vulgate gives the rendering Caphtorim in Genesis 10:14, thus following the original Hebrew; whereas in Deuteronomy 2:23 it follows the Greek Septuagint in the rendering Cappadoces and Cappadocia--Cappadocia, of course, referring to mainland Asia Minor.
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Thus, to identify the Caphtorim as early Cretans is clearly untenable. (Refs: 1DB 1:534. NBD 199. JA 1.vi.3. P 1:28)
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20. Put: The country in which the descendants of Put settled is well known to us from Egyptian records, which render the name Put or Punt. (Josephus calls it Phut.)
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It is always spoken of as closely associated with Egypt, and its close geographical proximity to Egypt is confirmed by an inscription from the archives of Darius the Great, king of Persia from 522-486 BC.
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Here the land of Puta is shown as lying in the proximity of Cyrenaica, i.e. on the North African coast to the west of Egypt. This same land was known as Puta to the Babylonians, and as Putiya in the Old Persian inscriptions (see Map 3). (Refs: 1DB 3:971. NBD 1066. JA 1.vi.2. P 1:27)
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At the time of the Israelite conquest of Canaan, the population consisted of all the tribes descended from Canaan (see 22-32).
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21. Canaan: The posterity of Canaan settled in the land that was later to be given to Israel.
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Both Sanchuniathon and Phylo of Byblos confirm the fact that the Canaanites derived their name from their founder.
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The Greeks and Phoenicians rendered the name Kna'an; the Egyptians knew it as Kn'nw and Kyn'nw; the Assyrians rendered the name Kinnahu; and the Hurrians described certain dyed cloths as Kinahne or Canaanite cloth.
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In spite of their Hamitic descent, however, the Canaanites spoke a Semitic language (see Map 4). (Refs: 1DB 1:494. NBD 183-6. JA 1.vi.2. P 1:27)
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Originally known as Zidonians, his posterity were later known as Phoenicians.
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22. Zidon: He settled, with his descendants, on the Mediterranean coast of Canaan, where his name is still perpetuated in the modern-day city of Sidon.
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They are known to us from many and various inscriptions of the old world, the Akkadians, for example, rendering the name Sidunu, and the Armana tablets as Sa'idunu (see Map 4).
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Josephus adopted this spelling when he rendered the name Sidonius. (Refs: 1DB 4:343-5. NBD 'Sidon' 1184-5. JA 1.vi.2. P 1:28)
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The Hittites were apparently the first nation to smelt iron on any appreciable scale. The Armana tablets contain letters that were sent between the Hittite emperor Subbiluliuma and Amenhotep IV of Egypt. Rameses II tells us how he engaged the Hittites in what was the earliest recorded battle involving massed battle chariots. This was the famous battle of Kadesh, and it appears that the Hittites got the better of the Egyptian forces.
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23. Heth: Heth was the progenitor of the Hittite nation, whose name was known to the Assyrians as the Khatti.
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Heth's name was perpetuated in the Hittite capital of Hattushash, modern Boghazkoy in Turkey (see Map 4). (Refs: 1DB 2:597. NBD 'Hittites' 528-9. P 1:28)
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where, due to their strong and natural fortifications they were able to withstand the armies of Israel.
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24. Jebusite: The posterity of Jebus (whom Josephus knew as Jebuseus) settled in the mountainous regions of Judea
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The chief city of the Jebusites came later to be known as Jerusalem, the Urusalimmu of the Armana tablets. (Refs: (1DB 2:807. NBD 601-2. JA l.vi.2. P 1:28)
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They appear to have initially adopted a nomadic way of life, although they were soon to organise themselves into a very powerul and aggressive nation.
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25. Amorite: Known to the Sumerians as the Martu, and to the Akkadians as the Ammurru, this people settled in the land of Canaan.
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Indeed, the Amorites later came to conquer Babylonia, subsequently producing one the most famous of Babylonian kings, Hammurabi, whose name perpetuates the designation Annurru.
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Josephus the name as Amorreus (see Map 4). (Refs: 1DB 1:115. NBD 31-2. JA l. vi.2. P 1:28)
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They are also known to us in Hittite documents as the Karkisa or Qaraqisha; and in Egyptian records as the Kirkash.
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26. Girgashite: The name of the Girgashites has been discovered in the Ugaritic inscriptions as 'grgs' and 'bngrgs', in other words Girgash and the sons of Girgash.
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They settled to the east of the river Jordan, between Galilee and the Dead Sea, and their descendants are probably to be identified with the Gadarenes of the NT.
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Josephus rendered the name Gergesus (see Map 4). (Refs: 1DB 2:399. NBD 471. JA 1.vi.2. P 1:28)
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27. Hivite: Known to the ancient Greeks as the Heuaios, and to Josephus as Eueus,
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King Solomon was later to use Hivites as builders (see Map 4). (Refs: 1DB 2:615. NBD 529. JA l.vi.2. P 1:28)
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this people moved from Canaan to the foothills of Lebanon during the Israelite conquest under Joshua.
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The Arkites were known also to the Egyptians and are mentioned in the Armana tablets as the Irkata.
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28. Arkite: This people come to our notice in the inscriptions of Shalmaneser II and Tiglath-pileser III, both kings of Assyria, and both of whom describe the Arkites as 'rebellious'.
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They were known for their worship of Astarte.
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Their city is known to this day as Tell-Arqa, a place known to Thutmose III of Egypt as Arkantu. Josephus calls it Arucas, and it was known to the Romans as Caesari Libani (see Map 4). (Refs: 1DB 1:226. NBD 82. JA 1.vi.2. P 1:28)
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29. Sinite: The name of this people is still to be found in the modern-day towns of Nahr as-Sinn and Sinn addarb, which are both in close proximity to Arqa (see 28).
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The Phoenicians knew the Sinites as the Usnu; the Assyrians called them the Usana and Siannu; and the Ugaritic tablets refer to them as the 'sn'.
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Strabo called their town Sinna, and Heironymous rendered it civitas Sini (which Josephus gave as Sineus), (see Map 4).(Refs: 1DB 4:379. NBD 1194. JA l.vi.3. P 1:28)
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30. Arvadite: This people settled on the island that bore their founder's name, Arvad.
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Today it is called Ruad and lies north of the bay of Tripoli about two miles out to sea.
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The Arvadites were famed in the old world for their skilful seamanship, drawing for this even the grudging admiration of the Assyrians. Later, the Arvadites were to play an important part in the conquests of Alexander the Great.
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The Arvadites were known in the Armana tablets as the Arwada, to the Akkadians as the Aruda, and the Armana tablets as Aruadi. Josephus renders the name Arudeus (see Map 4). (Refs: 1DB 1:242. NBD 93. JAl. vi.2. P 1:28)
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31. Zemarite: The posterity of Zemar were known to the Assyrians as the Simirra, and to the Egyptians as the Sumur.
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The name is still perpetuated in the modern city of Sumra, just north of Tripoli. (Refs: 1DB 4:950. NBD 1357-8. P 1:28)
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32. Hamathite: The city where this people settled lay on the Orontes, and was named after their forebear, Hamath.
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Sargon II of Assyria tells us how he conquered the city, and it was at Hamath that Nebuchadnezzar defeated the Egyptian armies in 605 BC.
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The Greeks and Romans subsequently knew the city as Epiphaneia, although today it has reverted to its ancient name, Hamah.
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The city was known to the Akkadians as Amatu, to the Egyptians as Hmtu, and to the Arabs as Hamat.
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In 853 BC the men of Hamath were able to successfully defeat Assyrian advances in the west by mobilizing an army of no less than 63,000 foot soldiers, 2,000 light horsemen, 4,000 battle chariots and 1,000 camels. This is the Assyrian estimate of their forces, not an exaggerated Hamathite boast! (see Map 4). (Refs: 1DB 2:516. NBD 501. P 1:28)
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Jun 23, 12
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After the Flood, by Bill Cooper
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Appendix 3
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The Nations of Japheth
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1. Japheth: The father of all the Indo-European peoples, it would be surprising indeed if his name had gone unremembered among them.
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As it is, we find that the early Greeks worshipped him as Iapetos, or Iapetus, whom they regarded as the son of heaven and earth, the father of many nations.
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Likewise, in the ancient Sanskrit vedas of India he is remembered as Pra-Japati, the sun and ostensible Lord of Creation.
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As time went by, his name was further corrupted, being assimilated into the Roman pantheon as Iupater, and eventually Jupiter (see Appendix 11).
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None of these names are of Greek, Indian or Latin origin, but are merely corruptions of the original name of Japheth.
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Both the early Irish Celts and the early Britons traced the descent of their royal houses from Japheth, as did also the early Saxons who corrupted his name to Sceaf,--pr. 'sheaf' or 'shaif' (see chapter 7). (Refs: 1DB 2:802. NBD 599. JA 1.vi.1. P 1:26)
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They were later driven away by the Elamites (see Shem 2).
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2. Gomer: He was the founder of the Cimmerians who settled originally on the shores of the Caspian Sea.
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At the time of the Babylonian Exile, the Jews knew them as the tribes that dwelt in the 'uppermost parts of the north' (Ezekiel 38:6).
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Esarhaddon (681-668 BC) records his defeat of the Gimirrai; whilst King Ashurbanipal tells us in his records of the Cimmerian invasion of Lydia (see Shem 5) in the days of the Lydian king Gugu around the year 660 BC (see Map 1). (Refs: 1DB 2:440. NBD 481. JA 1.vi.1)
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The Assyrians referred to them as the Gimirraya.
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3. Ashchenaz: The descendants of Ashchenaz first settled in what is today Armenia,
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although in later Jewish writings he was associated (with his father Gomer) with the Germanic races. Hence, Germanic Jews are still known as Ashkenazim.
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More immediately, the Assyrians tell us in their inscriptions of the Askuza, a tribe who allied themselves with the Mannai in a revolt of the 7th century BC, an event that is also mentioned in the Old Testament (Jeremiah 51:27). Indeed, it is in this statement that Jeremiah incidentally confirms the identity of the Ashkenazim with the Askuza.
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This name, the Askuza of the Assyrian records, later became the Skythai (Scythians) of Herodotus.
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Other early sources confirm their place of settlement to be the area later known as Pontus and Bythinia,
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where the peoples of Ashchenaz gave their name to the lake and harbour of Ascanius, and to the land of Ascania.
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Josephus tells us that they were subsequently known to the Greeks as the Rheginians (see Map 1). (Refs: 1DB 1:254. NBD 96. JA 1.vi.1. P 1:26)
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Pliny, Melo and Solinus record the name of Riphath as that of the Riphaci, Riphaces and Piphlataci who were later known to history as the Paphlagonians, the descent and identification of which is confirmed by Josephus (see Map 1). (Refs: 1DB 4:100. JA 1.vi.1. P 1:26)
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4. Riphath: His descendants gave their name to the Riphaean mountains, which early cosmographers thought of as constituting the then northernmost boundary of the earth.
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We know from certain Hittite documents that in the 14th century BC, the then region of Tegarama, which lay between Carchemish and Haran, was sacked by the 'enemy from Isuwa', i.e. the enemy from beyond the Euphrates.
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5. Togarmah: His earliest descendants settled in Armenia.
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The records of both Sargon II and Sennacherib mention the city of Til-gari-manu, the capital of Kammanu which lay on the border of Tabal (see 13).
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and was not finally destroyed until the year 695 BC. It was after the destruction of Til-gari-manu that the descendants of Togarmah became lost in obscurity. In line with the Assyrian policy of that time, the survivors were uprooted and transported to other lands within the Assyrian empire (see Map 1).
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Til-gari-manu lay some thirty miles due east of present-day Malatya (it is known today as Gürün, anciently Gauraena),
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The name was given as Thrugramma by Josephus. (Refs: 1DB 4:662. NBD 1285. JA 1.vi.1. P 1:26)
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However, given the subsequent history of the peoples of Ashchenaz (see 3), who are far more certainly identified as the later Scythians (Gk. Skythai, and Assyr. Askuza), it is more likely that the early Magogites were assimilated into the peoples of Ashchenaz, thus making up merely a part of the Scythian hordes.
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6. Magog: His immediate descendants were known as the Magogites, being later known to the Greeks as the Scythians, according to the testimony of Josephus.
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The early Irish Celts traced their own lineage from Japheth through the line of Magog (see chapter 9 and Map 1). (Refs: 1DB 3:226. NBD 'Gog and Magog' 480-1 JA 1.vi.1. P 1:26)
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The Assyrians recorded the name as Amada; the Greeks as the Medai; and the Old Persian inscriptions speak of them as the Mada.
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7. Madai: His descendants were the Madaeans, who are better known to us as the Medes.
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The earliest surviving reference to the Medes that is found in secular documents, appears in the inscriptions of Shalmaneser III, king of Assyria from ca 858-824 BC, in which he tells us that he invaded the land of the Medes to plunder them of their fine horses.
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Both Strabo and Herodotus confirm the fact that the Medes were of Indo-European (Japhetic) origin, and we know also that their language was of this group.
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After 631 BC, the Medes joined with the people of Askuza (or the Ashchenazim, see 3) and those of Gomer (the Cimmerians, see 2) in an attempt to throw off the Assyrian yoke (see Map 1). (Refs: 1DB 3:220. NBD 'Medes' 801-2. JA 1.vi.1. P 1:26)
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where we are told that they engaged the Assyrians in a major sea battle during the reign of King Sargon 11 (721-705 BC).
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8. Javan: The name of Javan's descendants appears in Assyrian documents as the Iamanu,
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Homer tells us in the Iliad that Iawones (Hebrew Iawan) was the progenitor of the Ionians (Gk. Iones), while the Hebrews knew the Greeks as the Jevanim (Iewanim).
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The Archaemenian inscriptions refer to them as the Yauna.
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Pre-Islamic Arab cosmographers gave the name as Yuban (see Map 1). (Refs: 1DB 2:805. NBD 600. JA 1.vi.1. P 1:26)
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9. Elishah: He was the ancestor of the Aeolians, his name being frequently referred to in Greek history and mythology.
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Two Greek cities were named after him, these being Elis and Elissus. Likewise, an entire area was named Elias in his memory.
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His name lies behind the origin of the term Hellenic, and there is every reason to believe that his name is also perpetuated in the Greek paradise, the Elysian Fields.
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The name also appears in the Ugaritic inscriptions (see Map 1). (Refs: 1DB 2:92. NBD 366, JA1. vi.l. P 1:26)
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The Armana tablets referred to his descendants as the Alashia, the Hittites knew them as the Alasiya, and the Egyptians as A-ra-sa. Josephus rendered the name as Elisa.
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The Mediterranean Sea was once known as the Sea of Tarshish, and it is known that the Phoenicians built a class of vessel called a ship of Tarshish. (It was in one of these that Jonah tried to flee from Joppa in the 8th century BC.)
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10. Tarshish: The father of the peoples of Tarshish, or Tartesis, who are thought by most to have settled in Spain.
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Phoenician inscriptions found on Sardinia, and dating to the 9th century BC, mention Tarshish without, unfortunately, providing us with a positive identification of its geographical location.
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Josephus records the name as Tharsus, and tells that it used to be the name under which Cilicia was known, the chief and noblest city of which was Tarsus. However, for various reasons the identification is unlikely, and the matter remains unresolved. (Refs: 1DB 4:517. NBD 1239-40. JA 1.vi.1. P 1:26)
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11. Kittim: This is a collective name of a people who are spoken of in the Old Phoenician inscriptions as the kt or kty, and who settled on the island of Cyprus.
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They were to give their name to the ancient Cypriot city of Kition (modern-day Larnaka). The Romans preserved the name when they named the city Citium, and Josephus gave the name as Cethimus. (Refs: 1DB 3:40-1. JA 1.vi.1. P 1:26)
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12. Dodanim: This also is a collective name of a people descended from Dodan, who were known to the Greeks as the Dardani, the Dardanians of Asia Minor.
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The "Trojans" perhaps of Homer??
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They settled initially around the area of Troy whose coastal regions are known to this day as the Dardanelles.
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The founder of this people was deified by his descendants and worshipped under the name of Jupiter Dodonaeus. (Here we have a mingling of the names of Japheth and Dodan.)
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Egyptian records refer to the drdny who were allied to the Hittites (see Ham 23) at the battle of Kadesh. The early Britons were to trace their descent from Dardanus (Appendix 7). (Refs: 1DB 1:861. NBD 321. P 1:26)
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The propagators of this cult built the city of Dodona as the chief seat of his worship.
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13. Tubal: The descendants of Tubal first come to our notice in the inscriptions of Tiglath-pileser I, king of Assyria in about 1100 BC. He refers to them as the Tabali whose original area of settlement (i.e. Tabal) was adjacent to that of Tegarama (see 5).
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Their land, in Josephus' day, was called by the Romans Iberia, and covered what is now the (former Soviet) state of Georgia whose capital to this day bears the name Tubal as Tbilisi.
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Subsequently, Josephus recorded the name of Tubal's descendants as the Thobelites, who were later known as the Iberes.
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From here, having crossed the Caucasus mountains, this people migrated due north-east, giving their tribal name to the river Tobol, and hence to the famous city of Tobolsk. (Refs: 1DB 4:717. NBD 'Meshech' 811. JA1. vi.1)
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14. Meshech: The descendants of Meshech are often spoken of in close association with those of Tubal, the Assyrians for example mentioning Tabal and Musku, whilst Herodotus writes of the Tiberanoi and Moschoi.
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A very much earlier reference to the peoples of Meshech, is an inscription of ca 1200 BC which tells us how they overran the Hittite kingdom;
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and an inscription of Tiglath-pileser I of Assyria from ca 1100 BC, who tells us that, in his own day, the Mus-ka-a-ia were able to put into the field an army of 20,000 men. The activities of this same people are also subsequently reported by Tukulti-ninurta II, Ashurnasipal II, Sargon and Shalmaneserr III, the last of whom refers to them as the Mushki.
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Josephus knew them as the Mosocheni (LXX Mosoch), whom, he says, were known in his own day as the Cappadocians.
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Some later writers have pointed out that the name of Meshech is preserved in the old tribal name of the Muscovites of Russia, after whom Moscow is named. Such an identification, it must be said, is not at all unlikely, especially when we consider the subsequent history of their historically close associates the people of Tubal, and the fact that the city is still known today in the Russian tongue as Moskva, an exceedingly close, not to say identical relationship to the Assyrian form, Musku. (Refs: 1DB 3:357. NBD 811. JAl. vi.l. P 1:26)
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15. Tiras: Merenptah of Egypt, who reigned during the 13th century BC, provides us with what is so far our earliest reference to the people of Tiras, recording their name as the Tursha (or Turusha), and referring to them as invaders from the north.
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The Greeks later knew them as the Tyrsenoi, a nation of marauding pirates.
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Josephus identifies them as the tribe who were known to the Romans as the Thirasians, and who we now know as the Thracians.
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They were a 'ruddy and blue-eyed people', who spent most of their time in state of 'tipsy excess', as one authority put it!
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Tiras himself was worshipped by his descendants as Thuras (i.e. Thor), the god of war.
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The river Athyras was named after him, and it is not at all unlikely that the Etruscans, a nation of hitherto mysterious provenance, owe to him both their name and descent.
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The ancient city of Troas (Troy) appears to perpetuate his name, as does also the Taurus mountain range. (Refs: 1DB 4:652. NBD 1283. JA 1.vi.1. P 1:26)
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Mar 19, 12
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The Egyptian Name of Joseph
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The Egyptian Name of Joseph
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The Egyptian Name of Joseph
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The Egyptian Name of Joseph, by Kenneth Kitchen & David Rohl
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In Is the New Chronology Winning? yesterday I mentioned a piece of Biblical analysis by Professor Kenneth Kitchen, quoted by David Rohl in A Test of Time. It comes from pp 349-351 and Rohl writes -
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Pharoah named Joseph Zaphenat-Pa'aneah, and gave him Asenat daughter of Potifera, priest of On, to be his wife.
[Genesis 41:45] -
If we are to succeed in identifying Joseph amongst the viziers of the late 12th and 13th Dynasties, we will have to make some sort of sense of the garbled Old Testament vocalisation of the name given to the Asiatic vizier by Pharoah.
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What on earth might 'Zaphenat-Pa'aneah' have been in its original form?
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The most convincing solution has come from none other than Kenneth Kitchen who tackled the issue in 1993.[20] His solution is as follows:
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(a) In respect of the first element, 'Zaphenat', we have here an example of METATHESIS where the letters 't' and 'p' have been reversed. This is a regular (though unintentional) practice which occers when difficult words and names are transferred from one language into another.
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The Hebrew scribe must have slipped into the use of the common Semitic root 'zaphan' when writing 'zaphenat' for the unfamiliar vocalisation of Joseph's Egyptian name.
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Kitchen concludes that the original was probably 'zat-en-aph', that is Djed(u)-en-ef (in Egypto-speak) meaning 'he who is called' - phrase familiar to all Egyptologists. the expression was probably vocalised as 'zatenaf'.
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so far, then, we can take Genesis 41:45 one stage further in our translation of the first sentence: 'Pharaoh named Joseph "He who is called Pa'aneah"'.
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It has long been recognised that 'aneah' represents the Egyptian word ankh (meaning life) or ankhu (meaning 'is alive').
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(b) The second element in Joseph's Egyptian name - Pa'aneah - is fairly straightforward.
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Kitchen proposes that the initial 'Pa' or 'Pi' element stands for Egyptian Ipi or Ipu.
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The practice of giving foreigners Egyptian names is very common in the period and is especially notable in papyrus Brooklyn 35.1446 where, as we have already noted, we find a number of Asiatic slaves whose Egyptian names are preceded by the phrase 'he/she who is called'.
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Thus we discover that the Asiatic vizier of Egypt was given the name 'Joseph who is called Ipiankh(u)'.
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The name Ipiankhu (and its variants) is common in the Middle Kingdom but, as Kitchen emphasises, 'not any later' - a further argument to suggest that the historical Joseph should be sought in this era.
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Asenat too, according to Kitchen, would be a good Middle Kingdom type name which he gives as Ius-en-at ('she belongs to you'). [21]
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It is interesting to note also that the hypocoristicon [a shortened form, a nickname-Ed] Ankhu is very common at this time, and may be another disguise in which the historical Joseph could be hidden.
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So perhaps we should be looking more widely for a vizier called Ankhu rather than the fuller form Ipiankhu.
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Rohl's sidenote
METATHESIS: The accidental transposition of words or letters in words. -
Rohl's footnotes
20 K. A. Kitchen, 19xx, p. 80-84
21. As yet, Kitchen has been unable to suggest a Middle Kingdom/SIP [Second Intermediate Period-Ed] alternative to the TIP [Third Intermediate Period-Ed] /Late Period name Padipre ('the gift of Pre') for the biblical Potiphar. Padipre is not attested in the earlier period. -
A Test of Time: The Bible - from Myth to History, David Rohl, Channel 4 Books, 1995, pp 349-351. Paperback editions 1996 & 2001. Published in the USA as Pharaohs and Kings.
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Yet this is not the end of the story. Firstly, Rohl cannot give (in the 1995 edition) a proper attribution for Kitchen's analysis. It looks as if Rohl has taken this from his own notes rather than the original source. I put this to Richard Abbott, Moderator of the New Chronology discussion group. Richard thinks that the prime source may be an article published in 1961(!), rather than any of Kitchen's writings mentioned by Rohl in A Test of Time.
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Secondly, there are other interpretations of the evidence - see Richard Abbott's website Old Testament Studies.
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Mar 19, 12
SEE: the first section marked in green where the number "6" is discussed...(i.e. pertaining to 666 and the number of the Antichrist.
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Date of the
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Hiyaru (
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(
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The Logic of the
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Now, what follows after this section is the struggle which I made to find the correct
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There were errors in thinking out the concept of the
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I also know that the Kings of Judah (Rehoboam through Zedekiah) spanned about 390 years, because that was implied by by Eze 4:4-5 (lying on his side with reference to 390 years for the error).
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First, conventional wisdom is that King of Babylon, Nebuchadnezzer, conquered and burned
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So, I knew that the 390 years started with King Rehoboam and ended with Zedekiah.
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So, by simple math, I found that King David began ruling in 586+390+40+40=1056. So, in the chart I developed, I had a candidate solar eclipse in 1058 B.C.E. (there is one in 1060 B.C.E., and I did not check that one).
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Further, I knew that King David and King Solomon ruled 40 years each.
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But, anyway, the eclipse of 1058 B.C.E. was far away from the
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So, I realized that conventional wisdom had to be wrong.
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So, that meant the 70 years of captivity had ended in 607 or 608 B.C.E.
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But, I knew that prophecy was fulfilled in 538 B.C.E. when Cyrus the Great was made King in
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So, I figured that the lunar events of Nebuchadnezzer had been assigned the wrong Saros, so I figured it must be the next Saros back in history. So, then conventional wisdom must be wrong.
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So, instead of 586 as in the above calculation, I used 607. Now, we have 607+390+40+40=1077 B.C.E.
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So, then I figured I must have found the correct
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But, alas, the sun only came up close to the moon and made a barely visible solar eclipse at
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Well, I had a candidate solar eclipse in 1078 B.C.E. It was
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So, that would be 1078 B.C.E.
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Later, I realized that the report to Akenaten was about the death of King Saul - not about the rulership of King David.
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Only problem was that maybe it was not in Hiyaru, and the observer of the eclipse had referred to it as an eclipse in Hiyaru. So, I took a look at it and ran an astronomical program called EMapWin 1.2X (a free program which you may download by clicking on that web site and finding the program).
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What did I find? I found a most excellent
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That is because astonomer's new moons (invisible) do not begin new lunar months. It is the observation of just visible new moons. So, yes, it was still Hiyaru. But, it was not at sunset or at
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At first, I wanted to reject it. But, I realized that it was in Hiyaru (not the beginning of Hiyaru, but near the end).
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I recalled that people in those days used 6 as a number to describe something strange, awesome and wierd. You know how young people today say something is AWESOME, well in those days they used 6 as a symbol for something incomplete, inhuman, or very strange.
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Interesting when one considers the NT Book of Revelation, where the mark/sign of the Antichrist is "666."
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Then I recalled something about the number 6.
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So, this
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Illuminated beads of light around the edges would have shown the moon as black in the center. So, the event "put to shame" the last days of Hiyaru.
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Instead of seeing no moon, the moon was seen blocking the sun and with very bright edges. So, it was indeed a sixth hour eclipse, but it was not at
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Also, eclipses occur on the sixth day of the week or the seventh day of the week on old lunar calendars. That is because there are two or three days before a just visible new moon is determined, and the months alternate between 29 and 30 days in length.
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So, that means the 12th year of Akenaten was when King Saul died, in 1078 B.C.E.
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So, then, I realized that I had found the
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As for King David, he became King the very next year. (Some interesting planetary events mark that date too, but that is another story.)
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So, that is the story of how I found the
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Murrell G. Selden (
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Introduction
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David M. Rohl, in his book called Pharaohs and Kings, A Biblical Quest (Crown Publishers, Inc., New York, 1995, ISBN 0 609 80130 9) presents the
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The comment of the eclipse at the
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In Chapter 9 (begins page 195),and Rohl gives evidence that Akenaten was a contemporary of Israelite kings David and Saul. This evidence supports the belief that Akenaten (or his father) was at war with Saul near the time when Saul was killed and David became king.
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It should be noted that the
Wayne A. Mitchell, "Ancient Astronomical Observations and Near Eastern
Chronology," Journal of the Ancient Chronology Forum ( -
Solar Eclipses from 1030 B.C.E-1084 B.C.E.
According to my Bible chronology (see the link near the bottom of the page), David began to rule as king at about 1077 B.C.E., so I found all the solar eclipses from 1084 B.C.E. through 1030 B.C.E. I recorded all the ones which took place in May or April (the month when Iyyar takes place on a lunar calendar). These solar eclipses were extracted from those computed by Fred Espenak of the NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center, and the NASA web site is at:
http://sunearth.gsfc.nasa.gov/eclipse/SEcat/SE-1099--1000.html
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Why Reign of Akenaten Related to Reign of King David
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The report to Akenaten and related Amarna Letters indicate the time (of the eclipse) was directly after the death of Amenhotep III, so it was at the beginning of the reign of Akenaten.
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The
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The belief is that the Amarna Letters contain a report of the death of Saul. It follows that the time must have been close to 1077 B.C.E. (when the solar eclipse took place).
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So, I included all the years from 1084 B.C.E. (7 years before the time when David became king) through 1030 B.C.E (far below the events of this time of Akenaten).
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For each solar eclipse in May or April, I recorded the date in B.C.E. per the Julian Calendar convention used by astronomers (but I added the 1 year to make the dates actual B.C.E. dates, of course). I recorded the time of the solar eclipse at GMT (Greenwich Universal Time). I recorded whether it was total(T), partial(P) or annular(A). I recorded my estimate (from my free computer program called EQUINOX.COM) of the Julian Day number of Nisan 1. I recorded the Julian Day number for the date in B.C.E. when the solar eclipse occurred. It then computed whether or not the solar eclipse was the new moon of Iyyar. It was "YES" in the event that Nisan 1 Julian Day number was about 29 to 30 days away from the solar eclipse (date) Julian Day number.
So, all solar eclipses were rejected, if they did not occur on Iyyar. The solar eclipses at Iyyar are marked with the word "yes" and a special background color (orange). It is believed that the Egyptians were using three kinds of calendars, so it was probably true that it was May or April on the lunar calendar in use. -
Only One Solar Eclipse Left Over (Almost, But)
I did not find a modern-day sunset at
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The final selection (the only choice) is the solar eclipse at May 8th in 1058 B.C.E. All the others were either not at Iyyar or too early or too late. Even the one selected by Rohl (the one in 1012 B.C.E.) appears to be too early. In addition, it is in the wrong time period (my opinion) for the time of Saul and David. So, I reject Rohl's selection. The one on May 8th in 1058 B.C.E. appears to be the only possibility. Correcting the GMT time to
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Description of the Solar Eclipse Found
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This solar eclipse was of magnitude 0.953 with solar altitude at 8 degrees. The center duration was 3 minutes and 50 seconds. The coordinates were 64.3S (Latitude) and 47.0W (Longitude).
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If this is correct, then the 12th year of Akenaten was in 1058 B.C.E. That would make his first year 11+1058=1069 B.C.E.
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This indicates to me that Akenaten was perhaps not king when Saul died (unless my date for the kingship of David is a little off).
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I cannot ascertain if this date is really the one for the 12th year of Akenaten, but it well may be true (if Rohl is correct about the David and Akenaten being contemporary). I would have to say that this new date must be the correct one (as it appears to me to be the only choice).
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Of course, that is why I included lower dates down to 1030 B.C.E.(in case that might be true).
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Maybe An Even Better Choice for the Solar Eclipse
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There may be an even better choice for the
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This is the one marked MAYBE-VG in the table of solar eclipses in April and May.
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Why? It is because 1067 B.C.E. was a 13 month year (a year when an extra month needs to be added, and on the Jewish calendar called Veadar).
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This 13th month would have ended with a new visible crescent moon about 4/9 in 1066 B.C.E.
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Usually, after 12 months (even on our own calendar), it is New Year's Day. But, on the ancient lunar calendar, it might not be, as
it could be the beginning of Veadar (the extra last month). -
Therefore, it appears very possible that the observer was expected the first day of Hiyyaru (though he should have been expecting the equivalent of Nisan 1).
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Why might this eclipse be a better choice? First, it is a total solar eclipse. It is near sunset. And, perhaps, most important of all, it is much closer to the expected time for an observation near the death of King Saul.
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Another point is that GMT might not be at Daylight Savings Time, so the correction to the Ugarit time might be 3+ hours, making a time of 15:37 GMT at 18:37 Jerusalem Standard Time with Daylight Savings Time in effect. That compares very well with a
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Comparing the Times of the Solar Eclipses
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However, the solar eclipse at
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Of course, time zones are integers.
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On a Standard Time basis,
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So, it could easily have been exactly sunset
at the -
In comparison, the sunset for Rohl's date of
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So, I think it is clear that Rohl's solar eclipse must be the wrong one. (Daylight Saving Time or DST assumed for all, but that may not be true.)
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Post flood history beginning in prehistory thru classical times
Updated on Jun 24, 12
Created on Mar 19, 12
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