Monday, January 19, 2015
Attack on Canaan by Egypt
According to tradition, Pepi II (2278 until 2184 BC), or Neferkare was the last ruler of Egypt's 6th Dynasty, and in fact the last significant ruler of the Old Kingdom prior to the onset of what Egyptologists call the Fist Intermediate Period. We are told that his reign of possibly 94 (some Egyptologist believe 64) years was the longest in ancient Egyptian history. He seems to have come to the throne at about the age of six, and would therefore have lived until the age of one hundred.
King Mentuhotep I came to power after a difficult period erupted at the end of the great Old Kingdom, the First Intermediate Period, which left Egypt in a state of unrest. He succeeded a long line of kings who could not hold Egypt together, and fought for overall control. Basically what happened was that King Pepi's reign was so long and full of bribing and appeasing that it decentralized the control and scattered it among the nomarchs. He was giving away so much of his wealth to the nobles and foreign political connections that together they finally surpassed the power of the once all-mighty "Pharaohship"
Mentuhotep II or Neb-hetep-re,In year 14 of his rule, we know that a revolt took place in the Abydos area by the Hierakleopolitan forces, and that he quickly crushed it. Afterwards, his armies slowly drove the Hierakleopolitan forces north eventually leading to his overall rule of Egypt, but even by year 39 of his rule, when the country was well under his control, he continued his military campaigns into Nubia.
- c. 1995 BC: Pharaoh Mentuhotep II, Eleventh dynasty of Egypt dies.
- 1991 BC: Egypt: Pharaoh Mentuhotep IV died. End of Eleventh Dynasty. Pharaoh Amenemhat I started to rule. Start of Twelfth Dynasty.
- c. 1985 BC: Political authority became less centralized in Ancient Egypt.
- c. 1985 BC – 1795 BC: Rock-cut tombs at Beni Hasan were made. Twelfth Dynasty.
- February 27, 1953 BC: A very close alignment of the naked-eye planets took place in which these planets are together in a span of 4.3 degrees.
- c. 1942 BC: The so-called king of Leubingen (today part of Sömmerda) was buried in a large barrow within a 66-foot-wide (20 m) stone cairn inside a ring ditch.
- 1932 BC: Amorite conquest of Ur.
- c. 1928 BC – 1895 BC: "Harvest scene", tempera facsimile by Nina de Garis Davies of wall painting in the tomb of Khnumhotep II, Beni Hasan. Twelfth Dynasty. In the upper cemetery members of the elite class built striking tombs to represent their social and political positions as the rulers and officials of the Oryx Nome, which is the 16th Nome of Upper Egypt. At this site, the provincial high elite were buried in large and elaborately decorated tombs carved into the limestone cliffs near the provincial capital, located in the upper cemetery area. These tombs lie in a row on a north-south axis. There is a slight break in the natural rock terrace, on to which they open, that divides the thirty-nine high status tombs into two groups.[7] The basic design of these elite tombs was an outer court and a rock-cut pillared room (sometimes referred to as the chapel) in which there was a shaft that led to the burial chamber.
- Tomb 2 – Amenemhat, known as Ameny, nomarch under Senusret I (accessible).
- Tomb 3 – Khnumhotep II, notable for the depiction of caravans of Semitic traders (accessible).
- well- known scene of “Asiatics” in the tomb of Khnumhotep II at Beni Hassan (tomb BH 3), which an associated inscription dates to Year 6 of Senusret II (ca. 1897–1878 bce). Many scholars have studied this scene and come to a variety of conclusions about the original home of the foreigners represented and the specific reason for their apparent visit to Egypt.
- Tomb 4 – Khnumhotep IV, nomarch during the late 12th Dynasty (closed).
- Tomb 13 – Khnumhotep, royal scribe during the 12th dynasty (closed).
- Tomb 14 – Khnumhotep I, nomarch under Amenemhat I (closed).
- Tomb 15 – Baqet III, notable for the depiction of wrestling techniques (accessible).
- Tomb 17 – Khety, nomarch during the 11th dynasty, son of Baqet (accessible).
- Tomb 21 – Nakht, nomarch during the 12th dynasty (closed).
- Tomb 23 – Netjernakht, overseer of the Eastern Desert during the 12th dynasty (closed).
- Tomb 27 – Ramushenty, nomarch during the 11th dynasty (closed).
- Tomb 29 – Baqet I, nomarch during the 11th dynasty (closed).
- Tomb 33 – Baqet II, nomarch during the 11th dynasty (closed).
- 1913 BC – 1903 BC: Egyptian-Nubian war.
After defeating the Hyksos, Ahmose began campaigning in Syria and Nubia. A campaign during his 22nd year reached Djahy in the Levant and perhaps as far as the Euphrates, although the later Pharaoh Thutmose I is usually credited with being the first to campaign that far. Ahmose did, however, reach at least as far as Kedem (thought to be nearByblos), according to an ostracon in the tomb of his wife, Ahmose-Nefertari.[29] Details on this particular campaign are scarce, as the source of most of the information, Ahmose, son of Ebana, served in the Egyptian navy and did not take part in this land expedition. However, it can be inferred from archaeological surveys of southern Canaan that during the late 16th century BC Ahmose and his immediate successors intended only to break the power of the Hyksos by destroying their cities and not to conquer Canaan. Many sites there were completely laid waste and not rebuilt during this period—something a Pharaoh bent on conquest and tribute would not be likely to do.[30]
Ahmose I's campaigns in Nubia are better documented. Soon after the first Nubian campaign, a Nubian named Aata rebelled against Ahmose, but was crushed. After this attempt, an anti-Theban Egyptian named Tetian gathered many rebels in Nubia, but he too was defeated. Ahmose restored Egyptian rule over Nubia, which was controlled from a new administrative center established at Buhen.[9] When re-establishing the national government, Ahmose appears to have rewarded various local princes who supported his cause and that of his dynastic predecessors.
Ahmose I led three attacks against Avaris, the Hyksos capital, but also had to quell a small rebellion further south in Egypt. After this, in the fourth attack, he conquered the city.[26] He completed his victory over the Hyksos by conquering their stronghold Sharuhen near Gaza after a three-year siege.[14][27] Ahmose would have conquered Avaris by the 18th or 19th year of his reign at the very latest. This is suggested by "a graffito in the quarry at Tura whereby 'oxen from Canaan' were used at the opening of the quarry in Ahmose's regnal year 22."[28] Since the cattle would probably have been imported after Ahmose's siege of the town of Sharuhen which followed the fall of Avaris, this means that the reign of Khamudi must have terminated by Year 18 or 19 of Ahmose's 25-year reign at the very latest.
During the New Kingdom, the Egyptian empire was expanded to its greatest size. The majority of these expansions were carried out by Thutmose III. Under his rule, Egypt controlled all of Nubia, Egypt, Syria and Palestine. He was the true warrior king, leading 17 campaigns and consolidating his victories by taking hostages, oaths and tribute.
The battle of Megiddo was a turning point in Egypt's imperial history. It was at the battle and siege of Megiddo that Thutmose III conquered Egypt's arch-enemy the Mitanni and established the great Egyptian empire.
Menkheperre (Thutmose's throne name),
Thutmose led 17 military campaigns into the Near East over 20 years, particularly concentrating on Syria and Palestine. These countries were home to over 300 prosperous cities that dominated trade routes but came under no centralised control. There were also many powerful kingdoms such as Babylon, Assyria, the Hittites and the Mitanni who posed threats to Egyptian power in the region. Egypt's arch enemy in this time was Kadesh.
The Napoleon of Ancient Egypt
Thutmose III The Napoleon of Ancient Egypt 1479 – 1425 BC
Between Year 22 and 23 of his reign, Thutmose III marched to Megiddo to subdue the prince of Kadesh. He camped on a plain south of Megiddo in Gaza. The campaign was to be the greatest military victory of his career.
The battle and siege of Megiddo
Although other early New Kingdom pharaohs brought Palestine and Syria under Egyptian control, the chieftains of the Mitanni revolted against Egyptian control. An alliance of 330 princes from the region formed, led by the prince of Kadesh. The rebels focused their revolt on the city of Megiddo, a strategic location for the control of Syria. Megiddo was located near the Plain of Esdraelon, situated on trade routes going north to Turkey and north-east to Central Asia.
At the time of the Battle of Kadesh (1274 BC), between Egypt and the Hittites, the latter forged a defensive alliance with Alaksandush, who was Homer's Alexandros (Paris), the king of Wilusa, which was Homer's Ilios (Troy). Meanwhile, Egyptian intelligence reported a Hittite alliance with the Dardani, Homer's name for the Trojans*.
At the time of the Battle of Kadesh (1274 BC), between Egypt and the Hittites, the latter forged a defensive alliance with Alaksandush, who was Homer's Alexandros (Paris), the king of Wilusa, which was Homer's Ilios (Troy). Meanwhile, Egyptian intelligence reported a Hittite alliance with the Dardani, Homer's name for the Trojans*.
Sunday, January 18, 2015
Scorpio Sargon
http://mazzaroth.com/ChapterFour/KingScorpion.htm
From The Alpha and the Omega - Volume I, Chapter Four, with Volume III updates
by Jim A. Cornwell, Copyright © 1995, all rights reserved
"Scorpion – at 3200 B.C. and Sargon the Great and Ka-Ap in Egypt"
10) Scorpion – at 3200 B.C. the tenth according to Rice. Sargon may have been called Ka-Ap in Egypt, at 3200 B.C. were Iry-Hor, Ro, Scorpion, Ka’a. Sargon the Great as Scorpion. From Egyptian Civilization Its Sumerian origin & Real Chronology And Sumerian origin of Egyptian Hieroglyphs, by Louis A. Waddell, copyright 1933.
In Louis Waddell’s chart the Scorpion would be dated at 2725-2671 B.C. as King no. 37 and called "Sargon the Great" with Sumerian names of Guni (or Gani or Gin), Shar-Guni (or Shar-Gani), Kin (Sharru-Kin, Qenites, Qain, smiths, stemmed from Sumerian KIN, fashioner) or Sargon and his Dynasty," who reigned for 55 years. In the Indian List he presents the names as Kuni Sha-Kuni or Sagara (Pra-Vira "Foremost hero" or Puru II), Vira = Sumerian Pir. Of interest is Genesis Chapter 15:19-21 regarding the Ten tribes of Canaanites where we find names such as: and for the KADmonites, for the GINgizzites, which I made up just for the fun of it,
although of interest is the and last is Muru (Amorites) which is described below.
In the Indian Epic, "PURU had by his wife Paushti three sons PRA-VIRA (Puru II), Ishwara and Raudr-ashwa, whom were mighty charioteers. Then Pra-Vira (Sumerian Sargon) had by his wife ACCHURA Seni (Sumerian Ash-nar, Ash-lal, The Lady Ash) a son named MANASYU of the line of the PRABHU ["Pharaoh"), the royal eye of GOPTA [Kopt or Egypt, Aigyptos, ancient Egyptian Gebt or Gabt, cognate with the Greek Kopt-os or Copt]. Pra-Vira bears the title of Vira which equates to his Pir title in the Old Isin Sumerian king list. The Pra, in series with the longer form Prabhu (Sanskrit "ruler, master, lord"), is equivalent to the Egyptian Paraa or "Pharaoh." The Egyptian name of Pharaoh came from the Sumerian house-sign, Bar or Par, so as to mean "The Great House"; and in Sumerian Bar, Bara = "great house or palace or temple." Pharaoh (Heb. par’oh) known as the "Great House," in Egyptian "Per-o." (Note: The Akkadian word pr and SAG.AZ is connected to the Apiru, Habiru, Hebrew) which is mentioned at the end of this section. Louis A. Waddell promotes that "Sargon-the-Great" annexed or re-conquest of Egypt occurred in 2714 B.C. His titles "Pharaoh," Kad (Ka)," "Ukus, "Goth," and his father "Ro" at 2765 B.C. and grandfather "Khetm" at 2780 B.C., were Predynastic Pharaohs. Sargon around 2725 B.C. and on, conquered the West which is contained in the old official copies of his edicts and chronicles in the archives, and on the oldest Sun-temple in Mesopotamia at Nippur and repeated in the later Omen-tablets of the Babylonians. In my research one source calls En-lil as meaning "Chief Demon," also was a sky god, "Lord of the Storm," and was represented by the great winged bull, in the city of Nippur, where his temple was called "Mountain House." At the Nippur temple "Sargon-the-Great" claims that: "Unto King Gin, king of the Land (or Earth), Lord Sakh gave no foe from the Upper Sea [Mediterranean] unto the Lower Sea [Persian Gulf and Indian Ocean], Lord Sakh ... subjected the lands to him." Omen version states: "King Gin who marched against the Land of the West, and conquered the Land of the West, his hand subdued the Four Quarters of the World." Waddell’s revised Omen Chronicle copy reads: "King Gin, king of Agudu City, through the Weapon of Lord Sakhar Tar (or ? Lady Ish-Tar) was exalted. And he possessed no foe or rival. His glory over the world poured out. The Sea in the East [?West] he crossed. And in the eleventh year the Land of the West (or Sunset) in full his hand subdued. He united them under one rule. He set up his images in the West. Their booty he brought over as arranged." The above boundaries refer to his:
Rice continues on pg. 49 stating that, "After the emergence of the fetishes, the next phase of Egyptian god-making turned to invest certain animal forms with the prerogatives of divinity. The slate palettes which are amongst the earliest graphic representations to survive provide much evidence of this practice: scorpions, lions, bulls, the ubiquitous falcon, the ibex, gazelle, hounds are all shown as personifications of the gods, assisting the King in putting down his enemies or in conducting the rituals of the state. Men needed the power of animals; even the early Kings, in the later Predynastic period and the First Dynasty, called themselves by animal names: Scorpion, Catfish, Fighting Hawk, Serpent are four of the best known." Rice confirms in Ch. 3 pg. 87, "The scorpion had a powerful appeal apparently to the Hierakonpolitans, one of those whose chiefs evidently adopted it as his own symbol. It had an important significance to the people of Elam and the Gulf, in the latter case up to a thousand years later, witnessed by the frequent appearance of scorpions in the design of the Gulf seals."
Above from Egypt's Making The Origins of Ancient Egypt 5000-2000 B.C., by Michael Rice, copyright 1990. As stated before that from the Main Deposit at Hierakonpolis, a piece of steatite (or chlorite) carved in the round, centrally pierced and fitted with a copper rod is a mace-head typical of fourth millennium B.C. Sumerian or Elamite carving, it is untypical of Egyptian forms. A pear-shaped mace associated with King Scorpion and King Narmer may have originated in Western Asia. In the case of Scorpion the King is accompanied by his high officer, who carries a number of standards on which are displayed symbols or fetishes identified with particular districts into which Egypt was divided. Two of these standards are Set animals, the hound which identified the god, showing the Set tribes of the south were already supporters of the royal clan: others represent falcons, a jackal, the thunderbolt of Min, and one possibly representing the mountains. It is significant perhaps that more standards are shown supporting Scorpion than is the case with the slightly later Narmer palette, on which only four standards are displayed. A rosette or star identified the kings of this period. Scorpion wore the high white crown, his name as King possibly pronounced Selkh, Sekhen. Scorpion’s capital was probably Hierakonpolis, known as Nekhen in antiquity. From the time of the Scorpion at least the King was depicted as a superhuman figure, towering over mortals, utterly splendid and awesome. The early maceheads dating from Scorpion’s and Narmer’s reigns, and the ivory labels of their immediate successors show ceremonies already highly developed and complex in form. The Sargon (SAHR gawn, Heb. sargon, the constituted king) referred to here has an unknown history before 3000 B.C. in some circles, even though the word is Akkadian. Of interest is why the Hebrew understanding of the word sargon represents the word constitute which means "make up; form as a necessary part, establish by lawful authority, appoint," which is what this king did.
Here is some updated images for the above.
The "Scorpion King," as he is called, holding a plow walking upon tilled soil with a scorpion and a flower before his face, and a subject placing a mat before his feet. The flower has seven petals, and is probably an early reference to the goddess of conception, Seshat, the creative consort of Thoth.
(Note: Compare the rosette or star identified Selkh, Sekhen against the Sumerian Girtab, Sargas).
Goddess Serket (Serqet, Selket) is a scorpion-goddess, shown as a beautiful woman with a scorpion on her head. She is the protector of Qebhsenuef, a son of Horus. If you would like to see more on this subject it will require a username and password to enter Volume III at Decan of Argo Navis
Late Breaking Information about Scorpion in the 20th Century:
A Reuter news story dated September 4, 1995 describes work being conducted at Tel Hassan Daoud, Egypt. The site is being excavated by Nancy Lovell, a Canadian anthropologist interested in the development of social stratification in ancient Egyptian society. The site is located 60 miles east of Cairo on the edge of the Nile Delta. A series of tombs has been found at Tell Hassan Daoud that provide the earliest evidence of social stratification in ancient Egypt. Some tombs have a lot of grave goods indicative of wealth and social status. Other tombs are nothing more than simple pits. Most of the burials were placed on their left side with their knees drawn up and their heads facing north. Grave goods found with the high status burials include pots, plates, bases, beads, bracelets, and cosmetic holders. Lovell indicates the craftsmanship displayed by the grave goods is exceptional quality. Some vessels are carved from alabaster and at least one platter is carved from blue-gray schist. Two pots are particularly important since they have inscriptions about Narmer, the pharaoh who supposedly unified Upper and Lower Egypt around 3100 B.C. Narmer founded the First Dynasty of Egypt. If the pots are contemporaneous with Narmer, then the early burials from the site also date to 3100 B.C. Samples have been taken for radiocarbon dating. However, it will take some time to run these tests and no results are available. Tell Hassan Daoud will provide important information on the transition from an egalitarian Nagada culture to the embryonic Dynastic Egypt. A Reuter news story by Johnathan Wright dated September 27, 1995 announced that a German archaeologist, Guenter Dreyer, has found inscribed names of Late Predynastic Kings of Egypt. He assigns these kings to Dynasty Zero since the First Dynasty is assigned to the earliest pharaohs of a unified Egypt. Dreyer bases his interpretations on symbols found on a slate palette, inscribe pots, three statues, and around 150 ivory tags. Dreyer has been excavating the tomb of an Predynastic King he calls Scorpion at the site of Abydos. It is about 200 years older than the earliest First Dynasty tomb at Abydos, that of Aha or Menes. Dreyer believes that Scorpion is just one of about 20 Predynastic kings. Scorpion probably is one of the middle kings of this group. Scorpion’s tomb contained many pots inscribed with symbols. Dreyer indicates most pots had a pair of signs, that of an animal and a plant. He thinks they represent the names of plantations (plant symbol) found by a king (animal symbol). The scorpion symbol was the predominant animal symbol. That is why Dreyer believes the tomb is that of a King named Scorpion. Three statues were found at the town of Coptos in the early 1900’s, located about 500 km south of Cairo. Dreyer says that signs on the statues match some of those he found on pots in Scorpion’s tomb. He believes the statue inscriptions talk about kings who had some connection to the Coptos temple. He also adds that this is not a widely accepted interpretation. Another important earlier discovery was that of the Tjehenu palette (See information in Libyan palette). It depicts animals attacking and conquering a series of fortified towns. This is usually interpreted as a representation of southern victories over more northerly Egyptian towns. ; Dreyer believes the animals on the tablet are names of Dynasty Zero kings. These symbols include a lion, falcon, and a scorpion. Dreyer indicates the scorpion symbol on the tablet represents another scorpion king he calls Scorpion II. Dreyer’s interpretation of the different symbols as kings names is interesting. If his interpretations are supported by others examining the data, they will be an important contribution to our understanding of Predynastic Egypt. However, it is also likely that his interpretations will be controversial and possibly rejected. On December 15, 1998 the controversy continues as reported in a recent news release. Gunter Dreyer, head of the German Archaeological Institute, claims that the earliest writing may be found on clay tablets uncovered from the tomb of a king named Scorpion, in a cemetary in the Suhag province, 300 miles south of Cairo.
The full article by Vijay Joshi, and The Associated Press can be found at "http://abcnews.go.com/sections/science/DailyNews/writing981215.html"
promoting that Writing May Come From Egypt.
SARGON THE GREAT (King Scorpion) at 3200 B.C. before the other Sargon’s of 2400 B.C.
a star name in the constellation of Scorpius which is a very old Sumerian word for "scorpion" (more rarely it is called Sargas, another Sumerian word). It is definitely the Sumerian word for the constellation Scorpius. Whether Gir.tab, Sargas, Sa.gaz, Sargon, is connected to King Scorpion of Pre-dynastic times is still unknown.
Also noted is Abram, the Hebrew
where Hebrews - traditionally considered designated for Abram and his descendants, especially through Jacob which equates to proto-Israelites. There is the possibility, however, that in OT times that the names "Hebrew," "Habiru," "Khapiru," "Apiru," and "pr" were forms of the same word (equivalent to the Akkadian SA.GAZ), a designation without nation significance. The Amarna Letters mention the ‘apiru’ (outlaws, renegades) led by Lab’ayyu had seized the city of Shechem. Though still unconfirmed some scholars relate the word ‘apiru’ to ‘Ibrim,‘ the Akkadian word for "Hebrews." Rather, they indicated wandering peoples greatly restricted as regards financial means and without citizenship and social status. Ancient records show the "Habiru" to be scattered over western Asia for centuries until about 1100 B.C. Nomadic peoples, mostly Semites ... sometimes raiders, sometimes skilled artisans ... they frequently offered themselves as mercenaries and slaves, with individuals occasionally rising to prominence. Hebrew and Habiru were terms used prior to the name "Israel." Etymologically, it has been debated whether "Hebrew" is to be traced to Eber, the father of Peleg and Joktan (Gen. 10:24-25, 11:12-16) or is derived from the Hebrew root "to pass over" and has reference to "a land on the other side," as the dweller east of the Euphrates might think of Canaan. Habiru as to Hebrew, the Hebrew are "those who crossed over" in the sense of trespassing, i.e., "trespassers."
This link requires a username and password to continue to Volume III for more Late Breaking Information about Scorpion in the 20th Century.
This file updated on July 9, 2003.
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by Jim A. Cornwell, Copyright © 1995, all rights reserved
In Louis Waddell’s chart the Scorpion would be dated at 2725-2671 B.C. as King no. 37 and called "Sargon the Great" with Sumerian names of Guni (or Gani or Gin), Shar-Guni (or Shar-Gani), Kin (Sharru-Kin, Qenites, Qain, smiths, stemmed from Sumerian KIN, fashioner) or Sargon and his Dynasty," who reigned for 55 years. In the Indian List he presents the names as Kuni Sha-Kuni or Sagara (Pra-Vira "Foremost hero" or Puru II), Vira = Sumerian Pir. Of interest is Genesis Chapter 15:19-21 regarding the Ten tribes of Canaanites where we find names such as:
- for KINites (Qenites),
- Kenites (Heb. Qeyniy, kay-nee', or Qiyniy, kee-nee' as in 1 Chron. 2:55, a patron of Heb. Qayin, kah'-yin, from Heb. quwn, koon, a primary root to strike fast in the original sense of fixity, a lance or spear, with a play upon the affinity to Heb. qanah, kaw,naw', as to a member of the tribe of Kajin, possibly Cain or Kain (as to Heb. kayin, smith, and Heb. Tuwbal Qayin, too-bal' kay'-yin, offspring of Cain, Tubal-Kajin, Tubal-cain, but specified as one of the ten cities in Josh. 15:57), thus leading to a Kenite), one source calls them by Heb. ha-qeni, smith) perhaps the same as those doomed by the prophecy of Balaam (Num. 24:21-22).
- As to the descendants of Hobah, the brother-in-law of Moses (Judg. 4:11, probably the Midianites), who visited him when Israel left Sinai and he invited him to act as pathfinder (Num. 10:29-32) which he did.
- Later, Heber the Kenite (4:11) separated moved north to Kedesh near the Sea of Galilee, making peace with Jabin king of Hazor.
- Kenites (Heb. Qeyniy, kay-nee', or Qiyniy, kee-nee' as in 1 Chron. 2:55, a patron of Heb. Qayin, kah'-yin, from Heb. quwn, koon, a primary root to strike fast in the original sense of fixity, a lance or spear, with a play upon the affinity to Heb. qanah, kaw,naw', as to a member of the tribe of Kajin, possibly Cain or Kain (as to Heb. kayin, smith, and Heb. Tuwbal Qayin, too-bal' kay'-yin, offspring of Cain, Tubal-Kajin, Tubal-cain, but specified as one of the ten cities in Josh. 15:57), thus leading to a Kenite), one source calls them by Heb. ha-qeni, smith) perhaps the same as those doomed by the prophecy of Balaam (Num. 24:21-22).
- Kenizzites (Heb. Qenizziy, ken-iz-zee') a name derived from the unknown Kenaz (Heb. Qenaz, ken-az', probably from an unused root meaning to hunt, hunter, from whom they were descended. Some believe that the Edomite tribe descended from the Kenaz, grandson of Esau (36:11, 15), Caleb of the tribe of Judah (Josh 14:6, 14) is called the "son" of Jephunneh the Kenizzite.
- or Kadmonites (Heb. Kadmoni or Qadmoniy, kad-mo-nee', the same as Heb. qadmowniy; from qadmown, kad-mone', from Heb. qadam, kaw-dam', meaning eastern or east, thus seen as (of time) anterior or (of place) oriental, meaning ancient, they that went before, east, (thing of) old, thus meaning i.e. aboriginal). Some sources call them children of the East) a very ancient tribe.
although of interest is the
- Girgashites (Heb. Girgashiy, ghir-gaw-shee', patrial from an unused name (of uncertain derivation), one of the seven tribes conquered by Joshua (Deut. 7:1), as descendants of Ham (Gen. 10:15-16), tradition says they fled to Africa.
- "conquest of the land of the Muru (Amorites)." Amorites always singular (Heb. ‘emori, mountain dwellers) as in Gen. 10:16 descendants of Canaan.
- The Mari tablets show that Amraphel of Shinar (Gen. 14:1) was one of their kings.
- They dwelt in Hazazon-tamar (Hazazon of the palm trees, KJV Hazezon-tamar) the ancient name of a town on the west coast of the Dead Sea, occupied by the Amorites, but conquered by four great kings of the East.
- "the Tin-land country which lies beyond the Upper Sea [Mediterranean]." Possibly the tin-mines of Cornwall, and proposed that during the Bronze Age 2800 B.C. the Amorites influenced Britain."
- "Egypt or Mishir or Mizir" was one of his frontiers. Preceding the historical or dynastic period are a number of prehistoric cultures that are known in general outline. Egypt (Mizraim, Heb. mitsrayim, Gr. Aigyptos), a term of which the form and derivation are unknown. The Egyptians themselves had a number of names they used for their country; usually it was called "the Two Lands," which has reference to the origin of the nation in the 3100 B.C. union of Upper and Lower Egypt, other names were Kemet, "the Black Land," the rich alluvial soil of the valley, as opposed to Desheret, "the Red Land," the barren waste of the desert.
Rice continues on pg. 49 stating that, "After the emergence of the fetishes, the next phase of Egyptian god-making turned to invest certain animal forms with the prerogatives of divinity. The slate palettes which are amongst the earliest graphic representations to survive provide much evidence of this practice: scorpions, lions, bulls, the ubiquitous falcon, the ibex, gazelle, hounds are all shown as personifications of the gods, assisting the King in putting down his enemies or in conducting the rituals of the state. Men needed the power of animals; even the early Kings, in the later Predynastic period and the First Dynasty, called themselves by animal names: Scorpion, Catfish, Fighting Hawk, Serpent are four of the best known." Rice confirms in Ch. 3 pg. 87, "The scorpion had a powerful appeal apparently to the Hierakonpolitans, one of those whose chiefs evidently adopted it as his own symbol. It had an important significance to the people of Elam and the Gulf, in the latter case up to a thousand years later, witnessed by the frequent appearance of scorpions in the design of the Gulf seals."
Above from Egypt's Making The Origins of Ancient Egypt 5000-2000 B.C., by Michael Rice, copyright 1990. As stated before that from the Main Deposit at Hierakonpolis, a piece of steatite (or chlorite) carved in the round, centrally pierced and fitted with a copper rod is a mace-head typical of fourth millennium B.C. Sumerian or Elamite carving, it is untypical of Egyptian forms. A pear-shaped mace associated with King Scorpion and King Narmer may have originated in Western Asia. In the case of Scorpion the King is accompanied by his high officer, who carries a number of standards on which are displayed symbols or fetishes identified with particular districts into which Egypt was divided. Two of these standards are Set animals, the hound which identified the god, showing the Set tribes of the south were already supporters of the royal clan: others represent falcons, a jackal, the thunderbolt of Min, and one possibly representing the mountains. It is significant perhaps that more standards are shown supporting Scorpion than is the case with the slightly later Narmer palette, on which only four standards are displayed. A rosette or star identified the kings of this period. Scorpion wore the high white crown, his name as King possibly pronounced Selkh, Sekhen. Scorpion’s capital was probably Hierakonpolis, known as Nekhen in antiquity. From the time of the Scorpion at least the King was depicted as a superhuman figure, towering over mortals, utterly splendid and awesome. The early maceheads dating from Scorpion’s and Narmer’s reigns, and the ivory labels of their immediate successors show ceremonies already highly developed and complex in form. The Sargon (SAHR gawn, Heb. sargon, the constituted king) referred to here has an unknown history before 3000 B.C. in some circles, even though the word is Akkadian. Of interest is why the Hebrew understanding of the word sargon represents the word constitute which means "make up; form as a necessary part, establish by lawful authority, appoint," which is what this king did.
Here is some updated images for the above.
The "Scorpion King," as he is called, holding a plow walking upon tilled soil with a scorpion and a flower before his face, and a subject placing a mat before his feet. The flower has seven petals, and is probably an early reference to the goddess of conception, Seshat, the creative consort of Thoth.
(Note: Compare the rosette or star identified Selkh, Sekhen against the Sumerian Girtab, Sargas).
Goddess Serket (Serqet, Selket) is a scorpion-goddess, shown as a beautiful woman with a scorpion on her head. She is the protector of Qebhsenuef, a son of Horus. If you would like to see more on this subject it will require a username and password to enter Volume III at Decan of Argo Navis
| These tablets have been carbon-dated with certainty to between 3300 B.C. and 3200 B.C., provide records of linen and oil deliveries as a tithe to King Scorpion I. Only two-thirds of the tablets have been deciphered as accounts of taxes, short notes, numbers, lists of kings' names and names of institutions. As can be seen in the image below many kings before the first dynasty, such as Scorpion took the name of an animal. Records have been found of chieftains named Mouse, Falcon, Double Falcon and Elephant. Since 1985, Dreyer and associates have excavated 300 pieces of writing on clay tablets, clay jars and vases. This writing is in the form of line drawings of animals, plants and mountains, representing evidence that hieroglyphics existed before the Pharaonic dynasties developed. Therefore the debate of Sumerian verses Egyptian civilization were the first to create writing goes on. |  |
The full article by Vijay Joshi, and The Associated Press can be found at "http://abcnews.go.com/sections/science/DailyNews/writing981215.html"
promoting that Writing May Come From Egypt.
a star name in the constellation of Scorpius which is a very old Sumerian word for "scorpion" (more rarely it is called Sargas, another Sumerian word). It is definitely the Sumerian word for the constellation Scorpius. Whether Gir.tab, Sargas, Sa.gaz, Sargon, is connected to King Scorpion of Pre-dynastic times is still unknown. Also noted is Abram, the Hebrew
where Hebrews - traditionally considered designated for Abram and his descendants, especially through Jacob which equates to proto-Israelites. There is the possibility, however, that in OT times that the names "Hebrew," "Habiru," "Khapiru," "Apiru," and "pr" were forms of the same word (equivalent to the Akkadian SA.GAZ), a designation without nation significance. The Amarna Letters mention the ‘apiru’ (outlaws, renegades) led by Lab’ayyu had seized the city of Shechem. Though still unconfirmed some scholars relate the word ‘apiru’ to ‘Ibrim,‘ the Akkadian word for "Hebrews." Rather, they indicated wandering peoples greatly restricted as regards financial means and without citizenship and social status. Ancient records show the "Habiru" to be scattered over western Asia for centuries until about 1100 B.C. Nomadic peoples, mostly Semites ... sometimes raiders, sometimes skilled artisans ... they frequently offered themselves as mercenaries and slaves, with individuals occasionally rising to prominence. Hebrew and Habiru were terms used prior to the name "Israel." Etymologically, it has been debated whether "Hebrew" is to be traced to Eber, the father of Peleg and Joktan (Gen. 10:24-25, 11:12-16) or is derived from the Hebrew root "to pass over" and has reference to "a land on the other side," as the dweller east of the Euphrates might think of Canaan. Habiru as to Hebrew, the Hebrew are "those who crossed over" in the sense of trespassing, i.e., "trespassers." This link requires a username and password to continue to Volume III for more Late Breaking Information about Scorpion in the 20th Century.
This file updated on July 9, 2003.
go to the next subject The Archaic Period
Amarru, mar-tu, Amorite
https://www.biblegateway.com/resources/encyclopedia-of-the-bible/Amorites
Amorites
Amorites
AMORITES ăm’ ə rīts (אֱמֹרִ֖י; LXX Αμορραῖοι).
1. Name. The Akkad. amurrû served to tr. the Sumer. mar-tu. Both are often tr. as “westerner(s).” While this seems adequate as an explanation of the name from the viewpoint of Babylonia, it fails to explain either the use of the name by the Amorites themselves (why would they call themselves “westerners”?) or its application to them by other western peoples such as the Hebrews. It seems preferable to admit that we do not know the original “meaning” of the designation amurrû. Certain groups which moved about on the fringes of the Syrian desert in the early second millennium b.c. called themselves by this name. It was heard by the settled peoples to the E, who then employed it as a general designation for western nomads and westerners in general. Much the same fate has befallen the word “Arab” among western Europeans and Americans, or the word “Indian.”
2. The Amorites,or Amurrû, in extra-Biblical sources. In the 11th year of his reign (c. 2360 b.c.) Sargon the Great of Akkad sent an expedition far to the NW to the land of Amurru in order to procure materials for his building projects. The chronicle which records this act of the eleventh (some think third) year of his reign says: “the land of the W to its limit his hand reached, he made its word one, he set up his images in the W, their booty he brought over sea.” Various omen texts confirm this chronicle: “he went to the land of Amurru, defeated it, and his hand reached over the four regions (of the world)”; and again: “he went to the land of Amurru..smote it for the second time (and) his warriors..brought him forth from the midst.” If Sargon made two expeditions to the W, one may have been in his third year and the other in his eleventh. Just where this land of Amurru was can be determined by the spots the king visited: the cedar forest in the Amanus Mountains, the “silver mountains” of the Taurus range. In other words, the land of Amurru was in Syria, stretching eastward as far as the ancient city of Mari on the Euphrates. Gudea, king of Lagash (c. 2125 b.c.), on one of his statue inscrs. tells of his expedition to the far NW to procure materials for the building of the temple of Ningirsu, his city-god: “In Umanum, in the mountains of Menua, he quarried great blocks of stone, as well as in Basalla in the mountains of Amurru. From them he carved stelae and set them up in the courtyard of the Ninnutemple. From Tidanum in the mountains of Amurru he brought alabaster in great blocks and fashioned it into slabs and erected them in the temple as barriers.” The existence of an extensive area which could be called the “land of (the) Amurru” does not necessarily presuppose an organized kingdom of Amurru. In fact no such organized kingdom becomes known until the Amarna Age (c. 1500 b.c.). It is quite in order to speak of the Amorite kingdoms of Syria and Mesopotamia, by which we mean Yamkhad-Aleppo and the Kingdom of Mari. In fact even the great Hammurabi of Babylon (c. 1792-1750 b.c.) can be called an Amorite. Shortly after 2000 b.c. Sem. peoples whose name types distinguish them from earlier waves of Semites such as the Akkadians (c. 2300 b.c.) begin to appear in concentration in Babylonia. Mounting concern on the part of the Sumer. rulers shows itself in the construction during the reign of Amar-Suen of Ur (c. 2040 b.c.) of a fortress along the lower course of the Euphrates River. The function of the fortress is betrayed by its name: “That Which Keeps Away Tidnum (= Amurru).” The measure succeeded temporarily. But in the fifth year of Ibbi-Sin of Ur (2025 b.c.) Amorites penetrated deeply into Sumer, cutting off Nippur and Isin in the N from the southern capital of Ur. Further deterioration in the power of the rulers of Ur led to the assumption of royal power in the towns of Isin and Larsa by two Amorites named Ishbi-Erra and Nablanum. About 1895 an Amorite sheik named Sumuabum began to reign as king of Babylon. His fifth successor on the throne of Babylon was Hammurabi (c. 1792 b.c.). About 1814 b.c. a resourceful Amorite by the name of Shamshi-Adad I began a rule in Assyria which was destined to have great influence. His reign lasted for thirty-three years (until 1782). During that time he was able to control a realm which stretched from E of the Tigris River to well into Syria in the W. His son, Yasmakh-Adad, ruled the important city of Mari for seventeen years (1796-1780). This was the golden age of the Amorites. For Amorite rulers governed Assyria in the NE, Babylonia in the SE, Mari and Yamkhad-Aleppo in the W. In addition tribes of Amorites who had not yet decided to become fully sedentary roamed about in the vicinity of Mari. The names of the tribes have a strangely Biblical ring to them: Banū-Yamīna, Ḫanū, Sutū. The first king of the organized “Kingdom of Amurru” is Abdi-Ashirta, who ruled c. 1390-1360 b.c. including the first eighteen years of the reign of Suppiluliuma I of Hatti. He was succeeded by his son Aziru (c. 1380-1345 b.c.), who allied himself with Suppiluliuma I of Hatti by treaty and became the latter’s vassal. The two kings of Amurru who followed Aziru, DU-Teshub and Tuppi-Teshub, ruled from c. 1345 to c. 1315 and were vassals of Mursili II of Hatti. In the archives of the Hittites were found both Akkad. and Hitt. VSS of a treaty between Mursili and Tuppi-Teshub. After the battle of Kadesh (c. 1300 b.c.), when King Muwattalli of Hatti had fended off an Egyp. attempt to control the land of Amurru, he installed a new king, Shapili (c. 1300-1286? b.c.). Shortly after Muwattalli died and Hattusili III had banished the former’s son by a concubine from the throne of Hatti (c. 1286 b.c.), Hattusili removed Shapili of Amurru from his throne and replaced him with Benteshina, who reigned until the end of Hattusili’s life (c. 1265 b.c.). Benteshina was succeeded by Shaushgamuwa (c. 1265-1230? b.c.). During the reign of Benteshina the Hitt. emperor had allowed Ini-Teshub of Carchemish to supervise affairs in Amurru. The new Hitt. emperor, Tudkhaliya IV, granted to Shaushgamuwa a greater degree of freedom and dignified him by dealing directly with him. In fact Tudkhaliya IV contracted a treaty with Shaushgamuwa, copies of which were kept at the Hitt. capital. During the twilight years of the Hitt. empire (c. 1260-1200 b.c.) the rulers of Amurru showed more loyalty to their Hitt. overlords than did other Syrian vassal kingdoms. During the centuries of the Neo-Assyrian empire (c. 900-600 b.c.) the land of Amurru is often mentioned, but it seems to conform to the usage of the term in the centuries prior to the Amarna Age (c. 2500-1500 b.c.), i.e., it refers to the general area of Syro-Pal. rather than to a specific kingdom tightly localized in the mountains of Lebanon.
3. The god Amurru. Although it would seem that the principal deity venerated by Amorites in the 18th cent. was Dagan (Dagon), and the Hurrian god Teshub was chief in the Amarna Age kingdom of Amurru (c. 1400-1200 b.c.), it is of some interest that a god who bears the name Amurru (Sumer. Mar-tu) appears in cuneiform documents from Syria, Assyria and Babylonia. This god is first attested in personal names from the third dynasty of Ur (c. 2100-2000 b.c.). Amurru-Martu was the son of the sky-god An. His consorts (wives) were Bēlet-ṩēri (“Lady of the Steppe”) and Ashratu (Asherah). Amurru shows the typical aspect of a storm god, storming over the land and wrecking cities. A Sumer. myth tells of how Amurru sought in marriage the daughter of the city god of Kazallu (a city in Middle Babylonia). The daughter’s name was Numushda. Numushda consented to the marriage despite warnings of well wishers, who told her of the rude customs of the nomad: he eats raw meat, often goes without a house, is not buried properly.
4. Language. The principal source of our knowledge of the Amorite language is the corpus of Amorite personal names, most of them from the Mari texts. This language is a member of the western branch of the Sem. family, closely related to Ugaritic, Canaanite, Hebrew and Arabic. In fact, if Amurru is extended to both Syria and Palestine, Canaanite, Moabite, Ugaritic and Phoenician would have to be considered as branches of the broader “Amorite” family. Amorite was also the ancestor of the Aram. language. Its importance for the understanding of certain aspects of Biblical Heb. can be illustrated by the occurrence in Amorite of a number of words which so far occur only in the Mari texts and in the OT.
5. Amorites in the OT. The term “Amorite” is used in several distinct ways in the OT. Occasionally (Gen 15:16) it denotes the pre-Israelite population in general. In other places, when it is paired and contrasted with the name “Hittite” (Ezek 16:3), the former may represent southern Syro-Pal. and the latter northern. Amorites are rarely localized. One group dwelt in the area later occupied by the tribe of Judah (Deut 1:19ff.; Josh 10:5ff.), another represented by the two kingdoms of Heshbon and Bashan settled to the E of the Jordan River (Num 21:13ff.; Josh 2:10; 9:10; 24:8; Judg 10:8; 11:19ff.). Sihon, Og, and Mamre are three Amorite leaders mentioned by name in the OT (Gen 14:13; Num 21:21; Deut 31:4). In keeping with the picture given elsewhere in the OT of the pre-Israelite inhabitants of the land displaced by them (Num 13:33; etc.), the Amorites are portrayed as towering figures “whose height was like the height of the cedars, and who was as strong as the oaks” (Amos 2:9). The ways of the pagan population of the land of Israel are the iniquitous ways of the Amorites (Gen 15:16). The Baals and Ashtartes and other “gods” whose worship seemed always to threaten to infiltrate the true worship of Yahweh are the “gods of the Amorites” (Josh 24:15; Judg 6:10). Chronologically the last mention in the OT of an Amorite group continuing to exist as a unit in the land is the Gibeonites, on whom King Saul inflicted such a slaughter and for which David later made atonement (2 Sam 21).
Bibliography A. Clay, The Empire of the Amorites (1919); Reallexikon der Assyriologie, I (1928), 99-103; E. Dhorme, “Les Amorrhéens,” in Révue Biblique 37 (1928) 161-180; 39 (1930) 161-178; 40 (1931) 161-184; D. O. Edzard, Die “Zweite Zwischenzeit” Babylonians (1957); J. R. Kupper, Les nomades en Mesopotamie au temps des rois de Mari (1957); W. F. Albright, From the Stone Age to Christianity (1957) 109ff.; C. J. Gadd, “Babylonia c. 2120-1800 b.c.” in The Cambridge Ancient History, Revised Ed., fasc. 28, (1964), 33ff.; G. Roux, Ancient Iraq (1964) 164ff.; A. L. Oppenheim, Ancient Mesopotamia (1964) 57ff.; A. Goetze, “The Struggle for the Domination of Syria, etc.” in The Cambridge Ancient History, Rev. Ed., fasc. 37 (1965).
1. Name. The Akkad. amurrû served to tr. the Sumer. mar-tu. Both are often tr. as “westerner(s).” While this seems adequate as an explanation of the name from the viewpoint of Babylonia, it fails to explain either the use of the name by the Amorites themselves (why would they call themselves “westerners”?) or its application to them by other western peoples such as the Hebrews. It seems preferable to admit that we do not know the original “meaning” of the designation amurrû. Certain groups which moved about on the fringes of the Syrian desert in the early second millennium b.c. called themselves by this name. It was heard by the settled peoples to the E, who then employed it as a general designation for western nomads and westerners in general. Much the same fate has befallen the word “Arab” among western Europeans and Americans, or the word “Indian.”
2. The Amorites,or Amurrû, in extra-Biblical sources. In the 11th year of his reign (c. 2360 b.c.) Sargon the Great of Akkad sent an expedition far to the NW to the land of Amurru in order to procure materials for his building projects. The chronicle which records this act of the eleventh (some think third) year of his reign says: “the land of the W to its limit his hand reached, he made its word one, he set up his images in the W, their booty he brought over sea.” Various omen texts confirm this chronicle: “he went to the land of Amurru, defeated it, and his hand reached over the four regions (of the world)”; and again: “he went to the land of Amurru..smote it for the second time (and) his warriors..brought him forth from the midst.” If Sargon made two expeditions to the W, one may have been in his third year and the other in his eleventh. Just where this land of Amurru was can be determined by the spots the king visited: the cedar forest in the Amanus Mountains, the “silver mountains” of the Taurus range. In other words, the land of Amurru was in Syria, stretching eastward as far as the ancient city of Mari on the Euphrates. Gudea, king of Lagash (c. 2125 b.c.), on one of his statue inscrs. tells of his expedition to the far NW to procure materials for the building of the temple of Ningirsu, his city-god: “In Umanum, in the mountains of Menua, he quarried great blocks of stone, as well as in Basalla in the mountains of Amurru. From them he carved stelae and set them up in the courtyard of the Ninnutemple. From Tidanum in the mountains of Amurru he brought alabaster in great blocks and fashioned it into slabs and erected them in the temple as barriers.” The existence of an extensive area which could be called the “land of (the) Amurru” does not necessarily presuppose an organized kingdom of Amurru. In fact no such organized kingdom becomes known until the Amarna Age (c. 1500 b.c.). It is quite in order to speak of the Amorite kingdoms of Syria and Mesopotamia, by which we mean Yamkhad-Aleppo and the Kingdom of Mari. In fact even the great Hammurabi of Babylon (c. 1792-1750 b.c.) can be called an Amorite. Shortly after 2000 b.c. Sem. peoples whose name types distinguish them from earlier waves of Semites such as the Akkadians (c. 2300 b.c.) begin to appear in concentration in Babylonia. Mounting concern on the part of the Sumer. rulers shows itself in the construction during the reign of Amar-Suen of Ur (c. 2040 b.c.) of a fortress along the lower course of the Euphrates River. The function of the fortress is betrayed by its name: “That Which Keeps Away Tidnum (= Amurru).” The measure succeeded temporarily. But in the fifth year of Ibbi-Sin of Ur (2025 b.c.) Amorites penetrated deeply into Sumer, cutting off Nippur and Isin in the N from the southern capital of Ur. Further deterioration in the power of the rulers of Ur led to the assumption of royal power in the towns of Isin and Larsa by two Amorites named Ishbi-Erra and Nablanum. About 1895 an Amorite sheik named Sumuabum began to reign as king of Babylon. His fifth successor on the throne of Babylon was Hammurabi (c. 1792 b.c.). About 1814 b.c. a resourceful Amorite by the name of Shamshi-Adad I began a rule in Assyria which was destined to have great influence. His reign lasted for thirty-three years (until 1782). During that time he was able to control a realm which stretched from E of the Tigris River to well into Syria in the W. His son, Yasmakh-Adad, ruled the important city of Mari for seventeen years (1796-1780). This was the golden age of the Amorites. For Amorite rulers governed Assyria in the NE, Babylonia in the SE, Mari and Yamkhad-Aleppo in the W. In addition tribes of Amorites who had not yet decided to become fully sedentary roamed about in the vicinity of Mari. The names of the tribes have a strangely Biblical ring to them: Banū-Yamīna, Ḫanū, Sutū. The first king of the organized “Kingdom of Amurru” is Abdi-Ashirta, who ruled c. 1390-1360 b.c. including the first eighteen years of the reign of Suppiluliuma I of Hatti. He was succeeded by his son Aziru (c. 1380-1345 b.c.), who allied himself with Suppiluliuma I of Hatti by treaty and became the latter’s vassal. The two kings of Amurru who followed Aziru, DU-Teshub and Tuppi-Teshub, ruled from c. 1345 to c. 1315 and were vassals of Mursili II of Hatti. In the archives of the Hittites were found both Akkad. and Hitt. VSS of a treaty between Mursili and Tuppi-Teshub. After the battle of Kadesh (c. 1300 b.c.), when King Muwattalli of Hatti had fended off an Egyp. attempt to control the land of Amurru, he installed a new king, Shapili (c. 1300-1286? b.c.). Shortly after Muwattalli died and Hattusili III had banished the former’s son by a concubine from the throne of Hatti (c. 1286 b.c.), Hattusili removed Shapili of Amurru from his throne and replaced him with Benteshina, who reigned until the end of Hattusili’s life (c. 1265 b.c.). Benteshina was succeeded by Shaushgamuwa (c. 1265-1230? b.c.). During the reign of Benteshina the Hitt. emperor had allowed Ini-Teshub of Carchemish to supervise affairs in Amurru. The new Hitt. emperor, Tudkhaliya IV, granted to Shaushgamuwa a greater degree of freedom and dignified him by dealing directly with him. In fact Tudkhaliya IV contracted a treaty with Shaushgamuwa, copies of which were kept at the Hitt. capital. During the twilight years of the Hitt. empire (c. 1260-1200 b.c.) the rulers of Amurru showed more loyalty to their Hitt. overlords than did other Syrian vassal kingdoms. During the centuries of the Neo-Assyrian empire (c. 900-600 b.c.) the land of Amurru is often mentioned, but it seems to conform to the usage of the term in the centuries prior to the Amarna Age (c. 2500-1500 b.c.), i.e., it refers to the general area of Syro-Pal. rather than to a specific kingdom tightly localized in the mountains of Lebanon.
3. The god Amurru. Although it would seem that the principal deity venerated by Amorites in the 18th cent. was Dagan (Dagon), and the Hurrian god Teshub was chief in the Amarna Age kingdom of Amurru (c. 1400-1200 b.c.), it is of some interest that a god who bears the name Amurru (Sumer. Mar-tu) appears in cuneiform documents from Syria, Assyria and Babylonia. This god is first attested in personal names from the third dynasty of Ur (c. 2100-2000 b.c.). Amurru-Martu was the son of the sky-god An. His consorts (wives) were Bēlet-ṩēri (“Lady of the Steppe”) and Ashratu (Asherah). Amurru shows the typical aspect of a storm god, storming over the land and wrecking cities. A Sumer. myth tells of how Amurru sought in marriage the daughter of the city god of Kazallu (a city in Middle Babylonia). The daughter’s name was Numushda. Numushda consented to the marriage despite warnings of well wishers, who told her of the rude customs of the nomad: he eats raw meat, often goes without a house, is not buried properly.
4. Language. The principal source of our knowledge of the Amorite language is the corpus of Amorite personal names, most of them from the Mari texts. This language is a member of the western branch of the Sem. family, closely related to Ugaritic, Canaanite, Hebrew and Arabic. In fact, if Amurru is extended to both Syria and Palestine, Canaanite, Moabite, Ugaritic and Phoenician would have to be considered as branches of the broader “Amorite” family. Amorite was also the ancestor of the Aram. language. Its importance for the understanding of certain aspects of Biblical Heb. can be illustrated by the occurrence in Amorite of a number of words which so far occur only in the Mari texts and in the OT.
5. Amorites in the OT. The term “Amorite” is used in several distinct ways in the OT. Occasionally (Gen 15:16) it denotes the pre-Israelite population in general. In other places, when it is paired and contrasted with the name “Hittite” (Ezek 16:3), the former may represent southern Syro-Pal. and the latter northern. Amorites are rarely localized. One group dwelt in the area later occupied by the tribe of Judah (Deut 1:19ff.; Josh 10:5ff.), another represented by the two kingdoms of Heshbon and Bashan settled to the E of the Jordan River (Num 21:13ff.; Josh 2:10; 9:10; 24:8; Judg 10:8; 11:19ff.). Sihon, Og, and Mamre are three Amorite leaders mentioned by name in the OT (Gen 14:13; Num 21:21; Deut 31:4). In keeping with the picture given elsewhere in the OT of the pre-Israelite inhabitants of the land displaced by them (Num 13:33; etc.), the Amorites are portrayed as towering figures “whose height was like the height of the cedars, and who was as strong as the oaks” (Amos 2:9). The ways of the pagan population of the land of Israel are the iniquitous ways of the Amorites (Gen 15:16). The Baals and Ashtartes and other “gods” whose worship seemed always to threaten to infiltrate the true worship of Yahweh are the “gods of the Amorites” (Josh 24:15; Judg 6:10). Chronologically the last mention in the OT of an Amorite group continuing to exist as a unit in the land is the Gibeonites, on whom King Saul inflicted such a slaughter and for which David later made atonement (2 Sam 21).
Bibliography A. Clay, The Empire of the Amorites (1919); Reallexikon der Assyriologie, I (1928), 99-103; E. Dhorme, “Les Amorrhéens,” in Révue Biblique 37 (1928) 161-180; 39 (1930) 161-178; 40 (1931) 161-184; D. O. Edzard, Die “Zweite Zwischenzeit” Babylonians (1957); J. R. Kupper, Les nomades en Mesopotamie au temps des rois de Mari (1957); W. F. Albright, From the Stone Age to Christianity (1957) 109ff.; C. J. Gadd, “Babylonia c. 2120-1800 b.c.” in The Cambridge Ancient History, Revised Ed., fasc. 28, (1964), 33ff.; G. Roux, Ancient Iraq (1964) 164ff.; A. L. Oppenheim, Ancient Mesopotamia (1964) 57ff.; A. Goetze, “The Struggle for the Domination of Syria, etc.” in The Cambridge Ancient History, Rev. Ed., fasc. 37 (1965).
Amrapel of Sodom War ally of Chedaolomer
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AmraphelKing of Sennaar (Shinar), or Babylonia
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Errata* for Amraphel:
——————————— Login or register to access the errata and other advanced features. Registration is Free! ———— * Published by Encyclopedia Press, 1913. Amraphel, King of Sennaar (Shinar), or Babylonia, one of the four Mesopotamian kings—the other three being Arioch, King of Pontus (Ellasar); Chodorlahomor, King of Elam, and Thadal (Tedal), King of Nations (Goyim)—who, according to the fourteenth chapter of Genesis, jointly invaded Chanaan and defeated the five kings of the Plains, capturing Lot and his family, together with a rich booty. On their way home they were assailed and routed in a single night by Abraham and his 318 men in the vale of Save (Siddim), near the Dead Sea. Among the rescued prisoners were Lot and his family. Abraham, furthermore, while on his way back from his victorious attack, was met by Melchisedech, the High-Priest of El-Elion, at Jerusalem, who celebrated Abraham's victory by a thanksgiving offering of bread and wine, taking from him, as his sacerdotal share, the tenth part of the booty. To Biblical scholars and theologians the personality of Amraphel is of considerable interest, owing to the fact that he has been long ago identified by the majority of Assyriologists and Biblical critics with the great Babylonian king, Hammurabi, the sixth monarch of the first Babylonian dynasty, who reigned about 2250 B.C. This ruler's famous Code of Laws, the oldest code of laws in the world, was discovered in 1901-2, in Susa, the ancient capital of Elam, by the French archaeological expedition, and was for the first time deciphered and translated by the French Dominican scholar, Father Scheil, of Paris. The identity of Amraphel and Hammurabi is now unanimously accepted by Assyriologists and Biblical critics. Phonetically, the two names are identical. The variants of the second form are Ammi-rabi, Ammurapi, and Hammum-rabi, etc. Hammu, or Ammu, was in all probability the name of a god, as it is found in many compound names such as Sumuhammu, Jasdi-hammu, and Zimri-hammu. The element rabi is very common in Babylonia, and it means "great"; the full name, consequently, means "The god Ammu is great", on the same analogy as names like Sin-rabi, Samas-rabi, and many others. According to Dr. Lindle, followed by Sayce and others, the name was also pronounced Ammurabi, and, as Dr. Pinches was the first to point out, the form Ammu-rapi is also met with by the side of Hammurabi, and like many of the Babylonian kings of that period he was deified, being addressed as ilu-Ammurabi or Ammurabi-ilu, i.e. "Ammurabi the god", ilu being the equivalent of the Hebrew El, which means "god". Now Ammurabi-ilu or Ammurapilu is letter for letter the Amraphel, or Amrapel, of Genesis. According to another hypothesis, suggested by Dr. Husing, the 1 at the end of the form "Amraphel" is superfluous, for he would join it to the next word, and read: "And it came to pass in the days of Amraphel, as Arioch king of Ellasar was over Shinar, that Chodorlahomer..." Another, and according to Dr. Pinches perhaps more likely, explanation is that this additional letter 1 is due to a faulty reading of a variant writing of the name, with a polyphonous character having the value of pil, as well as bi, which form may, in fact, still be found. But whichever hypothesis we adopt, the identity of Amraphel and Hammurabi is phonetically beyond dispute. The political situation presupposed in Gen., xiv, reflects, furthermore, with a remarkable degree of probability, the condition of the times of Hammurabi's reign. The leader of the force and the suzerain to whom the Chanaanitish princes were subject, was a king of Elam. Elam, therefore, must have been the predominant power at the time, and the Babylonian king must have been its vassal. The narrative, nevertheless, is dated in the reign of the Babylonian king, and not in that of the King of Elam, and it is to the reign of the Babylonian king that the events described in it are attached. Babylonia, however, was not a united country; there was another king, Arioch of Ellasar, who divided with the Amraphel of Sennaar the government of it, and, like Amraphel, acknowledged the supremacy of Elam. Finally, the "nations" (goyim), whoever they were, were also subject to Elam, as well as the distant province of Chanaan. If we turn our glance to the political condition of Hammurabi's times and period, we shall find that the contemporary monuments of Babylonia are in perfect accord with the situation presupposed by Gen., xiv. GABRIEL OUSSANI Discussion on 'Amraphel'
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