[ckilmer]

All true. Except that archaelogists do not think that the sumerians were a semetic people. They agree rather than the Akkadians were a semetic people. They inhabited the northern cities of sumer. But Abraham and his father were from the southern city of Ur which was a non semetic city state.

[RoosterRedux]

I agree that Sumerians were not Semitic. But some Semitic people lived in that area and, in fact, the area of lower Mesopotamia became Akkadian-speaking around the 2nd millennium BC IIRC.

[RoosterRedux]

Abraham and his father were from the southern city of Ur which was a non semetic city state.

Very true.

But by the time Abram and his father were in Ur, it was an Akkadian speaking area and Abram and his father were (at least in the Bible) thought to be Semitic by virtue of his lineage back to Shem.

[RoosterRedux]

I'm signing off for the day, but thanks for the fun and thought provoking discussion.:-)

These threads are my favorite.