Posted on 03/28/2020 8:42:18 AM PDT by SunkenCiv
That the Bible refers to these structures as "cities" instead of merely "buildings" is likely a consequence of the magnitude of these projects. The area that these depots covered sometimes exceeded the area taken up by the temple itself. Examples of storage depots can be found surrounding several mortuary temples, for example, the Ramesseum.
The reason why the temples needed such storage depots was because Egypt had a barter economy that did not use money. Any temple cult only lasted as long as there was food to make offerings and feed priests. Storing food for offerings was essential for a temple to continue operating. Many of the temples in Egypt could not rely upon state support once the king died, and this was especially true of royal mortuary temples.
When the king died, work on most royal building projects and the collection of food for offerings simply stopped; for example, the reliefs on the Processional Colonnade at Luxor Temple started under Tutankhamun were never completed as originally planned because of the death of the king. This is in contrast to the major institutional temples that acted as administrative centers, such as Karnak Temple, which were supported through perpetual land grants and had a constant supply of offerings. The storage cities ensured a constant supply of offerings for a king's mortuary and special interest cults following his death.
Given these circumstances, Pharaoh's command forcing the Israelites to build these storage depots was more than just slavery. It was a command to make Yahweh's chosen people labor in service to gods other than Yahweh.
(Excerpt) Read more at baslibrary.org ...
One of *those* topics.
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The story of Joseph is one of the best known in the Bible... in order to find out whether the personality of Joseph or the patron of the early stage of his career, Potiphar, is referred to in the historical documents, we have to look into those of the Middle Kingdom. The task appears simple. According to the Book of Genesis Potiphar was "an officer of Pharaoh, captain of the guard." In the register of the private names to the Ancient Records of Egypt by James Breasted, we find the name Ptahwer... at the service of the Pharaoh Amenemhet III of the Twelfth Dynasty of the Middle Kingdom. According to an inscription of Ptahwer at Sarbut el-Khadem in Sinai dated in the forty-fifth year of Amenemhet III, his office was that of "master of the double cabinet, chief of the treasury." ...The inscription records the successful accomplishment of some peaceful expedition. Since there is only one Ptahwer in the historical documents, and since he lived in the time when we expect to find him, we are probably not wrong in identifying the biblical Potiphar with the historical Ptahwer. This being the conclusion concerning Potiphar, we are curious to find whether any mention of Joseph is found in historical documents, too. the fact that from the great and glorious age of the Middle Kingdom only a very few historical inscriptions are extant. Since a great famine took place in the days of Joseph, it is, of course, important to trace such a famine in the age of which we speak. In the days of Amenemhet III there occurred in Egypt a famine enduring nine long years... Thus it seems that the Pharaoh in whose days was the seven years' famine was the successor of the Pharaoh in whose days began the rise of Joseph's career (if Yatu is Joseph). Potiphar, who lived under Amenemhet III, probably lived also under his successor. The inscription which deals with Ptahwer mentions a man whose name is transliterated by Breasted as Y-t-w. Among the monuments of Amenemhet III's reign is one of the Storekeeper... The inscription that mentions Ptahwer refers to his activity in the mines of the Sinai peninsula. In this respect it is of interest to find that the Jewish traditions connect Joseph with the area of the Sinai Peninsula saying that he kept a large quantity of treasuries near Baal Zaphon, the scene of the Passage of the Sea.
I agree - Potiphar and Joseph are the same person. Errors in dating have been discovered which makes this very likely. He is also credited with discovering the method of embalming used by Egypt to preserve their leaders.
If you have a place with enough population to be called a city, then you really need a lot of brick outhouses. I almost used a word that some might find offensive, but I know that you know what I mean, eh?
King Solomon’s Temple.
rwood
Good point, 2 million Israelites, common commodes, probably went in clay jars which were tossed into the Nile -- orrrr, like other cultures, it got mixed into the mud bricks. Might be interesting to break one apart and check for DNA and other biological frags.
I believe you'll not find that in the excerpt I posted.
Brings back long ago memories... what a mind IV had!
I wholeheartedly agree. If he'd had it to do over again, I'd guess he'd have got "Ages in Chaos" out there first, and delayed (or even withheld) "Worlds in Collision".
Probably... as I remember Worlds in Collision upset the scientific community. Much of it proved more than 'credible'.
After all, Velikovsky was a scholar, not a scientist. He had a 'gift' that I have seen before.
He was an M.D. psychiatrist, if memory serves, born in the Russian Empire, schooled in the Soviet gymnasia, then emigrated with his family to Israel and the US.
The Biblical Plagues: Duel On the Nile | Full Documentary
Wow, this just turned to complete garbage, attributing to the mythical supereruption of Thera some of the Plagues, despite the centuries of discontinuity between Ramses II (by any of the competing chronologies) and the various dates imagined for the eruption.
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