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Biblical Plagues and Parting of Red Sea caused by Volcano
News.telegraph.co.uk ^
| 11/11/02
| John Petre
Posted on 11/11/2002 12:44:06 PM PST by Betty Jane
Biblical plagues and parting of Red Sea 'caused by volcano'
By Jonathan Petre, Religion Correspondent
(Filed: 11/11/2002)
Fresh evidence that the Biblical plagues and the parting of the Red Sea were natural events rather than myths or miracles is to be presented in a new BBC documentary.
Moses, which will be broadcast next month, will suggest that much of the Bible story can be explained by a single natural disaster, a huge volcanic eruption on the Greek island of Santorini in the 16th century BC.
Using computer-generated imagery pioneered in Walking With Dinosaurs, the programme tells the story of how Moses led the Hebrews out of Egypt after a series of plagues had devastated the country. But it also uses new scientific research to argue that many of the events surrounding the exodus could have been triggered by the eruption, which would have been a thousand times more powerful than a nuclear bomb.
Dr Daniel Stanley, an oceanographer who has found volcanic shards in Egypt that he believes are linked to the explosion, tells the programme: "I think it would have been a frightening experience. It would have been heard. The blast ash would have been felt."
Computer simulations by Mike Rampino, a climate modeller from New York University, show that the resulting ash cloud could have plunged the area into darkness, as well as generating lightning and hail, two of the 10 plagues.
The cloud could have also reduced the rainfall, causing a drought. If the Nile had then been poisoned by the effects of the eruption, pollution could have turned it red, as happened in a recent environmental disaster in America.
The same pollution could have driven millions of frogs on to the land, the second plague. On land the frogs would die, removing the only obstacle to an explosion of flies and lice - the third and fourth plagues.
The flies could have transmitted fatal diseases to cattle (the fifth plague) and boils and blisters to humans (the sixth plague).
The hour-long documentary argues that even the story of the parting of the Red Sea, which allowed Moses to lead the Hebrews to safety while the pursuing Egyptian army was drowned, may have its origins in the eruption.
It repeats the theory that "Red Sea" is a mistranslation of the Sea of Reeds, a much shallower swamp.
Computer simulations show that the Santorini eruption could have triggered a 600ft-high tidal wave, travelling at about 400 miles an hour, which would have been 6ft high and a hundred miles long when it reached the Egyptian delta.
Such an event would have been remembered for generations, and may have provided the inspiration for the story.
Jean-Claude Bragard, the director, said: "Sifting through the latest historical research and utilising new archaeological tools, we have been able to find a surprising amount of circumstantial evidence for the Biblical tales."
Moses, which is presented by Jeremy Bowen, the former Middle East correspondent, will be broadcast on BBC1 on Dec 1.
© Copyright of Telegraph Group Limited 2002.
TOPICS: Culture/Society; Miscellaneous
KEYWORDS: archaeology; boble; catastrophism; exodus; exodusdecoded; ggg; godsgravesglyphs; greece; history; jamescameron; letshavejerusalem; mikerampino; miracles; mycenaeans; redsea; simchajacobovici; thera; velikovsky; volcano
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To: grania
"This is just one of many theories. If you'd like, I'll go through the whole paper tomorrow and get more sources and theories he developed." Great. That would be interesting.
41
posted on
11/11/2002 7:36:49 PM PST
by
blam
To: Dog Gone
"Even though historical evidence gives credence to Biblical accounts, there are a large number of people who are disposed to deny any "natural" explanation. " I've never understood it, God controls nature.
42
posted on
11/11/2002 7:43:23 PM PST
by
blam
To: null and void
There are advantages to a Kosher (Clean in Hebrew) lifestyle... When I was *very* young, I had no idea what "kosher" meant. I knew about Catholics, about holy water, about how holy water is "created", and about what Hollywood says holy water can do. And about the only "kosher" food I ever noticed in grocery stores was kosher salt. And somehow, I got the Catholic and Jewish ideas mixed up in my head as a young boy. It went something like this...
Imagine a food manufacturing / distributing plant. All types of food rolling along on conveyer belts, preparing for packaging and shipment to all points. Exact same food as what gets shipped to other, gentile grocers. Only at the end of these conveyer belts stood a very Woody Allen-esque Jewish rabbi, saying yiddish prayers and sprinking salt over the food as it rolled by, thus making it kosher.
No lie, that's how I used to think Kosher food was made.
To: gcruse
All this talk about how a bush might spontaneously burn reminds me of the elephant in the room which nobody seems to want to acknowledge. In other words, burning bushes are a dime-a-dozen. What was special about 'The Burning Bush' is that it talked with the voice of God. So just merely coming up with a way to explain away a burning bush doesn't even begin to adress the real miracle of Moses' encounter.
44
posted on
11/11/2002 8:49:30 PM PST
by
pjd
To: blam
I read that old high school term paper my son wrote in 1985 (his writing was really good, but that's a mom's opinion). The possible locations he found back then:
Azores: The theory was that the islands are the mountain peaks of a sunken Atlantis. However, the islands are rising, not sinking.
Bimini in the Bahamas: Evidence of a huge ancient port has been found underwater there. However, it is on the wrong side of the Atlantic and there is no evidence of a catastrophe there.
Tartessus on the south coast of Spain has been considered and discounted.
A location midway between Asia and Libya, which would put it near Crete.
Plato might have misinterpreted the numbers he read when he wrote about Atlantis. He or Solon might have inadvertantly multiplied how long before their time the eruption occurred by 10. That would bring it pretty close to the time of the eruption on Crete and Moses' journey.
A lot of significant things happened after the eruption of Thera...The development of pre-Columbian civilization in the Americas, Etruria, ancient Rome, ancient Greece, and the journey of Moses and the rise of the Hebrew civilization.
UNEARTHING ATLANTIS by Charles Pellegrino (Random House, 1991) is a more recent source, connects the journey of Moses with the eruption, and does a pretty convincing job of connecting the eruption on Crete with Atlantis.
A agree totally with you concerning the scientific evidence, blam. It seems to offer evidence of the existense of a higher being which controls events with broad strokes and then leaves some of the outcomes to man.
45
posted on
11/12/2002 5:22:18 AM PST
by
grania
To: grania
Thanks, I'm familiar with all those Atlantis stories.
My sense is that the more ancient something is, the less that is known about it. That would make Atlantis very ancient, I'm thinking at the end of the Ice Age 8-15,000 years ago. Here's a 'take' on Atlantis that you may not have seen:
Jim Allen's Historic Atlantis In Bolivia
46
posted on
11/12/2002 6:17:43 AM PST
by
blam
To: blam
Thanks for that source, blam. I'm bookmarking it for a real careful reading later.
47
posted on
11/12/2002 7:33:37 AM PST
by
grania
To: grania
48
posted on
11/12/2002 7:41:05 AM PST
by
blam
To: blam
I've scanned your sources and don't doubt that there were unexplained happenings in the past in a lot of areas, many of which are considered as possible sources of the Atlantis legends. It still seems that the best fit for timing, location, and likely outcomes is the eruption of Thera. It also gives historical basis for the journey of Moses. The other theories, although intriguing, don't seem to fit these particular outcomes.
49
posted on
11/13/2002 10:26:32 AM PST
by
grania
To: L.N. Smithee
I can't wait to hear how they explain that Moses et al heard a blast that was a thousand times more powerful than a nuclear bomb, and didn't make mention of it as such. Not to mention the death of the first born male Egyptians, but not the Hebrews...
To: grania
Just throwing out all ideas. I just think that if it was as recent as 1628BC, we'd have a lot more evidence and references to it.
51
posted on
11/13/2002 10:38:04 AM PST
by
blam
To: blam; FairOpinion; StayAt HomeMother; Ernest_at_the_Beach
Not a ping, just adding to GGG. Please FREEPMAIL me if you want on, off, or alter the "Gods, Graves, Glyphs" PING list --
Archaeology/Anthropology/Ancient Cultures/Artifacts/Antiquities, etc.
The GGG Digest -- Gods, Graves, Glyphs (alpha order)
52
posted on
01/10/2005 11:25:14 AM PST
by
SunkenCiv
(the US population in the year 2100 will exceed a billion, perhaps even three billion.)
search for info on "mount sinai a volcano" (a book, late 19th, early 20th c):
Google
53
posted on
01/10/2005 11:27:42 AM PST
by
SunkenCiv
(the US population in the year 2100 will exceed a billion, perhaps even three billion.)
54
posted on
05/18/2005 5:18:08 PM PDT
by
SunkenCiv
(FR profiled updated Tuesday, May 10, 2005. Fewer graphics, faster loading.)
55
posted on
05/18/2005 5:21:18 PM PDT
by
SunkenCiv
(FR profiled updated Tuesday, May 10, 2005. Fewer graphics, faster loading.)
56
posted on
05/18/2005 5:24:19 PM PDT
by
SunkenCiv
(FR profiled updated Tuesday, May 10, 2005. Fewer graphics, faster loading.)
To: Betty Jane
I know this is 4 years after the initial post, but perhaps some will see this and find it useful.
1) The bible lists the years before and after the Exodus as 400 and something. Back to when Abraham came to Egypt, and before the building of the temple in Jerusalem. This would seem to put the events in the 1400's BC. This is well outside the Santorini events which have been dated to 1600's. Another possibility is Mt. Etna, which had a catastrophic event at 1500 plus or minus 50 years. I am not finding much information about that event unfortunately. I have seen an arial photo of a recent Etna eruption with a tail of ash headed to North Africa. Perhaps ash from the early Etna eruption crossed the Nile above the Egyptian settlements, contaminated the river and caused the following: 1) red caused by particles in water or by algal bloom (think phisteria) causing red tide. 2)Major fish kill caused by toxic organisms or ash. 3) Lots of frogs, because fish were not eating their eggs. 4) Overpopulation of frogs leads to starved, dead frogs, and lots of flies. 5) Cattle plauged by flies and/or toxic waters. 6) Humans sickened by all of this.
2) An ancient form of bread called Essene bread is made with sprouted grain with very minimal cooking and a moist interior. Contaminated water would sicken those who ate such a bread. The unleavened bread of the Jews, would be dry and better heated, killing organisms.
3) "Pillar of fire by night and of smoke by day" There are inactive volcanoes in the Sinai area. Have not found much information on when these were active. Interesting research topic for budding geologists. Suspect this is what Moses and co. saw. In other research I have found that there have been some extensive periods of volcanism with widespread activity including earthquakes and earth movement. See events of 1811 and 1812, and Caribbean basin in 1902. The parting of the sea could have been caused by elevation of the ground and subsequent sinking, especially if there was an active volcano in the area.
4) While Crete experienced significant destruction as a result of Santorini, the more severe decline occured more than 100 years later, perhaps coinciding with the Exodus time period. More research needed.
5) Since Pharaoh would have been royally p....., it would have made sense for Moses to stay in the desert until word reached him that Pharaoh was dead. My candidate for this is Amenhotep II. He was co-regent for a time with Tutmosis III, and then ruled himself for a number of years. After Tutmosis' death he made seven punitive raids into the Middle East to put down uprisings against Egyptian rule and subsequently had a fairly long reign. I think when I added it up some time ago it was a total of around 38 years.
If anyone has additional information, please post it. I will check back occasionally.
57
posted on
01/26/2006 5:12:05 AM PST
by
gleeaikin
(Question Authority)
To: gleeaikin
See my post #20. That's still my opinion.
58
posted on
01/26/2006 7:44:01 AM PST
by
blam
To: gleeaikin; SunkenCiv
Click here,
GGG, for all the anthropology - archaeology articles/threads on FR.
Sunkenciv, please put Gleeaikin on the GGG ping list.
59
posted on
01/26/2006 8:08:21 AM PST
by
blam
To: gleeaikin
60
posted on
01/26/2006 10:01:07 PM PST
by
SunkenCiv
(In the long run, there is only the short run.)
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