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.
There was one very large eruption (or series of significant eruptions) on Thera, but that was 22,000 years ago. The only attested major eruption in ancient times was around 200 BC.
New Ice-Core Evidence Challenges the 1620s age for the Santorini (Minoan) Eruption
Journal of Archaeological Science, Volume 25, Issue 3, March 1998, Pages 279-289 | 13 July 1997 | Gregory A. Zielinski, Mark S. Germani
Posted on 07/29/2004 12:25:45 AM PDT by SunkenCiv
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/1180724/posts
The Linear B Tablets and Mycenaean Social, Political, and Economic Organization
Lesson 25, The Prehistoric Archaeology of the Aegean | Revised: Friday, March 18, 2000 | Trustees of Dartmouth College
Posted on 08/29/2004 8:19:46 PM PDT by SunkenCiv
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/1202723/posts
Ping.
or maybe not.
Thanks. When I read Velikovsky 50 years ago I was pretty excited that the means of the miracles of the Exodus might be known. Lack of oil on Venus seems to have derailed Velokovsky, but the volcano could still have done it all.
A new monk arrived at the monastery. He was assigned to help the other monks in copying the old texts by hand. He
noticed, however, that they were copying copies, not the original books. The new monk went to the head monk to ask
him about this. He pointed out that if there were an error in the first copy, that error would be continued in all of
the other copies.The head monk said, 'We have been copying from the copies for centuries, but you make a good point, my son.' The head
monk went down into the cellar with one of the copies to check it against the original.Hours later, nobody had seen him, so one of the monks went downstairs to look for him. He heard a sobbing coming from
the back of the cellar and found the old monk leaning over one of the original books, crying.He asked what was wrong.
'The word is celebrate, not celibate!' sobbed the head monk.
My parochial school memory is that of the Reed Sea, having had a steady wind when the Israelites crossed, the somewhat
dried mud supporting the psi of human feet, but not of the Pharoh's pursuing chariots' wheels and horses'(camels?) hooves.
That was one of the practical theories posited at the time, any way.
2. What is the Hebrew for "Red Sea," then? I b'lieve the same expression can refer to either.
Dan
There is some confusion. The Reed Sea is mentioned, and the Red Sea.
I heard it years ago; I don't have a source. It may be completely false. Mea culpa.
Why, then, would the pre-Christian Septuagint have eruthra thalassa (Red Sea)?
No idea. You would agree, though, that suf in Hebrew means "reeds" (cf. Ex. 2:3, 5), and not "red"?
2. What is the Hebrew for "Red Sea," then? I b'lieve the same expression can refer to either.
Modern Israelis call the Red Sea yam suf, but that may be because generations of Bible translators have conflated the Sea of Reeds with the Red Sea. I know of no ancient sources which identified that body of water by name. (Just as there is no ancient Hebrew name for the Mediterranean; the modern Israeli name yam ha-tichon ("middle sea") is a literal translation of "Mediteranean."
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Smoke on the Mountain: An Interpretation of the Ten Commandments
Source: The Westminster Press, Philadelphia
Published: 1953 Author: Joy Davidman
Posted on 09/26/1999 19:55:16 PDT by logos
http://www.freerepublic.com/forum/a37eedc945143.htm
Mount Sinai Was A Volcano In Saudi Arabia, Says Scientist (Exodus)
The Telegraph (UK) | 6-13-2003 | Roger Highfield
Posted on 06/12/2003 9:15:39 PM EDT by blam
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/928064/posts
New Ice-Core Evidence Challenges the 1620s age for the Santorini (Minoan) Eruption
Journal of Archaeological Science, Volume 25, Issue 3, March 1998, Pages 279-289 | 13 July 1997 | Gregory A. Zielinski, Mark S. Germani
Posted on 07/29/2004 3:25:45 AM EDT by SunkenCiv
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/1180724/posts
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Check out the DVD, “Exodus Decoded”, which I borrowed from my local library. These kinds of naturally occurring poison gas eruptions do happen, even today, and they are very selective. People on higher ground aren’t harmed. One boy in an African village experienced it; everybody living downwind died in their sleep, people and animals alike. The Egyptians allowed the first born son to sleep in a low bed, but the rest of the family would sleep on the roof and were therefore spared. Why it didn’t happen to Jewish families I can’t explain, except that it can be very local as I said.
[[Doesn’t it say “the lord caused an east wind to blow”? Doesn’t sound like a volcano to me. ]]
Today it’s called a tsunami, and it was one of the effects of the Santorini eruption, one of the most powerful ever. There’s no question but that it would have affected Egypt.
Why a newly-minted FReeper would resurrect a years-old thread, & replies to me six years later is a mystery. How a newly-minted FReeper would pick this thread out of the ether to start posting on is telling.
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