Thanks fieldmarshaldj.
Posted on 08/21/2019 7:00:41 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
Researchers discovered what they believe is evidence of the Babylonian conquest of Jerusalem that is detailed in the Bible.
Layers of ash, arrowheads, Iron Age potsherds, lamps, and jewelry from the period were uncovered on Mount Zion by a team led by the University of North Carolina at Charlotte.
“For archaeologists, an ashen layer can mean a number of different things,” UNC Charlotte professor of history Shimon Gibson explained in a statement. “It could be ashy deposits removed from ovens; or it could be localized burning of garbage. However, in this case, the combination of an ashy layer full of artifacts, mixed with arrowheads, and a very special ornament indicates some kind of devastation and destruction. Nobody abandons golden jewelry and nobody has arrowheads in their domestic refuse.”
He noted that the Scythian arrowheads they found were known to be used by the Babylonian warriors. The household objects and other artifacts are the “kind of jumble that you would expect to find in a ruined household following a raid or battle,” he added.
“Together, this evidence points to the historical conquest of the city by Babylon because the only major destruction we have in Jerusalem for this period is the conquest of 587/586 BCE,” Gibson said.
While it is rare to find jewelry, as it is often looted, they did uncover one piece that appears to be a tassel or earring and is partly made of gold. Gibson noted that it indicates the wealth of those who were living in Jerusalem at the time.
The conquest of the Jews is detailed in 2 Kings 25, where it states:
On the seventh day of the fifth month, in the nineteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, Nebuzaradan commander of the imperial guard, an official of the king of Babylon, came to Jerusalem. He set fire to the temple of the Lord, the royal palace and all the houses of Jerusalem. Every important building he burned down. The whole Babylonian army under the commander of the imperial guard broke down the walls around Jerusalem. Nebuzaradan the commander of the guard carried into exile the people who remained in the city, along with the rest of the populace and those who had deserted to the king of Babylon. But the commander left behind some of the poorest people of the land to work the vineyards and fields.
The Babylonians broke up the bronze pillars, the movable stands and the bronze Sea that were at the temple of the Lord and they carried the bronze to Babylon. They also took away the pots, shovels, wick trimmers, dishes and all the bronze articles used in the temple service. The commander of the imperial guard took away the censers and sprinkling bowls—all that were made of pure gold or silver.
This particular siege and destruction occurred after King Zedekiah, who reigned in Jerusalem at that time, rebelled against the king of Babylon. The Jewish people were held in captivity for 70 years.
The excavations are part of the Mount Zion Archaeological Project, led by Gibson, Rafi Lewis of Haifa University and James Tabor of UNC Charlotte since 2006.
Can anyone comment why Herodotus who wrote his “History” in ~460 BC never mentions Israel or the Hebrews? He gave long commentaries on the peoples, politics, wars practices and cultures of the entire area.
‘Can anyone comment why Herodotus who wrote his “History” in ~460 BC never mentions Israel or the Hebrews?”
Actually, he probably does. He mentions a people in that region who claim their ancestors came from Mesopotamia, and these likely were the Israelites.
There was no independent Jewish state at that time, so they were merely another people of the Persian empire. The Temple was pretty plain (and not embellished until Herod), so it was not particularly noteworthy. And Jerusalem is out of the way if you are traveling down the coast to Egypt (so why go out of the way to see a non-exceptional city?)
He considered them Syrians who practiced circumcision.
Perhaps because they were all in Persia, so they weren’t home at the time...............
Indication that the Temple of Solomon and the Jews exiled to Babylon may be correctly dated to 587 BC. The Ten Tribes had already been exiled for several generations by the time of the Temple’s destruction. Judea would have been a backwater with few Jews present by the time of Herodotus.
Some of the controversy is because there is traditional Jewish dating of the Temple to 422 BC, which would have meant notable Jewish presence in the time of Herodotus.
*ping*
Histories, book II: EuterpeThere can be no doubt that the Colchians are an Egyptian race... I made inquiries on the subject both in Colchis and in Egypt, and I found that the Colchians had a more distinct recollection of the Egyptians, than the Egyptians had of them. Still the Egyptians said that they believed the Colchians to be descended from the army of Sesostris. My own conjectures were founded, first, on the fact that they are black-skinned and have woolly hair, which certainly amounts to but little, since several other nations are so too; but further and more especially, on the circumstance that the Colchians, the Egyptians, and the Ethiopians, are the only nations who have practised circumcision from the earliest times... the Syrians who dwell about the rivers Thermodon and Parthenius, as well as their neighbours the Macronians, say that they have recently adopted it from the Colchians... I will add a further proof to the identity of the Egyptians and the Colchians. These two nations weave their linen in exactly the same way, and this is a way entirely unknown to the rest of the world; they also in their whole mode of life and in their language resemble one another. The Colchian linen is called by the Greeks Sardinian, while that which comes from Egypt is known as Egyptian.
by Herodotus
translation by George Rawlinson
transcription by Daniel C. Stevenson
The tribes of Israel were exiled by the Assyrians to three places; Halah (Khalakh), the confluence of the river Gozan and the cities of the Medes. The first two places are beyond the mountains of the Caucasus. Khalakh, of which it is some-times said that its location is unknown (Graetz) was Colchis, the south-eastern coast land of the Black Sea. To Colchis Jason sent the legendary Argonaut expedition to bring back the Golden Fleece.
A Jewish community lives there from ancient times, claiming descent from the exiled Ten Tribes. Also in the Georgian mountains live Mountain Jews with ancient customs, also claiming descent from the Ten Tribes. See about them Ben-Zvi, The Exiled and the Redeemed.
Caspian Sea comes from the Hebrew word caspi, or silvery. Rostov from Rosh Tov (good estuary), Don from Dan, also Donai (possibly also Dnieper and Dniester) all to memory of Dan, the holy city of the Ten Tribes. A large number of the Israelites were exiled by Sargon II over the Caucasian mountains to Southern Russia.
Khalakh | Immanuel Velikovsky
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