Friday, October 4, 2024

Has Egypt’s Eighteenth Dynasty succession, Thutmose to Amenhotep, been duplicated?

by Damien F. Mackey What makes me wonder even more in the case of Eighteenth Dynasty repetitions is that Thutmose III and IV, as well as bearing the same nomen (Thutmose, “Born of the god Thoth”), also had the same praenomen, Menkheperre (“Lasting are the Manifestations of Re”). As well as that ‘they’ shared the Horus name, Kanakht. THUTMOSE III, IV Having a double set of the pharaonic combination: Thutmose – Amenhotep, in the Eighteenth Dynasty of Egypt: TUTHMOSIS III AMENHOTEP II TUTHMOSIS IV AMENHOTEP III inevitably makes me wonder if, as in the case of Egypt’s Old-Middle Kingdoms, some duplications may have occurred, thereby unwarrantedly extending the already lengthy dynastic history of ancient Egypt. I have greatly streamlined those Old-Middle Kingdom dynasties in earlier articles, wherein there occur such repetitive combinations as: Pepi – Merenre (so-called Sixth Dynasty) and Amenemhet – Sesostris (so-called Twelfth Dynasty). What makes me wonder even more in the case of the above Eighteenth Dynasty repetitions is that Thutmose III and IV, as well as bearing the same nomen (Thutmose, “Born of the god Thoth”), also had the same praenomen, Menkheperre (“Lasting are the Manifestations of Re”). As well as that ‘they’ shared the Horus name, Kanakht. Thutmose III had Syrian wives, Menhet, Menwi and Merti. Thutmose IV had, amongst several, Merytra (Merti?). The plot thickens. Thutmose IV was also married to a (Syro-) Mitannian woman, Mutemwiya, a name of which I would suggest that the above, Menwi (M-ut-emwi-ya), was a hypocoristicon: https://sites.google.com/site/historyofancientegypt/queens-of-egypt/mutemwia-wife-of-tuthmosis-iv Queen Mutemwia is of unknown parentage. One theory identifies her with a daughter of King Artatama of Mitanni who is known to have married Pharaoh Tuthmosis IV. …. There is however no evidence for this theory. Others have suggested that she may have been related to Yuya, the father of Queen Tiye. This theory seems to date back to C. Aldred. He suggested that Mutemwia was a daughter of the Master of the Horse named Yey. This scenario would have Mutemwia as a secondary royal wife, who gives birth to a son and heir. During the early reign of her son Amenhotep III, she and her brother Yuya marry Amenhotep to his niece Tiye. This is a nice theory, but again, no firm evidence exists to validate any of these ideas. Queen Mutemwia was likely a minor wife of Tuthmosis IV. During the reign of Tuthmosis IV we first see him accompanied by a Queen Nefertari and later by Queen Iaret. Mutemwia must have given birth to Prince Amenhotep fairly early in the reign, and it seems that Prince Amenhotep was recognized by the king and may have even been designated crown prince. Mutemwia becomes more important during the reign of her son Amenhotep III. Amenhotep came to the throne at a fairly young age (some suggest ca 8-10 years old). Mutemwia never takes on the official role of regent for her son, but she is depicted on several of his monuments. [End of quote] The ‘Syrian’ element will become most significant as I continue to trace the origins and identification of Thutmose III and his son, Amenhotep. Obviously the reign lengths, as conventionally assigned, differ greatly, with Thutmose III reigning for 54 years and Thutmose IV for only about a decade or less. However, one finds some entirely new possible perspectives arising when one reads articles such as Betsy Bryan’s “The Reign of Thutmose IV” (1991): https://www.academia.edu/37751598/The_Reign_of_Thutmose_IV telling of historians Wente and Van Siclen even allowing for the possibility of “a figure quadrupling the reign” of Thutmose IV. CHRONOLOGY For those most interested in interpretive history, the problem of chronology often delays discussion. For those, however, who recognize the pitfalls and rewards of examining chronological evidence, this introductory chapter will be expected and, I hope, appreciated--if not completely agreed to. How long did Thutmose IV reign? The traditional answer to this question has been about eight years, a figure corresponding both to the attested year dates and the Manethonian king lists. Recently, however, the chronology for the New Kingdom proposed by Wente and Van Siclen used a figure quadrupling the reign. …. Such a dramatic extension of Thutmose's years as ruler warrants full discussion before it is embraced or rejected. The discussion below, therefore, before passing on to the events, characters, and monuments of the period, will examine the evidence for Thutmose IV's length of rule and weigh the arguments bearing on his reign contained in the new chronology. …. Added to this, Brian Alm has noted that reliefs of Thutmose IV actually refer to his Heb Sed festival (“Thutmose IV: Placeholder or Pivot?”). This usually indicated that the King of Egypt had attained to three decades of reign: https://www.britannica.com/topic/Heb-Sed “Heb-Sed, also called Sed Festival, one of the oldest feasts of ancient Egypt, celebrated by the king after 30 years of rule and repeated every 3 years thereafter. The festival was in the nature of a jubilee, and it is believed that the ceremonies represented a ritual reenactment of the unification of Egypt, traditionally accomplished by Menes”. Brian Alm writes, imagining that this must have been “fake news” on the part of the Pharaoh: https://www.academia.edu/37751598/The_Reign_of_Thutmose_IV [Thutmose IV] had reliefs put up at Amada, in Nubia, referring to his heb-sed Jubilee — even though he ruled only eight or ten years and had no sed observance, which technically was to commemorate a king’s 30th year of rule — “Jubilee by proxy,” Reeves calls it …. Yes, it’s true that kings did jump the gun and held the heb-sed early, while they were still fresh and able to assert their right to rule with youthful vigor, but it was still a bit too early for a king who had ruled at most ten years and was dead by the age of 25. It is also possible that the heb-sed was being expressed not as an event but as a wish for longevity. Nevertheless, real or imagined, the rite had been recorded and recognized, so it was “fact.” Today it might be called fake news, but it was an Egyptian convention to create truth by writing it, stamped with the magical di ankh, “given life,” to make it so. …. If, however, Thutmose IV is to be merged with III, then “fake news” was not involved. For Thutmose III certainly did celebrate a Heb Sed festival: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Festival_Hall_of_Thutmose_III “The Festival Hall of Thutmose III is situated at the end of the Middle Kingdom court, with its axis at right-angles to the main east–west axis of the temple. It was originally built to celebrate the jubilee (Heb-Sed) of the 18th dynasty Pharaoh, Thutmose III, and later became used as part of the annual Opet Festival.” For a pharaoh who is thought to have reigned for approximately only 8 years, Thutmose IV was an incredibly prolific builder. Though, as is thought: “Most of his work was adding to the temples of his father and grandfather …”: https://www.crystalinks.com/Thutmose_IV.html “Like most of the Thutmoside kings, he built on a grand scale. Thutmose IV completed the eastern obelisk first started by Thutmose III, which, at 32 m (105 ft), was the tallest obelisk ever erected in Egypt, at the Temple of Karnak. Thutmose IV called it the tekhen waty or 'unique obelisk.' It was transported to the grounds of the Circus Maximus in Rome by Emperor Constantius II in 357 AD and, later, "re-erected by Pope Sixtus V in 1588 at the Piazza San Giovanni" in the Vatican where it is today known as the 'Lateran Obelisk." …. Thutmose IV also built a unique chapel and peristyle hall against the back or eastern walls of the main Karnak temple building. The chapel was intended "for people "who had no right of access to the main Karnak temple. It was a 'place of the ear' for the god Amun where the god could hear the prayers of the townspeople." This small alabaster chapel of Thutmose IV has today been carefully restored by French scholars from the Centre Franco-Egyptien D'Etude des Temple de Karnak (CFEETK) mission in Karnak. He also began work at most of Egypt's major temple sites and four sites in Nubia, but almost all of this was simply adding to existing monuments. Most of his work was adding to the temples of his father and grandfather, and perhaps suggesting new sites and monuments to his son. Minor building projects: • The Delta at Alexandria • Seriakus • Heliopolis • Giza • Abusir • Saqqara • Memphis • Crocodilopos in the Fayoum • Hermopolis • Amarna • Abydos (a chapel) • Dendera • Medamu • Karna • Luxor • The West Bank at Luxor (his tomb and mortuary temple) • Armant • Edfu • Elephantine • Konosso Thutmose IV is like a microcosm of the great Thutmose III. Suspiciously, “little is known” about him: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thutmose_IV “Little is known about his brief ten-year rule. He suppressed a minor uprising in Nubia in his 8th year (attested in his Konosso stela) around 1393 BC [sic] and was referred to in a stela as the Conqueror of Syria,[3] but little else has been pieced together about his military exploits. Betsy Bryan, who penned a biography of Thutmose IV, says that Thutmose IV's Konosso stela appears to refer to a minor desert patrol action on the part of the king's forces to protect certain gold-mine routes in Egypt's Eastern Desert from occasional attacks by the Nubians.[4] Thutmose IV's rule is significant because he established peaceful relations with Mitanni and married a Mitannian princess to seal this new alliance”. Numerous instances of Syro-Mitannian campaigning and booty collecting can be gleaned from a reading of Betsy Bryan’s article, “The Reign of Thutmose IV”, although the tendency again is, as with Brian Alm’s article, to understate the likelihood of its being hard reality. Thutmose III was indeed a Conqueror of Syria: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thutmose_III#Conquest_of_Syria “The fifth, sixth and seventh campaigns of Thutmose III were directed against the Phoenician cities in Syria and against Kadesh on the Orontes. In Thutmose's 29th year, he began his fifth campaign, where he first took an unknown city (the name falls in a lacuna) which had been garrisoned by Tunip.[36] He then moved inland and took the city and territory around Ardata;[37] the town was pillaged and the wheatfields burned. Unlike previous plundering raids, Thutmose III garrisoned the area known as Djahy, which is probably a reference to southern Syria.[29] This permitted him to ship supplies and troops between Syria and Egypt. Although there is no direct evidence for it, it is for this reason that some have supposed that Thutmose's sixth campaign, in his thirtieth year, commenced with a naval transportation of troops directly to Byblos, bypassing Canaan entirely.[37] After the troops arrived in Syria by whatever means, they proceeded into the Jordan River valley and moved north, pillaging Kadesh's lands.[38] Turning west again, Thutmose took Simyra and quelled a rebellion in Ardata, which apparently had rebelled again.[39] To stop such rebellions, Thutmose began taking hostages from the cities in Syria. The cities in Syria were not guided by the popular sentiment of the people so much as they were by the small number of nobles who were aligned to Mitanni: a king and a small number of foreign Maryannu. Thutmose III found that by taking family members of these key people to Egypt as hostages, he could drastically increase their loyalty to him.[38] Syria rebelled again in Thutmose's 31st year and he returned to Syria for his seventh campaign, took the port city of Ullaza[38] and the smaller Phoenician ports[39] and took more measures to prevent further rebellions.[38] All the excess grain which was produced in Syria was stored in the harbors he had recently conquered and was used for the support of the military and civilian Egyptian presence ruling Syria.[38] This left the cities in Syria desperately impoverished. With their economies in ruins, they had no means of funding a rebellion.[40]” AMENHOTEP II, III As well as Thutmose III and IV needing to be merged into just the one pharaoh, as I have done, so also, do I think, the same may apply to Amenhotep II and III. The first (II) is rightly considered to have been the son of Thutmose III, whilst the second (III) is thought to have been the son of Thutmose IV. Here, though, I shall be proposing that Amenhotep II = III was the son of my revised Thutmose III = IV. STRONG, A SPORTSMAN, HUNTER Some patterns of similarity emerge also with Amenhotep II and III. For example: Being fathered by a predecessor “Thutmose”. And sharing the name Aakhepeh[-erure]. Having as wife: [Amenhotep II] “Tiaa (Tiya) "Great Royal Wife" Daughter of Yuya and Thuya”. http://www.phouka.com/pharaoh/pharaoh/dynasties/dyn18/07amenhotep2.html [Amenhotep III] Having a Great Royal Wife, “Tiy, daughter of Yuya and Tuya”. http://www.phouka.com/pharaoh/pharaoh/dynasties/dyn18/09amenhotep3.html Having as son-successors a Thutmose, and then an Amenhotep: [Amenhotep II] “Children Thutmose IV, Amenhotep …”. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amenhotep_II [Amenhotep III (and Tiy)] “Their eldest son, Thutmosis … died as a child. This left the kingdom to their second son, Amenhotep … who changed his name and is better known as Akhenaten”. [Mackey: Though I don’t think that Akhenaten was his son]. https://study.com/academy/lesson/amenhotep-iii-biography-family-death.html Well known about Amenhotep II is that he was a very physically strong sportsmen and hunter. But so, too, was Amenhotep III: https://681308714824908458.weebly.com/hunter.html …. Amenhotep III's reign encompassed peace and because of this there was no real need to have a 'warrior' pharaoh to protect Egypt, so instead the role of 'Hunter' became more prominent. Amenhotep still needed to seem strong and powerful. Skills taught to pharaohs previously to fulfil the role of being a warrior were transferrable to the role of being a hunter. Hunting was an important role as the representation of a hunter was Ma'at. Inscriptions praised the pharaoh for his physical power as a sportsman giving emphasis on his strength, endurance, skill and also his courage. Two scarabs were also issued promoting his success as a hunter. One scarab is pictured on this page from 1380BC [sic] in the 18th Dynasty. To the Right is the bottom of the scarab presenting the hieroglyphics and below is the picture of the detailed top of the artefact with markings indicating the head, wings and scorching on its legs imitating its feathering. This scarab records that the king killed 102 lions within his first ten years of his reign. He stated that he did this with only a bow and arrow. This presents his strength and power without having to win thousands of wars. Historian A. Gardiner wrote in 1972 a quote the relates strongly to the topic of a hunter 'with the accession of Amenhotep III, Dynasty 18 attained the zenith of its magnificence, though the celebrity of this king is not founded upon any military achievement. Indeed, It is doubtful whether he himself ever took part in a warlike campaign'.' This quote is explaining further how Amenhotep III was more involved with a warrior role than a military role. He may [have] not had war but he managed to keep his magnificence through hunting as the skills were transferrable. Hunting was an important role in the 18th dynasty and specifically during Amenhotep's reign as it was up to him to withhold the concept of ma'at. It was significant as the role of being a warrior was not necessarily needed throughout his reign, so the role of a hunter arose to ensure that the pharaoh was presented as strong. Amenhotep contributed to this role by creating the commemorative scarabs and recording any hunting successes. This provided the people with reassurance that their pharaoh could protect them and also it is significant because it provides historians and archeologists with evidence about the pharaoh and hunting. Sometimes the strength and sporting prowess of Amenhotep II are presented as if being his main claim to fame. The following piece exemplifies the pharaoh’s outstanding sporting skills: http://www.touregypt.net/featurestories/amenhotep2.htm Notably, Amenhotep II was well known for his athletic abilities as a young man. A number of representations of him depict his participation in successful sporting pursuits. He lived in the Memphite region where he trained horses in his father's stables, and one of his greatest athletic achievements was accomplished when he shot arrows through a copper plate while driving a chariot with the reins tied about his waist. This deed was recorded in numerous inscriptions, including a stele at Giza and depictions at Thebes. So famous was the act that it was also miniaturized on scarabs that have been found in the Levant. Sara Morris, a classical art historian, has even suggested that his target shooting success formed the basis hundreds of years later for the episode in the Iliad when Achilles is said to have shot arrows through a series of targets set up in a trench. He was also recorded as having wielded an oar of some 30 ft in length, rowing six times as fast as other crew members, though this may certainly be an exaggeration. …. The Odyssey, which (like The Iliad, “Achilles” above) has borrowed many of its images from the Bible, no doubt picked up this one of Amenhotep II also and transferred it to its hero, Odysseus (Latin variant: Ulysses). (Book 21): Penelope now appears before the suitors in her glittering veil. In her hand is a stout bow left behind by Odysseus when he sailed for Troy. ‘Whoever strings this bow’, she says, ‘and sends an arrow straight through the sockets of twelve ax heads lined in a row -- that man will I marry’. The suitors take turns trying to bend the bow to string it, but all of them lack the strength. Odysseus asks if he might try. The suitors refuse, fearing that they'll be shamed if the beggar succeeds. But Telemachus insists and his anger distracts them into laughter. As easily as a bard fitting a new string to his lyre, Odysseus strings the bow and sends an arrow through the ax heads. …. Similar patterns emerge, again, with the course of the reign of Amenhotep II, III - some early military activity followed by years of peace and prosperity, allowing for major building projects. Amenhotep II: http://www.touregypt.net/featurestories/amenhotep2.htm Some references refer to his first expedition taking place as early as his 2nd year of rule, though others provide that it was during his 7th. Still other references indicate that he made both of these campaigns. Regardless, he fought his was across the Orontes river and claims to have subdued all before him. One city, Niy, apparently had learnt their lesson under his father, and welcomed Amenhotep II. But at Tikhsi (Takhsy, as mentioned in the Theban tomb of Amenemheb - TT85), he captured seven prices, returning with them in the autumn. They were hung face down on the prow of his ship on the return journey, and six of them were subsequently hung on the enclosure wall of the Theban temple. The other was taken south into Nubia where his was likewise hung on the walls of Napata, "in order to cause to be seen the victorious might of His Majesty for ever and ever". According to the Stele recording these events, this first campaign netted booty consisting of 6,800 deben of gold and 500,000 deben of copper (about 1,643 and 120,833 pounds respectively), as well as 550 mariannu captives, 210 horses and 300 chariots. All sources agree that he once again campaigned in Syria during his ninth year of rule, but only in Palestine as for as the Sea of Galilee. Yet these stele, erected after year nine of Amenhotep II's rule, that provide us with this information do not bear hostile references to either Mitanni or Nahrin, the general regions of the campaigns. This is probably intentional, because apparently the king had finally made peace with these former foes. In fact, an addition at the end of the Memphis stele records that the chiefs of Nahrin, Hatti and Sangar (Babylon) arrived before the king bearing gifts and requesting offering gifts (hetepu) in exchange, as well as asking for the breath of life. Though good relations with Babylon existed during the reign of Tuthmosis III, this was the first mention of a Mitanni peace, and it is very possible that a treaty existed allowing Egypt to keep Palestine and part of the Mediterranean coast in exchange for Mitannian control of northern Syria. Underscoring this new alliance, with Nahrin, Amenhotep II had inscribed on a column between the fourth and fifth pylons at Karnak, "The chiefs (weru) of Mitanni (My-tn) come to him, their deliveries upon their backs, to request offering gifts from his majesty in quest of the breath of life". The location for this column in the Tuthmosid wadjyt, or columned hall, was significant, because the hall was venerated as the place where his father received a divine oracle proclaiming his future kingship. It is also associated with the Tuthmosid line going back to Tuthmosis I, who was the first king to campaign in Syria. Furthermore, we also learn that Amenhotep II at least asked for the hand of the Mitannian king, Artatama I, in marriage. By the end of Amenhotep II's reign, the Mitanni who had been so recently a vile enemy of Egypt, were being portrayed as a close friend. After these initial campaigns, the remainder of Amenhotep II's long reign was characterized by peace in the Two Lands, including Nubia where his father settled matters during his reign. This allowed him to somewhat aggressively pursue a building program that left his mark at nearly all the major sites where his father had worked. Some of these projects may have even been initiated during his co-regency with his father, for at Amada in Lower Nubia dedicated to Amun and Ra-Horakhty celebrated both equally, and at Karnak, he participated in his father's elimination of any vestiges of his hated stepmother, Hatshepsut. There was also a bark chapel built celebrating his co-regency at Tod. …. Amenhotep III: http://www.touregypt.net/featurestories/amenhotep3.htm While as usual, an expedition into Nubia in year five of his reign was given grandiose attention on some reliefs, it probably amounted to nothing more than a low key police action. However, it may have pushed as for as south of the fifth cataract. It was recorded on inscriptions near Aswan and at Konosso in Nubia. There is also a stele in the British Museum recording a Nubian campaign, but it is unclear whether it references this first action, or one later in his reign. There was also a Nubian rebellion reported at Ibhet, crushed by his son. While Amenhotep III was almost certainly not directly involved in this conflict, he records having slaughtered many within the space of a single hour. We learn from inscriptions that this campaign resulted in the capture of 150 Nubian men, 250 women, 175 children, 110 archers and 55 servants, added to the 312 right hands of the slain. Perhaps to underscore the Kushite subjection to Egypt, he had built at Soleb, almost directly across the Nile from the Nubian capital at Kerma, a fortress known as Khaemmaat, along with a temple. The Prosperity and International Relationships However, by year 25 of Amenhotep III's reign, military problems seem to have been settled, and we find a long period of great building works and high art. It was also a period of lavish luxury at the royal court. The wealth needed to accomplish all of this did not come from conquests, but rather from foreign trade and an abundant supply of gold, mostly from the mines in the Wadi Hammamat and further south in Nubia. Amenhotep III was unquestionably involved with international diplomatic efforts, which led to increased foreign trade. During his reign, we find a marked increase in Egyptian materials found on the Greek mainland. We also find many Egyptian place names, including Mycenae, Phaistos and Knossos first appearing in Egyptian inscriptions. We also find letters written between Amenhotep III and his peers in Babylon, Mitanni and Arzawa preserved in cuneiform writing on clay tablets.From a stele in his mortuary temple, we further learn that he sent at least one expedition to punt. It is rather clear that the nobility prospered during the reign of Amenhotep III. However, the plight of common Egyptians is less sure, and we have little evidence to suggest that they shared in Egypt's prosperity. Yet, Amenhotep III and his granary official Khaemhet boasted of the great crops of grain harvested in the kings 30th (jubilee) year. And while such evidence is hardly unbiased, the king was remembered even 1,000 years later as a fertility god, associated with agricultural success. …. Estimated reign lengths vary somewhat, with 38 years commonly attributed to Amenhotep III, whilst figures for Amenhotep II can range from, say, 26-35 years: https://www.crystalinks.com/Amenhotep_II.html “The length of [Amenhotep II’s] reign is indicated by a wine jar inscribed with the king's prenomen found in Amenhotep II's funerary temple at Thebes; it is dated to this king's highest known date - his Year 26 - and lists the name of the pharaoh's vintner, Panehsy. Mortuary temples were generally not stocked until the king died or was near death; therefore, Amenhotep could not have lived much later beyond his 26th year. There are alternate theories which attempt to assign him a reign of up to 35 years, which is the absolute maximum length he could have reigned. …”. Complicating somewhat the matter of reign length is the possibility of co-regencies - even perhaps quite lengthy ones: (a) between Amenhotep II and his father, Thutmose III, and (b) between Amenhotep III and Akhnaton. The most extreme estimate for (a) is “twenty-five years or more” (Donald B. Redford): https://www.jstor.org/stable/3855623?seq=1#metadata_info_tab_contents whilst for (b): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amenhotep_III#Proposed_co-regency_by_Akhenaten “In February 2014, the Egyptian Ministry for Antiquities announced what it called "definitive evidence" that Akhenaten shared power with his father for at least 8 years …”. Apart from Asa’s (as Abijah’s) significant war with Jeroboam I, the King of Judah would also have to deal with a massive invasion from the direction of Egypt/Ethiopia: Zerah’s invasion. Dr. I. Velikovsky had aligned this biblical incident with the era of Egypt’s Eighteenth Dynasty pharaoh, Amenhotep II, son of Thutmose III. This is very close to what I think must be the right biblico-historical synchronisation. According to my own estimate, with the Shishak campaign (in King Rehoboam’s Year 5) approximating to Thutmose III’s Year 25, then the 54-year reign of Thutmose III would have extended beyond Rehoboam’s reign, his Year 17 (I Kings 14:21), and would have penetrated as far as Asa’s (identified as Abijah) (54-25-12 =) Year 17. That Year 17 occurred probably a little after Zerah’s invasion, which Raymond B. Dillard estimates to have taken place in Asa’s Year 14 (2 Chronicles, Volume 15). Peter James and Peter Van der Veen (below) - who will include in their calculation the 3 years attributed to King Abijah (who is my Asa) - will situate “the Zerah episode in a fairly narrow window, between the years 11 and 14 of Asa”. Now, with the distinct likelihood that Amenhotep II shared a substantial co-regency with his long-reigning father, even as much as “twenty-five years or more”, as we read above, then Dr. Velikovsky may be entirely correct in his synchronising of the Zerah invasion with the reign of Amenhotep II. Once again Velikovsky had – as with his identifications of the Queen of Sheba and Shishak – the (approximately) right chronology. But once again he would put it together wrongly. In this particular case, Zerah, Dr. Velikovsky would actually identify the wrong (as I see it) candidate: Viceroy Usersatet my favoured choice for Zerah the Ethiopian (6) Viceroy Usersatet my favoured choice for Zerah the Ethiopian | Damien Mackey - Academia.edu In this article I have enlarged pharaoh Amenhotep II to embrace also the one known as Amenhotep III ‘the Magnificent’. {I have also enlarged Asa to embrace his supposed father, Abijah (Abijam)}. And I have enlarged Thutmose III, the father of my expanded Amenhotep, to embrace Thutmose IV.

Tuesday, October 1, 2024

Viceroy Usersatet my favoured choice for Zerah the Ethiopian

by Damien F. Mackey In his Ages in Chaos, I (Chapter 5: “Ras Shamra”), Dr. I. Velikovsky elaborated upon his choice of the physically strong pharaoh, Amenhotep II, for the biblical “Zerah the Ethiopian”. VELIKOVSKY’S “ZERAH” Dr. Velikovsky’s 1945 “Theses” Here Dr. Velikovsky outlined, in point fashion, what he would elaborate upon later, in his series Ages in Chaos (http://www.varchive.org/ce/theses.htm): THESES FOR THE RECONSTRUCTION OF ANCIENT HISTORY FROM THE END OF THE MIDDLE KINGDOM IN EGYPT TO THE ADVENT OF ALEXANDER THE GREAT BY IMMANUEL VELIKOVSKY …. 81. Amenhotep II lived not in the fifteenth but in the ninth century, and was the scriptural Zerah. 82. The theory that the Ethiopian Zerah came from Arabia is wrong; equally wrong is the theory that he is a mythological figure. 83. The battle of Ain-Reshet, referred to by Amenhotep II, is the battle of Mareshet-Gath, which was lost by Amenhotep II and won by Asa. 84. This intrusion of Amenhotep II-Zerah is also narrated in the poem of Keret found in Ras Shamra. 85. The theory that Terah of the Poem, who invaded the south of Palestine with millions of soldiers, is the father of Abraham, is wrong. 86. The Shemesh-Edom of the war-annals of Amenhotep II is the Edomite city of Shapesh (Shemesh) referred to in the Poem of Keret. …. 89. The texts found in Ras Shamra are not of the fifteenth, but of the ninth century. 90. The close resemblance of the texts of Ras Shamra with diverse books of the Scriptures repudiates most of the assertions of the Bible criticism (late origin of the texts), as well as the modern theory about the Canaanite heritage in the Scriptures (early origin of the texts). 91. The theory that alphabetic writing was perfected in the sixteenth century cannot be supported by the Ras Shamra texts of the ninth century. 92. As the alphabetic writing of Hebrew in cuneiform of Ras Shamra is contemporaneous with the stela of Mesha written in Hebrew alphabetic characters, the alphabet most probably did not originate in Phoenicia but in Palestine”. …. [End of quote] In his Ages in Chaos, I (Chapter 5: “Ras Shamra”), Dr. I. Velikovsky elaborated upon his choice of the physically strong pharaoh, Amenhotep II, for the biblical “Zerah the Ethiopian”: Amenhotep II Syria-Palestine of the period we are discussing was a region coveted by the pharaohs and striving for independence. When the long and successful reign of Thutmose III came to its end, Amenhotep II (his royal name is usually read Okheperure) took the scepter. To the Asiatic provinces the death of Thutmose III was a signal for insurrection and the casting off of the Egyptian yoke. Amenhotep II marched at the head of a vast army of chariots, horsemen, and foot warriors to suppress the rebellion in Syria and Palestine. His Majesty “went against Retenu (Palestine) in his first victorious campaign, in order to extend his frontier. ... His Majesty came to Shamash-Edom and devastated it. ... His Majesty came to Ugarit and subdued all his adversaries. . . .” …. On the way to Syria Amenhotep II displayed his ability to use the bow in a demonstration before the local princes in order to impress and intimidate them. He returned to Memphis with a few hundred nobles as war prisoners and a booty of some hundred horses and chariots or war carriages. On his return to Egypt he hanged some of the prisoners to the mast of his ship on the Nile with their heads down. In his ninth year he repeated his expedition to Palestine, his goal being Aphek in lower Galilee. He plundered two villages “west of Socoh,” and after pillaging other unimportant localities, he returned to Memphis with more prisoners. His harassing visits made him a common enemy of the kingdoms of Palestine and Syria. When he came again to Palestine, the main, and seemingly the only, battle was fought at a place called “y-r’-s-t”. Various solutions have been proposed for the identification of this locality. …. However, it is an important fact that according to Amenhotep’s annals he reached the place one day after his army left the Egyptian border. …. Thus the place of the battle could have been only in southern Palestine. Amenhotep called himself victorious, and it is accepted that this campaign was a victorious one. But was it really? What was the booty in the battle of y-r’-s-t? List of that which his majesty captured on this day: his horses 2, chariots 1, a coat of mail, 2 bows, a quiver full of arrows, a corselet and –100 some object the reading of which is no longer possible. But whatever may have been that last object, the complete spoils were pitiful indeed if all the king of Egypt could count after his victorious battle were one chariot, two horses, two bows, and one quiver “full of arrows.” It was a defeat. …. After a victory an army usually marches deeper into the enemy’s territory. But the lines directly following the enumeration of the spoils say that, “passing southward toward Egypt, his majesty proceeded by horse.” …. Immediately after the battle, the king turned toward Egypt. When a king returns from a successful campaign of restoring order in the provinces, the cities located on his triumphal route home do not choose that moment for revolt. Vassal cities rebel on seeing their oppressor in flight, and this is just what happened, for the war annals relate that Asiatics of a city on the way to Egypt “plotted to make a plan for casting out the infantry of his majesty.” …. During the remainder of his reign, for some decades, Amenhotep II did not return to Palestine, and there is no mention of any yearly tribute from there. …. To ascertain whether his expedition was a defeat, his subjective evaluation of the campaign must be compared with the scriptural record. The son of Rehoboam, Abijah, king of Judah, succeeded in winning a decisive battle against Jeroboam, king of Israel (II Chronicles 13). This must mean that Egyptian domination was already declining. After the short reign of Abijah, Asa, his son, followed him. “In his days the land was quiet ten years.” He built fortified cities in Judah, constructed walls and towers, gates and bars. He said to Judah: “We have sought the Lord our God, and he hath given us rest on every side” (II Chronicles 14:7). So they built and prospered. The destruction of the images of the pagan gods was in itself a rebellion (II Chronicles 14:5), for among them the first place surely belonged to the Egyptian gods, as the land since Shishak (Thutmose III) had been subject to the Egyptian crown. By fortifying the cities of Judah and recruiting his warriors, Asa clearly rejected Egyptian rule. II CHRONICLES 14:8 And Asa had an army of men that bare targets and spears, out of Judah three hundred thousand; and out of Benjamin, that bare shields and drew bows, two hundred and fourscore thousand: all these were mighty men of valor. The cities were fortified, the army stood ready. II CHRONICLES 14:9-10 And there came out against them Zerah the Ethiopian with a host of a thousand thousand, and three hundred chariots; and came unto Mareshah. Then Asa went out against him, and they set the battle in array in the valley of Zephathah at Mareshah. Asa prayed to God for help. II CHRONICLES 14:12-13 So the Lord smote the Ethiopians before Asa, and before Judah; and the Ethiopians fled. And Asa and the people that were with him pursued them unto Gerar; and the Ethiopians were overthrown, that they could not recover themselves; for they were destroyed before the Lord, and before his host; and they carried away very much spoil. Zerah the Ethiopian, who led an army of Ethiopians and Libyans (II Chronicles 16:8) from the southern and western borders of Egypt (like the army of the pharaoh Shishak), could be none other than a pharaoh. The way from Ethiopia to Palestine is along the valley of the Nile, and an Ethiopian army, in order to reach Palestine, would have had to conquer Egypt first. Moreover, the presence of Libyan soldiers in the army leaves little doubt that the king was the pharaoh of Egypt. In the opinion of the exegetes (Graf, Erbt) the story of the Chronicles must have a historical basis in an Egyptian or an Arabian invasion. The description of the battle of Mareshah or Moresheth … reveals why the pharaoh turned his back speedily on Palestine and his face toward Egypt, why from the field of this battle his army carried away “one bow and two horses,” and why the population of the cities, presumably in Edomite southern Palestine, plotted against his garrisons. It is a token of defeat when an Egyptian king recounts his own personal valor and fierceness on the battlefield, fighting himself against the soldiers of the enemy. It means that, when everyone had fled, His Majesty fought alone. In bombastic phrases, which do not refer to any special encounter, the inscription glorifies the ruler who battled alone: “Behold, he was like a fierce-eyed lion.” He was pursued only to Gerar. So he still had the satisfaction of taking with him on his return to Egypt a few chiefs of some villages, whom he burned alive in Egypt: his Memphis stele records this holocaust. Amenhotep II was not a great man, but he was a large one. He was proud of his physical strength and boasted that no one could draw his bow. A large bow inscribed with his name was found a few decades ago in his sepulcher. “There is not one who can draw his bow among his army, among the hill-country sheiks [or] among the princes of Retenu [Palestine] because his strength is so much greater than [that of] any king who has ever existed,” says the Elephantine stele. …. “It is his story which furnished Herodotus with the legend that Cambyses was unable to draw the bow of the king of Ethiopia.” …. A modern scholar saw a common origin in this story, which survived in legendary form in Herodotus (Book III, 21ff), and in the historical boast written on the stele of Elephantine by Amenhotep II, who lived many centuries earlier. The story of Herodotus has an Ethiopian king as the bragging bender of the bow of Amenhotep II. Was Amenhotep II an Ethiopian on the Egyptian throne? In the veins of the Theban Dynasty there was Ethiopian blood. …. Was the royal wife of Thutmose III a full-blooded Ethiopian and did she bear him a dark-skinned son? Or was Amenhotep II not the son of Thutmose III at all? He called himself son of Thutmose, but this claim need not have been literally true. He called his mother Hatshepsut. …. Is it possible that before ascending the throne of Egypt he was a viceroy in Ethiopia? …. Conventional chronology identifying Zerah with Osorkon of the Libyan Dynasty encounters difficulty in the biblical reference to Zerah as an Ethiopian. It was a glorious accomplishment to carry away so decisive a victory from the battlefield, when the foe was not a petty Arabian prince – as some exegetes have thought … or a pharaoh of the ignominious Twenty-second Dynasty – as other exegetes have assumed – but Amenhotep II, the great pharaoh, the successor to Thutmose III, the greatest of all the pharaohs. It was a victory as sweeping as the defeat of the Hyksos-Amalekites by Saul, but, as we shall see, its effect on the subsequent period was not of equal importance. Politically, the victory was not sufficiently exploited, but this fact does not detract from its military value. Egypt, at the very zenith of its imperial might, was beaten by Asa, king of Judah, and this was not a victory over an Egyptian garrison or a detachment dispatched to collect tribute, but over the multitude of the Egyptian-Ethiopian and Libyan hosts, at the head of whom stood the emperor-pharaoh himself. With the rout of the Egyptian army in the south of Palestine, all of Syria-Palestine naturally was freed of the Egyptian yoke. The pharaoh had previously laid Ugarit waste and threatened all the kingdoms in this area; it is conceivable that the king of Judah had some help from the north, and the sympathy of the Syrian maritime peoples must certainly have been with Asa. The inscriptions of Amenhotep II reveal his ambition to dominate, in addition to the land of the Nile, the lands of the Jordan, Orontes, and Euphrates, which had rebelled after the death of Thutmose III. The great victory at Mareshah carried a message of freedom to all these peoples; the repercussions of the battle should have been heard in many countries and for many generations. But only once again does the Book of Chronicles pay tribute to this victory, and this in the words of the seer Hanani: “Were not the Ethiopians and the Lubim (Libyans) a huge host, with very many chariots and horsemen?” (II Chronicles 16:8.) It is also said that the population of the northern tribes went over to Judah because of the high esteem this country enjoyed after it had successfully repelled the pharaoh and his army (II Chronicles 15:9). Is no more material concerning the victory of Asa over Amenhotep II preserved? Such a great triumph should have had a greater echo. …”. [End of quotes] CONVENTIONAL ESTIMATE OF “ZERAH” “Zerah” as a king Osorkon C. M. Cobern explains the standard estimation of “Zerah the Ethiopian” (in ISBE) as follows: http://biblehub.com/topical/z/zerah_the_ethiopian.htm ZERAH (THE ETHIOPIAN) (zerach ha-kushi (2 Chronicles 14:9); Zare): A generation ago the entire story of Zerah's conquest of Asa, coming as it did from a late source (2 Chronicles 14:9-15), was regarded as "apocryphal": "If the incredibilities are deducted nothing at all is left" (Wellhausen, Prolegomena to the History of Israel, 207, 208); but most modern scholars, while accepting certain textual mistakes and making allowance for customary oriental hyperbole in description; accept this as an honest historical narrative, "nothing" in the Egyptian inscriptions being "inconsistent" with it (Nicol in BD; and compare Sayce, HCM, 362-64). The name "Zerah" is a "very likely corruption" of "Usarkon" (U-Serak-on), which it closely resembles (see Petrie, Egypt and Israel, 74), and most writers now identify Zerah with Usarkon II, though the Egyptian records of this particular era are deficient and some competent scholars still hold to Usarkon I (Wiedemann, Petrie, McCurdy, etc.). The publication by Naville (1891) of an inscription in which Usarkon II claims to have invaded "Lower and Upper Palestine" seemed to favor this Pharaoh as the victor over Asa; but the chronological question is difficult (Eighth Memoir of the Egyptian Exploration Fund, 51). The title "the Cushite" (Hebrew) is hard to understand. There are several explanations possible. (1) Wiedemann holds that this may refer to a real Ethiopian prince, who, though unrecorded in the monuments, may have been reigning at the Asa era. There is so little known from this era "that it is not beyond the bounds of probability for an Ethiopian invader to have made himself master of the Nile Valley for a time" (Geschichte von Alt-Aegypten, 155). (2) Recently it has been the fashion to refer this term "Cushite" to some unknown ruler in South or North Arabia (Winckler, Cheyne, etc.). The term "Cushite" permits this, for although it ordinarily corresponds to ETHIOPIA … yet sometimes it designates the tract of Arabia which must be passed over in order to reach Ethiopia (Jeremias, The Old Testament in the Light of Ancient East, I, 280) or perhaps a much larger district (see BD; EB; Hommel, Ancient Hebrew Tradition; Winckler, KAT, etc.). This view, however, is forced to explain the geographical and racial terms in the narrative differently from the ordinary Biblical usage (see Cheyne, EB). Dr. W. M. Flinders Petrie points out that, according to the natural sense of the narrative, this army must have been Egyptian for (a) after the defeat it fled toward Egypt, not eastward toward Arabia; (b) the cities around Gerar (probably Egyptian towns on the frontier of Palestine), toward which they naturally fled when defeated, were plundered; (c) the invaders were Cushim and Lubim (Libyans), and this could only be the case in an Egyptian army; (d) Mareshah is a well-known town close to the Egyptian frontier (History of Egypt, III, 242-43; compare Konig, Funf neue arab. Landschaftsnamen im Altes Testament, 53-57). (3) One of the Usarkons [Osorkons] might be called a "Cushite" in an anticipatory sense, since in the next dynasty (XXIII) Egypt was ruled by Ethiopian kings. …. OTHER REVISIONISTS AND “ZERAH” Critical assessment so far Chronologically, Dr. Velikovsky’s placement of the biblical “Zerah the Ethiopian” during Egypt’s Eighteenth Dynasty must inevitably (according to my revision) be far closer to reality than the conventional version, somewhere during the Twenty-Second Dynasty. Biblically calculated, we must still be in the reign of pharaoh Thutmose III. For, a comparison of Philip Mauro’s spacings (The Wonders of Bible Chronology) with the estimate for Zerah’s invasion by Peter James and Peter Van der Veen, would yield approximately 25-30 years after the Shishak incident. James and Van der Veen have written (“Zerah the Kushite: A New Proposal Regarding His Identity”): https://www.academia.edu/13445553/Zerah_the_Kushite_A_New_Proposal_Reg “… Shishak invasion in Year 5 of Rehoboam … when would the Zerah episode have occurred in Egyptian terms? Chronicles records that there was peace in the land for the first ten years of Asa’s reign; also that some of the livestock captured after the defeat of Zerah were sacrificed in the year 15 (2 Chron. 14:1; 15:11). This places the Zerah episode in a fairly narrow window, between the years 11 and 14 of Asa. With 12 years for the remainder of Rehoboam’s reign and 3 for Abijah, the invasion of Zerah would thus have fallen 26 to 29 years after that of Shishak”. Halfway versions of “Zerah” We might expect that the likes of Dr. David Rohl and Peter James, having abandoned Velikovsky’s Eighteenth Dynasty revision for more of a middle course - or version situated ‘halfway’ between Velikovsky and convention - would find their “Zerah the Ethiopian” somewhere between the era of Velikovsky’s pharaoh Amenhotep II (late C15th BC, conventional dating) and convention’s Osorkon I (c. 900 BC, conventional dating) or II (c. 850 BC, conventional dating). And that is just what we do find. David Rohl has located Zerah to the time of his “Shishak”, pharaoh Ramses II (c. 1300 BC, conventional dating); whilst Peter James has, in league with Peter Van der Veen, located Zerah to “the final years” of pharaoh Ramses IV (c. 1150 BC, conventional dating). On a positive note, neither of these moderate versions has considered to identify “Zerah the Ethiopian” as a pharaoh, but, instead, as an officer of a current pharaoh, be he Ramses II or Ramses IV. On a negative note, both choices suffer for their failure to accept the Thutmose III = “Shishak” Velikovskian equation - according to my previous arguments, such as: The Shishak Redemption (9) The Shishak Redemption | Damien Mackey - Academia.edu Commenting on the biblical pharaoh, a blogger has written (“Who was Shishak?”): http://kabane52.tumblr.com/post/133301488410/who-was-shishak “Any revised chronology must identify a plausible candidate for the “Shishak king of Egypt” who plunders the Temple in the fifth year of King Rehoboam. Conventionally, Shishak is identified with Shoshenq, founded of the 22nd Dynasty. The names are a good match and Shoshenq did campaign in Palestine, but otherwise the match is implausible. The stela recording his campaign does not mention Jerusalem, thought to be the center of his attack. David Rohl proposes Rameses II under his nickname “Sheshi” as the Shishak who sacked the Temple. Still, the larger chronological framework proposed by Rohl is not workable: within a few decades, Asa decisively defeats “Zerah the Ethiopian.” On Rohl’s chronology, Ethiopia is not under Egyptian jurisdiction at this point in time: Asa would be fortifying Judah right under the watchful eye of the powerful 19th Dynasty of Egypt, and Zerah would have to move through Egypt to battle Asa. Peter James has proposed Rameses III [or IV] (again, under the nickname “Sheshi”) as the Shishak who sacked Jerusalem. Yet again, however, the chronological framework does not work. David would be establishing the kingdom of David right under the nose of the powerful Rameses II. The only way James can work this is by denying the figure of 80 years for the reign of David and Solomon and reducing it to 40 years. This is the theory driving the facts”. “Zerah” for David Rohl Dr. John Osgood would, in his review of Rohl’s A Test of Time (Vol. I), both praise Rohl for having at last located King Solomon to a plausible archaeological setting, but criticise him for not having followed up his Ramses II as “Shishak” with a candidate for “Zerah the Ethiopian”: https://creation.com/images/pdfs/tj/j11_1/j11_1_33-35.pdf “In chapter 8 Rohl then attempts to date the Solomonic period presently assigned to Iron Age IIA, and rightly concludes, as he must, that 'the cultural wealth of the era of Solomon . . . is not reflected in the archaeology of Iron Age Palestine . . .'. (page 175) He puts forward the Late Bronze Age as the era of Solomon — the only period consistent with the Solomonic milieu. At last a member of the archaeological discipline begins to make archaeological sense of the Palestine archaeological strata! In choosing Rameses II as Shishak, Rohl has failed however to follow up and identify a candidate for 'Zerah the Ethiopian' (II Chronicles 14:9) who followed soon after Shishak, nor an explanation for the Queen of Sheba”. Eric J. Aitchison would comment similarly (now including Peter James as well) in his book, Revisiting Velikovsky: An Audit of an Innovative Revisionist Attempt: SO; WHO WAS ZERAH? …. “It is of some moment that I draw to your attention that neither in “A Test of Time”, (David Rohl), nor in “Centuries of Darkness” (Peter James) is any attempt made to identify this historical character; this is subsequently rectified in Academia posts …. The word, “Zerah” is not in either book’s index. Each author identifies who might be Shishak and thus a relationship with Rehoboam, but neither goes on to identify whom [sic] Zerah might be in relation to an activity that occurs those twenty-eight years later …. In his later book, “The Lost Testament” David Rohl … offers the suggestion that Zerah was a general under Ramesses II. Thus Velikovsky was the braver scholar over his identification of Zerah as Amenhotep II. Murphie … in his work on “A Test of Time”, draws to our attention that under Rohl’s scheme Zerah must be active under Ramesses II, and then points out to us the resultant incongruities that flow there from”. Whilst I must reject David Rohl’s proposed era for the biblical Zerah as too late, I think that his later suggestion that Zerah the Ethiopian was a “general” is preferable to Velikovsky’s view that he was a pharaoh. “Zerah” for James and Van der Veen Era-wise for Zerah, James and Van der Veen are even further away from the mark than is David Rohl. What can be gleaned from their choice for the biblical Zerah, though, is that they have, like Rohl finally did, accepted that Zerah was an official rather than a pharaoh. In “Zerah the Kushite: A New Proposal Regarding His Identity”: https://www.academia.edu/13445553/Zerah_the_Kushite_A_New_Proposal_Reg James and Van der Veen have chosen for Zerah an official of pharaoh Ramses IV, Userḫau. Whilst this choice suffers further from the fact that there appears to be nothing to suggest that Userḫau was an “Ethiopian”, it does have in its favour that the name Userḫau is compatible with Zeraḥ. “The resemblance of his name to that of Zeraḥ prompts further investigation”. Biblically whenever a Pharaoh is involved - from the time of Joseph of Egypt all the way down to Necho during the late C7th BC (conventional dating) - the Bible specifies either “Pharaoh” or “King [so-and-so] of Egypt”. We also have (Isaiah 37:9): “… Tirhakah king of Ethiopia …”. Thus, whilst I would flatly reject convention’s era, designation and (perhaps) ethnicity for “Zerah”, I would also have to - whilst accepting Dr. Velikovky’s approximate era - reject his designation for “Zerah” as a pharaoh. If he had been a pharaoh, biblical consistency would demand that he be designated either as “King Zerah of Egypt” or as “Zerah king of Ethiopia”. Zerah is neither. Zerah the Ethiopian may be Usersatet, a Viceroy of Kush There is no strong evidence at all to indicate that Amenhotep II was an Ethiopian. There is no biblical evidence at all that Zerah was a pharaoh of Egypt. The names are quite un-alike (though that also applied with Thutmose III as “Shishak”). ONE MILLION MEN? Common sense ought to tell us that this is a ridiculous figure for that most ancient (and virtually any) time, and that the text, in order to make sense, must stand in need of a more reasonable translation. The great neo-Assyrian king, Shalmaneser (so-called III), probably boasted the largest army of history to date - which was well after Zerah - consisting of 120,000 men at the Battle of Qarqar. “Asa had an army of three hundred thousand men from Judah, equipped with large shields and with spears, and two hundred and eighty thousand from Benjamin, armed with small shields and with bows. All these were brave fighting men. Zerah the Ethiopian came out against them with an army of a million men and 300 chariots, and came as far as Mareshah”. 2 Chronicles 14:8-9 I have previously suggested that the size of the armies of Abijah-Asa and opponent, Jeroboam I, have been wildly inflated owing to a poorly selected translation. The writer of the following blog is therefore entirely correct in mounting this direct challenge, though wrong in attributing it to a fault of the Bible, “the bible is false, it is all false”: https://thechurchoftruth.org/the-bible-is-wrong-about-1000000-ethiopians-being-murdered/ The Bible is Wrong About 1,000,000 Ethiopians Being Murdered …. I am using the murder [sic] of one million Ethiopians to represent all of God’s murders in the Old Testament. Steve Wells documents the 158 separate instances where God either commands, condones or participates in the murder of approximately 25 million people in his book, Drunk With Blood. He also provides a complete listing and description of each of the 158 murderous events …. I will leave it to his website to describe each event; I will just look at the one with the highest toll. I will show beyond a doubt that it never happened. That is, I will provide yet another biblical story that is falsified. One can conclude that if any story of the bible is false, it is all false. POPULATION OF ETHIOPIA The story of killing 1,000,000 Ethiopians is an example of the ridiculous nature of all of the old testament. In order to mount an army of one million, the population would have to be at least 4 million. There were nowhere near four million Ethiopians alive at that time.Only Egypt came close to those numbers in those days. According to Colin McEvedy in his reference book “Atlas of World Population History”, Ethiopia had a population of 200,000 in 1000 BC. McEvedy makes the case that the entire continent of Africa had a population of only 6.5 million in 1000 BC with 3 million of those living in Egypt. There was no Ethiopian dynasty of over 4 million back in the times of King David. WHAT ABOUT EGYPT? To get to the land of the children of Israel, the [Ethiopians] would have had to march through Egypt. Just how would this have been accomplished? How were 1 million soldiers supplied? Where did the water come from? In addition, do you suppose that Egypt would have stood still while one million Ethiopians marched through their land. Or, did the Lord change the hearts of the Egyptians, his hated people. Remember, he was going to show them (the Egyptians) who was Lord with his plagues. He failed to do so. They still worshiped many gods, Ra chief among them. So, the Ethiopians would not even have been able to get to the Children’s promised land. NO OTHER ACCOUNTING OF THIS EVENT The real proof is in the total lack of any corroborating stories about the murder of 1 million Ethiopians. If their culture was advanced enough to support 4+ million people, they would be capable of recording their history. It is not there. …. [End of quote] We actually have here the same problem as with the numbers involved in the Exodus event, which have, owing to unreasonable translation of the texts, been inflated to millions. The above questions: “How were 1 million soldiers supplied? Where did the water come from?”, are similarly applicable to the Exodus event. They are entirely relevant questions. Once again it is our old friend the Hebrew word elef (eleph) that has been over used. On this, see e.g. my article: Abandonment of common sense is not a necessary prerequisite for biblical interpretation (9) Abandonment of common sense is not a necessary prerequisite for biblical interpretation | Damien Mackey - Academia.edu The solution to the numbers of Zerah the Ethiopian’s army and of the inflated Exodus numbers - and even of King Asa of Judah’s massive army of upwards of half a million, which would have made him potentially a world conqueror - is in the proper interpretation of the key Hebrew word, eleph (אֶלֶף), common to all three situations (Exodus; Asa; and Zerah). Dr. Bryant Wood (a conventional archaeologist) explains the situation in his answer below, in “The Number of Israelites in the Exodus”: “At the heart of the issue is the meaning of the Hebrew word eleph …”: http://www.biblearchaeology.org/post/2009/04/16/The-Number-of-Israelites-in-the-Exodus.aspx “In several places, the Bible seems to suggest that the Israelites involved in the Exodus and Conquest numbered more than two million people (e.g., Ex. 12:37; Num. 1: 46; Num. 26: 51). This figure seems extraordinarily large and skeptics often cite it as proof of the biblical account's inaccuracy. I know that various solutions have been offered, by James Hoffmeier amongst others, but there appears to be insurmountable difficulties with taking the texts at anything other than face value. Is there archaeological evidence that the Promised Land received such a large influx of people during the period under discussion? I would appreciate any perspective you might give me on this problem”. Thank you for the question: “Is there archaeological evidence that the Promised Land received such a large influx of people during the period under discussion?” The number of Israelites who left Egypt at the time of the Exodus is a vexed problem. It is possible, however, to make a rough estimate. Following the Conquest, 1406–1400 B.C., in the subsequent Late Bronze II period [sic] (14th and 13th centuries), the urban population in the highlands where the Israelites settled remained approximately the same as it was prior to the Conquest (Gonen 1984: Table 4). Based on highland burials, however, which includes both urbanites and non-urbanites, the population seems to have increased from the pre-Conquest period to the post-Conquest period (Gonen 1992: Table 5). The overall population is difficult to access. We do not have estimates for the Late Bronze I and II periods, but an estimate of the highland population for the previous Middle Bronze II period is ca. 65,000 (Broshi and Gophna 1986: Tables 1, 2, 6, 7,10, 11). Another possible way to estimate the number of Israelites who left Egypt is by means of the number of captives the Egyptians acquired in Canaan four years after the Exodus, which amounted to ca. 100,000 (Wood 2008:105–106). At the heart of the issue is the meaning of the Hebrew word eleph. It is usually translated “thousand,” but has a complex semantic history. The word is etymologically connected with “head of cattle,” like the letter aleph, implying that the term was originally applied to the village or population unit in a pastoral-agricultural society. From that it came to mean the quota supplied by one village or “clan” (Hebrew Mišpāḥā) for the military muster (Malamat 1967: 135). Originally the contingent was quite small, five to fourteen men in the quota lists of Numbers 1 and 26, as shown by Mendenhall (1958). Finally the word became a technical term for a military unit of considerable size, which together with the use of the same word for the number 1,000 has tended to obscure its broader semantic range. See also Humphreys 1998 and 2000, and Hoffmeier 2005: 153–59. …. [End of quotes] Obviously, to reduce the “thousand” to, for instance, Bryant’s “five to fourteen men” would make a considerable difference to the overall sum of fighting men involved. Translations whose outcome is to defy common sense make the Bible very easy pickings for hostile critics. Here is another such example, “God killed 27,000 Syrians with a falling wall”: http://dwindlinginunbelief.blogspot.com.au/2010/02/gods-83rd-killing-god-killed-27000.html “In his last killing, God killed the 100,000 Syrians for calling him a hill god. But some of the name-calling Syrians escaped. God took care of them by having a wall fall on them, killing 27,000. But the rest fled to Aphek, into the city; and there a wall fell upon twenty and seven thousand of the men that were left. 1 Kings 20.30a It was a really big wall”. Once again, though, we encounter that Hebrew word, elef: וַתִּפֹּל הַחוֹמָה, עַל-עֶשְׂרִים וְשִׁבְעָה אֶלֶף אִישׁ הַנּוֹתָרִים Falling walls, especially those relatively small ancient ones, do not tend to kill 27,000 men. Common sense ought to tell us that straight off. But a falling wall might flatten, say, 27 “chiefs” – a possible translation of elef. Era of Zerah Our first critic above is right to argue for a lesser population estimate at the approximate era of Zerah the Ethiopian (give or take the conventional 500 years of error): “There were nowhere near four million Ethiopians alive at that time. Only Egypt came close to those numbers in those days. According to Colin McEvedy in his reference book “Atlas of World Population History”, Ethiopia had a population of 200,000 in 1000 BC”. I have firmly fixed Zerah the Ethiopian’s invasion, during the early reign of King Asa of Judah (c. 900 BC, conventional dating), to Asa’s 11th-14th year “window” (following James and Van der Veen). And I have estimated that this must have occurred whilst pharaoh Thutmose III (whose Year 23 may have corresponded with Rehoboam’s Year 5) was still ruling Egypt, to very late in his 54-year reign. At this stage, Thutmose is considered to have adopted his son, Amenhotep II, as co-regent. Hence, chronologically, Amenhotep II was a co-ruler of Egypt at the time of Zerah’s invasion. Despite this nice coincidence, I am not inclined to accept Dr. Velikovsky’s identification of Amenhotep II as “Zerah the Ethiopian”. There is no strong evidence at all to indicate that Amenhotep II was an Ethiopian. There is no biblical evidence at all that Zerah was a pharaoh of Egypt. The names are quite un-alike (though that also applied with Thutmose III as “Shishak”). As David Rohl has correctly discerned, this was the Late Bronze Era. Dr. Bryant Wood is quite wrong in his locating of the Conquest era (Joshua) to this approximate archaeological phase: “Following the Conquest, 1406–1400 B.C., in the subsequent Late Bronze II period (14th and 13th centuries) …”. Dr. John Bimson had, in his fundamentally important article, “Can There be a Revised Chronology Without a Revised Stratigraphy?” (SIS Review, VI, 1-3), pin-pointed the archaeological phase for Thutmose III (which must also be the age of “Zerah the Ethiopian”). As we move away, to Babylon for instance, we must at this time encounter the Hammurabic dynasty – given that we have revised King Hammurabi of Babylon as a close contemporary of King Solomon. For almost four decades after Hammurabi’s death, we are told, his son Samsuiluna ruled Babylon (c. 1750-1712 BC, conventional dating). I, however, have suggested that Samsuiluna may actually have been Hammurabi. Samsuiluna’s reign may have overlapped in part with that of the long-reigning Thutmose III. This necessitates that Samsuiluna must now be shifted downwards by some eight centuries. He must be now dragged out of the Middle Bronze Age II 1750 BCE – 1650 BCE and be re-located closer to Late Bronze II. No longer a contemporary of Egypt’s Thirteenth Dynasty, Samsuiluna now becomes - as he was - a contemporary of Egypt’s Eighteenth Dynasty, the New Kingdom era. What was going on at this time in the rest of the ancient world? According to the conventional view: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samsu-iluna “In the 9th year of Samsu-iluna's reign a man calling himself Rim-sin (known in the literature as Rim-sin II, and thought to perhaps be a nephew of the Rim-sin who opposed Hammurabi)[3]:48–49 raised a rebellion against Babylonian authority in Larsa which spread to include some 26 cities, among them Uruk, Ur, Isin and Kisurra in the south, and Eshnunna.[2]:243[3]:48–49[4]:115 in the north. Samsu-iluna seems to have had the upper-hand militarily. Within a year he dealt the coalition a shattering blow which took the northern cities out of the fight.[Note 1] In the aftermath the king of Eshnunna, Iluni, was dragged to Babylon and executed by strangulation.[2]:243 Over the course of the next 4 years, Samsu-iluna's armies tangled with Rim-sin's forces up and down the borderlands between Babylon, Sumer and Elam. Eventually Samsu-iluna attacked Ur, pulled down its walls and put the city to the sack, he then did the same to Uruk, and Isin as well.[3]:48–49[Note 2] Finally Larsa itself was defeated and Rim-sin II was killed, thus ending the struggle.[2]:243 Unfortunately the floodgates had opened. A few years later, a pretender calling himself Ilum-ma-ili, and claiming descent from the last king of Isin, raised another pan-Sumerian revolt. Samsu-iluna marched an army to Sumer, and the two met in a battle which proved indecisive; a second battle sometime later went Ilum-ma-ili's way, and in its aftermath, he founded the First Dynasty of Sea-Land,[2]:243[Note 3], which would remain in control of Sumer for the next 300 years. Samsu-iluna seems to have taken a defensive approach after this; in the 18th year of his reign, he saw to the rebuilding of 6 fortresses in the vicinity of Nippur[5]:380–382, which might have been intended to keep that city under Babylonian control. Ultimately, this proved fruitless; by the time of Samsu-iluna's death, Nippur recognized Ilum-ma-ili as king.[3]:48–49 Apparently, Eshnunna had not reconciled itself to Babylonian control either, because in Samsu-iluna's 20th year they rebelled again.[3]:48–49 Samsu-iluna marched his army through the region and, presumably after some bloodshed, constructed the fortress of Dur-samsuiluna to keep them in line. This seems to have done the trick, as later documents see Samsu-iluna take a more conciliatory stance repairing infrastructure and restoring waterways.[3]:48–49 As if this weren't enough, both Assyria and Elam used the general chaos to re-assert their independence. Kuturnahunte I of Elam, seizing the opportunity left by Samsu-iluna's attack on Uruk, marched into the (now wall-less) city and plundered it, among the items looted was a statue of Inanna which wouldn't be returned until the reign of Ashurbanipal 11 centuries [sic] later.[2]:243 In Assyria, a native vice regent named Puzur-Sin ejected Asinum who had been a vassal king of his fellow Amorite Hammurabi. A native king Ashur-dugul seized the throne, and a period of civil war in Assyria ensued. Samsu-Iluna seems to have been powerless to intervene, and finally a king named Adasi, restored a stable native dynasty in Assyria, removing any vestages [sic] of Amorite-Babylonian influence[6]:section 576 apud[2]:243 In the end, Samsu-iluna was left with a kingdom that was only fractionally larger than the one his father had started out with 50 years prior (but which did leave him mastery of the Euphrates up to and including the ruins of Mari and its dependencies).[4]:115[Note 4] The status of Eshnunna is difficult to determine with any accuracy, and while it may have remained in Babylonian hands the city was exhausted and its political influence at an end”. [End of quote] But see for example, with regard to all of this (notably Elam), the geographical revolution as proposed by Royce (Richard) Erickson): More geographical ‘tsunamis’: lands of Elam and Chaldea (2) More geographical ‘tsunamis’: lands of Elam and Chaldea | Damien Mackey - Academia.edu as well as my: Called Sumerian History, but isn’t (3) Called Sumerian History, but isn’t. | Damien Mackey - Academia.edu and: King David set pattern for Hammurabi and Rim-Sin as desirable shepherd kings (5) King David set pattern for Hammurabi and Rim-Sin as desirable shepherd kings | Damien Mackey - Academia.edu Pharaoh Amenhotep II himself appears to have continued a peaceful relationship with Babylon and Mitanni in his time: http://www.touregypt.net/featurestories/amenhotep2.htm “Yet these stele, erected after year nine of Amenhotep II's rule, that provide us with this information do not bear hostile references to either Mitanni or Nahrin, the general regions of the campaigns. This is probably intentional, because apparently the king had finally made peace with these former foes. In fact, an addition at the end of the Memphis stele records that the chiefs of Nahrin, Hatti and Sangar (Babylon) arrived before the king bearing gifts and requesting offering gifts (hetepu) in exchange, as well as asking for the breath of life. Though good relations with Babylon existed during the reign of Tuthmosis III, this was the first mention of a Mitanni peace, and it is very possible that a treaty existed allowing Egypt to keep Palestine and part of the Mediterranean coast in exchange for Mitannian control of northern Syria. Underscoring this new alliance, with Nahrin, Amenhotep II had inscribed on a column between the fourth and fifth pylons at Karnak, "The chiefs (weru) of Mitanni (My-tn) come to him, their deliveries upon their backs, to request offering gifts from his majesty in quest of the breath of life".” ZERAH ETHNICALLY ETHIOPIAN? Whilst I had written previously, regarding the proposed identification of Zerah as the official, Userḫau, according to Peter James and Peter Van der Veen, that “… this choice suffers further from the fact that there appears to be nothing to suggest that Userḫau was an “Ethiopian” …”, it has since occurred to me that biblical practice may use such a term geographically, rather than ethnically. For instance, we have considered that Ruth was only a “Moabite” (Ruth 1:22) in terms of where she lived. For Ruth was, by race, an Israelite. On this, see my article: Bible critics can overstate idea of ‘enlightened pagan’ (3) Bible critics can overstate idea of 'enlightened pagan' | Damien Mackey - Academia.edu So it may also be that “Zerah the Ethiopian” was simply dwelling in Ethiopia and may not necessarily have been an Ethiopian by race – may not necessarily have been black. The largest armies of this particular time probably comprised closer to 10,000 men (not Zerah’s one million), the number some historians have estimated for the size of the army employed by Thutmose III in his First Campaign. Tightening the historical context Thutmose III would apparently, in his Year 50, complete his final campaign. http://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Thutmose_III#Nubian_Campaign “Thutmose took one last campaign in his 50th regnal year, very late in his life. He attacked Nubia, but only went as far as the fourth cataract of the Nile. Although no king of Egypt had ever penetrated as far as he did with an army, previous kings' campaigns had spread Egyptian culture that far already, and the earliest Egyptian document found at Gebel Barkal in fact comes from three years before Thutmose's campaign. …”. Year 50 of pharaoh Thutmose III would approximate to, based on my earlier calculations, about Year 13 of Asa. It (i) falls within that “fairly narrow window” of possible years for Zerah’s campaign; it (ii) concludes Thutmose III’s military activity; and it (iii) involves a conquest of Nubia (Ethiopia) which provided soldiers, “Cushites”, for the large army of Zerah. 2 Chronicles 16:8: ‘Were not the Cushites [Ethiopians] and Libyans a vast army with many chariots and horsemen? When you depended on Yahweh, He handed them over to you’. The military campaigns of Amenhotep II’s 7th Year and 9th Year - the ones favoured for Zerah’s invasion, including by Dr. Velikovsky - would be well outside the range of possible dates for Zerah. With Thutmose III having just ‘faded out’, and with Amenhotep yet to emerge, still very young: “Amenhotep III (who is my II) was only a child of about five years of age upon his succession” (Charles Pope), then the suggestion by some revisionists that Zerah the Ethiopian was an official rather than a pharaoh (supported by the scriptural description of him) becomes an attractive one. Peter James and Peter Van der Veen had, as we read, favoured the official, Userḫau, whose name is compatible with that of Zerah. But I believe that Userḫau is far too late in history for Zerah. However, we may be able to identify an important official who has the same name element User (“Powerful”), but who belongs to the approximate time range that we have established above for Zerah. He is: Usersatet Viceroy of Kush. Hence he also has the advantage over Userḫau of having ruled Kush, or Ethiopia, from whence Zerah the Ethiopian and his army will emerge. http://www.wikiwand.com/en/Usersatet “Usersatet was an Ancient Egyptian official with the titles king's son of Kush (Viceroy of Kush) and overseer of the southern countries. He was in office under king Amenhotep II and perhaps in the early years of the reign [sic] of Thutmosis IV. As king's son of Kush he was the main official in charge of the Nubian provinces. Usersatet was perhaps born in Elephantine or at least the region around this island. The name Usersatet means Satet is strong; Satet being the main deity of Elephantine. Usersatet's father was Siamun, and his mother was Nenwenhermenetes, king's ornament, both of which [sic] not much is known. …. It seems that Usersatet grew up in the royal palace and followed the king on his military campaign to Syria. He cleared 5 canals in the region of Aswan. The canals were already more than 700 years old and most likely had been filled with sand earlier in the 18th Dynasty. …. Usersatet is known from a high number of monuments, especially in Lower Nubia. Near Qasr Ibrim, he erected a chapel in honour of king Amenhotep II. A stela found at Semna bears a copy of a king's letter to Usersatet. However, no biography of this official survived. Therefore there is not much known about his life and career. His name had been removed from many monuments, therefore it seems that he fell into dishonour at some point in his career. His tomb has not yet been identified. …”. It is highly unlikely that Zerah’s embarrassing defeat at the hands of Asa king of Judah would have been recorded in any of the Egyptian records, and it could be expected that he, too, like Usersatet (perhaps), “fell into dishonour”.

Mighty son of “Shishak” engages with Jerusalem

by Damien F. Mackey Creationist Patrick Clarke, holding to the conventional route, will misidentify certain locations that Dr. Velikovsky had claimed were the newly fortified forts of Rehoboam. Following on from Dr. Immanuel Velikovsky’s biblically maximalising identification of “Shishak king of Egypt” (I Kings 14:25-26) with ancient Egypt’s “Napoleon” (professor Breasted), Thutmose III, of the Eighteenth Dynasty (in Ages in Chaos, I, 1952), I undertook the extremely challenging task of solving the geographical and topographical problems associated with that pharaoh’s First Campaign (Year 22/23), the one that Dr. Velikovsky had rightly identified as being the biblical campaign against Jerusalem in Year 5 of king Rehoboam of Judah. My reconstruction of this campaign can be read in articles such as: The Shishak Redemption (4) The Shishak Redemption | Damien Mackey - Academia.edu and: Yehem near Aruna - Thutmose III’s march on Jerusalem (3) Yehem near Aruna - Thutmose III's march on Jerusalem | Damien Mackey - Academia.edu Whereas convention, and Dr. Velikovsky - surprisingly in agreement with it for once - have the pharaonic campaign proceeding from Gaza, northwards, following a relatively easy coastal route to Megiddo (at which point Dr. Velikovsky will veer south, while convention will continue to go northwards, to Syrian Kadesh), I would have the Egyptian force, instead, proceeding from Gaza directly to Jerusalem - called Y-hm (Yehem) in the Egyptian Annals - which location was, as the above articles show, near the Aruna (of Araunah the Jebusite) road. As is apparent from these articles, I am much indebted to Dr. Eva Danelius for the identification of the ancient Aruna road with its tortuous topography that cannot be found anywhere in convention’s, or in Dr. Velikovsky’s, route northwards to Megiddo. Creationist Patrick Clarke, holding to the conventional route, will misidentify certain locations that Dr. Velikovsky had claimed were the newly fortified forts of Rehoboam: Was Jerusalem the Kadesh of Thutmose III’s 1st Asiatic campaign—topographic and petrographic evidence (4) Was Jerusalem the Kadesh of Thutmose III’s 1st Asiatic campaign—topographic and petrographic evidence | Patrick Clarke - Academia.edu Clarke, who is highly critical of Dr. Velikovsky’s reconstructions, will write as follows in this article: …. Velikovsky mentions three locations as being part of Rehoboam’s fifteen fortified cities. He wrote: “The walled cities fortified by Rehoboam … may be found on the Egyptian list [referring to Thutmose III]. It appears that Etam is Itmm; Beth-Zur – Bt sir; Socoh – Sk. …. Here is a new field for scholarly inquiry: the examination of the list of the Palestinian cities of Thutmose III, comparing their names with the names of the cities in the kingdom of Judah. The work will be fruitful.” …. Socoh – Sk Here Velikovsky is actually right about the name equivalence, i.e. Sk really is Socoh; but unfortunately for his thesis, there is an additional issue to consider, inasmuch as there were three towns called Socoh. Socoh 1 was the town fortified by Rehoboam … Socoh 2, mentioned only once in the Bible, in Joshua 15:48, is located in the southernmost district of the Judean hill country … Socoh 3 lies on the Sharon plain and not in Judah. The following explains which of the three is relevant to this paper: “Amenhotep II in his campaign against recalcitrant peoples mentioned it [Socoh], again in association with Yaham and other places in the Sharon. Socoh was strategically located not only on the N-S highway but also near the mouth of the Naḥal Shekhem, the main entryway to Samaria and Shechem from the west. The town appears three times in Egyptian records, and the contexts confirm its location vis-à-vis the other towns along the great international trunk route along the eastern edge of the Sharon plain. In the topographical list of Thutmose III, Socoh (no. 67) appears after Aphek and before Yaham [Yehem].” Thus the Socoh which Velikovsky so confidently held to be one of Rehoboam’s Judean fortresses is shown to be the wrong Socoh for his purposes; the one claimed as a conquest by Thutmose III, the one we have labelled Socoh 3, above, lies some 80 km to the north. …. [End of quote] Whilst Clarke’s placement of “Socoh (no. 67)” might apply if the conventional interpretation of the route of pharaoh Thutmose III’s First Campaign were valid, it cannot possibly apply in the close association of it with a Yehem (Y-hm) that I have identified in the above articles as Jerusalem. It will be, as Clarke himself puts it, “some 80 km” too far away. Thus I believe that the intuitive Dr. Velikovsky was quite correct in identifying Thutmose III’s Sk with Rehoboam’s fort of Socoh in the Shephelah. Unfortunately, the Socoh in the Shephelah, which concerns us here, has not yet been unequivocally identified. What is certain from the Bible is that it lay close to Azekah: https://leonmauldin.blog/2010/10/21/socoh-in-the-david-goliath-narrative/ Socoh, in the David & Goliath Narrative Our recent posts have included aerial photos of Azekah and Khirbet-Qeiyaffa (Elah Fortress), both of which are in the Valley of Elah. (Some suggest that Khirbet-Qeiyaffa may turn out to be the biblical Ephes Dammim.) Another site mentioned in the biblical record and featured in today’s post Socoh. 1 Sam. 17 includes this site as the geographical setting is provided for the battle between the Philistines and the Israelites, when David killed Goliath. The text reads: Now the Philistines gathered their armies for battle; and they were gathered at Socoh which belongs to Judah, and they camped between Socoh and Azekah, in Ephes-dammim. Saul and the men of Israel were gathered and camped in the valley of Elah, and drew up in battle array to encounter the Philistines. The Philistines stood on the mountain on one side while Israel stood on the mountain on the other side, with the valley between them. (1 Sam. 17:1-3) Our photo shows tel Socoh in center (look to the left and above the horizontal road that dissects the field in center). If you note the tiny tree-line above tel Socoh, across the road, this is the brook from which David selected five smooth stones, one of which he used to slay Goliath. In the distance (just right of wing brace at top) you can see tel Azekah. For 40 days this valley rang out with the threatening voice of loud-mouth Goliath, until the shepherd David rose to the challenge, prompted by this faith in the God of Israel. Socoh (also spelled Sochoh and Soco) had earlier been assigned to the territory of Judah (Josh. 15:35). Later it was fortified by Solomons’ son King Rehoboam (2 Chron. 11:7). Later still, in the days of King Kezekiah, Socoh was among the cities of the Shephelah listed in 2 Chron. 28:18 as raided and conquered by the Philistines. Apparently Socho had been an administrative center during Hezekiah’s reign as indicated by the numerous stamped jar handles with the seal of Socoh. Amenhotep II at Jerusalem If this pharaoh, son of Thutmose III and considered to have been immensely strong, physically, had engaged Jerusalem in the course of his Syro-Canaanite campaigns, so significant a moment ought to be recorded in the Scriptures. Dr. Immanuel Velikovsky had hopefully identified pharaoh Amenhotep II as the biblical “Zerah the Ethiopian” (2 Chronicles 14:9-15), which - though wrong, as I think - comes far closer to the truth of the matter, chronologically speaking, than do the conventional efforts (e.g., Osorkon I of the Twenty-Second Dynasty as Zerah). I have written differently on this subject: Viceroy Usersatet my favoured choice for Zerah the Ethiopian (4) Viceroy Usersatet my favoured choice for Zerah the Ethiopian | Damien Mackey - Academia.edu My next task, hopefully, will be trying to determine what is the right biblical context of pharaoh Amenhotep II’s engagement with Jerusalem (Egyptian Yehem). If such can be pinpointed, then it ought to serve to reinforce my view that the Yehem (Y-hm) of Thutmose III and Amenhotep II was, in fact, ancient Jerusalem.

Monday, September 30, 2024

City of Jerusalem taken by “Shishak king of Egypt”

by Damien F. Mackey The high official Senenmut, often described as ‘the power behind the throne’ of the Eighteenth Dynasty pharaohs, Hatshepsut and Thutmose III, was - according to my now very strong conviction - none other than King Solomon of Israel himself, lately most heavily involved also in Egyptian affairs. Senenmut, as Solomon, as we read in my article: Solomon and Sheba (4) Solomon and Sheba | Damien Mackey - Academia.edu faded from the Egyptian scene in about Year 16 of these Egyptian co-rulers. If this was the approximate time of Senenmut’s-Solomon’s death, then the 5th year of his son, Rehoboam, the year when Shishak king of Egypt came up against Jerusalem and pillaged its Temple and palace: I Kings 14:25-26: “In the fifth year of King Rehoboam, Shishak king of Egypt attacked Jerusalem. He carried off the treasures of the Temple of the LORD and the treasures of the royal palace. He took everything, including all the gold shields Solomon had made” …. must coincide very closely indeed to Thutmose III’s First Campaign in his Year 22-23, the very military campaign that Dr. I. Velikovsky had identified with the biblical one (Ages in Chaos, I, 1952). Since I have fully accepted Dr. Velikovsky’s identification of Thutmose III as the biblical “Shishak king of Egypt”, I therefore have something of a vested interest in his estimation that the pharaoh’s First Campaign was the biblical episode. Chronologically, in my revised scheme (Senenmut-Solomon factor), it fits like a glove. But what about geographically? Well, that has turned out to be a monumental challenge. We are going to be looking at four differing geographies for pharaoh Thutmose III’s First Campaign, the last three of these will be revised views. I refer to these four: • The conventional account of it; • Dr. I. Velikovsky’s account of it; • Dr. E. Danelius’s account of it; • My own view. A. The Conventional view Apart from its being dated approximately half a millennium too early on the time scale (c. 1460 BC instead of c. 920 BC), the conventional estimation of the geography of at least the early stage of the First Campaign of Thutmose III does not accord at all with the Egyptian description of it topographically speaking. All reconstructions (whether conventional or revised) are in agreement that the Egyptian army first marched to the city of Gaza. Wikipedia briefly tells of how the conventional version of the campaign runs in its article, “Thutmose III”: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thutmose_III#:~:text=First%20Campaign,-Thutmose%20III%20smiting&text=Thutmose%20marched%20his%20troops%20through,battle%20of%20Thutmose's%2017%20campaigns. First Campaign When Hatshepsut died on the 10th day of the sixth month of Thutmose III's 21st year, according to information from a single stela from Armant, the king of Kadesh advanced his army to Megiddo.[23] Thutmose III mustered his own army and departed Egypt, passing through the border fortress of Tjaru (Sile) on the 25th day of the eighth month. Thutmose marched his troops through the coastal plain as far as Jamnia, then inland to Yehem, a small city near Megiddo, which he reached in the middle of the ninth month of the same year.[24] The ensuing Battle of Megiddo probably was the largest battle of Thutmose's 17 campaigns. A ridge of mountains jutting inland from Mount Carmel stood between Thutmose and Megiddo and he had three potential routes to take.[25] The northern route and the southern route, both of which went around the mountain, were judged by his council of war to be the safest, but Thutmose, in an act of great bravery (or so he boasts, but such self-praise is normal in Egyptian texts), accused the council of cowardice and took a dangerous route[26] through the Aruna mountain pass, which he alleged was only wide enough for the army to pass "horse after horse and man after man."[24] Despite the laudatory nature of Thutmose's annals, such a pass does indeed exist, although not as narrow as Thutmose indicates,[27] and taking it was a brilliant strategic move since when his army emerged from the pass they were situated on the plain of Esdraelon, directly between the rear of the Canaanite forces and Megiddo itself.[25] For some reason, the Canaanite forces did not attack him as his army emerged,[26] and his army routed them decisively.[25] The size of the two forces is difficult to determine, but if, as Redford suggests, the amount of time it took to move the army through the pass may be used to determine the size of the Egyptian force, and if the number of sheep and goats captured may be used to determine the size of the Canaanite force, then both armies were around 10,000 men.[28] Most scholars believe that the Egyptian army was more numerous.[citation needed] According to Thutmose III's Hall of Annals in the Temple of Amun at Karnak, the battle occurred on "Year 23, I Shemu [day] 21, the exact day of the feast of the new moon",[29] a lunar date. This date corresponds to 9 May 1457 BC based on Thutmose III's accession in 1479 BC. After victory in battle, his troops stopped to plunder the enemy and the enemy was able to escape into Megiddo.[30] Thutmose was forced to besiege the city, but he finally succeeded in conquering it after a siege of seven or eight months (see Battle of Megiddo (15th century BC)).[30] This campaign drastically changed the political situation in the ancient Near East. By taking Megiddo, Thutmose gained control of all of northern Canaan and the Syrian princes were obligated to send tribute and their own sons as hostages to Egypt.[31] Beyond the Euphrates, the Assyrian, Babylonian and Hittite kings all gave Thutmose gifts, which he alleged to be "tribute" when he recorded it on the walls of Karnak.[32] The only noticeable absence is Mitanni, which would bear the brunt of the following Egyptian campaigns into Western Asia. [End of quote] From Gaza [Egyptian G3-d3-tw], to Yehem [Egyptian Y-hm], via a narrow defile, Aruna [Egyptian '3-rw-n3], to Megiddo [Egyptian My-k-ty]. So it goes. Then the pharaoh will go on to invade Syria, and, ultimately, on to Syrian Kadesh [Egyptian Kd-sw]. This conventional reconstruction of the campaign, if correct, would absolutely shatter any consideration that this could have been the biblical episode involving Jerusalem and the pharaoh “Shishak”. Prior to Megiddo, the route almost entirely hugs the coast. At least it does not go anywhere near inland Jerusalem. Thankfully, the conventional effort can be shown to be hopelessly inadequate as to its reconstruction of the early part of the campaign. Dr. Eva Danelius has shattered it - and indeed a crucial part of Velikovsky’s reconstruction as well - in her brilliant article, “Did Thutmose III Despoil the Temple in Jerusalem? A Critical Commentary to Chapter IV of "Ages in Chaos" (SIS Review, v2, No.3, 1977/78). While her main achievement here is on the level of topography, her comments about some key name identifications are also most telling. Writing of the infamous Aruna road, for instance, Dr. Danelius tells how the conventional identification of the location by no means fits the actual name: Breasted identified this defile, the road called "Aruna" in Egyptian records, with the Wadi 'Ara which connects the Palestine maritime plain with the Valley of Esdraelon (4). It was this identification which aroused my curiosity, and my doubt. …. As an afterthought, [Harold] Nelson warns not to be deceived by the Arabic name (wadi) 'Ara: "Etymologically, it seems hardly possible to equate (Egyptian) 'Aruna with (Arab) 'Ar'arah." (51). But Eva Danelius had a problem far more serious with the conventional identification of the Aruna road than this one of etymology - one which really had ‘aroused her doubt’. Thus she explains: If it is true that "the geography of a country determines the course of its wars" (44), the frightful defile, and attempts at its crossing by conquering armies, should have been reported in books of Biblical and/or post-Biblical history. There is no mention of either. Nor has the Wadi 'Ara pass ever been considered to be secret, or dangerous. "From the Plain of Sharon to Jordan. This line... ascends by the broad and open valley Wâdy 'Ârah, crossing the watershed at Ain Ibrahim, which is about 1200 feet above the sea. Thence the road descends, falling some 700 feet in 3 miles to Lejjûn, where it bifurcates... This line, which appears to be ancient, is of great importance, being one of the easiest across the country, owing to the open character of Wâdy 'Ârah." This was written 100 years ago, by C. R. Conder (45), long before a modern highway was laid through. Conder's view is shared by later writers: "Most armies coming north over Sharon. .. would cut across the... hills by the easy passes which issue on Esdraelon at Megiddo and elsewhere." - thus, a famous historian and geographer (46). The last army which actually crossed by this pass on its way from the south was the Egyptian Expeditionary Force under General Allenby, in September 1918. General Wavell evaluates the difficulties of the crossing when discussing the operational plan for the final onslaught: "There was no obstacle to rapid movement along either the Plain of Sharon or Plain of Esdraelon. The crux of the ride would be the passage of the mountain belt which divides these two plains... the width of this obstacle is about seven miles. Two routes lead across it from Sharon, of which... the eastern debouches into Esdraelon at El Lejjûn or Megiddo... Neither road presents any physical difficulties for a mounted force. On the other hand, either is easy of defence and would be hard to force against opposition." On September19th, 1918, a brigade with armoured cars was sent ahead to seize the defile leading to El Lejjûn. It was undefended, and on the following night "the 4th Cavalry Division passed the Musmus Defile (Wadi 'Ara pass) during the night, after some delay due to a loss of direction by the leading brigade, and reached the plain at El Lejjûn by dawn." (47) During the same years in which Breasted wrote his reconstruction of the campaign, a German team under Schuhmacher started to excavate Tell el-Mutesellim. The excavation was carried out during the years 1903 to 1905. Unfortunately, "At the spot excavated by Schuhmacher, absolutely nothing has been found which could provide any further information" (concerning identification of the mound with that besieged, and conquered, by Thutmose III), states the report (48). Schuhmacher's excavation was much too limited to permit final judgement. Breasted, quite rightly, refused to give up so easily. He wanted scientific proof for his identification, and suggested to one of his students, Harold H. Nelson, that he dedicate his doctoral thesis to the problem. Nelson was not given freedom to look for the frightening defile among the mountains of Palestine; Breasted confined him to a specific region: "This study is confined almost entirely to an effort to interpret the Annals of Thutmose III in the light of the geography of the environs of Megiddo," explains Nelson in his preface (49). In other words, the "scientific investigation" had to verify a foregone conclusion of Breasted - it was "prove or perish" for the unhappy young man. For the sensitive reader, the resulting dissertation is a moving testimony of an intelligent and honest young student who tried desperately to harmonise the theory of his venerated teacher with the observations made on the spot, which simply did not fit. Nelson travelled through the Wadi 'Ara pass in 1909, and again in 1912. He described it in detail: '...the road enters the Wady 'Ara which is there... flat and open... All the way to a quarter of a mile above 'Ar'arah the valley is wide and level and cultivated up the slopes on either side... the ascent is so gradual as to be scarcely perceptible and it is possible to drive a carriage as far as the top of the pass." The road follows an ancient Roman road which descends along a smaller way. "This latter gradually contracts as it proceeds till about half a mile above the mouth of the valley, it reaches its narrowest point, being not more than 10 yards wide. A little further on the road... opening out rapidly to a couple of 100 yards, emerges upon the plain of Lejjûn." Nelson comes to the conclusion that: "Of course such a road could be easily defended by a comparatively small number of men, but, on the other hand, an invading army could readily keep possession of the hills on either hand which are neither steep nor high above the valley... a watcher posted on the hill above Lejjûn could descry an approaching army at least a mile above the mouth of the pass." (50) …. Neither the physical appearance of the road as described by Nelson, nor its use as an international highway justify its identification with a road described as "inaccessible", "secret" or "mysterious" in the Egyptian records. [End of quotes] This telling estimation by Dr. Danelius has stuck with me even as I have vacillated over the years from one viewpoint to another about the actual route of the First Campaign, at one stage even dropping Velikovsky’s view that it was the “Shishak” episode and so looking for a more appropriate campaign by Thutmose III. Eventually, though, I would have to find a solution that was in topographical harmony with the Egyptian account. Dr. Danelius was also critical of the conventional interpretation of the place named in the Egyptian Annals as Y-hm. Though I never considered her alternative explanation of it as Yamnia (Yavne) to be very convincing either, and wondered if a better solution for Y-hm was possible. More recently, I have come to the conclusion that Y-hm is the key to the entire situation. That Y-hm refers to Jerusalem! This is what Dr. Danelius herself had to say about this Y-hm: Let us stop here and survey the situation. To recapitulate: the one undisputed place reached by the Egyptian army was Gaza. From there on, every "identification" has been pure guesswork. This is especially true for the "identification" of Y-hm, which was supposed to have been near the entrance to Wadi 'Ara (and identified, eventually, with Jemma, a nearby Arab village). In order to reach this place, the army which had just crossed the Sinai desert would have continued marching for 10 days, covering about 90 English miles (89). So far Breasted, and his followers to this day. Experience has shown that an army which includes cavalry and chariots drawn by horses cannot progress that quickly in a country where drinking water is in short supply during the dry season, May to November. It seems that neither Breasted nor any of his followers has given any thought to this vital question, not to mention other problems of logistics. In this respect, the dispatches sent by General Allenby to the Secretary of State for War during the advance of the Forces in the Philistine Plain are a veritable eye-opener. Gaza had fallen on November 7th 1917. Two days later: "By the 9th, the problem became one of supply... the question of water and forage was a very difficult one. Even where water was found in sufficient quantities, it was usually in wells and not on the surface, and consequently... the process of watering a large quantity of animals was slow and difficult," writes Allenby (90). The very next day, November 10th: "The hot wind is an additional trial, particularly to the cavalry already suffering from water-shortage." (This was near Ashdod, in the Philistine Plain.) "Owing to the exhaustion of their horses on account of the lack of water", two mounted brigades "had to be withdrawn into reserve" on November 11th. There is no reason to suppose that nature was kinder to Thutmose's troops in May, the month with the greatest number of days with the destructive hot wind blowing from the desert. than to the Allied troops in November. Allenby's advance, too, was considerably slower than that demanded in Breasted's calendar for the advance of the Pharaoh's army: the Allied left wing covered only 40 miles in 15 days along the plain (91), while Breasted suggested 80-90 miles in 10-11 days. These observations may justify a totally different interpretation of the events during the 10 or 11 days from the day Thutmose left Gaza to the council of war at Y-hm. According to the unanimous understanding of Egyptologists, the text of the Annals leaves no doubt that the entrance into Gaza was a peaceful one. There is no hint of any resistance by the inhabitants. Gaza, in the10th century BC, was the seat of one of the five Philistine kings (92). The peaceful entry and exit of the Pharaoh and his army justifies the assumption that the Egyptians found themselves in a friendly country. War preparations by the Pharaoh, most probably, were not confined to the purely military side; they should have included political discussions with the countries bordering the Judaean Kingdom: Edom, Philistia and the newly created Kingdom of Israel. Among these, the Philistine Plain would be the ideal base for an army considering the conquest of Judah and Jerusalem. For the following, it is assumed that the Egyptians were in the position to use it as such (93). The place named immediately after Gaza is Y-hm. Petrie suggested an identification with the modern Arab village Yemma, south-west of the Carmel ridge, an identification that is "little more than guesswork" according to Nelson (94). If an eminent Egyptologist like Petrie thought an equation Y-hm = Yemma possible, it may be permitted to see in Y-hm the Egyptian equivalent of Yamnia (Yabne in Hebrew), a port about 40 km north of Gaza. Today, Yamnia/Yabne lies about 7 km inland from the Mediterranean, from which it is separated by a broad belt of sand dunes. The plain around it is strewn with the remnants of Bronze Age and Iron Age settlements, among them a harbour town at the mouth of a little river which bypasses the city. Needless to say, possession of a harbour would facilitate the problem of supply and help considerably in its solution. It is suggested to see in Yamnia the location of the campaign base and council of war described in the Annals (95). [End of quotes] For conventional history, any reconstruction of pharaoh Thutmose III is going to be out by some 500 years. That, for one, negates any possibility of his being the biblical “Shishak king of Egypt”, and it also negates any of his many campaigns as being the famous biblical attack on Jerusalem. Apart from some flawed name connections, especially the hopeless equation of the Egyptian Aruna (most crucial in any reconstruction of the event) with Wadi ‘Ara (Arab) ‘Ar‘arah, the conventional site for Aruna, Wadi ‘Ara, cannot possibly be associated topographically with the notorious road as described with such dread by the Egyptian soldiery. And this, despite Wikipedia’s hopeful “… such a pass does indeed exist, although not as narrow as Thutmose indicates”. B. The Campaign as Dr. Velikovsky explained it Most ironic that Dr. Velikovsky, to whom we must be forever grateful for his having courageously revised Eighteenth Dynasty Egypt on a massive scale, would contribute nothing really worthwhile regarding the route taken by pharaoh Thutmose III, the biblical “Shishak”, in his First Campaign, the one that Velikovsky had correctly identified as the biblical episode. For once we find Dr. Immanuel Velikovsky following the conventional view for the early part of Thutmose III’s First Campaign, and thus getting things quite wrong – as according to what we learned previously of the conventional interpretation. Dr. Velikovsky had accepted professor Breasted’s view that Megiddo was the Mk-t-y of the Egyptian Annals, and that Thutmose III and his troops had followed the coastal route from Gaza to Megiddo. That immediately runs into the serious problem of topographical dissimilarity as pointed out above. When confronted with Dr. Eva Danelius’s criticism of it, Velikovsky came with this reply that I consider to be weak, no better really than Wikipedia’s: “… such a pass does indeed exist, although not as narrow as Thutmose indicates”. And so Velikovsky wrote (“A Response to Eva Danelius”, SIS Review, Vol. II No. 3 Special Issue 1977/78, p. 80): Now as to the approach to Megiddo being a narrow pass - by what it is now, it cannot be judged what it was almost three thousand years ago. There could have been artificial mound-fortifications the length of the pass. Think, for instance, of Tyre of the time of Shalmaneser III or Nebuchadnezzar (who besieged it for 13 years), or even of the days of Alexander, when it withstood a protracted siege. Today its topography is completely changed. Neither of these comments (Wikipedia, Dr. Velikovsky) does justice to the frightening description of the Aruna Road as we find in the Egyptian campaign record. Having started badly on this one, Dr. Velikovsky then became more typically interesting and controversial. Instead of the Egyptian campaign now heading into Syria, as according to professor Breasted and the conventional view, Velikovsky has it suddenly wheeling back in dramatic fashion, southwards to Kadesh - obviously not the Syrian Kadesh, but Jerusalem itself (Kadesh = the “Holy”) according to Velikovsky. The Egyptians are now supposedly in pursuit of the fleeing King of Kadesh, Rehoboam, son of Solomon, heading for sanctuary in his capital city of Jerusalem. Exciting stuff, but pure fantasy! From Megiddo, the Egyptian army was actually on its way northwards towards Syria, as Creationist Patrick Clarke has clearly demonstrated in his article: Was Jerusalem the Kadesh of Thutmose III’s 1st Asiatic campaign?—topographic and petrographic evidence (4) Was Jerusalem the Kadesh of Thutmose III’s 1st Asiatic campaign—topographic and petrographic evidence | Patrick Clarke - Academia.edu It seems that Dr. Velikovsky - a bit like with that song by The Who, “north side of my town faced east and the east was facing south” - had the Egyptian army heading north while it was still located in the south, and then lurching southwards when it was really heading for the north. Most ironic that Dr. Velikovsky, to whom we must be forever grateful for his having courageously revised Eighteenth Dynasty Egypt on a massive scale, would contribute nothing really worthwhile regarding the route taken by pharaoh Thutmose III, the biblical Shishak, in his First Campaign, the one that Velikovsky had correctly identified as the biblical episode. C. The Campaign as Dr. Danelius explained it After my initial, rather uncritical, acceptance of Dr. Velikovsky’s reconstruction in the early days, I became quite enamoured with Dr. Eva Danelius’s version (“Did Thutmose III Despoil the Temple in Jerusalem?”), which pointed out problems of which I had been blissfully unaware, and, seemingly, solved the major ones of these. Whilst I no longer accept her thesis as a whole, Dr. Danelius’s vitally important contribution in the area of topography, and her connection of Aruna with the biblical Araunah the Jebusite, hence Jerusalem, remained with me. I believe that this element is necessary for a proper resolution of the whole matter. Instead of having the Egyptian army march almost immediately from Gaza towards Megiddo, but via the broad coastal road (which cannot be correct), Dr Danelius has it marching a far shorter distance northwards to connect with the Beth-horon road that leads back into Jerusalem. This is far more promising than the previous attempts, given that Jerusalem is in sight from the start, and that the Beth-horon road was notorious for its steepness and narrowness. It is this road, Beth-horon, that Dr. Eva Danelius will identify as the unpalatable Aruna road of the Egyptian Annals. Whereas Dr. Velikovsky had tried to identify Jerusalem as Kadesh, but wrongly, now Dr. Danelius will hopefully identify Jerusalem as Mk-t-y, again wrongly. She appears to have based her interpretation of Mk-t-y here on somewhat late names for the capital city: Among the names enumerated as designating Jerusalem is Bait-al-Makdis, or in brief, Makdis, corresponding to Beithha-Miqdash in modern Hebrew pronunciation. The10th century Arab writer who mentions this name calls himself Mukadassi = the Jerusalemite (102). The name Mâkdes was still used by the Samaritans (a Jewish sect who never left the country, who trace their ancestors to three of the northern tribes of Israel) at the beginning of this century, when discussing with Rabbi Moshe Gaster their attitude towards Jerusalem (103), and a local shop outside Damascus Gate still bears the inscription: Baith el-Makdis. But Mk-t-y, in its association in the Annals with Taanach (Egyptian T3-'3-n3-k3), is clearly Megiddo, as both professor Breasted and Dr. Velikovsky had accepted. Response to Eva Danelius: “Taanach is also next to Megiddo in the Bible (I Kings 4:12). Your equation of Taanach with the Tahhunah ridge does not strengthen your thesis”. Good try, though! What we can take from the thesis of Dr. Danelius - and it is not insignificant - is that the Aruna road really was a steep and forbidding road, and that it was near to Jerusalem. But do we need to go northwards from Gaza to get on to that road, only to have to double back after that? Or is there a more simple, Occam’s Razor, procedure? D. My own account of the Campaign But it seems that there are problems with every interpretation of the pharaoh’s route. Can pharaoh Thutmose III be saved as “Shishak”? The road to salvation is narrow and difficult to find (Matthew 7:14), and so has been the road to identifying, historically, the biblical “Shishak king of Egypt” (2 Kings 14:25). Thutmose III, the mightiest Eighteenth Dynasty pharaoh, had once opted for a ‘redemption’ type of road, one narrow and most difficult to negotiate. And his military scribe, Tjaneni, marked down this road using the name ‘3-rw-n3 (Aruna). This road’s true identification has been missed by historians, conventional and revisionist alike. I say this because those on both sides who have accepted the typical identification of the Aruna road as the Wãdy ‘Ârah opening out towards Taanach and Megiddo have not been able to explain at all satisfactorily why the Wãdy ‘Ârah’s topography is nothing like that as described in pharaoh Thutmose III’s campaign Annals. Sir Henry Breasted’s prize doctoral student, Harold H. Nelson, had demonstrated beyond all doubt in his thesis, The Battle of Megiddo (1913), that the relatively gentle topography in that northern region did not accord at all with the terrifyingly narrow and steep road described by the Egyptians, that ‘enters into narrowness’ and where ‘horse will have to go after horse’. (References to Harold H. Nelson have been taken from Dr. Eva Danelius’s “Did Thutmose III Despoil the Temple in Jerusalem?”, SIS Review, Vol. 2 No. 3, 1977/78). Nor did the name ‘Ârah accord well linguistically with Aruna, as Nelson had rightly observed: “Etymologically, it seems hardly possible to equate (Egyptian) ‘Aruna with (Arab) ‘Ar‘arah”. And, while the young man succeeded in passing his doctorate to the professor’s satisfaction, Nelson later dissociated himself completely from its conclusions. One ought to read Dr. Danelius’s poignant account in her article of Harold H. Nelson and the fate of his doctoral thesis. Dr. Eva Danelius herself was the researcher to have come closest to identifying the Aruna road. According to her, it must have been the narrow Beth-horon pass leading up to the site of Araunah (hence Aruna) the Jebusite, which became the City of David (Zion), Jerusalem. Against the conventional view that Thutmose III’s Mk-t-y was Megiddo, Dr. Danelius would argue, instead, that Mk-t-y was a name for Jerusalem, (Bait-al-) Makdis. and she believed that the Kd-šw of the Egyptian Annals was, not Kadesh in Syria, but the land of “Har Kodsho”, “The Holy Mount”. But it seems that there are problems with every interpretation of the pharaoh’s route. The road chosen by Danelius, for instance, does not go anywhere near Taanach and Megiddo, whose coupling in the Egyptian Annals (with Taanach perfectly transliterated in the Egyptian, T3-‘3-n3-k3) leaves it beyond question that the pharaonic army was bound for the strong fort of Megiddo. Dr. Velikovsky had fully accepted the conventional interpretation here, that pharaoh Thutmose III’s Mk-t-y was Megiddo - but with a twist. Pharaoh, after conquering Megiddo, Velikovsky wrote (Ages in Chaos, I, 1952), had headed southwards in pursuit of Rehoboam, “King of Kd-šw” (Kadesh = ‘the Holy’), that is, Jerusalem. To explain the conventional estimation of the rugged Aruna road to Megiddo, against Dr. Danelius’s very strong topographical argument, Dr. Velikovsky would suggest in his response to her that topography can change markedly over time: “Now as to the approach to Megiddo being a narrow pass – by what it is now, it cannot be judged what it was almost three thousand years ago. There could have been artificial mound-fortifications the length of the pass” (“A Response to Eva Danelius by Immanuel Velikovsky”, SIS Review, Vol. 2 No. 3, 1977/78). That, I find, to be no more compelling a view than was Dr. Danelius’s effort to account for the Egyptian T3-‘3-n3-k3 somewhere in the region of Jerusalem. Velikovsky again (loc. cit.): “Your equation of Taanach with the Tahhunah ridge does not strengthen your thesis”. The conventional view is that the pharaoh, having arrived at Gaza (G3-d3-tw), continued on by a coastal route, ultimately via the Wãdy ‘Ârah, to Megiddo. After that he moved on further northwards, to conquer the troublesome city of Kadesh on the Orontes in Syria. The progression from Megiddo to a northern Kadesh does appear to accord properly with the geography of the Egyptian campaign. On this, see Patrick J. Clarke’s account in his article, “Was Jerusalem the Kadesh of Thutmose III’s 1st Asiatic campaign? – topographic and petrographic evidence” (Journal of Creation, Vol. 23, Issue 3, December 2011, pp. 48-55). The standard identifications of Gaza, Taanach and Megiddo, and Kadesh on the Orontes, seem to me now to be quite secure. Aruna as the Wãdy ‘Ârah, however, does not! And there is in the Egyptian account another little considered location, a town, or city, Yehem (Egyptian Y-hm), whose identification by convention I find to be not the least bit convincing. “Thutmose marched his troops through the coastal pain as far as Jamnia, then inland to Yehem, a small city near Megiddo …”. The typical view expressed here is just a guess. Where, if anywhere, is Jerusalem in all of this? As the disciples on another road, to Emmaus, had lamented: ‘We were hoping …’ (Luke 24:21). And, indeed, those inspired by Dr. Velikovsky’s Ages in Chaos reconstructions have been hopeful that he had been able to pinpoint, in Thutmose III’s First Campaign, his Year 22-23, his immediate march on the glorious City of Jerusalem. Would it not make perfect sense that the mighty pharaoh would firstly head straight for Jerusalem once he had begun his military campaigns into Syro-Palestine? But now we have the Kd-šw (Kadesh) necessarily cancelled out as a candidate for Jerusalem, it surely being Kadesh on the Orontes. As well as this, Mk-t-y is clearly Megiddo, and not Jerusalem. So what is there left to us? As it now seems to me, Dr. Danelius’s Araunah for the Aruna road can be salvaged – though not as to its precise geography. And also her view regarding the road’s most difficult topography can be maintained, but, once again, with geographical modifications. Let us briefly reconstruct anew this part of Thutmose III’s campaign. From Gaza, the pharaoh will do exactly what pharaoh Shoshenq I (conventionally, but wrongly, identified as the biblical “Shishak”) will do in a later period, swing across towards Jerusalem. In the case of Shoshenq I, though, he did not actually go to Jerusalem, but to Gibeon (modern al-Jīb), about six miles NW of Jerusalem. (For a handy map of Shoshenq I’s campaign, see p. 41 of SIS Review, Vol. VIII, 1986). Pharaoh Thutmose III will make as his first place of call after Gaza a town not given great consideration by historians, and hopelessly identified by them: namely, Y-hm. This Y-hm was, as I now believe it must be, a shortened version of Jerusalem (Y-erusa-hm), keeping in mind ancient Egyptian’s reluctant use of ‘l’ (actually missing in their alphabet). Y-hm, or as the Annals put it, “Yehem near Aruna”, was obviously an important halting place, where the Egyptian army dallied, organised supplies, and held a conference about how further to proceed. We read an account of it, for instance, as “Yaham”, in The Battle of Megiddo by Jimmy Dunn (aka Troy Fox: www.touregypt.net): [From Gaza the Egyptian army] reached Yaham eleven days later in mid May. Perhaps this [now slower rate of march] indicates fatigue, or simply caution as they travelled through territory that could be considered potentially or actually hostile. In fact, along the way Tuthmosis III detached units commanded by general Djehuty in order to place the stronghold of Jaffa under siege so that his line of communication and possible retreat could be protected, an indication that the Canaanite alliance was significant within southern Canaan. Three possible roads from Yehem to Megiddo lay open to the Egyptians, two of which were relatively easy to negotiate (like the conventionally chosen way through the Wãdy ‘Ârah). One nearby road, however, was a most difficult one, prompting the pharaoh’s officers to question: “Will the vanguard of us be fighting while the rear is waiting here in Aruna unable to fight?” They then provided the alternative suggestions “Now, two other roads are here, one of the roads – behold it is to the east of us, so that it comes out at Taanach. The other – behold, it is to the north side of Djefti, and we will come out to the north of Megiddo”. The Aruna road, the most difficult, but most direct, was the one that the brilliant pharaoh chose, for a surprise assault upon Megiddo. Jimmy Dunn writes regarding pharaoh’s tactic (op. cit.): … the Aruna road was through a narrow and difficult pass over a ridge that was presumed (particularly for the enemy coalition) to be too difficult for any army to use. Taking that route meant that ‘horse must follow horse, and man after man’…. Also, many modern commentators, and perhaps the Canaanite coalition as well, seem to forget the major virtues of the Egyptian Chariots. They were light vehicles, and it was certainly conceivable that many could be carried through the pass, while the horses were led separately …. The pass was named from its beginning at Araunah, near king Rehoboam’s capital, Jerusalem, “Yehem near Aruna”. Dr. Danelius had got the name right, but she had the Egyptian military negotiating it the wrong way around, with Araunah as its destination point, rather than its being their starting point. This road is variously known to us today as the Way of the Patriarchs, the Hill Road, or the Ridge Route, since it included, as we read, “a narrow and difficult pass over a ridge”. It was not a proper road, even as late as the time of Jesus, not one of the international highways then to be found in Palestine. This would have been a most tricky road, indeed, to negotiate, especially for an army that greatly relied upon its chariots. From Gaza (as all agree), pharaoh marched to Jerusalem (Dr. Danelius got the sequence right, but mis-identified Jerusalem), and then by the narrow Aruna road (Dr. Danelius got the name right only, not the direction) on to Megiddo (as per the conventional view and Velikovsky), and then on to Syrian Kadesh (as per the conventional view and Patrick J. Clarke).