Evidence for the Sea Peoples from Biblical and Later Jewish Writing from Late Antiquity

2017 ◽  
Vol 67 (2) ◽  
pp. 264-272
Author(s):  
Adam Peiper
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Late Antiquity ◽  
Direct Evidence ◽  
Late Bronze Age ◽  
Biblical Text ◽  
Masoretic Text ◽  
Sea Peoples ◽  
Modern Term

The French Egyptologist Emmanuel de Rougé termed the sea-borne foreign invaders who invaded Egypt during the late Bronze Age on the basis of the Great Karnak inscription, “peuples de la mer” or Sea Peoples. Recently however, specialists, in the absence of more direct evidence of the use of this term in antiquity, have called into question its historical provenance and have even declared it a “modern term”. Ancient Jewish writings, by contrast, refer to several Peoples of the Sea which notably include the Philistines. Moreover, close examination of the orthography of biblical ethnonyms in the context of migratory sea passages in both the Masoretic text and the Septuagint demonstrates the existence of a previously undescribed productive genitive sea-borne indicator within the very fabric of the biblical text.

From Lists to Literature

2019 ◽  
pp. 70-94
Author(s):  
William M. Schniedewind
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Direct Evidence ◽  
Late Bronze Age ◽  
Biblical Literature ◽  
Primary Consumers ◽  
Biblical Texts

Spelling and vocabulary were taught though lexical lists. Fragments of at least two, perhaps three, of these lists are present at Kuntillet ʿAjrud. The standardization of spelling reflects the growth and centralization in government and bureaucracy, which were the primary consumers of writing. Fragments of cuneiform lists found in Israel dating to the Late Bronze Age give direct evidence of a vector of transmission for the cuneiform lexical tradition into early Israel. In fact, they provide a key for interpreting the Gezer Calendar as well as biblical texts. Lexical lists taught standardized spelling, but they also classified knowledge. In everyday commerce, lists were critical to administration and bureaucracy. In biblical literature, lists were adapted in a number of ways and incorporated into biblical literature.

Canaanite Roots, Proto-Phoenicia, and the Early Phoenician Period

2019 ◽  
pp. 37-55
Author(s):  
Ann E. Killebrew
Keyword(s):  
International Trade ◽  
Bronze Age ◽  
Iron Age ◽  
Early Iron Age ◽  
Late Bronze Age ◽  
Sea Peoples ◽  
Culture Centered ◽  
City States ◽  
Cultural Entity ◽  
Dynamic Interplay

The origins and ethnogenesis of a cultural entity, people, and territory referred to as “Phoenician” in later biblical and Classical sources and modern scholarship remain a topic of debate. This chapter examines the textual and archaeological sources relevant to the northern and central Levantine littoral during the Proto- (Late Bronze) and Early (Iron I) Phoenician periods (ca. fourteenth–eleventh centuries bce). What emerges out of the ruins of the Late Bronze Age is a resilient Early Iron Age coastal culture centered on the commercial interactions of maritime city-states, which survived the demise of the Hittite and Egyptian empires, as well as the collapse of international trade at around 1200 bce. Autochthonous Canaanite traditions dominate Iron I Phoenician cultural assemblages, but intrusive Aegean-style “Sea Peoples” and Cypriot influences are also present. Together they reflect the dynamic interplay of maritime cultural and commercial exchanges characteristic of the northern and central Levantine littoral during the final centuries of the second millennium bce.

scholarly journals Ancient metallurgical traditions and connections around the caput Adriae

2009 ◽  
Vol 45 (2) ◽  
pp. 149-163 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. Giumlia-Mair
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Late Antiquity ◽  
Analytical Techniques ◽  
Eastern Alps ◽  
Late Bronze Age ◽  
Northern Adriatic ◽  
Metal Artefacts ◽  
Ancient Metallurgy

In the last decade several archaeological projects concerning metallurgical tradition and techniques, were carried out on metal finds from various sites around the Northern Adriatic and in the Eastern Alps. The pieces, made of different metals, are dated to various periods, between the Late Bronze Age and Late Antiquity. The results of different kinds of analytical techniques, applied to several hundreds of archaeological metal artefacts from this area, are presented and evaluated in the paper. The different metallurgical techniques and traditions, identified during the researches are illustrated, compared and interpreted. An overview of the available data and of the general trends of ancient metallurgy in this broader area is attempted.

Aegean sanctuaries and the Levant in the Late Bronze Age

1993 ◽  
Vol 88 ◽  
pp. 125-134
Author(s):  
Garth Gilmour
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Iron Age ◽  
Early Iron Age ◽  
Late Bronze Age ◽  
Architectural Features ◽  
Sea Peoples ◽  
Cultural Features

In a recent paper by O. Negbi it was argued that certain late bronze age Aegean temples owe elements of their design to influence from the Levant. Architectural features such as corner platforms, a ‘bent-axis’ approach, and twin temples, and cultural features such as the presence of ‘smiting god’ figurines, are analysed. It is concluded that there is no evidence that Aegean shrines were built according to a Canaanite model, and that there was no Canaanite cultic influence in the Aegean during the Late Bronze Age. If anything, the reverse applied in the early Iron Age, when the influence of the Sea Peoples is seen in some cultic architecture in the Levant.

The Concept of Palestine: The Conception Of Palestine from the Late Bronze Age to the Modern Period

2016 ◽  
Vol 15 (2) ◽  
pp. 143-202 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nur Masalha
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Old Testament ◽  
Political Geography ◽  
Classical Antiquity ◽  
Late Bronze Age ◽  
Collective Consciousness ◽  
Ancient History ◽  
Master Narratives ◽  
The Bible ◽  
School History

The Concept of Palestine is deeply rooted in the collective consciousness of the indigenous people of Palestine and the multicultural ancient past. The name Palestine is the most commonly used from the Late Bronze Age (from 1300 BCE) onwards. The name Palestine is evident in countless histories, inscriptions, maps and coins from antiquity, medieval and modern Palestine. From the Late Bronze Age onwards the names used for the region, such as Djahi, Retenu and Cana'an, all gave way to the name Palestine. Throughout Classical Antiquity the name Palestine remained the most common and during the Roman, Byzantine and Islamic periods the concept and political geography of Palestine acquired official administrative status. This article sets out to explain the historical origins of the concept of Palestine and the evolving political geography of the country. It will seek to demonstrate how the name ‘Palestine’ (rather than the term ‘Cana'an’) was most commonly and formally used in ancient history. It argues that the legend of the ‘Israelites’ conquest of Cana'an’ and other master narratives of the Bible evolved across many centuries; they are myth-narratives, not evidence-based accurate history. It further argues that academic and school history curricula should be based on historical facts/empirical evidence/archaeological discoveries – not on master narratives or Old Testament sacred-history and religio-ideological constructs.

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