Biblical Hebrew Forum

[CS Bartholomew <jacksonpollock AT earthlink.net>]

On 3/28/04 8:47 AM, "Polycarp66 AT aol.com" <Polycarp66 AT aol.com> wrote:

> I would therefore suggest that
> we should understand 15.1 in this sense "the horse and its chariot . . ."

 Everett Fox translates  RKB "charioteer" in Ex 15.1, K&B (HALOT) p. 1232
note that the meaning of RKB in Ex 15.1 is disputed. One question worth
asking: is "chariot" a semantic prototypical component in late Bronze Age
use of RKB? A brief glance at the Ugaritic data suggests that this may be
the case but I don't have the resources to adequately address this question.

On the antiquity of riding horses in the Mediterranean see Homer's use
ofepibainw ippov Iliad 5:46 where "mounting on a horse" is taken to mean
getting into a chariot but also see Iliad *10:513,529 where it appears that
we have warriors riding on horseback. Assuming that Homer reflects Mycenaean
culture ... and assuming the text ... after all these  assumptions are made
perhaps we have evidence of mounted horsemen in the late Bronze Age.


greetings,
Clay Bartholomew 
 
*M.M. Willcock Iliad of Homer Books 1-12
St. Martin's Press. Page 293 note on line 10:513.