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  • From: MarianneLuban AT aol.com
  • To: b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] Thera quote
  • Date: Fri, 27 Aug 2004 05:09:25 EDT

In a message dated 8/26/2004 11:19:12 PM Pacific Daylight Time,
Banyai AT t-online.de writes:


> you have misunderstood me. In my reconstruction was the exodus at the same
> time of the year as reconstructed by the repartition of the Theran ashes
> following the prevailing winds in September over the Mediteranean. Due to
> many
> details in the Exodus story one has to redate this event to July-September
> too.

Well--yes and no. The ancient Egyptian calendar only had three
seasons--Inundation, Winter and Summer. Each contained four months. But,
for reasons not
necessary to state here--unless someone expresses interest--their civil
calendar was a "wandering one". However, at the same time, they used an
astronomical calendar based upon the annual rising of the star, Sothis, at a
certain
latitude. This normally appeared around the time of the annual flooding of
the
Nile. The Egyptian farmer--and Egypt was primarily an agricultural
nation--had
no use for the civil calendar, as that was only used for administrative
dating. So, for the peasant, the sighting of Sothis was the "New Year" and
he
reckoned his planting and reaping accordingly, counting the days. On the
other
hand, the "New Year" of the civil calendar only coincided with the Sothic
"New
Year" every 1, 460 years. When this occurred, it was considered a great
occasion (called "A Perfect Year") and was, of course, the start of a new
Sothic
cycle. After that the synchronization of the civil and astronomical calendar
begin to slip by a day every four years. That is why the winter months could
fall
within the natural season of Shomu (summer) and vice versa. There are only
three concordances known to us from dynastic times, revealing the date of the
civil calendar in relation to the rising of Sothis. The first is from Year 7
of King Sesostris III (12th Dynasty) which says that the rising of the star
was viewed on the 16th Day of the 4th month of Winter. In Year 9 of
Amenhotep I
of the 18th Dynasty, the rising took place on the 9th day of the third month
of Summer. In an unspecifed year of the reign of Thutmose III, also of the
18th Dynasty, Sothis was seen to rise on the 29th Day of the third month of
Summer. It would seem there were 80 years worth of slippage between these
two
sightings. For a very long time the ancient Egyptian months only had
numbers,
but eventually they were given names--after their main feast days, usually.
Now
Josephus wrote that the Exodus, which he believed had taken place in the time
of Ahmose I, occurred during the month of Pharmouti which, in a Pefect Year,
would have fallen in the Winter Season, being its last month. However,
during
the time of Ahmose I, judging by the concordance given in Year 9 of his
successor, Amenhotep I, Pharmouti would have fallen in April of the Julian
calendar. However, the pRhind, which relates the attack of Ahmose on the
Hyksos
strongholds and hints at some bad weather happening at the same time, says
this
occurred during the first month of Inundation--this being September by the
Julian
calendar at the time. So, Banyai, if the bad weather was somehow connected
to the Thera eruption in the Fall--that still would not preclude an exodus
happening in the month of April during the first year of King Ahmose, because
it
is known that the eruption of Thera did not happen on one day but in stages
possibly lasting for months --as did that of the eruption of Krakatoa. That
is
why Thera doesn't resemble Pompei--the inhabitants of Thera had warning signs
and left the island accordingly. The simple truth is no pharaoh could muster
an army in one day. That is why any exodus probably occurred in the month of
Pharmouti--because this was the month the 18th Dynasty kings usually left on
their Asiatic campaigns and had to go through the Delta to get there. They
stopped at the border fortess of Sile (Djaru) to collect their weapons and
went on
from there. So it is written.




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