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  • From: Peter Kirk <peterkirk AT qaya.org>
  • To: kwrandolph <kwrandolph AT email.com>
  • Cc: Hebrew <b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] Eden's four rivers (article)
  • Date: Mon, 09 May 2005 22:37:51 +0100

On 09/05/2005 21:34, kwrandolph wrote:

...

Secondly, wasn't Ur of the Chaldeas a different city than Ur of the Sumerians? I thought that was a reference found among the Ebla tablets. Correct me if I am mistaken, but my understanding is that Ur of the Chaldeans was a city to the north east of Ebla whose ruins have yet to be found, while Ur of the Sumerians was to the south east.

Many scholars have suggested that Ur of the Chaldees is to be identified with the modern city of Şanlıurfa or Urfa (formerly known as Edessa), in southern Turkey, which is not far from Haran, and suitably north east of Ebla. The oldest known name of this city was something like Ur - the Syriac form is Ourhoï, according to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edessa%2C_Mesopotamia. In fact according to the same page "Due to similarity of names, folk mythology in Islam connects Edessa with Ur as the abode of Abraham", but there may be more to it than the similarity of names (and the supposed derivation from the name Chosroes may be incorrect).

This suggestion puts a rather different complexion on Terah's move from Ur to Haran in Genesis 11:31: if it is correct, he only completed a very small part of his intended journey.

--
Peter Kirk
peter AT qaya.org (personal)
peterkirk AT qaya.org (work)
http://www.qaya.org/



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