Biblical Hebrew Forum

["James Spinti" <JSpinti AT Eisenbrauns.com>]

 Karl,

A book just arrived recently that might be of interest to you:

Akkadisch in Keilschrifttexten aus Ägypten: Deskriptive Grammatik einer 
Interlanguage des späten zweiten vorchristlichen Jahrtausends anhand der 
Ramses-Briefe
by Matthias Muller
Alter Orient und Altes Testament - AOAT 373
Ugarit-Verlag, 2010
http://www.eisenbrauns.com/item/MULAKKADI

Description:
Situated between Assyriology and Egyptology Matthias Müller's examination 
provides the reader with a detailed grammar of the Akkadian texts written by 
Egyptians of the late second millennium BCE which have been found outside of 
Egypt, mainly in the Hittite capitol Hattussa based on linguistic studies. 
The amount of deviations from the standard grammar of Akkadian can only be 
understood by the strong influence of Egyptian language spoken by the 
writers. This Akkado-Egyptian interlanguage is studied according to its 
system of writing, its phonology, morphology and syntax and supplemented by 
an edition of selected letters.
-----------------

You should be able to find it at a library; the AOAT series is well known and 
carried by most academic libraries with an ANE department.

James 

________________________________
James Spinti
Marketing Director, Book Sales Division
Eisenbrauns, Good books for more than 30 years
Specializing in Ancient Near Eastern and Biblical Studies
jspinti at eisenbrauns dot com
Web: http://www.eisenbrauns.com
Phone: 574-269-2011 ext 226
Fax: 574-269-6788 

-----Original Message-----
From: James Spinti 
Sent: Thursday, April 29, 2010 4:57 PM
To: 'K Randolph'; B-Hebrew
Subject: RE: [b-hebrew] 1 Kings 20:14 Who are the young men,princes of the 
districts?

Karl,

The subject of dating in the ancient world comes up with amazing frequency on 
the ANE list. I would suggest that you search the archives there (both from 
the old ANE list hosted by U of Chicago, and the new ANE-2 list on Yahoo). 
Bob Whiting, of the University of Helsinki, is an expert on Assyrian dating 
and the underpinnings thereof. You don't need to take his word for the 
conclusions; he gives the data for you to explore it yourself. His 
conclusions are based on the king lists and limmu-lists that have been 
discovered. Of course, a knowledge of Akkadian is helpful (but not necessary).

There simply isn't a way to move the Amarna period as late as you wish. 
Amarna happens to be one of the best documented time periods in the ancient 
world. The texts mention the Hittite empire, which we know was destroyed c. 
1200 BCE based on archaeological evidence (more recent findings have actually 
dated it more exactly, but I don't recall the year right now, probably around 
1190 BCE). This doesn't depend on Egyptian chronology at all; it leans more 
on Greek/Aegean stuff. I doubt you want to move Greek chronology forward that 
far, or you will end up with Alexander being at the time of Jesus!

James

________________________________
James Spinti
Marketing Director, Book Sales Division
Eisenbrauns, Good books for more than 30 years
Specializing in Ancient Near Eastern and Biblical Studies
jspinti at eisenbrauns dot com
Web: http://www.eisenbrauns.com
Phone: 574-269-2011 ext 226
Fax: 574-269-6788 

-----Original Message-----
From: b-hebrew-bounces AT lists.ibiblio.org 
[mailto:b-hebrew-bounces AT lists.ibiblio.org] On Behalf Of K Randolph
Sent: Thursday, April 29, 2010 4:28 PM
To: B-Hebrew
Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] 1 Kings 20:14 Who are the young men,princes of the 
districts?

James:

On Thu, Apr 29, 2010 at 12:29 PM, James Spinti <JSpinti AT eisenbrauns.com>wrote:

<snip> 
 What I keep hearing is that the Akkadian of the Amarna letters is dated by
the Egyptian history. Then to claim that we can date the letters by the
Akkadian used, makes a circular argument.

The data that I know of from archaeology and a competing history (namely the
Bible) pretty much rules out the Amarna period as being before the 11th
century BC at the earliest, and more likely ninth to eighth centuries BC.
Therefore which should I follow: the consensus, or the data?

Karl W. Randolph.