Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Yigal Levin <Yigal.Levin AT biu.ac.il>]

Dear Rob,

First of all, please remember to sign your posts with your full names.

Secondly, while I agree with most of what you wrote, this is not a forum for
the discussion of Late Bronze Age history and archaeology. Jim's linguistic
arguments are enough to have to deal with.

So, sadly, I'll have to insist that this thread NOT be continued.


Yigal Levin

Co-Moderator, B-Hebrew

-----Original Message-----
From: b-hebrew-bounces AT lists.ibiblio.org
[mailto:b-hebrew-bounces AT lists.ibiblio.org] On Behalf Of rob acosta
Sent: Monday, May 02, 2011 6:25 PM
To: b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org
Subject: [b-hebrew] Four Against Five: The Petrograhic Evidence


Jim, et al
   For quite some time now Jim Stinehart has proposed a link between the
Amarna Letters and Genesis 14.Specifically he claims the Four Attacking
Rulers of Genesis, He wrote:
"So we see who are the four attacking rulers in the Great Syrian War in 
western Syria:  (i) Hittite King Suppiluliuma [Biblical nickname "Tidal", a 
Hittite name];  (ii) Ugaritic King Niqmaddu [Biblical nickname KDRL(MR (LM,
a 
curse in Ugaritic];  (iii) Hurrian princeling Etakkama of Qadesh on the 
Orontes [Biblical nickname "Arioch", a Hurrian name];  and (iv) the west 
Semitic-speaking Amorite ruler of Amurru, Aziru [Biblical nickname
"Amrapel", a 
west Semitic name]."

The problem here is Mr Stinehart has confused the chronology of the Great
Syrian Campaign of Suppiluliumas l and  neither Aziru nor Aitakama assisted
in any way  the King's initial conquest of northern Syria.
 These are the facts.  Petrographic examination of the Amarna Tablets by
Israel Finkelsten, Nadav Na'aman and Yuval Goren has been able to
determinethe physical location of Aziru during the Great Syrian Campaign.
 The clays of the tablets can be pinpointed to specific regions, in some
cases to within yards, of their origin. Locationscan then be synchronized
with events mentioned in the tablets to give a better understanding of the
chronology.Long story short, Aziru's letters originated from Sumur and other
coastal cities in Amurru during Suppiluliumas conquest of Syria. Aziru was
no where near the scene of the crime.  In sum, Aziru was in the midst of
conquering Amurru, taking back the cities lost by his father and making his
name knownabove his brothers during the Syrian War. He was being closely
watched by the Egyptians, with an official often present,and by his enemies
such as Rib Addi and could't have possibly trundled off 100 miles to the
north to participate in theattacks on Syrian Cities.  The question here is
of what possible use did the Hittite king and his seasoned, professional
army have for Aziru's rag tagband of Habiru refugees, mountain men and
runaway slaves? His band were primarily Thuggees who attacked
caravans,starved cities by burning their grain at harvest time, blockaded
ports and took hostages for ransoms. He had virtually no horses or
chariotsnor means to manufacture, transport or repair them. Against the
chariots of the northern city states his band would have beensliced to
ribbons. Rib Addi only asked for 300 soldiers, a few archers and chariots to
defeat them.     The "iniquitous" Aziru turned traitor after his stay in
Egypt, which ended, according to William Murnane and others, in year 17
ofAkhenaten. This act, long after the Syrian War, proved to be no threat
whatsoever to Canaan proper.
  As for Aitakama, Suppiluliumas, in the Shattiwaza Treaty, makes it clear
Aitakama was taken, with his father, when the twoattacked the King while he
was on his way to Upe..the last stop of the Great Syrian Campaign. This
makes it more thanobvious Aitakama was preparing for war against the
Hitttites, not aiding them, during the war.  Mr Stinehart has made it known
he rejects the Shattiwaza Treaty as a record of the Great Syrian War and
claims insteadthat Aitakama and Kadesh were taken on a "raid" by the
Hittites a year before the Great Syrian War started. Year 13 of Akhenaten.
Just why Suppiluliumas would send a party 300 miles south to deliberately
raid Kadesh and provoke a war with Egypt beforehe had managed to conquer the
Mitanni is to me, inexplicable. Even more unbelievable is that no mention of
any suchraid is mentioned in the Amarna letters. After all, Tushratta's raid
in to Sumur was duly noted as was the fact it failed due tolack of water. A
band Hittites, somehow slipping 300 miles through Syria to raid Kadesh going
completely unreported ismuch to fantastic to be believed.
  Finally, Mr Stinehart mentions the collaboration of Aziru and Aitakama
mentioned in the Amarna letters, EA 197 in particularand the attacks on
Biriawaza, as his proof of the Four Against Five Theory.  The problem here
is, as William Murnane points out in "The Road to Kadesh", Aitakama was
returned to Kadesh from Hattino earlier than the spring after the end of the
Great Syrian War, and the battles with Biriawaza were some months, perhaps
years after the Great Syrian Campaign. The Amarna letters that mention
Aitakama joining with Tiuwattit, along with the leaderof Ruhizzi and Aziru
to attack cities in northern Syrian were, according to Murnane, "brush wars"
made possible duethe  instability created by the Great Syrian Campaign.
Suppiluliumas had long since returned home to Hatti to prepare for war
against Carchemish.    The most telling factor that these events were post
war is the fact Biriawaza is mentioned as ruling Upe. In the
ShattiwazaTreaty, Suppiluliumas states he took Ariwana, the king of Upe to
Hatti during the war. Historians such as Trevor Brycesay the Hittite King
then ceded the land back to Egypt for political reasons and Biriawaza was
subsequently installed as ruler.That this is long after the Syrian war is
evident in EA 205 and others where Biriawaza is alerted to prepare for the
arrival of Egyptianarchers in preparation for an attempt to retake Kadesh.
According to main stream historians, that attempt failed, Suppiluliumas then
retaliated by initiating an attack on Amki whilehe was battling Carchemish.
Aitakama DOES participate in this raid...but Aziru, as mentioned in EA 170,
is in Egypt. It isthis raid that prompts Pharaoh to release Aziru. Who then
promptly turns traitor, likely based on the disarray and weaknesshe saw
while in Egypt.

  As for Nimqaddu, Stinehart claims he initiated the Syrian War by inviting
the king of Hatti into Syria and that he "bankrolled"the Hittite invasion.
   This is painful to read when the facts are known. The Hittite King had
planned his conquest of the Mitanni and its satellitesfor years. The Mitanni
were choking off Hittite access to trade, raiding their lands and inciting
Anatolia to War. Suppiluliumasplanned carefully, he married a Kassite
princess to cut off the Mitanni from the East. He made diplomatic overtures
to thevassals and Ugarit before he began the conquest from the north. He had
to take down Mukish, Nuhasse, etc to gain controlof vital trade routes.
Ugarit was just a small piece of the puzzle.  As for the "bankrolling", one
has to ask...just why would the Hittite King, who had conquered all of rich
kingdoms of Anatolia, the ultra rich Mitanni with tens of thousands of
horses, chariots and tons of gold...need money from tiny Ugarit whose wealth
was derivedfrom Trees and Fees? His treaty with Ugarit makes no request for
military aide. Suppiluliumas seems primarialy concerned with obtaining the
finepurple linens of Ugarit, silver and gold cups and other objects for his
palace. Much of the booty from Ugarit went to hiswife and court. In fact,
the missus also has her seal on the treaty.  Stinehart explains the holes in
his theory by claiming the Pre Hebrew Guest Worker in Egypt didn't have the
wholepicture and in their holy terror of the Hittites "took license" and
invented stories about Aziru and Aitakama.  But just how or why the Hebrews
would invent such a story as in Genesis 14 based on men who did not
participatein the Great Syrian War as Stinehart proposes is beyond
understanding.  Aziru and Aitakama were certainly no angels, they were
murderers and backstabbers, but neither were they the devils Stinehart makes
them out to be.
Rob
robacosta AT hotmail.com


 
                                          
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