...
We have all heard about Kirkland, Washington, U.S.A., but how many of us know
about Kirkland, Quebec, Canada? Similarly Moscow is the capital of Russia,
but that is not Moscow, Idaho, U.S.A. Today Las Vegas, Nevada is known world
wide for its gambling, but as late as 1950 it was less well known than Las
Vegas, New Mexico. Thus when the Bible talks about a Ur of the Chaldeas, I
find it pretty hard to relate it to Ur of the Sumerians, especially when I
find out that the Sumerians spoke an Indo-European language. ...
... That there was an ancient town in a Semitic language speaking area with a
name whose pronunciation was almost identical to the Biblical Ur pretty much
clinches it for me.
As for the spread of the flood story, did it come to the Sumerians via the
Chaldeans, or did the Chaldeans get it from the Sumerians, or did both get it
from a third source independently of each other? The same with other stories
known among both groups. The problem is that too much information has been
lost from then to now, and archeology is too imprecise a tool to give an
answer.
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