History of Egypt, Chaldæa, Syria, Babylonia, and Assyria, Volume 4 (of 12)Maspero, G. (Gaston)
History
History of Egypt, Chaldæa, Syria, Babylonia, and Assyria, Volume 4 (of 12)
Maspero, G. (Gaston)
Civilization, Ancient; Egypt -- History -- To 640 A.D.; History, Ancient; Middle East -- History
It would appear that the breaking up of these populations had not been
carried so far in ancient as in modern times, but the confusion must
already have been great if we are to judge from the number of different
sites where we encounter evidences of people of the same language
and blood. The bulk of the Khati had not yet departed from the Taurus
region, but some stray bands of them, carried away by the movement which
led to the invasion of the Hyksos, had settled around Hebron, where
the rugged nature of the country served to protect them from their
neighbours.*
* In very early times they are described as dwelling near
Hebron or in the mountains of Judah. Since we have learned
from the Egyptian and Assyrian monuments that the Khati
dwelt in Northern Syria, the majority of commentators have
been indisposed to admit the existence of southern Hittites;
this name, it is alleged, having been introduced into the
Biblical around text through a misconception of the original
documents, where the term Hittite was the equivalent of
Canaanite.
The Amorites* had their head-quarters Qodshul in Coele-Syria, but one
section of them had taken up a position on the shores of the Lake of
Tiberias in Galilee, others had established themselves within a short
distance of Jaffa** on the Mediterranean, while others had settled in
the neighbourhood of the southern Hittites in such numbers that their
name in the Hebrew Scriptures was at times employed to designate the
western mountainous region about the Dead Sea and the valley of the
Jordan. Their presence was also indicated on the table-lands bordering
the desert of Damascus, in the districts frequented by Bedouin of the
tribe of Terah, Ammon and Moab, on the rivers Yarmuk and Jabbok, and at
Edrei and Heshbon.***
* Ed. Meyer has established the fact that the term Amorite,
as well as the parallel word Canaanite, was the designation
of the inhabitants of Palestine before the arrival of the
Hebrews: the former belonged to the prevailing tradition in
the kingdom of Israel, the latter to that which was current
in Judah. This view confirms the conclusion which may be
drawn from the Egyptian monuments as to the power of
expansion and the diffusion of the people.
** These were the Amorites which the tribe of Dan at a later
period could not dislodge from the lands which had been
allotted to them.
*** This was afterwards the domain of Sihon, King of the
Amorites, and that of Og.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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