The early history of the HebrewsSayce, A. H. (Archibald Henry)
History
The early history of the Hebrews
Sayce, A. H. (Archibald Henry)
Bible. Old Testament -- Criticism, interpretation, etc.; Jews -- History -- To 953 B.C.
We possess a list of the kings of Babylonia, divided into dynasties,
from the first dynasty of Babylon, to which Khammu-rabi belonged, down
to the time of the fall of Nineveh. The number of years reigned by
each king is stated, as well as the number of years each dynasty
lasted. But, unfortunately, the compiler has forgotten to say what was
the duration of the dynasty to which Nabonassar (B.C. 747) belonged;
and as the tablet is broken here, the regnal years of most of the
kings who formed the dynasty have been lost. There are, however, a
good many synchronisms between the earlier period of Babylonian
history and that of Assyria, and by means of these the chronology has
been approximately restored. We can also test the date of Khammu-rabi
in the following way. We learn from Assur-bani-pal that
Kudur-Nankhundi, king of Elam, carried off the image of the goddess
Nana from the city of Erech 1635 years before his own conquest of
Elam, and therefore 2280 B.C. As Eri-Aku boasts of his capture of
Erech, and as he was assisted in his wars by his Elamite kinsmen, it
seems probable that the capture of the image by Kudur-Nankhundi was
coincident with the capture of the city by Eri-Aku.
The discovery of Mr. Pinches has been supplemented by that of Dr.
Scheil, who has found letters addressed by Khammu-rabi to Sin-idinnam
of Larsa, in which mention is made of the Elamite king
Kudur-Laghghamar. Sin-idinnam had been driven from Larsa by Eri-Aku
with the help of Kudur-Laghghamar, and had taken refuge at the court
of Khammu-rabi in Babylon. Fragments of other letters of Khammu-rabi
are in the possession of Lord Amherst of Hackney (see _inf._ pp. 27,
28).
Footnote 15:
The name of Khammu-rabi himself is written Ammu-rabi in Bu. 88-5-12,
199 (_Cuneiform Texts from Babylonian Tablets in the British Museum_,
Part 2).
Footnote 16:
_Records of the Past_, new ser., iii. p. xvi.
Footnote 17:
Hommel, _Geschichte des alten Morgenlandes_, p. 62, _The Ancient
Hebrew Tradition as illustrated by the Monuments_, p. 96.
Footnote 18:
Published by Budge, _Zeitschrift für Assyriologie_, iii. 3, pp. 229,
230.
Footnote 19:
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account