RE: Interesting Find in Jerusalem
August 15, 2018 at 1:21 pm
(This post was last modified: August 15, 2018 at 1:22 pm by Minimalist.)
The excavations are about more than an earring. What they are indicating is that the area was run by a small cultural elite who may have been increasingly Hellenized.
The bullshit story in Ezra claims that over 40,000 people returned to a vacant land after the Persians set them free. Archaeology has shown that the land was not empty. The Babylonians ruled from the town of Mizpah and "Jerusalem" remained a burned out ruin.
Some years ago there was a fascinating scholarly dispute between Israel Finkelstein and Oded Lipschitz. Finkelstein did the calculations on the built up area of Jerusalem in the wake of the Persian release. He determined a group of about 400. Lipschitz came along later and said that number was too low. How many did Lipschitz find? About 1,000. They were far closer to each other than either of them was to the stupid fucking bible.
Oddly both Finkelstein and Lipschitz seem to support the idea of Philip R. Davies that the "returnees" were Babylonians/Persians who were sent back to run the region and were given a bullshit story to tell to the dolts. Paraphrasing, it worked something like this:
Peasant: Hey there. Who the fuck are you lot now?
Returnee: We are the exiles returning from Babylon to re-assume our ancient rights as the Yhwh anointed rulers of this land.
Peasant: Fuck you, I don't remember that.
Returnee: Well its true and here's a priest to tell you the whole story. Oh, and btw, King Cyrus said if you don't like it he'll send his army to explain it to you.
Peasant: Right. Got you, governor.
Quote:“It seems as though, at the time, the city did not reach farther than the top of the hill in the City of David, but then spread slightly to the west into the Tyropoeon Valley,” said Gadot and Shalev. “We also learned from this excavation that the residents of this area were not peasants who settled in empty areas on the periphery of the central area, but rather the opposite—they were well-off people. The discovery of familiar Hellenistic pieces of jewelry can teach us about how Hellenistic influences reached Jerusalem during this time.”
The bullshit story in Ezra claims that over 40,000 people returned to a vacant land after the Persians set them free. Archaeology has shown that the land was not empty. The Babylonians ruled from the town of Mizpah and "Jerusalem" remained a burned out ruin.
Some years ago there was a fascinating scholarly dispute between Israel Finkelstein and Oded Lipschitz. Finkelstein did the calculations on the built up area of Jerusalem in the wake of the Persian release. He determined a group of about 400. Lipschitz came along later and said that number was too low. How many did Lipschitz find? About 1,000. They were far closer to each other than either of them was to the stupid fucking bible.
Oddly both Finkelstein and Lipschitz seem to support the idea of Philip R. Davies that the "returnees" were Babylonians/Persians who were sent back to run the region and were given a bullshit story to tell to the dolts. Paraphrasing, it worked something like this:
Peasant: Hey there. Who the fuck are you lot now?
Returnee: We are the exiles returning from Babylon to re-assume our ancient rights as the Yhwh anointed rulers of this land.
Peasant: Fuck you, I don't remember that.
Returnee: Well its true and here's a priest to tell you the whole story. Oh, and btw, King Cyrus said if you don't like it he'll send his army to explain it to you.
Peasant: Right. Got you, governor.
