RE: The Tel Dan Inscription
January 25, 2012 at 2:40 am
(This post was last modified: January 25, 2012 at 2:46 am by Minimalist.)
Quote:During the time of David there's few historical records or facts
For once you are on the right track. The archaeological evidence from "Jerusalem" ( or whatever it was called back then ) show that in the 10th century there was little on the site beyond a tiny village. Archaeologist, David Ussishkin has gone so far as to suggest the town was abandoned at the time. It is not such an outlandish idea. The town is served by one spring and even a minor drought would have made human life on the site impossible. The condition persisted throughout the 10th and 9th centuries. Finally at the end of the 8th century we begin to find evidence of human expansion of the site. A town of perhaps 10,000 finally grew up - and all were dependent on that same spring which served as a limiting factor for growth until the Romans and their engineering of aqueducts came along.
It is precisely this lack of any evidence of a major city on the site which causes modern archaeology to discount the possibility of any sort of Davidic Empire. A significant population base is needed to conquer an empire and Judah did not have it. Moreover, the people they supposedly conquered don't seem to know anything about it.
(January 24, 2012 at 11:43 pm)padraic Wrote:Quote:Texts can give us human motives but, as you noted, people lie too.
Most especially ancient chroniclers of all kinds, from people such as say Suetonius and Caesar to the writers of virtually every sacred text ever written. IF you are more charitable than me you may prefer polite euphemisms such a " they used poetic licence" and "they exaggerated".
Or perhaps it is even worse than that? Perhaps they are simply making shit up to illustrate a point? The Roman historian Livy is a great case in point. When Roman armies were successful it was because they maintained order and discipline. Their commander was not rash or careless. When Roman armies are defeated it is because they failed to obey orders or their commander was a jackass who failed to follow a prudent course of action. If you read Livy long enough you start to see the pattern.
