Made in Alexandria: The Origin of the Yahweh Cult

[A_Nony_Mouse]

Min, he's an obvious troll. Here I present him certified proof that Judaism wasn't invented in the 2nd century BC.



Let me guess, the First Jewish Temple had nothing to do with Judaism??

If there was any question you have removed all doubt citing a crackpot article on a neocon crackpot website run by a Lebonese Marionite who sold out his own country to Israel.

Mazar is working for a real estate scam calling itself Elad. For example it digs without a license. It has gotten a few acres declared an archaeological site and is working to remove the Palestinians from this "very important" ancient site. This site is in such desperate need of preservation that Elad plans to build a shopping center with underground parking and six luxury high rise apartment buildings on it.

Despite the stated credentials she has never published these claims in a professional archaeological journal. It is not clear whether she was rejected as an idiot or she knew better than to try. From memory I don't even the "Biblical Archaeological Review" will publish her crap.

To point out to the clearly illiterate the article makes no claim about finding the first temple.

To top this off

Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat, attended the inauguration and pronounced that every effort would be made to “expose every piece of Jewish history.”

“It shows that the Bible is real,” Barkat continued. “It shows that 2,000 and 3,000 years ago, Jerusalem was the center of the world. And we love to share that with the world.”

when the Romans called it the anus mundi.

Mazar's academic stature can be judged by her claimed to have discovered the seal of Jezebel. There were only two minor problems. Of the three letter name one of the letters was missing. And she was reading it backwards a mistake no arkie freshman would make more than once.

That Mazar is still employed by the Institute of Archaeology of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem strongly indicates no one should take seriously anything published by anyone associated with it.

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Aw can't take a bit of simple irony.



There are other examples too.

Wikipedia is unsuitable as a reference for anything beyond the high school level. Just because your teachers accept it does not mean the rest of us will.

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A little detective work is required to connect disparate pieces of evidence.
It can be a rewarding intellectual exercise BUT one must dismiss the bible bullshit stories at the outset. If you are going to insist on video evidence you are more or less stuck in the 20th century or later.

Completely agree but different people have come across different facts and reached different conclusions. I am quite interested in how you got where you are. I am not per se intending to contradict you rather simply to present where I am and why. Example, you appear to have come across direct evidence the Galilee was not sparsely populated. I have not. I simply argued from its location inland of the Phoenicians which then fed them and gave the farmers ready access to an export market. Every place else we know of with those conditions is or has been well populated to the carrying capacity of the land. Two different approaches arriving at similar conclusions. That is a good thing.

Yes I am remiss in not yet reviewing Shalamansar. I remember having a larger problem with the Assyrians that I have to recall first. It does not negate the story. I am fairly certain it related to how the story got incorporated as a Septuagint theme. Yes, I will be getting back to it eventually.

The Assyrians wrote about dealing with Hezekiah and Manesseh. We can date those Assyrian kings. It is not rocket science and it is not dependent on the bible at all. Archaeology has shown multiple destruction levels consistent with the Assyrian military campaign at the end of the 8th century which beat the shit out of Judah. One does not need the OT to tell us about Hezekiah. He would hardly have been the first ruler who tried a rebellion and got his head handed to him.

Again, I need to get back into it but is this not also part of Egypt's war to expel and remove their influence?

That archaeology dates the expansion of Jerusalem to the later 8th century and that Assyrian records place Hezekiah there are not dependent on the OT. However, all of the other pious bullshit about Hezekiah needs to be dismissed. For all we know he was just another Canaanite ruler, perhaps worshiping Yahweh along with Baal and El and all the rest. Only the OT claims he was a jew and without a single artifact to sustain that. (Xtians hate to hear that shit but...fuck 'em. I can't worry about them.)

Of course Yahweh and Ashara were likely the pair for the region that became Judea. The kingdoms in the region had god and goddess pairs rather than single ones like the Greeks and Romans. I have a few examples but can't find them at the moment.

And the disappearance of Ashara best I can find is most likely a 2nd or 3rd c. AD start of a purge of references. By the 4th c. the Strato's Tower has been introduced to cover up Ashara's Temple. The Dome of the Rock is likely built on the eight sided foundation of her temple in Jerusalem. As on wag said, of course her temple was higher than Yahweh's else people could look down and see the priests and priestesses fucking. And back to the uncarved stones being gods there really is a rock under that dome. Google for a picture of the idol stone of Ashara.

So where is the stone of Yahweh? It has to be around there some place.

I understand that some time this year Dever is coming out with a history of the region which is not based on the bible at all but strictly on archaeology. Dever is a bit pedantic but I'll read that one.

I'll give it a shot but only after getting a feel for it really being separate. Way too many believers have made such claims while always resolving issues by assuming the bible is correct. That will be nothing new.

Have you read George Athas' The Tel Dan Inscription? Worth your time if you haven't although he is painstaking - to the point of PAIN - in his meticulous approach to the inscription itself.

Never heard of him but here is mostly what I have on the subject.

http://www.giwersworld.org/ancient-histo...rans.phtml

http://www.giwersworld.org/ancient-history/david.phtml