Italians Find Ancient Ur Tablets (Iraq)

ANSA ^ | 3-28-2006

[SunkenCiv]

Thanks Blam. Quibble -- coring done in the 1960s or 1970s found that Ur wasn't a seaside town. And IMV, this isn't the Ur where Abraham lived.

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[SunkenCiv]

Cyrus Gordon strongly advocated for the northern Ur, placing it near Haran; here's more along that line:

Where was Abraham's Ur?
Institute for Biblical and Scientific Studies

Abraham was from the city of Ur according to Genesis 11:31. The problem is that there are several places called Ur. It is identified as "Ur of the Chaldeans." The problem with "Chaldeans" is that it is a late word used in the Neo-Babylonian times. It is either anachronistic, or this part of Genesis was written after the Exile.

There is no debate over where Haran is located, 10 miles north of the Syrian border in Turkey along the Balikh River, a tributary of the Euphrates River. Haran is an important Hurrian center, mentioned in the Nuzi tablets. The moon god, Sin was worshiped here. If Ur were located in Southern Iraq, why would Abraham travel 60 miles way out of his way to go to Haran?

There are two cities not far from Haran; Ura and Urfa. Local tradition says that Abraham was born in Urfa. Northern Ur is mentioned in tablets at Ugarit, Nuzi, and Ebla, which refers to Ur, URA, and Urau (See BAR January 2000, page 16).

The names of several of Abraham's relatives like Peleg, Serug, Nahor and Terah, appear as names of cities in the region of Haran (Harper's Bible Dictionary, page 373). Abraham sent his servant back to the region of Haran to find a wife for Isaac (Genesis 24:10).

After working for Laban, Jacob fled across the Euphrates River back to Canaan (Genesis 31:21). If Ur were in Southern Mesopotamia, then Jacob would not need to cross the Euphrates. Laban is said to live in Paddan-Aram, which is in the region of Haran (Genesis 28:5-7), which seems to be the same area as Aram-Naharaim, Abraham's homeland (Genesis 24:10).

All this evidence taken together seems to indicate that the Ur of Abraham was in the same region as Haran in Northern Mesopotamia, and not the famous Ur in Southern Mesopotamia.

[Zetman]

Chiodi said the tablets would probably occupy a prominent place in a new Virtual Museum of Iraq which Italy is building to show people what Baghdad's celebrated museum of antiquities looked like before it was looted in the wake of the 2003 US-led invasion of Iraq .

And of course, there is the obligatory snotty comment about the U.S. and it's "invasion" of Iraq. How pathetic.

With the "virtual museum" comment, he also manages to work a sanctimonious "we'll fix what those baboons in the U.S. broke" concept smoothly into the same sentence. Double score!!

[Verginius Rufus]

Or rather:

"Gilgamesh lied...Enkidu died."

[CobaltBlue]

It is now about 100 miles in-land.

If, indeed, the oceans are rising, might be seaside again?

[pblax8]

Someone help me out here what is 2,700 BCE mean. BCE??? I know what B.C. and A.D. are.

[Interesting Times]

Ping.

[BlueStateDepression]

Paging Dr. Jackson....Paging Dr. Jackson.....

[pblax8]

Thanks, I take it now we use BCE for BC. What about AD? Is that called CE now?

How much money do you think is wasted trying to be politically correct.. (rhetorical ?)

[LZ_Bayonet]

"Interesting that its now safe enough for archaeology in the Iraqi south."

Why can't MSM reporters report from this area? It is apparently easier to find Ancient Ur Tablets in Iraq than it is to find the MSM.

[CDHart]

"or is it the Da Vinci Hoax???"

It'a a novel, AKA fiction, for heaven's sake. I do not understand why people are getting so upset about a storybook.

Carolyn

[muawiyah]

BEFORE COMMON ERA, BEFORE CHRISTIAN ERA, and so forth. BCE is one of those feel-good things. It replaces BC, short for BEFORE CHRIST, which presumably is exclusionary and offensive to everybody, particularly the Episcopaleans or something.

[topher]

Because it is an attack on religion (which I am getting sick of)...

[nopardons]

bttt

[jalisco555]

I'm a Jew and I don't mind BC one bit.

Me too. I think it's silly to quible over BC vs. BCE, or AD vs. CE since they date from the exact same moment.

[tutstar]

I see they are using BCE instead of BC.

[JewishRighter]

LOL!!!

[JewishRighter]

Wait a minute! They forgot to mention that these tablets must be forgeries in the first place because all of Iraq's antiquities were stolen because of the US invasion.