Crossway Bible Atlas

J O H N D . C U R R I D

DAV I D P. B A R R E T T

1_Frontmatter-Titles_02.indd 3 2/9/10 5:36 PM

Crossway ESV Bible Atlas

Copyright © 2010 by Crossway

Text copyright © 2010 by John D. Currid

Published by Crossway a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers

1300 Crescent Street Wheaton, Illinois 60187

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publisher, except as provided for by USA copyright law.

Maps by David P. Barrett (www.biblemapper.com)

Illustrations produced by Maltings Partnership (Derby, England) under the direction of Leen Ritmeyer.

Terrain imagery generated from digital elevation data provided by CIAT (A. Jarvis, H. I. Reuter, A. Nelson, E. Guevara, 2006, Hole-filled seamless SRTM data V3, International Centre for Tropical Agriculture [CIAT], available from http://srtm.csi.cgiar.org).

Maps of average monthly temperature and average monthly rainfall for the Near East generated from data provided by UNEP/DEWA/GRID-Europe (http://www.grid.unep.ch/data).

Cover and interior design: Jimi Allen Productions

First printing 2010

Printed in Singapore

Unless otherwise noted, Scripture quotations are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®),copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture references marked RSV are from The Revised Standard Version. Copyright © 1946, 1952, 1971, 1973 by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the U.S.A.

ISBN-13: 978-1-4335-0192-0 ISBN-10: 1-4335-0192-9 ePub ISBN: 978-1-4335-1914-7 PDf ISBN: 978-1-4335-1912-3 Mobipocket ISBN: 978-1-4335-1913-0

Currid, John D., 1951- Crossway ESV Bible atlas / John D. Currid and David P. Barrett. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and indexes. ISBN 978-1-4335-0192-0 (hc) 1. Bible–Geography–Maps. 2. Bible–History of Biblical events–Maps. I. Barrett, David P. II. Title. G2230.C8 2010 220.9’10223–dc22 2009036660

IMG 17 16 15 14 13 12 11 10 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1


Photograph Acknowledgments

Photographs, used by permission, have been provided by the following:

Todd Bolen/BiblePlaces.com: 0-2, 0-3, 0-6, 0-8, 0-11, 0-13, 1-1, 1-3, 1-4, 2-2, 2-3, 2-4, 3-1, 3-2, 3-3, 3-4, 4-1, 4-3, 4-4, 5-1, 5-2, 5-4, 5-5, 5-6, 5-7, 6-1, 6-2, 6-4, 7-1, 7-4, 10-1, 10-2, 12-1, 12-2, 12-4, 12-5, 12-6, 12-9, 12-13, 12-16, 12-17, 12-19 (photos 2-4, 3-1, 5-4, 12-9 courtesy of the Rockefeller Museum) (photos 0-11, 12-6 courtesy of the Istanbul Museum)

John D. Currid: 0-4, 0-7, 0-9, 0-10, 0-12, 0-14, 0-15, 12-3, 12-7, 12-8, 12-10, 12-18

Michael Luddeni: back cover (inscription), 0-1, 2-1, 7-2, 8-1, 9-1

The British Museum: 6-3, 7-3, 7-5, 8-2 (©The Trustees of the British Museum. All rights reserved.)

iStockphoto: cover (pyramid), 1-2, 12-12, 12-14, 12-15

David Bivin/LifeintheHolyLand.com: 0-5, 4-2

The Barry J. Beitzel Photographic Collection: 11-1

Michael Luddeni/Oral Collins: 3-3

Michael Luddeni/Nelson Glueck School of Biblical Archaeology, Jerusalem: 5-3

William L. Krewson/BiblePlaces.com: 12-11

Getty Images: cover (aqueducts)


In the BeginningFrom the beginning, humans have pondered the origin, operation, and meaning of the universe. For example, the Mesopotamian Epic of Gilgamesh (c. 2000 B.C.) tells the story of a king named Gilgamesh and his quest to understand the cos-mos. The text describes Gilgamesh’s struggle with the issue of the death of a friend and his own end as well: “I became afraid of death, so that I now roam over the steppe. The matter of my friend rests heavy upon me, hence far and wide I roam over the steppe. The matter of Enkidu, my friend, rests heavy upon me, hence far and wide I roam over the steppe. How can I be silent? How can I be quiet? My friend, whom I loved, has turned to clay; Enkidu, my friend, whom I loved, has turned to clay. And I, shall I not like unto him lie down and not rise forever?” Gilgamesh travels across the earth in an attempt to discover the significance of the universe, the meaning of life and death, and the secret to immortality. From ancient times un-til today, people individually and collectively have sought answers to these same questions. Who are we? Where have we come from? Where did the universe come from?

Genesis 1:1 says, “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” This is a proclamation

of the origin of the universe. In the next 11 chap-ters of Genesis, the author then describes the beginning of many things, such as the human race, sin, agriculture, cities, and so forth. Other cultures of the ancient Near East, in particular Egypt and Mesopotamia, have different accounts of how the universe began. Because much of the time described in Genesis 1–11 preceded the invention of writ-ing, historians often refer to it as protohistory or prehistory. Much of our knowledge of this proto-historic period comes from archaeological investi-gation. It is appropriate at this point to provide the chronology of the prehistoric periods as defined by archaeologists, and then to give a brief description of the relics and ruins of each period as discovered through archaeology.

The Paleolithic Period (pre-10,000 B.C.)According to archaeologists, the Paleolithic pe-riod can be defined as one in which people were hunters and gatherers. In other words, they did not produce their own food through either herd-ing or agriculture. The dwelling places of the time were primarily cave settlements, and the tools were stone. By the very end of the period (called the Upper Paleolithic) great transitions were

CHAPTER 1

BEFORE ABRAHAM

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CROSSWAY ESV BIBLE ATLAS52

is uncertain, although many suggestions have been

made; various authors argue that it ought to be located

either in Mesopotamia, Egypt, India, or even Australia!

The word “Havilah” is mentioned several times in the

Bible. Its next appearance after the Eden account is

in Genesis 10:7, where Havilah is listed as one of the

sons of Cush. Another Havilah occurs in the same

genealogy as a son of Joktan (Gen. 10:29). In two

other instances, Havilah is used geographically and

probably refers to an area near Egypt (Gen. 25:18;

1 Sam. 15:7). The location of the second river, Gihon,

is also unknown. The text says that it flows around

the land of Cush. Scholars disagree on whether “the

land of Cush” refers to an area of Mesopotamia or a

region in Ethiopia. The Bible normally treats “Cush”

as an area at the source of the Nile River (Gen. 10:6;

Isa. 11:11; 18:1; Ps. 68:31). It may be that the two

rivers, the Pishon and the Gihon, represent what we

know as the Blue Nile and the White Nile. The problem

is that the name “Cush” is also unmistakably tied to

Mesopotamia in the Table of Nations (Gen. 10:8–12).

In that passage, Cush is identified as the father of

Nimrod, who is said to have founded numerous cities

in Mesopotamia. Some scholars propose that “Cush”

is the person who gave his name to the “Kassites,”

who ruled in Babylonia in the second millennium B.C.

If that be the case, some commentators conclude that

the River Gihon is to be located in Mesopotamia. The

third and fourth rivers flowing out of Eden were the

Tigris and Euphrates. These were, of course, the main

areas of settlement in Mesopotamia.

So, where was the garden in Eden? No one

knows for certain (see map 1-1). Many suggest that

it was located in Mesopotamia; some believe it may

have been situated in the mountains of Armenia where

the headwaters of the Tigris and Euphrates are locat-

ed. Others argue that it was in southern Mesopotamia

where those two rivers flow into the Persian Gulf.

Others offer another alternative, that Eden was in

Canaan: the two rivers of Pishon and Gihon were the

Blue and White Nile in Ethiopia, and the Tigris and

Euphrates were located in Mesopotamia. In between

them lay the land of Canaan.

A Garden in EdenIn Genesis 2:8, the writer says that the “LORD God

planted a garden in Eden, in the east, and there he put

the man whom he had formed.” Immediately after the

creation of mankind, God plants “a garden in Eden.”

Note that the text does not say “Garden of Eden.”

Apparently Eden was a larger geographical area than

merely the spot occupied by the garden. Also, “in the

east” probably refers to the eastern part of the re-

gion called Eden. The meaning of the name “Eden” is

uncertain. In Akkadian a similar word meant “plain/wil-

derness.” Canaanite texts used the word to reflect an

area that is well watered and fertile. In Hebrew, “Eden”

may be related to a term that means “luxury/delight.”

Because of that possible meaning, the Septuagint

(the Greek Old Testament) rendered the term as

paradeison, from which derives our word “paradise.”

The means of watering the garden was by irriga-

tion from a river that flowed through it. After feeding

the garden, the river flowed out of it and divided into

four “rivers” (Gen. 2:10). That word in Hebrew actually

means “headstreams,” and so when the river sepa-

rated it broke up into four headwaters that were the

sources of the four great rivers identified in the text.

The name given to the first river was Pishon, and it

flowed around the whole land of Havilah. Its location

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EDEN?

EDEN?

F E R T I L E C R E SC E NT

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Mount Ararat

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1-1. The Garden of Eden

(Genesis 2:4–3:24; Ezekiel 31:1–18) Genesis describes the location of Eden in relation to the convergence of four rivers. While

two of the rivers are unknown (the Pishon and the Gihon), the nearly universal identification of

the other two rivers as the Tigris and the Euphrates suggests a

possible location for Eden at either their northern or

southern extremes.


53BEFORE ABRAHAM

The Neolithic Period (8000–4000 B.C.)The sedentarization that began at the end of the Natufian period continued into the subsequent Neolithic period. The settlements, however, be-came larger and more elaborate. A good exam-ple of this “urbanization” may be seen at the site of Jericho, in which major excavations unearthed significant remains of the Neolithic period. The Neolithic is normally divided by archaeologists into three periods: Pre-pottery Neolithic A, Pre-pottery Neolithic B, Pottery Neolithic. We will look at the remains found at Jericho in each of these periods.

Pre-pottery Neolithic ADuring this first phase of the Neolithic period, Jericho was one of the largest known settlements. A great population increase took place here, and the settlement covered 10 acres. The archaeologist Kathleen Kenyon estimated that 2,000 people lived at Jericho during this period. The first fortification known to man was discovered here: it was a free-standing round stone tower that stood c. 28 feet (9 m) high. It contained an inside stairway with 22 steps leading from a bottom door to an opening on the top of the structure (see photo 1-1). Later in this

taking place. Base camps for hunting began to appear: one of these, found at Ksar Akil, would have been used by 25–30 people. There was a broad spectrum of food use here, many tools, and hearths. Small settlement sites also first appeared during this period, and these contain very simple buildings. Deliberate burial practices also began at this time.

The Epi-paleolithic Period (10,000–8000 B.C.)Although there is debate regarding precisely when the domestication of plants and animals occurred, the evidence seems to argue for the Epi-Paleolithic or “Natufian” period. Life be-came centered in one place rather than in groups moving from one place to another. For example, at the site of ‘Ain Mallaha, the archaeologist de-termined that 200–300 people lived there. He found primitive houses with lime-coated walls and paved flooring. There were elaborate types of burials at the site. During this period, sickle blades made their first appearance, and the peo-ple ate a broad spectrum of food, including wild grains. Because of this transition to agriculture and herding, many consider this to be the period in which permanent settlement really began.

1-1. This round stone tower at Jericho was originally a free-standing tower that was later connected to a city wall. It is the earliest known fortification structure in the world, dating to c. 7000 B.C.



that had thumb indentations to hold the mortar together firmly. The tool industry of this time was an improvement on Pre-pottery Neolithic A; the earlier period had a crude assemblage whereas this period had much finer ware. The appearance of turquoise perhaps indicates that there was some kind of trade taking place between Jericho and other areas.

A most interesting find from this period was a series of plastered and modeled skulls sealed beneath the floors of houses. No one knows for certain what purpose they served, but perhaps they reflected some sort of ancestor worship.

Pottery NeolithicThe Pottery Neolithic era was a dark age through-out the ancient Near East. Architectural remains from sites are shabby and primitive. Lots of places that had been settled in the Pre-pottery Neolithic were now unoccupied. Some archaeologists argue that Palestine was generally abandoned at this time due to climatic changes or some other natural force.

period the tower was attached to a city wall c. 5 feet (1.5 m) wide and 13 feet (4 m) high. Near the tower were unearthed round houses made of mud-brick; some of these contained postholes for the support of a roof. There is evidence of agriculture at the site, and Kenyon argues that the inhabitants employed irrigation techniques.

Pre-pottery Neolithic BThe Pre-pottery Neolithic B period at Jericho had a less defensive posture than Pre-pottery Neolithic A. There were no fortification walls at the site. The architecture of the buildings during this pe-riod, however, was much more elaborate than the earlier period. The houses were now rectangular, rather than circular, and their walls were plastered and highly burnished with red ochre paint. The floors were hard lime plaster. And the houses were built around courtyards containing hearths. There were various rooms in each house, and many of the rooms had pillars and bases to hold up roofs. The buildings were constructed of cigar-shaped bricks

In other words, each period had its own distinctive

and typical pottery. Archaeologists are able to date

any level or stratum in a site by the type of pottery

that appears in it. Among the elements of pottery

that help to distinguish one period from another are

form, decoration, material composition, and method

of manufacture.

Sometimes excavations uncover sherds with

inscriptions. These are called “ostraca” (singular “os-

tracon”). The inscriptions are normally written in ink

and are short, ranging from a few words to several

lines. Some of them appear to have been written in

times of crisis when other writing materials were un-

available. Perhaps the most well-known ostraca found

in Palestine are the Lachish Letters from the time of

the destruction of Judah by Nebuchadnezzar in 586

B.C. (See “The Lachish Letters,” p. 174) The numerous

ostraca found at Samaria, the capital of the northern

kingdom of Israel, are also of great importance.

PotteryDuring the Neolithic period, pottery made its first ap-

pearance in the ancient Near East. Pottery is a most

valuable tool for the archaeologist, and it is the most

basic and useful tool for developing chronology. It not

only helps to determine the dating of layers of an indi-

vidual site, but the archaeologist can compare pottery

gathered from various sites to establish a relative dat-

ing sequence for a region. What is it about pottery that

makes it so valuable in this regard?

First, pottery is durable. Although whole vessels

are fragile and break easily, potsherds are virtually

indestructible. They do not decay, rust, burn, cor-

rode, evaporate, or melt. Pottery is found in every

layer of a site because it lasts. Second, pottery is

changeable. That is to say, while the features of

pottery vessels, such as design and shape, were

remarkably standardized during any given period in

a region, these traits changed at frequent intervals.


55

population throughout the ancient Near East, and there were more and larger settlements. The first known use of metal for tools and weapons oc-curred at this time; locations for copper smelting have been discovered. Settlements had specializa-tion in various crafts; some were, for example, cop-per smelting villages, and others worked only in ivory. The pottery of the period was mostly hand-made, although there is some evidence for the beginning of slow wheel manufactured ceramic. Trade throughout the ancient Near East became more robust.

In Palestine, most populations of the Chalcolithic era were living in more arid areas. Near Beersheba, three sites have been unearthed from this period that are called the “Beersheba group.”

On the other hand, it may be that there was not an abandonment but rather a shift from the sedentary life back to pastoralism. Jericho was occupied dur-ing this time, but the settlement was small and in decline from the previous periods. Although the period was one of general degeneration, it was not devoid of importance. Pottery came into use in this final phase of the Neolithic era, and its impor-tance for the reconstruction of chronology and life in the ancient Near East cannot be overstated.

The Chalcolithic Period (4000–3200 B.C.)Some very important changes occurred in the Chalcolithic period, from the previous “dark age” of the Pottery Neolithic. There was an increase in

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SOUTHWEST ARABIA

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Gulf of Aden

Togarmah

Ashkenaz

Madai

Magog

Meshech

Tubal

KittimElishah?

Naphtuhim

Pathrusim

Cush

Dedan

Seba?

Rhodanim?

Caphtorim

HazermavethUzal?

Ophir?

Raamah?

Havilah?Sabtah?

JebusitesGirgashites

SinitesArkites

Hivites

Amorites

ArvaditesZemarites

Hamathites

Elam

Asshur

Arphaxad

Lud

Aram

Mash?

Uz?

Sidon

Javan

Gomer

Egypt

Put?

Lehabim?

Ca

na

an

Sheba?

Nimrod

Heth

Tiras = Etruscans? (Italy)Tarshish = Tartessos? (Spain)

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Descendant of Ham

Descendant of Shem

Descendant of Japheth

1-2. Table of Nations,c. 2200 B.C. (Genesis 10:1–32) Many of the people groups mentioned in Genesis 10 can be identified with relative certainty. In general, the descendants of Ham settled in North Africa and the eastern Mediterranean coast, the descendants of Shem in Mesopotamia and Arabia, and the descendants of Japheth in Europe and Asia Minor.

BEFORE ABRAHAM



vegetables, also became a major part of life in the ancient Near East. A brisk international trade net-work was in evidence, especially between Palestine and Egypt. This was the time of the first great em-pire building in the ancient Near East, with grand states formed in Egypt and in Mesopotamia (the region between the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers; see map 1-3).

EgyptPrior to 3100 B.C., the political situation in Egypt is obscure. There appear to have been two separate kingdoms: a northern kingdom in the Delta (at the city of Pe), and a southern kingdom in the Nile River Valley (at Nekhen). This political duality persisted throughout Egyptian history in different political and religious symbols of Egypt: separate northern and southern crowns, the representation of the north by the serpent goddess Wadjit and the south by the vulture goddess Nekhbet. Egypt itself was often called the two lands.

The Archaic period. The first two dynasties of Egypt lasted from 3100 to 2700 B.C., and we know

The sites are Abu Mater, Khirbet Beitar, and Safadi. They appear to have been typical of the period, with each site having a specialized craft. There was clear evidence of trade with Egypt: beads made of shells from the Nile River were unearthed at Abu Mater. Sacred shrines became more common in this pe-riod. Near Engedi, next to the Dead Sea, a long-roomed shrine was found that was surrounded by a sacred enclosure wall. Inside the temple was discov-ered a favissa, a sacred pit where ritual items used in the temple would be buried. In a cave near the site, a horde of 400 copper objects was found that per-haps went with the temple. This is called the “Cave of the Treasure,” and many of the objects were ritual or ceremonial pieces.

The Early Bronze Age (3200–2200 B.C.)The Early Bronze Age was characterized by ur-banization, a shift from village life to city dwell-ing. More settlements appeared in this age than at any time previously, and they were fortified. Full-fledged agricultural production, both fruits and

Mediterranean Sea

Caspian Sea

Red Sea

Persian Gulf

Black Sea

Aeg

ean Sea

ARABIANDESERT

CRETE CYPRUS

ACCADELAM

SUBARTU

SUMER

LOWEREGYPT

UPPEREGYPT

Tigris River

Euphrates River

Nile River

Halys River

Araxes River

Damascus

Jericho

Arad

Megiddo

Gebal

Hamath

EblaUgarit

Carchemish

Mari

UrErech

BabylonSusa

Eshnunna

Asshur

Umma Lagash

KishNippur

Thebes (No-amon)

Memphis (Noph)

Troy

Knossus

[Alacahöyük]

[Beycesultan]

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1-3. The Near East during the Early Bronze Age, 3200–

2200 B.C. In the Ancient Near East, the Early Bronze Age

was marked by urbanization, agricultural production, and

international trade. Complex and powerful civilizations flourished

around the Nile, Tigris, and Euphrates Rivers.


57

figures of the Third Dynasty were Djoser and his ar-chitect Imhotep. They built the Step Pyramid com-plex at Saqqara. That pyramid and its temple were the first exclusively stone buildings in Egyptian his-tory. Imhotep was later deified by the Egyptians, and he was given much credit as a wise man who helped in the development of writing, medicine, and mathematics. Reliefs from the time of Djoser and his successors indicate that turquoise and cop-per mining began in the Sinai in this period.

Dynasty Four (2620–2480 B.C.) was the cul-mination of the building of the pyramids in Egypt with the great monuments built at Giza by Cheops, Chephren, and Mycerinus (see photo 1-2). Little is known of historical events during this dynasty, but it is clear that the government was centered in the king and the royal family. Royal hereditary succession was the rule. The king had absolute fi-nal authority over law; his word was law. He also had control of the military, the economy, and taxation. And, most importantly, he was consid-ered a god. Each king of this period had a “Horus name,” by which they were identified as the earthly form of that god. The pyramids at Giza were royal tombs for the god/king for continued existence in the afterlife.

The construction of these pyramids was a grand organizational accomplishment. For exam-ple, the Great Pyramid of Cheops measured 756

very little about them. We know that it was a pe-riod of unification of the two kingdoms. The first king was probably the Scorpion king. A ceremonial mace head of this king has been found, and it com-memorates his victories over enemies that may have included native Egyptians of the Delta area. One of the registers on the mace head pictures Scorpion wearing the crown of Upper Egypt and opening an irrigation canal, which was a common duty of the king. The next king was probably Narmer. A pal-ette has been discovered of this king: on one side he is pictured wearing the crown of Upper Egypt, posing in victory over the conquered ones from the Delta, and on the other side he wears the crown of Lower Egypt in procession over his slain enemy. Narmer is often identified with Menes, the tradi-tional founder of the First Dynasty of Egypt.

Apart from unification, virtually nothing of a political nature is known explicitly from these first two dynasties, although the names of the kings are verified on contemporary monuments. However, we do know that nearly all the social, political, religious, and cultural institutions that identify Egyptian civilization originated during this Archaic period. Excavations of tombs from this period at Saqqarah and Abydos provide much of the material remains of the time.

The Old Kingdom. This period consists of Dynasties Three–Six (2700–2180 B.C.). The main

1-2. The pyramids at Giza in Egypt. All three of these pyramids and their outer buildings date to the twenty-sixth century B.C.

BEFORE ABRAHAM



factors: (1) the power of Egypt was decentralized, that is, authority shifted from the king to powerful nobles who set themselves up as rulers over large regions; (2) northern Egypt, in particular, was subjected to numerous incursions of Asiatics; and (3) it is likely that there were catastrophic drought conditions at the very end of the dynasty, and this climatic event helped put an end to an already weakened central authority.

The First Intermediate period (2180–2040 B.C.). Most of this period is characterized by civil strife, and Egypt was divided. The period con-sisted of Dynasties Seven–Eleven, and Egypt was ruled from Herakleopolis in Dynasties Nine–Ten and from Thebes in Dynasty Eleven. These dynasties were started by provincial governors (“nomarchs”) and nobles who proclaimed themselves kings and were able to gain some support from the population. Rulers changed frequently, and the time produced no outstanding kings. Perhaps the major problem of the time for Egypt was the migration of Asiatics into northern Egypt.

MesopotamiaThe Sumerians. The dominant group in Mesopotamia during the third millennium B.C. was the Sumerians. Their place of origin is not cer-tain, although they seemed to have settled in the region as early as c. 5000 B.C. The Sumerians domi-nated the political landscape of Mesopotamia from 3500–2350 B.C. The age of their supremacy is di-vided into four periods: Uruk (3500–3000 B.C.), Jemdet Nasr (3000–2650), Early Dynastic (2650–2500), and the First Dynasty of Ur (2500–2350). We will consider these four periods in order.

Probably the most important event of the Uruk period was the invention of writing. Since the oldest tablets we possess were written in Sumerian, the Sumerians have been credited with the inven-tion of writing. The first writing was pictographic (i.e., a picture representing an action), then ideo-graphic (a symbol representing an idea), and, fi-nally, syllabic (a symbol representing the sound of a consonant and a vowel together). Almost all Sumerian texts were written in cuneiform, that is, wedge-shaped characters etched in clay tablets with a stylus. Also from this period came the invention

feet (230 m) square and 481 feet (147 m) high, and it covered 13 acres of land. It took less than 20 years to build, and most of the work occurred during the three months of each year when the Nile was in-undated, when the workers could use the Nile to move the stone from the quarry to the building site. It has been estimated that, to finish the pyramid in 20 years, 1,000 blocks needed to be put in place per day of each three-month period. One can imagine the organization that was needed to feed the work-ers, house them, keep them working in teams, and so forth. The Egyptian historian Manetho claims that the pyramids put to work 100,000 people out of an Egyptian population between 1 and 2 mil-lion. In addition, each pyramid had subsidiary structures, such as temples in which the dead king could be worshiped. Tombs of the royal family and high officials of the court were also found next to the pyramids. The pyramids are in a sense symbolic of the centrality of the king to the Egyptian society of the time.

Dynasty Five (2480–2340) was characterized by the domination of the solar Re cult at Heliopolis. Userkaf, the first king of the dynasty, donated 33,000 acres of land to the cult of Re. The name Re became a common element in the names of the kings: Sahure, Djedkare, and so forth. It was also at this time that the king began to be called “son of Re.” The Pyramid Texts first appeared at the end of this dynasty during the reign of Unis, and they con-tinued into the Sixth Dynasty. The Pyramid Texts were magical spells that provided for the welfare of the king in the hereafter. They were the oldest reli-gious texts of ancient Egypt. Also, beginning in this dynasty were detailed reliefs and painted scenes in tombs, and these provided remarkably vivid de-scriptions of the daily life of the time.

Political events of Dynasty Six (2340–2180) are not well known. Several of the kings ruled for long periods: Pepi I for 49 years and Pepi II for 94 years. There is no reason to question the extraordi-nary length of the latter rule. It is attested in several documents, and he became king at the age of five as a co-regent with his mother. The dynasty closed with a series of weak kings and a general collapse of the central governmental authority. The weaken-ing of Egypt at this time was perhaps due to three


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this period; it contained great riches, such as the gold ornaments of Queen Shubad. In addition, the tombs contained mass burials of servants to accom-pany their sovereign into the afterlife. Toward the end of the First Dynasty of Ur, there began a pe-riod of weak rulership throughout Sumer, to the point that the kingship passed into the hands of the priesthood. There was one last gasp, however; in the city of Umma a leader arose named Lugalzaggisi. He appears to have been the first great conqueror as he carried out his idea of unifying all of Sumer un-der one ruler. He first conquered Lagash and sev-eral other cities, and then he made Uruk the capital of his kingdom. But this was short-lived as a new power began to assert itself—the Akkadians under the rulership of Sargon I.

The Akkadian Empire (2350–2150 B.C.). Semites had been settling in Mesopotamia for centuries, and now Semitic princes became strong and altered the course of events in the region. The founder of the Akkadian empire was the Semite Sargon I. He had been cupbearer to the king of Kish, but he overthrew his master and then marched his forces to Uruk. Sargon defeated Lugalzaggisi who, at the time, was overlord of Sumer, and proceeded to conquer Ur, Lagash, Umma, and finally all of Sumer even to the Persian Gulf. He founded his capital at the city of Agade, the only royal city of ancient Mesopotamia whose location is unknown. He expanded his kingdom with several military campaigns against Elam to the east and Syria to the west. Sargon I’s reign was a glorious one, lasting no less than 55 years. After Sargon’s death, his son Rimush had to repress several revolts in the king-dom; he was assassinated after nine years, and his brother Manishtusu kept the empire together for another 15 years. Naram-Sin, Sargon’s grandson, then took over the reins of the empire; he was the last great monarch of the Akkadian dynasty. His reign of more than 35 years was filled with military operations and great victories for the Akkadian army. When he died (c. 2250 B.C.), the empire be-gan to crumble at the frontiers; although the em-pire lasted for almost another century, the rulers of Akkad became increasingly weak. In the end, the Gutians, centered in the Zagros Mountains, overran Mesopotamia. They ruled the land for a

of the cylinder seal that is found throughout the history of ancient Mesopotamian civilization; it is an important relic in the reconstruction of cultural and religious ideas. The period, in addi-tion, began the shift of population from the vil-lage to the temple-city, and the Sumerian culture started to become a “temple economy.” A temple economy was one in which the god owned every-thing; in other words, all property belonged to the deity. His dwelling was in the temple in the city, and all Sumerian society centered on the temple. At Uruk, two temples dominated the urban land-scape: one dedicated to the god Anu and the other to Inanna. The temple of Anu was built on a ter-race constructed of mud-brick; this was a forerun-ner of the later ziggurat that became characteristic of Mesopotamian religious architecture (see photo 2-1, p. 65; and illustration, p. 66).

The Jemdet Nasr period occurred in the first quarter of the third millennium B.C. This period continued much of the cultural innovations that had begun in the Uruk age. For example, writing, which was invented in the Uruk period, now pro-ceeded from pictographic to ideographic form. Metals began to be used in a much more wide-spread way, and bronze was introduced, appearing now in tool and weapon assemblages.

The following Early Dynastic period was characterized by increased urbanization in Mesopotamia. Towns also began to be heavily for-tified; for example, Uruk contained an outer wall that was six miles (10 km) long with 900 towers. Writing also developed significantly, moving from the ideographic to the syllabic. Prior to this time most writing simply recorded commercial sales and transactions, but now the literature became quite varied, including religious stories, palace edicts, and so forth. The societal structure of the Sumerians be-gan to change during this period. No longer was it based merely on a temple economy; the king began to become as important as the priest.

Many cities flourished in the First Dynasty of Ur, such as Nippur, Lagash, and Mari. Ur, however, seems to have been the most important city of the time, and it had the political power and leader-ship over Sumer. The splendor of Ur is confirmed by excavations that unearthed its royal tombs from

BEFORE ABRAHAM



a brisk international trade beginning between this area and the rest of the ancient Near East, in partic-ular with Egypt. Full-fledged farming began at this time in the Mediterranean world, and Palestine be-came a major international wine center. In regard to pottery, kilns and the pottery wheel were in full use at this time.

Early Bronze II (2800–2600 B.C.). Building on the urbanization of Early Bronze I, settlements in this period became increasingly large. For exam-ple, Ai was 27 acres in size and Arad was between 23 and 25 acres. Cities in this period were becom-ing quite complex. A typical city for the time was Arad (see photo 1-3). It contained a lower and an upper city. The lower city was surrounded by a thick fortification wall (8 feet [2 m] thick) with semicir-cular towers spaced every 65–80 feet (20–24 m) in the wall line. The length of the city wall measured approximately two-thirds of a mile (1 km). Inside the city wall was a street that encompassed most of the site; no buildings were attached to the outer wall. The domestic quarter contained rectangu-lar “broad room” houses, namely, houses that had an entrance in one of the long sides, with benches on the inside of the structure, and they were built around a courtyard. Public buildings of the site in-cluded a palace, a marketplace, and a twin temple structure. The latter was two temples that shared a common wall. It is thought that one of the tem-ples was for a female deity and the other for a male deity. There was, in addition, a vast trade network in this period between Palestine and Egypt in the south and Byblos in the north. Palestine had much to offer: pitch, cedar, wine, olive oil, copper, and turquoise.

Early Bronze III (2600–2350 B.C.). Marked prosperity characterized Palestine during the Early Bronze III period. New settlements were founded, such as Tell el-Hesi. New types of pottery appeared: the most impressive was the Khirbet Kerak ware that was a beautifully burnished red-black ceramic.

Early Bronze IV (2350–2200 B.C.). A huge cultural shift marked the end of the Early Bronze III period. Many of the cities of Palestine had a gap in occupation during the Early Bronze IV and Middle Bronze I (2200–2000 B.C.) periods. Major settle-ments such as Beth-shean, Shechem, Ai, Gezer,

century (2150–2050 B.C.), and it was a dark age of cultural stagnation.

Syria-PalestineArchaeologists normally divide the Early Bronze Age in Syria-Palestine into four periods: Early Bronze I, II, III, and IV. We will briefly discuss the nature and characteristics of the remains from each of these periods.

Early Bronze I (3200–2800 B.C.). As in the rest of the ancient Near East, this period in Syria-Palestine was characterized by urbanization. There was a shift from village life to city life, and the peo-ple founded many more settlements. We also see

Jordan River

Dea

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ea

Sea ofGalilee

Med

iter

rane

an S

ea

Tyre

Tirzah

Taanach

Sodom?

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Rakkath

Megiddo

Lod

Laish

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Kedesh

Jerusalem

Jericho

Jarmuth

Hazor

Gezer

Gath

Edrei

Dothan

Beth-shean

Ashtaroth

Arad

Aphek

Ai?

Acco

Beth-yerah

[T. Umm Hammad]

[T. al-Hisn][T. an-Asawir]

[T. al-Hasi][T. an-Nagila]

[T. ‘Erani]

[Azor]

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1-4. Canaan during the Early Bronze Age, 3200–2200 B.C. During the Early Bronze Age, the land of Canaan appears to have experienced many of the same developments as the rest of the Near East, including increased urbanization, agricultural production (especially wine and olive oil), and international trade (especially with Egypt).


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and Hazor were unoccupied at this time, and others, such as Megiddo, Jericho, and Tell Beit Mirsim had meager remains at best. Generally, the Early Bronze IV–Middle Bronze I periods in Palestine were non-urban in character. Most of the settlements now seem to have been located in the fringe areas of Palestine, namely, in the Negeb, Transjordan, and Jordan Valley areas. Why this shift took place is unknown, although climatic change has often been suggested as the cata-lyst for it. In any event, at the end of the third millennium, the population shifted away from urbanism to an in-creased nomadism.

1-3. Part of the Canaanite city of Arad in the Negeb from the Early Bronze Period. It was a well-planned city, built in such a way as to maximize its ability to catch and collect rainwater.

1-4. Round stone altar at Megiddo from c. 2500 B.C. It originally stood alone but was later linked to a two-room temple.

BEFORE ABRAHAM


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