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3,400 Year-Old Mittani Empire City Ruins Resurface in Drought

phdhorn

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phdhorn

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This is Kemune in Northern Iraq, just NW of Mosul.  The lake created by the Mosul Dam on the Tigris has receded due to drought, and archaeologists found this amazing discovery.  A part of it was actually first discovered in 2019 but they only had a faint idea that this much of the ancient city was preserved.  Dating all the way back to the late Sumerian era.

This is likely from the Mittani Empire, a largely-forgotten (mostly due to lack of evidence) but powerful force in 1.500 B.C. Sumeria.  A palace is likely the core of the ruins, with enormous storehouses, that suggested that this culture did frequent trade with Egypt and other pre-Assyrian powers.

Where I dig this especially is that the Mittanis were most likely a Hurrian-speaking people, which is Biblically significant.  The Hivites and Horites of Genesis 14 were Hurrian speakers, and the Hivites were one of the seven nations which Joshua had conquered during his Canaan campaign (Deut. 7).  But maybe most significantly, when Abraham's family (father Terah) left Ur, they settled in Haran (Gen. 11).  Haran was a majority Hurrian-speaking city and likely either Mittani or in close contact with them.  And in fact, many of the "weird" practices we find in most of Genesis concerning Abraham and the culture (app. Ch. 15-31) were not specific to the Hebrew culture, but rather freely exchanged as a part of Mittite culture.

(one of my "big things" in history is to study how esp. in the Old Testament, what we determine as "weird" or "bizarre" customs or incidents in the accounts of the Israelites, were actually quite common and understood as long-forgotten customs in contemporary cultures that they picked up, and anything but "bizarre" to those peoples... e.g. Sarah giving her slave Hagar to Abraham, and his reluctance to send them (Hagar and Ishmael) out once Sarah was pregnant with Isaac, was very much based on Nuzi law regarding barrenness and the substitute procedure.  We tend to think of Israelites as living in "their own" culture, and while that's certainly true in part, it's absolutely not the entire truth.  Joseph flourished in Egyptian culture, and Abraham had to come from some earthly culture, so it's pretty likely that he adopted a lot of his habits from these Mittite customs and laws). Anyway it's not out of the realm of possibility to think that this city, although dating slightly before Abraham's traditional dates, was likely in existence in some form and that Abraham would almost certainly have known about it, if not visited it.)

image.png.a35ed74f082290065cbc5d05549325fe.png


https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/after-drought-3-400-year-old-city-in-iraq-resurfaces

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PRONG HORN

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40 minutes ago, phdhorn said:

one of my "big things" in history is to study how esp. in the Old Testament, what we determine as "weird" or "bizarre" customs or incidents in the accounts of the Israelites, were actually quite common and understood as long-forgotten customs in contemporary cultures that they picked up, and anything but "bizarre" to those peoples... 

 

Cool.  Just wait until they really start excavating and exploring the entire Sahara.  There's going to be quite a few bombshells under all that sand discovered over the coming centuries.  

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Bullneck

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1 hour ago, phdhorn said:

This is Kemune in Northern Iraq, just NW of Mosul.  The lake created by the Mosul Dam on the Tigris has receded due to drought, and archaeologists found this amazing discovery.  A part of it was actually first discovered in 2019 but they only had a faint idea that this much of the ancient city was preserved.  Dating all the way back to the late Sumerian era.

This is likely from the Mittani Empire, a largely-forgotten (mostly due to lack of evidence) but powerful force in 1.500 B.C. Sumeria.  A palace is likely the core of the ruins, with enormous storehouses, that suggested that this culture did frequent trade with Egypt and other pre-Assyrian powers.

Where I dig this especially is that the Mittanis were most likely a Hurrian-speaking people, which is Biblically significant.  The Hivites and Horites of Genesis 14 were Hurrian speakers, and the Hivites were one of the seven nations which Joshua had conquered during his Canaan campaign (Deut. 7).  But maybe most significantly, when Abraham's family (father Terah) left Ur, they settled in Haran (Gen. 11).  Haran was a majority Hurrian-speaking city and likely either Mittani or in close contact with them.  And in fact, many of the "weird" practices we find in most of Genesis concerning Abraham and the culture (app. Ch. 15-31) were not specific to the Hebrew culture, but rather freely exchanged as a part of Mittite culture.

(one of my "big things" in history is to study how esp. in the Old Testament, what we determine as "weird" or "bizarre" customs or incidents in the accounts of the Israelites, were actually quite common and understood as long-forgotten customs in contemporary cultures that they picked up, and anything but "bizarre" to those peoples... e.g. Sarah giving her slave Hagar to Abraham, and his reluctance to send them (Hagar and Ishmael) out once Sarah was pregnant with Isaac, was very much based on Nuzi law regarding barrenness and the substitute procedure.  We tend to think of Israelites as living in "their own" culture, and while that's certainly true in part, it's absolutely not the entire truth.  Joseph flourished in Egyptian culture, and Abraham had to come from some earthly culture, so it's pretty likely that he adopted a lot of his habits from these Mittite customs and laws). Anyway it's not out of the realm of possibility to think that this city, although dating slightly before Abraham's traditional dates, was likely in existence in some form and that Abraham would almost certainly have known about it, if not visited it.)

image.png.a35ed74f082290065cbc5d05549325fe.png


https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/after-drought-3-400-year-old-city-in-iraq-resurfaces

You believe in the Bible, do you phd?  I don't understand none of it.  This one begat that one, and that one begat that one, and begat and begat and someone said some shit and  . . . just how retarded are you?

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F250

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13 minutes ago, Bullneck said:

You believe in the Bible, do you phd?  I don't understand none of it.  This one begat that one, and that one begat that one, and begat and begat and someone said some shit and  . . . just how retarded are you?

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PRONG HORN

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18 minutes ago, Bullneck said:

You believe in the Bible, do you phd?  I don't understand none of it.  This one begat that one, and that one begat that one, and begat and begat and someone said some shit and  . . . just how retarded are you?

 

Yeah, a lot of it is just the culture of middle eastern men from thousands of years ago.  Stuff like not eating pork, and if you eat unleavened bread "ye shall surely die".  Yeah ok Moses.  God never gave a crap about eating unleavened bread or pork.  Just the beliefs and customs of the day making their way into the gospel.  

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Sawbonz

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39 minutes ago, PRONG HORN said:

 

Yeah, a lot of it is just the culture of middle eastern men from thousands of years ago.  Stuff like not eating pork, and if you eat unleavened bread "ye shall surely die".  Yeah ok Moses.  God never gave a crap about eating unleavened bread or pork.  Just the beliefs and customs of the day making their way into the gospel.  

 

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Bullneck

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1 hour ago, F250 said:

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1 hour ago, PRONG HORN said:

 

Yeah, a lot of it is just the culture of middle eastern men from thousands of years ago.  Stuff like not eating pork, and if you eat unleavened bread "ye shall surely die".  Yeah ok Moses.  God never gave a crap about eating unleavened bread or pork.  Just the beliefs and customs of the day making their way into the gospel.  

 

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phdhorn

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2 hours ago, Bullneck said:

You believe in the Bible, do you phd?  I don't understand none of it.  This one begat that one, and that one begat that one, and begat and begat and someone said some shit and  . . . just how retarded are you?

Functionally an incapable idiot, thanks for asking, but able to give a better synopsis of the Bible than you, obviously. At least I got that going for me.

But I do believe in the Bible.  I can buy one at any bookstore.  Hell, I can even find one still in some hotel nightstand drawers.

Yes I've actually seen and even held real Bibles!  They exist and I'm a believer in their existence!

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