en_veritas

With the numerous references in the Bible to massacres of opposing nations and natural disasters, it seems that the archaeological record would be helpful in affirming or denying the Bible's claims.

In particular, I am interested in serious scholarship that addresses the plagues in Egypt: the incident in which the Nile River was turned to blood would be easily recognizable by the total annihilation of all life in the water (followed by a long period in which the river was restocked), as would the incident in which the firstborn sons were slain by an angel of death.

My apologies if this has been covered in a previous discussion. Thanks for your assistance.

Marduk

The Old Kingdom of Egypt (the Pyramid builders) ended with chaos, famine and drought, the anual flooding of the Nile stoped or was drastically curtailed for many years due to climate changes, but this was circa 2100 B.C.E. Long before the Exodus, however memories of this may have been tossed into the Bible story. Similar disasters may have occured at the time the Volcano island of Thera exploded destroying the Minoan culture, this was around 1500 B.C.E closer to the time of the Exodus, this could have affected Egypt as well.

[ October 28, 2001: Message edited by: marduck ]

svensky

I beleive there is some record in Egypt of the plagues etc recorded in exodus. Would you like me to find you some references ?

I dont have them to hand, but if it would be useful i'll dig somethng up

Jason

CyberShy

yeah, please dig it up !

Toto

We've gone through this fake evidence before.

What is the scoop on the "Ipuwer Papyrus" re: the Plagues of Egypt?

See also

A New Consensus: Exodus Is a Myth

en_veritas

While I appreciate the importance of historical documents, right now I'm looking for physical evidence of the plagues - for example, if we were to examine strata from the river bed of the Nile, would we find one layer that demonstrates the total extinction of all life a few thousand years ago?

Marduk

"for example, if we were to examine strata from the river bed of the Nile, would we find one layer that demonstrates the total extinction of all life a few thousand years ago?"

No.

On the contrary you will find evidence of a major drought 4500 years ago, in fact it was so bad that it completely dried up a major lake in lower Egypt.

Echo

Are there any scientists out there who can tell us what we would expect to find in terms of physical evidence if the Nile really did turn to blood? Would such an event leave any traces of itself in the rocks, for example? Or in animal remains?

CyberShy

The pages you linked us to tell us the evidence is not fake. Why do you link to something that doesn't backup your one liners ?