jules?

Shock, horror, Moses really did lead million out of Egypt just archaeolgists were looking at the wrong time, blah blah.

Rohl and his waste of time have become quite a pain. Badly researched but presented with style even to the point of attracting T.V. production Rohl derserves credit for turning the tedious subject of Chronology in to a best seller. Rohl is clever in that he does not associate himself with the fundi audience or the Velikovsky fan base. As a fairly low achieving Egyptologist without a track record in Professorship or digs he has carved out a slice of action in an area of controversy. A problem is to refute his comprehensive argument in the same popularist style. A book entitled 'Egyptian Chronology-some problems but it will do' is hardly going to hit the best sellers.

The best silver bullit i came across is as followers, although a better one would always be welcome.


Professor Kitchen offers conclusive proof that Rohl is wrong with a single piece of information.
‘I mentioned to him one tiny Egyptian text that totally destroys the case for all these would-be revisionists (my atom-bomb, chronologically). At Deir el-Medina in Western Thebes, a graffito in Year 1 of King Merenptah, Inundation Season, mentions the workmen viewing the waters of the actual Nile inundation at that time. This is only possible every fourteen centuries, because the Egyptian calendar (365 days) was 1/4 day too short, and ended a day too early every 4 years. So, its summer months had crept into winter by 730 years, and it only came right again after 1460 years or so. It was right under Merenptah in the 13th century BC, as it was in the 2nd century AD (Censorinus), and had been in the 28th/27th centuries BC but NOT at intervening times. So, dropping 500 years with Velikovsky, or the odd 250/350 years with James is totally and definitively excluded. I told him about this, gave him a copy of the text, but of course it appears in neither the programme nor the book. He warbles on about an inundation-text of Sobekhotep ‘VIII’, claiming its text dates the king to 1435 BC - but omits to note that (Professor John) Baines finds for 1650 BC! (In an article unmentioned by him.)’.

Having perused some other threads that cite Rohl as ‘proof’ I noticed the defence of orthodoxy regarding Egyptian Chronology is either detailed, desiring the proponents of the New Chronology to present some facts [nothing wrong in that] or off topic becoming bogged down in refuting ‘miracles’ which always seems to be a little pointless when arguing against people who believe in the power of god.

The point I am trying to make is that sadly long-winded facts and explanations just are not popular with people who read popular books. Dismantling Rohl’s book took me months of research reading dry old text borrowed from the Uni before I felt it safe to bin his work. In some respects it reminds me of Da Vinci Code, [still cannot see the logic of a Gnostic Christianity and a human Jesus!] popular enough to get people thinking but riddled with flaws but ones that have taken the Church years to refute with rebuttals like ‘the Templars-nothing extraordinary about them’ type books.

So what is the most effective way to nail Rohl, or for that matter any popularist works whether it is Graham Hancock and his Atlantis/Martian/ 12000 year old Egyptians etc or Chariots of the Gods or Ooparts?

The magic bullet, the succinct argument is one answer. Another was inspired by Tencommandments. Com or whatever. Is this site for real? Death to all law breakers and zero tolerance would /should make any liberal Christian think about their beliefs. So I wonder if it was not set up by an atheist. Algeria secret service infiltrated Jihadist groups to encourage them to be even more extreme, such as murdering school kids, and then other heretical Jihadists and horribly it worked. There was research to reduce malaria by breeding sterile male mosquitoes so as to poison the breeding well. So why not generate lots of pro internet sites that take Rohl’s theories [and any body else’s] and seed it with so many inaccuracies that anybody using them as a resource can be shot out of the water with ease [too many metaphors over egging this pudding I know]. It is a thought but I would welcome slightly more positive ones on combating the popularist whether it is Rohl or over wise.

OneInFundieville

Moving from GRD to BC&H for better coverage.

Ben C Smith

I am only passingly familiar with Rohl and the so-called New Chronology.

Granted that it seems sensationalistic and harmonistic, let me ask a question of a slightly different order: Assuming that there is nothing in the New Chronology to merit the supposition that we have tracked down Joseph, Moses, and the other historical figures that Rohl claims to have found supported archaeologically now, is there perhaps anything in it that might have inspired certain legends? For example, assuming that the Amarna letters have nothing actually to do with the biblical Saul and David, could there yet be anything in them that might have inspired later legends about those figures?

(This is a genuine question, not a leading one; I am not certain I have a field, as it were, but, if I do, I am out of it here.)

Ben.

jules?

Judeaism borrowed extensively from its rich neighbours, the Temple mirriors the grander temples of the Pharoahs [never can spell that] Ramsis III's temple could be a perfect manifestation of the description of Solomon's except it is huge in comparison. you can even find the image of the Ark their complete with winged beasties, I Xstian site pointed that out to me! but see it as a copy of the Temple. Herodotus' description of Egyptian bull sacrifise, Priests and circumcision matches that of the Temple. Canannites did not practise circumcision despite being vassels of Egypt.

All of this would be post 10th century at least according to the archeaological record. Climate change, and a wetter interiour allowed for settlement around citidels like Jerusalem. Judeaism borrowed from everyone, gods from canannite, myths from Babylon, etc etc. They were jammed in between the cultures that mattered.
jules