Archive 3339

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Atlantis and Exodus

1. Atlantis and Halley’s Comet

Much has been said about “Legendary Atlantis”

the empire that sank beneath the sea

Plato had put it on a circular island somewhere

outside “the pillars of Hercules”

in the Atlantic Ocean

but this seems to be because he knew it wasn’t in the Med

there were no circular islands there…

others placed it in all sorts of strange places

from North Africa to Antarctica

buried by a sea of sand or a sea of ice

others have pushed it so far back in time

as to be completely untraceable

was there such a place?

and what could it have to do with the Bible?

Much has been said about Halley’s Comet

as a harbinger of disaster

is has been said that when it shines, empires fall

once again, what can this have to do with the Bible?

Halley’s comet isn’t mentioned, is it?

 

2. Summer, 1628 B.C., North America

The California’s White Mountains’ Bristlecone Pine Trees

already some 1400 years old

 

3. Summer, 1628 B.C., China

The Emperor Chieh

not the most illustrious emperor the Chinese had

he was one of many emperors who did not seem to want to rule

 

4. Summer, 1628 B.C., Mediterranea

The Minoan Empire

they were the powerful rulers of the Mediterranean

ruling from Crete

holding Greece in thrall

and trading with Egypt

the world’s first naval empire

where every island fortress was moated by the Aegean

there’s was a magnificent civilization

to which Plato would ascribe many wonders

it had been developing for 1000 years

and was approaching a new golden age

it was a civilization where even slaves had rights

where most homes had running water

flush toilets, showers

and even central heating

it was a civilization on the verge of unprecedented greatness

poised to invent the telescope

and who knows what else

they appear to have been poised, in 1628 B.C., on a pinnacle

which would not be reached again for 3000 years.

The island of Thera

back then probably known as ‘Strongule’

the round island

it lay 70 miles north of Crete

and was one of the “suburban” centers of Minoan civilization

an important, if not primary, center

the island was a mountain a mile high

and some 19km wide

and on the southern shore, a magnificent city

with a lighthouse to guide ships into the harbour

the city spread for more than a mile along the coast

The Greeks

were waging a War of Independence

they sorely wanted out from under the Minoans

but Minoan technology was too far ahead

Minoan power was too strong

still, battle was met

the allies of Zeus

the chief god of the Greeks

vs the allies of Kronos

the god of the world and of time

one of the Titans

 

5. Summer, 1628 B.C., Egypt

The Pharaoh: Tuthmosis III

he had been in power for perhaps only 2 years

coming to power in the place of King/Queen Hatshepsut

who he had murdered

 

6. Autumn, 1628 B.C., Around the World

In the Med

a powerful storm was blowing east across the sea

the ships from Crete were struggling to make headway

as they headed home with their cargos

On Thera

was there, perhaps, just a tad more smoke on top of the mountain?

and the mountain had been heard to rumble a tad of late

but life was certainly fine

On Crete

no one was worried about the Greeks

their silly little rebellion would soon be put to rest

and Minoans would once again reign supreme

Boom

the volcano which was the island of Thera would let go

causing the largest explosion in human memory

up to 50 times that of Krakatoa

it would rip the floor of the Mediterranean Sea

opening cracks running 100 miles from Thera

some 50 cubic miles of molten debris were shot straight up

and out from the island

one scientist, examining the debris fields, would write

“that volcanic death clouds had surged out to all points

of the compass, writhing and snakelike, clutching the

ground … and in the paths of those snakes (each like

a sea of fire cutting through billowing black smoke) …

the air was hotter than live steam, hotter than molten

lead, hotter than iron emerging white from a furnace.”

the heavier debris rained down around the island

but the lighter stuff rose higher and higher

much of it eventually circling the globe

bring winter in the midst of summer

and then falling as acid snow on Greenland

the medium weight ash cloud spread mostly east

across parts of Turkey a layer several feet deep fell

reaching almost to Cyprus

to the west it did not make it as far

the storm pushed it back to the east

the ash flows would incinerate civilizations

120 miles east of Thera 2 feet of ash fell on the island of Kos

it was enough to suffocate anyone

if it weren’t for the fact that it was hot

hot enough to instantly scorch men’s lungs

and to turn their tongues into charcoal

the tsunamis ripped through the Mediterranean

reaching Turkey, they would be funnelled by the two peninsulas

a wall of water 800 feet high would sweep 30 miles inland

all traces of civilization here were scoured away

even today the scablands left behind are visible

reaching the Nile delta, the tsunami would be 40 feet high

the sound of the explosion would circle the globe 16 times

permanently deafening anyone within 300 miles

who wasn’t killed by the fallout

the earthquake shook houses off their foundations in Crete

and the entire island was blanketed in ash

with the eastern side receiving most of the fallout

because of the way the wind blew

but an entire civilization fell

the Minoans were no more

nothing was left but a few straggling survivors

some of whom would flee by ship from the Greeks

Farewell Minoa, Hello Greece

into the ruin of the Minoan Empire moved the Greeks

taking the reigns of power into their hands

they quickly assumed the position of the Minoans

within a decade Greek ships traveled where Minoans had before

in Egypt, pictures showing Minoan traders were repainted

to show Greek dress instead

 

7. The Witnesses

Thera

not much is left of this once magnificent island

once a mountain, now a crater

8 miles wide and a half mile deep

now under 200 feet of volcanic ash, the city is coming to light

China

of Emperor Chieh, the historians would write

he “lacked virtue”, and because of this, “the Sun was

distressed … during the last years of Chieh, ice formed

in [summer] mornings and frosts in the sixth month [July]

… hot and cold weather arrived in disorder. The five

cereal crops withered and died.”

this disorder would last for 7 years

in the northernmost provinces whole populations starved

or warred, returning to tribal nomadism

we can date it to this period because of Chinese astronomy

which marked time by the passage of noteworthy heavenly events

which other civilizations also saw

Greenland

ice cores show a layer of ash-covered snow matching Thera

measuring the layers laid down year by year gives close dates

1664 to 1624 B.C.

Ireland

the peat bogs preserve oak trees well enough to read the rings

once again, the 1620s B.C. show abnormally narrow growth rings

summers to cold to support normal growth

California

the Bristlecone Pines are now some 5000 years old

retaining in their growth rings a yearly climate record

examining them show ice damage during the summer of 1627

as they show ice damage in 1816 following the Tambora volcano

which ushered in the “year without summer”

when there was skating in St. James Park in England

in the middle of summer

Greece

The Theogony, the earliest Greek poem to survive describes

the conflict that brought the war to an end

it says (in part)

“The limitless expanse of the sea echoed terribly; the Earth

rumbled loudly, and the broad area of the sky shook and groaned

… and a heavy quaking penetrated into the gloomy depths of

Tartarus [a sunless abyss below Hades] — the sharp vibration

… forming a solid roll of sacred fire. Fertile tracts of land

all around cracked as they burned, and immense forests roared in

the fire. The whole Earth and the ocean and the barren sea began

to boil. An immense flame shot up into the atmosphere, so that

the hot air enveloped the Titans … The sight there was to see

and the noise there was to hear made it seem as if Earth and

vast sky above were colliding. As if Earth were being smashed

and [as] if sky were smashing down upon her … The winds added

to the confusion, whirling dust around together with great Zeus’

volleys of thunder and lightening … [The gods] attacked

relentlessly, throwing showers of three hundred stones one after

another with all the force of their enormous hands, till they

darkened the Titans with a cloud of missiles. … Monstrous Earth

gave birth to … a hundred snake heads … with blank tongues

flickering and fire flashing … large tracts of the earth were

set on fire by the prodigious heat and melted tin heated in

molded crucibles by skillful workmen, or like iron, the

strongest metal, softened by the heat of fire in some mountain

cleft.”

Egypt

a quarter-inch thick layer of Theran ash covers the Nile delta

now buried beneath the sediment the Nile has been dumping

and then there is the Ipuwar papyrus

dating from the time of Hatshepsut and Tuthmosis III

it says (in part)

The land–to its whole extent confusion and terrible noise…

For nine days there was no exit from the palace and no one

could see the face of his fellow. … Upper Egypt suffered

devastation … blood everywhere … pestilence throughout the

country. … The Sun is covered and does not shine to the sight

of men. Life is no longer possible when the Sun is concealed

behind the clouds. Ra has turned his face from mankind. If only

it would shine even for one hour! No one knows when it is

midday. One’s shadow is not discernible. The Sun in the heavens

resembles the moon. … Lo, the desert pervades the land,

townships are laid waste, and a foreign bow people are come to

Egypt! People flee … and it is tents that they make like

nomads.

Psalm 46?

it starts out saying

God is our refuge and strength,

an ever-present help in trouble.

Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way

and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea,

though its waters roar and foam

and the mountains quake with their surging.

guess where the Philistines came from?

Jeremiah 47:4 tells us

they are the remnant of Crete

and Philistine “history” bears this out

 

8. So What?

I draw your attention to Exodus 10:21-23

could Thera be the plague of darkness?

and how many of the other plagues could it have caused?

 

9. Moses and Historicity

Trying to nail Moses down in history has always been difficult

there are no corroborating witnesses

Egyptian records do not mention him

no other sources than the Bible mention him

the Bible does not give many details of Egypt at the time

for instance, it does not mention the pyramids

already 1000 years old when Moses was born

nor does it name the kings

But now, perhaps, we can truly date the Exodus

with the help of some trees in California

we can date the plague of darkness at 1628 B.C.

which means that Moses was some 80 years old then

and the people of Israel had been in Egypt for some 430 years

What other historical evidence fits this picture?

the dynastic change that had happened

and the people who were currently on the throne

The Hyksos had ruled Egypt for many years

“Asiatic” invaders had swept into Egypt and taken over

setting up puppet kings or ruling themselves

through five Dynasties they ruled Egypt

a time called the Intermediate Period

a time when the glory of Egypt faded

these “Asiatic” invaders were Canaanites

not Chinese

either they, or the Egyptians before them were in power

when Joseph was sold into slavery

Around 1730 B.C this changed as rebellion was in the wind

Sekenere III lead a rebellion

he was one of the puppet kings

but he was not successful and was killed by the Hyksos

Amose I, his son, came to power

he organized a mutiny of Asiatics, Africans and Egyptians

and the Hyksos were routed back to Sinai

and south into the Sudan

Egypt was once again a sovereign nation

and some of the persecution of Asiatics would start

in ~ 1710 Amenhotep I came to power

the Hyksos tried to regain power

but Amenhotep led campaigns into Canaan

and destroyed their intentions

in ~ 1690 Tuthmosis I can to power

he had two sons and a daughter

her name was Hatshepsut

both of the sons died mysteriously

probably at the instigation of Mutnefret

a concubine of Tuthmosis who had a son

who she wanted on the throne

two other half-brothers of Hatshepsut also died

also mysteriously

as Tuthmosis neared death there was no one he considered heir

except for his daughter Hatshepsut

taking everything in hand, he had her elevated

and made both King and Queen of Egypt

only a male could be Pharaoh

so he had her declared such

for much of her public life

she would wear a beard

in ~ 1665 Hatshepsut inherited (possibly only 20 years old)

but Mutnefret was very unhappy with this

and started gathering support for a rebellion

acting quickly, Hatshepsut married her son

named him Tuthmosis II

and elevated him to co-regent

he wasn’t too effectual

just the kind of king she wanted

in ~ 1645 Tuthmosis II died

rumour suggested his concubine Isis poisoned him

once again, so her son could rule as Tuthmosis III

he was elevated to the co-regency

filling his father’s place

but it wasn’t enough

to cement her power Hatshepsut declared her divinity

apparently with the full blessing of the priests

and stories of her “immaculate conception” were told

but then Halley’s Comet visited the planet

and Tuthmosis III took it as a sign of the gods’ favour

and set himself up as a 2nd divine leader

his supporters began to refer to him as

“a circling comet which shoots out flames and gives

forth its substance in fire”

in ~ 1635-30 Tuthmosis III made his move

for certain all of Hatshepsut’s advisors were killed

and their tombs defaced

and Hatshepsut herself “disappears”

and every single statue or stele or pictograph of her

Tuthmosis had destroyed or buried

Tuthmosis tried to wipe out all memory of Hatshepsut

but so well preserved were the things he buried

that today they stand again where he toppled them

within 3 months Tuthmosis III had reinstituted Asiatic persecution

something Hatshepsut had stopped

allowing the asiatic immigrants full status with Egyptians

in the empire

So, was Hatshepsut the pharaoh’s daughter who found Moses in the river?

it is by no means certain

especially if the dates we have given are accurate

she would not have been born when Moses was

but Amenhotep could have had a daughter we don’t know about

and the dates we have given are only guesses

from the best available evidence

Was Tuthmosis III the pharaoh Moses dealt with for the Israelites?

once again we can’t say with certainty

but it certainly fits

and all the evidence suggests that he was the Pharaoh

when Thera exploded

sending a plague of darkness over the known world

 

10. Guesses and Hunches

Geologists and Archeologists rarely seem to agree

but lately the geologists have been winning the dating game

Thera is one such example

where their dates did not match archeologists’ guesses

who put the explosion closer to 1400 B.C.

an example where “proof” came from a strange source

a 5000 year old tree

But they really are only guesses

we really don’t know

nor, perhaps, do we really need to

But once again, the Bible gets some backing from unexpected sources

and a miracle once thought to be impossible by some

is shown to be utterly possible

and to have actually happened

And we also note that this date, if accurate, pushes Abraham way back

back long enough for several generations to wander Canaan

and for 430 years of time in Egypt to pass

before you know it, we’ve pushed Abraham back before 2000 B.C.

back before Hammurabi perhaps

or does he carry Hammurabi back with him?

We don’t really know