Archive for the ‘Ancient Mesopotamia’ Category
By: The Scribe on October, 2007
In chapters
4 and 5 of Judges in the Hebrew scriptures, a story is told of a woman named
Deborah. Deborah lived during pre-monarchic Israel, and held a position as both prophetess and judge – in fact, she was the fourth Judge and the only female to have had this position during the Israelite period.
During this time period, Israel’s judges were regarded more as kings than simply people who tried court cases… and although it is unknown as to how a woman came to be in this position, it is evident by the literature that she was greatly respected and honored by the Israelites. Not only that, but as Judge, she also was the official leader of the army – which means that thousands of men had to follow a woman’s orders in battle, something completely unheard of in this patriarchal society.
Although very little is known about Deborah herself, the text explains that she was married to a man by the name of Lapidoth, and that she sat under a palm tree to give her judgments. She was a poet – which was not an unusual hobby, as there are plenty of examples of Hebrew poetry still remaining today – and her eventual legacy was that she became a ‘mother in Israel’, although whether the title is literal or metaphorical is up for debate.
When Deborah came into power as Judge, the nation of Israel had been suffering at the hands of the Canaanites for the past 20 years. The Canaanites had made sure that the Israelites knew their place in society – taking some as slaves, forcing others to work at backbreaking labor, oppressing their religious beliefs, and even taking their women to marry.
Unlike the Judges before her, Deborah was unwilling to allow these atrocities to continue any further, but there was one problem: the Israelites were at a severe disadvantage. Their army consisted of only 10,000 men, whereas the Canaanites had at least 900 iron chariots and tens of thousands more warriors than Israel. However, since she was a prophetess, Deborah was in a better position than the previous Judges – so, she received instructions from God, telling her to instruct the Israelite general Barak to take his soldiers up to the River Kishon on Mount Tabor.
Deborah’s prophesy was that God planned to send the Canaanite general Sisera and his army up to the same place, but that the Israelites would win the battle. According to the text, Deborah relayed this information to Barak, who agreed to trust her instructions – but only if Deborah would go with him into battle! Instead of trusting the prophesy from God that his army would win, he would only trust this woman – something quite unheard of in ancient Mesopotamia.
In retaliation for his mistrust in God, she prophesied that Barak would not achieve the final victory over the Canaanite general, but this would instead go to a woman. As it turns out, Deborah helped Barak lead the troops into battle, which the Israelites won…with the exception of one small thing: they didn’t manage to kill the Canaanite general Sisera. What happened to Sisera is a tale for another day…
The end of the text on Deborah recalls how she gave thanks to God for the Israelite victory, instead of claiming honor for herself. The book of Judges 5 even includes a poem that she wrote, entitled the ‘Song of Deborah’ , which commemorates the Israelite victory on that day.
Want to read more?
Tomorrow: More Ancient Standard
By: The Scribe on October, 2007
At the site of
Tell Brak in Syria, several
mass graves from approximately 5,800 years ago have revealed the remains of over 60 young adults… and the density of additional bones inside the graves suggest that the final body count will reach well into the hundreds.
During the time when these people died, the city of Brak was expanding at a rapid rate, and with population growth came the development of better technology and more lucrative trade. Naturally, external enemies would have seen Brak as a very appealing target for attack and control. Also, since Brak was one of the earliest urban centers to develop in the ancient Near East, it is entirely possible that there were several warring internal factions – what might be called “growing pains” brought about by urbanization, since it was an entirely new process at this time.
Most of the bodies found represent individuals from their late teens to mid-30s, which would have been the healthiest portion of the population – and it appeared as though the bodies were partially decomposed at the time of burial. Many of the skeleton’s hands and feet had also been removed, and their limb bones piled up inside the mass graves. Most of the bodies’ skulls were also detached.
Since no weapons or goods were found with the bodies, it looks as though whoever killed these people went through the battle area afterward and removed any valuable items – all that remains is a large quantity of broken pottery, over 200 cattle skeletons, and plenty of sheep and goat bones. This evidence suggests that someone had a feast at the time of burial, but whether it was the victors of the massacre or a group of people mourning or commemorating the battle, is as of yet unknown.
Regardless of whether the slaughter happened as a result of internal or external conflict, the battle at Brak was obviously a very serious blow to the local population, and is a clear example of the type of issues people in the ancient Near East faced as urbanization developed.
Want to read more?
Tomorrow: Colombian Quimbaya
By: The Scribe on September, 2007
Fishing gear found in a shipwreck from the 7th century AD, off the coast of
Dor in Israel – a location west of Galilee – suggests that fishermen in this area tended to work the night shift… and did so far more often than anyone had previously believed.
Among other things, the shipwreck yielded something called a ‘fire basket’, which is the first evidence in the ancient eastern Mediterranean for a practice known as fire fishing. Although several ancient images and writings had suggested that people in this area practiced fire fishing, there had previously been no evidence for its actual use.
Fire baskets were mounted onto the end of fishing boats by being placed on the end of giant lantern-like devices, which kept the fire suspended overtop the water. The light from the fire would then attract fish to the boat, and the fishermen would be able to see the fish in the water far more easily than they could without a fire illuminating the surface.
The fishermen would then be able to easily spear the fish or other creatures that swam near the boat, or they could throw their nets into a spot in the water where the most fish congregated. In fact, this practice may date back to around 400 BC, when the ancient Greek philosopher Plato wrote about a similar practice that involved striking at fish from above the water.
This evidence, combined with some pieces of ancient art and Plato’s writings, suggest that fire fishing was very important in the ancient Mediterranean, and was likely practiced throughout New Testament times and well into the Byzantine era.
Other finds from the 7th C shipwreck included: an iron five-pronged fishing spear; a pile of rectangular, lead fishing net sinkers that would have been used to weight down nets; a bronze weight in the shape of a woman; and a tubular, iron “sounding lead”. The sounding lead was perhaps the most intriguing of the additional finds, since these were actually metal bobs used to measure water depth.
What the ancient fishermen would have done with the sounding lead was: fill the hollow middle of the lead with tallow, attach the lead bob to a sounding line, and then throw the line and lead over the side of their boat. The length of the line, combined with the amount of debris stuck to the tallow, would then indicate a depth measurement to the fishermen. This information could then be used to return to a specific fishing ground – particularly at night or during low visibility, when a sounding lead functioned as a vital navigational aid.
Want to read more?
Tomorrow: 3500 year old baby!
By: The Scribe on September, 2007
It turns out that the Biblical “land of milk and honey” may be just that after all… and lots of honey, for that matter. It turns out that the inhabitants of northern Israel developed their own beekeeping industry about 3,000 years ago – and the beehives are still intact today. Thirty beehives found in the city of Rehov date to around 900 BC, and give all indications that a healthy, thriving honey industry was well established during the Biblical timeframe.
Although beekeeping in the ancient world wasn’t an unusual practice in itself – beeswax was often used to create molds for metal casting and to create writing surfaces, while honey made an excellent medicinal substance, was added to food, and could often be used for religious purposes – nothing like the intact hives at Rehov in Israel have ever been found. Next to the hives were also remnants of ancient honeycomb and pieces of beeswax!
The beehives were made of straw and unbaked clay, and each one had a hole at the end where bees could move in and out of the hive. There was also a lid at the opposing end, allowing beekeepers to easily access the honeycombs inside. All 30 hives were discovered sitting in an orderly fashion: they sat in rows of three hives high, inside a room that could have comfortably held 100 hives. Clearly, beekeeping was an organized industry – after all, the population of the city at the time these hives were in use was probably about 2,000 people, and was made up of Israelites, Canaanites, and other individuals from the surrounding tribes.
While it may seem unusual to have a beekeeping industry located right in the center of the city, a consideration must be made of the religious use of honey – next to the hives, archaeologists located an altar that was decorated with fertility figurines, which likely links this hive collection to religious practices. Also, it’s entirely possible that the ruler of this city simply preferred to have such a lucrative industry under his control – namely, in a location where he could keep an eye on things.
Want to read more?
Tomorrow: Greco-Roman… nanotechnology?!
Previous page | Next page
