mirrored file at http://SaturnianCosmology.Org/ For complete access to all the files of this collection see http://SaturnianCosmology.org/search.php ========================================================== Gunnar Heinsohn Did the historians of classical Greece merely leave us lies and fantasies about all the major empires, nations and events of antiquity? Or: How to reconcile archaeologically-missing historical periods with historically-unexpected archaeological strata of the ancient world I. Summary. II. The sequence of ancient empires with the center in Assyria as it was taught by Greek historians since the time of Hekateios -560/550 to -500/494). III. Archaeologically-missing history and historically-unexpected archaeology i n major areas of antiquity. IV. How could historical periods so well known from Greek authors be shown to be "elusive", whereas in the very same territories modern archaeology revealed sensationally ancient civilizations unknown before the late 19th century? V. Reconnecting occidental and oriental progress of civilization. VI. The restoration of ancient Israel by abandoning fundamentalist dates of historical biblical narratives and pseudo- scholarly dates of strata in the land of Israel. VII. Synchronization of ancient Eurasian chronology with the chronology of anci ent China. In the last 150 years the learned world was time and again struck by the discovery of lost nations and forgotten empires which were so ancient that even the best historians of antiquity had never heard of them. This caused great surprise because these superancient civilizations were found in territories which were otherwise well known to the historians of Classical and Hellenistic Greece. Yet, the surprise did not end there. The nations and empires which were described by the classical authors in great detail could hardly be verified by the spade. One and a half centuries of excavations, thus, brought as much desperation as it did provide success stories for European scholars. Modern archaeologists, e.g., dug in vain for the Kat or Khat in Katpatuka/Cappadocia, who kept Medes and Persians on the alert (-630 to -330), but hit much older and mysterious Khat/Hittites. They dug in vain between Tigris and Euphrates for Mardoi/Amardians of Cyrus the Great but found much older and mysterious Mart(d)u/Amorites. They dug in vain for the breathtaking riches of Assyria as the most splendid satrapy of the Akhaemenid superpower but found no less breathtaking, yet mysterious and much older riches of Middle-to Sargonid/Assyrian superpowers. They dug in vain for the treasures of Persia's Indian (XXth) satrapy but hit the mysterious and much older civilization of Harappa. They dug in vain for Indo-Aryan Medes and their empire in Assyria but hit much older and mysterious IndoAryan Mitanni and their empire. They dug in vain for the scientific splendor of the Chaldaeans on the Persian Gulf but hit the scientific splendor of much older and mysterious Sumerians. They dug in vain for marauding Scythians in Mesopotamia but hit the much older and mysterious Quthean/Gutaean marauders. They dug in vain for Armenians and Alarodians in Armenia but hit much older and mysterious Armians and Urartians. They dug in vain for mankind's First Great Power of Ninos the Assyrian but found a mysterious and much older first Great Power of Naram Sin the Old-Akkadian etc. etc. This writer claims that none of the newly discovered nations is new at all but merely provide the archaeology of the nations known since antiquity. Because they applied erroneous dating schemes, modern scholars failed to recognize their findings as the remains of the nations they only apparently looked for in vain. The writer thus claims that none of the historically established nations is misssing and offers the following equations. SELECTION OF SENSATIONAL DISCOVERIES OF NEW ASIAN NATIONS AND EMPIRES BY MODERN ARCHAEOLOGY SINCE 1840 WHICH, TODAY, ARE DATED BETWEEN THE -3RD MILLENNIUM AND ca. - 600 ASIAN NATIONS AND EMPIRES DATED BY HISTORIANS OF ANCIENT GREECE BETWEEN -1100A ND - 300 BUT DIFFICULT TO VERIFY BY EXCAVATIONS EXECUTED SINCE 1840 Enigmatic conqueror Gulkishar follows the Old-Babylonian Martu/Amorites Alexander the Great ends the Persian Mardoi/Amardoi Martu/Amorites of Old-Babylonia and Middle-Assyria Mardoi/Amardoi (most important tribe of Persians into which Cyrus was born) in Satrapies Babylonia and Assyria Middle-, Neo- and Late-Assyrian (Sargonid) empire centered in Assyria Persian Empire centered in Satrapy Assyria Old-, Middle- and Late-Babylonians in Southern Mesopotamia Persian Satrapy Babylonia with leqendary wealth Chanaea and Subartu as most northwestern foes and/or allies of OldBabylonian Martu/Amorites Ionia and Sparta as most northwestern foes and/or allies of Persians=Mardoi Mature Harappan culture/Indus Valley Persia's XXth Satrapy India Armians of Armenia Armenians of Armenia Urartians/Hurrites of Armenia Alarodians of Armenia Khat/Hittites of Cappadocia K(h)at of Katpatuka/Cappadocia Ahhijawa of Western Anatolia Achaeans of W. Anatolia Mitanni empire centered in Assyria Medish empire centered in Assyria Neo-Sumerians Chaldaeans of Medish Period Qutheans/Gutaeans help to bring down Old-Akkadians Scythians help to bring down Ninos-Assyrians Old-Akkadins-Old-Assyrians of Naramsin Assyrians of Ninos (-Hyksos) Early Sumerian Dynasties Early Chaldaean Dynasties MUSHIKA, the mysteriously missing capital of Akhaemenid India with its legendary riches, is identical with MOHENJO-DARO, the well identified metropolis of the Indus-Valley. WASHSHUKANNI, the mysterioulsy missing capital of the Mitanni, is identical with EKBATANA, the well identified capital of the Medes. AKKAD, the mysterioulsy missing capital of Naramsin's Old-Akkadians, is identical with NINEVEH of the Assyrians of Ninos. The enigmatic and most massive city walls of Old-Akkadian Nineveh confirm Herodotus' record on the magnificent city of Ninos. II. THE SEQUENCE OF ANCIENT EMPIRES WITH THE CENTER IN ASSYRIA AS IT WAS TAUGHT BY GREEK HISTORIANS SINCE THE TIME OF HEKATEIOS (-560/550 TO -500/494 According to the -5th century author of The History, Herodotus, mankind's first superpower were the Assyrians They did not emerge as a high culture before -1150: "The Assyrians had held sway over upper Asia for five hundred and twenty years" (I: 95) After an undefined period of development and expansion [equals Mesopotamia's pre-Alexander period (4) the overview on page 11 below], King Ninos became the most famous and powerful of all Assyrian rulers around -750 (The History I: 7). According to Diodoros (II: lff.), Ninos conquered Chaldaea (Southern Mesopotamia/Babylonia), Armenia and Media. Later he added Egypt, Cappadocia and Asia to the frontiers of Bactria to his empire [equals pre-Alexander period (3)]. Around -630, after the weakening of the Assyrians of Ninos' empire, the Medes- also employing their Persian brethren "began to subdue all Asia, going from people to people" ( The History I: 102). At the same time, they also made their first attempt to conquer Assyria. Their king, Phraortes, "came against the Assyrians, and especially those of the Assyrians who held Nineveh. These Assyrians had formerly ruled all of Asia but were now quite isolated, all their allies having dropped away from them. But in themselves they were as strong as ever, and when Phraortes fought them, he himself was killed, after a reign of twenty two years, and also much of his army" (The History I: 102). It took the Medes another two decades until they managed to do away with the might of Assyria. Around -610, under their king Cyaxares they eventually "made the Assyrians their subjects, except for the province of Babylon" (The History I: 106). Babylonia was regained by the Chaldaeans with whom the Medes had to share the spoils of Ninos' empire. Because Egypt, Cilicia and Chaldaea did not fall to the Medes, who called themselves Aryans, their power could not match the might of Ninos. Nevertheless, this first Indo-Aryan Empire was the unchallenged superpower of its time [equals pre-Alexander period (2)] The first genuine world empire in the history of humankind was founded by the Persian Cyrus the Great. Ethnically, Ctesias informed us, Cyrus belonged to the bellicose tribe of the Mardians/ Amardians [pre-Alexander Period (1)]. The extension of the empire from Greece and Egypt to Bactria and India and its division into twenty satrapies is carefully described by Herodotus ( The History III: 89-94). As it was the case in the times of Ninos and the Medes, Assyria once again formed the heart of the empire: "In power, the land of Assyria counts as one third of all Asia. Rule over this country which rule is called by the Persians a satrapy-is of all the satrapies far the greatest" (The History I: 192). Herodotus' report on the sequence of the empire of Ninos, Medes and Persians was never put into doubt in antiquity. His most vicious opponents, who loved to take him to task for smaller mistakes and larger blunders, confirmed the Assyrian sequence of NinosAssyrians> Medes> Persians. Even Ctesias, who was second to none if it came to criticizing Herodotus, wrote about this very sequence of Assyria-centered empires (Persica § 1). He was employed as a medical doctor at the court of Artaxerxes II (-404 to -359) and claimed to have had access to Persian archives. If the empires of Ninos, Medes and Persians had not existed in Assyria, Ctesias would not have hesitated to inform his Greek audience about this astonishing lack. Alexander the Great-and, thereby, Hellenism-initiated his conquest of the Persian world empire with a fortunate victory at the river Granikos (-334). He took the Indus Valley (XXth satrapy of the empire) in -325. Nobody ever doubted his achievements. A flock of scholars accompanied the Macedonian: Archelaeos, Arsitobulos, Diodotos of Erythrai, Diognetos, Eumenos, Nearchos etc. Much of what they wrote about the lands from Anatolia to India was copied by Arian, Q. Curtius, Diodoros, Plutarchos and Justin. Their accounts never allowed for the idea that in actual fact there had not been an empire of the Persians, and that Alexander has not been the conqueror of the satrapies. Greek Dates SUMMARIZING OVERVIEW of pre-hellenist empires which- according to the best historians of Classical Greece-were centered in Assyria but supposedly cannot be confirmed there after 150 years of modern archaeology Pre-Alexander periods (1) - (4) 1330 Hellenism (1)-540 Persian Empire (2)-620 Medish Empire (3)-750 Ninos-Assyrians (4)-1150 Early Assyrians (Chalcolithicum) In the 1980's, a series of eight major conferences brought together the world's finest experts on the history of the Medish and Persian empires. They reached startling results. The empire of Ninos [pre-Alexander period (3)] was not even mentioned. Yet, its Medish successors were extensively dealt with-to no great avail. In 1988, one of the organizers of the eight conferences, stated the simple absence of an empire of the Medes [pre- Alexander period (2)]: "A Median oral tradition as a source for Herodotus III 95106 is a hypothesis that solves some problems, but has otherwise little to recommend it ... This means that not even in Herodotus' Median history a real empire is safely attested. In Assyrian and Babylonian records and in the archeological evidence no vestiges of an imperial structure can be found. The very existence of a Median empire, with the emphasis on empire, is thus questionable" (H. Sancisi-Weerdenburg, "Was there ever a Median Empire?", in A. Kuhrt, H. Sancisi-Weerdenburg, eds., Achaemenid History III. Method and Theory, Leiden, 1988, p. 212). Two years later came the really bewildering revelation. Humankind's first world empire of the Persians [Pre-Alexander Period (1)] did not fare much better than the Medes. Its imperial dimensions had dryly to be labeled "elusive" (H. Sancisi-Weerdenburg, "The quest for an elusive empire?", in H. Sancisi-Weerdenburg, A. Kuhrt, eds., Achaemenid History IV. Centre and Periphery, Leiden l990, p. 264). III. ARCHAEOLOGICALLY-MISSING HISTORY AND HISTORICALLY-UNEXPECTED ARCHAEOLOGY IN MAJOR AREAS OF ANTIQUITY The repercussions of the shock over the missing archaeology of the richest satrapies were so widely felt because an "elusive" Persian empire could not help but putting into doubt Alexander's conquests of the legendary wealthy Achaemenid continent. Modern Orientalists believe that the largest part of the-now 'would-be'-Persian empire lay in ruins between ca. -600 and -300. Quite a few areas are even considered to have been without cities for up to 1500 years. The impressive settlements of Hellenism were supposedly built on dead tells which were ruined long before any Persian entered the Greek books of history. Where, suddenly, did the cultured Asian masses came from, who settled the big cities of Hellenism? It is known that only small minorities were ethnic Greeks. Moreover, it is no longer understood where the huge Persian armies came from which attacked Greece in the late -6th and early - 5th century. If their homelands-apart for very small Iranian heartlands-were a vast ghost empire already in Medish times, the lies and fantasies of Greek historians (and Persian rulers like Darius the Great with his Behistun text) surpassed even the worst suspicions. After all, not only Alexander's conquest, but the man himself and his massive army, is no longer credible. Who could have fed many thousands of men and horses if they marched through wasteland and rubbled cities? Nobody can answer these questions. ASSYRIA Archaeological strata-groups discovered within the last expected historically (conventional dates). Historical periods prior to Hellenism, which mysteriously left no archaeological traces (dates from Greek historiography). HELLENISM (Assyrians of Seleucid and Parthian Empires) (-330) (1) Late-, Neo- and Middle-Assyrians (from -1340 to -610; with gaps; then gap to -300) ( 1 ) Rule of Akhaemenids in their Assyrian heartland (IXth satrapy) ca . -55a (2) Rule of Indo-Aryan speaking Mitanni in Assyria (-1500 to -1350) (2) Rule of Indo-Aryan speaking Medes in Assyria ca. -63C (3) Naramsin's Old-Akkadians become Asia's first masters (-2350 to -2200, the gap) (3) Ninos-Assyrians become Asia's first masters ca. -750 (4) Early Bronze Age with "Ninevite-5 Ware" (ca. -3000) (4) Rise of Assyrians ca -ll50 Assyriologists were so stunned by the archaeoloqical absence of Ninos- Assyrian, Medish and Persian period strata in the Assyrian "heartland of empires", that it took them nearly one and a half centuries to draw their conclusions. In 1988, the empire of the Medes was declared missing. In l990, the Akhaemenid continent-the largest of all the empires-had to be described as elusive. The Greek claim that the first Asian superpower-Assyria of Ninos-did not emerge before -750, was not even considered worth checking. CHALDAEA=KASDIM=KASSITES (SOUTHERN MESOPOTAMIA) Archaeological strata groups discovered within the last 150 years which were not expected historically (conventional dates). Historical periods prior to Hellenism, which mysteriously left no archaeological traces (dates from Greek historiography). HELLENISM (Chaldaeans/Kassites of Seleucid and Parthian Empires) Sumerian writing is well-alive in astronomy up to the first century C.E. though civilization collapsed before - 2000 (-330) No traces of Chaldaean language or astronomy though Alexander must fight against Kassites and -330 (l) Old-Babylonian Mardu/Amorites (-2000 to -1700) and-elsewhere-Middle- Babylonian Kassites(-16th to - 12th c.) rule in Chaldaea; then gap to -330 (1) Rule of Mardians/Amardians (the tribe of Cyrus the Great, founder of the Akhemenid Empire) in Chaldaea=Kasdim ca . -55C (2) Rule of Ur III-Sumerians in Chaldaea as cradle of civilization (-21st c. to -2000) (2) Independent Chaldaea as cradle of science from which the Greeks learn (3) Naramsin's Old-Akkadians become Asia's first masters and rulers of Sumerians (-2350 to -2200) (3) Ninos-Assyrians become Asia's first masters and rulers of Chaldaeans Early Sumerian Dynasties (ED I-IIIb) (ca. -3000) (4) Rise of Chaldaean Dynasties ca. -1150 CHALCOLITHICUM Students of Chaldaea are stunned by the archaeological absence of the most learned nation of antiquity which the Greeks considered as the cradle of knowledge. Nobody understands how this brilliant people, which blossomed between the time of Ninos (-750) and Alexander the Great (-330), which became the teacher of nations but left no deity, text, brick or even potsherd. Yet, the same researchers take great pride in the discovery of the Sumerians (1867) in the very heartland of Chaldaea. These Sumerians became teachers of mankind. Yet, they were so ancient that even the best historians of antiquity had never heard of them. ARMENIA AND ALARODIA Archaeological strata groups discovered within the last 125 years which were not expected historically (conventional dates). Historical periods prior to Hellenism, which mysteriously left no archaeological traces (dates from Greek historiography). HELLENISMUS (Airarat and Armenia of Seleucid Greeks) (-330) (1) Urartians and Armians (!) of Assyrian Period (from -1240 to -600; with gaps; then gap to -300) (1) Urartians--Alarodians and Armenians of Persian Period (XIIIth/XVIIIth satrapy) ca. -550 (2) Hurrites/Urartians and Hai of Indo-Aryan Mitanni Period (-1500 to -1350) (2) Urartians and Armenians=Hai of Indo-Aryan Medish Period ca. -63C (3) Hurrites (=Early Urartians) from the period of Naramsin's Old-Akkadians (- 2350 to -2200, then gap) (3) "Arima" (Ilias II: 783) and Alarodian neighbours from the period of Ninos- Assyria ca. -750 (4) Early Bronze Age (ca. -3000) (4) Early Armenia ca. -115a (Armenologists are stunned by the archaeological absence of the history of the Alarodians and Armenians from Ninos (-750) to Alexander the Great (-330) which was taken for granted for nearly two and a half millennia. They have to teach their students that the Armenian inlaws of the Persian Great Rings and the satrap of Armenia who became Great Ring himself (Darius III) appear to have been cave dwellers. Yet, they take pride in the discovery of the Urartians/Hurrites and Armians, which were too ancient for even the finest historians of antiquity to know.) K(H)ATPATUKA/CAPPADOCIA Archaeological strata groups discovered within the last 120 years which were not expected historically (conventional dates). Historical periods prior to Hellenism, which mysteriously left no archaeological traces (dates from Greek historiography). (Left: Post-KHAT (HITTITES) and Phrygians to be dated up to -800 if stratigraphy is taken seriously, then gap down to Hellenism. Right: KATaonians according to Strabo between -330 and -190) (-330) -330 (1) KHAT (=Hittites) of Late Empire Period (-1300 to -1100) (1) KAT/KHAT of XIXth Akhameni satrapy Katpatuka ca. -550 (2) KHAT (=Hittites) of Early "Empire" Period as ally and/or foe of Hitanni (-1500 to -1300) (2) KAT/KHAT of Katpatukan/Cappadocian ally and/or foe of Medes (3) KHAT (=Hittites) of Old Empire (i.e., Hyksos) Period (-1700 to -1500) (3) "KETians" (Odyssee XI: 521) of pre-Medish period of Ninos-Assyrians (4) Pre-KHAT/Hittites of Early Bronze Age (-2100 to -1700) (4) Predecessors of RAT/KHAT ca. -1150 CHALCOLITHICUM (The experts on KAT-Patuka (Cappadocia) are stunned by the archaeological absence of the history of the KAT/KHAT from Ninos (750) to Alexander the Great (-330) which was taken for granted for nearly two and a half millennia. Yet, the same scholars take pride in the discovery of the KHAT or Hittites/which even the finest historians of Greek antiquity to know.) EGYPT (with her as yet best stratigraphy at TELL EL DABA) Archaeological strata groups discovered in the 1980's Historical periods prior to Hellenism, which mysteriously left no archaeological traces (dates from Greek historians) HELLENISM Ptolemaic Egypt - 330 (1) Ramessides of Late New Kingdom in stratum B/1-3 (-1300 to -1085; then gap to -330) (1) Satrapy of the Persian Empire with interruptions ca. -520 (2) Early New Kingdom of the Mitanni Period in D/l (-1540 to -1300) (2) Egypt of the Medish Period ca. -630 (3) Hyksos Rule (with Old-Akkadian material culture) in strata E to D/2 (- 1680 to -1540) (3) Rule of Ninos-Assyrians in Egypt ca . -75C (4) Syro-Palestinian Middle Bronze II/A to II/B in G/F (-1740 to -1680) (4) Egypt before conquest by Ninos-Assyria ca. -1150 CHALCOLITHICUM -4th millennium Egyptian ceramics mixed with Syro-Palestinian Middle Bronze II/A-ceramics of early -2nd millennium in stratum H Early contact between Syro-Palestine and the Nile valley before -1150 Egyptologists are stunned by the archaeological absence of the history of Egypt from Ninos (-750) to the end of the Persian Period (-330) which was taken for granted for nearly two and a half millennia. They are convinced that there was not much to conquer for Alexander the Great, when even the finest stratigraphy exhibits a bewildering gap between -1085 and -330. On the other hand, they are struck by the continuity between the material culture of stratum B, which supposedly ends in -1085, in stratum A which only begins after -330. The confusion peaked in an attempt to shift strata of another area of Tell el-Daba between the continuous strata B and A CENTRAL ASIA with the finest stratigraphies at Namazga Depe and Altyn Depe Archaeological strata groups discovered in the 20th century which were not expected historically (conventional dates). Historical periods prior to Hellenism, which mysteriously left no archaeological traces (dates from Greek historiography). HELLENISM since -250 PARTHIANS (-300) (1) Namazga VI and later of Hartu/Amorite and Kassites (-2000 to -1700/-1400; then gap to -300) (1) Satrapy XVI of the Persian (Mardian/Amardian) Empire ca. -520 (2) Namazga V/Altyn 3-1 .of Ur III-period (-2500/-2250 to -2150/-2000) (2) Provinces Hyrcania and Parthia of the Medish Empire (3) Namazga IV/Altyn 8-4 of Old-Akkadian times (-3000/-2500 to -2500/-2250 (3) Provinces Hyrcania and Parthia of Ninos-Assyria ca . -75C (4) Namazga III/Altyn 13-9 (-3500/-3000 to -3000/-2500) (4) Hyrcania and Parthia before Ninos-Assyria Namazga II-I/Altyn 15-14 Students of Ancient Central Asia are stunned by the archaeological absence of the history of the land bridge between the Near East and India/China, from Ninos down to the end of the Persian Empire, which was taken for granted for nearly two and a half millennia. They are convinced that there was no urban Central Asia to talk of when Alexander the Great conquered it. Yet, they take pride in the discovery of a steppe bronze and iron high culture which preceded China's by l500 and more years. on the other hand, they are bewildered to have found Achaenenid looking, i.e., post-550 pottery as early as -l500. They are even more puzzled by the similarity of the material culture of -2000 to the material culture of -330. Irrigation canals of -1800 are reused 1500 years later. INDUS VALLEY Archaeological strata groups discovered after 1875 which were not expected historically (conventional dates). Historical periods prior to Hellenism, which mysteriously left no archaeological traces (dates from Greek historiography). HELLENISM Buddhism [with architectural monuments not before -150] 1-330) -330 (1) Mature Harappa Period (-2000 to -1700: then gap to -330) (1) Mature Harappa Period (-2000 to-1700: than gap to -330) (1) Satrapy XX of the Persian Empire ca. -520 (2) Middle Harappa Period (-2200 to -2000) (2) Independent India on the eastern border of the Medish Empire ca. -63C (3) Early Harappa Period of Old-Akkadian times (-2400 to -2200) (3) Independent India on the eastern border of Ninos-Assyria ca . -75a (4) Amri-Period (-2600 to -2400) (4) India before cultural contact with Ninos-Assyria ca. -1150 (Indologists are stunned by the archaeological absence of the history of India from Ninos to the end of the Persian Period, which was taken for granted for nearly two and a half millennia. They are convinced that there was no India to talk of, when Alexander the Great conquered it. Yet, they take pride in the discovery of sculptures looking like Greek art of the -4th century as early as -2000 to -1700. Moreover they can show a Persian type apadana (assembly hall) which was expected for the missing Persian Period of the -5th century, as having existed already 1500 years earlier.) The shock over the archaeological absence of the imperial dimensions of the Persians [pre- Alexander periods (1)] is softened only by the finds in Persia proper. Yet, the Iranian heartlands cause a different sort of scholarly bewilderment. Splendid sites like Pasargade and Persepolis exhibit a fully grown civilization, with no predecessor out of which they could have developed. Moreover, these sites give the impression of mere political and ceremonial centers built in the middle of nowhere. It is not really clear over what body of lands and cities they ruled: "It seems that the Achaemenids did not build cities in the true sense ... Neither Pasargade nor Persepolis have the appearance of permanent 'capitals', and they could not have functioned as such ... Both lack permanent residence palaces ... It seems that the Persians did not develop integrally conceived, coherent, completely organized, large- scale planning schemes before the Seleucid and Sassanian periods when they came under Hellenistic and Roman influence, respectively" (P. Lampl, Cities and Planning in the ancient Near East, London, 1968, p. 117ff.). STRATIGRAPHICAL PUZZLES OF THE PERSIAN EMPIRE Dates Core-Satrapies Armenia, Assyria and Cappadocia Iranian Heartland with structures in Pasargade, Persepolis, rock tombs etc. HELLENISM built on nothing but pre-600 or older ruins in satrapies conquered against strong resistance after - 333 -330 (Greek dates) -550 absence of finds for imperial dimensions, but also absence of aeolic layer for gap impressive imperial structures with no empire and even homeland to rule over. Culture resembles -900 to- 600-items known from lower line left etc. -600 (biblical dates) -900 most impressive finds before empire which stratigraphically sit directly beneath Hellenism absence of archaeological finds out of which the later Persians could develop the skills and architecture of their forefathers. Yet, the Persian territory is often mentioned in texts found in lands mentioned on the left. Only if stratigraphy is allowed to replace conventional dating schemes, the - 900 to -600 structures in, e.g., Armenia and Assyria, instantly materialize as the hard evidence of Persia's core-satrapies. What the Ancients considered as the most powerful rulers of all times before the Roman Empire suddenly become visible in the annals of Assyria excavated in the 19th and 20th century. Equation of selected Assyria-centered royal names as known to modern Assyriology (left) with Assyria-centered royal names known since Classical Greek historiography (right) Sin-shar-ishkun Dareios III Kodamannos Assur-etil-ilani Artaxerxes IV Arses Assurbanipal Artaxerxes III Okhos Esarhaddon Artaxerxes II Asarkes (-4th c.) Sanherib Dareios II Okhos Shalmaneser III + Sargon II (Israel: Shalmaneser's vassal Jehu) Artaxerxes I Assurnasirpal II Xerxes I Tukulti Ninurta I Dareios I (-6th/-5th c.) Shalmanesar I Cambyses (II) Adad-Nirari I Cyrus the Great (II) Shutarna ("III") the Mitanni Astygages the Mede (-6th c.) Shaushatra, the Mitanni conqueror of Assur Cyaxares, the Medish conqueror of Assur Khuwaruwash the Mitanni Phraortes the Mede (-7th c.) Naramsin of Akkad Ninos of Assyria (- 8th/-7th c.) Sargon of Akkad Sharek + Salitis (Hyksos) (-8th c.) IV. HOW COULD HISTORICAL PERIODS, SO WELL KNOWN FROM GREEK AUTHORS, BE SHOWN TO BE "ELUSIVE", WHEREAS IN THE VERY SAME TERRITORIES MODERN ARCHAEOLOGY HAS REVEALED SENSATIONALLY ANCIENT CIVILIZATIONS, UNKNOWN BEFORE THE LATE 19TH CENTURY? The best scholars of Classical Times today are looked upon as inventors, dreamers and liars, because the archaeological strata excavated by modern researchers are not dated in accordance with the dates used by Greek historiography. They applied different dates to the excavated strata. If it comes to stratigraphic depth, the Greek sequence of periods might well fit the strata in the ground. Yet, these strata are not dated according to their location in the ground. They are dated by modern day Egyptological and Assyriological chronology schemes against which the Greek dates look utterly out of place. The triumph of modern scholarship, therefore, appears to be twofold: (i) It 'debunked' the Greek sequence of empires as a hoax. (ii) In addition, it proved Ancient Greece's finest scholars to be ignorant of Asia's most splendid civilizations between -3000 and -1000. If modern dates can be shown to be sound the Greek sequence of empires indeed is left without sufficient material evidence, and must be discarded. With all due respect, its defenders will be pushed into the cranks' corner. If, however, modern dating schemes can be shown to be without scholarly foundation, it will be possible to compare the four major post-Chalcolithic strata-groups of modern archaeology, with the four major post-Chalcolithic periods of Classical historiography. In the writer's view, the former provide the material basis for the latter. When and why did Herodotus' four historical periods lose Herodotus' and later Greek historians' dates (-1150 to -330)?. This happened as early as the 2nd century CE. In that time Jewish and Christian chronographers established what today is called comparative world history. It began with the comparative history of Greeks and Jews. This comparison focused on the question if Moses was more ancient than Homer. The basis to decide this contest was written material whose correctness was not doubted. Stratigraphical research to check the dates of Bible and Ilias still had to be waited for another 1,700 years. Since dates used in the Bible simply were earlier than the Greek dates, the latter lost the competition for the earlier periods of civilization. Nevertheless, the Jewish historians of the Persian and Hellenist periods had already taken a tremendous step towards a reasonable chronology, by boldly cutting bewildering time-spans of nearly 400,000 years, which were used by Babylonian and Egyptian priests, down to some 4,000 years. Yet, this time-span still was three times as long as the one adopted by Herodotus. The Jewish writers had reduced phony time spans down to one- hundredth. Still, the Greek dates cut the biblical ones down to about one- third. When their dates were replaced by the biblical ones, the following picture emerged. Suddenly, the historians were confronted with a gap of 1, 500 years. It was created by equating Biblical Nimrod of Abraham's -3rd millennium with insert>>>>>>> Herodotus' Ninos of the 8th century Ancient Near Eastern sequence of Assyria-centered empires, from the Chalcolithic to Hellenism, in Classical Greek dates (left) which were used up to the 2nd century CE. when they were replaced by biblical dates which openly dominated comparative world chronology up to about 1870 and-in a disguised manner-are used up to the present Greek dates Greek periods Biblical dates -330 Hellenism -330 -540 (1) Persian Empire -540 -620 (2) Medish Empire (Chaldaeans in South Mesopotamia) -620 gap of ca. 1500 years to be filled -750 (3) Ninos-Asstruabs -3rd mill.] -1150 (4) Early Assyrians (Chaldaeans in south Mesopotamia) -3200 Chalcolithicum de-insert>>>>>>>>>> A typical early comparative world history now even provided the Greek tradition with biblical dates, as can be seen in the third column from the left of the most famous of all Christian-period history books: <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> First page of Eusebius' 5th century Chronicle, in Hieronymus' 5th century Latin translation, with Abraham's Bible Fundamentalist date as anchor point for comparative world history, with Egypt still waiting for the patriarch's arrival (R. Helm ed. (l956), Eusebius Werke. Siebenter Band. Die Chronik des Hieronyuus, Berlin, l956. pp. 16/17) <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Fourth page of Eusebius' 4th century Chronicle, in Hieronymos' 5th century Latin translations with Abraham's Bible fundamentalist date as anchor point for comparative world history, after the patriarch's arrival in Egypt, which thereby was also dated via the Bible (R. Helm, ed. (1956), Eusebius Werke. Siebenter Band. Die Chronic des Hieronimus. Berlin, 1956, pp. 22/23) Modern archaeology openly and undisputedly kept the Biblical dating scheme up to the late 19th century, as may be seen from Loftus' famous Travels and Researches in Chaldaea and Susiana (London, 1857). With the focus on the South of Mesopotamia, he still retains only the well-known four major post- Chalcolithic periods of Greek historiography, but now ties the end of the 3rd to Abraham's late -3rd millennium biblical birthdate. Thereby he cannot help but create a gap to the Second or Neo-Chaldaean empire beginning ca. -620. Loftus may have been confident that sooner or later other researchers would come up with a multitude of rulers, empires and wars, to colour the staggering blank of one-and-a-half millennia. He himself had no means whatsoever to meet this horrendous challenge. "Sumerians", "Akkadians", "Old- Babylonians", "Mitanni", "Middle-Assyrians" etc., were not yet known in his lifetime. CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE. <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Extract from chronology chart for Ancient Mesopotamia taken from the first true archaeoloqical textbook in Assyriology (W. K., Loftus Travels and Researches in Chaldaea and Susiana, London, 1857, pp. 135/l36) with Abraham dates for King Ilgi. Today, Ilgi is read Shulgi and dated -2094 to -2097. He is no longer openly linked to Abraham, but the king-lists' absolute dates are still unconsciously tied to that patriarch's framework of the -3rd millennium. . The biblical triplication of Herodotus' time span could only be achieved on paper. What one was able to do with the pen could not be repeated with the spade. Even if we use a chronology of 3,000 or 1,000 pre- Christian years of high civilization, this will not change the number and thickness of strata actually in the ground. They remain unalterably the same. Therefore, biblical chronology, applied to Herodotus' four Ancient Near Eastern periods, between the Chalcolithicum and Hellenism, created huge gaps of up to 1,500 or more years at individual sites. These notorious lacunae were eventually filled by historians, who multiplied actual time spans by three. They performed this miracle by heaping three stratagroups from different areas, but from contemporary periods, on top of each other on the pages of the chronology books. Of course, scholarly justifications were needed. These justifications arose from the use of three different dating schemes, which made contemporary strata of different areas look like successive periods, whose centres of power were located in different areas. The three schemes used were (i) fundamentalist dates of Assyriology, (ii) pseudo-astronomical Sothic dates of Egyptology, and (iii) dates of Greek historiography. Any reasonable Assyriologist will fiercely object to the label "fundamentalist" of his chronological scheme. Proudly, he will point-not to stratigraphy-but at least to eponym-lists and king-lists. They, of course, pose one serious problem. They do not exhibit absolute dates. Whether a king belongs to the -3rd, -2nd or first millennium, must still be established by other means. They are still derived from the Bible. Again, the Assyriologist will object, and confidently point to the abolishment of Abraham, who is no longer considered historical. This erasion of Abraham from chronology books was begun in the late l9th century and completed in the 70's of the 20th century. Then, it was established that the Abraham-lore dates from the Persian period (-550 onwards) and later. Chronology building had to start from scratch. As far as Mesopotamia is concerned, the materials used today consist of the eponym- and king-lists gradually being unearthed-without the stratigraphical levels in which they are found, always being identified and taken seriously, however. Abraham is hardly ever given a mention in the work now being carried out on these lists. Yet, the dates of the "new" chronology do not differ very much from the dates used up to the l9th century, when Abraham was still openly viewed as the ultimate chronological anchor-point. How were Abraham-dates kept-or "co-dependently" backed by the lists-without keeping Abraham as a historical figure? This was done through Hammurabi, the lawgiver of the mysterious, but most powerful Martu/Amorites of the so-called Old-Babylonian period: "The date of Hammurabi is the keystone of the chronology of the second and third millennia B.C." (G. Roux, Ancient Iraq, Harmondsworth, 1980, p. 43). His approximate date, however, derives from the contact between Abraham and Amraphel in Gen. 14:1. For a long time, Assyriologists have equated Amraphel with Hammurabi, whose date, thus, was also calculated via Abraham's Biblical birthdate in the -21st century. Only after 1960, the identification of Amraphel with Hammurabi was eventually dropped, but the latter's Abraham date was kept up to this very day. Only the time-span between the years -2300 to -1700, around which Hammurabi oscillated within the last 90 years, is due to internal evidence. The absolute position of the time-span, around 2000, still is due to Abraham's date. Thus, the expunging of the name of Abraham from scientific research does not indicate the application of a convincing new method to prove the existence of developed civilizations as early as the third millennium, but merely casts an embarrassed-as well as cosmetic-veil over the original pious basis for this early date. If, however, one moves Hammurabi's dates together with the dates of the Abraham-Amraphel-material, which is now set in the -6th century and later, a real breakthrough in chronology building may be at hand. The great power of the -6th to -4th century period was the nation of Cyrus the Great, who was a descendent of the Persian tribe known by the name Mardians or Amardians. This writer believes that the Persians/Achaemenids were christened pars pro toto by other nations of the ancient Near East, after their most famous and founder's tribe. The enigmatic Old-Babylonian Martu/Amorites, then, would simply have to be compared with the Mardians/Amardians of Persia's satrapy Babylonia. Egyptology's chronology is not only pseudo-astronomical-which many an Egyptologist will readily concede-but also no less fundamentalist than Assyriology's, which even a cautious Egyptologist will thoroughly reject. Again, the very great age of Egyptian civilization-rooted, in the final reckoning, in Abraham's visit to the Nile-was tacitly maintained. In addition, an independent method of objectively dating the past was sought. The result, following in the wake of l9th-century Egyptologists, and embodied in the canonisation by Eduard Meyer (1904) that was to be so rich in consequences, was the adoption of an astronomical retrocalculation procedure. As with Mesopotamia, Egyptian datings were now to be arrived at with pen and paper rather than by stratigraphical excavation. But we should at the same time emphasize that Eduard Meyer, like the others, clung assiduously to the text of Gen. 14, as a general chronological anchor-point for the period around -2100. He merely leaves out the references to Abraham in Gen. 14. The remainder of the material from Gen. 14, once purged of references to Abraham, is declared by Meyer to be not only authentic but also extremely old-an assumption without any support of an archaeological find, unearthed from a particular deep level, or any other convincing chronological proof: "It [Gen. 14] will in fact be part of the popular tradition, and will have come down from this source to the Jews, who will then have used it to insert a great feat into the story of their ancestor" (E. Meyer, Geschichte des Altertums, Vol. 2, 9th edition, ed. H.E. Stier, Stuttgart, 1952-58, p. 297). Just why the "popular tradition" should be precisely some 1500 years old, so as to provide a bridge between the period after the Babylonian Exile and the late -3rd millennium, remains totally obscure. The chronological anchor- point from Gen. which supposedly could provide third millennium evidence without resorting to Abrahamic legends, in actual fact, deals with kings active when the patriarchal narratives were composed in the Persian period and later. In reality, Meyer gives just one further example of circular reasoning, taking the Israelite material to be as young as it actually is, but allowing the persons mentioned in the same material the great age that has successfully been denied to Abraham and the other early figures of the Israelites. This kind of treatment is evidence of a slanted approach rather than scientific honesty. Honesty would have demanded that the Gen. 14-Amraphel-dated Hammurabi-history be sought precisely in the period after the emergence of the Persian empire, i.e., after -550. If this had been done, the Persians would probably have emerged as possible alter egos of Hammurabi's Martu/Amorites very quickly. Triplication ([5] to [12] of Classical sequence of Ancient Near Eastern empites [(1) to (4)] by the application of three different dating systems to contemporary strata at different sites Biblical Abrahamitic date of Hammurabi created the early -2nd and -3rd millennium. The king-lists and eponym-lists of assyriology also received their absolute chronological framework via Hammurabi. Egyptology pseudo astronomic. Sothic date for Amarna created the -2nd millennium of Hyksos, Mitanni, Kassites + Middle-Assyrian. Bible- fundamentalism dates Neo-Assyrian end in late -7th century.] -1st millennium of Classical Greek Historiography with meager to none archaeological remains which were used to create the new periods [5]-[12] Dark Age Dark Age Hellenism [9] Old-Babylonian Mart(d)u/Amorites [10] Neo-Sumerians and Elamites [11] Old-Akkadians; Chabur-Ware [12] Early Sumerians [5] Middle-Assyrian-Amorites [6] Kassites and Mitanni [7] Old-Assyrians/Hyksos in Levant; Chabur-Ware [8] Ninevite-5-Ware [l] Persians; Mardians/Amardians of Cyrus [2] Chaldaeans and Medes [3] Ninos-Assyria [4] Early Chaldae and Assyria Chalcolithicum The Ninos-Assyrians of Herodotus I: 7, 95 etc. are conventionally identified with the Late-Assyrians (Sarsonids 1). Yet, the latter sit stratigraphically immediately below Hellenism, i.e, take the archaeological position of Persia's supposedly missing satrapy [1]. Nowhere, Medish and Persian strata were found on top of Late-Assyrian ones, as is required by Herodotus' sequence Ninos>Medes>Persians>Hellenism V. RECONNECTING OCCIDENTAL AND ORIENTAL PROGRESS OF CIVILIZATION Though the ancient Greeks freely admitted that their science teachers were Chaldaeans (from Southern Mesopotamia/Babylonia), they never gave any hint that they trailed their inspirators by oneand-a-half millennia. They rather gave the impression that Chaldaean knowledge was obtainable by traveling Greek students. Today, we are taught that there were no Chaldaean teachers to speak of. This supposedly most learned nation of mankind, did not leave us bricks or potsherds, not to mention written treatises. Yet, modern scholars also teach us that there is one grain of truth in the Greek tradition. The teachers of humanity did indeed derive from Southern Mesopotamia/Babylonia. However-though they lived in the very territory of the Chaldaeans, where the Chaldaeans are missing-they were not Chaldaeans but Sumerians, and the Greeks had never heard of them: When their poleis (city-states) began culturally to blossom in the early -6th century, the wise men of Sumeria had already met their fate 1,500 years earlier. Nevertheless, researchers before 1868-when Jules Oppert created the term Sumerian-had called proto-Chaldaean that today is called Sumerian. Up to the end of the l9th century, art historians labeled as Chaldaean artifacts which today are called Sumerian artifacts. At the turn of the century, major European museums underwent a relabeling procedure from Chaldaean to Sumerian on their exhibition pieces from Southern Mesopotamia. As the writer tried to prove, the sensationally unexpected Sumerians received a hidden fundamentalist Abrahamic date, whereas the Chaldaeans received a Classical Greek date. If we leave unscholarly dating systems aside, and resort to comparative stratigraphy, we will immediately recognize the contemporaneity of the early Greek city-states and the so-called Neo- Sumerians, who thereby are outed as the painfully-missing Chaldaeans. "Neo- Sumerian" Chaldaeans and early -6th century poleis alike, are found merely two strata-groups below Hellenism. This still leaves a head start for Chaldean scholarship. Yet, it is not measured by millennia or centuries, but by decades at most Re-synchronization of Ancient Greek and Ancient Near Eastern history, on the basis of comparative stratigraphy and Classical historiography (Dates are tentative Classical Greek ones; the conventional dates are given in footnotes.) Ancient Greece Ancient Near East HELLENISM (Greeks after -330; indigenous Asians of Seleucid and Parthian Empires) -330 [1] Flowering of the Polis ca. -550 [1] Akhaemenid Empire (=in Assyria "Middle-, Neo- and Late Assyrians l; in Babylonia "Old- to Late Babylonians" 2) [2] Rise of the Polis ca -632* [2] Medes and Chaldaeans (="Mitanni" 3 and "Ur III Sumerians 4) [3] Mycenaean Period 5 ca. -750 [3] Ninos-Assyrians (="Old Akkadians" 6 = "Old-Assyrians" 7 = "Hyksos" 8 with "Chabur-Ware" for all) [4] Middle Helladic 9 (Early Bronze Age ca. -1000 [4] Early Assyrian and Chaldaea (= "Ninevite-5 Ware 10 and Early Dynasty "Sumerians" 11) * A date even closer to -600 is indicated for the rise of the Polis if archaeological evidence is set against arbitrary desk fabrications of ancient writers-e.g., Hippias of Elis-on the chronology of the Olympics with a mythical beginning at -776 (cf. B-J. Peiserm, 'The Crime of Hippias of Elis. Zur Kontroverse um die Olympionikenliste". in Stadion. Vol.XVI. No l pp 37-65 1...Up to now pseudo-astronomically Sothic dated. 'Middle-Assyrians', -1350 to -1100. "Neo"- and "Late"- Assyrians are Bible-Fundamentalistically dated -9O0 to -600 via by kings and eponyms tied to Israel and Judah and/or to Ptolemy's pseudo-astronomical chronology. 2 Old-Babylonians are Bible-Fundamentalistically dated (-2000 to -1750) by kinglists tied to Abraham. Late Babylonians are dated (-610 to -510) Bible- -Fundamentalistically by kings and eponys tied to Judah and/or to Ptolemy's pseudo-astronomical chronology. 3. Up to now, pseudo-astronomically Sothic dated (-1550/1500 to-1350). 4. Neo-Sumerians are Bible-Fundamentalistically dated (-2120 to -2000) by kinglists tied to Abraham. 5. Up to now, pseudo-astronomically Sothic dated (-1600 to -1200). 6. Old-Akkadians are Bible-fundamentalistically dated (-2350 to -2200) by kinglists tied to Abraham. 7. Old-Assyrians are Bible-Fundamentalistically dated (early -2nd millennium) by kinglists tied (via a low chronology Hammurabi) to Abraham. 8. Up to now, pseudo-astronomically Sothic dated (-1650 to -l5OO). 9. Up to now, pseudo-astronomically Sothic dated (-1800 to -l6OO). 10. Bible-Fundamentalistically dated (-3200/3000 to -2350) by kinglists tied to Abraham 11. Bible-Fundamentalistically dated (-3200/3000 to -2350) by kinglists tied to Abraham VI. THE RESTORATION OF ANCIENT ISRAEL BY ABANDONING FUNDAMENTALIST DATES OF HISTORICAL BIBLICAL NARRATIVES AS WELL AS PSEUDO-SCHOLARLY DATES OF STRATA IN THE LAND OF ISRAEL Mainstream scholars are in the process of deleting Ancient Israel from history books. The entire period from Abraham the Patriarch in the -21st century (fundamentalist date) to the flowering of the Divided Kingdom in the -9th century (fundamentalist date) is found missing in the archaeological record. The period from the -9th to the -6th century (fundamentalist dates) is bewildering, for a different reason. The corresponding strata are found immediately below Hellenism of -300. Moreover, there are no windblown layers between Hellenistic strata of -300 and Israel/Judah strata of 700/-600, and the material culture (architecture, artifacts, ceramics etc. ) between -600 and -300 is clearly continuous. From an unbiased stratigraphical point of view, therefore, what now is fundamentalistically dated -900 to -600 requires a hard evidence chronology of -600 to -300. Yet, if the strata now dated - 900 to -600 in biblical years are changed to -600 to -300 in evidence based years, Israel's entire biblical history from -2100 to -600 is lost. Statements like "historical Israel remained as elusive as ever", therefore, dominate the most 'advanced' level of Bible research (T. L. Thompson, Early History of the Israelite People, Leiden, 1992, p. 27). The worst enemy of Israel's history, indeed, is biblical chronology. Whoever puts his faith in it, cannot help but be tempted to extinguish Ancient Israel from the map. This is not only true for anti-Semites and anti-Zionists and neutral researchers, but even for the best and the brightest of Israeli scholars. I do not, of course, subscribe to each and every detail contained in historical biblical narratives, but claim that the material remains in the strata-groups of Israel, which today are up for grabs, are not overstretched, if one detects in them some hard evidence for written traditions. I cannot see a convincing reason to deprive Israel of the major events in her ancient history, as they are preserved in biblical legends. The main haven of fundamentalism, I believe, is rooted in biblical chronology and not in the historical narratives of biblical Israel. Before disposing of any Jewish stories (and of no less formidable Greek ones, about Ninos-Assyrian, Medish and Persian superpowers, Chaldaean creators of civilization, or Armenian, Cappadocian, Central Asian and Indian history between -600 and -300 etc. ), I would, rather, abandon biblical and mainstream chronologies alike. Then, everything is open for a new debate. Today, such an exchange must appear futile. Usually, an event in Israel's books with a fundamentalist date, is compared to the same date which unscholarly mainstream chronology forced upon a stratum in Israel's soil. If the biblically dated story does not match the stratum (with an identical date acquired by different means ), the story is discarded. Yet, the nations dwelling in the 'liberated' strata remain unknown, but they are said to have anticipated "Canaanite and later Israelite cult practice" (S. Richard, "The Early Bronze Age: Archaeological Sources for the History of Palestine", in Biblical Archaeologist, Vol. 50, 1987, March, p. 32 - my emphasis). Thus, the strata removed from biblical Canaanites and Israelites, are transferred to enigmatic Proto-Canaanites and Proto- -Israelites . The Exodus provides a typical example for the mismatch between the biblical date of a biblical historical event, and the mainstream date for a stratum in Israel. A stratum which would fit the story does exist. Yet, the story is discarded because the stratum in question has received an unfitting date. If, however, both unscholarly dates are discarded, the Exodus might well reenter history books. I put the "Exodus" event at the end of the Middle Bronze Age, when the Hyksos are expelled from Egypt. To the writer, this expulsion is identical with the expulsion of the pre-Medish Ninos-Assyrians from Egypt. Therefore, the Exodus falls in the time of the rise of Media , i.e., in conventional terms, of the Mitanni. The Medes=Mitanni emerge as the new superpower around -630. An Exodus date of ca. -630, of course, has nothing to do with a biblical Exodus date of -1450 or with a mainstream Hyksos ' expulsion date of ca. -1550. The latter-pseudo-astronomical Sothic-date of - 1550 led to the discarding of the Exodus story because it came too late. As may be seen from Amihai Mazar's fine Summary, the dramatic shift from Middle to Late Bronze, exhibits many of the ingredients of an Exodus event, stretching from natural catastrophes hitting the Hyksos to military and non- military destructions in Israel. As an adherent to Sothic pseudo-astronomical dating, Mazar, of course, dates that shift around -1550 and, therefore, can not match it to a fundamentalistically or otherwise-dated Exodus: "The most significant event concerning Palestine was the expulsion of the Hyksos from Egypt in the mid-sixteenth century B.C.E. The Hyksos princes fled from the Eastern Delta of Egypt to Southern Palestine; the Egyptians followed them there and put them under siege in the city of Sharuhen. This event was probably followed by turmoil and military conflicts throughout the country, as a number of Middle Bronze cities were destroyed during the mid- sixteenth century B.C.E.... However, unlike the great collapse of the urban culture at the end of the Early Bronze III period [after which I see the "Abrahamites" coming from Mesopotamian Chaldaea to Israel around -800 - G.H. ], the turmoils of the mid-sixteenth century B.C.E. did not cause a total break of the Canaanite urban culture" (A. Archaeology of the Land of the Bible 10,000-586 B.C.E., New York et al., 1990, p. 226). Pre-Exodus "Israel-in-Egypt" thus refers to mercenaries, administrators and settlers coming with the Ninos-Assyrian (=Old-Akkadian=Hyksos) forces, who could not help but launch their attacks during-the stratigraphy-dated- -8th century on Egypt from Israelite soil. By taking stratigraphy seriously, I also had to restore the Amarna- correspondence to its evidence-based chronological position. The partners of the Medes ("Mitanni") in Akhet-Aton are to be dated to the late -7th and early -6th century of the Medes. The founder of the "House of David" emerged in these turmoils from a tribal background in the Judaean territory. The biblical narratives about David put him nearly half a millennium after Joshua and Exodus. Yet, all the ingredients of the stories indicate their contemporaneity. The compilers of the Bible put 500 years between them, because they did not know better. They had no resort to libraries, and were in no position to check the dates and sequences of events by looking at the stratigraphy. The Joshua-stories refer to the Nino-Assyrian (=Hyksos=Old-Akkadian) coastal flight out of Egypt. They belong to Israel rather than to Judah. The flight is stopped by the Medes ("Mitanni") who play the main role in vanquishing Ninos-Assyria. The "Exodus"-people even know the Medes by their indigenous name; this name was derived from the most bellicose of the Medo-Persian tribes, Amardians/Mardians, and recorded as "Amorites" by the biblical authors. The Mitanni=Medes rule as far as Megiddo, whence the Medish=Mitanni governor, Biridiya, corresponds with Egypt. This powerful Medish position is reflected in Joshua's failure to conquer Megiddo. Media's treason-minded allies, the Scythians, from Asia's steppes, go their own way and rush up to the borders of Egypt (Herodotus, The History I: 105) to give the Exodus people of the Joshua-legends a lot of trouble. The Exodus people remember their aggressors simply as Asians ("Amalekites"). We find their icons (stag, panther) well preserved in the Medish ("Mitanni") strata of Scythopolis (Beth Shean). The David-legends belong to Judah rather than to Israel. Yet, the problems of iron shortage, clashes with Philistines, who were also looking for a haven in the Land of Israel-indicate the same historical context. The Hyksos expulsion coincides with a broadened use of iron. Mainstream chronology dates David (biblical fundamentalism) 600 years after the Hyksos (pseudo- astronomy). Yet, he is still only beginning with iron technology. This puts him right in the Late Bronze Age-with its emergence of iron technology-if we do not believe that iron took 600 years to travel 35 kms from Philistine sites to Judaean hills. What sets David apart from Joshua is that the former rather has to build himself a position in his native land, whereas the latter is on the attack against people who already may have forgotten their forefathers whose descendants were returning. These earlier "Israelites"-as mentioned above- settled in the Nile valley some 100 years earlier, reaching Egypt as subjects of the NinosAssyrian world power. Moreover, the masses now fleeing from Egypt must have included many ethnic groups- notably descendants of Ninos- Assyrians who were hindered by the Medes=Mitanni from returning to Assyria proper (now Media's heartland as we know from Mitanni rule in Nineveh) and had to be content with disputed territory in Israel. From this context it becomes clear that early Judah and early Israel, simultaneously, lived under Egyptian and/or Medish rule during the -7th/-6th century. The steady growth of these ethno-political entities in the early - 6th century could not have gone unnoticed by these big powers. And, indeed, the Amarna correspondence of the early -6th Medes=Mitanni mentions warring and conquering Habiru time and time again. These statements, I conclude, refer to further conquests of the "Exodus"-people and to the expansion of the House of David. That's why I utterly disagree with the conventional conviction that "we have no historical evidence to associate the fourteenth- century Amarna letters and the 'Apiru' mentioned in them with the origins of Israel" (T.L. Thompson, Early History of the Israelite People, Leiden, 1992, p. 135). This "fourteenth-century" is derived from pseudo-astronomical Egyptology. But even after giving Amarna its stratigraphical date, the early -6th century of Medish=Mitanni times, nobody will look in that period for the beginnings of Judah and Israel. David, after all, is dated fundamentalistically, to the - lOth century, whereas the Exodus is either dated by the same technique to the -15th century or-inconclusively-to a variety of later Egyptian kings. Stratigraphically and, therefore, chronologically, all three items are connected: ( i ) The complaints of the Amarna correspondence about Habiru reflect (ii) the growth of Israel through the Exodus people and (iii) the growth of Judah through the House of David. Now, with the House of David emerging in the Medish period we should be able to look for descendants of this princely house in the Persian period-which immediately follows Media, around -540. To do this, one has to scan the strata found immediately below the Hellenistic strata-which are dated beginning around -300. If one performs such a search program in Tel Dan, he or she will have to start immediately below its Hellenistic stratum I. Abraham Biran found his stele, with the "House of David" inscription, in a location belonging somewhere between Dan's strata II and III. That is as close to a Persian period successor of David as one can get. It also confirms the identity of Shalmaneser III-Jehu's overlord (cf. p. 22 above)-who had to be identified with early -5th century Artaxerxes I in the garb of his Assyrian satrapy. Post-neolithic stratigraphy of Tel Dan. Conventional dates of biblical fundamentalism and pseudo astronomy are put in brackets (right column). Tentative evidence-based dates are given under strata in underlined italics (centre column). Periods in conventional terminology Hellenism/Romans (Greek dates) strata + strata groups (1) - (4) Evidence dates Hellenism/romans (Greek Dates) HELLENISM -300 onwards (-300 onwards) mysterious Hiatus of 400 years between -700 and -300 (biblical dates) no hiatus Omrides II -701 Biran's stela with "House of David" inscription in Aramaic (biblical dates ) III -425 to -300 -701 -925 (biblical dates) IV -480 to -425 -925 -1000 (pseudo-astronomical dates of Egyptology) (1) V, VI -540 to -480 EMERGENCE OF PERSIA -1000 -12000 Mysterious Hiatus of 1500 years no hiatus Late Bronze or MITANNI age ( in pseudo-astronomical dates ) (2) Mass burial -630 -540 MEDES ARRIVE Middle Bronze II or HYKSOS age (in pseudo-astronomical dates) (Old-Akkadian culture ) City ramparts -750 to -630 NINOS-ASSYRIANS -1500 -1700 poorly stratified Early Bronze plus Middle Bronze I remains. MYSTERIOUS LACK of material to cover 1, 600 year (4) -1700 -3300 The rehabilitation of Israel's history through synchronization of the content of major historical narratives in Israel's Bible With the strata in Israel's soil. Neither Egyptology's pseudo-astronomical nor Assyriology's hidden fundamentalist kinglist dates nor fundamentalist dates of true believers are accepted. The author's column on the right is tentatively dated by the chronology of Assyria-centered empires known from Herodotus I: 95, 102: Ninos- -Assyrians (="Old-Akkadians" = "Hyksos") Medes plus Chaldaeans (="Mitanni" plus "Sumerians"), Persian period Assyria (= post-"Mitanni" Assyrians). This chronological sequence is related to the amount and volume of strata in the ground of the Land of Israel. Macalister's Gezer dates and terminology (1912) Conventional dates and terminology Author's terminology and chronology for HISTORY OF ISRAEL Hellenism Enigmatic absence of Persian stratum 550-330 Hellenism 330-100 Hellenistic urban strata group 330-100 4th Semitic Farmer's Almanac from Gezer in earliest alphabetical Hebrew in Phoenician characters 1000-550 Iron Age (to -586) through Iron much earlier; Sargonids, Neo-Babylonians + Persians ONSET OF ISRAEL'S HISTORY' Period from Abraham to the beginning of monarchy considered a fantasy; more confusion down to 2nd temple in - 6th or -4th century. -18th c. Amorite cuneiform in Hazor 1200-330 (1) 1st pre-Hellenistic urban strata-group. ISRAEL in Persian period with "monarch's" borders being identical with Satrapy Transeuphrates (Divided Kingdoms). The beginning of alphabetical Hebrew. 530-330 3rd Semitic 1400-1000 Late Bronze Age (MITANNI + CHATTI), though Iron already used. Indo-Aryans rule in "Canaan". cuneiform from Megiddo to Amarna partly sounds like "purest Hebrew" (Bohl). the "Habiru" of the Amarna letters are comparable to the Joshua/David developments in Israel/Juda under impact of Hyksos refugees. 1550-1200 (2) 2nd pre-Hellenistic urban strata-group. ISRAEL under Amorites + Hittites of Ezekial 16:3 (=Medish Mardoi and Chatti). David/Joshua. Late cuneiform "Hebrew". Destruction between 3rd and 2nd pre-Hellenistic stratum = "EXODUS" (Hyksos' expulsion from Egypt) 620-530 2nd Semitic (late) Middle Bronze IIB-C ENIGMATIC HYKSOS with 2350 BCE Old-Akkadian material culture and Old-Akkadian cuneiform in Hazor. 1800-1550 (3a) 3rd pre-Hellenistic urban strata-group/upper part. ISRAEL (part of Hyksos) IN EGYPT. Early cuneiform "Hebrew" 720-720 2nd Semitic (early) 1800-1400 Middle Bronze MBIIA (with 2500 BCE EARLY DYNASTIC IIIB Mesopotamian pottery. Bronze appears only now. STRATUM OF MASSIVE MESOPOTAMIAN (CHALDAEAN) IMPACT 2000-1800 (3B) 3rd pre-Hellenistic urban strata-group/lower part ONSET OF ISRAEL'S HISTORY with earliest Chaldaean impact in "ABRAHAM" Stratum. 800-720 1st Semitic ONSET OF ISRAEL'S HISTORY with Abraham the Patriarch. 2000-1800 Early Bronze to Middle Bronze I though no bronze yet. NO STRONG IMPACT FROM MESOPOTAMIA, where Nineveh-5 and Uruk Ware dominate pottery. 3300-2000 (4) 4th pre Hellenistic urban strata-group Preliterate Period. "Canaan" before immigration from Chaldaea 950-800 Pre-Semitic Chalcolitihic 5th pre-Hellenistic strata group of pre-urban Chalcolithic period. VII. SYNCHRONIZATION OF ANCIENT EURASIAN CHRONOLOGY WITH THE CHRONOLOGY OF ANCIENT CHINA When the vast stretch of land from Spain to the Indus-Valley entered the Bronze Age in the -4th millennium, China slowly moved into the New stone Age (Neolithic). Even the urban oases in the Central Asian and Afghan west of China, which entered the Bronze Age more or less simultaneously with Mesopotamia, failed to tempt the Chinese to adopt the technological level of their barbarian steppe neighbors. The mythology of western Asia spoke of theomachies (combats of celestial deities) as the triggers of high culture in the -3rd millennium, whereas China's mythology did not do so for another 1, 500 to 2, 000 years. When the Eurasian land mass entered the Iron Age around -1600/-1400, China slowly moved into the Bronze Age. The Chinese waited an additional millennium-around 600/-400- before they could bring themselves to work iron. The Chinese did not seem to care about falling millennia behind. Yet, they were extremely careful not to miss a single developmental step in culture, religion and technology the neighbors in the west had gone through so much earlier. Why did they not take a shortcut into iron technology, after they had to make good the 1,500 years they had lost in bronze technology? Modern students of Ancient China have no way of comprehending the behavior of such a gifted nation. They simply feel embarrassed: "Whichever chronological scheme we may chose, the fact is that the known beginning of civilization in China is approximately a millennium and a half later than the initial phases of Near Eastern civilization. We can also take note of the fact that many essential elements of Chinese civilization, such as bronze metallurgy, writing, the horse chariot, human sacrifice, and so forth, had appeared earlier in Mesopotamia. Here, then, is the problem of East-West relationships all over again" (K. Chang, The Archaeology of China, New Haven & London, 1963, p. 136). Western scholars are quick to blame their Chinese colleagues for this anachronistic relationship: "A more serious omission, perhaps, is the comparative silence of Chinese archaeologists when it comes to placing Chinese history in its Asiatic context" (M. Pirazzoli-t'Serstevens, "China. The archaeological background", in C. Flon, ed., The World Atlas of Archaeology, London, 1985, p. 259). Western and Chinese scholars alike exhibit full confidence in conventional chronologies. Yet, it is only the territory from Spain to the Indus-Valley which is dated by Mesopotamian king lists tied to the biblical birthdate of Abraham the Patriarch, China -like Mesoamerica-is dated independently. It, therefore, can be used as an interesting measuring rod for the true age of the beginning of the Bronze Age. Synopsis of the 3000 B.C.E. emergence of high civilization ("Bronze Age") in the territories of Egypt, Syria-Palestine, Mesopotamia, Iran, Central Asia and the Indus Valley, which take pride in being the "cradle of civilization" but later have to pay with chronological gaps (framed with dotted lines) of some 1500 years, as opposed to the territories of the Ganges Valley and China, which suffer from a late beginning of high civilization but can take pride in the absence of chronological gaps in their histories: <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> *This author's revision of ancient chronology claims that the gaps do not really represent a cessation of settlements but are due to unscholarly chronological constructs based on either Bible-fundamentalist premises of Assyriologists and/or pseudo-astronomical calculations of Egyptologists. Therefore, the years assigned to the gaps simply do not exist at all. The territories in India, Central Asia, Iran, Asia Minor, the Levant, Egypt and Mesopotamia proper, which have been dated via Abraham the Patriarch and false astronomical assumptions, must abandon the one-and-a-half-millennia allotted to their gaps-plus a few more centuries. The latter have to be deduced from the Early Dynasties whose levels nowhere provide the stratigraphic depth to reliably fill their conventional 600 years. Thus, the emergence of post- Neolithic high civilization does not come about before the turn to the 1st millennium B.C.E.. This reduction brings China, the Ganges Valley as well as Mesoamerica (Olmecs) etc., into line with the rest of the world.