orion-list Dating the Pentateuch

[Walter Mattfeld]

 Dear Dierk,

 It has been the understanding of Egyptologists for over 100 years that the
 founder of the Saite Dynasty, Psmatik I (664-610 BC) came to power via the
 employment of Greek mercenaries, the first contingents being furnished him
 by Gyges of Lydia, when both Lydia and Egypt sought in unison to thwart the
 power of Assyria.

 Clayton:
 "He prevailed by conscripting a great army, bringing in mercenaries from
the
 Mediterranean world, many of them Greeks, and including Carians whose
 inscribed tombstones found at Saqqara have only recently been deciphered."
 (p.195, "Psamtik I," Peter A. Clayton. Chronicle of the Pharaohs. London.
 Thames & Hudson. 1994)

 Breasted:
 "The army which Psamtik I now put together was made up of Greeks, Carians
 and Syrians...The Ionians and Carians were stationed on the northeastern
 frontier near Daphnae..." (p.569. James Henry Breasted. A History of Egypt.
 New York. Scribner's & Sons. 1912)

 "By 640 BC Psamtik felt himselfstrong enough to resume the old projects of
 conquest in Asia, to revive Egypt's traditional claims upon
Syria-Palestine,
 and to dispute their possession with Assyria. He invaded Philista and for
 many years beseiged Asdod..." (p.580, Breasted)

 Breasted notes that Necho conquered Palestine and Syria, and that like his
 father, he employed Greek mercenaries in his army. Pottery shards dated to
 the late 7th century BCE found at Tell Arad in the Negeb mention rations
for
 the Kittim who bear Greek names. The scholarly dispute is- are these Greeks
 serving Josiah as mercenaries or are they serving Phraoh Necho, they being
 left in Judah to oversee the compliance of that country as a vassal in
 raising the tribute imposed by Necho ?Stern also notes sites which suggest
 a Greek mercenary presence in conjunction with Jews within Palestine.

 Sooo, contrary to your claim that there are no Greek mercenaries until
 Psamtik III, Egyptologists and Israeli Archaeologists dispute your
 assertions- there were indeed Greek mercenaries serving the Pharaohs in
 Palestine by the 7th century BCE, before Assyria came to her end in 612
BCE.

 All the best,Walter

 Walter Reinhold Warttig Mattfeld
 Walldorf by Heidelberg
 Baden-Wurttemburg, Germany
 http://bibleorigins.homestead.com/index.html


> ----- Original Message -----
> From: Dierk van den Berg <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> Sent: Wednesday, June 13, 2001 1:39 PM
> Subject: Re: orion-list Dating the Hebrew Bible; (sorry if it comes twice)
>
>
> > Walter cited Stern:
> >
> > > "From this combined evidence of both written documents and
> archaeological
> > > remains, it appears that, even before the arrival of the Assyrians,
but
> > > mainly during and after their period of domination, THERE WAS GREEK
> > > PENETRATION INTO PALESTINE BY TRADERS AND MERCENARIES. NO DISCUSSION
OF
> > THIS
> > > PERIOD CAN IGNORE THEM, and in any case, their presence here seems to
> > > reflect somewhat more than the results of regular trade relations
alone,
> > as
> > > was suggested by J. Waldbaum." (p.227, Stern)
> >
> > Greek mercenaries in the Assyrian epoch?
> > That's less probable, for the first certain reference to Greek
mercenaries
> > that we possess is in connection to Pharaoh Psammetich III. 525 BC. The
> > total number of mercenaries from the Peloponnese in action at one time
> > differs from roughly 1.000 in the 6th century up to 4.000 during the
> > Peleponnesian War and the following decades of the 4th century, when
"many
> > compelled through want of daily bread to serve as mercenaries,"
(Isocrates
> > 4.167), so that the (exaggerated) Ten Thousand are reached in Xenophon's
> > Anabasis.
> > Consequently "the focus of interest shifts in the main from Greek cities
> to
> > Macedonia and to the Graeco-Macedonian kingdoms of the Hellenistic
world,
> > and to understand the change one must begin at the beginning, with
> Macedonia
> > of Philip and Alexander." (Griffith_Mercenaries of the Hellenistic
> > World_Ares 1935, p.7)
> >
> > Tot ziens.
> > Dierk


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