DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.4200#0034
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30
SHELLS USED BY THE EGYPTIANS.
..." This is an account of provisions for the
vinedressers : in ancient times the Theban western
canal was rich in vineyards.
No. 5. The group bek zed is written twice with a
thick reed, as a pupil's exercise.
[51. I should add that Dr. Spiegelberg has very
kindly used here the transliteration with which English
readers are perhaps most familiar ; but this is without
any prejudice to his personal preference for a different
method.
I may add here some considerations on the
mention of the name Israel in the inscription of
Merenptah. This subject was opened in an article
on " Egypt and Israel" which I published in the
"Contemporary Review," May, 1896. The principal
considerations are on the five different views that
may be taken about the presence of " people of
Israel " in wars of Merenptah.
(a) It might be taken to refer to the oppression
of the Biblical Israelites in Egypt. As Merenptah
is usually thought to be the Pharaoh of the Exodus,
Israel being spoiled so that it had no seed might be
taken as a reference to the slaughter of the male
children. But on the contrary this statement is put
between the naming of Yenuamu (or Yanuh near
Tyre), and of Khal or Palestine. Hence it should
refer to spoiling some Israelites in Palestine.
(b) It might be supposed to refer to the Biblical
Israelites in Palestine after the Exodus. But as
there is no trace of any Egyptian invasion of Pales-
tine in the various wars and turmoils recorded in the
book of Judges, we can hardly refer this to the
Israelite history that we know. As moreover there
is no trace of the campaigns of Ramessu III in the
book of Judges, the Biblical Israelites can hardly
have been in Palestine even as late as that. I have
shown in the Proceedings of the Society of Biblical
Archaeology, xviii, 243 ; Dec. 1896; how the lists of
generations, and the division of the history of Judges
into three series of different regions, agree to the
Israelites not entering Palestine till after the last
campaign of Ramessu III.
(c) It is very possible that some portion of " the
people of Israel" remained in Palestine when the
others went into Egypt. And this might be the
people attacked by Merenptah. Such a view seems
to me to be perhaps less unlikely than any other.
(d) Some Israelites may have gone back to Pales-
tine directly the famine was over in Canaan. That
they readily might travel there is shewn by the
burial of Jacob at Machpelah (Gen. i. 13) ; and there
is absolutely no evidence that they all remained in
Egypt until the Exodus. A continuity of tradition
about the family sepulchres is shewn by the recog-
nition of the cave at Machpelah, and of the burial
place at Shechem. And this implies that some
members of the clan continuously lived in the country-
(e) Another possibility is that immediately after
the Exodus some Israelites may have made their
way into Palestine, as they prospected in the land,
wishing to occupy it, and even defeated the Canaan-
ites in the south (Num. xxi, 3) in what appears to be
another version of the conflict soon after the Exodus
(Num. xiv. 45).
Neither the hypothesis a nor b seem likely, when
we look at the order of the inscription here, and the
complete silence about Egyptian invasions in Judges.
If we then resort to one of the hypotheses of a
divided body of Israelites, the hypothesis a seems
more probable than the others, as these "people of
Israel" seem to have been in the north of Palestine,
and are less likely therefore to have gone into Egypt
or to have come out again.
It may be noted that a duplicate of this inscription
existed at Karnak, of which Duemichcn has published
the remaining fragment in Historische Inschriften 1 c.
His line I ends at near the end of line 11 here ; 2 at
mid line 12; 3 mid line 13; 4 early in line 14; 5
late in line 14 ; and so on, evidently omitting a line
between 8 and 9, until his last line, 19, ends at one
third along line 27 here. There were therefore 34
lines in the Karnak copy, 12 lost at the beginning,
20 of which the ends remain (one omitted by D.) and
2 lost at the end. One difference may be noted in the
texts, the present version attributes the divine speech
to Ptah (1. 19), while the Karnak version names
Amen (1. 10). W. M. F. Petrie.]
CHAPTER X.
SHELLS USED BY THE EGYPTIANS.
52. In earlier excavations at Koptos, Ballas, and
Naqada, many specimens of shells were collected ;
and these have now been identified by the care of
Mr. Edgar A. Smith of the British Museum (Natural
Plistory). To this list I have added those names
which are given by M. de Morgan as belonging to
the remains of the New Race, in " Recherches sur les
Origines de 1'Egypte," pp. 145-6. In the column of
region, R.S. = Red Sea and Indian Ocean ; M. -
30
SHELLS USED BY THE EGYPTIANS.
..." This is an account of provisions for the
vinedressers : in ancient times the Theban western
canal was rich in vineyards.
No. 5. The group bek zed is written twice with a
thick reed, as a pupil's exercise.
[51. I should add that Dr. Spiegelberg has very
kindly used here the transliteration with which English
readers are perhaps most familiar ; but this is without
any prejudice to his personal preference for a different
method.
I may add here some considerations on the
mention of the name Israel in the inscription of
Merenptah. This subject was opened in an article
on " Egypt and Israel" which I published in the
"Contemporary Review," May, 1896. The principal
considerations are on the five different views that
may be taken about the presence of " people of
Israel " in wars of Merenptah.
(a) It might be taken to refer to the oppression
of the Biblical Israelites in Egypt. As Merenptah
is usually thought to be the Pharaoh of the Exodus,
Israel being spoiled so that it had no seed might be
taken as a reference to the slaughter of the male
children. But on the contrary this statement is put
between the naming of Yenuamu (or Yanuh near
Tyre), and of Khal or Palestine. Hence it should
refer to spoiling some Israelites in Palestine.
(b) It might be supposed to refer to the Biblical
Israelites in Palestine after the Exodus. But as
there is no trace of any Egyptian invasion of Pales-
tine in the various wars and turmoils recorded in the
book of Judges, we can hardly refer this to the
Israelite history that we know. As moreover there
is no trace of the campaigns of Ramessu III in the
book of Judges, the Biblical Israelites can hardly
have been in Palestine even as late as that. I have
shown in the Proceedings of the Society of Biblical
Archaeology, xviii, 243 ; Dec. 1896; how the lists of
generations, and the division of the history of Judges
into three series of different regions, agree to the
Israelites not entering Palestine till after the last
campaign of Ramessu III.
(c) It is very possible that some portion of " the
people of Israel" remained in Palestine when the
others went into Egypt. And this might be the
people attacked by Merenptah. Such a view seems
to me to be perhaps less unlikely than any other.
(d) Some Israelites may have gone back to Pales-
tine directly the famine was over in Canaan. That
they readily might travel there is shewn by the
burial of Jacob at Machpelah (Gen. i. 13) ; and there
is absolutely no evidence that they all remained in
Egypt until the Exodus. A continuity of tradition
about the family sepulchres is shewn by the recog-
nition of the cave at Machpelah, and of the burial
place at Shechem. And this implies that some
members of the clan continuously lived in the country-
(e) Another possibility is that immediately after
the Exodus some Israelites may have made their
way into Palestine, as they prospected in the land,
wishing to occupy it, and even defeated the Canaan-
ites in the south (Num. xxi, 3) in what appears to be
another version of the conflict soon after the Exodus
(Num. xiv. 45).
Neither the hypothesis a nor b seem likely, when
we look at the order of the inscription here, and the
complete silence about Egyptian invasions in Judges.
If we then resort to one of the hypotheses of a
divided body of Israelites, the hypothesis a seems
more probable than the others, as these "people of
Israel" seem to have been in the north of Palestine,
and are less likely therefore to have gone into Egypt
or to have come out again.
It may be noted that a duplicate of this inscription
existed at Karnak, of which Duemichcn has published
the remaining fragment in Historische Inschriften 1 c.
His line I ends at near the end of line 11 here ; 2 at
mid line 12; 3 mid line 13; 4 early in line 14; 5
late in line 14 ; and so on, evidently omitting a line
between 8 and 9, until his last line, 19, ends at one
third along line 27 here. There were therefore 34
lines in the Karnak copy, 12 lost at the beginning,
20 of which the ends remain (one omitted by D.) and
2 lost at the end. One difference may be noted in the
texts, the present version attributes the divine speech
to Ptah (1. 19), while the Karnak version names
Amen (1. 10). W. M. F. Petrie.]
CHAPTER X.
SHELLS USED BY THE EGYPTIANS.
52. In earlier excavations at Koptos, Ballas, and
Naqada, many specimens of shells were collected ;
and these have now been identified by the care of
Mr. Edgar A. Smith of the British Museum (Natural
Plistory). To this list I have added those names
which are given by M. de Morgan as belonging to
the remains of the New Race, in " Recherches sur les
Origines de 1'Egypte," pp. 145-6. In the column of
region, R.S. = Red Sea and Indian Ocean ; M. -