Brit-Am Research Sources (29 July, 2013, Av 22, 5773)
Contents:
1. A Pharaoh Named Machir (Mycineris) Left a Sphinx in Israel!
2. A Source on Deportees in the Assyrian Empire
3. Places Named after Dan still found in the Middle East!
4. Mark Williams: The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle
5. Origin of the English words lose, and loose, from the Hebrew LUZ
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1. A Pharaoh Named Machir (Mycineris) Left a Sphinx in Israel!
PART OF SPHINX FOUND IN NORTHERN DIG
by Arutz Sheva
Extracts:
As modern Egypt searches for a new leader, Israeli archaeologists have found evidence of an ancient Egyptian leader in northern Israel.
At a site in Tel Hazor National Park, north of the Sea of Galilee, archeologists from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem have unearthed part of a unique Sphinx belonging to one of the ancient pyramid-building pharaohs.
The Hazor Excavations are headed by Prof. Amnon Ben-Tor, the Yigael Yadin Professor in the Archaeology of Eretz Israel at the Hebrew University"s Institute of Archaeology, and Dr. Sharon Zuckerman, a lecturer at the Hebrew University"s Institute of Archaeology.
Working with a team from the Institute of Archaeology, they discovered part of a Sphinx brought over from Egypt, with a hieroglyphic inscription between its front legs. The inscription bears the name of the Egyptian king Mycerinus, who ruled in the third millennium BCE, more than 4,000 years ago. The king was one of the builders of the famous Giza pyramids.
As the only known Sphinx of this king discovered anywhere in the world, - including in Egypt, - the find at Hazor is an unexpected and important discovery. Moreover, it is [the] only piece of a royal Sphinx sculpture discovered in the entire Levant area (the eastern part of the Mediterranean).
Along with the king"s name, the hieroglyphic inscription includes the descriptor "Beloved by the divine manifestation; that gave him eternal life." According to Prof. Ben-Tor and Dr. Zuckerman, this text indicates that the Sphinx probably originated in the ancient city of Heliopolis (the city of 'On' in the Bible), north of modern Cairo.
The Sphinx was discovered in the destruction layer of Hazor that was destroyed during the 13th century BCE, at the entrance to the city palace. According to the archaeologists, it is highly unlikely that the Sphinx was brought to Hazor during the time of Mycerinus, since there is no record of any relationship between Egypt and Israel in the third millennium BCE.
More likely, the statue was brought to Israel in the second millennium BCE during the dynasty of the kings known as the Hyksos, who originated in Canaan. It could also have arrived during the 15th to 13th centuries BCE, when Canaan was under Egyptian rule, as a gift from an Egyptian king to the king of Hazor, which was the most important city in the southern Levant at the time.
Hazor is the largest biblical-era site in Israel, covering some 200 acres, and has been recognized as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO. The population of Hazor in the second millennium BCE is estimated to have been about 20,000, making it the largest and most important city in the entire region. Its size and strategic location on the route connecting Egypt and Babylon made it "the head of all those kingdoms" according to the biblical book of Joshua (Joshua 11:10).
Hazor's conquest by the Israelites opened the way to the conquest and settlement of the Israelites in Canaan. The city was rebuilt and fortified by King Solomon and prospered in the days of Ahab and Jeroboam II, until its final destruction by the Assyrians in 732 BCE.
Documents discovered at Hazor and at sites in Egypt and Iraq attest that Hazor maintained cultural and trade relations with both Egypt and Babylon. Artistic artifacts, including those imported to Hazor from near and far, have been unearthed at the site. Hazor is currently one of Israel's national parks.
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Brit-Am Commentary:
The name Mycinerus may be equated with the Hebrew Machir, the son of Manasseh.
The mother of Machir was Asenath daughter of the Priest of On.
Prof. Ben-Tor and Dr. Zuckerman are quoted as saying that the sphinx originated in Hieropolois i.e. the city of On.
It is believed to have been brought to Hazor during the reign of the Hyksos Kings. We identify these kings as Egyptians who were strongly influenced by the Hebrew and relied greatly on Hebrew advisors and officials. Later Egyptian tradition identified them with Hebrews. Hebrew officials under the Hyksos were very powerful and apparently allowed quote a degree of autonomy.
They may have been responsible for bringing the sphinx of Machir to the area.
See:
Who Was Machir? Were there Israelites in Canaan Before Moses?
Do New Archaeological Findings Help Strengthen Brit-Am Research Suggestions!
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2. A Source on Deportees in the Assyrian Empire
The Colonizer, the Colonized, and the Colonists:
Empire and Settlement on Assyria's Anatolian Frontier
By
Bradley J. Parker
http://arcserver.usc.edu/reports/reports/frontiers2001.pdf
Extracts:
Thus,
from the very beginning the Assyrians relied on co-opting foreign populations to act not
only as laborers, but also as administrators, governors and other high officials (Tadmor
1975: 1978). Non-Assyrians assimilated to imperial norms can be identified by their
foreign names which appear in a variety of different genres of documents (Kinnier-
Wilson 1972; Zadok 1989; 1995) and by the fact that by the end of the eighth century
B.C. Aramaic had become the Lingua Franca of the empire (Tadmor 1978: 1991).
However, nowhere is this phenomenon more clearly illustrated than in Ashurnasirpal's
banquet stele which describes tens of thousands of foreign "guests" brought to the
Assyrian heartland to populate the newly constructed imperial capital at Calah, modern
Nimrud.
A similar policy of deportation and resettlement was implemented on Assyria's Anatolian
frontier (Oded 1979).
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3. Places Named after Dan still found in the Middle East!
Al-Dana, Syria
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al-Dana,_Syria
Al-Dana (Arabic: ) is a town in northern Syria, administratively part of the Idlib Governorate, located north of Idlib, 38 kilometers west of Aleppo,[2] and just east of the border with Turkey.
Wadi Dana, Dana Nature Reserve, Jordan
http://www.middleeast.com/dana.htm
Dana Village, Jordan
http://www.roughguides.com/destinations/middle-east/jordan/kings-highway/dana/dana-village/
This was an abandoned settlement but is now being renovated and reconstructed with US aid as an eco-tourist center.
East of Dana Nature Reserve - Ancient Village or Settlement in Jordan
http://www.megalithic.co.uk/article.php?sid=27174
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4. Mark Williams: The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle
Subject: Hey Yair, Anglo-Saxon Chronicle Is Online
Shalom!
Have you ever noticed that the first sentence reads
"The island Britain (1) is 800 miles long, and 200 miles broad.
And there are in the island five nations; English, Welsh (or
British) (2), Scottish, Pictish, and Latin."
Who, one may ask, are these Latins? At a guess I'd say it refers to the
Romano-British. Which means that, at the time it was compiled (11/12th
century?) there must have still been a not insignificant population of
Britons who spoke a Romance influenced language surviving in the land.
This would most probably be the Welsh Welsh of Wales. The British in
this intance being the Cornish, Cumbrians and Strathclyde
Welsh. Note also that the Picts are mentioned as one of the five
contemporary nations.
The second paragraph also contains information that may be of interest
The first inhabitants were the Britons, who came from Armenia (3), and
first peopled Britain southward. Then happened it, that the
Picts came south from Scythia, with long ships, not many; and,
landing first in the northern part of Ireland, they told the
Scots that they must dwell there. But they would not give them
leave; for the Scots told them that they could not all dwell
there together; "But," said the Scots, "we can nevertheless give
you advice. We know another island here to the east. There you
may dwell, if you will; and whosoever withstandeth you, we will
assist you, that you may gain it." Then went the Picts and
entered this land northward. Southward the Britons possessed it,
as we before said. And the Picts obtained wives of the Scots, on
condition that they chose their kings always on the female side
(4); which they have continued to do, so long since. And it
happened, in the run of years, that some party of Scots went from
Ireland into Britain, and acquired some portion of this land.
Their leader was called Reoda (5), from whom they are named
Dalreodi (or Dalreathians).
Note that the homeland of the Britons is identified as being Armenia
and the Picts is in Scythia, NORTH of Britain (which would place it in
Scandinavia, which, I believe, concurs with your own opinion. Also note
the reference to "long ships". Also that the Picts first make landfall
in Ireland.
Anyway, as if you didn't have enough on your plate, here's the link
http://omacl.org/Anglo/
That's all for now
Aleikum shalom
Mark
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5. Origin of the English words lose, and loose, from the Hebrew LUZ
Conventional Etymology of lose
http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=lose
Old English losian "be lost, perish," ...
Transitive sense of "to part with accidentally" is from c.1200. Meaning "fail to maintain" is from mid-15c. Meaning "to be defeated" (in a game, etc.) is from 1530s. Meaning "to cause (someone) to lose his way" is from 1640s. To lose (one's) mind "become insane" is attested from c.1500. To lose out "fail" is 1858, American English. Related: Lost; losing.
Conventional Etymology of lose
loose (adj.)
http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?allowed_in_frame=0&search=loose&searchmode=none
early 13c., "not securely fixed;" c.1300, "unbound," from Old Norse lauss "loose, free, vacant, dissolute," cognate with Old English leas "devoid of, false, feigned, incorrect,"
Alternate Explanation.
In Hebrew we have the word LUZ meaning to stray away, depart from the path, etc.
In passive form it becomes niloz connoting negative traits, crookedness, etc. (Metzudat).
Matityahu Clark on S.R. Hirsch says that LUZ means transpose, 1. transferring 2. abandoning 3. twisting 4.that one, identifying
At all events the term LUZ as found in the Bible (re Proverbs etc) came to mean stray away, depart from the path, etc. The Hebrew word is thus closer to both English words lose and loose than the suggestions of conventional etymology.
This is a frequent phenomenon.