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96-413: Until the mid-20th century, the mule was a common sight on American farms. A sterile hybrid of horse and donkey , the mule was credited by owners with highly productive work habits as a draft animal in challenging conditions, especially those associated with plowing furrows in sticky clay soil. The application of the internal combustion engine to farm machinery, starting in the early 1900s, led to

192-480: A "common-sense" adaptation to highland life and not necessarily revelatory of origins. Other Aramaean sites also demonstrate a contemporary absence of pig remains at that time, unlike earlier Canaanite and later Philistine excavations. In The Bible Unearthed (2001), Finkelstein and Silberman summarized recent studies. They described how, up until 1967, the Israelite heartland in the highlands of western Palestine

288-554: A call for the vanishing animal to be memorialized. The plea was widely reproduced and found readers throughout Texas. Gil Lamb, owner of radio station KMUL in Farwell, Texas , took up the campaign and added to it a demand that the memorial be placed in Muleshoe. The memorial was dedicated in July 1965. It centers on a representation of Old Pete , who at the time of his reproduction in sculpture

384-458: A common courtyard. They built three- or four-room houses out of mudbrick with a stone foundation and sometimes with a second story made of wood. The inhabitants lived by farming and herding. They built terraces to farm on hillsides, planting various crops and maintaining orchards. The villages were largely economically self-sufficient and economic interchange was prevalent. According to the Bible, prior to

480-403: A fetus, is called a "molly" or "Molly mule", although the term is sometimes used to refer to female mules in general. A male mule is properly called a "horse mule", although it is often called a "john mule", which is the correct term for a gelded mule. A young male mule is called a "mule colt", and a young female is called a "mule filly". Breeding of mules became possible only when the range of

576-455: A fourth god, and perhaps Shamash (the sun) in the early period. At an early stage El and Yahweh became fused and Asherah did not continue as a separate state cult, although she continued to be popular at a community level until Persian times. Yahweh, the national god of both Israel and Judah, seems to have originated in Edom and Midian in southern Canaan and may have been brought to Israel by

672-431: A king of Moab, celebrates his success in throwing off the oppression of the "House of Omri " (i.e., Israel). It bears what is generally thought to be the earliest extra-biblical reference to the name " Yahweh ". A century later Israel came into increasing conflict with the expanding Neo-Assyrian Empire , which first split its territory into several smaller units and then destroyed its capital, Samaria (722  BCE ). Both

768-407: A mule's giving birth was a frequently recorded portent in antiquity, although scientific writers also doubted whether it was really possible (see e.g. Aristotle , Historia animalium , 6.24; Varro , De re rustica , 2.1.28). Between 1527 and 2002, approximately sixty such births were reported. In Morocco in early 2002 and Colorado in 2007, mare mules produced colts. Blood and hair samples from

864-692: A new location. There is also a strong probability that for most or all of the period the temple at Bethel in Benjamin replaced that at Jerusalem, boosting the prestige of Bethel's priests (the Aaronites) against those of Jerusalem (the Zadokites), now in exile in Babylon. The Babylonian conquest entailed not just the destruction of Jerusalem and its temple, but the liquidation of the entire infrastructure which had sustained Judah for centuries. The most significant casualty

960-761: A pair of animals which have been variously identified as onagers , as mules or as hinnies. Mules were present in Israel and Judah in the time of King David . There are many representations of them in Mesopotamian works of art dating from the first millennium BC. Among the bas-reliefs depicting the Lion Hunt of Ashurbanipal from the North Palace of Nineveh is a clear and detailed image of two mules loaded with nets for hunting. Homer noted their arrival in Asia Minor in

1056-401: A picture of Israelite society during the early Iron Age period. The archaeological evidence indicates a society of village-like centres, but with more limited resources and a small population. During this period, Israelites lived primarily in small villages, the largest of which had populations of up to 300 or 400. Their villages were built on hilltops. Their houses were built in clusters around

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1152-534: A result of the Babylonian campaign. The town of Mizpah in Benjamin in the relatively unscathed northern section of the kingdom became the capital of the new Babylonian province of Yehud . This was standard Babylonian practice: when the Philistine city of Ashkalon was conquered in 604, the political, religious and economic elite (but not the bulk of the population) was banished and the administrative centre shifted to

1248-764: A rider. About 3.5 million donkeys and mules are slaughtered each year for meat worldwide. Mule trains have been part of working portions of transportation links as recently as 2005 by the World Food Programme , and are still used extensively to transport cargo in rugged, roadless regions. The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations reports that China was the top market for mules in 2003, closely followed by Mexico and many Central and South American nations. Israel and Judah Canaan State of Israel (1948–present) The history of ancient Israel and Judah spans from

1344-450: A sculpture in Texas is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Mule The mule is a domestic equine hybrid between a donkey and a horse . It is the offspring of a male donkey (a jack) and a female horse (a mare ). The horse and the donkey are different species, with different numbers of chromosomes ; of the two possible first-generation hybrids between them,

1440-469: A stallion, was bred to several mares, which gave birth to live foals that showed no characteristics of the donkey. In 1995, a group from the Federal University of Minas Gerais described a female mule that was pregnant for a seventh time, having previously produced two donkey sires, two foals with the typical 63 chromosomes of mules, and several horse stallions that had produced four foals. The three of

1536-407: A supreme god. Each culture embraced their patron god but did not deny the existence of other cultures' patron gods. In Assyria, the patron god was Ashur, and in ancient Israel, it was Yahweh; however, both Israelite and Assyrian cultures recognized each other's deities during this period. Some scholars have used the Bible as evidence to argue that most of the people alive during the events recounted in

1632-617: Is known in greater detail than that of other kingdoms in the Levant, primarily due to the selective narratives in the Books of Samuel , Kings , and Chronicles , which were included in the Bible. The northern Kingdom of Israel was destroyed around 720 BCE, when it was conquered by the Neo-Assyrian Empire . While the Kingdom of Judah remained intact during this time, it became a client state of first

1728-569: Is laid waste and his seed is no more." This "Israel" was a cultural and probably political entity, well enough established for the Egyptians to perceive it as a possible challenge, but an ethnic group rather than an organized state. Archaeologist Paula McNutt says: "It is probably… during Iron Age I [that] a population began to identify itself as 'Israelite'," differentiating itself from its neighbours via prohibitions on intermarriage, an emphasis on family history and genealogy , and religion. In

1824-444: Is rare, but can occasionally occur naturally, as well as through embryo transfer . A few mare mules have produced offspring when mated with a horse or donkey stallion. Herodotus gives an account of such an event as an ill omen of Xerxes' invasion of Greece in 480 BC: "There happened also a portent of another kind while he was still at Sardis—a mule brought forth young and gave birth to a mule" (Herodotus The Histories 7:57), and

1920-946: Is reflected in archaeological sites and findings, such as the Broad Wall ; a defensive city wall in Jerusalem; and the Siloam tunnel , an aqueduct designed to provide Jerusalem with water during an impending siege by the Neo-Assyrian Empire led by Sennacherib ; and the Siloam inscription , a lintel inscription found over the doorway of a tomb, has been ascribed to comptroller Shebna . LMLK seals on storage jar handles, excavated from strata in and around that formed by Sennacherib's destruction, appear to have been used throughout Sennacherib's 29-year reign, along with bullae from sealed documents, some that belonged to Hezekiah himself and others that name his servants. Archaeological records indicate that

2016-405: Is the act of worshipping a single god, without denying the existence of other deities. Many scholars believe that before monotheism in ancient Israel, there came a transitional period; in this transitional period many followers of the Israelite religion worshipped the god Yahweh, but did not deny the existence of other deities accepted throughout the region. Henotheistic worship was not uncommon in

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2112-442: Is usually covered with long hair like that of its mare mother. A mule has the thin limbs, small narrow hooves and short mane of the donkey, while its height, the shape of the neck and body, and the uniformity of its coat and teeth are more similar to those of the horse. Mules vary widely in size, from small miniature mules under 125 cm (50 in) to large and powerful draught mules standing up to 180 cm (70 in) at

2208-588: The Iliad in 800 BC. Christopher Columbus allegedly brought mules to the New World. George Washington bred mules at his Mount Vernon home. At the time, they were not common in the United States, but Washington understood their value, as they were "more docile than donkeys and cheap to maintain." In the nineteenth century, they were used in various capacities as draught animals – on farms, especially where clay made

2304-532: The City of David seem to indicate that Jerusalem was already a significant city by the 10th century BCE. Significant administrative structures such as the Stepped Stone Structure and Large Stone Structure , which originally formed part of one structure, also contain material culture from the 10th century BCE or earlier. The ruins of a significant Judahite military fortress, Tel Arad , have also been found in

2400-455: The Kenites and Midianites at an early stage. There is a general consensus among scholars that the first formative event in the emergence of the distinctive religion described in the Bible was triggered by the destruction of Israel by Assyria in c.  722  BCE . Refugees from the northern kingdom fled to Judah, bringing with them laws and a prophetic tradition of Yahweh. This religion

2496-654: The Late Bronze Age collapse , and Canaanite culture was then gradually absorbed into those of the Philistines , Phoenicians and Israelites . The process was gradual and a strong Egyptian presence continued into the 12th century BCE, and, while some Canaanite cities were destroyed, others continued to exist in Iron Age I. The name "Israel" first appears in the Merneptah Stele c.  1208  BCE : "Israel

2592-472: The Second Anglo-Afghan War . In the second half of the twentieth century, widespread use of mules declined in industrialised countries. The use of mules for farming and for transportation of agricultural products largely gave way to steam-, then diesel-powered, tractors and lorries. On 5 May 2003, Idaho Gem , a mule foal cloned by nuclear transfer of cells from foetal material, was born at

2688-499: The University of Idaho in Moscow, Idaho . Neither an equid nor a hybrid animal had been cloned before. In general terms, in both the mule and the hinny, the foreparts and head of the animal are similar to those of the father sire , while the hindparts and tail tend to resemble those of the dam . A mule is generally larger than a hinny, with longer ears and a heavier head; the tail

2784-571: The battle of Qarqar (853 BCE) on the Kurkh Monoliths . This "Sir'lit" is most often interpreted as "Israel". At this time Israel was apparently engaged in a three-way contest with Damascus and Tyre for control of the Jezreel Valley and Galilee in the north, and with Moab , Ammon and Aram Damascus in the east for control of Gilead ; the Mesha Stele ( c.  830  BCE ), left by

2880-430: The withers . The median weight range is between about 370 and 460 kg (820 and 1000 lb). The coat may be of any color seen in the horse or in the donkey. Mules usually display the light points commonly seen in donkeys: pale or mealy areas on the belly and the insides of the thighs, on the muzzle, and around the eyes. They often have primitive markings such as dorsal stripe, shoulder stripe or zebra stripes on

2976-616: The "godfathers" for the Babylonian period (586–539  BCE ). Other academic terms often used are: The return to Zion and the construction of the Second Temple marked the beginning of the Second Temple period ( c.  516  BCE  – 70 CE). The eastern Mediterranean seaboard stretches 400 miles north to south from the Taurus Mountains to the Sinai Peninsula , and 70 to 100 miles east to west between

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3072-452: The 10th and early 9th centuries BCE, the territory of Judah appears to have been sparsely populated, limited to small and mostly unfortified settlements. The status of Jerusalem in the 10th century BCE is a major subject of debate among scholars. According to some scholars, Jerusalem does not show evidence of significant Israelite residential activity until the 9th century BCE. Other scholars argue that recent discoveries and radiocarbon tests in

3168-607: The Ancient Near East, as many Iron Age nation states worshipped an elevated national god which was nonetheless only part of a wider pantheon; examples include Chemosh in Moab , Qos in Edom , Milkom in Ammon , and Ashur in Assyria . Canaanite religion syncretized elements from neighbouring cultures, largely from Mesopotamian religious traditions. Using Canaanite religion as a base

3264-629: The Babylonian destruction as divinely-ordained punishment for the failure of Israel's kings to worship Yahweh to the exclusion of all other deities. The Second Temple period (520 BCE – 70 CE) differed in significant ways from what had gone before. Strict monotheism emerged among the priests of the Temple establishment during the seventh and sixth centuries BCE, as did beliefs regarding angels and demons . At this time, circumcision , dietary laws, and Sabbath-observance gained more significance as symbols of Jewish identity , and

3360-585: The Colorado birth verified that the mother was indeed a mule and the foal was indeed her offspring. A 1939 article in the Journal of Heredity describes two offspring of a fertile mare mule named "Old Bec," which was owned at the time by Texas A&M University in the late 1920s. One of the foals was a female, sired by a jack. Unlike her mother, she was sterile. The other, sired by a five-gaited Saddlebred stallion, exhibited no characteristics of any donkey. That horse,

3456-456: The Hebrew Bible as having a hand in the establishment of the royal institution. In this sense, the true king is God, and the king serves as his earthly envoy and is tasked with ruling his realm. In some Psalms that appear to be related to the coronation of kings, they are referred to as "sons of Yahweh". The kings actually had to succeed one another according to a dynastic principle, even though

3552-530: The Hebrew Bible, including Moses, were most likely henotheists. There are many quotes from the Hebrew Bible that are used to support this view. One such quote from Jewish tradition is the first commandment which in its entirety reads "I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage: You shall have no other gods before me." This quote does not deny the existence of other gods; it merely states that Jews should consider Yahweh or God

3648-611: The Israelite kingdom and its rulers. Further details of this are contained in the Iron Age Yahwism section below. Evidence from the Bible suggests that henotheism did exist: "They [the Hebrews] went and served alien gods and paid homage to them, gods of whom they had no experience and whom he [Yahweh] did not allot to them" (Deut. 29.26). Many believe that this quote demonstrates that the early Israelite kingdom followed traditions similar to ancient Mesopotamia, where each major urban centre had

3744-457: The Israelites worshipped decreased, and figurative images vanished from their shrines. Yahwism , as some scholars name this belief system, is often described as a form of henotheism or monolatry . Over the same time, a folk religion continued to be practised across Israel and Judah. These practices were influenced by the polytheistic beliefs of the surrounding ethnicities, and were denounced by

3840-477: The Kingdom of Israel was fairly prosperous. The late Iron Age saw an increase in urban development in Israel. Whereas previously the Israelites had lived mainly in small and unfortified settlements, the rise of the Kingdom of Israel saw the growth of cities and the construction of palaces, large royal enclosures, and fortifications with walls and gates. Israel initially had to invest significant resources into defence as it

3936-672: The Late Bronze Age there were no more than about 25 villages in the highlands, but this increased to over 300 by the end of Iron Age I, while the settled population doubled from 20,000 to 40,000. The villages were more numerous and larger in the north, and probably shared the highlands with pastoral nomads , who left no remains. Archaeologists and historians attempting to trace the origins of these villagers have found it impossible to identify any distinctive features that could define them as specifically Israelite – collared-rim jars and four-room houses have been identified outside

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4032-576: The Negev, and a collection of military orders found there suggest literacy was present throughout the ranks of the Judahite army. This suggests that literacy was not limited to a tiny elite, indicating the presence of a substantial educational infrastructure in Judah. In the 7th century Jerusalem grew to contain a population many times greater than earlier and achieved clear dominance over its neighbours. This occurred at

4128-590: The Neo-Assyrian Empire and then the Neo-Babylonian Empire . However, Jewish revolts against the Babylonians led to the destruction of Judah in 586 BCE, under the rule of Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar II . According to the biblical account, the armies of Nebuchadnezzar II besieged Jerusalem between 589–586 BCE, which led to the destruction of Solomon's Temple and the exile of the Jews to Babylon ; this event

4224-553: The Neo-Assyrian Empire. Babylonian Judah suffered a steep decline in both economy and population and lost the Negev, the Shephelah, and part of the Judean hill country, including Hebron, to encroachments from Edom and other neighbours. Jerusalem, destroyed but probably not totally abandoned, was much smaller than previously, and the settlements surrounding it, as well as the towns in the former kingdom's western borders, were all devastated as

4320-516: The Philistine diet in places), by an abandonment of the Philistine/Canaanite custom of having highly decorated pottery, and by the practice of circumcision. The Israelite ethnic identity had originated, not from the Exodus and a subsequent conquest , but from a transformation of the existing Canaanite-Philistine cultures. These surveys revolutionized the study of early Israel. The discovery of

4416-517: The Phoenicians and intervention in their internal affairs by Samaritans , Arabs, and Ammonites. Although the specific process by which the Israelites adopted monotheism is unknown, it is certain that the transition was a gradual one and was not totally accomplished during the First Temple period. More is known about this period, as during this time writing was widespread. The number of gods that

4512-440: The ancient Near East , was based on a cult of ancestors and worship of family gods (the "gods of the fathers"). With the emergence of the monarchy at the beginning of Iron Age II the kings promoted their family god, Yahweh, as the god of the kingdom, but beyond the royal court, religion continued to be both polytheistic and family-centred. The major deities were not numerous – El, Asherah , and Yahweh, with Baal as

4608-490: The biblical and Assyrian sources speak of a massive deportation of people from Israel and their replacement with settlers from other parts of the empire – such population exchanges were an established part of Assyrian imperial policy, a means of breaking the old power structure – and the former Israel never again became an independent political entity. Finkelstein holds that Judah emerged as an operational kingdom somewhat later than Israel, during

4704-494: The biblical kingdom of Israel was only sparsely inhabited although letters from the Egyptian archives indicate that Jerusalem was already a Canaanite city-state recognizing Egyptian overlordship. Politically and culturally it was dominated by Egypt, each city under its own ruler, constantly at odds with its neighbours, and appealing to the Egyptians to adjudicate their differences. The Canaanite city state system broke down during

4800-615: The domestic horse, which originated in Central Asia in about 3500 BC , extended into that of the domestic ass, which originated in north-eastern Africa. This overlap probably occurred in Anatolia and Mesopotamia in Western Asia, and mules were bred there before 1000 BC . A painting in the Tomb of Nebamun at Thebes , dating from approximately 1350 BC , shows a chariot drawn by

4896-727: The early appearance of the Israelites in Canaan 's hill country during the late second millennium BCE, to the establishment and subsequent downfall of the two Israelite kingdoms in the mid-first millennium BCE. This history unfolds within the Southern Levant during the Iron Age . The earliest documented mention of "Israel" as a people appears on the Merneptah Stele , an ancient Egyptian inscription dating back to around 1208 BCE. Archaeological evidence suggests that ancient Israelite culture evolved from

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4992-669: The east again lie the steep-sided valley occupied by the Jordan River , the Dead Sea , and the wadi of the Arabah , which continues down to the eastern arm of the Red Sea . Beyond the plateau is the Syrian desert, separating the Levant from Mesopotamia. To the southwest is Egypt, to the northeast Mesopotamia. The location and geographical characteristics of the narrow Levant made the area a battleground among

5088-452: The end of use for the mule. Unlike domesticated animals that are fertile, the mule cannot parent its own kind and could not transition from draft animal to rural pet animal. In the mid-1900s, the headcount of mules in the U.S. central states was dropping towards zero. Jackass admirer V. H. Torrance of Austin, Texas lamented the disappearance of the mule from the American scene, and published

5184-514: The ensuing competition between Egypt and the Neo-Babylonian Empire for control of the land led to the destruction of Judah in a series of campaigns between 597 and 582. After its fall, the former Kingdom of Israel became the Assyrian province of Samerina , which was taken over about a century later by the Neo-Babylonian Empire, created after the revolt of the Babylonians and them defeating

5280-407: The entire world) and for the increased emphasis on purity and holiness. Most significantly, the trauma of the exile experience led to the development of a strong sense of Hebrew identity distinct from other peoples, with increased emphasis on symbols such as circumcision and Sabbath-observance to sustain that distinction. Hans M. Barstad writes that the concentration of the biblical literature on

5376-517: The exiles' return to Zion , inaugurating the formative period in which a more distinctive Jewish identity developed in the Persian province of Yehud . During this time, the destroyed Solomon's Temple was replaced by the Second Temple , marking the beginning of the Second Temple period . The Iron Age II period is followed by periods named after conquering empires, such as the Neo-Babylonians becoming

5472-445: The experience of the exiles in Babylon disguises that the great majority of the population remained in Judah; for them, life after the fall of Jerusalem probably went on much as it had before. It may even have improved, as they were rewarded with the land and property of the deportees, much to the anger of the community of exiles remaining in Babylon. Conversely, Avraham Faust writes that archaeological and demographic surveys show that

5568-525: The formerly sparsely populated highlands from the Judean hills in the south to the hills of Samaria in the north, far from the Canaanite cities that were in the process of collapse and disintegration, about two-hundred fifty hilltop communities suddenly sprang up. Here were the first Israelites. Modern scholars therefore see Israel arising peacefully and internally from existing people in the highlands of Canaan. Extensive archaeological excavations have provided

5664-431: The high priest (Hebrew: כהן הגדול , romanized:  kōhēn hāggādôl ) and the master of the palace (Hebrew: על הבית, סוכן , romanized:  ʿal-habbayit, sōkēn ), who has a function of stewardship of the household of the king at the beginning and seems to become a real prime minister of Judah during the later periods. The attributions of most of these dignitaries remain debated, as illustrated in particular by

5760-502: The highlands and thus cannot be used to distinguish Israelite sites, and while the pottery of the highland villages is far more limited than that of lowland Canaanite sites, it develops typologically out of Canaanite pottery that came before. Israel Finkelstein proposed that the oval or circular layout that distinguishes some of the earliest highland sites, and the notable absence of pig bones from hill sites, could be taken as markers of ethnicity, but others have cautioned that these can be

5856-405: The horse it inherits speed, conformation, and agility. Mules are reputed to exhibit a higher cognitive intelligence than their parent species, but robust scientific evidence to back up these claims is lacking. Preliminary data exist from at least two evidence-based studies, but they rely on a limited set of specialized cognitive tests and a small number of subjects . Mules are generally taller at

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5952-460: The institution of the synagogue became increasingly important, and most of the biblical literature, including the Torah, was substantially revised during this time. As was customary in the ancient Near East , a king ( Hebrew : מלך , romanized :  melekh ) ruled over the kingdoms of Israel and Judah. The national god Yahweh, who selects those to rule his realm and his people, is depicted in

6048-452: The latter available for testing each bore 64 horse-like chromosomes. These foals phenotypically resembled horses, though they bore markings absent from the sire's known lineages, and one had ears noticeably longer than those typical of her sire's breed. The elder two horse-like foals had proved fertile at the time of publication, with their progeny being typical of horses. While a few mules can carry live weight up to 160 kg (353 lb),

6144-487: The legs. The mule exhibits hybrid vigor . Charles Darwin wrote: "The mule always appears to me a most surprising animal. That a hybrid should possess more reason, memory, obstinacy, social affection, powers of muscular endurance, and length of life, than either of its parents, seems to indicate that art has here outdone nature". The mule inherits from the donkey the traits of intelligence, sure-footedness, toughness, endurance, disposition, and natural cautiousness. From

6240-431: The lists of dignitaries from the reigns of David and Solomon show that the king is supported by a group of high dignitaries. Those include the chief of the army (Hebrew: שר הצבא , romanized:  śar haṣṣābā ), the great scribe (Hebrew: שר הצבא , romanized:  śar haṣṣābā ) who was in charge of the management of the royal chancellery, the herald (Hebrew: מזכיר , romanized:  mazkîr ), as well as

6336-437: The mule is easier to obtain and more common than the hinny , which is the offspring of a male horse (a stallion ) and a female donkey (a jenny ). Mules vary widely in size, and may be of any color seen in horses or donkeys. They are more patient, hardier and longer-lived than horses, and are perceived as less obstinate and more intelligent than donkeys. A female mule that has oestrus cycles, and so could, in theory, carry

6432-505: The population of Judah was significantly reduced to barely 10% of what it had been in the time before the exile. The assassination around 582 of the Babylonian governor by a disaffected member of the former royal House of David provoked a Babylonian crackdown, possibly reflected in the Book of Lamentations , but the situation seems to have soon stabilized again. Nevertheless, those unwalled cities and towns that remained were subject to slave raids by

6528-428: The powerful entities that surrounded it. Canaan in the Late Bronze Age was a shadow of what it had been centuries earlier: many cities were abandoned, others shrank in size, and the total settled population was probably not much more than a hundred thousand. Settlement was concentrated in cities along the coastal plain and along major communication routes; the central and northern hill country which would later become

6624-572: The pre-existing Canaanite civilization . During the Iron Age II period, two Israelite kingdoms emerged, covering much of Canaan: the Kingdom of Israel in the north and the Kingdom of Judah in the south. According to the Hebrew Bible , a " United Monarchy " consisting of Israel and Judah existed as early as the 11th century BCE, under the reigns of Saul , David , and Solomon ; the great kingdom later

6720-423: The prophets. In addition to the Temple in Jerusalem , there was public worship practised all over Israel and Judah in shrines and sanctuaries, outdoors, and close to city gates. In the 8th and 7th centuries BCE, the kings Hezekiah and Josiah of Judah implemented a number of significant religious reforms that aimed to centre worship of the God of Israel in Jerusalem and eliminate foreign customs. Henotheism

6816-467: The region. In the central highlands this resulted in unification in a kingdom with the city of Samaria as its capital, possibly by the second half of the 10th century BCE when an inscription of the Egyptian pharaoh Shoshenq I records a series of campaigns directed at the area. Israel had clearly emerged in the first half of the 9th century BCE, this is attested when the Assyrian king Shalmaneser III names " Ahab Sir'lit" among his enemies at

6912-426: The remains of a dense network of highland villages – all apparently established within the span of few generations – indicated that a dramatic social transformation had taken place in the central hill country of Canaan around 1200 BCE. There was no sign of violent invasion or even the infiltration of a clearly defined ethnic group. Instead, it seemed to be a revolution in lifestyle. In

7008-577: The rise of the Israelite monarchy the early Israelites were led by the Biblical judges , or chieftains who served as military leaders in times of crisis. Scholars are divided over the historicity of this account. However, it is likely that regional chiefdoms and polities provided security. The small villages were unwalled but were likely subjects of the major town in the area. Writing was known and available for recording, even at small sites. According to Israel Finkelstein , after an emergent and large polity

7104-462: The same time that Israel was being destroyed by the Neo-Assyrian Empire, and was probably the result of a cooperative arrangement with the Assyrians to establish Judah as an Assyrian vassal state controlling the valuable olive industry. Judah prospered as a vassal state (despite a disastrous rebellion against Sennacherib ), but in the last half of the 7th century BCE, Assyria suddenly collapsed, and

7200-636: The sea and the Arabian Desert . The coastal plain of the southern Levant , broad in the south and narrowing to the north, is backed in its southernmost portion by a zone of foothills, the Shfela ; like the plain this narrows as it goes northwards, ending in the promontory of Mount Carmel . East of the plain and the Shfela is a mountainous ridge, the "hill country of Judea " in the south, the " hill country of Ephraim " north of that, then Galilee and Mount Lebanon . To

7296-414: The second half of 9th century BCE, but the subject is one of considerable controversy. There are indications that during the 10th and 9th centuries BCE, the southern highlands had been divided between a number of centres, none with clear primacy. During the reign of Hezekiah , between c.  715 and 686  BCE , a notable increase in the power of the Judean state can be observed. This

7392-448: The shoulder than donkeys and have better endurance than horses, although a lower top speed. In the early twentieth century the mule was preferred to the horse as a pack animal – its skin is harder and less sensitive than that of a horse, and it is better able to bear heavy weights. A mule has 63 chromosomes , intermediate between the 64 of the horse and the 62 of the donkey. Mules are usually infertile for this reason. Pregnancy

7488-593: The soil slippery and sticky; pulling canal boats; and famously for pulling, often in teams of 20 or more animals, wagonloads of borax out of Death Valley , California from 1883 to 1889. The wagons were among the largest ever pulled by draught animals, designed to carry 10 short tons (9 metric tons) of borax ore at a time. Mules were used by armies to transport supplies, occasionally as mobile firing platforms for smaller cannons, and to pull heavier field guns with wheels over mountainous trails such as in Afghanistan during

7584-529: The source of significant portions of the Hebrew Bible: Isaiah 40–55; Ezekiel ; the final version of Jeremiah ; the work of the hypothesized priestly source in the Pentateuch ; and the final form of the history of Israel from Deuteronomy to 2 Kings . Theologically, the Babylonian exiles were responsible for the doctrines of individual responsibility and universalism (the concept that one god controls

7680-473: The succession was occasionally decided through coups d'état . The coronation seemed to take place in a sacred place, and was marked by the anointing of the king who then becomes the "anointed one (māšîaḥ, the origin of the word Messiah ) of Yahweh"; the end of the ritual seems marked by an acclamation by the people (or at least their representatives, the Elders), followed by a banquet. The Bible's descriptions of

7776-545: The superiority of the mule becomes apparent in their additional endurance. In general, a mule can be packed with dead weight up to 20% of its body weight, or around 90 kg (198 lb). Although it depends on the individual animal, mules trained by the Army of Pakistan are reported to be able to carry up to 72 kg (159 lb) and walk 26 km (16.2 mi) without resting. The average equine in general can carry up to roughly 30% of its body weight in live weight, such as

7872-566: The supreme god, incomparable to other supernatural beings. Some scholars attribute the concept of angels and demons found in Judaism and Christianity to the tradition of henotheism. Instead of completely getting rid of the concept of other supernatural beings, these religions changed former deities into angels and demons. The religion of the Israelites of Iron Age I, like the Ancient Canaanite religion from which it evolved and other religions of

7968-572: The treaty with Yahweh would enable Israel's god to preserve both the city and the king in return for the people's worship and obedience. The destruction of Jerusalem, its Temple, and the Davidic dynasty by Babylon in 587/586 BCE was deeply traumatic and led to revisions of the national mythos during the Babylonian exile. This revision was expressed in the Deuteronomistic history , the books of Joshua , Judges , Samuel and Kings , which interpreted

8064-719: Was also recorded in the Babylonian Chronicles . The exilic period saw the development of the Israelite religion towards a monotheistic Judaism . The exile ended with the fall of Babylon to the Achaemenid Empire c.  538  BCE . Subsequently, the Achaemenid king Cyrus the Great issued a proclamation known as the Edict of Cyrus , which authorized and encouraged exiled Jews to return to Judah. Cyrus' proclamation began

8160-692: Was an 18-year-old, 1,100-pound live mule in Muleshoe. Old Pete was rendered in fiberglass by sculptor Kevin Wolf. The statue was invited to and attended the first inaugural of President George W. Bush . The memorial is located adjacent to the Muleshoe Chamber of Commerce on the north side of the Texas Panhandle rural town. The installation is located on U.S. Highway 84 . 34°13′34″N 102°43′23″W  /  34.22612°N 102.72308°W  / 34.22612; -102.72308 This article about

8256-433: Was based on multiple industries. It had the largest olive oil production centres in the region, using at least two different types of olive oil presses, and also had a significant wine industry, with wine presses constructed next to vineyards. By contrast, the Kingdom of Judah was significantly less advanced. Some scholars believe it was no more than a small tribal entity limited to Jerusalem and its immediate surroundings. In

8352-400: Was consolidated as an important regional power by the first half of the 9th century BCE, before falling to the Neo-Assyrian Empire in 722 BCE, and the Kingdom of Judah began to flourish in the second half of the 9th century BCE. Unusually favourable climatic conditions in the first two centuries of Iron Age II brought about an expansion of population, settlements and trade throughout

8448-409: Was natural due to the fact that the Canaanite culture inhabited the same region prior to the emergence of Israelite culture. Israelite religion was no exception, as during the transitional period, Yahweh and El were syncretized in the Israelite pantheon. El already occupied a reasonably important place in the Israelite religion. Even the name "Israel" is based on the name El, rather than Yahweh. It

8544-556: Was separated into two smaller kingdoms: Israel, containing the cities of Shechem and Samaria , in the north, and Judah, containing Jerusalem and Solomon's Temple , in the south. The historicity of the United Monarchy is debated—as there are no archaeological remains of it that are accepted as consensus—but historians and archaeologists agree that Israel and Judah existed as separate kingdoms by c.  900 BCE and c.  850 BCE , respectively. The kingdoms' history

8640-479: Was subjected to regular Aramean incursions and attacks, but after the Arameans were subjugated by the Assyrians and Israel could afford to put less resources into defending its territory, its architectural infrastructure grew dramatically. Extensive fortifications were built around cities such as Dan , Megiddo , and Hazor , including monumental and multi-towered city walls and multi-gate entry systems. Israel's economy

8736-465: Was subsequently adopted by the landowners of Judah, who in 640 BCE placed the eight-year-old Josiah on the throne. Judah at this time was a vassal state of Assyria, but Assyrian power collapsed in the 630s, and around 622 Josiah and his supporters launched a bid for independence expressed as loyalty to "Yahweh alone". According to the Deuteronomists , as scholars call these Judean nationalists,

8832-476: Was suddenly formed based on the Gibeon - Gibeah plateau and destroyed by Shoshenq I , the biblical Shishak , in the 10th century BCE, a return to small city-states was prevalent in the Southern Levant , but between 950 and 900  BCE another large polity emerged in the northern highlands with its capital eventually at Tirzah , that can be considered the precursor of the Kingdom of Israel. The Kingdom of Israel

8928-501: Was the state ideology of "Zion theology," the idea that the god of Israel had chosen Jerusalem for his dwelling-place and that the Davidic dynasty would reign there forever. The fall of the city and the end of Davidic kingship forced the leaders of the exile community – kings, priests, scribes and prophets – to reformulate the concepts of community, faith and politics. The exile community in Babylon thus became

9024-511: Was this initial harmonization of Israelite and Canaanite religious thought that led to Yahweh gradually absorbing several characteristics from Canaanite deities, in turn strengthening his own position as an all-powerful "One." Even still, monotheism in the region of ancient Israel and Judah did not take hold overnight, and during the intermediate stages most people are believed to have remained henotheistic. During this intermediate period of henotheism many families worshipped different gods. Religion

9120-427: Was very much centred around the family, as opposed to the community. The region of Israel and Judah was sparsely populated during the time of Moses. As such many different areas worshipped different gods, due to social isolation. It was not until later on in Israelite history that people started to worship Yahweh alone and fully convert to monotheistic values. That switch occurred with the growth of power and influence of

9216-434: Was virtually an archaeological terra incognita. Since then, intensive surveys have examined the traditional territories of the tribes of Judah , Benjamin , Ephraim , and Manasseh . These surveys have revealed the sudden emergence of a new culture contrasting with the Philistine and Canaanite societies existing in Canaan in the Iron Age. This new culture is characterized by a lack of pork remains (whereas pork formed 20% of

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