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79-539: The term Rephaim first appears in Ugarit . There is no consensus regarding the exact vocalization of the name “Rpʾum” in Ugaritic, since the word does not appear in syllabic texts. The first syllable, /ra/, is mostly based on Semitic names from Ugarit, Canaan, Mari and other places written in syllabic text that carry the element Rpʾ. Examples: Ra-pí-ú-um; A-bi-ra-pí; Ya-ku-un-ra-pí; Am-mu-ra-pí; Ra-pa-Ya-ma; Ra-pí-DINGIR and more. It

158-539: A city wall with one known fortified gate, though four gates are believed to have existed. Since the Late Bronze Age about 50 meters have been eroded from the north end of the site by the Nahr Chbayyeb river. The southern slope of the tell is covered by orange groves, preventing excavation. A brief investigation of a looted tomb at the necropolis of Minet el-Beida was conducted by Léon Albanèse in 1928, who then examined

237-463: A club aloft, portrayed in a typical Near Eastern and Egyptian artistic style as well as a stela bearing a dedication to Baal of Sapan. Numerous statues, stelai—some offered by Egyptians—and sixteen stone anchors were found as votive offerings in this vicinity. Both temples are composed of a pronaos (porch) and a naos (sanctuary proper), aligned from north-northeast to south-southwest. The Temple of Dagan has 4–5-meter-thick foundation walls. Remnants of

316-404: A dedicated hoe, hints at its potential role as the residence of the city's chief priest. Among a cache of seventy-four bronze items uncovered beneath a doorway threshold inside the house, was an elegant tripod adorned with pomegranate-shaped pendants. Two nearby areas, Ras Ibn Hani and Minet el Beida, parts of the city of Ugarit, have also been excavated. Ras Ibn Hani, on a promontory overlooking

395-401: A defensive fortress. A "royal palace", elite housing, and tombs were found. About 169 cuneiform tablets, most in the Ugaritic language, were also found. One of the two ports of ancient Ugarit (the other, Ra’šu, is unlocated but suggested to be Ras Ibn Hani) was located 1.5 kilometers west of the main city, at the natural harbor of Minet el Beida (Arabic for "White Harbor"). The 28 hectare site

474-508: A field. At that time the region was part of the Alawite State , not in Syria. The discovered area was the necropolis of Ugarit located in the nearby seaport of Minet el-Beida . Excavations have since revealed a city with a prehistory reaching back to c. 6000 BC. The site covers an area of about 28 hectares with a maximum height of 20 meters at the top of the acropolis. The site is surrounded by

553-513: A major supplier and transporter of food supplies. A letter from Egyptian pharaoh Merenptah referred to a missive sent by the ruler of Ugarit: So you had written to me: “Could I not have demanded my needs [from] the Great King, the king of Egypt, my lord? I demand this request: [In] the land of Ugarit there is a severe hunger (bi-ru-ú dan-niš): May my lord save [the land of Ugarit], and may the king give grain (ZÍZ.AN.MEŠ) to save my life … and to save

632-536: A modern English Bible translates to: The Israelites lived in a smaller area of former Canaanite land and land east of the Jordan River after the legendary prophet Moses led the Israelite Exodus out of Egypt ( Numbers 34:1–12 ). The Torah's Book of Deuteronomy presents this occupation as their God's fulfillment of the promise ( Deuteronomy 1:8 ). Moses anticipated that their God might subsequently give

711-1831: A poetic narrative, letters, legal documents such as land transfers, a few international treaties, and a number of administrative lists. Fragments of several poetic works have been identified: the " Legend of Keret ", the "Legend of Danel ", the Ba'al tales that detail Baal - Hadad 's conflicts with Yam and Mot , among other fragments. ( Shamshi-Adad dynasty 1808–1736 BCE) (Amorites) Shamshi-Adad I Ishme-Dagan I Mut-Ashkur Rimush Asinum Ashur-dugul Ashur-apla-idi Nasir-Sin Sin-namir Ipqi-Ishtar Adad-salulu Adasi (Non-dynastic usurpers 1735–1701 BCE) Puzur-Sin Ashur-dugul Ashur-apla-idi Nasir-Sin Sin-namir Ipqi-Ishtar Adad-salulu Adasi ( Adaside dynasty 1700–722 BCE) Bel-bani Libaya Sharma-Adad I Iptar-Sin Bazaya Lullaya Shu-Ninua Sharma-Adad II Erishum III Shamshi-Adad II Ishme-Dagan II Shamshi-Adad III Ashur-nirari I Puzur-Ashur III Enlil-nasir I Nur-ili Ashur-shaduni Ashur-rabi I Ashur-nadin-ahhe I Enlil-Nasir II Ashur-nirari II Ashur-bel-nisheshu Ashur-rim-nisheshu Ashur-nadin-ahhe II Second Intermediate Period Sixteenth Dynasty Abydos Dynasty Seventeenth Dynasty (1500–1100 BCE) Kidinuid dynasty Igehalkid dynasty Untash-Napirisha Twenty-first Dynasty of Egypt Smendes Amenemnisu Psusennes I Amenemope Osorkon

790-550: A request from the Egyptian king to send a physician to Ugarit. From the late 13th century into the early 12th century BC, the entire region, based on contemporary texts, including Hititte areas, the Levant, and the eastern Mediterranean, faced severe and widespread food shortages, potentially from plant diseases . Ugarit received a number of desperate pleas for food from other realms. The food shortage eventually reached Ugarit, previously

869-432: A terracotta depiction of Hathor , bronze tools and weaponry, cylinder seals, stone weights, remnants of banded dye-murex shells used in the production of purple dye , and inscribed tablets. The site is thought to have been largely evacuated before it was burned (resulting in a thick ash layer) and destroyed as few valuables were found in the residences or in the southern palace. About 130 cuneiform tablets were found in

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948-432: A year, allowing a tight synchronism. The latest datable text was from the reign of Kassite ruler Meli-Shipak II (c. 1186–1172 BC) about the time of the destruction of Ugarit. An example of the archive involving one ton of copper: Thus Kušmešuša, king of Alašiya, say to Niqmaddu, king of Ugarit, my son. All is well with me, my households, my countries, my wives, my sons, my troops, my horses and my chariots.… In exchange of

1027-668: Is Middle Eastern land in the Levant that Abrahamic religions (which include Judaism , Christianity , Islam , and others) claim God promised and subsequently gave to Abraham (the legendary patriarch in Abrahamic religions) and several more times to his descendants. The concept of the Promised Land originates from a religious narrative written in the Hebrew religious text the Torah . God

1106-413: Is verb–subject–object , subject-object-verb (VSO)&(SOV); possessed–possessor (NG) (first element dependent on the function and second always in genitive case); and noun – adjective (NA) (both in the same case (i.e. congruent)). Apart from royal correspondence with neighboring Bronze Age monarchs, Ugaritic literature from tablets found in the city's libraries include mythological texts written in

1185-486: Is claimed to have spoken the following promises to Abraham in several verses of Genesis (the first book of the Torah ), which a modern English Bible translates to: Later in what is called the covenant of the pieces , a verse is said to describe what are known as "borders of the Land" ( Gevulot Ha-aretz ): These allegedly divine promises were given prior to the birth of Abraham's sons. Abraham's family tree includes both

1264-607: Is later renamed " Israel " ( Genesis 32:28 ) and his descendants are called the Children of Israel or the Twelve Tribes of Israel . The Torah's subsequent Book of Exodus describes it as "land flowing with milk and honey" ( Exodus 3:17 ) and gives verses on how to treat the prior occupants and marks the borders in terms of the Red Sea , the "Sea of the Philistines ", and the "River", which

1343-499: Is not certain, however, if the element Rpʾ in these names refers solely to the Rephaim[.] For the nominative case, several readings have been suggested in various studies, such as Rapa‌ʾūma, Rāpa‌ʾūma, Rāpiʾūma, Rapiʾūma and so on. There are two main groups of etymological hypotheses explaining the origins of the biblical term, Repha'im . The first group proposes that this is a native Hebrew language term, which could be derived either from

1422-518: Is written: German Lutheran Old Testament commentator Johann Friedrich Karl Keil states that the covenant is through Isaac, but notes that Ishmael 's descendants have held much of that land through time. Many European colonists saw America as the "Promised Land", representing a haven from religious conflicts and persecution . For instance, Puritan minister John Cotton 's 1630 sermon God's Promise to His Plantation gave colonizers departing England to Massachusetts repeated references to

1501-542: The "Ugaritic Funerary Text" provides important evidence for understanding Ugarit's cult of the dead , wherein beings called rapi'uma , the long dead, and malakuma , recently dead kings, were invoked in a funeral liturgy, presented with food/drink offerings, and asked to provide blessings for the reign of the current king. The many references to repha'im in the Hebrew Bible in contexts involving Sheol and dead spirits strongly suggests that many ancient Israelites imagined

1580-563: The Amarna letters found in Akhenaten's capital of Egypt from the mid-14th century BCE were written in Ugarit. Most of the letters were broken and their reading proved difficult, but some information was recovered. The population of Ugarit in this period is estimated to be between 7,000 and 8,000 individuals. The kingdom of Ugarit controlled about 2,000 km on average. In the mid-14th century BC, Ugarit

1659-835: The Ammonites called them the "Zamzummim" in Deuteronomy 2:18–21 . Repha'im have also been considered the residents of the Netherworld ( Sheol in the Hebrew Bible) in more recent scholarship. Possible examples of this usage appear as " shades ", "spirits", or "dead" in various translations of the Bible. See: Isa 14:9 , 26:14 , 26:19 ; Ps 88:10 ; Prov 2:18 , 9:18 , 21:16 ; Job 26:5 , and possibly 2 Chron 16:12 , where Repha'im may be read as "dead ancestors" or "weakeners", as opposed to Rophe'im , "doctors". The Heb. root רפא means "heal", and thus

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1738-714: The Book of Joshua ( Joshua 12:4 , 13:12 , 15:8 , 17:15 , 18:16 ); the Books of Samuel ( 2 Samuel 5:18–22 , 23:13 ); and the Books of Chronicles ( 1 Chronicles 11:15 , 14:9 and 20:4 ). Medieval Jewish exegetes like Nachmanides and Radak have suggested that the Rephaim and Hivites are one and the same. This used to explain why the two names never appear together in Biblical lists of Canaanite tribes. Nonetheless, later scholars have called this assumption into question. Others have argued that

1817-581: The Ishmaelite tribes (the claimed ancestry of Arabs and of the Islamic prophet Muhammad ) through Abraham's first son Ishmael and the Israelite tribes (the claimed ancestry of Jews and Samaritans ) through Abraham's second son Isaac . God later confirms the promise to Abraham's son Isaac ( Genesis 26:3 ), and then to Isaac's son Jacob ( Genesis 28:13 ) in terms of "the land on which you are lying". Jacob

1896-462: The Ugaritic rpum which denotes the semi-deified deceased ancestors who are mentioned in such sources as the so-called Rephaim Text ( KTU 1:20–22). Despite the inconsistency between these possible meanings and that modern translations clearly distinguish between Rephaites as one of the tribes (e.g. Book of Genesis 14:5; 15:18–21; Book of Deuteronomy 2:11–20) and rephaim as the inhabitants of

1975-540: The "many nations before thee" when "He" brought them into the land "He" had discovered and promised to "His" "Chosen People" to "possess", and that this "right" was woven into US law through the 1823 Johnson v. McIntosh Supreme Court ruling. Mormonism teaches that the United States is the Biblical promised land, the U.S. Constitution divinely inspired, and Mormons God's chosen people. 1st century Roman–Jewish historian Flavius Josephus postulated that Ishmael

2054-534: The Egyptian pharaohs Senusret III and Amenemhet III have also been found. However, it is unclear at what time these monuments were brought to Ugarit. The city reached its golden age between 1500 BC and 1200 BC, when it ruled a trade-based coastal kingdom, trading with Egypt, Cyprus, the Aegean (primarily Crete), Syria, the Hittites, cities of the Levant (including Ashkelon ), and much of the eastern Mediterranean. Five of

2133-829: The Elder Siamun Psusennes II Twenty-third Dynasty of Egypt Harsiese A Takelot II Pedubast I Shoshenq VI Osorkon III Takelot III Rudamun Menkheperre Ini Twenty-fourth Dynasty of Egypt Tefnakht Bakenranef ( Sargonid dynasty ) Tiglath-Pileser Shalmaneser Marduk-apla-iddina II Sargon Sennacherib Marduk-zakir-shumi II Marduk-apla-iddina II Bel-ibni Ashur-nadin-shumi Nergal-ushezib Mushezib-Marduk Esarhaddon Ashurbanipal Ashur-etil-ilani Sinsharishkun Sin-shumu-lishir Ashur-uballit II Promised Land The Promised Land ( Hebrew : הארץ המובטחת , translit. : ha'aretz hamuvtakhat ; Arabic : أرض الميعاد , translit. : ard al-mi'ad )

2212-507: The Exodus story, and later German immigrants sang: "America ... is a beautiful land that God promised to Abraham." In a sermon celebrating independence in 1783 , Yale president Ezra Stiles implied Americans were chosen and delivered from bondage to a Promised Land: "the Lord shall have made his American Israel 'high above all nations which he hath made'," reflecting language from Deuteronomy of

2291-589: The Israelites land reflecting the boundaries of the original promise – if they were obedient to the covenant ( Deuteronomy 19:8–9 ). Commentators have noted several problems with this promise and related ones: The concept of the Promised Land is a central national myth of the Jewish People and a key tenet of Zionism , the Jewish national movement which established Israel . Mainstream Jewish tradition regards

2370-600: The King of Bashan, was one of the last survivors of the Rephaim, and that his bed was 9 cubits long. (An ordinary cubit is the length of a man's forearm according to the New American Standard Bible , or approximately 18 in (460 mm). This makes the bed over 13 feet long.) Anak , according to Deuteronomy 2:11 , was also a Rephaite. The Rephaites were called the "Emim" by the Moabites in Deuteronomy 2:11 whilst

2449-532: The Land of Hatti, and all my ships are in the Land of Lukka ? ... Thus, the country is abandoned to itself. May my father know it: the seven ships of the enemy that came here inflicted much damage upon us. Eshuwara, the senior governor of Cyprus, responded: As for the matter concerning those enemies: (it was) the people from your country (and) your own ships (who) did this! And (it was) the people from your country (who) committed these transgression(s) ... I am writing to inform you and protect you. Be aware! At

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2528-753: The Late Bronze levels, so little is known about earlier occupation. Ugarit was associated with the Great Kingdom of Yamhad (Halab, Aleppo) in Northern Syria. Ugarit is also mentioned in the Mari Archive . In the Middle Bronze, evidence indicate that Ugarit had contacts with the Egyptian Middle Kingdom. A carnelian bead can be inscribed with the name of Senusret I . A stela and a statuette from

2607-525: The Mediterranean 5 kilometers south of the city, was discovered during commercial construction in 1977. Salvage excavation occurred in 1977 followed by regular excavation which has continued to the present by a Syrian-French team led by A. Bounni and J. Lagarce. Occupation began in the mid-13th century BC. Abandoned along with Ugarit, it was re-occupied in the Hellenistic period, including the construction of

2686-891: The Phoenician and Ugaritic systems were not wholly independent inventions. A Unicode block for Ugaritic has been defined. The existence of the Ugaritic language is attested to in texts from the 14th through the 12th century BC. Ugaritic is usually classified as a Northwest Semitic language and therefore related to Hebrew , Aramaic , and Phoenician , among others. Its grammatical features are highly similar to those found in Classical Arabic and Akkadian . It possesses two genders (masculine and feminine), three cases for nouns and adjectives ( nominative , accusative , and genitive ); three numbers: ( singular , dual , and plural ); and verb aspects similar to those found in other Northwest Semitic languages. The word order in Ugaritic

2765-597: The Promised Land. I may not get there with you. But I want you to know tonight, that we, as a people, will get to the Promised Land. So I'm happy, tonight. I'm not worried about anything. I'm not fearing any man. Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord. Under the name Palestine , we comprehend the small country formerly inhabited by the Israelites, and which is today part of Acre and Damascus pachalics. It stretched between 31 and 33° N. latitude and between 32 and 35° degrees E. longitude, an area of about 1300 French : lieues carrées . Some zealous writers, to give

2844-569: The Rephaim is evident from "The Rephaim," where they are called "gods" and "divine ones," but also from the end of "Baal" in Stories from Ancient Canaan : Sun rules the Rephaim, Sun rules the divine ones: Your company are the gods, see, the dead are your company. Ugarit Ugarit ( / j uː ˈ ɡ ɑː r ɪ t , uː -/ ; Ugaritic : 𐎜𐎂𐎗𐎚 , ʾUgarītu ) was an ancient port city in northern Syria about 10 kilometers north of modern Latakia . At its height it ruled an area roughly equivalent to

2923-479: The Rephaim were not strictly Canaanite, but that their land was still nonetheless promised to Abraham . In the biblical narrative, the Israelites were instructed to exterminate the previous inhabitants of the " Promised Land ", i.e. Canaan , which include various named peoples, including some unusually tall/large individuals. Several passages in the Book of Joshua , and also Deuteronomy 3:11 , suggest that Og ,

3002-507: The Temple of Baal encompass sections of an enclosing wall, a likely courtyard altar, monumental steps leading to the elevated pronaos and naos, and another presumed altar within the naos. The temple was destroyed, possibly by an earthquake, in the mid 13th century and not rebuilt. The Temple of Dagan was also destroyed at that time but was rebuilt. Another significant structure within the Acropolis

3081-471: The citizens of the land of Ugarit. The last king of Ugarit, Ammurapi (circa 1215 to 1180 BC), was a contemporary of the last known Hittite king, Suppiluliuma II . The exact dates of his reign are unknown. However, a letter by the king is preserved, in which Ammurapi stresses the seriousness of the crisis faced by many Near Eastern states due to attacks. At this time Ugarit possessed a large army and navy and both joined with Hittite forces to try and stem

3160-510: The city's primary temples dedicated to Baal and his father, Dagan. Though the existing remnants date to the Late Bronze Age, these temples might have their origins in the Middle Bronze Age. Stelai discovered in this area portray or name these gods, affirming their identification for the respective cults. Within the Temple of Baal, discoveries include the Baal with Thunderbolt depicting Baal holding

3239-448: The city's ruins, archaeologists have studied various attributes of Ugaritic civilization just before their destruction and compared artifacts with those of nearby cultures to help establish dates. Ugarit contained many caches of cuneiform tablets inside of libraries that contained a wealth of valuable information. The destruction levels of the ruin contained Late Helladic IIIB pottery ware, but no LH IIIC (see Mycenaean period ). Therefore,

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3318-500: The date of the destruction of Ugarit is crucial for the dating of the LH IIIC phase in mainland Greece . Since an Egyptian sword bearing the name of pharaoh Merneptah was found in the destruction levels, 1190 BC was taken as the date for the beginning of the LH IIIC. A cuneiform tablet found in 1986 shows that Ugarit was destroyed sometime after the death of Merneptah (1203 BC). It is generally agreed that Ugarit had already been destroyed by

3397-606: The destruction date of Ugarit. It is important to remember that the chronology of the ancient Near East and that of the ancient Egypt are not yet perfectly synchronized. A large number of arrowheads were recovered from the destruction level in 2021. Their typology has not been published as yet. Early in the excavations a partial text of the Ugarit King List, in Ugaritic, was found. Later, complete renditions in Akkadian were discovered. They list twenty six rulers, all deified. Only

3476-415: The early 12th century BC. A tablet from the 14th century BC found in the Amarna archives , EA 89, Rib-Hadda of Byblos likening the palace at Tyre to the grandeur found in the palace within Ugarit's walls. The palace was well constructed, predominantly crafted from stone, with preserved ashlar blocks reaching heights of up to 4 meters. Wooden crossbeams were also incorporated, inserted into slots within

3555-440: The eighth year of Ramesses III (1178 BC). Recent radiocarbon work, combined with other historical dates and the eclipse of January 21, 1192, indicates a destruction date between 1192 and 1190 BC. Bay , an official of the Egyptian queen Twosret , in a tablet (RS 86.2230) found at Ras Shamra, was in communication with Ammurapi , the last ruler of Ugarit. Bay was in office from approximately 1194–1190 BC. This sets an upper limit on

3634-515: The end Ammurapi begs for forces from the Hittite viceroy at Carchemish, the enemy having captured Ugarit's other port, Ra’šu , and was advancing on the city. To the king, my lord say, thus Ammurapi, your servant.… I wrote you twice, thrice, [new]s regarding the enemy! … May my lord know that now the enemy forces are stationed at Ra’šu, and their avant-guard forces were sent to Ugarit. Now may my lord send me forces and chariots, and may my lord save me from

3713-588: The establishment of the Kingdom of Ugarit . The city had close connections to the Hittite Empire , in later times as a vassal, sent tribute to Egypt at times, and maintained trade and diplomatic connections with Cyprus (then called Alashiya ), documented in the archives recovered from the site and corroborated by Mycenaean and Cypriot pottery found there. The polity was at its height from c.  1450 BC until its destruction in c. 1185 BC; this destruction

3792-419: The forces of this enemy! The ruler of Carchemish sent troops to assist Ugarit, but Ugarit had been sacked. A letter sent after Ugarit had been destroyed said: When your messenger arrived, the army was humiliated and the city was sacked. Our food in the threshing floors was burnt and the vineyards were also destroyed. Our city is sacked. May you know it! May you know it! By excavating the highest levels of

3871-453: The gift which you had sent me, I sent to you thirty-three (ingots of) copper; their weight is thirty talents and six-thousand and five-hundred shekels. One small tablet written in Cypro-Minoan was found on the surface of the tell. While it traditionally has been assumed that syllabic texts are in the Akkadian language and alphabetic texts are in Ugaritic it has been suggested that much of

3950-549: The imagery of the "Promised Land" as heaven or paradise and as an escape from slavery , which could often only be reached by death. The imagery and term also appear elsewhere in popular culture , in sermons, and in speeches such as Martin Luther King Jr. 's 1968 " I've Been to the Mountaintop ", in which he said: I just want to do God's will. And He's allowed me to go up to the mountain. And I've looked over. And I've seen

4029-497: The land of the Hebrews some political importance, have exaggerated the extent of Palestine; but we have an authority for us that one can not reject. St. Jerome, who had long traveled in this country, said in his letter to Dardanus (ep. 129) that the northern boundary to that of the southern, was a distance of 160 Roman miles, which is about 55 French : lieues . He paid homage to the truth despite his fears, as he said himself, of availing

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4108-520: The land of the dead, its inhabitants are thus powerless and weak and must be submissive to Elohim. The second group of etymological hypotheses treat rephaim as a loanword from another ancient Semitic language . Among the proposals is the Akkadian rabu " prince ", but this explanation enjoys rather limited popularity. Far more support has been gained by the hypothesis which derives the Hebrew refaim from

4187-424: The largest being that of the household of Urtēnu, a merchant with trading ties as far afield as Emar . This area of the tell was under military control at the time and about 100 tablets were found in the rubble from military construction. Later excavation found several hundred tablets in the actual home. One tablet mentions the enthronement of Kassite ruler Kadashman-Harbe II (c. 1223 BC) whose rule lasted less than

4266-407: The late 15th century. This port town, featuring an urban layout akin to the city of Ugarit, displays irregular street formations. Dwellings were structured around courtyards with adjacent rooms, including provisions like wells, ovens, and occasionally subterranean tombs. Besides residential spaces and shrines, warehouses were present for storing diverse goods earmarked for import or export. One of them

4345-448: The later rulers are supported by texts or known synchronisms. Given that Ugarit was abandoned between the Middle and Late Bronze Ages it is thought that the earliest names on the list were more on the order of tribal chiefs than kings. After its destruction in the early 12th century BC, Ugarit's location was forgotten until 1928 when a peasant accidentally opened an old tomb while plowing

4424-517: The letters bear no relation to Mesopotamian cuneiform signs; instead, they appear to be somehow related to the Egyptian -derived Phoenician alphabet . While the letters show little or no formal similarity to the Phoenician, the standard letter order (seen in the Phoenician alphabet as ʔ, B, G, D, H, W, Z, Ḥ, Ṭ, Y, K, L, M, N, S, ʕ, P, Ṣ, Q, R, Š, T) shows strong similarities between the two, suggesting that

4503-782: The main mound of Ras Shamra. Beginning in 1929 excavations of Ugarit were conducted by a French team called the Mission de Ras Shamra led by archaeologist Claude Schaeffer from the Musée archéologique in Strasbourg . Work continued until 1939 when it was interrupted by the outbreak of World War II. The French excavation, now the Mission Archeologique Française de Ras Shamra-Ougarit, resumed in 1950, led again by Claude Schaeffer until 1970. At that point, directorship passed to Jean Margueron. After 44 excavation seasons all of

4582-457: The masculine plural nominalized form of this root may indicate that these "deceased ancestors" could be invoked for ritual purposes that would benefit the living. Various ancient Northwest Semitic texts are also replete with references to terms evidently cognate with Rephaim as the dead or dead kings. Lewis (1989) undertakes a detailed study of several enigmatic funerary ritual texts from the ancient coastal city of Ugarit . Lewis concludes that

4661-583: The modern Latakia Governorate . It was discovered by accident in 1928 with the Ugaritic texts . Its ruins are often called Ras Shamra (also Ras Shamrah) after the headland where they lie. Ugarit saw its beginnings in the Neolithic period, the site was occupied from the end of the 8th millennium BC and continued as a settlement through the Chalcolithic and Bronze Ages . It was during the late bronze age that Ugarit experienced significant growth, culminating in

4740-400: The northern palace. After the destruction the site was occupied by simple residences, termed a village by the excavators. Aegean style pottery and loom weights were found in this Iron Age I level. Scribes in Ugarit appear to have originated the " Ugaritic alphabet " around 1400 BC: 30 letters, corresponding to sounds, were inscribed on clay tablets. Although they are cuneiform in appearance,

4819-475: The numerous finds and their findspots were collated. In 2005 the excavation became a joint French and Syrian effort led by Valérie Matoïan and Khozama Al-Bahloul. These continued until being ended due to the Syrian Civil War. Archaeologists have defined a number of occupation strata at the site based on the excavations: A number of areas lay within the fortifications of Ugarit. In the northwest section

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4898-467: The oncoming enemy, eventually having to fall back from Anatolia to the Syrian border. Ammurapi's response to an appeal for assistance from the king of Alashiya highlights the desperate situation that Ugarit and other cities faced: My father, behold, the enemy's ships came (here); my cities(?) were burned, and they did evil things in my country. Does not my father know that all my troops and chariots(?) are in

4977-610: The promise made to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob as applying to anyone a member of the Jewish people , including proselytes and in turn their descendants and is signified through the brit milah (rite of circumcision) . In the New Testament , the descent and promise is reinterpreted along religious lines. In the Epistle to the Galatians , Paul the Apostle draws attention to the formulation of

5056-493: The promise, avoiding the term "seeds" in the plural (meaning many people), choosing instead "seed," meaning one person, who, he understands to be Jesus (and those united with him). For example, in Galatians 3:16 he notes: In Galatians 3:28 –29 Paul goes further, noting that the expansion of the promise from singular to the plural is not based on genetic/physical association, but a spiritual/religious one: In Romans 4:13 it

5135-570: The promise. Shawnee / Lenape scholar Steven Newcomb argued in his 2008 book Pagans in the Promised Land: Decoding the Doctrine of Christian Discovery that Christendom 's discovery doctrine was also the same claim of "the right to kill and plunder non-Christians" found in this covenant tradition, whereby "the Lord" in Deuteronomy told his chosen people how they were to "utterly destroy"

5214-413: The root רפא or רפה . The first root conveys the meaning of healing, as in the healing of souls living in the Jewish afterlife, Sheol , where they await the final judgment by God . The second root denotes weakness or powerlessness; souls within Sheol are weak in the sense that they hold no physical power or status as they did in the living world. Because all things that give the living power are moot in

5293-429: The south-central archives of the palace—and examples of practice writing by young scribes. Below ground, beneath two northern rooms, lay family tombs—three large chambers constructed with corbelled vaults—found devoid of any contents. The vanished upper floor likely accommodated the private quarters of the royal family, accessed via twelve staircases. The Acropolis, positioned in the Ugarit's northeastern section, housed

5372-433: The spirits of the dead as playing an active and important role in securing blessings, healing, or other benefits in the lives of the living. In 2021, a new theory regarding the identity of the Rephaim was published by J. Yogev, which suggests that the Rephaim were systematically eradicated from biblical texts as an agenda to eliminate their memory according to monotheistic belief systems in biblical times. The divine status of

5451-455: The stone masonry. A thick layer of plain plaster covered the walls. To the west of the palace was a set aside 10,000 square meter Royal Zone. Archaeological findings within the ruins have included a variety of artifacts including ivory carvings, stone stele, figurines, and numerous tablets. These tablets were discovered in archives located across the palace; their contents encompass reports on outlying regions, judicial records—particularly from

5530-405: The syllabic writing, especially in administrative documents, is actually in "a jargon where an Akkadian dialect is hard to detect given the great amount of Ugaritic elements it contained". The Royal Palace was constructed over several major phases between the 15th and 13th centuries BC. It comprised rooms arranged around courtyards, encompassing 6,500 square meters before the city's destruction in

5609-482: The tell. Numerous cuneiform tablets have been found. By the Late Bronze age Ugarit had a thriving dual-scribal system. Primarily it used the East Semitic Akkadian language which acted as the lingua franca throughout the region for diplomacy, business, and administrative purposes. In parallel, there was scribal activity in the local Northwest Semitic Ugaritic language. A few scribes are known to have worked in both writing systems. A number of archives were found,

5688-744: The underworld (e.g. Book of Isaiah 14:9–11; 26:13–15), the same word is used in the original text. In the Hebrew Bible, "Rephaites" or "Repha'im" describe an ancient race of giants in Canaan, from the Bronze Age to the Iron Age . Many locations were also named after them. According to Genesis 14:5 , King Chedorlaomer and his allies attacked and defeated the Rephaites at Ashteroth-Karnaim . Rephaites are also mentioned at Genesis 15:20 ; Deuteronomy 2:10–21 , 3:11 ;

5767-508: Was an acropolis with the temples of Dagon and Baal . In the west was the Royal Zone, including the Royal Palace . A fortress protecting the latter area was excavated, with the earliest elements dating back to the Middle Bronze Age. To the west of that lies the modern village of Ras Shamra. There were densely populated residential areas to the east of the Royal Zone and on the southern slope of

5846-481: Was discovered still housing eighty shipping jars that remain remarkably intact. Artifacts discovered in the port indicate the predominance of native Ugaritians within the local populace, accompanied by a significant presence of various foreign communities such as Egyptians , Cypriots , Hittites , Hurrians , and Aegean peoples. Among the discoveries were Cypriot pottery (both imported and locally crafted), Mycenaean pottery , ivory cosmetic containers from Egypt,

5925-403: Was excavated between 1929 and 1935 by Claude Schaeffer. The site is currently a military port and unavailable for excavation. Its name in the Late Bronze Age is believed to have been Maʾḫadu. Archaeological excavations carried out on the southern side of the bay, now reduced in size due to alluvial fill, unveiled remnants of a settlement established in the 14th century BC, and perhaps earlier, in

6004-477: Was possibly caused by the purported Sea Peoples , or an internal struggle. The kingdom would be one of the many that fell during the Bronze Age Collapse . Gibala ( Tell Tweini ), the coastal city at the southern edge of the Ugarit kingdom was also destroyed at this time. Based on archaeological soundings, the site was occupied beginning in the eighth millennium BC. Essentially all archaeology has focused on

6083-676: Was ruled by king Ammittamru I . A letter (EA45) sent by him, probably to Amenhotep III (1388–1351 BC) expresses warm diplomatic relations between the two. During the reign of his son Niqmaddu II (c. 1350–1315 BC) Ugarit became a vassal of the Hittite Empire , mainly through the Hittite ruler's viceroy in Karkemiš and then, with the Hititte collapse, directly under Karkemiš. Diplomatic relations with Egypt continued, as evidenced by two letters send by Niqmaddu II (EA49) and his wife Ḫeba (EA48), probably sent to Akhenaten (1351–1334 BC). The former includes

6162-539: Was the House of the High Priest, situated west of the Temple of Dagan. This large, two-story residence, largely well-constructed, contained tablets containing mythological poems. Some tablets demonstrated writing exercises and included syllabic and bilingual lexicons, implying the building's use as a center for scribe training. Its proximity to the primary temples and the discovery of bronze tools, particularly four small adzes and

6241-515: Was the founder of the Arab race. And according to Muslim tradition, Islam's founding prophet Muhammad was a Hanif (true monotheistic believer of the religion of Abraham). His tribe, the Quraysh , traces its ancestry to Ishmael . Some Palestinians claim partial descent from the Israelites and Maccabees , as well as from other peoples who have lived in the region. African-American spirituals invoke

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