BIBLE ARCHAEOLOGY:ABRAHAM,SARAH,UR AND LEONARD WOOLLEY,MESOPOTAMIA,BENI HASAN IN EGYPT

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	ABRAHAM Bible Study Resource
WHAT	Abraham seems to have been a successful trader and herdsman who left his native country during a period of political and social upheaval. He and his family were looking for a new country. See BIBLE PEOPLE: ABRAHAM for his story.
WHERE	Abraham's journey followed an ancient trade route from the Mesopotamian valley up the Euphrates River to Haran and then south, down to Canaan.
WHEN	Abraham and his family lived in a time of transition in the Middle Bronze Age. Their migration has been dated to the 20th or 19th centuries BC, though there is considerable argument about this date.
BIBLE LINKS	Genesis 12:1-20 - 22:1-24
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	This is a mural from Beni Hasan in Egypt, dated at circa 1890BC. It shows a band of nomads who have traveled from Syria-Canaan, to visit Egypt. See BIBLE ARCHITECTURE: HOUSING for the sort of tent dwellings they would have used on their journey. The Egyptians referred to these people as 'Asiatics'. The painting gives us an idea of how Abraham's clan dressed and looked. Note the women's headbands, the the style of clothing of both sexes, the short beards of the men, their animals, weapons and tools. The ancient Egyptian caption that was written above the scene described 'the arrival, bringing a gift of stibium (a mineral used as a cosmetic for painting the eyes) of thirty-seven Asiatics'. The caption in front of the leader of the 'Asiatics' identifies him as the ruler of a foreign country called Ibsha.
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		This is one of a pair of statuettes discovered by Leonard Woolley in the 'Great Death Pit' at Ur, where Abraham lived before he traveled to Canaan. Woolley thought there might be a connection between this object and the story of Abraham and Isaac: '...and Abraham looked up and saw a ram, caught in a thicket by its horns. Abraham went and took the ram and offered it up a a burnt offering instead of his son' (Genesis 22:13). Judging by its horns and coat, the animal at left is more likely to have been a goat. When found, the figure had been crushed flat by the weight of the soil (see the flattened skull and jewelry of Queen Puabi at BIBLE ARCHAEOLOGY: JEWELRY The animal's head and legs are covered in gold leaf, its ears are copper (now green), its twisted horns and the fleece on its shoulders are of lapis lazuli and its body fleece is made of shell. Its genitals are gold. The tree is covered in gold leaf, with golden flowers. A tube rising from the goat's shoulders suggests it was used to support something, perhaps a bowl.
		This beaten gold finial, which may have been the top of a staff, has the face and horns of a ram. Rams were notorious for their sexual appetite, and were probably sacrificed to promote fertility in crops. The finial was found in Iran.
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		Abraham's clan came from a society (ancient Mesopotamia) with a rigid social structure and sophisticated religious mythology. But by the time that he left, this culture was in decline. Nevertheless, Abraham would certainly have been aware of the sacred stories of the Mesopotamians. This seal shows the water god Enki, identified by the streams of water that gush from his upper body.

		The Anu Ziggurat at Uruk, now reduced by time and erosion to a formless mound. Anu was the god/power that ruled the sky - a Mesopotamian deity worshipped at the time Abraham lived in Ur. The stairway ramp for the ziggurat is at right center.

		The outer shell of the ziggurat at Ur has been reconstructed, giving an idea of how it would have looked when Abraham was alive. (The plane above it is from a nearby American air base.) For more images of the ziggurats, see BIBLE ARCHAEOLOGY: ZIGGURATS
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		This is the probable route taken by Abraham and his clan as they traveled from their native land, 'Ur of the Chaldees', to Canaan.

	_________________________________________________________________________ INTERESTING SITES - stories, pictures, reconstructions The amazing Mesopotamian pyramid-temples that Abraham saw BIBLE ARCHAEOLOGY: ZIGGURATS Photographs and data on the tent dwellings of nomadic herdsmen like Abraham BIBLE ARCHITECTURE: HOUSING Famous paintings of Abraham and the slave/concubine Hagar BIBLE ART: HAGAR Slavery in the ancient world, with case studies of three slaves in the Bible, including Hagar, Abraham's concubine BIBLE TOP TEN: SLAVERY A short biography of Abraham BIBLE PEOPLE: ABRAHAM A short biography of Abraham's son Isaac BIBLE PEOPLE: ISAAC
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___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Abraham - Old Testament Patriarch - Archaeology of The Bible Abraham and Sarah, their son Isaac, the slave girl Hagar and her son Ishmael Bible Study Resource