Patriarchal Palestine

by A. H. Sayce

The names have been copied from the memoranda of the scribes in the order in which they occurred, and without any regard to their relative importance. While, therefore, insignificant villages are often noted, the names of important cities are sometimes passed over. Descriptive epithets, moreover, like abel "meadow," arets "land," har "mountains," 'emeq "valley," 'ên "spring," are frequently treated as if they were local names, and occupy separate cartouches. We must not, consequently, expect to find in the lists any exhaustive catalogue of Palestinian towns or even of the leading cities. They mark only the lines of march taken by the army of Thothmes or by his scouts and messengers.

Besides the Canaanitish lists there are also long lists of localities conquered by the Pharaoh in Northern Syria. With these, however, we have nothing to do. It is to the places in Canaan that our attention must at present be confined. They are said to be situated in the country of the Upper Lotan, or, as another list gives it, in the country of the Fenkhu. In the time of Thothmes III. accordingly the land of the Upper Lotan and the land of the Fenkhu were synonymous terms, and alike denoted what we now call Palestine. In the word Fenkhu it is difficult not to see the origin of the Greek Phoenix or "Phoenician."

The lists begin with Kadesh on the Orontes, the head of the confederacy, the defeat of which laid Canaan at the feet of the Pharaoh. Then comes Megiddo, where the decisive battle took place, and the forces of the king of Kadesh were overthrown. Next we have Khazi, mentioned also in the Tel el-Amarna tablets, from which we learn that it was in the hill-country south of Megiddo. It may be the Gaza of 1 Chron. vii. 28 which was supplanted by Shechem in Israelitish days. Kitsuna, the Kuddasuna of the Tel el-Amarna tablets, follows: where it stood we do not know. The next name, "the Spring of Shiu," is equally impossible to identify. The sixth name, however, is Tubikhu, about which the cuneiform tablets of Tel el-Amarna have told us a good deal, and which seems to be the Tibhath of 1 Chron. xviii. 8. It was in Coele-Syria like Kamta, the Kumidi of the tablets, which follows in one list, though its place is taken by the unknown Bami in another. After this we have the names of Tuthina (perhaps Dothan), Lebana, and Kirjath-niznau, followed by Marum or Merom the modern Meirôm, by Tamasqu or Damascus, by the Abel of Atar, and by Hamath. Aqidu, the seventeenth name, is unknown, but Mr. Tomkins is probably right in thinking that the next name, that of Shemnau, must be identified with the Shimron of Josh. xix. 15, where the Septuagint reads Symeon. That this reading is correct is shown by the fact that in the days of Josephus and the Talmud the place was called Simonias, while the modern name is Semûnieh. The tablets of Tel el-Amarna make it Samkhuna.

Six unknown names come next, the first of which is a Beeroth, or "Wells." Then we have Mesekh, "the place of unction," called Musikhuna in the Tel el-Amarna correspondence, Qana and 'Arna. Both Qana and 'Arna appear in the account of the battle before Megiddo, and must have been in the immediate neighbourhood of that city. One of the affluents of the Kishon flowed past Qana, while 'Arna was hidden in a defile. It was there that the tent of Thothmes was pitched two days before the great battle. The brook of Qana seems to have been the river Qanah of to-day, and 'Arna may be read 'Aluna.

We are now transported to the eastern bank of the Jordan, to 'Astartu in the land of Bashan, the Ashtaroth-Karnaim of Genesis, the Tel 'Ashtarah of modern geography. With 'Astartu is coupled Anau-repa, explained by Mr. Tomkins to be "On of the Rephaim" (Gen. xiv. 5). At any rate it is clearly the Raphon or Raphana of classical writers, the Er-Rafeh of to-day. Next we have Maqata, called Makhed in the First Book of Maccabees, and now known as Mukatta; Lus or Lius, the Biblical Laish, which under its later name of Dan became the northern limit of the Israelitish kingdom; and Hazor, the stronghold of Jabin, whose king we hear of in the Tel el-Amarna tablets. Then come Pahil or Pella, east of the Jordan, famous in the annals of early Christianity; Kennartu, the Chinneroth of the Old Testament (Josh. xi. 2, 1 Kings xv. 20), from which the Sea of Galilee took one of its names; Shemna, the site of which is uncertain; and Atmam, the Adami of Josh. xix. 33. These are followed by Qasuna, in which we find the Kishion of Issachar (Josh. xix. 20); Shanam or Shunem, now Sôlam, north of Jezreel; Mash-al, the Misheal of Scripture; and Aksap or Ekdippa on the Phoenician coast. Then after a name which cannot be identified we read those of Ta'anak, the Ta'anach of the Bible, the Ta'anuk of to-day; Ible'am, near which Ahaziah of Jadah was slain by the servants of Jehu; Gantu-Asna, "the garden of Asnah"; Lot-melech, "Lot of the king"; 'Aina, "the Spring"; and 'Aak or Acre. From Acre we are taken along the coast southward to Rosh Kadesh, "the sacred headland" of Carmel, whose name follows immediately under the form of Karimna. Next we have Beer, "the Well," Shemesh-Atum, and Anakhertu. Anakhertu is the Anaharath of Josh. xix. 19, which belonged to the tribe of Issachar.

Of Shemesh-Atum we hear again in one of the inscriptions of Amenophis III. A revolt had broken out in the district of the Lebanon, and the king accordingly marched into Canaan to suppress it. Shemesh-Atum was the first city to feel the effects of his anger, and he carried away from it eighteen prisoners and thirteen oxen. The name of the town shows that it was dedicated to the Sun-god. In Hebrew it would appear as Shemesh-Edom, and an Egyptian papyrus, now at Leyden, informs us that Atum or Edom was the wife of Resheph the Canaanitish god of fire and lightning. In Shemesh-Atum or Shemesh-Edom we therefore have a compound name signifying that the Shemesh or Sun-god denoted by it was not the male divinity of the customary worship, but the Sun-goddess Edom. In Israelitish times the second element in the compound seems to have been dropped; at all events it is probable that Shemesh-Atum was the Beth-Shemesh of the Old Testament (Josh. xix. 22), which is mentioned along with Anaharath as in the borders of Issachar.

After Anaharath come two unknown Ophrahs; then Khasbu and Tasult, called Khasabu and Tusulti in the Tel el-Amarna letters; then Negebu, perhaps the Nekeb of Galilee (Josh. xix. 33), Ashushkhen, Anam, and Yurza. Yurza is now represented by the ruins of Yerza, south-eastward of Ta'anach, and there are letters from its governor in the Tel el-Amarna collection. Its name is followed by those of Makhsa, Yapu or Joppa, and "the country of Gantu" or Gath. Next we have Luthen or Ruthen, which is possibly Lydda, Ono, Apuqen, Suka or Socho, and Yahem. Among the cartouches that follow we read the names of a Migdol, of Shebtuna, the modern Shebtîn, of Naun which reminds us of the name of Joshua's father, and of Haditha, now Hadîtheh, five miles to the west of Shebtîn.

The list has thus led us to the foot of Mount Ephraim, and it is not surprising that the next name should be that of the Har or "Mountain" itself. This is followed by a name which is full of interest, for it reads Joseph-el or "Joseph-god." How the name of Joseph came to be attached in the time of Thothmes to the mountainous region in which "the House of Joseph" afterwards established itself is hard to explain; we must remember, however, as has been stated in a former chapter, that according to the Chronicler (1 Chron. vii. 21, 22), already in the lifetime of Ephraim his sons were slain by the men of Gath, "because they came down to take away their cattle." (Mr. Pinches tells me that in early Babylonian contracts of the age of Chedor-laomer he has found the name of Yasupu-ilu or Joseph-el, as well as that of Yakub-ilu or Jacob-el. The discovery is of high importance when we remember that Abraham migrated from Ur of the Chaldees, and adds another to the many debts of gratitude due to Mr. Pinches from Biblical students. See Preface for further details.)

Three names further on we find another compound with el, Har-el, "the mount of God." In Ezek. xliii. 15 Har-el is used to denote the "altar" which should stand in the temple on Mount Moriah, and Mount Moriah is itself called "the Mount of the Lord" in the Book of Genesis (xxii. 14). It may be, therefore, that in the Har-el of the Egyptian list we have the name of the mountain whereon the temple of Solomon was afterwards to be built. However this may be, the names which follow it show that we are in the neighbourhood of Jerusalem. One after the other come Lebau, Na'mana or Na'amah (Josh. xv. 41), Meromim "the heights," 'Ani "the two springs," Rehob, Ekron, Hekalim "the palaces," the Abel or "meadow" of Autar'a, the Abel, the Gantau or "gardens," the Maqerput or "tilled ground," and the 'Aina or "Spring" of Carmel, which corresponds with the Gath-Carmel of the Tel el-Amarna tablets, the Carmel of Judah of the Old Testament. Then we have Beth-Ya, a name which reminds us of that of "Bithia, the daughter of Pharaoh," whom Mered, the descendant of Caleb, took to wife, and whose stepson was Yered, "the father of Gedor" (1 Chron. iv. 18). Beth-Ya is followed by Tapun, which was fortified by the Greeks after the death of Judas Maccabaeus (1 Macc. ix. 50), by the Abel of Yertu or Yered, perhaps the district of the Jordan, by Halkal, and by Jacob-el, a name formed in the same way as that of Joseph-el. We may see in it an evidence that the memory of the patriarch was kept alive in the south of Palestine. The next two names are unknown, but they are followed by Rabatu or Rabbah of Judah, Magharatu, the Ma'arath of Josh, xv. 59, 'Emequ, "the valley" of Hebron, Sirta and Bârtu, the Bar has-Sirak, or "Well of Sirah" of 2 Sam. iii. 26. Then come Beth-sa-el or Beth-el in its Babylonian dress; Beth-Anta or Beth-Anath (Josh. xv. 59), where the Babylonian goddess Anatu was worshipped; Helkath (2 Sam. ii. 16); the Spring of Qan'am; Gibeah of Judah (2 Sam. vi. 3, 4; see Josh. xviii. 28); Zelah (Josh. xviii. 28), called Zilu by Ebed-Tob of Jerusalem; and Zafta, the Biblical Zephath (Judges i. 17). The last three names in the catalogue—Barqna, Hum, and Aktomes—have left no traces in Scriptural or classical geography.

The geographical lists of Thothmes III. served as a model for the Pharaohs who came after him. They also adorned the walls of their temples with the names of the places they had captured in Palestine, in Northern Syria, and in the Soudan, and when a large space had to be filled the sculptor was not careful to insert in it only the names of such foreign towns as had been actually conquered. The older lists were drawn upon, and the names which had appeared in them were appropriated by the later king, sometimes in grotesquely misspelt forms. The climax of such empty claims to conquests which had never been made was reached at Kom Ombo, where Ptolemy Lathyrus, a prince who, instead of gaining fresh territory, lost what he had inherited, is credited with the subjugation of numerous nations and races, many of whom, like the Hittites, had long before vanished from the page of history. The last of the Pharaohs whose geographical list really represents his successes in Palestine was Shishak, the opponent of Rehoboam and the founder of the twenty-second dynasty. The catalogue of places engraved on the wall of the shrine he built at Karnak is a genuine and authentic record.