Roger Henry - Synchronized Chronology: Rethinking Middle East Antiquity: A Simple Correction To Egyptian Chronology Resolves The Major Problems In Biblical And Greek Archaeology

Roger Henry

2003 by Algora Publishing . All Rights Reserved . www.algora.co m

No portion of this book (beyond what is permitted b y Sections 107 or 108 of the United States Copyright Act of 1976 ) may be reproduced by any process, stored in a retrieval system , or transmitted in any form, or by any means, without th e express written permission of the publisher . ISBN: 0-87586-191-1 (softcover )

ISBN: 0-87586-192-X (hardcover)

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data: 2002014693

Henry, Roger, 1949- The synchronized chronology : a simple correction to Egyptian chronology resolves the major problems in biblical and Greek archaeology / Roger Henry.

p. cm . Includes bibliographical references . ISBN 0-87586-191-1 (pbk. : alk. paper) ISBN 0-87586-192-X (hardcover : alk. paper )

EgyptHistoryTo 332 B.C.Chronology. 2. Middle EastHistoryTo 622Chronology.

Chronology, Egyptian. 4. BibleAntiquities. 5. GreeceAntiquities. I. Title.

DT83 .H54 2002 932'.002'02dc21 2002015851

Front Cover: The Pharaoh Akhnaton and Greek Pottery Printed in the United States

TABLE OF CONTENTS

P REFACE

1. W HAT S W RONG WITH T HIS C HRONOLOGY ? 5 T HE O BJECTIVE 6 T HE S OLUTION 8 T HE K EY TO THE S YNCHRONISMS

2. F OUNDATIONS OF C ONVENTIONAL C HRONOLOGY 13 M ANETHO 13 B IBLICAL C HRONOLOGY 15 T HE S TARTING P OINT

3. T HE E XODUS AND THE E ND OF THE M IDDLE K INGDOM OF E GYPT 21 T HE M OST I MPORTANT S YNCHRONISM 23 T HE P APYRUS I PUWER 24 T HE E L A RISH S HRINE 26 T HE E RMITAGE P APYRUS 27 T HE I NVASION 27 T HE A MALEKITES 28 T HE D EFEAT OF THE H YKSOS /A MALEKITES

4. T HE C ONQUEST AND THE T IME OF THE J UDGES 33 T HE M IDDLE B RONZE A GE 35 T HE B IBLICAL M IDDLE B RONZE A GE 37 T HE C ONQUEST OF C ANAAN 38 I SRAELITE O CCUPATION OF P ALESTINE 40 J ERICHO 40 S HECHEM 41 A BRAHAM AND THE A MORITE M IGRATION 43 T HE O RIGIN OF THE A LPHABET

5. T HE TH D YNASTY AND THE U NITED K INGDOM

T HE U NITED K INGDOM 47 T HE T HEBAN D YNASTY 49 Q UEEN S HEBA

6. T HE W ARS OF E GYPT AND I SRAEL 59 S OLOMON S P UNISHMENT 61 A SA B ATTLES A MENHOTEP II 66 T HE M ITANNI , THE K HURRIANS , AND THE R ISE OF A SSYRIA

7. I SRAEL AND D AMASCUS AT W AR P ART OF THE T ELL E L -A MARNA L ETTERS 71 J EHOSAPHAT S C APTAINS 75 T HE M ESHA S TELE

8. J ERUSALEM IN THE T IME OF A KHNATON P ART OF THE T ELL E L A MARNA L ETTERS 85 J ERUSALEM 87 I VORY 90 A KHNATON

9. T HE E ND OF THE B RONZE A GE 97 M ANETHO 98 I TALY 101 R OME 101 S ICILY 102 S PAIN 102 T ROY 103 T HE E ND OF THE B RONZE A GE 105 E ARTHQUAKES 105 M IGRATION 106 D ROUGHT 106 P OLITICAL C OLLAPSE 107 W ARFARE 108 I RON

10. N EW L IGHT ON THE G REEK D ARK A GES 111 H OMER 113 O THER P EOPLES OF A SIA M INOR 116 L ITERACY 118 A RGOS

11. T HE R ISE OF A SSYRIA . P ART OF THE T ELL E L A MARNA L ETTERS

T HE I NTERNATIONAL S CENE 128 B ABYLONIA 128 A SSYRIA 130 A NOTHER D ARK A GE 131 S HALMANESER 132 S HALMANESER A TTACKS P HOENICIA 132 S HALMANESER S S YRIAN W AR 133 T HE K ING OF H ATTI 136 T HE A GE OF THE A MARNA S CRIPT 137 M ITANNI

12. S AMARIA AS A B ENCHMARK FOR A RCHEOLOGY 141 A RCHAEOLOGY IN C ANAAN 143 L OOKING FOR A B ENCHMARK 144 T HE L ACHISH O STRACA 146 M EGIDDO

13. T HE T HIRD I NTERMEDIATE P ERIOD IN E GYPT 151 T HE C ASE FOR S HOSHENQ AS S HISHAK 153 S HOSHENQ IN THE S YNCHRONIZED C HRONOLOGY 154 T HE P HOENICIAN S CRIPT 155 S AMARIA AS THE B ENCHMARK 155 I SRAEL 157 L IBYA WITH A D ISTRACTED A SSYRIA

14. W HO W ERE THE H ITTITES ? 161 T HE A RCHIVE 161 A M IXED P EOPLE 163 H ITTITE O RIGINS 164 T HE K HIRBET K ERAK P EOPLE 165 T HE H ATTI L ANDS 166 G REEK R EFERENCES TO H ITTITES 169 T HE C HALDEANS 171 T HE U RARTIANS 171 T HE C IMMERIAN I NVASION 172 T HE T WO H ITTITES 174 U R OF THE C HALDEAS

15. C HALDEAN A RT 177 T HE C ONVENTIONAL O RDER 178 P HASE 1 179 P HASE 2 180 P HASE 3 180 E AST AND W EST H ITTITE C OMPARED 181 T HE S CRIPT 183 M ALATYA 185 P HRYGIA 185 T HE C HALDEAN S ECRET W RITING 187 A R OYAL H ITTITE B URIAL IN C ARCHEMISH

16. T HE B ATTLE OF C ARCHMISH 191 P SAMATICH (S ETI -P TAH -M AAT ) 193 N ECHO (R AMSES II) 194 J UDAH 195 T HE B ATTLE 197 T HE O THER S IDE 199 H OPHRA (M ERNEPTAH H OTPHIRMAE ) 202 T HE I SRAEL S TELE

17. R AMSES III AND H IS T IME 207 T HE H ISTORICAL S CENE 211 T HE H ARRIS P APYRUS 214 T HE E GYPTIAN R ECORD 217 W HO ARE THE P- R - S - TT ? 220 T ELL EL Y AHUDIYEH 223 T HE N ECROPOLIS

18. T HE P EOPLE OF THE S EA 229 T HE B ATTLES 230 W HERE IS THE E GYPTIAN R ECORD ? 235

19. S UMMARY

B IBLIOGRAPHY

List of Illustrations

Presentation of Gifts to Queen Hatshepsut 54 Loading Egyptian Boats with Goods from Punt 55 Vessels and Furnishings of Solomons Temple Shown as Plunder on

the Walls of the Temple of Karnak. 65 The Pharaoh Akhnaton 92 Greek Pottery from Mycenaean Times to the Battle of Marathon 121 East Greek Pottery Compared to Philistine Pottery 218 Portion of Hittite Pantheon at Yazilikaya from Molds 189 Gold Figurines from Charchemish Tomb 190 Ramses III Relief of Pereset Soldiers with their Women and Chil

dren in Oxcart. 221 Persian Royal Guard from Palace of Darius at Persepolis 222 Anthropoid Coffins from Egypt and Palestine 226 Battle Scenes from Medinet Habu Temple Reliefs:

A. Libyan Battle with Pereset and Peoples of the Sea as Allies 237

B. Asian Land Battle Against Pereset with Peoples of the Sea as Allies. 238

C. Sea Battle Against Pereset and Peoples of the Sea 239

Maps

The Exodus and the Hyksos Invasion 29 The Conquest 39 The Route of Abraham and the Amorite Migration 44 The Middle East in the Time of the Hittites 168

P REFACE

Imagine how distorted our understanding of ancient history would be if the chronological framework around which it was built had several extra centuries added. What if the backbone of Egyptian dynasties contained duplicates? If they were far enough back in time there would be no outside reference for comparison. But if duplicates occurred while Greeks and Hebrews were recording history there would be a very predictable consequence. The archaeological remains of the pharaohs from the duplicated dynasties, those with Greek and Hebrew names, would be missing from Egypt.

At the same time, the dynasties with Greek names would be prefigured further back in time with Egyptian names. Those pharaohs would have left abundant archaeological, even monumental, remains. An entire history would be built around the writings left by these pharaohs. And just as surely the Greeks and Old Testament writers would know nothing of those.

How would the effects of this distorted history manifest on those surrounding cultures whose archaeology is cross-dated to Egypt? Greek pottery placed as funerary gifts in pharaohs tombs locks two chronologies. But Greek history does not have the kind of rigid dating seen in the Hebrew scriptures. So the two main victims of faulty Egyptian chronology would be affected in dramatically different ways.

In the following pages, I assert that this is precisely what has happened. While some details of any review of antiquity are bound to be left open to question, I hope the ideas presented here will challenge those engaged in the study of these civilizations to take a fresh look at some important assumptions.

On the one hand, Greek history has been forced to accommodate a Dark Age following the Trojan War, in contradiction to what the Greeks themselves believed happened. Their history indicates that Dorians moved south two generations after the war and so overcrowded eastern Greece with refugees that they had to send out colonies. Archaeologists have bullied historians into accepting a very different version: that, basically, after the war the culture collapsed and Greece was uninhabited for 500 years. Hypothetical (read pretend) evidence has been used for so long to minimize this gap that nobody even realizes it is happening. But at least the distorted sequences of Greek history remain intact.