Biblical Archaeology Review

Orbis Books: Maryknoll, New York, 1979. xxv + 916 pp.

The Wenamun papyrus, now in the Moscow Museum, was found at el-Hibeh in Middle Egypt and dates to the Twenty-first Dynasty (11th century B.C.), shortly after the events in the story. It presents a picture of a disintegrating Egyptian Empire which left a vacuum in the region, allowing Asiatics and others to challenge its dominance over the area of Canaan.

The Harris Papyrus, now located in the British Museum, comes from Thebes and dates from the end of the reign of Ramesses III. It is an important source for the history of the early Twentieth Dynasty.

Gustav Dalman, Arbeit und Sittle in Palastina (Work and Custom in Palestine), IV, Gutersloh, pp. 153–290, figs. 50–74.

See letter of R. David Freedman, Queries & Comments, BAR 07:06.

See for example the article “Are the Ebla Tablets Relevant to Biblical Research,” BAR 06:05, and his 100 page “Afterward” in Giovanni Pettinato’s The Archives of Ebla (Doubleday, 1981).

Loren R. Fisher et al. editors; Rome: Pontifical Biblical Institute, 1972 and 1975.

On the other hand, Professor Wente points out that at the Temple of Ramses II in Abydos, an unpublished inscription in Room J quotes the god Nun as saying that he is the father of fathers. So it remains a possibility, says Professor Wente, that “father of fathers” refers to the god Nun in the Great Speos Artemidos Inscription, although Professor Wente does not himself think this is the case.

Gardiner translates “father of my fathers” because in addition to the fourth pair of TFs, Gardiner also restored a reed leaf which signifies “my.” Helck in his article criticizes Gardiner for the restoration of the reed leaf but not for the fourth pair of TFs.