Diogenes, I’m not misquoting you. I actually read what I wrote above in a magazine. IIRC, it was that great journal of Biblical Anthropology, Reader’s Digest. It is certainly possible that some recollection of the Thera event could have worked its way into Biblical accounts. I was taking issue with those who claimed, Velikovsky-like, that it literally accounted for the events depicted in Exodus.
Gotcha Cal. I agree with you.
Hmmm … interesting …
Many scholars now believe that the myth of the Worldwide Flood of Noah can be traced back to an enormous influx of seawater from the Mediterranean Sea into what is now the Black Sea, which occurred around 5500 B.C.E. or so. One of the pieces of evidence that argues for this is that the Babylonians had their own flood myth, called The Epic of Gilgamesh, which has many features in common with the story of Noah’s flood.
Are there any other ancient myths that parallel the story of Exodus and the parting of the Sea of Reeds? If the Nile delta tsunami influenced the myths of the Israelites, wouldn’t it have influenced the myths of the Egyptians living on the Nile delta, too?
Or more likely, the Hebraic myth was inspired by the older mesopotamian epics…There are way too much parallels (like the story of the guy surviving the flood… I don’t remember his name in the mesopotamian myth). An historical event could have inspired several different flood myths in this area, but they would have been somewhat different (for instance one could have been similar to the legend of the city of Is, which is also a flood myth, but with a totally different story, while another could have included the guy surviving by building a boat). They wouldn’t have shared the same story and included the same imaginary details. For this to happen, the myths themselves must have had a common origin (I mean an original myth, not an original event)…and the Mesopotamian one has the most obvious evidence of anteriority, since it has been written down way before the bible.
AFAIK, there’s nothing in Egyptian myths/history that parallels the story of the exodus.
Just out of my head, you could find a somewhat similar myth in Korea, where a hero of divine origin fleeing an angered king miraculously crossed a large river while the king and his followers didn’t make it (I don’t remember the details). Are people going to try to find a “natural” explanation for this miraculous crossing? No way. They’re going to say “that’s a Korean myth/legend”. Same with Moses story…
The “Noah” character in GILGAMESH (a Sumerian story, not Babylonian) was named Utnapishtam. he was a king who told his story to Gilgamesh. The Sumerian story contains some stunning parallels to the Genesis story including the flood, the boat, the pairs of animals and the sending out of s dove.
As Clairobscur says, the similarities are too close to be coincidence, and since THE EPIC OF GILGAMESH predates Genesis by about 5000 years the logical conclusion is that the Hebrew story was derived from Mesopotamian lore.
Egyptian history does not mention Hebrews, but then the Bible does not mention pyramids,so absence of evidence is not necessarily evidence of absence. I’m unaware of any Egyptian recollections of the Nile delta tsunami, but the Egyptians didn’t seem to keep much written history of anything. The tsunami certainly happened. it’s present in the geology. So the Egyptians must have noticed it. perhaps they had on oral story but never wrote it down. Being the victim of a catastophre would probably not lend itself to the same spiritual resonance as seeing an enemy “vanquished.”
The “Song of the Sea” (or “Song of Moses and Miriam”) in Exodus 15 is one of the most ancient parts of the Bible (following the four author model) and seems to represent a core oral tradition which was later expanded on and embellished.
It’s been a while since I read it but didn’t the Gilgamesh epos too record how Gilgamesh, as a baby, was sent down the river in a reed basket, same as Moses?
Btw, wasn’t Abraham supposed to be from Sumer?
No. I have about a half a dozen different works and translations of the EoG, and the story of his birth isn’t in it. Similar birth stories are told for a lot of figures from the ancient world (although they usually tell about how a supposedly royal child ended up in a humble household, rather than vice versa), notably about Sargon of Akkad. But he was way after Gilgamesh.
Heh, probably those stories are a justification for usurpers to claim they have royal blood.
Would be funny if the Hebrews turned it around to ‘prove’ that an Egyptian was actually of Hebrew blood.
Any truth in that?
Latro:
You’re probably right on. Some of the older stories seemed to have been designed to show a hidden royal lineage for a folk hero (ala Sargon). The Exodus story seems to have been a reverse on that theme, attempting to show a Hebrew lineage for someone of Royal Egyptian lineage. (“Moses” is an Egyptian name)
But they mention the nomadic people living east of Egyptia in various instances, and amongst these people the “habiru”, who could have been the Hebrews.
But of course there’s no mention of anything related to the exodus or the extraordinary events included in this myth…
A diary fragment recorded on the back of the Rhind Mathematical papyrus:
“…the sky came on with a torrent of rain, and darkness covered the western heavens [the direction of Thera] …then every house and barn where they might have sought refuge was swept away, and they were drenched with water…and for a period of [illegible] days no light shown in the two lands [upper and lower Egypt]”
From an inscription near Karnak, dated from the time of Tuthmosis III:
“…and when I allowed the abominations of the gods [immigrant peoples] to depart, the earth swallowed their footsteps. This was the directive of the Primevel Father [water, according to Egyptian beliefs] who came one day unexpectedly…”
There seem to have been a series of migrations of many different minority groups, out of Egypt over a period of several generations. The Exodus story could have simply telescoped this seies into one “exodus” and elevated the importance of their own tribe in the telling.
Err, wouldn’t santorini be to the north?
Well, it’s to the northWEST 
A giant comb?
(I know, poor. Very poor.)