Andrews University Digital Commons @ Andrews University Master's Theses Graduate Research 2019 When Archaeology Interacted with the Bible: A Study of the Search for the City of Raamses of Exodus 1:11 in the Searcher's Socio Political Context Georg Filippou Andrews University, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.andrews.edu/theses Part of the Biblical Studies Commons Recommended Citation Filippou, Georg, "When Archaeology Interacted with the Bible: A Study of the Search for the City of Raamses of Exodus 1:11 in the Searcher's Socio Political Context" (2019). Master's Theses. 141. https://digitalcommons.andrews.edu/theses/141 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate Research at Digital Commons @ Andrews University. It has been accepted for inclusion in Master's Theses by an authorized administrator of Digital Commons @ Andrews University. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Andrews University Seventh-day Adventist Theological Seminary WHEN ARCHAEOLOGY INTERACTED WITH THE BIBLE—A STUDY OF THE SEARCH FOR THE CITY OF RAAMSES OF EXODUS 1:11 IN THE RESEARCHER’S SOCIO-POLITICAL CONTEXT A Thesis Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Master of Arts by Georg Filippou 2019 WHEN ARCHAEOLOGY INTERACTED WITH THE BIBLE—A STUDY OF THE SEARCH FOR THE CITY OF RAAMSES OF EXODUS 1:11 IN THE RESEARCHER’S SOCIO-POLITICAL CONTEXT A thesis presented in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree Master of Arts by Georg Filippou APPROVAL BY THE COMMITTEE: ____________________________________ Randall W. Younker, Ph.D., chair ____________________________________ ___________________________ Paul J. Ray, Ph.D. Date approved ii To my wife Carina and my children Alexander, Anna, and Andreas who supported me while doing research and writing this thesis during the summer-months of 2019. iii TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS .................................................................................. vii Chapter 1. INTRODUCTION ....................................................................................... 1 2. BACKGROUND INFORMATION ............................................................ 6 The Geography ..................................................................................... 6 A Brief Introduction to Archaeology .................................................. 11 3. THE SEARCH FOR THE CITY OF RAAMSES UP TO ABOUT 1850...................................................................................... 15 The city of “Raamses” and “the land of Rameses” in Old Documents ............................................................................ 15 What did Gerardus Mercator, Edward Robinson, and Carl Richard Lepsius Search? ..................................................... 19 Mercator’s Terrae Sanctae .......................................................... 19 Robinson Traveled to the Countries of the Bible ........................ 22 Lepsius’ Discoveries in Egypt ..................................................... 23 What Motivated Mercator, Robinson, and Lepsius to Locate the City of Raamses? ................................................................... 27 Mercator Mapped the World ....................................................... 27 Robinson’s Travels and Research ............................................... 30 Lepsius Researched Egypt ........................................................... 34 The Worlds of Mercator, Robinson, and Lepsius ............................... 39 4. THE SEARCH FOR THE CITY OF RAAMSES BETWEEN ABOUT 1850 AND 1900 ................................................................... 42 What did Frederick Charles Cook, Eduard Naville, and John William Dawson Search? .................................................... 42 Cook and the Speaker’s Commentary ......................................... 42 Naville “Discovered” Pithom—the Sister-City of Raamses ....... 44 Dawson, the Geologist Who Commented on the Bible ............... 46 What Motivated Cook, Naville, and Dawson to Locate the City of Raamses? ................................................................... 48 Cook on the Defensive ................................................................ 48 Naville “Found” Evidence for the Israelite Oppression .............. 49 iv Dawson Chose a Conservative View .......................................... 53 The World of Cook, Naville, and Dawson ......................................... 55 5. THE SEARCH FOR THE CITY OF RAAMSES BETWEEN ABOUT 1900 AND 1950 ................................................................... 60 What did William Matthew Flinders Petrie, Alan Gardiner, Thomas Eric Peet, Pierre Montet, and William F. Albright Search? ........ 60 Petrie “Found” the Lost City of Raamses.................................... 60 Gardiner Undertook a Detailed Study of Piramesse .................... 62 Peet Worked within the Vagueness of Biblical Statements ........ 66 Montet “Discovered” Piramesse at Tanis .................................... 68 Albright Confirmed Other’s Views ............................................. 70 What Motivated Petrie, Gardiner, Peet, Montet, and Albright to Locate the City of Raamses? ....................................................... 72 Petrie, the Establisher of New Work Methods ............................ 72 Gardiner, the Detailed Researcher ............................................... 76 Peet Found Few Facts in the Biblical Text .................................. 79 Montet Found Remains of Piramesse .......................................... 82 Albright Supported the Bible....................................................... 85 The World of Petrie, Gardiner, Peet, Montet, and Albright ............... 90 6. THE SEARCH FOR THE CITY OF RAAMSES BETWEEN ABOUT 1950 AND 2019 ................................................................... 95 What did Labib Habachi, Manfred Bietak, Edgar B. Pusch, and William G. Dever Search? .................................................... 95 Habachi Had an Eye for Details .................................................. 95 Bietak Excavated for Decades at Tell el Daba‘ ........................... 99 Pusch Gave No Comments on the Biblical City of Raamses .... 103 Dever Found Some Traces of Historic Material among the Myths and Folklore of the Bible ........................................ 106 What Motivated Habachi, Bietak, Pusch, and Dever to Locate the City of Raamses? ................................................................. 107 Habachi Was Convinced of His View ....................................... 107 Bietak’s Scientific Methods Found Avaris and Piramesse........ 111 Pusch and Teamwork Revealed More about Piramesse ............ 116 Dever Challenged the Concept of Biblical Archaeology .......... 117 The World of Habachi, Bietak, Pusch, and Dever ............................ 121 7. WHEN ARCHAEOLOGY INTERACTED WITH THE BIBLE ........... 128 How It All Started ............................................................................. 129 Biblical Criticism and Archaeological Research .............................. 129 Archaeology Became a Response ..................................................... 134 Biblical Archaeology Encountered Opposition ................................ 137 One Discipline Became Two Different Disciplines ......................... 141 How Archaeology Is Used Today..................................................... 143 v Archaeology and Little or Lack of Evidence .................................... 147 The Relationship Today between Archaeology and the Bible ......... 150 Biblical Archaeology—Should the Expression Still Be Used and What Does It Stand For? ..................................................... 153 Defending the Bible .......................................................................... 157 How Should We View Archaeology Today? ................................... 159 Archaeology in the Future ................................................................ 162 8. CONCLUSION ........................................................................................ 165 ENDNOTES……. ........................................................................................... 173 BIBLIOGRAPHY ........................................................................................... 174 vi LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 1. The Nile Delta in ancient times with its several branches ................................................ 6 2. Map of the Delta of Egypt ................................................................................................. 7 3. Mercator’s Terrae Sanctae, published in 1537. .............................................................. 19 4. Enlarged section of Mercator’s Terrae Sanctae. ............................................................. 20 5. The monument from Tell el Maskhuta. ................................................................ 25 6. The rebuilt citadel in Avaris ............................................................................... 101 vii CHAPTER ONE INTRODUCTION Ancient Egypt, with its history and inhabitants, has for centuries fascinated people of all ages and social backgrounds. In the western world, the major interest emerged when Napoleon, towards the end of the 1700s, undertook a military campaign in Egypt together with his soldiers and a large group of scientists and researchers he brought with him. The artifacts recovered,