Re: Sabine: Goliath and Uriah the Hittite as IE -

Sabine wrote:

I cite Niemeier&Niemeier, Minoan Frescoes in the Eastern Mediterranean,
Aegeum 18,1998:
As the earlier Austrian excavations under the directorship of Bietak at
Tell el Dab'a and other excavations in the eastern Nile Delta have
demonstrated, the Hyksos rule of the Second Intermediate Period
followed a considerable influx of Canaanites from Syria-Palestine, and
Tell el Dab'a was the Hyksos capital Avaris." p. 79 (with extensive
bibliography, color change by me).
In Tell el Dab'a archaeologists found fragments of a bull-leaping
fresco (!!!, the only other bull-leaping fresco is in Minoan Knossos)
on a background of labyrinthine structures (typically Cretan),
underlaid with (again typically Cretan) half rosettes (as in the well
known Grand Stand fresco in Knossos).
The Niemeiers suppose there might have been itinerant fresco painters
from Crete (or educated in Crete), thus proving a kind of "an ßJite
koinÔì- artistic, iconographical, ideological, technological - in the
circumstances of the intense maritime interaction between the coastal
areas of the Eastern Mediterranean." citing Sherratt, Comment on Ora
Negbi, The 'Libyan Landscape' from Thera. /etc.../JMA 7.2 (1994),
p.237, here p. 95.
The excavator himself believes the frescoes "were painted by Minoan
artists belonging to the entourage of a Knossian princess married to
the pharaoh"... ibd.
I wonder who gave that Anatolian name 'Avaris' to the town!
Let me add a bye the bye: Finkelberg in her article on Linear A ( :
Minoan Inscriptions on Libation Vessels, Minos25, 1990) says: "there is
no disagreement between Lycian and Minoan that cannot be accounted for
in terms of historical linguistics". (p. 79).
Again: very interesting, indeed.
Greetings from Crete
Sabine

-----------------------------------------------------------------------
-----
Hi Sabine:
Your message came in while I was writing my reply to Piotr. Bietak's
work at Tell el Dab'a is the excevation I was talking about. So your
information is more current than mine.

But as I said before, the Canaanite-only explanation is not sufficient
in my mind to explain what we know. It doesn¡¯t explain the Indo-Aryan
names and gods of rulers (and they were clearly in control) or the
military tactics using horse drawn chariots (and more prominant use of
compound bows). As I said before, I assume that the IE group(s), as
they swept across the Levant, picked up other Semitic groups in
successive invasions. Alternatively they may have been driven in front
of the IE group and where the first to invade Egypt. There is evidence
of two successive waves. When the IE group later took over, they
either made allies of the Canaanites, incorporated them, or made slaves
out of them. An IE group has to be involved, at least in the second
wave. A subtle confirmation of this comes from the attitude the
Egyptians had towards the Hyksos ¨C they really hated them, really
despised them. The Egyptians had had long contact with the Canaanites,
and while they looked down on them, they didn¡¯t have the vitriol
hatred they had for the Hyksos. That¡¯s true both before the Hyksos
were driven out of Egypt and long after. If the Canaanites had been the
conquers, I would expect this attitude toward them to show up after the
invaders had been expelled. Also, Egypt eventually gained the upper
hand in most of the Canaan afterward. If they were worried about them,
I don¡¯t think they would have hesitated to devastate the Levant, to
protect Egypt. Instead they used the Levant as a buffer zone against
threatening groups to the north. Canaanite only, doesn¡¯t make sense.

However, as I said before, the First Intermediate period and
accompanying Hyksos invasion were not tidy affairs and this is
characteristic of a climatic change event. It is very likely, that
multiple peoples were involved. Which could be why the Egyptian called
them simply ¡°Foreigners¡±. They meant it literally. It was a lot of
different people who weren¡¯t Egyptian.

On a different note, it seems the group is making a lot of connections
between the Luwian/Lycians and Crete/Minoans and intrusions into the
Levant and northern Egypt.
As you say: Very interesting indeed.

Best wishes
Brent