Page 1 of 1
A Round Ark?
Posted: Sat Jan 02, 2010 7:15 pm
by Minimalist
At least they give the Mesopotamians credit for it.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2010/jan/0 ... s-circular
According to newly translated instructions inscribed in ancient Babylonian on a clay tablet telling the story of the ark, the vessel that saved one virtuous man, his family and the animals from god's watery wrath was not the pointy-prowed craft of popular imagination but rather a giant circular reed raft.
The now battered tablet, aged about 3,700 years, was found somewhere in the Middle East by Leonard Simmons, a largely self-educated Londoner who indulged his passion for history while serving in the RAF from 1945 to 1948.
Re: A Round Ark?
Posted: Sat Jan 02, 2010 8:56 pm
by Rokcet Scientist
A "passion for history" seems a liberal exaggeration when one does not write down where and when one found what...
But that tablet reinforces the raft hypotheses and vindicates Thor Heyerdahl's exploits once again.
He had a green parrot on board!
(Until it was washed overboard 3,000 miles offshore...
)
Re: A Round Ark?
Posted: Sun Jan 03, 2010 11:48 am
by E.P. Grondine
Strange that its not Ut-napishitim (sp?), as in other versions.
The story also makes one wonder about the other text sources used to construct the OT.
I find the note about famed decipherer George Smith's behavior interesting.
Re: A Round Ark?
Posted: Sun Jan 03, 2010 12:41 pm
by dannan14
So does that make Smith the first famous streaker?
Re: A Round Ark?
Posted: Sun Jan 03, 2010 1:08 pm
by Minimalist
Strange that its not Ut-napishitim (sp?), as in other versions.
Different names from different cultures. This was a very old story long before the Jews borrowed it and named the lead character "Noah." I seem to recall that the oldest variant from EBA Sumeria was Ziasdra or Ziasodra or something likt that.
Of course, that is merely the oldest variant for which we have found evidence.
Re: A Round Ark?
Posted: Sun Jan 03, 2010 5:37 pm
by kbs2244
A headline writer’s freedom.
As Min said, old story different details in different cultures.
I believe the Hebrew word so often translated “ark” means what we would today call a “box.”
Note that none of the painting of the day show the “Ark of The Covenant” with pointed ends.
The painters just assumed a water craft would have pointed ends because every one they had seen did.
Re: A Round Ark?
Posted: Sun Jan 03, 2010 9:30 pm
by Rokcet Scientist
E.P. Grondine wrote:
I find the note about famed decipherer George Smith's behavior interesting.
Streaking is a side-effect of reading cuneiform?
Wonder what that guy at the last Manchester United game had just discovered!