This is an ancient text, discovered in the pyramids in Egypt, that describes spells spoken to snakes. The findings of the discovery will be presented by Prof. Richard Steiner, in a lecture to be held on January 22.1.07, XNUMX at the Hebrew University
The Semitic text is deciphered, almost certainly the earliest ever discovered. Prof. Richard Steiner, from "Yeshiva University" in New York, a fellow of the Institute for Advanced Studies of the Hebrew University and a member of the Hebrew Language Academy, succeeded in deciphering an ancient continuous text discovered in one of the pyramids in Egypt.
Prof. Steiner will present the new discovery in a lecture that will be held on Monday, January 22, at 16:00 PM in the Weiss Hall on the Edmond Y. Safra campus in Givat-Ram of the Hebrew University. The topic of the lecture will be: "Spells in Proto-Canaanite in the Pyramid Writings - a first overview of the history of Hebrew in the third millennium BC". The lecture is held as part of an open meeting of the Hebrew Language Academy in collaboration with the Hebrew University and the World Association for Jewish Studies.
These are ancient texts written in Egyptian, in hieroglyphic script, several lines of which have remained undeciphered for the past 100 years. Prof. Steiner was able to identify the Semitic text and determined that it is an ancient Proto-Canaanite text. This is the earliest evidence in history for the existence of a continuous Semitic text in ancient writings.
Congratulatory remarks will be given at the event by: the president of the Hebrew Language Academy Prof. Moshe Bar-Asher, the president of the Hebrew University Prof. Menachem Magidor, the president of the World Association for Jewish Studies Prof. Sara Yafet. Responses to Prof. Steiner's lecture will be given by Prof. Yehoshua Blau.
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I would appreciate it if you could also update the content of the lecture (and Prof. Blau's response), and of course - what is written there.
And if possible also a picture.
Canaanite is a Semitic language for all intents and purposes. Hebrew is a type of Neo-Canaanite, a late development of it, just like the Neo-Latin languages (Spanish, Italian, French...) in relation to Latin. The genealogy detailed in Genesis chapter XNUMX regarding the lineage of the peoples in the ancient East is not scientific, it reflects a political situation in which the land of Canaan was under the rule of Egypt. This still does not mean that Canaanite is a Hamitic language. Of the three sons of Noah, it is convenient to present Ham as the father of Canaan, because that is what politics wanted, but a modern typological examination of the languages of the region shows something else. Of course, during the aforementioned period Canaanite was still far from Hebrew as it is reflected in the books of the Bible, and even in biblical poetry, which preserves the earliest state of biblical Hebrew. For example, it still had relative endings and modal endings of the verb (as in classical Arabic). The Canaanite finds preceding this discovery come from the Canaanite glosses of the Akkadian letters discovered in El-Amarna. It is interesting to know the typological distance between the state of the Canaanite language of these glosses and its state in Steiner's texts. In the meantime, this is undoubtedly the discovery of the thousand.
First of all good for Emanuel, Semitic languages are most of the languages that existed in the Levant in the ancient Near East, there is a rough division into Eastern Semitic (Akkadian in the Babylonian and Assyrian dialect), and Western Canaanite Semitic (inhabitants of Canaan = the Land of Israel in the 2nd millennium BC), Ugaritic, Phoenician, etc. There are other languages that are Indo-European (the great Hittite Empire in Anatolia) and hieroglyphic Egyptian is a Hamitic language.
This news is certainly interesting, but if it is about the 3rd millennium BC, then there is no connection to Hebrew or the kingdoms of Israel and Judah, which are almost 1,500 years later than the period in question.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but Canaanite is not Semitic. Hebrew is Semitic because Efa, Shelah and Arpachshad are the sons of Shem. Canaan was the son of Ham, Egypt's brother.
How did a Semitic text get to Egypt 5 thousand years ago?
Although I have heard "rumors" that Shem and Eber lived in the land of the Canaanites long before Abraham.
Very interesting!
It would make my heart even happier to see a photo of the text. possible?
Correct me if I'm wrong, but the Canaanites are not heaven. We are Shem because Eber, Shelah and Arbakshad were the sons of Shem, but the Canaanites came from Canaan, which was the son of Ham.
It just doesn't work out for me how a writer of my name reached the Egyptians, and 5 thousand years ago. Although there are "rumors" that Shem and Eber lived in Canaan long before Abraham.
Very interesting!
It will make my heart even happier to see the text. There is a picture ?