INTRODUCTION
Mellennia ago the blowing sands buried the ancient cities of Mesopotamia. Though many, no doubt, traveled there few left any records of their observations. One such traveler was a "learned Jewish merchant, Benjamin Bar Jona of Tudela [who] journeyed to the East by way of Italy and Greece, Cyprus and Palestine he finally arrived in Mesopotamia and Persia. He kept a kind of diary which reveals his interest in the life of Jewish communities in the Diaspora. But the monuments of antiquity did not pass unnoticed by him. 'Of his visit to Mosul [in northern Iraq] he wrote: This city the first in Persia, was very great even in olden times and lies on the Tigris, being joined by a bridge to Nineveh.' He saw other ruins of great cities, one was the three mile long ruin of Babylon with the ruined palace of Nebuchadnezzar, avoided by all because of the abundant presence of snakes and scorpions. As a result of the translation of his writings into French and English, Nineveh and Babylon were brought to the attention of European scholars [for the first time]. The names were familiar from the bible or the classics, they really existed, their ancient ruins could actually be seen!" (Rowley p. 1)
Then came the intrepid traveler, the Abbe de Beauchamp, papal vicar general at Bagdad from 1780 to 1789 who visited many of the ruin sites writing his observations in various issues of Journal des Savants. His publications were an important factor in creating an increasing public interest in the region. By 1800 early travel logs and drawings were being circulated representing much of the mystery and intrigue generated by the ancient ruins barely exposed in the sands of the deserts, and cuneiform tablets became available for the curious to try to decipher. (Rowley p. 1). A resident of the East India Company, Claudius James Rich, in Bagdad was a very keen observer and his memoirs, Bagdad in Bygone Days, published by his wife after his death by cholera in 1821 at age 35, stimulated a great response and interest because his accounts were very accurate. An expert in early Mesopotamian archaeologist and writer, "Seton Lloyd, based his book Foundations in the Dust, on the life of Rich. Rich's house in Bagdad was a centre for others such as Buckingham, Bellino, and Robert Ker Porter, who explored the county under extremely difficult circumstances created by unbearable heat, sandstorms, and the constant threat of nomads." (Hunt p. 19) But none of them were so curious as to put a spade into the ground; surface collecting was sufficiently satisfying. But that would change!
THE FIRST EXCAVATIONS
"In December 1842 Paul-Emile Botta, French Consul at Mosul, [1840-43] stood on the mound at Quyunjik, beneath which a part of the ancient city of Nineveh lay buried. When he began digging there, it was the start of the history of excavation in Mesopotamia. No one before him had ever dug for the remains of buried cities in the tells of Mesopotamia." (Hunt p. 19) In the spring of 1842 Joseph Smith introduced the temple ordinances for the first time. Botta also conducted excavations at "Khorsabad. These were the earliest excavations in Mesopotamia and were conducted without any kind of scientific method, with the sole object of unearthing, and where possible removing, antiquities, many of the Khorsabad sculptures are now in the Louvre in Paris." (Whitehouse p. 70) A chance passer-by from the village of Khorsabad "assured Botta that he knew a place where he could find everything that anyone could hope for." (Hunt p. 19) Botta transferred "his activities to what proved later to be the mound of Dur Sharrukin. The famous Assyrian sculptures of the eight century B.C. were uncovered and news of the discovery reached Paris." (Hunt p. 19) Botta overcame incredible difficulties and bureaucratic obstructions. The heavy objects which they discovered and attempted to remove from the sites "had to be taken on wagons, sometimes drawn by two hundred men, through the mud of the Tigris and then conveyed downstream on the kind of raft built on inflated animal skins called kelek to Bagdad. " (Hunt pp. 19-22) It would take three years before anything he dug up reached Paris. The famous French collections of antiquities now had their beginning.
"The second man to appear on the excavation scene was an Englishman, Austen Henry Layard, [He knew Botta] ...encouraged by the Frenchman's success he too determined to try his luck." (Hunt p. 22) A year after the death of Joseph Smith, in November 1845 Layard was digging at Nimrud, called Caleh in the bible (Genesis 10:12) and Kalkhu in Assyrian literature. He was as successful as Botta and returned to England laden with trophies, creating a sensation in England as much as Botta's finds had in France. He continued his digging, successfully excavating in numerous other tells in the vicinity of Nimrud. Joseph Smith had been dead for a year, but discoveries were being made that confirm he was a great prophet. After 1851 (the Saints had been in the Salt Lake Valley for four years now) Layard found himself completely incompatible with Rawlinson, the man put in charge of all archaeology in Mesopotamia for Britain, so he retired from archaeology completely. Rawlinson was the genius who deciphered cuneiform writing. It was the Italian nobleman, Pietro della Valle, who was traveling in Babylon in 1616, later he had visited the ruins of Ur in 1625 on his way home. He was the first man to bring cuneiform writing and tablets back to Europe. He obtained them from the ruins of ancient Persepolis in Iran. He awakened the interest of Europe in Mesopotamian culture. (Rowley p. 19) "The careers of Botta and Layard, which had crossed at Mosul, both came to an end too soon. Their names remain honourably inscribed on the first page of the history of the excavations in Mesopotamia." (Rowley p. 22) But their efforts were just the beginning and it would be more than 100 years before names found on some of the translated tablets would be recognized as being in the Book of Mormon. On every tablet found there was at least the name of the sender and the name of the receiver. As translations of the tablets continued tens of thousands of names were being identified on these ancient tablets. Now the search is on to find Book of Mormon names among the thousands of names being recovered from the tablets. And as the articles on this web site show, they are being found.
French-English competition continued for many years. It was not until 1877 that the Americans, under Peters, entered the field of Mesopotamian archaeology. Brigham Young was now dead. The Americans chose a site from which, because they could not get along with the Arabs, were driven out and their camp sacked and destroyed. The site was Nippur, (South east of Kish, see Map ) to which they returned in 1890 and have remained there to the present. At Nippur they found the greatest of all treasures, cuniform tablets by the tens of thousands, "the finest haul from any excavation in Mesopotamia, including more than 2000 literary texts edited by Samuel Noah Kramer." (Hunt p. 22) Great treasures were lost when excavators tried to transport clay tablets in bags on donkeys only to find bags of dust when they arrived. A long list of famous archaeologists followed including Ernest Alfred Wallis Budge, Lenard W. King, R. Compton Thompson who belong to the 'heroic' period of archaeology in Mesopotamia. Together they brought more spectacular things to light than was possible for a later generation. To them we owe the great exhibits in museums in Paris, London and Berlin. Without the work of these pioneers in Mesopotamian archaeology and the discovery and recovery of cuneiform tablets, there would be little to compare the names of the Book of Mormon with. But then, who was looking for Book of Mormon names on old cuneiform tablets? Who suspected such a thing? If Joseph Smithy had conjured up the names out of thin cloth no names would be on the tablets! But if Book of Mormon names were found on the tablets, then, plain and simple, Joseph is a Prophet.
THE EARLY GREAT CITIES
Obscured in the mists of time, a long time ago and far, far away the "earliest permanent settlement of the southern plains of Mesopotamia occurred sometime before 5,000 [BC] probably the consequence of non-Semitic peoples moving into the region (Chadwick p 27) A few have conjectured where they came from including the "systems-ecological" model of Charles Redman of Arizona State University. (Andrews p. 353) But just before this time the ancients occupied much of the Zargros Mountains. "This marked the beginning of the 'Ubaid' period, named after the site of Tell al-'Ubaid', where distinctive artifacts were first discovered." (Hunt p., 14) "One of the best-known sites of the period, and likely one of the largest, was Uruk...excavations started in 1899 ...uncovered a...metropolis...with an estimated 10,000 people." (Andrews pp. 26-29) This area north of the Persian Gulf and along the Euphrates River was known as ancient Sumer, (See map ) its peoples were Sumerians, from this area spread the civilizations of Mesopotamia. About the same time as the founding of Ubaid cities, in northern Mesopotamia nearer the Tigris River, the great city of Nineveh was founded. Near the head of the Persian Gulf another city, Uruk, often described as one of the first complex cities of the world emerged historically its rise is placed at about 3700 BC. By 2900 BC a centrally controlled temple economy was in place. (Andrews p. 27) Across the rivers in the plains of what is now modern Iran, the mysterious cities of Elam were founded. (Hunt p. 19) Breaking the Elamitic language has been most difficult. Most of Mesopotamia had languages related to an ancient Semitic root of Aramaic. (Weiss pp. 38-39) See the chart showing the descent of the cuneiform scripts from the Akkadian language.
"The 'Ubaid' village of Eridu (or Eridug) became the key city in Mesopotamia mythology, the seat of the kings who reigned for many thousands of years. But what the Anunnaki gods created, they deemed to take away, when man and his domesticated animals became troublesome." (Hunt p. 16) Eridu was deemed the first city in that region of the earth. What happened in the colonization of the earth after Adam's children spread over it after 4000 BC has not been discovered or recovered in detail. Adam was the first man born on the earth and the first father (Abraham l:3), in light of that scriptural source, for the time being, any man-like-form with man like habits, (Homo Habilus) is not considered to have had a pre-mortal existence with a history of a nurturing spiritual experience in the spirit world. He had not spent time in the celestial kingdom where he received a spirit body destined for glory. (See on this web site the article THE CREATION)
Above the embayment of the Persian Gulf in southern Mesopotamia, two ancient settlements merged to form the city of Uruk. Here appeared the first great ziggurat-style temples that influenced worship in the surrounding centers for centuries. (Hunt p. 20) And just south of Uruk was the famous city of Ur. (Chadwick p. 51) Here Abraham was nurtured.
THE LINK TO THE BOOK OF MORMON
Mesopotamia enters recorded history at the onset of the Early Dynastic period (2900 B.C. to 2400 B.C.) "A series of documents known as the Sumerian King Lists, engraved on clay tablets in the late third millennium, provide an account of ancient kings going back thousands of years. ...scholars have identified dynastic lineages that emerged at several cities after 2900 B.C. The best documented early dynasties are those of KISH, URUK, UR, and LAGASH." (Andrews p. 27) With that king list the Book of Mormon names become very essential and critically important because KISH is found as the name of the 30th descendant in the genealogical tabulation of the posterity of Jared. (Largey p. 43l) and in the name of KISHKUMEN, the founder of the Gadiantons, (Helaman l:8:10-12) and the city of KISHKUMEN destroyed by Christ before he appeared on the American Continent; (3 Nephi 9:10-11) because they stoned the prophets and saints. (Largey p. 483) Also the 15th descendant of Jared was a women named AKISH. (Ether 8:10) These names enter the Book of Mormon only after the discovery and translation of the record of Ether, about 180 B.C to 123 BC. (See Title Page and Ether l:1-2) The record of Ether appears in the Book of Mormon first in Mosiah 8:5 as "plates which contain a record" and in Mosiah 8:9: "they have brought twenty-four plates which are filled with engravings, and they are of pure gold." The plates came with breast plates, rusted swords, and interpreters (Urim and Thummim) that would be used to translate the ancient record. (Mosiah 9-13) If the Book of Mormon is a fabricated book, how could Joseph Smith translating the Book of Ether in 1829 have obtained the name KISH, used as a prefix and a suffix and as an individual's name. (See in this web site the article on KISH) This name shows up in this ancient land of Mesopotamia and its cuneiform records before the flood, and preserved after the flood. (Renfrew p. 46) Note the 'rusted swords' that were the inventory of iterms associated with the plates. Rust had attached the metal of the swords in the lifetime of one man. The so called 'steel' with which they were made was evidently an inferior quality of metal. Are archaeologists looking for iron oxide smears in their excavations that would suggest the presence of ancient metal objects? And how was steel defined in 1829? What did 'steel' mean at that time.
"By 3500 BC the southern regions of Mesopotamia were occupied by a people speaking a language unrelated to any other. Exactly where these people came from is unknown, and their own complex history speaks only of permanent occupation of this region, they formed large independent city-states which flourished by 3000 and held control over areas of several hundred square miles." (Hunt p. 18) This constituted early Sumeria. On the northern border of ancient Sumer were the cities of Kish and Akkad. The southern cities included Uruk, Ur and Lagash. (See Map ) Sumer is generally credited with many firsts. Writing was invented there during the fourth millennium BC, from whence it spread to Egypt, Elam , and the Indus Valley where the rich culture of Mahondo Jaro was developing along the Indus River. (Renfrew p. 186) The simple block form of cuneiform spread all over and was involved in commerce, science and religion. It is the present acceleration of translation of tablets of clay, incised with the curious cuneiform, that provides the comparison of ancient names with the names of the Book of Mormon. Uruk (Biblical Erech) is on the east side of the Euphrates River, just south on the other side of the river is the famous city of Ur (Chadwich p. 51) known to most Mormons as the initial area of Abraham's history. "Ur broke ahead of Uruk and ruled with three dynasties of kings, its prosperity and influence belying its agrarian foundations." (Hunt p. 28) Ur became supreme about 2750 BC. Ur had defeated Kish and Lagash and exerted influence and control over Eruk. Mesannepadda was the first king of Ur (r.2560-25 B.C). Religion had become sophisticated with a priesthood and a reign of priests. "Rulers depended upon the priests' approval, but central to both was the temple, a symbol of the city, its prosperity and its patron deity." (Hunt p. 30) The Jewish chronology places the birth of Abraham in Ur about 2052 BC. (Shulman p. 36, for another chronology see Finnegan) The Jaredites are placed nearly 200-300 years earlier. This historical period is the least studied of most eras. It deserves much more attention. Yet the ancient records indicate there was a general awareness of the temple ceremonies with many imitations and copies. Few know about the great dispensations from Adam to Abraham. The first part of the ancient record of the Jaredites speaks concerning the creation, Adam, an account from that time to the great tower, and other things. (Ether 1:3) It is apparently a much more detailed and accurate account than we now possess, even with the additions of the Joseph Smith Translation and the record of Abraham in the Pearl of Great Price, from the Creation, Adam and down to Abraham.
THE TREASURES OF UR
One of the exciting stories of archaeology and in Sumeria, began in September 1922, when Leonard Woolley, disembarked at the head of the Persian Gulf at Basra to hunt for ruins. Among the sits he discovered at Ur and Tell al-'Ubbaid were a series of tombs, "raided by grave-robbers save for the resting place of the divine Queen Pu-Abi." (Hunt p, 36) The tomb was intact. This was one of the six greatest archaeological treasures ever discovered.
In the temple library of the great city of Nippur, just south of Babylon, a list of kings, known as The King List, completed up to 2125 BC, but it is far from complete, was found. It details the lengths of reign of the various rulers of Sumer. "After fanciful rules of thousands of years, the postdiluvian section of the list gives historically accurate details of the shifting seat of power." (Hunt p. 40) The King List provided information on a city of great important way to the north, Mari, the location of which remained a mystery until discovered by Arab grave -diggers in 1933, excavated by the French archaeologists, Andre Parrot. It was an important strategic city 310 miles north of the frontiers of Babylon up the Euphrates which controlled the trade overland and along the rivers, between Mesopotamia, western Iran, and the Syrian steppes. (Chadwick p. 51, see Website articles on MARI and EBLA) "There are two distinct parts to the list, one dealing with the time before the Great Flood, and a second section listing the postdiluvian period. ..the former era...tells us that kingship 'descended from heaven.'... Eridug (Eridu) where Alulim was king for 28,800 years. Following a succession of kings with long reigns...Eridu fell...Enmenluana ruled...43,200...three...kings... ruled for 108,000 years...city fell to Larag, then to Zimber and finally to Shuruppak. The floods swept over and Kish became the new seat of government, with numerous kings reigning for periods of 400 to 1500 years. Enmebaragesi and his son Agga are the first Kish rulers we know from early inscriptions, it is likely that Kish rivaled Uruk in the early days of its ascendancy. The first dynasty, as recorded in the Epic of Gilgamesh, is said to have been founded at Kish and only later passed to the ruling elite at Uruk. Archaeological evidence suggests that the ruling dynasties at Kish and Uruk, together with a similar ruling elite at Mari were contemporary. The site of ancient Kish is in the flood plain between the Euphrates and Tigris, about eight miles east of Babylon. It consists of a series of low mounds, or tells, scattered over a wide area, first excavated in the 1920's. Although the excavations are incomplete, they show continuous habitation from the proto-literate period until the climax of Sumerian civilization when Kish was apparently over thrown by an invasion of Semitic-speaking peoples, it was the birth place of Sargon of Agade, who was to rebel against the Sumerian dynasties and found the Akkadian empire, there are remains of a temple built by Nebuchadnezzar and Nabonidus during the later Babylonia period ...Power struggles in Sumeria appear to have come to a head about 2500, with Kish briefly exercising hegemon over the entire region. " ( Rowley p. 22) In the Babylonian Epics there "is a reference to the assembly of the city of Kish choosing a king as late as 2300 BC; he took the throne-name Iphur-Kish ('Kish assembled') to emphasize the popular basis of his rule. (Saggs p. 133) But when Kish was defeated kingship went to Eanna then to Uruk. After Gilgamesh the archaeological record and the general historical record merge. The see-sawing balance of power shows shifts from one city to another throughout a long period of time. In this twilight of world of history we have the linkage with the Jaredites. If they did not actually originate in the City of Kish, they certainly came from the vicinity. The Tower of Babel (Bab-li, Gate of the God) is considered to be the ruin of the ziggurat of Etemenanki northwest of Babylon. (Hunt pp. 124-125)
THEN CAME SARGON!
The ancient city of AKKAD, capital of the Akkadian Empire, is generally considered to have been founded by Sargon (Whitehouse p. 100) about 2450 B.C. who established a dynasty. Under Sargon and his grandson Naram-Sin an empire was carved out of portions of Sumer to the south, Elam (southern Iran) on the east and northern Mesopotamia to the north. Akkad was north of Babylon and known anciently as Agade. (Rowley p. 17) . It was probably just a short distance across the river west of Kish. (See the Map )
"Sargon of Akkad (r.2335-2279) was the world's first empire builder, conquering all of the southern Mesopotamia and parts of Anatolia [Turkey] Syria, and Elam (Iran). ..no historical records can be accurately identified...Sargon reaches us as a mystical figure, famous through legends and tales of his extraordinary triumphs...His mother was a 'changling' who bore him in secret --possibly because he was the result of an illicit affair with a high priest. She placed him in a rush basket sealed with bitumen, which she set afloat in the Euphrates. He was found by AKKI, 'drawer of water' who with his wife, adopted Sargon as their son and trained him for the profession of gardener. Sargon was, however, favored by the goddess Ishtar...and destined to achieve great deeds. He rose to the prestigious position of cup-bearer to King Ur-Zababa of KISH, [That name again] from whom he declared his independence to found the new capital of Agade [not far from Babylon to the northwest] and began creating an empire of his own." (Hunt p. 46) Another account says his birthplace is unknown, "he was a peasant, or water carrier, who worked on an irrigation project for Ur-Zababa, the Legal of the city of Kish...and not a member of any ruling family...worked his way up to "cup bearer" for Ur-Zababa...he managed to overthrow Ur-Zababa and took the title "King of Kish"...he took the name of Sargon, Sharru-kin, meaning "legitmate king"." (Chadwick p. 51) He was a fearless warrior and fought in 34 battles, captured the king of Uruk and led him in chains to the temple at Nippur. He defeated the kings of Lagash, conquered Mari and Ebla the two great powers in the north, (see Map ) and extended his conquests through the cedar forests of Lebanon, into the Taurus Mountains of Anatolia, ancient Turkey. He captured Elam and the central Zagaros Mountain of Iran. Because Ebla defied him, through his grandson, Naram- Sin [2254-2218] whose own accounts states: "Naran-Sin, the strong, the king of four regions, the conqueror of Arman and Ebla." (Pettinato p. 33, see the CD on EBLA) This implies a war between AKKAD and EBLA ending with the defeat of the latter. Ebla was destroyed and burned about 2250 B.C. "Never, since mankind was established had any7 king among kings subdued Armanum [notice the 'um' ending] and Ebla." (Gordon p. 135) "From Ebla the title "King of Kish": is often found....Kish is mentioned in approximately 70 tablets [found at Ebla]." (Gordon p. 135) Sargon "was victorious in every battle he fought." (Chadwich p. 51) Like all ancient empires, they didn't last long. The Jaredite record does not mention these wars and conquests. It is easy to conclude that they had passed through the region before the destruction of Ebla. They had left this region of great intrigue and war with their baggage of ancient names. Some of their names have the ending of 'um' or 'om'. (Archi p. 124)
The Jaredites, when they departed from near the Tower of Babel , did not go south, the Mediterranean sea was to the west, the vast deserts of Iran were to the east and south. Did they go north and pass through the regions of Mari and Ebla at or before, or after, the raidings and conquests of Naram-Sin? Besides the name of KISH, does the record of Ether reflect this time period? Are there other names peculiar to the Jaredite time frame? Remember, once the Jaredites left they never returned. So any changes in names and languages that occurred in the Mesopotamian region after their departure would not be present in the Jaredite record in the Book of Mormon. A good test for the veracity and accuracy of that Book! The Jaredite record takes us to "the dim half-described shadow-empires of Asia [that] are only in our day beginning to take on recognizable form." (Nibley p. 154) Most of the translations of cuneiform tablets were after Nibley's time. Yet Nibley could write: "For all of its simple and straightforward narrative style, this history is packed as few others are with a staggering wealth of detail." (Nibley p. 237) And some important detail is embedded in the names.
The ancient Language of Sargon was Akkadian, an East Semitic language one of at least four Semitic languages derived from a little known Proto-Semitic. (See chart ) Old Akkadian appears on the scene about 2700 BC. (Weiss pp. 38-39) Most of the area north of Kish, which was the region of Akkad, (See MARI) and far to the north known then as Assyria, (See EBLA) spoke Akkadian. The research that follows comes from the recent compilation of Akkadian in the CONCISE DICTIONARY OF AKKADIAN Eds. J. Black, A. George, and N. Postgate.
THE NAMES
On the left the names are from the Book of Mormon, the names on the right are from the CONCISE DICTIONARY OF AKKADIAN and THE PROSOPOGRAPHY OF THE NEO-ASSYRIAN EMPIRE, which help explain the meaning of the names, prefixes and suffixes.
ABINADI: ABI, NADI
In the days of Mosiah a curious thing happened: v "20. And it came to pass in the days of Mosiah, there was a large stone brought unto him with engravings on it; and he did interpret the engravings by the gift and power of God. 21: And they gave an account of one Coriantumr, and the slain of his people. And Coriantumr was discovered by the people of Zarahemla; and he dwelt with them for the space of nine moons. 22: It also spake a few words concerning his fathers. And his first parents came out from THE TOWER at the TIME the Lord confounded the language of the people; " (Omni 1:20-22) Coriantumr was the last Jaredite king and sole survivor of his people. (Ether 13: 1) The prophet Ether prophesied that Coriantumr would witness "another people receiving the land for their inheritance" (Ether 13:21) which was fulfilled when Coriantumr " was discovered by the people of Zarahemla; [Mulekites] and he dwelt with them for the space of nine moons" (Omni 1:1) until his death. (Ether 23:32, Largey pp. 215-216) Here an event Is recorded in the Book of Mormon that links with Biblical history.
The TIME and PLACE of the TOWER OF BABEL are subjects for a separate study. "Come let us build us a CITY and a TOWER with its top in the sky..." (Genesis 11:4) The Lord did not like this and so he stopped them from building the city and the tower. "that is why it was called Babel, because there the LORD confounded the speech of the whole earth, and from there they LORD scattered them over the face of the whole earth,.? (Genesis 11:9) This was about 140-340 years after the flood. (Shulman p. 21; Finnegan) Among those that were scattered were the Jaredites. Mahonri Moriancumer, the prophet brother of Jared, led his people from the tower of Babel to the promised land (Ether 1:1-33; Largey p. 428; 546)
The prophet Ether recorded the Jaredite history on 24 plates of pure gold, (Mosiah 8:9) from their inception at the great TOWER to their destruction, (Mosiah 28:17) and then he hid the plates. These plates were later found by an expedition sent by king Limhi to find Zarahemla (Mosiah 8:9-11; Largey p. 644) King Mosiah obtained the plates from Limhi's people and translated them, (Mosiah 38:11-13) most likely because they were written in Adamic. To do this Mosiah had to use the Urim and Thummim found with them. Moroni made an abridgement of the plates before his death around 420 AD, (Mosiah 28:10-20: Ether l:1-2) noting thnat "the hundredth part I have not written" (Ether 15:33; Largey p. 644). The Book of Ether is a very abbreviated document, but it has genealogical names for more than 44 generations of the family of Jared, and many references to other names including the family of Mahonri Moriancumer. (Largey pp. 430-437) Many of these have been found in other documents included in these web site studies and the search for others is in progress, this being one of those on-going studies.
The name Abinadi first appears in the Book of Mormon in Mosiah 11:20, but he is first mentioned, though not by name, in Mosiah 7:26-28, where king Limhi explains why Abinadi was martyred; mainly because of what he taught about Christ becoming a mortal and then being put to death, emphasizing his divinity and power over death, which provided the basis for the atonement for all mankind. (Largey p. 22- 23) Abinadi was the first Nephite to die by fire.
Very little is known about Abinadi. The name Abinadi may have been in the plates Mormon was abridging, or as noted below, could have been from the Brass Plates, or the name was on the gold Plates of Ether because the name appears in the Book of Mormon about the time the plates of Ether were found and translated. If they were on the plates of Ether then the name could reflect a name in use before 2200 BC, it would seem certain that the Jaredites having gone north would have passed through what would have been known then as the Akkadian Empire and could have become familiar with Akkadian names and brought them with them as part of their cultural baggage. "Taken as a whole, it seems that throughout Northern Syria, from Ebla (see Map ) to the Euphrates and the Tigris, the same names or name-types were used. Therefore, the evidence is that the same language [or similar language] and the same traditions [or similar traditions] prevailed." (Gordon p. 16) The languages were all Semitic related. But the earliest use of a name, with its prefix and/or suffix, will provide evidence of the antiquity of the Jaredites and validate historical aspects of the Book of Mormon and certainly confirm Joseph Smith as a prophet. How could Joseph conjure up names specific to time and geography? The names do permit one to explore antiquity and ancient cultures in a way not readily apparent.
THE PREFIX: ABI
The name Abinadi has the prefix: ABI, which is a hypocoristicon, or abbreviation for "Father" (often denoting deity rather than an earthly father). The status constructus in Akkadian is: Abi, and occasional may be Abu, Ab, or Abi, used as a prefix as it was used in the name ABINADI. Used in the transferred sense it can mean "father of gods," Black fully develops this prefix in his dictionary. (Black p. 3) When the prosopography of the name is examined, in publications only recently made available, we find it in the simplest form, again as a prefix: Abi, meaning 'father,' but it is listed as a WEST SEMITIC name which leads us into some important language relationships that suggest a variety of vehicles for the transmission of the name down through time. (Radner p, 8) The West Semitic is older than the Akkadian, which is considered by Weiss to be present about 2750 BC. (Weiss pp. 38-39) Areas where one might also look for this name is in South West Semitic related languages. The prefix or name pops up in South West related languages such as North Arabic. (Radner p. 11) Also it could be found in tablets from Ebla which is Proto Aramaic. It most likely would also appear in tablets and documents from Northwest Semitic languages including Proto-Canaanite, Amorite, Ugaritic, and Phoenician, even in the Amarna Letters from Egypt and most of the later Aramaic languages including Hebrew (where there are more than 35 names with the prefix, Mandel pp. 4-13) and the Qumran documents of the Dead Sea Scrolls . (Weiss pp. 38-30) In the New Testament it appears in the form of ABBA, as in ABBA FATHER, when Christ addresses his father in personal prayer, which is seldom translated into English because of its sensitive meaning of 'Daddy'. What existing Christian religion wants to admit that Christ is praying to his real father and addresses him intimately as 'Daddy'?
A review of articles and available CDs in the web site will find many that deal with the discovery of ancient documents from any and most of these areas. The reality is this prefix has great antiquity and wide transmission. More than 70 West Semitic and Akkadian names with this prefix have been tabulated by Radner, (Radner pp. 8-15) along with many women's names with the same prefix but with a feminine ending on the suffix. The name Abinadi could therefore have been transmitted through time, not only in the Jaredite records, but also in the Brass Plates, as many of the tribes of Israel would have been in contact at various times with the West Semitic cultures, especially the Amorites. (Weiss p. 38)
THE SUFFIX: NADI
The name Abi-nadi has the suffix: NADI, which is also a hypocoristicon for "praised". (Baker p. 915) There are more than 80 names that use this suffix as a PREFIX in Akkadian male names. (Baker pp. 915-921) In its Akkadian form, Nadu (the u and i are often interchangeable), the meaning is also "praised." (Black p. 232) The prosopography studies of the name confirm that the name, NADI, is an Akkidian masculine name and that its meaning is "praised." (Baker p. 915) So the name, ABINADI, would mean: "praised be Father (God)", certainly a name appropriate for the man and prophet in the Book of Mormon. Nadi, as a prefix in a name, is found in more than 60 Akkadian names as tabulated by Baker. (Baker pp. 915-921) mostly confined to East Semitic languages.
ABINADOM: ABI, NADIN, NADUM
The name ABINADOM first appears in OMNI 1:10 where he introduces himself as the son of Chemish, this is more thian100 years before the gold plates of Ether are found. Most likely this name was in the Brass Plates and had been transmitted down through time with some of the elements of the name having great antiquity. There is the prefix: ABI. And a suffix: NADOM, which could also have the form NADUM. The prefix ABI, meaning 'father' has been discussed above. The Suffix: NADOM could also be in the form of NADIN, (Baker p. 921) the 'i' being interchangeable with 'o' and the 'm' endings conforming to a practice of adding the m at the end. NADIN has the meaning of 'give or giver'. (Black 229) the name ABINADOM may then mean the 'father gives, or is the giver.' There are several other related forms with similar meanings, depending how the cuneiform was written. Generally everything was written without vowels, only consonants were utilized, one fit in the vowels based an intimate knowledge of the language. The Book of Mormon illustrates a deliberate effort to provide correct vowels for understanding and pronunciation. So there would not be a great deal of difference between the suffixes NADI and NADOM, except for the ending. The suffix ending NADOM may also merely be the mimation (use of um, im, om, -m) ending of OM; often found in Akkadian and Eblaitic, (Gordon p. 14) again pointing to the antiquity of the name. There is considerable literature on West Semitic and Akkadian name constructions. It is very exciting to find Book of Mormon names on tablets from ancient times. Nibley discussed mimation early on in his approach to the Book of Mormon. (Nibley p. 288) His work was decades before the results of research and the translation of tens of thousands of tablets were published.
Research for Book of Mormon names in the ancient Akkadian sources will continue in Part 2.
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