Dr. Einar C. Erickson
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There is a successive putting on and off of garments or animal skins, the soul after death had to ascend to the highest heaven and passing through the gates, every gate being watched by a warder. The ascent motive only occurs in a continuated form, they will bear it the soul to the eternal rest.

THE DEVELOPMENT OF MESOPOTAMIA AND THE NEAR EAST

"On 12 October 539 BC the Ancient Near East witnessed the disappearance of the last real Mesopotamia state. On that day Babylon, the capital of the Neo-Babylonian Empire, was conquered by Persian armies. The fall of Babylon meant the end of the Neo-Babylonian Empire and of its last king Nabonidus. " (Tavernier  p. l) The Jaredites had left the region of Babylon nearly 2000 years earlier, and left their mark in the New World.  By this time Lehi had made it safely to the new world, Mulek had matured among his mother's Phoenician people and was planning a boat voyage to the new world. The Jews under Ezekiel were about to be freed from their exile in Babylon and Esther was in Suza in Persia where she had saved the Jews from extermination and soon those in exile would be permitted to return and rebuild the temple. It would be 300 years more before the people of Qumran would start copying  their ancient Dead Sea Scrolls and compose new documents and 560 years before Christ would begin his ministry. Soon the great interregnum between Malachi and Christ would begin. Most of the cities that had accumulated clay tablets on which names in the Book of Mormon would be found were already buried in centuries of dust and ruble. Landscapes once looked upon by huge populations attracted no one's gaze. It was a long, long time ago and far, far away. 

The prophesied conqueror of Babylon was a man named Cyrus, the king out of Western Iran. Before defeating the Babylonians he had already added the Lydian Kingdom of Croesus to his state and he had taken control over the East Iranian regions, he was the founder of the great Achaemenid Empire. Eventually that Empire controlled the entire Near East for the first time in history, and its king,  Darius,  annexed Egypt and Thrace, Macedonia and parts of  India,  he even tried to subdue the Greeks, but he and his son Xerxes were unable to accomplish that conquest even though they were at the peak of their power. The end of the empire came under the military actions of Alexander the Great when at the battle of Gaugamela Alexander defeated Darius III, marking the end of the empire. But in time, that Empire and the empires after that, also turned into  hills of windblown sand and worn down mud bricks. Names found in the remains of that Empire will be referred in this PART and future ones.

In January 330 BC Alexander conquered Persepolis, one of the most important cities of the Achaemenid Empire. The Empire had annexed a multitude of Kingdoms in the Near East, established a well-organized government,  governing under the principle of not interfering too heavily with the private life of the subject people leaving most officials in the government, and did not impose changes in socio-economic organizations of the lands; their interest was in the tribute and taxes. (Tavernier  p. 1)

One ethnic group (Iranians) controlled the entire area now generally described as the "Ancient Near  East.  It inevitably had its consequences, not only in the administrative and socio-economics but also on the LINGUISTIC FIELD." (Tavernier  p. 2)  With this one Iranian dynasty governing the entire Near East the infiltration of Old Iranian proper names and loanwords into texts was extensive.  It is this aspect of the scheme of things that interests us the most.  We have now added a Lexicon of Old Iranian Proper Names to our research resources.                                           

THE ABSENCE OF SURNAMES IN THE ANCIENT RECORDS

"Of all the names of persons mentioned in the Old Testament, none are surnames. Biblical Characters, whether notable or not, were known by one name only. And those names, as translated into the English language, neither use the letters  q, z, or w nor begin with F." (Parry p., 159)  If one examines the 337 proper names in the Book of Mormon, it will be evident that the Book of Mormon shares those same peculiarities.  Not one surname is mentioned among the 337 names, which as transcribed into English, use the letters q, x, or w and do not begin with F. In the concordances on the Book of Mormon, there are no names beginning with q, none using a  v, and none using an x or y, and no names begin with an F. (Shapiro, Book of Mormon pp. 532-535)  This limits the languages and geography from which the Book of Mormon names could have come from! If Joseph Smith attempted to pass off the  Book of Mormon as an ancient record, he might have easily slipped up by giving at least a few of his characters surnames and certainly using those other letters common in English.  "And even if he were careful to model his expression after the Bible and thereby avoid obvious pitfalls, chances are slim that he would have noticed that in the Bible the letters q, x, and w, and F, are not used in proper names. "  (Parry  pp. 159-160; Mandel p. 164)  One might note that in Old Iranian and Persian  Proper Names they do use the letter F, but there is no 0 in their listings. (Tavernier pp. 42l, 422; 261; 500)  Occasionally we trace some names back into Old Iranian as will be noted when we get to the G's. (Tavernier p. 185)   

As before, the name as found in the Book of Mormon is given on the left, and then, on the right,  any word or name that may have the various prefix, core, or suffix elements in the ancient languages are provided, with emphasis on those parallels found in the Akkadian Dictionary. The BOLD emphasis is always mine and is used extensively as there are a lot of points to make.   

                                                                        NAMES

AMNIHU: ABIHU

This name was first studied in PART 8,  pages 6-7 of this series. AMNIHU is a place name, the name of a hill. It was a hill east of the River Sidon and near Zarahemla where the Amlicites fought "with great strength" against Alma and the Nephites.  (Alma 2:15-17; 87 BC) It is a complex compound name with several elements. The name is a theophoric name containing the  Egyptian elements  AM, AMN (AMMON) and MN. As noted in PARTS 7 and 8, the prefix AM, is extremely common in Egyptian names as well as those of Akkadian and Neo-Assyrian, and has been discussed in some detail, in names included in PART 5, 6, 7, and 8 of this series. The theophoric consonant prefix AM- element has also been discussed. MN (The God MIN) was a  high ranking god during early Egyptian times has also been previously discussed. The name  AMNIHU, like the name  AMNIGADDAH, contains the prefix AMNI-  Since there are two names in the Book of Mormon with this prefix it deserves consideration and research, as does the name AMNIHU itself. However, it is the prefix element AMN that is important  AMN was discussed in some detail in PART 8, and found to be a tribal name of social importance in ancient MARI.  But it also suggests some unusual historically affinities associated with these names. Names beginning with AM- were common in the ancient city of MARI  (see THE ANCIENT CITY OF MARI AND THE BOOK OF MORMON,  29 January 2005) and were derived from the word, HAM, (father in law) also found in the Qatabanian god, AMM, (Huffman p. 166), the ancient Moon God,  also discussed earlier in some detail. To repeat there are 18 names in the Book of Mormon beginning with AM.  In nearly all dictionaries, the A section is the largest, and especially for the AM, AMM and AMN listings. In this current series of studies of names in the Akkadian Dictionary,  more than 30 names have been discussed, and we are still in the A listings. More than 20 % of all Book of Mormon names start with an A.

AMNIHU also contains a suffix -IHU found at the end of West Semitic names. Compare with the name AB-IHU described by Coogan.  (Coogan p. 50)  Standing alone, the consonant  H  is the abbreviation of a divine name of an unknown deity, attested in Egypt at ancient Abydos and in Phoenician inscriptions from Carthage. (Benz p. 302)  In the Egyptian dictionary  H  is identified as being found in Nubian texts,  some time referring to a temple or palace. (Budge p. 438)  So, this name is challenging, like the compound name AMNIGADDAH, and like that name, it  most likely came from Jaredite records, less likely from the  ancient records in the Brass Plates.  AMNIHU does not enter the Book of Mormon until after the Jaredite records had been found and translated so those interested could have had access to names it contained.  The time of entry or use in the Book of Mormon seems to have an important chronologically.   

There is also the consonant construct -NH-, in the suffix -NIHU a West Semitic verbal element interpreted as  "to answer",  found among the names at ancient Nippur, (Coogan p. 80) where many temples were found along with thousands of tablets, some with Book of Mormon names on them. (see in this web site:  THE GOVERNOR'S ARCHIVE FROM THE ANCIENT CITY OF NIPPUR, 17 Aug 2005)  The element -NH is also found in two Book of Mormon names.  There are two consonants in this element, the  N is found as "AN" in Phoenician is the masculine counterpart of the goddess 'ANAT'  (Benz p. 380) and the element H referring in Nubian to a temple or palace, (see above) may be providing  additional meaning to the name;  since it is a place name, the inference of a temple or palace for the god  intended by the other elements of the name. Future research and discoveries may shed more light on this compound and ancient name as well as some others, but on various elements for which there is little information at the present available.  Recall that Akkadian and other ancient languages employed the  U ending, giving it another ancient twist. So AMNIHU is an authentic ancient name with unique and commonly used elements in its construction.  As noted before and hereafter, the AMN element is an important one found in ancient MARI TRIBAL NAMES. 

AMNOR:  AMN, AMN-AKKU, OR

It was a time of war, intrigue and the use of spies.  Amlici seeks to be king and is rejected by the voice of the people.  But  his followers make him king. The Amlicites make war on the Nephites, and are defeated. The Lamanites and Amlicites join forces and are defeated.  Alma slays Amlici. Alma had sent spies to follow the Amlicites. "22. Now those whom he had sent out to watch the camp of the Amlicites were called Zeram, and AMNOR, and Manti, and Limher; these were they who went out with their men to watch the camp of the Amlicites...They returned with the alarming report that the Amlicites had united with a host of Lamanites and were marching up on the Nephites above the land of Zarehemla." (Alma 22: 22-25; Largey p. 52) So, other than being in command of a special ops spy group about 87 BC, we know little else about AMNOR.  The name begins with the well known prefix AM-, discussed above and in PARTS 5-8.  So, everything written about the Book of Mormon names and those starting with AM- applies here also. The name  AMNOR also has the consonant element MN, also discussed above and earlier PARTS in this series. But it also has the prefix AMN-, the unusual element treated separately above and in PART 8.  What has been discussed is especially applicable to the name AMNOR.  As noted before, the AMN- prefix is a theophoric name containing the Egyptian element AMN (AMMON), the great universal god of the Egyptian Empire.  Budge lists AMN as an ancient Egyptian name. (Budge p. 51) An AMNOR is also used in the Nephite monetary system.(Alma 11;16) ( See WEIGHTS AND MEASURES, GOLD, SILVER AND BARLEY, 9 March 2005)  on this web site. But especially for our purposes and providing antiquity for the name AMNOR, we need to further reconsider the prefix,  AMN-;  it does go back to Jaredite times because it does occur in the Akkadian Dictionary in the ancient name AMN-AKKU , meaning a 'kind of white sand',  here AMN- has the meaning 'a kind of', but it would require a suffix to indicate the kind of 'what? The suffix or ending is OR. In Phoenician, there is the consonant abbreviation 'R', this element is theophorous, but vocalization is unknown, and as noted in earlier PARTS of this series, it has the meaning of "friend, Companion or  shepherd."  (Benz p. 409), lending a meaning to AMNOR as  "a kind of friend or companion," with the implication the friend or companion is a "deity."  AMNOR could then mean,  He "is a friend of God", or "God is his companion and shepherd."   (See also in this web site:  LETTERS TO THE KING OF ANCIENT MARI AND THE BOOK OF MORMON NAMES; 21 MARCH 2008) 

Let's ponder on the suffix ending of  -OR, we know there is no 'O' in Akkadian  or  the  main dictionaries, Sumerian, Akkadian, Egyptian and Old Iranian, being used for this study of names in ancient Akkadian.  But the Jaredites retained the 'o' verifying its use in antiquity.  Their language was the Adamic language and it remained unchanged. By eliminating the letter -o- from the Akkadian it certainly changed the language.  The single consonant in this suffix is the R element, it is theophorous referring t o an ancient deity, meaning 'companion, friend, shepard,'  [Christ?]. (Benz pp. 408-409)   The element is not attested in early Pharaohnic names from Egypt, so it goes back a long time, it may have been a Jaredite thing.  As noted elsewhere, one of the geographic names for HELIOPOLIS in EGYPT is ON. (Porten p. 428; Nibley p. 598) In Egyptian, one of the meanings of ON is 'wealth.' (Mandel p. 416) The father-in-law of Joseph was the High Priest of ON.  Hebrew has retained the use of O, it has the name ON as meaning "wealth", (Mandel p. 416)

AMNOR  was the son of Peleth, with Dathan and Abram, the chief supporters of Korah's rebellion against Moses. These four men led 250 renowned men in accusing Aaron and Moses of raising themselves over the rest of the people. (Numbers 16:l) Moses opened the ground and the rebels, their tents and all their goods fell inside, then the earth closed. I guess the moral of the story was don't monkey with a prophet who can command the elements. 

There is other supporting evidence for the  antiquity of the name. Names beginning with Am-,  as noted, were common at MARI, and were derived, in part, from the word HAM, (father in law) or most likely the Qatabanian (Modern Oman) god AM or AMM, (SIN) the moon god. (Huffman p. 166)  The Lunar God was generally inscribed as SYN, in normal Semitic order. (Phillips p. 198) There are hundreds of names that begin with SIN, the moon god,  in Akkadian and Neo-Assyrian sources,  SIN, the moon god, is also discussed above in some detail in PARTS 5-8 of this series. Always keep in mind,  there is no 'o' in Akkadian or Neo-Assyrian, but there was an 'o' in the original Adamic language. So, to repeat, the Jaredites did not have their original language "confused."  The removal or addition of a single letter in other languages could change those languages greatly.     

But as we continue to examine the name AMNOR there is the consonant element MNR. This exact same construct is found in Phoenician as MNR, (Benz p. 350)  The meaning is unexplained, it was found in an inscription at Carthage, where it is related to South Canaanite in Northwest Semitic with ancient connotations. While the name AMNOR can be traced back to ancient times, it could have been transmitted down to the Nephites in the Brass Plates.  It will be noted that AMN- as a prefix is found in 2 Samuel 3:2, in the name of a son, AMNON born in Hebron to King David. He was  King David's first born son. His mother was Ahinoam the Jazreelitess.  AMNON raped his half sister TAMAR.  ABSALOM, another son of King David avenged Tamar by killing AMNON. The story of ABSALOM is tragic, a very severe royal family tragedy.  In l Chronicles 4:20,  there is the name AMNON, one of the four sons of Shimon, a descendant of Judah,  (Mandel pp. 50-51; 504) related to the Royal Line of Christ.  Names have a life of their own, taking one into a history tree of people, places, and times. Like all of the names, Joseph Smith was given an authentic name in AMNOR.  If the Book of Mormon was fiction, then we could not make much adieu about any of it.  But since we can get into deep water name after name, the stream of consistent data bears one definite character, the restoration was absolute.  The Great Joseph was and is a prophet. The Book of Mormon is true!

AMORON: AM, MR, OR, ON, N

AMORON  was a Nephite who during the final conflict between the Nephites and Lamanites, about 420 AD,  had the horrendous unpleasant duty of reporting  to Mormon, the Nephite Commander in Chief and Prophet,  concerning Lamanite atrocities in Sherrizah, a tower city,  atrocities as depraved and horrible as have ever been written anywhere. AMORON brought the news of how the lamanite commander,  Zenephi, who as was bad as any in any history anywhere, killed the  husbands and fathers and fed the flesh to the wives and children, raped all the young girls, tortured them to death and then ate them-with relish.  It made Mormon cry out to the Lord for Judgement.  It is certain that the commanders and soldiers who did this- because they did it as a show of bravery- have been judged fully. (Moroni 9:7-17)

Mormon and Moroni both knew of the Book of Ether. Moroni eventually made a credible abridgement of it, as much as he was permitted to do, because there were so many sacred visions in it and temple related doctrines and ordinances. Everything written on AM before this can be applied to AMORON. Because the word AM, without any suffix, appears in the Akkadian Dictionary, meaning "to me" (Black page 13) it is considered an ancient name, and while it could have been transmitted down through time in the Brass Plates, the name AMORON is unique in that it has two theophoric suffixes,  OR and ON.  Most names have one or the other of the deity abbreviations, but this name has both. As noted above, the Akkadian language has no "O"s,  but there are two here, both of the two endings have been discussed in detail in the above and previous entries in this series and need not be repeated, and both have been traced back to ancient sources, especially Egyptian and the Father in Law of Joseph, High Priest of ON. In Akkadian and ancient Egyptian, there are hundreds of names that start with AM. 

The ON ending, is an authentic Hebrew suffix characteristic of a Hebrew hypocoristicon, a nick name, usually dropping a theophoric name component, and was found frequently in the old world many centuries before it shows up in Hebrew accounts.  (Coogan p. 112)  It has been found in West Semitic Personal names in MURASU, another Mesopotamian city, excavated and tablets with names on them translated.  The element N is a theophorous, hypocoristicon for the god AN, the masculine counterpart of the goddess ANAT, attested in ancient UGARIT. (Benz p. 380)  Again , as has been pointed out, names beginning with AM were also found in tablets from the ancient city of Mari, active during Jaredite times.  The consonantal  element MR is also found in Hebrew names, OMRI (sheaf of corn) and OMAR  (Speaker).  (Mandel p. 415)  It is also in Phoenician (Benz p. 380) and earlier still in Amorite (Gelb p. 25)   The element R described elsewhere in this PART, is theophorous,  vocalization unknown,  generally meaning "friend, companion... Shepherd0"  (Benz p.  408-409), all applicable to the name AMNOR.

AMOS, AMOZ: AMU-, AMUM

Mandel claims the name AMOS is of Hebrew Origin. (Mandel p. 52)  And it is certain that the famous Minor Prophet (meaning shorter writings) of that name was called of God in the 8th century from the town of Tekoa. Before being called as a prophet, he may have been a lead priest in charge of the sacrificial lambs for the temple that were herded (Amos 1:1; Luke 2:8; Reiling pp. 110-118) near Bethlehem, suggesting the name may have an earlier history.  In Benz the consonantal element  MS relates to names found in the ancient port and mercantile city of UGARIT,  nearly a thousand years earlier so it is not Hebrew in Origin. (Benz p. 379)  UGARIT is a 2nd-millennium BC Canaanite city, modern Ras Shamra, near the Mediterranean coast of Syria.  It has an even older existence, as the ancient city overlies a series of earlier Bronze Age settlements, Chalcolithic settlements, which go back to Jaredite times,  and Neolithic settlements. (Whitehouse p. 525)  It was the location of a metallurgical foundry, cupeling and refining and pouring of silver and gold ingots.  "...we went down to the land of our inheritance, and we did gather together our gold, and our silver..." (l Nephi 3P22)  Lehi may have obtained some of his gold and silver from UGARIT as it is up the coast from the port of Sidon.  Lehi may have had occasion to use this smelter in his Merchant activities. The main link we are looking for, however, is the script being used on the clay tablets at UGARIT, it was the AKKADIAN CUNEIFORM script--the lingua franca of trade throughout the Near East. The ancient city of UGARIT is credited with the development of the first true alphabet. UGARIT  was destroyed by the Phoenicians in the 12th Century BC. (Whitehouse p. 526)  The city had lasting ties with Early Egypt. During excavations there, a beautiful bronze sword engraved  with the cartouche of an early Egyptian Pharaoh, Merneptah,  was recovered. (Young p. 26) The city was known for its textile industry with more than 35 types of garments and more than a thousand items. (Young p. 38)  Another industry was the  royal purple dye obtained from the Murex shell whose habitat was along the coast and exploited by the Phoenicians. (Young p. 146) The last cloak Christ was wearing was a purple garment, royal purple from the Murex. After all, wasn't he the KING?     

It may be recalled that there are four names in the Book of Mormon that have the name AMMON: AMMON, AMMONITE, AMMONIAH and AMMONIHAHITE (Book of Mormon page 532) A reference that has not yet been used in establishing the antiquity of that name is found in Deuteronomy 2:20 which relates that the "territory of AMMON, like that of Moab, was known as the land of Rephaim, that Rephaim formerly lived there, but the Ammonites called them Zamzumim...who the Lord dispossessed and destroyed them for Israel."  (Young p. 170)  The Rephaim are citizens of the Netherworld, the infernal metropolis. It seems the name shows up in UGARIT on tablets written in Akkadian script, depicting the cult of the dead in the city.  Interesting connections. Perhaps a story for a later date?  Maybe, someday? 

But because it has the AM- prefix that does shows up in the Akkadian dictionary, and in Akkadian script on tablets found at UGARIT the name AMOS has an origin in antiquity. It is clear that all that has been discussed on the element AM in previous PARTS of these studies all of it applies to AMOS as well. So, since AMOS is demonstrably an ancient name, it is the ending, in AMOZ, the OZ,  that needs to be considered. AMOS, the name,  in Hebrew means "Burdensome," but change the ending to OZ and the meaning changes to:  "Strong." (Mandel pp. 52-53)  Again, change a letter and you change a whole lot.  In the Book of Mormon,  AMOS was the son of Nephi and was the record keeper in his father's stead about 110 to 194 AD. AMOS passed the records to his son he named AMOS, a case of old world Papponomy where fathers gave sons their own name.  (4 Nephi 1:19-21)  AMOS followed his father as Nephite record keeper about 194 to 306 AD. AMOS witnessed the complete moral collapse of the Nephite Nation as had been prophesied by his predecessors. (4 Nephi 1:21-47) AMOZ is also a Biblical name. (2 Kings 19:2; 2 Nephi 12:1) ) Living in the 8th Century BC. AMOZ was the father of one of the greatest of the prophets,  ISAIAH.  The discussions made about the element AM in earlier PARTS of this series apply also to AMOZ, an important ancient name.  Since there is no "o" in Akkadian, the names AMOS and AMOZ  would have the form of AMU, AMU(M)  or AMUM, as they are found in Akkadian. (Black p. 16)  See below.                          

AMULEK: AM, MLK

First we need to identify the elements that make up the name of this great man.  There is the element AM,  frequently met in Book of Moron Names where there are 18 names that begin with AM. What has been extensively discussed previously about the element AM applies to the name of AMULEK also. There is also the prefix AMU-.  This prefix and word appears as AMU in the Akkadian Dictionary with five variations from Babylonian to Old Akkadian, with another listing of  more than twenty names using this same prefix, with the first use meaning "one handed". (Black p. 16) This establishes the antiquity of the name. In the consonantal skeleton there is also the element MLK.  This is a rich and often used suffix. It means "messenger, king, ruler,"  (Benz p. 344) and often used as an epithet of the god 'El', (Benz p. 344-345) which is also an abbreviation or hypocoristicon for Elohim.   It is also found as a prefix in the name MELCHIZEDEK, meaning Prince or Ruler, (Alma 13:14)  And there is the suffix LEK, with the consonantal element LK, related to MLK, found on two inscriptions from Carthage, (Phoenician) and linked to the MULIKITES, like MLK; it means "to rule", "messenger" or "king." (Benz p. 344)  In AMORITE, another Semitic group, their language was spoken by tribes of Semitic peoples on the borders of most of the northern ten tribes, where the same elements MLK mean "to rule" , to "counsel", often written "MULUK" not much different than MULEK,  except MULUK in AMORITE is a divine name.  (Gelb p. 25) It might be noted that AMORITE  is also a Semitic language and like Akkadian, does not have the 'o', so names in AMORITE  would be very much like those in Akkadian and would verify and confirm the antiquity of the names. 

Notice, that the name MULEK is present in the name AMULEK.  MULEK is a  Phoenician name, certainly a King, he was a son of King Zedikiah, King of the Jews, probably born in August of the year of the siege about 586 BC, and while other sons of Zedikiah were killed, MULEK probably escaped with his mother, (Hel. 8:21) who having given her son a Phoenician name, probably made it to Carthage or wherever her family was. In Akkadian, the A before starting a name generally meant "my"  (Black p. 1) so the name AMULEK could mean  "my king, or ruler". (See the studies on Phoenician names in Aug and Sept. 2006 in this series) Research indicates that because the suffix of the name is LEK, and not  LON, as in the name AMULON, the name follows the Akkadian non-use of the "o" letter, using the "e" vowel instead with a change in the final consonant.  The Jaredites retained the use of  ''o".  As noted AMULEK and MULEK were found in ancient Phoenician which also did not use "o", the 'aleph' was used in place of the "o" and "a" vowels, and the 'ayin' was used for the "a" at times. The final ending of ON in AMULON has been discussed above and elsewhere and below.

AMULEK,  the missionary companion of ALMA, is first mentioned in the Book of Mormon in Alma 8:21, he is further mentioned in ALMA, CHAPTERS 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 14, 15, 16, 31, 34 and 35.  He is twice mentioned in Helaman, and Moroni, who, driving home some details of faith,  makes mention of AMULEK and ALMA in ETHER 12:12-13: "For if there be no faith among the children of men God can do no miracle among them; wherefore, he showed not himself until after their faith. Behold, it was the faith of Alma and Amulek that caused the prison [in the city of AMMONIHAH] to tumble to the earth." (Alma 14:26-29)

The wicked city of AMMONIHAH  was the fourth and most difficult city ALMA encountered  in his journey to strengthen the Church and reconvert apostate Nephites (Alma 8-16). Rejected, he left the city, but an angel turned him back (Alma 14-16) and he was guided to AMULEK, a prominent citizen of AMMONIHAH, whom God had prepared to be Alma's companion and the second witness of his teachings. (Alma 8:2, 6: 10:12).  Though the city was wicked it was the location where extremely important doctrines were taught: ACCOUNTABILITY for light and knowledge, details of RESURRECTION (Alma 11) , JUDGEMENT, the FALL OF ADAM AND EVE, the PURPOSE OF LIFE, the PLAN OF REDEMPTION, (Alma 12) the PREMORTAL EXISTENCE, FOREORDINATION (Alma 13), DELIEVERENCE THROUGH FAITH, (Alma 14; 30:2), the FULNESS OF INIQUITY, the WRATH OF GOD, JUDGEMENTS OF GOD FOLLOW CASTING OUT OF THE RIGHTEOUS and many more.  Alma and Amulek tried all they could to teach and convert the city, but with little success, the city condemned itself and it was utterly destroyed.  AMULEK accompanied ALMA when they were commanded to go to the land of Sidom where there were some of those  who had believed them at AMMONIHAH, including Zeezrom, who had so opposed them, but who was converted and baptized. From Sidom they went to Zarahemla where AMULEK lived with ALMA who administered  to his faithful companion because he had been rejected by all his friends and family including his own father, his personal sorrow must have been very grievous. (Alma 15:16-18)  AMULEK had sacrificed everything- home, family, friends and wealth- for his faith. He continued to preach with Alma. (Alma 16:13-15) Four years later he went with ALMA to the Zoramites in an effort to reclaim them. Later AMULEK went to the land of Jershon where he ministered among the people of Ammon a very dedicated and righteous people. (Alma 15:1; Largey pp. 52-53)  Mormon did not see fit to tell us what finally happened to this great  committed disciple of Christ.  Just think, if the Book of Mormon was a work of fiction, I would not have been writing all of the above. 

In all of this AMULEK was not only the required second witness, he himself participated in teaching these great doctrines and provided one of the great summaries on PRAYER .  (Alma 34:17-27,  28-29, 39).  He placed emphasis on REPENTANCE, CHRISTIAN CHARACTER, and  LISTENING TO THE CALL. He was one great man. Like ALMA, one to emulate. ALMA was translated, perhaps AMULEK was too?   

AMULON: AM, AMU, ML, N. AMUKA

AMULON and ALMA knew each other well, they both served King Noah as priestly advisors. But they reacted entirely opposite and differently to the message of Abinadi.  AMULON, to his ultimate destruction and alienation forever from FATHER,  turned absolutely evil. But  ALMA, moved to corrective action, following the guidance of deity in every respect, to his everlasting glory. The Book of Alma takes 161 pages of the Book of Mormon, about 30 % of the entire book, and he was recipient of some of the most doctrinal revelations and visions ever given to man.  AMULON was not only wicked, he was the leader of the wicked priests and much of the blood of Abinadi is on his hands.(Mosiah 23:32)  Abinadi had been sent to the people because under the leadership of AMULON they had become wicked.  Abinadi knew his assignment would mean his death. He was an older man, but he was a prophet and his death would be required to indict King Noah, his priests and their people. (Mosiah 17:12)  (See on this web site:  ABINADI AND THE DEAD SEA SCROLLS, 12 July 2005)  AMULON was among those King Noah had commanded to flee and desert their families. From then on AMULON continued to cause sorrow among the people inciting the wrath of the Laminates by abducting twenty -four daughters of the Lamanites. He escaped destruction when the Lamanite soldiers, lost in the wilderness searching for Limhi's people, stumbled upon them, it was the pleading (Mosiah 23:30-34) of those same daughters that softened the hearts of the Lamanites. Amulon joined the Lamanites and with them continued the search for the Land of Nephi. (Mosiah 23:35) . They discovered the land of Helam where the Lamanites took them into bondage, but AMULON gained favor with the King over ALMA's people in the land of Helam. AMULON and his  priests were appointed teachers [of false doctrine] in various Lamanite lands, to add to the travesty of his life. AMULON hated ALMA and  punished and persecuted Alma's people  even threatening execution if they were found praying. (Mosiah 24:8:11)                                         

"In later generations the descendants of AMULON (AMULONITES) retained their specific identity even though they integrated with the Lamanites. they were noted for their wickedness, extreme hatred, and impenetrable hearts (Alma 21:3, 23:14; 24:1-2; 20-22, 28-30). As prophesied by ABINADI, the "seed of Amulon" were scattered, hunted, and slain (Mosiah 17:16-17; Alma 25:7-12)."  (Largey p. 52) AMULON came to a violent end, in the shadow of ABINADI'S death. 

The elements found in the name of AMULON include AM- which has been discussed in detail in the above and previous PARTS to this series. Also AMU, found in variations in the Akkadian Dictionary (Black p. 52) and discussed under AMULEK above.  To confirm the antiquity of the name additional research was done in the Lexicon of Old Iranian Proper Names and Loan words, attested in Non-Iranian texts where AMU is found in the list of onomastic elements including the name AMU-KA.  (Tavernier p. 575)  The element ML is Phoenician, (Benz p. 44)  an appellative or an unknown deity, most likely an abbreviation of MLK for "king" as discussed above. Of curious interest is the final consonant element N, which appears in an incomplete name in Phoenician. (Benz p. 457) The element N, an abbreviation of the God AN is discussed  above in the name AMORON.  Again, one gets overwhelmed by the detail in each name and how complex some names are and what goes into them that makes them authentic and meaningful. We are finding significant elements for the names in the Book of Mormon from the southern Egyptian regions to the far north of Mesopotamia,  to the Persian and Iranian Plateaus and the central Palestinian region, essentially all the Semitic languages. An Onomastic specialist and Philologist, such as TAVERNIER, (see BIBLIOGRAPHY)  with greater resources than I have,  could no doubt add much, much more to the details.  It is sure, though, that there is enough gleaned from what is available to confirm the integrity and calling of the Great Joseph as a Prophet, translator and transmitter of the Book of Mormon and its doctrines, history and especially its names.  With every name my appreciation of the Book of Mormon grows and the wonder of the Great Joseph increases, and an enduring recognition of the hand of God in all things expands:  How Great thou Art!

AMULON THE PLACE NAME

AMULON is also used as a Place Name.  AMULON, the land, "was an area between the lands of Nephi and Zarahemla settled by the priests of Noah and presumably named after their leader AMULON." (Largey p. 54)  Lamanites chasing the people of Limhi found the corrupt priests of Noah in Amulon.  To repeat, the stolen Lamanite wives pleaded for the corrupt priests softening the hearts of the searching party, the Amulonites then joined the Lamanites in their search for the land of Nephi. Amulon and his fellow priests were appointed as teachers over the Lamanites living in the land of AMULON . (Largey p. 54; Mosiah 23:30-35; 24:l)  This was about l45 to 121 BC.

All of the discussions of names beginning with AM- and the elements ML and ON, above and in previous PARTS of this study apply to this place name. The same evidence for antiquity of the name also applies.

AMULONITES

The AMULONITES were the descendants and followers of the wicked priests of king Noah, whose leader was AMULON, as discussed above.  The AMULONITES included the followers of the order of Nehors (Alma 21:4)  and was the cause of Lamanites hardening their hearts and increasing in wickedness. (Alma 21:3, 23:14) After their defection to the Lamanites, (Mosiah 23:30-24:3) some of the children renounced the traditions of their fathers and became numbered among the Nephites. (Mosiah 25:12)  The Amulonites with the Lamanites helped build the city of Jerusalem. (Alma 21:2)  The AMULONITES joined with the Amalekites and other Lamanites to attack their converted brethren, the  ANTI-NEPHI-LEHIES. (see the series THEY DID BURY THEIR WEAPONS) The brutal attack was not resisted, there was a grievous slaughter, but feelings of compassion were generated, causing many of the Lamanites to repent and join those they were killing.  Not one AMULONITE was converted.  (Alma 24:29) Mormon pointed out how difficult it was for those who were once enlightened and fell away to change their attitude, they actually became worse as if they had never known the great truths. (Alma 24:30)  The final reference to the AMULONITES was to their continuing wars with the Nephites in which "all the seed of AMULON and his brethren...were slain by the hands of the Nephites." (Alma 25:34) But some escaped into the wilderness  where they usurped   power over the Lamanites and burned many Lamanite believers to death, (Alma 25:5) which so angered the Lamanites that they commenced to hunt and kill the seed of AMULON. (Alma 25:8)  All of this fulfilled ABINADI'S prophecy as he, himself, burned to death,  that the priests of Noah would cause others to suffer death by fire and that they would be scattered, hunted, and suffer a similar fate. (Mosiah 17:15-18, Alma 25:9-12; Largey p. 55) A prophet's voice was fulfilled!     

All of the elements found in AMULONITES are discussed above under names that begin with AM, and especially the names AMULEK and AMULON.

There is one  other source for the element AMU- that needs to be introduced at this point. It further confirms the antiquity of the two Book of Mormon names that have it as a suffix. In the study of Sumerian Personal Names one is confronted with the onomastic tradition of constructing the names with the use of a God as the prefix, often designated as DINGER, for a personal god, and LUGAL, for LORD or KING,  (Di Vito pp. 18-19)  which does not hamper the study of Akkadian names because the Akkadians dropped this tradition.  But in ancient Sumerian we get DINGER-AMU and LUGAL-AMU. (Di Vito p. 75) which takes the element AMU, as an appellative and theophoric element, defining which god is referred to;  back into early Jaredite times. Back then there were five hundred gods to chose from.  But there were favored gods, such as the Moon or Luna God AM, AMM, or SIN (SYN) .

ANATHOTH

ANATHOTH appears in the Book of Mormon in 2 Nephi 20:30 in an insertion of Isaiah 10    into the Book of Mormon.  ANATHOTH was a Levite city near old Jerusalem.  It is not unique to the Book of Mormon or Jaredite period or the Akkadian Dictionary,  so it will not be discussed but in another time period and dictionary or clay tablet, it may come up. 

PART 10,  will resume searches in the Akkadian Dictionary for Book of Mormon name parallels.

                                                             BIBLIOGRAPHY

BENZ, Frank L., Personal Names in the Phoenician and Punic Inscriptions, Biblical Institute Press Rome, 1972

BLACK, Jeremy, Andrew George, Nicholas Postgate, Eds.,  A Concise Dictionary of Akkadian, Harrassovitz  Verlag, Wiesbaden, Germany, 2000

BUDGE,  E.A. Wallis, The Egyptian Hieroglyphic Dictionary, Vol. 1, A-KHA,  Frederick Ungar Publishing Co., New York, 1921

COOGAN, Michael D., West Semitic Personal Names in Murasu Documents.,  Edwards Brothers, Inc.,  Ann Arbor, 1976

DI VITO,  Robert A., Studies in Third Millennium Sumerian and Akkadian Personal Names, Editrice Pontificio Istituto Biblico, Roma 1993

GELB, Ignace J., Computer-Aided Analysis of Amorite, University of Chicago, Chicago, 1980

HUFFMAN,  Herbert, Amorite Personal Names in the Mari Texts, Baltimore, John Hopkins Press, 1965

LARGEY,  Dennis L., Book of Mormon Reference Companion, Deseret Book Co., Salt Lake City, Utah,  2003

MANDEL, David, Who's Who in The Tanakh, Ariel Books, Tel Aviv, Israel, 2004

NIBLEY, Hugh, 2nd Ed. , The Message of the Joseph Smith Papyri an Egyptian Endowment, FARMS, BYU, Provo, Utah & Deseret Book Company, Salt Lake City, Utah,  2005

PARRY, Donald W., Daniel C. Peterson & John W. Welch, Eds. Echoes and evidences, of The Book of Mormon, FARMS, Brigham Young University, Provo, Utah 2002

PHILLIPS, Wendell, Unknown Oman, David McKay Company, Inc., New York, 1966

PORTEN, Bezalel & Jerome A. Lund, Aramaic Documents from Egypt, Eisenbrauns, Ind.,  2002

RADER,  Karen, Ed., The Prosopography of The Neo-Assyrian Empire, Vol. l/11,  B-G University of Helsinki, Finland, 1999

---------------------------The Prosopography of The Neo-Assyrian Empire, Vol. l/l, A, University of Helsinki, Finland 1998

REILING, J., & J.I. Swellengrebel, A Translator's Handbook on The Gospel of Luke, United Bible Society, E.J. Brill, Leiden 1971

TAVERNIER, J., Iranica in the Achaemenid Period, Lexicon of Old Iranian Proper Names and Loanwords, Attested in Non-Iranian Texts, Orientalia Lovaniensia Analecta 158, Peeters,  Leuven,  2007

WHITEHOUSE, Ruth, The Facts on File Dictionary of Archaeology, Facts on Fil e Publications, New York, 1983

YOUNG, Gordon D., Ed.,  Ugarit, In Retrospect, 50 Years of Ugarit and Ugaritic, Eisenbrauns, Winona Lake, Indiana, 1981

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