INTRODUCTION
THE HITTITES
Because Hittite names appear in the Book of Mormon record and the Jaredite record, we are obliged to start adding to these studies something about the history and archeology of the HITTITES. Upper Syria and most of Turkey host ruins of this ancient people, many have been excavated, more will be. There is much to learn about them. The HITTITES did not originate in Anatolia (Turkey). Archaeologists think they in filtered from the north and northeast sometime in the third millennium BC. They were Indo-European speakers, and indeed Hittite is the earliest Indo-European language to be written down. (Whitehouse p. 214) "Nothing is more mysterious or more intriguing than the discovery of a hitherto unknown language in an unreadable script, and few advances in scholarship are more dramatic than the decipherment of such a script and the subsequent translation of that language in which it was written." (Rrenfrew p. 42) Today HITTITE is still not fully understood, but it is known from both historical and archaeological sources.
See the CHART on OLD AKKADIAN, going back as early as 3000 BC, it became pretty much regional by 2500 BC. It shows the descent of the cuneiform scripts which adapted cuneiform to write their languages from ancient Sumerian. (Renfrew p. 47) The chart provides an approximate dating for the essential languages that developed in THE UPPER EUPHRATES. There are five languages derived from the Old Akkadian and early Sumerian. The Middle Elamite language is still far from understood. Southern Iran has many Elamite sites. Old Babylonian with modifications continued until Biblical times, it provides many parallels to Book of Mormon names when researched. Old Assyrian continued until early Biblical times providing many parallels to Book of Mormon names. For these studies it is the most used following Akkadian. New Assyrian dictionaries have recently been compiled and made available and are referred to constantly in this series. Hurrian seems to have been the language of ancient Turkey and Syria, gradually replaced by Hittite. These languages vary by only one or more certain letters of the alphabet, as we have mentioned from time to time. These are the main languages we are dealing with, there are others but they do not appear to have a significant contribution to make.
POSSIBLE TRAVEL ROUTE OF THE JAREDITES
Over the centuries the HITTITES became powerful enough to challenge the Hurrians, Assyrians and Egyptians and eventually control all of Anatolia , the upper Mesopotamian and upper Palestinian regions for centuries. From their documents found in excavations after 1878, their first capital, the site, not yet identified, was at Kushara later moved to Hattusas, modern BOGHAZKOY, in north central Turkey. (See Map ; Roaf p. 113) The MAP shows a possible route the Jaredites may have taken. Going northward, from the area of Kish near Babylon they could have passed through SIPPUR traveling on the east side of the Tigres River to ASHUR, then north to where Abraham has gone from Ur, then to BADRA and continued on to the Upper Euphrates crossing at CARCHEMISH. From the Quay at CARCHEMISH they may have traveled to URSHUM, on to MAMMA, then to TIMEIKIYA and then to KANESH; all of this would have been along the well established caravan and merchant trade road system as shown on the map. They could have then gone north to HATTUSAS (Modern BOGHAZOY), the capital of the Hittites, and then traveled west to Gordion and on to Troy, acrosse the Bosporus into Europe. Until someone comes up with a better route and accounts for the Hittite names in the Book of Mormon, then this route , the epic migration of the Jaredites, would take them westward to a point on the Atlantic; to a place they called MORIANCUMER, after the brother of Jared, where they would spend 4 years. (Ether 2:13)
THE HITTITES AND THE OLMECS
The HITTITES were known for their relief sculpture, especially bas relief; inscriptions and metal working. [things the Jaredites had brought with them to the new world, Mormon archaeologists, for many reasons, identify the OLMEC of the Gulf Coast and Central America, with the Jaredites] They traded and exploited copper, lead, silver and iron. They were the first peoples to use iron which gave them a military edge, and for a period of time they had a virtual monopoly on the new metal. (Whitehouse p. 214). Their empire lasted until 1200 BC , thereafter their culture persisted in city states such as Karatepe, Matataya, Sakce, Gozu and especially CARCHEMISH until assimilated into the Assyrian Empire around 600 BC. (Whitehouse p 214) We will be discussing the HITTITES from time to time in the future. It takes us into a deeper study of Indo-European languages in unexpected areas, to Anatolia, now Turkey, and a whole vanished civilization, that of the Hittites. (See the Chart with this study: THE DESCENT OF THE CUNEIFORM SCRIPTS, Renfrew p. 46) The Hittites had long been known as a rather obscure tribe, mentioned in several places in the Bible, living in north Syria, while the Akkadian and Assyrians flourished in northern Mesopotamia. In the later years of the nineteenth century AD, a number of carved reliefs and inscriptions in a hitherto unknown hieroglyphic script began to turn up not only in North Syria but in Anatolia. In 1880 the British Scholar, Archibald Henry Sayce, gave a lecture before the Society of Biblical Archaeology in London in which he made the remarkably bold claim that these remains, including the inscriptions and architectural oddities, belong to a now-forgotten empire, that of the Hittites. At first the claims by Sayce for a Hittite empire did not seem altogether convincing, and these supposed links did not win universal assent, but again archaeology intervened with striking new discoveries. (Renfrew p. 48) At the time of the declarations of Sayce the Book of Mormon, in print for nearly fifty year, had its own evidence to contribute, but who was reading the Book of Mormon to find Hittite names? Who could recognize them as such? Who would make something of these names and histories that were interwoven into the fabric of the history of the Jaredites? Except for Hugh Nibley's short contribution, No one! So we are looking at the fabric of history to try to unravel a significant contribution the Book of Mormon can make. It will be an interesting ride, and I think, a rewarding and exciting one.
"The Hittites figure in the Old Testament...as one of the tribes which the Israelites found inhabiting Palestine when they entered the Promised Land...the lists of tribes, such as Genesis 15:19-21 (Kenites, Kenizzites, Kadmonites, HITTITES, Hivites, Perizzites, Girgashites, AMORITES, Jebusites) ...briefly, Joshua 3:10 (Canaanites, HITTITES, Hivites, Perizzites, Girgashites, Jebusites)...the HITTITES as one of the aboriginal tribes of Palestine ... Abraham ...buying the cave of Machpelah near Hebron from...sons of Heth (Genesis 23), Esau as marrying HITTITE wives [for which he lost his birthright because their issue could not hold the Priesthood] (Genesis 26: 34: 26:1-3). Heth as one of the sons of Canaan ( Genesis 10:15) , or Jerusalem as the bastard offspring of an Amorite and a Hittite (Ezekiel 16:123)...Numbers 13:29 specified....area of Palestine inhabited by the Hittites: Amalek ...in land of the South: and the Hittite...the Jebusite...the Amorite, dwell in the mountains...the Canaanite dwelleth by the sea....along by the side of Jordan.' In Joshua l:2-4 ...they occupied all the land between the Lebanon and the Euphrates..." (Gurney p. l) Those names that appear in the Jaredite record that can be identified as Hittite will start to be discussed in this PART of the series. A dictionary of Amorite is now available and will be the object of a future study. Since Abraham lived in Haran just 50 miles due east of the Quay at CARCHEMISH, and when going south, he no doubt used that Quay for his crossing to the west bank. As a merchant he may have had some traffic with and in Carchemish because it was established as a Trade Colony, a major city of the HITTITES.
THE EARLIEST WRITING
The earliest writing so far known in the world first appears in the city of Uruk, near the Persian Gulf, (modern Warka) and dates to about 3400 BC. (Andrews p. 27) Bits of clay, curiously marked, are considered to be tokens and counters, go back as far as 6000 BC, but it was the Uruk expansion about 3600 BC that civilization and writing is considered to have taken hold. (Chadwick p. 27 It seems that these ancient texts were written in Sumerian. This ancient literature has the longest history of any written genre because it continued to be copied, changed, and composed anew for more than three thousand years. (Sassons p. 2281) Confusion still exists as to what came first, the ancient theological or gospel concepts , or this ancient literature from which they say the Biblical records copied and modified, when truly it was the reverse. Underling all the ancient literature is the ancient gospel. Biblically we know that Adam kept a record, Enoch summarized Adam's last great prophesies of all the world's events at a family reunion held about 927 years after Adam left the Garden of Eden, seven generations were represented by heads of families holding the Holy HIGH PRIESTHOOD, and members of their families. (Smith p. 705; D&C 107: 56-57)
"53. Three years previous to the death of Adam, he called Seth, Enos, Cainan, Mahalaleel, Jared, Enoch and Methuselah, who were all high priests, with the residue of his Posterity who were righteous, into the valley of Adam-ondi-Ahman, and there bestowed upon them his last blessing...And Adam stood up in the midst of the congregation and not withstanding he was bowed down with age, being full of the Holy Ghost, predicted whatsoever should befall his posterity unto the latest generation. 57. These things were all written in the book of Enoch, and are to be testified of in due time." (D. & C. Sec. 107:53-57) All this before the unique Mesopotamian records became available. A trickle of ancient documents, some from The Dead Sea Scrolls, confirm the D&C. (See CD's on ENOCH, and the first seven entries in this web site beginning 9 Aug 2004 to 17 Nov 2004, particularly those on ISHABAH, ADAM and MOSES)
"It puts all these revelations into the mouth of Adam as the first of a long series of prophets, who predicts how the Magi will await the announcement of the Savior...a great many other Testaments or Books of Adam preserved in Syriac...Ethiopian...Armenian...or in Arabic...the name of Seth...the supposed depositary of the loftiest secrets [ordinances]..." (Doresse pp. 184-185)
"Adam imparted revelations to his son Seth, and showed him his original greatness before the Transgression and his going out of Paradise...it was given to him to inscribe this wisdom in a book and to teach it...and thanks to him, for the first time in the world, there was seen a book written in the name of the Most High. Seth bequeathed to his descendants the book thus written and that book was handed down even to Noah...Noah took with him into the ark the books [now plural] of these teachings, and when he came out of the ark, he ordained in his turn that the generation that came after him were to repeat the many things and the holy mysteries [ordinances] written in the book of Seth upon the Majesty of the Father and upon all the mysteries [ordinances]. Hence these books, these mysteries [ordinances] and this narrative were handed down even to our fathers, who welcome them with joy and who passed them on to us." (Doresse p. 185)
By referring to the now available records of Syria [MOSES]. Ethiopian [BOOK OF ENOCH, Armenian [DOCTRINES AND ORDINANCES] and Arabic [Coptic-NAG HAMMAD] the evidence clearly demonstrates that all the ordinances and doctrines were present in ancient times. (see CD's on these topics for details of what it now known. The PLAN OF SALVATION chart provided in the handouts on the web site shows the plan of salvation in detail and the sources that confirm all aspects of it. It Takes three hours to go through that CHART, starting from pre-spirit INTELLEGENCIES through all of the plan's details to the three degrees of glory and a kingdom of no glory, without using one Mormon Book. The restoration is confirmed! It is what Joseph Smith said it was. Its details have been re-revealed in our day along with a great deal of great theological concepts and doctrine. We have it, what are we doing about it?
Clearly from the standpoint of the scriptures and the restoration, the gospel came first, (John l:l, JST) all else in any ancient tablets or documents, came later with distortions and bazaar additions because of general apostasy. The restoration, particularly the Pearl of Great Price and the Book of Mormon and the Doctrine and Covenants are huge corrective efforts to get the world back on track. Archaeological discoveries have been steadily improving our knowledge of what was retained in whatever distorted form, but there is still a gap of nearly 1500 years, from Adam to Abraham, in some places now only 500 years, where discoveries are being made in Egypt, early Mesopotamian and Turkish sites. The discovery and recovery is slow but it will gradually confirm what was given to Joseph Smith in the great revelations of 1830-31 in the Book of Moses, (PGP) which contain lost insights into the Dispensations of Adam, Enoch and Noah and the addition of the Book of Abraham. These were essential to make and keep the knowledge of dispensational records available. A great deal of our knowledge of all the seven identified main dispensations is in the Pearl of Great Price. (Roberts p. 42 ) The LDS are stewards of an inexhaustible Gospel, and the names in the Book of Mormon absolutely intertwine with those early gospel times.
THE NAMES
CEZORAM: CHIZIRI, CYZICUS (CEZOCUS)
In the year 30 BC when Nephi, son of Helaman, yielded up his seat as chief judge of the land to devote himself full time to the ministry, he was replaced by CEZORAM (Hel 5:1) It was a crime of considerable political unease, when "they who chose evil were more numerous than they who chose good, therefore they were ripening for destruction, for the laws had become corrupted" (Hel. 5:2) Nephi and his brother Lehi, were successful missionaries bringing about a spiritual reformation among Nephites and Lamanites. "And behold there was peace in all the land" (Hel. 6:7). But the peace was short- lived. In the year 26 BC CEZORAM was murdered "by an unknown hand as he sat upon the judgment-seat" (Hel. 6:15). His son, CEZORM ll, was appointed by the people his successor suffered the same fate. The perpetrators were members of the Gadianton band, who shortly thereafter gained control of the government. (Pinegar pp. 37-38) There will be more details in future studies of the Gadiantons when we get to the G's.
CEZORAM was a wicked chief judge of the Nephites (Hel. 5:1) Nibley compared CEZORAM with the CHIZIRI, the Egyptian governor of a Syrian City, but gave no reference. (Nibley Vol. 5, p. 26) While the records available to Nibley may have shown Chiziri to be an Egyptian who was governor of a Syrian City, the name may have been given to an Egyptian who was a member of a family who had been in Hittite Territory for a generation or more and had given this person a Hittite name. The prefix, CEZ, CEZI or CEZO, is unique and can easily be compared with HITTITE names. Compare, for example, CEZORAM to CYZICUS (CEZOCUS) where the suffix ORAM and ICUS are ethnic suffixes. (Gurney pp. 44-45) A practice found in HITTITE. To the northwest of the Akkadian empire in what today is partially Syria, but mostly Turkey, a language was prevalent that included C in their names and words. HITTITE retained the use of C in its language, but there is no C in Akkadian or Neo Syrian. Compare also with another name, CYZICUS (CEZOCUS) which is used as a Place name, they mean the same. Even today, the greater problems of the details of Hittite origins, geography and language remain unresolved, but there are those who are working on it, particularly the western end of Anatolia (modern Turkey) where an Anatolian kingdom of Ahhiyawa is considered to be situated perhaps in the Troad, (eastern Turkey,) with Millawanda representing the territory of the Milatoi near CYZICUS. Millawanda is Miletus, the place where Thales, the great natural philosopher, the earliest known in Greek philosophy, resided about 580 B.C. (Thorne p. 1313) On a college level I taught Greek Science and Philosophy, beginning with Thales for more than twelve years. He was one of my favorites.
In HITTITE, CEZ, CIZ, CYZ, having the same consonantal elements are essentially the same. When the suffix, ORAM is examined, what stands out is the AM element, which in Jaredite names includes UM, IM, M, AM, EM and OM, and not always with mimation. Look over the name list at the end of the Book of Mormon and notice how many names end in these elements, they are more than 12 % of the total names in the Book of Mormon. Therefore the Akkadian and contemporary languages of the time influenced the Jaredites and we can expect that in the baggage of names the Jaredites brought with them some were from their contemporaries.
CHALDEA, CHALDEANS, CHALDAIC: CHALDEA
The CHALDEANS are mentioned in l Nephi 20:14, but was excerpted from Isaiah 48:14-20, 'the Lord's arm is to come upon Chaldea." "Flee from Chaldea": 2 Nephi 23:19: Isa. 13:19, "Babylon, beauty of Chaldea's Excellency, shall be as when God overthrew Sodom."
Because of the link with Abraham born in Ur of the Chaldeans about 2052 BC, not long after departure of the Jaredites from the region, ancient CHALDEA is of great interest. The history and origins of the Chaldeans is vague in the mists of ancient times. As the tribal ARAMAEANS spread across northern Mesopotamia , so did the Chaldean (Kaldu) tribes, related tribal people who occupied the southern marshes and swamp areas of the lower courses of the Tigris and Euphrates in southern Babylonia. Lands that stretched to the Persian Gulf. (Whitehouse p. 97) They participated in the up and downs of the Sumerian and Akkadian empires. It would be a thousand years before they would be a power themselves. During the 9th and 8th centuries BC they often won control of Babylon, (Merodach-baladan) (2 Kings 20:23). After a long struggle with Assyria the Chaldean dynasty established itself there in 626 BC. (Alexander p. 67) They had eventually became one of the four powerful empires. Chaldea at that time controlled the area of ancient Babylonia. (Alexander pp. 304-305) The tribes were controlled by Sheikhs who assumed the kingship of Babylonia in the 7th century BC. The Chaldean Dynasty was founded in 625 BC by Nabopolassar and continued with his son Nebuchadnezzar II. [both played a role in Biblical History just before the time of Lehi] They took upon themselves, again, the ancient name of Chaldea occupying the territory of ancient Babylonia, and replaced Assyria as the main power in the near East. But in 539 BC, in the reign of Nabonidus, the Empire fell to the Persians under Cyrus. (Whitehouse p. 97)
THE CHURCH ACQUIRES MUMMIES AND SCROLLS
Joseph Smith and the Church obtained some Egyptian mummies and scrolls for a reported sum of $2400, soon after July 6, 1835 (Hunter p. 10), and began working on them. In the process the Egyptian Alphabet and Grammar was produced. Joseph finally published, in serial form, the Book of Abraham in 1842 in the Times and Seasons. In the more than 165 years since then, archaeological investigations and historical developments in history are barely beginning to catch up with the historical data Joseph provided in what we now call the Book of Abraham canonized in the Pearl of Great Price.
UR OF THE CHALDEES-BIRTH PLACE OF ABRAHAM
"Father Abraham was born and reared in the lower Mesopotamia Valley not a great distance north of the Persian Gulf. From his own story we learn that the land of his nativity was called Chaldea and the city in which he lived during the early part of his life was named UR. However, God directed the ancient Patriarch to leave Ur and migrate to a foreign land." (Hunter p. 197)
"l. In the land of the Chaldeans, at the residence of my father, I, Abraham, saw that it was needful for me to obtain another place of residence." (Abraham l:l) ..."My fathers, having turned from their righteousness, and from the holy commandments...refused to hearken to my voice...turned their hearts to the sacrifice of the heathen in offering up their children unto their dumb idols...endeavored to take away my life by the hand of the priest of Elkenah. The priest of Elkenah was also the priest of Pharoah...upon the altar which was built in the land of Chaldea for the offering unto these strange gods; men, women, and children....the Altar stood by the hill called Potiphar's Hill at the head of the plain of Olishem...it was built in the form of a bedstead, such as was had among the Chaldeans, and it stood before the gods...which manner of the figures is called by the Chaldeans Rahleenos, which signifies hieroglyphics...the Lord thy God sent his Angel to deliver thee from the hands of the priest of Elkenah. and his voice was unto me: Abraham, Abraham, behold, my name is JEHOVAH, and I have heard thee, and have come down to deliver thee, and to take thee away from thy father's house, and from all they kin-folk, into a strange land which thou knowest not of...and I will take thee, to put upon thee my name, even the Priesthood of thy father, and my power shall be over thee...through thy ministry my name shall be known in the earth forever, for I am God....accordingly a famine prevailed throughout all the land of Chaldea, and my father was sorely tormented because of the famine...the famine...wax [ed] sore in the land of Ur, insomuch that Haran my brother, died...and... I, Abraham took Sarai to wife, and Nehor my brother , took Moleah to wife, who were the daughters of Haran...the Lord said unto me: Abraham, get thee out of thy country and from thy kindred....therefore I left the land of Ur, of the Chaldees, to go into the land of Canaan...and I took Lot, my brother's son, and his wife, and Sarai my wife...unto the land HARAN." (Abraham 1:5-2:4) Abraham's record does indicate Egypt was a power in Chaldea, at the time of and before Abraham, Egyptian customs and practices were in place; also Chaldea was an established name for the region in which the city of Ur was located. Note that Sarai was Abraham's niece. Both were to have their names changed at an appropriate time of blessing.
CHEMISH: CARCHEMISH, KARKAMISUM, KARKHEMISH, CHEMOSH, KARU(M)
Following the ministry of Jacob and extending to the reign of King Benjamin, 500 BC to about 130 BC, a series of seven record keepers preserved the sacred records which comprised the Small Plates of Nephi. CHEMISH, Abinadom, and Amaleki, all wrote fairly brief entries. CHEMISH, son of Omni and brother of Amaron, was the fifth to hold this position. The archivists, Enos, Jarom, Omni, Amaron also made only brief entries. (Pinegar p. 38) CHEMISH, however added the fewest words to the record, stating simply that " he had watched his brother writing in the records and that he wrote it in the day that he delivered them unto me. And after this manner we keep the records, for it is according to the commandments of our fathers. And I make and end" (Omni 1:9). They were guardians of the record but apparently felt no impression to add to the record other than evidence they were obeying the commands of their forefathers. For the Lord's purposes, the Small Plates of Nephi were complete enough. Somebody had to care for the records and so they did. The content of the Small Plates of Nephi had been fixed for some time, now it would be preserved until the time Martin Harris would lose the 116 pages which had taken the Nephite History down to about Mosiah. Joseph never went back to the old record, he substituted the Small Plates, which were more spiritual and less history. Resumption of the translation of Mormon's masterful abridgement would utilize the Small Plates of Nephi at a future date which in the foreknowledge of God would be required at that time.
CHEMISH was a Nephite record keeper but not much of a scribe, a descendant of Jacob and a son of Omni, between 279 and 130 BC. CHEMISH received the stewardship of the SMALL PLATES OF NEPHI from his brother Amaron. CHEMISH briefly noted that Amaron wrote his entry on the day that he was given the plates and that he and his brother kept the record because of the commandments of their father. (Jacob 1:1-3) As noted, the brothers were keepers of the records not contributors. CHEMISH contributed one verse to the small plates before passing them to his son Abinadom (Omni 1:9) During this same time period, which began about 280 years after they had left Jerusalem, the Mulekites found Coriantumr, the last survivor of the Jaredite wars. Amaron, the brother of CHEMISH in his entry writes that it had been 320 years since they had left Jerusalem (Omni 1:5) He gives the record to his brother CHEMISH, who in turn gives them to his son Abinadom, who makes a brief entry and then gives the records to his son Amaleki, the grandson of CHEMISH. AMALEKI tells of the discovery of the Mulekites, (Omni 1:14-21) also the story of Coriantumr, the last survivor of the Jaredite wars, the curious inscribed stone and the Jaredite Plates. AMALEKI knew Mosiah and that Mosiah had translated the gold records of the Jaredites sometime after 121 BC (Mosiah 8:20; 28:11:19) He told of the death of Mosiah and the installment of King Benjamin.So it more than four generations after OMNI before there could have been any chance for someone, OMNI in particular, who could have accessed the Jaredite record to get the name CHEMISH. The other ancient record from which names could be derived would have been the Brass Plates. The plates no doubt had records about Abraham, who would have crossed the Euphrates at KarKamesh (CarChemish) on his way to Canaan. Or members of the ten tribes on the north end of the land of their inheritance may have had personally through trade and travel, or contact with the AMORITES with whom they had common land borders. AMALEKI did not have any issue, he was the last of the contributors to the Small Plates of Nephi, he gave them to king Benjamin. (Omni 1:5-25)
THE QUAY AT CARCHEMISH
It does not seem that the translation of the Jaredite 24 plates was accomplished before OMNI could have obtained from them the name CHEMISH for his son. Did he browse through the Brass Plates and find some reference to names and places to the north of the inheritance areas of ancient Israel beyond Ephriam and Manasseh? Did he review details in the Brass Plates of the life of Abraham and learn that Abraham, when he had left Haran, headed for Canaan and crossed the Euphrates River at the Quay or dock of CARCHEMISH, only about 50 miles away? Or were the names of the Quay at CarChemish and the name CHEMISH found somewhere else in the existing records he was a guardian of? CHEMISH is not Akkadian since that language has no C. Another letter with a similiar sound would have had to have been used. The language they would have encountered at the Quay for the City of Khemish, would have been Hittite. The various Nephite scribes, while they had little to say, had access to all the records that had accumulated until the time of their brief entries. The linguistic key to the astounding name CHEMISH cannot be diminished or treated lightly, it was included with all the other unique Book of Mormon names. So, with the names Cezrom and Chemish we enter the world of the HITTITES.
CARCHEMISH (KARKEMISH)
CARCHEMISH is a large tell or mound, a ruin site on the Euphrates River on the Turkish-Syrian border. Excavations started there in 1878. (Ceram p. 184) It was occupied from the 5th Millennium BC, but became an important city only after the Hittite conquest of the site in the 14th century BC. Lets look at the name Carchemish closely. In Akkadian, since there is no C in that language, it is KARKHEMISH. The prefix, KAR, in Akkadian comes from KARU(M) and KARRU meaning "quay or port." (Black p. 150), so the name would mean "The quay of, or at, Chemish." or it could be a "quay or Port on the sea." (Black p. 150) CHEMISH (CHEMOSH, KHEMISH) is the name of one of the 500 Gods, so the meaning could be: the Quay, or dock, of the god Chemish, (CHEMOSH, KHEMISH). While in Old Iranian the prefix has various meanings, there are twelve usages recorded. (Tavernier p. 557) In old Akkadian, KAR is also a prefix appended to the name of towns designated a "TRADING COLONY," (Black p. 150) The quay on the Euphrates River was designated KARKHEMISH, as an important trading colony [Think- DOCK, PORT, WAREHOUSE, where trading goods were brought together] which it became and was, and remained so for nearly two thousand years. During that time it would be the capital and one of the largest cities of the Hittite Empire. We will deal with other aspects of the KARKHEMISH below. It remained important even after the fall of the Hittite empire, during the period of the Syro-Hittite city states [12th to 8th centuries BC]. (Whitehouse p. 86) After all, for centuries people had to cross the river and that was the chosen place with a great quay or dock and a major trading center. Where could Joseph Smith have obtained this name during the 85 days or so he was translating the Book of Mormon?
THE ANCIENT CITY
The ancient city consisted of a heavily fortified citadel and a large walled town adjacent to it. The citadel is impressive with four towers and battlements, characteristic of Hittite architecture. (Ceram p. 30) There is a curious resemblance to the ruins of Palenque and those of Xpuhil of the Rio Bec Culture. (Ceram p. 105, with picture) CarChemish was famous for the carved reliefs and inscriptions in "Hittite hieroglyphics" decorating the great gateways and the monumental buildings of the city. CarChemish was conquered by the Assyrians under Sargon II in 716 BC. (Whitehouse p. 86)
Useful for our purposes, the first book to present a comprehensive review of the archaeology of Syria from the Paleolithic period to 300 BC, Syria which had become a prime focus of field archaeology in the Middle East since the 1970's, (Akkermans Frontpiece) is Akkermans work. He uses the useful 'Middle' Chronology, dating the fall of Babylon to the Hittites at 1595 BC, the conventional dating system and reference point for our discussions. While CARCHEMISH has a very long history, of particular interest is what happened between the destruction of Ebla by the Akkadians in 2250 BC and the beginning of the reign of Sargon after he established the Akkadian Empire 2330 BC, perhaps even a little before that date, but the destruction of Ebla forever fixed the date for the tablets recovered from that site carrying Book of Mormon names
THE GREAT QUAY- (DOCK) AT KARCHEMISH
The Quay at CarChemesh was in place, on the Upper Euphrates, in the Late Uruk period and the time of Tell Brak (TW ll-1) about 3000 BC. (Akkermans p. 186) See the entries in the Web Site for ancient Shuruppak, 28 Jul 2005, Tell Beydar 22 Feb 2006, Tell Abu Salabikh, 12 Apr 2006, Chagar Bazar, 15 Aug 2007 to 23 Aug 2007 and other related areas) These were contemporary cities with CarChemish as attested by pottery from such areas, including Eruk the first city of Sumeria and Mesopotamia, found at CarChemish. (Akkermans p. 2002) . "A notable variety [of pottery] on the upper Euphrates [where CarChemish was located] at sites like CarChemish was the 'champagne' cup or bowl with a tall pedestal base." (Akkermans p. 226) Where has that kind of pottery been found in Central America?) Pottery is one of the archaeological tools that links trading cities together all the way from the Greek peninsula to China, the main trade lanes converged on the Quay at CarChemish!
"There was a thickly populated network of towns like those of ...Carchemish, [Akkermans did not capitalize the C of Chemish, though others did], enclaves solely as control points along... trade routes...in deed the best -documented merchant colony of the ancient Near East, the Old Assyrian trading quarter at Kanesh in Central Anatolia" [Turkey-Hittite area] and Urkish east of CarChemish to move trade goods west beyond the river. (Akkermans p. 2004) Urkish depended heavily on the Quay at CarChemish. "At Ebla [Modern Tell Mardikh] the site that has provided our most vivid evidence of mid-third millennium Syrian urbanization...the era directly preceding the brilliant urban florescence of Ebla is of the greatest significance for understanding the origins of that civilization," (Akkermans pp. 226-227) and the cultural and times of the Jaredites as well, as the relationships of all the city states and cities of the Upper Euphrates, with the hub at Karkhemish. (Sassons p. 1295) Sassons' in his masterful work did not capitalize the K in Kamosh, and he spelled Chemish, kamosh. Moving the vowels around did not seem to matter much. There was not much consistency between writers and field workers on spelling CARCHEMISH.
In the Akkadian dictionary the C is replaced by K, so we get KARKAMISUM, with the prefix KAR-, there are more than 90 names and words in the dictionary that use the prefix KAR-one of them is KARKAMISUM, using the mimation or um ending instead of the H ending, for Chemish; the meaning is "of Carchemish" in Old Babylonian. (Black p. 149) In the texts of ancient ARAMAEANS, there are more than 20 personal and place names that utilize that prefix, such as KAR-ASHUR, "of Ashur" in the General Index, but becoming less used as time went on. (Lipinski p. 663) About 500 BC KarChemish disappears from history but in Old Iranian sources the prefix KAR was still in use, with about 20 words and names listed in available documents. (Tavernier p. 557)
EARLY HISTORY
The evidence as to how the various communities were organized on a socio-political pattern is still vague given the nature of incomplete archaeological evidence and lack of formal publication of the evidence. (Akkermans p. 232) "In the mid-third millennium BC, Syria [and the general region] experienced one of the most important transformations in its history-full-fledged adoption of urban life and its associated institutions. In a matter of a few centuries [following the period of the flood and the tower of Babel] , complex urban societies and their complete range of attributes appeared throughout the entire region. Among these were fortified cities associated with hierarchies of satellite communities, large-scale hierarchical political organizations ("states"), monumental building projects sponsored by powerful cities, lavish funerary displays of high social status, and the employment of writing. ...Current evidence suggests that this broad region saw the formation of a mosaic of city states of varying power and scale. These early complex societies flourished c. 2600-2000 BC in the middle and late Early Bronze Age...We term this development the "second urban revolution" for two reasons, first, diverse aspects of complex, urban society had first appeared in the fourth millennium [the beginning of the temporal existence of this earth after the fall of Adam], the period of the Uruk expansion, although they did not survive into the early third millennium. [the period of the flood and Babel]. Second, the term calls attention to the possible "secondary" nature of the event: because Syria became urbanized almost a millennium after southern Mesopotamia, the likely influence of preexisting "primary" Mesopotamian complex societies [pre Flood] has been a persistent question. The precise role of southern Mesopotamia and the extent of this secondary character, however, remains to be fully elucidated." (Akkermans p. 233) They are going to have to dig more. But until scholars accept the reality of the Biblical record covering the first two millennium, they will remain in the dark. This neglect, this bias, is irresponsible. The threads of history that are important but given little attention, are those restored under the restoration by the great restorer, Joseph Smith; restored gospel means restored history as well. Several centuries after the advent of Syrian urbanization, c. 2300 BC, southern Mesopotamian interference in Syrian affairs is unambiguous. The Jaredites may have already reached the Americas by then. (Ether l:33, 42)
THE FIRST NEAR EASTERN EMPIRE
In the first serious attempt to establish an ancient Near Eastern "empire," the "AKKADIAN kings of a newly unified southern Mesopotamia campaigned and raided extensively in Syria and established at least one well known administrative control point." (Akkermans p. 233) This was at EBLA. "Prior to the excavations at Tell Mardikh, ancient EBLA, third- millennium Syria was generally thought of as an illiterate backwater of small communities far removed from the great developments of civilization occurring in Mesopotamia an Egypt." (Akkermans p. 235) The AKKADIAN EMPIRE, and the Jaredite History mesh and converge at this point. "The results from Ebla and other sites excavated subsequently have completely transformed that perception...the most stunning ...discovery was the unearthing [early on] of some 17,000 clay cuneiform tablets and fragments in diverse rooms of the palace." (Akkermans p. 235) See the series in this Web Site on EBLA 26 April 2008 to 6 Mar 2009 also PART 2 of this series on AKKADIAN names ) "According to the Ebla texts, Mari was the main rival of Ebla in the twenty fourth century, and both powers jockeyed for control of the middle Euphrates." (Akkermans p. 263) Both would have an influence on the Jaredites as the territory of both City States would have had to been traversed as they traveled northward. (Ether 1:42-43) "The cuneiform tablets retrieved from Ebla, Beydar, and Mari [all discussed in the entries in this Web Site, Tablets from all these major sites contain Jaredite names], indicate that the Syrian royal establishments utilized southern Mesopotamian writing systems for bureaucratic purposes while adapting them to the local languages." (Akkermans p. 269) During the time of the Jaredites, Akkadian was the most used language, that is the reason the Akkadian dictionary is so productive in providing names parallel to Book of Mormon names.
After the destruction of Ebla in 2250 BC by Naram-Sin under his grandfather, Sargon, who founded the Akkadian Empire, Ebla continued to function as an important regional center until it was destroyed again in 2000 BC. (Akkermans p. 244) By that time the Jaredites had been established for several centuries of history in the New World. The discovery of the Olmecs in Meso America provides the basis for considering them the New World Jaredites, nothing else has been found that even comes close to the Parallel of the Jaredites to the Olmecs.
CARCHEMISH was also a metallurgical center producing iron and copper implements. "Metallurgical evidence is particularly robust from the Euphrates valley, both in Syria and upstream across the Turkish border. The stone cist graves excavated by Lenard Wooley [of Ur Fame] prior to World War l at CARCHEMISH contained large assortments of copper implements and weapons." Akkermans p. 228) Did the Jaredites bring to the New World any of their expertise in copper metal processing? Who would ever think of trying to make such a link? There are other questions that might be asked as well. At CARCHEMISH there is the city gate that has two chambers and three sets of piers on each side looking much like later Olmec construction carried into Mayan times. "Bronze weapons commonly found in Middle Bronze graves [such as those at CARCHEMISH] further corroborate the importance of warfare.” (Akkermans p. 321)
"The most extensive and impressive material remains from the late Bronze Age Syria [the time of CARCHEMISH, EBLA and MARI] derive from Ras Shamra, ancient Ugarit, on the Mediterranean coast [directly west of CARCHEMISH]. Excavated almost continuously since 1929...has supplied an overwhelming body of evidence from the burned, in situ remains of its last Late Bronze occupation...Ugarit was an unusually wealthy city...as its role as intermediary between the intensified maritime trade of the eastern Mediterranean and the resources of the vast Asiatic interior...wheat, grape, olive...timber...ship-building...marine resources...murex shells used to produce purple dye...Ugarit was subservient to the great powers of its day, owing allegiance first to Egypt and subsequently to the HITTITE kings...the Royal palace...contained unprecedented collections of art objects...[gold bowls, gold plated statutes, caved ivory] also contained thousands of cuniform texts, many of them in an alphabetic cuniform...unique to the Syrian Late Bronze Age...employed to write the local Semitic language, numerous AKKADIAN documents...texts in Sumerian, Hurrian, HITTITE, Egyptian, and Cypro-Minoan...[copper from Cyprus] a treasure trove of administrative, diplomatic, economic and religious information...one of the most important corpra of written documents from the ancient Near East...systems of connected bathrooms and toilets." (Akkermans pp. 338-339 ) Recall that it was at Ugarit the alphabet was developed. Students of Book of Mormon names have yet to exhaust these resources.
"CARCHEMISH ...served as the primary administrative control point for the HITTITE empire in Syria and southeastern Anatolia...CARCHEMISH appears to have retained a dynasty of local rulers with familial and cultural ties to the HITTITE royal house...Late Bronze Age occupation of CARCHEMISH has not been significantly investigated." (Akkermans pp. 366- 3 67) Future excavations will fill in a great gap and permit more comparisons with the Olmec.
THE COBEL VAULT--THE OLMECS AND THE JAREDITES
One of the strange and yet perhaps very important architectural feature that characterized the structures at CARCHEMISH, particularly in graves was the radial vault as opposed to the use of corbelled vaults of the Early Bronze Age. The Jaredotes lived at a time when corbelled stgructure were pervalen. There was also the use of baked brick used in a sophisticated drainage system with ceramic pipes and baked brick features. (Akkermans p. 322) In the central Area....Maya civilization soared to its greatest heights....all the most typical 'Maya ' traits are present architectural features such as the CORBEL VAULT and roof comb...stelae-altar..and many others" were there. (Coe p. 20) The Maya Formative period, 300 BC, was characterized by corbel vaulted rooms, plazas, bas reliefs, (Coe p. 43; Soustelle p. 184) and other features were prevalent, long before the details of the earlier Olmec civilization became known. There is insufficient archaeological digs earlier than 2000 BC in Mesoamerica, the evidence is still not all in, nor will there be for decades yet to come. The Jaredite influence could have extended into Maya times (Nephite times were 550 BC to classic Maya 400 AD) , well into the first 300 years of the Nephites, the last Jaredite war was over about 200 BC. "Corbelling of rooms must have evolved from methods employed in the construction of tombs." (Coe p. 59) as was the case nearly 2000 years earlier at Carchemish. Such traits could have been "derived from even older Olmec civilization of the Gulf Coast." (Coe p. 59) He is suggesting that there is a region where older evidence may be found. It is very evident that the preference for the aesthetics of the corbel structure was carried over extensively into ancient Mayan cities. Spinden, a specialist in Mayan art and civilization, discussed aspects of the corbel feature with many examples. (Spinden pp. 108-115) He draws attention to those especially at Uxmal, Labna and Kobah which I have seen personally. I consider the corbel arch at the Governor's Palace at Uxmal to be one of the best representatives of this type of construction. (Spinden pp.108-115) The corbelled arches at Labna and Kobah are especially attractive. Wiesenthal has many excellent photographs of corbel arches at Palenque, Labna, Kogah, Uxmal, Bonampak and other Yacatan areas. (Wiesenthal plates) The ancient city of Tulum, on the east coast, a beautifully situated ruin, which I have visited many times, "used bottle-shaped corbelled vaulting common to other east coast sites." (Kelemen p. 30) The drawings by Stephens and Catherwood at Labna are especially beautiful, Joseph Smith had access to these books and art. He apparently did not find anything incongruous about the Maya sites and those Moroni had shown him which he in turn described to his family. The many illustrations would have been familiar to him.
THE JADE PLAQUE
While many sites could be cited, some are more interesting than others. In1864 workmen digging a canal near Puerto Barrios, on the Caribbean coast of Guatemala, found a jade plaque. Engraved on one side was a richly bedecked Maya Lord trampling underfoot a sorry-looking captive, a theme repeated over and over again in Maya stelae. On the other side was a date for carving of the jade: 320 AD. From Tikal, Stelae 29, was erected in 292 AD. One might compare these with the dates of events in the account of heights and depths reached by the new world occupants recorded in the Book of Mormon in Helaman l:l-49 and Mormon l-8. The early Maya, Classic Maya, and post Classic Maya were all as war like and thoroughly secular in government and as blood thirsty and sadistic as any period in history. (Coe p. 61) Tikal was one of the largest of all Mayan sites and one of the most completely mapped with more than 3,000 structures within an area six square miles. The last time I was at Tikal they had dug deep into the site trying to find the earliest occupation levels of the site, they had reached 600 BC and were counting. Tikal was noted for its galleries of corbelled rooms, especially in the Five Storey Palace, (Coe pp. 63-64) and also noted for corbelled water aqueducts. This was especially true at Palenque where a corbelled-vaulted aqueduct carries water of a small stream through corbelled vaulted galleries of the great palace. (Coe p. 97) Corbelled structures, such as the Temple of the Cross at Palenque were elaborate corbelled temples, as were funerary crypts. (Coe pp. 101-102) There are great examples of corbelled structures at Uxmal, the largest of the Puuc sites (low hills in northwest Yucatan), one of my favorite places which I have visited a number of times. The outstanding structures is the Nunnery Quadrangle where the massive entrance on the south side is a beautiful corbelled gateway. Almost a duplicate of the magnificent arch at the Governor's Palace that was found at Tihoo ruins in the city of Merida. (Coe p. 107)
I have referred to Coe often because he is a revered expert on the Olmec, (Think Jaredite) and Maya. There is also a much photographed oversized corbelled arch in the Governor's Palace at Uxmal. Most comb structures on the top of Olmec and Mayan pyramids have interior corbelled galleries. Not far from Uxmal are the ruins of Labna and Kabah, both of these have extraordinary corbel archways and gateways, at the entrance and exit areas of causeways and roads. (Wiesenthal pp. 44,58,62) Labna was especially selected for drawings of corbel arches and engineering construction details by John L. Stephens. (Stephens, Vol. l, end map and pp. 273-278; Vol. 2, pp. 33-35); just to mention a few.
THE PROPHET CHALAM BALAM AND THE CAKEHIQUELS
On the events of the conquest by the Spanish, in the Mountain valleys of highland Guatemala, that had been conquered centuries before by the Quiche, (Fox p. xi) there were numerous independent nations. The Quiche and Cakehiquels were the greatest of these. They and their neighbors, the Tzuytuhil and Pakomam, had been there since very early times. The Annals of the Cakehiquels state that they had come from the west, "From the setting sun [the west] we came, from Tula, FROM BEYOND THE SEA." "The stories that they told us , that from the other side of the sea we came to the place called Tulan. (Goetz p. 43) That would be the Pacific ocean, fitting very well into the Book of Mormon Account. Tulan means bountiful. "The conquistadores have described the splendour of their towns, such as Utatlan" their capital "Which was burned to the ground by the terrible Pedro de Alverado." The Cakehiquel center, Ixumche, was another splendorous town. There is also a much quoted passage from the Maya Prophet, Chalam Balam. a reference is made to ITZA, SON OF GOD, who is identified as OUR ELDER BROTHER! "Our lord comes, ITZA, OUR ELDER BROTHER COMES, oh men of Tantun! Receive your guests, the bearded men, the men of the east, the bearers of the sign of God, Lord!" The last sentence in this quote is considered by all to represent the coming of the bearded Spaniards. "The prediction came true in 1517, when Yucatan was discovered by Hernanez de Cordoba, who died of wounds inflicted by the Maya warriors at Champoton. The year 1518 saw the exploratory expedition of Grijalva, and that of the great Hernan Cortes in 1519. But the main conquest of the "northern Maya began only in 1528 under Francisco de Montejo, on whom the crown bestowed the title of Adelantado." (Coe pp. 140-142) In the quotes given it is understood that ancestors came from across the west sea (Pacific) and bearded men came from the east sea (Atlantic). Columbus, even those who proceeded him and those who followed, emerge from the very pages of scripture itself as an important and foreordained actors in the divine plan, says a much often quote from Nephi of old: "And I looked and beheld a man among the Gentiles, who was separated from the seed of my brethren by the many waters; and I beheld the Spirit of God, that it came down and wrought upon the man; and he went forth upon the many waters, even unto the seed of my brethren, who were in the promised land." (l Nephi 13:12)
COLUMBUS SEES THE BRETHREN OF NEPHI
If one wants to know where the people of Nephi were and who they were just look at a map of where Columbus traveled in his voyages from Yucatan to Barbados. (Landstrom pp. 115, 166-167, 171) The first world map to include any of Columbus's discoveries was drawn from personal experience by a participant, Juan de La Cosa, Santa Maria (CADIZ), in 1500, on a large oxhide with its and water color , a cartographic treasure, rescued from obscurity in 1832 from a Paris antique shop. The Atlas of the landfalls and travels of Columbus on his several journeys is detailed. (Nebenzahl p. 30-31) Many of the lands he gave names to still retain that name. "It is only with the growth of Columbus scholarship in recent years, and particularly with the translation and publication of the book of Columbus...that ...readers have been fully able to see how remarkably the admiral's own self-understanding parallels the portrait of him given in the Book of Mormon." (Parry p. 199) He recognized the spiritual assessment and guidance by the Holy Ghost realized in the letter of Columbus as described in The Columbus letter of 1494...to the King if Spain (Kornfuehrer p. 13), and as described in more detail in Parry's book.
The prophet Chalam Balam went on to write concerning the arrival of the white men: "as occurring in the eight year of Katun 13 Ahau." (Roys p. 186) Katun 13 Ahau began in 1519. Montejo's landing on the east coast of Yucatan in 1527, seems an accurate prediction, if you believe in prophecy? (Roys p. 186) Chalam Balam lived in Uxmal about the Eleventh Century AD. It was Columbus who gave the name MAYA to the natives of Yucatan. Some of the doctrinally astonishing information Chalam Balam provided begs the question, where did he get his knowledge? If not from God!
It is a wonder that in all of these cities of the Quiche and the highlands of Mixco Viejo, "all their buildings were covered in Mexican fashion with flat beam-and-mortar roofs, the CORBEL principal being unknown here." (Coe p. 141) Why was the CORBELLED ARCH totally absent in those cities and their architecture? Was it a religious thing? Cultural? There is no BEST answer to this. But the Jaredite record and there origins and where they came from offers a tantalizing answer! The answer may well be in future excavations of Olmec sites and remains older than 2200 BC.
THE DISCOVERY AND NAMING OF THE OLMEC
"In 1869 there appeared a brief notice, signed "J. M. Melgar y Serrano " in the bulletin of the Mexican Society of Geography...In 1862, I was in the region of San Andres Tuxtla, a town of the state of Veracrus, (The Gulf of Mexico region) in Mexico. During my excursions, I learned that a Colossal Head had been unearthed a few years before...it was without exaggeration a magnificent sculpture." (Coe 1968, p. 39) The colossal head was indeed an identifier of a very ancient civilization that Coe calls "America's First Civilization" The head is now known as Monument A at Tres Zapotes, an ancient Olmec site. (Coe 1968 p. 39) "By about 1938 there were strongly grounded suspicions that an entirely new civilization somehow related to the Maya but different from it, and of an unknown age, was...discovered in the jungle...of the southern Gulf Coast plain. The man who actually made the discovery was Matthew W. Sterling who had suspected this possibility as early as 1918. (Coe 1968, p. 43) "Half a century after the word "Olmec" (Green Jade, or rugger from the gum tree forest) had been used for the first time-by Hermann Beyer in connection with a jade statuette ...of San Martin Pajapan...at that time ...merely a shadow...hinted at behind a veil, has become a tremendous, fascinating reality...the Olmec existence dominates all the indigenous past of Mesoamerica...part ...of autochthonous (original, in place) civilization in America in general." (Soustelle pp. 9-31) Heremann Beyer, 1928, the German Archaeologist, made many comparisons of art objects and derived theoretical conclusions from them. (Soustelle p. 190) Soustelle himself, in Chapter 6 of his book, considered the spread of the Olmec from the Gulf Coast area into South America. But there is a lot of digging and reconsiderations necessary, best they be guided by the Jaredite record in the Book of Mormon; they would be more successful.
THE PROPHET CHALAM BALAM
But, to return to the quote from Chalam Balam, only a Mormon would recognize the significance that a God, ITZA, is the Son of God, and is OUR ELDER BROTHER, and that he COMES. This is doctrinally more important than the prophecy that white, bearded men would come! Chalam Balam had other things to say: "He created everything on earth. He it was who set the land in order...because no one had arrived here in this NECK of the land." (Roys p. 72) "A NEW WISDOM SHALL DAWN upon the world, universally in the east, north, west and south. It shall come from the MOUTH OF GOD THE FATHER." (Ibid p. 164; 3 Nephi 21:26) "Who shall be the priest, who then shall be the prophet, who will declare truly the word of the book...in every part of the world?" (Roys p. 166)
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