CORIHOR TO CUMORAH
INTRODUCTION:
At the end of PART 14 a discussion of the Jaredite name CORIHOR was started. It was noted that there are two individuals with this name. CORIHOR is also used as a PLACE NAME. The first CORIHOR was the grandson of JARED, and son of KIB. He was an early Jaredite rebel and was briefly discussed in PART 14.
CORIHOR: KORI, HOR
The second CORIHOR was a late Jaredite. The single mention of him in the Book of Ether seems to indicate that he was a grandson of CORIANTUMR and a nephew of ETHER. He was among those ETHER, the prophet, had prophesied would be destroyed unless they repented. ETHER warned his father, his own and the third and fourth generation to repent. But CORIANTUMR "repented not, neither his fair sons nor daughters; neither the fair sons of COHOR; neither the fair sons and daughters of CORIHHOR; and in fine, there were none of the fair sons and daughters upon the face of the whole earth who repented of their sins." (Ether 13:17) So they were destroyed. Ether had been cast out, evidently from his own family; he had many brothers and sisters; that year the great war that destroyed them all was concluded. (Ether 13:15)
Everything discussed in PART 14 about the name CORIHOR applies to this second individual as well. Further discussion about the suffix -HOR, that has been mentioned before, such as is the name of a priest of AMON RE, (Rhodes p. 3) also applies here. HOR is the abbreviation for HORUS an important early God in the Egyptian history. Standing alone, the name HOR has been found to be the name of various Egyptian characters one was a great architect. During the Reign of Pharaoh AMENOPHIS 111, a well known stele was inscribed with a " long hymn to the sun-god [ATEN] composed by the twin architects SUTI and HOR." (Gardinerp. 210) In the stele the sun god is addressed as AMUN (AMON) and as HARAKTI, both associated with HORUS, (HORUS OF AMUN, HORUS OF HARAKTI, HERAKHTY, HARAKHITE, or HORAKHTE) , all meaning GOD, discussed in earlier PARTS. (Shorter p. 131)
It does not fall within the scope of these web site entries and introductions to deal with the principal names identified more than sketchily as we endeavor to concentrate on the general picture that thereare names in various sources that CONFIRM the Book of Mormon names as being authentic, but restricting ourselves mostly to the time of the Jaredites. After the Jaredites left the Babylonian area, the cult of HORUS became badly distorted often with bizarre stories, because the name and abbreviations for HORUS were continued for many centuries. But in the time between 3000 to 2250 BC there was a lot going on that involved HORUS. Most of what follows is in addition to that which has been already mentioned in earlier PARTS of this series.
Another example is "in the SAITE DYNASTY (PSAMMETICHUS 1, 27TH DYNASTY, 664-525 BC) that the ancient titles of the nobility were revived, (Posener p. 149) and their sculptures and reliefs [and ancient religious beliefs] were deliberately copied from those of the Old Kingdom, and their tombs were inscribed with the extracts from the Pyramid Texts." The OLD KINGDOM, often called the Memphite period, lasted from the 3rd to the 6th dynasty, from about 2780-2280 BC. (Posener p. 195) For various reasons discussed before, it is considered likely the Jaredites passed through the region after 2400 but before 2250 BC, when Ebla was destroyed, but before a severe draught affected the entire region. (See the CHRONOLOGY CHART)
HIERAKONPOLIS, THE ANCIENT CITY OF HORUS OF NEKHEN
SIR FLINDERS PETRIE, about whom much has been written, was one of the great pioneers of Egyptian Archaeology, and archaeology in general. It was one of his students, F. W,. Green, who occupies an important place among the discoveries of Egypt's past, especially for his pioneering work at the great and vast site of HIERAKONPOLIS, first known as HORUS OFNEKHEN. The Greeks changed the name when they occupied Egypt. This site included details of the PRE-DYNASTIC ERA, (5500-3100 BC) when the foundations upon which the unique culture of pharaonic Egypt were built. And here, also was where the Third Dynasty (2700-2620) shaped the canons of classical Egyptian art, architecture, politics, religion and science for the succeeding 2500 years. Here, the fourth, fifth and sixth dynasties, extending to 2180 BC sustained the earlier achievements when Egypt's influence was mostly widely felt. These six dynasties constituted what is called the OLD KINGDOM. (Hoffman p. 15) The Jaredites had left Babylonia most likely during the sixthdynasty. (2345-2181, before 2250 BC; David p. 8) Nearly 98 percent of mankind's experience and development is recorded in the Nile Valley where the vast ruin is located. (Hoffman p. xix; David p. 8) Also see the CHRONOLOGICAL CHART with this entry.
Since 1897,work had been in progress at the ancient city of HORUS OF NEKHEN, HIERAKONPOLIC as it is now know) when Professor Walter Fairservis, Jr., as director of the Expedition to Hierakonpolis, brought his new interdisciplinary group from the American Museum of Natural History in 1969, with Hoffman as the youngest archaeologist. I was a member of the Museum and followed many of its expeditions with great interest for more than 60 years.
To the ancient Greeks HIERAKONPOLIS meant city OF THE HAWK. The left facing profile of the FALCON (or Hawk) did not change for millenniums To ancient Egyptians it was NEKHEN, CITY OF FALCON-HEADED HORUS. Eventually it was the left facing FALCON glyph, identified with HORUS, that appeared in the names of many Pharaohs and individuals at the left end or bottom of the cartouche or name plate. In spite of Egypt's hoary antiquity, splendid temples, imposing pyramids, mysterious hieroglyphic writings, precocious and efficient government, it is at HORUS OF NEKHEN that historians can stand at the very wellspring of Western civilization. (Hoffman pp. 125-126) I refer to HOFFMAN often, because he participated in the Museum's activity, actually dug there, and was aware and present when many important discoveries were made.
Near the vast site there was an early Dynastic town, KOM EL AHMAR, meaning the RED MOUND, mentioned under the name of COM in PART 14. Here, KOM means MOUND, or ruin. In Mesopotamia, the word for a ruin or mound, is TELL, such as TELL MARDIKH, the name of the mound before it was discovered to be ancient EBLA. The name KOM (COM) was in circulation hundreds of years before the Jaredites departed the Babylonian countryside. The vast ruin site of ancient HORUS OF NEKHEN is littered with human made debris for more than a million square yards. It was the largest Pre-Dynastic settlement ever discovered in upper or southern Egypt. On top of the vast cemeteries was the massive structure of a so-called FORT OF KHASEKHEMUI, the last dynamic ruler of the second dynasty, an important conqueror. During his reign the Jaredites may have been greatly influenced by his activities among the Nations. Over time the ancients covered the sandstone hills with tombs, the hills themselves were already covered with, debitage, ancient stone tools of the Egyptian Paleolithic, not recog nized until the expedition mapping and digging for the Museum. At its peak glory, Egypt ruled an empire that stretched from the Fourth Cataract in Nubia, to the south, to the Euphrates River in northern Syria, (Hoffman p. 127), Mesopotamia and into Jaredite country and later Abraham's territory. Remains of trade goods and ceramics in particular, from the ancient southern Mesopotamian Summer and Elam areas were recovered from this site. This is some of the evidence accumulating confirming the link of Egypt with Mesopotamia a long time ago that Mormons have known about for 180 years.
THE OLD KINGDOM TEMPLE
As archaeologist excavated the huge OLD KINGDOM TEMPLE, they stumbled on the storerooms of the ancient temple. Among the rich findings were a golden hawk, representing HORUS OF NEKHEN. Also a life size copper statue group depicting KING PEPY I, his young son Merenre, rulers of the Sixth Dynasty, which was just beginning when Ebla was destroyed. The Jaredites had already moved on. The statue is the earliest known example of large-scale metal sculpture in the world. There were many stone vases of alabaster and limestone used in rituals performed in honor of HORUS OF NEKHEN. (Hoffman p. 128) Also found were artifacts, some broken, some out of style, other discoveries were of great important and include the NARMER PALETTE, and the MACEHEAD OF SCORPION, both discussed in PART 14, as we traced the history of the FALCON symbol for HORUS. There were other palettes, mace heads, and items once held sacred by the ancient Egyptians. The earliest examples of hieroglyphic writing in the crudes stage, and carved scenes in stone and ivory were found, but these recalled the art styles of contemporary Sumeria and Elam, countries far to the east in the southern extremity of Mesopotamia. What "...does the presence of Middle Eastern artistic motifs indicate about the origins of Egyptian civilization? Did Easterners really invade the Nile Valley as some Egyptologists have contended?" (Hoffman p. 129?)" Abraham contends this is so. (Abraham 2:23-29) How is that to be evaluated? There are therefore clues that enough experts in the field of Egyptology suggest something like what Abraham describes could have taken place, but they do not know about Mormon doctrines in this regard. (Abraham 1:20-29)
One such clue is an inscribed ivory depicted by HOFFMAN, belonging to King Den (Udimu, Fifth king of the First Dynasty I, about 3000 BC) on which the monarch smites the East, represented by a kneeling figure, in traditional fashion, with mace upraised in his right hand, his left hand somewhat improbably grasping both a spear and the long hair of the kneeling opponent. It appears that the easterner appears to be coming out of the mountains. His standard is surmounted by a straight-hulled eastern boat classified as Mesopotamian, onto which stands the " Set" animal, guardian of the desert and ritual opponent of HORUS, whose image surmounts pharaoh's cartouche. The easterner is dressed much like the pharaoh. He lacks both the skins and long, garishly decorated robes used later in official Egyptian iconography to represent hunters and herders of the east. He wears a good Egyptian type kilt, and wears high his long hair in Egyptian fashion. He also has a beard, he stands with his back to the steep escarpment of a mountain. The whole scene is stylized, a representation from even earlier times. (Hoffman p. 246) The interpretation is disputed, what does it really mean? In time discoveries will catch up with Mormon records of what 1as really going on anciently. It means Egyptian influence in Mesopotamian before and after Jaredite times. See the discussion below on Cumorah.
Also "There were conventionally worded inscriptions as that of HOR, the MILITARY COMMANDER of HERACLEOPOLIS, in the temple in which he erected many buildings...nor need we dwell at length on the statue of Nesnimu, a prophet of HORUS OF EDFU."(Gardiner p. 348) The was the great early temple at EDFU and the main temple of HORUS discussed, with a plan view of the temple, provided in PART 14, that Mormons can appreciate like no others. (See the MAP OF THE NILE provided herein to show the location of the main cities and region mentioned in this and other web sites entries). But the worship of HORUS OF NEKHEN came before EDFU. When HORUS first appeared on the scene is still not known, but clearly it was before NEKHEN. The distorted doctrines surrounding HORUS can be traced back into the previous three dispensations of the Gospel, the Adamic, the Enochian and the Noahican. Evidence the GREAT JOSEPH knew what he was doing when he called the present dispensation A RESTORATION, particularly where the TEMPLE ORDINANCES are concerned. There are also incidents in the expected transitions from this life to the life over there. The Egyptian theologians or Keepers of the Doctrines "hoped and expected to be doing in the next world exactly what they had done in this...they would obtain and continue to live their life in the world to come by means of a "WORD OF POWER." In the earliest of time, (going back to the time of Adam and Enoch) men "relied in their hope of a future life more on the learning and remembering of a potent name or formula than on the merits of their moral and religious excellences." Some of this iS found in the PAPYRUS OF ANI (Nineteenth Dynasty, Ions, p. 134) where his heart has been weighed, and is soul hath stood as a witness for him, its case is right, it has been found true by TRIAL, no wickedness has been found in him. "He shall have the power to go into the presence of the [Great God] ....we see ANI being led into the presence of OSIRIS by [his son] Horus, the son of ISIS, who reports that the heart of ANI hath sinned against no god or goddess, as it hath also been found just and righteous according to the written laws of the gods...and...given to him...the power to appear before OSIRIS, and that he may take his place among the "followers of Horus," and be like them forever. What son of a mother and father God is going to take you into the presence of the God and Goddess, vouch for you and you be pronounced JUST and entitled to be like the son and to be with the Gods forever more? " (Budge pp. 49-51) It is strange that after centuries of distortions and bazaar additions that certain things still stand out for what they really are. Souls [who go] into SEHKET-HETEP [one of the main division of the after world] had the power to know and recognize each other, and to enjoy...relatives and friends...to meet with other people besides...father, mother, wife...to find in the Other World...servants, who would help him. (D&C 132:15-16) This is a most unusual Mormon doctrine. If you don't serve here, you will serve there, and if you serve here you will rule there.
THE ANCIENTS PRESERVED ANCIENT DOCTRINES BY COPYING
Also previously discussed was the deliberate COPYING process by which ancient doctrines and practices were preserved. Doctrines fro m the dispensations of Adam, Enoch and Noah, albeit sometimes distorted, down through the ages, going back to the SHABKO STONE, which is even more ancient than the Pyramid Texts, a directive for participating in a ritual play regarding the creation that is sacred and secret, as Nibley aptly describes it, (Nibley Vol. 16, p, 96) as the renewal of the ancient theology, theological discourses of the Gods, the temple drama and he creation story. "It was very old then...before the Pyramid Texts which are the oldest books in the world...they were found under the pyramids written on the walls, they are very old...going back before 2900 BC... the theology...and the myths of HORUS AND SETH." (Nibley , pp. 2-3)
LAPIS LAZULI
Because I am a geologist by training and experience, I can understand and appreciate some other specialized aspects of what was found in the excavations that relates to the Jaredite story as a whole. That is the world of precious stones, gems and rare unique trade objects of gold and silver, tin and copper. In the OLD WORLD from about 4000 B.C. on, there were subtle linkages-forms of exchange that involved societies from the Balkans, to the west, Egypt on the south, and to the Hindu Kush on the far east. Afghanistan abuts up on its eastern borders to Tadjikistan in the HINDU KUSH. All of this is what American archaeologist Dr. Stewart Streuver, called an "interaction sphere." (Hoffman p. 293) The Jaredite area was just about in the middle of it. Mesopotamian influence, in addition to borrowings, trade, language and art, was recognized. The rare semi-precious gems stone, LAPIS LAZULI, found in the Pre-dynastic and dynastic graves and tombs of Egypt, especially in HEIERAKONPOLIS, came from BADAKSHAN, 3000 miles away in northeastern Afghanistan. Such items do not travel in a vacuum nor fly. Exotic luxury goods over all of Eurasia during the fourth and third millennia BC were in demand because they conferred prestige on their possessors, intimately linked to the acquisition and maintenance of power and the exhibition of wealth. (Hoffman p. 294) LAPIS LAZULI was one of the most prestigious at that time of all of the luxury goods, even more so than gold and silver. At the time the Jaredites passed by, or visited, the Kingdom of Ebla, Ebla was in its glory with a huge trade in LAPIS.
The caravan traders, Assyrian, Phoenician, Hittite, Egyptian and Syrian all produced merchants par excellence in different periods of history. At the time the Jaredites were moving through the lands, the Eblaits were the most sophisticated traders of the Fertile Crescent. In the Third Millennium BC greater Syria was firmly controlled by Ebla with its widespread administrative and trade network. Cities, such as BEYDAR, NABADA, ABU SALABIKH, NAGAR, in the SUBARTU REGION, provided donkeys and other beasts of burden for the trade caravans. Each of these cities had clay tablets that confirm book of Mormon names. (See the Web Site for articles on these areas) Ebla was then a center of political power which was able to compete with Pharaonic Egypt and Sumerian Mesopotamia. They were linked with the Phoenicians, great maritime traders with ports on the Mediterranean at Tyre, Sidon with smelters at Byblos and Ugarit, actively trading with northern Africa, France, Spain, Egypt, Crete, Greece, and Sicily. Treaty tablets, found in the dig, between Ebla and Ashur on the Tigris River to the east, and beyond, establish Ebla as the first to create commercial colonies in distant countries, in fact they were involved with eighty different countries, including the above, as far east as the Hindu Kush, (Pettinato, pp. 168-169) with its links to China on the extended Silk Road.
The extreme northeast border of Afghanistan incorporates some of the HINDU KUSH and the newly independent nation of Tadjikistan, with its ancient khanate of Samarkand. In 1984 as a guest of the Soviet Government, that was as far as I could go. The Russian-Afghanistan war had been progress for four years, it would continue for another six, so the border was as close as I could get to the geological centers of the Lapis Lazul. The geology is terrific, there are more than 36 peaks that are over 20,000 feet. Even Aristotle wrote about it. It is one of the great watersheds of Asia. It was part of the great Silk Road traveled by Xuanzang, (the intrepid Chinese Monk, see the series on PREPARATION OF CHINA FOR THE RESTORATION, this web site), Marco Polo and the great Greek, Mongol, and other conquerors all were funneled through this area because the landscape only permitted certain routes. (Bowersox p. 20, Wriggins pp. 25, 45) Everyone of them carried away some LAPIS LAZUL.
BADAKISHAN CENTER OF LAPIS LAZUL TRADING
BADAKISHAN, (SHAN means MOUNTAINS, BADAKI is the area in those mountains where the main trade and supply center is located. (See the MAP of this area) Specifically, one of the main towns is ESCARZA, just five miles southwest of the main seven LAPIS LAZUL MINES located in one of the nine zones on the KOKCHA RIVER. Of particular importance on the same river are the deposits of SAR-E-SANG where the finest quality of LAPIS LAZUL has and is being produced. The Taliban are producing it today. Even though the area has, in and around the LAPIS zones, gold, silver, lead, zinc, rubies, emeralds and other valuable elements and minerals, LAPIS gets the attention. Quite a bit is mined in 100 pound boulders. (Bowersox p. 19, See the MAP showing THE TRADE LANES OF BADAKISHAN) The production of LAPIS LAZUL has been on going from BADAKISHAN for more than 6500 years. (Bowersox p. 45) It is the oldest known commercial source of gemstones in the world. Three great civilizations-Greek, Persian, and Indian-met and ran the lapis caravan routes to all distant points. Finds of Lapis in the Pyramids of Dashour are the oldest definite evidence of a well-established commercial gem trade between Egypt and Afghanistan more than 4400 years ago, (Bowersox p. 48) and the Jaredites were in the center of it. From what the miners in the mountains would get $100 for in the back bazaars of Namak Mandi, the gem district in Peshawar, it would bring $600 to $1,000. During the 1970's production was up to about 6.5 tons of quality Lapis per year, it has increased to more than ten tons. (Bowersox p. 58) Today there are five grades of Lapis. l. Royal Blue, the highest quality, and commanding the highest prices. 2. Mixture of colors, with no calcite and very little pyrite. The absence of pyrite sprinkles might indicate it is fake. 3. Lapis with less than 10 % calcite which gives it a white cloudy color. 4. Lapis with 30 percent calcite where the brilliant blue is greatly subdued, and 5. More than 30 % calcite. (Bowersox p. 60) Even this brings a good price.
LAPIS LAZULI AT EBLA 2250 BC
During the excavations of the Palace at Ebla, one room was found that seemed to have been set aside for trade in Lapis Lazuli alone, nearly the entire floor was covered with Lapis, a vast fortune. The palace had been destroyed in 2250 BC, they evidently did not get into the room with the Lapis before setting fire to the Palace. At Ebla they not only carved stone, but were excellent craftsman in many areas. They made sculptures of silver and gold, small statuary created out of other products including LAPUS LAZULI revealing a very refined art form, with parallels to Mari, Kish, (where the Jaredites originated) and elsewhere in Mesopotamia. (Pettinato pp. 44-45) The clay tablets from many digs clearly show that LAPIS LAZULI was among those goods with which tribute could be paid by any of the Aegean kingdoms. Egypt obtained a lot of its LAPIS LAZULI along with gold and silver, precious stones, copper, iron and ivory as tribute. (Posener p. 3) The rich blue inlay of the gold mask of Tutankhamon, was Lapis Lazuli. (Posner p. 290) Until we know more about the Jaredites, one can assume that these trade links and routes the Jaredites may have been locked into could have served them very well in getting from the Babylonian area to the Atlantic coast.
In the short record of the Jaredites epic migration there is no complaints, no murmuring about the routing as there was with Lehi's journey. The Jaredites could have been very seasoned merchants. Since they required sixteen boats to travel the high seas there may have been at least sixteen extended families, perhaps as many as sixty to two hundred persons in all, including men, women and children and certain domestic animals. The mix of names found in the Jaredite record certainly give expectations of what may be found in regard to the contacts they may have had, before and during their journey. All of the foregoing, in broad strokes provides a picture of the times of the Jaredites and the possible relationship of that community with the world as it was at that time. None of this would even stand to reason unless the Book of Mormon is absolutely true, which it is! BIBLICAL AND ANCIENT LAPIS LAZULI CONNECTIONS
The earliest uses of Lapis Lazuli was of religious and spiritual nature. Sapphirus Lapis appears a number of times in the Old Testament indicting a knowledge of lapis among the Hebrews, reaching back to great antiquity. The Biblical description of the breastplate of the high priest has long been a mystery, the ambiguity existed over the years as to the actual stones used in the breastplate. The Sapphire mentioned as being representative of the tribe of Issachor in the eleventh position on the breastplate is actually present-day lapis. (Bowersox p. 51)
Badakhshan, ancient Bactria, is over 2,000 miles from Egypt. It was the source of Lapis Lazuli, along with rubies, gold, silver, emeralds and turquoise, for ancient Egyptian and Babylonian civilizations, and later Greek and Roman. But no precious stone was more highly prized than lapis lazuli. (Ibid) Excavations in ancient NAQADA (3300-3100 BC) in Egypt, which predates the Egyptian dynasties, yielded what is apparently the first use in Egypt of Lapis and other ornamental gemstones in jewelry. At various temples on the Nile statues made of Lapis were worshipped as the personifications of gods. In the Fourth Dynasty of the Old Kingdom (See CHRONOLOGICAL CHART), about 2600-2500 BC, before the Jaredites migrated, Queen HETEPHENES, mother of the pyramid builder Cheops, had silver bracelets inlayed with lapis. Many excavated tombs have yielded lapis from generations of trading. In Tutankhamen's (1361-1352 BC) tomb, there were 143 pieces of jewelry discovered, almost all of them and the scarabs, that were found, the sacred dung beetle, were carved from Lapis. In ancient catalogues of valuable items, lapis is listed before gold. It was of such a high cost, the Egyptians developed a method to make artificial lapis, blue faience, to imitate it. (David p. 144) There was even a separate hieroglyph for Lapis, both natural and artificial, depicted in the Egyptian hieroglyph dictionary. (Bowersox p. 52)
Lapis has been found in tombs at Mehrgarh in Pakistan, and in central Asia. Mesopotamia held a monopoly for a long time around 3500 BC. Ancient Sumer held it for a while around 2500 BC, the tomb of Queen Pu-abi (2500 BC) in the city of ancient Ur where Abraham was born contained adornments of lapis. It was even ground into a power and used in medicine and cosmetics. The infamous Cleopatra used powdered lapis as eye shadow. (The deep blue persuasive look!) The mysterious Harappan civilization in India had even established a mining colony near the Lapis mines called Shortugai. At the end of the third millennium BC. Lapis embellished the palace of Darius the Great in ancient Susa where Daniel and Esther held sway. Necklaces of lapis have been discovered in tombs of Mauritania and the Caucasus. Lapis has shown up as cylinder seals, primitive jewelry, exquisite jewelry, rings, beads of all kinds, hair combs, inlays of all kinds, veneers of all kinds, background for pictures, pendants, scepters, gaming boards, bowels, horns, beards, handles of daggers, amulets; you name it and somebody somewhere made it out of lapis. (Bowersox pp. 52-53) It was used as a pigment for the deep blue colors and stability by the famous artists of the Renaissance. Just a month or so before the Russian invasion of Afghanistan, in December 1979, a fifty year collection of 50,000 tons of various grades of lapis was offered for sale in desperation, but it did not go through. Probably the Russians got it, the mujahideen mined and sold lapis to wage war on the Russians, (Bowersox p. 53) now the Taliban is doing the same to wage war on the Americans.
THE VALLEY AND LAND OF CORIHOR COHIHOR is also used in the Book of Mormon as an important place name. It was the Jaredite region in which Shiz and his armies fled after being defeated by the troops of CORIANTUMR. Sweeping off all in their path who would not join them (Ether 14:26-27), then the armies of Shiz camped in the Valley of Corihor. From there they answered CORIANTUMR's challenge to a fierce and deadly battle on the hill COMNOR, (Ether 14:28-29, L) which was previously discussed.
COROM: KAR, KOR, KUR, KURU(M), UM
COROM was the son of Levi, a ruler of the Jaredites more than 29 generations after the Jaredites arrived in the new land. COROM was a rigtheous king. He is listed as NO. 29 in the progeny as written by Ether in Ether l:6-32, there are gaps in the list so it is not known exactly where COROM fits in the genealogy. Because it is a Jaredite name, it retains the use of C and O, not used or found in the Akkadian Dictionary. There is an old Akkadian KOR referred to by Black. (Black p. 168)
COR was discussed extensively in PART 14 of this series which dealt with names that began with COR. Those discussions will not be repeated here. The Akkadian equivalent of COR; KUR and KAR are used as a prefix element for many Akkadian names. They stand alone also to mean, "to you, instead or in place or instead, of," (Black p, 166) KUR can be feminized by mimation suggested by the suffix ending of -OM to: KURU(M) meaning "short", or "kiln furnace" as in "kiln-made lapis lazuli, stone, blue glass," faience, (Black p. 169), an interesting twist in light of the above discussions on Lapis in conjunction with possible Jaredite links or knowlege of the Lapis Lazuli trade activities of their time. In Akkadian we also get KURUM, "a short reed mat" which may suggest that COROM means "a valley that looks like a short reed mat", and the ending may be an abbreviation of KOM, (KARMU(M) meaning a "mound", so we may get "a valley that looks like a short reed map with a ruin or mound on it." (Black p. 149) The element KAR also appear in that form in more than 80 names, as the prefix element KUR-, it appears in more than 35 names, modified by the suffix. Here the -UM ending is mimation.
COR appears in Akkadian as KAR, where, as a suffix to several names, has the meanings of "prayer, blessing," (Black p. 148) or 'Priest" (Black 149) It has been mentioned that in the name KARKHEMISH (CARCHEMISH) the prefix KAR- refers to a "dock or quay," (Black p. 150) such as the quay at Chemish on the Euphrates River, used by the Jaredites and by Abraham and about anyone else who wanted to get to the west side of the river. During the long life of the quay at CHEMISH, KARCHEMISH was, for a time, also the capital of the HITTITES. The use of the -UM endings in ancient Jaredite names is also featured in PART 14 when discussing the names that ended with -UM. (Black p. 421)
CUMENI: KUMEN, KUMENI, KMN, KUM
CUMENI is a place name of a Nephite City that was captured by the Lamanites. (Alma 56:132-14) The city was retaken when Helaman and his army surrounded the city and cut off supplies to the Lamanite army within, (Alma 57:7-12) about 63 BC. Soon another Lamanite army arrived with reinforcements and provisions for the army at Cumeni, but Helaman and his forces defeaed them. Helaman attributes the victory to the return of a group of soldiers who had been sent to escort Lamanite prisoners to Zarahemla and to the faith and fortitude of the 2000 stripling warriors recruited from those who would not take up their arms again, in fact they had buried their weapons. (See the series in this Web Site: THEY DID BURY THEIR WEAPONS PARTS 1-6; Largey p. 222)
In the name KISHKUMEN, we establish a Jardite connection because of the name KISH, the general region in Mesopotamia from which the Jaredites came, which included the kingdom of Kish, the ancient city of Kish, the family of Kish, and the name appears as KISH in the Jaredite record. (See the web entry for 4 Aug 2005 THE ANCIENT KINGDOM OF KISH, THE JAREDITES AND THE BRASS PLATES) The name has several elements including the prefix CUMEN- and the abbreviated suffix -I. In Akkadian the core of the name would be KUMEN. In the Neo-Assyrian dictionaries, the KUM element means MAN found in the name KUMMAIA (MAN FROM KUMMU, attributed to Akkadian (Baker p. 636) And Baker also compares KUMURI, from the root KMR, to the Aramaic KUMRA, meaning "priest." (Baker p. 637) The abbreviated suffix, the -I element, is a hypocoristicon for Jehovah. In the Book of Mormon, it is an excellent example of internal hypocoristica ending names with an -I. In the Book of Mormon and Biblical names it appears also as -IAH, -IHAH or the extreme abbreviation by and a name using just an -I, as in the case of CUMENI. So the meaning of the name could be "man or priest of Jehovah."
The consonantal element is KMN. These elements have been discussed in detail in PART l of the series on the AKKADIAN DICTIONARY starting 22 March 2012. The element KMN in KUMEN means "to be hidden", sort of appropriate because KISHKUMEN was the founder of secret combinations among the Nephites. (Largey p. 483) When we get to the K's in the alphabet we will discuss KUMEN in additional detail. The name could mean "Hidden in Jehovah." It should also be noted that the name KUM in Akkadian had its own cuniform sign. (Black p.166) KUM also seems to be the name of a water bird. (Black 167)
It is appropriate for the name CUMENI to appear in the Book of Mormon nearly 150 years after the Jaredite record had been found and translated by Mosiah, various interested parties, including the various leaders and prophets themselves may have accessed the records and picked up on the names. The Nephites were special witnesses to the greatness of Jehovah, and incorporated one of the Lord's most used ancient name in many of their names.
The suffix -I or even -NI, are Hebrew elements frequently found in West Semitic names. It represents the first person singular verbal suffix and is present in eight Book of Mormon names. (Coogan p. 109)
Recently they have discovered lists of the names of prisoners that Nebuchadnezzar brought back to Babylon with him from his expeditions into Syria and Palestine. These lists represent a good cross section of proper names prevailing in those lands in the days of Lehi, and among them is a respectable proportion of Egyptian names, which is what the Book of Mormon would lead us to expect. "The lists shows that it was popular at the time to name children after Egyptian hero kings of the past. A surprisingly large number of the non-Hebrew Nephite names are of this class...Korihor [used as Jaredite name] ...Pakumeni...are all Egyptian HERO names." (Nibley 1988, p. 286) Note that the name KUMENI (CUMENI) is contained within the Egyptized name; PAKUMENI. Further suggesting an ancient contact or link between Egyptian influence and the Jaredites.
CUMOMS: KUM, KUMU, MS
This is a name of an unidentified but useful Jaredite animal. "and CUMOMS, all of which were useful unto man, and more especially the elephants and cureloms and CUMOMS." (Ether 9:19) CUMOMS are especially singled out as being useful, like the elephant; some kind of beast of heavy work or burden? John Sorensen in his work AN ANCIENT AMERICAN SETTING FOR THE BOOKOF MORMON, on page 299, gave some candidate animals for the cumons and curelomes: SLOTH....BISON....TAPIR....MASTODON....OR MAMMOTH. Some of these could not have been present four thousand years age.However, none of those seem to qualify as being especially useful to man like the Elephant. It does suggest the animal may be fairly large. They had already listed in verse 18, the animals that were domesticated and or useful for food. The CUMOMS fall in the category of being useful to man in some working way other than to be useful for food. It is an animal that they did not bring with them, they found it here. Somewhere somebody has no doubt made an inventory of animals that were probably present four thousand years ago in the Meso-American region so deductions can be made to identify this curious animal whatever it was.
The element or suffix of -MS in CUMO-MS, is found in a Phoenician inscription at Carthage in North Africa. (Benz p. 350) It is not a strong enough occurrence to suggest a Phoenician contact, but nether-the-less it has to be explained. It is also related to Hebrew but Hebrew was more than a 1000 years later. Because we do not have a complete knowledge of the Jaredites histories and times, there will be loose ends now and then and some things may not be explained at the present time.
CUMORAH: KUM, OR, AH
The Hill called Cumorah is an elongated drumlin, a glacial deposit, one of many in upstate New York, Located in the Township of Manchester, three miles southeast of the Joseph Smith Sr. Farm. In September 1823 the angel Moroni, son of Mormon, both abridgers of the Book of Mormon, visited Joseph Smith, met him at the hill, showed him the contents and the stone box "of considerable size" [because it included the sword of Laban] in which Moroni himself had deposited the 65 pound gold plate records of former inhabitants of this land and the fullness of the gospel as delivered by the Savior (JS-H l:34) and explained the need for him to return annually for instruction on "what the Lord was going to do, and how and in what manner his kingdom was to be conducted in the last days." (JS-H l:54) After four years of visits and instruction on and off in September 1827 Joseph received the plates. Among those who were first to know he had the plates were some associates of Joseph in treasure hunting who visited the hill soon after he had obtained the plates, they suspected he had obtained golden plates and found the stone box-empty. They knew he had them now. The rest of the story is told elsewhere.
There are three elements in the name CUM-OR-AH, the name does not appear in the Book of Mormon besides Mormon who refers in his writings to CUMORAH nine times, but always to what the Nephites called the hill and land of the last battle of extermination. Yet, the first element appears in the Akkadian Dictionary as KUM. With mimation the name is KUMM(U)M and refers to a "shrine", "innermost room" of shrine, palace, temple, (Black p. 166) probably referring to what would be called the Holy of Holies, or Celestial Room. The last two elements are abbreviations for Gods, HORUS and JEHOVAH. So the name could mean, "the Holy of Holies and Shrine of the God Horus" or the "CELESTIAL ROOM OF JEHOVAH," a very sacred place indeed. The name could very well mean: "The room or place of the sacred records of Jehovah."
The theophoric element, -AH is found in many Book of Mormon names, note also the abbreviation for Jehovah in Elijah, Obadiah, Jeremiah, Zedekiah in the Bible, and Gadiomnah, Gidgiddonah, Jeberechiah, Lamah, Mathonihah, Nephihah, Onidah, Onihah, Rabbanah, Zemnarihah, to name a few. At Ebla more than 500 gods have been named, a serious polytheistic society. But "IL" an abbreviation that can be traced to Elohim, was especially the name for "GOD", and had become the name for a specific GOD. Pettinato equates this god with the "EL" of the Ugaritic tablets. Then a king of Ebla, Ebrum, changed things. Under Ebrum, Semitic religious concepts with links to the ancient past permitted the rise of YA. (Wilson p. 84) Personal names were altered, Mi-ka-il, with the IL ending was changed to Mi-Ka-Ya, En-na-il became En-na-Ya; Is-ra-il became Is-ra-Ya, the YA ending being the hypocoristicon of YAHWEH, or JEHOVAH or JESUS. "As the angel reminded Joseph, the Hebrew name IEHOSHOUA [JESUS] or its shorter form, IESHOUA, means "YAHWEH IS SALVATION." (Sabourin, p. 4) Ebrum "challenged the people to return to the concept of the one true God. ...in the Ebla tablet of creation where "the great one" who brought the world into being is LUGAL, ...originally Lu-en-gal. The element "EN" has religious overtones, and "Lugal" was synonymous with the "great one". (Wilson p. 85; see the studies on EBLA in this web site starting 20 April 2008)
John Tvedtness, a fine student of the Book of Mormon and who had studied Hebrew in Jerusalem, told Ty B. Erickson in person, who was also studying in Jerusalem in 1975, that CUMORAH is found in Hebrew in a word donating "priesthood."
By 1835 the name of Cumorah was well known. Joseph Smith referred the hill but once: "Glad tidings from Cumorah." (D&C 128:20) Surveys in 1898 by the USGS called the hill "Mormon Hill." In 1952 the Church officially had the name changed to HILL CUMORAH. Between 1914-1928, the church acquired 97 acres from James Inghs. Then, on 2 February 1928 the First Presidency sent a letter to Willard J. Bean to purchase the land if at all possible. On that very same day and hour, Bean had already concluded the purchase of the rest of the land of 482 more acres from the heirs of Pliny T. Sexton, their portion of the hill. The 39 foot shaft of Vermont Granite, one for each year the Prophet Joseph had lived, was erected in 1935, as an expression of gratitude for the restoration of the gospel and as a manifestation to all the world of the church's faith in the personality and divine fatherhood of God. (Largey p. 224)
TWO CUMORAHS
One of the best cases for two CUMORAHS is the research and publications of Dr. Sidney B. Sperry. (Sperry pp. 447-452) Here is his reasoning, see if it is convincing:
AMMARON, had hid up the sacred records and appointed Mormon to be the caretaker and told him "to go to the HILL SHIM, take the Large Plates of Nephi ...the remainder shall ye leave in place where they are...ye shall engrave on the plates of Nephi all the things that ye...observe concerning this people.” Mormon did as he was told. He recorded for five years the terrible predicament, abominations and wickedness of his people. (Mormon Chapter 2) Mormon realized the "end of his people was coming...he wrote a letter to the Lamanite king asking for time to gather his people together in the LAND OF CUMORAH. The Lamanite king consented, glad to accommodate Mormon in a final test of strength." The gathering would take most of five years. (Mormon Chapter 4-5; Chapter 6 has eight references to CUMORAH, both LAND AND HILL) Sperry's studied and considered opinion, held by many later students of the subject was that the gathering and battles were in Middle (MESO) America [or Central America]. It is established that the HILL CUMORAH around which the last great battles of the Nephites took place was the very same hill around which the last battles of the Jaredites were fought. (Ether 15:11) The Hills, Ramah, Shim and Cumorah are the same hill. (OMNI 20-21) The last surviving king of the Jaredites was Coriantumr, he was severally wounded. A contingent of Mulekite, searchers from Zarahemla, found him soon enough to save him and take care of him for nine months. Zarahemla was not that far away, to the southward. (Ether 14:12, 30, ;15:9, 27) He would not have survived a long journey to the north. Coriantumr wasn't going to live long enough to endure a 2500 mile trip to get him to the New York Hill if "the hill" was there.
THE HILLS RAMAH-CUMORAH-SHIM WERE IN MIDDLE AMERICA
In Mosiah 8:7-12 and Alma 22:30-32 King Limhi's men stumble on a land covered with bones of men and beasts, ruins of buildings, remains of weapons, complete desolation, the remains of the last battle. Ether had hidden his plates in such a way that Limhi's men would find them and the nearly dead Coriantumr. If the New York Hill was the CUMORAH of the battles, etc., Limhi's men would have had to travel six thousand miles to get back to Zarahemla. The elder Alma brought his group of Zeniff's people to the land of Zarahemla in just twelve days, even twenty days to correlate with Limhi's people. (Mosiah 23:3) Therefore the hills RAMAH-CUMORAH-SHIM had to be within a short distance of perhaps 100 to 500 miles from Zarahemla, or less.
In Mormon 1-5 we follow Mormon's account of the last struggles between the Nephites and Lamanites as they were driven steadily northward into the "Land Northward," (Mormon 2.29), the land Desolation, note the last places mentioned on that journey: the city of Desolation, the city of Teancum, the city of Boaz, the HILL SHIM (where Mormon picked up the sacred records,) and the city of Jordan. (Mormon 4:13, 14 19, 20, 13; 5:3) Jordan was clearly in the land of Desolation, clearly in MESO AMERICA. If the last battle was in New York it would have required all of them to travel 2500 miles from the city of Jordan. (Mormon 6:l-15) So the actual battle field of CUMORAH had to have been somewhere near the region of Jordan in the land of Desolation. "In the 1990s a modern adventurer ...[went] from Maine to Tampico [Mexico] by foot over a 4,000 miles path, in 11 months. " (Sorenson p. 694) "Two maps were drawn by Patriarch William McBride, who was a contemporary of Joseph Smith. McBride claimed that the Prophet was their ultimate source. The maps show Moroni's route, drawn from the land Bountiful in Central America to the Hill Cumorah in New York State." (Wirth p. 3) For Photos of Patriarch McBride's maps, see John L. Lund Mesoamerica and the Book of Mormon , Is this the Place, The Communications Company, Provo, Utah 2007
In Ether 9:3 Moroni tells us that the Lord warned Omer to flee, and he did, and traveled many days, and came over and PASSED BY THE HILL SHIM, (Mormon l:3) and came over by the place where the Nephites were destroyed, and from then eastward and came to Ablom, by the seashore, where he pitched his tent. Where is there a seashore east of the New York CUMORAH? Omer's friend, Nimrah, gathered his people and fled out of the land and went to dwell with Omer. (Ether 9:9) Did he travel 2,500 miles to join Omer? Those two verses in Ether, 9:3 and 9:9 requires one to acknowledge that the place where the Nephites were destroyed was close to the HILL SHIM in the Land of Desolation.
Ether 14 and 15 deal with the last great Battles of the Jaredites, where Coriantumr is confronted by his foes; the brother of Shared (Gilead), Lib, and finally Shiz. looking close at Ether 14:6, 11, 13, Coriantumr confronted Lib in battles in the land of Moron, even on the seashore, and where was the land of Moron? It was near the land which is called desolation by the Nephites, (Ether 7:6; Alma 22:30-32) near the land of their first inheritance, near the land called desolation, which was nowhere near the New York Cumorah. The last battle was in the region of Moron around the HILL RAMAH. Recall that Mormon mourned the loss of his people and viewed the carnage from the top of the hill. There would have been more than 530,000 military dead and add the women and children and non-military older men and the number far exceeds the space available on the New York hill, if they were side by side, let alone be scattered here and there along with nearly the same number of Lamanite dead. In addition to the 24 who survived, some Nephites escaped to the south, and a few joined the Lamanites. (Mormon 6:15; 8:2, Moroni 1:3; Sperry pp. 447-452) One should also keep in mind that 'the people did pitch their tents round about the HILL CUMORAH in the LAND OF CUMORAH; AND IT WAS A LAND OF MANY WATERS, RIVERS AND FOUNTAINS." (Mormon 6:4) Is there anything like that around the New York Hill? The Meso-American setting fits the bill much more than does the New York Location. Following Sperry, there was the work of Palmer, Allen, the New World Archaeological Foundation, Love, Gareth W. Lowe, Lee, and Espinosa, and the important works of Milton R. Hunter and Thomas Stuart Ferguson, and Hugh Nibley, Tvedtness and David G. Calderwood, not the least my own research and the extensive work of FARMS and the New World Archaeological Society. Finally, John L. Sorenson, a former student of Sperry. The Church for many decades supported work in the region. The voices from New York were very few and unsupportable.
THE MAGNUM OPUS OF JOHN L. SORENSON
And finally, after nearly 45 years, is the 2013 publication by the NEAL A. MAXWELL INSTITUTE at Brigham Young University, of MORMON'S CODEX, representing sixty years of research by John L. Sorenson.
"Joseph Smith became convinced in the last years of his life that the lands of Nephites were in Mesoamerica...Notably, the Latter-day Saints' newspaper in Nauvoo, Illinois, Times and Seasons, reported on l October 1842 in an editorial piece covering Smith and his cohorts reading of John Lloyd Stephen's book Incidents of Travel in Central America, Chiapas, and Yucatan (1841): "We have [just] found another important fact relating to the truth of the Book of Mormon. Central America...once embraced several hundred miles of territory from north to south --the city of Zarahemla...stood upon this land." Smith had earlier announced his personal editorial responsibility for the paper." Joseph also indicated on a map that the Nephites had lost their power in the land of Mexico. (Sorenson p. 694)
"As explained in chapter 7 [of his book] ...CUMORAH best qualified as the zone near Cerro El Vigia, in the Tuxlas Mountains of southern Veracruz, (Wirth p. 3) including the site of Tres Zapotes. Covarrubias said it "always rains around Cerro El Vigia," so harvesting two crops of corn per year is routine; this ecological features could have facilitated the feeding of the Nephite gathered for their last stand (Mormon 6:3-4; Covarrubias, MEXICO SOUTH, 47) . The Nephites final gathering spot was in the same areas of hilly upland where the Jaredites had fought the final battle of their civil war almost nine centuries earlier. The hill the Nephites now called CUMORAH was known to the Jaredites as RAMAH. It seems probable that some notion of astrological "fate" accompanied the choice of that location and the timing for the climactic battles. There remain Latter-day Saints who insist that the final destruction of the Nephites took place in New York, but any such idea is manifestly absurd. Hundreds of thousands of Nephites traipsing across the Mississippi Valley to New York pursued (Why?) by hundreds of thousands of Lamanites is a scenario worthy only of a witless sci-fi movie, not of history." (Sorenson p. 688)
BIBLIOGRAPHY
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PETTINATO, Giovanni, pp. 168-169, Ebla, A New Look at History, John Hopkins University Press, Baltimore, 1986. Even now, after years of work at Ebla, the changes in history required by the discoveries there have not as yet been fully integrated into the more recent books.
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