Ur and Jerusalem Not Mentioned in Ebla Tablets, Say Ebla Expedition Scholars, James D. Muhly, Biblical Archaeology Review (9:6), Nov/Dec 1983
According to Genesis 11-28–31, Abraham was born in the city of Ur. Contrary to earlier reports, the name Ur does not appear in the mid-third millennium cuneiform tablets uncovered at the ancient city of Ebla, now in Syria. That is the latest word from Ebla’s Italian team of archaeologists and epigraphers, who toured the United States last spring. This revision is the most recent of a long series concerning the contents of the tablets, especially as they relate to the Bible.1
The name Jerusalem is another withdrawn claim. There is no reference to Jerusalem in the Ebla tablets, the Italians say, nor is there any mention of Megiddo, Lachish, Shechem or the Biblical Cities of the Plain. The city of Kish does appear in the texts, but not Uruk, Nippur or Assur.
The Italian lecture team last spring included Professor Paolo Matthiae, long-time director of the Italian Expedition to Ebla, and Professor Alfonso Archi, the new chief epigrapher of the expedition.a Archi replaced Professor Giovanni Pettinato, who is independently publishing texts of Ebla tablets of which he has photographs.
Read the rest of Ur and Jerusalem Not Mentioned in Ebla Tablets in the online Biblical Archaeology Society Library.
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