Word: ebla
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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Those lines seem a modern rewrite of Genesis, Chapter 1. In fact, the words are far older. They come from a hymn of praise to a creator-god, written some 45 centuries ago and preserved in the buried remains of the ancient city of Ebla, in present-day Syria. Between 1974 and 1976, 16,500 tablets and fragments were unearthed by a team of Italian archaeologists at Ebla, perhaps the most complete record of an ancient civilization ever recovered...
This week the English-speaking world gets its first detailed look at the contents of those tablets in The Archives of Ebla (Doubleday; $15.95) by Giovanni Pettinato, the team member originally in charge of deciphering the ancient inscriptions. The book is translated from Italian, as was an earlier 1981 title, Ebla: An Empire Rediscovered (Doubleday; $14.95), an overview by Paolo Matthiae, head of the Ebla dig. Pettinato's translation of the creation hymn sharpens a question that has already tantalized laymen and provoked squabbles among the experts: Do these tablets have any bearing on the Bible...
Enthusiasts claim that Ebla could revise theories on the origins of Judaism, Christianity and Islam; alter many scriptural interpretations; make all current Bible translations obsolete; and require scholars to credit the Old Testament with greater historical accuracy. These and related matters are, of course, vital to millions of believers...