FLYING SERPENTS AND DRAGONS
By R. A. Boulay 1990
Editorial Comments By Roberto Solàrion 1997
After the Deluge a race of semi-divine warriors inhabited the lands of the Levant. Called the Rephaim, they were apparently installed as the defenders of the Western Lands and the space facilities at the beginning of the Third Millennium BC. At this time they owed their loyalty to the kings of Mesopotamia, especially to Nannar/Sin who was the legitimate overlord of these lands. When their cities in the Transjordan and elsewhere were destroyed by the eastern kings who invaded in the 21st Century BC, the Rephaim lost all fealty to legitimate authority and became an independent martial force in the Western Lands. They then became a formidable and uncontrollable force that dominated and plagued the people of these lands for the next thousand years. It was the Rephaim who built the impregnable glacis-type fortifications whose ruins are found all over the Levant from Egypt to Anatolia. It was their descendants, called the Hyksos, who occupied Egypt for over four hundred years and under the Biblical name Amalekites, prevented the Hebrew tribes under Moses from entering the land of Canaan. [Comment: The historical revisionism of the Velikovskian School also equates the Hyksos with the Amalekites, but traditional historians place these two events 600 years apart. This is an interesting "slip of the tongue," so to speak, by Mr. Boulay. It adds more credibility to his entire theory, because there is nothing inherently contradictory between this information and the Velikovskian scenario. Dr. Velikovsky states that the Hyksos were the same people as the Late Chaldeans, or Assyro-Babylonians, all of whom came from Mesopotamia in the first place.] Under various regional names such as Anakim and Philistine, they controlled the lands settled by the Hebrew tribes for the period known as that of the Judges. As a political and military force, they were finally destroyed by the combined efforts of the Judean Kings Saul and David, in combination with Kamose and Ahmose, the first kings of the Egyptian 18th Dynasty. The history of the Rephaim is, as we shall see, interwoven with the destiny of the Hebrews from the days of Abraham until those of Solomon. [Comment: Dr. Velikovsky also synchronizes the beginning of Egyptian Dynasty 18 with the period of Saul and David. Queen Hatshepsut herself becomes the Queen of Sheba; the Land of Punt, the Land of Israel. This is amazing. An establishment scientist could attack Boulay’s theory on this ground alone. Also, the giant Goliath was a Philistine. Obviously Goliath was a Rephaim hybrid.] THE WARRIOR GODS: THE REPHAIM In 1929, archaeologists excavating at Ras Shamra on the coast of Syria a few miles north of the modern city of Latakia found a library of clay tablets dating to the 15th-12th Centuries BC. This site turned out to be the location of the ancient city of Ugarit, a main commercial stop on the trade route from northern Mesopotamia to the Mediterranean. [Comment: Dr. Velikovsky also based much of his historical revisionism on the Ras Shamra Tablets. To put this into some sort of time framework, the Exodus/Hyksos Invasion/Santorini Cataclysm occurred in 1600 BCE. Add to that, 2700 years for a date of 4300 BCE, the beginning of our recorded history when the Planet Nibiru departed for the Oort Cloud. Their return in 1600 BCE generated these cataclysmic events. The "giants" that were living in the Middle East between 4300-1600 BCE would have been left over from the previous Nibiru Perihelion. The Period of the Judges would correspond to the years 1500-1100 BCE, and by 1000 BCE King Solomon was on the throne of Israel. About 300 years later, the Planet Nibiru once again made its last return to the Oort Cloud.] Several of these tablets refer to an enigmatic people called the "rpum." These tablets have been called the Rephaim Texts because of the close analogy with the Hebrew term "rpm" or Rephaim. The tablets concern a summons to attend a great banquet being given at an unspecified place to honor their great chief god El. It describes how the Rephaim prepare their horses and chariots, and after travelling for two days, arrive the next day at the site of the feast. A great number of animals are slain for the banquet, and vast quantities of wine are supplied. This banquet lasts for seven days. In these tablets, the heroes are referred to as the "Rephaim of Baal," but they themselves are also considered to be deities since they are occasionally called "ilnym" or gods. [Comment: Baal/Bel/Belus/Balder equals Baron Marduk of the Planet Nibiru.] The noted Biblical scholar Adrian Curtis in his book Ugarit (Ras Shamra) has suggested that these Rephaim of the Ugarit tablets should be distinguished into three categories:
It is the Rephaim of the Earth which concerns our researches here. They are the descendants of the Nefilim, and their assignment was to protect the Western Lands as a semi-divine race of professional warriors. TWO THOUSAND YEARS OF DOMINATION The Rephaim were people indigenous to the land of Canaan in the Third Millennium BC. They first appear in Genesis 15 when, in the days of Abraham, they are listed as one of the native peoples of Canaan. In the year 2068 BC, when Yahweh concluded a covenant with Abraham at Hebron, he catalogued the people of the land as follows:
At this time, the Rephaim are listed as one of the major nations of the land. Some 600 years later, at the time of the Exodus, when the Israelites were about to cross the Jordan River into Canaan, Deuteronomy 7 lists the seven nations of Canaan as the Hittites, Girgashites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebushites. The Rephaim are conspicuous by their absence. It would seem that in the intervening years they were wiped out as a nation or as a cohesive political force. As we shall see, many of the Rephaim and their cities of the Transjordan were destroyed in the days of Abraham. The remnants settled in the western and southern part of Palestine; as a scattered people, they were still a powerful force to contend with and were known under various local names such as Anakim, Amalekites and Philistines. THE WARRIOR-CLASS OF GIANTS The Scriptures make it clear that the Rephaim were the descendants of the Nefilim and that they were giant ferocious warriors who dominated the Western Lands for two thousand years with their superior iron weapons and chariots and that their fortress cities were virtually impregnable. They are described as giants in the Book of Numbers when, during the Exodus, Moses decided to send scouts north into the land of Canaan to reconnoiter the land before any serious penetration would be attempted. The twelve scouts returned with a very pessimistic report:
[Comment: The word "Ahiman" is suspiciously similar to the word "Ahriman," which may be the Hindi linguistic equivalency for Prince Enki/Agni.] Forty years later, as the Israelites attempted again to enter Canaan, this time by taking the roundabout way through the Transjordan, they again encountered the Anakites. [Comment: According to historians at Israeli universities, the term "forty" something was a colloquial of the period when the Scriptures were written. "Forty" meant merely "a lot." Thus, they wandered for forty years actually means they wandered for a long time. It rained for forty days and forty nights means it rained a lot. One might even extend this colloquialism into more recent times. Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves could mean only Ali Baba and his big gang of thieves.] As they skirted the land of Moab, they were told not to harass the Moabites or to engage them in war. The land they were told was "formerly inhabited by the Emin, a people great and numerous and as tall as the Anakites. Like the Anakites, they are counted as Rephaim, but the Moabites call them Emin." Thus, the Anakim or Anakites are equated to the Nefilim and the Rephaim, the former being their name before the Deluge and the latter the term they were known by after the catastrophe. The Rephaim and their cousins were a fierce martial race, giant in stature, equipped with iron weapons and war chariots. When the average inhabitant of the Western Lands was about 5 to 5.5 feet tall [about 1.5 meters], the 9 and 10 foot [3 meters] Rephaim must truly have been an imposing sight. After the Israelite reconnaissance team returned from Canaan, they reported to Moses that the Anakim they saw were giant people; "we looked like grasshoppers to them," they declared. King Og of Bashon, reportedly the last of the Rephaim in that area, was described as a huge man whose bedstead was 9 cubits long and 4 wide. A cubit was measured by the length of a man’s forearm and varied slightly among the ancient people. Using a cubit of 18 inches [45.54 centimeters], the bedstead would be 13.5 feet by 6 feet [4.15 X 1.85 meters]. A cubit of 15 inches [38 centimeters] would make it 11 by 5 feet [3.38 X 1.54 meters]. The Philistine Goliath who fought David was six cubits and one span tall, according to the Scriptures. By the above calculations, by would be ten or eight feet tall [2.46-3.08 meters], depending on the size of the cubit used. Goliath and his brothers were called "rph" or Rephaim in Hebrew, although traditionally the term has been translated as giant. The famous Samson was probably also a Rephaim. While the Old Testament dotes on his fabulous accomplishments, his size is not given. In the Haggadah, however, he is called a "rph" or giant. Born near Beth Shemesh in Lebanon, his name is clearly related to Hebrew "shemesh" which means Sun or the god Shamash [= Prince Utu/Apollo, the Sun God]. His mother was reportedly impregnated by "Yahweh’s envoy," one of the demi-gods. Samson refused to marry one of the Hebrews and instead chose a Philistine woman, presumably because she was one of the Rephaim. Judges 14 describes one of his exploits which sounds very much like the parties of the Rephaim at Ugarit. When he was at Timnah, a town near Beth Shemesh, it is said that,
He is undoubtedly repeating the exploits performed by his ancestors at Ugarit. Samson’s home was just a few miles from Baalbek or Beth-Shemesh, the sacred place where the Mesopotamian gods met and feasted in the 4th and 3rd Millennia. [Comment: As we know from the Sitchin material, Baalbek was the Nibiruan Airfleet Headquarters, commanded by Princess-Royal Inanna under the higher command of her brother and secret lover, Nibiruan Space Commander Prince Utu.] As warriors, the Rephaim were an awesome force. They had a variety of iron weapons that outclassed their opponents. Their large composite bow was said to outrange any other bow. In the Second Millennium, their iron chariots terrorized the countryside. Protected by their glacis-type fortifications, their cities were invulnerable; from these citadels they often burst forth and ravaged the surrounding countryside. At the time of Abraham, the fortifications of the Rephaim were strategically located along the King’s Highway in the Transjordan to protect the lands from the north, east, and south. The invasion of the eastern kings in 2085 BC and the destruction of these fortified cities marks the end of their loyalty to established authority. They migrated to the west and built new fortified cities patterned after the glacis-type design.
Originally occupying Lebanon and the Mount Hermon area, they spread north to coastal Syria and to the Transjordan where they built a string of fortified cities. In the western part of Palestine, they became allied and intermarried with the Caphtorim, who had come over from Crete and settled in the coastal areas, later to be known as Philistines and Phoenicians. [Comment: Although they are not physically Rephaim nowadays, what used to be called Philistines are the modern-day Palestinians. Perhaps, however, the warlike bent of the Palestinians can be genetically traced back to their ancestor Philistines.] Those that lived among the native people were generally called Anakim or Anakite, named after their ancestor Anak. Hebron was their capital city. A particular group of Rephaim settled in the Negeb and the Seir area and became known as Amalekites, or descendants of Amalek. These became the scourge of the Hebrews during the Exodus. THE GLACIS-TYPE FORTIFICATION Excavations at Jericho have revealed that it is one of the oldest cities in the world. It was occupied continuously, with occasional interruptions and destructions since circa 8000 BC, until about 1500 BC when it was destroyed for a final time, never to be rebuilt. For our purposes here we are concerned with the Bronze Age period. Archaeological remains show that Jericho flourished as a major city from about 3200 until about 2200 BC when there was an abrupt break in occupation. At this time, the strongly fortified city was destroyed by a heat so intense that the bricks of the walls encircling the city were burnt red right through the center. The site was rebuilt and reoccupied; but after 2000 BC, an entirely new system of defense was introduced here - the glacis or scarp-type of fortification. This system of defense is not only found at Jericho but also all over Palestine, northern Syria, and even in the delta of Egypt. Its invention is usually attributed to the Hyksos.
After 2000 BC, many of the cities of the west were defended this way. It meant that there was a common culture or organization which bound all these cities together. This common bond was the military engineering genius of the Rephaim. This type of defense was found at Beth-Shean, Shechem, Gezer, Megiddo, Hazor, Saruhen, and many other cities in Palestine. They are also found in Anatolia and northern Syria at Alalakh, Karchemish, and Ugarit. They also appear in Egypt in the Delta region. The glacis defenses, curiously enough, do not appear in Transjordan where an important civilization is known to have flourished between the 23rd and 22nd Centuries, when a long line of fortified cities existed along the main north-south road known as the King’s Highway. These cities were destroyed at that time never to be rebuilt for a thousand years. Moving westward, these Rephaim learned from this experience and rebuilt their cities in such a way as to prevent such a wholesale destruction again. At the same time they lost their loyalty to the Sumerian kings, refuted established authority, and became maverick troops, roaming the lands as bands of armed warriors. It was much like the roving knights of the 14th Century AD in Europe, who had lost all fealty as the feudal system broke down, and terrorized the lands of northern France. Secure behind their impregnable glacis-type defenses, the Anakim of the 19th through the 11th Centuries BC terrorized the surrounding lands. These forays are described in the Book of Judges. Leaving their citadels in their war chariots, they ravaged the countryside and pillaged at will. Any organized effort at resistance was quelled immediately. They reinforced their dominance of the land by keeping control over the manufacture and the use of iron. The First Book of Samuel reveals how there was no smith to be found in all the land of Israel, and any repairs to metal tools such as plowshares and sickles had to be done by the Philistines and their allies the Kenites who were skilled in metalsmithing. In this way, the Rephaim remained in control of the lands of Egypt and Palestine for centuries. TRANSJORDAN, HOME OF THE EASTERN REPHAIM When the kings of Mesopotamia invaded Palestine in 2085 BC, they passed by way of Damascus, then followed the King’s Highway which ran south to Elath on the Gulf of Aqaba. This route brought them up against the citadels of the Rephaim, a sort of Maginot Line that stretched the length of the Transjordan to protect the land of Palestine from such an incursion. The power of the invading kings, numbered as much as 800,000 according to the Haggadah, must have been overwhelming indeed, for they not only crushed these fortified cities but they never were rebuilt and the land remained unoccupied for a thousand years. The account in Genesis gives their route as follows.
The identification of these people is provided by the Biblical account which gives the route of the Israelites 600 years later. At this time, they encircled Palestine to enter the Jordan Valley by the same route as taken by the invading kings, except they did it from the south. Deuteronomy 2 states that the land of Ammon was,
They had been wiped out as a nation earlier and their land resettled by the Ammonites. The Zuzim of Genesis and the Zamzummin of Deuteronomy are one and the same people. In the Jewish Midrashic literature the name Zamzummin means "great masters in war," and the people were reportedly the offspring of the alliance between Canaanite women and the Nefilim of old. The Emin are also referred to in Deuteronomy. In speaking of Moab, it states that "it was formerly inhabited by the Emin, a people great and numerous and as tall as the Anakites. Like the Anakites, they are counted as Rephaim, but the Moabites call them Emin." After the Israelites had skirted the lands of Moab and Ammon, they came to the country of Sihon. At that time, the eastern part of Palestine or the Transjordan was divided as follows: from the Wadi Zered at the bottommost part of the Dead Sea to the River Arnon stretched the land of Moab. Its capital was Shaveh-Kiriathaim, the fortress capital of the Emin destroyed some centuries earlier. North of the Arnon and up to the Wadi Jabbok lay the land of the Ammonites where the Zamzummin lived and were widespread as far as the Jordan River where their capital at Ham was destroyed in the same invasion. Upon crossing the Jabbok, the Israelites challenged the Amorites led by King Sihon who had made Heshbon his capital. North of these lands were the kingdom of Og of Bashon whose capitals were Edrei and Ashtaroth. Ashtaroth-Karnaim had been the first major city of the Rephaim to be challenged and destroyed by the invasion. The kingdom of Og comprised Bashon and the Mount Hermon region and extended to the Jordan River in the west. Salcah was at its eastern extremity and Dan in the northwest. In Deuteronomy, Og is called the last of the Rephaim, and particular mention is made of his huge stature as shown by the size of his bedstead which measured nine cubits long and four cubits wide. It was captured by the Israelites and put on display in the city of Rabbah. [Comment: It is incredible, isn’t it, to realize that the inferior forces of the Sapien Cro-Magnons took it upon themselves to rid this planet of all vestiges of the sordid Saurian past. No wonder they felt so elated when they captured the bed of the last king and put it on public display!] The ease with which Joshua captured the lands of Transjordan indicates that they were scantly populated by the remnants of the Rephaim. However, it was not always so. At a Bronze Age site near Bab Edh-Dhra just above the coastal plain east of the Lisan (the tongue of the Dead Sea), archaeologists found evidence of a dense civilization that flourished from 3300 BC until about 2100 BC at which time it was destroyed by a conflagration that is reflected in the ruins. The area seems to have been abandoned. A vast cemetery found here attests to a very large population during the Bronze Age, the time when it was occupied by the Rephaim. These people used the charnel-house type of burial, consisting of a circular well-built mud and brick structure, sometimes lined with stone. The charnel house was usually placed in a section of slope cut horizontally so that part of it was below ground and the upper part protruding above the surface. It is estimated that there are at least 20,000 of these burial chambers in the area. Anywhere between 12 and 15 burials were made in each tomb. These burial chambers seem to have all been abandoned at about the same time. Before the inhabitants left, they burned a number of bodies inside. Most of the mortuary buildings contained a large deposit of ash near the doorway, indicating that this was the last event that occurred before the tombs were sealed. It remains a puzzle to this day. In view of the ease of the advance of the invading kings in 2085 BC through a series of formidable defenses of the Rephaim, and the evidence that the area remained unresettled for a thousand years, would suggest that the invaders used some kind of weapons that contaminated the land. The contamination of the dead in Transjordan would explain the reason for burning the bodies and sealing the tombs, and why the area remained relatively uninhabited for a thousand years thereafter. It may have taken that long for the poisoned land to recover and for the memory of the holocaust to be erased from the minds of the native population. It explains why the Rephaim moved westward and settled the lands there. HEBRON, METROPOLIS OF THE ANAKIM Shortly after Abraham arrived in the land of Canaan in 2092 BC, he went to Egypt where he stayed for a while only to return to Canaan suddenly in 2086, the year before the invasion. At Bethel, he split his forces and while Lot took part of the army to the valley of Siddim, Abraham retired to the areas south of Mamre in the Hebron area. With the help of the Anakim generals Eshkol, Aner, and Mamre, Abraham pursued the departing invasion army. Who, then, were these allies of Abraham? They are identified in the Book of Joshua as Anakim. Kiryat-Arba was the ancient name for the city of Hebron, and it was the "metropolis of the Anakim." Kiryat-Arba meant the "city of Arba" and was named after the father of the Anakim. When the Israelite spies went up and scouted Canaan during the Exodus, they came to the region of Hebron which they said was inhabited by Ahiman, Sheshai, and Talmai, all called children of Anak. These sons are described as Nefilim and were of extraordinary stature and power. The names of the sons of Anak do not appear elsewhere in the Old Testament, probably because they are not of Semitic origin. It is noteworthy, however, that in the list of the Hyksos kings who ruled Egypt, one bears the name of Sheshai. Like the Amalekites, the Anakim are vilified by the Hebrew Scriptures. The Amalekites had prevented the Israelites from entering directly into Canaan after their flight from Egypt. When the Israelites finally settled in Canaan some forty years later, they were told, according to Joshua 11, that the Anakim had been eliminated from the lands of Judah and Israel.
The claim was somewhat premature, however, for during the next 400 years, the period equated to that of the Judges, the Anakim and their Amalekite and Philistine allies controlled and ruled the land and caused the Hebrew tribes much difficulty. No reason is given for such a blank policy towards the people of Anak, and the excoriation is strongly similar to the curse against the Amalekites. The Anakim appear to have blocked the occupation of the Israelites mainly in the mountainous regions of the west. These were the citadels of the Philistines. THE REPHAIM OF WESTERN PALESTINE: THE PHILISTINES According to Biblical tradition, the land of the Philistines comprised five fortified cities which dominated the surrounding lands as far as Beersheba and Debir. Their main cities of Ashdod, Ekron, Gath, Gaza, and Ashkelon had withstood all the efforts of the Israelites to dislodge them after the Exodus and in the ensuing period subjected the tribes to continual harassment with their chariots bursting forth from their citadels. These Philistines are called Anakim in Joshua 11; in Jeremiah 47 they are referred to as the remnants of the Anakim. Who, then, were these Philistines who were supposedly part of the Anakim? [Comment: As we know from the research by Zecharia Sitchin, the Anakim of The Bible are the same beings as the Anunnaki of the Sumerian records.] Genesis 10 states that the Philistines were descended from the Caphtorim or Cretans who settled in the coastal areas displacing the native Avvim. In fact, one curious reference in the Book of Amos indicates that the deity brought the ancestors of the Philistines from Crete and settled them in Canaan, just as he brought the Israelites out of the land of Egypt. In this sense they appear to be a "chosen" people. These Cretans intermarried with the Rephaim, producing a race of fierce warriors who came to be known as Philistines to the Hebrews. Their territory overlapped with that of Amalekites in the south and Anakites in the west; at time, the Scriptures seem to confuse the names of these three groups of people. The Philistines were also related or at least allied with the people of the northern coastal cities later to be known as Phoenicia. This is indicated in Jeremiah 47 when he prophesies the fate of the Philistines:
The Philistines occupied the western hill country as early as the time of Abraham. After the destruction of Sodom and the other cities of the Valley of Siddim, Abraham and his family settled near Beersheba. In order to live here, they had to pay tribute and make a treaty with Abimelech, the King of the Philistines, who apparently controlled the area at the time. Abraham had to purchase land rights and obtain permission to live there. After the pact was sealed,
This statement makes it clear that the Philistines did not live here yet they controlled the land: it is also evident that the appearance of Abimelech’s Chief of Troops meant that they had a large military force on hand to enforce their claims. THE AMALEKITE-HYKSOS EQUATION The Exodus is believed to have occurred in the middle of the 15th Century BC, at the time of natural disasters that spoiled the end of the Middle Kingdom in Egypt. It was a period of chaos which made it possible for Moses to lead a rag-tag army of refugees out of to try to reach the land of Canaan. [Comment: This period of chaos, which included the Thera/Santorini Cataclysm and the Polar Axis Shift, occurred not during the 15th but the 16th Century BCE. See Ages in Chaos by Dr. Immanuel Velikovsky. This "Age of Chaos" was caused by the return of the Planet Nibiru for its last perihelion, which continued until about 700 BCE.] The complete collapse of government and military power in Egypt allowed the Amalekites to penetrate the land easily from their position in the Negev. In their attempts to enter the land of Canaan, the refugees under Moses ran into this irresistible force of professional warriors. They too were on the move, but in a westerly direction. A pitched battle at Rephidim and numerous skirmishes convinced Moses that they could not penetrate this formidable army. The Amalekites moved into the delta of Egypt and occupied it almost unopposed by a disintegrating government and disorganized army. Upon leaving Egypt, the Israelites entered the Wilderness of Shur and appeared to be headed for the land of Canaan by the most direct route. It was "the 15th day of the second month" after leaving Egypt that they camped at Rephidim. It is here that they ran into the main body of the Amalekite horde. Although Moses claimed it as a victory, it was a costly one for they were hard-pressed and very close to defeat. This was but one of a series of battles with the Amalekites. The migrating force led by Moses was harassed continuously by the descendants of the Rephaim as it is recounted in Deuteronomy 25:
The ferocity of the attacks of the Amalekites closed the direct approach to Canaan at Rephidim. Yet they were to be blocked once more before they decided to turn south and try a more indirect route into Palestine. It was then that a curse was placed on the Amalekites, as pronounced in Exodus 17:
The barbarity of the Amalek attacks is described in the works of the Haggadah. This battle apparently took place after the Amalekites had captured the cities of the delta of Egypt. Here they had obtained the archives where the Hebrews had lived and had obtained the tables of descent for the Hebrews, the names of their chiefs and the different families. The Amalekites appeared before the Israelite camps and taunted the Hebrews by name to come out, to make peace with them and to transact business. Those who took the bait and answered the call were slaughtered and their bodies horribly mutilated. [Comment: Isn’t it absolutely amazing how much horror and slaughter and bloodshed that there has been in the history of this planet?!] Forced back into the desert, the Israelites spent forty years before they could enter Canaan by the indirect route through the Transjordan. [Comment: As has been noted, the term "forty" something, as in 40 years, was merely a contemporaneous colloquialism that meant "many years" or "a long time."] Settling among the Rephaim and their allies, the Hebrew tribes remained at the mercy of the Amalekites and their allies for the period of 400 years, known as the time of the Judges. [Comment: It is stated in The Bible that the period of time between the Exodus and the completion of the Temple of Solomon at Jerusalem was 480 years. However, when the exact year-by-year chronology of this period is analyzed, it becomes apparent that this 480-year period was only a rough estimate. Once again you are referred to Ages in Chaos by Dr. Immanuel Velikovsky, as well as the treatise June 15, 762 BCE: A Mathematical Analysis of Ancient History by this editor, published in The Velikovskian: A Journal of Myth, History and Science, August 1994.] The Amalekites were not just a loose confederation of nomadic tribes, as has been suggested by most Biblical commentators. There are many Biblical references which dispute this view. The most significant are the following.
THE RULE OF THE HYKSOS KINGS IN EGYPT The country that the Hyksos conquered was a helpless land, one devastated by natural calamity. After the loss of the Pharaoh and his army, there was no resistance in Egypt and the invaders moved into the delta area with no opposition. From there they spread south, conquering the cities and nomes [sic] and placing puppet kings to rule the provinces. Although the Old Testament attributes the destruction of the Egyptian army to their pursuit of the fleeing Hebrews, it is more probable that it was destroyed attempting to stop the inflow of the Hyksos. Occupying the Nile Valley, the Hyksos built a fortress capital city at Avaris, traditionally placed in the delta, but more probably located in the Wadi El-Arish, also called the Brook of Egypt, which was the historical boundary between Egypt and Palestine. The Hyksos capital was strategically placed to defend the approaches to Egypt from the east, the direction of invasions in the past. In fact, since the Hyksos or Amalekites were spread throughout Palestine as well as Egypt, the location in the Wadi El-Arish was a natural one and enabled them to control Palestine as well as Egypt. The Hyksos or "foreign kings" are not mentioned in the Old Testament by that name, yet archaeologically there is evidence of their occupation everywhere in Palestine and Syria - their uniquely designed fortress cities. This glacis-type defense occurs in the delta of Egypt, throughout the land of Canaan and as far north as Anatolia. Truly, the people known as Hyksos must have been known in the Old Testament by another name. Much of the information available on the Hyksos comes from Josephus who in his Against Apion quotes the Egyptian historian Manetho on the character of these people and the effects on the native Egyptian culture:
Josephus then relates how they appointed a king whose name was Salatis who made his capital at Memphis. He collected tribute from both the upper and lower regions of Egypt and left garrisons at strategic places that gave him control over the whole land. Josephus also states that fearing an invasion from the East by the eastern kings, he founded the fortress city of Avaris to protect against this potential threat. Logically, it would be east of the delta where it could protect the approaches to Egypt. The Hyksos are credited with introducing the war chariot to warfare, new types of swords, and the strong composite bow. With their superior weapons and their ruthless nature they were able to impose their will on the Egyptians for 400 years, a period which equates with that of the Judges in Palestine. LIFE IN PALESTINE AMONG THE AMALEKITES With certain native peoples as allies, the Amalekites controlled Canaan with an iron hand. The Scriptures reveal that the Hebrew tribes had to settle and live among the Amalekites who inhabited and controlled the plains of Judah. In other areas, they often attacked and harassed the Hebrews, sometimes in conjunction with other people. According to the Book of Judges, they joined Moab against the Israelites to capture the city of Jericho; at another time, they fought battles with the Hebrews who lived in the valley of Jezreel. Since most of the cities of Canaan were in the hands of native people, the migrating Hebrews were forced to settle in the less desirable areas between the cities. Here they were vulnerable to periodic raids from all directions. Most of the tribes expressed frustration because the cities and lands which had been assigned by Joshua were still under control of the native people. Thus, the tribe of Menassah lived among the fortified cities of Beth-Shean, Dor, Iblean, Megiddo, and Tanach which remained in Canaanite hands. The tribes of Ephraim, Zebulon, Asher, and Naphtali could not seize the cities in their assigned lands - those of Gezer, Nahalal, Acco, Sidon, Helbah, Rehob, and Beth-Avath, for example. The five cities of the Philistines remained unconquered, as well as all the land of Lebanon from Mount Hermon to Harmath. Behind their impregnable fortifications, the Amalekites would bide their time and then periodically burst forth from their citadels and raid the land in their iron chariots. One of their favorite tactics was to wait until the crops were ripe for harvest, and then they would drive their cattle ahead of them and,
For over four hundred years the Amalekites and their allies ruled this way, the Hebrew tribes never knowing when the ferocious sons of the Rephaim would break out of their cities and attack the settlers. From their capital city at Avaris they could explode into the Negev and devastate that area at will. Josephus describes the citadel of the Hyksos which Salatis built east of the delta. It was a city:
It has been somewhat puzzling to historians how the Hyksos/Amalekites could have maintained control over the lands of Egypt and Palestine for such a long time. It can be easily explained, however, by their ruthless nature and military ability, and their policy of keeping the people of the lands they occupied impoverished and weaponless. [Comment: It should once again be emphasized at this point that traditional historians who deride the Velikovskian School do not equate the Amalekites with the Hyksos, because traditional establishment historians separate these two peoples by a period of 600 years. It is unclear to this editor whether R. A. Boulay was a Velikovskian follower or arrived at his conclusions independently of the Velikovskian School.] In the First Book of Samuel it explains how the Amalekites and Philistines controlled the supply and use of iron:
With their chariots, iron weapons, and composite bows, the Amalekites and Philistines were virtually unbeatable against an enemy who best could muster stone age weapons. In the first battles of Saul and David against these formidable foes, the only weapons that were available to the Hebrews were clubs, stone slings, simple bow and arrow, and stone-tipped spears. It was not until much later, when they could capture and seize sufficient iron weapons, that the tide turned and the Israelites began to drive the Amalekites from the land. REVOLT IN EGYPT AND PALESTINE The Egyptian puppet king Sekenenre who ruled from Thebes started the revolt against the Hyksos kings. At that time, they ruled from Avaris and left puppet kings throughout Egypt to carry out their wishes. The revolt was carried on by his sons Kamose and Ahmose who recovered the lands of Egypt. The war of Kamose against the last Hyksos king Apophis is preserved on a stele which was first erected at Karnak. It describes his attack on the river fortress Avaris and how he seized hundreds of ships, some of which contained "produce of Retinue." Kamose boasts that he had "made Apophis see a miserable time," and then adds that "the Prince of Retinue, weak of arms, who planned many things in his heart, but they have not come to pass for him." Retinue is usually identified as the land of Palestine. Thus the Prince of Retinue who seemed to be allied with Kamose was probably none other than Saul who at that time was besieging the Amalekites at El-Arish. Kamose was able to reoccupy all of Egypt except their citadel at Avaris. His successor Ahmose completed the defeat of the Hyksos with the help of the Israelites. Ahmose not only drove out the Hyksos but also pursued them to Saruhen, a fortress city on the border of the land of their allies, the Philistines. After a six-year siege, Ahmose destroyed this stronghold and the remnants of the Hyksos. We can read a direct account of these events in the biography of one of his officers, who with Ahmose attacked Avaris and destroyed it, and then moved on to Saruhen where he besieged the city. The Scriptures also describe battles against the Amalekites at the Wadi El-Arish and other places on the border of Egypt. In the First Book of Samuel, Saul was advised by the prophet Samuel to go forth and destroy the Amalekites.
[Comment: One wonders what the Nefilim and Anunnaki, watching these events from their parked Planet Nibiru, thought about this wholesale slaughter of their saurianized brethren and kinsmen.] The account maintains that the city was besieged from a wadi. There is only one river bed (wadi) in southern Palestine or northern Egypt, and that is the Wadi El-Arish which forms the traditional boundary between Egypt and Palestine. at certain times of the year it is a full-fledged river; there is strong evidence that in ancient time it was flooded most of the year. In the Scriptures, the Wadi El-Arish is often referred to as just "the Wadi." Saul fought the Amalekites from "the Wadi toward Shur on the border of Egypt." The wilderness of Shur is that area between the Wadi and Egypt; it was the first wilderness the Israelites entered after the Sea of Passage. Thus the city of Amalek had to be El-Arish just as the city of the Hyksos was Avaris. It is strange that scholars have not noted the close philological association of El-Arish and Av-aris. [Comment: Dr. Velikovsky certainly noticed this philological relationship. Considering the intransigence of establishment scientists to modify their chronological philosophies, it is not strange at all to this editor that they have not noted this fact. Since traditionalists place the Hyksos 600 years further back in time than the Amalekites, there would be no need for them to note it.] The last Hyksos king was called Apop or Apophis (Greek). The Amalekite king captured by Saul at the Wadi was called Agag. The similarity of the two names is so remarkable as to require further elucidation. The explanation can be found in the way early Hebrew was written. Early Hebrew shows a striking resemblance between the letter G or "gimel" and the letter P or "pei." No other Hebrew letters were so much alike. Each letter is an oblique line connected to a shorter, more oblique line and is similar to the number 7. The size of the angle between the two oblique lines constitutes the only difference. Since the vowels in early Hebrew are interchangeable, Agag can easily become Apop. It thus appears that the last Hyksos king and the Amalekite king Agag were one and the same person. It is a known fact that the Eighteenth Dynasty, which began the era of the New Kingdom in Egypt, started with Ahmose and the expulsion of the Hyksos. It is also true that the first Hebrew king was Saul who, with David, presided over the extinction of the Amalekites. Placing these monarchs in the same time period, rather than hundreds of years apart, solves many of the chronological puzzles in both Egyptian and Biblical history. This alteration is necessary to understanding the history of the Middle East from the time of the Deluge to the days of the Judaean Kings. [Comment: That is precisely the contention of Dr. Velikovsky. However, making Saul the contemporary of Ahmose automatically forces a 600-year period of historical duplication in the histories of Egypt and Assyria/Babylonia, as well as a short 20-year period of duplication in the history of Greece following the Battles of Thermopylae and the Eurymedon. All of these duplications and "ghost correlations" are discussed and delineated in meticulous detail in the aforementioned treatise June 15, 762 BCE: A Mathematical Analysis of Ancient History by your editor Roberto Solàrion. For information on how to obtain a copy of this treatise, contact Ivy Press Books of Forest Hills, New York] |
This military class was known in the
Old Testament
by a variety of names, depending on where they lived and their
tribal associations. They did not mix with the other indigenous
people and were given native names such as Emin by the Moabites,
Zamzummin by the Ammonites, and Avvim by the people of the
Negeb.
The system of defense consists of a steeply
sloping scarp of soil surfaced with brick, tile, or plaster, surrounded
by a stone wall and a moat. At the top of the sloping scarp or
glacis is another wall (image left). Thus at
Jericho, a reconstruction of the
defenses shows a stone revetment ten feet high [3.08 meters] and
a plastered slope at an angle of 35 degrees running to a height
of 35 feet [10.77 meters] above the revetment. On its crest there
is a high wall of brick; this brick wall thus stands back from
the stone wall at the bottom of the
slope a distance of 65 feet
[20 meters]. A cross-section of the defense fortification reveals
its formidable appearance.