BIBLE ATLAS.pdf

Introduction

Almost every reader of the Bible will realize that the Scriptures, from

Genesis to Revelation, contain extensive historical materials and

innumerable allusions to the geographical background of that history.

The geographical references range eastward to the Tigris and

Euphrates and beyond to Media, Elam, and Parthia – from which came

some of those present at Pentecost – and even to India. Including Asia

Minor, Egypt, Ethiopia, and Arabia, they reach westward beyond

Greece and Rome as far as Spain, which Paul visited or hoped to visit,

and where we are probably to find Tarshish, towards which Jonah

started his fateful voyage. Between these limits, the Holy Land itself,

under its various names – Canaan, the land of Israel, or Palestine – with

its immediate neighbors, is at the center of the picture throughout.

It is not surprising, therefore, that an Atlas should be of great help to

every reader of the Bible and particularly every student; but it must be

a historical atlas, not only showing, by maps at the most convenient

scales, the physical geography of the area concerned and of particular

parts of it, but also, by successive maps of the same area, showing the

historical changes which came about through the rise and fall of

empires, the changes in geographical names, the appearance of new

cities and villages and the disappearance of others, and similar

historical developments. Moreover, it cannot be based on the Bible

alone, but must make full use of modern archaeological knowledge

which both illuminates and supplements the Bible text. Thus, there is

mention in the Bible of Ur and Babylon in Mesopotamia, Hazor,

Megiddo and Beth-shan in northern Palestine, Lachish, and Debir in

Judah, and many other places about which little, perhaps not even

their exact locations, would be known were it not for archaeological

data. Further, there are places very important historically, which do not

happen to be mentioned in the Bible, but which must be shown on the

maps of the region and taken into account by the student as part of

the total historical and geographical background. Thus, there will be

found in this Atlas such places as Mari on the Euphrates, Akhetaton

(Tell el-'Amarna) in Egypt, Ugarit in Syria, Hattusa in Asia Minor,

Serabit el-Khadim in Sinai, which are unfamiliar to most Bible readers

but are nonetheless important. There are, too, names of whole

peoples, such as the Hurrians in Mitanni, the Sumerians in the Tigris-

Euphrates valley, or the Hittites, with their capital at Hattusa, which

can be placed on the map as a result of archaeological evidence. Few

and obscure allusions to the Hittites in the Bible would give very little

idea of their real importance. Such peoples as the Hittites are on the

fringe of the Bible story but in a Bible atlas they must be shown as part

of the total background. Nevertheless, in all the maps of this Atlas, the

Bible is central, and their purpose is to throw light on it and relate it to

its historical and geographical setting.

Because in many cases a map alone would not do this for the ordinary

reader, it is recommended that the New Oxford Annotated Bible with

the Apocrypha: New Revised Standard Version. Ed. Michael D. Coogan.

3rd ed. (New York: Oxford University Press), be used in conjunction

with this electronic atlas.

The progress of knowledge about the geographical and material

background of the Bible – not only the empires, cities, and villages but

the daily life and everyday objects of biblical times – has been

phenomenal, particularly in this century, and this has been primarily, if

not entirely, due to continued archaeological research. The overall plan

of the maps is set out in the Table of Contents (bookmarks): if this plan

is studied briefly and borne in mind, the use of the maps themselves

will be greatly assisted.

Zaine Ridling, Ph.D.

Access Foundation

Part One

T HE B IBLICAL S ETTING

Chapter 1

The Face of the

Ancient Near East

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