Biblically Compatible Archaeology and Geography

  by   Damien F. Mackey     “Could it be that the Book of Judith provides an account of an otherwise obscure episode of the war against Nebuchadrezzar in the time of King Hezekiah — the war which we have identified as Artaxerxes III’s second campaign against Egypt?”         Introduction   This is a question asked by Emmet Sweeney in his article, “ Artaxerxes III and Nebuchadrezzar”, most useful for showing parallels between Nebuchednezzar II ‘the Great’, a real king, and Artaxerxes III, whose historical existence I have had cause to query in my recent:   Persian History has no adequate Archaeology   https://www.academia.edu/31113083/Persian_History_has_no_adequate_Archaeology   At the conclusion of his article, Sweeney makes the following brief mention of the Book of Judith and its “King of Assyria”, one “Nebuchadrezzar”:   Before moving on, it shou...

  by   Damien F. Mackey   “The very existence of a Median empire, with the emphasis on empire, is thus questionable" (H. Sancisi-Weerdenburg, "Was there ever a Median Empire?", in A. Kuhrt, H. Sancisi-Weerdenburg, eds., Achaemenid History III. Method and Theory, Leiden, 1988, p. 212).       Introduction   Professor Gunnar Heinsohn (University of Bremen) and Emmet Sweeney, historical revisionists, have, in recent times, arrived at some startling conclusions about ancient history - some of these warranting further critical examination, whilst other of their views appear to me to be extreme and well wide of the mark. In order to account for an apparent lack of due stratigraphy for, say, the Mitannians, or the neo-Assyrians, or the Medo-Persians, this pair (not always in perfect agreement) will attempt to merge any one of these with a far earlier kingdom, for instance, the ancient Akkadians to be merged as one with the neo-...