Explorations in Bible lands during the 19th century - H. V. Hilprecht

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EXPLORATIONS IN BIBLE LANDS
emigrated to Palestine; the northern part with its capital
Ur, the ancient sacred city of the moon, was the home of
the family of the patriarch Abraham, and therefore of the
On the whole
children of Israel, and of many Arab tribes.
it appears that East Arabia was the original home of all
the Western Semites, especially also ot the Arameans. In
Abraham's time the latter were still a part of the Arab race;
**
>f Harbor of Maskat with Castle at Entrance
in fact even the patriarch Jacob, ot Biblical tradition, was
regarded simply as an Aramean (Deut. 26 :
5).
This fact is directly confirmed by the complete uniformity
in the formation of proper names consisting of two elements
as found in
the South Arabian inscriptions as well as
in use among the Hebrews and Arameans. Those of the
Babylonians, on the other side, are different, showing
more
polytheistic features. Between these two groups stand the
proper names of the Canaanites (Phenicians included), which