Endnote 2 – Archaeology Confirms 50 Real People in the Bible

Lawrence J. Mykytiuk, “Identifying Biblical Persons in Hebrew Inscriptions and Two Stelae from Before the Persian Era” (Ph.D. dissertation, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 1998), revised and published as the book Identifying Biblical Persons in Northwest Semitic Inscriptions of 1200–539 B.C.E. (Atlanta: Society of Biblical Literature, and Boston: Brill Academic, 2004). From Hebrew and other inscriptions published since 1828, it gleans more than 90 inscriptions, in which it then evaluates potential Biblical identifications of more than 75 people. Later on, new discoveries, the unmasking of forgeries, etc., led to my journal article, “Corrections and Updates to ‘Identifying Biblical Persons in Northwest Semitic Inscriptions of 1200–539 B.C.E.,’” Maarav 16 (2009), pp. 49–132, free online at http://docs.lib.purdue.edu/lib_research/129/. My most recent book chapter summarizes all strongest results in “Sixteen Strong Identifications of Biblical Persons (Plus Nine Other Identifications) in Authentic Northwest Semitic Inscriptions from Before 539 B.C.E.,” in Meir Lubetski and Edith Lubetski, eds., New Inscriptions and Seals Relating to the Biblical World (Atlanta: Society of Biblical Literature, 2012), pp. 35–58; free online at http://docs.lib.purdue.edu/lib_research/150/. By including Egyptian and Mesopotamian inscriptions, the present article extends previous coverage from only Israel and a few near neighbors until 539 B.C.E. to the ancient Near East through 400 B.C.E.