Hey Matt It is said the Abraham is the Father of Nations. Nations like Israel, Edom , Midianites etc. Can you make a chart that explores such nations that are from Abraham in relation to history ofcourse.
Your comment of "you cannot say it's fiction" ... because there are some real characters, is way off base. I presume Disney classics, such as: Peter Pan, Pocahontas, Mulan, Princess and the Frog and several others I could name should not be considered fiction, because they all take place - fully or in part - in real places (ie: Peter Pan starts out in London) and have at least 1 character that was a real person in history ... even if never seen, but only mentioned. (ie: if a character mentions Queen Mary, they are referencing a real historical person). Therefore, if there is a person or a place found in history - in any work of fiction, the entire story cannot be considered fiction... Got it. I guess Oliver Twist, The Count of Monte Cristo and the Three Musketeers are not fiction either. My mind just flashed to an episode of Star Trek, where Kirk and Spock met Abraham Lincoln. It's good to know Star Trek is real. OMG... I almost forgot... SANTA CLAUS IS REAL! He's based on a real historical person, Nicholas of Bari. Also known as Nicholas of Myra. Venerated by the Catholic Church in the 4th century. According to the Santa stories, he never ages. So... given he was real - and therefore cannot be fiction - St. Nick is almost 1,800 years-old and still alive! This leads me to another question I haven't thought about since I was 7 y/o... How does Santa get to all those houses in one night? Please spare me the non-fiction nonsense. There are literally hundreds of thousands of written works of fiction which include real people and real places. It still does not make the story - or fairy tale - true.
@@Firecat719 You fail to mention that the bible is technically a form of historical record taken by many people over time. Not far from the Encyclopedia or other recountings of history. If a scientist or historian references star trek does that make the historian’s report false? Furthermore just because you did not see it doesn’t mean it didn’t happen. That would be a personal incredulity fallacy where in because YOU didn’t experience it, it is not true. By that logic all of history could be a fluke. Just because you never saw Abraham Lincoln doesn’t mean he didn’t exist.
@@arkonwolves7192 In the same light, as a child, I have read books about Santa Claus. As with the Bible, there were many good moral lessons and many historically accurate facts. As a child, I believed fiction and fairy takes were real. Santa was real and so was God. But I grew up and discovered the Bible and other books of fiction had many true events depicted inside their pages. As with the movie, "Forest Gump," the addition of real people and events does not make the fairy tale true. In fact, when it comes to Santa, there is more proof he exists then any fictional Bible character. As for Abe... there were people who lived at the time. We have things he wrote and things written bout him, from the time he lived. We have pictures and paintings of him, from the time he was alive. As for Jesus, we have ZERO EVIDENCE he ever existed. We have some writings that appeared almost 50 years AFTER the CruciFICTION. PLUS... we have 2nd and 3rd century Christian sects that were more divided then a Moron and a Catholic is today! Consider just the writings of Paul... Why is 1 & 2 Timothy in the Bible? Paul didnt write those... They showed up long after Paul would have died. Meanwhile, why is the "Acts of Paul," absent from the Bible? It was bound with the other 7 letters of Paul, in the same hand. But YOUR belief system is the right one? Prove to me Santa does not exist. Tell NORAD to stop tracking his annual flight. There's no, "Jesus watch" is there? every time some religious nutbag gives a date of the 2nd coming, the day comes and goes and nothing happens. This has been claimed - by various Christians - over 400 times! Not once has it ever been true. Turn to Gen 6:6 .. God regretted making mankind. How the hell can an ALL-KNWING god possibly have regrets? Does the Bible suggest he didn't see that whole flood thing coming? I guess not, because that inept sadistic moron also didn't seem to know his, "kill them all by global swimming pool," idea wouldn't work." This is just ONE of several hundreds of examples I could give. Next time you want to come after an Atheist, you better know your Bible well. Any Atheist will tell you, "The fastest way to become and Atheist is to actually read the Bible."
@@Firecat719 Hmm no recordings of Jesus huh? How about Pilate’s address of his death according to Tacitus? How about the over 500 eye witnesses of the resurrection? As for your cruciFICTION it’s crucifixion anyway and I never explicitly said Santa doesn’t exist did I? I know what I know and don’t what I don’t simply because I view something one way doesn’t mean it’s objectively true. I believe what is written regarding history is true as any other document for all we know Abe could have never existed if we refused to believe the countless evidence on the contrary. As for the how can an ALL-KNWING God possibly have regrets. In the garden he made the humans in his likeness and thus gave them wills of their own allowing them to choose there own path in which they chose to reject God and go there own ways. I also never gave a date for his second coming so that was extremely out of pocket sir. But to answer that very common problem Jesus even said we would never know when it would be only to look to the sky and stay vigilant. As for Mormonism (what I imagine you meant by moron.) it is a ‘sect’ of ‘christianity’ that is very controversial and I personally don’t agree with it’s interpretations and Catholicism is a very tainted and corrupt form of ‘christianity’ I personally believe draws closer to the occult by the minute. I also don’t know why the Acts of Paul were not included in the bible as I don’t know why the countless other books in the scrolls were not. The Bible is not the full picture. Think of it like an instruction manual for a grill. It provides the necessary knowledge to put the thing together but often lacks the tools and some ‘pro-tips’ it also lacks the completed project. Much like history, Christianity is still being written the Bible doesn’t really have a happily ever after per-say I like to hear your complaints and your reasons for believing them true as it only gives me more insight. If we do not step out of our metaphorical caves some times we get too comfortable with the shadows on the wall. Next question please.
People who insist on believing biblical literalism are often shocked to learn how much the Bible gets wrong, historically. Meanwhile, people who reject biblical literalism are often shocked to find how much the Bible gets right, historically.
I'm not religious, but since I learned about Cyrus The Great and the human rights declaratrion cuneiform cylinder, I started to investigate more about biblical facts that have been proven.
modern ideas of 'history' are too tied up in reality to understand that ancient people's ideas of writing down history was more about allegory and writing stories about 'where you came from' to teach men how to live righteously and impart lessons, this is true of both religious text and 'academically' historical text, Plato most likely never belived Atlantis existed in actuality but used it as a lesson against hubris, just like how rabbis debate the meaning behind biblical stories and interpret them to derive their laws, as was intended.
It's amazing how the verification of so many Iron age biblical characters is based on only one item. It shows that it is REALLY hard to get your name known outside of your timeline during this period.
Fun Fact: We only have one or two pieces of physical evidence for crucifixions actually having occurred. As someone below mentioned; if you weren't elite you weren't making it into the historical record. For this reason the lack of Bronze Age evidence doesn't really bother me as most of the people mentioned were not what we would think of as 'elite', weren't named specifically, or could very well have been erased in the chaos of the Bronze Age Collapse.
I agree. But I also believe lots of ancient people were way more literate than we give them credit for. Especially those in cities. And surely if not literate in an alphabetical type of way, symbols ofc that we can't decipher may be just primitive names. I always imagine some cave art says “Jimmy and Sally were here“. ❤
Also displays the fact that likely a countless number of those unconfirmed Bronze Age stories are unconfirmed simply because the sources have been destroyed. People love to pretend that a lack of sources means that something didn't happen while ignorantly forgetting that the vast majority of history is plagued by a lack of sources and many many accounts of confirmed events could have been dismissed as fiction if for an unfortunate turn of fate ending in the destruction of one singular source.
It’s important to note that although currently we don’t have archaeological proof the others existed, it does not necessarily mean that they did not exist
I agree. I may have interpreted this wrong (LORD forgive me if so), but GOD made mankind on the 6th day and they were to be fruitful and multiply. Then Adam was created and placed in the garden to the East. I thought (think) there were people here, but the foundation of the Kingdom of GOD started with Adam and Eve.
@@cayoticcupcakeHe made mankind on the 6th day then rested on the 7th. When did He make Adam? Genesis makes it seem like God planted the garden the day after the 7th and He breathed life to form Adam or was it done all on the 6th day?
@cayoticcupcake Adam was created on the 6th day. Genesis 1 gives us a break down of the days. Genesis 2 however goes into more detail. Plus the Bible tells us in Romans 5:12, "Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned:" Sin passed from Adam through his offspring. If there was another line of humans separate from Adam they would not have been affected by his sin. They would not have fallen. Eve fell because she also sinned. We also have DNA, both secular scientists and Christian scientists both agree that all humans share. We have one human race and not two or more. In Genesis 2:18 God said that Adam was alone. Then in Genesis 2:19 we see God creating every beast of the field? How can this be since God had already created them on day 6? It is because Genesis 2 is giving us more details about the six days of creation.
@@atimetokeep1136 After re-reading the passages, I totally understand what you are saying. I suppose the disconnect is when Cain was sent to the land of Nod, east of the garden, and bore Enoch; and built the city. It makes it sound like there are others there when Cain went to Nod.
More precisely, the quantity of artifacts looted and stolen from sovereign nations and improperly held by the British Museum is an astonishing reminder of the arrogance of British imperialism.
I hate that too but to play devils advocate if they were in location where there is homeland conflict then the museums could be caught in the crossfire
@@HerveyShmervyI agree, but as countries stabilize they should be able to get some stuff back. Maybe not every artifact, but at least the culturally important stuff
I remember reading Herodotus describing the pyramids and how even in his time Egyptian priests knew little of their origins. And the books of Kings are a biblical eye opener for its importance as a historical document when compared with other sources from the time. Fascinating stuff.
@@burnsmatkin9606 And Amazon women who cut off their breast to easier shoot an arrow, Scythians with 1 large foot and faces in their chests. However unlike these farfetched descriptions he actually went to Eygpt and interviewed priests while he was there.
I've often wondered about what is presumed to be myth regarding the thunderbirds in First Nations oral histories. Two very large effigies are in WI near Madison.@@burnsmatkin9606
A NT version of this wouldn't be very interesting. Or it would be little more than a rehash of dozens of "was Jesus historical" arguments. I don't believe there's any archeological evidence for anyone in the NT - other than setting background characters like Herod, maybe Pontius. Roman emperors if they're referred to. There are a few fragments of textual evidence from near contemporary non-Christian sources, but even those are sparse and contested.
I just went through the Bible recently and noticed what you described as well. That the beginning books are very general narratives written then later in Samuel-kings-minor prophets there's so much detail it becomes difficult to keep up. I am a Christian and this knowledge doesn't diminish my faith, in fact it strengthens it. I appreciate the work you did compiling all this info!
IMO, the reason for the early OT being less descriptive is because it was written by Moses and most of the thing isn't that necessary and it was just to record like generally (like genealogy). For me, seeing like that, strength my faith as yk if it was fake or smth, anything will be so descriptive as some random people created but in like Genesis, it looks just like documentary books imo
If some parts of the bible are written down later by someone who didn't recently lived after the events taking place, usually things aren't that detailed. If I'm an eye witness of a terrible accident I can give more information than when someone on the news just sums up the facts about the accident. Also the goal of writing down something can differ. If I want to sell an product I write it different than when I give an honest opinion / review of a product. If the product existed 100 years ago but I never used it, I can only write something that someone else (like my grand parents narrative or other sources) tell about the product.
The reason why the five books of Moses seem to be missing info is because they are like the keynotes in a professor's lecture. The oral law is where everything is laid out.
The fact that David was mentioned so early already speaks volumes about how the very earliest Judaeans viewed themselves even if it can't confirm the concrete David and I think that connects us to these iron age people in such a beautiful way
to deny David existed is to deny Jesus Christ existed as Jesus Christ is in the Davanic line . Also , 1 Chron. gives very clear evidence David existed 1) his place of birth , , the mention of the names past relatives and immediate family members 2) specific places he lived and exploits 3) the listing of his wives - who they were and where they were from and how many children and the names of his children by them fictional people , do not have that kind of information or detailed genealogies
The Bronze Age charcters versus Iron Age characters blew my mind . What a good book list to really start to understand the Bible in such a scholarly way .
I think it’s important to point out that the Bronze Age, Iron Age and classical antiquity are useful categories for describing the history of the Middle East as far as Iran, the Mediterranean world, Northern Europe and North Africa, but aren’t all that useful when discussing anywhere else in the world. For example India, China and sub Saharan Africa all developed these tools on very different timescales.
While that is a good point I do think its interesting how well those general landmarks (i.e. Around 1000BCE and around 500BCE) map onto the history of india and China as well. For example, in india around 600/500 BCE was when the sramana movement got going along with the rise of the Mahajanapadas. Meanwhile in China around 1000BCE was when the Zhou replaced the Shang and around 500 to 200 BCE was the warring states period and Iron gained its ascendancy. It should also be pointed out that the terms bronze age and iron age are misleading as some iron working existed even before the rise of the "iron age" and bronze continued to be prized even during the iron age.
@@delwynjones6408 Not relevant to your larger point, but Bronze Age and Iron Age does not mean that these materials were excusively in use in the respective periods or were not used before that. It exclusively refers to the majority of tools with cutting edges specifically being made out of bronze or iron (or stone). Sorry for being pedantic, but this is a very common misconception ...
Well even though not exactly work around 1200 seem to be when the last not direct empire of China collapsed and started the waring state period that lasted millennia while, Buddha lived around 500BC so not 100% accurate but there are stuff that come close
This was so well done Matt! I love seeing things in clear presentations like this. I do think it's probably fair to assume much, if not all, of these Bronze age characters are completely lost to history. They could be fiction or just mythologized figures lost to historical record. I find so many internet skeptics who just axe-grind, wanting everything in the Bible to be fiction. I love seeing your sober take.
I'm an atheist, and I personally do have an axe to grind against the Catholic church (Don't ask, use your imagination), but it would be foolish to say that EVERYTHING in the bible is fiction. Now SOME parts there are either whole fictional, the result of so much embellishment that the real facts behind them are fiction, or just the result of scribal errors that then got polished in until they became almost indistinguishable from the rest of the text.
@@UsefulCharts What is your opinion on the Deir Alla inscription and it's inscription which might contain a reference to Balaam, the Moabite prophet from Numbers?
You need to repent while you still have time. You make all these videos trying to disprove the bible and God yet if God isnt real and the bible is fake why do you waste so much time talking about him and his word?
@@charlespartrick528 Most are mythological and primitive dogma, unlike the keen knowledge and accurate historical narratives of the Old Testament. It is also so honest that it closely relates serious faults of personages such as David, yet he was its major heroic figure.
I think it's important to point out that, yes, while there is no archaeological record of (for example) the Israelite rulers prior to Ahab, including the "big three" of the Bible - Saul, David, and Solomon - there aren't that many records *period* which have survived (and been discovered) from back then, much less from the bronze age (for important Biblical characters like Abraham, Jacob, and Moses.) So it's not like those earlier Biblical characters are necessarily mythical - they just haven't been proven by the archaeological record. [Possibly "yet", but more likely won't ever be.]
Its important to point out that the reason there "Isn't many records from that period that have survived" is because it was dead flat in the middle of the Great Bronze Age collapse and its subsequent rebuilding period, where in no large civilizations outside Egypt from prior to the event, survived. Israel and Judah had no empires magically hidden during this time. Their population centers were tribal villages, the cultural record is clear you couldn't even distinguish the later self identifying Israelite population from the rest of the Canaanite population around them at this point of time, because they were one population.
And adding onto what Michael said, this is probably the biggest bit of evidence we have for the fact that Saul, David, and Solomon were, at the very least, figures of tall tales and legends. While yeah, there was no great unified Israelite kingdom out there that anyone's aware of, there's too much noise about them for them to have just sprung up out of nowhere. Which leads me personally to believe they were local petty kings before the Kingdom of Israel and Kingdom of Judah arose, and that tales of their exploits were greatly exaggerated. I mean, look at us 21st Century folk. There are a lot of people that have mythologized George Washington or Abraham Lincoln, to the point where you just cannot convince some people that Washington almost certainly never chopped down a cherry tree and said "I cannot tell a lie." These tales for Sl/Dv/Slm probably got more and more exaggerated each time, until someone finally wrote them down. Saul may have been a modest conqueror who got some cities on his side, David may have been a tactically-gifted and religiously-devout warlord who was consistently able to keep the peace and fight off the Philistines and other tribes around them, and Solomon may have been a decently foresighted ruler who used David's amassed wealth to do some good things and had himself a few women on the side, but now you read the Bible and Saul was the one man everyone in Israel rallied behind, David was the greatest God-Follower 5evar who never lost a battle and won time and again despite the odds, and Solomon was the wisest and richest man who ever lived and had a thousand women at his beck and call.
Note that I fell that Mat should have put a question mark on one late Broze Age figure, Aaron, since those that say they are his Patrilineal descendants overwhelmingly show a genetic marker of a common patrilineal ancestor dated to the when Aaron would have lived. Genetics is no proof of name, so that's why I say a question mark.
Well, yet the Egyptian and Fertile Crescent records do record their histories during the bronze and iron ages. Could it be that the Israelite people were a backwater? Perhaps.
Very true. I’ll add by saying even Jesus from the classical age cannot be said to have been Real or Fake. We have a Roman Record talking about a Jesus of Nazareth being crucified but the only other I guess documentations are from word of mouth and the Bible itself. But like many things we cannot just take word of mouth or the bible as accurate. It’s definitely possible this Jesus of Nazareth was the som of God and the Virgin Mary but we have yet to found any evidence to help support the claim
Man... I LOVE YOU! Literally! I like the fact that you're so objective. Telling us what exactly is, and not what we would want to hear! Like when you put a disclaimer on David's historicity. Thanks a lot. And I'll definitely look forward to a similar video about the new testament!
Amazing stuff! I've watched several of these videos and I love each one of them! My 12-year-old niece who goes to a Christian school learns this stuff in her history class, yet it's amazing how it is basically scarce knowledge in the world we live in today. Looking forward to your videos in the future!
It's in the Bible, that's why the further you go back the more people understood just how accurate these parts of the Bible were and respected it as an authority on certain parts of history. Only recently have the people become so disconnected, uneducated and pliable that they can be lied to by so called historians and made to give no credit whatsoever to the books within the Bible.
Some of these comments are really annoying. A lot of people misrepresenting different sides of an argument that isn't even being made here. Great video!
It's expected. We live in the middle of the historical moment where there's a backlash to about 1500 years of Christian evangelizing and the love affair with political power that the church had ever since Justinian and Constantine. So not only do you get the dogmatism of the devout, but also the frustration of large numbers of people who are quite simply fed up with the church.
@RobespierreThePoof You're absolutely right imo. The dominance of Christianity makes a lot of people hostile to it, so they instantly want to write off any part of it they can. I've had to stop myself from doing the same thing from time to time lol.
@@yoshigottagun It has taken me about thirty years to get to the point where I can finally be objective about religions with problematic histories or practices. I would not have done well as a religious studies student at university! The turning point for me was accepting that we are not a rational species and that religions can be interesting examples of the myriad bizarre ways human beings have tried to understand their place in the universel. Once you adopt that perspective, you can find both humor and wonder in it all.
I'm not Christian or Jewish, but the Bible is a very valuable historical document, even if most of it isn't actual history. It may have embellishments and even fabrications, but there's also a lot of verified history in it, and it wouldn't surpise me if we find more evidence in the future for people like David or Solomon. On top of the history held within, the Bible is also useful for understanding the mindsets of the people who were around when it was first written, and dismissing it as pointless or mere fiction is a great disservice to the historical community
Did anyone notice that the naysayer’s comments consisted of a single, subjective sentence, with no backup to support their claim? It says a lot about their lack of critical thinking, and there inability to put forward a reasoned argument. 🤦🏻♀️ UA-cam is probably the only place they get to express their opinions without being shouted down like they would be at home
@@CharlotteIssyvoo to an extent, but modern Christianity and Judaism are very diverse groups, and not all of them actually follow the bible directly. Many see it as a baseline for their beliefs and not the end all be all, others see it as pure metaphor. It's more useful for understanding the people of the time. For example, the KJV can give insight into Renaissance Christianity, while the dead sea scrolls can educate us about second temple Judaism
When I was in Iran, I was told that Daniel and Esther had tombs. I never saw them, but I rented a room from an elderly Jewish family in Isfahan, Iran. The family had been there since the destruction of the temple.
One of your very best videos, I think. I love how you are so careful to set things into clear context. It makes the information so powerful-that there’s no doubt exactly what you are discussing.
0:00 The Complete Family Tree of The Bible 0:17 "This is based on complete fiction" 0:33 "Well, here's the thing...." 1:13 37 Real People mentioned in The Bible, found in The Archaeological Record, outside The Bible. *_Sponsored By_* 1:38 Dante Labs Genomes 3:11 Start of the video proper. *The 3 Ages of Antiquity* 3:22 Bronze, Iron, Classical 3:47 Iron Age 3:58 Classical Antiquity 4:15 The Old Testament takes place during The Bronze and then The Iron Age. *The Iron Age People are Archaeologically Recorded* 4:32 37 Bible Characters found in the archaeological record 5:24 Iron Age City Dwellers *Some of The Major Civilizations of Antiquity* 5:54 Egyptians, Hittites, and Greeks 6:05 The Bronze Age Collapse, Around 1200. 6:20 Greek Dark Ages *Old Testament people confirmed in the Archaeological Record* 7:56 Omri, King of Israel, Founder of Sumeria. ✅ 8:54 Ahab and Jezebel ✅ 9:25 Ben Hadad The II ✅ and his son, Hazael ✅ 9:38 Jemhorah, son of Ahab ✅ 11:09 King David 11:29 Jehu [There is a picture of him on a stone slab] ✅ 12:09 Ben Hadad III ✅ *Assyrian Records* 12:22 Jenoash et. al. ✅ 13:06 Assyrian King Tiglath- "pol" Pilesar II ✅ 13:35 Assyrian King Sargon II✅ *More Israelites* 14:20 Hezekiah ✅ 15:23 Isaiah The Prophet/Isaiah Navi 15:56 Manassah ✅ *The Egyptian Pharaohs* 17:30 17:43 The 5 Pharaohs "Pharaoh" 18:05 Shawshank/Shishak✅ 18:13 Osorkan IV✅ 18:24 Necho II✅ *Babylonian Records* 18:35 Nebuchadnezzar, King of Babylon 👑✅ 19:55 Belshazzar✅ The Crown Prince. *Persian Records* 20:24 Cyrus The Great, The Achaemenid Persian King who conquered Babylon and let The Israelites return to Israel. 20:55 Cyrus Cylinder *Greek Records* 21:30 Herodotus, The Father of History
I truly appreciate the work and effort you put into creating these videos. I never find them to be preachy or pushing religion, but instead show clear historical timelines as described in the text.
I am a native Hebrew speaker, and can read all those Paleo-Hebrew records that you showed. (Although many of the letters are very blurry and difficult to read).
"We found this ancient writing." -> "Awesome! So that's what happened!" "We found this ancient writing. It's the bible." --> "I wonder if there's any evidence to support this?"
It's all about the dating. The oldest physical copy of Genesis dates to around the time of Jesus, a full 1200 years after the Bronze Age ended. Therefore, if we find words carved in stone that date to within the Bronze Age itself, then yes, historically speaking those words are a better first hand source about that period.
@@UsefulCharts there is always a good and a bad side of having things like this says if we have the original manuscript then people can mess with it, and also not having original manuscript allow for sceptics, honestly to say it is by faith, and it hard thing to believe for me to understand a world without God, since what? should I believe we all came from 1 cell bacteria then when I wash my hands I just enacted Genocide of what could be humans or something better? No thanks, you can stick to your aethist and I will cleave to the Lord.
Being a Jew gave me a lot of perspective on religious text cuz to me it feels more like the mythology of my people. As every myth there’s some truth within the myth.
@inmyownlittlehell yes its offshoots are more extremist this cult since 2016 has since mellowed down and backed down in a lot of statements rather this ideology is called Armstrongism
No matter how many times Matt explains his religious charts, there are always those kind of comments. Your patience amazes me. I'd tell them all to take a long walk off a short pier! Great video, Matt!
When I have some down time. This is my go to. I find this channel useful… -when doing the dishes. -making bread -doing certain tasks at work, grading,setting pavers or deconstructing concrete forms etc. -also, turning my brain off a little, before going to sleep. Which I am trying to do right meow.
I normally love your videos and this is fascinating as usual, but the bit about the Bronze Age collapse could have been more accurate, I´m afraid (source: I´m an archaeologist specialising in the Bronze Age-Iron Age transition). So in case you are reading this, for future reference: The Greek Dark Ages are considerably longer than 250 years, at least in most sources I have read. People disagree a bit where they are supposed to end, but they are usually assumed to cover the entire Early Iron Age (until 700 BCE at the latest) as well as the latest part of the Bronze Age (the 250 years you mentioned would be that time frame). Also, a lot of archaeologists avoid the term today, because it´s a bit disparaging and also, it was originally chosen to reflect the fact that we didn´t know much about that time. This is no longer the case, so the tendency seems to go towards using "Postpalatial Period" (for the Bronze Age part) and "Early Iron Age" instead. I also assume that the volcano eruption you mentioned as a potential cause for the BA collapse is the Thera eruption? Because that was several centuries earlier and very likely not a factor (exactly how many is a difficult problem, but it´s at the very least 200 years and potentially up to 500). Likewise, the pandemic idea is usually based on Hittite sources about some sort of plague, but once again, this is about 120 years before the actual BA collapse. It was certainly a factor in what happened to the Hittite empire and their fall in turn likely had further destabilizing effects, but I wouldn´t call it a pandemic. We do have ecidence for climate change around that time that could have lead to famine, and also for a potential earthquake storm in Greece. Migration also happened, but a lot of it may have been a consequence of whatever caused the collapse and not the cause of the collapse itself. War is a difficult topic - it´s attested, as far as I know, for the final destruction of Ugarit via letters send by the king, but it´s much more dubious for a lot of the Greek sites, for example, where - if anything - more of a revolution against the palatial elite seems to have taken place. Also also I would be very careful with claiming that Iliad and Odyssey are reflecting Bronze Age stories exclusively. We assume that the oral tradition they are based on started in the Bronze Age, probably in the Postpalatial Period, i.e. after 1200 BCE, but a large part of both poems was formed during the Iron Age, so while there are Bronze Age reflections in there, they are fewer than people often assume. I apologize for the essay, but this really stood out to me and I hope it will help for future videos!
I'm always amazed at how quickly archaeological and historical consensus can change. My Classical Anthropology course in college (around 2010) still presented the Greek Dark Ages as established fact and mostly focused on the Egyptian influences seen in Greek art at the time. Not being a professional classicist after graduation, I admit my knowledge of the period stops with what I was presented. Thank you for my internet rabbit hole for the next few weeks!
@@BrandonHensleyEMD I've taught undergraduate courses, though not in Classics, and you can generally assume that there is a lag between what is presented in u/g courses and the latest news from the knowledge front. This is partly inertia and time allocation (academics' careers are not dependent on their u/g courses, for the most part) and partly sensible: for a few years, the hot conversation will be "The Bronze Age Collapse: Yes or No? And if so, Why?" and it will be framed in terms of the consensus that existed before the conversation started, so you'll need to know a bit about that to understand it. I mean, if you're reading stuff that says "The Bronze Age Collapse is an illusion," it helps if you know what it was supposed to be. Also, the latest and greatest theories are not always right--I'm of an age when the most popular explanation for religion was magic mushrooms, and that didn't stand the test of time. All that said, it would also be good to have u/g courses of the form: "Current controversies in ", if the structures are flexible enough to allow that (they weren't at the place I worked).
I’m going to say something controversial, Dr. Baker. I know that so many people criticize you for either presenting the Bible as it is and others criticize you for presenting the state of the art in biblical studies. Many in the latter category have said you hate G-d or religion or whatever. I can say that my belief in Judaism has been strengthened by videos like this. As someone with a K-12 orthodox Jewish education (thankfully with an incredibly strong emphasis on secular knowledge also), I wish someone would have taught me these things that I have learned from you. That we have archeological evidence for most the kings and most of what is said about them is more or less true (albeit exaggerated at times to a point). That King David was probably a real person etc. Yes, you don’t take the Bible literally (and because I know science is true, I don’t wholly either), but that does not mean that your videos are anti religion. So I appreciate that. I have to sign off for shabbat. Shabbat Shalom.
I echo this. Prior to diving into ordained ministry, I starter confronting some of these "info-hazards" that many faith-driven individuals are hesitant to address. What this has exposed is a challenge to my faith that actually strengthens what is there. When you can acknowledge the lengths and limits of what is known, you are left with those things still left unknown. Addressing that unknown is where we all have a journey to travel. Even though many centuries of church dogma has driven many Christians (specifically) to see "questioning" as a negative, I think it causes us to purify what it is we do and do not truly believe.
I always wanted to be an archeologist and have a background in Humanities of Religion and Mythology. Your charts are very informative and I really enjoy your videos. Fact vs fiction has been a question forever. I find that more I study, research that some truth is a percent of verbal stories are of true origin. Just my thought and thank you very much for your videos. Blessings.
I'd love a NT version. I'd also be fascinated to see a timeline comparing events in the Levant with contemporary events in Greece, or Rome. I have never seen those threads all lined up next to each other, but would love to see. (eg, exodus was a contemporary of the Trojan War, I think? What was going on in Judah during the peleponesian war?)
Kind of... It's useful to think of both the Trojan War and the Exodus/Conquest of Canaan as events of the Late Bronze Age Collapse. Neither one likely took place exactly as written, but the general outline of the events is probably correct (or at least there's no really useful reason to doubt it). In the case of the Exodus, you might have charismatic leaders like Moses and Aaron who lead a group or groups of semitic slaves out of Egypt during a period of environmental disasters (which seem to be one of the speculative causes of the Late Bronze Age Collapse). That group or groups of slaves spend time on the Sinai Peninsula as a nomadic culture where they mingle with and pick up customs, beliefs, and members from the surrounding groups like the Midianites. Then they migrated into Canaan right around the time of the collapse of the Canaanite city-states, whose refugees mingle with the new migrants and together they start building decentralized villages in the Judean hill country and develop into the Hebrew culture of the Iron Age.
can you share your thought process on how a list of kings and other royals of various iron age nations validates religious ideas in ANY way? Because to me it seems that you try to explain Harry Potter magic by pointing out that London and a few muggles really existed
I would absolutely love to see a video like this covering the New Testament! I was actually kind of bummed to see that it didn't. But hey, that just means potentially even more great content :)
Thanks Matt! I, for one, would love to see a NT accounting of historical persons. I would not be surprised if most of them can be verified by either Greek or Roman sources, but I think it would be very interesting.
The vast majority of characters in the New Testament characters can't be verified from Greek and Roman sources. But that's because most of them are Jews or Christians who were not at all notable outside their respective communities (and sometimes not even then). If you're ignoring the Jewish sources (Josephus, the Talmud) and the Christian sources (the New Testament, the Church Fathers up until whatever date you start dismissing their accounts as legends) the people mentioned in your sources are going to almost exclusively be Roman officials (including Emperors) or members of the Herodian dynasty.
Herod, Pilate, Augustus, maybe some head priest, that's about it. The majority of characters in the NT are common people who would not be recorded. We know a lot about common people in Roman times, but that's often from calamities like Pompeii and Herculaneum, where the people and their belonging were frozen in time.
@@stephengray1344at least jesus, james, peter and paul has contemporary source outside bible. Mostly from tacitus and josephus. Most roman and Jew high priest character also has lot outside evidence, thanks to herod love to plaster his name everywhere.
@@absentmindedshirokuma8539 James does, fairly solidly, though only in Josephus, I believe, so that wouldn't count as "Greek or Roman sources". Josephus also mentions John the Baptist and that's considered authentic. His references to Jesus are more contested, but most scholars do think they're at least partly authentic. They're not really contemporary though and most like just trace to what Christians were saying. I'm not aware of any contemporary references to Peter or Paul outside of Biblical sources - or even anything at all outside of Christian sources.
@@jeffmacdonald9863 josephus was THE Roman advisors for judea province. He is as roman as you can get from frontiers province. As for peter historicity, IIRC, some jewish tradition has mentioned peter. I cound john the baptist as high priest class since traditionally, his family was part of them.
Thank you so much for drawing out the Bronze Age, Iron Age, and Classical Age. I always knew the terms, but I did not know how they fit against the Bible's timeline. Please continue on with the NT Bible characters confirmed in archeology!
First, let me say a hearty “thank you” for making these helpful videos. I am familiar with such content creation, and I have an idea of what goes into it. From this, I believe that I can also say that your dedication to creating this content, at least in some way, must indicate your desire to do something good for your fellow man. This is, in my opinion, quite commendable. I and others I know have benefited from your work. Therefore, I would like to sincerely express my gratitude to you. With that, I want to make it clear that I am not being ‘critical’, as it were, although I will offer what I believe is some constructive criticism - a bit haphazardly expressed (you’ll forgive me for this, I trust) - in what follows hence. - - A correct terminology to be used with reference to the characters addressed in these videos should reflect that they (i.e. the characters) have been [also] witnessed by another source (e.g. the findings of archaeology, references in other histories, etc.). This says nothing (yet) of them being actual or “historical.” For this, one would need to define what it is to be ‘actual’ and “historical,” as well as the criteria necessary for establishing such a thing. Also, while the depth of the chart provided is impressive, there does seem to be a lack of Biblical Hebrew and Israelite cultural understanding latent in some of the claims made, as well as the underlying tenor of the presentation. For one more obvious example, a knowledge of Biblical Hebrew demystifies entirely the reference to Belshazzar as Nebuchadnezzar’s “son.” If you’re looking for some good resources for this kind of thing, I would be happy to recommend them. (At this point, I should probably say that I am not as familiar with your videos as some of my fellows, and, therefore, I am making these comments with a rather limited exposure to your content. If my statements/comments should be rendered more or less inadequate-irrelevant by a further study of your channel’s content, please accept my sincere apologies.) - Finally, and as a general comment to such discussions, one must acknowledge that the level of scrutiny to which the texts of the Bible have been subject is unparalleled for any other work of history, ancient or modern. Moreover, this scrutiny is applied in such a way that the textual witness is considered guilty, as it were, until proven innocent. Furthermore, this ‘proof’ can only be the bringing to bear of some confirmation of whatever the historian du jour has determined is that special criterion without which he or she will not acknowledge someone/something’s historicity. So many have been taught to distrust the Bible… How about distrusting the ones who purvey, sell, and institutionalize (whilst charging tuition) distrust of the Bible? How about this: if the Bible was just something that people used in order to get power over other people, why aren’t those who purvey and sell distrust of the Bible also ones who are trying to get power over other people?… Have they not exerted their influence greatly in order to persuade people not to believe the Bible?… Is this not an exertion of power, which could be reasonably interpreted as a type of oppression? It is, I claim, high time to be more skeptical of our skepticism. ((A note to other readers: Beware, careful reader, that we all come to the table with a worldview. If you do not know that you have one, you are the worse off for it. More often than not, your opinions are somewhat the repackaging of teachings that have come from an old, dead philosopher. Make sure you choose that philosopher wisely.)) - After so many years of scrutiny, so many evidences have been, are, and will continue to be found in favor of the reliability of the Biblical texts (a reliability that has been often mocked up until and including the time at which contradictory evidence has been found in favor of the text - see the historical community’s reception histories of the Gospel of John, and Luke-Acts for relevant instances). At some point, the conversation must reasonably shift to one of a general acceptance of the reliability of the Biblical text rather than a commitment to disproving it, of marshaling all one’s efforts to discount it until it has been somehow contrariwise proven beyond a reasonable doubt. To wit, should the same standard that has been applied to the Biblical text be applied to any other historical document - especially those of the ancient world - we would be left with the result that almost nothing should be known about the ancient world, except for that which has been dug up in the dirt (more on this below). This kind of hyper skepticism, which is almost entirely directed at the Bible, would eviscerate much of our knowledge of ancient history, knowledge which many historians do not even think to question, at least not in the same kinds of ways. And what of archaeology as the final arbiter of truth with reference to historical claims made in the Biblical text or any other text for that matter? This opens up a tremendous can of worms, because, after all, who are we to say that those things which have been found in the dirt are reliable bearers of truth?? Why, someone can make a statue of a total lie, bury it in the dirt, and by the criterion of justification by archaeological discovery, those who dig it up, will think it true. They will, furthermore, thinking it true, then go on to judge all other things by its fabricated “truth.” A healthy evaluation of our epistemology vis-à-vis historical judgments is, indeed, in order. - For a fascinating study of history, I recommend the magnum opus of historian Gary Habermas on the resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth. These tomes, unparalleled in scope and in knowledge of the surrounding world in which the pertinent Biblical texts were written, are invaluable when investigating the historicity of the claim made by the New Testament authors that Jesus of Nazareth did, in fact, rise from the dead. After one has made this investigation, allow me to suggest the following: if Jesus of Nazareth did, indeed, rise from the dead by his own power, then he is who he says he is, and if He is who He says He is… well, then that changes everything,,,everywhere… including both the philosophy and epistemology, which will go on to determine the methodological approach of the whole enterprise of historical scholarship…. including charts that are made on the assumption that said scholarship is unquestionably reliable… and videos that are to be accordingly produced and distributed on UA-cam. - - With sincerity, Noah
In some cases they probably wrote what the thought was non-fiction, but had limited (or very limited) access to historical records. If everyone though your entire life has told you god spoke to your ancestors in a load voice when they were camped by a mountain you would probably believe it and report it. Then if your parents told you how their parents told them that their city was destroyed and they were carried off you would also believe that. If you then reported the history of your people you might write both as fact, including all details available to you.
It’s important to mention that the tel dan stele isn’t the only evidence of the existence of king David. The Mese stele also mentions a warrior from the house of David . Plus the Shoshonq mentions a place In Canaan called “Ramat David” , and furthermore there are various ruins especially in Jerusalem that support the biblical narrative around king David . And one more fun fact is that there is a confirmed character from the time of Moses which is bilam bar be’or which we found a scripture that talks about him in the Deir alla site in jordan
This is true. I don’t know why he didn’t count the Tel Dan stele as a check for David. True, it’s written 129 years later from his death. But that’s around the same timeframe as the earliest non-Buddhist source on Buddha, and nobody denies his existence. And there is no logical scenario here where Jehoram of Judah and his son Ahaziah of Judah are designated by a foreign ruler as descendants of David from only less than a century ago and David somehow is ‘legendary’. That’s the timeframe between 1895 and now.
There's a video by Bible Project that also talks about how the history in the Old Testament was written more like moral lessons taught using historical figures. It reminds me of the George Washington and the cherry tree story everyone gets told in early elementary school 😃
Gorgeous! I never came across such clear and well based overview about the historicity of biblical persons! I'm not a believer at all, but this is important and highly interesting, though.
I'm actually surprised that you, as a self proclaimed non-believer (if I remember correctly from your video about the biblical chart) spoke about this topic. I commend you for being that brave. I disagree with some of your early comments in the video, but its rare for non believers to admit ANY historical evidence of the Bible. Thank you for having the courage. Take care.
I'm only a non-believer if by "believer" you either mean a Christian or anyone who believes that Genesis & Exodus should be taken literally. I'm Jewish and I believe in God.
@@UsefulCharts Ok, gotcha. I wasn't sure I was remembering correctly, so I didn't want to misinterpret your stance. Thank you for the clarification. Take care!
What no ' non believers don't have the courage to admit that the bible has ' some ' truth in it ' . Yeah I wouldn't be surprised to know you don't know that many non believers and take that old atheist stereotypes. Anyway sorry to break it to you. The bible still has a LOT of historical and scientific blunders. The discussed topics in the video doesn't save the bible from the deep hole that it is in
Yes! Volume 2 on New Testament figures! I love your vids and how they are visually laid out in charts!! It’s crazy how all these valuable artifacts from these cultures are in other museums in countries across the globe… I’m sure there are reasons for this like the effort taken to undertake the task of discovering them, from said countries…. But nevertheless something to think about…
It’s amazing, simply AMAZING, the history jotted down by all the authors of the Old Testament. The fact that they could get so much right when skeptics people just assume them to be unintelligent, superstitious goat herders blows my mind. It shows the importance of the writers to get things correct back in times where it was likely more important to be correct about what you say and record as info was so much more likely to become lost.
Well, it's not necessarily more important to be right, but writing history is always politically important. It can be used to justify political claims to a throne or to territory.
Don't know if you'll ever see this comment, but there is at least one Middle Bronze Age figure mentioned in the book of Joshua (11:10) which I'm aware of which seems to appear in the archeological record. In Joshua, the hebrews destroyed the city of Hazor and put to death Jabin (king of Hazor). At Tell el-Kedah, which is the site identified with Hazor, a tablet discovered at the destroyed Bronze Age city (Tablet A2/3423/92/17-23086) is addressed to Ibin-[Addu]. Transliteration of "Ibin" to Hebrew would be "Yabin", indicating that "Jabin" (in English) was indeed at Hazor, possibly its last king. Interesting stuff.
You forgot a couple: - Marduk-apla-iddina II, king of Babylon, who is mentioned in the Bible as Merodech-Baladan - Tattenai, a Persian governor - Sanballat, a Samarian leader - Nebo-Sarsekim, Chief Eunuch of Babylon - Adrammalech, son and murderer of Shalmaneser V - Mesha, king of Moab who wrote the Mesha Stele - Nebuzaradan, chief cook of Babylon
1:54 Note for some people that terms bronze age and iron age are not names for definitive periods of time, rather it varies regionally. Here in North where I live, bronze age is around 1500 BCE - 500 CE and iron age 6th century CE - 12th century CE, and after that, starts the medieval times, where as in most of Europe, it would be 400 or 500.
A source from within 130 years of David’s lifetime is golden. We don’t have sources that close to almost any sources that ancient so that’s as definitive proof of Davis as we could possibly hope for By contrast we don’t have sources that close to Homer, Plato, Hannibal, or Socrates yet no one questions if they were real. People jsut have this “I need 100% proof or I won’t believe it” standard with the Bible which is just odd
As an agnostic person I am not really one to doubt the faith others might have in the Bible, but I think this is fucking awesome! So cool to see stuff from 3000+ years ago and how it wraps into the things present-day theologians constantly discuss. While some parts may be just parables and metaphors, it is still cool to see how those things have been morphed by their time period. Keep up the amazing content!!!!
There are many interesting tid bits as well. For instance, Jacob is said to have been embalmed when he died in Egypt. It says that they embalmed him for 40 days and then mourned him for 70. What we now know is that this is the Egyptian mummification procedure. The embalming takes 30-40 days and then they had an internment period of 70 days.
NT version for sure. I’m intrigued by the Greek dark ages. I wonder what sort of cataclysm would cause such a thing and how any history prior to it was basically lost.
Please do the proven people in History of the New Testament! I thoroughly enjoyed and am grateful to God for what He has shown you in your studies and your humility and willingness to share!!! May God bless you and continue to give you insight in His Word!!!
Here is a list, probably incomplete, that I made of all the people in the Bible that have support in the historical record. It includes both OT and NT figures: Adammelech Prince of Assyria, Ahab king of Israel, Ahaz king of Judah, Ananias son of Nedebaios high priest of Israel, Antonius Felix procurator of Judea, Apollos early evangelist, Aretas IV Philopatris king of the Nabateans, Artaxerxes I king of Persia, Augustus Caesar emperor of Rome, Azariah king of Judah, Azzur father of Hananiah false prophet, Baalis king of the Ammonites, Belshazzar co-regent of Babylon, Ben-Hadad king of Aram Damascus, Berenice Herodian princess, Caiaphas high priest of Israel, Claudius Caesar emperor of Rome, Cyrus king of Persia, David king of Judah, Darius king of Persia, Drusilla Herodian princess, Esarhaddon king of Syra, Evil Merodach king of Babylon, Gallio Proconsul of Achaea, Gamaliel the Elder Rabbi of the Sanhedrin, Gedaliah Offical during Zedekiah's reign, Gedaliah the governor, Gemariah offical during Jehoiakim's reign, Geshem, Gideon/Jerubbaal judge, Great and noble Osnapper king of Assyria, Hananiah false prophet, Hazael king of Aram Damascus, Herodias herodian princess, Herod Agrippa I king of Judea, Herod Agrippa II king of judea, Herod Antipas tetrarch of Galilee and Perea, Herod Archelaus Ethnarch of Judea Samaria and Edom, Herod the Great king of Judea, Hezekiah king of Judah, Hezir father of a priestly division, Hikiah high priest during Josiah's reign, Hophra/Apries pharaoh of Egypt, Hoshea king of israel, Jakim father of a priestly division, James the brother of Jesus bishop of Jeruslaem, Jaazaniah kings minister, Jehoash king of Israel, Jehoiachin king of Israel, Jehu king of Israel, Jehucal(Jucal) Offical during Zedekiah's reign, Jeroboam II king of Israel, Jesus, Johanan high priest of Israel, Jotham king of Judah, Judas of Galilee Insurrectionist, Jude brother of James, Manasseh king of judah, Matthew the apostle tax collector, Maaziah father of a priestly division, Menahem king of Israel, Mesha king of Moab, Merodach-Baladan king of Babylon, Mordecai Hebrew offical in Persia, Nathan-Melech offical in King Josiahs rein, Nebuchadnezzar II king of Babylon, Nebuzaradan Babylonian official, Nebo-Sarsekim chief Eunuch of Babylon, Necho II Pharaoh of Egypt, Nergal-Sharezer(Nergal-sar-ezer) officer of Nebuchadnzzar II, Omri king of Israel, Pashhur father of Gedaliah the official, Paul apostle, Pekah king of Israel, Peter/Simon apostle, Philip the apostle, Philip the Tetrarch of Iturea and tarchonitis, Pontius Pilate prefect of Judea, Porcius Festus govenor of Judea, Quirinius Governor of Syria, Rezin king of Aram Damascus, Salome Herodian princess, Sanballat governor of Samaria, Sargon II king of Assyria, Sennacherib king of Assyria, Shalmaneser V king of Assyria, Shaphan Scribe during Josiah's reign, Shebna Steward of the royal household, Shelemiah father of Jehucal the official, Shishak Pharaoh of Egypt, So Pharaoh Osorkon IV, Taharq Pharaoh of Egypt king of Kush, Tttenai governor of Eber-Nari, Tiberia Caesar emperor of Rome, Tiglath-Pileser III king of Assyria, Thomas the apostle, Xerxes I king of Persia.
I'm not particularly religious, never have been, and I'm quite pleased about that. But I have read the Bible and I have often thought of it as a vastly underused historical resource. This video is very useful because it explains why the later Old Testament is so much more accurate than the earlier Old Testament. Trouble is, too many people do just dismiss it as a work of fiction. Ignore the religious aspects of it (remember it wasn't written as a religious text, just as a history of the Jewish people) and then re-examine it. There's a lot of verifiable historical accuracy in it and a lot more that is probably accurate, but that we can't prove.
The New Testament episode is now available: ua-cam.com/video/Caeg94Qyq30/v-deo.html
Buy the poster: usefulcharts.com/products/biblical-family-tree
Hey Matt
It is said the Abraham is the Father of Nations.
Nations like Israel, Edom , Midianites etc.
Can you make a chart that explores such nations that are from Abraham in relation to history ofcourse.
Your comment of "you cannot say it's fiction" ... because there are some real characters, is way off base.
I presume Disney classics, such as: Peter Pan, Pocahontas, Mulan, Princess and the Frog and several others I could name should not be considered fiction, because they all take place - fully or in part - in real places (ie: Peter Pan starts out in London) and have at least 1 character that was a real person in history ... even if never seen, but only mentioned. (ie: if a character mentions Queen Mary, they are referencing a real historical person).
Therefore, if there is a person or a place found in history - in any work of fiction, the entire story cannot be considered fiction... Got it. I guess Oliver Twist, The Count of Monte Cristo and the Three Musketeers are not fiction either.
My mind just flashed to an episode of Star Trek, where Kirk and Spock met Abraham Lincoln. It's good to know Star Trek is real.
OMG... I almost forgot... SANTA CLAUS IS REAL! He's based on a real historical person, Nicholas of Bari. Also known as Nicholas of Myra. Venerated by the Catholic Church in the 4th century. According to the Santa stories, he never ages. So... given he was real - and therefore cannot be fiction - St. Nick is almost 1,800 years-old and still alive!
This leads me to another question I haven't thought about since I was 7 y/o... How does Santa get to all those houses in one night?
Please spare me the non-fiction nonsense. There are literally hundreds of thousands of written works of fiction which include real people and real places. It still does not make the story - or fairy tale - true.
@@Firecat719 You fail to mention that the bible is technically a form of historical record taken by many people over time. Not far from the Encyclopedia or other recountings of history. If a scientist or historian references star trek does that make the historian’s report false? Furthermore just because you did not see it doesn’t mean it didn’t happen. That would be a personal incredulity fallacy where in because YOU didn’t experience it, it is not true. By that logic all of history could be a fluke. Just because you never saw Abraham Lincoln doesn’t mean he didn’t exist.
@@arkonwolves7192 In the same light, as a child, I have read books about Santa Claus. As with the Bible, there were many good moral lessons and many historically accurate facts. As a child, I believed fiction and fairy takes were real. Santa was real and so was God.
But I grew up and discovered the Bible and other books of fiction had many true events depicted inside their pages. As with the movie, "Forest Gump," the addition of real people and events does not make the fairy tale true. In fact, when it comes to Santa, there is more proof he exists then any fictional Bible character.
As for Abe... there were people who lived at the time. We have things he wrote and things written bout him, from the time he lived. We have pictures and paintings of him, from the time he was alive. As for Jesus, we have ZERO EVIDENCE he ever existed. We have some writings that appeared almost 50 years AFTER the CruciFICTION. PLUS... we have 2nd and 3rd century Christian sects that were more divided then a Moron and a Catholic is today!
Consider just the writings of Paul... Why is 1 & 2 Timothy in the Bible? Paul didnt write those... They showed up long after Paul would have died. Meanwhile, why is the "Acts of Paul," absent from the Bible? It was bound with the other 7 letters of Paul, in the same hand.
But YOUR belief system is the right one? Prove to me Santa does not exist. Tell NORAD to stop tracking his annual flight. There's no, "Jesus watch" is there? every time some religious nutbag gives a date of the 2nd coming, the day comes and goes and nothing happens. This has been claimed - by various Christians - over 400 times! Not once has it ever been true.
Turn to Gen 6:6 .. God regretted making mankind. How the hell can an ALL-KNWING god possibly have regrets? Does the Bible suggest he didn't see that whole flood thing coming? I guess not, because that inept sadistic moron also didn't seem to know his, "kill them all by global swimming pool," idea wouldn't work."
This is just ONE of several hundreds of examples I could give.
Next time you want to come after an Atheist, you better know your Bible well. Any Atheist will tell you, "The fastest way to become and Atheist is to actually read the Bible."
@@Firecat719 Hmm no recordings of Jesus huh? How about Pilate’s address of his death according to Tacitus? How about the over 500 eye witnesses of the resurrection? As for your cruciFICTION it’s crucifixion anyway and I never explicitly said Santa doesn’t exist did I? I know what I know and don’t what I don’t simply because I view something one way doesn’t mean it’s objectively true. I believe what is written regarding history is true as any other document for all we know Abe could have never existed if we refused to believe the countless evidence on the contrary. As for the how can an ALL-KNWING God possibly have regrets. In the garden he made the humans in his likeness and thus gave them wills of their own allowing them to choose there own path in which they chose to reject God and go there own ways. I also never gave a date for his second coming so that was extremely out of pocket sir. But to answer that very common problem Jesus even said we would never know when it would be only to look to the sky and stay vigilant. As for Mormonism (what I imagine you meant by moron.) it is a ‘sect’ of ‘christianity’ that is very controversial and I personally don’t agree with it’s interpretations and Catholicism is a very tainted and corrupt form of ‘christianity’ I personally believe draws closer to the occult by the minute. I also don’t know why the Acts of Paul were not included in the bible as I don’t know why the countless other books in the scrolls were not. The Bible is not the full picture. Think of it like an instruction manual for a grill. It provides the necessary knowledge to put the thing together but often lacks the tools and some ‘pro-tips’ it also lacks the completed project. Much like history, Christianity is still being written the Bible doesn’t really have a happily ever after per-say I like to hear your complaints and your reasons for believing them true as it only gives me more insight. If we do not step out of our metaphorical caves some times we get too comfortable with the shadows on the wall. Next question please.
People who insist on believing biblical literalism are often shocked to learn how much the Bible gets wrong, historically. Meanwhile, people who reject biblical literalism are often shocked to find how much the Bible gets right, historically.
Well put.
This is great comment lmao cuz it's so true hahaha
I'm not religious, but since I learned about Cyrus The Great and the human rights declaratrion cuneiform cylinder, I started to investigate more about biblical facts that have been proven.
modern ideas of 'history' are too tied up in reality to understand that ancient people's ideas of writing down history was more about allegory and writing stories about 'where you came from' to teach men how to live righteously and impart lessons, this is true of both religious text and 'academically' historical text, Plato most likely never belived Atlantis existed in actuality but used it as a lesson against hubris, just like how rabbis debate the meaning behind biblical stories and interpret them to derive their laws, as was intended.
@@saia100well stated. I learned this years ago. Trying to disprove the bible and scholastically to make sure certain events are falsifiable
It's amazing how the verification of so many Iron age biblical characters is based on only one item. It shows that it is REALLY hard to get your name known outside of your timeline during this period.
There is a good bit of luck involved. Most things like these artifacts don't last for thousands of years.
Fun Fact: We only have one or two pieces of physical evidence for crucifixions actually having occurred. As someone below mentioned; if you weren't elite you weren't making it into the historical record. For this reason the lack of Bronze Age evidence doesn't really bother me as most of the people mentioned were not what we would think of as 'elite', weren't named specifically, or could very well have been erased in the chaos of the Bronze Age Collapse.
I agree. But I also believe lots of ancient people were way more literate than we give them credit for. Especially those in cities. And surely if not literate in an alphabetical type of way, symbols ofc that we can't decipher may be just primitive names. I always imagine some cave art says “Jimmy and Sally were here“. ❤
Also displays the fact that likely a countless number of those unconfirmed Bronze Age stories are unconfirmed simply because the sources have been destroyed. People love to pretend that a lack of sources means that something didn't happen while ignorantly forgetting that the vast majority of history is plagued by a lack of sources and many many accounts of confirmed events could have been dismissed as fiction if for an unfortunate turn of fate ending in the destruction of one singular source.
Theyre not characters.
It’s important to note that although currently we don’t have archaeological proof the others existed, it does not necessarily mean that they did not exist
I agree. I may have interpreted this wrong (LORD forgive me if so), but GOD made mankind on the 6th day and they were to be fruitful and multiply. Then Adam was created and placed in the garden to the East. I thought (think) there were people here, but the foundation of the Kingdom of GOD started with Adam and Eve.
josiah is the best example of this, i think
@@cayoticcupcakeHe made mankind on the 6th day then rested on the 7th. When did He make Adam? Genesis makes it seem like God planted the garden the day after the 7th and He breathed life to form Adam or was it done all on the 6th day?
@cayoticcupcake Adam was created on the 6th day. Genesis 1 gives us a break down of the days. Genesis 2 however goes into more detail. Plus the Bible tells us in Romans 5:12, "Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned:" Sin passed from Adam through his offspring. If there was another line of humans separate from Adam they would not have been affected by his sin. They would not have fallen. Eve fell because she also sinned. We also have DNA, both secular scientists and Christian scientists both agree that all humans share. We have one human race and not two or more. In Genesis 2:18 God said that Adam was alone. Then in Genesis 2:19 we see God creating every beast of the field? How can this be since God had already created them on day 6? It is because Genesis 2 is giving us more details about the six days of creation.
@@atimetokeep1136 After re-reading the passages, I totally understand what you are saying. I suppose the disconnect is when Cain was sent to the land of Nod, east of the garden, and bore Enoch; and built the city. It makes it sound like there are others there when Cain went to Nod.
The quantity of artifacts stored in the British Museum is astonishing
More precisely, the quantity of artifacts looted and stolen from sovereign nations and improperly held by the British Museum is an astonishing reminder of the arrogance of British imperialism.
I hate that too but to play devils advocate if they were in location where there is homeland conflict then the museums could be caught in the crossfire
@@HerveyShmervyI agree, but as countries stabilize they should be able to get some stuff back. Maybe not every artifact, but at least the culturally important stuff
I find it embarrassing. Between the Brits and the French we could build another Egypt.
@SkinnerNoah agree. Though lets be honest here, there will never be peace in the middle east.
As a history buff, i'd love a part 2 with the NT.
I second this request! ❤
All in favor?
Yep
It gets everything right in the NT
@@PolycarpSalavarrietayeah that was something I was actually very surprised about! The gospel of Luke and Acts is pretty spot on historically
I remember reading Herodotus describing the pyramids and how even in his time Egyptian priests knew little of their origins. And the books of Kings are a biblical eye opener for its importance as a historical document when compared with other sources from the time. Fascinating stuff.
Herodotus also described flying reptiles that could only have been some type of pterodactyl.
@@burnsmatkin9606
And Amazon women who cut off their breast to easier shoot an arrow, Scythians with 1 large foot and faces in their chests.
However unlike these farfetched descriptions he actually went to Eygpt and interviewed priests while he was there.
@@matthewmckever2312 Yet we know some "dinosaurs" existed well into the iron age and antiquity.
I've often wondered about what is presumed to be myth regarding the thunderbirds in First Nations oral histories. Two very large effigies are in WI near Madison.@@burnsmatkin9606
@@stgibbs86And into 1500's I think. Don't remember date. A farmer came upon a small one and killed it with a hoe.
This was actually super interesting, much of the archeology referenced I had no idea about. I’d definitely want to see a New Testament version too
Same here, but include the deuterocanonical (apocryphal) books please!
Matt is a Jew, I doubt you'll get a new testament version
@@kyle4338 I'm sure I've watched a video in which he makes references about himself not being particularly religious
@@kyle4338 He's done several charts regarding the New Testament. It may take a while, but it wouldn't surprise me at all if he did.
A NT version of this wouldn't be very interesting. Or it would be little more than a rehash of dozens of "was Jesus historical" arguments.
I don't believe there's any archeological evidence for anyone in the NT - other than setting background characters like Herod, maybe Pontius. Roman emperors if they're referred to.
There are a few fragments of textual evidence from near contemporary non-Christian sources, but even those are sparse and contested.
Matt has the single most polite form of clapback on UA-cam and I am here for it
Right!
I just went through the Bible recently and noticed what you described as well. That the beginning books are very general narratives written then later in Samuel-kings-minor prophets there's so much detail it becomes difficult to keep up. I am a Christian and this knowledge doesn't diminish my faith, in fact it strengthens it. I appreciate the work you did compiling all this info!
Yeah I am the same pretty much
That’s how I look at this information too!
IMO, the reason for the early OT being less descriptive is because it was written by Moses and most of the thing isn't that necessary and it was just to record like generally (like genealogy). For me, seeing like that, strength my faith as yk if it was fake or smth, anything will be so descriptive as some random people created but in like Genesis, it looks just like documentary books imo
If some parts of the bible are written down later by someone who didn't recently lived after the events taking place, usually things aren't that detailed. If I'm an eye witness of a terrible accident I can give more information than when someone on the news just sums up the facts about the accident. Also the goal of writing down something can differ. If I want to sell an product I write it different than when I give an honest opinion / review of a product. If the product existed 100 years ago but I never used it, I can only write something that someone else (like my grand parents narrative or other sources) tell about the product.
The reason why the five books of Moses seem to be missing info is because they are like the keynotes in a professor's lecture. The oral law is where everything is laid out.
The fact that David was mentioned so early already speaks volumes about how the very earliest Judaeans viewed themselves even if it can't confirm the concrete David and I think that connects us to these iron age people in such a beautiful way
to deny David existed is to deny Jesus Christ existed as Jesus Christ is in the Davanic line .
Also , 1 Chron. gives very clear evidence David existed
1) his place of birth , , the mention of the names past relatives and immediate family members
2) specific places he lived and exploits
3) the listing of his wives - who they were and where they were from and how many children and the names of his children by them
fictional people , do not have that kind of information or detailed genealogies
There was no kingdom in the presumed time of David
@@erastvandoren that does not change the fact that so early people told each other about him
@@Kaspar502 He might have been some kind of local leader, but certainly not a great king.
@@erastvandoren “great kingdom” doesn’t have to be something grand in physical statue. Sorry If that doesn’t make since. 😅
Could not possibly get bored by this biblic series, I'm so in love with your job, keep it up
atheist ?
The Bronze Age charcters versus Iron Age characters blew my mind . What a good book list to really start to understand the Bible in such a scholarly way .
I think it’s important to point out that the Bronze Age, Iron Age and classical antiquity are useful categories for describing the history of the Middle East as far as Iran, the Mediterranean world, Northern Europe and North Africa, but aren’t all that useful when discussing anywhere else in the world. For example India, China and sub Saharan Africa all developed these tools on very different timescales.
Good thing the bible wasn't written in China or sub-saharan Africa then
Fair
While that is a good point I do think its interesting how well those general landmarks (i.e. Around 1000BCE and around 500BCE) map onto the history of india and China as well. For example, in india around 600/500 BCE was when the sramana movement got going along with the rise of the Mahajanapadas. Meanwhile in China around 1000BCE was when the Zhou replaced the Shang and around 500 to 200 BCE was the warring states period and Iron gained its ascendancy. It should also be pointed out that the terms bronze age and iron age are misleading as some iron working existed even before the rise of the "iron age" and bronze continued to be prized even during the iron age.
@@delwynjones6408 Not relevant to your larger point, but Bronze Age and Iron Age does not mean that these materials were excusively in use in the respective periods or were not used before that. It exclusively refers to the majority of tools with cutting edges specifically being made out of bronze or iron (or stone). Sorry for being pedantic, but this is a very common misconception ...
Well even though not exactly work around 1200 seem to be when the last not direct empire of China collapsed and started the waring state period that lasted millennia while, Buddha lived around 500BC so not 100% accurate but there are stuff that come close
This was so well done Matt! I love seeing things in clear presentations like this. I do think it's probably fair to assume much, if not all, of these Bronze age characters are completely lost to history. They could be fiction or just mythologized figures lost to historical record.
I find so many internet skeptics who just axe-grind, wanting everything in the Bible to be fiction. I love seeing your sober take.
👆Check out this channel people. Lots of great interviews with some of the best religious scholars out there.
I'm an atheist, and I personally do have an axe to grind against the Catholic church (Don't ask, use your imagination), but it would be foolish to say that EVERYTHING in the bible is fiction. Now SOME parts there are either whole fictional, the result of so much embellishment that the real facts behind them are fiction, or just the result of scribal errors that then got polished in until they became almost indistinguishable from the rest of the text.
@@UsefulCharts What is your opinion on the Deir Alla inscription and it's inscription which might contain a reference to Balaam, the Moabite prophet from Numbers?
You are one of the people who say its fiction ; a recurring title in your videos is “LUKE/ACTS IS FICTION NOT HISTORY” 😂😂
You need to repent while you still have time. You make all these videos trying to disprove the bible and God yet if God isnt real and the bible is fake why do you waste so much time talking about him and his word?
I'm not even religious but this whole history regarding the bible interests me a lot
same
for me its the same allure as arthurian legend stuff or the viking sagas, history behind the magical
I'm an atheist and I recommend reading all the major religious books not just the Bible.
@@charlespartrick528 Most are mythological and primitive dogma, unlike the keen knowledge and accurate historical narratives of the Old Testament. It is also so honest that it closely relates serious faults of personages such as David, yet he was its major heroic figure.
@@alwilson3204 Fiction and fun to read. The problem is so many people take the Bible as fact.
I think it's important to point out that, yes, while there is no archaeological record of (for example) the Israelite rulers prior to Ahab, including the "big three" of the Bible - Saul, David, and Solomon - there aren't that many records *period* which have survived (and been discovered) from back then, much less from the bronze age (for important Biblical characters like Abraham, Jacob, and Moses.) So it's not like those earlier Biblical characters are necessarily mythical - they just haven't been proven by the archaeological record. [Possibly "yet", but more likely won't ever be.]
Its important to point out that the reason there "Isn't many records from that period that have survived" is because it was dead flat in the middle of the Great Bronze Age collapse and its subsequent rebuilding period, where in no large civilizations outside Egypt from prior to the event, survived. Israel and Judah had no empires magically hidden during this time. Their population centers were tribal villages, the cultural record is clear you couldn't even distinguish the later self identifying Israelite population from the rest of the Canaanite population around them at this point of time, because they were one population.
And adding onto what Michael said, this is probably the biggest bit of evidence we have for the fact that Saul, David, and Solomon were, at the very least, figures of tall tales and legends. While yeah, there was no great unified Israelite kingdom out there that anyone's aware of, there's too much noise about them for them to have just sprung up out of nowhere. Which leads me personally to believe they were local petty kings before the Kingdom of Israel and Kingdom of Judah arose, and that tales of their exploits were greatly exaggerated.
I mean, look at us 21st Century folk. There are a lot of people that have mythologized George Washington or Abraham Lincoln, to the point where you just cannot convince some people that Washington almost certainly never chopped down a cherry tree and said "I cannot tell a lie." These tales for Sl/Dv/Slm probably got more and more exaggerated each time, until someone finally wrote them down. Saul may have been a modest conqueror who got some cities on his side, David may have been a tactically-gifted and religiously-devout warlord who was consistently able to keep the peace and fight off the Philistines and other tribes around them, and Solomon may have been a decently foresighted ruler who used David's amassed wealth to do some good things and had himself a few women on the side, but now you read the Bible and Saul was the one man everyone in Israel rallied behind, David was the greatest God-Follower 5evar who never lost a battle and won time and again despite the odds, and Solomon was the wisest and richest man who ever lived and had a thousand women at his beck and call.
Note that I fell that Mat should have put a question mark on one late Broze Age figure, Aaron, since those that say they are his Patrilineal descendants overwhelmingly show a genetic marker of a common patrilineal ancestor dated to the when Aaron would have lived. Genetics is no proof of name, so that's why I say a question mark.
Well, yet the Egyptian and Fertile Crescent records do record their histories during the bronze and iron ages. Could it be that the Israelite people were a backwater? Perhaps.
Very true. I’ll add by saying even Jesus from the classical age cannot be said to have been Real or Fake. We have a Roman Record talking about a Jesus of Nazareth being crucified but the only other I guess documentations are from word of mouth and the Bible itself. But like many things we cannot just take word of mouth or the bible as accurate.
It’s definitely possible this Jesus of Nazareth was the som of God and the Virgin Mary but we have yet to found any evidence to help support the claim
Man... I LOVE YOU!
Literally! I like the fact that you're so objective. Telling us what exactly is, and not what we would want to hear! Like when you put a disclaimer on David's historicity.
Thanks a lot. And I'll definitely look forward to a similar video about the new testament!
Amazing stuff! I've watched several of these videos and I love each one of them! My 12-year-old niece who goes to a Christian school learns this stuff in her history class, yet it's amazing how it is basically scarce knowledge in the world we live in today. Looking forward to your videos in the future!
Yes, a New Testament version would be great.
It's amazing how much history we've lost even after we started writing things down.
Because people lie and try to rule the world
It's not that it is lost. It's that it isn't taught!
Look at what you know about your own family. Do you know where or when your great-grand parents were born?
It's in the Bible, that's why the further you go back the more people understood just how accurate these parts of the Bible were and respected it as an authority on certain parts of history. Only recently have the people become so disconnected, uneducated and pliable that they can be lied to by so called historians and made to give no credit whatsoever to the books within the Bible.
Some of these comments are really annoying. A lot of people misrepresenting different sides of an argument that isn't even being made here. Great video!
It's expected. We live in the middle of the historical moment where there's a backlash to about 1500 years of Christian evangelizing and the love affair with political power that the church had ever since Justinian and Constantine.
So not only do you get the dogmatism of the devout, but also the frustration of large numbers of people who are quite simply fed up with the church.
@RobespierreThePoof You're absolutely right imo. The dominance of Christianity makes a lot of people hostile to it, so they instantly want to write off any part of it they can. I've had to stop myself from doing the same thing from time to time lol.
@@yoshigottagun It has taken me about thirty years to get to the point where I can finally be objective about religions with problematic histories or practices. I would not have done well as a religious studies student at university! The turning point for me was accepting that we are not a rational species and that religions can be interesting examples of the myriad bizarre ways human beings have tried to understand their place in the universel. Once you adopt that perspective, you can find both humor and wonder in it all.
Part 2 please Matt and thanks for this awesome video!
I'm not Christian or Jewish, but the Bible is a very valuable historical document, even if most of it isn't actual history. It may have embellishments and even fabrications, but there's also a lot of verified history in it, and it wouldn't surpise me if we find more evidence in the future for people like David or Solomon.
On top of the history held within, the Bible is also useful for understanding the mindsets of the people who were around when it was first written, and dismissing it as pointless or mere fiction is a great disservice to the historical community
The purpose of the Bible is religion, not history. There is more historical error in it than fact.
Did anyone notice that the naysayer’s comments consisted of a single, subjective sentence, with no backup to support their claim?
It says a lot about their lack of critical thinking, and there inability to put forward a reasoned argument. 🤦🏻♀️
UA-cam is probably the only place they get to express their opinions without being shouted down like they would be at home
@@CharlotteIssyvoo to an extent, but modern Christianity and Judaism are very diverse groups, and not all of them actually follow the bible directly. Many see it as a baseline for their beliefs and not the end all be all, others see it as pure metaphor. It's more useful for understanding the people of the time. For example, the KJV can give insight into Renaissance Christianity, while the dead sea scrolls can educate us about second temple Judaism
@@Wi-Fi-El I'd say none of them follow the bible directly. Especially those who most claim to.
They all interpret it through modern lenses.
@@AlphaGeekgirl But they're so cool and edgy and original!
When I was in Iran, I was told that Daniel and Esther had tombs. I never saw them, but I rented a room from an elderly Jewish family in Isfahan, Iran. The family had been there since the destruction of the temple.
Fascinating! That family's been there since Antiquity.
One of your very best videos, I think. I love how you are so careful to set things into clear context. It makes the information so powerful-that there’s no doubt exactly what you are discussing.
0:00 The Complete Family Tree of The Bible
0:17 "This is based on complete fiction"
0:33 "Well, here's the thing...."
1:13 37 Real People mentioned in The Bible, found in The Archaeological Record, outside The Bible.
*_Sponsored By_*
1:38 Dante Labs Genomes
3:11 Start of the video proper.
*The 3 Ages of Antiquity*
3:22 Bronze, Iron, Classical
3:47 Iron Age
3:58 Classical Antiquity
4:15 The Old Testament takes place during The Bronze and then The Iron Age.
*The Iron Age People are Archaeologically Recorded*
4:32 37 Bible Characters found in the archaeological record
5:24 Iron Age City Dwellers
*Some of The Major Civilizations of Antiquity*
5:54 Egyptians, Hittites, and Greeks
6:05 The Bronze Age Collapse, Around 1200.
6:20 Greek Dark Ages
*Old Testament people confirmed in the Archaeological Record*
7:56 Omri, King of Israel, Founder of Sumeria. ✅
8:54 Ahab and Jezebel ✅
9:25 Ben Hadad The II ✅ and his son, Hazael ✅
9:38 Jemhorah, son of Ahab ✅
11:09 King David
11:29 Jehu [There is a picture of him on a stone slab] ✅
12:09 Ben Hadad III ✅
*Assyrian Records*
12:22 Jenoash et. al. ✅
13:06 Assyrian King Tiglath- "pol" Pilesar II ✅
13:35 Assyrian King Sargon II✅
*More Israelites*
14:20 Hezekiah ✅
15:23 Isaiah The Prophet/Isaiah Navi
15:56 Manassah ✅
*The Egyptian Pharaohs* 17:30
17:43 The 5 Pharaohs
"Pharaoh"
18:05 Shawshank/Shishak✅
18:13 Osorkan IV✅
18:24 Necho II✅
*Babylonian Records*
18:35 Nebuchadnezzar, King of Babylon 👑✅
19:55 Belshazzar✅ The Crown Prince.
*Persian Records*
20:24 Cyrus The Great, The Achaemenid Persian King who conquered Babylon and let The Israelites return to Israel.
20:55 Cyrus Cylinder
*Greek Records*
21:30 Herodotus, The Father of History
I'm quite sure that Sumer was founded about 3,000 years before the time of Omri. I think you meant "Samaria".
This is a great time index!!! It looks like they removed the sponsored portion tho so the time stamps are a bit off now.
Thanks!
I truly appreciate the work and effort you put into creating these videos. I never find them to be preachy or pushing religion, but instead show clear historical timelines as described in the text.
As a Christian, I absolutely loved this. Thank you 😊
Check out all the blunders of the Brian
@@celestialsatheist1535 you need to mind your business just as I was minding mine.
@@audreya3127 you mean my business right. Because I was minding your business something that I have no business doing
You’re gonna get a bunch of people angry just by stating you’re religious. Sad world smh
@@Alexq79- so true! I said nothing wrong.
Hi Math, i'm from Brazil and i love your chanel. Thanks for sharing this things with us!
Thank you Matt for making history easily accessible.
Would love a part two for the new testament
Definately do a New Testament one! This was great!
This was really interesting. I would love to see a similar video of the New Testament
i knew people who thought jerusalem was a fake/mad up place from the bible. suffice to say they were shocked when i pointed to it on a map
I am a native Hebrew speaker, and can read all those Paleo-Hebrew records that you showed. (Although many of the letters are very blurry and difficult to read).
I'm teaching myself hebrew currently
@@czarbuscus1475
Good luck! Do you know other Semitic languages? It would be much easier to learn Hebrew like that (and vice-versa).
Awesome!! Would love to see a similar thing for the NT!!
"We found this ancient writing." -> "Awesome! So that's what happened!"
"We found this ancient writing. It's the bible." --> "I wonder if there's any evidence to support this?"
It's all about the dating. The oldest physical copy of Genesis dates to around the time of Jesus, a full 1200 years after the Bronze Age ended. Therefore, if we find words carved in stone that date to within the Bronze Age itself, then yes, historically speaking those words are a better first hand source about that period.
@@UsefulCharts there is always a good and a bad side of having things like this says if we have the original manuscript then people can mess with it, and also not having original manuscript allow for sceptics, honestly to say it is by faith, and it hard thing to believe for me to understand a world without God, since what? should I believe we all came from 1 cell bacteria then when I wash my hands I just enacted Genocide of what could be humans or something better? No thanks, you can stick to your aethist and I will cleave to the Lord.
Fascinating. Would like to see the follow up on the New Testament as well. Thanks for posting this!
Being a Jew gave me a lot of perspective on religious text cuz to me it feels more like the mythology of my people. As every myth there’s some truth within the myth.
I mean Matt probably has 3 different pov his former Cult member pov, his Academic pov, and his religious Judaic POV
@@abuhado-verbigraciaramirez8682 cult?
@@independentcomicsfan2867 he's commented on it in numerous videos and even has a vid solely dedicated to British Israelism(the name of said cult).
Myths by definition are not factual/based on true events.
As Matt says; if it's partly factual it's legend, if it's completely made up it's myth.
@inmyownlittlehell yes its offshoots are more extremist this cult since 2016 has since mellowed down and backed down in a lot of statements rather this ideology is called Armstrongism
No matter how many times Matt explains his religious charts, there are always those kind of comments. Your patience amazes me. I'd tell them all to take a long walk off a short pier! Great video, Matt!
Such a lovely video showcasing both actual history as well as how literary genres have evolved over time.
Thank you Matt Baker as always! You are enlightening and educational I enjoy 90% of what you put out. And I love all the Bible stuff.
I think all your charts are great! And this info is a fabulous addition. Thank you!
"Pics or it didn't happen" 😂😂 This is why i love this channel.
U sure the characters here didn’t just pay to get the verification checkmarks?
Haha. Best comment so far!
@UsefulCharts is this chart available?
Yes. Usefulcharts.com
😂
Hahaha 😂
When I have some down time. This is my go to.
I find this channel useful…
-when doing the dishes.
-making bread
-doing certain tasks at work, grading,setting pavers or deconstructing concrete forms etc.
-also, turning my brain off a little, before going to sleep.
Which I am trying to do right meow.
I normally love your videos and this is fascinating as usual, but the bit about the Bronze Age collapse could have been more accurate, I´m afraid (source: I´m an archaeologist specialising in the Bronze Age-Iron Age transition). So in case you are reading this, for future reference:
The Greek Dark Ages are considerably longer than 250 years, at least in most sources I have read. People disagree a bit where they are supposed to end, but they are usually assumed to cover the entire Early Iron Age (until 700 BCE at the latest) as well as the latest part of the Bronze Age (the 250 years you mentioned would be that time frame). Also, a lot of archaeologists avoid the term today, because it´s a bit disparaging and also, it was originally chosen to reflect the fact that we didn´t know much about that time. This is no longer the case, so the tendency seems to go towards using "Postpalatial Period" (for the Bronze Age part) and "Early Iron Age" instead.
I also assume that the volcano eruption you mentioned as a potential cause for the BA collapse is the Thera eruption? Because that was several centuries earlier and very likely not a factor (exactly how many is a difficult problem, but it´s at the very least 200 years and potentially up to 500). Likewise, the pandemic idea is usually based on Hittite sources about some sort of plague, but once again, this is about 120 years before the actual BA collapse. It was certainly a factor in what happened to the Hittite empire and their fall in turn likely had further destabilizing effects, but I wouldn´t call it a pandemic.
We do have ecidence for climate change around that time that could have lead to famine, and also for a potential earthquake storm in Greece. Migration also happened, but a lot of it may have been a consequence of whatever caused the collapse and not the cause of the collapse itself. War is a difficult topic - it´s attested, as far as I know, for the final destruction of Ugarit via letters send by the king, but it´s much more dubious for a lot of the Greek sites, for example, where - if anything - more of a revolution against the palatial elite seems to have taken place.
Also also I would be very careful with claiming that Iliad and Odyssey are reflecting Bronze Age stories exclusively. We assume that the oral tradition they are based on started in the Bronze Age, probably in the Postpalatial Period, i.e. after 1200 BCE, but a large part of both poems was formed during the Iron Age, so while there are Bronze Age reflections in there, they are fewer than people often assume.
I apologize for the essay, but this really stood out to me and I hope it will help for future videos!
any recommended readings to find out more about that time period?
I'm always amazed at how quickly archaeological and historical consensus can change. My Classical Anthropology course in college (around 2010) still presented the Greek Dark Ages as established fact and mostly focused on the Egyptian influences seen in Greek art at the time. Not being a professional classicist after graduation, I admit my knowledge of the period stops with what I was presented. Thank you for my internet rabbit hole for the next few weeks!
This is incredible information! I would love to learn more about this time period... Thank you for posting this!
Do you have sources which discuss recent discoveries, because I admit my knowledge on the topic is outdated
@@BrandonHensleyEMD I've taught undergraduate courses, though not in Classics, and you can generally assume that there is a lag between what is presented in u/g courses and the latest news from the knowledge front. This is partly inertia and time allocation (academics' careers are not dependent on their u/g courses, for the most part) and partly sensible: for a few years, the hot conversation will be "The Bronze Age Collapse: Yes or No? And if so, Why?" and it will be framed in terms of the consensus that existed before the conversation started, so you'll need to know a bit about that to understand it. I mean, if you're reading stuff that says "The Bronze Age Collapse is an illusion," it helps if you know what it was supposed to be. Also, the latest and greatest theories are not always right--I'm of an age when the most popular explanation for religion was magic mushrooms, and that didn't stand the test of time. All that said, it would also be good to have u/g courses of the form: "Current controversies in ", if the structures are flexible enough to allow that (they weren't at the place I worked).
I’m going to say something controversial, Dr. Baker. I know that so many people criticize you for either presenting the Bible as it is and others criticize you for presenting the state of the art in biblical studies. Many in the latter category have said you hate G-d or religion or whatever.
I can say that my belief in Judaism has been strengthened by videos like this. As someone with a K-12 orthodox Jewish education (thankfully with an incredibly strong emphasis on secular knowledge also), I wish someone would have taught me these things that I have learned from you. That we have archeological evidence for most the kings and most of what is said about them is more or less true (albeit exaggerated at times to a point). That King David was probably a real person etc.
Yes, you don’t take the Bible literally (and because I know science is true, I don’t wholly either), but that does not mean that your videos are anti religion. So I appreciate that.
I have to sign off for shabbat. Shabbat Shalom.
I echo this. Prior to diving into ordained ministry, I starter confronting some of these "info-hazards" that many faith-driven individuals are hesitant to address. What this has exposed is a challenge to my faith that actually strengthens what is there. When you can acknowledge the lengths and limits of what is known, you are left with those things still left unknown. Addressing that unknown is where we all have a journey to travel. Even though many centuries of church dogma has driven many Christians (specifically) to see "questioning" as a negative, I think it causes us to purify what it is we do and do not truly believe.
I am the alien 👽 who created you humans for my 7th grade science project. You really are advancing!!
I always wanted to be an archeologist and have a background in Humanities of Religion and Mythology.
Your charts are very informative and I really enjoy your videos.
Fact vs fiction has been a question forever. I find that more I study, research that some truth is a percent of verbal stories are of true origin.
Just my thought and thank you very much for your videos. Blessings.
Excellent as always. Thanks, Matt. Please part 2!
I absolutely love your work. Thank you for the photos of the archeological artifacts!
I'd love a NT version. I'd also be fascinated to see a timeline comparing events in the Levant with contemporary events in Greece, or Rome. I have never seen those threads all lined up next to each other, but would love to see. (eg, exodus was a contemporary of the Trojan War, I think? What was going on in Judah during the peleponesian war?)
That's harder to say because the 'exodus' as described can't really be pinned down to a specific date... different people place it at different times.
Kind of... It's useful to think of both the Trojan War and the Exodus/Conquest of Canaan as events of the Late Bronze Age Collapse. Neither one likely took place exactly as written, but the general outline of the events is probably correct (or at least there's no really useful reason to doubt it). In the case of the Exodus, you might have charismatic leaders like Moses and Aaron who lead a group or groups of semitic slaves out of Egypt during a period of environmental disasters (which seem to be one of the speculative causes of the Late Bronze Age Collapse). That group or groups of slaves spend time on the Sinai Peninsula as a nomadic culture where they mingle with and pick up customs, beliefs, and members from the surrounding groups like the Midianites. Then they migrated into Canaan right around the time of the collapse of the Canaanite city-states, whose refugees mingle with the new migrants and together they start building decentralized villages in the Judean hill country and develop into the Hebrew culture of the Iron Age.
@@babydemon90 Thutmose the 3rd, and Amenhotep the 2nd, fit the bill on most counts and can be pinned down pretty accurately.
Waiting for part two. This is too interesting a subject to leave us hanging. Great work.
I would love a part two for the New Testament. You explain things with such clarity!
New Testament video: ua-cam.com/video/Caeg94Qyq30/v-deo.html
Very interesting, would love to see a part 2!
I would LOVE a NT version of this! Archeological support has been a huge boon for Christian apologetics in the last 20-30 years!
Ah no it hasn’t and can’t possibly be.
I’m left assuming that you don’t actually know what Christian apologetics actually is.
can you share your thought process on how a list of kings and other royals of various iron age nations validates religious ideas in ANY way? Because to me it seems that you try to explain Harry Potter magic by pointing out that London and a few muggles really existed
You might really enjoy Dr. Titus Kennedy's talk titled The Archaeology of Jesus & the Gospels on YT.
As a staunch Catholic I loved this and the NT video. It really helps me deepen my faith.
You need to watch Jacob Prasch videos as he really knows the Bible.
@anthroimperzia3927it’s not hive mind to see inconsistency in the New Testament
Yes, I would like to see a similar video on the NT. Thanks!
I would absolutely love to see a video like this covering the New Testament! I was actually kind of bummed to see that it didn't. But hey, that just means potentially even more great content :)
Putting that timeline into Bronze Age, Iron Age, and Classic Period was really a clarifying moment for me. Thank you!
Thanks Matt! I, for one, would love to see a NT accounting of historical persons. I would not be surprised if most of them can be verified by either Greek or Roman sources, but I think it would be very interesting.
The vast majority of characters in the New Testament characters can't be verified from Greek and Roman sources. But that's because most of them are Jews or Christians who were not at all notable outside their respective communities (and sometimes not even then). If you're ignoring the Jewish sources (Josephus, the Talmud) and the Christian sources (the New Testament, the Church Fathers up until whatever date you start dismissing their accounts as legends) the people mentioned in your sources are going to almost exclusively be Roman officials (including Emperors) or members of the Herodian dynasty.
Herod, Pilate, Augustus, maybe some head priest, that's about it. The majority of characters in the NT are common people who would not be recorded. We know a lot about common people in Roman times, but that's often from calamities like Pompeii and Herculaneum, where the people and their belonging were frozen in time.
@@stephengray1344at least jesus, james, peter and paul has contemporary source outside bible. Mostly from tacitus and josephus. Most roman and Jew high priest character also has lot outside evidence, thanks to herod love to plaster his name everywhere.
@@absentmindedshirokuma8539 James does, fairly solidly, though only in Josephus, I believe, so that wouldn't count as "Greek or Roman sources". Josephus also mentions John the Baptist and that's considered authentic.
His references to Jesus are more contested, but most scholars do think they're at least partly authentic.
They're not really contemporary though and most like just trace to what Christians were saying.
I'm not aware of any contemporary references to Peter or Paul outside of Biblical sources - or even anything at all outside of Christian sources.
@@jeffmacdonald9863 josephus was THE Roman advisors for judea province. He is as roman as you can get from frontiers province. As for peter historicity, IIRC, some jewish tradition has mentioned peter. I cound john the baptist as high priest class since traditionally, his family was part of them.
This was fantastic. Please do a New Testament version. Thanks!
I’ve been binging your videos for the last two hours. Thank you for sharing!!!
This is wonderful, thanks! And yes, I would love to see a similar charting of New Testament folks. Cheers!
Thank you so much for drawing out the Bronze Age, Iron Age, and Classical Age. I always knew the terms, but I did not know how they fit against the Bible's timeline.
Please continue on with the NT Bible characters confirmed in archeology!
First, let me say a hearty “thank you” for making these helpful videos. I am familiar with such content creation, and I have an idea of what goes into it. From this, I believe that I can also say that your dedication to creating this content, at least in some way, must indicate your desire to do something good for your fellow man. This is, in my opinion, quite commendable. I and others I know have benefited from your work. Therefore, I would like to sincerely express my gratitude to you. With that, I want to make it clear that I am not being ‘critical’, as it were, although I will offer what I believe is some constructive criticism - a bit haphazardly expressed (you’ll forgive me for this, I trust) - in what follows hence.
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A correct terminology to be used with reference to the characters addressed in these videos should reflect that they (i.e. the characters) have been [also] witnessed by another source (e.g. the findings of archaeology, references in other histories, etc.). This says nothing (yet) of them being actual or “historical.” For this, one would need to define what it is to be ‘actual’ and “historical,” as well as the criteria necessary for establishing such a thing. Also, while the depth of the chart provided is impressive, there does seem to be a lack of Biblical Hebrew and Israelite cultural understanding latent in some of the claims made, as well as the underlying tenor of the presentation. For one more obvious example, a knowledge of Biblical Hebrew demystifies entirely the reference to Belshazzar as Nebuchadnezzar’s “son.” If you’re looking for some good resources for this kind of thing, I would be happy to recommend them. (At this point, I should probably say that I am not as familiar with your videos as some of my fellows, and, therefore, I am making these comments with a rather limited exposure to your content. If my statements/comments should be rendered more or less inadequate-irrelevant by a further study of your channel’s content, please accept my sincere apologies.)
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Finally, and as a general comment to such discussions, one must acknowledge that the level of scrutiny to which the texts of the Bible have been subject is unparalleled for any other work of history, ancient or modern. Moreover, this scrutiny is applied in such a way that the textual witness is considered guilty, as it were, until proven innocent. Furthermore, this ‘proof’ can only be the bringing to bear of some confirmation of whatever the historian du jour has determined is that special criterion without which he or she will not acknowledge someone/something’s historicity. So many have been taught to distrust the Bible… How about distrusting the ones who purvey, sell, and institutionalize (whilst charging tuition) distrust of the Bible? How about this: if the Bible was just something that people used in order to get power over other people, why aren’t those who purvey and sell distrust of the Bible also ones who are trying to get power over other people?… Have they not exerted their influence greatly in order to persuade people not to believe the Bible?… Is this not an exertion of power, which could be reasonably interpreted as a type of oppression? It is, I claim, high time to be more skeptical of our skepticism. ((A note to other readers: Beware, careful reader, that we all come to the table with a worldview. If you do not know that you have one, you are the worse off for it. More often than not, your opinions are somewhat the repackaging of teachings that have come from an old, dead philosopher. Make sure you choose that philosopher wisely.))
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After so many years of scrutiny, so many evidences have been, are, and will continue to be found in favor of the reliability of the Biblical texts (a reliability that has been often mocked up until and including the time at which contradictory evidence has been found in favor of the text - see the historical community’s reception histories of the Gospel of John, and Luke-Acts for relevant instances). At some point, the conversation must reasonably shift to one of a general acceptance of the reliability of the Biblical text rather than a commitment to disproving it, of marshaling all one’s efforts to discount it until it has been somehow contrariwise proven beyond a reasonable doubt. To wit, should the same standard that has been applied to the Biblical text be applied to any other historical document - especially those of the ancient world - we would be left with the result that almost nothing should be known about the ancient world, except for that which has been dug up in the dirt (more on this below). This kind of hyper skepticism, which is almost entirely directed at the Bible, would eviscerate much of our knowledge of ancient history, knowledge which many historians do not even think to question, at least not in the same kinds of ways. And what of archaeology as the final arbiter of truth with reference to historical claims made in the Biblical text or any other text for that matter? This opens up a tremendous can of worms, because, after all, who are we to say that those things which have been found in the dirt are reliable bearers of truth?? Why, someone can make a statue of a total lie, bury it in the dirt, and by the criterion of justification by archaeological discovery, those who dig it up, will think it true. They will, furthermore, thinking it true, then go on to judge all other things by its fabricated “truth.” A healthy evaluation of our epistemology vis-à-vis historical judgments is, indeed, in order.
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For a fascinating study of history, I recommend the magnum opus of historian Gary Habermas on the resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth. These tomes, unparalleled in scope and in knowledge of the surrounding world in which the pertinent Biblical texts were written, are invaluable when investigating the historicity of the claim made by the New Testament authors that Jesus of Nazareth did, in fact, rise from the dead. After one has made this investigation, allow me to suggest the following: if Jesus of Nazareth did, indeed, rise from the dead by his own power, then he is who he says he is, and if He is who He says He is… well, then that changes everything,,,everywhere… including both the philosophy and epistemology, which will go on to determine the methodological approach of the whole enterprise of historical scholarship…. including charts that are made on the assumption that said scholarship is unquestionably reliable… and videos that are to be accordingly produced and distributed on UA-cam.
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With sincerity,
Noah
So true.
I love your point of view - not fiction or non-fiction. It's how ancients wrote! Very good work!
In some cases they probably wrote what the thought was non-fiction, but had limited (or very limited) access to historical records.
If everyone though your entire life has told you god spoke to your ancestors in a load voice when they were camped by a mountain you would probably believe it and report it. Then if your parents told you how their parents told them that their city was destroyed and they were carried off you would also believe that. If you then reported the history of your people you might write both as fact, including all details available to you.
This is so informative. As a lover of history, its great to learn a lot
It’s important to mention that the tel dan stele isn’t the only evidence of the existence of king David. The Mese stele also mentions a warrior from the house of David . Plus the Shoshonq mentions a place In Canaan called “Ramat David” , and furthermore there are various ruins especially in Jerusalem that support the biblical narrative around king David . And one more fun fact is that there is a confirmed character from the time of Moses which is bilam bar be’or which we found a scripture that talks about him in the Deir alla site in jordan
This is true. I don’t know why he didn’t count the Tel Dan stele as a check for David. True, it’s written 129 years later from his death. But that’s around the same timeframe as the earliest non-Buddhist source on Buddha, and nobody denies his existence. And there is no logical scenario here where Jehoram of Judah and his son Ahaziah of Judah are designated by a foreign ruler as descendants of David from only less than a century ago and David somehow is ‘legendary’.
That’s the timeframe between 1895 and now.
This was immensely interesting. Thank you for the effort to make this, well done.
There's a video by Bible Project that also talks about how the history in the Old Testament was written more like moral lessons taught using historical figures. It reminds me of the George Washington and the cherry tree story everyone gets told in early elementary school 😃
Thank you for this. Well done as usual. Looking forward to your NT version.
Gorgeous! I never came across such clear and well based overview about the historicity of biblical persons! I'm not a believer at all, but this is important and highly interesting, though.
I'm actually surprised that you, as a self proclaimed non-believer (if I remember correctly from your video about the biblical chart) spoke about this topic. I commend you for being that brave. I disagree with some of your early comments in the video, but its rare for non believers to admit ANY historical evidence of the Bible. Thank you for having the courage. Take care.
I'm only a non-believer if by "believer" you either mean a Christian or anyone who believes that Genesis & Exodus should be taken literally. I'm Jewish and I believe in God.
@@UsefulCharts Ok, gotcha. I wasn't sure I was remembering correctly, so I didn't want to misinterpret your stance. Thank you for the clarification. Take care!
What no ' non believers don't have the courage to admit that the bible has ' some ' truth in it ' . Yeah I wouldn't be surprised to know you don't know that many non believers and take that old atheist stereotypes. Anyway sorry to break it to you. The bible still has a LOT of historical and scientific blunders. The discussed topics in the video doesn't save the bible from the deep hole that it is in
You explain everything according to the timeline and suggest you keep up the good work. I personally learned a lot from this video.
Hi Matt. I'd love to see this take on the New Testament!
It baffles me how people say it's just "fiction." Do they not think the Assyrian, Persian or Roman Empire is real?
Awesome video! Thank you for being awesome!
Yes! Volume 2 on New Testament figures!
I love your vids and how they are visually laid out in charts!!
It’s crazy how all these valuable artifacts from these cultures are in other museums in countries across the globe… I’m sure there are reasons for this like the effort taken to undertake the task of discovering them, from said countries….
But nevertheless something to think about…
You might as well do the new testament one too. This was educational!
It’s amazing, simply AMAZING, the history jotted down by all the authors of the Old Testament. The fact that they could get so much right when skeptics people just assume them to be unintelligent, superstitious goat herders blows my mind. It shows the importance of the writers to get things correct back in times where it was likely more important to be correct about what you say and record as info was so much more likely to become lost.
Well, it's not necessarily more important to be right, but writing history is always politically important. It can be used to justify political claims to a throne or to territory.
Don't know if you'll ever see this comment, but there is at least one Middle Bronze Age figure mentioned in the book of Joshua (11:10) which I'm aware of which seems to appear in the archeological record. In Joshua, the hebrews destroyed the city of Hazor and put to death Jabin (king of Hazor). At Tell el-Kedah, which is the site identified with Hazor, a tablet discovered at the destroyed Bronze Age city (Tablet A2/3423/92/17-23086) is addressed to Ibin-[Addu]. Transliteration of "Ibin" to Hebrew would be "Yabin", indicating that "Jabin" (in English) was indeed at Hazor, possibly its last king. Interesting stuff.
You forgot a couple:
- Marduk-apla-iddina II, king of Babylon, who is mentioned in the Bible as Merodech-Baladan
- Tattenai, a Persian governor
- Sanballat, a Samarian leader
- Nebo-Sarsekim, Chief Eunuch of Babylon
- Adrammalech, son and murderer of Shalmaneser V
- Mesha, king of Moab who wrote the Mesha Stele
- Nebuzaradan, chief cook of Babylon
1:54 Note for some people that terms bronze age and iron age are not names for definitive periods of time, rather it varies regionally. Here in North where I live, bronze age is around 1500 BCE - 500 CE and iron age 6th century CE - 12th century CE, and after that, starts the medieval times, where as in most of Europe, it would be 400 or 500.
A source from within 130 years of David’s lifetime is golden. We don’t have sources that close to almost any sources that ancient so that’s as definitive proof of Davis as we could possibly hope for
By contrast we don’t have sources that close to Homer, Plato, Hannibal, or Socrates yet no one questions if they were real.
People jsut have this “I need 100% proof or I won’t believe it” standard with the Bible which is just odd
The Bible is written by the inspiration of God (2 Tim 3:16-17). "God had written it, and I must believe it to be completely and comprehensively true!"
Yes we want to see the NEW Testament Version. Love this 100%
I think a chart connecting stories, traditions, characters, beliefs with other cultures' stories, traditions, and beliefs would be interesting.
I just stubbled across this video in my feed and find it extremely fascinating. Thanks for sharing this. And yes, I would like to see and know more.
This was a very interesting, informative video. Your scholastic research is thorough. 😊
This is REALLY helpful. Thank you so much for all your hard work!!!!
Really interesting, thank you. I’d love to hear further into the New Testament 🙏🙏🙏👵🇦🇺
As an agnostic person I am not really one to doubt the faith others might have in the Bible, but I think this is fucking awesome! So cool to see stuff from 3000+ years ago and how it wraps into the things present-day theologians constantly discuss. While some parts may be just parables and metaphors, it is still cool to see how those things have been morphed by their time period. Keep up the amazing content!!!!
It is indeed incredible. And this is only the stuff we’ve found, imagine what isn’t known.
There are many interesting tid bits as well. For instance, Jacob is said to have been embalmed when he died in Egypt. It says that they embalmed him for 40 days and then mourned him for 70. What we now know is that this is the Egyptian mummification procedure. The embalming takes 30-40 days and then they had an internment period of 70 days.
NT version for sure. I’m intrigued by the Greek dark ages. I wonder what sort of cataclysm would cause such a thing and how any history prior to it was basically lost.
great flood?
Check out geological features on the Mediterranean.
sea peoples/bronze age collapse likely with some climate problems and natural disasters mixed in
Would love a New Testament video!
Please do the proven people in History of the New Testament! I thoroughly enjoyed and am grateful to God for what He has shown you in your studies and your humility and willingness to share!!! May God bless you and continue to give you insight in His Word!!!
Here is a list, probably incomplete, that I made of all the people in the Bible that have support in the historical record. It includes both OT and NT figures:
Adammelech Prince of Assyria, Ahab king of Israel, Ahaz king of Judah, Ananias son of Nedebaios high priest of Israel, Antonius Felix procurator of Judea, Apollos early evangelist, Aretas IV Philopatris king of the Nabateans, Artaxerxes I king of Persia, Augustus Caesar emperor of Rome, Azariah king of Judah, Azzur father of Hananiah false prophet, Baalis king of the Ammonites, Belshazzar co-regent of Babylon, Ben-Hadad king of Aram Damascus, Berenice Herodian princess, Caiaphas high priest of Israel, Claudius Caesar emperor of Rome, Cyrus king of Persia, David king of Judah, Darius king of Persia, Drusilla Herodian princess, Esarhaddon king of Syra, Evil Merodach king of Babylon, Gallio Proconsul of Achaea, Gamaliel the Elder Rabbi of the Sanhedrin, Gedaliah Offical during Zedekiah's reign, Gedaliah the governor, Gemariah offical during Jehoiakim's reign, Geshem, Gideon/Jerubbaal judge, Great and noble Osnapper king of Assyria, Hananiah false prophet, Hazael king of Aram Damascus, Herodias herodian princess, Herod Agrippa I king of Judea, Herod Agrippa II king of judea, Herod Antipas tetrarch of Galilee and Perea, Herod Archelaus Ethnarch of Judea Samaria and Edom, Herod the Great king of Judea, Hezekiah king of Judah, Hezir father of a priestly division, Hikiah high priest during Josiah's reign, Hophra/Apries pharaoh of Egypt, Hoshea king of israel, Jakim father of a priestly division, James the brother of Jesus bishop of Jeruslaem, Jaazaniah kings minister, Jehoash king of Israel, Jehoiachin king of Israel, Jehu king of Israel, Jehucal(Jucal) Offical during Zedekiah's reign, Jeroboam II king of Israel, Jesus, Johanan high priest of Israel, Jotham king of Judah, Judas of Galilee Insurrectionist, Jude brother of James, Manasseh king of judah, Matthew the apostle tax collector, Maaziah father of a priestly division, Menahem king of Israel, Mesha king of Moab, Merodach-Baladan king of Babylon, Mordecai Hebrew offical in Persia, Nathan-Melech offical in King Josiahs rein, Nebuchadnezzar II king of Babylon, Nebuzaradan Babylonian official, Nebo-Sarsekim chief Eunuch of Babylon, Necho II Pharaoh of Egypt, Nergal-Sharezer(Nergal-sar-ezer) officer of Nebuchadnzzar II, Omri king of Israel, Pashhur father of Gedaliah the official, Paul apostle, Pekah king of Israel, Peter/Simon apostle, Philip the apostle, Philip the Tetrarch of Iturea and tarchonitis, Pontius Pilate prefect of Judea, Porcius Festus govenor of Judea, Quirinius Governor of Syria, Rezin king of Aram Damascus, Salome Herodian princess, Sanballat governor of Samaria, Sargon II king of Assyria, Sennacherib king of Assyria, Shalmaneser V king of Assyria, Shaphan Scribe during Josiah's reign, Shebna Steward of the royal household, Shelemiah father of Jehucal the official, Shishak Pharaoh of Egypt, So Pharaoh Osorkon IV, Taharq Pharaoh of Egypt king of Kush, Tttenai governor of Eber-Nari, Tiberia Caesar emperor of Rome, Tiglath-Pileser III king of Assyria, Thomas the apostle, Xerxes I king of Persia.
I'm not particularly religious, never have been, and I'm quite pleased about that. But I have read the Bible and I have often thought of it as a vastly underused historical resource. This video is very useful because it explains why the later Old Testament is so much more accurate than the earlier Old Testament. Trouble is, too many people do just dismiss it as a work of fiction. Ignore the religious aspects of it (remember it wasn't written as a religious text, just as a history of the Jewish people) and then re-examine it. There's a lot of verifiable historical accuracy in it and a lot more that is probably accurate, but that we can't prove.