Abstract
The Exodus, however we define it, cannot be called “historical.” So diffuse is the evidence, the biblical narrative cannot be adequately tested by the historical method. This paper compares and contrasts another mythic tale of improbable, miraculous salvation: the “Angel(s) of Mons” from World War I, where abundant information enables us precisely to sift truth from fiction and set both in historical context. For the Exodus, we must simply resign ourselves to ignorance.
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Notes
- 1.
All quotations from Thucydides, The History of the Pelopponesian War Book I, trans. Richard Crawley. http://classics.mit.edu/Thucydides/pelopwar.1.first.html
- 2.
This per se is not new; Herodotus had begun his own History similarly.
- 3.
Unlike Homer, Hesiod does name himself in the opening of his Theogony, in addition to claiming the authority of the Muses.
- 4.
For more detail, see Propp 2006: 735–746.
- 5.
- 6.
- 7.
On neurology and cultural memory, see Chap. 31.
References
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Propp, W.H.C. (2015). The Exodus and History. In: Levy, T., Schneider, T., Propp, W. (eds) Israel's Exodus in Transdisciplinary Perspective. Quantitative Methods in the Humanities and Social Sciences. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-04768-3_33
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