Hebrews
From Wikinfo
Hebrews (syns. Heberites, Eberites, Hebreians) are a Semitic race who are descendants of the biblical Patriarch Eber. They were bands of nomads who wandered Syria and as far as present day Egypt and Kuwait in the 2nd millenia BCE. They are most commonly identified in contemporary records of neighbouring regions as Habiru apparently once based in the valley of Habur between the Euphrates and Tigris. In the Levant, Hebrews spoke a local Canaanite dialect (see Hebrew) though the ancestral proto-Hebrews around present day Urfa or 'Ur of the Khaldis', from whence the Hebrew Patriarch Abram came, dwelt amidst the ProtoIberians of Anatolia like the Hurrians and presumably originally spoke a ProtoIberian language. Interestingly Habiru names listed on the Tigunani prism are also Hurrian, while certain Hurrian customs and thematic material later found their way into the scriptures of the Israelite Hebrews.
Hebrew nomads lived in tents and raised livestock principally goats, sheep and cattle. Their main beasts of burden were oxen, donkies and camels. Camels were also used alongside Horses which were reserved for battle, though according to biblical sources the main bulk of Hebrew military bands would probably have been on foot contrasting against the cavalry of the Hurrians and presumably Habiru mercenaries.
The most influential group of Hebrews to emmerge from the second centrury BCE Hebrew migrations were from a group which had long settled in Egypt and were known as Israel. Besides the Jews (i.e. Israelites), other Hebrew peoples included the Edomites, Midianites, Arameans and Joktanites.
Certain Christian groups sometimes use the term Hebrews to distinguish the Jews in ancient times that lived before the birth of Jesus from Jews that lived afterward. Though important in some Christian theologies, the distinction is not recognized by the Jews themselves who still call themselves Hebrews in Hebraic. Thus to tell some Jews they are not the same as the Hebrews is likely to be offensive.
The term Hebrews can also indicate a book of the Christian New Testament: Epistle to the Hebrews
See also
- Habiru
- Jews
- Lost Tribes of Israel
- AparDi
- Aparytae
- Abar-noi
- Abaris
- Avars
- Afrasiab
- Khwarezmia
- Huaguo
- Iberes
- Transcaucasian Iberia
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