FAMILY HISTORIES

New Zealand Listener, Volume 4, Issue 100, 23 May 1941, Page 4

FAMILY HISTORIES

Sir,-I notice that a correspondent "1066," Wanganui (Listener, April 24), claims that he (or she) could trace the ancestry of Hugh Rose of Kilravock back to Adam, I was under the impression that most people regarded the story of Adam and Eve as a bed-time tale of the ancients. However, be that as it may, I must say I regard the claim with extreme scepticism, especially when "1066" quotes as his (or her) authority the Bible which, as regards history and chronology, displays no evidence of being reliable. For instance, in the year 4004 B.C. (according to Bible chronology), the creation of Adam, the first man, occurred (Gen. 2). Again (in Gen. 8 and 9), we are informed that (in the year 2345 B.C. according to Bible chronology), the only human beings on this earth were those who survived the universal deluge, namely Noah and his relatives. Such claims are, of course, in the light of archzological discovery of recent years, absurd both historically and chronologically, and once those errors are admitted what reliance can be placed on Biblical genealogy? In support of my contention that the events cited above are inaccurate, I should like "1066" to consider the following facts which have been disclosed by archeology: Approximately 4000 years B.C., about the time when Adam was supposedly created, the Ancient Egyptians already had a calendar dividing

the year into 365 days and 12 months, and had as well a system of decimal weights and measures, besides fairly well developed medical and chemical sciences. Also the arts of building, sculpture, pottery, literature, music and painting were highly developed. Indeed, W. M. Flinders Petrie, Professor of Egyptology, dates traces of civilisation in Egypt as early as 10,000 years B.C., while Sir Leonard Woolley tells us that the whole history of Egypt has been recovered by archeological work in, astonishing detail. "I suppose," he says, "we know more about ordinary life in Egypt in the 14th century B.C. than we do about that of England in the 14th century A.D." Further, in the year 2347 B.C. (according to Biblical chronology), when Noah and his relatives stepped from the ark, the city of Thebes, later Egypt’s capital, was then a great and splendid city with a remote past. The significance of these facts, to my way of thinking, discredits any Biblical genealogy, and I think the Adam and Eve incident may safely be relegated to the realm of myth and legend. In closing, allow me to express the opinion that "1066" and others who indulge their fancy in tracing ancient ancestors should be cautious in naming their

authorities.-

L.

COONEY

(Auckland), .