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That prompted a reporter to ask about the Exodus, and if the new evidence was linked in any way to the story of Passover. The archaeological discoveries roughly coincided with the timing of the Israelites' biblical flight from Egypt and the 40 years of wandering the desert in search of the Promised Land.

“Really, it's a myth,” Dr. Hawass said of the story of the Exodus, as he stood at the foot of a wall built during what is called the New Kingdom.

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“If they get upset, I don't care,” Dr. Hawass said. “This is my career as an archaeologist. I should tell them the truth. If the people are upset, that is not my problem.”

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“A pharaoh drowned and a whole army was killed,” he said recounting the portion of the story that holds that God parted the Red Sea to allow the Israelites to escape, then closed the waters on the pursuing army.

“This is a crisis for Egypt, and Egyptians do not document their crises.”

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Still other investigators argue that the book of Exodus places the miracle of the Sea not at the Red Sea but further north near the Bitter Lakes at the "Sea of Reeds" (this is the precise translation of the Hebrew Yam Suph), a site that in antiquity had large areas of marshland and one or more natural land fords just below the water line that could have become dry ground under heavy northwest winds

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Originally posted by Cuneiformist

Note also that the proper translation of the Hebrew is 'Sea of Reeds', though that's from memory; I don't have it in front of me...

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Originally posted by pleco
Many words are not translated correctly for "some reason" in the bible. For example, one word that was translated as homosexual (in a negative context) actually should be "temple prostitute." If the Bible were translated correctly, present-day christians would have a lot of "soul searching" to do...

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Originally posted by Cuneiformist

Note also that the proper translation of the Hebrew is 'Sea of Reeds', though that's from memory; I don't have it in front of me...

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Originally posted by HalfMooner

I'd be far more interested in learning more about the Thera eruption and its effects upon the peoples of the Eastern Mediterranean region. That event was real, and must have had cataclysmic effects upon coastal civilizations.

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One interesting possibility for the effects of Thera's eruption is the origin of the story of the ten plagues to which Egypt was subjected, as proposed by historian J.G. Bennett Jr. According to the Bible, Egypt was beset by such misfortunes as the transforming of their water supply to blood, the infestations of frogs, gnats, and flies, darkness, and violent hail. These effects are compatible with the catastrophic eruption of a volcano in different ways. While the "blood" may have been red tide which is poisonous to human beings, the frogs could have been displaced by the eruption, and their eventual death would have given rise to large numbers of scavenging insects. The darkness could have been the resulting volcanic winter, and the hail the large chunks of ejecta spewn from the volcano. The tsunami that resulted from the Thera eruption is also speculated to have caused the parting of the sea that allowed the Israelites, under Moses, safe passage of the Red Sea, possibly devastating the Egyptian army with the returning wave. Exodus mentions that the Israelites were guided by a "pillar of smoke" during the day and a "pillar of fire" at night, which many scholars have speculated could be references to volcanic activity.

- Minoan eruption