Jose Maria Blasques Martinez

Javier Cabrero Piquero

The authors review the main ideas of the archaeological «revision» of the Biblical history. Pointing out that certain passages of the Old Testament do not agree well with the so far known archaeological material, they come to the conclusion that the tradition concerning the Patriarchs and the Exodus could hardly be regarded as historical in its main lines, that Canaan was not conquered by the Israelis in the traditionally assumed way (because the Israelis were probably of Canaan origin and adopted the new way of life because the Canaan urban civilization fell into decay in the late Bronze Age), that the «golden age» of David and Solomon might have been a historical fiction created in the 7th c. BC and that in the period of the First Temple Yahwe’s cult was of Canaanite type and was not monotheistic in its character.