New Chronology (Rohl) is an alternative Egyptian chronology developed by the English Egyptologist David Rohl and other scholars (see John Bimson).
It's re-dating Egyptian kings of the Nineteenth to the Twentyfifth Dynasties,
bringing forward conventional dating by up to 350 years.
It directly affects the Third Intermediate Period of Egypt. Rohl argues that this would allow scholars to identify some of the most important events in the Old Testament with events in the archaeological record. It makes it possible to identify some of the well-known biblical characters with historical figures appearing in contemporary ancient texts. Rohl's view is that the biblical text (like all other ancient documents)
should be treated as a potentially reliable historical source until it can be shown otherwise.
The main reason for Rohl's re-dating is as follows: He claims that the identification of "Shishaq King of Egypt" (1 Kings 14:25–26; 2 Chronicles 12:2–9) as Shoshenq I is based on faulty inference. Rohl instead argues that Shishaq should be identified in the Bible as Ramesses II, which moves forward the date of Ramesses II's reign by up to 350 years.
Rohl disputes that the military activities of Shoshenq I match the biblical account of Shishaq on the grounds that the campaigns of the two kings are completely different and that Jerusalem doesn't appear in the inscription of Shoshenq I as a subjected town.
The New Chronology (Rohl) therefore rejects the identification of Shoshenq I as the biblical Shishaq, and instead offers Ramesses II as the real historical figure behind the biblical Shishaq. Ramesses II, who campaigned against Israel, was also nicknamed Shysha. Due to a change of a letter character in the meantime, the name Shysha became Shishaq in the Bible, which means that they are the same person. Pottery is used for dating.
This means that Rohl moves the Israelite sojourn, Exodus and conquest from the end of the Late Bronze Age to the latter part of the Middle Bronze Age (from the Nineteenth Dynasty to the Thirteenth/Hyksos period). Rohl argues that this solves many of the problems associated with the historicity question of the biblical narratives.
He uses the archaeological reports from Avaris in the eastern Nile Delta, which show that a large Semitic-speaking population lived there during the Thirteenth Dynasty. These people were culturally similar to the population of Middle Bronze Age (MB IIA) Canaan. Rohl identifies these Semites as the people on whom the biblical tradition of the Israelite sojourn in Egypt was based.
Towards the end of the Middle Bronze Age (late MB IIB) archaeologists have uncovered a series of city destructions, which John Bimson and Rohl have argued correspond closely to the cities attacked by the Israelite tribes in the Joshua narrative. Most importantly, the heavily fortified city of Jericho was destroyed and abandoned at this time.
Rohl shows this and provides evidence that the Exodus isn't a myth but a historical fact, see in The Biblical Exodus. Fairytale or Historical Fact? (by David Rohl):
- Time 0:40– 15:15: Why Shoshenq I can't be the biblical Shishaq.
- Time 15:16– 19:04: Why this dating is so important.
- Time 19:05– 31:14: Why Ramesses II is the biblical Shishaq.
- Time 38:30– 54:55: Ramesses II defeats the Israelites.
- Time 57:33–1:12:07: Why academical archaeologists dismiss Exodus.
- Time 1:12:08–1:14:22: Made assumptions for New Chronology (Rohl).
- Time 1:14:23–1:30:25: The Israelite stay in Avaris (the land of Goshen).
- Time 1:30:26–1:47:37: Joseph.
- Time 1:49:40–1:54:10: The alphabet.
- Time 1:54:11–1:59:57: Moses.
- Time 1:59:58–2:02:52: The Egyptian collapse and the Hyksos invasion.
- Time 2:02:53–2:14:57: The new timeline, Jericho, Hazor, and Shechem.
- Time 2:26– 5:06: The city of Avaris.
- Time 5:07– 15:48: Joseph.
- Time 15:49– 18:20: Rapid growth of Semitic people in Avaris.
- Time 18:21– 20:26: The time of slavery in Avaris.
- Time 20:27– 24:00: The killing of the newborn boys and Moses.
- Time 24:01– 25:30: The so-called wrong time period.
- Time 25:31– 37:30: Moses and the judgment of Egypt.
- Time 37:31– 41:34: Problem having Ramesses II at the Exodus.
- Time 41:35– 43:33: Excavations supporting the Exodus.
- Time 43:34–> : The Egyptian collapse and the invasion of Hyksos.
- Time 1:11– 2:28: Background information about Dr. Rohl.
- Time 2:46– 4:50: Questioning the conventional chronology.
- Time 5:37– 6:40: Implications for Egyptian dynasties.
- Time 7:03– 11:47: Problem having Ramesses II at the Exodus.
- Time 12:12– 13:07: Why the Bible is a reliable historical source.
- Time 13:39– 16:05: Circular arguments in conventional chronology.
- Time 16:33– 18:52: How to reconstruct the chronology.
- Time 19:38– 21:58: Carbon dating versus archaeology.
- Time 22:35– 28:26: The Amarna letters.
- Time 28:51– 34:15: The Greek dark age.
- Amenemhat III as Pharaoh in the time of Joseph, who was his vizier.
- Sobekhotep III as "the king who didn't know Joseph" (Exo (2 Mos) 1:8).
- Neferhotep I as a very powerful Pharaoh who continued to enslave them.
- Sobekhotep IV as the Pharaoh from whom Moses fled to Midian.
He was Moses' stepfather and a very powerful Pharaoh. - Dedumose II as the Pharaoh of the Exodus.
- Ramesses II (nickname = Shysha) as Shishaq.
NC=New Chronology (Rohl), CC=Conventional Egyptian Chronology):
- Senusret III: NC: 1698–1660. CC: 1878–1839.
- Amenemhat III: NC: 1678–1634. CC: 1860–1814. Joseph was his vizier.
- Sobekhotep III: NC: 1568–1563. Enslaved the Israelites.
- Neferhotep I: Reigned after Sobekhotep III.
- Sihathor: Reigned less than a year as co-regent with Neferhotep I.
- Sobekhotep IV: NC: 1530–1508. Moses fled from him.
Reigned after Neferhotep I and his co-regent Sihathor. - Dedumose II: NC:1450–1446. The Exodus took place in 1447.
He was Pharaoh about 45 years after Sobekhotep IV.
He became the last Pharaoh of that dynasty. - Ramesses II: NC:943–877. CC: 1279–1213. Same as Shishaq.
