BIBLICAL LIBRARIES
there must have been books and libraries. And farther than this, while it may not be true that every temple implied a library, it must have been pretty nearly true of these regions, as it was elsewhere, that every oracle implies an archive. At three Debirs and two Nebos, at least, there were therefore probably or possibly sacred libraries. This may be called conjecture by those who do not feel that Seshait, and Hermopolis and Minerva and the haunts of the Moon-god in general point to libraries.
There is, however, nothing conjectural about the fact of four archives of this time; Amarna, Lachish, Taanach and Boghaz Keuei, one north, one south and two in this region, all containing tablets written in or about this region and time—perhaps the most extraordinary fact of ancient library history and an almost unparalleled fact in the history of documentary historical evidence.
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