VANESSA MORTON

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Meet the Characters:

 

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People    |    Places     |      Map

 

People

 

Abidan

Yoni's father, elder of Benyamin's tribe

Abu

Rachav's grandfather, an expert archer and horse trainer

Adah

Halatya's wife

Ardon

Son of Calev

Azuvah

Calev's wife, a healer, Salma's adoptive mother

Calev

War chieftain over all the tribes, Salma's adoptive father

El Elyon

God Most High, sacred name of Yisra'el's Supreme God

Ephron

Son of Abu Hantili, a Hurrian from the Mitanni Empire

Halatya

Rachav's oldest brother

HaShem

"The Name" used in conversation to avoid blaspheming the sacred name of El Elyon

Issus

Rachav's mother, a Hittite, niece of King Takawa of Kanes

Kikkuli

Rachav's older brother, an archer and watchman on Yericho's ramparts

King Nur

Newly-crowned young king of Yericho

Malkha

Yericho's bārū, or wise woman

Puduhepa (Pudu)

Rachav's little sister

Queen Supoket

King Nur's Egyptian wife

Rachav

Daughter of Ephron Hantili

Rafi

Visionary from the Levite tribe

Samar

Rachav's best friend

Salma

Prince of the tribe of Yehuda

Yoni

 Yonatan, prince of the tribe of Benyamin, son of Abidan

Zaron

 Rachav's identical twin

Zeruel

 Salma's half-brother, elder of Yehuda's tribe

Queen of the Night

Evening star; consort and guide of Yerach. The author took creative license in the use of this title. There is no record, as yet, of this goddess in Yericho.

Yerach

The moon, patron god of Yericho.

 

Places

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Archaic

Name

Contemporary Name

Description

Beyt Anu

House of the Sky

Denotes the Moon Temple in Yericho. The main floor consists of shrines to the Queen of the Night; the rooftop is devoted to Yerach, the moon

Hatti/Chatti

Hittites

Empire consisting of Hurrians and Hattians, roughly corresponding to modern-day Turkey and parts of Iraq. A sometime ally of Ken'n

Hanigalbat

Mitanni

Empire of Indo-Europeans in southeast Turkey/North Syria

Kanes

--

Hittite city near present-day Kultepe, Turkey

Ken'n

Canaan

Area roughly corresponding to present-day Israel, Lebanon, and western parts of Syria and Jordan

Habiru

--

Derogatory Akkadian term denoting slaves, outlaws, or raiders, sometimes applied to Yisra'el's tribes

Yisra'el

Israel

Federation of twelve tribes, descendants of the twelve sons of Yaakov

--

Levant

A term originating in the Middle Ages in reference to countries along the shores of the eastern Mediterranean Sea, sometimes extending from Greece to Egypt.

Nuzi

Yorghan Tepe, Iraq

City in the Mitanni empire, original home of the Hantili patriarch

Yarden River

Jordan River

River originating north of Lake Kinnereth and flowing south to the Dead Sea

Yericho

Jericho

Fortified city and surrounding farmland northwest of the Dead Sea; Yericho is derived from Yerach, meaning moon.

Map