Historical scholarship was "not yet successful" in identifying who Tidal was, but modern scholars have attempted to identify the original context of the story and potential historical correspondents. It has been speculated that the name
Tidal is a
Hebrew rendering of
Tudhaliya, the name of several
Hittite and
Neo-Hittite kings. The name continued as "Tudal" down to the Neo-Hittite period.
Stephanie Dalley argues that Tidal should be identified as the military leader ‘Tudhaliya the chief cupbearer’ mentioned on a clay tablet from the pre-Hittite Assyrian colony at
Kanesh. Alternatively, Gard Granerød regards Tidal as literary figure rather than a historical one. According to him, the name Tidal could be originated from a foreign story that Jewish people learned from the foreign diaspora community, which included
Elamites and many other foreigners, as mentioned in
Ezra 4. The kingdom of Goyim has not been identified, but modern scholars have speculated that it may refer to
Hittites,
Hurrians and other groups in central
Anatolia. ==See also==