A segment of recent scholarship maintains that the Exodus narratives are either mythological or are complete fiction. These views are challenged by a detailed investigation of the geographical names used in the book of Exodus (e.g., Rameses, Pithom, Succoth, Etham). After establishing that these toponyms are all attested in Egyptian written sources of the second half of the 2nd century B.C., the locations of the sites are pursued in the archaeological record, namely, San el-Hagar, Qantir, Tell Retabeh, and Tell el-Maskhuta.

A segment of recent scholarship maintains that the Exodus narratives are either mythological or are complete fiction. These views are challenged by a detailed investigation of the geographical names used in the book of Exodus (e.g., Rameses, Pithom, Succoth, Etham). After establishing that these toponyms are all attested in Egyptian written sources of the second half of the 2nd century B.C., the locations of the sites are pursued in the archaeological record, namely, San el-Hagar, Qantir, Tell Retabeh, and Tell el-Maskhuta.