A 1st-century Jewish settlement is now being excavated near Beersheba, and one find is an early depiction of a nine-branched menorah.
Christopher Rollston offers some reflections on the Nathan-Melek seal impression, concluding that it is “most likely” that this is the same person mentioned in the Bible.
“Excavation work carried out in Ramses II’s temple in Abydos, Sohag, has uncovered a new temple palace belonging to the 19th Dynasty king.”
Hasmonean-era tombs near Jericho have been looted recently.
Conservation work was done on the Western Wall ahead of the Passover holiday.
“Ancient Color” is “a new exhibition at University of Michigan’s Kelsey Museum of Archaeology, dives deep into the material and application of pigment in ancient Rome, and in doing so highlights a colorful, international history.”
Opening today at the Peabody Museum: “Ancient Mesopotamia Speaks: Highlights from the Yale Babylonian Collection.”
With 40 inches of rainfall so far this year, the Sea of Galilee rose 6 inches last weekend.
Recent rains caused flash flooding near the tomb of Cyrus in Pasargadae.
David Moster explains “Telling Time in Ancient Israel” in a new 9-minute video.
Wayne Stiles has just announced a tour to sites in Turkey and Greece, including a 3-night cruise to the Greek isles.
Reported on April 1: the discovery of the world’s oldest break-up letter.
If you’ve been thinking about registering for the Institute of Biblical Context conference this June, note that the early bird discount ends on Wednesday.
This video shows footage of Jerusalem one month after the Six-Day War in 1967.
HT: Joseph Lauer, Agade, Alexander Schick
7 thoughts on “Weekend Roundup”
I was initially taken in on that break up letter until I noticed the date
I'm not sure which is more incredible–that Dr. Rollston believes the Nathan-Melek seal "most likely" refers to somebody written about in 2Kings decades (if not centuries) after the bulla had been buried; or that its "Melek" refers to God rather than to a Judahite king. Then again, he posted his analysis on April 1.
Dear Dr. Bolen, Hi, thank you for everything that you and your assistants do! I do not keep up with things like I used to, and I realize that I am coming late to this about the Nathanmelech bulla, but if my memory is correct, I remember, I think it was Dr. P. Kyle McCarter, doing a write up on another Nathanmelech bulla from the Chaya Collection which sold at auction at Christies for $8,365, in New York on June 8, 2004. I guess this would make a third known bulla(probably somebody has already talked about this).
Christies auction house James Christie logo
Sale 1384
Antiquities
New York
8 June 2004Previous Lot Next Lot
AN EARLY JEWISH TERRACOTTA BULLA
Lot 73
AN EARLY JEWISH TERRACOTTA BULLA OF NATANMELEKH, SERVANT OF THE KING
CIRCA LATE 7TH CENTURY B.C.
Price realised
USD 8,365
Estimate
USD 7,000 – USD 9,000
Follow lot
AN EARLY JEWISH TERRACOTTA BULLA OF NATANMELEKH, SERVANT OF THE KING
CIRCA LATE 7TH CENTURY B.C.
Stamped on one side by a convex seal creating an oval impression with two registers divided by a double line, all within a double line frame, with a two-line Hebrew inscription reading, L'Natanmelekh eved hamelekh, "Belonging to Natanmelekh, servant of the king"
13/16 in. (2.1 cm.) wide
Provenance
Chaya Collection, Geneva.
Thank you for everything, Sincerely yours, Michael Welch
Thank you, Michael, for this information. It seems that this Natanmelekh must have signed a lot of documents.
Michael, thanks for this information. You are correct that McCarter wrote about the other Nathan-melech impression. A little digging turned up the article "Biblical Detective Work Identifies the Eunuch" in Biblical Archaeology Review 28/2 (2002).
A.D.
Sorry, that is not correct. The BAR article is about an impression in the Shlomo Moussaieff collection, and it is the same impression that was published by Robert Deutsch. I will have to keep looking.
A.D.
Photo of the Chaya specimen from Christie's archive. I'm glad they keep stuff online for research purposes. And thanks, Mike, for your excellent memory!