Earlier this week, Todd drew attention to Tutku’s new tour “The 1700th Anniversary of the Council of Nicaea in 2025.” In connection to this tour, Tutku hosted an online seminar a few weeks back with the same title. The presentation was given by Glen Thompson, and moderated by Mark Wilson. I found it really interesting and informative. For those who missed it, a recording of the seminar is now ready to watch on YouTube.
If anyone wants to learn more about the Nicaean Council, the same Glen Thompson founded a website named Fourth Century Christianity. There one will find a whole host of things to explore about the council. The site contains a historical synthesis covering events leading up to the council and the council itself, primary source documents giving descriptions of the council (in both Greek and English translation), documents concerning the Arian controversy, a map of Arian’s supporters, and more.
At the beginning of this year, I made three maps to show the council’s geographical background for a class on the Nicaean Creed. It is a large PDF file (120MB) which can be downloaded here. The first map includes the entire Mediterranean and Near East, showing the furthest geographic extent of the creed’s signatories, from Cordoba in Spain to Persia (Persis). There is a black rectangle around Nicaea which corresponds to the extent of the second map. The second map shows the immediate region around Nicaea, including the Eastern capital at Nicomedia and the future capital at Constantinople. The third map zooms into the area of Anatolia, Syria, Palestine, and Egypt so that nearly all of the dots could be labeled. My work on these maps was based on an appendix in the volume edited by Young Richard Kim, The Cambridge Companion to the Council of Nicaea (2021). I wish I had known about Glen Thompson’s website at the time, because I would have instead used the list of names he has compiled. (Maybe some day I will update my map to reflect Glen’s research, today is not that day).
Monday, June 17, is Ancient Anatolia Day. Due to a large number of registrations, the organizers have decided at the last minute to livestream Ancient Anatolia Day on YouTube. The livestream begins at 6:00 am (U.S. Central Time), or 12:00 pm in the U.K., on the YouTube channel for Wolfson College, Oxford. For the day’s program, see this webpage. (Note: the morning workshops are for in-person attendees only.)
For those living in the Dallas/Fort Worth area, there will be a very special showing of Hebrew Scrolls this coming Saturday. Many, perhaps, have seen a Torah scroll, which contains the text of the first five books of the Bible—the books of Moses. This collection of scrolls is rare, however, in that in includes the entire Old Testament.
Dallas International University is hosting the exhibition. The event is scheduled for Saturday, January 13, at 3:00pm, in the Event Center on campus.
The exhibition will begin with a talk covering topics such as the Hebrew Old Testament (or Tanakh), unique items in the scroll collection, and techniques used by scribes to copy a scroll. After the talk, visitors will be able to examine the scrolls up-close, discuss and ask questions about the scrolls, and take photographs. Some of the scrolls are several centuries old, some were specially commissioned in more recent times. This event is free and open to the public.
To celebrate their 45 years of selling and publishing books, Eisenbrauns is offering a 45% discount on all their titles from now until December 21. This is great news for some of us who have had our eye on a volume or two but were discouraged by ever-climbing book prices. This is the largest discount I have seen, perhaps ever, so be sure not to miss this rare opportunity. To apply the discount, use the code EB45 during checkout.
To help get started, the sale page provides lists of Eisenbrauns’ recent releases, some of their most popular sellers, and 15 of James Spinti’s Favorite Eisenbooks.±
We have highlighted, and often recommended, several Eisenbrauns books on this blog over the years. More recently, they have published the first of a new series, Royal Inscriptions of the Neo-Babylonian Empire. This initial volume contains the royal inscriptions of Amēl-Marduk, Neriglissar, and Nabonidus, covering the period 561-539 BC. (This seems a curious place to begin since the inscriptions of these same kings were published not all that long ago by Rocio da Riva. Nevertheless we are glad to see this new series appear. UPDATE: This information was incorrect. They overlap only with Amēl-Marduk and Neriglissar who combined have few inscriptions (14 texts). Da Riva’s publication includes Nabopolassar but does not include Nabonidus. The new Eisenbrauns volume includes Nabonidus but not Nabopolassar. For Nabopolassar 13 texts are published and for Nabonidus 61 texts (± 10) are published, so the Eisenbrauns volume covers quite a bit more material.
Also of note, one can use the sale discount to pre-order the The Royal Inscriptions of Sargon IIby Grant Frame, due out next year. As mentioned here and here and here and here, I have been looking forward to this volume coming out. [UPDATE: Later on the same day I wrote this, Eisenbrauns announced the release of this title, so it is available now.]
We highlighted a small museum located in the German Protestant Institute of Archaeology in the Holy Land. You may want to read that post first. The founder of this museum was Gustaf Dalman (1855-1941), a key figure in the development of the Institute. His collections populate most of the museum’s displays.
Dalman first visited the Holy Land for an extended time in 1899, and he lived there continuously from 1902 until the outbreak of World War I in 1914. Though he was able to return two more times, the war essentially brought an end to Dalman’s activity in the Holy Land, and thereafter he researched it remotely from the Institute of Palestinology in Greifswald, Germany.
In last week’s post, we mentioned the aspects of Palestinian life and the various fields of study that Dalman investigated as part of his encyclopedic research. Although some of Dalman’s writings have been translated into English, his most important work was not, at least not till now. Dalman’s magnum opus was a seven-volume work (in eight parts) entitled Arbeit und Sitte in Palästina, or Work and Customs in Palestine. An eighth volume was incomplete at the time of his death, and not until 2001 were the notes for this volume finally published. Below are the subjects covered by the eight volumes. At the very end of this post, you can view/download the detailed contents for Volume 1, Part 1. This should give a very good sense for the breadth and depth of these volumes.
Vol. 1, part 1: Course of the Year and Course of the Day: Autumn and Winter
Vol. 1, part 2: Course of the Year and Course of the Day: Spring and Summer
Vol. 2: Agriculture
Vol. 3: From Harvest to Flour: Harvesting, Threshing, Winnowing, Sieving, Storing, Milling
Vol. 4: Bread, Oil and Wine
Vol. 5: Textiles, Spinning, Weaving and Clothing
Vol. 6: Tent Life, Cattle and Dairy Farming, Hunting, FishingVol. 7: The house, Chicken Breeding, Pigeon Breeding, Beekeeping
Vol. 8: Domestic Life, Birth, Marriage and Death (it was also intended to include Singing and Music)
Photo source: Antiquariat an der Uni Muenchen.
Dalman, Gustaf H.
1928-1942 Arbeit und Sitte in Palästina. 7 vols. Gütersloh: C. Bertelsmann.
2001 Arbeit und Sitte in Palästina, Vol. 8: Fragment aus dem Nachlass. Berlin: Walter De Gruyter.
Dalman’s work is perhaps the most important window into pre-modern, agricultural/pastoral world of the Holy Land. Along with photographs like the Matson Collection, this is about as close as we today can get to seeing and experiencing daily life in Bible times. Yet, for so many of use who do not possess facility in the German tongue, Arbeit und Sitte in Palästina has remained inaccessible. That is why, a few years ago, it was exciting to find out that Arbeit und Sitte in Palästina is being translated into English. It is Nadia Abdulhadi-Sukhtian to whom we are in the debt for executing the translation. Volume 1, parts 1 and 2, were published in 2013.
Dalman, Gustaf H.
2013 Work and Customs in Palestine, Vol. 1, Parts 1 and 2: The Course of the Year and the Course of the Day. Trans. Nadia Abdulhadi-Sukhtian. Ramallah: Dar Al Nasher.
Part 1 is available here. Part 2 is available here.
While preparing this post, we discovered that Volume 2 was published just this year. We are glad to see the project is moving along.
Dalman, Gustaf. 2020 Work and Customs in Palestine, Vol. 2: Agriculture. Trans. Robert Schick. Ed. Nadia Abdulhadi-Sukhtian. Ramallah: Dar Al Nasher.
The only place where Volume 2 appears to be available is here. (Be advised that shipping appears to take one to one-and-a-half months.)
Detailed Contents of Volume 1, Part 1: The Course of the Year and the Course of the Day
Several years ago, Chris McKinny wrote a series of posts named “Secret Places.” We resurrect it now to draw your attention to another little-known museum in Jerusalem.
If you have been to Israel a few times, and names like Edward Robinson or Charles Warren are starting to mean something to you, then you may want to add this museum to your next visit.
The museum is located within the compound of Augusta Victoria church/hospital on top of the Mount of Olives. The church’s bell tower is a prominent landmark that can be seen at some distance from several directions. You have certainly seen it, even if you were not aware of what it was.
The German Protestant Institute of Archaeology in the Holy Land occupies a house located right behind (east of) the church. As you walk in from the main gate and follow the road to the right, you will see green signs in front of the church that direct you towards the “German Institute of Archaeology.”
The museum is located in the lower story of this house. It highlights the work of Conrad Schick, Gottlieb Schumacher, and especially Gustaf Dalman. On display you will find large models of Jerusalem and the Church of the Holy Sepulcher constructed by Schick, survey instruments used by Schumacher to draw maps and plans, as well as signs with biographical details.
Jerusalem in the Second Temple Period, 1:25,000 scale. Wood and cardboard model by Conrad Schick, 1867.
Most of the museum, however, is dedicated to the work of Gustaf Dalman. Dalman was the first director of the Institute. His name may be familiar to some readers as the author of Sacred Sites and Ways: Studies in the Topography of the Gospels (1935), one of the few works by Dalman translated into English. He was an expert in the study of, well, pretty much anything related to the Holy Land.
“Dalman’s main aim and starting point was to shed light on the biblical and post-biblical past of Palestine. Instead of only studying texts and relics of the past, and the Bible, he studied the daily activities and customs of the Arab population of Palestine…he combined anthropology, comparative religion, music, and biblical schalarship with geography, geology, botany, astrology, meteorology and zoology into a…new multi-disciplinary field of study…Palestinology” (Abdulhadi-Sukhtian 2013: vii–viii).
Dalman recorded and collected just about anything you can imagine, and many of these collections are represented in the museum: photographic slides, ancient pottery and coins, herbs, rocks, and limestone models of tombs, presses and Palestinian houses. The models have removable roofs and walls so you can see the interior layout of the structures. It is a little mind-boggling that one man produced all this work.
Limestone models of Palestinian houses.
Theologians and pastors would come to the Institute for a three-month course taught by Dalman. A map in the museum shows his itinerary for field trips and a display case contains Dalman’s personal copy of Baedeker Palestine and Syria guidebook.
Gustaf Dalman’s personal materials, including business cards and Baedeker guide.
The museum is not large. You are free to visit, but the Institute requests that you call or email beforehand if you have a group. I would recommend keeping groups very small—ten people would start to feel crowded. A visit will only take about an hour, and most of the labels and signs provide English translations. While you are in the Augusta Victoria compound, the church has a collection of inscribed ossuaries in one of the side rooms. Some of the ossuaries have names like Matthew, Jesus, and Mary. The church also has a life-size replica of the ark of the covenant, and the Bibles of Kaiser Wilhelm II and Empress Augusta Victoria. From the top of the bell tower, on a not-particularly clear day, I was able to make out Baal Hazor, Nebi Samwil, the Dead Sea, and Herodium. It provides a nice view of Jerusalem’s Old City as well.
Contact information for the German Protestant Institute can be found on their website.
Citation Abdulhadi-Sukhtian, Nadia, trans. 2013 Work and Customs in Palestine, Vol. 1: The Course of the Year and the Course of the Day. 2 parts. Ramallah: Dar Al Nasher.
The BiblePlaces Blog provides updates and analysis of the latest in biblical archaeology, history, and geography. Unless otherwise noted, the posts are written by Todd Bolen, PhD, Professor of Biblical Studies at The Master’s University.
