Todd Bolen, Author at BiblePlaces.com

Byzantine Church Discovered in Acco

The Israel Antiquities Authority has had a breakthrough discovery, unearthing a public structure from the time of the Byzantine Empire in the northern Israeli city of Acre [Akko].
The structure is about 1,500 years-old and it is believed to have served as a church. The structure was uncovered during a rescue excavation by the Israel Antiquities Authority following an unauthorized dig in the area that uncovered the structure.
The excavation was done approximately 100 meters west of a mound located in the eastern part of Acre, close to the area in which the future Azrieli shopping mall is being built.
Nurit Page, head of the excavations in the area under the auspices of the Israel Antiquities Authority said that the city’s bishop was known in Christian scriptures as someone who was extremely influential in the development of Christianity as a religion.
This discovery is the first concrete proof of Acre’s role in early Christianity. “This is an important discovery for the study of Acre,” Page said, adding that it is of particular significance “considering no remnants from the Byzantine Period had been found other than living quarters near the [Mediterranean] sea.”

The full story is here. An IAA press release sent along by Joseph Lauer quotes the archaeologist as being less certain of the building’s identification: “It may possibly be a church. This is the first time that remains of a public building from this period have been uncovered in Akko.”

UPDATE (6/14): The Jerusalem Post is now reporting the discovery.

Tagged Discoveries, Excavations

Weekend Roundup

Leen Ritmeyer explains why he disagrees with Eilat Mazar’s claim that the Second Temple is “waiting to be unearthed.”

Shmuel Browns has a well-illustrated article on Popular Archaeology entitled “Netzer’s Legacy: The Wonders of Herodium.”

Wayne Stiles makes a connection between the feast of Shavuot (Weeks or Pentecost) and Beth Shemesh.

Al Arabiya News profiles the Nimrud ivories, and Ferrell Jenkins provides some additional commentary and photos.

Haaretz takes the occasion of the inauguration of Jerusalem’s Light Rail to reminisce about an earlier, short-lived rail project from Jerusalem to el-Bireh/Ramallah. The author describes it as an electric rail system, but the accompanying photo shows the train billowing smoke.

The Jewish Quarter in the Old City of Jerusalem is almost entirely Ultra-Orthodox.

An article in the Telegraph lists the top five religious mysteries as the Ark of the Covenant, the Holy
Chalice, the True Cross, the Dead Sea Scrolls, and the Sudarium of Oviedo.

The New York Times celebrates the completion of the Chicago Assyrian Dictionary, ninety years after it was begun.

If you’re wondering what is brand new and most popular for the week, see the lists at bib-arch.org.

Tagged Holidays, Jerusalem, Museums, Shephelah, Temple Mount

Photo of the Day: Diving Platform in Rhodes

If you’re on holiday in Rhodes and you don’t mind swimming a bit, you can get your diving practice from this concrete platform.

Paul briefly visited Rhodes as he traveled back to Jerusalem on his third missionary journey.

Acts 21:1 — After we had torn ourselves away from them, we put out to sea and sailed straight to Cos. The next day we went to Rhodes and from there to Patara.

Tagged Greece, Tourism

The Top 16 Posts

I don’t pay much attention to statistics for this blog or its related website, given limited time and a sense that it doesn’t matter much anyway. But I noticed that Feedburner provides a list of most popular blog posts and I was surprised at what received the most views in the last 18 months (when we began using the Feedburner service). Here are the top sixteen, with the most popular at the top:

Bible Mapper Version 4

The Sacrificial Lamb

Top Discoveries of 2009

New Discoveries Related to Temple Mount

Glo for $40

Where Did Goliath’s Head Go?

Best of 2009: Books, Software, Photo CDs

Weekend Roundup (from Feb 2010)

Locust Plague

Under the Temple Mount

How “Top 50” Lists Work

360 Degree Views in Jerusalem

The Dragnet on the Sea of Galilee

Support Sought for Tel Dor

The Star of Bethlehem

Psalm 23

I am having trouble accounting for why some of these were so popular. I notice that none of these are less than a year old, so perhaps the results are skewed by the length of time they’ve been available to those searching for specific terms. Perhaps I’ll check back in a year and see how the list compares.

Tagged Analysis

Tourists to Athens Frustrated with Museum Closures

If you’re thinking of a trip to biblical lands, you might want to choose a country other than Greece this year. From the Guardian:

The greatest repository of ancient Greek art – the National Archaeological Museum of Athens – has become the latest victim of the economic crisis engulfing Greece, with visitors getting only a peek at its renowned collections.
As the long-awaited tourist season begins, the debt-choked country’s top attraction is in the news for all the wrong reasons: closed exhibition halls, neglect and exasperated holidaymakers.
“This is our first time to Greece and of course we’re disappointed,” said Shareen Young, from Orange Country, California, who on Friday found herself locked out of the venerable institution because of a staff shortage. “I had really wanted to see the golden Mask of Agamemnon and other treasures of Troy.”
Barbara Vimercati, an Italian tourist, was also left standing outside the museum’s monumental bronze doors. “It says it’s open until 4pm but it’s not, and there isn’t even a note explaining why,” she said, making do with a glimpse of cellophane-wrapped statues in an adjacent corridor. “It’s unbelievable. We don’t understand.”
Most Greeks, including the museum’s keepers, are similarly at a loss. “We have 11,000 exhibits, five permanent collections and galleries over more than 8,000 square metres of space,” said Alexandra Christopoulou, a museum representative. “The season begins in April. I really don’t know why it has taken so long for the culture ministry to send extra personnel.”
With just 30 guards to supervise displays that require at least 130 on a daily basis, only eight of the museum’s 64 exhibition halls were open to the public last Sunday, according to the Kathimerini newspaper. Visitors have reportedly almost come to blows with staff when they discover that their €7 (£6.25) ticket gives them access to only a fraction of the displays.

The story continues here.

HT: Jack Sasson

National Archaeological Museum of Athens

Tagged Greece, Museums, Tourism

Eilat Mazar Interviewed about Temple Mount

From WorldNetDaily:

One of the most prominent Israeli archaeologists declared today that remains from the First and Second Jewish Temple period – including the Second Temple itself – lie underneath the Temple Mount surface, just waiting to be excavated. Dr. Eilat Mazar of Hebrew University accused the site’s Islamic custodians of destroying Jewish artifacts while attempting to turn the Temple Mount into a "giant mosque." "I think we will find all the remains starting from the First Temple period and remains of the Temple itself," said Mazar, a third-generation archeologist. "I mean, no one took it out, it’s there." Mazar said she is "absolutely sure" remains from the First and Second Temple periods, including "the Second Temple itself," as well as later remains from the Byzentine [sic] and early Islamic periods, are just under the surface of the Temple Mount. Continued Mazar: "I am absolutely sure, in light of my very rich experience excavating Jerusalem for 30 years now, all these remains are waiting to be revealed. And if it can’t be done nowadays because of all kinds of sensitivities, at least we should take care that it won’t be ruined for future excavations when time comes." Mazar was speaking in an interview with "Aaron Klein Investigative Radio" on New York’s WABC Radio.

The continuation of the story and the audio of the 14-minute interview with Mazar can be found here.

Tagged Jerusalem, Temple Mount