Todd Bolen, Author at BiblePlaces.com

Weekend Roundup

David Hendin describes the conclusion of a two-week season of excavating at Sepphoris with Eric and Carol Meyers.

Israel’s water crisis is over, says the former head of the Water Authority. No, it’s not, says the Authority’s spokesman. “We will be under the red line this summer in all three main reserves.”

Giovanni Pettinato, well known for his work in translating the Ebla tablets, has passed away.

John Lund, a 70-year-old tour guide from Utah, was arrested this week in Israel for selling stolen antiquities. He allegedly made $20,000 from recent sales, but only had to post bail of $7,500. (Does that make sense to anyone else?) James Davila faults the media for calling Dr. Lund an Egyptologist despite the fact that “he is a retired adjunct lecturer in areas that have nothing to do with ancient history.” He concludes that, “it has become obvious that the media could not identify an Egyptologist if one rose up from an alabaster coffin in front of them”!

A number of interesting travel pieces have been written in the last week or two:

Ferrell Jenkins has located a portion of the Roman road in the eastern Galilee near the Golani Junction.

Jenkins also points out Carl Rasmussen’s photos that reveal just how oppressive a khamsin in Jerusalem is.

Shmuel Browns describes Mount Arbel and what you can see on a hike in the area.

Joe Yudin takes his readers to the places of Gideon’s life, including his hometown of Ophrah, the Hill of Moreh, and the Spring of Harod.

Wayne Stiles continues his weekly “Sights and Insights” column with a visit to Tel Arad’s Early Bronze and Iron Age cities.

Jonathan Goldstein investigates some of the more modern attractions in Nazareth.

Tagged Galilee, Jerusalem, Negev, Weekend Roundup

Germany Agrees to Give Sphinx of Hattusa to Turkey

In February, A.D. Riddle wrote here about the Turkish government’s demands that Germany give them the Sphinx of Hattusa. Turkey threatened to revoke the German license to excavate Hattusa, the capital of the Hittites. The Germans have been excavating this site before the modern country of Turkey was even founded.

Alexander Schick has informed us of an article in the German press that reports that Germany has surrendered to Turkish demands and will be sending the Sphinx to Istanbul (rough English translation here). Schick has also sent along photographs of the artifact. (Our previous post included only photos of the replica.)

The Sphinx of Hattusa (circled in red) will be given to Turkey. The replica is on the right. Also on the right is a stela of Esarhaddon from Sam’al/Zincirli, from 671 BC.

The Germans brought the Sphinx to Berlin in 1915 to restore it. At the time Germany and the Ottoman Empire were allies as the First World War was beginning.

If I was a German archaeologist working in Turkey, I’d plan to wrap my work up very soon. Those who succeed in blackmail are not likely to change their ways.

All photos courtesy of Alexander Schick.

Tagged Museums, Turkey

Bible Exhibition in OKC

The “Passages” exhibit opened on Monday and runs through October 16 of this year. It is hosted by the Oklahoma City Museum of Art. From explorepassages.com:

Passages is a 14,000-square-foot interactive, multimedia exhibition for all ages. It features some of the most exquisite and rare biblical manuscripts, printed Bibles, and historical items in the world. These cultural treasures include a Dead Sea Scroll text, ancient biblical papyri, beautifully illuminated manuscripts, early printed materials, including a portion of the Gutenberg Bible, and multiple first editions of the English Bible through the King James Version.
Visitors are immersed in a fascinating story that spans over two thousand years, winding through Judeo-Christian history, from an ancient synagogue to a modern excavation site where new discoveries are being made. Over 300 of the world’s rarest artifacts are presented in highly thematic settings which depict significant historical periods of time that are brought to life with animatronic historical figures, creative films and many interactive activities for both the young and old.
Each guest is provided with an iPod touch, at no additional charge, so they may travel through time with expert commentary on the artifacts by some of the world’s leading scholars. There is even a children’s listening track hosted by Louie the Lion.
Special effects and surprises are found throughout the exhibit so that guests can not only get a glimpse into history but also feel as if they are part of the translation and transmission of the Bible into English.
The self directed tour ends with an original film that capsulates this amazing story, shot on location throughout the world, with special narration by Wintley Phipps.

For more information, see the official website. Tickets are $26 online. The website suggests that the exhibit will be moving to the Vatican and to New York City in the future.

HT: Jack Sasson

Tagged Museums, New Exhibits

Wednesday Roundup

The Israeli State Comptroller report released yesterday finds that the Muslim work in “Solomon’s Stables” was destructive and illegal.

It is dangerous to travel in the Middle East, but not because of war or terror. You’re much more likely to die in a car accident. The traffic fatality rate average is nearly three times that of Europe.

It is not only crazy drivers that one must fear in Israel, but rockslides. A man driving on the Tel Aviv-Jerusalem highway found his car destroyed when passing the Hemed Junction near Abu Gosh.

A new park near the Ben Gurion Airport will be three times the size of Central Park in New York City, built on top of a large garbage dump.

The largest dish of hummus was created last year in Abu Gosh (and then again surpassed in Lebanon), but honors for the largest falafel ball go to a chef in Santa Clarita, California. [What else do Abu Gosh and Santa Clarita have in common? Answer: Proximity to two campuses of one of the best educational institutions in the world.]

Israel received a lot of rainfall in April, but it’s not enough. And the water level of the Dead Sea is now 1,358 feet (424.44 m) below sea level.

Dennis Dufrene looks back at the “discovery” of Noah’s Ark by the Hong Kong group last year and concludes that “All of these issues point to the fact that the NAMI find was most certainly a hoax.”

Abu Gosh, formerly home to the largest hummus dish and near location of recent rockslide. The Jerusalem-Tel Aviv highway cuts across the photo. View from the southeast.

Tagged Jerusalem, Pseudo-Archaeology, Temple Mount, Tourism, Weather

Verenna on the Lead Codices

Over at the Bible and Interpretation, Thomas S. Verenna has written an article entitled “Artifacts and the Media: Lead Codices and the Public Portrayal of History.” This well-researched piece addresses the way news organizations failed to serve their readers in the recent “discovery” of the lead codices.

I appreciated his conclusion, which begins (emphasis added):

What this treatment illustrates, more than the deception behind the lead codices, is the hijacking of history and the Bible by the media. This isn’t a new problem; it is one that has existed for decades. Some might say this problem dates back to the Roman period, wherein historians like Tacitus and Suetonius used the Acta Diurna which, as far as other sources are concerned, was not nearly as useful except perhaps for those who preferred gossip and rhetoric to factual information. But with the internet, the media has the ability to spread memes much more quickly than it had before and those memes are likely to last longer and remain available longer than inaccuracies presented in the past. While deceptive persons might try to pull the wool over the eyes of others, it is really the media that must be held accountable. It is accountable for giving these individuals a pedestal to stand on and an audience of eager readers who have no idea they are about to be conned into believing a false portrayal of the past.
More scandalous is the complete lack of journalistic integrity, honest research, and thorough fact-checking. These codices might never have been heard of if the authors of the reports for BBC and Fox News (among others) had just checked with the academic community before publishing the “find”. At the very least, the journalists might have used less authoritative language, expressed more caution, and exposed the controversy rather than simply stating, as if doing so made it fact, that these codices were “the earliest Christian texts” and that they held “early images of Jesus.”

The full article is worth reading, as are the comments (especially #3).

Tagged Pseudo-Archaeology

Excavation Report of Omrit, 2009

The current issue of Hadashot Arkheologiyot includes a preliminary report of the 2009 excavations of Omrit. Readers here may recall that Omrit is the location of a beautiful first-century temple, not far from Caesarea Philippi in the far north of modern Israel.

The findings from the temple are described near the end of the report:

Space 5 (SP5 in Fig. 1), which corresponds to the area beneath the porch of the temple, is confined by the north, east, and south walls of the podium in Temple I and its cross wall, separating Space 4 from Space 5; it was partially excavated in 2006 and 2007 and the southeastern portion of Space 5 was investigated in 2009 (Fig. 6). Beneath several strata of dense fill associated with the construction of Temple II (late first century CE), the ashlar-built platform, partially exposed in 2007, was found to extend eastward where it abutted the door threshold of a temenos wall. The platform splays out at skewed angles from the Early Shrine’s ashlar steps. The platform was intended to connect the staircase with the doorway, but since the doorway does not fall on the long axis of the Early Shrine, the typical symmetry expected in temple and temenos design was discarded. About half way between the Shrine’s steps and the door threshold, two pedestals were built into the platform, opposite one another on the north and south sides. The pedestals were found in an excellent state of preservation with their original frescoes still intact. The pattern, a faux marble executed in ochre and red colors, has been found on some architectural blocks discovered in previous seasons. Some white plaster with a partially preserved circular lip or impression is preserved on the top surface of the south pedestal. Each pedestal probably supported a basin or statue with a circular base.

The report includes a plan of the site and five photographs.

Omrit temple from the east

Tagged Excavations, Galilee