Todd Bolen, Author at BiblePlaces.com

The Letter and the Scroll

I received in the mail today a new book from National Geographic, The Letter and the Scroll: What Archaeology Tells Us About the Bible. I’m not mentioning it only because I am pleased that some of my photos are in a National Geographic book, but also because readers here may not be aware of it.

As you would expect with National Geographic, the book is loaded with stunning photographs.

Some that I really enjoyed as I flipped through include:

An aerial view of the excavations of Herod’s Tomb at Herodium
Father de Vaux and Lankester Harding working at the entrance of one of the Qumran caves
A locust swarm over southern Israel in 2004
An aerial photo of Nebi Samwil after a snowfall
A nice rolling stone tomb image with burial niches visible inside
An aerial view of the Broad Wall while excavations were in progress

In addition, there are many maps and beautiful aerial photographs of sites in Israel. I could do a separate post just on the dozens of photos of ancient inscriptions, some of which I’ve studied and taught, but not seen photos of previously.

I noted a few bumps along the way:

The close-up of the Hulda Gate is turned on its side (p. 156) .
The photo of Dhiban on page 179 is actually Samaria (Sebaste).
They say that the Jeroboam seal “is likely a reference to the Lion of Judah.” Probably not, since Jeroboam was a king of the north and the seal was found at Megiddo.
The Church of the Nativity is dated to the 11th century, but it actually goes back to the 6th.

I don’t have time to read through the book at present, but from a brief overview it appears to take an approach characteristic of mainstream scholars today. For example, they assume a late date for the book of Daniel. On the other hand, in connection with the 10th-century Gezer Calendar and Khirbet Qeiyafa inscriptions, they say, “Political consolidation under Kings David and Solomon may have promoted writing by providing royal support for scribes and schools” (p. 18).

The writers’ intention is “not to prove or disprove the Bible but to explore the world that gave rise to its Scripture and consider them in their historical context—an approach that can enhance one’s appreciation for the Bible both as a work of history and as a statement of faith. Reverence for Scripture can withstand careful study, as shown long ago by devout scholars like Martin Luther…” (p. 19). Based on other books written by Robin Currie, I would guess that he is a man of faith.

The scope of the book reaches from “Sumer and Akkad: Land of Abraham” to “Jerusalem: A Land Besieged” after the time of Christ. It looks like a fun and interesting book, especially when you can get it for only $26 from Amazon (or used for $9)!

Tagged Resources

Weekend Roundup

You never know what will start a riot in Israel. In this case, it was the government’s adding two historical sites to a list of 150 that should be restored. Today Israeli police forces entered the Temple Mount in order to remove 20 masked protesters who were throwing objects at tourists.

G. M. Grena notes that BAR has posted a good photograph of the Qeiyafa Ostracon.

Egypt has announced the discovery of a large red granite head of Pharaoh Amenhotep III in his mortuary temple on Luxor’s West Bank.

Tom Powers has followed up the “Under the Temple Mount” post here with some beautiful watercolors of the same areas on his blog.

If you’re looking for more reaction to Eilat Mazar’s “10th century” “wall” announced last week, take a look at this roundup by John Hobbins. I expect to post more on the matter this coming week.

Today is Purim and in honor of this festive holiday, the Israel Antiquities Authority has posted an online exhibit of “Masks, Rattles and Purim Customs.” Some images are available in high resolution here (zip).

Tagged Egypt, Jerusalem, Shephelah, Temple Mount, Weekend Roundup

Under the Temple Mount

I want to return to a recent post on the 360 degree views in Jerusalem. There are some images here that I did not notice or note carefully before, including Solomon’s Stables, the Well of the Souls, and the passageway of the Double Gate.

First, go to the Al Aqsa tour. Counting the images from the left, #6-8 show Al-Marwani Mosque, built a decade ago inside the area known traditionally as “Solomon’s Stables.” You can see the Herodian masonry in the columns.

#9 is the Well of the Souls, the cave underneath the Dome of the Rock.

#10-11 were taken inside the passageway of the “Double Gate.” If you look up you can see the beautifully carved (but now plastered over) domes from Herod’s time.

These are really extraordinary images of places that are very difficult for non-Muslims to access. The limited captions on the website do not explain what you’re seeing. Leen Ritmeyer has a nice screenshot showing the domes.

Tagged Jerusalem, Temple Mount

BiblePlaces Newsletter Move

The BiblePlaces Newsletter is being sent out today from a new server. Most subscribers were transferred directly, but about 10% will receive a confirmation email which requires that they click on the link in order to continue their subscription.

If you do not receive the newsletter by the end of the day (it sometimes takes some hours for the server to process all of them), you can do this:

Check your “Spam” or “Junk E-Mail” folder. In an effort to get rid of spam, some filters remove the wheat with the chaff. If you find it there, change your settings so that you receive the newsletter directly each time.
Verify your subscription. Go here and type in your email address. If you’re already subscribed, it will tell you. If you’re not already subscribed, you will receive a confirmation email. (If it doesn’t arrive, check your “Spam” folder.) Click the link in that email and you’ll be set.

As always, we hate spam and promise to never use your email address for any purpose other than this newsletter. And you are always free to unsubscribe at any time.

Aren Maeir Lecturing in New England

Aren Maeir, excavator of Philistine Gath, will be lecturing in New England next week. From his blog:

On Wednesday, March 3rd, I will be giving two lectures at Brandeis University. The first one, entitled: “The Archaeology of Love and Sex in the Ancient Near East” will be from 2:10 – 3:30 pm at Lown 202, as part of Prof. M. Brettler’s class “The Song of Songs”. The second one, entitled: “Canaanites, Philistines, Israelites and Crusaders: The Excavations at Tell es-Safi/Gath, Israel” will from 5:10 – 6:30 pm at Lown 2, as part of a joint lecture for the Depts. of Anthropology and of Near Eastern and Judaic Studies. On Thursday, March 4th, I’ll be presenting a lecture at the Laboratory for Engineering Man/Machine Systems at Brown University, on the excavations at Tell es-Safi/Gath. If anyone is in the area, please do feel free to come to these talks.

These sound interesting!

Tagged Lectures

Previous Publication of Mazar’s “Solomonic Wall”

A.D. Riddle has pointed me to a chapter that Eilat Mazar published a few years ago entitled “The Solomonic Wall in Jerusalem” (full bibliographic data below).

It includes a diagram similar to the one published on Hebrew U’s Facebook page yesterday. I’ve added labels in English.

Mazar’s diagram with English labels added (original here)

My impression in reading Mazar’s chapter is that yesterday’s press conference was mostly a re-statement of the conclusions of her 2006 article, which was based on her excavations in the 1980s. In short, she argues that Building C is a four-chambered inner gatehouse which may have been an entrance into a royal palace. She notes that its dimensions are “virtually identical” to those of palace Gate 1567 at Megiddo VA-IVB. With regard to date, she states that “the ceramic data were insufficient to provide a more precise determination within the terminus post quem time frame for the construction of Building C.”

She found two floors in Building D, the later of which was laid “no earlier than the 8th century.” She believes an intact black juglet was placed under a foundation stone as a “construction offering” and dates the building to the 10th century.

She concludes in part:

Based on the finds sealed below the floors of Buildings C and D, the construction of the fortification complex in the Ophel should be dated to the 10th century BCE. This date corresponds to the biblical passage announcing that King Solomon built a defensive wall around Jerusalem. There is no reason to assume that someone other than Solomon constructed or reconstructed the Ophel fortification line at some time during the 10th-9th centuries BCE.

It sounds as if Mazar has found more evidence in her recent excavation that confirms her previous conclusion that this fortification system dates to the time of Solomon. I don’t believe that her previous conclusions met with much enthusiasm from the scholarly community; we’ll see how the archaeologists evaluate her new material.

The bibliographic data for this publication is as follows:

Mazar, Eilat. 2006 “The Solomonic Wall in Jerusalem.” Pp. 775-786 in “I Will Speak the Riddles of Ancient Times”: Archaeological and Historical Studies in Honor of Amihai Mazar on the Occasion of His Sixtieth Birthday. Ed. A. Maeir and P. de Miroschedji. Winona Lake: Eisenbrauns.

This two-volume work is available from Eisenbrauns.

Tagged Analysis, Discoveries, Excavations, Jerusalem