Todd Bolen, Author at BiblePlaces.com

Weekend Roundup

The “Hall of Ages” in Jerusalem was opened recently after new techniques were developed to prevent the room from collapsing during excavation. This room is located in the Western Wall Tunnels area and gets its name because the hall was used by various people groups over the centuries.

You can now visit Pompeii with Google Street View. The idea is very impressive, though execution was (for me) slow, perhaps because of a slew of excited visitors. Here’s a direct link.

A reconstruction drawing of the Aramean siege of Gath in the 9th century is posted on the Gath Weblog.

The officials at the Megiddo prison are still planning to relocate the inmates in order to open a visitor’s center focused on the early Christian place of worship.

Tagged Italy, Jerusalem, Shephelah, Technology

IAA Work on Mary’s Gate Makes Jerusalemites Upset

From the AFP (HT: Paleojudaica):

Jordan summoned Israeli ambassador Nevo Dani on Thursday to demand a halt to “unilateral” work carried out by the Jewish state on the outer walls of Jerusalem’s Church of the Holy Sepulchre.
“The ambassador was summoned today to the foreign ministry where he was handed an official letter of protest expressing deep concerns and rejection of unilateral measures in the outer western walls of the church,” a senior official told AFP.
The Jordanian government demanded Israel “immediately halt such actions and restore the status quo,” according to the letter.
“Israel’s measures are illegal and violate international laws because Israel is the occupying force in the West Bank and east Jerusalem,” the official said.
Another Jordanian official said the Israeli authorities “have removed iron bars around a gate in the walls that has been sealed since the British mandate of Palestine (which ended in 1948) and opened the gate.”
The official, who declined to be named, said that the Israelis “claimed that they were doing renovations but nobody asked them to do anything”.
“This is unprecedented and dangerous,” the official said, noting that anything to do with the Holy Sepulchre is “very sensitive.”
[…]
“The work presently being carried out by the Israeli Antiquities Authority (IAA) on the ancient sealed door known as Mary’s Gate, which is located on Christian Quarter road in the Old City of Jerusalem, is the sole and entire initiative of the same Israeli Antiquities Authority,” it said in a statement.

If you read Middle Eastern news the way you should read Middle Eastern news, then you’re not believing everything in that article.

Here’s a photo of the gate, taken last night.

Mary’s Gate, December 4, 2009
Photo by Craig Dunning

The iron bars have indeed been removed. This has allowed the IAA to patch the gate so that it will not further deteriorate. They didn’t open the gate; they sealed it further shut.

A friend spoke with a few people and learned that:

The WAQF (Muslim authorities) is protesting out of some claim to the iron bars.
The Greeks are protesting because they weren’t consulted and status quo is in jeopardy.
The Catholics are protesting because the blocked up gate is theirs.

However, the Israel Antiquities Authority was given permission to make the repairs by a Catholic official. This official believes that since the iron gate was under the authority of the British Mandate, it now falls under the authority of the current government, Israel.

Tagged Jerusalem

Israeli Tourism Ministry to Invest $4 Million in Jerusalem

From the Jerusalem Post (see also Bridges for Peace):

The Tourism Ministry announced new plans last week to invest NIS 15 million in the development of tourism infrastructure and events in Jerusalem throughout 2010, as part of a new program to establish Israel as "the Holy Land, with Jerusalem at its center." In recent years, the ministry has invested tens of millions of shekels in the development and repair of a number of tourist sites in the capital, among them the city center, the historic Ein Kerem neighborhood and the Old City. However, the new program – and the NIS 15m. accompanying it – will go toward increasing the size and scope of similar tourism initiatives, along with infrastructure work that will allow for longer operating hours and larger crowd capacity at a number of sites in the capital, in an effort to maximize the number of tourists at each site. Additionally, the ministry plans to encourage both domestic and local tourism to Jerusalem by raising awareness of events taking place in the city. […] Additional events that have been planned to cater to a wider audience include special tours throughout the city, theater, music and art festivals, and a culinary festival that will include discounts at some of the city’s best restaurants. Activities for children are also planned, as are nighttime activities for college students. According to numbers released by the ministry, Jerusalem is the most commonly visited location for tourists coming to Israel. In 2008, 74 percent of all tourists who came to Israel visited Jerusalem, and 54% of them stayed in the capital at least one night. The average tourist’s stay in Jerusalem during 2008 was six nights, and the most-visited sites within the city were the Western Wall, the Old City’s Jewish Quarter, the Mount of Olives, the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, the Via Dolorosa, the Tower of David and the Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial.

I’m curious about the statement that the “average tourist’s stay in Jerusalem during 2008 was six nights.” I think you’d be hard pressed to find a Christian tour group that stays more than three nights. There are student groups that stay longer, and probably some Jewish groups, but I tend to doubt that six is the average. It’s also interesting that 46% of tourists apparently didn’t even spend one night in Jerusalem. I suppose that includes some European snowbirds who never leave Eilat.

Tagged Jerusalem, Tourism

Gerasa, Then and Now

“Of Jerash we may say generally, it is the best preserved of all the ruined cities east of Jordan. The ruins are weather-worn and beaten with the storms of centuries; earthquakes have shaken down many once splendid buildings, but there were no traces of the destroying hand of man” (William Ewing, Arab and Druze at Home, 1907).

Gerasa, general view of ruins from north, mat02743

Gerasa (Jerash) from north, approximately 1920 to 1933

“It is very noticeable that the ruins of Jerâsh up to the present day have been but little disturbed.

There has never been any great Moslem city in its neighbourhood, and hence its columns remain in situ or, thrown down by the earthquake, sprawling along the ground, while the stones of the Great Temple of the Sun and of the theatres are fortunate in having been, as yet, unpilfered for building material. Further, since there is in these regions no sand to drift over and veil the outlines, and the frequent drought preventing the ruins from becoming masked by vegetation, all that remains stands out, white and glaring, in noontide, having that same appearance of recent desolation which is so striking a characteristic of a freshly cleared streets of Pompeii” (Guy Le Strange, “Account of a Short Journey East of the Jordan,” Palestine Exploration Fund Quarterly Statement, 1885).

Gerasa city from south theater, tb052908616

Gerasa (Jerash) from south, May 2008

The top photo and both quotations are taken from the Lebanon, Syria, and Jordan volume of The American Colony and Eric Matson Collection (Library of Congress, LC-matpc-02743).

Tagged American Colony Photos, Jordan, Then and Now

Temple Mount Sifting Project: Support Needed

I’ve noted this project a number of times on this blog (e.g., here and here). They are making valuable contributions to our understanding of the Temple Mount and are certainly worthy of broad public support. You might consider making a contribution. You can download a form with details and address here.

The Project of Sifting the Debris from the Temple Mount

18/11/09

When we began the Temple Mount Sifting Project five years ago, we had no idea what was ahead of us. We did not understand the enormous amount of work that would be necessary to extract archaeological information from the tons of haphazardly dumped material, and we were also completely unaware of the great interest that the public would take in the project and the scores of people who would be willing to volunteer. We also did not even begin to comprehend the educational impact of our work, and that we had embarked on a lifetime project with great national significance.

We initially thought that after a couple of months of sifting the project will be over.

After eight months of work the project nearly closed down, but the Ir David Foundation adopted the project with the intention of funding it until all the debris had been sifted. We have continued to operate under their auspices for nearly five years.

Unfortunately, because of the current economic situation, we are once again faced with the potential of having to end our important work. Though the Ir David Foundation found emergency funding which enabled us to keep the project going, we have been forced to reduce our staff to a minimum, and we have not been able to implement our plans for the analysis and publication of the finds. Our plans were to establish an archaeological lab with a permanent staff that will work for two to three years on this task, hire various experts for special types of finds, and sample various sites around the slopes of Jerusalem in order to create statistical control groups to compare to the prevalent finds from the Temple Mount.

It should be emphasized that the major contribution and effect of our research will come only after proper scientific analysis of the artifacts and publication of our findings. After this process our finds will enter academic discussions and will be accordingly referenced by other scholars. Eventually this effect will also permeate into the historical scientific study, popular archaeology and history books, and tourist guides.

In the case of this particular project, where the artifacts are out of stratified context, the main archaeological innovations and understanding of the phenomena of the prevalent finds will come only after an extensive quantitative study that includes the comparison of our finds with control group samples (see more details at http://templemount.wordpress.com/page/10 ).

The Temple Mount Sifting Project is not an operation for an elite group of archaeologists. It is now the property of the entire Jewish people, including the tens of thousands of volunteers from around the world, Jews and non-Jews alike, who have helped us sift through the rubble over the years. Many times throughout history, important projects are adopted by private donors who have the privilege of making a significant difference well before the State steps in to help. The Temple Mount Sifting Project is just such an opportunity. Please take part in this effort to save the Temple Mount antiquities and help us to continue the educational programming which is having an immeasurable impact on thousands of visitors from all walks of life.

Sincerely,
Gabriel Barkay, PhD

Zachi Zweig

Temple Mount from southeast

Tagged Jerusalem, Temple Mount

Where Did Goliath’s Head Go?

Everyone knows the story of David and Goliath. Many are probably not aware, however, of what happened next. That was the subject of James Hoffmeier’s recent lecture at the Bible and Archaeology Fest. “Exploring David’s Strange Antics after Defeating Goliath” looked specifically at 1 Samuel 17:53-54.

1 Samuel 17:53-54 (ESV) “And the people of Israel came back from chasing the Philistines, and they plundered their camp. 54 And David took the head of the Philistine and brought it to Jerusalem, but he put his armor in his tent.”

If these verses are not baffling, remember that David had not yet conquered Jerusalem (he would do that after he became king, in 2 Samuel 5). The other difficulty here is the phrase, “he put his armor in his tent.” Presumably the “he” is David, “his armor” refers to Goliath’s gear, but whose tent is involved? Some think it is the tent of David (see the translation of the NIV), others think it is the home of David (“tent” being used elsewhere of one’s home), and an intriguing suggestion is that it is the tent of Yahweh (but that requires changing the text).

Hoffmeier’s lecture gave a tour of tents in the Ancient Near East, including those of Ramses II and Sennacherib. Kings Thutmose III and Sargon II are recorded as having plundered the tent of their enemies. Hoffmeier suggested that this statement indicates that David took Goliath’s tent and weapons back to Bethlehem.

As for Goliath’s head, did David store it in his refrigerator for a few years until he conquered Jerusalem? Probably not. While some scholars view this statement as an anachronistic error, Hoffmeier has identified a number of ancient scenes where conquerors carried off the heads of the defeated, tying them to their chariots or garden trees. Heads were often displayed as warnings to potential enemies. Perhaps, then, David had it in his mind to conquer the Jebusite stronghold already as a youth, and he took Goliath’s head to serve notice to Jerusalem that they were next.

Ashurbanipal after capture of Babylon, tb112004733ddd

Assyrian relief depicting Ashurbanipal’s army after capture of Babylon, c. 650 BC. Relief now in British Museum. Notice the pile of heads in the upper center. This same king put a hook in Manasseh’s nose and hauled him off to Babylon (2 Chr 33).

I found Hoffmeier’s lecture enjoyable and his ideas provocative. This is a difficult problem, and I find his solution preferable to the alternatives. My comments here are an unofficial record (I may have made a mistake in my note-taking), but you can read some of his findings in his article, “The
Aftermath of David’s Triumph over Goliath,” in Archaeology in the Biblical World, Spring 1991, pp. 18-23.

Hoffmeier is, of course, best known for his work in Egypt, and he has written a couple of excellent books on the subject of historical and archaeological evidence for the Israelites in Egypt:

One on his works on my shelf that I have not yet had time to read is The Archaeology of the Bible, published in 2008.

Tagged Jerusalem, Lectures, Shephelah