Todd Bolen, Author at BiblePlaces.com

Book Deal Today: Ancient Place Names (Elitzur)

Eisenbrauns’ Deal of the Day is:

Ancient Place Names in the Holy Land: Preservation and History, by Yoel Elitzur (2004). List Price: $65; Today: $26 (60% off)

The book description begins:

That many ancient toponyms in the Holy Land have survived for thousands of years, right up to modern times, is a remarkable and unique phenomenon, unparalleled in neighboring countries, such as Egypt, Mesopotamia, or Asia Minor. Preserved toponymy provides a basis for research in the historical geography of the country and is also of major importance for studies in the history of Hebrew and Aramaic, being a kind of ancient “recording” of an archaic linguistic inventory. In addition, it has many implications for a wide variety of other scholarly fields, such as Bible studies, Rabbinics, Qumran and Samaritan studies, early Christianity, Arabic and Islam. This reserve of preserved place-names is therefore frequently consulted and used by scholars for their purposes.

Tagged Resources

Ezekiel’s Tomb Renovation

The traditional tomb of Ezekiel is being renovated by the Iraqi government. From the Jerusalem Post:

The Iraqi government has launched a project to renovate the interior of the prophet Ezekiel’s shrine in the small town of Kifl, south of Baghdad, and the country’s Ministry for Tourism and Antiquities says it hopes to eventually repair and renovate other Jewish sites across the country.
“The ministry is concerned with all Iraqi heritage, whether it is Christian or Jewish or from any other religion,” ministry spokesman Abdelzahra al-Talaqani told AFP. “The present plans do not include the synagogues in Baghdad, Basra, Mosul, Fallujah and other places because of lack of funding, but I think they will be included in future plans.”
Iraqi Jewry was once one of the largest and most prominent Jewish communities in the Middle East.
But after Israel’s establishment, more than 120,000 Iraqi Jews moved to Israel in the 1950s in a clandestine operation dubbed Operation Ezra and Nehemiah amid an outbreak of anti-Jewish violence.
Outside the shrine of the prophet – who followed Jews into the Babylonian exile in the sixth century BC – is a 14th-century brick minaret, while the inside is shaped like a synagogue, with old wooden arks that used to contain Torah scrolls and the remains of a Mehitza – a separation for men and women….
The tombs of the prophets Daniel, Ezra, Nahum and Jonah are also purported to be located in Iraq.

You can add this to your list of sites to visit on your next trip.

Traditional tomb of Ezekiel, exterior, 1932
Photo: Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division, LC-DIG-matpc-13265

Ezekiel's Tomb interior, Kifel, Iraq, mat13271

Traditional tomb of Ezekiel, interior, 1932
Photo: Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division, LC-DIG-matpc-13271

Tagged Tourism

Roman Tombs Found in Bethlehem

Construction work in Bethlehem this weekend revealed a Roman tomb. From Maan News:

Roman-era catacombs were unearthed in Bethlehem Saturday during construction in an empty lot beside Bethlehem University.
The small underground cave system opens facing north, and held four stone coffins with engravings on each, housed in two separate dug out burial areas.
Head of Antiquates [sic] department in Jericho Wael Hamamrah estimated the artifacts, complete with skeletal remains and some pottery are between 1,800 and 1,900 years old.
Construction workers preparing to lay pipe in the yard called Palestinian tourism and antiquates police when they went to investigate the sudden collapse of earth in an area they had been digging in that morning.

The full story and six enlargeable photos are here.

HT: Joe Lauer

Tagged Discoveries, Judah

Website and Video: Pope’s Visit to Israel

If you’re interested in the visit of the Catholic Pope to Israel next month, the Israel Ministry of Tourism has established a website: Holyland Pilgrimage: A Bridge for Peace. Questions of just how interested in peace the pope is have been raised following reports of his plans to meet with a terrorist-supporting mayor in Galilee.

The ministry has also created a 5-minute video in preparation for the visit. The video features stunning aerial photography of numerous sites in Israel and is worth watching even if the pilgrimage doesn’t get you excited.

Tagged Galilee, Jerusalem, Tourism

Aren Maeir Lectures in Texas

Aren Maeir is lecturing several times this week in Texas:

Tues, 4/21 evening: Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary

Wed, 4/22 noon: Baylor University

Thurs, 4/23 7pm: Houston Graduate School of Theology

For more details, contact the institutions.

Tagged Lectures

Survey of Western Palestine

In this month’s BiblePlaces Newsletter, I commented on the tremendous value of the Survey of Western Palestine (published in the 1880s). Unfortunately these dozen (or so) volumes are very expensive in reprint form (about $6,000), and it is almost impossible to find the originals for sale. In about a decade of active searching, I think I’ve only seen it for sale once. But this week, another copy popped up. You’ll have to travel to the Netherlands or pay a good bit for shipping, but it’s currently for sale for about $7,000. That includes the 26 sheets of the map, which itself costs about half of that (when it is available).

Many of the volumes are now available for free online in pdf format:

An Introduction to the Survey of Western Palestine: Its Waterways, Plains, & Highlands (1881), by T. Saunders (pdf)

The Survey of Western Palestine: Memoirs of the Topography, Orography, Hydrography, and
Archaeology: Galilee (Volume 1) (1881), by C. R. Conder and H. H. Kitchener (pdf)

The Survey of Western Palestine: Memoirs of the Topography, Orography, Hydrography, and
Archaeology: Samaria (Volume 2) (1882), by C. R. Conder and H. H. Kitchener (pdf)

The Survey of Western Palestine: Memoirs of the Topography, Orography, Hydrography, and
Archaeology: Judea (Volume 3) (1883), by C. R. Conder and H. H. Kitchener (pdf)

The Survey of Western Palestine: Jerusalem (1884), by C. Warren and C. R. Conder (pdf)

The Survey of Western Palestine: The Fauna and Flora of Palestine (1885), by H. B. Tristram (pdf).

The Survey of Western Palestine: Arabic and English Name Lists Collected during the Survey
(1881), by E. H. Palmer (pdf)

Not Presently Available:

Special Papers on Topography, Archaeology, Manners and Customs, etc. (1881), by C. Wilson, C.
Warren, C. R. Conder, et al.

The Survey of Western Palestine: Memoir on the Physical Geology and Geography of Arabia Petraea
(1886), by E. H. Hull

Survey of Eastern Palestine: Topography, Orography, Hydrography and Archaeology: The Adwan
Country (1889), by C. R. Conder

Available from BiblePlaces.com:

A General Index to The Memoirs, Vols. 1-3; The Special Papers; The Jerusalem Volume; The Flora
and Fauna of Palestine; The Geological Survey; and to the Arabic and English Names List (info, pdf)

Map of Western Palestine in 26 Sheets from Surveys Conducted for the Committee of the Palestine
Exploration Fund, by C. R. Conder and H. H. Kitchener (1880). The CD edition also includes the
map from the Survey of Eastern Palestine (info, order)

Forthcoming from BiblePlaces.com:

Excavations at Jerusalem 1867-70 (50 Plates), by C. Warren.

Tagged Resources