BiblePlaces Blog - Page 193 of 555

Rooms of Emperor Augustus Now Open to Public

At the time when Jesus was born in Bethlehem, Emperor Augustus was enjoying a luxurious life on the Palatine Hill in Rome. Restorations of some of his rooms have been completed and are now being opened to the public. From ArtDaily:

Lavishly frescoed rooms in the houses of the Roman Emperor Augustus and his wife Livia are opening for the first time to the public Thursday, after years of painstaking restoration.
The houses on Rome’s Palatine hill where the emperor lived with his family are re-opening after a 2.5 million euro ($3.22 million) restoration to mark the 2,000 anniversary of Augustus’s death — with previously off-limit chambers on show for the first time.
From garlands of flowers on Pompeian red backgrounds to majestic temples and scenes of rural bliss, the rooms are adorned with vividly coloured frescoes, many in an exceptional condition.
[…]
The complex was intended to symbolise not only his power but that of his wife and advisor Livia, who is said to have wielded great influence over him and went on to play an important role in Roman politics after his death.
“Looking at the houses, the buildings he had built, we understand he was a man of power, of great strength, who knew what went into making a political man at the head of such a big empire,” Conti said.
The frescoes in Livia’s house in particular are one of the most important examples of the period’s style, according to Barbera.

The full story is here.

HT: Ted Weis

Palatine Hill from northeast, tb012001701

Palatine Hill in Rome

Tagged Italy, Tourism

Weekend Roundup

Joseph Patrich and Benny Arubas offer four reasons against identifying the mausoleum discovered at the Herodium with the tomb of Herod. Unfortunately, they do not suggest an alternative identification.

Some IAA photos of the Byzantine monastery uncovered near Beth Shemesh are available for download. [link has expired]

The oldest known Jewish prayer book just went on display at the Bible Lands Museum in Jerusalem.

3 Sea of Galilee Sites You’ll Pass But May Not See. Before you click, see if you can guess the three.

Ferrell Jenkins looks at two outstanding architectural remains in the Pergamum Museum in Berlin: the Miletus Market Gate and the Altar of Zeus.

Leon Mauldin has two illustrated posts about the two Temple boundary inscriptions: the complete one on display in Istanbul and the fragment in the Israel Museum.

The Baptist Press runs a story on the Bronze Age water system of Gezer.

Wheaton’s Archaeology Lecture Series 2014-2015 has two lectures remaining.

An electronic edition of supplementary volume of The New Encyclopedia of Archaeological
Excavations in the Holy Land is now available to all members of the BAS Library.

Subscriptions are now available to the Loeb Classical Library, but the prices aren’t cheap and you must inquire by email.

In stock on Monday: the first volume of the Dictionary of Daily Life in Biblical and Post-Biblical Antiquity, edited by Edwin M. Yamauchi and Marvin R. Wilson ($20).

HT: Joseph Lauer

Byzantine monastery near Beth Shemesh
Photo by Griffin Aerial Photography Company, courtesy of the Israel Antiquities Authority.

Tagged Galilee, Herod's Tomb, Jerusalem, Judah, Lectures, Museums, Resources, Shephelah, Tourism, Weekend Roundup

Byzantine Monastery Unearthed Near Beth Shemesh

In construction work south of the Israeli city of Beit Shemesh, archaeologists recently discovered a large monastery dating from the Byzantine period. From the Jerusalem Post:

According to a joint statement issued by the excavation’s co-directors, Irene Zilberbod and Tehila Libman, an archaeological survey conducted along the hills south of Beit Shemesh brought the findings to light several weeks ago. “Blocked cisterns, a cave opening and the tops of several walls were visible on the surface,” the archeologists said. “These clues to the world hidden underground resulted in an extensive archaeological excavation there that exposed prosperous life dating to the Byzantine period, which was previously unknown.” Zilberbod and Libman said the compound is surrounded by an outer wall and is divided on the inside into two regions, including an industrial area and an activity and residential area. Additionally, an “unusually large press in a rare state of preservation that was used to produce olive oil was exposed in the industrial area, as well as a large winepress revealed outside the built compound consisted of two treading floors from which the grape must flowed to a large collecting vat.” Despite not finding a church or inscription of any kind indicating religious worship, the excavation’s co-directors said they still believe the site served as a monastery. “It is true we did not find a church at the site… or any other unequivocal evidence of religious worship; nevertheless, the impressive construction, the dating to the Byzantine period, the magnificent mosaic floors, window and roof tile artifacts, as well as the agricultural-industrial installations inside the dwelling compound, are all known to us from numerous other contemporary monasteries,” they said. Based on that criterion, the archeologists noted it is possible to reconstruct a scenario in which monks resided in a monastery that they established, made their living from the agricultural installations, and dwelled in the rooms and carried out their religious activities.

The full story is here. The IAA press release is here.

Tagged Discoveries, Shephelah

The Value of Biblical Archaeology

What is the value of archaeology to a Bible reader? Gary D. Myers provides his perspective in a Baptist Press article.

This leads some to ask why biblical archaeology is important to Christians. For me, an archaeologist-in-training with only four digs under his belt, the answer is context and a love for Scripture. I think the same can be said for travel in the Bible lands. Archaeology and Bible lands travel create a framework for more informed, thoughtful study of the Bible. For me, there are great reasons for evangelical Christians to keep digging. As a child attending First Baptist Church in Calvin, Okla., my image of the Holy Land looked like eastern Oklahoma, filled with rolling hills and oak trees. As I read the Bible, I pictured what was familiar to me. The Jordan River looked like the South Canadian River. I imagined David picking up smooth stones from a brook similar to Sandy Creek near my home. Later, as I saw photographs of biblical places and terrain, my contextual understanding grew. Then in 2005, I took my first trip to Israel. I expected the trip to be a spiritual mountaintop experience and it was in some ways. But, as I visited the places where Jesus walked, the Old Testament cities and Jerusalem, it was the lay of the land and the ruins that made an impression on me. It was real to me in a new way. Travel like this creates a framework for study of the Bible. Archaeology exposes ancient ruins and provides clues to the way people lived so we can better understand the cultures and people mentioned in the text.

The article continues here. Gezer water system
Photo from the Pictorial Library of Bible Lands

Tagged Shephelah, Tourism

Crescent-Shaped Stone Structure Studied in Galilee

A site in the Galilean hills that formed the basis for a master’s thesis is the subject of an article published by Live Science.

A lunar-crescent-shaped stone monument that dates back around 5,000 years has been identified in Israel.
Located about 8 miles (13 kilometers) northwest of the Sea of Galilee, the structure is massive — its volume is about 14,000 cubic meters (almost 500,000 cubic feet) and it has a length of about 150 meters (492 feet), making it longer than an American football field. Pottery excavated at the structure indicates the monument dates to between 3050 B.C. and 2650 B.C., meaning it is likely older than the pyramids of Egypt. It was also built before much of Stonehenge was constructed.
Archaeologists previously thought the structure was part of a city wall, but recent work carried out by Ido Wachtel, a doctoral student at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, indicates there is no city beside it and that the structure is a standing monument.
“The proposed interpretation for the site is that it constituted a prominent landmark in its natural landscape, serving to mark possession and to assert authority and rights over natural resources by a local rural or pastoral population,” Wachtel wrote in the summary of a presentation given recently at the International Congress on the Archaeology of the Ancient Near East.

The story continues with more details of the site and its purpose, but I wouldn’t put too much stock in the interpretations offered. We just know too little about the region in this time period. The Times of Israel includes a map of the area.

Map of the area of Rujm en-Nabi Shueib
From Google Earth; click for enlarged view

Tagged Galilee

Free Book: Tell Abu al-Kharaz in the Jordan Valley

The Iron Age volume by Peter M. Fischer is available for free download at Open Access. Tell Abu al-Kharaz was identified as Jabesh Gilead by Nelson Glueck and is located about 7 miles southeast of Tel Rehov (near Beth Shean) and 2 miles east of the Jordan River. The table on page 516 shows a complete chronological history of the site, including continuous occupation through the Iron Age with destructions in approximately 1050, 930, 850, 800, 770, and 732 BC.

The book’s abstract seems to begin with an error:

Tell city of Abu al-Kharaz is situated in the central Transjordanian Jordan Valley and excavated by the author from 1989 to 2012. The town flourished in the Early Bronze Age, and after an occupational lacuna of more than thousand years the site was re-occupied in the second half of the Middle Bronze Age and remained permanently occupied until the end of the Iron Age. The new volume is No. III in a series of three (The Early Bronze Age Vol. I, published by the Austrian Academy of Sciences Press in 2008, and the Middle and Late Bronze Ages Vol. II, in 2006).

The table of contents:
Preface 9
Chapter 1 Introduction and Vade Mecum 13
Chapter 2 Stratigraphy, Architecture and Finds 31
Chapter 3 The Pottery: Typo-Chronological Conclusions 389
Chapter 4 Radiocarbon Dating 457

I. Radiocarbon Dates from Tell Abu al-Kharaz by E.M. Wild and P.M. Fischer 457
II. Reflections on the Radiocarbon Dates from Pella by P.M. Fischer 461

Chapter 5 Discussion and Conclusions 465

I. The People and their Land: Environment, Subsistence, Settlement and Ethnicity 465
II. Written Sources, Administration and Politics 481
III. Economy, Exchange of Goods and Communication Routes 482
IV. Architectural Features and Installations 483
V. Chronology 501
- A. Relative chronology 501
  - 1. Local chronology 501
  - 2. Regional synchronization by P.M. Fischer and T. Bürge 501
  - 3. Interregional synchronization 512
- B. Absolute chronology and chronological conclusions 515

Appendices

Appendix 1 Figurines 517
Appendix 2 The Sphinx Handle 531
Appendix 3 Cosmetic Palettes of Stone 535
Appendix 4 Notes on the Glyptic Material and Ostraka 539

Bibliography 545

The report is pretty technical, but if you’ve ever wanted to see what the end result of an excavation is, this is an easy way to do so. One of my assignments for an introductory archaeology class is to spend an hour just browsing a final excavation report. You can learn a lot from the experience.

Fischer favors his site as ancient Jabesh Gilead over the more commonly proposed Tell al-Maqlub, and he gives some reasons on pages 481-82. The author’s general aversion to biblical connections is apparent from the fact that the 572-page work never mentions Jeroboam, Ahab, Hazael, Jehu, Ben-Hadad, Jehoash, or even Tiglath-pileser III.

The volume is available in print from Amazon for $165. The author’s website has more photos and information, though it is not up-to-date.

HT: Agade

Tagged Jordan, Jordan Rift, Resources