BiblePlaces Blog - Page 237 of 556

Possible Discovery of Dalmanutha

Ken Dark recently lectured at the University of Edinburgh on the archaeology of Nazareth and the Plain of Gennesaret (Ginosar). Summaries of these lectures are available online.

While I find highly dubious his suggestion that there was “no road between Nazareth and Sepphoris”—what sort of physical evidence would you expect to find for a road from an agricultural village of a few hundred people?—I am very interested in his claim to have discovered a “very large, but previously-unrecognised, Late Hellenistic, Roman-period, and later, settlement” between Magdala and Kibbutz Ginosar. He suggests that the site may be the Dalmanutha of Mark 8:10.

“About four thousand men were present. And having sent them away, he got into the boat with his disciples and went to the region of Dalmanutha. The Pharisees came and began to question Jesus. To test him, they asked him for a sign from heaven.” (Mark 8:9–11)

Because the parallel account in Matthew 15:38–16:1 has “vicinity of Magadan,” some scholars believe that Dalmanutha was another name for Magadan/Magdala. Mendel Nun has proposed that Dalmanutha be identified with a small anchorage north of Magdala (Anchor Bible Dictionary 2:4). Dalmanutha may not be a proper name but simply the Aramaic word for harbor.

You can read the lecture summaries and see the bibliographic details at the blog of the Centre for the Study of Christian Origins.

HT: Charles Savelle

Plain of Gennesaret from Arbel, tb032507715

Plain of Gennesaret (Ginosar) from Arbel. Is this the region of Dalmanutha?
Photo from the Pictorial Library of Bible Lands

Tagged Discoveries, Galilee

New Archaeological Museum in Sidon

From the Daily Star:

Sidon is set to have its own national museum on site a leading archaeological dig, with donors and developers ready to sign a contract for its construction Monday.The museum project will be built on land owned by the Directorate General of Antiquities at the Frère site. The British Museum has been conducting excavations at the Frère site for the past 14 years, and it is considered one of the most important archaeological digs in the region.
[…]
The museum will house archaeological finds that demonstrate the contribution of various civilizations to the city of Sidon. Excavations at the site have shed light on the city’s history, and the remnants discovered date back as far as 4000 B.C., according to the head of the British Museum expedition, Claude Doumit Sarhal.
“The artifacts provide insight into historical phases of the city and highlight the importance of the Mediterranean civilizations and cities in communicating with other civilizations,” she said.
“The number of the archaeological pieces excavated reaches almost 1,000,” Doumit Sarhal said. “You can imagine what could be buried under the historical site of the whole city, and under the 22 hectares of land that constituted the ancient city-state.”

The full article provides more details. Sidon is mentioned 20 times in the Old Testament, most frequently as an object of condemnation in the prophets. In the New Testament, both Jesus and Paul visited the city (Matt 15:21; Acts 27:3).

HT: Jack Sasson

Egyptian harbor of Sidon from Castle of St. Louis
Photo from the Lebanon volume of the Pictorial Library of Bible Lands

Tagged Lebanon, Museums

Wednesday Roundup

If you want to see more of the Herod exhibit than the Israel Museum put online, you can watch a 13-minute video tour. The audio is in German, but everyone can get a feel for the displays.

A blogger on Forbes gives some of the tax history of the first four Dead Sea Scrolls.

If you have missed Chris McKinny’s recent series Secret Places, he will be back. He has been teaching an intensive course in Israel and is now supervising excavations at Tel Burna. You can follow the results there as he and others post on the day’s finds, beginning with Day 1 and Day 2.

It’s never occurred to me that the Hinnom Valley has been redeemed, but Wayne Stiles makes a case.

Luke Chandler’s blog hosts the world premiere of a new short film titled “Khirbet Qeiyafa: A Fortified City in the Kingdom of Judah.”

Some tourists are starting to return to Greece as the rioting subsides and the prices go down.

In fact, you can now book a tour of Greece with the Associates for Biblical Research. The 12-day trip in March 2014 will be led by Gordon Franz. The cost is $3199.

A Chinese tourist who left his mark on an Egyptian temple got in trouble.

Israel Today has a 2-minute video tour of Jaffa (biblical Joppa).

HT: BibleX, Alexander Schick

Corinth plain and excavations from Acrocorinth, tb050803135

Plain of Corinth from Acrocorinth
Photo from Pictorial Library of Bible Lands

Tagged Dead Sea, Egypt, Excavations, Greece, Herod's Tomb, Jerusalem, Museums, Shephelah, Tourism, Weekend Roundup

Israel’s Capital City of Samaria Neglected and Vandalized

One of the most important sites from biblical times is neglected and deteriorating today. Samaria, the third and most significant capital of the kingdom of Israel, is prey to looters and vandals, as reported in yesterday in an article by the Associated Press.

“Sebastia, the archaeological site, is abandoned without any control from 2000. It’s 13 years,” said Osama Hamdan, a Palestinian architect who has coordinated the restoration works of Crusader-era buildings with [Carla] Benelli. “A lot of destruction of cultural heritage in this area has happened.”
He said statues, vases, coins and glasses have all been taken by looters.
Weeds grow freely among the archaeological ruins, sticking out from the ancient stones. Plastic bottles and food bags are littered at the bottom of the staircase that leads to a Crusader cathedral – also site of a mosque – where the tomb of John the Baptist is said to be located in the village of Sebastia. Finely decorated stone Roman tombs in the center of the village are smashed and abandoned.
At a Byzantine church dedicated to John the Baptist, located in the Israeli-controlled part, graffiti hailing the Hamas militant group is spray-painted on a column. The Islamic expression of faith – “There is no god but God” – is written in Arabic over the entrance.

The full article is here.

HT: Charles Savelle

Roman basilica of Samaria
Photo from Samaria and the Center

Tagged Samaria, Tourism

Herod Exhibit Virtual Tour Online

The Israel Museum has created a virtual tour of the Herod the Great exhibit in which you can “walk” through the nine galleries, viewing the reconstructions, listening to audio explanations, and watching several video pieces. The gallery is loosely arranged after the journey of Herod from the place of his death in Jericho to his burial at Herodium. Herod’s relationship with Rome is featured, and Ehud Netzer is honored. A photo of the reconstruction of upper and lower Herodium is valuable.
In particular I would recommend the two (silent) videos:

Herod’s Buildings in Jerusalem provides some excellent footage from the Jerusalem model now on the grounds of the Israel museum. This video could be used effectively in the classroom.
A time-lapse video of the reconstruction of the upper story of Herod’s mausoleum reveals just how much work was involved in this museum exhibit.

The Herod exhibition has been extended to January 4, 2014.

HT: Jack Sasson

Limestone Greek inscription with drachma donation for Herod's Temple from Jerusalem, 21 BC, tb122200095

Greek inscription mentioning donation for Herod’s temple in Jerusalem, 21 BC. Now on display in the Hecht Museum, Haifa.

Tagged Herod's Tomb, Museums

Picture of the Week: Qumran Caves

(Post by Seth M. Rodriquez)

This seems to be a week where Hebrew scrolls are in the news more often than normal (see here, here, and here), so our picture of the week focuses on the Qumran caves where some of the Dead Sea Scrolls were found. If you have ever studied the Dead Sea Scrolls, you have probably heard statements such as “The Copper Scroll was found in Cave 3,” or “The Habakkuk Commentary was discovered in Cave 1,” or “Cave 11 contained 30 scrolls.” The scrolls are even labeled using the cave number as part of the reference, such as 2Q3 from Cave 2 at Qumran and 11Q19-20 which was found in Cave 11 at Qumran.

Yet with eleven caves in the area with written texts, it quickly becomes difficult to keep them all straight. Fortunately the Pictorial Library of Bible Lands is available to help walk you through the location of each cave, provide pictures of the outside of each cave (and sometimes pictures from within!), and helpful commentary on which scroll was found where. It is a great way of exploring the caves without the cost of traveling to the Dead Sea, without hiking through the blistering heat of the desert, and without any of the risks involved in climbing onto the edge of steep cliffs with loose gravel below your feet. (Thanks for doing all the legwork, Todd!)

The picture above is a prime example of the resources available in the Qumran Caves collection in Volume 4 of the PLBL (click the image to enlarge). The site of Qumran is to the right, outside of the frame. The photographer is facing west, looking at the edge of the hills of the Judean Wilderness. In the shot, you can see six out of the eleven Qumran caves: Caves 4, 6, 7, 8, 9, and 10. (Please note that the image above includes the labels from one of the PowerPoint® slides. The photograph by itself without any labels is also provided in the collection.) Much of Caves 7 through 10 have eroded away, but their positions can still be seen. Cave 4 yielded a large number of scroll fragments and is typically the one photographed in Bible dictionaries and other reference works.

The value of a shot like this becomes apparent when you are trying to give a lecture to your students on the Dead Sea Scrolls. With a picture like this, you can easily explain the arid terrain, the difficulty of reaching the caves, and their relative positions to one another. Within the collection, each cave is photographed from various angles so that you can get a feel for its size and shape.

The collection is also useful if you are planning a trip to the site. I only wish I could have had these pictures and diagrams with me the last time I visited Qumran so that I could pick out the location of each cave while standing there. The PowerPoint® notes even include instructions on how to get to some of the harder to reach caves when you are on-site (although the reader is cautioned against visiting Caves 1 and 2 because of the difficult terrain).

So whether you are preparing for a lecture on the Dead Sea Scrolls, are packing for a trip to Israel, or just want to learn more about the place where the scrolls were found, the PLBL offers a valuable guide to the Qumran caves.

This photo and over 1,500 others are available in Volume 4 of the Pictorial Library of Bible Lands and is available here for $39 with free shipping. For additional photos and information on the Qumran caves, visit this page on the BiblePlaces website.

Tagged Picture of the Week