BiblePlaces Blog - Page 517 of 554

The Sacred Abridgement

One of my favorite books on my favorite subject is The Sacred Bridge: Carta’s Atlas of the Biblical World. I’ve hoped to do a short review of it here, but I haven’t had the necessary time yet. I used the book last semester as a required text for a course I taught, but the problem with it is the cost. $100 may be standard for a chemistry textbook, but it’s hard on Christian college students who are used to paying much less. Thus the announcement of a shorter and cheaper version is welcome:

Carta’s New Century Handbook and Atlas of the Bible: Abridgement of The Sacred Bridge
by Anson F. Rainey and R. Steven Notley

Carta, Jerusalem, Forthcoming, November 2007

280 pages + full color illustrations and maps, English

Cloth, 9 x 12 inches

Your Price: $50.00

In some cases, shorter is better and I think this will be one. For most students, The Sacred Bridge is really over their heads. It’s sometimes over my head, and rarely is too basic for me. Thus I am guessing that most students will find the abridged version sufficient for their needs.

Just to be clear, there are many things in this book that I disagree with. If you’re looking for something more conservative, try the NIV Atlas of the Bible, by Carl Rasmussen or the Moody Atlas of Bible Lands, by Barry Beitzel. But the advanced version is The Sacred Bridge or its abridgement.

UPDATE (8/8): Not everyone reads the comments, so I’ll just note that the chairman of Carta has commented below that they are nearing publication of a new atlas by Paul H. Wright, In His Image: Carta’s Atlas of Biblical Geography. Wright is the director of the Jerusalem University College.

Tagged Resources

Audio Tours of Jerusalem

JerusaleMP3.com has some audio and video tours of the city. They seem to be about 4 minutes in length (contrary to one place that suggested 2-4 hours). You have to register on the site first with an email address, and it doesn’t seem to work with the Firefox browser. But there seems to be some interesting and informative tours here for those who want to know more about the Holy City. Tour-man.com seems to be the producer of these resources, though the site is connected to the Municipality of Jerusalem.

Tagged Jerusalem

The Tomb of King David

A few nights ago I was reading Hershel Shanks’ case (not online) for David’s tomb being the rock-hewn shafts excavated by Raymond Weill. I think he’s wrong, but I think he has presented the best case that can be made. And he can’t be far off geographically.

The traditional tomb of David is far off geographically, but it is the subject of a recent article that argues that it is authentic. Most who hold to the Mount Zion location being accurate are ultra-Orthodox Jews who follow tradition without regard for the evidence. This article, however, tries to make an intelligent case. It fails, but if I was teaching Jerusalem archaeology now, I’d require my students to critique it as a useful exercise in thinking about what we know and don’t know about ancient Jerusalem. I’m not going to comment on it myself, but if someone else takes up the challenge (and does a worthy job), I’ll either link to it or post it here.

UPDATE (8/6): Joe Lauer has mentioned below a previous article in the same publication on the tomb of David. This article, by Ari Zivotofsky, is worth reading for any who want to know more about the subject.

The traditional tomb of David on Mount Zion

Tagged Jerusalem

King Tut and His Home

If you’re in the Philadelphia area, there are two exhibits of interest now going on related to Pharaoh Tutankhamun.

Treasures from the tomb of Pharaoh Tutankhamun are currently holding court at Philadelphia’s Franklin Institute Science Museum. That blockbuster exhibition brings to life an intriguing story from the golden age of ancient Egypt. Meanwhile, another part of the story — equally compelling — unfolds at the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, also in Philadelphia. “Amarna: Ancient Egypt’s Place in the Sun,” a low-key companion exhibit, illuminates the story of Tut’s boyhood home and ancestors. Amarna is the modern name for a lost city originally known as Akhetaten. It’s where Tut was born and grew up some 3,300 years ago during the New Kingdom. The city rose and fell like a meteor in the desert in little more than a generation, circa 1353 to 1336 B.C. This was near the end of the 18th dynasty of the pharaohs, a pinnacle of power and culture in Egypt.

You can read the full story at APP.com.

Temple Mount Destruction, Part 73

This isn’t the first time and it won’t be the last time that Muslims conduct an illegal excavation on the Temple Mount. If they do it enough, one supposes that it’ll cease to be news and people may stop caring. And if they do it enough and destroy enough ancient material, maybe they can get the facts to align with their theory–there never was a Jewish Temple on the Temple Mount. In any case, if you want to see pictures and read more about the story, I’d start with this Arutz-7 report. I’m surprised the authorities weren’t more vigilant about not allowing photographs. For more on the protests by Israeli archaeologists, see this JPost story. Or read the JPost editorial.

UPDATE: Leen Ritmeyer has written a little about this, and includes diagrams and a video.

Tagged Temple Mount

Museum at Masada

Several months ago a new museum opened at the foot of Masada. I won’t repeat the details about the museum that you can read in the Haaretz, JPost, and goisrael articles, but I’ll just add a personal comment from my recent visit: I found the displays to be beautifully presented, mentally stimulating, and historically accurate. Entrance requires a handheld audio guide, which costs about 20 NIS ($5), and no photos are allowed. The audio guide is more of a gimmick, as the text of the audio (and much more) is written on the displays. Overall, I recommend a visit to the museum, especially to those who are making a second visit to the site.
UPDATE (8/10): The Jerusalem Post has just posted a lengthy article about the museum.

Tagged New Exhibits