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Terrorism in Ancient Theater

A gunman opened fire in the Roman theater of Amman, Jordan on Monday, killing one and wounding six other tourists. Attacks on tourists in moderate Arab nations are usually motivated by a desire to hurt the government and economy by scaring tourists away. A similar episode, but larger in scale, was the terrorist take-over of the Temple of Hatshepsut in Luxor, Egypt in 1997.

Amman was the capital of the biblical Ammonites and was known as Rabbath-Ammon. The Bible describes David’s capture of the city during the time of his sin with Bathsheba (2 Sam 11:16-17). Uriah was killed when he came too close to the walls. By the New Testament period, the site was known as Philadelphia, and it was a large and impressive city of the Decapolis.

Roman theater in Amman

Photos of Lebanese Archaeological Sites After the War

According to National Geographic, there was little or no damage to Lebanese antiquities from the recent war with Israel. The NG photo gallery gives 6 photos of sites including Baalbek, Tyre, Sidon, and Byblos, with some explanation about their historical significance and the lack of damage to the archaeological remains. For more photographs of these sites from a long time ago, see Baalbek, Beirut, Sidon, Tripoli, and Tyre at our sister site, LifeintheHolyLand.com.

Tyre in the 1890s

More Talk on the Dead Sea Canal

You could be forgiven for thinking that a new problem has been discovered and a rapid response is underway from the Sunday Times article, “Race is on to save the Dead Sea.” In fact, a Red Sea-Dead Sea aqueduct has been considered by Israel and Jordan for at least a decade. Whether or not the current discussions are more serious is difficult to know. The article notes that the flow of the Jordan River into the Dead Sea is 7% of what it was before the countries began diverting its flow. The declining level (cited at 1 meter/3 feet per year) is certainly causing problems with sinkholes and unstable terrain.

The article suggests that Jordan is most interested in the project because the bulk of it would be done on their side, with outside financing. Despite the hopes that a joint Arab-Israeli project would increase peace prospects, the way that this project stands the best chance of succeeding is if it is largely constructed by one country or the other.

Dead Sea: the shoreline just keeps getting farther and farther away.

Tagged Dead Sea

Tiberias Theater to Be Excavated

The Israeli government is planning on investing $5 million in the development of an archaeological park in Tiberias. Excavations have been ongoing in the city under the direction of Yizhar Hirschfeld, and the new funding will go towards the excavation of the Roman theater, according to a note in Haaretz.

The theater was discovered in 1990 and was a surprise to archaeologists because no ancient sources mention the building. Tiberias was founded by Herod Antipas in 19 A.D., and scholars believe the theater was built in the 2nd or 3rd centuries and remained in use through the Byzantine period. The theater is located at the foot of Mount Berenice and has an estimated seating capacity of 5,000.

Last year Hirschfeld published a handbook about Tiberias, which pulls all of the sources about the city together into a single, easy-to-read work: Roman, Byzantine, and Early Muslim Tiberias: A Handbook of Primary Sources. The book is available for $20 from the excavator or from Amazon for double the cost. Proceeds from sales go to the archaeological excavation.

Visible remains of Tiberias theater

Katyusha Tours

Israelis are now signing up for the latest in domestic travel: tours of the battle spots of the recent war with Lebanon. From the Jerusalem Post:

Beginning at Moshav Avivim, the scene of bloody fights between IDF special forces and crack Hizbullah squads, the tour winds through the hills of the Upper Galilee, stopping to view UNIFIL posts, overlook key Lebanese villages such as Maoun a-Ras, and view the damage caused by Katyusha rockets to both forests and houses. At Kibbutz Kfar Giladi, tours visit the improvised memorial at the place where 15 reservists were killed when a rocket hit the parking lot in which they were standing….Since the end of the war, tourists have paid NIS 100 per vehicle to participate in the tours, and while Alon is certain that the excitement will drop off, more tourists keep coming. Alon said the desire to see the sites connected with the war is natural. “It is one thing to see things on television, or on radio, and another thing to see it,” he said.

View into Lebanon from Israel’s border, before the 2006 war

Tagged Travels

Next Time in Israel, Skip the Bus and Take a Bike

Some good news for the hundreds of thousands of cyclists in Israel:

A new bike trail will allow bicyclists to ride across the Jewish State. The first 30 km (18 miles) will be opened during the holiday of Sukkot, six weeks from now….

The preliminary trail will be a circular route from the Ben Shemen Forest, near Modiin, to Nachal Sorek – the area where the villainess Delila, of the Book of Judges, lived.

The second stage of construction will create a circular route between the Elyakim interchange, near Haifa, and the Beit Kama Junction, near Sderot and former Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s HaShikmim Ranch.

Source: Arutz-7