Resources Archives - Page 51 of 136

Weekend Roundup, Part 4

A glazed ceramic head from Tel Abel Beth Maacah that dates to the 9th century BC went on display last week at the Israel Museum.

Scholars have mapped ancient Gerasa using aerial photography and airborne laser scanning.

“For the first time ever, archaeologists have been able to cast the complete figure of a horse that perished in the volcanic eruption at Pompeii.” Several horses were found in the stable, apparently unable to evacuate in time.

A newly unearthed house at Pompeii has many colorful frescoes of animals and has been dubbed the “House of Dolphins.”

A tourist was caught trying to steal some pottery and marble from a house in Pompeii.

A skeleton discovered in northern Italy may provide the second known archaeological evidence of Roman crucifixion.

The ancient Greek city of Bargylia in southeastern Turkey is now up for sale for $8.3 million.

The Levantine Ceramics Project is a crowd-sourced tool designed to make it easier for archaeologists to share information about all things ceramic.

The Getty Museum has acquired a fine, 2nd-century AD Roman marble portrait bust of a man.

A Roman mosaic stolen from Syria was seized at the Palmdale, California, residence of the accused smuggler.

“Armstrong International Cultural Foundation will host the world premiere of ‘Seals of Isaiah and King Hezekiah Discovered,’ an archaeological exhibition, from June 10 through Aug. 19.”

Scholars in Israel using radiocarbon dating for the Iron Age may have a faulty calibration curve.

“We are pleased at the University of Bologna to announce the creation of the new didactic channel in English language ‘OrientLab’ on YouTube.com, which has educational purposes for the archaeological community working in the Near East and beyond. The OrientLab videos intend to serve as a guide for beginners on specific topics.”

The “first-century fragment of Mark” that has long been rumored about has been published and dated to the second or third centuries. Though not as early as hoped, it is still likely the earliest copy of Mark’s gospel.

The video interview of Cyrus Gordon now has an indexed transcript. (I found watching the interview worth my time, and I’m grateful now to have a transcript.)

The contents of the July/August issue of Biblical Archaeology Review is online.

Here is an updated list of all the free Loeb volumes.

BibleWorks is closing.

Philip Davies, Professor Emeritus at the University of Sheffield, died on Thursday.

HT: Joseph Lauer, Agade, Ted Weis, Charles Savelle

Tagged Antiquities Trade, Discoveries, Italy, Jordan, Museums, New Exhibits, Resources, Sad News, Technology, Turkey, Weekend Roundup

New: ESV Archaeology Study Bible

I’ve been eagerly awaiting the ESV Archaeology Study Bible for several years now, as the publisher contacted me at an early stage about including some of our photos in it. Now that the project is completed, I am very pleased to see the results. I think this will be a very useful study Bible for many.

Let’s start with the numbers. In addition to the ESV Bible text, the reader gets to enjoy:

2,000+ study notes
400+ color photographs
200+ maps and diagrams
200+ sidebars
15 articles

That’s a lot. To take it on a smaller scale, I counted 15 sidebars accompanying John 1–7, including Bethany and the Place of Jesus’ Baptism, Stone Vessels and Ritual Purity, The Temple Mount, Herod’s Temple, etc.

You get a sense for the helpful background information included in the sidebars by looking at those for 1 Corinthians, including Celibacy in Antiquity, Greco-Roman Sacrifice, Roman Banquets, the Isthmian Games, Meat Markets, and House Churches.

Wherever you flip in the Bible, you find abundant explanatory information. I’m doing some work on the post-exilic period and I see these helpful articles:

Ezra: Zerubbabel’s Temple
Nehemiah: Topography of Jerusalem
Esther: Darius’s Foundation Record at Susa

I didn’t expect to see much for the Psalms, but I was very wrong—nearly every page is half-filled with study notes. I am very impressed.

Who is responsible for all of this?

John Currid was the editor for the Old Testament and David W. Chapman was the editor for the New Testament. They were helped by a couple of dozen scholars who wrote study notes and articles. Here are a few names that may be familiar to our readers:

Steven M. Ortiz: Joshua, Judges, Ruth
Lawrence T. Geraty: Ezra, Nehemiah, Esther
Boyd Seevers: Isaiah–Daniel
Paul H. Wright: Matthew–Luke
Mark Wilson: Acts, Revelation
Articles written by Barry Beitzel, Larry G. Herr, Barry Beitzel, Gerald L. Mattingly, and others

As you would expect from Crossway, the approach is generally conservative. Regarding the difficult issue of the Conquest, I think that some conservative scholars who have worked for years on this issue will be disappointed that their research was essentially ignored. It will be interesting to see what reviewers say about this.

Did I mention that there are many maps and charts? The maps are similar to the ones in the well-known ESV Bible Atlas, but of course in a study Bible like this, you get them right in the text where you need them, without the need to pull your atlas off the shelf.

Overall, I think this is a fantastic resource, and I’m very grateful that our team could contribute some of the photographs. Those who tell us that we should make our photos into a book are now going to hear this reply from me: buy the ESV Archaeology Study Bible!

Tagged Resources

Weekend Roundup, Part 2

A bust of the Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius was found in the Temple of Kom Ombo, in Aswan, Egypt.

The subway project in Thessaloniki has yielded over 300,000 artifacts and provided additional information about the city’s 2,300-year-old history.

New evidence shows that Mycenae was destroyed by violence, not by an earthquake (Haaretz premium).

“An eagle-eyed scholar has identified the shadowy outlines of passages from the Bible behind an eighth-century manuscript of the Qur’an – the only recorded palimpsest in which a Christian text has been effaced to make way for the Islamic holy text.”

Pierre Tallet will be lecturing on “The Discovery of the Oldest Papyri of Egypt in Khufu’s Harbor in Wadi el-Jarf (Red Sea)” at the Museo Egizio in Turin on April 30.

Students at Brown University reenacted the Battle of Kadesh between the Egyptians and the Hittites.

CyArk and Google Arts and Culture are partnering to create 3D models of ancient Corinth and other archaeological sites.

On sale for $0.99 for Kindle: Walking in the Footsteps of Jesus, by Wayne Stiles

The Agade list is archived by SBL, and you can find subscription information here.

The new ESV Archaeology Study Bible is a tremendous resource. I hope to post on it here shortly, but in the meantime, you can listen to an interview on The Book and the Spade with John Currid, watch a short video of Currid explaining why archaeology can’t prove the Bible (and doesn’t need to), or watch the publisher’s video introduction. You’ll find the best price for a couple more days at Westminster Bookstore (their genuine leather copy is about the same price as Amazon’s hardcopy; I have a leather copy and it’s beautiful).

HT: Ted Weis, Agade, Joseph Lauer, Mike Harney, BibleX

Tagged Discoveries, Egypt, Greece, Lectures, Resources, Weekend Roundup

Weekend Roundup, Part 2

A German-Egyptian team has discovered thousands of fragments in old Heliopolis.

Egyptian authorities have charged 70 archaeological inspectors and security officials with looting the site of Quesna.

The March 2018 edition of the Newsletter of the Egyptian Ministry of Antiquities reports the latest inaugurations, repatriated antiquities, temporary exhibitions, meetings, projects, and more.

Zahi Hawass is leading a crew of more than 100 Egyptian workers in excavating an area in the Valley of the Kings, but so far he is not revealing what he has found.

The site of Mari has suffered severe destruction as a result of the conflicts in Syria.

Carl Rasmussen shares photographs of the harbor of Troas where Paul set sail on his second missionary journey.

Mathilde Touillon-Ricci takes a look at “Trade and Contraband in Ancient Assyria.”

The lead “Jordan Codices” have been proven to be forged.

Margreet Steiner will be lecturing on April 23 at Tel Aviv University on “The Excavations at Khirbet al-Mudayna in Ancient Moab: Some Current Research Questions in Iron Age Archaeology.” The lecture will be held in the Gilman Building, Room 282 at 16:15.

Funerary portrait sculptures, created in Palmyra, Syria between the 1st and 3rd centuries AD are on display at the Getty Villa until May 2019.

Mosaics from Antioch on the Orontes were buried beneath the lawn of the Museum of Fine Arts in
St. Petersburg, Florida, several decades ago and only recently uncovered.

“A three-year renovation at the Penn Museum introduces a $5m collection of nearly 1,200 objects, many of which will be on public view for the first time.”

There is some new ancient world content in JStor.

Accordance is now hosting “April Showers of Archaeology” and they have up to 50% off on all kinds of great resources, including the American Colony Collection, Archaeology of the Land of the Bible,
Biblical Archaeology Review Archive, Bible Times PhotoMuseum, and more.

HT: Joseph Lauer, Agade, Mike Harney, Ted Weis, Keith Keyser, Steven Anderson

Tagged Antiquities Trade, Discoveries, Egypt, Excavations, Forgery, Jordan, Museums, Resources, Syria, Turkey, Weekend Roundup

Help Fund Appian Media’s New Video Series

Appian Media is preparing to film their second Bible-based video series focusing on Israel’s United Monarchy. Searching for a King will focus on the lives of Saul, David, and Solomon, and like their previous Following the Messiah series it will be available for free online.

But to make that happen, they need our support. They are nearing their goal of $120,000, but they need the last $10,000 now to close the gap. If you think that high-quality, accurate videos filmed on-site in Israel are a valuable resource for people all over the world, I encourage you to consider chipping in. Every little bit helps, and everyone benefits.

Tagged Resources

Weekend Roundup, Part 2

Archaeologists have discovered the oldest port in Iraq, a large harbor built by the Sumerians circa 2000 BC.

A US organization has kept the traditional tomb of Nahum in Iraq from collapsing.

Scholars have identified an ancient Greek medical text by Galen that was later covered by a 10th-century copy of the Psalms.

Fifteen years after 15,000 antiquities were looted from the Baghdad Museum, half of them have still not been located. Many have likely been sold on the antiquities market.

“Mapping Mesopotamian Monuments is a topographical survey of rock reliefs, historical monuments and architecture that covers all historical periods from ancient to modern.”

Touring Jordan: Ferrell Jenkins shares a photo of the Jabbok River and Leon Mauldin posts shots of Tell es-Saidiyeh (Zarethan?) and a sunset over the Dead Sea.

Apollo Magazine reports on the famous mosaics of Medeba.

In celebration of the acquisition of CDL Press, Eisenbrauns is offering a 30% discount on all volumes in the Cornell University Studies in Assyriology and Sumerology series. Use discount code CUSAS.

Clyde Billington is on The Book and the Spade this week discussing the Roman camp at Megiddo.

Aren Maeir was honored on his 60th birthday with a festschrift prepared for him by more than 100 contributors!

Professor Ephraim Stern, director of the Dor Project from 1980 to 2000, passed away Friday evening in Jerusalem.

James F. Strange has died.

HT: Agade, Charles Savelle, PaleoJudaica

Tagged Jezreel Valley, Jordan, Mesopotamia, Museums, Resources, Sad News, Tourism, Weekend Roundup