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Weekend Roundup, Part 2

The ancient harbor of Adramyttium, mentioned on Paul’s voyage to Rome (Acts 27:2), became visible when the Aegean sea receded. Photos are posted in the Turkish article.

Recent excavations in Perga have uncovered five statues.

“Archaeologists have unearthed the foundations of the third Roman bridge in the ancient city of Jerash.”

Egypt has begun restoring the Ramesseum in Luxor.

MrBeast spent 100 hours inside the Giza pyramids, including visiting areas not open to the general public.

Mark V. Hoffman notes a temporary exhibition entitled “In the Footsteps of Paul” that is at the Archaeological Museum of Thessaloniki through April and then will be in Athens.

Mark V. Hoffman also gives an introduction to MARBLE (Modular Aggregation of Resources on the Bible), a UBS project that includes biblical texts, semantic dictionaries, images, and videos.

New release: Tel Dover (Khirbet ed-Duweir) on the Yarmuk River: The Late Bronze and Iron Age Levels, by Amir Golani and Samuel R. Wolff (Ägypten und Altes Testament 130; Zaphon; €75).

New release: Slavery and Servitude in Late Period Egypt (c. 900–330 BC), by Ella Karev (Ägypten und Altes Testament, €70)

New release: Scribes and Language Use in the Graeco-Roman World, edited by Sonja Dahlgren, Martti Leiwo, and Marja Vierros (The Finnish Society of Sciences and Letters, free pdf).

Color paintings made by Joseph Lindon Smith in an Egyptian tomb remain valuable today.

An archaeological exhibition entitled “From Sharjah to Rome via the Spice Route” is currently on display at the Colosseum in Rome.

Lawrence Schiffman is giving two lectures on the Dead Sea Scrolls at Penn State University on February 19:

  • 12:15 to 1:30 pm: “Temple City: Jerusalem and its Temple in the Urban Planning of the Dead Sea Scrolls” (register for Zoom here)
  • 6:00 to 7:30 pm: “The Dead Sea Scrolls and the History of Judaism” (register for Zoom here)

The Itinerarium, written by the anonymous Piacenza Pilgrim circa 570 and translated by Andrew S. Jacobs, is now available online.

Colleen Morgan explains how AI imagery could be used to develop fake archaeology.

Chris McKinny and Kyle Keimer discuss the best archaeological finds of 2024 on the Biblical World podcast.

HT: Agade, Gordon Franz, Arne Halbakken, Explorator, Paleojudaica

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Weekend Roundup, Part 2

Bryan Windle summarizes the top three reports in biblical archaeology in the month of January.

Turkish Archaeological News rounds up the top stories for the month of January.

Zuzana Chovanec explains how Organic Residue Analysis makes it possible to understand the use of the opium poppy in history.

The Grand Egyptian Museum will reportedly have its grand opening on July 3.

BibleTelling is planning 2 “seminars”—where the participants tell Bible stories on Bible land locations where they occurred:

New release: How to Eat: An Ancient Guide for Healthy Living, translated with commentary by Claire Bubb (Ancient Wisdom for Modern Readers, Princeton University Press, $13-$18; Amazon)

New release: The Akkadian Great Hymns and Prayers: A Critical Edition of the Nabû and Ištar Prayers and a Study of the Corpus, by Geraldina Rozzi. Free download.

Webinar on Feb 19: “The Archaeology of Psychotropic Substances in the Ancient Eastern Mediterranean and Western Asia,” by David Ilan

The World of Abraham exhibit opened recently at The Bible Seminary’s Joshua, Judges, and Jesus Museum in Katy, Texas.

Lipscomb University offers M.A. and Ph.D. degrees in biblical and ANE archaeology, with six current projects in four Middle Eastern countries.

Leon Mauldin has posted a number of photos of Amarna Tablets now in the British Museum.

Charles A. Burney died in November. He excavated in Libya, Egypt, Iran, Turkey, and with Kenyon at Jericho.

HT: Agade, Gordon Franz, Arne Halbakken, Explorator

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More Nicaean Council

(Post by A.D. Riddle)

Earlier this week, Todd drew attention to Tutku’s new tour “The 1700th Anniversary of the Council of Nicaea in 2025.” In connection to this tour, Tutku hosted an online seminar a few weeks back with the same title. The presentation was given by Glen Thompson, and moderated by Mark Wilson. I found it really interesting and informative. For those who missed it, a recording of the seminar is now ready to watch on YouTube.

If anyone wants to learn more about the Nicaean Council, the same Glen Thompson founded a website named Fourth Century Christianity. There one will find a whole host of things to explore about the council. The site contains a historical synthesis covering events leading up to the council and the council itself, primary source documents giving descriptions of the council (in both Greek and English translation), documents concerning the Arian controversy, a map of Arian’s supporters, and more.

At the beginning of this year, I made three maps to show the council’s geographical background for a class on the Nicaean Creed. It is a large PDF file (120MB) which can be downloaded here. The first map includes the entire Mediterranean and Near East, showing the furthest geographic extent of the creed’s signatories, from Cordoba in Spain to Persia (Persis). There is a black rectangle around Nicaea which corresponds to the extent of the second map. The second map shows the immediate region around Nicaea, including the Eastern capital at Nicomedia and the future capital at Constantinople. The third map zooms into the area of Anatolia, Syria, Palestine, and Egypt so that nearly all of the dots could be labeled. My work on these maps was based on an appendix in the volume edited by Young Richard Kim, The Cambridge Companion to the Council of Nicaea (2021). I wish I had known about Glen Thompson’s website at the time, because I would have instead used the list of names he has compiled. (Maybe some day I will update my map to reflect Glen’s research, today is not that day).


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Two Opportunities in Turkey This Summer

While tourism to Israel has been slow recently, many are traveling to Turkey, Greece, Egypt, and elsewhere. I’ve linked to several options in recent roundups, but Tutku Tours has a couple of special offerings this summer I wanted to highlight.

The Global Smyrna Meeting is the most in-depth dive you’ll find anywhere for the seven churches of Revelation. You will not only visit all seven churches, but you’ll enjoy lectures and on-site instruction from the best scholars in the field, including Mark Wilson, Mark Fairchild, and a host of others. This event is being held June 7 to 13 of this year.

This being the 1700th anniversary of the Council of Nicaea, Tutku is offering an extension trip, with visits to Istanbul, Nicaea, and Cappadocia. Nearly a dozen experts will give lectures as part of this tour. The dates are June 12 to 21.

You can get all the details in the Nicaea Program brochure (pdf). I’ve worked with Tutku for a number of years (as have so many educators and educational institutions around the US), and my experiences have always been the very best. I’m thankful for their service and happy to recommend them.

Tutku has a number of other tours scheduled for this year and next, including discounted trips for professors and a Jesus Tour and Conference in Israel in November. This page provides a convenient summary.

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Weekend Roundup, Part 2

“A town approximately 3,500 years old was discovered in Kom el-Negus, Egypt, located about 27 miles west of Alexandria.”

After 14 years of war, Palmyra is finally at peace, and plans are underway to rebuild.

A rare Egyptian blue ingot weighing five pounds was discovered in Nero’s grand palace in Rome.

Greece is planning to restore the Kladios Baths in ancient Olympia. The complex was first built in AD 100 and occupies 400 square meters.

Basilica B in Philippi has been partially restored.

Last year 886 artifacts were added to the inventory of the Antalya Museum.

When the Syrian government collapsed, one lone guard protected the National Museum in Damascus from looters.

The Louvre “has requested urgent help from the French government to restore and renovate its ageing exhibition halls.”

The Rijksmuseum has taken possession of an impressive ancient hoard of Roman and British coins found in 2023.

Tyndale House is hosting a one day conference on “The World of the Bible” on March 22, with sessions led by Tony Watkins, Peter Williams, and Dirk Jongkind. Streaming tickets are available.

A new version of Archibab is now online.

Leon Mauldin has posted a photo of a milestone on the Via Egnatia.

The first spotted hyena seen in Egypt in thousands of years ate two goats and was promptly killed.

Bible Land Passages has created a new video of the city of Athens and what Paul experienced when he visited. The 10-minute video includes on-site footage as well as new 3D models of the buildings on the acropolis.

The amazing Persepolis reliefs have been brought to life by artificial intelligence (30-second video).

HT: Agade, Ted Weis, Gordon Franz, Arne Halbakken, Explorator

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Weekend Roundup, Part 2

“In the ancient city of Metropolis, located in İzmir, Turkey, archaeologists uncovered approximately 2,000 fragmented bronze statues in an area believed to have been used as a junkyard in ancient times.”

A monumental structure excavated at Assos in western Turkey is not a fountain but a tomb. They also uncovered “one of the first mosaics with polygonal tesserae from the Hellenistic period found in Anatolia.”

“A new study published in the journal PLOS One has shed light on the diverse origins of the approximately 2 million pieces that make up the Alexander the Great mosaic from Pompeii.”

The National Museum of Underwater Antiquities in Piraeus, Greece, is under construction and set to open next year.

Carl Rasmussen shares a number of photos taken in the Museum of Anatolian Civilizations in Ankara, Turkey related to the Neo-Hittites at Carchemish and the bull-men and griffin demons of Carchemish.

On a double episode of Digging for Truth, Gary Byers talks about the Amarna Letters and their relationship to the Exodus and Conquest.

On the Biblical World podcast, Chris McKinny and Mark Janzen discuss the sites of Pi-Ramesses, Pithom, and Succoth.

Webinar on Feb 5: “Women’s Work in Abydos: Margaret Murray, Amice Calverley, and Myrtle Broome,” by Kathleen Sheppard

New release: Thutmose III and Hatshepsut, Pharaohs of Egypt Their Lives and Afterlives, by Aidan Dodson (AUC Press, $35)

New article: “Archaeology as Cultural Heritage in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq: Developing an Integrated Approach beyond Narratives of Catastrophe and Emergency Response” (open-access)

Researchers have reconstructed a minute-by-minute account of the eruption of Mount Vesuvius and its destruction of Pompeii. The article includes many graphics. The underlying journal article is available to subscribers.

Carl and Mary Rasmussen are leading an 18-day Bible tour of Turkey and Greece in May.

Ferrell Jenkins has posted photos of Jerusalem, the Horns of Hattin, Hazor from the air, Mount Hermon from Syria, and a sunset over the Suez Canal,

HT: Agade, Gordon Franz, Ted Weis, Arne Halbakken

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About the BiblePlaces Blog

The BiblePlaces Blog provides updates and analysis of the latest in biblical archaeology, history, and geography. Unless otherwise noted, the posts are written by Todd Bolen, PhD, Professor of Biblical Studies at The Master’s University.

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