Turkey Archives - Page 2 of 58

Weekend Roundup, Part 2

Philippe Bohström provides a primer on the Nuzi Tablets and their parallels to the Bible.

The painting on an ancient Egyptian sarcophagus lid depicts 12 high priestess each representing an hour of the day surrounding a woman who looks uncannily like Marge Simpson.

“An amateur brewer in Utah gathered rare figs and a strain of yeast from 850 B.C. to make a sour, fruity concoction inspired by ancient Egyptian recipes.”

Bryan Windle has written an illustrated archaeological biography for the Assyrian king Esarhaddon.

In a new book, Courtney Friesen looks at the relationship of Christians and Jews to the ancient theater.

Some former students and colleagues have written obituaries for Alan Millard.

Gabriel Barkay celebrated his 80th birthday yesterday. Many friends and colleagues honored him with a festschrift entitled Gabriel: Tell This Man the Meaning of His Vision: Studies in Archaeology, Epigraphy, Iconography and the Biblical World in Honor of Gabriel Barkay on the Occasion of His 80th Birthday. Robert Deutsch has posted one of the articles, including the book’s table of contents, on his Academia page.

Carl Rasmussen is leading a tour in October to all the important places in Turkey most tours don’t go to, and at a very reasonable price. I’d like to be on this one…

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

Tagged Egypt, Greece, Syria, Tourism, Turkey, Weekend Roundup

Weekend Roundup, Part 2

“A new room with painted blue walls, a very rare colour in Pompeian spaces, has emerged in Pompeii during recent excavations in the central area of the ancient city.”

A new study considers how an expansion in the floodplain near Luxor around 2000 BC affected Egyptian history.

Erica Scarpa has written a very helpful primer of the Ebla archives.

Hybrid lecture on June 11: “Political Ecology of the Levant during the Iron Age,” by Canan Çakirlar

Zoom lecture on June 19: “The Trojan War: The Epic in Art,” by Renee Gondek ($10)

A free “study day” at the British Museum on July 20 will feature a number of speakers addressing various aspects of the library of Ashurbanipal.

“A collection of exceptional sculptures from Egypt’s 26th Dynasty (664–526 BCE) is currently on view at the Getty Villa of the J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles.”

Jews are much less interested in the location of Mount Sinai than Christians.

Carl Rasmussen shares his experience and some photos of local Turkish cuisine.

HT: Agade, Gordon Franz, Wayne Stiles, Arne Halbakken

Tagged Discoveries, Egypt, Italy, Lectures, Syria, Turkey, Weekend Roundup

Weekend Roundup, Part 2

Scientists believe they have found evidence of treatment for brain cancer in an skull found in Egypt.

A 14-minute video explains why the ancient Egyptians were obsessed with cats.

New release: Archaeology and Geology of Ancient Egyptian Stones, by James A. Harrell (Archaeopress, £16-125)

New release: Five New Kingdom Tombs at Saqqara, by Maarten J. Raven (442 pages, €20-150; free to read online)

The NY Times has posted an obituary for Egyptologist Barry Kemp.

Dura Europos and its sister city are the subject of the latest episode of This Week in the Ancient Near East podcast.

Ancient Anatolia Day will be celebrated online and in person at Wolfson College, Oxford, on June 17.

A temple of the emperors (Sebasteion) has been uncovered in the agora of Nicopolis.

Archaeologists working at Pompeii have found charcoal drawings of gladiators apparently made by children watching the contests in the city’s amphitheater.

New release: The Village in Antiquity and the Rise of Early Christianity, edited by Alan Cadwallader, James R. Harrison, Angela Standhartinger, L. L. Welborn (T & T Clark, $140). The book covers Israel, Galilee, Egypt, Galatia, Lycus Valley, Ephesus region, Corinth region, and more.

Peter Herdrich writes about the challenges, opportunities, and best practices of digitizing cultural heritage.

HT: Agade, Frank McCraw, Gordon Franz, Gordon Dickson, Arne Halbakken, Ted Weis, Keith Keyser

Tagged Egypt, Greece, Italy, Mesopotamia, Resources, Turkey, Weekend Roundup

Weekend Roundup

“Excavations at a Byzantine-era church in the northern Negev desert have revealed 1,500-year-old wall etchings of ships, likely left by Christian pilgrims who had arrived by sea to the Holy Land.”

The Times of Israel has a follow-up article on the major carbon-14 study of Jerusalem that was recently published.

John Drummond pulls together the archaeological evidence for the reign of Solomon.

The latest issue of Biblical Archaeology Review includes articles on Solomon’s royal complex at Gezer, the large Moabite site of Kh. Balu’a, and the dawn of the Iron Age in Israel.

Israel21c identifies the top seven archaeological sites in Israel related to Jewish history as the Western Wall, Masada, Caesarea, Tiberias, Megiddo, En Gedi, and the City of David.

The Qumran Digital Project Lexicon has a new website.

Archaeologists have identified the original sarcophagus of Ramesses II from a fragment discovered in 2009 at Abydos.

The “Hazael and His World: Commemorating the 30th Anniversary of the Discovery of the Tel Dan Inscription” conference will be held in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem on June 5 and 6.

The 100th issue of Syria: Archéologie, Art et Histoire has been released (open-access).

Online lecture on June 2 in the BAS Scholars Series: “Paul on Cyprus: Crossing the Divide,” by Thomas Davis.

Paul’s hometown of Tarsus is not on the itinerary of most tourists to Turkey, but it has much to offer. Jason Borges identifies ten sites within the city and five sites in the vicinity that are worth seeing.

The Institute of Biblical Culture is giving away hundreds of books related to the Old Testament.

In light of a recent conference celebrating William Dever, Glenn Corbett reflects on the future of biblical archaeology.

HT: Agade, Gordon Franz

Tagged 10th Century, Discoveries, Egypt, Jerusalem, Lectures, Mediterranean Islands, Resources, Syria, Turkey, Weekend Roundup

Weekend Roundup, Part 2

A research study by the University of North Carolina-Wilmington argues the Egyptian pyramids were built along a now dried up branch of the Nile River. “The existence of the river would explain why the 31 pyramids were built in a chain along a now inhospitable desert strip in the Nile Valley.”

A Japanese archaeological team doing a ground-penetrating radar survey near the Giza Pyramids has not discovered a giant structure.

A Brazilian graphics artist has brought to life the face of Egyptian ruler Armenhotep III.

New release: Alternative Egyptology: Critical Essays on the Relation between Academic and Alternative Interpretations of Ancient Egypt, edited by B.J.L. van den Bercken (Sidestone; €15-95; open-access)

Daniel Vainstub writes about child sacrifice in the Bible and the extensive archaeological evidence for child sacrifice discovered in the western colonies of Phoenicia.

Jason Borges explains the geography and history of the Cilician Gates. He includes many good photos.

“The Department of Classics and Ancient Mediterranean Studies at Pennsylvania State University is pleased to announce the creation of a two-year M.A program in Ancient Mediterranean Studies. This program is designed for students who can benefit from graduate instruction in any of the following areas: the Ancient Near East, Egypt, the Levant, the Hebrew Bible, early Judaism, Greece, Rome, Early Christianity, and the modern reception of the ancient Mediterranean world.”

Konstantinos Politis positively reviews Mount Machaerus: An Introduction to the Historical, Archaeological, and Pilgrim Site Overlooking the Dead Sea in the Kingdom of Jordan, by Győző Vörös. The book is available on Amazon and as a free download. The book includes many photos including one taken in front of Damascus Gate with Machaerus visible in the distance (p. 16).

Barry Kemp, longtime professor of Egyptology at the University of Cambridge, died on Wednesday.

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

Tagged Discoveries, Egypt, Jordan, Resources, Sad News, Turkey, Weekend Roundup

Weekend Roundup, Part 2

A royal fort or palace from the reign of Thutmose III was discovered in northern Sinai.

An Assyrian scholar believes that he has interpreted five “mystery symbols” inscribed in various locations at Dūr-Šarrukīn, the capital of Sargon II. “He argues the Assyrian words for the five symbols (lion, eagle, bull, fig tree and plow) contain, in the right sequence, the sounds that spell out the Assyrian form of the name ‘Sargon’ (šargīnu).”

“Conservators Verena Kotonski and Barbara Wills took on the challenge of conserving a unique 2,300-year-old ancient Egyptian coffin.”

“An ancient Egyptian mummified head displayed in a school library in Australia now has a fresh face, thanks to a meticulous scientific reconstruction.”

“Ramses and the Gold of the Pharaohs” is a new exhibit opening in Cologne, Germany in July.

“Elephantine: Island of the Millennia” is now open at the Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, with a major focus on the writings discovered there. The museum has posted a related documentary on the Elephantine Project (50 minutes).

Marek Dospěl explains what Coptic is.

New release: Assur 2023: Excavations and Other Research in the New Town, edited by Karen Radner and Andrea Squitieri (PeWe-Verlag; print and open-access)

New release: The Greek and Latin Inscriptions in the Isparta Archaeological Museum, by Asuman Coşkun Abuagla (199 euros)

Arkeonews has a story about the Diolkos, with a photo of a well-preserved section on a Greek army base.

Titus Kennedy explains major archaeological discoveries in Anatolia, Greece, and Rome, in the latest episode of Digging for Truth.

HT: Agade, Gordon Franz, Arne Halbakken, Alexander Schick

Tagged Egypt, Greece, Mesopotamia, Museums, New Exhibits, Resources, Turkey, Weekend Roundup