Photo Annotations

Interior of the Capernaum Synagogue

1. Benches on which the elders sat lined the inside wall. There were probably mats on the floor inside for people to sit on (Strange and Shanks 1983: 26).
2. The architrave was originally a single piece of limestone, but it has been broken.
3. The corner columns are heart shaped.
4. The synagogue in Capernaum is a typical Galilean synagogue.
5. The doors face Jerusalem and the worshippers prayed in that direction. The Torah must have been wheeled around to the door area (see the inscription found with Torah on a cart). Later synagogues have doors on the opposite side from Jerusalem.

Solomonic Gate at Megiddo

1. The excavators of Megiddo identified a six-chambered gate with the reign of Solomon (half of the gatehouse was removed in excavations).  Because similar ones have been found at Gezer and Hazor, and because the Bible states that Solomon fortified these three cities (1 Ki 9:15), it was concluded that these were all built under the administration of Solomon.

2. More recently scholars have disputed this identification, in particular that of the Megiddo gate.  They argue that the “Solomonic Gate” is in fact connected to a solid offset-inset wall.  This solid wall clearly runs above buildings from the time of Solomon, thus demanding a post-Solomonic date for the wall.  If the wall was built at the same time as the gate, the gate must therefore be later than the time of Solomon.

3. Yadin believed that there was an earlier (casemate) wall that was connected to the gate.  Many scholars today reject the identification of this structure as a casemate wall. 

4. If the conclusion is adopted that the gate and wall is post-Solomonic, then it appears that the city was  not fortified during the reign of Solomon, apparently contradicting 1 Kings 9:15.  There is nothing in the text of 1 Kings 9:15 to indicate that this passage was written later to glorify Solomon.  More likely, the city was fortified during the reign of Solomon.

5. After the time of Solomon and Ahab, the middle guardroom of the gate was filled in and another gate built above it.

The Dome of the Dome of the Rock

1. The inner dome of the Dome of the Rock is original and is made of wood.
2. The structure had a lead dome from 691 to 1965.
3. The oxidized copper dome, which looks like gold, was installed by King Ibn Saud in 1965.  This was one of the things done in reaction to the Pope’s visit in 1964.
4. The copper dome was replaced by King Hussein (with money from Saudi Arabia) in the 1990s with one of pure gold, because the existing one was rusting and needed to be replaced.  “In 1994 a new gold-plated exterior dome, weighing a total of 80 kilograms [180 lbs.], was installed at a cost of $15,000,000. The plating is not more than .0023 mm thick, and the sheen of the gold was slightly muted during the plating so that the dome would not blind anyone gazing upon it” (Meiron 1999: 154).

Jabbok River

1. Sihon was defeated “from the Arnon to the Jabbok” (Num 21:24).
2. In general, Reuben and Gad settled south of the Jabbok, as far as the Arnon, and half of Manasseh settled north of the Jabbok (Deut 3:12-17; Josh 13:31).  The Gadites, however, seem to be found wherever there is Israelite settlement in the Transjordan, including in the area north of the Jabbok River.
3. The Jabbok River split Upper Gilead in two, thus the references to “half Gilead” (Josh 12:2, 5).

The Philistines depicted at Medinet Habu

1. The Philistines are known by their feather head dress.
2. The Philistines can be recognized because of their use of swan decorations, two edged swords, spears, and rounded shields.  The Egyptians on the other hand, used sickle swords and tombstone shaped shields.
3. Philistine women and children are shown in ox-driven carts, indicating that the Sea Peoples were not only military invaders, but migrants.
4. The majority of the Sea Peoples are clean-shaven, but a few Philistines are depicted with beards. 

Bema at Corinth

The Roman tribunal where Paul was dragged before Gallio has been uncovered in the center of the agora. This was the bema, where Roman officials would appear before the public. An inscription mentioning riots in Achaia and Gallio’s name, from which we are able to date Gallio’s proconsulship to between 51 and 52 A.D., was found in Delphi. A church was built atop the bema in Christian times.

Acts 18:12 (KJV) “And when Gallio was the deputy of Achaia, the Jews made insurrection with one accord against Paul, and brought him to the judgment seat.”

Mamertine Prison interior

The state rarely incarcerated common criminals but kept the Mamertine Prison for political prisoners doomed for execution by being thrown off the Tarpeian Rock.  Enemies of the State, such as Jugurtha and Vercingetorix, were often strangled in the Tullianum.  Sallust, a Roman writer in 40 B.C., described the Tullianum as “about twelve feet deep, closed all round by strong walls and a stone vault.  Its aspect is repugnant and fearsome from its neglect, darkness, and stench.”