Todd Bolen, Author at BiblePlaces.com

New Resource: Israel Topographical Relief Map

I’ve been asked many times over the years if I know of a place where one can purchase a 3-D relief map of Israel. The first one I ever saw was hand-crafted and not for sale. Some years later I found a company making large maps. While I knew one guy who actually carried the small (6-foot) edition back as “luggage” from Israel, this is impractical for most.

I just learned that Preserving Bible Times, Inc. is selling 10” x 20” 3-D relief maps. These are now available in both framed ($39) and unframed ($29) versions, with shipping of $9.95 for the first map and $1.95 for additional maps in the same shipment. Take a look at the images below to see the quality and detail.

To order, contact the good folks at Preserving Bible Times at 410-953-0557 by mail at PBT, POB 83357, Gaithersburg, MD, 20883. Questions can be directed by email here. This can be a great resource for home, church, school, clubhouse, beach house, or treehouse. The timing is perfect for Christmas as well.

Framed version

Close-up of Sea of Galilee and Golan Heights

Close-up of Jerusalem area and Dead Sea

Tagged Resources

Weekend Roundup

Have they found a “smoking gun” proving that the Gospel of Jesus’ Wife was forged?

A plan to build a water reservoir west of Jerusalem near Har Adar is being opposed because it will mean the loss of 800 pine, cypress, and oak trees.

Shahar Shilo will speak about new discoveries from Jerusalem’s Temple Mount and the City of David in Simi Valley, California next week. I know that he is speaking in Dallas and probably elsewhere, but I do not have public links for those events.

“The Metropolitan Museum of Art today launched MetPublications, a major online resource that offers unparalleled in-depth access to the Museum’s renowned print and online publications, covering art, art history, archaeology, conservation, and collecting.”

The latest issue of Biblical Archaeology Review is online (digital subscription required).

HT: Jack Sasson, Joseph Lauer

Tagged Jerusalem, Museums, Resources, Weekend Roundup

Conference: Water in Antiquity

The Cura Aquarum in Israel will be held next week at Neve Ilan. Many of the lecture topics are of interest.

Monday October 15, 2012 (Neve Ilan Hotel)

Session A: 09:00 – 10:30 Ancient water systems in Israel 1
Chairperson Jim Parker

1. Is There Light at the End of the Tunnel? The Gezer Water System Project – Dan Warner, Tsvika Tsuk, Jim Parker and Dennis Cole

2. A New Assessment of the Upper Aqueduct to Jerusalem: its Date and Route – David Amit and Shimon Gibson

3. Dating and engineering of Siloam Tunnel, Jerusalem – Amos Frumkin and Aryeh Shimron

Session B: 11:00 – 12:50 Ancient water systems in Israel 2
Chairperson Dennis Cole

4. The Inverted Siphon Pipelines to Tel Bet Yerah/es-Sinnabris – Yardenna Alexandre

5. The “’Otzar” in Ancient Ritual Baths: Second Temple Period Innovation or Anachronistic Interpretation? – Yonatan Adler

6. When were the Qanat Systems introduced to the Holy Land? – Yosef Porath

7. The Early Islamic aqueducts to Ramla and Hebron – Amir Gorzalczany and David Amit

Session C: 14:15 – 15:15 Ancient and modern water systems in Israel 3
Chairperson Ronny Reich

8. Touring Israel’s ancient water systems – Tsvika Tsuk

9. Water in Israel and in the Middle East – past, present and future – Shimon Tal

Session D: 15:35 – 17:00 Turkey 1
Chairperson Werner Eck

10. Grundwassernutzung in der hethitischen Hauptstadt Hattusa um 1600 v. Chr. – Hartmut
Wittenberg

11. Ancient Water Systems of the Lamas Çayi and the surrounding hinterland – Dennis Murphy

12. Die Datierung der römischen Kaikos- und Madradag-Kanalleitungen in Pergamon – Henning Fahlbusch

Session E: 17:20 – 18:50 Turkey 2
Chairperson Henning Fahlbusch

13. Das städtische Abwassersystem von Pergamon – seine Entwicklung in hellenistischer und römischer Zeit – Kai Wellbrock

14. The aqueducts and water supply of Tralleis – Eddie Owens

15. Antike Wasserbauten von Antiochia (Tuerkei) – Mathias Döring

Tuesday October 16, 2012 (Neve Ilan hotel)

Session F: 08:30 – 09:30 The Military
Chairperson Mathias Döring

16. Das Heer und die Infrastruktur von Städten in der römischen Kaiserzeit – Werner Eck

17. Water as weapon and military target in Ancient Mesopotamian warfare – Ariel Bagg

Session G: 09:50 – 11:20 Groundwater and Roman Aqueducts
Chairperson Eli Dror

18. Ground water use and understanding in ancient times: lessons for today and tomorrow – Michael Knight

19. Sinter deposits in Roman aqueducts – Gül Sürmelihindi and Cees Passchier

20. The Atlas Project of Roman Aqueducts (ROMAQ) – Cees Passchier, and Gül Sürmelihindi
Session H: 11:50 – 13:15 Greece and Spain – Sanctuaries, Mills and Aqueducts
Chairperson Dennis Murphy

21. The role of water in ancient sanctuaries. The Sanctuary of Amphiaraos – Anna Androvitsanea

22. When Ceres commands her nymphs – An investigation of the relation between mills and aqueducts in the antique Mediterranean – Stefanie Preißler

23. The Glass kiln (Horno de Vidrio), a drop tower in the water supply to the city of Toledo (Spain) during the Roman era – Marisa Barahona

More details about the conference are available here.

HT: Jack Sasson

Hezekiah’s Tunnel in Jerusalem

Photo: Pictorial Library of Bible Lands, volume 3

Tagged Italy, Jerusalem, Lectures, Shephelah, Turkey

Wednesday Roundup

Streams in the Desert: A 20-second clip from SourceFlix.com

New exhibit at the Oriental Institute Museum: Between Heaven and Earth: Birds in Ancient Egypt,

October 16, 2012-July 28, 2013

The Sea of Galilee is entering fall at a higher level than in six years.

Wayne Stiles: Connecting Cisterns, Rain, and Reading the Bible

Haaretz: Samson follows the sun to Galilee

The date palm growing from a 2,000-year-old seed is shown and discussed on video.

The Mazotos shipwreck is the oldest shipwreck found off Cyprus to date. The vessel sank in 350 BC
with a load of 1,000 amphorae of wine.

Elizabeth Payne, conservator of the Yale Babylonian Collection, is interviewed in the school paper.

HT: Joseph Lauer, Jack Sasson

Tagged Weekend Roundup

Covert Visit inside the Tomb of the Patriarchs

From the Jerusalem Post:

On October 9, 1968 a thirteen-year-old girl made history, as she squeezed through a narrow hole into the underground chambers of the Cave of the Patriarchs in Hebron, which the Jews had been forbidden to enter for 700 years under Mamluk, Ottoman, British and Jordanian rule. Jews were only allowed access to the staircase at the southeast of the site, initially only up to the fifth step and later increased to the seventh.
[…]
“On October 9, 1968, my mother asked me if I would agree to climb into a narrow hole that would lead me to a cave,” Arbel wrote in her personal account of the event published on the Hebron website. “After I agreed, my mother told me that it was the Cave of the Patriarchs.”
Arbel recalls how her father later woke her and bundled her into the car “wrapped like a parcel with a blanket over her head” and they made their way to Hebron from their Jerusalem home. When they arrived they stopped at the police for a while and then continued to the cave. “I got out of the car, wrapped in the blanket, and entered the Muslim mosque. I saw the opening that I would need to fit into.” The hole measured 28 centimeters in diameter. Arbel was harnessed with ropes and equipped with a flashlight and matches in order to check the air inside the cave. “They lowered me down onto a pile of paper and money. I found myself in a square room.” She describes seeing three tombstones opposite her, “the middle one adorned and taller than the other two.” Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Sarah, Rebecca, and Leah are all believed to be buried in the Cave of the Patriarchs.

The story continues here. For more photos and information about Hebron and the Machpelah constructed by King Herod, see here.

HT: Joseph Lauer

Hebron Machpelah. The shaft to the subterranean cave is protected by the green railings. (photo source)

Tagged Judah

Animal Attractions in Israel

The Jerusalem Post suggests six tourist attractions you might have missed:

1. Camel Riders—Mamshit

2. Alpaca Farm—Negev Highlands

3. Deer Farm—Gush Etzion

4. Robotic Cowshed—Kfar Yehezkel

5. Hai Park—Kiryat Motzkin

6. Ma’ayan Zvi Fishing Park—Sharon Plain

The full article is here.

Gazelle in Nahal Paran.
Photo from Cultural Images of the Holy Land.

Tagged Israel's Coast, Jezreel Valley, Judah, Negev, Tourism