BiblePlaces Blog - Page 273 of 571

Dead Sea Scrolls Now Online

More than 5,000 high-resolution images of the Dead Sea Scrolls are now online at www.deadseascrolls.org.il. From the announcement by the Israel Antiquities Authority:

On the occasion of the 65th anniversary of the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls, the Israel Antiquities Authority and Google are pleased to launch today the Leon Levy Dead Sea Scrolls Digital Library website, www.deadseascrolls.org.il. The public is invited to experience, view, examine, and explore this collection of over 5000 images of Dead Sea Scrolls, in a quality never seen before.
The library was assembled over the course of two years, in collaboration with Google, using advanced technology first developed by NASA. It includes some 1000 new images of scroll fragments; 3500 scans of negatives from the 1950s; a database documenting about 900 manuscripts, two-thousand years old, comprising thousands of scroll fragments; and interactive content pages. It enables scholars and millions of users worldwide to reveal and decipher details hence invisible to the naked eye. The site displays infra-red and color images at a resolution of 1215 dpi, at a 1:1 scale, equivalent in quality to the original scrolls. Google has provided hosting services and use of Google Maps, image technology and YouTube. The project was made possible by an exceptionally generous grant from the Leon Levy Foundation, and further contribution by the Arcadia Fund, as well as the support of the Yad Hanadiv Foundation.
One of the earliest known texts is a copy of the Book of Deuteronomy, which includes the Ten Commandments; part of chapter 1 of the Book of Genesis, dated to the first century BCE, which describes the creation of the world; a number of copies of Psalms scrolls; tiny texts of tefillin from the Second Temple period; letters and documents hidden by refugees fleeing the Roman army during the Bar Kochba Revolt; and hundreds of additional 2000-year-old texts, shedding light on biblical studies, the history of Judaism and the origins of Christianity.
Shuka Dorfman, Director of the Israel Antiquities Authority, said: “Only five conservators worldwide are authorized to handle the Dead Sea Scrolls. Now, everyone can “touch” the scrolls on-screen around the globe, and view them in spectacular quality, equivalent to the original! On the occasion of the 65th anniversary of their discovery, the IAA, in collaboration with Google, presents the scrolls online, using the most advanced imaging technology. Thus, this most important national treasure is available to the general public, preserving it for future generations.”

This project was first announced in October 2010. Many news stories can be found here. This really is a fantastic resource and I hope they will expand it to include every scroll fragment.

4QDana includes portions from Daniel chapters 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 10, and 11. Image from the Leon Levy Dead Sea Scrolls Digital Library.

Tagged Dead Sea, Museums, Technology

No Room for the Dead on the Mount of Olives

From thestar.com:

For the past 3,000 years, Jewish families have been bringing their dead to the Mount of Olives cemetery.
A maze of hillside tombs, this graveyard is the holiest place for those in the Jewish faith to be laid to rest.
Many Jews believe that when the Messiah comes to Earth riding on a white donkey, the dead will rise from their graves and walk to the holy Temple Mount in Jerusalem’s Old City.
From the Mount of Olives cemetery, that’s only a few hundred metres.
“Everyone in that cemetery is buried with their feet facing the Temple Mount so they come straight up and don’t even have to turn around. No one is going to get confused on the walk,” said Ira Rappaport, 67, who moved from New York to Israel 41 years ago and whose parents are buried in the cemetery.
“Some Jews also believe in a mystic interpretation of the scriptures that the dead roll over in the grave to get rid of their sins,” Rappaport said. “But because the land at the Mount of Olives is so pure, you don’t have to worry about that.”
Authorities have identified more than 150,000 burials here — the cemetery has been used for more than 3,000 years so there are surely other undiscovered plots — but administrators say new plots are becoming scarce.
In as few as 10 years, there will be no room for new graves, said Chananya Shachor, manager of the Jerusalem Burial Society, the largest of 13 societies that arrange funerals.

The rest of the article gives some more history and gives the price of a plot. It is interesting that the author connects the resurrection with Zechariah 9 and the Messiah on the donkey and not Zechariah 14 where the Lord lands on the Mount of Olives to save Jerusalem.

HT: Charles Savelle

Cemetery on the Mount of Olives.
Photo from the Pictorial Library of Bible Lands

Tagged Jerusalem

Recent IAA Excavation Reports

Most of the settlement layers of Tel Afula were destroyed by construction activity in the 1950s, but a recent salvage dig found remains from the Early Bronze I and Roman period.

Archaeologists working in the Ir Gannim neighborhood of Jerusalem excavated a winepress possibly first used in the Iron Age II and again in the Hasmonean period. A large storage pool was built here in the first century AD.

A preliminary report from the 2011 season at Horbat Huqoq describes the project’s goals (synagogue and 2-3 houses) and reports on the initial progress including the excavation of a mikveh. This report does not describe the beautiful mosaic floor depicting Samson that was found in the 2012 season.

Excavations near a site that Charles Wilson incorrectly thought was Capernaum have exposed three strata from the 13th-14th centuries. The dig at Huqoq Beach is 80 meters east of the entrance to the Khirbet el-Minya Umayyad palace.

Excavations on the east side of the Mount of Olives were prompted by the chance discovery of a relatively rare Armenian mosaic from the Byzantine period.

Two adjacent quarries were excavated in Beit Hanina north of Jerusalem. They provided Jerusalem with maleke limestone from the time of Jesus until modern day.

Quarry K in Beit Hanina, looking north. Photo by IAA.

Tagged Excavations, Galilee, Jerusalem, Jezreel Valley

Weekend Roundup

Leen Ritmeyer discusses the restoration work on the building that sits over the location of the Antonia Fortress and hopes that they don’t damage the important archaeological remains. (He has an illustration showing where he believes Paul addressed the crowd in Acts 22.)

The Herodium—A Monument to…whose sovereignty? Wayne Stiles provides a surprising twist on this one.

“The greatest church in the world” has been undergoing excavation since 2006 and I had no idea.

Amihai Mazar and Emanuel Tov were among a group of scientists inducted into the Israel Academy of the Sciences and Humanities this week.

The newest issue of Biblical Archaeology Review is the first to carry a photo of the Samson mosaic showing the fox tails on fire. I am disappointed that Samson himself was not preserved. You’ll need a subscription to either the print or digital version to see the photo. For the original press release, see here.

New book: The Photographs of the American Palestine Exploration Society, by Rachel Hallote,

Felicity Cobbing, and Jeffrey B. Spurr. “This volume includes over 150 never previously published photographs of archaeological sites in the Middle East (Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, and Israel) taken in 1875 by photographer Tancrede Dumas for the American Palestine Exploration Society.” 368 pages, $90.

The Dead Sea Scrolls and the Bible exhibit at Southwestern Seminary in Fort Worth closes in one month. If you have the opportunity, I highly recommend it (and I challenge you to find the large
Jerusalem photograph printed in mirror image). Groupon has a 2-for-1 deal, but you’ll have to act fast as these sold out before I could mention it last time.

HT: Jack Sasson, Mark Vitalis Hoffman

Renovation of building over the location of the Antonia Fortress. Photo by Alexander Schick.

Tagged Galilee, Jerusalem, Judah, Museums, Photo Resources, Weekend Roundup

Radio: The Geography of the Christmas Story

If you’ve ever wondered which way Joseph and Mary traveled to Bethlehem or how the Magi were able to flee without Herod chasing, you should listen in tomorrow to the broadcast of The Land and the Book. Hosts Charlie Dyer and Jon Gauger interview me on the background of the familiar Christmas story.

It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas…or so goes the song! From the music on the radio to the decorations in store windows, it’s hard to miss the fact that Christmas is almost here. But what would it have been like for Mary and Joseph that very first Christmas? If we could somehow go back in time, what would the sights, sounds and smells of that first Christmas season have been like? We don’t have a time machine here on The Land and the Book, but we have the next best thing…someone who has lived in the land of Israel and who knows it like the back of his own hand. We’ll be talking with Todd Bolen about what it would have been like for Mary and Joseph that first Christmas season.

You can find more details and a link for listening live on the Moody Radio website.

Tagged Holidays, Judah

Vamosh: On the Jesus Trail

Miriam Feinberg Vamosh describes her journey on the Jesus Trail in Galilee:

If you’re a pilgrim in Israel interested in Christian history, consider devoting a chunk of your visit to the Jesus Trail, an approximately 60-kilometer trail that begins in the northern city of Nazareth and ends at the shores of the Sea of Galilee. The trail allows hikers to follow the landmark sites of the Galilee Ministry of Jesus as the ancients did – on foot.
Traversing the classic Jesus Trail takes four days, although that can be extended to five for walkers with less stamina. Additional sites can also be added farther afield, such as Mount Tabor, the site of the transfiguration of Jesus.
“As they walked,” is a very common expression in ancient Jewish as well as Christian sources. People walked everywhere, and it wasn’t just the destination that mattered; so too did the journey. There was plenty of time on the way to talk about what mattered. The Jesus Trail was born out of a desire to get people to walk the Galilee just as in biblical times, taking in first and foremost all the highlights of the region’s New Testament sites and also enjoying Israel at eye level, at its multi-cultural best, where it overflows with history and natural beauty.
The first day of the trail usually begins in Jesus’s hometown of Nazareth and continues down to Sepphoris National Park, the main Roman city when Jesus was growing up. At the time, Sepphoris was the hub of Roman life. From here, trekkers continue on through the town of Meshed to Cana, where a beautiful church marks the traditional site where Jesus turned water into wine.

The story continues here.

Galilee north of Horns of Hattin, tb041003207

On day 3 of the hike, you’ll climb up the Horns of Hattin and have a splendid view of the hills of Galilee. (Photo from the Pictorial Library of Bible Lands)

Tagged Galilee, Tourism