Google Maps now includes floor plans of dozens of museums around the world, including the British Museum and the Smithsonian.

A couple of museums in Israel moved treasures to the vault because of danger from rockets from Gaza.

You can wait years to see an article about the New Testament city of Nain. Miriam Feinberg Vamosh ends the wait.

David Bivin thinks that the Nain where Jesus raised the boy from the dead is near Jerusalem in the upper reaches of the Wadi Qilt (subscription req’d for full article).

Joe Zias attempts to clear things up with regard to his role with the James Ossuary.

Perhaps you didn’t know: Wayne Stiles’ weekly column is available each Monday at the Jerusalem Post, but the edition on his personal site includes more content and higher-resolution photos. This week he travels to Chorazin (“Capernaum with a View”).

The PowerPoint presentation for Itzhaq Shai’s recent lecture on Tel Burna is available for download.

It is interesting to look through even without the audio.

Ferrell Jenkins shares some of his observations from the recent annual meeting of the Near East Archaeological Society.

The Dead Sea Scrolls exhibit formerly at Discovery Times Square and Philadelphia’s Franklin Institute has now rolled into Cincinnati.

A golden brooch from the treasure of King Croesus is returning to Turkey after the museum director sold it to pay off his gambling debts.

The National Museum of Iraq is scheduled to have a grand re-opening early next year.

Conservation efforts at Herculaneum are more successful than at its sister site of Pompeii.

HT: Jack Sasson, Joseph Lauer

Herculaneum Cardo IV from west, tb111405666
Ruins of Herculaneum from the west
Photo from the Pictorial Library of Bible Lands
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An exhibit at the Western Science Center in Hemet, California, and sponsored by La Sierra University, has a display of military equipment from Jordan, Israel, Lebanon, and Syria open through the end of the year. Two lectures will be given this Thursday by university professors:

Kent Bramlett, “Ride that Chariot: The Rise and Fall of Chariot Warfare in the Ancient Near East.”

Douglas Clark, “Burn that Building: The Rise and Fall of a Village in the Early Iron Age.”

For more information about the lectures, see this article in The Press-Enterprise. For details and photos of the museum exhibit, see the university’s press release.

Ramses II on chariot, dg041901630
Ramses II in chariot, Abu Simbel
Photo from Pictorial Library of Bible Lands
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I did not put this list together, but my choices would be quite similar to Wayne Stiles’ picks. He writes:

Most of us give Christmas gifts that are quickly forgotten.
After the iPhone gets cracked, or the DVD gets watched, or the sweater gets snagged, they all end up at the landfill.
This year, why not give a gift that will last a lifetime?
Bible Lands study tools make great gifts because they take your personal Bible study to the next level. What’s more, they don’t wear out.
Here are my top 5 recommendations for gifts you’ll enjoy giving.

You can click over to see Wayne’s top 5, but his comments on the Pictorial Library of Bible Lands are worth quoting:

Even though I’ve been to the Holy Land many times, I’ll never see all of it. One resource will show you more than any other.
israel collection Top 5 Gifts for Bible Lands and Bible Study
All together, the 18-Volume Expanded Edition of the Pictorial Library of Bible Lands includes more than 17,500 High Definition photographs from 9 countries in the ancient Mediterranean world.
My recommendation for starters? Get the “Israel Collection.” It includes volumes 1-5:

  • There are more than 1500 photos of Jerusalem.
  • More than 1500 photos of Judah and the Dead Sea area.
  • More than 2300 photos of the areas of Galilee and Samaria.

These are more than just High-Resolution pictures from the Holy Land. Special care has been taken to photograph biblical sites.
Nothing else rivals the Pictorial Library of Bible Lands. If a picture paints a thousand words, then thousands of high-resolution pictures are even better. I use these images almost daily on my blog, and I have used them for years in my teaching and personal Bible study.

His recommendations include an atlas, a study Bible, several devotional books, and an exclusive tour of Israel.

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From the Caspari Center Media Review:

The Yardenit Baptism Site, situated on the Jordan River, is to undergo extensive development in the coming year. In order to improve the site, a fourth baptism station will be opened up, and “10 new ceramic wall hangings with the text from the Book of Mark 1:9-11, which speaks of John baptizing Jesus, [will be] added to the 70 plaques” that constitute the “Wall of New Life.” A representative from the site says that “the guiding principle underlining Yardenit … is the fact that it is totally non-denominational, and pilgrims are welcome to perform their baptism rituals in accordance with their particular beliefs and traditions.”

This must mean that business is good. In the meantime, it may be more difficult to get photos of the river without bulldozers and rebar.

The above article is not yet online. Copyright of the article remains with the Caspari Center.

Jordan River baptism at Yardenit baptismal site, tb011406482

Jordan River baptismal site at Yardenit
Photo from Galilee and the North
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The German Protestant Institute of Archaeology announces the upcoming lectures:

Wednesday, February 6, 2013: Florian Lippke (Universität Bern, Schweiz) “Comparative remarks on Late Persian iconography: The case of Samaria.”

Monday, February 18, 2013: Dr. Shimon Gibson (University of the Holy Land) “The Bethesda Pool Excavations, 1863 – 1967: A Re-assessment.”

All lectures takes place in the institute (Auguste Victoria Compound, Mount of Olives) at 5 pm.

Source: The Agade list

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