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Weekend Roundup

Israel has surpassed the 3-million-tourist mark for 2010, breaking the annual record for tourists set in 2008. More than 60% of tourists are Christians and the nation’s goal is to reach 5 million tourists a year by 2015.

Last week’s annual meeting of the Near East Archaeological Society was attended by Ferrell Jenkins, who provides summaries of many of the lectures. Aren Maeir has posted his observations of one day of the ASOR meetings.

The Magdala excavations are continuing around the calendar and photos are now posted from November.

Israel is calling on the Palestinian leadership to reject the “study” that the Jewish people have no right to the Western Wall.

The PBS Special “Quest for Solomon’s Mines” is now available online, though viewing in some
countries is not permitted. UCSD’s role in the feature is discussed in a campus news story.

I have not yet seen it, but a trusted reader tells me that Anson Rainey’s Teaching History and Historical Geography of Bible Lands: A Syllabus that I mentioned here before “consists almost entirely of the text of biblical passages, without any commentary or other notes.” You might browse it before you buy.

This week I read A Promise Kept, a new book produced by Insight for Living. Subtitled “A Pictorial Journey of the Coming of Christ,” the beautifully illustrated and superbly written book was just what I needed to start the Christmas season. It’s available this month for a donation and will be on sale in the IFL store in December.

Tagged Excavations, Resources, Weekend Roundup

ESV Bible Atlas Give-Away

This week’s free item is the ESV Bible Atlas. I mentioned many of the great features I liked about this atlas when it was released five months ago. One of the stand-out qualities is the free CD included with the atlas with more than a hundred of the maps in electronic format. A friend wrote recently to ask how to get the beautiful reconstruction diagrams (many by Leen Ritmeyer) without scanning them one by one. Scanning is particularly difficult because of the diagrams’ large size and the seam in the middle. (I’ve cut the binding off of a number of books in order to get good quality scans, but this does make the book less use-able.)

There is a good solution. All of the ESV Bible Atlas drawings are included in the ESV Study Bible (plus a few extra). The study Bible is now available in digital form in Logos Bible Software. Thus for $40 you get all of the diagrams in ready-to-use PowerPoint format, plus all of the extensive study notes (which I use frequently in my study).

In other words, you get a wealth of resources with the combination of the ESV Bible Atlas (with CD) and the Logos version of the ESV Study Bible.

UPDATE: After writing the above, I stumbled upon a previous post which reminds me that the printed version of ESV Study Bible includes online access to the notes and diagrams. Thus you can choose whether the printed or electronic Bible best fits your need, knowing that either way you get the diagrams in digital form.

For this week’s give-away, we have a free copy of the ESV Bible Atlas. The rules: enter your name and email address by Monday noon (PST). The winner will be contacted by email for a shipping address and all other names and email addresses will be deleted.

UPDATE (11/29): The True Random Number Generator at Random.org has selected #14.

Congratulations to Keith.

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Tagged Give-Away, Resources

Archaeology Update, October 2010

Stephen Gabriel Rosenberg has written an “Archaeology in Israel Update—October 2010,” posted now at The Bible and Interpretation. The update focuses on three items: the 20th anniversary of the Israel Antiquities Authority, the mosaic floor at Tel Shikmona, and the passing of Ehud Netzer.

Ehud Netzer is also the focus of the latest two broadcasts of The Book and the Spade.

Tagged Discoveries

Jerusalem Post Erects Pay Wall

I was disappointed to see this morning that the Jerusalem Post has erected a pay wall for some of their content, including the weekend magazine and the “Christian Edition.”

Dear reader,
The Jerusalem Post is pleased to introduce its Premium Content, featuring online editions of the daily "Jerusalem Post" electronic paper, "The Jerusalem Report," our youth magazine "Dash", The Jerusalem Post’s "Christian Edition" and our easy-Hebrew magazine "Ivrit" and more (click for more details). This service is available exclusively by subscription, for US$8 per month.
As an introductory offer, if you register now you will get free access to these products for the first week of use.

Though the pay model was widely considered a failure in online journalism some years ago, a few news organizations are trying to revive it. I doubt that many will consider the paid content in the Jerusalem Post worth $8 per month, especially as most would be interested in only one of the “editions.” Perhaps the content will improve and more will be attracted to it. Another approach that I believe would work better is the use of “micropayments” to view individual articles. Fortunately, it appears that previous articles can still be accessed from links in this blog.

Tagged Resources

The Joy of Discovery

The Gilgamesh Epic is an ancient account with remarkable parallels to the Genesis story of Noah’s flood. The “Flood Tablet” was first deciphered in 1872 by George Smith, an assistant in The British Museum. According to the museum, when he first read the text, Smith

jumped up and rushed about the room in a great state of excitement, and, to the astonishment of those present, began to undress himself.

There’s a photo of the object below. If you’re at work, you may want to refrain from viewing it until you’re in a safe environment.

HT: Gunner

Tagged Museums

Roman Bathhouse Discovered in Jerusalem’s Jewish Quarter

The Israel Antiquities Authority announced today the discovery of a second-century Roman bathhouse in the Jewish Quarter of Jerusalem. The excavation was being conducted in advance of construction of a ritual bath (miqve). According to archaeologist Ofer Sion:

It seems that the bathhouse was used by these soldiers who were garrisoned there after suppressing the Bar Kokhba uprising in 135 CE, when the pagan city Aelia Capitolina was established. We know that the Tenth Legion’s camp was situated within the limits of what is today the Old City, probably in the region of the Armenian Quarter. This assumption is reinforced by the discovery of the bathhouse in the nearby Jewish Quarter which shows that the multitude of soldiers was spread out and that they were also active outside the camp, in other parts of the Old City.

Roman bathhouse in Jerusalem. Photo courtesy of IAA.

The discovery of a paw print on one of the roof tiles created some excitement:

Another interesting discovery that caused excitement during the excavation is the paw print of a dog that probably belonged to one of the soldiers. The paw print was impressed on the symbol of the legion on one of the roof tiles and it could have happened accidentally or have been intended as a joke.

Dog paw print in Roman tile. Photo courtesy of IAA.

Yuval Baruch, Jerusalem district archaeologist, explains the larger significance:

What we have here is a discovery that is important for the study of Jerusalem. Despite the very extensive archaeological excavations that were carried out in the Jewish Quarter, so far not even one building has been discovered there that belonged to the Roman legion. The absence of such a find led to the conclusion that Aelia Capitolina, the Roman city which was established after the destruction of Jerusalem, was small and limited in area. The new find, together with other discoveries of recent years, shows that the city was considerably larger than what we previously estimated. Information about Aelia Capitolina is extremely valuable and can contribute greatly to research on Jerusalem because it was that city that determined the character and general appearance of ancient Jerusalem and as we know it today. The shape of the city has determined the outline of its walls and the location of the gates to this very day.

The press release and three high-resolution photos (including the two photos above) are available at the Israel Antiquities Authority site (temporary link). The story is also reported by the Jerusalem Post, Arutz-7, and CNN.

UPDATE (11/23): The Jerusalem Post now features a 2.5 minute video of the discovery. Several new photos are posted at CBS News.

Tagged Discoveries, Excavations, Jerusalem