10th Century Archives - BiblePlaces.com

Weekend Roundup

“Excavations at a Byzantine-era church in the northern Negev desert have revealed 1,500-year-old wall etchings of ships, likely left by Christian pilgrims who had arrived by sea to the Holy Land.”

The Times of Israel has a follow-up article on the major carbon-14 study of Jerusalem that was recently published.

John Drummond pulls together the archaeological evidence for the reign of Solomon.

The latest issue of Biblical Archaeology Review includes articles on Solomon’s royal complex at Gezer, the large Moabite site of Kh. Balu’a, and the dawn of the Iron Age in Israel.

Israel21c identifies the top seven archaeological sites in Israel related to Jewish history as the Western Wall, Masada, Caesarea, Tiberias, Megiddo, En Gedi, and the City of David.

The Qumran Digital Project Lexicon has a new website.

Archaeologists have identified the original sarcophagus of Ramesses II from a fragment discovered in 2009 at Abydos.

The “Hazael and His World: Commemorating the 30th Anniversary of the Discovery of the Tel Dan Inscription” conference will be held in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem on June 5 and 6.

The 100th issue of Syria: Archéologie, Art et Histoire has been released (open-access).

Online lecture on June 2 in the BAS Scholars Series: “Paul on Cyprus: Crossing the Divide,” by Thomas Davis.

Paul’s hometown of Tarsus is not on the itinerary of most tourists to Turkey, but it has much to offer. Jason Borges identifies ten sites within the city and five sites in the vicinity that are worth seeing.

The Institute of Biblical Culture is giving away hundreds of books related to the Old Testament.

In light of a recent conference celebrating William Dever, Glenn Corbett reflects on the future of biblical archaeology.

HT: Agade, Gordon Franz

Tagged 10th Century, Discoveries, Egypt, Jerusalem, Lectures, Mediterranean Islands, Resources, Syria, Turkey, Weekend Roundup

Registration Ending for My History Course

Registration for my course on The History of Israel’s United Monarchy closes on Friday, and the class begins on Monday. The time commitment is minimal (90 minutes a week), and the cost affordable ($189).

My goal is to deepen your understanding of the century or so when all twelve tribes were united under a single king. To do that, I’ll be drawing on archaeological discoveries, geographical insights, and extrabiblical sources to supplement what the Bible records.

My interest goes beyond decades of teaching a related course and leading “life of David” field studies around Israel to writing a (forthcoming) book and creating photo collections for 1-2 Samuel and 1-2 Kings. I’ll be bringing the best of everything to this homework-free course.

The class meets on six successive Mondays, from May 13 to June 17, from 8:00-9:30 pm (Eastern Time). Everyone who registers will receive the valuable course materials along with access to the lecture recordings.

The course is one of three offerings in the Jerusalem University College Online Summer Institute. The other two are: Edible Landscapes of the Biblical World, taught by Chandler Collins on Tuesdays, and Jesus the Galilean, taught by Wave Nunnally on Thursdays.

Registration closes on Friday.

Tagged 10th Century, Lectures

My JUC Summer Institute Course

Jerusalem University College is offering three online courses this summer, and I am teaching one of them. I’d love to have you join me on a six-week study of “The History of Israel’s United Monarchy.”

We’ll meet every Monday from 8:00 to 9:30 pm Eastern Time, from May 13 to June 17. The lectures will be recorded, so you can review them later or watch for the first time if you’re unable to attend some/all of the sessions live. This is a Summer Institute course that is offered for $189 per study, and no credit is offered. No homework will be required either, but I will providing you with some recommended readings, including some of my own research, both published and (yet) unpublished, along with some free photo resources.

My goal is to help you understand what was going on in Israel when Saul, David, and Solomon reigned over the twelve tribes. Our primary source is the biblical text, but we can learn a lot from extrabiblical texts, geographical studies, and archaeological excavations. I will bring lots of charts, maps, and photos to help make sense of it all. I have been teaching this subject for (exactly) 25 years, and I love it. (I’m teaching it at my university right now, but you get it at a much cheaper cost, and without having to write a research paper!) This course will be the first I have ever taught that is open to the public, and I’m looking forward to the adventure!

The JUC Summer Institute includes two other excellent courses that meet at other times, so you don’t have to choose between them:

Chandler Collins, “Edible Landscapes of the Biblical World,” Tuesdays, 8:00-9:30 pm Eastern

Wave Nunnally, “Jesus the Galilean,” Thursdays, 7:00-8:30 pm Eastern

You can get all the details and register here.

Tagged 10th Century, Jerusalem, Lectures

Weekend Roundup

“A rare coin from the time of the Bar Kochba revolt, bearing the name ‘Eleazer the Priest,’ has been discovered at the foot of a cliff in the Judean Desert by Israeli archaeologists.” The IAA is also welcoming the public to join them in the hunt for antiquities in the Judean wilderness.

The bust of a huge statue of Ramses II was discovered in the el-Ashmunein area in Minya Governorate in Egypt.

Archaeologists have uncovered a painting in the House of Leda at Pompeii that “depicts Phrixus and Helle, two twins from Greek mythology, as they travel across the sea on a magical ram while fleeing from their evil stepmother.”

The Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem has inaugurated its Biblical Studies and Archaeology Center.

The NY Times has a story on the purple dye factory at Tel Shiqmona.

With the opening of the entrance pavilion to the Tower of David Museum, The Jerusalem Post has a story about the design and construction process.

Amy Erickson explores the question of why the story of Jonah was so frequently depicted in the catacombs of Rome.

The plant remains discovered in the Philistine temples at Gath are the subject of the latest episode of This Week in the Ancient Near East.

Nathan Steinmeyer explains why the Babylonian king Nabonidus may be considered the world’s first archaeologist.

Zoom lecture on Mar 12, 11:00 Eastern Daylight Time: “The cities of the Zagros and their scenes on the Assyrian wall reliefs,” by Dlshad Aziz Marf (Zoom link)

Dewayne Bryant is a guest on Digging for Truth to talk about the historicity of King David.

Now online: The full episode of National Geographic’s “Buried Secrets of the Bible with Albert Lin: Sodom & Gomorrah” (45 min)

The latest Jerusalem in Brief looks at “a tower named after a Philistine giant, some new books, and a dinner party in the middle of World War I.”

HT: Agade, Ted Weis, Gordon Dickson, Keith Keyser

Tagged 10th Century, Dead Sea, Discoveries, Egypt, Israel's Coast, Italy, Jerusalem, Judah, Lectures, Museums, Tourism, Weekend Roundup

Weekend Roundup, Part 1

A new dataset of radiocarbon dates from Gezer “provides an independent source of absolute dates that will allow researchers to better understand the events at Gezer and to place them in a regional perspective.” Of particular interest is that the Solomon gate dates to the time of Solomon, contrary to the Low Chronology promoted by Finkelstein who calls the study “meaningless.” The underlying journal article is here.

When the war began in Israel on October 7, Israel’s museums acted quickly to protect their most precious artifacts.

Avshalom Halutz writes a “short history of Gaza,” reviewing the last 5,000 years of the coastal city’s conflicts (Haaretz premium)

Ariel David reports on the recent study that argues that Jerusalem’s Millo was “defensive complex that protected the ancient water spring of Jerusalem for centuries.”

Online lecture in the BAS Scholars Series on Dec 6: “The Life of Jesus Written in Stone: The Earliest Commemorative Churches in Roman Palestine,” by Jordan Ryan, Wheaton College ($10)

Online “gala event” on Dec 10: “New Discoveries in the Temple Mount Sifting Project Research,” with Zachi Dvira, Gabriel Barkay, Haim Shaham, Anat Mendel-Geberovich, and Mordechai Kedar

New release: From Nomadism to Monarchy? Revisiting the Early Iron Age Southern Levant, edited by Ido Koch, Oded Lipschits and Omer Sergi (Eisenbrauns, $100)

Jerusalem Seminary is offering a 6-week audit-only version of “Israel Matters: A Theology of People and Land,” with Gerald McDermott, for only $79. A full description is here.

Now online: A Biblical Archaeology Conference held last Saturday, hosted by the Institute for Creation Research, with presentations by Randall Price and Tom Meyer

Bible Mapper Atlas has added a number of new maps in the last few months:

HT: Agade, Arne Halbakken

Tagged 10th Century, Israel's Coast, Jerusalem, Lectures, Museums, Resources, Shephelah, Temple Mount, Weekend Roundup

Weekend Roundup, Part 1

Aren Maeir writes about the situation in Israel and how you can help.

A pair of scholars argue that “Azekah is the new name of Moresheth-Gath given to the city by Judahite rulers after taking control of the western Shephelah, not before the end of the ninth century BCE.”

“For the first time, ancient DNA has been recovered from the bodies of ancient Israelites living in the First Temple period.”

In his first Q&A, Chandler Collins answers questions about Jerusalem’s monasteries, the “palace of David,” and a proposed bema seat of Pilate.

In part 4 of the Flora and Faith series, Brad Nelson explains why Paul used the olive tree to explain the relationship between Jews and Gentiles in the church.

An article I wrote on Solomon’s coronation and coregency has been published in the Detroit Baptist Seminary Journal. I argue that there were three stages in his coronation and that there is no foundation for a two-year coregency.

Andy Naselli has collected some of the better videos of reconstructions of the tabernacle, Solomon’s temple, and Herod’s temple.

The Arch of Titus, built to celebrate the destruction of Jerusalem, was lit up this week in blue and white in solidarity with Israel.

HT: Agade, Ted Weis, Arne Halbakken, Explorator

Tagged 10th Century, Discoveries, Italy, Jerusalem, Shephelah, Technology, Temple Mount, Weekend Roundup