Italy Archives - Page 32 of 38

Weekend Roundup

This summer’s excavation on Mount Zion begins soon. Here’s how you can help even if you can’t be in Jerusalem.

Leen Riitmeyer reports on a second arch of Titus uncovered in Rome. And he describes how his search to find the Dedicatory Inscription in the Colosseum ultimately succeeded.

If you’ve ever wondered how they raised animals from underneath the floor of the Colosseum, the

Telegraph has an illustrated article showing a reconstruction of the elevators. A 2-minute video shows the process. This is part of a government project to restore the floor of the Colosseum.

James H. Charlesworth has written a lengthy and informative review rebutting David Stacey and
Gregory Doudna, Qumran Revisited: A Reassessment of the Archaeology of the Site and its Texts.

Wayne Stiles explains how the four quarters of Jerusalem will be united.

“Wilderness” is the title of a symposium of Biblical scholars from the Universities of Manchester, Sheffield and Lausanne University of Lausanne.

The British Museum is lending 500 artifacts to a new museum in Abu Dhabi for five years. This includes “the world’s finest single Assyrian panel: the Banquet Scene (645-635BC).”

There is fear in Iraq for the safety of the traditional tomb of the prophet Nahum.

The latest issue of Biblical Archaeology Review includes articles on Solomon’s temple, Akhenaten’s monotheism, the Gospel of Thomas, and the missing pages of the Aleppo Codex.

Congress has passed legislation making it illegal to sell looted artifacts from Syria.

The Library of Congress in Washington D.C. hosted a Tyre Day Symposium to raise awareness about the city’s history.

“Of Kings and Prophets” is a new series beginning this fall on ABC.

A clumsy tourist fell and smashed a 4,000-year-old vase in the Heraklion Archaeological Museum on the island of Crete.

Barry Britnell is sharing photos of last year’s trip as he prepares to lead next year’s trip. Today: Northern Galilee and the Hula Valley.

HT: Ted Weis, Agade, Joseph Lauer

Tagged Antiquities Trade, Dead Sea, Galilee, Italy, Jerusalem, Lebanon, Lectures, Mesopotamia, Museums, Weekend Roundup

Weekend Roundup, Part 2

Iraq’s government reports that ISIS has bulldozed ancient Calah (modern Nimrud).

In light of ISIS’s recent destruction of Mosul, Iraq is vowing to protect ancient Babylon.

The Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago has issued a statement.

Citizens of Iraq and Syria are working to protect their historic treasures from destruction by ISIS.

A project has begun to “use crowd-sourced imagery to digitally reconstruct the heritage that has been destroyed.”

Daniel Pipes argues that “the ISIS record fits into an old and common pattern of destruction of historical artifacts by Muslims.”

The U.S. government has returned more than 60 artifacts illegally smuggled out of Iraq, including the head of an Assyrian lamassu from the palace of Sargon II.

Egypt will no longer grant visas to individual tourists upon arrival. You will need to apply in advance from an Egyptian embassy. Or travel instead to Israel, Jordan, Turkey, or Greece.

The Associates for Biblical Research has just released a new video, Digging Up the Sin Cities of Sodom and Gomorrah.

How was Trajan’s Column in Rome constructed? National Geographic features a stop-motion video that suggests an method. It is quite an extraordinary accomplishment.

We’ll have more links tomorrow.

HT: Agade, Charles Savelle

Tagged Antiquities Trade, Egypt, Italy, Mesopotamia, Movies, Museums, Tourism, Weekend Roundup

Leen Ritmeyer continues his Temple Mount series with a look at the Early Muslim period. He has many illustrations, but the one I’ve always found most helpful in teaching is the comparison of the
Temple with the Dome of the Rock.

Two Egyptian mummies were found in a sewer near Minya.

Morgan Freeman will star in a remake of Ben-Hur.

The IAA arrested three men for antiquities theft at Ashkelon.

The International Business Times has a short profile of Tel Burna (Libnah?) with many graphics.

For the 40th anniversary of Biblical Archaeology Review, Hershel Shanks recounts the story of how the magazine began.

Pontius Pilate, by Paul L. Maier, is on sale for Kindle for $0.99. I recommend it.

Here’s a unique subject for a blogpost: Salem—What We Can Learn from Abraham’s Visit to Jerusalem, by Wayne Stiles.

Wayne is also offering signed copies of two of his excellent books. This is a great gift idea for yourself or someone else who has recently traveled to the Holy Land or who wishes that they could.

Eisenbrauns has reprinted all 11 volumes of the State Archives of Assyria (SAA) and State Archives of Assyria Studies (SAAS) and they are on sale this month.

The exhibition catalog for the new Bible Lands Museum Jerusalem exhibit is now available: By the Rivers of Babylon, The Story of the Babylonian Exile Jerusalem, by Filip Vukosavovic.

The Al-Arish National Museum in the North Sinai has been damaged in an attack by the militant group State of Sinai.

Ancient Romans ate meals that most Americans would recognize.

On Monday we’re beginning a series on Twitter of our 15 favorite places in Jerusalem. Follow us @BiblePlaces or on Facebook.

HT: Agade, Jay Baggett

Tagged Antiquities Trade, Egypt, Excavations, Italy, Jerusalem, Mesopotamia, Movies, Museums, Resources, Shephelah, Temple Mount, Weekend Roundup

Weekend Roundup

A recent excavation at the Tower of David and Kishleh police station revealed a mikveh from Herod’s palace and an earlier wall from the time of Hezekiah. The site is to open to the public next week. (I don’t have any more information at this time.)

An Italian archaeologist wants to restore the Colosseum’s floor.

Wayne Stiles explains why hymn writers use the Jordan River as a metaphor for transitions in the spiritual life.

Part 3 of Mary Magdalene and Magdala is up at the Book and the Spade, with an interview of Father Eamon Kelly, assistant director of the Magdala Center.

Exploring Bible Lands reports on their recent visit to Magdala, a site now extensively open to tourists.

The spoils of Jerusalem on the Arch of Titus are the subject of a Khan Academy video narrated by Steven Fine and Beth Harris.

The first volume of the Gath excavation report is now on sale for an amazingly low price. This is the same work that won the 2013 BAS Award for Best Scholarly Book in Archaeology.

Ferrell Jenkins has great photos of the Cove of the Sower, from land, sea, and air.

William Hallo writes about the fragment of the Cyrus Cylinder that was found in Yale’s Babylonian Collection.

Abram K-J has just posted an extensive review of The Sacred Bridge, arguing that it is the best Bible atlas ever. (I would add that it may be the best ever, but not the best for you, your class, or your church. But you’ll figure out whether it’s for you very quickly from his excellent review of both the print and Accordance versions.)

HT: Paleojudaica

Tagged Galilee, Italy, Jerusalem, Jordan Rift, Mesopotamia, Museums, Resources, Weekend Roundup

Rooms of Emperor Augustus Now Open to Public

At the time when Jesus was born in Bethlehem, Emperor Augustus was enjoying a luxurious life on the Palatine Hill in Rome. Restorations of some of his rooms have been completed and are now being opened to the public. From ArtDaily:

Lavishly frescoed rooms in the houses of the Roman Emperor Augustus and his wife Livia are opening for the first time to the public Thursday, after years of painstaking restoration.
The houses on Rome’s Palatine hill where the emperor lived with his family are re-opening after a 2.5 million euro ($3.22 million) restoration to mark the 2,000 anniversary of Augustus’s death — with previously off-limit chambers on show for the first time.
From garlands of flowers on Pompeian red backgrounds to majestic temples and scenes of rural bliss, the rooms are adorned with vividly coloured frescoes, many in an exceptional condition.
[…]
The complex was intended to symbolise not only his power but that of his wife and advisor Livia, who is said to have wielded great influence over him and went on to play an important role in Roman politics after his death.
“Looking at the houses, the buildings he had built, we understand he was a man of power, of great strength, who knew what went into making a political man at the head of such a big empire,” Conti said.
The frescoes in Livia’s house in particular are one of the most important examples of the period’s style, according to Barbera.

The full story is here.

HT: Ted Weis

Palatine Hill from northeast, tb012001701

Palatine Hill in Rome

Tagged Italy, Tourism

Weekend Roundup

Anna Moseley Gissing writes about three lessons she learned from archaeology about the spiritual life.

Haaretz reports that the appointment of Israel’s new antiquities chief is embroiled in politics.

Should the Vatican return the menorah from the Jerusalem Temple? Steven Fine assigned his class the task of refuting the notion that the Vatican has it.

Greek archaeologists excavating a fourth-century BC tomb at Amphipolis have made an “extremely important find.”

~~Camels~~ Mummification existed in Egypt 1,500 years earlier than scientists have long believed.

The Egyptian government has asked the Ashmolean museum to lend it the personal collection of Howard Carter.

Brian Daniels discusses Preserving Culture in War on this week’s broadcast of The Book and the Spade.

What is the relationship between the archaeology of Jerusalem and the Book of Mormon? SourceFlix has produced a new video that answers this question.

Wayne Stiles describes two oases along the shore of the Dead Sea. (Can you guess which ones they are? Neither one ends with “Gedi.”) He includes photos, a video, and a map.

HT: Joseph Lauer, Jack Sasson

Triumphal procession depicted on the Arch of Titus in Rome
Photo from Pictorial Library of Bible Lands, volume 15

Tagged Dead Sea, Discoveries, Egypt, Greece, Italy, Jerusalem, Museums, Weekend Roundup