Jerusalem Archives - Page 114 of 198

Conference: Water in Antiquity

The Cura Aquarum in Israel will be held next week at Neve Ilan. Many of the lecture topics are of interest.

Monday October 15, 2012 (Neve Ilan Hotel)

Session A: 09:00 – 10:30 Ancient water systems in Israel 1
Chairperson Jim Parker

1. Is There Light at the End of the Tunnel? The Gezer Water System Project – Dan Warner, Tsvika Tsuk, Jim Parker and Dennis Cole

2. A New Assessment of the Upper Aqueduct to Jerusalem: its Date and Route – David Amit and Shimon Gibson

3. Dating and engineering of Siloam Tunnel, Jerusalem – Amos Frumkin and Aryeh Shimron

Session B: 11:00 – 12:50 Ancient water systems in Israel 2
Chairperson Dennis Cole

4. The Inverted Siphon Pipelines to Tel Bet Yerah/es-Sinnabris – Yardenna Alexandre

5. The “’Otzar” in Ancient Ritual Baths: Second Temple Period Innovation or Anachronistic Interpretation? – Yonatan Adler

6. When were the Qanat Systems introduced to the Holy Land? – Yosef Porath

7. The Early Islamic aqueducts to Ramla and Hebron – Amir Gorzalczany and David Amit

Session C: 14:15 – 15:15 Ancient and modern water systems in Israel 3
Chairperson Ronny Reich

8. Touring Israel’s ancient water systems – Tsvika Tsuk

9. Water in Israel and in the Middle East – past, present and future – Shimon Tal

Session D: 15:35 – 17:00 Turkey 1
Chairperson Werner Eck

10. Grundwassernutzung in der hethitischen Hauptstadt Hattusa um 1600 v. Chr. – Hartmut
Wittenberg

11. Ancient Water Systems of the Lamas Çayi and the surrounding hinterland – Dennis Murphy

12. Die Datierung der römischen Kaikos- und Madradag-Kanalleitungen in Pergamon – Henning Fahlbusch

Session E: 17:20 – 18:50 Turkey 2
Chairperson Henning Fahlbusch

13. Das städtische Abwassersystem von Pergamon – seine Entwicklung in hellenistischer und römischer Zeit – Kai Wellbrock

14. The aqueducts and water supply of Tralleis – Eddie Owens

15. Antike Wasserbauten von Antiochia (Tuerkei) – Mathias Döring

Tuesday October 16, 2012 (Neve Ilan hotel)

Session F: 08:30 – 09:30 The Military
Chairperson Mathias Döring

16. Das Heer und die Infrastruktur von Städten in der römischen Kaiserzeit – Werner Eck

17. Water as weapon and military target in Ancient Mesopotamian warfare – Ariel Bagg

Session G: 09:50 – 11:20 Groundwater and Roman Aqueducts
Chairperson Eli Dror

18. Ground water use and understanding in ancient times: lessons for today and tomorrow – Michael Knight

19. Sinter deposits in Roman aqueducts – Gül Sürmelihindi and Cees Passchier

20. The Atlas Project of Roman Aqueducts (ROMAQ) – Cees Passchier, and Gül Sürmelihindi
Session H: 11:50 – 13:15 Greece and Spain – Sanctuaries, Mills and Aqueducts
Chairperson Dennis Murphy

21. The role of water in ancient sanctuaries. The Sanctuary of Amphiaraos – Anna Androvitsanea

22. When Ceres commands her nymphs – An investigation of the relation between mills and aqueducts in the antique Mediterranean – Stefanie Preißler

23. The Glass kiln (Horno de Vidrio), a drop tower in the water supply to the city of Toledo (Spain) during the Roman era – Marisa Barahona

More details about the conference are available here.

HT: Jack Sasson

Hezekiah’s Tunnel in Jerusalem

Photo: Pictorial Library of Bible Lands, volume 3

Tagged Italy, Jerusalem, Lectures, Shephelah, Turkey

Wednesday Roundup

Vandals spray-painted anti-Christian graffiti on the Dormition Abbey church. UPDATE: The graffiti was near the Dormition Abbey, just outside Zion Gate on the door of the Franciscan Convent.

Haaretz has a photo. (Thanks, Dina.)

Israel and Jordan are planning to work together to rehabilitate the Jordan River.

The case for the authenticity of the Gospel of Jesus’ Wife is getting weaker.

Aren Maeir posts an archaeological note relating to Sukkot.

If you’re interested in historical fiction set in the life of the early church, The Scribes is currently free for Kindle.

The problem with blackmail is that it never stops, even between governments and world-class museums.

How is the Messiah related to the feast of Sukkot? Wayne Stiles explains and illustrates.

HT: Jack Sasson

Sukkot prayers (photo source)

Tagged Holidays, Jerusalem, Jordan Rift, Weekend Roundup

New Book: Jesus and the Jewish Festivals

The Gospel of John could well be titled “Jesus and the Jewish Festivals,” given the author’s focus on Jesus’ presence in Jerusalem during Passover, Tabernacles, and Hanukkah. Gary M. Burge has just written the latest in his “Ancient Context, Ancient Faith” series, looking at the Jewish background that informs Jesus’ bold claims in the Fourth Gospel. The book answers many questions that the Christian with less knowledge of the Old Testament and the Jewish world will naturally have, including:

How did Jesus exploit the central feature of Passover in feeding the 5,000?
How did Jesus use shock and irony in his claims at the feast of Tabernacles?
How did Jesus use Hanukkah to reveal his identity?

The 140-page book is loaded with great illustrations and should have a wide appeal to Christians of different backgrounds and educations. $10 at Amazon.

Jesus and the Jewish Festivals is the sixth volume in the series. Readers here may be interested in the other volumes as well:

The Bible and the Land, by Gary M. Burge
Bringing Jesus to the Desert, by Bradley Nassif
Encounters with Jesus, by Gary M. Burge
Finding the Lost Images of God, by Timothy S. Laniak
Jesus, the Middle Eastern Storyteller, by Gary M. Burge

Tagged Jerusalem, Resources

New Excavations: Palmahim, Nahariyya, and Jerusalem

Three excavation reports were published yesterday by the Israel Antiquities Authority.

In Palmahim, on the coast south of Tel Aviv, archaeologists uncovered a large and unique Chalcolithic cemetery with fourteen circular tombs and six ossuaries.

In Nahariyya, excavations revealed a portion of the Roman road running from Acco to Tyre.

On the west side of Jerusalem, an agricultural farmstead from the Iron, Roman, and Byzantine periods was excavated. The discoveries include three winepresses, a watchman’s hut, three quarries, a couple of caves, and farming terrace walls.

All of the reports include maps, plans, and photographs.

“Chain-type burials” from the Chalcolithic period near Palmahim.
Photo by IAA.

Tagged Excavations, Israel's Coast, Jerusalem

Wednesday Roundup

Eilat Mazar has resumed excavations in the (so-called) Ophel, and her partners at Armstrong College plan to provide regular updates. They begin with an on-location interview of Mazar.

Excavations continue to reveal Egyptian presence in Joppa from the New Kingdom period.

Mark Fairchild’s search for ancient synagogues in Turkey is profiled in the local press. The article includes an interesting video by Fairchild of his discoveries.

In light of an article in the Wall Street Journal, Charles Savelle reflects on the value of knowing biblical geography.

Ferrell Jenkins is back in Israel and he shares a rare photo of Jacob’s well.

King Tut and his predecessors may have been afflicted with temporal lobe epilepsy.

Did you forget to celebrate the 2000th anniversary of Caligula’s birthday?

Clean-up of the polluted Kishon River is finally scheduled to begin, 12 years after divers were found
to have contracted cancer.

The cedars of Lebanon are threatened by climate change.

As Rosh HaShanah (the New Year) begins in Jewish homes around the world at sundown on Sunday,

Wayne Stiles reflects on the Gezer Calendar and other ways we keep time.

The 50th anniversary of Lawrence of Arabia inspires Anthony Horowitz to travel to Jordan.

HT: Explorator, Jack Sasson

Wadi Rum. Photo from the Pictorial Library of Bible Lands.

Tagged Egypt, Excavations, Holidays, Italy, Jerusalem, Jordan, Lebanon, Samaria, Turkey, Weekend Roundup

Conservation Work Completed on Jerusalem’s Old City Gates

Conservation work on the Lions Gate (aka St. Stephen’s Gate) has been finished, according to a press release issued by the Israel Antiquities Authority.

The work of preserving and stabilizing the Lions Gate in the Old City’s eastern wall has been completed. This impressive gate is the last of the seven open gates of the city wall that were meticulously and professionally treated in recent years by the Conservation Department of the Israel Antiquities Authority. This was done within the framework of the comprehensive project of conserving and rehabilitating the Old City walls, at the initiative of and with funding provided by the Jerusalem Development Authority and the Prime Minister’s Office.
At the start of the conservation work on the Lions Gate the project engineers discovered that the sentry’s post situated above the gate’s entrance, which was where the soldier guarding the tower once stood, was in danger of collapse. The sentry’s post was entirely dismantled, broken stones in it were replaced and it was returned and secured to its original place on the wall. The two lions carved on either side of the gate also underwent conservation and cleaning.
Within the framework of the conservation work carried out on the Old City walls in Jerusalem, which lasted five years, the walls were conserved which had been built and renovated in the mid-sixteenth century by the Ottoman sultan Suleiman I. Both sides of the wall were treated for a total distance of c. 3,800 m. Each and every one of the stones in the wall was photographed with a laser, documented and studied. Approximately 1,000 deteriorating stones were stabilized; c. 2,000 square meters at the top of the wall were stabilized and sealed to prevent the penetration of water; c. 350 merlons and embrasures were conserved and the stone work in them was completed; c. 2,000 square meters of stones in the wall were dismantled and rebuilt due to vegetation that had taken root in them and a total of c. 5,000 square meters of the walls’ surface were cleaned.

The press release includes quotes from several officials as well as 12 high-resolution photographs of the work on seven of the Old City gates.

Lions Gate circa 1910 (photo source)

Tagged Jerusalem