The folks over at Koinonia are giving away the recently updated Zondervan Atlas of the Bible. The older NIV atlas along with the updated edition (both by Carl Rasmussen) has been one of the classic conservative Bible atlases for many years. You can enter the giveaway here.
About four months ago, Todd announced the publication of a new guidebook for Turkey entitled Biblical Turkey: A Guide to Jewish and Christian Sites of Asia Minor, by Mark Wilson (Ege Yayınları, 2010). What prompts this review is the news that the book can now be ordered from Amazon.com and sells for $39.95.
Biblical Turkey is not a guidebook like Lonely Planet or Rough Guide—it does not tell you where to find accommodations or the best places for affordable dining. What Biblical Turkey does do, however, is give you just about all the archaeological and historical information you will need for numerous sites in Turkey. The book includes every well-known and lesser-known site which is mentioned in the Bible, but it includes much more than that. As such, this is rich resource, whether you travel to Turkey or not (though, I recommend that you take a trip at some point).
What sets this book apart from A Guide to Biblical Sites in Greece and Turkey, by Fant and Reddish (Oxford Univ. Press, 2003), is its comprehensiveness. Fant and Reddish did not include a number of sites that are mentioned in the Bible, such as Cnidus, Carchemish, and Harran. Wilson includes all of these as well as many other important archeological sites which are not mentioned in the Bible, such as Van Kalesi (ancient Tushpa, the capital of Urartu), Gordium (the capital of Phrygia), Kanesh/Kültepe (the Old Assyrian trading colony), and Nemrut Dağ (the mausoleum of Antiochus I of Commagene).
Nemrut Dağ west terrace, toppled heads from colossal statues.
Biblical Turkey is organized by five regions, beginning in eastern Turkey and working westwards. Each chapter begins with historical and geographic descriptions of ancient regions and provinces (e.g., Cappadocia, Galatia) and then covers the ancient cities within that region. For each region and city, biblical references are listed, a historical summary is given, and the relevant inscriptions and archaeological remains are described. Though written in a non-technical style, the text betrays a depth of technical knowledge in these areas which is quite impressive. Nearly every two-page spread is graced with a carefully selected photograph of the site, an architectural element, or an inscription, which is helpful for understanding the text. Finally, for many sites, Wilson provides a title or two for “further reading.” Most of the titles he suggests are guides available at the site itself, often written by the archaeologists, and published in Turkey. These can be difficult to obtain, but it is helpful nevertheless to have this information. (For those who are desperate enough to pay the stiff shipping charges, many of the titles can probably be purchased at Zero Books.)
I find several other features of Biblical Turkey helpful. The Turkish names are provided alongside the more common English names which facilitates navigating by maps and road signs. The book is also generously furnished with site plans and sidebars. The sidebars come in three types: “side trip” boxes provide brief descriptions of lesser-known sites you may want to add to your trip if you have spare time, “in-site” boxes give more background detail (e.g., a New Testament timeline, the seven ecumenical councils, or ancient travel on the Mediterranean), and “ancient voice” boxes discuss ancient textual sources in greater detail.
Maybe I’m gushing now, but I wish all guidebooks were written like this one. A lot of thought and research went into the content and its organization. Turkey is a vast country with many fascinating things to see and study. With this book in hand, no longer will so much of it go unnoticed.
FURTHER NOTE: Mark Wilson is the director of Seven Churches Network and Asia Minor Research Center. You can read more about Mark here. Leen Ritmeyer reviewed and recommended the book here.
Princeton University Press has released a new, single-volume edition of The Ancient Near East: An Anthology of Texts and Pictures, edited by James B. Pritchard. It is available in hardback ($81 at Amazon) or paperback ($26 at Amazon).
With more than 130 reading selections and 300 photographs of ancient art, architecture, and artifacts, this volume provides a stimulating introduction to some of the most significant and widely studied texts of the ancient Near East, including the Epic of Gilgamesh, the Creation Epic (Enuma elish), the Code of Hammurabi, and the Baal Cycle. For students of history, religion, the Bible, archaeology, and anthropology, this anthology provides a wealth of material for understanding the ancient Near East. (publisher’s website)
When we heard about this, we thought there might be a few questions.
Q: What’s the difference between this and ANET?
A: ANET is short for Ancient Near Eastern Texts Relating to the Old Testament. It was also edited by J. Pritchard, but it is larger and contains more texts. The first edition of ANET was published in 1950, the second edition in 1955, and the third edition in 1969.
Pritchard also published a companion volume to ANET entitled The Ancient Near East in Pictures Relating to the Old Testament, commonly known as ANEP. The first edition of ANEP was published in 1954 and a second edition was published in 1969.
Pritchard subsequently edited two volumes of anthologies which are abridgments of ANET and ANEP. The first volume, The Ancient Near East, An Anthology of Texts and Pictures, was published in 1958, and the second volume, The Ancient Near East, A New Anthology of Texts and Pictures, was published in 1975.
This new Princeton edition has combined and reformatted the material of these two abridged anthologies. From our perusal of chapter one in Amazon’s “Look Inside!” it appears almost nothing has changed, including even footnotes and cross-references to ANET and the Bible. The differences between this new volume and ANET are: (1) ANET and ANEP contain more translated texts and pictures, (2) they cost a lot more, and (3) the layout of this new anthology will make it easier to find what you are looking for.
Q: Where can I find more information about this?
A: The Princeton University Press page includes the table of contents and a pdf of chapter one, which is John Wilson’s translations of “Egyptian Myths and Tales.” You can also read portions at Amazon and at Google Books.
While we’re on the subject of anthologies of ancient text translations, Kevin Edgecomb a few years ago helpfully compiled a comparison chart listing the translations included in ANET and COS. The chart shows that ANET includes many texts that did not make it into COS. According to Edgecomb’s blog, ANET has 221 texts not included in COS, and COS has 525 texts not included in ANET.
- Tagged Resources
The Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago continues to make available older but valuable resources in pdf format. In the next few weeks, all of the titles from the Oriental Institute series will be online. Some recent additions include:
The Sumerian King List. By Thorkild Jacobsen. Assyriological Studies 11. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1939
The Excavation of Armageddon. By Clarence S. Fisher. Oriental Institute Communications 4. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1929
The Annals of Sennacherib. By Daniel David Luckenbill. Oriental Institute Publication 2. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1924
The Babylonian Genesis: The Story of Creation. By Alexander Heidel. Miscellaneous publication. Second edition. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1951
The Gilgamesh Epic and Old Testament Parallels. By Alexander Heidel. Miscellaneous publication. Second edition. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1949
The full catalog is accessible here. The current issue of The Oriental Institute News & Notes is also
available.
HT: Agade
- Tagged Resources
Mark Hoffman is in the process of posting geo-tagged photos from his recent trip to Turkey and Greece.
Tom Powers has determined the exact location of the recently discovered Roman bathhouse in the Old City of Jerusalem.
Ferrell Jenkins has returned safely from his trip to Egypt and Israel. See his recent posts for photos he took along the way.
Leen Ritmeyer continues his explanation of the newly excavated drainage channel next to the Temple Mount.
This Israel MFA article shows you how you can be an “eco-tourist in Israel.” The conclusion provides a list of a ten GoEco opportunities. Many of them sound worthwhile and interesting.
The Jerusalem Post has an interview with Kay Wilson, the tour guide who was nearly stabbed to
death while hiking with a friend in the hills west of Jerusalem.
The Dead Sea is not dead. Some microorganisms are able to survive in the extremely salty conditions. Most of the brief article at ScienceDaily is technical, but this sentence caught my eye:
“Evolution is not a perfect engineer who plans everything and knows exactly what he wants to create from the outset.”
Excavating the City of David, by Ronny Reich, is scheduled to be published this spring by the Israel Exploration Society. Eisenbrauns has the details and is accepting pre-orders.
The best mainstream treatment of the history of ancient Israel is now out in a third edition. Ancient Israel has chapters written by a dozen scholars and is edited by Hershel Shanks. The previous edition came out in 1999, so an updated work is needed. As of this writing, the best price is at the BAS Store.
The latest edition of Atiqot has been published and you can read the articles for free if you register (a quick and easy process). The article I clicked on to test the process (“A Cairn Field”) turns out to be about a potential high place near Jerusalem in the time of Jeremiah.
Israel’s MFA has the best article I can remember about birds migrating through Israel. “At least 500 million birds of 200 different species fly across Israel each spring and fall.” The article tells you where to find them and why you might want to.
And a Haaretz reporter is surprised that he/she likes the newly introduced McFalafel.
- Tagged Dead Sea, Jerusalem, Resources, Tourism, Weekend Roundup
I enjoy historical fiction, but I seem to be unable to combine my interest in the biblical world with a good story because worthwhile books are just not being written. I was happy to hear that Tim Frank has just published a book set in the late 8th century of Judah. Daughter of Lachish tells the story of a girl who survived the siege of Sennacherib and tries to rebuild her life in its aftermath. From the bookjacket:
The mighty Assyrian army has invaded the tiny kingdom of Judah to crush the rebellion against the great king Sennacherib. After a long siege, the Assyrians capture the fortified city of Lachish. They show no mercy to the vanquished people. But one girl is able to escape-Rivkah. She hides in the hills and finds refuge in the company of other survivors. In a devastated land they seek to rebuild their lives. The words of the prophet Micah-spoken to the people over many years-speak to Rivkah anew, allowing her to see the events in a new light.
Drawing on extensive scholarly research, Daughter of Lachish brings to life the world of Ancient Judah. It melds archaeology and biblical studies to tell a story of the people who first heard the words of the Psalms and Prophets. It is a story of one girl, her search for a place in the world, and her quest to make sense of loss and joy. Through her eyes we experience the daily tasks, the seasons of the agricultural year, the bonds that hold together a household and a village, and the tensions that threaten to tear them apart.
Tim Frank brings extensive knowledge of the ancient world to his writing, serving as a supervisor at the Lahav Research Project (Tell Halif), excavating at Tel Burna (near Lachish), and presently working in the Middle Eastern collection at the Cobb Institute of Archaeology. Judith McKinlay praises Frank’s abilities as a storyteller:
I could not stop reading this story. This is a biblical world engagingly alive, with its carefully researched details of the Assyrian war machine devastating life in eighth-century Judah and its strong characters determined to survive. I felt for Rivkah, survivor of Lachish. With biblical passages interwoven, most significantly the prophecies of Micah, met in person in the latter part of the novel, it is also a tale true to the biblical faith.
—Judith McKinlay, University of Otago
Full details and ordering information are here. The book costs more than your average mass-market work of fiction and that’s because this isn’t a book for the “mass market.” For a great education that takes me on a delightful journey, I’m happy to pay a little more, with hopes that we’ll see more such works in the future.