Eisenbrauns has announced a new book by Anson Rainey entitled Teaching History and Historical Geography of Bible Lands: A Syllabus. Few details about the publication are available beyond its release date in December. Rainey taught a popular course in advanced Historical Geography for decades at the Institute of Holy Land Studies (now Jerusalem University College). A lifetime of research culminated in The Sacred Bridge, the most detailed resource on the subject ever written. I look forward to his latest contribution.
Stephen Gabriel Rosenberg has written a summary of major archaeological stories in September.
Aren Maeir critiques an article in the current issue of BASOR in which three geologists argue that
Hezekiah’s Tunnel took about four years to dig and was constructed not by Hezekiah but by his son Manasseh.
Leen Ritmeyer has just released “The Ark of the Covenant: Its Journey from Sinai to Jerusalem” digital image collection. I’ve used a number of these images from the slide set over the years, but now Leen writes that so much has been added that the CD is “an entirely new presentation.”
I received some criticism for daring to suggest that last week’s 60 Minutes report on the excavations in the City of David would be one-sided. But according to this eight-point critique by CAMERA, I was right. Another website responds to the claim that there is “no evidence” of King David in
Jerusalem.
Carol Meyers will be lecturing this week in Fort Worth. Her title is “Holy Land Archaeology: Past Meets Present” and tickets are $20. Details are here.
Claude Mariottini points out National Geographic’s slideshow on “12 Ancient Landmarks on Verge of Vanishing.” The photo of Nineveh is striking, but I can’t agree with the inclusion of Hisham’s Palace (Jericho) in the list. It is surprising to me that the description of the ruins of Famagusta in Cyprus does not mention the city’s ancient name, Salamis. Barnabas and Saul (Paul) landed here on Paul’s first missionary journey (Acts 13:5).
The photograph in the blog header was taken twenty years ago this week. I was with a group of students from the Institute of Holy Land Studies excavating with Amihai Mazar at Tel Beth Shean.
Even in late October that place is hot!
- Tagged Jerusalem, Lectures, Resources, Weekend Roundup
National Geographic has a beautiful seven-shot photo gallery of King Herod’s tomb, including good information about the recent discoveries. The Book and the Spade discusses the tomb in its current radio broadcast (direct link from this page).
Leon Mauldin has posted a beautiful aerial photograph of Aphek/Antipatris.
No, I didn’t watch the 60 Minutes piece on the excavations in the City of David. After a while, dishonest reporting is no longer even entertaining.
The Jerusalem Post has a short article on the stones of Jerusalem, including mention of the British
Mandate law requiring that buildings in the city be faced with it.
Logos 4 was released a year ago, but I waited until recently before installing it on my computer. I’ll add my voice to the chorus praising the program. If you didn’t already know, each of the base packages includes a module entitled “BiblePlaces.com Image Library,” which features 350 selected photographs from our collection.
The new Holman Christian Standard Bible Study Bible arrived in the mail Saturday. I am impressed by the attractiveness of the pages (full color) and the selection of writers for the notes. I like the appropriately chosen photos of biblical sites and artifacts, and I was usually pleased with what was written about the controversial issues I checked. Apparently the whole Bible is online at mystudybible.com, but it was a bit slow when I tried.
Last week my family welcomed another son into our home. He missed the 10-10-10 date by one day, but otherwise he is perfect.
- Tagged Herod's Tomb, Jerusalem, Resources
Construction of a new parking lot underneath the Jewish Quarter was reported to require the first breach of the Old City walls of Jerusalem in more than a hundred years. Well, not quite. First, the architect clarified that he was only going under the walls and not through them. Then Leen Ritmeyer explained that the walls were not breached a hundred years ago for Kaiser Wilhelm II’s visit. The walls are safe, for now.
A program on the “New Finds in Jaffa Gate” will be held on Oct 12, 2010, 6-8 pm at Jerusalem’s Yad Ben Zvi Institute. Ofer Sion and Shahar Poni will lecture on the discoveries, including the channel leading to Hezekiah’s Pool. The lecture notice (in Hebrew) can be found here and here (pdf).
HT: Joe Lauer
A statue of Hathor disappeared from a temple at Serabit el-Khadim and was discovered in the Sinai desert five days later. Authorities are questioning the site’s security guards.
Following Friday’s report that the Syrian army has a Scud missile base near Damascus, Jay Baggett (Land of the Bible) created a flyover tour to the “hidden” base where the missiles can be easily seen on Google Earth.
Steven Lancaster and James Monson have completed the Geobasics Study Guide, an outstanding and unique work that deserves a post of its own. In the meantime, you can get a copy for yourself. The guide is in pdf format and is free. The accompanying map book is (only) $15.
- Tagged Jerusalem, Lectures, Resources, Syria, Weekend Roundup
To everyone who has written me asking how to visit the new excavations at Magdala, Tom Powers answers your question. He also provides a map showing the excavation and construction areas.
For the first time in 2,000 years, Babylonian texts have been read aloud. The readings by Cambridge University scholars are available online.
The Anchor Yale Bible Reference Library for Logos Bible Software will no longer be on pre-publication discount after this week. Readers here may be particularly interested in the standard archaeological reference works by Mazar and Stern, but there are many valuable resources in this collection.
Raphael Golb was convicted of 30 counts of identity theft, forgery, and harassment.
Perhaps the weekend is a good opportunity for you to read my article on the location of David’s palace, if you haven’t already.
Some have had questions or difficulties in taking advantage of the special offer for Picturesque Palestine. To that end, we have just posted some answers.
- Tagged Resources