July Roundup, Part 5 (Greece, Roman Empire, and more)

Archaeologists working at Philippi have uncovered a large public building, workshops, residences, and bathhouses.

An intact Roman-era bridge was discovered at the site of Elefsina (ancient Eleusis) in Greece.

“Twenty-six sites have been added to UNESCO’s World Heritage List, designating their cultural and natural importance,” including the Minoan palatial centers on Crete and Sardis and the Lydian tumuli in Turkey.

“When some residents of Athens, Greece, turn on their sinks, showers and public fountains later this month, water will flow to some taps from an ancient source: a 2,000-year-old underground aqueduct originally built by the Roman Empire.”

“A handful of broken oil lamps could shed light on a small and long-vanished Jewish community that lived in southern Spain in the late Roman era as the old gods were being snuffed out by Christianity.”

Brent Seales has been awarded a $13.5 million grant to support his work in deciphering the carbonized scrolls of Herculaneum.

“A new A.I. tool developed by Google DeepMind helps scholars fill in words missing from ancient inscriptions and estimate historical data about the textual artifacts, making educated guesses based on context and similar inscriptions.”

More than 120 dodecahedrons have been discovered throughout the Roman empire in the last three centuries, but though dozens of theories of their function have been proposed, scholars are still at a loss.

“Caligula, the notoriously erratic Roman emperor known for his bloodthirsty cruelty, probably also possessed a nerd’s knowledge of medicinal plants, according to a new Yale study.”

Thomas J. Derrick explores the smells, both good and bad, of ancient Rome.

The archaeological collection of the late James F. Strange is benefiting students at the University of South Florida.

ReferenceMapper is a new, free tool “that will fetch all related Bible Mapper maps and articles for each Bible reference on your page and link them to a map icon next to the Bible reference.”

Available for pre-order for Logos:

Carmen Joy Imes discusses her favorite historical fiction books written by biblical scholars (8 min). I’ve read most of the seven books she mentions, and I agree with her recommendations.

HT: Agade, Explorator

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Weekend Roundup, Part 1

“Four rare bronze discs shaped like lion heads have been uncovered in a 1,900-year-old grave in central Israel.” The underlying journal article is here.

A nearly two-mile-long tunnel in the aqueduct system feeding Solomon’s Pools is longer than any other known in the Roman empire. The underlying journal article by David Deming provides much more information about the aqueducts and water supply of ancient Jerusalem.

Archaeologists working at Tel Dan have discovered evidence for ritual bathing in a temple reconstructed after the Seleucid conquest.

The Jerusalem Post has a story about Shiloh’s excavation team being evacuated when the war began. The Appalachian News-Express has a similar story about one of the participants.

Gordon Govier interviews Scott Stripling about the Shiloh excavations and the beginning of the war.

“Iranian cyber activists hacked the X/Twitter account of the Israel Antiquities Authority early on Sunday morning.”

Writing for The Times of Israel, archaeologist Aren Maeir considers the history of military confrontations between Persia and the West and suggests that “history has always been and will always be deceptive and fickle, and it is wise to exercise extreme caution before pretending to explain to the public what was and what will be.”

The Jerusalem Post runs a piece on the Cyrus Cylinder and its significance for Persian-Jewish relations.

Online lecture on July 17: “Reminiscences of the Masada Dig, 1963-5: Yigael Yadin and the British Connection,” by Tessa Rajak

New release: Bring Them into the Land: Studies in Honor of R. Steven Notley, edited by Jeffrey P. Arroyo Garcia, Daniel Machiela, Chad Pierce and Benjamin Wold (Wipf & Stock, 550 pages, $68; Kindle: $10)

One of the most potentially valuable tools I’ve used in AI recently is NotebookLM, and the NY Times explores how it can be used by historians.

There will be no roundups in the month of July.

HT: Agade, Gordon Franz, Explorator

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Weekend Roundup, Part 2

“A marble statue of Hermes from the Roman Imperial Period was found during the 2024 excavation season in the ancient city of Aspendos.”

Smithsonian Magazine runs a feature article from a forthcoming book by Joshua Hammer about the four-way mid-19th-century race to decode the Akkadian language.

Researchers at Cornell University and Tel Aviv University are developing methods to use AI in the deciphering of cuneiform tablets.

A. Bernard Knapp explores the relationship between Cyprus and Ugarit in the Late Bronze Age. His recent book on the subject is free to read online.

“The 2,000-year-old water channels of the ancient city of Smyrna in Izmir continue to function as they did centuries ago.”

“The British Museum has just unveiled the winning design in an international architectural competition for the substantial revamp of the so-called Western Range of the museum.” This article in the Greek City Times wonders whether this renovation includes a space for the Parthenon Marbles.

An archaeological display of 50 artifacts sponsored by the Associates for Biblical Research will be exhibited over Easter weekend at the Creation Museum in Kentucky.

Available next month: Archaeology and the Ministry of the Apostle Paul: A Visual Guide, by David A. deSilva (Baker Academic, $33)

Zoom lecture on March 17: “From Online Auction to JTS Special Collections: How Two Historic Bibles Were Reunited in the JTS Library,” by David Moster

Hybrid lecture at Harvard on March 26: “Murder, Poetry, and Scribes in Ancient Egypt,” by Margaret Geoga

Michael Danti and John MacGinnis are guests on Thin End of the Wedge to discuss “Nimrud: Post-conflict Archaeology in the Heartland of Assyria.”

“The Institute of Classical Studies, in collaboration with the Faculty of Linguistics and the Centre for Hebrew and Jewish Studies at the University of Oxford, will offer two free, online semi-intensive courses in Phoenician.” One course is at the elementary level, the second is intermediate, and both are on Zoom.

Turkish Archaeological News reviews the most important discoveries in the month of February.

Paul L. Maier, ancient history scholar and author of Pontius Pilate, The Flames of Rome, and numerous other works, died last month.

HT: Agade, Joseph Lauer, Keith Keyser, Gordon Franz, Arne Halbakken, Ted Weis

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Weekend Roundup, Part 2

The ancient harbor of Adramyttium, mentioned on Paul’s voyage to Rome (Acts 27:2), became visible when the Aegean sea receded. Photos are posted in the Turkish article.

Recent excavations in Perga have uncovered five statues.

Egypt has begun restoring the Ramesseum in Luxor.

MrBeast spent 100 hours inside the Giza pyramids, including visiting areas not open to the general public.

Mark V. Hoffman notes a temporary exhibition entitled “In the Footsteps of Paul” that is at the Archaeological Museum of Thessaloniki through April and then will be in Athens.

Mark V. Hoffman also gives an introduction to MARBLE (Modular Aggregation of Resources on the Bible), a UBS project that includes biblical texts, semantic dictionaries, images, and videos.

New release: Tel Dover (Khirbet ed-Duweir) on the Yarmuk River: The Late Bronze and Iron Age Levels, by Amir Golani and Samuel R. Wolff (Ägypten und Altes Testament 130; Zaphon; €75).

New release: Slavery and Servitude in Late Period Egypt (c. 900–330 BC), by Ella Karev (Ägypten und Altes Testament, €70)

New release: Scribes and Language Use in the Graeco-Roman World, edited by Sonja Dahlgren, Martti Leiwo, and Marja Vierros (The Finnish Society of Sciences and Letters, free pdf).

Color paintings made by Joseph Lindon Smith in an Egyptian tomb remain valuable today.

An archaeological exhibition entitled “From Sharjah to Rome via the Spice Route” is currently on display at the Colosseum in Rome.

Lawrence Schiffman is giving two lectures on the Dead Sea Scrolls at Penn State University on February 19:

  • 12:15 to 1:30 pm: “Temple City: Jerusalem and its Temple in the Urban Planning of the Dead Sea Scrolls” (register for Zoom here)
  • 6:00 to 7:30 pm: “The Dead Sea Scrolls and the History of Judaism” (register for Zoom here)

The Itinerarium, written by the anonymous Piacenza Pilgrim circa 570 and translated by Andrew S. Jacobs, is now available online.

Colleen Morgan explains how AI imagery could be used to develop fake archaeology.

Chris McKinny and Kyle Keimer discuss the best archaeological finds of 2024 on the Biblical World podcast.

HT: Agade, Gordon Franz, Arne Halbakken, Explorator, Paleojudaica

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Weekend Roundup, Part 2

Bryan Windle summarizes the top three reports in biblical archaeology in the month of January.

Turkish Archaeological News rounds up the top stories for the month of January.

Zuzana Chovanec explains how Organic Residue Analysis makes it possible to understand the use of the opium poppy in history.

The Grand Egyptian Museum will reportedly have its grand opening on July 3.

BibleTelling is planning 2 “seminars”—where the participants tell Bible stories on Bible land locations where they occurred:

New release: How to Eat: An Ancient Guide for Healthy Living, translated with commentary by Claire Bubb (Ancient Wisdom for Modern Readers, Princeton University Press, $13-$18; Amazon)

New release: The Akkadian Great Hymns and Prayers: A Critical Edition of the Nabû and Ištar Prayers and a Study of the Corpus, by Geraldina Rozzi. Free download.

Webinar on Feb 19: “The Archaeology of Psychotropic Substances in the Ancient Eastern Mediterranean and Western Asia,” by David Ilan

The World of Abraham exhibit opened recently at The Bible Seminary’s Joshua, Judges, and Jesus Museum in Katy, Texas.

Lipscomb University offers M.A. and Ph.D. degrees in biblical and ANE archaeology, with six current projects in four Middle Eastern countries.

Leon Mauldin has posted a number of photos of Amarna Tablets now in the British Museum.

Charles A. Burney died in November. He excavated in Libya, Egypt, Iran, Turkey, and with Kenyon at Jericho.

HT: Agade, Gordon Franz, Arne Halbakken, Explorator

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Weekend Roundup, Part 2

“A farmer in eastern Turkey discovered a rare, largely intact late Roman mosaic while planting a cherry orchard. Spanning almost 1,000 square feet, the mosaic is thought by archaeologists to be the largest example of its kind unearthed in the country.”

Archaeologists working in Pompeii uncovered “one of the largest private thermal complexes” found in the city to date.

“In Libya’s ancient city of Ptolemais on the Mediterranean coast, Polish archaeologists have uncovered a dwelling equipped with an advanced drinking water collection system, and a mysterious mask.”

“The 4,100-year-old tomb of a doctor who ‘treated the pharaoh himself’ has been discovered at the site of Saqqara in Egypt.”

The Yale Ancient Pharmacology Program is working at a site outside Rome “to unlock the chemical signature of what might be in the amphorae by conducting organic residue analysis.”

The Egyptian government denies that it is planning to sell the Grand Egyptian Museum.

The Damascus Museum has reopened, one month after Assad left town.

“Jordan: Dawn of Christianity” is a one-month long special exhibit to be hosted by the Vatican beginning on January 31.

Bryan Windle has written an archaeological biography for Evil-Merodach, the Babylonian king best known for releasing Jehoiachin from prison and giving him a place of honor at the king’s table.

Glenn J. Corbett writes about the $12 million project to renovate the mausoleum of Augustus, slated to reopen next year.

The LA Times has a play-by-play account of how the Getty Villa was spared from the Palisade fire.

HT: Agade, Gordon Franz, Andy Cook, Ted Weis, Arne Halbakken, Explorator

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About the BiblePlaces Blog

The BiblePlaces Blog provides updates and analysis of the latest in biblical archaeology, history, and geography. Unless otherwise noted, the posts are written by Todd Bolen, PhD, Professor of Biblical Studies at The Master’s University.

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