Turkey Archives - Page 58 of 65

Weekend Roundup #2

A local imitation of an Athenian tetradrachma was discovered on the surface of Tel Azekah recently. Excavations begin at the site in July.

The Egyptian government has announced that “a big archaeological slab dating back to the era of Ramesses III” was found at the Karnak Temple.

Last week I was looking down on Tel Jokneam (Yokneam) from Muhraqa on Mount Carmel and wondering what was going on there. Joe Yudin has the answer: “Tel Yokneam is in the midst of a vast restoration project by the local communities’ schoolchildren in conjunction with the Antiquities Authority and the National Parks Authority.”

Wayne Stiles: “Perhaps because of the atrocities of Manasseh, Jesus used the Hinnom Valley as an illustration of eternal torment (Matthew 18:9).” Stiles compares the redemption of the evil king with the transformation of the valley today.

Ferrell Jenkins is posting photos of his current tour in western Turkey and Greece, including Smyrna, Pergamum, and more.

I like the photo of the Hidden Waterfall at En Gedi now posted at The Bible and Interpretation.

Aren Maeir was interviewed on the LandMinds program (part 1, part 2, part 3, part 4).

As a follow-up to the recent post on Esther in the Dead Sea Scrolls, it may be noted that only 1 manuscript (4Q118) with 4 complete words is preserved of the much longer 1-2 Chronicles (ABD 1:995).

HT: Joseph Lauer, Jack Sasson

Hinnom Valley from the east

Tagged Discoveries, Egypt, Jerusalem, Jezreel Valley, Philistines, Shephelah, Turkey

Wednesday Roundup

Hundreds of pilgrims celebrated Palm Sunday in Jerusalem.

Wayne Stiles visits the Jerusalem of Hezekiah’s time and writes, “I have a faith rooted in history—not mystery. The words on the pages of Scripture are supported by simple elements we can dig out of the ground. They prove nothing, but they support it all.”

The Israel Museum has joined the Google Art Project and “online users will be able to view high-resolution images of 520 pieces from the museum’s collection.” That future tense should be changed to present, as you can see the images here. Beautiful.

A restaurant in Capernaum has been accused of dumping raw sewage into the Sea of Galilee. “This is one of the most serious cases of coastal environmental damage that the Kinneret has encountered thus far,” said a prosecutor.

Cyprus and Israel are collaborating to form a database for archaeology. There is more in common between the pasts of the two countries than many people know. The article does not explain the reason for why this cooperation is occurring only now: a downturn in the relations between Israel and Turkey.

The Mughrabi Bridge saga continues with Israel’s Supreme Court ruling that planning committees have to consider the women’s prayer area as well as security issues in their decisions. An Islamic petitioner claims that the Western Wall plaza falls under the authority of the Waqf. Jordan’s crown prince made a surprise visit to the Temple Mount today to see the Mughrabi Gate.

Turkey is asking for the return of artifacts from the J. Paul Getty Museum, the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City, the Cleveland Museum of Art and Harvard University’s Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection. “‘Turkey is not trying to start a fight,’ said Murat Suslu, Turkey’s director general for cultural heritage and museums. ‘We are trying to develop…cooperation.’”

The Israel Antiquities Authority recently recovered the covers of two sarcophagi smuggled out of Egypt.

For one week, the Teaching Company is offering a free video lecture by John R. Hale, “Central Turkey—Ankara, Konya, Cappadocia.”

HT: Joseph Lauer, Jack Sasson

Theater of Kourion, Cyprus

Tagged Egypt, Galilee, Holidays, Jerusalem, Mediterranean Islands, Museums, Turkey, Weekend Roundup

Christian Inscription from AD 125

Larry Hurtado brings attention to what may be the earliest Christian graffito, suggesting that the find is extraordinary but that because the author “doesn’t have a TV production company behind him, we haven’t seen this item in the daily news.”

The inscription was found in Smyrna, home of a first-century church (Rev 2:8-11), and dates to AD 125/26. The writing includes the words “Lord” and “faith,” but you’ll need to get the forthcoming book by Roger Bagnall or read Hurtado’s summary for the details.

HT: Arne Halbakken

View of Smyrna (modern Izmir) from acropolis

Tagged Discoveries, Turkey

Wednesday Roundup

Shmuel Browns shares some photos from his recent hike of Nahal Darga, which he calls “Israel’s most extreme and challenging” hike.

BAS: “Named by The Sunday Times as one of the world’s top ten walks, the Lycian Way hiking trail weaves along 300 miles of Turkey’s southern coastline through hundreds of archaeological sites.”

Leen Ritmeyer has word of an expansion to the Davidson Center in the excavations south of the Temple Mount.

The audio files are now online for Bryant Wood’s recent lecture series on “Archaeology and the Conquest: New Evidence on an Old Problem.”

Wayne Stiles: “Passover and Easter bring to mind pictures of the Messiah—both for Jews and for Christians. The Mount of Olives echoes these hopes from its slopes.”

The Washington Post reports on a battle in Israel to save the ancient Canaan dog.

Israel’s Supreme Court rejected a left-wing petition against the City of David Archaeological Park.

The article notes that “the City of David site receives around 450,000 visitors a year, up from 2,000 in 2001.”

Craig Evans writes about the Archaeological Evidence for Jesus. The accompanying photos are disappointing.

The Elvis Presley® Holy Land Tour is now taking sign-ups. In addition to stops at the Sea of Galilee and Western Wall, the tour will stop at the “infamous Elvis Inn Restaurant in Abu Ghosh – an Elvis-
themed diner and souvenir shop popular with tourists from around the world.”

HT: Joseph Lauer

Tagged Jerusalem, Tourism, Turkey

Lecture: King David and Hittite Monarchs

THE TRINITY BIBLICAL AND ANCIENT NEAR EASTERN ARCHAEOLOGY LECTURE

Harry A. Hoffner, Jr.

Emeritus John A. Wilson Professor of Hittitology

The Oriental Institute

The University of Chicago

“Getting to be King and Staying There: David of Israel Seen in Comparison with Selected Hittite

Monarchs”

Monday, April 23, 2012

7:00 p.m. – Hinkson Hall, Rodine Building

Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, Deerfield, Illinois

More details about the speaker are given on the university’s announcement flyer.

Tagged 10th Century, Lectures, Turkey

Weekend Roundup

Bryant Wood has written a short summary of the 2009 and 2010 excavation seasons at Khirbet el-Maqatir, a site he believes may be biblical Ai.

Of the Talpiot Tomb, Richard Bauckham has a detailed examination of the four-line inscription, concluding that it does not have anything to do with Jesus or early Christianity but is nonetheless a very interesting ossuary inscription. Paleobabble observes that there is nothing in the “Jesus Discovery” related to Jesus or early Christianity. Those interested in reading about the first “Jesus tomb” in Talpiot can access a 2006 issue of Near Eastern Archaeology on the subject for free.

The Maps of the Zucker Holy Land Travel Manuscript have been digitized and put online by the University of Pennsylvania. The map was made in the late 1600s.

John Monson’s lecture on “Physical Theology: The Bible in its Land, Time, and Culture” at the Lanier Theological Library last month is now online.

Wayne Stiles visits the Mount of Beatitudes, Tel Dan, and Beth Shean. He provides an interesting quotation from George Adam Smith about Beth Shean, written in 1896: “There are few sites which promise richer spoil beneath their rubbish to the first happy explorer with permission to excavate.”

How right he was!

Joe Yudin describes a favorite hike in lower Galilee.

Turkey claims that Roman mosaics at a university in Kentucky were stolen in the 1960s and should be returned.

The Roman ruins in Palmyra are apparently being threatened by the Syrian army.

Greece is re-burying ruins because of a lack of funds.

HT: Jack Sasson, Joseph Lauer

Triumphal arch of Palmyra
(source, with 30 free photos of the site)

Tagged Greece, Resources, Syria, Tomb of Jesus, Tourism, Turkey, Weekend Roundup