Seal Impression on a Jug Handle
Seal Impression on a Jug Handle Seal impression on the handle of a wine jug of the “Rhodes” type. Ben-Dov, Meir, In the Shadow of the Temple. New York- Harper & Row, 1985.
Archive for August, 2008
Coin of Seleucus I, 305-281 BCE
Seleucus Coin The Seleucid Empire (323-60 BCE) was a Hellenistic successor state of Alexander the Great’s dominion, including central Anatolia, the Levant, Mesopotamia, Persia, Turkmenistan, Pamir and the Indus valley. Its founder, Seleucus I, is also called Seleucus I Nicator (“the victor”).
Aristotle, 384-322 BCE
Portrait of Aristoteles. Pentelic marble, copy of the Imperial Period (1st or 2nd century) of a lost bronze sculpture made by Lysippos. The Louvre. “The evidence of the senses further corroborates [the sphericity of the earth]. How else would eclipses of the moon show segments shaped as we see them? As it is, the shapes […]
Fall of the Persian Empire, 332 BCE
Philip II of Macedon began an attack on the Achaemenid Empire after the death of Artaxerxes (Artaxšaçrā) III Ochus in 338 BCE. His son, Alexander the Great, renewed the attack beginning in 334 BCE. Darius III was already an old man and he was defeated by Alexander at Gaugamela (331 BCE). Alexander proceeded to capture […]
Alexander Mosaic, 333 BCE
Alexander Mosaic Close-Up. Photo courtesy of Livius.org. This mosaic depicts Alexander defeating the Perisan king Darius III in the Battle of Issus. It shows the retreat of Darius as Alexander, wounded in the thigh, continues to advance. This mosaic was found in Pompeii in the House of the Faun. Alexander Mosaic Full View
Inscribed Silver Bowl, c. 415-410 BCE
Inscribed Silver Bowl Inscribed Silver Bowl from Tel Mashuta, beginning of the 5th century, BCE, approximately 410-415. Stern, Ephraim, Material Culture of the Land of the Bible in the Persian Period. Jerusalem- Israel Exploration Society, 1973.
Artaxerxes II Mnemon, 404-358 BCE
Artaxerxes II defeated and killed his brother, Cyrus the Younger, at the Battle of Cunaxa. He subsidized the Athenians, Thebans, and Corinthians in order to weaken the Spartans. This was one of the causes of the Corinthian War. In 386 BCE, Artaxerxes II betrayed his allies and came to an arrangement with Sparta in the […]
Darius II Nothus, 423-404 BCE
Darius II, often called Darius Nothus, reigned over the Achaemenid Empire for nineteen years. Not much is know about his reign. His name was originally Ochus, and he took the name Darius upon taking the throne. Darius II spent most of his reign quelling revolts in Syria, Lydia (413), and Media (410). He lost Egypt […]
Esther and Ahasuerus, c. 500 BCE
Esther Presented to Ahasuerus, Rembrandt (1606-1669) “It happened in the days of Ahasuerus – that Ahasuerus who reigned over a hundred and twenty-seven provinces from India to Ethiopia.” (Esther 1-1) The story of Esther, as given in the book bearing her name, is as follows- The King of Persia, Ahasuerus, had deposed his queen Vashti […]
Sarcophagus of King Eshmunazar, 5th century BCE
Sarcophagus of King Eshmunazar The Sarcophagus of King Eshmunazar, King of Sidon, contains a Phoenician inscription, twenty-two lines long, which tells us that he built several temples and that Sidon was given possession of Dor and Joppa. It was discovered in 1855. A translation of the inscription- In the month of Bul, in the fourteenth […]