First Printed Mishnah Mishnah, Naples, Italy, 1492. Kilayim This page is from the tractate Kilayim (which translates as ‘of two kinds’) which deals with the laws regarding forbidden mixtures of species in agriculture, breeding and clothing. It forms part of Zera’im (Seeds), one of the six divisions or orders of the Mishnah. Added to the […]
Perry-Castañeda Library Map Collection at the University of Texas at Austin
Alhambra Edict, March 31, 1492 Alhambra Edict The Alhambra decree, an edict of expulsion was issued against the Jews of Spain by Ferdinand and Isabella. It ordered all Jews of whatever age to leave the kingdom by the last day of July, 1942. 1) King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella, by the grace of God, King […]
Coin of Theophilus Silvercoin (miliaresion) of Theophilus, stray find from the Lower City of Amorium, Turkey. Lightfoot, Chris and Mucahide, Amorium; A Byzantine City in Anatolia. Galatasaray, Istanbul- Homer Kitabevi, 2007.
Mosque of Omar Inscription Fatimid inscription forbidding non-Muslims to enter the mosque erected on the alleged site of the caliph Umar’s prayer in the Church of the Holy Sepulcher. Museum of Antiquities, Istanbul Prawer, Joshua and Haggai Ben-Shammai, eds., The History of Jerusalem; The Early Muslim Period 638-1099. Jerusalem- Yad Izhak Ben-Zvi, 1996 See also- […]
Church of the Holy Sepulchre. Photo by Ardon Bar Hama. Caliph al-Hakin ordered the destruction of all churches in Jerusalem, including the Holy Sepulchre. Christians were forbidden to visit the Church’s ruins. It took almost forty years for the Byzantine Emperor to negotiate a peace treaty with al-Hakim’s successor that granted him permission to rebuild […]
Hisham’s Palace. Photo courtesy of BiblePlaces.com. Walid ibn Yazif, found at Hisham’s Palace The Ummayad Dynasty invested a lot of money in construction in both Jerusalem and Jericho. During the reign of el-Hisham, the construction of an elaborate palace about one mile northeast of the tell of Jericho was begun. The complex includes a bath, […]
Following in her late grandfather’s footsteps, Hebrew University archaeologist Eilat Mazar has identified the oldest synagogue in Jerusalem—a room in a structure dubbed “the House of Menoroth” (House of Menorahs, or Candelabra). The building was discovered by Benjamin Mazar, who in 1967 began excavations at the southwestern corner of the Temple Mount, an area now […]
I had not come in search of gold. I was an academician, seeking only to understand. Until 1980, I had been an armchair archaeologist. Then I accepted an invitation to become associate director of the volunteer program of a dig at Capernaum. That summer, I worked in a residential quarter of the city about 200 […]
