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Maccabean Period
Tebtunis Papyri 1 Tebtunis Papyri 2 Since 1998, 7,000 papyri have been found at Tebtunis, Egypt. One example from 114 BCE is a letter complaining about a violent attack in the temple of Isis- To Menches… While I was in the great temple of Isis here for devotional purposes on account of the sickness […]
Cylindrical cups of this type, ranging in height between 5 and 15 centimeters, are frequently found in sites of the Second Temple period. It is believed that their capacities correspond to the dry and liquid measures mentioned in the Mishnah. Scholars hold that the cups were made of stone since is not susceptible to impurity […]
Menorah Coin Prutah (AE, 1.65 g 12), Jerusalem, 37. Traces of Greek inscription – “King Antigonus” – around the seven-branched Menorah from the Temple in Jerusalem. Rev. Traces of Hebrew inscription – “Matatya the High Priest” – around the showbread table from the Temple in Jerusalem. Mattathias Antigonus was the last ruler of the Jewish […]
Ten Commandments Scroll Deuteronomy 8-5-10; 5-1-6-1 4Q41 Language- Hebrew Discovered- Cave 4, 1952 This text of the Ten Commandments is longer than traditional translations and reflects both biblical versions of the Sabbath commandment (Exodus 20-11 and Deuteronomy 5-11). This scroll is the best preserved of all the Deuteronomy manuscripts discovered at Qumran. This text may […]
Antikythera Mechanism The Antikythera Mechanism was discovered in 1901 on a Greek island called Antikythera in the excavation of a shipwreck. The mechanism is an ancient mechanical calculator, designed to calculate astronomical positions. It is currently housed in the Bronze Collection of the National Archaeological Museum of Athens. See also- The Antikythera Mechanism Research Project
Equestrian Alexander The “Equestrian Alexander,” a bronze statuette from the first century BCE. It was discovered in Italy, at Herculaneum, in 1761. It is thought to be a copy of a famous lost statue by Lysippos showing Alexander astride his fabled horse, Bucephalus, about to spear an attacker. “The World of Alexander Was Rich and […]
The Dead Sea Scrolls Paleo-Exodus The Paleo-Exodus Scroll is quite interesting because it is both a proto-Samaritan manuscript and is written in the old Hebrew script. This text is well preserved, with fragments of forty-three or forty-five consecutive columns extant, ranging from Exodus chapters 6 to 37. It was originally fifty-seven columns long. The manuscript […]
The more than one thousand pottery vessels stacked according to type and located in a pantry next door to the dining room, together with the nearby kitchen, containing several fireplaces, have indicated that the group using these facilities held communal meals at Qumran.
Coin of Alexander Jannaeus from Siloam Four coins, including the one shown here, embedded in the plaster of the newly discovered Siloam Pool, show that the pool was in existence at the time of Jesus. All four date to the rule of Alexander Jannaeus, one of the later Hasmonean kings, who ruled from 103 to […]
The Nash Papyrus are a collection of four papyrus fragments acquired in Egypt by W. L. Nash and first described by Stanley A. Cook in 1903. The fragments were the oldest Hebrew fragments known at that time which contained a portion of the biblical Masoretic text, specifically the Ten Commandments and the Shema Yisrael prayer. […]