One of the oldest and most complete diagrams from Euclid’s Elements of Geometry is a fragment of papyrus found among the remarkable rubbish piles of Oxyrhynchus in 1896-97 by the renowned expedition of B. P. Grenfell and A. S. Hunt. It is now located at the University of Pennsylvania. The diagram accompanies Proposition 5 of […]
Caesarea Columns Two columns found at Caesarea by Ehud Netzer (1990-92), each bear three inscriptions. Of the six, one is in Greek, and five are in Latin. The earliest inscription on column 1, dating to between 135 and 212 CE, honors Decimus Seius Seneca, a previously unknown governor of Syria-Palaestina (the name given by the […]
During the second century, residents of Tiberias celebrated their maritime heritage by minting coins depicting Roman galleys and anchors. A Roman war vessel appears on a second-century CE coin from Gadara, which lay 5 miles southeast of the Sea of Galilee. Other coins from Gadara commemorate the Naumachia—Roman naval games believed to have been performed […]
Arch of Titus – Menorah The Arch of Titus was erected by his brother, Domitian, shortly after Titus’ death to commemorate the destruction of Jerusalem and the Jewish exile in 70 CE. One side of the arch shows the triumphal procession of laurel-crowned Romans carrying off sacred treasures from the Temple in Jerusalem, including […]
Acts of the Apostles Acts of the Apostles is the fifth book of the New Testament. It describes the history of the Early Christian church, with particular emphasis on the ministry of the Twelve Apostles and of Paul of Tarsus. The early chapters, set in Jerusalem, discuss Jesus’s Resurrection, his Ascension, the Day of Pentecost, […]
This fragment preserves the beginning of a collection of Christ’s sayings, known as the Gospel of Thomas, in the original Greek. A full Coptic version of Thomas’s Gospel was discovered at Nag Hammadi, Egypt, in 1945-46, and this alerted scholars to the identity of the above fragment, uncovered earlier. Although the Coptic version is not […]
The Egerton Gospel Fragments of an Unknown Gospel, probably from Egypt, c. 150 CE, were discovered in 1934. The Gospel consists of two papyrus pages inscribed on both sides in ink in Greek with the text of four passages concerning Jesus. Mitchell, T. C., The Bible in the British Museum, British Museum Press, London- 1988. […]
Roman Theater at Beth-Shean. Background- The tell and the lower city. Foreground- the Roman theater. The huge theater was built around 200 CE. Although the middle tier has been robbed, and the upper tier has blown off altogether, the preservation is impressive. There used to be seats for 7000 spectators. A stairway on the east […]
Who gave a soul to marble? Who saw Cypris on earth? Who wrought such love-longing in a stone? This must be the work of Praxiteles’ hand, or else perchance Olympus is bereaved Since the Paphian has descended to Knidos. The Greek Anthology, Plaunudean Appendix, 159 In 1993, after ten seasons of excavation at Bet Shean […]
Silver Shekel from the Second Jewish Revolt This silver coin shows how, in an act of defiance against Roman rule, the Jewish population in the province of Judaea over-struck portraits of the Emperor Hadrian with their own symbols. Jerusalem had been destroyed by Roman forces in AD 70 and the Roman authorities prevented the […]