Shortly after major pieces of an extraordinary bronze statue had been dug up illegally by an American tourist, Gideon Foerster of the Israel Department of Antiquities received an urgent call from a former student describing the find. The tourist, an American named Morton Leventhal, had been wandering around with a metal detector looking for ancient […]
Did Solomon’s temple contain a seven-branched lampstand known as a menorah? Most people answer this question with an automatic “of course.” But the Biblical text is not so clear. The Bible describes the building of the Temple itself in great detail (1 Kings 6–7). The furnishings of the Temple are also described in somewhat less […]
If there is no historical David, what happens to the messianic line of Jesus?
The Jewish-Christian schism and the Great Revolt led to a new period of Jewish history.
Highlights- Coin of Herod the Great, 35/34 BCE Ossuary of Simon the Temple Builder, 1st century BCE – 1st century CE Qumran Phylactery, 1st century CE The Place of the Trumpeting, 4 CE Ossuary of the High Priest Caiaphas, 18-36 CE Crucifixion Bone Fragment, 21 CE Pontius Pilate’s Tiberium Inscription, 26-36 CE Silver Shekel from […]
The Alexandria Library The Alexandria Library, built by the Greek-Egyptian king Ptolemy I around 300 B.C., was the greatest center of scholarship in the ancient world. The library was not only a repository of hundreds of thousands of papyrus scrolls (ancient books), but it was a research center where scholars compiled editions of Homer’s epics, […]
Galilee Boat The boat was discovered in 1986 on the shore of the Sea of Galilee by two brothers, fishermen from Kibbutz Ginosar. Its discovery caused a stir because it dates to the time of Jesus. See also- Shelley Wachsmann. “The Galilee Boat—2,000-Year-Old Hull Recovered Intact.” Biblical Archaeology Review 14, 5 (1988). The Jesus Boat […]
September 67 CE- Vespasian besieges Gamla. Early October 67 CE- Vespasian breaks into Gamla but suffers defeat. October 20, 67 CE- Gamla falls. Josephus describes the Battle of Gamla in detail in The Jewish War Vol. III, Book IV- …On that day Titus, who had now returned, indignant at the reverse which the Romans had […]
The fluted amphora with brim and two handles at the right of the coin is encircled by the Hebrew inscription, shnat shtayim, meaning “year two” (67/68 A.D.) of the Jewish revolt against Rome. Two of these coins were found at Aroer, along with a mass of stone rubble, strong evidence that the Romans devastated the […]
Incense Shovel Bethsaida 8-inch-long bronze incense shovel, discovered in 1996. The shovel lay in a first-century C.E. refuse pit. Just a few meters away is the corner of a building. In part because of the shovel, we have tentatively identified the building as a Roman temple. Situated on top of the mound, the building is […]