by hadassah | Feb 13, 2016 | Judaism under Christian Rome
Iconoclasm, Steven Fine, BR 16:05, 2000. The delicate carving on the side of the sarcophagus depicts Zeus, in the guise of a swan, graphically forcing himself on the Spartan queen Leda. The scene is one of the best known in ancient Greek mythology, so its...
by hadassah | Feb 13, 2016 | Judaism under Christian Rome
New Mosaic Art from Sepphoris, Ehud Netzer & Zeev Weiss, BAR 18:06, 1992. The finds at Sepphoris continue to dazzle—from the theater now fully exposed to the major public buildings and miqva’ot (ritual baths) to the magnificent mosaics. Indeed, the...
by hadassah | Feb 7, 2016 | Judaism under Christian Rome
Christian and Jewish Views of the Holy Land, Aaron Demsky, BR 18:05, Oct 2002. The famous mosaic map in a church in Madaba, Jordan, and the not-so-famous mosaic inscription from an ancient synagogue near Tel Rehov, in Israel’s Beth-Shean Valley, reflect two...
by hadassah | Feb 7, 2016 | Judaism under Christian Rome
The Two Faces of Jesus – How the early church pictured the divine, Robert M. Jensen, BR 18:05, Oct 2002. In the upper reaches of the Church of Sant’Apollinare Nuovo in Ravenna, just below the painted wood ceiling, appears a striking series of 26 mosaics...
by hadassah | Feb 3, 2016 | Judaism under Christian Rome
Julian the Apostate and His Plan to Rebuild the Jerusalem Temple, Jeffrey Brodd, BR 11:05, Oct 1995. Of the Roman emperors after Constantine, only Julian (331–363) rejected Christianity in favor of the pagan gods. A nephew of Constantine, the first Christian...
by hadassah | Jan 13, 2009 | Judaism under Christian Rome
How to Tell a Samaritan Synagogue from a Jewish Synagogue, Reinhard Pummer, BAR 24:03, 1998. For most Christians, the term “Samaritan” evokes a compassionate people who help others in need, especially when nobody else is willing to do so. In fact, today...
