Scholars Identify Biblical King Balak on the Mesha Stele
Biblical Archaeology Society
by Robin Ngo
11M ago
Dating to the ninth century B.C.E., the Mesha Stele describes how King Mesha rescued the Moabites from Israelite rule. Photo: “Stèle de Mésha” by Mbzt 2012 is licensed under CC-by-3.0 One of the most exceptional biblical archaeology artifacts ever found, the three-foot-tall Mesha Stele contains a 34-line inscription celebrating the Moabite vassal king Mesha’s rebellion against the Israelites. Renowned epigrapher André Lemaire identified in line 31 of the ninth-century B.C.E. stele the phrase בת[ד]וד (bt[d]wd), or “House of David”—a tantalizing reference to King David on an artifact discovere ..read more
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Where Is Biblical Bethsaida?
Biblical Archaeology Society
by Biblical Archaeology Society Staff
11M ago
Where is Biblical Bethsaida? One contender is the site of et-Tell, a mile and a half north of the Sea of Galilee. Photo: Duby Tal and Moni Haramati, Albatross/Courtesy of Bethsaida Excavations. The ancient village of Bethsaida is believed to be located on the northern shore of the Sea of Galilee, but where precisely the abandoned city lies remains a fiercely-debated question among scholars. Recent discoveries at the site of el-Araj have called into question the decades-old claim that et-Tell on the eastern shore of the Jordan River is this lost Biblical city. Along with Jerusalem and Caperna ..read more
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BAS Names New Publisher
Biblical Archaeology Society
by Michele Barasso
11M ago
Jonathan Laden The Biblical Archaeology Society is pleased to announce that Jonathan Laden has taken the position of Publisher. Jonathan graduated from Stanford University and earned his MBA from the University of Washington. Before coming to the Biblical Archaeology Society (BAS), he gained experience with multiple small, entrepreneurial businesses, served on the board of a local nonprofit, and has published multiple magazines. He joined the society 15 years ago to serve as Circulation Director, helping Biblical Archaeology Review reach as many readers as possible. For the past five years ..read more
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The Gospel of the Lots of Mary
Biblical Archaeology Society
by Robin Ngo
11M ago
AnneMarie Luijendijk has studied a previously unknown Late Antique text called The Gospel of the Lots of Mary. Photo: Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Gift of Mrs. Beatrice Kelekian in memory of her husband, Charles Dikran Kelekian, 1984.669. Princeton University professor of religion AnneMarie Luijendijk has identified a previously unknown text called The Gospel of the Lots of Mary in a fifth–sixth-century C.E. Coptic miniature codex. Luijendijk’s research is presented in her recently published book Forbidden Oracles? The Gospel of the Lots of Mary (Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2014 ..read more
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What Color Was Tekhelet?
Biblical Archaeology Society
by Robin Ngo
11M ago
Do the blue tzitzit strings of this traditional Jewish prayer shawl reflect the shade of blue in the Bible, called tekhelet in Hebrew? Evidence suggests the tekhelet that colored ancient blue tzitzit was sky-blue and derived from murex dye. In the Bible, a shade of blue called tekhelet was God’s chosen color for the ancient Israelites. Tekhelet drapes adorned Solomon’s Temple, and tekhelet robes were worn by Israel’s high priests. According to Baruch and Judy Taubes Sterman in “The Great Tekhelet Debate—Blue or Purple?” in the September/October 2013 issue of BAR, even ordinary Israelites “we ..read more
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Jewish Purification: Stone Vessel Workshop Discovered in Galilee
Biblical Archaeology Society
by Robin Ngo
11M ago
Where do the “Stone Age” and the time of Jesus meet without the aid of a space-time wormhole? At the Galilean site of ‘Einot Amitai near Nazareth in northern Israel, where archaeologists discovered a 2,000-year-old quarry and workshop that produced stone vessels. An excavation at a cave in Galilee has uncovered what may be a 2,000-year-old stone vessel production center. In the first century C.E., Jews commonly used stone vessels in observance of Jewish purity laws. Photo: Courtesy Yonatan Adler. “Stone vessels played an integral role in the daily religious lives of Jews during [the first ce ..read more
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BAS Names New Publisher
Biblical Archaeology Society
by Michele Barasso
1y ago
Jonathan Laden The Biblical Archaeology Society is pleased to announce that Jonathan Laden has taken the position of Publisher. Jonathan graduated from Stanford University and earned his MBA from the University of Washington. Before coming to the Biblical Archaeology Society (BAS), he gained experience with multiple small, entrepreneurial businesses, served on the board of a local nonprofit, and has published multiple magazines. He joined the society 15 years ago to serve as Circulation Director, helping Biblical Archaeology Review reach as many readers as possible. For the past five years ..read more
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Celebrating BAR Publisher Susan Laden
Biblical Archaeology Society
by Robert Bronder
1y ago
Susan Laden at Rabbi Obadiah Bertinoro’s tomb in Israel. Photo by Hershel Shanks Susan (Sue) Laden has stepped back from her role as Publisher of Biblical Archaeology Review (BAR). She will continue to direct special projects as a senior advisor and serve as President of the Biblical Archaeology Society (BAS). Sue was the society’s first employee, hired in 1976 by BAR’s late founding editor, Hershel Shanks, to take a part-time job opening envelopes on her kitchen table. She jokes that her biggest contribution to BAS in the early years followed that fateful moment when BAR’s entire mailing li ..read more
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The Gospel of the Lots of Mary
Biblical Archaeology Society
by Robin Ngo
1y ago
AnneMarie Luijendijk has studied a previously unknown Late Antique text called The Gospel of the Lots of Mary. Photo: Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Gift of Mrs. Beatrice Kelekian in memory of her husband, Charles Dikran Kelekian, 1984.669. Princeton University professor of religion AnneMarie Luijendijk has identified a previously unknown text called The Gospel of the Lots of Mary in a fifth–sixth-century C.E. Coptic miniature codex. Luijendijk’s research is presented in her recently published book Forbidden Oracles? The Gospel of the Lots of Mary (Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2014 ..read more
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Newly Deciphered Dead Sea Scroll Reveals 364-Day Calendar
Biblical Archaeology Society
by Robin Ngo
1y ago
Scholars Eshbal Ratson and Jonathan Ben-Dov of the Department of Bible Studies at the University of Haifa published, in 2017, one of the last two remaining Dead Sea Scrolls in their article “A Newly Reconstructed Calendrical Scroll from Qumran in Cryptic Script” in the Journal of Biblical Literature (Winter 2017). For more than a year, the scholars diligently pieced together 62 Dead Sea Scroll fragments, on which there was writing in code. Ratson and Ben-Dov deciphered the code on the reconstructed scroll, called Scroll 4Q324d, and revealed that the scroll describes a 364-day calendar used by ..read more
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