Bible Resources

In the news:Israeli archaeologists overseeing contested Jerusalem dig find link to first Jewish Temple

2007-10-22T15:46:00.000+10:00

JERUSALEM:
Israeli archaeologists overseeing contested Jerusalem dig find link to first Jewish Temple
The Associated Press Published: October 21, 2007

Israeli archaeologists overseeing a contested dig at Jerusalem's holiest site for Muslims and Jews stumbled upon a sealed archaeological level dating back to the era of the first biblical Jewish temple, the Israel Antiquities Authority said Sunday.

Islamic authorities responsible for the Old City compound, known to Jews as the Temple Mount and to Muslims as the Noble Sanctuary, said the dig was part of infrastructure work at the site to replace 40-year-old electrical cables. But the Islamic Trust denied that any discovery was made, or that any Israeli archaeologists were supervising the work.

On Sunday, the Israel Antiquities Authority announced that it had discovered fragments of ceramic table wares and animal bones dating back to the first Jewish temple — from the 6th to the 10th centuries B.C.

The finds also included fragments of bowl rims, bases and body sherds, the base and handle of a small jug and the rim of a storage jar, the agency said in a statement.

The site represents the heart of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. It houses both the Al Aqsa Mosque and the gold-capped Dome of the Rock, Islam's third-holiest shrine, built over the ruins of both biblical Jewish temples. Archaeological digs for a renovation project earlier this year by Israeli authorities next to the holy site sparked protests by Muslims.

Jon Seligman, Jerusalem regional archaeologist for the Antiquities Authority, said the find was significant since it could help scholars in reconstructing the dimensions and boundaries of the Temple Mount during the first temple period.

"The layer is a closed, sealed archaeological layer that has been undisturbed since the 8th century B.C.," he said.

But the Public Committee Against the Destruction of Antiquities on the Temple Mount, a group of Israeli archaeologists, downplayed the findings, saying the dig was conducted in an unprofessional manner without proper documentation. The group previously condemned the maintenance works, which included using a tractor to dig a trench, charging that digging at such a sensitive site could damage Bible-era relics and erase evidence of the presence of the biblical structures.

"I think it is a smoke screen for the ruining of antiquities," said Eilat Mazar, a member of the committee.

Seligman said the maintenance work was necessary to accommodate the thousands of worshippers who flock daily to the site. He said no damage was caused to the site and added that the discovery was merely a pleasant surprise.

"That's what makes this (archaeology) so interesting," he said. "You never know what you are going to find. It is always a bit of an adventure."

http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/10/21/africa/ME-GEN-Israel-Holy-Site.php

Archaeology and the Bible: The House of Yahweh Ostracon

2007-10-10T03:11:00.000+10:00

The House of Yahweh Ostracon(pottery)

What is it?

*A tax receipt measuring 8.6 centimeters high, 10.9 centimeters wide

*It dates to Approximately the 9th—7th centuries BCE

*Earliest artifact that most likely mentions Solomons temple

Translation

L1 According to your order, Ashya-
L2 hu the king, to give by the hand
L3 of [Z]ekaryahu silver of Tar-
L4 shish for the house of Yahweh
L5 3 shekels

Seal of Baalis

2007-10-09T06:17:00.000+10:00

Seal of Baalis, the Ammonite king

Bible Reference

Jer 40:14 and they say unto him, `Dost thou really know that Baalis king of the sons of Ammon hath sent Ishmael son of Nethaniah to smite thy soul?' And Gedaliah son of Ahikam hath not given to them credence. (ASV)

Image credit: http://prophetess.lstc.edu/~rklein/

Archaeology and the Bible 32: The Erastus inscription

2007-10-08T18:46:00.000+10:00

In a letter to a congregation in Rome from Corinth in 57 AD, Paul wrote a list of personal greetings at the end of the letter, in whuch he says, 'Erastus, the city treasurer, sends you his greetings...'

An inscription on a pavement was discovered form the ancient ruins of Corinth in 1929 which most likely refers to this Erastus.

The pavement was laid about A.D. 50.

The inscription reads:

ERASTVS PRO AEDILIT E
S P STRAVIT

One translation is :

Erastus, commissioner of public works [aedile], laid this pavement at his own expense.

Archaeology and the Bible 31: The pool of Bethseada

2007-10-08T16:06:00.000+10:00

Reference in the Bible

Joh 5:2 Now there is in Jerusalem by the sheep gate a pool, which is called in Hebrew Bethesda, having five porches.
Joh 5:3 In these lay a multitude of them that were sick, blind, halt, withered, waiting for the moving of the water

You can see the five porches in the above images

Archaeology and the bible 30 : The Nash Papyrus

2007-10-08T15:40:00.000+10:00

About the Nash Papyrus

*The Nash Papyrus is a collection of four papyrus fragments acquired in Egypt in 1898 by W. L. Nash and subsequently presented to Cambridge University Library. They were first described by Stanley A. Cook in 1903.

*Though dated by Stanley Cook to the 2nd century AD, subsequent assesments have pushed the date of the fragments back to about 150-100 BCE.

*The papyrus was by far the oldest Hebrew manuscript fragment known at that time, before the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls in 1947.

*Twenty four lines long, with a few letters missing at each edge, , the papyrus contains the Ten Commandments in Hebrew, followed by the start of the Shema Yisrael prayer.

TRANSLATION by F.C. Burkitt

1 [ . I am Jalhwe thy God that [brought] thee out of
the land of E[gypt:]
2 [thou shalt not hav]e other gods be[fore] me. Thou
shalt not make [for thyself an image]
3 [or any form] that is in the heavens above, or that is in
the earth [beneath,]
4 [or that is in the waters beneath the earth. Thou shalt
not bow down to them [nor]
5 [serve them, for] I am Jahwe thy God, a jealous God
visiting the iniquity]
6 [of fathers upon sons to the third and to the fourth
generation unto them that hate me, [and doing]
7 [kindness unto thousands] unto them that love me and
keep my commandments. Thou shalt [not]
8 [take up the name of Jahwe] thy God in vain, for Jahwe
will not hold guiltless [him that]
9 [taketh up his name in vain. Remember the day of the
Sabbath [to hallow it:]
10 [six days thou shalt work and do all thy business, and
on the [seventh day,]
11 a Sabbath for Jahwe] thy God, thou shalt not do therein
any business, [thou]
12 [and thy son and thy daughter,] thy slave and thy
handmaid, thy ox and thy ass and all thy [cattle,]
13 [and thy stranger that is] in thy gates. For six days
did Ja[hwe make]
14 [the heaven]s and the earth, the sea and all th[at is
therein,]
15 and he rested [on the] seventh day; therefore Jahwe
blessed [the]
16 seventh day and hallowed it. Honour thy father and
thy mother, that]
17 it may be well with thee and that thy days may be long
upon the ground [that]
18 Jahwe thy God giveth thee. Thou shalt not do adultery.
Thou shalt not do murder. Thou shalt [not]
19 [st]eal. Thou shalt not [bear] against thy neighbour
vain witness. Thou shalt not covet [the]
20 [wife of thy neighbour. Thou shalt] not desire the house
of thy neighbour, his field, or his slave,]
21 [or his handmaid, or his o]x, or his ass, or anything that
is thy neighbour's. [Blank]
22 [(?) And these are the statutes and the judgements that
Moses commanded the [sons of]
23 [Israel] in the wilderness, when they went forth from
the land of Egypt. Hea[r]
24 [0 Isra]el: Jahwe our God, Jahwe is one; and thou
shalt love]
25 [Jahwe thy G]o[d with al]1 t[hy heart ... . ].

In the news: Statues discovered at Ebla

2007-10-08T01:55:00.000+10:00

DAMASCUS, ( SANA) _ Italian renowned Archaeologist Paulo Mattieh on Thursday shed light on the most important archaeological discoveries that the Italian expedition team at the ancient site of Ebla Kingdom had discovered.

" Statues of two women in the royal palace were discovered, the first statue is made of silver and wood and the second one is made of limestone, wood and gold." Matieh said in a press conference at the Damascene hall in Damascus national museum.

He added that two other statues, cylindrical seal of gilt edges belongs to an important figure were unearthed in one of the palace's rooms which dates back to the Akkadi age. A clay that is an economic text was also founded in another room in the palace.

Professor Mattieh noted that the exploration works that were carried out at the royal palace, specially in the temple area, helped in knowing important information and finding integrated buildings that date back to 1600-1800 B.C., the period of fall of Ebla Kingdom.

" The rock temple, as the mission called it, where the work of excavations started in 2004 , now has become an integrated and well preserved on 3,5 meters high and can be considered as traditionally. It represents the pre-classical period in Syria 2400 B.C.

Awaiting pictures!

Jewish interpretations of Isaiah 53

2007-10-05T21:30:00.000+10:00

Those that are in favour of a messiah:

Maimonides, a letter to Yemen, 12th century

What is to be the manner of Messiah's advent, and where will be the place of his appearance? . . . And Isaiah speaks similarly of the time when he will appear, without his father or mother of family being known, He came up as a sucker before him, and as a root out of the dry earth, etc. But the unique phenomenon attending his manifestation is, that all the kings of the earth will be thrown into terror at the fame of him -- their kingdoms will be in consternation, and they themselves will be devising whether to oppose him with arms, or to adopt some different course, confessing, in fact, their inability to contend with him or ignore his presence, and so confounded at the wonders which they will see him work, that they will lay their hands upon their mouth; in the words of Isaiah, when describing the manner in which the kings will hearken to him, At him kings will shut their mouth; for that which had not been told them have they seen, and that which they had not heard they have perceived.

The Babylonian Talmud

The Messiah -- what is his name?...The Rabbis say, the leprous one; those of the house of Rabbi say, the sick one, as it is said, "Surely he hath borne our sicknesses." (Sanhedrin 98b)

Rabbi Moshe Kohen ibn Crispin, Spanish 15th-century rabbi

"This passage, the commentators explain, speaks of the captivity of Israel, although the singular number is used in it throughout. Others have supposed it to mean the just in this present world, who are crushed and oppressed now... but these too, for the same reason, by altering the number, distort the verses from their natural meaning. And then it seemed to me that...having forsaken the knowledge of our Teachers, and inclined "after the stubbornness of their own hearts," and of their own opinion, I am pleased to interpret it, in accordance with the teaching of our Rabbis, of the King Messiah."

Nachmanides (R. Moshe ben Nachman)(13th c.)

The right view respecting this Parashah is to suppose that by the phrase "my servant" the whole of Israel is meant. . . .As a different opinion, however, is adopted by the Midrash, which refers it to the Messiah, it is necessary for us to explain it in conformity with the view there maintained. The prophet says, The Messiah, the son of David of whom the text speaks, will never be conquered or perish by the hands of his enemies. And, in fact the text teaches this clearly. . . .
And by his stripes we were healed -- because the stripes by which he is vexed and distressed will heal us; God will pardon us for his righteousness, and we shall be healed both from our own transgressions and from the iniquities of our fathers.

Driver and Neubauer, pp. 78 ff.

R. Sh'lomoh Astruc (14th c.)

My servant shall prosper, or be truly intelligent, because by intelligence man is really man -- it is intelligence which makes a man what he is. And the prophet calls the King Messiah my servant, speaking as one who sent him. Or he may call the whole people my servant, as he says above my people (lii. 6): when he speaks of the people, the King Messiah is included in it; and when he speaks of the King Messiah, the people is comprehended with him. What he says then is, that my servant the King Messiah will prosper.
Driver and Neubauer, p. 129.

Those that are in faovur of the verse being symbolic of the jewish nation (add to later)

Archaeology & Bible 26: The Dead Sea Scrolls

2007-10-04T18:02:00.000+10:00

QUICK FACTS

*Discovered between 1947 and 1956 by Jordanian bedouins in eleven caves along the Northwest shore of the dead sea

*13 miles east of Jerusalem and 1,300 feet below sea level

*The Scrolls appear to be the library of a Jewish sect (most likely the essenes*) which was hidden away in caves around the outbreak of the Jewish-Roman War (66 C.E.). Archaeological evidence indicates the settlement had been inhabited since about 150 B.C.E.

*comprised of the remains of approximately 825 to 870 separate scrolls, represented by tens of thousands of fragments

*The texts are most commonly made of animal skins, but also papyrus and one of copper

*Most of the texts are written in Hebrew and Aramaic, with a few in Greek.

Biblical manuscripts:

*Frangments of every book of the old testament except Esther

*Virtually complete Isaiah scroll which has been referred to as the "Great Isaiah scroll". Has been carbon dated to a range of 335 BC-107 BC.

Other Material

*Commetaries on the Hebrew scriptures

*Community rules

*Apocryphal texts

*Psalm like material of the community

*Commnity wisdom texts

Significance

*Perhaps the literature of the essene commuity

*Shows hightened messianic expectaions in the 1st century BCE and early first century, and interpretations of books such as Isaiah

*Shows the book of Daniel to have been in wide circulation in the 1st Century BCE. A wide circulation by this time leads credance to an early composition date

* Before the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls, the oldest Hebrew manuscripts of the Bible were Masoretic texts dating to 9th century.The biblical manuscripts found among the Dead Sea Scrolls push that date back to the 2nd century BCE.

Useful Links
http://www.physics.arizona.edu/physics/public/dead-sea.html

Archaeology Series #25: The Jeremiah Tablet

2007-10-03T21:16:00.000+10:00

BRIEF NOTES

Nebo-Sarsekim Tablet also called the Jeremiah tablet is a clay cuneiform inscription (2.13 inches; 5.5 cm) in the collection of the British Museum dated to circa 595 BC, referring to an official at the court of Nebuchadrezzar II, king of Babylon.

Archaeologists unearthed the tablet in the ancient city of Sippar (about a mile from modern Baghdad) in the 1870s. The museum acquired it in 1920, but it had remained in storage unpublished until Michael Jursa (associate professor at the University of Vienna) made the discovery in 2007 with the following translation of the inscription:

INSCRIPTION

[Regarding] 1.5 minas (0.75 kg) of gold, the property of Nabu-sharrussu-ukin, the chief eunuch, which he sent via Arad-Banitu the eunuch to [the temple] Esangila: Arad-Banitu has delivered [it] to Esangila. In the presence of Bel-usat, son of Alpaya, the royal bodyguard, [and of] Nadin, son of Marduk-zer-ibni. Month XI, day 18, year 10 [of] Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon.

THE JEREMIAH REFERENCE

Jeremiah 39:3

And all the princes of the king of Babylon proceeded to come in and sit down in the Middle Gate, [namely,] Ner´gal-shar·e´zer, Sam´gar, ne´bo Sar´se·chim, Rab´sa·ris, Ner´gal-shar·e´zer the Rab´mag and all the rest of the princes of the king of Babylon.

Archaeology Series 24: Rations of Jehoiachin

2007-10-03T21:11:00.000+10:00

Archaeology Series 24: Rations of Jehoiachin

BRIEF NOTES

*The Reference is from the many Discovered administrative tablets discovered in King Nebuchadnezzar's palace in Babylon. These texts record rations of oil to captives from many nations. One of them is Jehoiachin, the exiled king of Judah together with several of his sons and likely what were his servents or leading officials

TRANSLATION

32 pints (15 Liters) (of sesame oil) for Jehoiachin king of Judah

pints (2.5 litres) (of sesame oil) for (the 5) sons of the King of Judah

8 pints (4 litres) (of sesame oil) for 8 men of Judah: 1 pint (1/2 liter) each

BIBLE REFERENCE

2Ki 24:8

2Ki 24:8 Jehoiachin was eighteen years old when he began to reign; and he reigned in Jerusalem three months: and his mother's name was Nehushta the daughter of Elnathan of Jerusalem.
2Ki 24:9 And he did that which was evil in the sight of Jehovah, according to all that his father had done.
2Ki 24:10 At that time the servants of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came up to Jerusalem, and the city was besieged.
2Ki 24:11 And Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came unto the city, while his servants were besieging it;
2Ki 24:12 and Jehoiachin the king of Judah went out to the king of Babylon, he, and his mother, and his servants, and his princes, and his officers: and the king of Babylon took him in the eighth year of his reign.
2Ki 24:13 And he carried out thence all the treasures of the house of Jehovah, and the treasures of the king's house, and cut in pieces all the vessels of gold, which Solomon king of Israel had made in the temple of Jehovah, as Jehovah had said.
2Ki 24:14 And he carried away all Jerusalem, and all the princes, and all the mighty men of valor, even ten thousand captives, and all the craftsmen and the smiths; none remained, save the poorest sort of the people of the land.
2Ki 24:15 And he carried away Jehoiachin to Babylon; and the king's mother, and the king's wives, and his officers, and the chief men of the land, carried he into captivity from Jerusalem to Babylon.
2Ki 24:16 And all the men of might, even seven thousand, and the craftsmen and the smiths a thousand, all of them strong and apt for war, even them the king of Babylon brought captive to Babylon.
2Ki 24:17 And the king of Babylon made Mattaniah, Jehoiachin's father's brother, king is his stead, and changed his name to Zedekiah.

**************

Ki 25:27 And it came to pass in the seven and thirtieth year of the captivity of Jehoiachin king of Judah, in the twelfth month, on the seven and twentieth day of the month, that Evil-merodach king of Babylon, in the year that he began to reign, did lift up the head of Jehoiachin king of Judah out of prison;
2Ki 25:28 and he spake kindly to him, and set his throne above the throne of the kings that were with him in Babylon,
2Ki 25:29 and changed his prison garments. And Jehoiachin did eat bread before him continually all the days of his life:
2Ki 25:30 and for his allowance, there was a continual allowance given him of the king, every day a portion, all the days of his life.

In the News: Herod's Temple Quarry Found

2007-10-03T00:55:00.000+10:00

Report: Herod's Temple Quarry Found

By SEAN GAFFNEY – Sep 24, 2007

JERUSALEM (AP) — Israeli archaeologists said they have discovered a quarry that provided King Herod with the stones he used to renovate the biblical Second Temple compound — offering rare insight into construction of the holiest site in Judaism.

The source of the huge stones used 2,000 years ago to reconstruct the compound in Jerusalem's Old City was discovered on the site of a proposed school in a Jerusalem suburb.
Today, the compound Herod renovated houses the most explosive religious site in the Holy Land, known as the Temple Mount to Jews and the Noble Sanctuary to Muslims.

"This is the first time stones which were used to build the Temple Mount walls were found," said Yuval Baruch, an archaeologist with the Israeli Antiquities Authority involved in the dig. Quarries mined for the massive stones, each weighing more than 20 tons, eluded researchers until now, he said Sunday.

Baruch said coins and pottery found in the quarry confirm the stone was used during the period of Herod's expansion of the Temple Mount in 19 B.C.

But researchers said the strongest piece of evidence was found wedged into one of the massive cuts in the white limestone — an iron stake used to split the stone. The tool was apparently improperly used, accidentally lodged in the stone and forgotten.

"It stayed here for 2,000 years for us to find because a worker didn't know what to do with it," said archaeologist Ehud Nesher, also of the Antiquities Authority.

Nesher said the large outlines of the stone cuts indicated the site was a massive public project worked by hundreds of slaves. "Nothing private could have done this," Nesher said. "This is Herod's, this is a sign of him."

Herod was the Jewish proxy ruler of the Holy Land under imperial Roman occupation from 37 B.C. Herod's most famous construction project was the renovation of the Temple, replacing a smaller structure that itself replaced the First Temple, destroyed by the Babylonians in 586 B.C.

Stephen Pfann, president of the University of The Holy Land and an expert in the Second Temple period, said the discovery was encouraging.

"It would be very difficult to find any other buildings in any other period that would warrant stones of that size," said Pfann, who was not involved in the dig. He said further testing of the rock is necessary to confirm the findings.

The Second Temple was leveled by Roman conquerors in A.D. 70. The Western Wall, the holiest prayer site for Jews, is the best known surviving remnant.

Atop the adjacent compound, where Jews believe the Temple once stood, now stand two of the holiest sites in Islam, the al-Aqsa Mosque and the gold-capped Dome of the Rock.

The site is at the heart of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, with both sides claiming the area. Israel captured Jerusalem's Old City from Jordan during the 1967 Mideast war. While retaining security responsibility for the site, Israel allows Muslims to handle day-to-day responsibilities there.

Photos:http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/popup?id=3642720

Archaeology Series 23: The Gezer Calendar

2007-10-03T00:39:00.000+10:00

The "Gezer calendar "

*It is a tablet of soft limestone inscribed in a paleo-Hebrew script. It is one of the oldest known examples of Hebrew writing, dating to the 10th century BCE. It was discovered in excavations of the Biblical city of Gezer, 30 miles northwest of Jerusalem, by R.A.S. Macalister in his excavations between 1902 and 1907.

*Gezer was one of Solomons fortress cities

*The calendar describes monthly or bi-monthly periods and attributes to each a duty such as harvest, planting or tending specific crops.

*Scholars have speculated that the calendar is either a schoolboy's memory exercise or perhaps the text of a popular folk song, or child's song. Another possibility is something designed for the collection of taxes from farmers.

The Gezer Calendar is now in the Museum of the Ancient Orient in Istanbul, along with the Siloam inscription and other archaeological discoveries found before World War I.

TRANSLATION AND INTERPRETATION

Visit this site: http://www.kchanson.com/ANCDOCS/westsem/gezer.html

Archaeology series 22: Sargon II Inscriptions

2007-09-30T00:17:00.000+10:00

REIGN: 721-705 BCE

BASIC INFO

*During the siege of Samaria (lasting for three years) by the Assyrians, Shalmaneser V died and was succeeded by Sargon II of Assyria,

*Under Sargon II the Assyrians completed the defeat of the Kingdom of Israel , capturing Samaria after a siege of three years and exiling the inhabitants, which comprised the ten tribes.

*Sargon is the biblical form of his name, in Akkadian it is Šarru-kinu "legitimate king"

*Originally there was a united monarchy which split into two, the Kingdom of Israel and the Kingdom of Judah. The Kingdom of Israel had existed from roughly 930s BCE, until until about 720s BCE.

INSCRIPTIONS OF SARGON II

COS 2.118A, p. 293

[the Samar]ians [who had agreed with a hostile king]...I fought with them and decisively defeated them]....carried off as spoil. 50 chariots for my royal force ...[the rest of them I settled in the midst of Assyria]....The Tamudi, Ibadidi, Marsimani and Hayappa, who live in distant Arabia, in the desert, who knew neither overseer nor commander, who never brought tribute to any king--with the help of Ashshur my lord, I defeated them. I deported the rest of them. I settled them in Samaria/Samerina.

COS 2.118D, pp. 295-296, Nimrud Prisms

[The inhabitants of Sa]merina, who agreed [and plotted] with a king [hostile to] me, not to do service and not to bring tribute [to Ashshur] and who did battle, I fought against them with the power of the great gods, my lords. I counted as spoil 27,280 people, together with their chariots, and gods, in which they trusted. I formed a unit with 200 of [their] chariots for my royal force. I settled the rest of them in the midst of Assyria. I repopulated Samerina more than before. I brought into it people from countries conquered by my hands. I appointed my eunuch as governor over them. And I counted them as Assyrians.

COS 2.118E, pp. 296-297, The Great "Summary" Inscription

I besieged and conquered Samarina. I took as booty 27,290 people who lived there. I gathered 50 chariots from them. I taught the rest of the deportees their skills. I set my eunuch over them, and I imposed upon them the same tribute as the previous king (Shalmaneser V).
Yaubi'di, the Hamathite...with no claim to the throne, an evil Hittite, was plotting in his heart to become king of Hamath. He caused...to rebel against me , had unified them, and prepared for battle. I mustered the masses of Ashshur's troops and at Qarqar, his favorite city, I besieged and captured him, together with his warriors. I burned Qarqar. Him I flayed.

COS 2.118F, p. 297

Small Summary Inscription

I plundered Sinuhtu, Samerina and the entire land of Bit-Humria (Israel).

COS 2.118G, p. 298
Pavement Inscription at Kur Sharrukin:
[Sargon II] who conquered Samaria and the entire land of Bit-Humria (Israel); who plundered Ashdod...

COS 2.118I, p. 298
Nimrud Inscription
[Sargon II]...subduer of Judah which lies far away....

Azekah Inscription
COS 2, 304, 2.119D

With the power and might of Ashur, my lord, I overwhelmed the district of Hezekiah of Judah...Azekah, his stronghold, which is located between my land and the land of Judah...I besieged by means of beaten earth ramps, by great battering rams brought near its walls, and with the attack of foot soldiers [...] They had seen the...of my cavalry and they had heard the roar of the mighty troops of the god Ashur, and their hearts became afraid. I captured this stronghold, I carried off its spoil, I destroyed, I devastated, I burned with fire. I approached Ekron, a royal city of the Philistines, which Hezekiah had captured and strengthened for himself....His skillful battle warriors he caused to enter into it. 701 BCE or 712, during the reign of Sargon II.

Archaeology Series 21: Shalmanaser V

2007-09-30T00:04:00.000+10:00

Shalmaneser V
Reign: 727 to 722 BC

INSCRIPTIONS

Babylonian Chronicle
COS 1.137, p. 467
On 27th Tebet (727 BCE) Shalmaneser (V) ascended the throne in Assyria and Babylonia. He shattered Samaria.
Year 5: (722 BCE) Shalmaneser died in Tebet. Five years Shalmaneser ruled Babylonia and Assyria. On 12th Tebet Sargon ascended the throne in Assyria. In Nisan Merodach-baladan ascended the throne in Babylon.

BIBLE REFERENCES

2 Kings 17 and 18

Archaeology Series 20:Tiglath-pileser III inscriptions

2007-09-28T05:31:00.000+10:00

REIGN: Tiglath-pileser III reigned from 745-727 BCE

INSCRIPTIONS

The third year of Nabu-nasir, king of Babylon: Tiglath-pileser III ascended the throne of Assyria. In that same year he went down to Akkad, plundered Rabbilu and Hamranu, and abducted the gods of Shapazza.

Neo-Babylonian Chronicle 1.
ANET 282 In the subsequent course of my campaign, I received the tribute of the kings...Azriau the Judahite

COS 2, 285, 2.117A
Calah Annals ca. 738-37
I received the tribute of...Rezin, the Damascene, Menahem, the Samarian, Hiram, the Tyrian....

COS 2, 286, 2.117A
Calah Annals
Rezin the Damascene...With the blood of his warriors I dyed a reddish hue the river....That one (Rezin) in order to save his life, fled alone; and he entered the gate of his city like a mongoose. I impaled alive his chief ministers....I confined him like a bird in a cage. His gardens...orchards without number I cut down; I did not leave a single one.
[16] districts of Bit-Humri (Israel) I leveled to the ground.

COS 2, 287, 2.117B
The Iran Stela ca. 739-38
...Rezin, the Damascene, Menahem, the Samarian, Tuba'il, the Tyrian, etc...I imposed on them tribute of silver, gold, tin, iron, elephant hides, elephant tusks (ivory), blue-purple and red-purple garments, multi-colored garments, camels, and she-camels.

COS 2, 288, 2.117C
Summary Inscription ca. 731
I carried off to Assyria the land of Bit-Humria (Israel), [its] auxiliary [army]...all of its people,...[I killed] Pekah, their king, and I installed Hoshea [as king] over them. I received from them 10 talents of gold, x talents of silver, [with] their [possessions] and [I car]ried them [to Assyria].

COS 2, 289, 2.117D
Summary Inscription
I received the tribute of...Sanipu, Ammonite, Salamanu, Moabite,...Mitinti, the Askhelonite, Jehoahaz, the Judahite [= Ahaz]

COS 2, 291, 2.117F
Summary Inscription 9-10
The wide [land of Bit]-Haza'ili (Aram-Damascus) in its entirety, from Mount [Leb]anon as far as the city of Gilea[d], Abel...[on the bor]der of Bit-Humria (Israel) I annexed to Assyria. [I placed] my eunuch [over them as governor].

COS 2, 292
Summary Inscription 13, 2.117G
[The land of Bit-Humria (Israel)], all [of whose] cities I leveled [to the ground] in my former campaigns...I plundered its livestock, and I spared only (isolated) Samaria. [I/they overthrew Pek]ah their king.
The second year [of Nabu-mukin-zeri]: Tiglath-pileser III ascended the throne in Babylon. The second year: Tiglath-pileser III died in the month Tebet For eighteen years Tiglath-pileser III ruled Akkad and Assyria. For two of these years he ruled in Akkad. Neo-Babylonian Chronicle 1:24-26

BIBLE REFERENCES

2 Kings 15:19; 15:29; 16:9; 1 Chron. 5:26; 2 Chron 28:20

Archaeology Series 19: Inscriptions of Adad Nirari III

2007-09-28T05:29:00.000+10:00

REIGN: Adad Nirari III reigned from 811 to 783 BCE

INSCRIPTIONS

Tell Al Rimah Stela of Adad-Nirari III 797 BCE
COS 2.114F, p. 276
I received the tribute of Joash the Samarian, of the Tyrian (ruler), and of the Sidonian (ruler).
Calah Slab of Adad-Nirari III

COS 2, 276, 2.114G
I subdued from the bank of the Euphrates, the land of Hatti, the land of Amurru in its entirety, the land of Tyre, the land of Sidon, the land of Israel, the land of Edom, the land of Philistia, as far as the great sea in the west. I imposed tax and tribute on them.

Archaeology series 18: More Shalmanaer III inscriptions(pt 3)

2007-09-28T05:22:00.000+10:00

REIGN: c. 859-824 BCE

INSCRIPTIONS

Kurba'il Statue of Shalmaneser III 839-838 BCE
COS 2.113E, p. 268

At that time [841], I received the tribute of the Tyrians, the Sidonians, and Jehu, the man of Bit-Humri (Omri).

Calah Bulls of Shalmaneser III 841 BCE
COS 2.113C, p. 2.267

At that time, I received the tribute of the Tyrians and the Sidonians, and of Jehu, man of Bit-Humri.

Marble Slab inscription of Shalmaneser III 839 BCE
COS 2.113D, p. 268
[In 841] I marched to the mountains of Ba'li-ra'si at the side of the sea and opposite Tyre. I erected a statue of my royalty there. I received the tribute of Ba'al-manzer, the Tyrian, and of Jehu, the man of Bit-Humri. (Bit-Humri=House of Omri)

Archaeology Series 17:Hazael King of Syria

2007-09-26T20:01:00.000+10:00

DATE: 842-805 BCE

BASIC NOTES

Hazael (Hebrew Hazael, meaning "God has seen") was a court official and later an Aramean king who appeared in the Bible. He was first referred to by name in 1 Kings 19 when God told the prophet Elijah to anoint him king over Syria.

Years after this, the Syrian king

Hadadezer was ill and sent his court official Hazael with gifts to Elijah's successor Elisha. Elisha asked Hazael to tell Hadadezer that he would recover, but he revealed to Hazael that the king would die. The day after he returned to Hadadezer in Damascus, Hazael suffocated him and seized power himself.

During his approximately 37-year reign (c. 842 BC-805 BC), King Hazael led the Arameans in battle against the forces of King Jehoram of Israel and King Ahaziah of Judah. After defeating them at Ramoth-Gilead, Hazael repelled two attacks by the Assyrians, seized Israelite territory east of the Jordan, the Philistine city of Gath, and sought to take Jerusalem as well (2 Kings 12:17). A monumental Aramaic inscription discovered at Tel Dan is seen by most scholars as having being erected by Hazael, after he defeated the Kings of Israel and Judah. Recent excavations at Tell es-Safi/Gath have revealed dramatic evidence of the siege and subsequent conquest of Gath by Hazael. King Joash of Judah forestalled Hazael's invasion by bribing him with treasure from the royal palace and temple, after which he disappears from the Biblical account.

http://www.wikipedia.org/

BIBLE REFERENCES:

(1 Kings 19:15, 17; 2 Kings 8:7-15, 28-29; 9:14-15; 10:32-33; 12:17-18; 13:3, 22, 24,25; Amos 1:4).

Archaeology Series 16: Esarhaddon reference to King Manasseh and others

2007-09-25T12:37:00.000+10:00

REIGN: 681-669 BCE

INSCRIPTIONS

Esarhaddon's Syro-Palestinian Campaign (681-669 B.C.)

I called out the kings of the Hatti-land and the Trans-Euphrates area; Ba'al, king of Tyre, Manasseh, king of Judah, Qaushgabri, king of Edom, Musuri, King of Moab, Sil-Bel, king of Gaza, Metinti, king of Ashkelon, Ikausu, king of Ekron, Milki-ashapa, king of Gebal, Matan-ba'al, king of Arvad, Abi-ba'al, king of Samsimuruna, Pudu-il, king of Beth-Ammon, Ahi-milki, king of Ashdod – 12 kings of the sea coast. Ekishtura, king of Edi'il (Idalion), Pilagura, king of Kitrusi (Chytrus), Kisu, king of Sillu'a (Soli), Ituandar, king of Pappa (Paphos), Erisu, king of Silli, Damasu, king of Kuri (Curium), Atmesu, king of Tamesi, Damusi, king of Qartihadasti, Unasagusu, king of Ledir (Ledra), Bosusu, king of Nuria – 10 kings of Iadnana (Cyprus), an island; – a total of 22 kings of the Hatti-land, the seashore and the island. I sent all of these to drag with pain and difficulty to Nineveh, the city of my dominion, as supplies needed for my palace, big beams, long posts and trimmed planks of cedar and cypress wood, products of the Sirara and Lebanon mountains, where for long they had grown tall and thick; also from their place of origin in the mountains the forms of winged bulls and colossi made of ashnan-stone, of breccia both large and fine grained, of yellow limestone, of pyrites.

BRIEF NOTES

*Esarhaddon was a king of Assyria who reigned 681 BC-669 BC, the youngest son of Sennacherib and the Aramean queen Naqi'a (Zakitu), Sennacherib's second wife.

*Invaded Egypt

IMAGES

Click on the image for higher resolution

Archaeology Series 15: Lachish letters

2007-09-25T01:17:00.000+10:00

*Lachish (Hebrew: לכיש‎) was a town located in the Shephelah, thirty miles South West of Jerusalem, 15 Miles West of Hebron (Joshua 10:3, 5; 12:11).

*The Israelites captured and destroyed Lachish for joining the league against the Gibeonites (Josh. 10:31-33), but the territory was later assigned to the tribe of Judah (15:39).

*Under Rehoboam, it became the second most important city of the kingdom of Judah. In 701 BC, during the revolt of king Hezekiah against Assyria, it was captured by Sennacherib despite determined resistance. The town later reverted to Judaean control, only to fall to Nebuchadnezzar in his campaign against Judah (586 BC).

*During the 19th and early 20th centuries, Lachish was identified with Tell el-Hesi from a cuneiform tablet found there (EA 333).

The Lachish Letters

*First excavated by James Starkey in 1932-1938

*18 ostraca found in 1935

*3 found in 1938

*Approximate Date:589/588 BCE

Letter 1

From the British Museum:

Lachish Letter I
A letter written on a piece of pottery
Israelite, 586 BCFrom Lachish (modern Tell ed-Duweir), Israel

This is one of a group of letters written on ostraka (pot sherds) found near the main gate of ancient Lachish (modern Tell ed-Duweir) in a burnt layer associated with the destruction of the city by the Babylonians in 586 BC. It is written in ink in alphabetic Hebrew, and reads:

Gemaryahu, son of Hissilyahu

Yaazanyahu, son of TobshillemHageb,

son of Yaazanyahu Mibtahyahu,

son of Yirmeyahu Mattanyahu,

son of Neryahu

Presumably this list had some administrative function. Though several of the names occur in the Old Testament, it cannot be proved that the same individuals are intended.

The letters were received by Ya’osh, the military governor of Lachish, from Hosha’yahu, a subordinate officer in charge of a military outpost during the invasion by the Babylonian forces under Nebuchadnezzar which ended in the siege and destruction of Jerusalem in 587 BC.

Subsequently only Azekah, about 18 miles south west of Jerusalem, and Lachish itself, about 12 miles further on, remained in Judean hands, until they too fell. There followed a large-scale deportation of a part of Judah's population. Thus began the exile, a period of great significance for the Jews spiritually, and one which would profoundly influence later religious ideology and teaching.

Letter 2

This letter came from an officer named Hosha'yahu who was in charge of a military outpost. He was writing to Ya'osh, military commander at Lachish, as the situation worsened.

'To my lord Ya'osh. May Yahweh cause my lord to hear the news of peace, even now, even now. Who is your servant but a dog that my lord should remember his servant?'

Abother translation:

To my lord Jaush: May the Lord (Yhwh i.e., Jehovah) soon let my lord hear pleasant tidings! Who am I, thy slave, a dog, that thou hast remembered me? May the Lord investigate (and punish me) if I have spoken a thing, of which I did not even know.

*Letter 3

Obverse

Your servant Hoshiyahu was sent to inform my lord Yo'ash. May Yahweh cause my lord to hear news of peace. But now you have sent a letter; and my lord did not instruct your servant regarding the letter that you sent to your servant yesterday evening, though your servant's heart has been sick since you wrote your servant. And my lord said, "Don't you understand? Call a scribe." As Yahweh lives, no one has ever had to call a scribe for me. And furthermore, for any scribe who might have come to me, I did not call him, nor would I give anything at all for him. It has been reported to your servant, saying, "The commander of the army, Koniyahu son of Elnathan, has arrived in order to go down to Egypt. And

Reverse

regarding Hodoyahu son of Ahiyahu and his men, he has sent to obtain . . . from him." And as for the letter of Tobiyahu, the king's servant, which came to Shallum son of Yaddua through the prophet saying, "Beware!"—your servant has sent this to my lord.

Pardee, Dennis. Handbook of Ancient Hebrew Letters. SBL Sources for Biblical Studies 15. Chico, Calif.: Scholars, 1982. P-84-85

Letter 4

May the Lord soon let my lord hear good tidings!
I have carried out all the instructions you have sent me, and have recorded on the page all that you ordered me. You instructed me also about the rest house, but there is nobody there. And Shemaiah has taken Semachiah and brought him up to the city (Jerusalem), and I will write and find out where he is. Because if on his rounds (turnings) he had inspected, he would have known that we are watching for the signal-stations of Lachish, according to all the signals you are giving, because we cannot see the signals of Azekah.
Trans: Dr. H. Torczyner, Bialik Professor of Hebrew

Letter 5

May the Lord soon let my [lord] hear good and pleasant tidings!
Who am I, thy slave, a dog, that thou [hast s]ent me ....iah's le[tters ?] [And now] I have returned the letters to thee.
May the Lord tell thee what has [happenned]! Who am I, that I should curse the king's seed in (the name of) the Lord?

Trans: Dr. H. Torczyner, Bialik Professor of Hebrew

Letter 6

To my lord Jaush. May the Lord let (us) see thee in prosperity! Who am I, thy slave, a dog, that thou hast sent me the [lett]er of the King and the letters of the offic[ers, (The same word here is translated 'princes' in Jeremiah 38:4, Dr. J. W. Jack) say]ing: "Read, I pray thee, and (thou wilt) see (that) the words of the [prophet] are not good, (liable) to loosen ("weaken" suggested by Dr. J. W. Jack) the hands, [to make] sink the hands of the coun[try and] the city." (Dr. J. W. Jack translates: "the hands of the m[en in the] city.") My lord, wilt thou not write to [them saying]: "Why should ye do thus: . . . ?"
. . . The Lord thy God liveth, and my l[or]d liveth (to punish) if thy slave has read the letter or got [anyone] to rea[d the letter or s]een [anything of it.]

Dr. H. Torczyner, Bialik Professor of Hebrew

Letter 7 to 15

Letters VII and VIII are not well preserved. The handwriting on VIII resembles Letter I. Letter IX is somewhat similar to Letter V. Letters X to XV are very fragmentary.
Dr. H. Torczyner, Bialik Professor of Hebrew

Letter 16

Letter XVI is also only a broken fragment. However, line 5 supplies us with just a portion of the prophet's name, thus:
[. . . . i]ah the prophet.
This is not, however, any great help in identifying the prophet. So many names at that time concluded with "iah." There was Urijah the prophet (Jeremiah 26:20-23); Hananiah the prophet (Jeremiah 28), and Jeremiah himself.
Dr. H. Torczyner, Bialik Professor of Hebrew

Letter 17
Letter XVII, another tiny fragment, contains a few letters out of three lines of the letter. Line 3 gives us just the name:
[. . . . Je]remiah [. . . .]
It is impossible now to know whether this was Jeremiah the prophet, or some other Jeremiah.
Dr. H. Torczyner, Bialik Professor of Hebrew

Letter 18
Letter XVIII gives a few words, which may have been a postscript to Letter VI. It states:
This evening, [when cometh Tob]shillem, (I) shall send thy letter up to the city (i.e., Jerusalem).
Dr. H. Torczyner, Bialik Professor of Hebrew

*Biblical Archaeology Review Article

2005 titled, “Why Lachish Matters.”

The ostracon (inscribed potsherd) provides poignant testimony to the last days of Lachish. In perhaps his most famous discovery, James Starkey uncovered 21 inscribed sherds, known now as the Lachish Letters, 18 of them in a guardroom of the city gate. Excavator Ussishkin, following Olga Tufnell, believes the sherds are copies of letters sent from Lachish to Jerusalem. The letters date to the reign of Judah’s last king, Zedekiah, and record Judah’s increasingly desperate situation in the face of the Babylonian army led by Nebuchadnezzar. In Lachish Letter IV, a soldier writes to his commander, “We are watching for the beacons of Lachish ... we cannot see [the beacons from] Azekah.” Jeremiah 34:7 records that Lachish and Azekah were the last Judahite strongholds to fall to the Babylonians. Nebuchadnezzar razed Lachish and Jerusalem in 586 B.C.E. Judah’s second most important city never regained its former importance.

King Lists

2007-09-24T23:41:00.000+10:00

King Lists

Assyrian kings
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assyrian_kings

Kings of Babylon
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kings_of_Babylon

Rulers of Egypt
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rulers_of_Egypt

Israel and Judah
http://www.kchanson.com/CHRON/isrkings.html

Archaeology Series 14: Cyrus Cylinder

2007-09-24T01:45:00.000+10:00

When Cyrus captured Babylon in 538 B.C., he decreed: "All the kingdoms of the earth has the Lord, the God of the heavens given to me, and he has appointed me to rebuild for Him a temple in Jerusalem which is Judaea - whoever among you from all His people - the Lord his God is with him and he may go up" (II Chronicles 36:23; cf. Ezra 1:2-3). Thus, his own inscription confirms the Biblical record, proclaiming: "I returned to the sacred cities ... the sanctuaries of which have been in ruins for a long time, the images which used to live therein and established for them permanent sanctuaries. I gathered all their (former) inhabitants and returned (to them) their habitations." The text is still incomplete, but composed of two fragments, the larger one belonging to the British Museum, the smaller one to the Yale Babylonian Collection. The two are joined together in this plaster cast.

Yale Library

http://www.library.yale.edu/judaica/exhibits/webarch/front/BabylonianCollection.html#sealone

Archaeology series 13: The Arad Inscriptions

2007-09-23T17:43:00.000+10:00

The Arad Insciptions

From Meyers Encyclopedia of Near East:

*Found from excavations in the citadel of Arad in the Judaen
Negev carried out between 1962 and 1967 by Yohanan Aharoni

*131 Hebrew, 85 Aramaic, 2 Greek and 5 Arabic
inscriptions

*Many Yahwistic names and formulaic blessings in the name of
Yahweh

*From Jewish Virtual Library(Disclaimer: I do not endorse the political views of this site):

The Israelite Citadel

During the period of the kingdoms of Israel and Judah
(10th-6th centuries BCE), successive citadels were built on the hill of Arad as
part of a series of fortifications protecting the trade routes in the Negev and
the southern border of the kingdom against marauding nomads.

The first of these citadels was built by King
Solomon (10th century BCE). It measured 55 x 50 m. and was surrounded by a
casemate wall (two parallel walls with cross-walls between them) 5 m. thick, and
with a gate protected by two towers in its eastern side. Large towers protruded
from the corners and along the wall. Inside the citadel were quarters for the
garrison, storerooms, and a temple. A water reservoir cut into the rock beneath
the citadel was filled with water from a well dug into the Canaanite reservoir
south of the citadel. This well was 4.60 m. in diameter and 21 m. deep, to
groundwater level, the upper part carefully lined with stones. The water drawn
from the well was carried up the hill by pack animals to an opening in the wall
of the citadel, and from there flowed in a channel to the reservoir.

In the 9th century BCE, a new citadel was built,
surrounded by a massive, 4 m.-thick wall. This citadel, with various
modifications, remained in use until the Babylonian conquest of the Kingdom of
Judah in 587/6 BCE.

The ostraca

Over 100 ostraca inscribed in biblical Hebrew (in
paleo-Hebrew script)
were found in the citadel of Arad. This is the largest and
richest
collection of inscriptions from the biblical period ever discovered in
Israel. The letters are from all periods of the citadel's existence, but
most
date to the last decades of the kingdom of Judah. Dates and several
names of
places in the Negev are mentioned, including Be'er
Sheva.

Among the personal names are those of the priestly
families Pashur and
Meremoth, both mentioned in the Bible. (Jeremiah
20:1; Ezra
8:33) Some of the letters were addressed to the commander of the citadel
of
Arad, Eliashiv ben Ashiyahu, and deal with the distribution of bread
(flour),
wine and oil to the soldiers serving in the fortresses of the
Negev. Seals
bearing the inscription "Eliashiv ben Ashiyahu" were also
found.

Some of the commander's letters (probably "file" copies) were addressed to his
superior and deal with the deteriorating security situation in the Negev. In one
of them, he gives warning of an emergency and requests reinforcements to be sent
to another citadel in the region to repulse an Edomite invasion. Also, in one of
the letters, the "house of YHWH" is mentioned.

Inscription 1

To Eliashib: And now, give the Kittiyim 3 baths of
wine, and write the name of the day. And from the rest of the first flour, send
one homer in order to make bread for them. Give them the wine from the aganoth
vessels.
Inscription 24

From Arad 50 and from Kin[ah]...and you shall send
them to Ramat-Negev by the hand of Malkiyahu the son of Kerab'ur and he shall
hand them over to Elisha the son of Yirmiyahu in Ramat-Negev, lest anything
should happen to the city. And the word of the king is incumbent upon you for
your very life! Behold, I have sent to warn you today: [Get] the men to Elisha:
lest Edom should come there.
Inscription 40

Your son Gemar[yahu] and Nehemyahu gre[et] Malkiyahu;
I have blessed [you to the Lor]d and now: your servant has listened to what
[you] have said, and I [have written] to my lord [everything that] the man
[wa]nted, [and Eshiyahu ca]me from you and [no] one [gave it to] them. And
behold you knew [about the letters from] Edom (that) I gave to [my] lord [before
sun]set. And [E]shi[yah]u slept [at my house], and he asked for the letter, [but
I didn't gi]ve (it). The King of Judah should know [that w]e cannot send the
[..., and th]is is the evil that Edo[m has done].

From the Israel Museum

This ostracon (potsherd inscribed in ink) was executed by
a professional scribe in Paleo-Hebrew script. It was found in Arad, a frontier
fortress of the Judean monarchy which also served as the administrative center
of the region during the ninth-sixth century BCE. Written in the early sixth
century BCE, this letter is among the earliest epigraphic references to the
Temple in Jerusalem. It is addressed to Elyashib, probably the commander of the
Arad fortress, and was sent, presumably from Jerusalem, by an unknown
subordinate who was in Jerusalem on a mission of inquiry about a certain person.
Elyashib is informed that all is well with the man about whom he had inquired:
the individual is in the "House of God," where he probably found refuge: "To my
lord Elyashib, may the Lord seek your welfare...and as to the matter which you
command me-it is well; he is in the House of God." Elyashib is also asked to
supply some goods to someone named Shemaryahu and to an unknown person referred
to as the "Kerosite." Publications:The Israel Museum, Publisher: Harry N.
Abrams, Inc., 2005

Archaeology Series 12:The Kurkh monolith of Shalmanasser III

2007-09-23T15:00:00.000+10:00

The Kurkh monolith

BASIC FACTS

*Dated to 853 BCE

The Kurkh Monolith is an Assyrian document that contains a description of the Battle of Qarqar at the end. The Monolith stands some 2.2 metres tall, and roughly covers years one through six of the reign of Assyrian king Shalmaneser III, although the fifth year is missing.

The Monolith mainly deals with campaigns Shalmaneser made in western Mesopotamia and Syria, fighting extensively with the countries of Bit Adini and Carchemish. At the end of the Monolith comes the account of the Battle of Qarqar, where an alliance of twelve kings fought against Shalmaneser at the Syrian city of Qarqar. This alliance, comprising eleven kings, was led by Irhuleni of Hamath and Hadadezer of Damascus, with a considerable force led by King Ahab of Israel. The Monolith is also the first time that the Arabs make an appearance in world history, fielding a contingent containing camels led by King Gindibu.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kurkh_Monolith

INSCRIPTION

Kurkh Monolith of Shalmaneser III 853 BCE
COS 2.113A, pp. 263-264

I approached the city of Qarqar. I razed, destroyed and burned the city of Qarqar , his royal city. 1,200 chariots, 1,200 cavalry, and 20,000 troops of Hadad-ezer of Damascus; 700 chariots, 700 cavalry, 10,000 troops of Irhuleni, the Hamathite; 2,000 chariots, and 10,000 troops of Ahab, the Israelite; 500 troops of Byblos; 1,000 troops of Egypt; 10 chariots and 10,000 troops of the land of Irqanatu; 200 troops of Matinu-ba'al of the city of Arvad; 200 troops of the land of Usanatu; 30 chariots and X,000 troops of Adon-ba'al of the land of Shianu, 1,000 camels of Gindibu of Arabia; X hundred troops of Ba'asa, the man of Bit ruhubi, the Ammonite--these twelve kings he took as his allies....

I decisively defeated them from the city of Qarqar to the city of Gilzau. I felled with the sword 14,000 troops, their fighting men. Like Adad, I rained down upon them a devastating flood. I spread out their corpses and I filled the plain. I felled with the sword their extensive troops. I made their blood flow in the wadis. The field was too small for laying flat their bodies; the broad countryside had been consumed in burying them. I blocked the Orontes River with their corpses as with a causeway. In the midst of this battle I took away from them chariots, cavalry, and teams of horses.

Archaeology Series 11: The two silver Scrolls

2007-09-23T13:50:00.000+10:00

Several seasons of excavation were carried out between 1975 and 1995 on Ketef Hinnom (Hebrew for "shoulder of Hinnom") a hill overlooking the Hinnom Valley, southwest of the Old City of Jerusalem. In the area next to St. Andrew's Church, finds dating from the Iron Age to the Ottoman period were uncovered.

The major discovery of the Ketef Hinnom excavations were several rock-hewn burial caves dating from the end of the First Temple period (7th century BCE), which contained an abundance of small artifacts, though the caves had been plundered and damaged in the past. The burial chambers have wide rock-cut benches, some with a raised headrest, on which bodies were laid. Space hewn beneath the benches served as repositories of bones for secondary burial, making room for burial of other family members.

One of the larger tombs, which probably belonged to a wealthy family, was found almost intact, with over a thousand objects in it: many small pottery vessels; artifacts of iron and bronze including arrowheads, needles and pins; bone and ivory objects; glass bottles; and jewelry, including earrings of gold and silver. The tomb was in use for several generations towards the end of the First Temple period and for some time after the destruction of 587-6 BCE.

The most important of all the objects found in this tomb are two small silver scrolls. They were somewhat damaged - small wonder, since they were placed in the tomb in the 7th century BCE. Carefully unrolled by experts at the Israel Museum laboratories, they were found to be covered with ancient Hebrew script on the obverse, which was deciphered with some difficulty.

The larger of the two plaques measures 97 x 27 mm., the smaller only 39 x 11 mm. The larger plaque contains 18 lines of writing, mostly legible. Both plaques contain benediction formulas in paleo-Hebrew script, almost identical to the biblical Priestly Blessing in Numbers 6:24-26.

This biblical text, dated to the 7th century BCE, is the oldest known to date and pre-dates the texts found in the Dead Sea area by about 500 years. The word yhwh (the name of the Lord in Hebrew) appears in writing for the first time ever. The benediction quoted from the Book of Numbers was recited by the Temple priests when blessing the congregation; here it is found in writing and for individual use. The tiny silver scrolls were probably worn as amulets around the neck.
The excavations were directed by G. Barkay on behalf of Tel Aviv University.

Num 6:22 And Jehovah spake unto Moses, saying,
Num 6:23 Speak unto Aaron and unto his sons, saying, On this wise ye shall bless the children of Israel: ye shall say unto them,
Num 6:24 Jehovah bless thee, and keep thee:
Num 6:25 Jehovah make his face to shine upon thee, and be gracious unto thee:
Num 6:26 Jehovah lift up his countenance upon thee, and give thee peace.
Num 6:27 so shall they put my name upon the children of Israel; and I will bless them.

Leading Jewish Rabbi's of new testament times

2007-09-22T19:56:00.000+10:00

Rabbi Gamliel

Act 5:34 But there stood up one in the council, a Pharisee, named Gamaliel, a doctor of the law, had in honor of all the people, and commanded to put the men forth a little while.
Act 5:35 And he said unto them, Ye men of Israel, take heed to yourselves as touching these men, what ye are about to do.
Act 5:36 For before these days rose up Theudas, giving himself out to be somebody; to whom a number of men, about four hundred, joined themselves: who was slain; and all, as many as obeyed him, were dispersed, and came to nought.
Act 5:37 After this man rose up Judas of Galilee in the days of the enrolment, and drew away some of the people after him: he also perished; and all, as many as obeyed him, were scattered abroad.
Act 5:38 And now I say unto you, Refrain from these men, and let them alone: for if this counsel or this work be of men, it will be overthrown:
Act 5:39 but if it is of God, ye will not be able to overthrow them; lest haply ye be found even to be fighting against God.

Act 22:1 Brethren and fathers, hear ye the defence which I now make unto you.

Act 22:2

And when they heard that he spake unto them in the Hebrew language, they were the more quiet: and he saith,
Act 22:3 I am a Jew, born in Tarsus of Cilicia, but brought up in this city, at the feet of Gamaliel, instructed according to the strict manner of the law of our fathers, being zealous for God, even as ye all are this day: (ASV)

Josephus, Life of flavius josephus

Simon son of Gamaliel

He then sent his brother Simon, and Jonathan, the son of Sisenna, and about a hundred armed men, to Jerusalem, to Simon, the son of Gamaliel, (16) in order topersuade him to induce the commonalty of Jerusalem to take fromme the government over the Galileans, and to give their suffragesfor conferring that authority upon him. This Simon was of thecity of Jerusalem, and of a very noble family of the sect of thePharisees, which are supposed to excel others in the accurateknowledge of the laws of their country. He was a man of greatwisdom and reason, and capable of restoring public affairs by hisprudence, when they were in an ill posture. He was also an oldfriend and companion of John; but at that time he had adifference with me. When therefore he had received such anexhortation, he persuaded the high priests, Ananus, and Jesus theson of Gamala, and some others of the same seditious faction, tocut me down, now I was growing so great, and not to overlook mewhile I was aggrandizing myself to the height of glory; a....

Archaeology series 10: Tell Dan Stela

2007-09-22T15:21:00.000+10:00

Tell Dan Stele

*Discovered by Avraham Biran and his team of archaeologists unearthed a piece of stone with fragments of writing on it at Tell Dan

*The fragment was found at Tel Dan which lies by the head waters of the Jordan River, in Israeli occupied Golan heights

*It contains 13 lines, but no single line is complete. The surviving letters are clear, however. Line 9 contains the words "House of David".

*A line by line translation by André Lemaire is as follows (with text missing from the stele, or too damaged by erosion to be legible, represented by "[.....]"):

[.....................].......[...................................] and cut [.........................]
[.........] my father went up [....................f]ighting at/against Ab[....]
And my father lay down; he went to his [fathers]. And the king of I[s-]
rael penetrated into my father's land[. And] Hadad made me—myself—king.
And Hadad went in front of me[, and] I departed from ...........[.................]
of my kings. And I killed two [power]ful kin[gs], who harnessed two thou[sand cha-]
riots and two thousand horsemen. [I killed Jo]ram son of [Ahab]
king of Israel, and I killed [Achaz]yahu son of [Joram kin]g
of the House of David. And I set [.......................................................]
their land ...[.......................................................................................]
other ...[......................................................................... and Jehu ru-]
led over Is[rael...................................................................................]
siege upon [............................................................]

Left: The "House of David" characters

Archaeology Series 9: The Black Obelisk of Shalmaneser III

2007-09-22T11:04:00.000+10:00

DATED: c. 835BCE

BASIC FACTS

Reproduced from: http://www.usask.ca/antiquities/Collection/Black_Obelisk.html

Description: Relief of plaster with five bands of illustrations. Cuneiform inscription above and between bands. Black patina.

Provenance: The Black Obelisk was discovered by the Englishman, Sir Austen Henry Layard, in 1846, during a large scale excavation at Nimrud, an ancient site located south of Baghdad, in modern-day Iraq.

The obelisk records the exploits of the Assyrian king Shalmaneser III (r. 858-824 BC).

Composed of black alabaster, the original obelisk stands 2.02m in height; it has four sides, each with 5 picture panels interspersed with cuneiform inscriptions; there is also cuneiform above and below each set of pictures. The inscriptions record the annals of thirty-two years of Shalmaneser's reign. Most of the illustrations record the tributes brought to Shalmaneser by various vassal kings. The top panel of the replica shows Sua, the Gilzanite, bringing tribute to Shalmaneser, who is standing to the left, armed with a bow and arrows and accompanied by an attendant and soldier. Above this scene are the winged sun-disc, divine symbol of the god Assur, king of all of the great gods, and the eight-pointed star, divine symbol of Enlil, creator and father of the gods. The second panel, which is possibly the most significant, depicts Shalmaneser receiving tribute from Jehu, king of Israel, who is prostrate before the king. Shalmaneser holds a bowl in his raised hand and is sheltered by a parasol held by an attendant. The tribute of the country of Musri, illustrated on the third panel, consists entirely of animals led or driven by attendants dressed in knee-length garments. The fourth panel illustrates two lions hunting a stag in a forest, perhaps reminiscent of the countries which Shalmaneser has conquered. The bottom panel records the tribute, brought forth by porters wearing pointed caps, of Karparunda of Hattina.

INSCRIPTION

Translations of the inscriptions describing each scene, follow:
I. Tribute of Sua, the Gilzanite. Silver, gold, lead, copper vessels, staves (staffs) for the hand of the king, horses, camels, whose backs are doubled, I received from him.
II. Tribute of Jehu, son of Omri. Silver, gold, a golden saplu (bowl), a golden vase with pointed bottom, golden goblets, pitchers of gold, tin, staves (staffs) for the hand of the king, puruhtu (javelins?), I received from him.
III. Tribute of the land of Musri. Camels whose backs are doubled, a river ox (hippopotamus), a sakea (rhinoceros), a susu (antelope), elephants, bazîtu (and) uqupu (monkeys), I received from him.
IV. Tribute of Marduk-apal-usur of Suhi. Silver, gold, pitchers of gold, ivory, javelins, buia, brightly colored and linen garments, I received from him.
V. Tribute of Karparunda of Hattina. Silver, gold, lead, copper, copper vessels, ivory, cypress (timbers), I received from him.

**************************************************************************

The Black Obelisk became famous when it was realized that it made reference to Jehu, King of the Israelites. who is mentioned in the Old Testament (Kings 19.16; 2 Kings 9-10). A descendant of Shalmaneser, Shalmaneser V, is mentioned in 2 Kings 17:3 and 18:9. The Black Obelisk also mentions the King Hazael of Damascus who appears in the Old Testament (2 Kings 8:28f; 9:14f).

The second register from the top includes the earliest surviving picture of an Israelite: the Biblical Jehu, king of Israel, brought or sent his tribute in around 841 BC. Ahab, son of Omri, king of Israel, had lost his life in battle a few years previously, fighting against the king of Damascus at Ramoth-Gilead (I Kings xxii. 29-36). His second son (Joram) was succeeded by Jehu, a usurper, who broke the alliances with Phoenicia and Judah, and submitted to Assyria. The caption above the scene, written in Assyrian cuneiform, can be translated
The tribute of Jehu, son of Omri: I received from him silver, gold, a golden bowl, a golden vase with pointed bottom, golden tumblers, golden buckets, tin, a staff for a king [and] spears.

IMAGES

Archaeology series 8:The Moabite stone

2007-09-21T22:12:00.000+10:00

The Moabite Stone

DATE: c. 850 BCE

BASIC NOTES

*Also known as Mesha stele

*is a black basalt stone, bearing an inscription by the 9th century BC Moabite King Mesha, discovered in 1868. The inscription of 34 lines, the most extensive inscription ever recovered from ancient Israel, was written in Paleo-Hebrew alphabet. It was set up by Mesha, about 850 BC, as a record and memorial of his victories in his revolt against the Kingdom of Israel, which he undertook after the death of his overlord, Ahab.

The stone is 124 cm high and 71 cm wide and deep, and rounded at the top. It was discovered at the ancient Dibon now Dhiban, Jordan, in August 1868, by Rev. F. A. Klein, a German missionary in Jerusalem. "The Arabs of the neighborhood, dreading the loss of such a talisman, broke the stone into pieces; but a squeeze had already been obtained by Charles Simon Clermont-Ganneau, and most of the fragments were recovered and pieced together by him".[1] A squeeze is a papier-mâché impression. The squeeze (which has never been published) and the reassembled stele (which has been published in many books and encyclopedias) are now in the Louvre Museum.

INSCRIPTION

*I am Mesha, son of Kemosh[-yatti], the king of Moab, the Dibonite. My father was king over Moab
for thirty years, and I became king after my father. And I made this high-place for Kemosh in Qarcho (or Qeriho, a sanctuary)
. . . because he has delivered me from all kings, and because he has made me look down on all my
enemies. Omri was the king of Israel, and he oppressed Moab for many days, for Kemosh was angry with
his land. And his son reigned in his place; and he also said, "I will oppress Moab!" In my days he
said so. But I looked down on him and on his house, and Israel has been defeated; it has been
defeated forever! And Omri took possession of the whole land of Madaba, and he lived there in his
days and half the days of his son: forty years. But Kemosh restored it in my days. And I built Baal
Meon, and I built a water reservoir in it. And I built Qiryaten. And the men of Gad lived in the
land of Atarot from ancient times; and the king of Israel built Atarot for himself, and I fought
against the city and captured it. And I killed all the people of the city as a sacrifice for Kemosh
and for Moab. And I brought back the fire-hearth of his uncle from there; and I brought it before
the face of Kemosh in Qerioit, and I made the men of Sharon live there, as well as the men of
Maharit. And Kemosh said to me, "Go, take Nebo from Israel." And I went in the night and fought
against it from the daybreak until midday, and I took it and I killed the whole population: seven
thousand male subjects and aliens, and female subjects, aliens, and servant girls. For I had put it
to the ban for Ashtar Kemosh. And from there I took the vessels of Yahweh, and I presented them
before the face of Kemosh. And the king of Israel had built Yahaz, and he stayed there throughout
his campaign against me; and Kemosh drove him away before my face. And I took two hundred men of
Moab, all its division, and I led it up to Yahaz. And I have taken it in order to add it to Dibon. I
have built Qarcho, the wall of the woods and the wall of the citadel; and I have built its gates;
and I have built its towers; and I have built the house of the king; and I have made the double
reservoir for the spring in the innermost part of the city. Now the innermost part of the city had
no cistern, in Qarcho, and I said to all the people, "Each one of you shall make a cistern in his
house." And I cut the moat for Qarcho by using Israelite prisoners. I have built Aroer, and I
constructed the military road in Arnon. I have built Beth-Bamot, for it had been destroyed. I have
built Bezer, for it lay in ruins. And the men of Dibon stood in battle formation, for all Dibon were
in subjection. And I am the king over the hundreds in the towns which I have added to the land. And
I have built Beth-Medeba and Beth-Diblaten and Beth-Baal-Meon, and I brought there . . . flocks of
the land. And Horonaim, there lived
. . . Kemosh said to me, "Go down, fight against Hauranen!" I went down
. . . and Kemosh restored it in my days . . .'

Archaeology series 7: The Merneptah Stele

2007-09-21T21:27:00.000+10:00

The Merneptah Stele

*Also known as the Israel Stele or Victory Stele of Merneptah

*The earliest direct archaeological verification of the Israelites

*Merneptah who ruled Egypt from 1213 to 1203 BC

*The stele was discovered in the first court of Merneptah's mortuary temple at Thebes by Flinders Petrie in 1896.

*The stela is dated to Year 5, 3rd month of Shemu (summer), day 3 (c.1209/1208 BC), and begins with a laudatory recital of Merneptah's achievements in battle.

*This is the last verse of the stele that mentions supposed defeated nations (The Egyptians never admitted defeat whatsoever)

"The princes are prostrate saying: "Shalom!"

Not one of the Nine Bows lifts his head:

Tjehenu is vanquished, Khatti at peace,

Canaan is captive with all woe.

Ashkelon is conquered, Gezer seized,

Yanoam made nonexistent;

Israel is laid waste, bare of seed,

Khor is become a widow for Egypt.

All who roamed have been subdued.

By the King of Upper and Lower Egypt, Banere-meramun,

Son of Re, Merneptah, Content with Maat,Given life like Re every day."

FULL INSCRIPTION

Year 5, 3rd month of summer, day 3, under the Majesty of Horus: Mighty Bull, Rejoicing in Maat; the King of Upper and Lower Egypt: Banere-meramun; the Son of Re: Merneptah, Content with Maat, magnified by the power, exalted by the strength of Horus; strong bull who smites the Nine Bows, whose name is given to eternity forever.
Recital of his victories in all lands, to let all lands together know, to let the glory of his deeds be seen: the King of Upper and Lower Egypt: Banere-meramun; the Son of Re: Merneptah, Content with Maat; the Bull, lord of strength who slays his foes, splendid on the field of valour when his attack is made:
Shu who dispelled the cloud that was over Egypt,letting Egypt see the rays of the sun disk.Who removed the mountain of copper from the people's neck,that he might give breath to the imprisoned folk.Who let Hut-ka-Ptah exult over its foes, letting Tjenen triumph over his opponents.Opener of Memphis' gates that were barred,who allowed the temples to receive their foods.The King of Upper and Lower Egypt, Banere-meramun,the Son of Re, Merneptah, Content with Maat.The Sole One who steadied the hearts of hundred thousands,breath entered their nostrils at the sight of him.Who destroyed the land of the Tjemeh in his lifetime,cast abiding terror in the heart of the Meshwesh.He turned back the Libyans who trod Egypt,great is dread of Egypt in their hearts.
Their leading troops were left behind,Their legs made no stand except to flee,Their archers abandoned their bows,The hearts of their runners grew weak as they sped,They loosened their waterskins, cast them down,Their packs were untied, thrown away.The vile chief, the Libyan foe,Fled in the deep of night alone,No plume on his head, his feet unshod,His wives were carried off from his presence,His food supplies were snatched away,He had no drinking water to sustain him.The gaze of his brothers was fierce to slay him,His officers fought among each other,Their tents were fired, burnt to ashes,All his goods were food for the troops.When he reached his country he was in mourning Those left in his land were loath to receive him "A chief, ill-fated, evil-plumed", All said of him, those of his town. "He is in the power of the gods, the lords of Memphis The Lord of Egypt has made his name accursed; Merey is the abomination of Memphis,So is son after son of his kin forever. Banere-meramun will be after his children, Merneptah, Content with Maat is given him as fate. He has become a [proverbial saying] for Libya, Generation says to generation of his victories: It was never done to us since the time of Re;"So says every old man speaking to his son.
Woe to Libyans, they have ceased to liveIn the good manner of roaming the field; In a single day their stride was haltedIn a single year were the Tjehenu burned!Seth turned his back upon their chief,By his word their villages were ruined;There's no work of carrying [loads] these days.Hiding is useful, it's safe in the cave.The great Lord of Egypt, might and strength are his, Who will combat, knowing how he strides?A witless fool is he who takes him on,He knows no tomorrow who attacks his border!As for Egypt, "Since the gods," they say,"She is the only daughter of Pre;His son is he who's on the throne of Shu,None who attacks her people will succeed.The eye of every god is after her despoiler,It will make an end of all its foes",So say they who gaze toward their stars,And know all their spells by looking to the winds.
A great wonder has occurred for Egypt,Her attacker was placed captive (in) her hand, Through the counsels of the godly king, Who prevailed against his foes before Pre.Merey who stealthily did evilTo all the gods who are in Memphis,He was contended with in On,The Ennead found him guilty of his crimes.Said the Lord-of-all: "Give the sword to my son, The right-hearted, kind, gracious Banere-meramun,Who cared for Memphis, who avenged On, Who opened the quarters that were barred. He has freed the many shut up in all districts, He has given the offerings to the temples, He has let incense be brought to the gods, He has let the nobles retain their possessions, He has let the humble frequent their towns".Then spoke the lords of On in behalf of their son,Merneptah, Content with Maat: "Grant him a lifetime like that of Re, To avenge those injured by any land; Egypt has been assigned him as portion, He owns it forever to protect its people".Lo, when one dwells in the time of the mighty, The breath of life comes readily.The brave bestows wealth on the just,The cheat cannot retain his plunder;[What a man has of ill-gotten wealthFalls to others, not (his) children.]
This (too) shall be said:Merey the vile foe, the Libyan foe Had come to attack the walls of Ta-tenen,Whose lord had made his son arise in his place,The King of Upper and Lower Egypt, Banere-meramun,Son of Re, Merneptah, Content with Maat. Then said Ptah concerning the vile Libyan foe:"His crimes are all gathered upon his head.Give him into the hand of Merneptah, Content with Maat,He shall make him spew what he gorged like a crocodile.Lo, the swift will catch the swift,The lord who knows his strength will snare him;It is Amun who curbs him with his hand,He will deliver him to his ka in Southern On,The King of Upper and Lower Egypt, Banere-meramun, Son of Re, Merneptah, Content with Maat".
Great joy has arisen in Egypt, Shouts go up from Egypt's towns; They relate the Libyan victories Of Merneptah, Content with Maat:"How beloved is he, the victorious ruler! How exalted is he, the King among the gods! How splendid is he, the lord of command! O how sweet it is to sit and babble!" One walks free-striding on the road,For there's no fear in people's hearts;Fortresses are left to themselves,Wells are open for the messengers' use.Bastioned ramparts are becalmed,Sunlight only wakes the watchmen; Medjai are stretched out asleep,Nau and Tekten are in the fields they love.The cattle of the field are left to roam,No herdsmen cross the river's flood;There's no calling out at night:"Wait, I come," in a stranger's voice.Going and coming are with song,People don't [lament] and mourn;Towns are settled once again,He who tends his crop will eat it.Re has turned around to Egypt,The Son is ordained as her protector,The King of Upper and Lower Egypt, Banere-meramun,Son of Re, Merneptah, Content with Maat
The princes are prostrate saying: "Shalom!"Not one of the Nine Bows lifts his head:Tjehenu is vanquished, Khatti at peace,Canaan is captive with all woe.Ashkelon is conquered, Gezer seized,Yanoam made nonexistent;Israel is wasted, bare of seed,Khor is become a widow for Egypt.All who roamed have been subdued.By the King of Upper and Lower Egypt, Banere-meramun,Son of Re, Merneptah, Content with Maat,Given life like Re every day.

More Info:

From the website eternalegypt.org:
"King Merenptah, the thirteenth son and successor of King Ramesses the Second, reused the back face of this gray granite stela. The stela was originally erected by King Amenhotep the Third in his mortuary temple on the west bank of Thebes. The round top of this face, topped by the winged sun disk and flanked by the cartouches of Merenptah, is divided into two parts. Each part shows King Merenptah before the god Amun and followed by the other members of the Theban triad, the god Khonsu on the right and goddess Mut on the left. Under this scene, a hymn consisting of 28 lines commemorates Merenptah's victory over the Libyans in his fifth regnal year. In the final strophe of the hymn, Merenptah mentions various entities that he had subdued. In the middle of line 27 of this text appears the name Israel inscribed in hieroglyphs. The name refers to the people and not to the state, like other localities mentioned on the stela. The occurrence of this word indicated to some scholars that this king is the pharaoh of the Exodus but there is no evidence to prove that. Dimensions: Height 318 cm Width 163 cm "

Archaeology Series 6: The Hittites

2007-09-21T17:54:00.000+10:00

The earliest reference to the Hittites in the Bible is Genesis 15: 18-21:

"In that day Jehovah made a covenant with Abram, saying, Unto thy seed have I given this land, from the river of Egypt unto the great river, the river Euphrates:
the Kenite, and the Kenizzite, and the Kadmonite,
and the Hittite, and the Perizzite, and the Rephaim,
and the Amorite, and the Canaanite, and the Girgashite, and the Jebusite. "(ASV)

The Hittites are mentioned in at least 50 other occassions in the Bible that i've counted.

Outside of the Bible, however, there was no mention of this Civilisation in the written or archaeological record until little over a century ago. Hence many ignoramuses thought it was just some made up fantasy or they had somehow mistaken them for the Assyrians

We know know the Hittites were established from at least the 18th century BCE, inhabiting parts of Asia minor and Syria.

In the 14th century BC, the Hittite empire was at its height, encompassing Anatolia, north-western Syria about as far south as the mouth of the Litani River (a territory known as Amqu), and eastward into upper Mesopotamia. After 1180 BC, the empire disintegrated into several independent "Neo-Hittite" city-states, some surviving until as late as the 8th century BC.

The first archeological vindication was made when Hittite monuments were discovered in the 1870s at Carchemish on the Euphrates River in Syria. In 1906, excavations at Boghazkoy in Turkey uncovered thousands of Hittite documents.

Left: The maximum extent of the Hittite empire in c. 1300 BCE

Sculpture found at Carchemish:

References to Pilate outside the Bible

2007-09-21T13:58:00.000+10:00

Josephus

Wars of the Jews

Book 2 Chapter 9

Pilate Brings images into Jerusalem

2. Now Pilate, who was sent as procurator into Judea by Tiberius, sent by night those images of Caesar that are called ensigns into Jerusalem. This excited a very among great tumult among the Jews when it was day; for those that were near them were astonished at the sight of them, as indications that their laws were trodden under foot; for those laws do not permit any sort of image to bebrought into the city. Nay, besides the indignation which the citizens had themselves at this procedure, a vast number of people came running out of the country. These came zealously to Pilate to Cesarea, and besought him to carry those ensigns out ofJerusalem, and to preserve them their ancient laws inviolable;but upon Pilate's denial of their request, they fell (9) downprostrate upon the ground, and continued immovable in thatposture for five days and as many nights.

3. On the next day Pilate sat upon his tribunal, in the openmarket-place, and called to him the multitude, as desirous to give them an answer; and then gave a signal to the soldiers, that they should all by agreement at once encompass the Jews with their weapons; so the band of soldiers stood round about the Jewsin three ranks. The Jews were under the utmost consternation atthat unexpected sight. Pilate also said to them that they shouldbe cut in pieces, unless they would admit of Caesar's images, and gave intimation to the soldiers to draw their naked swords.Hereupon the Jews, as it were at one signal, fell down in vastnumbers together, and exposed their necks bare, and cried outthat they were sooner ready to be slain, than that their lawshould be transgressed. Hereupon Pilate was greatly surprised at their prodigious superstition, and gave order that the ensigns should be presently carried out of Jerusalem.

More Disturbances

4. After this he raised another disturbance, by expending thatsacred treasure which is called Corban (10) upon aqueducts,whereby he brought water from the distance of four hundredfurlongs. At this the multitude had indignation; and when Pilatewas come to Jerusalem, they came about his tribunal, and made aclamor at it. Now when he was apprized aforehand of thisdisturbance, he mixed his own soldiers in their armor with themultitude, and ordered them to conceal themselves under thehabits of private men, and not indeed to use their swords, butwith their staves to beat those that made the clamor. He thengave the signal from his tribunal [to do as he had bidden them].Now the Jews were so sadly beaten, that many of them perished bythe stripes they received, and many of them perished as troddento death by themselves; by which means the multitude wasastonished at the calamity of those that were slain, and heldtheir peace.

Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews

Book 18, CHAPTER 3.

The Images into Jerusalem

1. But now Pilate, the procurator of Judea, removed the army from Cesarea to Jerusalem, to take their winter quarters there, inorder to abolish the Jewish laws. So he introduced Caesar'seffigies, which were upon the ensigns, and brought them into thecity; whereas our law forbids us the very making of images; on which account the former procurators were wont to make theirentry into the city with such ensigns as had not those ornaments. Pilate was the first who brought those images to Jerusalem, andset them up there; which was done without the knowledge of thepeople, because it was done in the night time; but as soon asthey knew it, they came in multitudes to Cesarea, and interceded with Pilate many days that he would remove the images; and whenhe would not grant their requests, because it would tend to the injury of Caesar, while yet they persevered in their request, onthe sixth day he ordered his soldiers to have their weapons privately, while he came and sat upon his judgment-seat, whichseat was so prepared in the open place of the city, that itconcealed the army that lay ready to oppress them; and when the Jews petitioned him again, he gave a signal to the soldiers to encompass them routed, and threatened that their punishment should be no less than immediate death, unless they would leaveoff disturbing him, and go their ways home. But they threwthemselves upon the ground, and laid their necks bare, and saidthey would take their death very willingly, rather than thewisdom of their laws should be transgressed; upon which Pilate was deeply affected with their firm resolution to keep their laws inviolable, and presently commanded the images to be carried backfrom Jerusalem to Cesarea.

2. But Pilate undertook to bring a current of water to Jerusalem,and did it with the sacred money, and derived the origin of the stream from the distance of two hundred furlongs. However, the Jews (8) were not pleased with what had been done about this water; and many ten thousands of the people got together, and made a clamor against him, and insisted that he should leave offthat design. Some of them also used reproaches, and abused theman, as crowds of such people usually do. So he habited a greatnumber of his soldiers in their habit, who carried daggers undertheir garments, and sent them to a place where they mightsurround them. So he bid the Jews himself go away; but they boldly casting reproaches upon him, he gave the soldiers that signal which had been beforehand agreed on; who laid upon themmuch greater blows than Pilate had commanded them, and equallypunished those that were tumultuous, and those that were not; nordid they spare them in the least: and since the people wereunarmed, and were caught by men prepared for what they wereabout, there were a great number of them slain by this means, andothers of them ran away wounded. And thus an end was put to this sedition.

Reference to Jesus

3. Now there was about this time Jesus, a wise man, if it belawful to call him a man; for he was a doer of wonderful works, ateacher of such men as receive the truth with pleasure. He drewover to him both many of the Jews and many of the Gentiles. Hewas [the] Christ. And when Pilate, at the suggestion of theprincipal men amongst us, had condemned him to the cross, (9)those that loved him at the first did not forsake him; for heappeared to them alive again the third day; (10) as the divineprophets had foretold these and ten thousand other wonderfulthings concerning him. And the tribe of Christians, so named fromhim, are not extinct at this day.

The Samaritans

Book 18 Chapter4

1. But the nation of the Samaritans did not escape without tumults. The man who excited them to it was one who thought lyinga thing of little consequence, and who contrived every thing sothat the multitude might be pleased; so he bid them to gettogether upon Mount Gerizzim, which is by them looked upon as the most holy of all mountains, and assured them, that when they werecome thither, he would show them those sacred vessels which were laid under that place, because Moses put them there (12) So theycame thither armed, and thought the discourse of the manprobable; and as they abode at a certain village, which wasc alled Tirathaba, they got the rest together to them, and desired to go up the mountain in a great multitude together; but Pilate prevented their going up, by seizing upon file roads with a greatband of horsemen and foot-men, who fell upon those that weregotten together in the village; and when it came to an action,some of them they slew, and others of them they put to flight,and took a great many alive, the principal of which, and also themost potent of those that fled away, Pilate ordered to be slain.

2. But when this tumult was appeased, the Samaritan senate sentan embassy to Vitellius, a man that had been consul, and who wasnow president of Syria, and accused Pilate of the murder of thosethat were killed; for that they did not go to Tirathaba in orderto revolt from the Romans, but to escape the violence of Pilate.So Vitellius sent Marcellus, a friend of his, to take care of theaffairs of Judea, and ordered Pilate to go to Rome, to answerbefore the emperor to the accusations of the Jews. So Pilate,when he had tarried ten years in Judea, made haste to Rome, andthis in obedience to the orders of Vitellius, which he durst notcontradict; but before he could get to Rome Tiberius was dead.

Chapter 6

5.And, as afurther attestation to what I say of the dilatory nature of Tiberius, I appeal to this his practice itself; for although he was emperor twenty-two years, he sent in all but two procurators to govern the nation of the Jews, Gratus, and his successor inthe government, Pilate.

Philo of Alexandria

Legatio 299-305 (Translated by E. M. Smallwood, Philonis Alexandini Legatio ad Gaium, E. J. Brill, Leiden, 1970)

Pilate was an official who had been appointed procurator of Judaea. With the intention of annoying the Jews rather than of honouring Tiberius, he set up gilded shields in Herod's palace in the Holy City. They bore no figure and nothing else that was forbidden, but only the briefest possible inscription, which stated two things - the name of the dedicator and that of the person in whose honour the dedication was made. But when the Jews at large learnt of this action, which was indeed already widely known, they chose as their spokesmen the king's four sons, who enjoyed prestige and rank equal to that of kings, his other descendants, and their own officials, and besought Pilate to undo his innovation in the shape of the shields, and not to violate their native customs, which had hitherto been invariably preserved inviolate by kings and emperors alike. When Pilate, who was a man of inflexible, stubborn and cruel disposition, obstinately refused, they shouted, `Do not cause a revolt! Do not cause a war! Do not break the peace! Disrespect done to our ancient laws brings no honour to the Emperor. Do not make Tiberius an excuse for insulting our nation. He does not want any of our traditions done away with. If you say that he does, show us some decree or letter or something of the sort, so that we may cease troubling you and appeal to our master by means of an embassy'. This last remark exasperated Pilate most of all, for he was afraid that if they really sent an embassy, they would bring accusations against the rest of his administration as well, specifying in detail his venality, his violence, his thefts, his assaults, his abusive behaviour, his frequent executions of untried prisoners, and his endless savage ferocity. So, as he was a spiteful and angry person, he was in a serious dilemma; for he had neither the courage to remove what he had once set up, nor the desire to do anything which would please his subjects, but at the same time he was well aware of Tiberius' firmness on these matters. When the Jewish officials saw this, and realized that Pilate was regretting what he had done, although he did not wish to show it, they wrote a letter to Tiberius, pleading their case as forcibly as they could. What words, what threats Tiberius uttered against Pilate when he read it! It would be superfluous to describe his anger, although he was not easily moved to anger, since his reaction speaks for itself. For immediately, without even waiting until the next day, he wrote to Pilate, reproaching and rebuking him a thousand times for his new-fangled audacity and telling him to remove the shields at once and have them taken from the capital to the coastal city of Caesarea (the city named Sebaste after your great-grandfather), to be dedicated in the temple of Augustus. This was duly done. In this way both the honour of the emperor and the traditional policy regarding Jerusalem were alike preserved.

Archaeology series 5: Pontius Pilate Inscription

2007-09-21T03:53:00.000+10:00

Pilate inscription

-Size:82 centimeters high,65 centimeters wide

-Dated: 26–37 CE

-Discovered in 1961 by Italian archaeologists led by Dr. Antonio Frova. They were excavating an ancient Roman amphitheatre near Caesarea-on-the-Sea (Maritima) when they uncovered the limestone block.

-Composed in Latin

*Reads

...]S TIBERIVM
...PON]TIVS PILATVS
...PRAEF]ECTVSIVDA[EA]

Trans:To the honorable gods (this) TiberiumPontius Pilate,Prefect of Judea,had dedicated

archaeology series 4:Lysanius

2007-09-21T01:08:00.000+10:00

In Luke's Gospel, we read John the Baptist began his ministry "when ...Lysanius was district ruler of Abilene (Luke 3:1)

Now in the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, Pontius Pilate being governor of Judaea, and Herod being tetrarch of Galilee, and his brother Philip tetrarch of the region of Ituraea and Trachonitis, and Lysanias tetrarch of Abilene,

*However this was challenged since there had only been known a Lysanias who ruled and Abilene who died in 34 BCE

*An inscription in Abilene was discovered mentioning another Lysanius who was tetrarch(district ruler) during the reign of Tiberius. The inscription was for the dedication of a temple and says “for the salvation of the Lord’s imperial and their whole household, by Nymphaeus, a freedman of Lysanius the Tetrarch"

Lords Imperial' was a technical title given jointly to Emperor Tiberius and his mother Livia, widow of Augustus, so this inscription must have been made between AD 14, when Tiberius became emperor, and AD 29, when Livia died.

Archaeology Series 3, part 2: :Taylor's prism

2007-09-21T00:14:00.000+10:00

Taylor's Prism or Sennacherib's Hexagonal Prism-Reproduced from http://www.kchanson.com/ANCDOCS/meso/sennprism1.html

*Dates to 689 BCE

*Dates of Sennacherib's reign:
701–681 BCE

*Dimensions: 38cm high

13.3cm wide at the top

14cm wide at the bottom

the width of the six panels are:
8, 7.6, 7.52, 8, 7.3, 7.7cm

the hole at the top is 2.3cm

the hole at the bottom is 2.5cm

Translation

Adapted from Luckenbill, 1927 translation

Column 1

1Sennacherib, the great king,
2the mighty king,king of the world,king of Assyria,3king of the four quarters,the wise shepherd,4favorite of the great gods,guardian of right,5lover of justice,who lends support,6who comes to the aid of the destitute,who performs pious acts,7perfect hero,mighty man,8first among all princes,the powerful one who consumes 9the insubmissive,who strikes the wicked with the thunderbolt.10The god Assur, the great mountain, an unrivaled kinship 11has entrusted to me, and above all those 12who dwell in palaces, has made my weapons powerful. 13From the upper sea of the setting sun 14to the lower sea of the rising sun, 15he has brought the black-headed people in submission at my feet. 16And mighty kings feared my warfare, 17leaving their homes and 18flying alone, like the sidinnu, the bird of the cave, 19to some inaccessible place.20In my first campaign I accomplished the defeat of Merodach-baladan, 21king of Babylonia, together with the army of Elam, 22his ally, on the plain of Kish. 23In the midst of that battle he deserted his camp, 24and he escaped alone, so he saved his own life. 25The chariots, horses, wagons, mules, 26which he left behind at the beginning of the battle 27my hands siezed. Into his palace, which is in 28Babylon, I entered jubilantly. 29I opened his treasure-house: gold, silver, vessels of god and silver, 30precious stones of every name, goods and property 31without limit, heavy tribute, his harem, 32courtiers and officials, singers—male and 33female—all his artisans, 34as many as there were, his palace servants 35I brought out, and I counted as spoil. In the might of Assur 36my lord, seventy-five of his strong walled cities 37of Chaldea, and 420 small cities 38of their area I surrounded, I conquered, I carried off their spoil. 39The Arabs, Arameans, and Chaldeans 40who were in Erech, Nippur, Kish, Harsagkalamma, 41Kutha and Sippar, together with the citizens, 42the rebels I brought out and counted as booty. 43On my return, the Tu'muna, 44Rihihu, Yadakku, Ubudu, 45Kibrê, Malahu, Gurumu, 46Ubulu, Damunu, Gambulu, 47Hindaru, Ru'ûa, Bukudu, 48Hamrânu, Hagarânu, Nabatu, 49Li'tâu, Arameans who were not submissive— 50I conquered all of them. 208,000 people, great and small, 51male and female, horses, mules, asses, 52camels, cattle and sheep, without number— 53a heavy booty—I carried off to Assyria. 54In the course of my campaign, I received from Nabû-bêl-shumâte, 55governor of the city of Hararate: gold silver, great musukkani-trees, 56asses, camels, cattle, and sheep 57as his onerous contribution. The warriors of 58Hirimme, wicked enemies, I cut down with the sword. 59No one escaped. Their corpses 60I hung on stakes, surrounding the city (with them). 61That district I reorganized: one ox, 62ten lambs, ten homers of wine, twenty homers of dates, 63its choicest, for the gods of Assyria, 64my lords, I established for all time.65In my second campaign, Assur, my lord, encouraged me, and 66against the land of the Kassites and the land of the Yasubigallai, 67who from of old had not been submissive to the kings, my ancestors, 68I marched. In the midst of the high mountains 69I rode on horseback where the terrain was difficult, 70and had my chariot drawn up with ropes: 71where it became too steep, I clambered up on foot like the wild-ox. 72The cities of Bît-Kilamzah, Hardishpi, 73and Bît-Kubatti, their strong, walled cities 74I besieged, I captured. People, horses, 75mules, asses, cattle, and sheep 76I brought out from their midst and counted as booty. 77And their small cities, which were beyond numbering, 78I destroyed, I devastated, and I turned into ruins. The houses of the steppe, (namely) the tents, 79in which they lived, I set on fire and 80turned them into flames. I turned round, and 81made that Bît-Kilamzah into a fortress— 82I made its walls stronger than they had ever been before—

Column 2

1and settled in it people of the lands my hands had conquered. 2The people of the land of the Kassites and the land of the Yasubigallai, 3who had fled before my arms, 4I brought down out of the mountains and 5settled them in Hardishpi and Bît-Kubatti. 6Into the hand of my official, the governor of Arapha, 7I placed them. I had a stele made, and 8the might of my conquering hand which I had 9established upon them, I had inscribed on it. 10I set it up in the midst of the city.The front of my yoke I turned around and 11took the road to the land of the Elippi. 12Before me Ispabâra, their king, 13abandoned his strong cities, his treasurehouses, 14and fled to the distant parts. 15Over the whole of his wide land I swept like a hurricane. 16The cities Marubishti and Akkuddu, 17his royal residence-cities, together with 34 small towns 18of their area, I besieged, I captured, I destroyed, I devastated, 19I burned with fire. The people, great and small, male and female, 20horses, mules, asses, camels, 21cattle, and sheep, without number I carried off. 22I brought him to nothing; I diminished his land. 23Sisirtu and Kummahlum, 24strong cities, together with the small towns in their areas, 25the district of Bît-Barrû in its totality, 26I cut off from his land and added it to the territory of Assyria. 27Elenzash I turned into the royal city 28and stronghold of that district. 29I changed its former name, calling its name Kar-Sennacherib. 30Peoples of the lands my hands had conquered 31I settled in it. To my official, 32the governor of Harhar, I handed it over. Thus I extended my land. 33-35On my return, I received the heavy tribute of the distant Medes, whose name none of the kings, my fathers, had ever heard. 36I made them submit to the yoke of my rule. 37In my third campaign, I went against the Hittite-land. 38Lulê, king of Sidon, the terrifying splendor 39of my sovereignty overcame him, and far off 40into the midst of the sea he fled. There he died. 41Great Sidon, Little Sidon, 42Bît-Zitti, Zaribtu, Mahalliba, 43Ushu, Akzib, Akko, 44his strong, walled cities, where there were fodder and drink, 45for his garrisons, the terrors of the weapon of Assur, 46my lord, overpowered them and they bowed in submission at my feet. 47I seated Tuba'lu on the royal throne 48over them, and tribute, gifts for my majesty, 49I imposed upon him for all time, without ceasing. 50From Menachem, the Shamsimurunite, 51Tuba'lu the Sidonite, 52Abdi-liti the Arvadite, 53Uru-milki the Gublite, 54Mitinti the Ashdodite 55Budu-ilu the Beth Ammonite, 56Kammusu-nadbi the Moabite, 57Malik-rammu the Edomite, 58kings of Amurru, all of them, numerous presents 59as their heavy tribute, 60they brought before me for the fourth time, and kissed my feet. But Sidka, 61the king of Ashkelon, who had not submitted 62to my yoke, the gods of his father's house, himself, his wife, 63his sons, his daughters, his brothers, the seed of his paternal house, 64I tore away and brought to Assyria. 65Sharru-lu-dari, son of Rukibti, their former king, 66I set over the people of Ashkelon, and 67I imposed upon him the payment of tribute: presents to my majesty. 68He accepted my yoke. In the course of my campaign, 69Beth-Dagon, Joppa, 70Banaibarka, Asuru, cities 71of Sidka, who had not speedily bowed in 72submission at my feet, I besieged, I conquered, I carried off their spoil. 73The officials, nobles, and people of Ekron, 74who had thrown Padi their king—bound by oath and curse of Assyria— 75into fetters of iron and 76-77had given him over to Hezekiah, the Judahite—he kept him in confinement like an enemy— 78their heart became afraid, 79and they called upon the Egyptian kings, the bowmen, chariots and horses 80of the king of Meluhha [Ethiopia], a countless host, and 81these came to their aid. 82In the neighborhood of Eltekeh, 83their ranks being drawn up before me,

Column 3

1they offered battle. With the aid of Assur, 2my lord, I fought with them and 3brought about their defeat. The Egyptian charioteers and princes, 4together with the Ethiopian king's charioteers, 5my hands captured alive in the midst of the battle. 6Eltekeh and Timnah 7I besieged, I captured, and I took away their spoil.
8I approached Ekron and slew the governors and nobles 9who had rebelled, and 10hung their bodies on stakes around the city. The inhabitants 11who rebelled and treated (Assyria) lightly I counted as spoil. 12The rest of them, who were not guilty of rebellion 13and contempt, for whom there was no punishment, 14I declared their pardon. Padi, their king, 15I brought out to Jerusalem, 16set him on the royal throne over them, and 17imposed upon him my royal tribute.
18As for Hezekiah the Judahite, 19who did not submit to my yoke: forty-six of his strong, walled cities, as well as 20the small towns in their area, 21which were without number, by levelling with battering-rams 22and by bringing up seige-engines, and by attacking and storming on foot, 23by mines, tunnels, and breeches, I besieged and took them. 24200,150 people, great and small, male and female, 25horses, mules, asses, camels, 26cattle and sheep without number, I brought away from them 27and counted as spoil. (Hezekiah) himself, like a caged bird 28I shut up in Jerusalem, his royal city. 29I threw up earthworks against him— 30the one coming out of the city-gate, I turned back to his misery. 31His cities, which I had despoiled, I cut off from his land, and 32to Mitinti, king of Ashdod, 33Padi, king of Ekron, and Silli-bêl, 34king of Gaza, I gave (them). And thus I diminished his land. 35I added to the former tribute, 36and I lad upon him the surrender of their land and imposts—gifts for my majesty. 37As for Hezekiah, 38the terrifying splendor of my majesty overcame him, and 39the Arabs and his mercenary troops which he had brought in to strengthen 40Jerusalem, his royal city, 41deserted him. In addition to the thirty talents of gold and 42eight hundred talents of silver, gems, antimony, 43jewels, large carnelians, ivory-inlaid couches, 44ivory-inlaid chairs, elephant hides, elephant tusks, 45ebony, boxwood, all kinds of valuable treasures, 46as well as his daughters, his harem, his male and female 47musicians, which he had brought after me 48to Nineveh, my royal city. To pay tribute 49and to accept servitude, he dispatched his messengers.
50In my fourth campaign, Assur, my lord, gave me courage, and 51I mustered my numerous troops and gave the 52command to proceed against Bît-Yakin. In the course of my campaign, 53I accomplished the overthrow of Shuzubi, the Chaldean, who sat in the midst of the swamps, 54at Bitûtu. 55That one, the terror of my battle fell upon him, and 56tore his heart; like a criminal he fled alone, and 57his place was seen no more.
The front of my yoke I turned and 58and I took the way to Bît-Yakin. 59That Merodach-baladan, whose defeat I had brought about 60in the course of my first campaign, and whose forces I had shattered, 61the roar of my mighty arms 62and the onset of my terrible battle he feared and 63he gathered together the gods of his whole land in their shrines, 64and loaded them into ships and fled 65like a bird to Nagite-rakki, which is in the middle of the sea. His brothers, 66the seed of his father's house, whom he had left by the seashore, 67together with the rest of the people of his land, 68I brought out of Bît-Yakin, from the midst of the swamps and canebrakes, 69and counted as spoil. I turned about and ruined and devastated his cities; 70I made them like ruin-heaps. Upon his ally, the king of Elam, 71I poured out my terror. On my return, 72I placed on his (Merodach-baladan's) royal throne, 73Assur-nâdin-shum, my oldest son, offspring of my knees. 74I placed him in charge of the wide land of Sumer and Akkad.
75In my fifth campaign, the warriors of Tumurru, 76Sharum, Ezama, Kibshu, Halgidda, 77Kua, and Kana—whose abodes 78-79were set on the peak of Mt. Nipur, a steep mountain, like the nests of the eagle, king of birds—were not submissive to my yoke. 80I had my camp pitched at the foot of Mt. Nipur and 81with my choice bodyguard

Column 4

1and my relentless warriors, 2I, like a strong wild-ox, went before them. 3-4I surmounted gullies, mountain torrents and waterfalls, dangerous cliffs in my sedan-chair. 5Where it was too steep for my chair, I advanced on foot. 6Like a young gazelle, I mounted the highest peakss pursuing them. 7Wherever my knees found a resting-place, 8I sat down on some mountain boulder and drank the cold water from a waterskin 9for my thirst. To the summits 10of the mountains I pursued them and brought about 11their overthrow. I captured their cities and carried off their spoil, 12I destroyed, I devastated, I burned with fire.
The front of my yoke 13I turned. Against Maniae, king of Ukku 14of the land of Daie, who was not submissive, I took the road. 15-17Before my day, none of the kings who lived before me, had traveled the unblazed trails and wearisome paths which run along these rugged mountains. 18At the foot of Mt. Anara and Mt. Uppa, mighty mountains, 19I had my camp pitched, and on a house-chair I 20together with my seasoned warriors, 21made my wearisome way through their narrow passes, 22and with great difficulty climbed to the highest peak of the mountains. 23That Maniae saw the clouds of dust raised by the feet of my armies, 24abandoned Ukku, his royal city, 25and fled to distant parts. 26I besieged Ukku, I captured it, and took away its spoil. All kinds of goods and merchandise, 27the treasure of his palace, 28I carried away from it and counted it as booty. Furthermore, 33 cities 29within the bounds of his province I captured. People, asses, cattle 30and sheep, I carried away from them as spoil. 31I destroyed, I devastated, and I burned with fire.
32In my sixth campaign the rest of the people of Bît-Yakin, 33who had run off before my powerful weapons like wild asses, 34who had gathered together the gods of their whole land in their shrines, had 35crossed the great sea of the rising sun and 36in Nagitu of Elam had established their abodes; 37in Hittite ships I crossed the sea. Nagitu 38Nagitu-di'bina, together with the lands of Hilmu, Billatu 39and Hupapanu, provinces of Elam, I conquered. 40The people of Bît-Yakin, together with their gods, and the people 41of the king of Elam, I carried off; 42not a rebel escaped. I had them loaded in vessels, 43brought over to this side, and started on the way 44to Assyria. The cities which were in those 45provinces I destroyed, I devastated, I burned with fire. Into tells and ruins 46I turned them. On my return, Shuzubu, 47the Babylonian, who during an uprising in the land 48had turned to himself the rule of Sumer and Akkad, 49I accomplished his defeat in a battle of the plain. 50I seized him alive with my own hands, I threw him into bonds and fetters of iron and 51brought him to Assyria. The king of Elam, who 52had gone over to his side and had aided him, I defeated. 53His forces I scattered and I shattered his army.
54In my seventh campaign, Assur, my lord, supported me, 55and I advanced against Elam. Bît-Ha'iri and 56Rasâ, cities on the border of Assyria 57which the Elamite had seized by force during the time of my father 58—in the course of my campaign I conquered and I despoiled them. 59I settled my garrisons in them 60and restored them to the borders of Assyria. 61I placed them under the commandant of Dêr. The cities of Bubê, Dunni-Shamash, Bît-Risia, 62Bît-ahlamê, Duru, Kalte-sulai 63Shilibtu, Bît-Asusi, Kar-Zêr-ikîsha, 64Bît-Gissi, Bît-Katpalani, Bît-Imbia, 65Hamânu, Bît-Arrabi, Burutu, 66Dimtu-sha-Sulai, Dimtu-sha-Marbîti-etir, 67Harri-ashlaki, Rabbai, 68Râsu, Akkabarina Tel-Uhuri, 69Hamranu, Naditu, together with the cities 70of the passes of Bît-Bunaki, tel-Humbi, 71Dimtu-sha-Dume-ilu, Bît-Ubia, 72Balti-lishir, Tagab-lishir, 73Shanakidate, the lower Masutu, 74Sar-hudiri, Alum-sha-bêlit-bîti, 75Bît-ahê-iddina, Ilte-uba, 7634 strong cities, together with the small cities 77in their areas, which were countless, 78I besieged, I conquered, I despoiled, I destroyed, I devastated, 79I burned with fire, with the smoke of their conflagration 80I covered the wide heavens like a hurricane. 81-1The Elamite, Kudur-nahundu, heard of the overthrow of his cities,

Column 5

81-1The Elamite, Kudur-nahundu, heard of the overthrow of his cities, 2terror overwhelmed him, the (people of) the rest of his cities 3he brought into the strongholds. He himself 4left Madaktu, his royal city, 5and took his way to Haidala which is in the distant mountains. 6I gave the word to march against Madaktu, his royal city. 7In the month of rain, extreme cold set in and the 8heavy storms sent down rain upon rain and 9snow. I was afraid of the swollen mountain streams; 10the front of my yoke I turned and took the road to 11Nineveh. At that time, at the command of Assur, my lord, 12Kudur-Nahundu, the king of Elam, in less than three months 13died sudenly on a day not of his fate. 14After him, Umman-menanu, 15who possessed neither sense nor judgment, 16his younger brother, sat on his throne.
17In my eighth campaign, after Shuzubu had revolted, 18and the Babylonians, wicked devils, had 19closed the city-gates—their hearts planning resistance; 20Shuzubu the Chalden, a weakling hero, 21who had no knees, a slave, subject to the governor of the city of 22the city of Lahiri; the fugitive Arameans gathered around him, the runaway, 23the murderer, the bandit. Into the marshes 24they descended and started a rebellion. But I completely surrounded him. 25I pressed him to the life. Through fear and hunger 26he fled to Elam. When plotting 27and treachery were hatched against him, 28he fled from Elam and entered Shuanna. The Babylonians 29placed him on the throne—for which he was not fit— 30and entrusted to him the government of Sumer and Akkad. 31They opened the treasury of the Esagila temple and the gold and silver 32belonging to Bêl [Marduk] and Sarpanit, they brought forth the property of the temples of their gods. 33And to Umman-menanu, king of Elam, who had 34neither sense nor judgment, they sent them as a bribe (saying): 35"Gather your army, prepare your camp, 36haste to Babylon, stand at our side, for 37you are our trust." That Elamite— 38whose cities I had conquered and turned into ruins 39on my earlier campaign against Elam— 40without thinking 41received the bribes from them, gathered his army and camp, 42collected his chariots and wagons, and hitched his horses 43and mules to them. The lands of Parsuash 44Anzan, Pasheru, Ellipi, the men of Yazan, 45Lakabra, Harzunu, Dummuku, 46Sulai, Samuna, the son of Merodach-baladan, 47the lands of Bît-Adini, Bît-Amukkanu, Bît-Sillana, 48Bît-Sâlatutu-akki, the city of Lahiru, the men of Bukudu, 49Gambulum, Halatum Ru'ua, 50Ubulum, Malahu, Rapiku, 51Hindaru, Damunu—an enormous vassal army 52he called to his side. The largest portion of them 53-55took the road to Akkad. Closing in on Babylon, they exchanged courtesies with Shuzubu, the Chaldean king of Babylon, and brought their army to a halt. 56Like the onset of locust swarms of the springtime, 57they steadily progressed against me to offer battle. 58With the dust of their feet covering the wide heavens, 59like a mighty storm with masses of dense clouds, 60they drew up in battle array before me in the city of Halulê, on the bank of the Tigris. 61They blocked my passage and offered battle. 62-65As for me, I prayed for victory over the mighty foe to Assur, Sin, Shamash, Bêl, Nabû, Nergal, Ishtar of Nineveh, Ishtar of Arbela. 66They quickly gave ear to my prayers and came 67to my aid. Like a lion I raged; I put on 68a coat of mail. A helmet, emblem of victory, 69I placed upon my head. My great battle chariot, 70which brings the foe low, 71I hurriedly mounted in the anger of my heart. The mighty bow, 72which Assur had given me, I seized in my hands; 73the javelin, piercing to the life, I grasped. 74Against all of the armies of wicked enemies, 75I cried out, rumbling like a storm. I roared like Adad. 76At the word of Assur, the great lord, my lord, on flank and front 77I pressed upon the enemy like the onset of a raging storm. 78With the weapons of Assur, my lord, and the terrible onset of my attack, 79I stopped their advance, I succeeded in surrounding them, 80I decimated the enemy host with arrow and spear. 81I bored through all of their bodies. 82Humban-undasha, the field-marshall 83of the king of Elam, a trustworthy man, commander 84of his armies, his chief support, together with his nobles 85who wear the golden belt-daggar 86-87and whose wrists are encircles with thick rings of shining gold 88like fat steers who have hobbles put on them,

Column 6

1quickly I cut them down and defeated them. 2I cut their throats, 3and I cut off their precious lives like a string. Like the many waters 4of a storm, I made their gullets and entrails 5run down upon the wide earth. My prancing 6steeds harnessed for my riding plunged 7into the streams of their blood as (into) a river. The wheels of my war chariot, 8which brings the wicked and evil low, 9were spattered with blood and filth. With the bodies of their warriors 10I filled the plain like grass. Their testicles 11I cut off and tore out their privates like the seeds 12of cucumbers of Siwan. I cut off their hands. 13The heavy rings of brightest gold which were on their wrists 14I took away. With sharp swords 15I pierced their belts and took away 16the belt-daggars of gold and silver which were on their persons. The rest of his nobles, together with Nabû-shum-ishkun, 17son of Moerodach-baladan, who was frightened at my onslaught 18and had gone over to their side, my hands 19seized in the midst of the battle. The chariots and their horses, 20whose riders had been slain at the beginning of the terrible battle, 21and who had been left to themselves, 22kept running back and forth 23for two double-hours; I stopped their headlong flight. 24That Umman-menanu, king of Elam, 25together with the king of Babylon and the princes of Chaldea, 26who had gone over to their side, the terror of my battle 27overturned their bodies like a bull. They abandoned their tents; 28and to save their lives, they trampled 29the bodies of their soldiers; they fled like young pigeons 30that are pursued. Their hearts were torn; 31they held their urine, but let their dung go into their chariots. 32In pursuit of them, 33I dispatched my chariots and horses after them. 34Those among them who had escaped, who had fled for their lives, 35wherever they [the charioteers] met them, they cut them down with the sword.
36After that time—after I had completed the palace 37in the midst of the city of Nineveh for my royal residence, 38had filled it with beautiful furnishings, to the astonishment of all the people— 39the side-palace, which the former kings, 40my ancestors, had built 41for the care of the camp, the stabling of the horses, and general storage, 42had no terrace, that its site was too small, 43that its construction had not been skillfuly done, that, as the days went by, its foundation-platform 44had become weak, its foundation had given way and its roof had falen in. 45I tore down that palace in its entirety. 46A large tract of land in the meadows 47and environs of the city I confiscated, according to plan, 48and added to it. The site of the former palace 49I abandoned. With the ground of the meadows 50which I had seized from the riverflats, I filled in a terrace, 51I raised its top 200 tipki (thickness of brick) on high. In a favorable month 52on an auspicious day, on the top of that terrace, 53following the cunning of my heart, a palace of limestone 54and cedar, of Hittite workmanship also a 55lofty palace of Assyrian workmanship, which 56far surpassed the former one in size and beauty, 57according to the plan of wise architects, 58I had them build for my royal residence. 59Mighty cedar beams, the product of Amanus, the shining mountain, 60I stretched over them. Door-leaves of liari-wood I 61covered with a sheathing of bright bronze and set up 62in their doors. Out of white limestone, 63which is found in the land of the city of Baladai, 64I had mighty statues fashioned and 65positioned on the right and left of the entrances. For the equipment of the 66black-headed people, the stabling of horses, mules, colts, 67riding camels, chariots, wagons, carts, quivers, 68bows and arrows, all kinds of battle equipment: 69teams of horses and mules which 70possessed enormous strength, and were broken to the yoke. 71I greatly enlarged its court of the gates. That palace, from its foundation 72to its coping, I constructed, I finished. A stele 73with my name inscribed on it I set up in it. In the days to come 74among the kings, my sons, whose name Assur 75and Ishtar shall name for the rule of land and people, 76when that palace shall become old and ruined, 77may some future prince restore its ruins, look upon 78the stele with my name inscribed on it, anoint it with oil, 79pour out a libation upon it, and return it to its place. Then Assur and Ishtar 80will hear his prayers. He who destroys my inscription and my name— 81may Assur, the great lord, the father of the gods, 82treat him as an enemy, 83take away the scepter and throne from him, and overthrow his rule. 84The month of Tammuz; eponym of Gahilu, 85governor of Hatarikka.

Archeology series 3: Hezekiah's Tunnel

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Hezekiah's Tunnel

*Was constructed in 701 BCE

*Was designed by Hezekiah to act as an acqueduct to provide Jerusalem with water during an impending siege by the Assyrians, led by Sennacherib

*The tunnel was discovered by the American biblical archeologist Edward Robinson in 1838 and explored by Warren and others.

*Starts: Gihon Spring in the Kidron Valley-This was ancient Jerusalem's main water supply

*Finsihes: Pool of Siloam in the Central Valley-another archeological marvel

*The Length is 533 m, direct length is 304.8 m

*It was carved in an 'S' shape, thus following the course of the softer rock

*The builders of the tunnel left their own description of the work engraved in the rock wall near the tunnel outlet into the Pool of Siloam. The inscription (called the Siloam Inscription) was found in 1880 and is now in Archaeological Museum, Istanbul, Turkey.

It reads:
"... the tunneling through. And this is the account of the tunneling through. While [the workmen raised] the pick each toward his fellow and while there [remained] to be tunneled [through, there was heard] the voice of a man calling to his fellow, for there was a split in the rock on the right hand and on [the left hand]. And on the day of the tunneling through the workmen stuck, each in the direction of his fellow, pick against pick. And the water started flowing from the source to the pool, twelve hundred cubits. And the height of the rock above the head of the workmen was a hundred cubits.".

*Here is the reference in 2 Chronicles:

2Ch 32:1 After these things, and this faithfulness, Sennacherib king of Assyria came, and entered into Judah, and encamped against the fortified cities, and thought to win them for himself.

2 And when Hezekiah saw that Sennacherib was come, and that he was purposed to fight against Jerusalem,
3 he took counsel with his princes and his mighty men to stop the waters of the fountains which were without the city; and they helped him.
4 So there was gathered much people together, and they stopped all the fountains, and the brook that flowed through the midst of the land, saying, Why should the kings of Assyria come, and find much water?

2Ch 32:30 This same Hezekiah also stopped the upper spring of the waters of Gihon, and brought them straight down on the west side of the city of David. And Hezekiah prospered in all his works.

*Reference in 2 Kings

2Ki 20:20 Now the rest of the acts of Hezekiah, and all his might, and how he made the pool, and the conduit, and brought water into the city, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah?

*Sennacherib wrote his own account of his siege of Jerusalem on a 6 sided prism now called the 'Taylor prism' after its first owner :

"As to Hezekiah, the Jew, he did not submit to my yoke, I laid siege to 46 of his strong cities, walled forts and to the countless small villages in their vicinity, and conquered [them] by means of well stamped [earth-]ramps and battering-rams brought [thus] near [to the walls] [combined with] the attack by foot soldiers, [using] mines, breeches as well as sapper work. I drove out [of them] 200,150 people, young and old, male and female, horses, mules, donkeys, camels, big and small cattle beyond counting, and considered [them] booty. Himself I made a prisoner in Jerusalem, his royal residence, like a bird in a cage."

Left: 'Sennacherib' or 'Taylor's Prism'

Left: The pool of Siloam

Archaeology series 2: The Caiaphas ossuary

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Brief notes on the ossuary :

* Language: Aramaic

*Medium: limestone

*Approximate Size: 37 centimeters high, 75 centimeters long

*Length: 1 line of writing that reads Yehosef bar Kayafa' (Josesph son of Caiaphas)

* Was discovered in a Second Temple Tomb in 'The Peace Forest', a park in Jerusalem by park excavators in December 1990. It was found with many other ossuaries in the tomb some others of which were also inscribed with "Caiaphas". Thus it was likely a family tomb. The 'Joseph son of Caiaphas' ossuary was the most eleborately decorated.

*The excavation was conducted under Zvi Greenhut Israel Antiquities Authority and is currently located at the Israel Museum, Jerusalem

In the New Testament:

So the chief priests and the Pharisees gathered the council, and said, “What are we to do? For this man [Jesus] performs many signs. If we let him go on thus, everyone will believe in him, and the Romans will come and destroy both our holy place and our nation.”

But one of them, Caiaphas, who was high priest that year, said to them, “You know nothing at all; you do not understand that it is expedient for you that one man should die for the people, and that the whole nation should not perish.”

He did not say this of his own accord, but being high priest that year he prophesied that Jesus should die for the nation. (Jn. 11:47-51, RSV)

Archaeological series 1. A look at the Gallio inscription

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The Gallio inscription

*Discovered in 1905 from inscriptions collected from Greek city of Delphi

*It is a letter from Emperor Claudius . In it he states, "Lucius Junios Gallio, my friend, and the proconsul of Achaia . . ."

*Gallio was the elder brother of Seneca the philosopher

*Historians date the inscription to 52 A.D. which corresponds to the time of the apostle's stay in 51.

Here is his mention in Acts:

18:12 But when Gallio was proconsul of Achaia, the Jews with one accord rose up against Paul and brought him before the judgment-seat,

13 saying, This man persuadeth men to worship God contrary to the law.

14 But when Paul was about to open his mouth, Gallio said unto the Jews, If indeed it were a matter of wrong or of wicked villany, O ye Jews, reason would that I should bear with you:

15 but if they are questions about words and names and your own law, look to it yourselves; I am not minded to be a judge of these matters.

16 And he drove them from the judgment-seat.

17 And they all laid hold on Sosthenes, the ruler of the synagogue, and beat him before the judgment-seat. And Gallio cared for none of these things.

The Edict of Augustus

2007-09-18T19:00:00.000+10:00

Edict of Augustus on Jewish Rights, 1 BCE

Caesar Augustus, pontifex maximus, holding the tribunician power, proclaims: Since the nation of the Jews and Hyrcanus, their high priest, have been found grateful to the people of the Romans, not only in the present but also in the past, and particularly in the time of my father, Caesar, imperator, it seems good to me and to my advisory council, according to the oaths, by the will of the people of the Romans, that the Jews shall use their own customs in accordance with their ancestral law, just as they used to use them in the time of Hyrcanus, the high priest of their highest god; and that their sacred offerings shall be inviolable and shall be sent to Jerusalem and shall be paid to the financial officials of Jerusalem; and that they shall not give sureties for appearance in court on the Sabbath or on the day of preparation before it after the ninth hour. But if anyone is detected stealing their sacred books or their sacred monies, either from a synagogue or from a mens' apartment, he shall be considered sacrilegious and his property shall be brought into the public treasury of the Romans.

Strabo's view of the jews

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Strabo, The Geography, Book XVI.ii.34-38, 40, 46, c. 22 CE

These districts (of Jerusalem and Joppa) lie towards the north; they are inhabited generally, and each place in particular, by mixed tribes of Egyptians, Arabians, and Phoenicians. Of this description are the inhabitants of Galilee, of the plain of Jericho, and of the territories of Philadelphia and Samaria, surnamed Sebaste by Herod; but though there is such a mixture of inhabitants, the report most credited, among many things believed respecting the temple and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, is that the Egyptians were the ancestors of the present Jews. An Egyptian priest named Moses, who possessed a portion of the country called Lower Egypt, being dissatisfied with the established institutions there, left it and came to Judea with a large body of people who worshiped the Divinity. He declared and taught that the Egyptians and Africans entertained erroneous sentiments, in representing, the Divinity under the likeness of wild beasts and cattle of the field; that the Greeks also were error in making images of their gods after the human form. For God, said he, may be this one thing which encompasses us all, land and sea, which we call heaven, or the universe, or the nature of things. Who, then, of any understanding would venture to form an image of this Deity, resembling anything with which we are conversant? On the contrary, we ought not to carve any images, but to set apart some sacred ground as a shrine worthy of the Deity, and to worship Him without any similitude. He taught that those who made fortunate dreams were to be permitted to sleep in the temple, where they might dream both for themselves and others; that those who practiced temperance and justice, and none else, might expect good, or some gift or sign from the God, from time to time.

By such doctrine Moses persuaded a large body of right-minded persons to accompany him to the place where Jerusalem now stands. He easily obtained possession of it as the spot was not such as to excite jealousy, nor for which there could be any fierce contention; for it is rocky, and, although well supplied with water, it is surrounded by a barren and waterless territory. The space within the city is 60 stadia in circumference, with rock underneath the surface. Instead of arms, he taught that their defense was in their sacred things and the Divinity, for whom he was desirous of finding a settled place, promising to the people to deliver such a kind of worship and religion as should not burden those who adopted it with great expense, nor molest them with so-called divine possessions, nor other absurd practices. Moses thus obtained their good opinion, and established no ordinary kind of government. All the nations around willingly united themselves to him, allured by his discourses and promises.

His successors continued for some time to observe the same conduct, doing justly, and worshipping God with sincerity. Afterwards superstitious persons were appointed to the priesthood, and then tyrants. From superstition arose abstinence from flesh, from the eating of which it is now the custom to refrain, circumcision, cliterodectomy, and other practices which the people observe. The tyrannical government produced robbery; for the rebels plundered both their own and the neighboring countries. Those also who shared in the government seized upon the property of others, and ravaged a large part of Syria and of Phoenicia. Respect, however, was paid to the Acropolis [Zion, or the Temple Mount in Jerusalem]; it was not abhorred as the seat of tyranny, but honoured and venerated as a temple. . . .Such was Moses and his successors; their beginning was good, but they degenerated.

When Judaea openly became subject to a tyrannic government, the first person who exchanged the title of priest for that of king was Alexander [Alexander Jannaeus]. His sons were Hyrcanus and Aristobulus. While they were disputing the succesion to the kingdom, Pompey came upon them by surprise, deprived them of their power, and destroyed their fortress first taking Jerusalem itself by storm [63 B.C.]. It was a stronghold situated on a rock, well-fortified and well-supplied with water within, but externally entirely parched with drought. A ditch was cut in the rock, 60 feet in depth, and in width 250 feet. On the wall of the temple were built towers, constructed of the materials procured when the ditch was excavated. The city was taken, it is said, by waiting for the day of fast, on which the Jews were in the habit of abstaining from all work. Pompey, availing himself of this, filled up the ditch, and threw bridges over it. He gave orders to raze all the walls, and he destroyed, as far as was in his power, the haunts of the robbers and the treasure-holds of the tyrants. Two of these forts, Thrax and Taurus, were situated in the passes leading to Jericho. Others were Alexandrium, Hyrcanium, Machaerus, Lysias, and those about Philadelphia, and Scythopolis nearGalilee.

Pompey curtailed the territory which had been forcibly appropriated by the Jews, and assigned to Hyrcanus the priesthood. Some time afterwards, Herod, of the same family, and a native of the country, having surreptitiously obtained the priesthood, distinguished himself so much above his predecessors, particularly in his intercourse, both civil and political, with the Romans, that he received the title and authority of king, first from Antony, and afterwards from Augustus Caesar. He put to death some of his sons, on the pretext of their having conspired against him; other sons he left at his death [in 4 B.C.] to succeed him, and assigned to each portions of his kingdom. Caesar bestowed upon the sons also of Herod marks of honor, as also upon their sister Salome, and on her daughter Berenice too. The sons were unfortunate, and were publicly accused. One of them [Archelaus] died in exile among the Galatae Allobroges, whose country [Vienne, south of Lyons in France] was assigned for his abode. The others, by great interest and solicitation, but with difficulty, obtained leave to return to their own country, each with his tetrarchy restored to him.

Tacitus' hilarious view of the Jews

2007-09-18T17:18:00.000+10:00

From the Histories

Book Five (1 -13)—The Jews1.

At the beginning of the same year (1) Titus Caesar, who had been selected by his father to complete the conquest of Judaea and already enjoyed a reputation as a general when Vespasian and he began to be talked of, received added support and recognition, as provinces and armies vied in displaying their enthusiasm. He was anxious to live up to his new position by cutting a fine figure and showing enterprise in arms. His polite and affable manners gained him devoted followers. In military duties and on the march he often mixed with the ordinary soldiers without sacrificing the respect due to a commanding officer.

Awaiting him in Judaea were three legions that had long served under Vespasian — the Fifth, Tenth and Fifteenth. The emperor also allotted him the Twelfth from Syria and the drafts from the Twenty-Second and the Third brought up from Alexandria. He was attended by twenty cohorts of allied infantry and eight regiments of cavalry, as well as by the two kings Agrippa and Sohaemus and the supporting forces offered by King Antiochus. (2) Then there were strong levies of Arabs, who felt for the Jews the hatred common between neighbours, and many individual adventurers from Rome and Italy who for various reasons hoped to ingratiate themselves with an emperor whose ear might still be gained. This then was the army with which Titus entered enemy territory. (3) He advanced in an orderly fashion, maintaining good reconnaissance and a state of readiness for battle, and encamped at no great distance from Jerusalem.

2. As I am now to record the death-agony of a famous city, it seems appropriate to inform the reader of its origins. The Jews are said to have been refugees from the island of Crete who settled in the remotest corner of Libya in the days when, according to the story, Saturn was driven from his throne by the aggression of Jupiter. This is a deduction from the name 'Judaei' by which they became known: the word is to be regarded as a barbarous lengthening of 'Idaei', the name of the people dwelling around the famous Mount Ida in Crete. A few authorities hold that in the reign of Isis the surplus population of Egypt was evacuated to neighbouring lands under the leadership of Hierosolymus and Judas. Many assure us that the Jews are descended from those Ethiopians who were driven by fear and hatred to emigrate from their home country when Cepheus was king. There are some who say that a motley collection of landless Assyrians occupied a part of Egypt, and then built cities of their own, inhabiting the lands of the Hebrews and the nearer parts of Syria. Others again find a famous ancestry for the Jews in the Solymi who are mentioned with respect in the epics of Homer: this tribe is supposed to have founded Jerusalem(4) and named it after themselves.

3. Most authorities, however, agree on the following account. The whole of Egypt was once plagued by a wasting disease which caused bodily disfigurement. So Pharaoh Bocchoris(5) went to the oracle of Hammon to ask for a cure, and was told to purify his kingdom by expelling the victims to other lands, as they lay under a divine curse. Thus a multitude of sufferers was rounded up, herded together, and abandoned in the wilderness. Here the exiles tearfully resigned themselves to their fate. But one of them, who was called Moses, urged his companions not to wait passively for help from god or man, for both had deserted them: they should trust to their own initiative and to whatever guidance first helped them to extricate themselves from their present plight. They agreed, and started off at random into the unknown. But exhaustion set in, chiefly through lack of water, and the level plain was already strewn with the bodies of those who had collapsed and were at their last gasp when a herd of wild asses left their pasture and made for the shade of a wooded crag. Moses followed them and was able to bring to light a number of abundant channels of water whose presence he had deduced from a grassy patch of ground. This relieved their thirst. They travelled on for six days without a break, and on the seventh they expelled the previous inhabitants of Canaan, took over their lands and in them built a holy city and temple.

4. In order to secure the allegiance of his people in the future, Moses prescribed for them a novel religion quite different from those of the rest of mankind. Among the Jews all things are profane that we hold sacred; on the other hand they regard as permissible what seems to us immoral. In the innermost part of the Temple, they consecrated an image of the animal which had delivered them from their wandering and thirst, choosing a ram as beast of sacrifice to demonstrate, so it seems, their contempt for Hammon. (6) The bull is also offered up, because the Egyptians worship it as Apis. They avoid eating pork in memory of their tribulations, as they themselves were once infected with the disease to which this creature is subject. (7) They still fast frequently as an admission of the hunger they once endured so long, and to symbolize their hurried meal the bread eaten by the Jews is unleavened. We are told that the seventh day was set aside for rest because this marked the end of their toils. In course of time the seductions of idleness made them devote every seventh year to indolence as well. Others say that this is a mark of respect to Saturn, either because they owe the basic principles of their religion to the Idaei, who, we are told, were expelled in the company of Saturn and became the founders of the Jewish race, or because, among the seven stars that rule mankind, the one that describes the highest orbit and exerts the greatest influence is Saturn. A further argument is that most of the heavenly bodies complete their path and revolutions in multiples of seven.

5. Whatever their origin, these observances are sanctioned by their antiquity. The other practices of the Jews are sinister and revolting, and have entrenched themselves by their very wickedness. Wretches of the most abandoned kind who had no use for the religion of their fathers took to contributing dues and free-will offerings to swell the Jewish exchequer; and other reasons for their increasing wealth may be found in their stubborn loyalty and ready benevolence towards brother Jews. But the rest of the world they confront with the hatred reserved for enemies. They will not feed or inter-marry with gentiles. Though a most lascivious people, the Jews avoid sexual intercourse with women of alien race. Among themselves nothing is barred. They have introduced the practice of circumcision to show that they are different from others. Proselytes to Jewry adopt the same practices, and the very first lesson they learn is to despite the gods, shed all feelings of patriotism, and consider parents, children and brothers as readily expendable. However, the Jews see to it that their numbers increase. It is a deadly sin to kill a born or unborn child, and they think that eternal life is granted to those who die in battle or execution—hence their eagerness to have children, and their contempt for death. Rather than cremate their dead, they prefer to bury them in imitation of the Egyptian fashion, and they have the same concern and beliefs about the world below. But their conception of heavenly things is quite different. The Egyptians worship a variety of animals and half-human, half-bestial forms, whereas the Jewish religion is a purely spiritual monotheism. They hold it to be impious to make idols of perishable materials in the likeness of man: for them, the Most High and Eternal cannot be portrayed by human hands and will never pass away. For this reason they erect no images in their cities, still less in their temple. Their kings are not so flattered, the Roman emperors not so honoured. However, their priests used to perform their chants to the flute and drums, crowned with ivy, and a golden vine was discovered in the Temple; and this has led some to imagine that the god thus worshipped was Prince Liber, (8) the conqueror of the East. But the two cults are diametrically opposed. Liber founded a festive and happy cult: the Jewish belief is paradoxical and degraded.

6. Their country and its limits are bounded on the east by Arabia, on the south by Egypt, and on the west by Phoenicia and the sea; of the north they have a distant view on the side towards Syria. The health of the Jews is good, and their physique sturdy. A dry climate and a fertile soil enable them to grow all the crops familiar to us, and in addition, balsam and palm. While palm-groves are notable for height and beauty, the balsam is a small tree. From time to time its branches swell, and if a steel knife is applied to them, the tubes which convey the sap receive a shock; so an incision is made with a fragment of stone or a potsherd, the sap being put to medicinal uses. The highest mountain to which Palestine rises is Lebanon, which, surprisingly enough in this semi-tropical climate, is thickly wooded and keeps unfalteringly its covering of snow. Its slopes feed the tumbling waters of the Jordan. This river does not empty itself into the Mediterranean, but flows through two lakes without losing its identity until it is finally absorbed in a third. This third lake resembles a sea in the vast extent of its circumference, but its water is even nastier to the taste, and unhealthy exhalations cause disease among those who live on its banks. Never ruffled by the wind, it admits the presence of neither fish nor water-fowl. The water if water it be—sustains objects thrown upon it as if it were solid, and swimmers and non-swimmers find it equally buoyant. At a fixed season of the year the lake discharges bitumen. Experience teaches every skill, and has shown men how to gather this substance too. In its natural state a black liquid, it solidifies when sprinkled with vinegar, and floats on the surface of the water. Those who have the job of gathering the bitumen take hold of it with their hands ant haul it on deck. Thereupon it follows automatically in a continuous stream which fills the boat until it is severed. But to sever it is quite impossible with any tool of bronze or iron, though it shuns blood or a cloth contaminated with a woman's menses. This is the story told by ancient writers; but those who know the locality personally say that the floating masses of bitumen are propelled by hand over the water and dragged on land. Then, after it has dried out on the hot soil or in the blazing sun, it can be cut up with axes and wedges as if it were timber or stone.

7. Not far from the Dead Sea is a plain which tradition says was consumed by lightning, though it was once fruitful and supported great and populous cities. (9) It seems that the ruins of these cities can still be traced, and that the very earth looks scorched and has lost its fertility. All natural vegetation and all crops sown by the hand of man, no matter whether in the blade, in the flower, or apparently fully developed, are blackened and insubstantial growths that crumble into a species of powder. Personally I am quite prepared to grant that once-famous cities may have been burnt up by fire from heaven, but I also think that the exhalation from the lake infects the ground and poisons the atmosphere above it, and that this is the reason why the young corn and the harvests of autumn rot: both soil and air are unfavourable. I should add that one of the rivers flowing into the Jewish Sea is the Belius, at whose mouth are sands which are collected and fused with natron to form glass. The beach concerned is small and yet inexhaustible whatever the quantities removed.

8. Much of Judea is thickly studded with villages, and the Jews have towns as well. Their capital is Jerusalem. Here stood their Temple with its boundless riches. Outer defences covered the city; then came the royal palace; and the Temple was enclosed by an inner bulwark. The Jew, and the Jew alone, was allowed to approach the gate of the Temple, and all but priests were denied access within its threshold.While the Assyrian, Median and Persian Empires dominated the East, the Jews were slaves regarded as the lowest of the low. In the Hellenistic period, King Antiochus(10) made an effort to get rid of their primitive cult and hellenize them, but his would-be reform of this degraded nation was foiled by the outbreak of war with Parthia, for this was the moment of Arsaces' insurrection. (11) Then, since the Hellenistic rulers were weak and the Parthians had not yet developed into a great power (Rome, too, was still far away), the Jews established a dynasty of their own. These kings were expelled by the fickle mob, but regained control by force, setting up a reign of terror which embraced, among other typical acts of despotism, the banishment of fellow-citizens, the destruction of cities, and the murder of brothers, wives and parents. The kings encouraged the superstitious Jewish religion, for they assumed the office of High Priest in order to buttress their regime.

9. Roman control of Judaea was first established by Gnaeus Pompey. As victor(12) he claimed the right to enter the Temple, and this incident gave rise to the common impression that it contained no representation of the deity—the sanctuary was empty and the Holy of Holies untenanted. Though the walls of Jerusalem were dismantled, the shrine remained intact. During the civil war which then afflicted the Roman world, the eastern provinces passed under the control of Mark Antony and Judaea was conquered by the Parthian king Pacorus. But the invader was killed by Publius Ventidius, and the Parthians driven back across the Euphrates, while Gaius Sosius brought the Jews to heel. (13) Antony gave the kingdom to Herod, and it was enlarged by the now victorious Augustus. At Herod's death, without waiting for the imperial decision, a certain Simon usurped the title of king. He was dealt with by the governor of Syria, Quintilius Varus, (14) while the Jews were disciplined and divided up into three kingdoms ruled by Herod's sons. (15) In Tiberius' reign all was quiet. Then, rather than put up a statue of Gaius Caesar in the Temple as they had been ordered, the Jews flew to arms, though the rebellion came to nothing owing to the assassination of the emperor. (16) As for Claudius, he took advantage of the death or declining fortunes of the Jewish kings to commit the government of the province to Roman knights or freedmen. One of these, Antonius Felix, played the tyrant with the spirit of a slave, plunging into all manner of cruelty and lust, and marrying Drusilla, grand-daughter of Cleopatra and Antony. This meant that while Claudius was Antony's grandson, Felix was his grandson by marriage.

10. However, the Jews patiently endured their fate until Gessius Florus became governor. (17) During his term of office war broke out. An attempt by Cestius Gallus, governor of Syria, to repress the movement led to indecisive battles and more often to defeats. When Gallus died a natural death—or else committed suicide in mortification—Nero sent out Vespasian. Good luck, a distinguished record and excellent subordinates enabled him within the space of two summers(18) to plant his victorious flag throughout the whole of the flat country and in all the cities except Jerusalem. The next year was preoccupied by the civil war and passed without activity so far as the Jews were concerned, but when peace reigned in Italy foreign affairs once more claimed attention. Rising anger was felt at the fact that by this time only the Jews had failed to submit. It also seemed advisable that Titus should remain at the head of the armies to cope with all the eventualities or mishaps which might confront a new dynasty.

11. So after encamping, as I have said, before the walls of Jerusalem, he paraded his legions in formation before the eyes of the enemy. The Jews, marshalled close under their walls, were in a position to venture further out if they were successful and had a place of refuge ready at hand in case of defeat. Titus sent against them cavalry and some cohorts in battle order, but the encounter was indecisive. Then the enemy gave ground, and for some days thereafter fought a succession of engagements just in front of the gates. Finally, repeated losses drove them behind the walls. The Romans then concentrated on an assault. After all, it seemed beneath them to wait for hunger to do its work on the enemy, and the troops actually asked to be allowed to risk their lives. Some did so because they had real courage, many from mere bravado and a desire for rewards. As for Titus, his imagination dwelt on Rome, wealth and pleasure: it would be long before these dreams were realized if Jerusalem were destined not to fall in the immediate future.But the city occupied a commanding position, and it had been reinforced by engineering works so massive that they might have rendered even a flat site impregnable. Two lofty hills were enclosed by walls skilfully staggered and forming re-entrant angles designed to expose the flank of an attacker. At the edge of the crags was a sharp drop, and a series of towers dominated the scene, 105 feet high where the rising ground helped, and 135 or 120 feet high on the lower contours. (19) These presented an impressive appearance, and to the distant observer seemed to be on a level. There were further walls inside around the palace, and a conspicuous landmark was the lofty castle of Antonia, so named by Herod in honour of Mark Antony.

12. The Temple was like a citadel and had its own walls, which had been even more laboriously and skilfully constructed than the rest. The porticoes around it constituted in themselves an excellent defensive position. To these advantages must be added a spring of never-failing water, chambers cut in the living rock, and tanks and cisterns for the storage of rainwater. Its builders had foreseen only too well that the strange practices of the Jews would lead to continual fighting. Hence everything was available for a siege, however long. Moreover, after Pompey's capture of Jerusalem, fear and experience taught them many lessons. So taking advantage of the money-grubbing instincts of the Claudian period, they purchased permission to fortify the city, and in the days of peace built walls meant for war. Already the home of a motley concourse, its population had been swollen by the fall of the other Jewish cities, for the most determined partisan leaders escaped to the capital, and thereby added to the turmoil. There were three different leaders and three armies. The long outer perimeter of the walls was held by Simon, the central part of the city by John, and the Temple by Eleazar. John and Simon could rely on numbers and equipment, Eleazar on his strategic position. But it was upon each other that they turned the weapons of battle, ambush and fire, and great stocks of corn went up in flames. Then John sent off a party of men, ostensibly to offer sacrifice but in reality to cut Eleazar and his followers to pieces, thus gaining possession of the Temple. Hence-forward, therefore, Jerusalem was divided between two factions, until, on the approach of the Romans, fighting the foreigner healed the breach between them.

13. Prodigies had occurred, but their expiation by the offering of victims or solemn vows is held to be unlawful by a nation which is the slave of superstition and the enemy of true beliefs. In the sky appeared a vision of armies in conflict, of glittering armour. A sudden lightning flash from the clouds lit up the Temple. The doors of the holy place abruptly opened, a superhuman voice was heard to declare that the gods were leaving it, and in the same instant came the rushing tumult of their departure. Few people placed a sinister interpretation upon this. The majority were convinced that the ancient scriptures of their priests alluded to the present as the very time when the Orient would triumph and from Judaea would go forth men destined to rule the world. This mysterious prophecy really referred to Vespasian and Titus, but the common people, true to the selfish ambitions of mankind, thought that this mighty destiny was reserved for them, and not even their calamities opened their eyes to the truth.We are told that the number of the besieged, old and young, men and women, amounted to 600,000. All who could bear arms did so, and more than their numbers warranted had the courage necessary. They displayed an inflexible determination, women no less than men, and the thought that they might be compelled to leave their home made them more afraid of living than of dying.This, then, was the city and nation which Titus faced. Since a headlong assault and the element of surprise were ruled out by the lie of the ground, he proposed to employ earthworks and mantlets. Each legion had its allotted task, and there was a lull in the fighting while they pushed on with the construction of every conceivable device for storming Cities, whether invented long ago or due to the ingenuity of modern times.

Josephus on the pharisees, saducees and essenes pt 3

2007-09-18T13:14:00.000+10:00

Wars of the Jews

Book 1, Chapter 5.2
2. And now the Pharisees joined themselves to her, to assist herin the government. These are a certain sect of the Jews thatappear more religious than others, and seem to interpret the lawsmore accurately..

Book 2, Chapter 8

1. And now Archelaus's part of Judea was reduced into a province,and Coponius, one of the equestrian order among the Romans, wassent as a procurator, having the power of [life and] death putinto his hands by Caesar. Under his administration it was that a certain Galilean, whose name was Judas, prevailed with hiscountrymen to revolt, and said they were cowards if they wouldendure to pay a tax to the Romans and would after God submit to mortal men as their lords. This man was a teacher of a peculiar sect of his own, and was not at all like the rest of those their leaders.

2. For there are three philosophical sects among the Jews. The followers of the first of which are the Pharisees; of the second, the Sadducees; and the third sect, which pretends to a severer discipline, are called Essens. These last are Jews by birth, andseem to have a greater affection for one another than the other sects have. These Essens reject pleasures as an evil, but esteem continence, and the conquest over our passions, to be virtue. They neglect wedlock, but choose out other persons children, while they are pliable, and fit for learning, and esteem them to be of their kindred, and form them according to their own manners. They do not absolutely deny the fitness of marriage, and the succession of mankind there by continued; but they guard against the lascivious behavior of women, and are persuaded that none of them preserve their fidelity to one man.

3. These men are despisers of riches, and so very communicative as raises our admiration. Nor is there any one to be found amongthem who hath more than another; for it is a law among them, that those who come to them must let what they have be common to thewhole order, - insomuch that among them all there is no appearance of poverty, or excess of riches, but every one's possessions are intermingled with every other's possessions; and so there is, as it were, one patrimony among all the brethren.They think that oil is a defilement; and if any one of them be anointed without his own approbation, it is wiped off his body;for they think to be sweaty is a good thing, as they do also to be clothed in white garments. They also have stewards appointed to take care of their common affairs, who every one of them haveno separate business for any, but what is for the uses of the mall.

4. They have no one certain city, but many of them dwell in every city; and if any of their sect come from other places, what theyhave lies open for them, just as if it were their own; and they go in to such as they never knew before, as if they had been everso long acquainted with them. For which reason they carry nothing at all with them when they travel into remote parts, though still they take their weapons with them, for fear of thieves. Accordingly, there is, in every city where they live, one appointed particularly to take care of strangers, and to provide garments and other necessaries for them. But the habit and management of their bodies is such as children use who are infear of their masters. Nor do they allow of the change of or of shoes till be first torn to pieces, or worn out by time. Nor do they either buy or sell any thing to one another; but every one of them gives what he hath to him that wanteth it, and receives from him again in lieu of it what may be convenient for himself;and although there be no requital made, they are fully allowed totake what they want of whomsoever they please.

5. And as for their piety towards God, it is very extraordinary;for before sun-rising they speak not a word about profanematters, but put up certain prayers which they have received fromtheir forefathers, as if they made a supplication for its rising. After this every one of them are sent away by their curators, to exercise some of those arts wherein they are skilled, in which they labor with great diligence till the fifth hour. After which they assemble themselves together again into one place; and when they have clothed themselves in white veils, they then bathe their bodies in cold water. And after this purification is over,they every one meet together in an apartment of their own, into which it is not permitted to any of another sect to enter; while they go, after a pure manner, into the dining-room, as into a certain holy temple, and quietly set themselves down; upon which the baker lays them loaves in order; the cook also brings asingle plate of one sort of food, and sets it before every one ofthem; but a priest says grace before meat; and it is unlawful forany one to taste of the food before grace be said. The same priest, when he hath dined, says grace again after meat; and when they begin, and when they end, they praise God, as he that bestows their food upon them; after which they lay aside their[white] garments, and betake themselves to their labors againtill the evening; then they return home to supper, after the samemanner; and if there be any strangers there, they sit down with them. Nor is there ever any clamor or disturbance to pollute their house, but they give every one leave to speak in their turn; which silence thus kept in their house appears to foreigners like some tremendous mystery; the cause of which is that perpetual sobriety they exercise, and the same settled measure of meat and drink that is allotted them, and that such asis abundantly sufficient for them.

6. And truly, as for other things, they do nothing but according to the injunctions of their curators; only these two things aredone among them at everyone's own free-will, which are to assist those that want it, and to show mercy; for they are permitted of their own accord to afford succor to such as deserve it, whenthey stand in need of it, and to bestow food on those that are indistress; but they cannot give any thing to their kindred withoutthe curators. They dispense their anger after a just manner, andrestrain their passion. They are eminent for fidelity, and are the ministers of peace; whatsoever they say also is firmer thanan oath; but swearing is avoided by them, and they esteem itworse than perjury (4) for they say that he who cannot bebelieved without [swearing by] God is already condemned. They also take great pains in studying the writings of the ancients,and choose out of them what is most for the advantage of theirsoul and body; and they inquire after such roots and medicinal stones as may cure their distempers.

7. But now if any one hath a mind to come over to their sect, heis not immediately admitted, but he is prescribed the same method of living which they use for a year, while he continuesexcluded'; and they give him also a small hatchet, and thefore-mentioned girdle, and the white garment. And when he hathgiven evidence, during that time, that he can observe theircontinence, he approaches nearer to their way of living, and ismade a partaker of the waters of purification; yet is he not evennow admitted to live with them; for after this demonstration ofhis fortitude, his temper is tried two more years; and if heappear to be worthy, they then admit him into their society. Andbefore he is allowed to touch their common food, he is obliged totake tremendous oaths, that, in the first place, he will exercisepiety towards God, and then that he will observe justice towardsmen, and that he will do no harm to any one, either of his ownaccord, or by the command of others; that he will always hate thewicked, and be assistant to the righteous; that he will ever showfidelity to all men, and especially to those in authority,because no one obtains the government without God's assistance;and that if he be in authority, he will at no time whatever abusehis authority, nor endeavor to outshine his subjects either inhis garments, or any other finery; that he will be perpetually alover of truth, and propose to himself to reprove those that telllies; that he will keep his hands clear from theft, and his soulfrom unlawful gains; and that he will neither conceal any thingfrom those of his own sect, nor discover any of their doctrinesto others, no, not though anyone should compel him so to do atthe hazard of his life. Moreover, he swears to communicate theirdoctrines to no one any otherwise than as he received themhimself; that he will abstain from robbery, and will equallypreserve the books belonging to their sect, and the names of theangels (5) [or messengers]. These are the oaths by which theysecure their proselytes to themselves.

8. But for those that are caught in any heinous sins, they castthem out of their society; and he who is thus separated from themdoes often die after a miserable manner; for as he is bound bythe oath he hath taken, and by the customs he hath been engagedin, he is not at liberty to partake of that food that he meetswith elsewhere, but is forced to eat grass, and to famish hisbody with hunger, till he perish; for which reason they receivemany of them again when they are at their last gasp, out ofcompassion to them, as thinking the miseries they have enduredtill they came to the very brink of death to be a sufficientpunishment for the sins they had been guilty of.

9. But in the judgments they exercise they are most accurate andjust, nor do they pass sentence by the votes of a court that isfewer than a hundred. And as to what is once determined by thatnumber, it is unalterable. What they most of all honor, after Godhimself, is the name of their legislator [Moses], whom if any oneblaspheme he is punished capitally. They also think it a goodthing to obey their elders, and the major part. Accordingly, iften of them be sitting together, no one of them will speak whilethe other nine are against it. They also avoid spitting in themidst of them, or on the right side. Moreover, they are stricterthan any other of the Jews in resting from their labors on theseventh day; for they not only get their food ready the daybefore, that they may not be obliged to kindle a fire on thatday, but they will not remove any vessel out of its place, nor goto stool thereon. Nay, on other days they dig a small pit, a footdeep, with a paddle (which kind of hatchet is given them whenthey are first admitted among them); and covering themselvesround with their garment, that they may not affront the Divinerays of light, they ease themselves into that pit, after whichthey put the earth that was dug out again into the pit; and eventhis they do only in the more lonely places, which they chooseout for this purpose; and although this easement of the body benatural, yet it is a rule with them to wash themselves after it,as if it were a defilement to them.

10. Now after the time of their preparatory trial is over, theyare parted into four classes; and so far are the juniors inferiorto the seniors, that if the seniors should be touched by thejuniors, they must wash themselves, as if they had intermixedthemselves with the company of a foreigner. They are long-livedalso, insomuch that many of them live above a hundred years, bymeans of the simplicity of their diet; nay, as I think, by meansof the regular course of life they observe also. They contemn themiseries of life, and are above pain, by the generosity of theirmind. And as for death, if it will be for their glory, theyesteem it better than living always; and indeed our war with theRomans gave abundant evidence what great souls they had in theirtrials, wherein, although they were tortured and distorted, burntand torn to pieces, and went through all kinds of instruments oftorment, that they might be forced either to blaspheme theirlegislator, or to eat what was forbidden them, yet could they notbe made to do either of them, no, nor once to flatter theirtormentors, or to shed a tear; but they smiled in their verypains, and laughed those to scorn who inflicted the torments uponthem, and resigned up their souls with great alacrity, asexpecting to receive them again.

11. For their doctrine is this: That bodies are corruptible, andthat the matter they are made of is not permanent; but that thesouls are immortal, and continue for ever; and that they come outof the most subtile air, and are united to their bodies as toprisons, into which they are drawn by a certain naturalenticement; but that when they are set free from the bonds of theflesh, they then, as released from a long bondage, rejoice andmount upward. And this is like the opinions of the Greeks, thatgood souls have their habitations beyond the ocean, in a regionthat is neither oppressed with storms of rain or snow, or withintense heat, but that this place is such as is refreshed by thegentle breathing of a west wind, that is perpetually blowing fromthe ocean; while they allot to bad souls a dark and tempestuousden, full of never-ceasing punishments. And indeed the Greeksseem to me to have followed the same notion, when they allot theislands of the blessed to their brave men, whom they call heroesand demi-gods; and to the souls of the wicked, the region of theungodly, in Hades, where their fables relate that certainpersons, such as Sisyphus, and Tantalus, and Ixion, and Tityus,are punished; which is built on this first supposition, thatsouls are immortal; and thence are those exhortations to virtueand dehortations from wickedness collected; whereby good men arebettered in the conduct of their life by the hope they have ofreward after their death; and whereby the vehement inclinationsof bad men to vice are restrained, by the fear and expectationthey are in, that although they should lie concealed in thislife, they should suffer immortal punishment after their death.These are the Divine doctrines of the Essens (6) about the soul,which lay an unavoidable bait for such as have once had a tasteof their philosophy.

12. There are also those among them who undertake to foretellthings to come, (7) by reading the holy books, and using severalsorts of purifications, and being perpetually conversant in thediscourses of the prophets; and it is but seldom that they missin their predictions.

13. Moreover, there is another order of Essens, (8) who agreewith the rest as to their way of living, and customs, and laws,but differ from them in the point of marriage, as thinking thatby not marrying they cut off the principal part of human life,which is the prospect of succession; nay, rather, that if all menshould be of the same opinion, the whole race of mankind wouldfail. However, they try their spouses for three years; and ifthey find that they have their natural purgations thrice, astrials that they are likely to be fruitful, they then actuallymarry them. But they do not use to accompany with their wiveswhen they are with child, as a demonstration that they do notmany out of regard to pleasure, but for the sake of posterity.Now the women go into the baths with some of their garments on,as the men do with somewhat girded about them. And these are thecustoms of this order of Essens.

14. But then as to the two other orders at first mentioned, the Pharisees are those who are esteemed most skillful in the exactexplication of their laws, and introduce the first sect. Theseascribe all to fate [or providence], and to God, and yet allow,that to act what is right, or the contrary, is principally in thepower of men, although fate does co-operate in every action. They say that all souls are incorruptible, but that the souls of goodmen only are removed into other bodies, - but that the souls ofbad men are subject to eternal punishment. But the Sadducees arethose that compose the second order, and take away fate entirely,and suppose that God is not concerned in our doing or not doingwhat is evil; and they say, that to act what is good, or what isevil, is at men's own choice, and that the one or the otherbelongs so to every one, that they may act as they please. They also take away the belief of the immortal duration of the soul,and the punishments and rewards in Hades. Moreover, the Pharisees are friendly to one another, and are for the exercise of concord,and regard for the public; but the behavior of the Sadducees onetowards another is in some degree wild, and their conversationwith those that are of their own party is as barbarous as if theywere strangers to them. And this is what I had to say concerning the philosophic sects among the Jews.

josephus on the pharisees, saducees and essenes pt 2

2007-09-18T12:54:00.000+10:00

Antiquities of the Jews, Chapter 2.4

...For there was a certain sect of men that were Jews, who valued themselves highly upon the exact skill they had in the law oftheir fathers, and made men believe they were highly favored byGod, by whom this set of women were inveigled. These are thosethat are called the sect of the Pharisees, who were in a capacityof greatly opposing kings. A cunning sect they were, and soonelevated to a pitch of open fighting and doing mischief. Accordingly, when all the people of the Jews gave assurance oftheir good-will to Caesar, and to the king's government, thesevery men did not swear, being above six thousand; and when theking imposed a fine upon them, Pheroras's wife paid their finefor them. In order to requite which kindness of hers, since theywere believed to have the foreknowledge of things to come byDivine inspiration, they foretold how God had decreed that Herod's government should cease, and his posterity should bedeprived of it; but that the kingdom should come to her and Pheroras, and to their children.....

Antiquities Book 18, Chapter 1.2

2. The Jews had for a great while had three sects of philosophy peculiar to themselves; the sect of the Essens, and the sect of the Sadducees, and the third sort of opinions was that of those called Pharisees; of which sects, although I have already spoken in the second book of the Jewish War, yet will I a little touchupon them now.

3. Now, for the Pharisees, they live meanly, and despise delicacies in diet; and they follow the conduct of reason; andwhat that prescribes to them as good for them they do; and theythink they ought earnestly to strive to observe reason's dictatesfor practice. They also pay a respect to such as are in years; nor are they so bold as to contradict them in any thing whichthey have introduced; and when they determine that all things ared one by fate, they do not take away the freedom from men ofacting as they think fit; since their notion is, that it hath pleased God to make a temperament, whereby what he wills is done, but so that the will of man can act virtuously or viciously. They also believe that souls have an immortal rigor in them, and that under the earth there will be rewards or punishments, accordingas they have lived virtuously or viciously in this life; and thelatter are to be detained in an everlasting prison, but that the former shall have power to revive and live again; on account of which doctrines they are able greatly to persuade the body of the people; and whatsoever they do about Divine worship, prayers, andsacrifices, they perform them according to their direction; insomuch that the cities give great attestations to them on account of their entire virtuous conduct, both in the actions oftheir lives and their discourses also.

4. But the doctrine of the Sadducees is this: That souls die with the bodies; nor do they regard the observation of any thing besides what the law enjoins them; for they think it an instance of virtue to dispute with those teachers of philosophy whom theyfrequent: but this doctrine is received but by a few, yet bythose still of the greatest dignity. But they are able to doalmost nothing of themselves; for when they become magistrates,as they are unwillingly and by force sometimes obliged to be, they addict themselves to the notions of the Pharisees, becausethe multitude would not otherwise bear them.

5. The doctrine of the Essens is this: That all things are best ascribed to God. They teach the immortality of souls, and esteem that the rewards of righteousness are to be earnestly striven for; and when they send what they have dedicated to God into the temple, they do not offer sacrifices (3) because they have more pure lustrations of their own; on which account they are excludedf rom the common court of the temple, but offer their sacrifices themselves; yet is their course of life better than that of other men; and they entirely addict themselves to husbandry. It also deserves our admiration, how much they exceed all other men thataddict themselves to virtue, and this in righteousness; and indeed to such a degree, that as it hath never appeared among anyother men, neither Greeks nor barbarians, no, not for a little time, so hath it endured a long while among them. This is demonstrated by that institution of theirs, which will not suffer any thing to hinder them from having all things in common; so that a rich man enjoys no more of his own wealth than he who hath nothing at all. There are about four thousand men that live inthis way, and neither marry wives, nor are desirous to keep servants; as thinking the latter tempts men to be unjust, and the former gives the handle to domestic quarrels; but as they live by themselves, they minister one to another. They also appoint certain stewards to receive the incomes of their revenues, and ofthe fruits of the ground; such as are good men and priests, whoare to get their corn and their food ready for them. They none ofthem differ from others of the Essens in their way of living, but do the most resemble those Dacae who are called Polistae (4)[dwellers in cities].

6. But of the fourth sect of Jewish philosophy, Judas the Galilean was the author. These men agree in all other things withthe Pharisaic notions; but they have an inviolable attachment to liberty, and say that God is to be their only Ruler and Lord.They also do not value dying any kinds of death, nor indeed do they heed the deaths of their relations and friends, nor can any such fear make them call any man lord. And since this immovable resolution of theirs is well known to a great many, I shall speakno further about that matter; nor am I afraid that any thing I have said of them should be disbelieved, but rather fear, thatwhat I have said is beneath the resolution they show when they undergo pain. And it was in Gessius Florus's time that the nation began to grow mad with this distemper, who was our procurator,and who occasioned the Jews to go wild with it by the abuse ofhis authority, and to make them revolt from the Romans. And these are the sects of Jewish philosophy.

josephus on the pharisees, saducess and essenes

2007-09-18T12:43:00.000+10:00

At this time there were three sects among the Jews, who had different opinions concerning human actions; the one was called the sect of the Pharisees, another the sect of the Sadducees, andthe other the sect of the Essens. Now for the Pharisees, (11)they say that some actions, but not all, are the work of fate, and some of them are in our own power, and that they are liable to fate, but are not caused by fate. But the sect of the Essens affirm, that fate governs all things, and that nothing befallsmen but what is according to its determination. And for the Sadducees, they take away fate, and say there is no such thing, and that the events of human affairs are not at its disposal; butthey suppose that all our actions are in our own power, so that we are ourselves the causes of what is good, and receive what is evil from our own folly.

5. However, this prosperous state of affairs moved the Jews toenvy Hyrcanus; but they that were the worst disposed to him were the Pharisees, (28) who were one of the sects of the Jews, as we have informed you already. These have so great a power over the multitude, that when they say any thing against the king, oragainst the high priest, they are presently believed. Now Hyrcanus was a disciple of theirs, and greatly beloved by them. And when he once invited them to a feast, and entertained themvery kindly, when he saw them in a good humor, he began to say tothem, that they knew he was desirous to be a righteous man, and to do all things whereby he might please God, which was the profession of the Pharisees also. However, he desired, that if they observed him offending in any point, and going out of the right way, they would call him back and correct him. On which occasion they attested to his being entirely virtuous; with whichc ommendation he was well pleased. But still there was one of hisguests there, whose name was Eleazar, a man of an ill temper, anddelighting in seditious practices. This man said," Since thou desirest to know the truth, if thou wilt be righteous in earnest, lay down the high priesthood, and content thyself with the civil government of the people," And when he desired to know for whatcause he ought to lay down the high priesthood, the otherreplied, "We have heard it from old men, that thy mother had beena captive under the reign of Antiochus Epiphanes. (29)" Thisstory was false, and Hyrcanus was provoked against him; and allthe Pharisees had a very great indignation against him.

6. Now there was one Jonathan, a very great friend of Hyrcanus's,but of the sect of the Sadducees, whose notions are quitecontrary to those of the Pharisees. He told Hyrcanus that Eleazarhad cast such a reproach upon him, according to the common sentiments of all the Pharisees, and that this would be mademanifest if he would but ask them the question, What punishment they thought this man deserved? for that he might depend upon it, that the reproach was not laid on him with their approbation, ifthey were for punishing him as his crime deserved. So the Pharisees made answer, that he deserved stripes and bonds, butthat it did not seem right to punish reproaches with death. And indeed the Pharisees, even upon other occasions, are not apt tobe severe in punishments. At this gentle sentence, Hyrcanus wasvery angry, and thought that this man reproached him by theirapprobation. It was this Jonathan who chiefly irritated him, andinfluenced him so far, that he made him leave the party of the Pharisees, and abolish the decrees they had imposed on thepeople, and to punish those that observed them. From this source arose that hatred which he and his sons met with from the multitude: but of these matters we shall speak hereafter. What I would now explain is this, that the Pharisees have delivered tothe people a great many observances by succession from their fathers, which are not written in the laws of Moses; and for thatreason it is that the Sadducees reject them, and say that we areto esteem those observances to be obligatory which are in the written word, but are not to observe what are derived from thetradition of our forefathers. And concerning these things it isthat great disputes and differences have arisen among them, whilethe Sadducees are able to persuade none but the rich, and havenot the populace obsequious to them, but the Pharisees have themultitude on their side. But about these two sects, and that ofthe Essens, I have treated accurately in the second book of Jewish affairs.

In the news: Jerusalem's ancient escape tunnel

2007-09-15T23:17:00.000+10:00

September 10, 2007 JERUSALEM (AP)

Under threat from Romans ransacking Jerusalem 2,000 years ago, many of the city's Jewish residents crowded into an underground drainage channel to hide and later flee the chaos through Jerusalem's southern end.

The tunnel served to drain rainfall and prevent flooding, as well as providing an escape route out of the city.

The ancient tunnel was recently discovered buried beneath rubble, a monument to one of the great dramatic scenes of the destruction of the Second Temple in the year 70 A.D.

The channel was dug beneath what would become the main road of Jerusalem, the archaeology dig's directors, Ronny Reich of the University of Haifa and Eli Shukron of the Israel Antiquities Authority, said Sunday. Shukron said excavators looking for the road happened upon a small drainage channel that led them to the discovery of the massive tunnel two weeks ago.

"We were looking for the road and suddenly we discovered it," Shukron said. "And the first thing we said was, 'Wow."'The walls of the tunnel -- made of ashlar stones 3 feet deep -- reach a height of 10 feet in some places and are covered by heavy stone slabs that were the road's paving stones, Shukron said. Several manholes are visible, and portions of the original plastering remain, he said.

Pottery shards, vessel fragments and coins from the end of the Second Temple period were also discovered inside the channel, attesting to its age, Reich said.

The discovery of the drainage channel was momentous in itself, a sign of how the city's rulers looked out for the welfare of their citizens by developing an infrastructure that drained the rainfall and prevented flooding, Reich said.The discovery "shows you planning on a grand scale, unlike other cities in the ancient Near East," said Joe Zias, an expert in the Second Temple period who was not involved in the dig.But what makes the channel doubly significant is its role as an escape hatch for Jews desperate to flee the conquering Romans, the dig's directors said.

The Second Temple was the center of Jewish worship during the second Jewish Commonwealth, which spanned the six centuries preceding the Roman conquest of Jerusalem. Its expansion was the most famous construction project of Herod, the Jewish proxy ruler of the Holy Land under imperial Roman occupation from 37 B.C.As Jerusalem was being conquered by the Romans in 70 A.D., numerous people took shelter in the drainage channel and lived inside it until they fled Jerusalem through its southern end, the historian Josephus Flavius wrote in "The War of the Jews.""It was a place where people hid and fled to from burning, destroyed Jerusalem," Shukron said.

Tens of thousands of people lived in Jerusalem at the time, but it is not clear how many used the channel to escape, he said.About 100 yards of the channel have been uncovered so far. Reich estimates its total length will reach more than a half-mile, stretching north from the Shiloah Pool at Jerusalem's southern end to the disputed holy shrine known to Jews as Temple Mount and to Muslims as the Al Aqsa Mosque compound. The shrine is the site of the two biblical Jewish temples.Archeologists think the tunnel leads to the Kidron River, which empties into the Dead Sea.

In the news:King Nebuchadnezzar discovery

2007-08-19T22:40:00.000+10:00

Austrian academic discovers name of Babylon King Nebuchadnezzar II's chief eunuch

Austrian academic discovers name of Babylon King Nebuchadnezzar II's chief eunuchFrom our ANI CorrespondentLondon, July 11: An Austrian professor has probably made the most important find in Biblical archaeology for 100 years, that too in the British Museum's great Arched Room, which holds a collection of 130,000 Assyrian cuneiform tablets, dating back 5,000 years.

During the course of his survey, Professor Michael Jursa came across a name - Nabu-sharrussu-ukin, described there in a hand 2,500 years old, as "the chief eunuch" of Nebuchadnezzar II, king of Babylon.According to The Telegraph, Professor Jursa, an Assyriologist, checked the Old Testament and there in chapter 39 of the Book of Jeremiah, he found, spelled differently, the same name - Nebo-Sarsekim.Nebo-Sarsekim, according to Jeremiah, was Nebuchadnezzar II's "chief officer" and was with him at the siege of Jerusalem in 587 BC, when the Babylonians overran the city.The small tablet, the size of "a packet of 10 cigarettes" according to Irving Finkel, a British Museum expert, is a bill of receipt acknowledging Nabu-sharrussu-ukin's payment of 0.75 kg of gold to a temple in Babylon.The tablet is dated to the 10th year of the reign of Nebuchadnezzar II, 595BC, 12 years before the siege of Jerusalem.Evidence from non-Biblical sources of people named in the Bible is not unknown, but Nabu-sharrussu-ukin would have been a relatively insignificant figure."This is a fantastic discovery, a world-class find. If Nebo-Sarsekim existed, which other lesser figures in the Old Testament existed? A throwaway detail in the Old Testament turns out to be accurate and true. I think that it means that the whole of the narrative [of Jeremiah] takes on a new kind of power," said Dr. Finkel.Cuneiform is the oldest known form of writing and was commonly used in the Middle East between 3,200 BC and the second century AD. It was created by pressing a wedge-shaped instrument, usually a cut reed, into moist clay.

Source: www.dailyindia.com

New Testament external written sources Part 2

2007-07-12T23:37:00.000+10:00

The Roman historians

Tacitus
Annals of Imperial Rome

Such indeed were the precautions of human wisdom. The next thing was to seek means of propitiating the gods, and recourse was had to the Sibylline books, by the direction of which prayers were offered to Vulcanus, Ceres, and Proserpina. Juno, too, was entreated by the matrons, first, in the Capitol, then on the nearest part of the coast, whence water was procured to sprinkle the fane and image of the goddess. And there were sacred banquets and nightly vigils celebrated by married women. But all human efforts, all the lavish gifts of the emperor, and the propitiations of the gods, did not banish the sinister belief that the conflagration was the result of an order.

Consequently, to get rid of the report, Nero fastened the guilt and inflicted the most exquisite tortures on a class hated for their abominations, called Christians by the populace. Christus, from whom the name had its origin, suffered the extreme penalty during the reign of Tiberius at the hands of one of our procurators, Pontius Pilatus, and a most mischievous superstition, thus checked for the moment, again broke out not only in Judaea, the first source of the evil, but even in Rome, where all things hideous and shameful from every part of the world find their centre and become popular. Accordingly, an arrest was first made of all who pleaded guilty; then, upon their information, an immense multitude was convicted, not so much of the crime of firing the city, as of hatred against mankind. Mockery of every sort was added to their deaths. Covered with the skins of beasts, they were torn by dogs and perished, or were nailed to crosses, or were doomed to the flames and burnt, to serve as a nightly illumination, when daylight had expired. Nero offered his gardens for the spectacle, and was exhibiting a show in the circus, while he mingled with the people in the dress of a charioteer or stood aloft on a car. Hence, even for criminals who deserved extreme and exemplary punishment, there arose a feeling of compassion; for it was not, as it seemed, for the public good, but to glut one man's cruelty, that they were being destroyed.

Pliny, Letters to Emperor Trajan, X, 96. (Re: Christians in Bithynia; Province in Asia Minor)

It is a rule, Sir, which I inviolably observe, to refer myself to you in all my doubts; for who is more capable of guiding my uncertainty or informing my ignorance? Having never been present at any trials of the Christians, I am unacquainted with the method and limits to be observed either in examining or punishing them. Whether any difference is to be made on account of age, or no distinction allotted between the youngest and the adult; whether repentance admits to a pardon, or if a man has once been a Christian it avails him nothing to recant; whether the mere profession of Christianity, albeit without crimes, or only the crimes associated with it are punishable--in all these points I am in great doubt.

In the meantime, the method I have observed towards those who have been denounced to me as Christians is this: I interrogated them whether they were Christians; if they confessed it I repeated the question twice again, adding the threat of capital punishment; if they still persevered, I ordered them to be executed. For whatever the nature of their creed might be, I could at least feel no doubt that contumacy and inflexible obstinacy deserved punishment. There were others also, taken in by the same infatuation, but being citizens of Rome, I directed them to be taken away.

These accusations spread (as is usually the case) from the mere fact of the matter being investigated and several forms of the mischief came to light. A placard was put up without any signature, accusing a large number of persons by name. Those who denied they were, or had ever been Christians, who repeated after me an invocation to the gods, and offered adoration, with wine and frankincense, to your image, which I had ordered to be brought for that purpose, together with those of the gods, and who finally cursed Christ--none of which acts, it is said, those who are really Christians can be forced to do--these I thought it proper to discharge. Others who were named by that informer at first confessed themselves Christians and then denied it; true, they had been of that persuasion but they had quit it, some three years ago, others many years, and a few as much as twenty-five years ago. They all worshipped your statue and the images of the gods and cursed Christ.

They affirmed, however, the whole of their guilt; or their error, was, that they were in the habit of meeting on a certain fixed day before it was light, when they sang in alternate verses a hymn to Christ as to a god, and bound themselves by a solemn oath, not to do any wicked deeds, but never to commit any fraud, theft or adultery, never falsify their word, nor deny a trust when they should be called upon to deliver it up; after which it is their custom to separate, and then reassemble to partake of food--but food of an ordinary and innocent kind. Even this practice, however, they had abandoned after the publication of my edict, by which, according to your orders, I had forbidden political associations. I judged it so much the more necessary to extract the real truth, with the assistance of torture, from two female slaves, who were styled deaconesses, but I could discover nothing more than depraved and excessive superstition. I therefore adjourned the proceedings, and sought immediately your counsel. For the matter seemed to me well worth referring to you especially considering the numbers endangered. Persons of all ranks and ages, of both sexes, are and will be involved in the prosecution. For this contagious superstition is not confined to the cities only, but has spread through the villages and rural districts; it seems possible, however, to check and cure it. It appears now that the temples, which had been almost deserted, will be frequented and the sacred festivals, after a long general demand for sacrificial animals, which for some time past have met with few purchasers. It is easy to imagine what multitudes may be reclaimed from this error, if a door be left open to repentance.

(Trajan's reply)

The method you have pursued, my dear Pliny, in sifting the cases of those denounced to you as Christians is extremely proper. It is not possible to lay down any general rule which can be applied as the fixed standard in all cases of this nature. No search should be made for these people; when they are denounced and found guilty they must be punished; with the restriction, however, that when the party denies himself to be a Christian, and shall give proof that he is not by worshipping the gods he shall be pardoned on the ground of repentance even though he may have formerly incurred suspicion. Information without the accuser's name inscribed must not be admitted in evidence against anyone, as it is introducing a very dangerous precedent, and by no means agreeable to the spirit of the age.

Suetonius

"Punishments (By Nero)were also inflicted on the Christians, a sect professing a new and mischievous religious belief"

"As the Jews were making constant disturbances at the instigation of Chrestus, he [Claudius] expelled them from Rome"

New Testament External Written Sources part 1

2007-07-12T23:10:00.000+10:00

Josephus

Regarding James brother of Jesus

"And so he convened the judges of the Sanhedrin and brought them a man called James, the brother of Jesus who was called the Christ, and certain others. He accused them of having transgressed the law and delivered them up to be stoned. Those of the inhabitants of the city who were considered the most fair minded and who were strict in observance of the law were offended at this. "

Regarding John the Baptist

Now some of the Jews thought that the destruction of Herod's army came from God, but he is not real, and that very justly, as a punishment of what he did against John, that was called the Baptist: for Herod slew him, who was a good man, and commanded the Jews to exercise virtue, both as to righteousness towards one another, and piety towards God, and so to come to baptism; for that the washing [with water] would be acceptable to him, if they made use of it, not in order to the putting away [or the remission] of some sins [only], but for the purification of the body; supposing still that the soul was thoroughly purified beforehand by righteousness. Now when [many] others came in crowds about him, for they were very greatly moved [or pleased] by hearing his words, Herod, who feared lest the great influence John had over the people might put it into his power and inclination to raise a rebellion, (for they seemed ready to do any thing he should advise,) thought it best, by putting him to death, to prevent any mischief he might cause, and not bring himself into difficulties, by sparing a man who might make him repent of it when it would be too late. Accordingly he was sent a prisoner, out of Herod's suspicious temper, to Macherus, the castle I before mentioned, and was there put to death. Now the Jews had an opinion that the destruction of this army was sent as a punishment upon Herod, and a mark of God's displeasure to him. (Whiston Translation)

Regarding Jesus

About this time there lived Jesus, a wise man, if indeed one ought to call him a man. For he was one who performed surprising deeds and was a teacher of such people as accept the truth gladly. He won over many Jews and many of the Greeks. He was the Messiah. And when, upon the accusation of the principal men among us, Pilate had condemned him to a cross, those who had first come to love him did not cease. He appeared to them spending a third day restored to life, for the prophets of God had foretold these things and a thousand other marvels about him. And the tribe of the Christians, so called after him, has still to this day not disappeared.

Jewish Antiquities, 18.3.3

Regarding Theudas, and Judas the Galilean

As in Acts:

Acts 5:33-39 When they heard this, they were enraged and wanted to kill him. But a Pharisee in the council named Gamaliel, a teacher of the law, respected by all the people, stood up and ordered the men to be put outside for a short time. Then he said to them, "Fellow Israelites, consider carefully what you propose to do to these men. For some time ago Theudas rose up, claiming to be somebody, and a number of men, about four hundred, joined him; but he wa killed, and all who followed him were dispersed and disappeared. After him Judas the Galilean rose up at the time of the census and got people to follow him; he also perished, and all who followed him were scattered. So in the present case, I tell you, keep away from these men and let them alone; because if this plan or this undertaking is of human origin, it will fail; but if it is of God, you will not be able to overthrow them -- in that case you may even be found fighting against God."

In Josephus:

Antiquities 20.5.1 97-99

During the time when Fadus was procurator of Judea a certain enchanter named Theudas persuaded a great number of the people to take their belongings with them and follow him to the Jordan River. He told them he was a prophet and that he would, by his own command, divide the river and afford them an easy passage through it. And many were deluded by his words. However, Fadus did not permit them to gain the result of this wildness, but sent a troop of horsemen out against them who, falling upon them unexpectedly, slew many of them, and took many of them captive. They also took Theudas alive, and cut off his head, and carried it to Jerusalem. This was what befell the Jews in the time of Cuspius Fadus's government.

Antiquities 20.5.2 102

And besides this, the sons of Judas of Galilee were now slain. This was the Judas who caused the people to revolt against the Romans when Quirinius came to take an account of Judea, as we have showed in a foregoing book. The names of those sons were James and Simon, who were crucified by order of Alexander.

Regarding The Egyptian

Acts 21:37-38

Just as Paul was about to be brought into the barracks, he said to the tribune, "may I say something to you?" The tribune replied, "Do you know Greek? Then you are not the Egyptian who recently stirred up a revolt and led four thousand of the sicarii out into the wilderness?"

Antiquities 20.8.5 169-172 (War 2.13.5 261)

These deeds of the robbers filled the city with all sorts of impiety. And now conjurers and deceivers persuaded the multitude to follow them into the wilderness, and pretended that they would show them manifest wonders and signs that would be performed by the providence of God. And many that were persuaded suffered the pain of their folly, for Felix brought them back and punished them. At this time there came out of Egypt to Jerusalem a man who said he was a prophet, and advised the multitude of the common people to go along with him to the mountain called the Mount of Olives, which lay a distance of five furlongs from the city. He said that he would show them that at his command the walls of Jerusalem would fall down, through which he promised that he would procure them an entrance into the city. Now when Felix was informed of this he ordered his soldiers to take up their weapons, and with a great number of horsemen and footmen from Jerusalem he attacked the Egyptian and the people that were with him. He slew four hundred of them and took two hundred alive. But the Egyptian himself escaped from the fight and did not appear any more. And again the robbers stirred up the people to make war with the Romans.

The Letter of Mara Bar Serapion

What advantage did the Athenians gain from putting Socrates to death? Famine and plague came upon them as a judgment for their crime. What advantage did the men of Samos gain from burning Pythagoras? In a moment their land was covered with sand. What advantage did the Jews gain from executing their wise king? It was just after that that their kingdom was abolished. God justly avenged these three wise men: the Athenians died of hunger; the Samians were overwhelmed by the sea; the Jews, ruined and driven from their land, live in complete dispersion. But Socrates did not die for good; he lived on in the teaching of Plato. Pythagoras did not die for good; he lived on in the statue of Hera. Nor did the wise king die for good; he lived on in the teaching which he had given (quoted by F. F. Bruce, The New Testament Documents: Are They Reliable? Eerdmans Publishing Co., Fifth Revised Edition, p. 114).

What F.F. Bruce says about the letter:

There is, indeed, in the British Museum an interesting manuscript preserving the text of a letter written some time later than AD 73, but how much later we cannot be sure. This letter was sent by a Syrian named Mara BarSerapion to his son Serapion. Mara Bar-Serapion was in prison at the time, but he wrote to encourage his son in the pursuit of wisdom, and pointed out that those who persecuted wise men were overtaken by misfortune. He instances the deaths of Socrates, 'Pythagoras and Christ:
This writer can scarcely have been a Christian, or he would have said that Christ lived on by being raised from the dead. He was more probably a Gentile philosopher, who led the way in what later became a commonplace-the placing of Christ on a comparable footing with the great sages of antiquity.

introduction

2007-07-12T23:07:00.000+10:00

With this blog I intend to create a reference for various topics on the bible, which I hope to turn into a website later on. I hope you enjoy and any feedback appreciated!