This photograph shows the marl terraces of Qumran, upon which the ancient settlement was built. The Qumran Caves 4 and 5 are pictured near the center of the image. The wadi (dry riverbed) flows with water after fresh rains. The Dead Sea is visible in the background.
This aerial photograph shows the settlement of Qumran, which is located in the Judaean Desert, which is probably where a group of people known as the <span class="tooltip" title=' A sect of Jews from the Second Temple period.who lived in many cities in the ancient world. However, t They are best known from the desert settlement of Qumran, which is nearand the nearby the caves in which the Dead Sea Scrolls were found. As a result, it is believed commonly held that the Dead Sea Scrolls were written by the particular subset ofthe Essenes who lived at Qumran between 150 BCE and 68 CE. Further Reading '>Essenes lived between ca. 150 BCE and 72/73 CE. Most scholars think that the people who lived here wrote and/or copied the Dead Sea Scrolls. The photo shows not just the settlement of Qumran but also the marl terrace (behind it), where Caves 4 and 5 were located. A total of 11 caves that contained scrolls were found by Bedouin and archaeologists in the 1940s-1950s. The settlement's proximity to these two caves constitutes one of the major pieces of evidence for the connection between the Qumran inhabitants and the Dead Sea Scrolls.
This photograph shows what the limestone cliffs in the region around Qumran look like, which makes it easier to understand how the Dead Sea Scrolls could have been hidden for nearly 2,000 years without being discovered. Cave 1 is in the upper left of the picture, just beneath the top of the cliff face.
This photograph shows the inside of Cave 1, the first of 11 Judaean Desert caves that were found to contain the Dead Sea Scrolls. Seven intact scrolls came from this cave, including the two oldest copies of the book of Isaiah (they date to the late 2nd century BCE; the next-earliest complete copy dates to the 10th century CE), a previously unknown work that embellished or commented on biblical books (called the 'Genesis Apocryphon'), and four sectarian writings (i.e., books written by a Jewish sect, probably the Qumran <span class="tooltip" title=' A sect of Jews from the Second Temple period.who lived in many cities in the ancient world. However, t They are best known from the desert settlement of Qumran, which is nearand the nearby the caves in which the Dead Sea Scrolls were found. As a result, it is believed commonly held that the Dead Sea Scrolls were written by the particular subset ofthe Essenes who lived at Qumran between 150 BCE and 68 CE. Further Reading '>Essenes - the Habakkuk Commentary, the Manual of Discipline, the Thanksgiving Scroll, and the War Scroll).
This photograph shows the outside of Cave 1, which, according to the common story, is what the two Bedouin shepherd boys saw and threw a rock into, hoping to find a lost goat. Instead, they heard the crash of broken pottery and found the first of the Dead Sea Scrolls.
The jars in this picture are the same type of jar inside of which the scrolls from Cave 1 were found. Its unusual shape suggests that it may have been made specifically for storing scrolls. The same sort of pottery, as well as a potter's kiln, were discovered in the Qumran settlement, creating another link between the inhabitants of the settlement and the Dead Sea Scrolls themselves.
Rahat (Arabic for “desert dwellers”) is a well-known Bedouin city, home to people of mostly semi-nomadic Arab descent. The city is north of Be’er Sheva, in the northern Negev, between the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. It holds about 60,000 people the majority of whom are Muslim, as evident in this image from the minarets (“beacons”) of the mosques that are visible along the skyline. In modern Israel, the Bedouins are a recognized minority with equal rights of Israeli Jewish citizens—they vote in Israeli elections and enroll in the Israeli army. Still, many problems remain as to their integration into Israeli society.
The Rosetta Stone contains an inscription written in three scripts (Egyptian hieroglyphs, Demotic, and Greek) and allowed the decipherment of hieroglyphs and Demotic. It was found by Napoleon's army in 1799 in the city of Rashid (Rosetta) in the Nile Delta, but the inscription itself is from Memphis (ca. 120 miles southeast, at the southern tip of the Nile delta) and dates to 196 BCE. At the time of its discovery the ancient Egyptian languages were indecipherable, but Thomas Young and Jean-François Champollion were able to make connections between them and the Greek text (which could be translated) after assuming that the cartouches in the Hieroglyphic text preserved the proper names seen in the Greek inscription (Ptolemy and Cleopatra).
The 1948 Arab-Israeli War lasted until a ceasefire agreement was signed in 1949 on the island of Rhodes. The Arabs lost about 20% of the land that they were originally allotted in the UN Partition Plan, and even the land that they received here was annexed to Jordan in the east and Egypt in the south. These lines held until the 1967 “Six-Day War.”
This map shows the gradual expansion of the Roman Empire around the Mediterranean between the years 100 BCE and 150 CE. Red areas indicate Roman control in 100 BCE; yellow areas indicate the extent of the empire at the time of Julius Caesar's death in 44 BCE; green areas indicate areas annexed by Augustus (27-14 BCE); and blue areas indicate regions annexed between the death of Augustus (14 BCE) and 150 CE.
Rome: Arch of Titus - detail of the interior
This photograph shows in the inside relief of the Arch of Titus, located near the eastern entrance to the Forum in Rome. The arch was erected by emperor Domitian, Titus' brother, to honor and commemorate the defeat of the Jews and the capture and destruction of Jerusalem in 70 CE. Depicted on the relief is the triumphal procession after Titus' return to Rome, which included the golden menorah and other implements that were taken from the Temple.
This photograph shows the Arch of Titus, erected near the eastern entrance to the Forum of the city of Rome to honor Titus's defeat of the Jews and the taking of Jerusalem in 70 CE. The inscription at the top reads 'The Roman Senate and People (dedicate this) to the divine Titus Vespasianus Augustus, son of the divine Vespasian.'
This bronze coin, which was minted in Rome in 71 CE after the Romans captured Jerusalem, features the profile of the Emperor Vespasian on the recto (left), and, on the verso (right), a Roman soldier standing over a mourning woman who symbolizes the defeated Judaea. Between them is a palm tree. The inscription around these two figures reads IUDEA CAPTA, Latin for 'captured Judaea.'
Julius Caesar was a Roman general, statesman, Consul, and author. Over the course of his military career he gained unmatched military power. When the Senate ordered him to lay down his arms and return to Rome, he refused and instead led a legion back to Rome, illegally entering Roman territory under arms. A civil war resulted, from which Caesar emerged as the unrivaled leader. This set a precedent for a sole leader to rule the Roman empire (previous to this Rome had been governed by a republic), and Julius Caesar's reign marks the historical transition from the Roman Republic to the Roman Empire. He was famously assassinated on the Ides of March (that is, March 15), 44 BCE.
Caesar Augustus, arguably the first Emperor of Rome (scholars disagree over whether to call Julius Caesar the first "Emperor"), was born Gaius Octavius (he took the name "Augustus" after he became the Caesar of Rome). He was adopted as a son by Julius Caesar, who was his maternal great-uncle. He was responsible for great building projects in Rome and is famous for having said, "I found Rome a city of clay and leave it a city of marble." His reign initiated a period of relative peace in the Mediterranean known as the Pax Romana (the Roman Peace).
Rome: The Arch of Titus - detail of the interior
This photograph shows details of the relief carving under the Arch of Titus, located near the eastern entrance to the Forum in Rome. The arch was erected by emperor Domitian, Titus' brother, to honor and commemorate the defeat of the Jews and the capture and destruction of Jerusalem in 70 CE. Depicted on the relief is the triumphal procession after Titus' return to Rome, which included the golden menorah and other implements that were taken from the Temple.
This photograph shows the Arch of Titus, which was erected near the eastern entrance to the Forum of the city of Rome to commemorate Titus's defeat of the Jews and the taking of Jerusalem in 70 CE. The inscription at the top reads 'The Roman Senate and People (dedicate this) to the divine Titus Vespasianus Augustus, son of the divine Vespasian.'
Samaria Sabaste: Hellenistic Round Tower
This round stone tower dates to the Early Hellenistic period and was part of the defenses of the city of Samaria, which is located in the central and northern parts of the Central Hill. It is possible that this tower is evidence of the Greek occupation of the city at the time of Alexander the Great, as this style of tower had been used in Greece in the previous century and it became increasingly popular in later periods.
This aerial photograph shows the Roman-style forum and adjoining basilica at Sebaste, which is located in the central part of the Central Hill. Herod built this town around 30 BCE in honor of Caesar Augustus (Sebastos is Greek for the Latin word Augustus). Even though the region's inhabitants included a large number of Samaritans, Herod built a gigantic temple to Augustus on the highest point in the area.
This building is a mausoleum, i.e. a monumental burial structure, from the 2nd-3rd century CE. Bodies were placed inside the building in sarcophagi (lidded coffins carved out of limestone). Mausolea are extremely rare in Roman Palestine. The two columns at the entrance are carved in Corinthian Style with capitals that look like acanthus leaves. This testifies to the Roman taste of the wealthy family (whose identity is unknown) that built this structure.
This monumental stairway is all that still exists of the monumental temple that King Herod the Great (37-4 BCE) erected and dedicated to the Roman Emperor Caesar Augustus. The temple's foundations were laid directly over the top of the palaces of the Israelite kings Omri and Ahab. The temple was damaged when the city was destroyed in the Jewish revolt against Rome (66-70 CE) but it was repaired and enlarged by the Emperor Septimius Severus in 200 CE when he rebuilt the city and granted it colonial status. In the background are the hills of the Central Hill.
This theater is an example of both a new custom and a new architectural form brought eastward by the conquests of Alexander the Great and the Romans. Theater was a Greek invention, but many (if not most) of the Hellenistic 'influences' came to Israel/Palestine as a result of the Romans. This one was built by King Herod the Great (37-4 BCE) soon after the city was given to him by Caesar Augustus in 27 BCE. The city of Sebaste continued to be inhabited through the 6th century CE.
This figurine, modeled in unbaked clay, has the form of a kneeling prisoner with his arms tied behind him at the elbows. The writing is hieratic, a script much like Egyptian hieroglyphics; the inscription contains the names of enemies. After it was inscribed it was deliberately smashed in order to curse the enemies listed in the text (probably people who posed a threat to some important Egyptian or to Egypt in general).
This photograph shows the landscape around the Sea of Galilee, where Jesus spent nearly all of his life.
This photo of the northern Sinai Desert shows the geography, topography, and sparse vegetation that is characteristic of southern Israel/Palestine and the area to its south. Much of its topography is created by sand dunes that are created around rocky hills and mountains (as can be seen in at the top of the photograph).
The Sinai Desert is bounded by the Gulf of Suez and the Gulf of Aqaba. The region names on this map (Moab, Edom, Midian, Goshen, and Egypt), as well as the names and locations of the cities, are those of the Biblical period (Bronze and Iron Ages). The map shows the main transportation routes (in black lines) of the ancient Near East, especially the Via Maris, starting in Egypt and going north along the Mediterranean coast, and the so-called 'Kings Highway' that begins at the northern tip of the Gulf of Aqaba and runs north along the Syrian-African Rift. The red lines plot conjectured routes from the stories of the Israelite Exodus from Egypt.
The Sinai Peninsula is nowadays part of the modern State of Egypt. The Gulf of Suez, on the left, divides it from the rest of Egypt. The Gulf of Aqaba, on the right, separates it from Saudi Arabia. The southernmost tip of Israel is at the northernmost tip of the Gulf of Aqaba, there sits the modern city of Eilat. These two gulfs are fingers of the Red Sea, to the south, which is, in turn, an extension of the Indian Ocean. The Mediterranean Sea is visible in the background and so is the Dead Sea at the top right corner.
This relief map shows the southern coastal plain from Jerusalem (in the east) to the coast (in the west), and from Joppa (the area of modern Tel Aviv - in the north) down to Gaza (in the south). In the period preceding the Israelite monarchies, this coastal plain was the territory of the Philistines. 'Philistia' - the name of the land of the Philistines - is the root of the word 'Palestine.' Note the distinctive topographical features of the region: the Central Hill, running from north to south, and the Shephelah (an intermediary hilly region) and the seashore plains to its west.
The earliest writing was not on paper, but on clay tablets. Instead of a pen, scribes used an instrument called a stylus that was triangular in cross-section. They would press the tip of the stylus into the clay to make the triangular portions of the symbol and drag the edge of the stylus across the clay to make the lines. The size and shape of clay tablets varied with the type of text being recorded and with changing scribal preferences. When a scribe finished with one side of the tablet he would turn the bottom edge up and write on the back. After he was done writing, the tablet would usually be set in the sun to dry (though tablets were sometimes fired in a kiln).
The different colors of the map show different areas of sovereignty in modern Israel and Palestine. The light tan color is the modern State of Israel within the borders recognized by the international community in 1948-9. Israel shares a border with Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, and Egypt. The areas in light green are the territories conquered by Israel in 1967 – the Gaza strip (from Egypt, along with the Sinai, which has since been returned to Egypt), the West Bank (from Jordan), and the Golan Heights (from Syria).
St. Catherine's Monastery: Codex Sinaiticus
This photograph shows a page from the Codex Sinaiticus, which was created in the 4th century CE. The extant pages (400 of an estimated 730) contain the oldest complete manuscript of the New Testament. It was found at St. Katherine's Monastery in the Sinai Desert and procured under controversial circumstances by Konstantin von Tischendorf in the 19th century.
The Suez Canal is a narrow waterway connecting the Red Sea (the large body of water in the image) to the Mediterranean Sea, barely visible at the top. The Suez Canal is on the top left side of the Sinai Peninsula. The Canal was originally designed in 1854 by the French diplomat Ferdinand de Lesseps. It was strongly opposed by the British for the possible negative effects it would have on British global trade. The British, however, eventually bought a 44% share in the canal in 1875 from Egypt. The Suez Canal was a major point of contention in the 1956 conflict, known as the “Suez Crisis” (or “Sinai War”), when the Egyptian president Gamal Abdel Nasser nationalized the Canal and seized its waterways, leading to a series of military conflicts, culminating in the 1967 Six-Day war.
Writing was invented in southern Mesopotamia, in the ancient kingdom of Sumer, sometime before 3,000 BCE. Cuneiform, the type of writing seen in column 6 of this slide, was a development from earlier 'logographic' writing, in which signs stood for words (e.g., the sign for fish is a drawing of a fish, which was called 'kha' in the Sumerian language). Later cuneiform symbols (those in columns 5 and 6) were both logographic and syllabic - that is, they could be used to mean the thing that they represent or the sound of that word. So, for instance, the cuneiform symbol for 'fish' could mean either 'fish' or be combined with the 'la' sign to form the word 'kha.la,' which means 'share' or 'part.'
The story of Sinuhe has been preserved on numerous papyri and ostraca. This manuscript is written in an Egyptian script called hieratic, which is closely related to Egyptian hieroglyphs, and dates to the Egyptian 12th Dynasty (ca. 1991-1785 BCE). It tells the story of an Egyptian official who lived in voluntary exile in southern Syria/northern Canaan. The details of the story are valuable for the light that they shed on life in southern Syria during the early Middle Bronze I (2000-1800 BCE). The descriptions mention tents and encampments but not towns and cities, suggesting that nomadism persisted.
This photograph of one of the many the Early Bronze Age towers at Arad reveals defenses typical of the period. The towers, 10-12 feet in diameter and found at 65-80 foot intervals, projected out from the wall, thus exposing any attacker attempting to scale the wall to the projectiles of the defenders.
This aerial view of Tel Be'er Sheva shows the 8th century BCE outline of the Israelite city and gives an idea of the aridity of the Negev desert. The city was built in the 10th-9th century BCE by first constructing a platform surrounded by a moat. The city was then built on top of this rampart and a wall was built around the city. It was destroyed in the 8th century BCE, probably as a result of the campaign of the Assyrian king Sennacherib in 701 BCE. Note that, rather than the Hippodamian plan of Graeco-Roman cities (i.e., perpendicular streets), this Israelite city had a circular street plan.
This view of Tel Beit Shemesh (the archaeological ruins in the foreground), an Israelite town during the Iron Age, gives a feel of the transition from the Coastal plain to the Central Hill. The peaks of the Central Hill, running from north to south (left to right), are seen rising in background. This region between the hills and the seashore plains (which are not seen the photograph) is called the Shephelah.
This photo shows the fully preserved arched gateway at Tel Dan, which was made of mud bricks and is the first such structure found intact in Israel. In the Early Bronze Age, sun-dried mud bricks began to replace the stones that had been used for city walls and towers, perhaps because they could be erected more quickly and raised higher than boulder walls.
The excavations at Tel Dor, on the coast of Israel between Tel Aviv and Haifa, are barely visibly on the rocky promontory in the low center of this photograph. Dor was one of the Phoenician harbors in antiquity, first settled in the 15th century BCE and inhabited well into the Roman period. It was especially prominent as a port city of maritime trade in the Persian and Hellenistic periods.
This bone pendant is a typical depiction of the god Bes, an Egyptian god who protected pregnant women. It would have been the central ornament on a necklace.
This photograph shows one of the main streets of the 3rd century BCE city of Dor. This phase of the city was built under King Ptolemy II (285-246 BCE) on a Hippodamian plan (i.e., a checkerboard pattern of city blocks) and had an advanced sewage system (note the drain cutting across the street at an angle in the center of the picture) and was supplied by an aqueduct. Shops opened into the street on both sides, and apartments would have stood above the shops.
These three figurines of pregnant women wearing Egyptian wigs and holding one hand on their stomachs are typical of figurines found at other Phoenician sites in Lebanon, Cyprus, and Israel in the Persian period. Scholars usually assume that they were votive offerings to a goddess. Some similar figurines from a 4th century BCE shipwreck at Shave Zion, on the northern coast of Israel, bore the symbol of the Phoenician goddess Tanit.
This finely worked sculpture of a bearded man wearing a sort of a head cover is typical of the high-quality Hellenistic finds from the port city of Dor.
All three of these vessels can be dated to the late 6th or early 5th century BCE, during the first decades of Persian control of Palestine. However, pottery forms do not change simply because the political control does. As a result, these forms look very much like those from the Iron II period. That said, pottery forms do change over time, so the lamp in this photograph (in the center) is flatter, wider, and thinner-walled than those found 100 years earlier (in the Iron II period), and the juglet on the left is somewhat trimmer in profile than its Iron II counterparts.
This is an aerial image of the remains of Tel Hazor (Tell el-Qedah), an ancient city north of the Sea of Galilee, in the Hula Valley of northern Israel. At the top left of this picture, the square-like stone structures are the remains of a distinctive six-chambered gate (only half of which is shown in the picture). Such gates have three chambers on each side. The smaller square at the top of this image is the foundation of a tower. The wall extending to the right is known as a “casemate” wall. This was a hollow wall that could be filled with weapons or supplies for the city. Hazor was one of the most important pre-Israelite fortified cities of the Bronze Age. The site was later inhabited by the Israelites during the reign of King Solomon.
This image shows Tel Hazor looking west. The six-chambered gate is near the center of the image. There appear to be eight chambers, but the front square sections are remains of two tower foundations, guarding the entrance. Notice where the “casemate” city walls extend to the right and left. The towers protrude past the city wall in order to flank anyone who would attack the wall directly. The roofed area in the image, to the top left, is a modern building that covers the ancient Canaanite palace/temple. Hazor was an international hub of trade in the Bronze Age, and later, during the Iron Age, turned into a fortified Israelite city. Many debates remain among historians and archaeologists about the role of Hazor in ancient Israelite history and religion.
Hazor, an ancient city and tel that sits at the southern end of the Huleh Valley in eastern upper Galilee, was one of the largest and most important cities in the region from ca 1,900 BCE until 732 BCE when it was destroyed by the Assyrian king Tiglath-Pileser III. Intensive archaeological excavation on the tel and at its base revealed a great deal about the early history of the region.
This photograph shows an intact shrine from inside the Holy of Holies of a small broadhouse temple (i.e., the entrance is on the broad side of the building). It dates to the 13th century BCE. The stones were all cut from basalt, a local rock. Eight standing stones, or stelae, flank the central standing stone that depicts two suppliant hands engraved with a lunar crescent and circle between and above them. To the right stands a massive stone (an orthostat), originally from the temple's porch, with a lion carved on it. To the left is a statuette of a man or god sitting on his throne, holding a cup. The excavator, Yigael Yadin, concluded that this shrine was destroyed by Joshua in the 13th century BCE.
This large rectangular building with its double row of pillars was a royal storehouse from the 9th century BCE. Other storehouses like it have been discovered at Megiddo and at Tel Be'er Sheva.