Browse Items (337 total)

Nebi Samuel

Jerusalem

Currency was issued by Jews during the Bar Kokhba Revolt, the Second Jewish War with Rome (132–135 CE). In the ancient world, minting your own money was a statement of political autonomy. It symbolized open rebellion if one group was subordinate to…

This image shows an ancient manuscript with Hebrew writing from the 2nd century CE. This document, along with others, were found in the “Cave of Letters,” located in Nahal Hever, a canyon near the Dead Sea. In total, about 14 letters were sent from…

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…

This map shows an aerial view of the Mediterranean Sea and surrounding regions. The Black Sea is directly above the eastern part of the Mediterranean and the Caspian Sea is further east. The European continent is north of the Mediterranean, with…

The areas surrounding the Mediterranean Sea have played a pivotal role in the history of the ancient world. On the northern coast, from west to east, we encounter the regions of Spain, France, Italy, the Balkans, Greece, Turkey, and the Black Sea. On…

How should one define the geographic entity known as the “Middle East”? Scholars have diverging views based on political, demographic, and historical factors. The natural topographic and geological features of the region provide a helpful starting…

The land of Israel (circled in red) though small in size, occupies one of the great crossroads of the ancient world. The global superpowers of the ancient Near East (Egypt, Assyria, Babylon, and Persia) coveted this area, either as a buffer between…

Tel-Aviv has become today the most important economic center of Israel. Jewish immigrants began settling in the area in the 1880’s, but the city was not officially established until the early 1900’s. It is outlined in this image by the high-rise…

Pictured here, looking west towards the Mediterranean, are the modern neighborhoods of Gaza city [population of over 515,000], the largest city in the Palestinian Territories. Gaza is historically significant as a nexus of ancient Mediterranean…

This picture shows a portion of the Central Hill rising up from the Seashore plaines, looking east. Over the Hill is the Dead Sea and the Jordan River. The Central Hill is a rectangular topographic feature that runs north and south through central…

This image looks east over the Dead Sea towards the Jordanian hills. The Dead Sea is 31 miles long and 9 miles wide. It is situated along the Syrian-African Rift, and is the lowest place on earth, about 1,400 feet below sea level. The Dead Sea is…

Modern Be’er Sheva is in southern Israel, where the climate is arid. It is the largest city in the Negev, and home to many global Jewish cultural traditions, represented especially by Sephardic (Spanish), Mizrahi (Egyptian, Iraqi), as well as Jews of…

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…

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…

This map shows the demographics of modern Jerusalem by color. The total population is over 800,000 with about 65% Jewish (blue) and 32% Arab (yellow). Pictured also are two important lines: (1) the red-dotted line marks the municipal boundary of the…

This is the skull of homo erectus (“upright man”), the predecessor to the homo sapien. The skull is now held at the University of Michigan, Museum of Natural Sciences. Evidence for homo erectus has been found in Israel at various sites, in particular…

This image shows a reconstruction of homo erectus (“upright man”). Behind homo erectus is a map of migration routes— beginning in Africa, near the origins of the Nile in Kenya and Uganda, and extending north, along the Syrian-African Rift, through…

Shown here is a potter working from a shop in the southern part of the Central Hill, spinning a wheel to shape clay into a pot. Behind him, one can see finished examples before they are fired in a kiln to remove moisture, hardening the clay into…

Albright (1891-1971) was an American archaeologist and biblical scholar. He became the foremost proponent of “biblical archaeology,” a movement that attempted to authenticate events, people, and ideas found in the Bible through scientific,…

Tell Beit Mirsim is a site in southern Israel, about 13 miles southwest of Hebron. Albright excavated this site on multiple occasions in the 1920s and 30s. He is shown at the top of the picture with a white hat. Local Arabs worked with Albright on…

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…

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”…

This image shows the burial-temple complex of Ramesses III (1186–1155 BCE), one of the last powerful Egyptian kings.
The walls display an impressive array of inscriptions, hieroglyphics, and decorated reliefs. Some tell the story of the rise of the…

The coast of northern Israel, between Tel Aviv and Haifa, is characterized by “kurkar” ridges. The term “kurkar” refers to sea-sand that has hardened into rock. This results from a mineral reaction between the sea water and shore sediments producing…

This map shows the eastern coastal cities of ancient Phoenicia (modern Lebanon) and its natural resources. These ancient cities were loosely connected and politically independent, but they shared a common Canaanite culture. During the Iron Age…

This is a south-north aerial view of the ancient port-city Caesarea Maritima, one of King Herod’s most extravagant building projects (22-10 BCE). It was built in honor of Caesar Augustus, and became the capital of Roman Judaea around 6 CE. The…

Shepherds and flocks of sheep, as pictured here, are frequent themes in the Hebrew Bible – David, who’s native town was Bethlehem was a Shepherd. Goats, sheep, and shepherds also comprise the socio-economic context in some Gospel stories.

This image shows the famous Colosseum of Rome. It was built by Vespasian and Titus (70–80 CE) and reflects their efforts to elevate the imperial profile of the Flavian Dynasty. At the center of the Colosseum, a retractable floor once covered an…

The Yarmuk river flows east-to-west, forming the modern political border between Syria and Jordan. The Yarmuk empties into the Jordan River just south of the Sea of Galilee, where it also marks the border between Jordan and Israel. The Yarmuk River…

The Mamluks (1250–1517 CE) introduced many unique styles of architecture to Jerusalem. The vaulted doorway pictured here is an example of a finely crafted recessed stone arch encased with a klebo design of interlaced stone blocks of dark and light…

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…

Izz ad din Al-Qassam was a controversial Muslim religious activist in the 1920–30s. He opposed foreign influence on Arab lands and led resistance movements in multiple countries against the French, Italians, British, and Zionists. After immigrating…

This map was published by the Palestine Arab Refugee office and represents developments from 1945–1949. The areas in red show Jewish land owned in March of 1945. The black lines show the proposed 1947 UN Partition Plan (“J” for Jewish State, and “A”…

This map shows the compromise plan drawn by a series of United Nations committees to divide the land between its Jewish and Arab residents. Jerusalem (in white, in the middle of the map) was meant to become an international zone under UN…

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…