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ON THE COVER: Poised forever in the instant before releasing his arrow, Tutankhamon, pharaoh of Egypt, hunts an ostrich in a scene vividly captured on this flabellum, or fan-shaped object, made of wood-covered gold leaf. Ostrich feathers inserted in the semicircle ring at top adorned the 6-inch wide flabellum, which served as a royal sunshade. This and the many other gold-covered items recovered from Tutankhamon’s tomb and elsewhere indicate the abundance of this prized material among the mighty rulers of the ancient Near East, argues Alan Millard in “Does the Bible Exaggerate King Solomon’s Golden Wealth?”