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Displaying 1 - 20 of 26 results
Solomon’s Temple in Context
Although the Bible gives a detailed description of Solomon’s Temple, we have no physical remains of the building destroyed by the Babylonians in 586 B.C.E. Thanks to the recent excavation of several hitherto-unknown ancient Near Eastern temples, however, archaeologists are shedding new light on similarities and differences between these temples and King Solomon’s structure.
Biblical Archaeology Review, March/April 2011
Locating the Original Temple Mount
Somewhere on Jerusalem’s majestic Temple Mount—the largest man-made platform in the ancient world, the size of 24 football fields, nearly 145 acres—Herod the Great (37–4 B.C.) built a...
Biblical Archaeology Review, March/April 1992
Inside Solomon’s Temple
“Then Solomon said … ‘I have built thee an exalted house, a place for thee to dwell in forever.’” (1 Kings 8:12–13) A vision of Isaiah, “I beheld my Lord seated on a high and lofty throne; and the skirts of his robe filled the Temple.” (...
Bible Review, April 1994
Reconstructing Herod’s Temple Mount in Jerusalem
Herod the Great—master builder! Despite his crimes and excesses, no one can doubt his prowess as a builder. One of his most imposing achievements was in Jerusalem. To feed his passion for grandeur, to immortalize his name and to attempt to...
Biblical Archaeology Review, November/December 1989
The Ark of the Covenant: Where It Stood in Solomon’s Temple
Four years ago, I wrote an article for BAR in which I identified the original 500-cubit-square Temple Mount.1 By now, this location is well established in the archaeological world,...
Biblical Archaeology Review, January/February 1996
Quarrying and Transporting Stones for Herod’s Temple Mount
Herod’s construction in the Temple Mount area, like the construction of most of Jerusalem’s buildings, used local limestone. The mountains around Jerusalem are composed of Turonian and Cenomanian limestone that has a characteristic horizontal...
Biblical Archaeology Review, November/December 1989
Ritmeyer Responds to Jacobson
David Jacobson’s theory regarding the shape of Herod’s Temple Mount and the placement of the Temple within it draws heavily on Roman architectural practice. The Romans were particularly fond of symmetrical structures, as Jacobson rightly...
Biblical Archaeology Review, March/April 2000
Volunteers Find Missing Pieces to Looted Inscription
In the November/December 2008 issue of BAR, we reported on an inscribed limestone stela that had been purchased on the antiquities market by Judy and Michael Steinhardt and is on permanent loan to the Israel Museum.a The incomplete stela,...
Biblical Archaeology Review, May/June 2010
Reconstructing the Triple Gate
Reconstructing the Triple Gate required that we answer three principal questions. What was the gate’s original width? Was it originally a double gate or a triple gate? For whom was it built? The discovery of a vault in front of the Triple...
Biblical Archaeology Review, November/December 1989
Wish Upon a Stone
Discovering the idolatry of the even maskit
Leviticus bans the Israelites from bowing upon a maskit stone. But what is a maskit? A recently deciphered Assyrian inscription may hold the key to identifying this mysterious prohibited object.
Bible Review, October 1999
Potter’s Field or High Priest’s Tomb?
About a half mile south of the Old City of Jerusalem—at the southeast end of the Hinnom Valley, near where it joins the Kidron Valley east of the city—is one of the most impressive,...
Biblical Archaeology Review, November/December 1994
From Storm God to Abstract Being
How the deity became more distant from Exodus to Deuteronomy
A spectacular sound and light show greeted the Israelites when the new nation encountered God for the first time at Mt. Sinai.1 The awesome display of divine presence and power so terrified the Children of Israel that they begged God not to...
Bible Review, October 1998
New Synagogue Excavations In Israel and Beyond
It seems like almost everywhere archaeologists dig in the eastern Galilee these days, they are coming up with ancient synagogues. In 2007, a third–fourth-century C.E. synagogue with beautifully decorated mosaic floors depicting Biblical...
Biblical Archaeology Review, July/August 2011
Did King Solomon Violate the Second Commandment?
Readers Letter Sparks Article When reading Victor Hurowitzs Inside Solomons Temple, BR 10:02, a question suddenly occurred to me that I should have thought of years ago. In the shrine of the temple were two huge, gold-plated, olive-wood cherubim, writes...
Bible Review, October 1994
P—Understanding the Priestly Source
Reading an introduction to biblical criticism, a beginning student might well think he or she is peering into a bowl of alphabet soup—or perhaps perusing a catalogue of foundations and corporations. Letters are all over the place, especially...
Bible Review, June 1996
The Golden Calf
Made by Man...or God?
While Moses was up on Mt. Sinai receiving the first edition of the Ten Commandments, the people down below grew impatient and asked Aaron, Moses’ brother, to make them another god to...
Bible Review, April 2004
Exploring the Holy Land Close to Home
I have never been to Israel. But after visiting the Explorations in Antiquity Center just an hour outside of Atlanta in LaGrange, Georgia, I have a much better idea of what it was like to live there 2,000 years ago. The center, which opened...
Biblical Archaeology Review, November/December 2008
The Puzzling Pool of Bethesda
Where Jesus cured the crippled man
The Gospel of John recounts two healing miracles Jesus performed in Jerusalem. In one, Jesus cured a man who had been blind from birth. Jesus mixed his saliva with mud, applied the mixture to the blind man’s eyes and told him to bathe in the...
Biblical Archaeology Review, September/October 2011
For the Prosecution
Professor Maier’s extensive rebuttal of my earlier essay is a most welcome engagement from an authority who has written widely on the figure of Pilate.1 I am happy to offer a reply. First, however, a word on name-calling. Professor Maier’s...
Bible Review, June 2004
Picturing Imageless Deities
Iconography in the Ancient Near East
Tryggve N.D....
No Graven Image? Israelite Aniconism in Its Ancient Near Eastern Context Biblical Archaeology Review, May/June 1997