#1570
2017-05-26
Dead Sea Scroll Fragments & the Hippos Theater
With Clyde Billington
There are a number of unpublished Dead Sea Scroll fragments in the possession of U.S. institutions. We discuss the significance and meaning of this situation, and whether they will be published soon. This story is one of the news digest items from the latest issue of ARTIFAX magazine. The discovery of a large theater, apparently used for cultic worship, at the decapolis city of Hippos/Sussita is another news development reported in ARTIFAX. We discuss these stories and others from the latest issue.
tags: Dead Sea Scrolls Decapolis Roman theater Hippos/Sussita
#1569
2017-05-26
Temple Mount Sifting Project Hiatus and Roman Roads
With Clyde Billington
Latest archaeology news includes the Temple Mount Sifting Project going on hiatus, due to financial reasons and also to catch up with publishing their finds. We also look at some of the Roman roads recently reported in archaeology news.
tags: Roman Roads Temple Mount Sifting Project
#1568
2017-04-25
With Alice Mandell
More of this conversation with Alice Mandell on the issues the engage archaeologists, Egyptologists, Bible scholars, and others in relation to the Amarna letters and the kingdom states in the Levant prior to the beginning of the Israelite and Judahite kingdoms.
tags: Egypt cuneiform Akhenaten Akkadian Canaan Amarna Letters
#1567
2017-04-18
With Alice Mandell
Called by one author, "a preface to Biblical History," the Amarna tablets describe the Canaanite world just before the Israelites arrived. These diplomatic messages were sent from Canaanite kings and others to the Pharaoh Akhenaton, describing and complaining about various circumstances. These cuneiform tablets were discovered in Amarna, Egypt, in the late 19th century and are still being discussed and debated by Egyptologists and biblical scholars. In this conversation, Alice Mandell, Assistant Professor of Classical Hebrew Language and Biblical Literature in the University of Wisconsin Department of Classical and Ancient Near Eastern Studies, describes some of the latest discoveries and latest debates about these tablets and the world they describe.
tags: Egypt cuneiform Amarna Letters Akhenaten Akkadian Canaan
#1566
2017-04-11
The Church of the Holy Sepulcher
With John DeLancey
This Easter, the Church that marks the traditional location of the crucifixion, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ is coming out of a 4 million dollar renovation. John DeLancey, co-leader of our Israel tour next year, is just back from another visit to the Church of the Holy Sepulcher and discusses the newly renovated edicule in its rotunda. The edicule, a small structure that covers the tomb of Jesus, has been rebuilt and strengthened against collapse. In addition, we review news coverage of a recent open house at the Israel Antiquities Authority warehouse where relics from the time of Jesus are displayed for reporters.
tags: Jerusalem Jesus Church of the Holy Sepulcher Tomb of Jesus