Category Archives: Archaeology

Archaeology

Apostle Philip’s Tomb Found

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Post Author: Bill Pratt

The Bible History Daily website announced in July 2011 that archaeologists had discovered the Apostle Philip’s tomb.  Here is an excerpt from the article:

Italian archaeologists working at the site of Hierapolis in southwestern Turkey believe they have discovered the tomb of St. Philip, one of Jesus’ 12 apostles. According to excavator Francesco D’Andria, Philip’s tomb has traditionally been associated with the martyrium church built at the site,* though no evidence of the ancient burial was ever found. Last month, however, D’Andria and his team located a smaller church less than 150 feet away from the martyrium that appears to contain the grave of the apostle.

Please go the Bible History Daily for the complete article.

Archaeology

Who Is Portrayed in the Earliest Existing Biblical Painting?

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Post Author: Bill Pratt

The earliest existing painting portraying a biblical scene was found in a building called the House of the Physician in the ruins of the city of Pompeii, a city destroyed in AD 79 by Mount Vesuvius.  The painting is a striking rendition of the scene from 1 Kings 3 where two women lay claim to the same child and Solomon wisely determines who is the real mother of the child.

According to art expert Theodore Feder, this painting was likely commissioned by a non-Jew living in Pompeii in the time period just before the city was destroyed.  What makes this painting even more fascinating is that Feder thinks he has discovered the identities of two individuals who are in the bottom left of the painting and who are portrayed admiring the wisdom of Solomon.

In a recent article published in the Biblical Archaeology Review, Feder argues that the two individuals shown admiring Solomon are none other than Socrates and Aristotle, two of the most famous Greek philosophers of antiquity.

I believe these two figures are stand-ins for Socrates and Aristotle, introduced as a way of associating the wisdom of Solomon with that of the Greek philosophers. Put another way, their presence in the composition attests to the respect Greek philosophy could accord to Hebrew wisdom. Such a juxtaposition in art of wise men from the two civilizations was unprecedented, has rarely been done since, and is of great cultural and historical significance.

That Solomon was painted along with Socrates and Aristotle was a testament to the great respect that the Hebrew Bible was afforded as a book of wisdom in the 1st century Roman empire.  Feder concludes his article with this statement:

In selecting an episode from the Hebrew Bible, the patron departed from the canon of classical religious subject matter and elevated one from the Scriptures of a people whose influence at the time was spreading throughout the empire and would one day, in its Christian formulation, pervade it.

Archaeology, Church History

Oldest Known Images of the Apostles Andrew and John Found

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Post Author: Bill Pratt

Archaeologists reported on June 22, 2010 that they found images of the apostles Andrew and John that date to the 4th century.  Here is an excerpt from the article at CNN.com.

The oldest known image of the apostles Andrew and John have been discovered in catacombs under the city of Rome, dating back to the 4th century AD, archaeologists announced Tuesday.

The paintings were found in the same location where the oldest known painting of St. Paul was discovered last year, the Pontifical Commission for Sacred Archeology said Tuesday.

They are part of a group of paintings around an image of Jesus as the Good Shepherd on the ceiling of what is thought to have been a Roman noblewoman’s tomb, experts said.

A painting of St. Peter makes up the fourth member of the group, but older images of him are thought to exist, Vatican experts said.

Be sure you read the brief article to see the images themselves.  They are remarkably well preserved.

Archaeology, Church History

Christians on Cyprus Strive to Keep Jesus’ Language Alive

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Post Author: Bill Pratt

I ran across a fascinating article about a small group of Christians who have preserved the Aramaic language that Jesus spoke.

Here is a an excerpt:

The Aramaic language of the earliest Christians lives on in the church services of a tiny village on the Turkish Cypriot side of the Mediterranean island of Cyprus, where a hybrid dialect of Aramaic is commonly spoken by just 1,000 people who are striving to keep it alive.

The language is dying out, but the Maronites in Cyprus are trying to prevent it from being completely lost.  I’m certainly rooting them on, as it would be a tragic loss if they failed.

Archaeology

Archaeologist Claims to Have Found King David’s Palace

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Post Author: Bill Pratt

We have featured the findings of archaeologist Eilat Mazar in previous blog posts (here and here).  She has been digging in Jerusalem since 2005 and continues to make amazing discoveries.  Her claims, however, are not universally accepted by other archaeologists.  In a recent article in Biblical Archaeological Review, she lays out the evidence for her claim that she has dug up parts of King David’s Palace.

In Mazar’s words:

The Biblical narrative, I submit, better explains the archaeology we have uncovered than any other hypothesis that has been put forward. Indeed, the archaeological remains square perfectly with the Biblical description that tells us David went down from there to the citadel. So you decide whether or not we have found King David’s palace.

Please read the full article to see if you are convinced.  Mazar has already said that she has found portions of Nehemiah’s Wall and a city wall built by King Solomon.  Her findings are truly extraordinary, if proven true.

Archaeology

Archaeologist Claims to Find City Wall Built by King Solomon

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Post Author: Bill Pratt

Eilat Mazar has potentially made another astounding discovery.  She has unearthed a section of an ancient city wall of Jerusalem which she believes dates from the tenth century B.C. and would have been built by King Solomon.

According to Biblical Archaeology Review, “If Professor Mazar is correct about the dating, then it would seem to support the Biblical account of Jerusalem, and Israel, as being an organized society with a strong centralized government in the 10th century B.C., the time of King Solomon.”

However, there are skeptics of the dating of the wall and more analysis needs to be done to bolster Mazar’s case.

Science Daily reports, “The section of the city wall revealed, 70 meters long and six meters high, is located in the area known as the Ophel, between the City of David and the southern wall of the Temple Mount.  Uncovered in the city wall complex are: an inner gatehouse for access into the royal quarter of the city, a royal structure adjacent to the gatehouse, and a corner tower that overlooks a substantial section of the adjacent Kidron valley.”

Mazar claims that the wall can indeed be dated to the tenth century and attributed to Solomon.  She says:

A comparison of this latest finding with city walls and gates from the period of the First Temple, as well as pottery found at the site, enable us to postulate with a great degree of assurance that the wall that has been revealed is that which was built by King Solomon in Jerusalem in the latter part of the tenth century B.C.E.

This is the first time that a structure from that time has been found that may correlate with written descriptions of Solomon’s building in Jerusalem.  The Bible tells us that Solomon built — with the assistance of the Phoenicians, who were outstanding builders — the Temple and his new palace and surrounded them with a city, most probably connected to the more ancient wall of the City of David.

Mazar specifically cites the third chapter of the First Books of Kings where it refers to “until he (Solomon) had made an end of building his own house, and the house of the Lord, and the wall of Jerusalem round about.”

We’ll see how this turns out, but it is certainly an exciting find.

Archaeology, Top Ten Posts of 2009

Nehemiah’s Wall: Found – #6 Post of 2009

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Post Author: Bill Pratt

In the latest issue of Biblical Archaeology Review, Eilat Mazar reports that she has discovered a portion of Nehemiah’s Wall.  These are the walls that were described in the book of Nehemiah in chapters 3 and 4.

Nehemiah's Wall

The wall was discovered as Mazar continued excavations of King David’s Palace.

Mazar's Excavation

If this was not fascinating enough, Mazar also discovered two small seal impressions in the same excavation.  These seal impressions actually contain the names “Gedaliah son of Pashhur” and “Jehucal son of Shelemiah.”  Both of these seals are dated to the time period of King Zedekiah, who ruled from 597-587 B.C.

Why are these names important?  Both of them are named by the prophet Jeremiah as court officials in Jeremiah 38.  Mazar discovered actual impressions of the names of biblical figures!  I concur with her exclamation: “How amazing these finds are!”

The Palace of David, Nehemiah’s Wall, court officials mentioned by Jeremiah – truly impressive finds which further corroborate the historical accuracy of the Bible.

Archaeology, New Testament Reliability

When Was the Gospel of Thomas Written?

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Post Author: Bill Pratt

For the last several years, a lot of hay has been made concerning the Gospel of Thomas, an alleged fifth Gospel only discovered in 1945.  A few New Testament scholars have tried to make the case that the views espoused in Thomas represent a competing strain of Christianity that was suppressed by the early church hierarchy.

These scholars, in order to make their case, must show that Thomas was written in the first century along with the other four Gospels and the rest of the New Testament writings.  Unfortunately for them, the evidence seems to place the Gospel of Thomas in the late second century, at the earliest.

Lee Strobel and John Ankerberg (see video below) explain that Thomas was completed more than a century  after Jesus lived, and that this Gospel actually draws upon the other books of the New Testament, thus removing it from contention as an early version of Christianity.  The truth is that it came along far after Christianity was well underway as a religious movement.

Archaeology, Christmas

Why Is Jesus’ Birthday Celebrated on Dec. 25?

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Post Author: Bill Pratt

The usual story about why Jesus’ birthday is celebrated on Dec. 25 is that Christians were trying to convert a Roman pagan festival into a Christian festival.  But it seems this theory may not be true.

Andrew McGowan, professor of early Christian history, has written a fascinating article which links the death and conception of Jesus to his birthday.  It seems that ancient Christians tended to believe that the death of Jesus occurred on the same day as his conception in Mary’s womb, March 25.  So, to arrive at his birthdate, they added nine months to March 25, which yields Dec. 25.

If you are interested in early Christian history and the roots of Jesus’ birthdate on Dec. 25, you won’t want to miss reading this article.