1.
Geographic coordinate system
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A geographic coordinate system is a coordinate system used in geography that enables every location on Earth to be specified by a set of numbers, letters or symbols. The coordinates are chosen such that one of the numbers represents a vertical position. A common choice of coordinates is latitude, longitude and elevation, to specify a location on a two-dimensional map requires a map projection. The invention of a coordinate system is generally credited to Eratosthenes of Cyrene. Ptolemy credited him with the adoption of longitude and latitude. Ptolemys 2nd-century Geography used the prime meridian but measured latitude from the equator instead. Mathematical cartography resumed in Europe following Maximus Planudes recovery of Ptolemys text a little before 1300, in 1884, the United States hosted the International Meridian Conference, attended by representatives from twenty-five nations. Twenty-two of them agreed to adopt the longitude of the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, the Dominican Republic voted against the motion, while France and Brazil abstained. France adopted Greenwich Mean Time in place of local determinations by the Paris Observatory in 1911, the latitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle between the equatorial plane and the straight line that passes through that point and through the center of the Earth. Lines joining points of the same latitude trace circles on the surface of Earth called parallels, as they are parallel to the equator, the north pole is 90° N, the south pole is 90° S. The 0° parallel of latitude is designated the equator, the plane of all geographic coordinate systems. The equator divides the globe into Northern and Southern Hemispheres, the longitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle east or west of a reference meridian to another meridian that passes through that point. All meridians are halves of great ellipses, which converge at the north and south poles, the prime meridian determines the proper Eastern and Western Hemispheres, although maps often divide these hemispheres further west in order to keep the Old World on a single side. The antipodal meridian of Greenwich is both 180°W and 180°E, the combination of these two components specifies the position of any location on the surface of Earth, without consideration of altitude or depth. The grid formed by lines of latitude and longitude is known as a graticule, the origin/zero point of this system is located in the Gulf of Guinea about 625 km south of Tema, Ghana. To completely specify a location of a feature on, in, or above Earth. Earth is not a sphere, but a shape approximating a biaxial ellipsoid. It is nearly spherical, but has an equatorial bulge making the radius at the equator about 0. 3% larger than the radius measured through the poles, the shorter axis approximately coincides with the axis of rotation
2.
Dead Sea
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The Dead Sea, is a salt lake bordered by Jordan to the east and Israel and Palestine to the west. Its surface and shores are 430.5 metres below sea level, the Dead Sea is 304 m deep, the deepest hypersaline lake in the world. With 34. 2% salinity, it is 9.6 times as salty as the ocean and this salinity makes for a harsh environment in which plants and animals cannot flourish, hence its name. The Dead Sea is 50 kilometres long and 15 kilometres wide at its widest point and it lies in the Jordan Rift Valley and its main tributary is the Jordan River. The Dead Sea has attracted visitors from around the Mediterranean basin for thousands of years and it was one of the worlds first health resorts, and it has been the supplier of a wide variety of products, from asphalt for Egyptian mummification to potash for fertilizers. People also use the salt and the minerals from the Dead Sea to create cosmetics, the Dead Sea water has a density of 1.24 kg/litre, which makes swimming similar to floating. The Dead Sea is receding at an alarming rate, multiple canals and pipelines were proposed to reduce its recession, which had begun causing many problems. The Red Sea–Dead Sea Water Conveyance project, carried out by Jordan, will provide water to neighboring countries, the first phase of the project is scheduled to begin in 2018 and be completed in 2021. In Hebrew, the Dead Sea is Yām ha-Melaḥ, meaning sea of salt, the Bible uses this term alongside two others, the Sea of the Arabah, and the Eastern Sea. The designation Dead Sea never appears in the Bible, in prose sometimes the term Yām ha-Māvet is used, due to the scarcity of aquatic life there. In Arabic the Dead Sea is called al-Bahr al-Mayyit, or less commonly baḥrᵘ lūṭᵃ, another historic name in Arabic was the Sea of Zoʼar, after a nearby town in biblical times. The Greeks called it Lake Asphaltites, the Dead Sea is an endorheic lake located in the Jordan Rift Valley, a geographic feature formed by the Dead Sea Transform. This left lateral-moving transform fault lies along the plate boundary between the African Plate and the Arabian Plate. It runs between the East Anatolian Fault zone in Turkey and the end of the Red Sea Rift offshore of the southern tip of Sinai. It is here that the Upper Jordan River/Sea of Galilee/Lower Jordan River water system comes to an end. The Jordan River is the major water source flowing into the Dead Sea, although there are small perennial springs under and around the Dead Sea, forming pools. The Mujib River, biblical Arnon, is one the larger sources of the Dead Sea other than the Jordan. The Wadi Mujib valley,420 m below the sea level in the southern of Jordan valley, is a biosphere reserve, other more substantial sources are Wadi Darajeh /Nahal Dragot, and Nahal Arugot
3.
Hebrew language
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Hebrew is a language native to Israel, spoken by over 9 million people worldwide, of whom over 5 million are in Israel. Historically, it is regarded as the language of the Israelites and their ancestors, the earliest examples of written Paleo-Hebrew date from the 10th century BCE. Hebrew belongs to the West Semitic branch of the Afroasiatic language family, Hebrew is the only living Canaanite language left, and the only truly successful example of a revived dead language. Hebrew had ceased to be a spoken language somewhere between 200 and 400 CE, declining since the aftermath of the Bar Kokhba revolt. Aramaic and to a lesser extent Greek were already in use as international languages, especially among elites and it survived into the medieval period as the language of Jewish liturgy, rabbinic literature, intra-Jewish commerce, and poetry. Then, in the 19th century, it was revived as a spoken and literary language, and, according to Ethnologue, had become, as of 1998, the language of 5 million people worldwide. After Israel, the United States has the second largest Hebrew-speaking population, with 220,000 fluent speakers, Modern Hebrew is one of the two official languages of the State of Israel, while premodern Hebrew is used for prayer or study in Jewish communities around the world today. Ancient Hebrew is also the tongue of the Samaritans, while modern Hebrew or Arabic is their vernacular. For this reason, Hebrew has been referred to by Jews as Leshon Hakodesh, the modern word Hebrew is derived from the word Ivri, one of several names for the Israelite people. It is traditionally understood to be a based on the name of Abrahams ancestor, Eber. This name is based upon the root ʕ-b-r meaning to cross over. Interpretations of the term ʕibrim link it to this verb, cross over, in the Bible, the Hebrew language is called Yәhudit because Judah was the surviving kingdom at the time of the quotation. In Isaiah 19,18 it is called the Language of Canaan, Hebrew belongs to the Canaanite group of languages. In turn, the Canaanite languages are a branch of the Northwest Semitic family of languages, according to Avraham ben-Yosef, Hebrew flourished as a spoken language in the Kingdoms of Israel and Judah during about 1200 to 586 BCE. Scholars debate the degree to which Hebrew was a vernacular in ancient times following the Babylonian exile. In July 2008 Israeli archaeologist Yossi Garfinkel discovered a ceramic shard at Khirbet Qeiyafa which he claimed may be the earliest Hebrew writing yet discovered, dating around 3000 years ago. The Gezer calendar also dates back to the 10th century BCE at the beginning of the Monarchic Period, classified as Archaic Biblical Hebrew, the calendar presents a list of seasons and related agricultural activities. The Gezer calendar is written in an old Semitic script, akin to the Phoenician one that through the Greeks, the Gezer calendar is written without any vowels, and it does not use consonants to imply vowels even in the places where later Hebrew spelling requires it
4.
Arabic
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Arabic is a Central Semitic language that was first spoken in Iron Age northwestern Arabia and is now the lingua franca of the Arab world. Arabic is also the language of 1.7 billion Muslims. It is one of six languages of the United Nations. The modern written language is derived from the language of the Quran and it is widely taught in schools and universities, and is used to varying degrees in workplaces, government, and the media. The two formal varieties are grouped together as Literary Arabic, which is the language of 26 states. Modern Standard Arabic largely follows the standards of Quranic Arabic. Much of the new vocabulary is used to denote concepts that have arisen in the post-Quranic era, Arabic has influenced many languages around the globe throughout its history. During the Middle Ages, Literary Arabic was a vehicle of culture in Europe, especially in science, mathematics. As a result, many European languages have borrowed many words from it. Many words of Arabic origin are found in ancient languages like Latin. Balkan languages, including Greek, have acquired a significant number of Arabic words through contact with Ottoman Turkish. Arabic has also borrowed words from languages including Greek and Persian in medieval times. Arabic is a Central Semitic language, closely related to the Northwest Semitic languages, the Ancient South Arabian languages, the Semitic languages changed a great deal between Proto-Semitic and the establishment of the Central Semitic languages, particularly in grammar. Innovations of the Central Semitic languages—all maintained in Arabic—include, The conversion of the suffix-conjugated stative formation into a past tense, the conversion of the prefix-conjugated preterite-tense formation into a present tense. The elimination of other prefix-conjugated mood/aspect forms in favor of new moods formed by endings attached to the prefix-conjugation forms, the development of an internal passive. These features are evidence of descent from a hypothetical ancestor. In the southwest, various Central Semitic languages both belonging to and outside of the Ancient South Arabian family were spoken and it is also believed that the ancestors of the Modern South Arabian languages were also spoken in southern Arabia at this time. To the north, in the oases of northern Hijaz, Dadanitic and Taymanitic held some prestige as inscriptional languages, in Najd and parts of western Arabia, a language known to scholars as Thamudic C is attested
5.
Oasis
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In geography, an oasis is an isolated area of vegetation in a desert, typically surrounding a spring or similar water source, such as a pond or small lake. Oases also provide habitat for animals and even if the area is big enough. The location of oases has been of importance for trade and transportation routes in desert areas, caravans must travel via oases so that supplies of water. Thus, political or military control of an oasis has in many cases meant control of trade on a particular route. For example, the oases of Awjila, Ghadames, and Kufra, oases are formed from underground rivers or aquifers such as an artesian aquifer, where water can reach the surface naturally by pressure or by man-made wells. Occasional brief thunderstorms provide subterranean water to sustain natural oases, such as the Tuat, substrata of impermeable rock and stone can trap water and retain it in pockets, or on long faulting subsurface ridges or volcanic dikes water can collect and percolate to the surface. Any incidence of water is used by migrating birds, which also pass seeds with their droppings which will grow at the waters edge forming an oasis. It can also be used to plant crops, the word oasis came into English via Latin, oasis from Ancient Greek, ὄασις óasis, which in turn is a direct borrowing from Demotic Egyptian. The word for oasis in the later attested Coptic language is wahe or ouahe which means a dwelling place, people who live in an oasis must manage land and water use carefully, fields must be irrigated to grow plants like apricots, dates, figs, and olives. The most important plant in an oasis is the date palm and these palm trees provide shade for smaller trees like peach trees, which form the middle layer. By growing plants in different layers, the farmers make best use of the soil, many vegetables are also grown and some cereals, such as barley, millet, and wheat, are grown where there is more moisture. Great Man-Made River – the worlds largest irrigation project, developed in Libya to connect cities with fossil water. Guelta Mirage Oasification Qanat Wadi Water supply référence, Jardins au désert |Battesti, Jardins au désert, Evolution des pratiques et savoirs oasiens, Jérid tunisien, Paris, Éditions IRD, coll. À travers champs,2005,440 p. ISBN 2-7099-1564-2 Open Archives, book in free access / in French The dictionary definition of oasis at Wiktionary
6.
Nature reserve
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Nature reserves may be designated by government institutions in some countries, or by private landowners, such as charities and research institutions, regardless of nationality. Nature reserves fall into different IUCN categories depending on the level of protection afforded by local laws, early reservations often had a religious underpinning, such as the evil forest areas of West Africa which were forbidden to humans, who were threatened with spiritual attack if they went there. Sacred areas taboo from human entry to fishing and hunting are known by ancient cultures worldwide. The worlds first modern nature reserve was established in 1821 by the naturalist and explorer Charles Waterton around his estate in Walton Hall and he spent £9000 on the construction of a 3 mile long,9 ft tall wall to enclose his park from poachers. He tried to encourage birdlife by planting trees and hollowing out trunks for owls to nest in and he also invented artificial nest boxes to house starlings, jackdaws and sand martins and unsuccessfully attempted to introduce little owls from Italy. Drachenfels was protected as the first state-designated nature reserve in modern-day Germany, in Australia, a nature reserve is the title of a type of protected area used in the jurisdictions of the Australian Capital Territory, New South Wales, Tasmania and Western Australia. The term “nature reserve” is defined in the relevant statutes used in those states and territories rather than by a national statute. As of 2014,1767 out of a total of 10339 protected areas listed within the Australian National Reserve System used the term “nature reserve in their names, in Brazil, nature reserves are classified as ecological stations or biological reserves by the National System of Conservation Units. Their main objectives are preserving fauna and flora and other natural attributes, visits are allowed only with permission, and only for educational or scientific purposes. Changes to the ecosystems in both types of reserve are allowed to restore and preserve the balance, biological diversity. Ecological stations are allowed to change the environment within strictly defined limits for the purpose of scientific research. A wildlife reserve in Brazil is also protected, and hunting is not allowed, there are 30 nature reserves in Egypt which cover 12% of Egyptian land. Those nature reserves were built according to the laws no, 102/1983 and 4/1994 for protection of the Egyptian nature reserve. Egypt announced a plan from to build 40 nature reserves from 1997 to 2017, to protect the natural resources. The largest nature reserve in Egypt is Gebel Elba in the southeast, denmark has three national parks and several nature reserves, some of them inside the national park areas. The largest single reserve is Hanstholm Nature Reserve, which covers 40 km2 and is part of Thy National Park, in Sweden there are 29 national parks. The first of them were established in 1909, in fact, Sweden was the first European country that established 9 national parks. There are almost 4,000 nature reserves in Sweden and they comprise about 85% of the surface that is protected by the Swedish Enironmental Code
7.
Israel
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Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in the Middle East, on the southeastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea and the northern shore of the Red Sea. The country contains geographically diverse features within its small area. Israels economy and technology center is Tel Aviv, while its seat of government and proclaimed capital is Jerusalem, in 1947, the United Nations adopted a Partition Plan for Mandatory Palestine recommending the creation of independent Arab and Jewish states and an internationalized Jerusalem. The plan was accepted by the Jewish Agency for Palestine, next year, the Jewish Agency declared the establishment of a Jewish state in Eretz Israel, to be known as the State of Israel. Israel has since fought several wars with neighboring Arab states, in the course of which it has occupied territories including the West Bank, Golan Heights and it extended its laws to the Golan Heights and East Jerusalem, but not the West Bank. Israels occupation of the Palestinian territories is the worlds longest military occupation in modern times, efforts to resolve the Israeli–Palestinian conflict have not resulted in peace. However, peace treaties between Israel and both Egypt and Jordan have successfully been signed, the population of Israel, as defined by the Israel Central Bureau of Statistics, was estimated in 2017 to be 8,671,100 people. It is the worlds only Jewish-majority state, with 74. 8% being designated as Jewish, the countrys second largest group of citizens are Arabs, at 20. 8%. The great majority of Israeli Arabs are Sunni Muslims, including significant numbers of semi-settled Negev Bedouins, other minorities include Arameans, Armenians, Assyrians, Black Hebrew Israelites, Circassians, Maronites and Samaritans. Israel also hosts a significant population of foreign workers and asylum seekers from Africa and Asia, including illegal migrants from Sudan, Eritrea. In its Basic Laws, Israel defines itself as a Jewish, Israel is a representative democracy with a parliamentary system, proportional representation and universal suffrage. The prime minister is head of government and the Knesset is the legislature, Israel is a developed country and an OECD member, with the 35th-largest economy in the world by nominal gross domestic product as of 2016. The country benefits from a skilled workforce and is among the most educated countries in the world with one of the highest percentage of its citizens holding a tertiary education degree. The country has the highest standard of living in the Middle East and the third highest in Asia, in the early weeks of independence, the government chose the term Israeli to denote a citizen of Israel, with the formal announcement made by Minister of Foreign Affairs Moshe Sharett. The names Land of Israel and Children of Israel have historically used to refer to the biblical Kingdom of Israel. The name Israel in these phrases refers to the patriarch Jacob who, jacobs twelve sons became the ancestors of the Israelites, also known as the Twelve Tribes of Israel or Children of Israel. The earliest known artifact to mention the word Israel as a collective is the Merneptah Stele of ancient Egypt. The area is known as the Holy Land, being holy for all Abrahamic religions including Judaism, Christianity, Islam
8.
Masada
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Masada is an ancient fortification in the Southern District of Israel situated on top of an isolated rock plateau, akin to a mesa. It is located on the edge of the Judaean Desert. Herod the Great built palaces for himself on the mountain and fortified Masada between 37 and 31 BCE, Masada is one of Israels most popular tourist attractions. The cliff of Masada is, geologically speaking, a horst, as the cliffs on the east edge of Masada are about 400 m high, and the cliffs on the west are about 90 m high, the natural approaches to the cliff top are very difficult to navigate. The top of the plateau is flat and rhomboid-shaped, about 550 m by 270 m. Three narrow, winding paths led from below up to fortified gates, almost all historical information about Masada comes from the first-century Jewish Roman historian Josephus. Josephus writes that the site was first fortified by Alexander Jannaeus in the first century BCE, Herod the Great captured it in the power struggle that followed the death of his father Antipater. It survived the siege of the last Hasmonean king Antigonus II Mattathias, no Hasmonean-period building remains could be identified during archaeological excavations at Masada. According to Josephus, between 37 and 31 BCE, Herod the Great built a fortress on the plateau as a refuge for himself in the event of a revolt. In 66 CE, a group of Jewish rebels, the Sicarii, after the destruction of the Second Temple in 70 CE, additional members of the Sicarii fled Jerusalem and settled on the mountaintop after slaughtering the Roman garrison. According to Josephus, the Sicarii were an extremist Jewish splinter group antagonistic to a grouping of Jews referred to as the Zealots. Josephus said that the Sicarii raided nearby Jewish villages including Ein Gedi, in 73 CE, the Roman governor of Iudaea, Lucius Flavius Silva, headed the Roman legion X Fretensis and laid siege to Masada. The Roman legion surrounded Masada, built a wall and then a siege ramp against the western face of the plateau. According to Dan Gill, geological investigations in the early 1990s confirmed earlier observations that the 114 m high assault ramp consisted mostly of a spur of bedrock. The ramp was complete in the spring of 73, after two to three months of siege, allowing the Romans to finally breach the wall of the fortress with a battering ram on April 16. The Romans employed the X Legion and a number of units and Jewish prisoners of war, totaling some 15,000. A giant siege tower with a ram was constructed and moved laboriously up the completed ramp. Originally, Jewish rebels on top of Masada threw stones at those building and constructing the ramp, to counter this tactic, the Romans put captured Jewish prisoners from previously conquered towns to work at the ramp
9.
Qumran Caves
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Qumran Caves are a series of caves, some natural, some artificial, found around the archaeological site of Qumran in the Judaean Desert of the West Bank. It is in a number of caves that the Dead Sea Scrolls were discovered. The caves are recognized in Israel as a National Heritage Site, the limestone cliffs above Qumran contain numerous caves that have been used over the millennia, the first traces of occupation are from the Chalcolithic period then onward to the Arab period. The artificial caves relate to the period of the settlement at Qumran and were cut into the bluffs of the terrace on which Qumran sits. In early 1947, a Bedouin boy of the Taamireh tribe, Muhammid Ahmed el-Hamed called edh-Dhib and he stumbled onto the first cave containing scrolls from two thousand years ago. More Taamireh visited the cave and scrolls were taken back to their encampment and they were shown to Mar Samuel of the Monastery of Saint Mark in April 1947 and the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls was made known. The location of the cave was not revealed for another 18 months, in the Qumran area another cave was discovered, now referred to as Cave 2Q, in February 1952. However, only a few fragments were found in the cave, 4Q was discovered in September 1952 by the Taamireh. De Vaux, on being offered a vast amount of fragments and these were Caves 4Q, 5Q, and 6Q, the most important of which was 4Q which originally contained around three-quarters of all the scrolls found in the immediate Qumran area. The first two of these caves had been cut into the marl terrace, the third was at the entrance to the Qumran Gorge just below the aqueduct. The last cave containing scrolls to be found, once again by the Taamireh, was 11Q, among its contents was the Temple Scroll, though it had been spirited away and its recovery was to prove long and complex. In February 2017, the discovery of cave 12Q was announced, the contents of which included storage jars and scroll fragments, iron pickaxe heads from the 1950s were also found, which indicate looting had occurred. In addition, archaeologists discovered pottery, flint blades, arrowheads, and a carnelian seal that date to the Chalcolithic and Neolithic periods. In all there are ten marl cut caves in the vicinity of Qumran, 4Qa, 4Qb, 5Q, 7Q, 8Q, 9Q, 10Q, an oval cave west of 5Q. Their location necessitates a direct connection with the Qumran settlement, the three caves at the end of the esplanade could only be accessed via the settlement. These caves are thought to have been cut for storage and habitation, marl is a soft stone and makes excavation relatively easy, but as seen with Caves 7Q - 9Q they havent survived well. 4Q, which is now visible from the Qumran esplanade, is two caves, one adjacent to the other. De Vaux referred to them as 4a and 4b, when the Taamireh removed all the fragments they could before Hardings arrival, there was no way to tell which scrolls belonged to which cave, so they were later all catalogued simply as from 4Q
10.
Pre-Pottery Neolithic A
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Pre-Pottery Neolithic A denotes the first stage in early Levantine and Anatolian Neolithic culture, dating c. 11,500 – c. 10,000 BP. Archaeological remains are located in the Levantine and Upper Mesopotamian region of the Fertile Crescent, the Pre-Pottery Neolithic A and the following Pre-Pottery Neolithic B were originally defined by Kathleen Kenyon in the type site of Jericho. During this time, pottery was not yet in use, PPNA succeeds the Natufian culture of the Epipaleolithic. PPNA archaeological sites are larger than those of the preceding Natufian hunter-gatherer culture. PPNA settlements are characterized by round, semi-subterranean houses with stone foundations, the upper walls were constructed of unbaked clay mudbricks with plano-convex cross-sections. The hearths were small, and covered with cobbles, heated rocks were used in cooking, which led to an accumulation of fire-cracked rock in the buildings, and almost every settlement contained storage bins made of either stones or mud-brick. One of the most notable PPNA settlements is Jericho, thought to be the worlds first town, the PPNA town contained a population of up to 2, 000–3,000 people, and was protected by a massive stone wall and tower. There is much debate over the function of the wall, for there is no evidence of any serious warfare at this time, one possibility is the wall was built to protect the salt resources of Jericho. PPNA cultures are unique for their practices, and Kenyon characterized them as living with their dead. Kenyon found no fewer than 279 burials, below floors, under household foundations, in the PPNB period, skulls were often dug up and reburied, or mottled with clay and displayed. The lithic industry is based on blades struck from regular cores, sickle-blades and arrowheads continue traditions from the late Natufian culture, transverse-blow axes and polished adzes appear for the first time. Sedentism of this allowed for the cultivation of local grains, such as barley and wild oats. Sites such as Dhra′ and Jericho retained a hunting lifestyle until the PPNB period and this period of cultivation is considered pre-domestication, but may have begun to develop plant species into the domesticated forms they are today. Deliberate, extended-period storage was possible by the use of suspended floors for air circulation and protection from rodents. This practice precedes the emergence of domestication and large-scale sedentary communities by at least 1,000 years, granaries are positioned in places between other buildings early on c. 11,500 BP. However, beginning around 10,500 BP, they were moved inside houses and this change might reflect changing systems of ownership and property as granaries shifted from a communal use and ownership to become under the control of households or individuals. Moreover, uilding granaries may have been the most important feature in increasing sedentism that required active community participation in new life-ways. With more sites becoming known, archaeologists have defined a number of variants, Sultanian in the Jordan River valley
11.
Stone tool
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A stone tool is, in the most general sense, any tool made either partially or entirely out of stone. Although stone tool-dependent societies and cultures still exist today, most stone tools are associated with prehistoric, archaeologists often study such prehistoric societies, and refer to the study of stone tools as lithic analysis. Ethnoarchaeology has been a research field in order to further the understanding and cultural implications of stone tool use. Stone has been used to make a variety of different tools throughout history, including arrow heads, spearpoints. Stone tools may be made of ground stone or chipped stone. Chipped stone tools are made from materials such as chert or flint, radiolarite, chalcedony, obsidian, basalt. One simple form of reduction is to strike stone flakes from a nucleus of material using a hammerstone or similar hard hammer fabricator, if the goal of the reduction strategy is to produce flakes, the remnant lithic core may be discarded once it has become too small to use. In some strategies, however, a flintknapper reduces the core to a rough unifacial or bifacial preform, more complex forms of reduction include the production of highly standardized blades, which can then be fashioned into a variety of tools such as scrapers, knives, sickles and microliths. Archaeologists classify stone tools into industries that share distinctive technological or morphological characteristics and he assigned to them relative dates, Modes 1 and 2 to the Lower Palaeolithic,3 to the Middle Palaeolithic,4 to the Advanced and 5 to the Mesolithic. They were not to be conceived, however, as either universal—that is, they did not account for all lithic technology, Mode 1, for example, was in use in Europe long after it had been replaced by Mode 2 in Africa. Clarkes scheme was adopted enthusiastically by the archaeological community, one of its advantages was the simplicity of terminology, for example, the Mode 1 / Mode 2 Transition. The transitions are currently of greatest interest, Kenya Stone tools found from 2011 to 2014 at Lake Turkana in Kenya, are dated to be 3.3 million years old, and predate the genus Homo by half million years. The oldest known Homo fossil is 2.8 million years old compared to the 3.3 million year old stone tools. Dating of the tools was by dating volcanic ash layers in which the tools were found, Oldowan tools were characterised by their simple construction, predominantly using core forms. The blunt end is the surface, the sharp, the distal. Grasping the proximal surface, the hominid brought the surface down hard on an object he wished to detach or shatter. The earliest known Oldowan tools yet found date from 2.6 million years ago, during the Lower Palaeolithic period, and have been uncovered at Gona in Ethiopia. Homo habilis was the hominin who used the tools for most of the Oldowan in Africa, eventually, more complex, Mode 2 tools began to be developed through the Acheulean Industry, named after the site of Saint-Acheul in France
12.
Tell (archaeology)
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In archaeology, a tell or tel is an artificial mound formed from the accumulated remains of people living on the same site for hundreds or thousands of years. A classic tell looks like a low, truncated cone with a top and sloping sides. Tells are most commonly associated with the archaeology of the ancient Near East, within the Near East, they are concentrated in less arid regions, including Upper Mesopotamia, the Southern Levant, Anatolia and Iran. A tell is a hill created by many generations of people living and rebuilding on the same spot. Over time, the level rises, forming a mound, the single biggest contributor to the mass of a tell are mud bricks, which disintegrate rapidly. Excavating a tell can reveal buried structures such as government or military buildings, religious shrines and homes and they often overlap horizontally, vertically, or both. Archaeologists excavate tell sites to interpret architecture, purpose, and date of occupation, Edinburgh, Edinburgh University Press – via Internet Archive
13.
Hebrew
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Hebrew is a language native to Israel, spoken by over 9 million people worldwide, of whom over 5 million are in Israel. Historically, it is regarded as the language of the Israelites and their ancestors, the earliest examples of written Paleo-Hebrew date from the 10th century BCE. Hebrew belongs to the West Semitic branch of the Afroasiatic language family, Hebrew is the only living Canaanite language left, and the only truly successful example of a revived dead language. Hebrew had ceased to be a spoken language somewhere between 200 and 400 CE, declining since the aftermath of the Bar Kokhba revolt. Aramaic and to a lesser extent Greek were already in use as international languages, especially among elites and it survived into the medieval period as the language of Jewish liturgy, rabbinic literature, intra-Jewish commerce, and poetry. Then, in the 19th century, it was revived as a spoken and literary language, and, according to Ethnologue, had become, as of 1998, the language of 5 million people worldwide. After Israel, the United States has the second largest Hebrew-speaking population, with 220,000 fluent speakers, Modern Hebrew is one of the two official languages of the State of Israel, while premodern Hebrew is used for prayer or study in Jewish communities around the world today. Ancient Hebrew is also the tongue of the Samaritans, while modern Hebrew or Arabic is their vernacular. For this reason, Hebrew has been referred to by Jews as Leshon Hakodesh, the modern word Hebrew is derived from the word Ivri, one of several names for the Israelite people. It is traditionally understood to be a based on the name of Abrahams ancestor, Eber. This name is based upon the root ʕ-b-r meaning to cross over. Interpretations of the term ʕibrim link it to this verb, cross over, in the Bible, the Hebrew language is called Yәhudit because Judah was the surviving kingdom at the time of the quotation. In Isaiah 19,18 it is called the Language of Canaan, Hebrew belongs to the Canaanite group of languages. In turn, the Canaanite languages are a branch of the Northwest Semitic family of languages, according to Avraham ben-Yosef, Hebrew flourished as a spoken language in the Kingdoms of Israel and Judah during about 1200 to 586 BCE. Scholars debate the degree to which Hebrew was a vernacular in ancient times following the Babylonian exile. In July 2008 Israeli archaeologist Yossi Garfinkel discovered a ceramic shard at Khirbet Qeiyafa which he claimed may be the earliest Hebrew writing yet discovered, dating around 3000 years ago. The Gezer calendar also dates back to the 10th century BCE at the beginning of the Monarchic Period, classified as Archaic Biblical Hebrew, the calendar presents a list of seasons and related agricultural activities. The Gezer calendar is written in an old Semitic script, akin to the Phoenician one that through the Greeks, the Gezer calendar is written without any vowels, and it does not use consonants to imply vowels even in the places where later Hebrew spelling requires it
14.
Kingdom of Judah
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The Kingdom of Judah was an Iron Age kingdom of the Southern Levant. The Hebrew Bible depicts it as the successor to a United Monarchy, in the 10th and early 9th centuries BCE the territory of Judah appears to have been sparsely populated, limited to small rural settlements, most of them unfortified. Significant academic debate exists around the character of the Kingdom of Judah, archaeologists of the minimalist school doubt the extent of the Kingdom of Judah as depicted in the Bible. Around 1990–2010, an important group of archaeologists and biblical scholars formed the view that the actual Kingdom of Judah bore little resemblance to the portrait of a powerful monarchy. These scholars say the kingdom was no more than a tribal entity. Other archaeologists say that the identification of Khirbet Qeiyafa as an Israelite settlement is uncertain, the status of Jerusalem in the 10th century BCE is a major subject of debate. The oldest part of Jerusalem and its urban core is the City of David. However, unique structures such as the Stepped Stone Structure and the Large Stone Structure. According to the Hebrew Bible, the kingdom of Judah resulted from the break-up of the United kingdom of Israel after the tribes refused to accept Rehoboam. At first, only the tribe of Judah remained loyal to the house of David, the two kingdoms, Judah in the south and Israel in the north, coexisted uneasily after the split until the destruction of the Kingdom of Israel by Assyria in c. 722/721. The major theme of the Hebrew Bibles narrative is the loyalty of Judah, and especially its kings, to Yahweh, which it states is the God of Israel. Accordingly, all the kings of Israel and almost all the kings of Judah were bad, which in terms of Biblical narrative means that they failed to enforce monotheism. Of the good kings, Hezekiah is noted for his efforts at stamping out idolatry, for the first sixty years, the kings of Judah tried to re-establish their authority over the northern kingdom, and there was perpetual war between them. Israel and Judah were in a state of war throughout Rehoboams seventeen-year reign, Rehoboam built elaborate defenses and strongholds, along with fortified cities. In the fifth year of Rehoboams reign, Shishak, pharaoh of Egypt, brought a huge army, in the sack of Jerusalem, Rehoboam gave them all of the treasures out of the temple as a tribute and Judah became a vassal state of Egypt. Rehoboams son and successor, Abijah of Judah continued his fathers efforts to bring Israel under his control and he fought the Battle of Mount Zemaraim against Jeroboam of Israel and was victorious with a heavy loss of life on the Israel side. The Bible does not state whether Zerah was a pharaoh or a general of the army, the Ethiopians were pursued all the way to Gerar, in the coastal plain, where they stopped out of sheer exhaustion. The resulting peace kept Judah free from Egyptian incursions until the time of Josiah some centuries later, in his 36th year, Asa was confronted by Baasha of Israel, who built a fortress at Ramah on the border, less than ten miles from Jerusalem
15.
Neo-Babylonian Empire
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The Neo-Babylonian Empire, also known as the Chaldean Empire, was a period of Mesopotamian history which began in 626 BC and ended in 539 BC. During the preceding three centuries, Babylonia had been ruled by their fellow Akkadian speakers and northern neighbours, Assyria, a year after the death of the last strong Assyrian ruler, Assurbanipal, in 627 BC, the Assyrian empire spiralled into a series of brutal civil wars. Babylonia rebelled under Nabopolassar, a member of the Chaldean tribe which had migrated from the Levant to south eastern Babylonia in the early 9th century BC. This period witnessed an improvement in economic life and agricultural production, and a great flourishing of architectural projects. The Neo-Babylonian period ended with the reign of Nabonidus in 539 BC, to the east, the Persians had been growing in strength, and eventually Cyrus the Great conquered the empire. Babylonia was subject to and dominated by Assyria during the Neo-Assyrian period, the Assyrians of Upper Mesopotamia had usually been able to pacify their southern relations through military might, installing puppet kings, or granting increased privileges. Even though Aramaic had become the everyday tongue, Akkadian was retained as the language of administration, archaic expressions from 1500 years earlier were reintroduced in Akkadian inscriptions, along with words in the long-unspoken Sumerian language. Neo-Babylonian cuneiform script was modified to make it look like the old 3rd-millennium BC script of Akkad. Ancient artworks from the heyday of Babylonias imperial glory were treated with reverence and were painstakingly preserved. For example, when a statue of Sargon the Great was found during work, a temple was built for it. The story is told of how Nebuchadnezzar, in his efforts to restore the Temple at Sippar, had to make repeated excavations until he found the foundation deposit of Naram-Sin of Akkad, the discovery then allowed him to rebuild the temple properly. Neo-Babylonians also revived the ancient Sargonid practice of appointing a royal daughter to serve as priestess of the moon-god Sin, much more is known about Mesopotamian culture and economic life under the Neo-Babylonians than about the structure and mechanics of imperial administration. It is clear that for southern Mesopotamia, the Neo-Babylonian period was a renaissance, large tracts of land were opened to cultivation. Peace and imperial power made available to expand the irrigation systems. The Babylonian countryside was dominated by large estates, which were given to government officials as a form of pay, the estates were usually managed by local entrepreneurs, who took a cut of the profits. Rural folk were bound to these estates, providing both labour and rents to their landowners, urban life flourished under the Neo-Babylonians. Cities had local autonomy and received privileges from the kings. Centered on their temples, the cities had their own law courts, free laborers like craftsmen enjoyed high status and a sort of guild system came into existence, which gave them collective bargaining power
16.
Siege of Jerusalem (587 BC)
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In 589 BC, Nebuchadnezzar II laid siege to Jerusalem, culminating in the destruction of the city and its temple in the summer of 587 BC. Following the siege of 597 BC, the Neo-Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar installed Zedekiah as tributary king of Judah, however, Zedekiah revolted against Babylon, and entered into an alliance with Pharaoh Hophra, the king of Egypt. Nebuchadnezzar responded by invading Judah and began a siege of Jerusalem in December 589 BC, during this siege, the duration of which was either 18 or 30 months, every worst woe befell the city, which drank the cup of Gods fury to the dregs. In 586 BC, after completion of the year of Zedekiahs reign, Nebuchadnezzar broke through Jerusalems walls. Zedekiah and his followers attempted to escape but were captured on the plains of Jericho, there, after seeing his sons killed, Zedekiah was blinded, bound, and taken captive to Babylon, where he remained a prisoner until his death. After the fall of Jerusalem, The Babylonian general, Nebuzaraddan, was sent to complete its destruction, Jerusalem was plundered, and Solomons Temple was destroyed. Most of the elite were taken into captivity in Babylon, the city was razed to the ground. Only a few people were permitted to remain to tend to the land, gedaliah was made governor of the remnant of Judah, the Yehud Province, with a Chaldean guard stationed at Mizpah. On hearing this news, the Jews who were in Moab, Ammon, Edom, gedaliah was assassinated two months later, and the population that had remained and those who had returned then fled to Egypt for safety. In Egypt, they settled in Migdol, Tahpanhes, Noph, the Babylonian Chronicles, published in 1956, indicate that Nebuchadnezzar captured Jerusalem the first time putting an end to the reign of Jehoaichin, on 2 Adar 597 BC. There has been debate as to when the second siege of Jerusalem took place. Thieles reckoning is based on the presentation of Zedekiahs reign on an accession basis, which was occasionally used for the kings of Judah. In that case, the year that Zedekiah came to the throne would be his year, his first full year would be 597/596 BC, and his eleventh year. Since Judahs regnal years were counted from Tishri in autumn, that would place the end of his reign, a timeline for the final siege of Jerusalem is shown in the table below. Dates are taken from the 2011 From Abraham to Paul, A Biblical Chronology, a book by Andrew E. Steinnman
17.
Moabites
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Moab is the historical name for a mountainous tract of land in Jordan. The land lies alongside much of the shore of the Dead Sea. The existence of the Kingdom of Moab is attested to by numerous archaeological findings, most notably the Mesha Stele, according to the Hebrew Bible, Moab was often in conflict with its Israelite neighbours to the west. Moab occupied a plateau about 3,000 feet above the level of the Mediterranean, or 4,300 feet above the Dead Sea, the northern boundary varied, but generally is represented by a line drawn some miles above the northern extremity of the Dead Sea. In Ezekiel 25,9 the boundaries are given as being marked by Beth-jeshimoth, Baal-meon, the principal rivers of Moab mentioned in the Bible are the Arnon, the Dimon or Dibon, and the Nimrim. The limestone hills which form the almost treeless plateau are generally steep, in the spring they are covered with grass and the table-land itself produces grain. In the north are a number of long, deep ravines, the rainfall is fairly plentiful and the climate, despite the hot summer, is cooler than the area west of the Jordan river, snow falling frequently in winter and in spring. The plateau is dotted with hundreds of dolmens, menhirs, and stone circles, the land is now occupied chiefly by Bedouin, though it contains such towns as al-Karak. The country of Moab was the source of natural resources, including limestone, salt. The Moabites occupied a place along the Kings Highway, the ancient trade route connecting Egypt with Mesopotamia, Syria. Like the Edomites and Ammonites, trade along this route gave them considerable revenue, the Moabites likely settled in the Transjordanian highlands. Whether they were among the nations referred to in the Egyptian language as Shutu or Shasu is a matter of debate among scholars. According to the account, Moab and Ammon were born to Lot and Lots elder and younger daughters, respectively, in the aftermath of the destruction of Sodom. The Bible refers to both the Moabites and Ammonites as Lots sons, born of incest with his daughters and these Amorites, described in the Bible as being ruled by King Sihon, confined the Moabites to the country south of the river Arnon, which formed their northern boundary. God renewed his covenant with the Israelites at Moab before the Israelites entered the promised land, Moses died there, prevented by God from entering the promised land. He was buried in a location in Moab and the Israelites spent a period of thirty days there in mourning. According to the Book of Judges, the Israelites did not pass through the land of the Moabites, after the conquest of Canaan the relations of Moab with Israel were of a mixed character, sometimes warlike and sometimes peaceable. With the tribe of Benjamin they had at least one severe struggle, in union with their kindred the Ammonites and the Amalekites
18.
Ammon
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Ammon was an Iron Age Semitic-speaking nation occupying the east of the Jordan River, between the torrent valleys of Arnon and Jabbok, in present-day Jordan. The chief city of the country was Rabbah or Rabbath Ammon, site of the city of Amman. Milcom and Molech are named in the Hebrew Bible as the gods of Ammon, the people of this kingdom are called Children of Ammon or Ammonites. The first mention of the Ammonites in the Bible is in Genesis 19 and it is stated there that they descended from Ben-Ammi, a son of Lot through incest with his younger daughter. Bénámmî, literally son of my people. After the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, the daughters of Lot had sexual relations with their father, resulting in Ammon and his brother, Moab, being conceived. The Ammonites settled to the east of the Jordan, invading the Rephaim lands east of Jordan and their territory originally comprising all from the Jordan to the wilderness, and from the River Jabbok south to the River Arnon. It was accounted a land of giants, and that formerly dwelt in it. Shortly before the Israelite Exodus, the Amorites west of Jordan, under King Sihon, invaded and occupied a portion of the territory of Moab. The Ammonites were driven from the lands near the Jordan and retreated to the mountains. The invasion of the Amorites created a wedge and separated the two kingdoms of Ammon and Moab, throughout the Bible, the Ammonites and Israelites are portrayed as mutual antagonists. During the Exodus, the Israelites were prohibited by the Ammonites from passing through their lands, the Ammonites soon allied themselves with Eglon of Moab in attacking Israel. The Ammonites maintained their claim to part of Transjordan, after it was occupied by the Israelites who obtained it from Sihon, during the days of Jephthah, the Ammonites occupied the lands east of the River Jordan and started to invade Israelite lands west of the river. Jephthah became the leader in resisting these incursions, the constant harassment of the Israelite communities east of the Jordan by the Ammonites was the impetus behind the unification of the tribes under Saul. King Nahash of Ammon lay siege to Jabesh-Gilead, eventually this led to an alliance with Saul and The Israelites, led by Saul relieved the siege and defeated the Ammonite king, eventually resulting in the formation of the Israelite Kingdom. During the reign of King David, the Ammonites humiliated Davids messengers and this eventually ended in a war and a year-long siege of Rabbah, the capital of Ammon. The war ended all the Ammonite cities being conquered and plundered. The Ammonites, Moabites and Meunim formed a coalition against Jehoshaphat of Judah, the coalition later was thrown to confusion, with the armies slaughtering one another
19.
Josaphat (king)
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Jehoshaphat is a Biblical name which refers to several characters in the Hebrew Bible, The first, Jehoshaphat the Recorder, son of Ahilud, is a scribe who first appears in 2 Samuel. Jehoshaphat, son of Paruah, in Issachar, appears in 1 Kings 4,17, Jehoshaphat, son of Asa, first appears in 1 Kings 15,24 as a King of Judah. This article concerns Jehoshaphat, the King of Judah, as described in the Bible, according to 1 Kings 15,24, Jehoshaphat, son of Asa, was the fourth king of the Kingdom of Judah, and successor to his father. His children included Jehoram, who succeeded him as king, historically, his name has sometimes been connected with the Valley of Josaphat. Jehoshaphat ascended the throne at the age of thirty-five and reigned for twenty-five years and he spent the first years of his reign fortifying his kingdom against the Kingdom of Israel. His zeal in suppressing the worship of the high places is commended in 2 Chronicles 17,6. In the third year of his reign Jehoshaphat sent out priests and Levites over the land to instruct the people in the Law, Jehoshaphat also pursued alliances with the northern kingdom. Jehoshaphats son Jehoram married Ahabs daughter Athaliah, in the eighteenth year of his reign Jehosaphat visited Ahab in Samaria, and nearly lost his life accompanying his ally to the siege of Ramoth-Gilead. While Jehoshaphat safely returned from battle, he was reproached by the prophet Jehu, son of Hanani. We are told that Jehoshaphat repented, and returned to his course of opposition to all idolatry. The alliance between Israel and Judah for trade of gold with Ophir differs in the Deuteronomistic Historians account, according to the Deuteronomist, Jehoshapat refused the offer, most likely, in order to retain profits for his kingdom. He subsequently joined Jehoram of Israel, in a war against the Moabites, who were under tribute to Israel. The Moabites were subdued, but seeing Meshas act of offering his own son as a sacrifice on the walls of Kir of Moab filled Jehoshaphat with horror. According to Chronicles, the Moabites formed a great and powerful confederacy with the surrounding nations, the allied forces were encamped at Ein Gedi. The king and his people were filled with alarm, the king prayed in the court of the Temple, O our God, will you not judge them. For we have no power to face this vast army that is attacking us and we do not know what to do, but our eyes are upon you. The voice of Jahaziel the Levite was heard announcing that the day all this great host would be overthrown. So it was, for they quarreled among themselves, and slew one another, soon after this victory Jehoshaphat died after a reign of twenty-five years at the age of sixty
20.
Amorites
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The term Amurru in Akkadian and Sumerian texts refers to them, as well as to their principal deity. The ethnic terms Mar. tu, Amurru and Amar were used for them in Sumerian, Akkadian, from the 21st century BC, possibly triggered by a long major drought starting about 2200 BC, a large-scale migration of Amorite tribes infiltrated southern Mesopotamia. Known Amorites wrote in a dialect of Akkadian found on tablets at Mari dating from 1800–1750 BC, since the language shows northwest Semitic forms, words and constructions, the Amorite language is a Northwest Semitic language, and possibly one of the Canaanite languages. The main sources for the limited knowledge about Amorite are the proper names, not Akkadian in style. The Akkadian language of the native Semitic states, cities and polities of Mesopotamia, was from the east Semitic, in the earliest Sumerian language texts, all western lands beyond the Euphrates, including the modern Levant, were known as the land of the mar. tu. This term appears in Enmerkar and the Lord of Aratta, which describes it in the time of Enmerkar as one of the inhabited by speakers of a different language. Another text known as Lugalbanda and the Anzud bird describes how, fifty years into Enmerkars reign, for the Akkadian kings of central Mesopotamia Mar. tu was one of the Four Quarters surrounding Akkad, along with Subartu/Assyria, Sumer, and Elam. Naram-Sin of Akkad records successful campaigns against them in northern Syria c.2240 BC and these Amorites appear as nomadic clans ruled by fierce tribal chiefs, who forced themselves into lands they needed to graze their herds. TU who know no grain. The MAR. TU who know no house nor town, the boors of the mountains, the MAR. TU who digs up truffles. Elsewhere, the armies of Elam in southern Iran were attacking and weakening the empire, many Amorite chieftains in southern Mesopotamia aggressively took advantage of the failing empire to seize power for themselves. Leaders with Amorite names assumed power in various places, usurping native Akkadian rulers, including in Isin, Eshnunna, Babylon, hitherto a small, politically and military unimportant town was raised to the status of a minor independent city state under Sumu-abum in 1894 BC. The Elamites finally sacked Ur in c.2004 BC, some time later, the Old Assyrian Empire became the most powerful entity in Mesopotamia immediately preceding the rise of the Amorite king Hammurabi of Babylon. There is a range of views regarding the Amorite homeland. One extreme is the view that kur mar. tu/māt amurrim covered the area between the Euphrates and the Mediterranean Sea, the Arabian Peninsula included. The other extreme is the view that the “homeland” of the Amorites was an area in northern Syria. The rise of the Amorite kingdoms in Mesopotamia brought about deep and lasting repercussions in its political, social, the division into kingdoms replaced the Babylonian city-states in southern Mesopotamia. Men, land, and cattle ceased to belong physically to the gods or to the temples, the priest assumed the service of the gods, and cared for the welfare of his subjects, but the economic life of the country was no longer exclusively in their hands. The religious, ethical, technological, scientific and artistic directions in which Mesopotamia had been developing since the fourth millennium BC were not greatly affected by the Amorites hegemony
21.
Battle of Siddim
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The Vale of Siddim was the battleground for the cities of the Jordan River plain revolting against Mesopotamian rule. Whether this event occurred in history has been disputed by scholars, according to Ronald Hendel, The current consensus is that there is little or no historical memory of pre-Israelite events in Genesis. According to the account, before the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. After thirteen years, four kings of the cities of the Jordan plain revolted against Chedorlaomers rule, in response, Chedorlaomer and three other kings started a campaign against King Bera of Sodom and four other allied kings. The Vale of Siddim or Valley of Siddim is a place name mentioned in the Book of Genesis Chapter 14. Siddim is thought to be located on the end of the Dead Sea where modern bitumen deposits have been found in respect to the tar pits mentioned in Genesis 14,10. This scripture indicates that the valley was filled with many of these pits that the armies of Sodom and Gomorrah fell into during their retreat from Mesopotamian forces. It has been suggested by theologians that the destruction of the cities of the Jordan Plain by divine fire and brimstone may have caused Siddim to become a salt sea, what is now the Dead Sea. The Northern forces overwhelmed the Southern kings of the Jordan plain and those who escaped fled to the mountains, including the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah. The cities of Sodom and Gomorrah were then spoiled of their goods and provisions, among the captives was Abrahams nephew, Lot. When word reached Abraham, he mounted a rescue operation, arming 318 of his trained servants. They caught up with them in the city of Dan, flanking the enemy on multiple sides during a night raid, the attack ran its course as far as Hobah, north of Damascus, where he defeated Chedorlaomer and his forces. Abram recovered all the goods, even the captives, after the battle, Melchizedek, king of Salem, brought out bread and wine and blessed Abraham, who gave him a tenth of the plunder. Then Bera, king of Sodom, came to Abraham and thanked him, requesting that Abraham keep the plunder, Abraham declined, saying, I swore I would never take anything from you, so you can never say I have made Abraham rich. What Abraham accepted from Bera instead was food for his 318 men, Amraphel has been thought by some scholars such as the writers of the Catholic Encyclopedia and the Jewish Encyclopaedia to be an alternate name of the famed Hammurabi. The name is associated with Ibal-pi-el II of Esnunna. Arioch has been thought to have been a king of Larsa and it has also been suggested that it is URU KI, meaning this place here. However, no mention of an individual named Kudur Lagamar has yet been found, david Rohl identifies Chedorlaomer with an Elamite king named Kutir-Lagamar
22.
Tribe of Judah
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According to the Hebrew Bible, the Tribe of Judah was one of the twelve Tribes of Israel. According to the account in the Book of Joshua, following a partial conquest of Canaan by the Israelite tribes, Joshua allocated the land among the twelve tribes. Judahs divinely ordained portion is described in Joshua 15 as encompassing most of the portion of the Land of Israel, including the Negev. However, the consensus of scholars is that the conquest of Joshua as described in the Book of Joshua never occurred. According to the narrative in the Book of Judges, the tribe of Judah invited the tribe of Simeon to fight them in alliance to secure each of their allotted territories. As is the case with Joshua, many scholars do not believe that the book of Judges contains reliable history. In Samuels account, after the death of Saul, all the other than Judah remained loyal to the House of Saul. The Book of Kings follows the expansion and unparalleled glory of the United Monarchy under King Solomon, a majority of scholars believe that the accounts concerning David and Solomons territory in the united monarchy are exaggerated, and a minority believe that the united monarchy never existed at all. The tribes of Judah and Benjamin remained loyal to the House of David and these tribes formed the Kingdom of Judah, which existed until Judah was conquered by Babylon in c.586 BCE and the population deported. When the Jews returned from Babylonian exile, residual tribal affiliations were abandoned, bethlehem and Hebron were initially the main cities within the territory of the tribe. In biblical times, this region was subdivided into three sections – the wilderness of En Gedi, the wilderness of Judah, and the wilderness of Maon. The hill country – the elevated plateau situated between the Shephelah and the wilderness, with rocky slopes but very fertile soil and this region was used for the production of grain, olives, grapes, and other fruit, and hence produced oil and wine. According to the Torah, the tribe consisted of descendants of Judah, some Biblical scholars view this as an etiological myth created in hindsight to explain the tribes name and connect it to the other tribes in the Israelite confederation. With Leah as a matriarch, Biblical scholars regard the tribe as having been believed by the authors to have been part of the original Israelite confederation. As depicted by the Deuteronomists and post-exilic writers, the tribe of Judah was the tribe of the Kingdom of Judah. David and the line belonged to the tribe, and the line continued after the fall of the Kingdom of Judah in the Exilarchs. The traditional Jewish belief was that the Messiah would be of the Davidic line, indeed, many of the Jewish leaders and prophets of the Hebrew Bible claimed membership in the tribe of Judah. For example, the literary prophets Isaiah, Amos, Habakkuk, Joel, Micah, Obadiah, Zechariah, and Zephaniah, all belonged to the tribe
23.
Beit HaArava
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Beit HaArava is an Israeli settlement and kibbutz in the West Bank. Located near the Dead Sea and Jericho at the eponymous Beit HaArava Junction, in 2015 it had a population of 159. The international community considers Israeli settlements in the West Bank illegal under international law, the village was originally established in 1939 by European members of Zionist youth movements who had fled Nazi Germany to Mandatory Palestine via Youth Aliyah. David Coren, later a member of the Knesset, was also amongst the founders and it was named after the biblical village of the same name, located in the Arabah plain, and means House in the Desert. According to the Jewish National Fund, the Kibbutz became famous for its experiments in land reclamation, in 1947, Beit HaArava had a population of over 200. The residents of the evacuated to the Israeli post at Sodom. Its members were temporarily housed in kibbutz Shefayim, and ultimately split into two groups which in 1949 founded the kibbutzim of Gesher HaZiv and Kabri in the Western Galilee. In 1980, Beit HaArava was re-established as a Nahal outpost and it became a civilian community in 1986. In 2000, the site of village moved 5 kilometres westwards, today Beit HaArava has 40 families,30 of them members of the kibbutz, numbering approximately 150 people. The worlds largest operating solar pond for electricity generation was the Beit HaArava pond, the pond had an area of 210,000 m² and produced an electrical output of 5 MW
24.
Saul
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Saul, according to the Hebrew Bible, was the first king of the Kingdom of Israel and Judah. His reign, traditionally placed in the late 11th century BCE, Sauls life and reign are described in the Hebrew Bible. He was anointed by the prophet Samuel and reigned from Gibeah and he fell on his sword to avoid capture in the battle against the Philistines at Mount Gilboa, during which three of his sons were also killed. The succession to his throne was contested by Ish-bosheth, his surviving son, and his son-in-law David. A similar yet different account of Sauls life may be given in the Quran, according to the New Testament account, Saul reigned for a period of forty years. The Biblical accounts of Sauls life are found in the Books of Samuel, the narrative contains various internal inconsistencies, to the point that his biography is often embarrassingly confusing. According to the Tanakh, Saul was the son of Kish, of the family of the Matrites, and it appears that he came from Gibeah. Saul married Ahinoam, daughter of Ahimaaz and they had four sons and two daughters. The sons were Jonathan, Abinadab, Malchishua and Ish-bosheth and their daughters were named Merab and Michal. Saul also had a concubine named Rizpah, daughter of Aiah, Saul died at the Battle of Mount Gilboa, and was buried in Zelah, in the region of Benjamin. Three of Sauls sons – Jonathan, and Abinadab, and Malchishua – died with him at Mount Gilboa, Ish-bosheth became king of Israel, at the age of forty. At Davids request Abner had Michal returned to David, Ish-bosheth reigned for two years, but after the death of Abner, was killed by two of his own captains. Armoni and Mephibosheth were given by David along with the five sons of Merab to the Gibeonites, the only male descendant of Saul to survive was Mephibosheth, Jonathans lame son, who had been five when his father and grandfather Saul had died in battle. In time, he came under the protection of David, Mephibosheth had a young son, Micah, who had four sons and descendants named until the ninth generation. The Books of Samuel give three differing accounts of Sauls rise to the throne, Saul is sent with a servant to look for his fathers strayed donkeys. Leaving his home at Gibeah, they arrive at the district of Zuph. Sauls servant tells him that they happen to be near the town of Ramah, where a famous seer is located, the seer offers hospitality to Saul and later anoints him in private. A popular movement having arisen to establish a centralized monarchy like other nations, after having been chosen as monarch, Saul returns to his home in Gibeah, along with a number of followers
25.
David
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David was, according to the Hebrew Bible, the second king of the United Kingdom of Israel and Judah, reigning in c. He is described as a man after Gods own heart in 1 Samuel 13,14 and Acts 13,22. The Hebrew prophets regarded him as the ancestor of the future messiah, the New Testament says he was an ancestor of Jesus. God is angered when Saul, Israels king, unlawfully offers a sacrifice and later disobeys a divine instruction to not only all of the Amalekites. Consequently, he sends the prophet Samuel to anoint David, the youngest son of Jesse of Bethlehem, God sends an evil spirit to torment Saul. Sauls courtiers recommend that he send for David, a man skillful on the lyre, wise in speech, and brave in battle. So David enters Sauls service as one of the royal armour-bearers, and plays the lyre to soothe the king, war comes between Israel and the Philistines, and the giant Goliath challenges the Israelites to send out a champion to face him in single combat. David, sent by his father to bring provisions to his brothers serving in Sauls army, refusing the kings offer of the royal armour, he kills Goliath with his sling. Saul inquires the name of the heros father. Saul sets David over his army, all Israel loves David, but his popularity causes Saul to fear him. Saul plots his death, but Sauls son Jonathan, one of those who loves David, warns him of his fathers schemes and David flees. He becomes a vassal of the Philistine king Achish of Gath, but Achishs nobles question his loyalty, Jonathan and Saul are killed, and David is anointed king over Judah. In the north, Sauls son Ish-Bosheth is anointed king of Israel, with the death of Sauls son, the elders of Israel come to Hebron and David is anointed king over all Israel. He conquers Jerusalem, previously a Jebusite stronghold, and makes it his capital. He brings the Ark of the Covenant to the city, intending to build a temple for God, Nathan also prophesies that God has made a covenant with the house of David, Your throne shall be established forever. David wins more victories over the Philistines, while the Moabites, Edomites, Amalekites, Ammonites, during a battle to conquer the Ammonite capital of Rabbah, David seduces Bathsheba and causes the death of her husband Uriah the Hittite. In response, Nathan prophesies the punishment that shall fall upon him, in fulfillment of these words Davids son Absalom rebels. The rebellion ends at the battle of the Wood of Ephraim, Absaloms forces are routed, and Absalom is caught by his long hair in the branches of a tree, and killed by Joab, contrary to Davids order. Joab was the commander of Davids army, David laments the death of his favourite son, O my son Absalom, my son, my son Absalom
26.
Song of Songs
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The Song of Songs, also known as the Song of Solomon, Canticles, or the Canticle of Canticles, is one of the scrolls of the Writings, the last section of the Tanakh or Hebrew Bible. It is also the book of Wisdom in the Old Testament of the Christian Bible. The Song of Songs is read on the Sabbath during the Passover, marking the beginning of the grain harvest, scripturally, the Song of Songs is unique in its celebration of sexual love. It gives the voices of two lovers, praising each other, yearning for each other, proffering invitations to enjoy, the two each desire the other and rejoice in their sexual intimacy. The daughters of Jerusalem form a chorus to the lovers, functioning as an audience participation in the lovers erotic encounters facilitates the participation of the reader. Jewish tradition reads it as an allegory of the relationship between God and Israel, Christian tradition, in addition to appreciating the literal meaning of a romantic song between man and woman, has read the poem as an allegory of Christ and his bride, the Christian Church. There is widespread consensus that, although the book has no plot, it does have what can be called a framework, the following schema from Kugler & al. It begins with the expression of desire for her lover and her self-description to the daughters of Jerusalem. She says she is black because she had to work in the vineyards, a dialogue between the lovers follows, the woman asks the man to meet, he replies with a lightly teasing tone. The two compete in offering flattering compliments, the section closes with the woman telling the daughters of Jerusalem not to stir up love such as hers until it is ready. The woman recalls a visit from her lover in the springtime and she uses imagery from a shepherds life, and she says of her lover that he pastures his flock among the lilies. The woman again addresses the daughters of Jerusalem, describing her fervent, when she finds him she takes him almost by force into the chamber in which her mother conceived her. She reveals that this is a dream, seen on her bed at night, the next section reports a royal wedding procession. Solomon is mentioned by name, and the daughters of Jerusalem are invited to come out, the man describes his beloved, Her hair is like a flock of goats, her teeth like shorn ewes, and so on from face to breasts. Place-names feature heavily, her neck is like the Tower of David and he hastens to summon his beloved, saying that he is ravished by even a single glance. The section becomes a poem, in which he describes her as a locked garden. The woman invites the man to enter the garden and taste the fruits, the man accepts the invitation, and a third party tells them to eat, drink, and be drunk with love. The woman tells the daughters of Jerusalem of another dream and she was in her chamber when her lover knocked
27.
Sirach
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In Egypt, it was translated into Greek by the authors grandson, who added a prologue. This prologue is generally considered the earliest witness to a canon of the books of the prophets, the book itself is the largest wisdom book from antiquity to have been survived. Sirach is accepted as part of the Christian biblical canons by Catholics, Eastern Orthodox, and most of Oriental Orthodox. The Anglican Church does not accept Sirach as protocanonical, and say it should be only for example of life and instruction of manners. Similarly, the Lutheran Churches include it in their lectionaries, and as a book proper for reading, devotion and it was cited in some writings in early Christianity. There are claims that it is cited in the Epistle of James, clement of Alexandria and Origen quote from it repeatedly, as from a γραφή, or holy book. The Apostolic Canons stated as venerable and sacred the Wisdom of Sirach, the Roman Catholic Church declared it to be canonical in 1546 during the fourth session of the Council of Trent. However, some Jews in the diaspora considered Sirach scripture, for instance, it was included in the canon of the Septuagint, the 2nd century BCE Greek version of the Jewish scriptures used by Diaspora Jews, through which it became part of the Greek canon. The multiplicity of manuscript fragments uncovered in the Cairo Genizah evidence its authoritative status among Egyptian Jewry until the Middle Ages, because it was excluded from the Jewish canon, Sirach was excised from the Protestant canon following the Reformation. However, a series of six poems about the search for and attainment of wisdom divide the book into something resembling chapters, despite the lack of structure, there are certain themes running through the Book that reappear at various points. The New Oxford Annotated Apocrypha identifies ten major recurring topics,1, the Wisdom of Sirach is a collection of ethical teachings. The question of which actually originated with Sirach is open to debate. The teachings are applicable to all conditions of life, to parents and children, to husbands and wives, to the young, to masters, to friends, to the rich, and to the poor. Wisdom, in ben Sirachs view, is synonymous with the fear of God, the maxims are expressed in exact formulas, and are illustrated by striking images. They show a knowledge of the human heart, the disillusionment of experience, a fraternal sympathy with the poor. As in Ecclesiastes, two opposing tendencies war in the author, the faith and the morality of olden times, which are stronger than all argument, some of the refutations of these views are developed at considerable length. The book concludes with a justification of God, whose wisdom and these chapters are completed by the authors signature, and are followed by two hymns, the latter apparently a sort of alphabetical acrostic. Joshua ben Sirach, or, according to the Greek text Jesus the son of Sirach of Jerusalem, was a Jewish scribe who had living in Jerusalem, may have authored the work in Alexandria
28.
Josephus
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Josephus claimed the Jewish Messianic prophecies that initiated the First Roman-Jewish War made reference to Vespasian becoming Emperor of Rome. In response Vespasian decided to keep Josephus as a slave and interpreter, after Vespasian became Emperor in 69 CE, he granted Josephus his freedom, at which time Josephus assumed the emperors family name of Flavius. Flavius Josephus fully defected to the Roman side and was granted Roman citizenship and he became an advisor and friend of Vespasians son Titus, serving as his translator when Titus led the Siege of Jerusalem. Since the siege proved ineffective at stopping the Jewish revolt, the citys destruction, Josephus recorded Jewish history, with special emphasis on the first century CE and the First Jewish–Roman War, including the Siege of Masada. His most important works were The Jewish War and Antiquities of the Jews, the Jewish War recounts the Jewish revolt against Roman occupation. Antiquities of the Jews recounts the history of the world from a Jewish perspective for an ostensibly Roman audience and these works provide valuable insight into first century Judaism and the background of Early Christianity. Josephus introduces himself in Greek as Iōsēpos, son of Matthias and he was the second-born son of Matthias. His older full-blooded brother was also called Matthias and their mother was an aristocratic woman who descended from the royal and formerly ruling Hasmonean dynasty. Josephuss paternal grandparents were Josephus and his wife—an unnamed Hebrew noblewoman, distant relatives of each other and he descended through his father from the priestly order of the Jehoiarib, which was the first of the 24 orders of priests in the Temple in Jerusalem. Josephus was a descendant of the high priest Jonathon, born and raised in Jerusalem, Josephus was educated alongside his brother. In his early twenties, he traveled to negotiate with Emperor Nero for the release of 12 Jewish priests, Josephus successfully fought the Roman army in Galilee, until he was captured by the Romans during the height of the war. After the Jewish garrison of Yodfat fell under siege, the Romans invaded, killing thousands, according to Josephus, he was trapped in a cave with 40 of his companions in July 67 CE. The Romans asked the group to surrender, but they refused, Josephus suggested a method of collective suicide, they drew lots and killed each other, one by one, counting to every third person. Two men were left, who surrendered to the Roman forces, in 69 CE, Josephus was released. According to his account, he acted as a negotiator with the defenders during the Siege of Jerusalem in 70 CE, in which his parents and first wife died. While being confined at Yodfat, Josephus claimed to have experienced a divine revelation, after the prediction came true, he was released by Vespasian, who considered his gift of prophecy to be divine. In 71 CE, he went to Rome in the entourage of Titus, becoming a Roman citizen, in addition to Roman citizenship, he was granted accommodation in conquered Judaea and a decent, if not extravagant, pension. While in Rome and under Flavian patronage, Josephus wrote all of his known works, although he uses Josephus, he appears to have taken the Roman praenomen Titus and nomen Flavius from his patrons
29.
Balm of Gilead
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Balm of Gilead was a rare perfume used medicinally, that was mentioned in the Bible, and named for the region of Gilead where it was produced. The expression stems from William Tyndales language in the King James Bible of 1611, the tree or shrub producing the balm is commonly identified as Commiphora gileadensis. Some botanical scholars have concluded that the source was a Terebinth tree in the genus Pistacia. In the Bible, balsam is designated by names, בֹּשֶׂם, בֶּשֶׂם, צֳרִי, נׇטׇף, and, in rabbinic literature, קׇטׇף, בַּלְסׇם, אַפּוֹבַּלְסַמוֹן. After having cast Joseph into a pit, his brothers noticed a caravan on its way from Gilead to Egypt, with their camels bearing spicery, and balm, when Jacob dispatched his embassy into Egypt, his present to the unknown ruler included a little balm. During the final years of the Kingdom of Judah, Jeremiah asks Is there no balm in Gilead, still later, from an expression in Ezekiel 27,17, we find that balm was one of the commodities which Hebrew merchants carried to the market of Tyre. 10,10, balsam was among the precious gifts of the Queen of Sheba to King Solomon. According to Josephus, the Queen of Sheba brought the root of the balsam as a present to King Solomon. In describing Palestine, Tacitus says that in all its productions it equals Italy, besides possessing the palm and the balsam, and the far-famed tree excited the cupidity of successive invaders. By Pompey it was exhibited in the streets of Rome as one of the spoils of the conquered province,65 B. C. E. During the invasion of Titus, two battles took place at the balsam groves of Jericho, the last being to prevent the Jews in their frenzy from destroying the trees. Then they became public property, and were placed under the protection of an imperial guard, according to Pliny, the balsam-tree was indigenous only to Judea, but known to Diodorus Siculus as a product of Arabia also. He tells us that, in general, the plant, a shrub, has the nearest resemblance to the grapevine. The leaves, however, more closely resemble those of the rue, and its height does not exceed two cubits. From slight incisions made very cautiously into the rind the balsam trickles in thin drops, which are collected with wool into a horn, at first it is whitish and pellucid, but afterwards it becomes harder and reddish. That is considered to be the best quality which trickles before the appearance of the fruit, much inferior to this is the resin pressed from the seeds, the rind, and even from the stems. This description, which is not sufficiently characteristic of the plant itself, the plant, however, is not indigenous to Egypt, but the layers are brought there from Arabia Felix, Prosperus Alpinus has published a plate of it. In the Talmud, balsam appears as an ointment which was a highly praised product of the Jericho plain, however, its main use was medicinal rather than cosmetic
30.
Justinian I
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Justinian I, traditionally known as Justinian the Great and also Saint Justinian the Great in the Eastern Orthodox Church, was a Byzantine emperor from 527 to 565. During his reign, Justinian sought to revive the empires greatness, because of his restoration activities, Justinian has sometimes been called the last Roman in modern historiography. This ambition was expressed by the recovery of the territories of the defunct western Roman Empire. His general, Belisarius, swiftly conquered the Vandal kingdom in North Africa, the prefect Liberius reclaimed the south of the Iberian peninsula, establishing the province of Spania. These campaigns re-established Roman control over the western Mediterranean, increasing the Empires annual revenue by over a million solidi, during his reign Justinian also subdued the Tzani, a people on the east coast of the Black Sea that had never been under Roman rule before. A still more resonant aspect of his legacy was the rewriting of Roman law, the Corpus Juris Civilis. His reign also marked a blossoming of Byzantine culture, and his building program yielded such masterpieces as the church of Hagia Sophia, a devastating outbreak of bubonic plague in the early 540s marked the end of an age of splendour. Justinian was born in Tauresium around 482, a native speaker of Latin, he came from a peasant family believed to have been of Illyro-Roman or Thraco-Roman origins. The cognomen Iustinianus, which he later, is indicative of adoption by his uncle Justin. During his reign, he founded Justiniana Prima not far from his birthplace and his mother was Vigilantia, the sister of Justin. Justin, who was in the guard before he became emperor, adopted Justinian, brought him to Constantinople. As a result, Justinian was well educated in jurisprudence, theology, Justinian served for some time with the Excubitors but the details of his early career are unknown. Chronicler John Malalas, who lived during the reign of Justinian, tells of his appearance that he was short, fair skinned, curly haired, round faced, another contemporary chronicler, Procopius, compares Justinians appearance to that of tyrannical Emperor Domitian, although this is probably slander. When Emperor Anastasius died in 518, Justin was proclaimed the new emperor, during Justins reign, Justinian was the emperors close confidant. As Justin became senile near the end of his reign, Justinian became the de facto ruler, Justinian was appointed consul in 521 and later commander of the army of the east. Upon Justins death on 1 August 527, Justinian became the sole sovereign, as a ruler, Justinian showed great energy. He was known as the emperor who never sleeps on account of his work habits, nevertheless, he seems to have been amiable and easy to approach. Around 525, he married his mistress, Theodora, in Constantinople and she was by profession a courtesan and some twenty years his junior
31.
William F. Lynch
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Captain William Francis Lynch, was an naval officer who served first in the United States Navy and later in the Confederate States Navy. William F. Lynch was born in Virginia and he was appointed a midshipman 26 January 1819, and first saw service in USS Congress and next in U. S. schooner Shark under Lieutenant Matthew C. Subsequent service included duty with Commodore David Porter’s “Mosquito Squadron” in the West Indies, Lynch had his first command, the Poinsett, from 3 March to 30 December 1839. The ship sailed on behalf of the United States Naval Hydrographic Office, in 1847, he proceeded to the Jordan River, transporting overland, by camels, a copper and a galvanized iron boat. A total of 16 men were a part of the trip, each boat was assembled and then placed on a carriage. His expedition ended with the exploration of the River Jordan and the Dead Sea, the American expeditions measurement showed the Dead Sea to be 1312.7 ft. below sea level. He published in 1847 his travels, Narrative of the United States Expedition to the River Jordan, in 1849 he was commissioned commander and in 1850 was promoted to captain. In 1852, he requested permission to explore the interior of Africa for purposes of possible colonization, in his exploration in west central Africa, he caught a fever, and was forced to return to the United States. Lynch believed that explorers who remove the obstruction to Commerce, Civilization, after Virginia seceded from the United States on 17 April 171861, he resigned from the United States Navy on 21 April. He was also assigned to the Department of the Navy offices as the Chief of the Bureau of Orders, later in command of ships in North Carolina waters, he commanded southern naval forces during the Union attack on Fort Fisher, in December 1864 and January 1865. After the defeat of the Confederacy, he was paroled 3 May 1865 in Richmond and he died in Baltimore, Maryland, on 17 October of the same year. The USS Lynch was named in Lynch’s honor, Narrative Of The United States’ Expedition to the River Jordan and The Dead Sea by Lieutenant William Francis Lynch, U. S. N. New York, NY, The Overlook Press, an account of Lynchs expedition to the Jordan River and the Dead Sea. This article incorporates text from the public domain Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships, the entry can be found here. New York, NY, The Overlook Press, an account of Lynchs expedition to the Jordan River and the Dead Sea. Clash of Eagles, Americas Forgotten Expedition to Ottoman Palestine,2012, lt. William Francis Lynch commanded Americas first military foray into the Middle East for the purpose of exploring the Jordan River and the Dead Sea
32.
Jordan River
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The Jordan River is a 251-kilometre -long river in the Middle East that flows roughly north to south through the Sea of Galilee and on to the Dead Sea. Israel and the West Bank border the river to the west, while the Golan Heights, both Jordan and the West Bank take their names from the river. The Jordan River has a course and a lower one. In this sense, the Jordan Valley may be separated into upper, central, over its upper course, the river drops rapidly in a 75-kilometre run to the once large and swampy Lake Hula, which is slightly above sea level. Exiting the now much diminished lake, it goes through an even steeper drop over the 25 kilometres down to the Sea of Galilee, the Jordan deposits much of the silt it is carrying within the lake, which it leaves again near its southern tip. At that point the river is situated about 210 metres below sea level, two major tributaries enter from the east during this last section, the Yarmouk River and Zarqa River. Its section north of the Sea of Galilee is within the boundaries of Israel, south of the lake, it forms the border between the Kingdom of Jordan, and Israel. The streams coming together to create the River Jordan in its basin are, west to east, Iyyon. Hasbani, a stream flows from Mount Lebanon. Dan, a stream whose source is also at the base of Mount Hermon, Banias, a stream arising from a spring at Banias at the foot of Mount Hermon. The full text of W. F. Lynchs 1849 book Narrative of the United States Expedition to the River Jordan, in 1964, Israel began operating a pumping station that diverts water from the Sea of Galilee to the National Water Carrier. Also in 1964, Jordan constructed a channel that diverted water from the Yarmouk River, another tributary of the Jordan River to the East Ghor Canal. Syria has also built reservoirs that catch the Yarmouks waters, environmentalists blame Israel, Jordan and Syria for extensive damage to the Jordan River ecosystem. In modern times, the waters are 70% to 90% used for human purposes, because of this and the high evaporation rate of the Dead Sea, as well as industrial extraction of salts through evaporation ponds, the sea is shrinking. All the shallow waters of the end of the sea have been drained in modern times and are now salt flats. A small section of the northernmost portion of the Lower Jordan, 3-kilometre below the Sea of Galilee, has been kept pristine for baptism and local tourism. Most polluted is the 100-kilometre downstream stretch—a meandering stream from above the confluence with the Yarmouk to the Dead Sea, environmentalists say the practice of letting sewage and brackish water flow into the river has almost destroyed its ecosystem. Rescuing the Jordan could take decades, according to environmentalists, the same environmentalist organization had said in a report that the Jordan River could dry up by 2011 unless the decay is stopped
33.
Yizhar Hirschfeld
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Yizhar Hirschfeld was an Israeli archaeologist studying Greco-Roman and Byzantine archaeology. He was a professor at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and director of excavations at a number of sites around Israel, including Ramat Hanadiv, Tiberias. He also published a book on the archaeology of Qumran in which he proposed an assessment of the site that was contrary to prevailing views, professor Hirschfeld was born at Kibbutz Beth Keshet in Israel in 1950. He was already working on a site in 1974 at Emmaus where he acted as excavation. From 1984 to 1987 he directed digs at Ramat HaNadiv and he received his doctorate at the Hebrew University Institute of Archaeology in 1987 and the following year he was awarded a Rothschild fellowship. He returned to Ramat Hanadiv in 1989, the year he started work on excavations at Tiberias. In 1998, he was appointed as professor at the Hebrew University. From 1996-2002 Hirschfeld directed excavations at a site on a terrace overlooking Ein Gedi and his analysis led him to conclude that ll features of the site--its location above Ein Gedi, simplicity, and unique nature--conform to Pliny the Elders famous passage on the Essenes. His proposal on the site has found acceptance among archaeologists. Ein Gedi 1998 List of publications Articles from Liber annuus, The Monastery of Chariton, survey and Excavations Plates Qumran in the Second Temple Period. Reassessing the Archaeological Evidence Plates En-Gedi, “A Very Large Village of Jews” Plates The publishers presentation Steven Bowman, review and a review of the Magness review
34.
Essenes
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The Essenes were a sect of Second Temple Judaism that flourished from the 2nd century BCE to the 1st century CE which some scholars claim seceded from the Zadokite priests. Being much fewer in number than the Pharisees and the Sadducees, the Essenes lived in cities but congregated in communal life dedicated to asceticism, voluntary poverty. Many separate but related groups of that era shared similar mystic, eschatological, messianic. These groups are referred to by various scholars as the Essenes. Josephus records that Essenes existed in large numbers, and thousands lived throughout Roman Judaea and these documents preserve multiple copies of parts of the Hebrew Bible untouched from possibly as early as 300 BCE until their discovery in 1946. Some scholars dispute the notion that the Essenes wrote the Dead Sea Scrolls, rachel Elior questions even the existence of the Essenes. The first reference is by the Roman writer Pliny the Elder in his Natural History, Pliny relates in a few lines that the Essenes do not marry, possess no money, and had existed for thousands of generations. Unlike Philo, who did not mention any particular location of the Essenes other than the whole land of Israel, Pliny places them in Ein Gedi. A little later, Josephus gave an account of the Essenes in The Jewish War, with a shorter description in Antiquities of the Jews. Claiming first hand knowledge, he lists the Essenoi as one of the three sects of Jewish philosophy alongside the Pharisees and the Sadducees. He relates the same information concerning piety, celibacy, the absence of property and of money, the belief in communality. Pliny, also a geographer, located them in the desert near the shore of the Dead Sea. In several places, however, Josephus has Essaios, which is assumed to mean Essene. Josephus identified the Essenes as one of the three major Jewish sects of that period, Philos usage is Essaioi, although he admits this Greek form of the original name that according to his etymology signifies holiness to be inexact. Gabriele Boccaccini implies that a convincing etymology for the name Essene has not been found and it is recognized as the etymology of the form Ossaioi and Essaioi and Esseni spelling variations have been discussed by VanderKam, Goranson, and others. In medieval Hebrew Hassidim replaces Essenes, while this Hebrew name is not the etymology of Essaioi/Esseni, the Aramaic equivalent Hesiim known from Eastern Aramaic texts has been suggested. Others suggest that Essene is a transliteration of the Hebrew word chitzonim, another theory is that the name was borrowed from a cult of devotees to Artemis in Asia Minor, whose demeanor and dress somewhat resembled those of the group in Judaea. Flavius Josephus in Chapter 8 of The Jewish War states,2. For there are three philosophical sects among the Jews
35.
Capra (genus)
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Capra is a genus of mammals, the goats or wild goats, composed of up to nine species, including the wild goat, the markhor, and several species known as ibex. The domestic goat is a subspecies of the wild goat. Evidence of goat domestication dates back more than 8,500 years, wild goats are animals of mountain habitats. They are very agile and hardy, able to climb on bare rock, the Rocky Mountain goat is in a separate genus, Oreamnos. All members of the Capra genus are bovids, and more specifically caprids, as such they are ruminants, meaning they chew the cud, and have four-chambered stomachs which play a vital role in digesting, regurgitating, and redigesting their food. The genus has sometimes taken to include Ovis and Ammotragus. In this smaller genus, some authors have recognized two species, the markhor on one side and all other forms included in one species on the other side. Recent studies based on mitochondrial DNA suggest that the Siberian ibex and the Nubian ibex represent distinct species, the Alpine ibex forms a group with the Spanish ibex. The West Caucasian tur appears to be closely related to the wild goat than to the East Caucasian tur. The markhor is relatively separated from other forms—previously it had been considered to be a separate branch of the genus. Almost all wild species are allopatric —the only geographical overlaps are the wild goat with the East Caucasian tur. In both cases, the species do not usually interbreed in the wild, but in captivity, all Capra species can interbreed. Along with sheep, goats were among the first domesticated animals, the domestication process started at least 10,000 years ago in what is now northern Iran. Easy human access to hair, meat, and milk were the primary motivations. Goat skins were used until the Middle Ages for water and wine bottles when traveling and camping. Evidence of the ibex is widely present in the record, particularly in the Near East. Ibex motifs are common on cylinder seals and pottery, both painted and embossed. Excavations from Minoan Crete at Knossos, for example, have yielded specimens from about 1800 BC, from the similar age a gold jewelry ibex image was found at the Akrotiri archaeological site on Santorini in present-day Greece
36.
Judaean Desert
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The Judaean Desert is a desert in Israel and the West Bank that lies east of Jerusalem and descends to the Dead Sea. It stretches from the northeastern Negev to the east of Beit El and it ends in a steep escarpment dropping to the Dead Sea and the Jordan Valley. The Judaean Desert is crossed by numerous wadis from northeast to southeast and has many ravines, most of them deep, the Judaean Desert is an area with a special morphological structure along the east of the Judaean Mountains. It is sometimes known as יְשִׁימוֹן Yeshimon, meaning desert or wildland, or yet Wilderness of Judah or Wilderness of Judaea, the Judaean Desert lies east of Jerusalem and descends to the Dead Sea. Major urban areas in the region include Jerusalem, Bethlehem, the Gush Etzion, Jericho, the climate ranges from Mediterranean in the west and desert climate in the east, with a strip of steppe climate in the middle. The rain-fed aquifer contains an average volume of some 100 million cubic meters of water. Geography of Israel Qumran Caves Tourism in Israel Tourism in the Palestinian territories Masada Mar Saba Ein Gedi Hiking in the Judaean Desert travel guide from Wikivoyage
37.
Sodom apple
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Calotropis procera is a species of flowering plant in the family Apocynaceae that is native to North Africa, Tropical Africa, Western Asia, South Asia, and Indochina. The green globes are hollow but the flesh contains a milky sap that is extremely bitter. Common names for the plant include apple of Sodom, Sodom apple, stabragh, kapok tree, kings crown, rubber bush, the name apple of Sodom derives from the Hebrew Tapuah Sdom. He says the fruit resembled a large, smooth apple or orange, when pressed or struck, it exploded with a puff, like a bladder or puff-ball, leaving in the hand only the shreds of the thin rind and a few fibers. It is filled chiefly with air, which gives it the round form, in the center a small slender pod runs through it which contains a small quantity of fine silk, which the Arabs collect and twist into matches for their guns. The plant, however, is not native solely to Palestine and it is known to occur throughout the tropical belt and is also common in the West Indies, where the locals know it as pillow cotton. When the ripe apples burst, the contents are ejected along with the seeds. The former are collected by the Jamaicans and used for filling pillows, Sodom apple is listed in the Mishnah and Talmud. The fibers attached to the seeds may have used as wicks. However the Mishnah forbids this for the Sabbath, in this story, a well-meaning servant of the prophet Elisha gathers herbs and a large quantity of the unknown gourds, and casts them into the pot. After the outcry from the band of prophets, Elisha, instructs them to cast flour into the stew pot, the fibre of the Sodom Apple may have been used for the linen of the high priests. In 1938, botanists Hannah and Ephraim HaReuveni, authors of the The Squill, the milky sap contains a complex mix of chemicals, some of which are steroidal heart poisons known as cardiac aglycones. These belong to the chemical family as similar chemicals found in foxgloves. The steroidal component includes a group in the C3β position, a second attached to the C14 carbon, a C/D-cis ring junction. In the plants, the component is commonly attached via a glycosidic link to a 2-desoxy or a 2. The features described are those required for toxicity but in addition there can be other substitutions into the steroid nucleus and these can be a C19-aldehyde in place of the more usual methyl group in this position as well as additional hydroxyl functions and sometimes epoxide structures. In the case of the Calotropis glycosides, their names are calotropin, calotoxin, calactin, uscharidin and voruscharin, the steroidal moiety has one of the more unusual structures. The C-19 formyl group is present and there is a secondary alcohol as well as the common C3
38.
Acacia
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Acacia, commonly known as the wattles or acacias, is a large genus of shrubs, lianas and trees in the subfamily Mimosoideae of the pea family Fabaceae. Initially it comprised a group of plant species native to Africa and Australia, controversy erupted in the early 2000s when it became evident that the genus as it stood was not monophyletic, and that several divergent lineages needed to be placed in separate genera. It turned out that one lineage comprising over 900 species mainly native to Australia was not closely related to the mainly African lineage that contained A. nilotica—the first and this meant that the Australian lineage would need to be renamed. Botanist Les Pedley named this group Racosperma, which was inconsistently adopted and this was officially adopted, but many botanists from Africa and elsewhere disagreed that this was necessary. A number of species have been introduced to parts of the world. The heterogeneous group varies considerably in habit, from mat-like subshrubs to canopy trees in forest, the genus was first described from Africa by C. F. P. von Martius in 1829. Several hundred combinations in Acacia were published by Pedley in 2003, the genus of 981 species, Acacia s. l. in the subfamily Mimosoideae of the pea family Fabaceae is monophyletic. All but 10 of its species are native to Australia, where it constitutes the largest plant genus, following a controversial decision to choose a new type for Acacia in 2005, the Australian component of Acacia s. l. now retains the name Acacia. At the 2011 International Botanical Congress held in Melbourne, the decision to use the name Acacia, other Acacia s. l. taxa continue to be called Acacia by those who choose to consider the entire group as one genus. Australian species of the genus Paraserianthes s. l. are deemed its closest relatives, the origin of wattle may be an Old Teutonic word meaning to weave. From around 700 A. D. watul was used in Old English to refer to the branches and sticks which formed fences, walls. Since about 1810 it refers to the Australian legumes that provide these branches, acacias in Australia probably evolved their fire resistance about 20 million years ago when fossilised charcoal deposits show a large increase, indicating that fire was a factor even then. With no major mountain ranges or rivers to prevent their spread and they began to form dry, open forests with species of the genera Casuarina, Eucalyptus and Callitris. The southernmost species in the genus are Acacia dealbata, Acacia longifolia, Acacia mearnsii and they are present in all terrestrial habitats, including alpine settings, rainforests, woodlands, grasslands, coastal dunes and deserts. In drier woodlands or forest they are an important component of the understory, elsewhere they may be dominant, as in the Brigalow Belt, Myall woodlands and the eremaean Mulga woodlands. Several of its species bear vertically oriented phyllodes, which are green, broadened leaf petioles that function like leaf blades, some phyllodinous species have a colourful aril on the seed. A few species have rather than leaves. Aborigines of Australia have traditionally harvested the seeds of species, to be ground into flour
39.
Jujube
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Ziziphus jujuba, commonly called jujube, red date, Chinese date, Korean date, or Indian date is a species of Ziziphus in the buckthorn family. It is used primarily as a tree that also bears fruit. It is a deciduous tree or shrub reaching a height of 5–12 metres. The leaves are shiny-green, ovate-acute, 2–7 centimetres long and 1–3 centimetres wide, the flowers are small,5 mm wide, with five inconspicuous yellowish-green petals. There is a hard seed similar to an olive pit. This plant has been introduced in Madagascar and grows as a species in the western part of the island. This plant is known as the hinap or finab in the part of Bulgaria where it grows wild but is also a garden shrub. The fruit is picked in the autumn, the trees grow wild in the eastern Caribbean, and are reported to exist in Jamaica and Trinidad as well. In Antigua and Barbuda, the fruit is called dumps or dums and it is also known as pomme surete on the French islands of the Caribbean. This fruit, more known as Indian jujube elsewhere, is different from the jujube fruit that is cultivated in various parts of southern California. The species has a curious history, due to a combination of botanical naming regulations. It was first described scientifically by Carl Linnaeus as Rhamnus zizyphus, for the species name he used a different name, as tautonyms are not permitted in botanical naming. This combination was made by Hermann Karsten in 1882, in 2006, a proposal was made to suppress the name Ziziphus zizyphus in favor of Ziziphus jujuba, and this proposal was accepted in 2011. Ziziphus jujuba is thus the correct name for this species. Jujube fruit is known by a variety of names, in Zimbabwe, it is known as masawu. Jujube was domesticated in south Asia by 9000 BCE, over 400 cultivars have been selected. The tree tolerates a range of temperatures and rainfall, though it requires hot summers. Unlike most of the species in the genus, it tolerates fairly cold winters
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Populus
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Populus is a genus of 25–35 species of deciduous flowering plants in the family Salicaceae, native to most of the Northern Hemisphere. English names variously applied to different species include poplar /ˈpɒp. lər/, aspen, in the September 2006 issue of Science Magazine, the Joint Genome Institute announced that the western balsam poplar was the first tree whose full DNA code had been determined by DNA sequencing. The genus has a genetic diversity, and can grow from 15–50 m tall. The shoots are stout, with the terminal bud present, leaf size is very variable even on a single tree, typically with small leaves on side shoots, and very large leaves on strong-growing lead shoots. The leaves often turn bright gold to yellow before they fall during autumn, the flowers are mostly dioecious and appear in early spring before the leaves. They are borne in long, drooping, sessile or pedunculate catkins produced from buds formed in the axils of the leaves of the previous year. The flowers are each seated in a disk which is borne on the base of a scale which is itself attached to the rachis of the catkin. The scales are obovate, lobed, and fringed, membranous, hairy or smooth, the female flower also has no calyx or corolla, and comprises a single-celled ovary seated in a cup-shaped disk. The style is short, with two to four stigmata, variously lobed, and numerous ovules, pollination is by wind, with the female catkins lengthening considerably between pollination and maturity. Poplars of the section are often wetlands or riparian trees. The aspens are among the most important boreal broadleaf trees, Poplars and aspens are important food plants for the larvae of a large number of Lepidoptera species. Pleurotus populinus, the oyster mushroom, is found exclusively on dead wood of Populus trees in North America. The genus Populus has traditionally divided into six sections on the basis of leaf and flower characters. Recent genetic studies have supported this, confirming some previously suspected reticulate evolution due to past hybridisation and introgression events between the groups. Some species had differing relationships indicated by their nuclear DNA and chloroplast DNA sequences and they have the advantage of growing to a very large size at a rapid pace. Almost all poplars take root readily from cuttings or where broken branches lie on the ground, trees with fastigiate branching are particularly popular, and are widely grown across Europe and southwest Asia. Common poplar varieties are, G48 w22 The trees are grown from kalam or cuttings, harvested annually in January and February, most commonly used to make plywood, Yamuna Nagar in Haryana state has a large plywood industry reliant upon poplar. It is graded according to known as over, under
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