1.
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
2.
Wine press
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A wine press is a device used to extract juice from crushed grapes during wine making. There are a number of different styles of presses that are used by wine makers, each style of press exerts controlled pressure in order to free the juice from the fruit. The pressure must be controlled, especially grapes, in order to avoid crushing the seeds. Wine was being made at least as long ago as 6000 BC, in 2011, a basket press consists of a large basket filled with the crushed grapes. Pressure is applied through a plate that is forced down onto the fruit, the mechanism to lower the plate is often either a screw or a hydraulic device. The juice flows through openings in the basket, the basket style press was the first type of mechanized press to be developed, and its basic design has not changed in nearly 1000 years. A horizontal screw press works using the principle as the basket press. Instead of a plate being brought down to put pressure on the grapes, plates from either side of a cylinder are brought together to squeeze the grapes. Generally the volume of grapes handled is significantly greater than that of a basket press, a bladder press consists of a large cylinder, closed at each end, into which the fruit is loaded. To press the grapes, a large bladder expands and pushes the grapes against the sides, the juice then flows out through small openings in the cylinder. The cylinder rotates during the process to help homogenize the pressure that is placed on the grapes, a continuous screw press differs from the above presses in that it does not process a single batch of grapes at a time. Instead it uses an Archimedes screw to continuously force grapes up against the wall of the device, juice is extracted, and the pomace continues through to the end where it is extracted. This style of press is used to produce table wines. Flash release is a used in wine pressing. The technique allows for an extraction of phenolic compounds
3.
Philistines
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The Philistines were an ancient people primarily known for their conflict with the Israelites described in the Bible. Assyrian sources also refer to Pilišti and Palaštu, also believed to be cognate with Pléšet, the first reference to Philistines in the Hebrew Bible canon is in the Table of Nations, where they are said to descend from Casluhim son of Mizraim. However, the Philistines of Genesis who are friendly to Abraham are identified by Rabbinic sources as distinct from the people described in Deuteronomistic history. This description portrays them at one period of time as among the Kingdom of Israels most dangerous enemies, in contrast, the canon of Eastern Christianity, the LXX, uses the term allophuloi instead of philistines, which means simply other nations. There are several theories about the origins of the Philistines, in 2016, the discovery of a huge Philistine cemetery, containing more than 150 burials, seems to point toward an Aegean origin of the Philistines. Genetic testing of the remains will provide further information. The English word Philistine and the modern term Palestine come from Old French Philistin, from Classical Latin Philistinus, from Late Greek Philistinoi, from Hebrew Plištim, the Hebrew term pelishtim occurs 286 times in the Masoretic Text of the Hebrew Bible. It also appears in the Samaritan Pentateuch, in secondary literature the Aramaic Visions of Amram further mentions Philistia. This is datable prior to Antiochus IV and the Hasmonean revolt, possibly to the term of High Priest of Israel Onias II, Jubilees 46, in the Greek version of the Bible called Septuagint, the equivalent term phylistiim occurs 12 times, again in the Pentateuch. Outside of pre-Maccabean Israelite religious literature, evidence for the name, in the remainder of the Hebrew Bible, ha-pelishtim is attested at Qumran for 2 Samuel 5,17. In the Septuagint however 269 references instead use the term allophylos, the Philistines are the subject of research and speculation in biblical archaeology. While the evidence for connections is etymological and has been disputed. Archaeological research to date has been unable to corroborate a mass settlement of Philistines during the Ramesses III era, a Walistina is mentioned in Luwian texts already variantly spelled Palistina. This implies dialectical variation, a phoneme inadequately described in the script, *Falistina was a kingdom somewhere on the Amuq plain, where the Amurru kingdom had held sway before it. Allen Jones suggests that the name Philistine represents a corruption of the Greek phyle histia and he goes on to suggest that the Philistines introduced the fixed hearth to the Levant. This suggestion was raised before archaeological evidence for the use of the hearths was documented at Philistine sites, literally, it says that those whom Mizraim begat included the Pathrusim, Casluhim, and the Caphtorim. There is some debate among interpreters as to whether this verse was intended to signify that the Philistines themselves were the offspring of the Casluhim or the Caphtorim. While the Casluhim or the Caphtorim origin is widely followed by scholars, other scholars such as Friedrich Schwally, Bernhard Stade
4.
City-state
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A city-state is a sovereign state that consists of a city and its dependent territories. A great deal of consensus exists that the term applies to Singapore, Monaco. A number of small states share similar characteristics, and therefore are sometimes also cited as modern city-states. Occasionally, other states with high population densities, such as San Marino, are also cited. Several non-sovereign cities enjoy a degree of autonomy, and are sometimes considered city-states. Hong Kong and Macau, along with independent members of the United Arab Emirates, most notably Dubai, scholars have classed the Viking colonial cities in medieval Ireland, most importantly Dublin, as city-states. In Cyprus, the Phoenician settlement of Kition was a city-state that existed from around 800 BC until the end of the 4th century BC. The success of regional units coexisting as autonomous actors in loose geographical and cultural unity, as in Italy and Greece. However, such small political entities often survived only for short periods because they lacked the resources to defend themselves against incursions by larger states, thus they inevitably gave way to larger organisations of society, including the empire and the nation-state. In the history of Mainland Southeast Asia, aristocratic groups, Buddhist leaders, the system existed until the 19th century when colonization by European powers, and Thailands resulted in the adoption of the modern concept of statehood. In the Holy Roman Empire the Free Imperial Cities enjoyed a considerable autonomy, some, like the three Hanseatic cities of Bremen, Hamburg and Lübeck, pooled their economic relations with foreign powers and were able to wield considerable diplomatic clout. Under Habsburg rule the city of Fiume had the status of a Corpus separatum, a later city-state, though lacking sovereignty, was West Berlin, being a state legally not belonging to any other state, but ruled by the Western Allies. They allowed – notwithstanding their overlordship as occupant powers – its internal organisation as one state simultaneously being a city, though West Berlin maintained close ties to the West German Federal Republic of Germany, it was legally never part of it. But the idea of leaving the United States proved too radical even in the turmoil of 1861 and was poorly received, the war, and especially conscription, was nevertheless often unpopular in the city, sparking the deadly New York Draft Riots. The neighboring City of Brooklyn, in contrast, was staunchly Unionist, the Free City of Danzig was a semi-autonomous city-state that existed between 1920 and 1939, consisting of the Baltic Sea port of Danzig and nearly 200 towns in the surrounding areas. It was created on 15 November 1920 under the terms of Article 100 of the 1919 Treaty of Versailles after the end of World War I. Its territory of 28 km2 comprised the city of Fiume and rural areas to its north, with a corridor to its west connecting it to Italy, the Shanghai International Settlement was an international zone with its own legal system, postal service, and currency. The Klaipėda Region or Memel Territory was defined by the Treaty of Versailles in 1920 when it was put under the administration of the Council of Ambassadors
5.
Philistia
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They ruled major parts of southern Canaan at the peak of its expansion, but was eventually conquered and subdued by neighbouring Israelites. The Philistines were not mentioned following the conquest of the Levant by the Neo-Assyrian Empire, the area east of Gaza, particularly around Nahal Besor that reaches into the hills as far as Beersheva had very substantial Philistine presence. This area is a part of the Negev desert and it also includes Nahal Gerar to the north that joins Nahal Besor before flowing into the Mediterranean Sea. This was a populated area during the early Iron Age. It includes archaeological sites such as Tell Beit Mirsim, Tel Haror, Tel Sera along Nahal Gerar, all these sites and others in the area had Philistine settlements. As far as the Neo-Assyrian policy goes, when they first invaded this area, but later, while responding to various revolts, their policy hardened. Achish the king of Gath Palistin, a Syro-Hittite kingdom in what is now NW Syria and the SE Turkish province of Hatay Strongs Lexicon
6.
Hebrew Bible
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They are composed mainly in Biblical Hebrew, with some passages in Biblical Aramaic. The term does not comment upon the naming, numbering or ordering of books, the term Hebrew Bible is an attempt to provide specificity with respect to contents but avoid allusion to any particular interpretative tradition or theological school of thought. Hebrew Bible refers to the Jewish biblical canon, in its Latin form, Biblia Hebraica, it traditionally serves as a title for printed editions of the Masoretic Text. Many biblical studies scholars advocate use of the term Hebrew Bible as a substitute to terms with religious connotations. Hebrew Bible Old Testament without prescribing the use of either, however, he accepts that there is no reason why non-Christians should feel obliged to refer to these books as the Old Testament, apart from custom of use. Modern Christian formulations of this tension include Supersessionism, Covenant Theology, New Covenant Theology, Dispensationalism, in terms of canon, Christian usage of Old Testament does not refer to a universally agreed upon set of books but, rather, varies depending on denomination. The Hebrew Bible includes small portions in Aramaic, written and printed in Aramaic square-script, the books that constitute the Hebrew Bible developed over roughly a millennium. The oldest texts seem to come from the 11th or 10th centuries BCE and they are edited works, being collections of various sources intricately and carefully woven together. Since the 19th century, most biblical scholars have agreed that the Pentateuch consists of four sources which have been woven together and these four sources are J, D, E and P sources. They were combined to form the Pentateuch sometime in the 6th century BCE and this theory is now known as the documentary hypothesis, and has been the dominant theory for the past two hundred years. The Deuteronomist credited with the Pentateuchs book of Deuteronomy is also said to be the source of the books of Joshua, Judges, Samuel, several editions, all titled Biblia Hebraica, have been produced by various German publishers since 1906. Between 1906 and 1955, Rudolf Kittel published nine editions of it,1966, the Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft published the renamed Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia in six editions until 1997. Since 2004 the Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft has published the Biblia Hebraica Quinta, other projects include, Hebrew University Bible Project Hebrew Bible, A Critical Edition Biblical canon Books of the Bible Non-canonical books referenced in the Bible Torah Brueggemann, Walter. An introduction to the Old Testament, the canon and Christian imagination, the People of Ancient Israel, an introduction to Old Testament Literature, History, and Thought, Harper and Row,1974. Sinai and Zion, An Entry into the Jewish Bible, archived from the original on 14 March 2012. The Ancient Near East, Volume I, Princeton, New Jersey, Princeton University Press. An abridgement of Ancient Near Eastern Texts Relating to the Old Testament Noth, how the Bible Became a Book. The Old Testament, A Literary History, hebrew-English Tanakh, the Jewish Bible Complete, fully vocalized, contilated, Masoretic text of the Hebrew Bible, together with the classic English translation by the Jewish Publication Society
7.
El-Amarna
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The name for the city employed by the ancient Egyptians is written as Akhetaten in English transliteration. Akhetaten means Horizon of the Aten, the city of Deir Mawas lies directly west across from the site of Amarna. Amarna, on the east side, includes several villages, chief of which are el-Till in the north. The area was occupied during later Roman and early Christian times. The name Amarna comes from the Beni Amran tribe that lived in the region, the ancient Egyptian name was Akhetaten. It may be that the Royal Wadis resemblance to the hieroglyph for horizon showed that this was the place to found the city, the city was built as the new capital of the Pharaoh Akhenaten, dedicated to his new religion of worship to the Aten. Construction started in or around Year 5 of his reign and was completed by Year 9. To speed up construction of the city most of the buildings were constructed out of mud-brick, the most important buildings were faced with local stone. Once it was abandoned it remained uninhabited until Roman settlement began along the edge of the Nile, however, due to the unique circumstances of its creation and abandonment, it is questionable how representative of ancient Egyptian cities it actually is. The entire city was encircled with a total of 14 boundary stelae detailing Akhenatens conditions for the establishment of new capital city of Egypt. The earliest dated stele from Akhenatens new city is known to be Boundary stele K which is dated to Year 5, IV Peret and it preserves an account of Akhenatens foundation of this city. Located on the east bank of the Nile, the ruins of the city are laid out north to south along a Royal Road. The Royal residences are generally to the north, in what is known as the North City, with an administration and religious area. If one approached the city of Amarna from the north by river the first buildings past the boundary stele would be the North Riverside Palace. This building ran all the way up to the waterfront and was likely the residence of the Royal Family. Located within the North City area is the Northern Palace, the residence of the Royal Family. Between this and the city, the Northern Suburb was initially a prosperous area with large houses. Most of the important ceremonial and administrative buildings were located in the central city, located behind the Royal Residence was the Bureau of Correspondence of Pharaoh, where the Amarna Letters were found
8.
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
9.
Tell es-Safi
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Archaeological excavations show that the site was continuously inhabited since the 5th millennium BCE. On the Madaba Map, the name is Saphitha, while the Crusaders called it Blanche Garde and it is mentioned by Arab geographers in the 13th and 16th centuries. Under the Ottoman Empire, it was part of the district of Gaza, in modern times, the houses were built of sun-dried brick. The villagers were Muslim and cultivated cereals and orchards, today Tell es-Safi is an Israeli national park encompassing an archaeological site thought to have been the Philistine city of Gath mentioned in the Bible. The remains of the Crusader fort and the Arab village can also be seen on the tell. Tell es-Safi sits on a site 300 feet above the plain of Philistia and 700 feet above sea level, Tell es-Safi is situated between the Israeli cities of Ashkelon and Beit Shemesh and is one of the countrys largest Bronze and Iron Age sites. Excavations at Tell es-Safi since 1996 indicate that the site was settled, stratigraphic evidence attests to settlement in the Late Bronze and Iron Age periods. A large city in the Iron Age, the site was enclosed on three sides by a large man-made siege-moat and it is now widely accepted that Tell es-Safi was the site of the Philistine city of Gath. The identification was formerly opposed by Albright, who noted its proximity to Tel Miqne and it is true that the sites are only 8 km apart. However, this seems to be a point now since there is no doubt that both Tell es-Safi and Tel Miqne were major sites in the Middle Bronze through the Iron Age. The real question is how to understand their proximity, first, the ideal agricultural features of this region of the southern coastal plain explain why these two sites were so close together. Additionally, we cannot be certain that the two sites flourished simultaneously, suggest that Gath flourished in the Late Bronze and Early Iron Ages until its destruction by the Assyrians in the late eighth century B. C. E. The heyday of Ekron, on the hand, was the seventh century B. C. E. after the site was taken over by the Assyrians as an agricultural administrative center. According to 2010 reports, Israeli archeologists have uncovered a Philistine temple, other major finds were evidence of the destruction of Gath by Hazael King of Aram-Damascus around 830 BCE, and evidence of the first Philistine settlement in Canaan. Radiocarbon dating in 2015 showed an early appearance of Philistine material culture in the city, the place appears on the Madaba Map as Saphitha. During the Crusades, the site was called Blanchegarde, likely referring to the rock outcrop next to the site. In 1142 a fort was built on the site by King Fulk, it was dismantled after being taken by Saladin in 1191, King Richard was nearly captured while inspecting his troops next to the site. Shortly thereafter Blanchegard was retaken by Muslims forces, the remnants of the square castle and its four towers served as a place of some importance in the village well into the 19th century
10.
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
11.
National parks and nature reserves of Israel
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National parks of Israel are declared historic sites or nature reserves, which are mostly operated and maintained by the National Nature and Parks Authority. As of 2005, Israel maintains more than 150 nature reserves that protect 2,500 species of wild plants,20 species of fish,400 species of birds and 70 species of mammals. Some parks are located at sites such as Tel Megiddo, Beit Shean, Ashkelon. Others, such as the Alexander stream, Mount Carmel National Park or Hurshat Tal focus on nature, several parks and nature reserves have camping options, such as tent grounds and bungalows, open to small groups and individual campers. Some of them are located in the Golan Heights and the West Bank, in 2011, the most popular national parks were Yarkon National Park, Caesarea, Ein Gedi and Tel Dan. During the 19th century, the region had a population of between 275,000 and 475,000. Waves of immigration expanded local population needs, forests were cut down to supply coal for heating, industry and the Turkish railway. The German Templers brought with them shotguns, quickly adopted by local peasants for hunting wildlife, the First World War was characterized by massive acquisition of firearms, and German officers were very active hunters. By the early 20th century, hunting threatened the extinction of crocodile, Arabian ostrich, roe deer, fallow deer, Syrian brown bear, and onager. The Asiatic lion had been extinct in Palestine since around the Crusader period in the 10-13th centuries, Asiatic cheetah was last observed in 1959 and the Rabian leopard is currently acutely threatened by extinction. As a result, the British Mandatory government passed laws aimed at saving the local flora, in 1924 a Hunting Act was published and in 1926 a Forest Ordinance were published. Many sites, such as the forests of Mount Carmel and Mount Meron, were declared forest reserves, in 1953 the Knesset passed the Wildlife Protection Law and the Minister of Agriculture was appointed for its implementation. In 1955, the department for the improvement of the landscape was established in the Israeli Prime Ministers Office. The department established a number of national parks, such as Gan HaShlosha, Caesarea, Shivta. Following the ecologically disastrous drying of Lake Hula and the public pressure, the Hula Reserve was established in 1964. In 1963 the Knesset approved the National parks and nature reserves act, as a result, two authorities were established, the National Parks Authority and the Nature Reserves Authority. In 1998 the two authorities were merged into one body - Israel Nature and Parks Authority, in Israel the distinction between national parks and nature reserves is often hard to make. National parks are in most cases centered around archaeological sites, the nature reserves often contain not just protected fauna and flora, but also major archaeological sites
12.
Hazael
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Hazael was a court official and later an Aramean king who is mentioned in the Bible. Under his reign, Aram-Damascus became an empire ruled over large parts of Syria. Hazael is first referred to by name in 1 Kings 19,15, god tells the prophet Elijah to anoint Hazael king over Aram Damascus. Years after this, the Syrian king Benhdad II, probably identical to Hadadezer mentioned in the Tell Dan Stele, was ill, Elisha asked Hazael to tell Hadadezer that he would recover, and he revealed to Hazael that the king would recover but would die of other means. The day after he returned to Hadadezer in Damascus, Hazael suffocated him, during his reign, King Hazael led the Arameans in battle against the forces of King Jehoram of Israel and King Ahaziah of Judah. After defeating them at Ramoth-Gilead, Hazael repelled two attacks by the Assyrians, seized Israelite territory east of the Jordan, the Philistine city of Gath, Hazaels death is mentioned in 2 Kings 13,24. A monumental Aramaic inscription discovered at Tel Dan is seen by most scholars as having been erected by Hazael, after he defeated the Kings of Israel, recent excavations at Tell es-Safi/Gath have revealed dramatic evidence of the siege and subsequent conquest of Gath by Hazael. The destruction of the settlement at Tell Zeitah during the ninth century may also be the result of Hazaels campaign, King Joash of Judah forestalled Hazaels invasion by bribing him with treasure from the royal palace and temple. The inscriptions read that which Hadad gave to our lord Hazael from Umq in the year that our lord crossed the River, the river must be the Orontes. The triangular front pieces show a Master of the animals gripping inverted sphinxes or lions in either hand, when Tiglath-Pileser III took Damascus in 733/2, these heirlooms were part of the loot that fell eventually into Greek, probably Euboean hands. List of Syrian monarchs Timeline of Syrian history Biran, A. and Naveh, the Tel Dan Inscription, A New Fragment. Ephal, I. and Naveh, J.1989, pp. 91–108 in Marchands, Diplomates et Empereurs, Etudes sur la civilisation mésopotamienne offertes à P. Garelli. Paris, Editions Recherche sur la Civilisations, the Historical Background and Dating of Amos VI2, An Archaeological Perspective from Tell es-Safi/Gath. Galil, G. David and Hazael, War, Peace, Stones and Memory, Palestine Exploration Quarterly,139,2, maeir, A. M. and Gur-Arieh, S.2011. Comparative aspects of the Aramean Siege System at Tell es-Sa¦fi/Gath, Tell es-Safi/Gath Excavation Project Blog Tell es-Safi/Gath Excavation Project website Tel Dan Inscription Webpage
13.
Aram-Damascus
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Aram-Damascus was an Aramaean state around Damascus in Syria, from the late 12th century BCE to 732 BCE. Sources for this state come from texts that can be divided into three categories, Assyrian annals, Aramaean texts, and the Hebrew Bible, the largest portion of the textual sources come from Assyria. There are, however, often several copies of the same texts, most of the texts are annals from the Assyrian kings Shalmaneser III, Adad-Nirari III, and Tiglath-Pileser III. The texts mention Aram-Damascus from an Assyrian perspective, but are in many ways informative of the strength of the state, Aramaean royal inscriptions are rare, and only one royal stele from Aram-Damascus proper has been identified — the Tel Dan Stele. Other sources in Aramaic that shed light on the history of Aram-Damascus include two booty inscriptions from Eretria and Samos, and the Zakkur stele of the king Zakkur, the Hebrew Bible gives more detailed accounts of Aram-Damascus history, mainly in its interaction with Israel. For instance, there are texts of the Bible mentioning Davids battles against Aramaeans in southern Syria in the 10th century BCE, in contrast, the sources for the early history of Aram-Damascus are almost nonexistent. In an annal dating to Tiglath-Pileser I, we learn that Aramaean people have begun settling in the half of Syria. The first reliable data can be found in the 9th century BCE when Aramaean, Assyrian, to the southwest, Aram-Damascus reached over most of Golan to the Sea of Galilee. In the 8th century BCE, Rezin had been a tributary of Tiglath-Pileser III, in c.732 BCE, he allied himself with Pekah, the king of Israel, to attack Ahaz, the king of Judah. However, Ahaz appealed to Tiglath-Pileser III for help and this the Assyrian king obliged, after Judah paid tribute to the Assyrian king. As a result, Tiglath-Pileser III sacked Damascus and annexed Aram, according to 2 Kings 16,9, the population was deported and Rezin executed. Tiglath-Pileser also records this act in one of his inscriptions, archaeological evidence of Aram-Damascus is close to nothing. Excavations in Damascus are hard to perform, owing to the settlement of the city. Other cities of Aram-Damascus have not been identified from textual sources. The material culture at sites farther south do not show many features distinguishing from the culture of ancient northern Israel. Hadadezer 880-842 BC Hazael 842-805 or 796 BC Ben-Hadad III796 to 792 BC Rezin Aram Aram Naharaim Aram Rehob
14.
Israelites
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The Israelites were a Semitic-speaking people of the ancient Near East, who inhabited a part of Canaan during the tribal and monarchic periods. The ancient Israelites are considered to be an outgrowth of the indigenous Canaanite populations that inhabited the Southern Levant, Syria, ancient Israel. In the period of the monarchy it was only used to refer to the inhabitants of the northern kingdom. The Israelites were also known as the Hebrews and the Twelve Tribes of Israel, the Jews are named after and also descended from the southern Israelite Kingdom of Judah, particularly the tribes of Judah, Benjamin and partially Levi. The word Jews is found in 2 Kings, Chronicles, and in passages in the Book of Jeremiah, the Book of Zechariah. The Kingdom of Israel, often called the Northern Kingdom of Israel, contained all the tribes except for the tribes of Judah, following its conquest by Assyria, these ten tribes were allegedly dispersed and lost to history, and they are henceforth known as the Ten Lost Tribes. Jewish tradition holds that Samaria was so named because the mountainous terrain was used to keep Guard for incoming enemy attacks. According to Samaritan tradition, however, the Samaritan ethnonym is not derived from the region of Samaria, thus, according to Samaritan tradition, the region was named Samaria after them, not vice versa. In Modern Hebrew, the Samaritans are called Shomronim, while in Samaritan Hebrew they call themselves Shamerim, in Judaism, an Israelite is, broadly speaking, a lay member of the Jewish ethnoreligious group, as opposed to the priestly orders of Kohanim and Levites. In texts of Jewish law such as the Mishnah and Gemara, the term יהודי, meaning Jew, is rarely used, Samaritans commonly refer to themselves and to Jews collectively as Israelites, and they describe themselves as the Israelite Samaritans. The name Israel first appears in the Hebrew Bible in Genesis 32,29, the Hebrew Bible etymologizes the name as from yisra to prevail over or to struggle/wrestle with, and el, God, the divine. The name Israel first appears in non-biblical sources c.1209 BCE, the inscription is very brief and says simply, Israel is laid waste and his seed is not. The inscription refers to a people, not to an individual or a nation-state, in modern Hebrew, bnei yisrael can denote the Jewish people at any time in history, it is typically used to emphasize Jewish religious identity. From the period of the Mishna the term Yisrael acquired a narrower meaning of Jews of legitimate birth other than Levites. In modern Hebrew this contrasts with the term Yisraeli, a citizen of the modern State of Israel, the term Hebrew has Eber as an eponymous ancestor. It is used synonymously with Israelites, or as a term for historical speakers of the Hebrew language in general. Today, Jews and Samaritans both recognize each other as communities with an authentic Israelite origin, the terms Jews and Samaritans largely replaced the title Children of Israel as the commonly used ethnonym for each respective community. The name Yahweh, the god of the later Israelites, may indicate connections with the region of Mount Seir in Edom, the Canaanites were also the first people, as far as is known, to have used an alphabet
15.
Joshua
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Joshua /ˈdʒɒʃuə/ or Jehoshua is the central figure in the Hebrew Bibles Book of Joshua. According to the books of Exodus, Numbers and Joshua, he was Moses assistant and his name was Hoshea the son of Nun, of the tribe of Ephraim, but Moses called him Yehoshua the name by which he is commonly known. The name is shortened to Yeshua in Nehemiah, according to the Bible he was born in Egypt prior to the Exodus. According to the Hebrew Bible, Joshua was one of the spies of Israel sent by Moses to explore the land of Canaan. In Numbers 13, 1–16, and after the death of Moses, he led the Israelite tribes in the conquest of Canaan, according to Biblical chronology, Joshua lived between 1355 and 1245 BCE, or sometime in the late Bronze Age. According to Joshua 24,29, Joshua died at the age of 110, Joshua also holds a position of respect among Muslims. According to Islamic tradition, he was, along with Caleb, all Muslims also see Joshua as the leader of the Israelites, following the death of Moses. Some Muslims also believe Joshua to be the attendant of Moses mentioned in the Qurān, before Moses meets Khidr, the English name Joshua is a rendering of the Hebrew language Yehoshua, meaning Yahweh is salvation. The vocalization of the second name component may be read as Hoshea—the name used in the Torah before Moses added the divine name, Jesus is the English of the Greek transliteration of Yehoshua via Latin. In the Septuagint, all instances of the word Yehoshua are rendered as Ἰησοῦς, thus, in Greek, Joshua is called Jesus son of Naue to differentiate him from Jesus Christ. This is also true in the Slavic languages following the Eastern Orthodox tradition, Joshua was a major figure in the events of the Exodus. He was charged by Moses with selecting and commanding a group for their first battle after exiting Egypt, against the Amalekites in Rephidim. He later accompanied Moses when he ascended biblical Mount Sinai to commune with God, visualize Gods plan for the Israelite tabernacle and receive the Ten Commandments. Joshua was with Moses when he descended from the mountain, heard the Israelites celebrations around the Golden Calf, and broke the tablets bearing the words of the commandments. However, when Moses returned to the mountain to re-create the tablets recording the Ten Commandments, Joshua was not present, according to Joshua 1, 1-9, God appointed Joshua to succeed Moses as leader of the Israelites along with giving him a blessing of invincibility during his lifetime. The first part of the book of Joshua covers the period when he led the conquest of Canaan, at the Jordan River, the waters parted, as they had for Moses at the Red Sea. The first battle after the crossing of the Jordan was the Battle of Jericho, Joshua led the destruction of Jericho, then moved on to Ai, a small neighboring city to the west. However, they were defeated with thirty-six Israelite deaths, the defeat was attributed to Achan taking an accursed thing from Jericho, and was followed by Achan and his family and animals being stoned to death to restore Gods favor
16.
Samuel
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Samuel, is a leader of ancient Israel in the Books of Samuel in the Hebrew Bible. He is also known as a prophet by Christians and Muslims and his status, as viewed by rabbinical literature, is that he was the last of the Hebrew Judges and the first of the major prophets who began to prophesy inside the Land of Israel. He was thus on the cusp of two eras, according to the text of the Books of Samuel, he also anointed the first two kings of the Kingdom of Israel, Saul and David. Samuels mother was Hannah and his father was Elkanah, Elkanah lived at Ramathaim in the district of Zuph. His genealogy is found in a pedigree of the Kohathites and in that of Heman. According to the tables in Chronicles, Elkanah was a Levite - a fact not mentioned in the books of Samuel. The fact that Elkanah, a Levite, was denominated an Ephraimite is analogous to the designation of a Levite belonging to Judah, according to 1 Samuel 1, 1-28, Elkanah had two wives, Peninnah and Hannah. Peninnah had children, Hannah did not, jealous, Penninah reproached Hannah for her lack of children, causing Hannah much heartache. The relationship of Penninah and Hannah recalls that between Hagar and Sarah, Elkanah was a devout man and would periodically take his family on pilgrimage to the holy site of Shiloh. The motif of Elkanah and Hannah as devout, childless parents will reoccur with Zachariah and Elizabeth and the birth of John the Baptist, and with Joachim and Anna, on one occasion Hannah went to the sanctuary and prayed for a child. In tears, she vowed that were she granted a child, Eli, who was sitting at the foot of the doorpost in the sanctuary at Shiloh, saw her apparently mumbling to herself and thought she was drunk, but was soon assured of her motivation and sobriety. Eli was the priest of Shiloh, and one of the last Israelite Judges before the rule of kings in ancient Israel and he had assumed the leadership after Samsons death. Eli blessed her and she returned home, subsequently Hannah became pregnant and gave birth to Samuel. Hannahs exultant hymn of thanksgiving resembles in several points Marys later Magnificat, after the child was weaned, she left him in Elis care, and from time to time she would come to visit her son. According to 1 Samuel 1,20, Hannah named Samuel to commemorate her prayer to God for a child, called his name Samuel, saying, Because I have asked him of the Lord. The Hebrew root rendered as asked in the KJV is sha’al, once it is even mentioned in the form sha’ul, Saul’s name in Hebrew. Biblical historian Michael Coogan suggests that Saul’s birth narrative was transferred to Samuel by the Deuteronomist historians, however, Gordon himself did not see this hypothesis as justified by the available evidence. According to the Holman Bible Dictionary, Samuel was a name in the Ancient Near East meaning, Sumu is God but understood in Israel as The name is God, God is exalted
17.
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
18.
Solomon
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Solomon, also called Jedidiah, was, according to the Bible, Quran, hadith and Hidden Words a fabulously wealthy and wise king of Israel and a son of David, the previous king of Israel. The conventional dates of Solomons reign are circa 970 to 931 BC and he is described as the third king of the United Monarchy, which would break apart into the northern Kingdom of Israel and the southern Kingdom of Judah shortly after his death. Following the split, his descendants ruled over Judah alone. According to the Talmud, Solomon is one of the 48 prophets, in the Quran, he is considered a major prophet, and Muslims generally refer to him by the Arabic variant Sulayman, son of David. Solomon was, according to the Quran, a king of ancient Israel as well as the son of David, the Hebrew Bible credits him as the builder of the First Temple in Jerusalem. It portrays him as great in wisdom, wealth, and power any of the previous kings of the country. His sins included idolatry, marrying foreign women, and ultimately turning away from Yahweh, Solomon is the subject of many other later references and legends, most notably in the 1st-century apocryphal work known as the Testament of Solomon. Solomon was born in Jerusalem, the second child of David and his wife Bathsheba. The first child, a son conceived adulterously during Uriahs lifetime, had died before Solomon was conceived as a punishment on account of the death of Uriah by Davids order. Solomon had three named full brothers through Bathsheba, Nathan, Shammua, and Shobab, besides six known older half-brothers through as many mothers, according to the First Book of Kings, when David was old, he could not get warm. So they sought a young woman throughout all the territory of Israel, and found Abishag the Shunammite. The young woman was very beautiful, and she was of service to the king and attended to him, while David was in this state, court factions were maneuvering for power. Solomon greatly expanded his military strength, especially the cavalry and chariot arms and he founded numerous colonies, some of which doubled as trading posts and military outposts. Trade relationships were a focus of his administration, Solomon is considered the most wealthy of the Israelite kings named in the Bible. Solomon also built the First Temple, beginning in the year of his reign. Solomon was the Biblical king most famous for his wisdom, in 1 Kings he sacrificed to God and prayed for wisdom. God personally answered his prayer, promising him great wisdom because he did not ask for self-serving rewards like long life or the death of his enemies. Perhaps the best known story of his wisdom is the Judgment of Solomon, Solomon easily resolved the dispute by commanding the child to be cut in half and shared between the two
19.
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
20.
Goliath
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Post-Classical Jewish traditions stressed Goliaths status as the representative of paganism, in contrast to David, the champion of the God of Israel. Saul and the Israelites are facing the Philistines in the Valley of Elah, David, bringing food for his elder brothers, hears that Goliath had defied the armies of God and of the reward from Saul to the one that defeats him, and accepts the challenge. Saul reluctantly agrees and offers his armor, which David declines, taking only his staff, sling, David and Goliath confront each other, Goliath with his armor and javelin, David with his staff and sling. David hurls a stone from his sling with all his might and hits Goliath in the center of his forehead, Goliath falls on his face to the ground, the Philistines flee and are pursued by the Israelites as far as Gath and the gates of Ekron. David puts the armor of Goliath in his own tent and takes the head to Jerusalem, the king asks whose son he is, and David answers, I am the son of your servant Jesse the Bethlehemite. The first edition of the history was written at the court of Judahs King Josiah. These signs indicate that the Goliath story is made up of base-narrative with numerous additions made probably after the exile, the biblical account describes Goliath as falling on his face after he is struck by a stone that sank into his forehead. British rabbi Jonathan Magonet has discussed some of the difficulties this raises. In the first place, he notes that archaeological information suggests that Philistine helmets generally had a forehead covering, why should David aim at such an impenetrable spot. And why should Goliath fall forward when struck by something heavy enough to stop him, an answer to both questions, Magonet suggests, lies in the Hebrew word meitzach, normally translated forehead. A word almost identical with it appears earlier in the passage—the word mitzchat, then David removed the head of Goliath to show all that the giant was killed. A Goliath makes another appearance in 2 Samuel 21,19, which tells how Goliath the Gittite was killed by Elhanan the son of Jaare-oregim, the Bethlehemite. The King James Bible translators adopted this into their translation of 2 Samuel 21, 18–19, most likely, storytellers displaced the deed from the otherwise obscure Elhanan onto the more famous character, David. Tell es-Safi, the biblical Gath and traditional home of Goliath, has been the subject of excavations by Israels Bar-Ilan University. The archaeologists have established that this was one of the largest of the Philistine cities until destroyed in the ninth century BC, a potsherd discovered at the site, and reliably dated to the tenth to mid-ninth centuries BC, is inscribed with the two names alwt and wlt. The name Goliath itself is non-Semitic and has linked with the Lydian king Alyattes. The underlying purpose of the story of Goliath is to show that Saul is not fit to be king. Saul was chosen to lead the Israelites against their enemies, but when faced with Goliath he refuses to do so, Goliath is a giant, and Saul is a very tall man
21.
Absalom
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Absalom or Avshalom according to the Hebrew Bible was the third son of David, King of Israel with Maachah, daughter of Talmai, King of Geshur. 2 Samuel 14,25 describes him as the most handsome man in the kingdom, Absalom eventually rebelled against his father and was killed during the Battle of Ephraim Wood. Absalom, Davids third son, by Maacah, was born in Hebron, and moved at an early age along with the transfer of the capital to Jerusalem and he was a great favorite of his father and of the people. His charming manners, personal beauty, and insinuating ways, together with his love of pomp and royal pretensions and he lived in great style, drove in a magnificent chariot and had fifty men run before him. Little is known of Absaloms family life, but it is said that he had three sons and one daughter, whose name was also Tamar, from the language of 2 Samuel 18,18, it is inferred that his sons died at an early age. 2 Chronicles 11,20, says Absalom has another daughter, named Maacah, Absaloms sister Tamar was raped by Amnon, who was their half-brother. Amnon was also Davids eldest son, after the rape, Absalom waited two years, and then avenged Tamar by sending his servants to murder a drunken Amnon at a feast, to which Absalom had invited all the kings sons. After this murder Absalom fled to Talmai, who was the king of Geshur and it was not until three years later that Absalom was fully reinstated in his fathers favour and finally returned to Jerusalem. “If only I were the judge of the land, then all who had a suit or cause might come to me, and I would give them justice. ”He made gestures of humility by kissing those who bowed before him instead of accepting supplication. He stole the hearts of the people of Israel, after four years he declared himself king, raised a revolt at Hebron, the former capital, and slept with his fathers concubines. All Israel and Judah flocked to him, and David, attended only by the Cherethites and Pelethites and his former bodyguard, the priests Zadok and Abiathar remained in Jerusalem, and their sons Jonathan and Ahimaaz served as Davids spies. Absalom reached the capital and consulted with the renowned Ahithophel, David took refuge from Absaloms forces beyond the Jordan River. However, he took the precaution of instructing a servant, Hushai, Hushai convinced Absalom to ignore Ahithophels advice to attack his father while he was on the run, and instead to prepare his forces for a major attack. This gave David critical time to prepare his own troops for the coming battle, a fateful battle was fought in the Wood of Ephraim and Absaloms army was completely routed. Absaloms head was caught in the boughs of an oak tree as the mule he was riding ran beneath it and he was discovered there still alive by one of Davids men, who reported this to Joab, the king’s commander. Joab, accustomed to avenging himself, took this opportunity to even the score with Absalom, Absalom once had Joabs field set on fire and then made Amasa Captain of the Host instead of Joab. Killing Absalom was against David’s command, Beware that none touch the young man Absalom, Joab killed Absalom with three darts through the heart. When David heard that Absalom was killed although not how he was killed, O my son Absalom, my son, my son Absalom
22.
Ishtori Haparchi
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Ishtori Haparchi is the pen name of the 14th century Jewish physician, topographer, and traveler, Isaac HaKohen Ben Moses. Ishtori Haparchi was born in France in 1280, HaParhi was descended from a line of sages and rabbis of fame. His Father was Rabbi Moshe HaParhi, a distinguished Talmudical scholar and his grandfather was, Rabbi Nathan of Trinquetaille, author of Shaar HiTefisa His great grandfather was Meir ben Isaac of Carcassonne, author of the Sefer ha-Ezer. His family originally came from Florenzia, Spain, the surname Haparchi means the Florentine in Hebrew. He is commonly known by the title Kaftor Vaferach taken from the name of his work, when the Jews were expelled from France in 1306, he travelled to Spain and Egypt, and then settled in Eretz Yisrael. He worked as a physician in Bet Shean, where he died in 1355, ishtori Haparchi was the author of the first Hebrew book on the geography of Eretz Yisrael Sefer Kaftor Vaferach (Hebrew, ספר כפתור ופרח, written in 1322 and published in Venice in 1549. Kaftor Vaferach is a Hebrew idiom derived from the description of the menorah in the Temple, in the context of the book it refers to the lay of the land. Haparchi lists the names of towns and villages in Eretz Yisrael, modern scholarship has determined that most of the 180 ancient sites he identified were correct, among them Usha, Modiin and Betar
23.
Ramla
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Ramla is a city in central Israel. The city is predominantly Jewish with a significant Arab minority, Ramla was founded circa 705–715 CE by the Umayyad governor and future caliph Sulayman ibn Abd al-Malik. Ramla lies along the route of the Via Maris, connecting old Cairo with Damascus, at its intersection with the road connecting the port of Jaffa with Jerusalem. It was conquered many times in the course of its history, by the Abbasids, the Ikhshidids, the Fatimids, the Seljuqs, the Crusaders, the Mameluks, the Turks, the British, and the Israelis. After an outbreak of the Black Death in 1347, which reduced the population. Under Arab and Ottoman rule the city became an important trade center, napoleons French Army occupied it in 1799 on its way to Acre. The town had an Arab majority before most of its Arab inhabitants were expelled or fled during the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, the town was subsequently repopulated by Jewish immigrants. In 2001, 80% of the population were Jewish and 20% Arab, in recent years, attempts have been made to develop and beautify the city, which has been plagued by neglect, financial problems and a negative public image. New shopping malls and public parks have been built, and a museum opened in 2001. A2013 Israeli police report documented that the Central District ranks fourth among Israels seven districts in terms of drug-related arrests, today, five prisons are located in Ramla, including the maximum-security Ayalon Prison. Its name was derived from the Arabic word raml, meaning sand, the early residents came from nearby Ludd. Ramla flourished as the capital of Jund Filastin, which was one of the five districts of the Syrian province of the Ummayad, Ramla was the principal city and district capital almost until the arrival of the Crusaders in the 11th century. In the 8th century, the Ummayads built the White Mosque, the remains of this mosque, flanked by a minaret added at a later date, can still be seen today. In the courtyard are underground water cisterns from this period, Ramla was sometimes referred to as Filastin, in keeping with the common practice of referring to districts by the name of their main city. The 10th-century geographer al-Muqaddasi describes Ramla at the peak of its prosperity, It is a fine city and it combines manifold advantages, situated as it is in the midst of beautiful villages and lordly towns, near to holy places and pleasant hamlets. Commerce here is prosperous, and the markets excellent. The bread is of the best, the lands are well favoured above all others, and the fruits are the most luscious. This capital stands among fields, walled towns and serviceable hospices. Ramlas economic importance, shared with the city of Lydda, was based on its strategic location
24.
Benjamin Mazar
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Benjamin Mazar was a pioneering Israeli historian, recognized as the dean of biblical archaeologists. He shared the national passion for the archaeology of Israel that also attracts considerable international interest due to the regions biblical links and he is known for his excavations at the most significant biblical site in Israel, south and south west of the Temple Mount in Jerusalem. Mazar was trained as an Assyriologist and was an expert on biblical history and he developed the field of historical geography of Israel. For decades he served as the chairman of the Israel Exploration Society, between 1951 and 1977, Mazar served as Professor of Biblical History and Archaeology at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. In 1952 he became Rector of the University and later its president for eight years commencing in 1953 and he was regarded by his students as an inspiring teacher and academic leader and many of these students are now considered leading historians and archaeologists in Israel today. Mazar was born in Ciechanowiec, Poland, then part of the Russian Empire and he was educated at Berlin and Giessen universities in Germany. In 1948 he was the first archaeologist to receive a permit to dig in the new State of Israel, in 1937, Benjamin Mazar revealed at Beit Shearim a system of tombs belonging to the Jews of Ḥimyar dating back to the 3rd century CE. The strength of ties between Yemenite Jewry and the Land of Israel can be learnt, of course, by the system of tombs at Beit Shearim dating back to the 3rd century. It is of significance that Jews from Ḥimyar were being buried in what was then considered a prestigious place. It is interesting to note that the name of a woman in Greek letters, in its form, Ενλογιαζ, was also engraved there, meaning either ‘virtue’, ‘blessing’. Eilat Mazar has been a frequent spokesperson for concerns regarding the archaeology of the Temple Mount in Jerusalem while Amihai Mazar was the recipient of the 2009 Israel Prize for Archaeology, Benjamin Mazar is the brother-in-law of Israels second and only three-term President, Yitzhak Ben Zvi. In 1968, Mazar was awarded the Israel Prize, for Jewish studies, also in 1968, he received the Yakir Yerushalayim award. In 1986, he was awarded the Harvey Prize by the Technion, Archaeology of Israel Biblical archaeology List of Israel Prize recipients Monastery of the Virgins Views of the Biblical World. Jerusalem, International Publishing Company J-m Ltd,1959
25.
Edward Robinson (scholar)
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Edward Robinson was an American biblical scholar. He studied in the United States and Germany, a center of biblical scholarship and he translated scriptural works from classical languages, as well as German translations. His Greek and English Lexicon of the New Testament became an authority in the United States. Robinson was born in Southington, Connecticut, and raised on a farm and his father was a minister in the Congregational Church of the town for four decades. The younger Robinson taught at schools in East Haven and Farmington in 1810-11 to earn money for college and he attended Hamilton College, in Clinton, New York, where his maternal uncle, Seth Norton, was a professor. In 1821 he went to Andover, Massachusetts, where he published his translation of books i-ix, xviii, there he aided Moses Stuart in the preparation of the second edition of the latters Hebrew Grammar. He translated into English Wahls Clavis Philologica Novi Testamenti, Robinson went to Europe to study ancient languages, largely in Halle and Berlin. While in Halle, in 1828 he married the German writer Therese Albertine Luise, after the couple returned to the United States, Robinson was appointed professor extraordinary of sacred literature at Andover Theological Seminary. Robinson founded the Biblical Repository, which he edited for four years and he also established the Bibliotheca Sacra, into which was merged the Biblical Repository. He spent three years in Boston working on a lexicon of scriptural Greek, illness caused him to move to New York City. He was appointed as professor of literature at Union Theological Seminary. In 1836 Robinson published both a translation of Wilhelm Gesenius Hebrew Lexicon and a Greek New Testament Lexicon, Robinson traveled to Palestine in 1838 in the company of Rev. He published Biblical Researches in Palestine in 1841, for which he was awarded the Gold Medal of the Royal Geographical Society in 1842 and he was elected a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1847. Robinson, together with Smith, made scores of identifications of ancient places referred to the Bible and his work established his enduring reputation as a Founder of Biblical archeology, and influenced much of future archaeological field work. Examples of his finds in Jerusalem include the Siloam tunnel and Robinsons Arch in the Old City, the two men returned to Ottoman Palestine in 1852 for further investigations. In 1856 the enlarged edition of Biblical Researches was published simultaneously in English and this work superseded his translation of Wahls work, becoming a standard authority in the United States. It was several times reprinted in Great Britain, physical Geography of the Holy Land. This is a supplement to his Biblical Researches, and was edited by Mrs. Robinson after his death, revised editions of the Greek and English Harmonies, edited by Matthew B
26.
William F. Albright
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William Foxwell Albright was an American archaeologist, biblical scholar, philologist, and expert on ceramics. Albright was born in Coquimbo, Chile, the eldest of six children of American evangelical Methodist missionaries Wilbur Finley Albright, Albright was an alumnus of Upper Iowa University. He married Dr. Ruth Norton in 1921 and had four sons and he was also the Director of the American School of Oriental Research in Jerusalem, 1922–1929, 1933–1936, and did important archaeological work at sites in Israel such as Gibeah and Tell Beit Mirsim. A prolific author, his works include Yahweh and the Gods of Canaan, The Archaeology of Palestine, From the Stone Age to Christianity. He also edited the Anchor Bible volumes on Jeremiah, Matthew, throughout his life Albright was honored with numerous awards, honorary doctorates, and medals, and was given the title Yakir Yerushalayim —the first time the award had been given to a non-Jew. He was elected a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts, after his death, his legacy continued as a large number of scholars, inspired by his work, became specialists in the areas Albright had pioneered. The American School of Oriental Research, Jerusalem, is now known as the Albright Institute of Archaeological Research, from the early twentieth century until his death, he was the dean of biblical archaeologists and the acknowledged founder of the Biblical archaeology movement. This area is widely contested among scholars. His student George Ernest Wright followed in his footsteps as the leader of the biblical archaeology movement, contributing work at Shechem. Albright also inspired, trained and worked with the first generation of world-class Israeli archaeologists, who have carried on his work, other students, notably Joseph Fitzmyer, S. J. Frank Moore Cross, Raymond E. Brown, and David Noel Freedman, became leaders in the study of the Bible. As editor of the Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research between 1931 and 1968, Albright influenced both biblical scholarship and Palestinian archaeology, in this Albrights American Evangelical upbringing was clearly apparent. He insisted, for example, that as a whole, the picture in Genesis is historical, similarly he claimed that archaeology had proved the essential historicity of the Book of Exodus, and the conquest of Canaan as described in the Book of Joshua and the Book of Judges. In the years since his death, Albrights methods and conclusions have been increasingly questioned, the irony is that, in the long run, it will have been the newer secular archaeology that contributed the most to Biblical studies, not Biblical archaeology. The Archaeology of Palestine, From the Stone Age to Christianity Views of the Biblical World, Jerusalem, International Publishing Company J-m Ltd,1959. Yahweh and the Gods of Canaan, An Historical Analysis of Two Contrasting Faiths The Biblical Period from Abraham to Ezra Albright, interesting finds in tumuli near Jerusalem. Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research, New Light from Egypt on the Chronology and History of Israel and Judah. Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research, Biblical archaeology List of artifacts significant to the Bible Views of the Biblical World Davis, Thomas W. Shifting Sands, the Rise and Fall of Biblical Archaeology
27.
Kiryat Gat
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Kiryat Gat, is a city in the Southern District of Israel. It lies 56 km south of Tel Aviv,43 km north of Beersheba,45 km from Gaza, in 2015 it had a population of 51,483. Kiryat Gat is named for Gath, one of the five cities of the Philistines. In the 1950s, archaeologists found ruins at a tell which were mistaken for the Philistine city of Gath. The location most favored for Gath now is Tel es-Safi, thirteen kilometers to the northeast, Kiryat Gat was founded in 1954, initially as a maabara. The following year it was established as a development town by 18 families from Morocco and it was founded just west of the ruins of the Arab village of Iraq al-Manshiyya, which was depopulated in 1949 after the 1948 Arab–Israeli War. The former location of Iraq al-Manshiyya is now within the area of Kiryat Gat. By 1992, Kiryat Gat had grown and spread also on to the land belonged to the village of Al-Faluja. The population rose from 4,400 inhabitants in 1958 to 17,000 in 1969, the economy was initially based on processing the agricultural produce of the Lachish region, such as cotton and wool. In December 1972, Kiryat Gats municipal status was upgraded and it became Israels 31st city, during the 1990s, the mass immigration of Soviet Jews to Israel brought many new residents to the town and its population grew to 42,500 by 1995. The development of the Rabin industrial zone on the edge of the city. In 2012, the makeup of the city was 93.8 percent Jewish. In its early years, Kiryat Gat was populated mainly by Jews of Sephardi/Mizrahi origin, since the mass immigration of Soviet Jews, approximately one third of the inhabitants hail from the former Soviet Union. The Polgat textile factory was the employer in the town until it closed in the 1990s. In 1999, Intel opened a fabrication plant, known as Fab 18, to produce Pentium 4 chips. Intel received a grant of $525 million from the Israeli government to build the plant, in February 2006, the cornerstone was laid for Intels second Kiryat Gat plant, Fab 28. Despite this, Kiryat Gat has one of Israels highest unemployment rates, Kiryat Gat is served by the Kiryat Gat Railway Station on the Tel Aviv - Beer Sheva inter-city line of Israel Railways. Kiryat Gat is situated between two highways, Highway 40 to the west of the town and Highway 6
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Madaba Map
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The Madaba Map is part of a floor mosaic in the early Byzantine church of Saint George at Madaba, Jordan. The Madaba Map is a map of the Middle East, part of it contains the oldest surviving original cartographic depiction of the Holy Land and especially Jerusalem. It dates to the 6th century AD, the Madaba Mosaic Map depicts Jerusalem with the Nea Church, which was dedicated on the 20th of November, AD542. Buildings erected in Jerusalem after 570 are absent from the depiction, the mosaic was made by unknown artists, probably for the Christian community of Madaba, which was the seat of a bishop at that time. In 614, Madaba was conquered by the Persian empire, in the 8th century AD, the Muslim Umayyad rulers had some figural motifs removed from the mosaic. In 746, Madaba was largely destroyed by an earthquake and subsequently abandoned, the mosaic was rediscovered in 1884, during the construction of a new Greek Orthodox church on the site of its ancient predecessor. In the following decades, large portions of the map were damaged by fires, activities in the new church. In December 1964, the Volkswagen Foundation gave the Deutscher Verein für die Erforschung Palästinas 90,000 DM to save the mosaic, in 1965, the archaeologists Heinz Cüppers and Herbert Donner undertook the restoration and conservation of the remaining parts of the mosaic. The floor mosaic is located in the apse of the church of Saint George at Madaba and it is not oriented northwards, like modern maps, but faces east towards the altar in such a fashion that the position of places on the map coincides with the actual compass directions. Originally, it measured 21 by 7 m and contained two million tesserae. Its current dimensions are 16 by 5 m, the mosaic map depicts an area from Lebanon in the north to the Nile Delta in the south, and from the Mediterranean Sea in the west to the Eastern Desert. The map may partially have served to facilitate pilgrims orientation in the Holy Land, all landscape units are labelled with explanations in Greek. A combination of folding perspective and aerial view depicts about 150 towns and villages, the largest and most detailed element of the topographic depiction is Jerusalem, at the centre of the map. The recognisable depiction of the topography makes the mosaic a key source on Byzantine Jerusalem. Also unique are the depictions of cities such as Neapolis, Askalon, Gaza, Pelusium and Charachmoba. The mosaic map of Madaba is the oldest known geographic floor mosaic in art history and it is of major use for the localisation and verification of biblical sites. Study of the map played a role in answering the question of the topographical location of Askalon. In 1967, excavations in the Jewish Quarter of Jerusalem revealed the Nea Church, in February 2010, excavations further substantiated its accuracy with the discovery of a road depicted in the map that runs through the center of Jerusalem
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Satrapies
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Satraps were the governors of the provinces of the ancient Median and Achaemenid Empires and in several of their successors, such as in the Sasanian Empire and the Hellenistic empires. The word satrap originates ultimately from Old Persian xšaçapāvan, Sanskrit kshatrapam or kshtrapa, from xšaça, in Greek, the word was rendered as satrápēs —which later borrowed into Latin as satrapes—from a Western Iranian cognate xšaθrapā. In modern Persian the descendant of xšaθrapāvan is shahrbān, but the components have undergone semantic shift so the word now means town keeper. The first large use of satrapies, or provinces, originates from the conception of the First Persian Empire under Cyrus the Great. However, provincial organization originated during the Median era from at least 648 BCE, up to the time of the conquest of Media by Cyrus the Great, emperors ruled the conquered lands, through client kings and governors. The chief difference was that in Persian culture the concept of kingship was indivisible from divinity and he was responsible for the safety of the roads, and had to put down brigands and rebels. But the satrap was allowed to have troops in his own service, the great satrapies were often divided into smaller districts, the governors of which were also called satraps and also hyparchs. The distribution of the great satrapies was changed repeatedly, and often two of them were given to the same man, as the provinces were the result of consecutive conquests, both primary and sub-satrapies were often defined by former states and/or ethno-religious identity. When his office became hereditary, the threat to the authority could not be ignored. Rebellions of satraps became frequent from the middle of the 5th century BCE, darius I struggled with widespread rebellions in the satrapies, and under Artaxerxes II occasionally the greater part of Asia Minor and Syria was in open rebellion. The last great rebellions were put down by Artaxerxes III and they would ultimately be replaced by conquering empires, especially the Parthians. In the Parthian Empire, the power rested on the support of noble families who ruled large estates. City-states within the empire enjoyed a degree of self-government, and paid tribute to the king, shahrabs ruled both the city and the surrounding rural districts. Exceptionally, the East Roman Empire also adopted the title satrap for the princes that governed one of its Armenian provinces. The Western Satraps or Kshatrapas were Saka rulers in the western and central part of the Sindh region of Pakistan, and it is also used in modern times to refer to the loyal subservient lieutenants or clients of some powerful figure, in politics or business. In Portuguese, Italian and Spanish, the word not only carries the aforementioned ancient historical meaning. It can refer as well to living in luxurious and ostentatious conditions or to individuals who act astutely. The College of Pataphysics used the title Transcendent Satrap for certain of its members, including Marcel Duchamp, Jean Baudrillard, in the Serbian language, satrap is used to mock a person who displays servile tendencies to an authority figure
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Greek language
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Greek is an independent branch of the Indo-European family of languages, native to Greece and other parts of the Eastern Mediterranean. It has the longest documented history of any living language, spanning 34 centuries of written records and its writing system has been the Greek alphabet for the major part of its history, other systems, such as Linear B and the Cypriot syllabary, were used previously. The alphabet arose from the Phoenician script and was in turn the basis of the Latin, Cyrillic, Armenian, Coptic, Gothic and many other writing systems. Together with the Latin texts and traditions of the Roman world, during antiquity, Greek was a widely spoken lingua franca in the Mediterranean world and many places beyond. It would eventually become the official parlance of the Byzantine Empire, the language is spoken by at least 13.2 million people today in Greece, Cyprus, Italy, Albania, Turkey, and the Greek diaspora. Greek roots are used to coin new words for other languages, Greek. Greek has been spoken in the Balkan peninsula since around the 3rd millennium BC, the earliest written evidence is a Linear B clay tablet found in Messenia that dates to between 1450 and 1350 BC, making Greek the worlds oldest recorded living language. Among the Indo-European languages, its date of earliest written attestation is matched only by the now extinct Anatolian languages, the Greek language is conventionally divided into the following periods, Proto-Greek, the unrecorded but assumed last ancestor of all known varieties of Greek. The unity of Proto-Greek would have ended as Hellenic migrants entered the Greek peninsula sometime in the Neolithic era or the Bronze Age, Mycenaean Greek, the language of the Mycenaean civilisation. It is recorded in the Linear B script on tablets dating from the 15th century BC onwards, Ancient Greek, in its various dialects, the language of the Archaic and Classical periods of the ancient Greek civilisation. It was widely known throughout the Roman Empire, after the Roman conquest of Greece, an unofficial bilingualism of Greek and Latin was established in the city of Rome and Koine Greek became a first or second language in the Roman Empire. The origin of Christianity can also be traced through Koine Greek, Medieval Greek, also known as Byzantine Greek, the continuation of Koine Greek in Byzantine Greece, up to the demise of the Byzantine Empire in the 15th century. Much of the written Greek that was used as the language of the Byzantine Empire was an eclectic middle-ground variety based on the tradition of written Koine. Modern Greek, Stemming from Medieval Greek, Modern Greek usages can be traced in the Byzantine period and it is the language used by the modern Greeks, and, apart from Standard Modern Greek, there are several dialects of it. In the modern era, the Greek language entered a state of diglossia, the historical unity and continuing identity between the various stages of the Greek language is often emphasised. Greek speakers today still tend to regard literary works of ancient Greek as part of their own rather than a foreign language and it is also often stated that the historical changes have been relatively slight compared with some other languages. According to one estimation, Homeric Greek is probably closer to demotic than 12-century Middle English is to modern spoken English, Greek is spoken by about 13 million people, mainly in Greece, Albania and Cyprus, but also worldwide by the large Greek diaspora. Greek is the language of Greece, where it is spoken by almost the entire population
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Maresha
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Tel Maresha is the tell of the biblical Iron Age city of Maresha, and of the subsequent, post-586 BCE Idumean city known by its its Hellenised name Marisa, Arabised as Marissa. The tell is situated in Israels Shephelah region, i. e. in the foothills of the Judaean Mountains, the majority of the artifacts of the British excavation are to be found today in the Istanbul Archaeology Museums. This site is now protected as part of Bet Guvrin-Maresha National Park, according to the Madaba Map, Maresha was the place whence came Micah the Prophet. This marked the end of Maresha as a Judahite city, following these events, Edomites who had lived east and south of the Dead Sea migrated to the area. Hence, from the Persian rule and throughout the Hellenistic kingdoms rule in the region, Maresha was part of the known as Idumea. Maresha emerged as a major Idumean city and with the conquest of the region by Alexander the Great the city was settled by retired Greek soldiers as was then custom, thus Maresha developed as a Hellenistic city encompassing a multitude of Greek and oriental cultures including Sidonians and Nabataeans. The city began its decline during the Maccabean Revolt against the Seleucid Empire when the city was used as base to combat the rebels, following the rebellion and its success, it is believed that John Hyrcanus conquered the city in 112 BCE, forcibly converting its inhabitants. In 63 BCE, as part of the arrangements made by Pompey in the region, Maresha, along all of Edom, was separated from the Jewish kingdom. In 47 BCE Julius Caesar then annexed the city to Judea, after the demise of Maresha, the neighbouring Idumean/Jewish town of Beth Gabra or Beit Guvrin succeeded it as the main settlement in the area. By the time of Eusebius of Caesarea, Maresha itself was already a place, he mentions the city in his Onomasticon. The Palestinian Arab village Bayt Jibrin, standing on the site of ancient Eleutheropolis, was depopulated during the 1948 Arab-Israeli war, in 1949 Kibbutz Beit Guvrin was established on part of Bayt Jibrins lands. Most of the important areas of ancient Maresha and Beit Guvrin/Eleutheropolis are now part of the Beit Guvrin-Maresha National Park. Less than 10 percent of the caves on Tel Maresha have been excavated, many of the caves are linked by an underground maze of passageways. Today Maresha is part of the Israeli national park of Beit Guvrin, many of the ancient citys olive presses, columbaria and water cisterns can still be seen. Furthermore, Archaeological Seminars, under the license of the Israel Antiquities Authority, conduct excavations of Mareshas many quarried systems, Bet Guvrin-Maresha National Park – official site Pictures of Maresha Template, Villages depopulated during the Bar Kochba revolt
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Azekah
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Azekah was a town in the Shephelah guarding the upper reaches of the Valley of Elah, about 26 km northwest of Hebron. The current tell by that name has been identified with the biblical Azekah, today, the site lies on the purlieu of Britannia Park. According to Epiphanius of Salamis, the name meant white in the Canaanite tongue, the tell is pear shaped with the tip pointing northward. Due to its location in the Elah Valley it functioned as one of the main Judahite border cities, although listed in Joshua 15,35 as being a city in the plain, it is actually partly in the hill country, partly in the plain. In the Bible, it is said to be the place where the Amorite kings were defeated by Joshua and it was given to the tribe of Judah. In the time of Saul, the Philistines massed their forces between Sokho and Azekah, putting forth Goliath as their champion, rehoboam fortified the town in his reign, along with Lachish and other strategic sites. Lachish and Azekah were the last two towns to fall to the Babylonians before the overthrow of Jerusalem itself and it was one of the places re-occupied by the people on the return from the Captivity. Although the hill is now known as the Tel of Azekah. In 1838, British-American explorer Edward Robinson passed by the site of Tell Zakariyeh, french explorer Victor Guérin thought Tell Zakariyeh to be the village mentioned in the Book of I Maccabees, known then as Beit Zakariah. As for Azekah, Guérin writes, it has not yet found with certainty. Scholars believe that the old namesake was changed at some early time in Jewish history. In the mosaic layout of the Madaba Map of the 5th century CE, Epiphanius of Salamis writes that, in his day, Azekah was already called by the Syriac name Ḥǝwarta. Azekah is mentioned in two sources outside of the Bible, a text from the Assyrian king Sennacherib describes Azekah and its destruction during his military campaign. Ed me and against the land of Ju the course of my campaign, Lachish Letter 4 suggests that Azekah was destroyed, as they were no longer visible to the exporter of the letter. Part of the reads, And inasmuch as my lord sent to me concerning the matter of Bet Harapid. And as for Semakyahu, Semayahu took him and brought him up to the city, and your servant is not sending him there any, but when morning comes round. And may be apprised that we are watching for the signals of Lachish according to all the signs which my lord has given. Azekah was one of the first sites excavated in the Holy Land and was excavated under the Palestine Exploration Fund for a period of 17 weeks over the course of three seasons
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Canaan
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Canaan was a Semitic-speaking region in the Ancient Near East during the late 2nd millennium BC. The name Canaan occurs commonly in the Hebrew Bible, in particular, the references in Genesis 10 and Numbers 34 define the Land of Canaan as extending from Lebanon southward to the Brook of Egypt and eastward to the Jordan River Valley. References to Canaan in the Bible are usually backward-looking, referring to a region that had something else. The term Canaanites serves as an ethnic catch-all term covering various indigenous populations—both settled, the Amarna Letters and other cuneiform documents use Kinaḫḫu, while other sources of the Egyptian New Kingdom mention numerous military campaigns conducted in Ka-na-na. Canaan had significant geopolitical importance in the Late Bronze Age Amarna period as the area where the spheres of interest of the Egyptian, Hittite, Mitanni and Assyrian Empires converged. Much of the knowledge about Canaan stems from archaeological excavation in this area at sites such as Tel Hazor, Tel Megiddo. The English term Canaan comes from the Hebrew כנען, via Greek Χαναάν Khanaan and it appears as KUR ki-na-ah-na in the Amarna letters, and knʿn is found on coins from Phoenicia in the last half of the 1st millennium. It first occurs in Greek in the writings of Hecataeus as Khna, scholars connect the name Canaan with knʿn, Kanaan, the general Northwest Semitic name for this region. An early explanation derives the term from the Semitic root knʿ to be low, humble, purple cloth became a renowned Canaanite export commodity which is mentioned in Exodus. The dyes may have named after their place of origin. The purple cloth of Tyre in Phoenicia was well known far, however, according to Robert Drews, Speisers proposal has generally been abandoned. The Late Bronze Age state of Ugarit is considered quintessentially Canaanite archaeologically, Jonathan Tubb states that the term ga-na-na may provide a third millennium reference to Canaanite while at the same time stating that the first certain reference is in the 18th century BC. See Ebla-Biblical controversy for further details, Mari letters A letter from Mutu-bisir to Shamshi-Adad I of the Old Assyrian Empire has been translated, It is in Rahisum that the brigands and the Canaanites are situated. It was found in 1973 in the ruins of Mari, an Assyrian outpost at that time in Syria, additional unpublished references to Kinahnum in the Mari letters refer to the same episode. Alalakh texts A reference to Ammiya being in the land of Canaan is found on the Statue of Idrimi from Alalakh in modern Syria. After a popular uprising against his rule, Idrimi was forced into exile with his mothers relatives to seek refuge in the land of Canaan, the other references in the Alalakh texts are, AT154 AT181, A list of Apiru people with their origins. All are towns, except for Canaan AT188, A list of Muskenu people with their origins, the letters are written in the official and diplomatic East Semitic Akkadian language of Assyria and Babylonia, though Canaanitish words and idioms are also in evidence. May the king ask Yanhamu about these matters, may the king ask his commissioner, who is familiar with Canaan EA151, Letter from Abimilku to the Pharaoh, The king, my lord wrote to me, write to me what you have heard from Canaan
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Gaza City
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Gaza, also referred to as Gaza City, is a Palestinian city in the Gaza Strip, with a population of 515,556, making it the largest city in the State of Palestine. Inhabited since at least the 15th century BC, Gaza has been dominated by different peoples and empires throughout its history. The Philistines made it a part of their pentapolis after the Ancient Egyptians had ruled it for nearly 350 years, under the Romans and later the Byzantines, Gaza experienced relative peace and its port flourished. In 635 AD, it became the first city in Palestine to be conquered by the Rashidun army, however, by the time the Crusaders invaded the city in the late 11th century, it was in ruins. In later centuries, Gaza experienced several hardships—from Mongol raids to floods and locusts, reducing it to a village by the 16th century, when it was incorporated into the Ottoman Empire. During the first half of Ottoman rule, the Ridwan dynasty controlled Gaza, the municipality of Gaza was established in 1893. Gaza fell to British forces during World War I, becoming a part of Mandatory Palestine, as a result of the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, Egypt administered the newly formed Gaza Strip territory and several improvements were undertaken in the city. Gaza was captured by Israel in the Six-Day War in 1967, but in 1993, in the months following the 2006 election, an armed conflict broke out between the Palestinian political factions of Fatah and Hamas, resulting in the latter taking power in Gaza. Egypt and Israel consequently imposed a blockade on the Gaza Strip, Israel eased the blockade allowing consumer goods in June 2010, and Egypt reopened the Rafah border crossing in 2011 to pedestrians. The primary economic activities of Gaza are small-scale industries and agriculture, however, the blockade and recurring conflicts has put the economy under severe pressure. The majority of Gazas inhabitants are Muslim, although there is also a Christian minority, Gaza has a very young population with roughly 75% under the age of 25. The city is administered by a 14-member municipal council. The name Gaza is first known from records of Thutmose III of Egypt in the 15th century BC. In Semitic languages, the meaning of the city name is fierce, other proper Arabic transliterations for the Arabic name are Ghazzah or Ġazzah. Accordingly, Gaza might be spelled Gazza in English, although the z is double in Arabic, it was transliterated into Greek as a single zeta, and the voiced velar or uvular fricative at the beginning was transliterated with a gamma. The Hebrew name of the city is Aza – the ayin at the beginning of the word represented a velar fricative in Biblical Hebrew. Gazas history of habitation dates back 5,000 years, making it one of the oldest cities in the world, settlement in the region of Gaza dates back to Tell es-Sakan, an Ancient Egyptian fortress built in Canaanite territory to the south of present-day Gaza. The site went into decline throughout the Early Bronze Age II as its trade with Egypt sharply decreased, another urban center known as Tell al-Ajjul began to grow along the Wadi Ghazza riverbed
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Ekron
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The city of Ekron, was one of the five cities of the famed Philistine pentapolis, located in southwestern Canaan. Following the 1996 discovery of the Ekron inscription, Ekron was positively identified with the mound of Tel Miqne or Khirbet el-Muqanna, numerous locations have been suggested for Ekron, including Aqir, Qatra, Zikrin and Caesarea Maritima. Jerome wrote that Ekron was to the east of Azotus and Iamnia and this may be a reference to Rabbi Abbahus identification of Ekron with Caesarea in Megillah. The site of Tel Miqne was lightly occupied beginning in the Chalcolithic period, after a 400-year gap when only the upper tel was occupied, the city underwent a major expansion c.1600 BCE, under the Canaanites. It was re-established by Philistines at the beginning of the Iron Age, during the Iron Age, Ekron was a border city on the frontier contested between Philistia and the kingdom of Judah. Records of the Neo-Assyrian Empire also refer to Ekron, the siege of Ekron in 712 BCE is depicted on one of Sargon IIs wall reliefs in his palace at Khorsabad, which names the city. Ekron revolted against Sennacherib and expelled Padi, his governor, who was sent to Hezekiah, in Jerusalem, Sennacherib marched against Ekron and the Ekronites called upon the aid of the king of Mutsri from northwest Arabia. Sennacherib turned aside to defeat this army, which he did at Eltekeh and this campaign led to the famous attack of Sennacherib on Hezekiah and Jerusalem, in which Sennacherib compelled Hezekiah to restore Padi, who was reinstated as governor at Ekron. Ashdod and Ekron survived to become powerful city-states dominated by Assyria in the 7th century BCE. The city was destroyed by the Neo-Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzer II in 604 BCE, Joshua 13,13 counts it the border city of the Philistines and seat of one of the five Philistine city lords, and Joshua 15,11 mentions Ekrons satellite towns and villages. The city was reassigned afterwards to the tribe of Dan, and it was the last place to which the Philistines carried the Ark of the Covenant before they sent it back to Israel. There was a sanctuary of Baal at Ekron. So he sent messengers whom he instructed, Go inquire of Baal-zebub and its destruction is prophesied in Zephaniah 2,4, Ekron shall be rooted up. Chronological development The ceramic evidence indicates a presence at the site in the Chalcolithic period and Early Bronze Age. In the lower city, a 400-year occupational gap followed Stratum XI of the 17th–first half of the 16th century BCE until its resettlement in Stratum VII at the beginning of the Iron I, ca.1175 BCE. Another occupational gap of ca.270 years followed the end of Iron I Stratum IV, ca.975 BCE, in the lower city, until it was again resettled in Stratum I of the 7th century BCE. The cities at Ekron were well planned in both the Iron I and Iron II, with four zones of occupation, fortifications, industrial, domestic. The final Iron II occupation in the 7th/6th centuries BCE was represented by an architectural unit in Field III in the lower city
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Ashkelon
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Ashkelon is a coastal city in the Southern District of Israel on the Mediterranean coast,50 kilometres south of Tel Aviv, and 13 kilometres north of the border with the Gaza Strip. The ancient seaport of Ashkelon dates back to the Neolithic Age, the Arab village of al-Majdal or al-Majdal Asqalan, was established a few kilometres inland from the ancient site by the late 15th century, under Ottoman rule. In 1918, it part of the British Occupied Enemy Territory Administration. Al-Majdal on the eve of the 1948 Arab–Israeli War had 10,000 Arab inhabitants and in October 1948, al-Majdal was the forward position of the Egyptian Expeditionary Force based in Gaza. The town was initially named Migdal Gaza, Migdal Gad and Migdal Ashkelon by the new Jewish inhabitants, most of the remaining Arabs were evicted by 1950. In 1953, the neighborhood of Afridar was incorporated and the name Ashkelon was readopted to the town. By 1961, Ashkelon was ranked 18th among Israeli urban centers with a population of 24,000, in 2015 the population of Ashkelon was 130,660. The name Ashkelon is probably western Semitic, and might be connected to the root š-q-l perhaps attesting to its importance as a center for mercantile activities, scallion and shallot are derived from Ascalonia, the Latin name for Ashkelon. Ashkelon was the oldest and largest seaport in Canaan, one of the five cities of the Philistines, north of Gaza, the Neolithic site of Ashkelon is located on the Mediterranean coast,1.5 km north of Tel Ashkelon. It is dated by Radiocarbon dating to ca.7900 bp and it was discovered and excavated in 1954 by French archaeologist Jean Perrot. In 1997–1998, a large scale salvage project was conducted at the site by Yosef Garfinkel on behalf of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, a final excavation report was published in 2008. In the site over a hundred fireplaces and hearths were found and numerous pits, various phases of occupation were found, one atop the other, with sterile layers of sea sand between them. This indicates that the site was occupied on a seasonal basis, the main finds were enormous quantities of animal bones and 20,000 flint artifacts. Usually at Neolithic sites flints far outnumber animal bones, the bones belong to domesticated and non-domesticated animals. When all aspects of this site are taken into account, it appears to have used by pastoral nomads for meat processing. The nearby sea could supply necessary for the conservation of meat. The city was built on a sandstone outcropping and has a good underground water supply. It was relatively large as an ancient city with as many as 15,000 people living inside the walls, Ashkelon was a thriving Middle Bronze Age city of more than 150 acres
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Ashdod
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Ashdod is the sixth-largest city and the largest port in Israel accounting for 60% of the countrys imported goods. Ashdod is located in the Southern District of the country, on the Mediterranean coast where it is situated between Tel Aviv to the north and Ashkelon to the south, Jerusalem is 53 km to the east. The city is also an important regional industrial center and this article is dealing with both these historic towns and other ancient sites now located within the territory of modern Ashdod. The first documented settlement at Ashdod dates to the Canaanite culture of the 17th century BCE. Ashdod is mentioned 13 times in the Bible, during its pre-1956 history the city was settled by Philistines, Israelites, Greek colonists coming in the wake of Alexanders conquests, Romans and Byzantines, Arabs, Crusaders, and Ottoman Turks. Modern Ashdod was established in 1956 on the hills near the site of the ancient town. Being a planned city, expansion followed a main development plan, according to the Israel Central Bureau of Statistics, Ashdod had a population of 220,174 in 2015, with an area of 47,242 dunams. Three stone tools dating from the Neolithic era were discovered, but no evidence of a Stone Age settlement in Ashdod was found. The site of Ashdod in the Bronze Age and Iron Ages was at a tell just south of the modern city and it was excavated by archaeologists in nine seasons between 1962 and 1972. The effort was led during the first few years by David Noel Freedman of the Pittsburgh Theological Seminary, the remaining seasons were headed by Dothan for the Israel Antiquities Authority. The earliest major habitation in Ashdod dates to the 17th century BCE, Ashdod is first mentioned in written documents from Late Bronze Age Ugarit, which indicate that the city was a center of export for dyed woolen purple fabric and garments. At the end of the 13th century BCE the Sea Peoples conquered and destroyed Ashdod, by the beginning of the 12th century BCE, the Philistines, generally thought to have been one of the Sea Peoples, ruled the city. During their reign, the city prospered and was a member of the Philistine Pentapolis, in 950 BCE Ashdod was destroyed during Pharaoh Siamuns conquest of the region. The city was not rebuilt until at least 815 BCE, asdûdu led the revolt of Philistines, Judeans, Edomites, and Moabites against Assyria after expulsion of king Ahimiti, whom Sargon had installed instead of his brother Azuri. Gath belonged to the kingdom of Ashdod at that time, assyrian king Sargon IIs commander-in-chief, whom the King James Bible calls simply Tartan, Isaiah 20,1 regained control of Ashdod in 712/711 BCE and forced the usurper Yamani to flee. Sargons general destroyed the city and exiled its residents, including some Israelites who were settled in Media. Mitinti was king at the time of Sargons son Sennacherib, psamtik I of Egypt is reported to have besieged the great city Azotus for twenty-nine years, the biblical references to the remnant of Ashdod are interpreted as allusions to this event. The city absorbed another blow in 605 BCE, when Nebuchadnezzar conquered it, in 539 BCE the city was rebuilt by the Persians
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Israeli coastal plain
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Israels Coastal Plain is the coastal plain along Israels Mediterranean Sea coast, extending 187 kilometres north to south. It is a region defined morphologically by the sea, in terms of topography and soil. It is narrow in the north and broadens considerably towards the south, for its entire length, the plain has sandy beaches and a Mediterranean climate. The area was fertile in Biblical times, some of it being continually farmed ever since, although much turned over time into swampland. Today, the area is the center of the countrys citrus farms, the plain has soils made of two sorts of thick river deposits, one dark and heavy - ideal for growing field crops, and the other thin and sandy - ideal for growing citrus fruits. About 57% of Israels population lives in the plain, much of them in the Tel Aviv metropolitan area. About 4,320,000 people live on the Israeli Coastal Plain,4,200,000 million of them are Jews, and 120,000 are Israeli Arabs. This accounts for approximately one-third of the world Jewish population, the Israeli Coastal Plain has been populated for thousands of years, with the Pre-Pottery Neolithic B village of Atlit-Yam dating back some 9000 years. The PPNB village was swallowed by the sea due to a rise in sea level caused by the glaciers at the end of the last Ice Age. Settlements are thought to have spread across the plain, from Gaza up to the Galilee. It separates the Western Galilee and the Jezreel Valley from the Mediterranean and its southern segment borders the Jezreel Valley and is - rather unfittingly - known as the Plain of Zebulun. It is a region containing the city of Nahariya and many moshavim and kibbutzim. There are many islands and islets off the coast in this region. The Hof HaCarmel region is the Coastal Plain section stretching along the Mount Carmel range, from Haifa, the soil of the Hof HaCarmel plain is rich and apart from the main city of Haifa in the north, most settlement here is made up of farming communities. The Hof HaCarmel Regional Council is a unit which largely. The Sharon plain is the next stage down the Coastal Plain and this area is Israels most densely populated, containing a number of large towns and cities including Netanya and Herzliya as well as smaller communities inland. The Southern Coastal Plain extends around the Gaza Strip and this page deals only with the Israeli Coastal Plain, therefore the Gaza Strip, which politically belongs to the Palestinian Authority, is not included here
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Shfela
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The Shfela, or Shephelah, is a transitional region of soft-sloping hills in south-central Israel stretching over 10–15 km between the Judean Mountains and the Coastal Plain. Today the Shfela is largely rural with many farms, the Bible assigned land in the Shephelah to the tribes of Judah and Dan. The Shfela is mentioned many times in the Hebrew Bible The Shfela was the site of many biblical battles, during the Bar Kokhba revolt, hollowed out hills were connected to form elaborate bunker systems for the combat with the Romans. The Shephelah consists of rolling hills. Topographically it represents the transition from the higher and more rugged Jerusalem and Hebron Mountains, whose foothills it forms, and the Coastal Plain. In the upper part the valleys descending from the Judean Mountains are deeper, where they reach the Shephelah, the rivers can flow over substantial distances along the border between the mountains and the hills, forming longitudinal valleys. Passage between the east-west and north-south valleys has dictated the communication routes throughout history, typical to the Shephelah are the Senonian-Eocene chalky formations. Apart from using the rock, they also utilised the generated underground hollows for different purposes. One of the characteristics are hills formed of marl-covered soft chalk, as opposed to the Judean Hills which are made of hard chalk. The valleys and lower areas contain soil with a high sand content, seasonal swamps can develop during the rainy season. The southern part is made up of loess, while north of Ashkelon consists of clay, the Shfela has a temperate Mediterranean to semi-arid climate. A series of east-west valleys cuts the Shfelah into districts, from north to south, they are, the Valley of Ayalon, Sorek Valley, Valley of Elah, Guvrin Valley, Valley of Lachish, and Valley of Adorayim. The biblical towns established there guarded settlements of the interior and took advantage of passing along this route. Ayalon was the access corridor to Jerusalem along the ascent of Horon. Caves are a feature of the southern part of the Shfela. Archaeological surveys in the Shfela have found evidence of habitation during the Late Bronze period, the Shephelah was a border region between the Iron Age Kingdom of Judah and the Philistines. During the decline and ultimate destruction of Judah by the Assyrians and Babylonians, the Shepehelah flourished during the Hellenistic period, was strongly affected by the First Jewish-Roman War and was largely depopulated of Jews as a result of the Bar Kochba revolt. It flourished again in the Byzantine period and was the scene of one of the battles during the Muslim Arab conquest of the 7th century
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R. A. Stewart Macalister
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Robert Alexander Stewart Macalister was an Irish archaeologist. Macalister was born in Dublin, Ireland, the son of Alexander Macalister, then professor of Professor of Zoology and his father was appointed professor of anatomy at Cambridge in 1883, and he was educated at The Perse School, and then studied at Cambridge University. Although his earliest interest was in the archaeology of Ireland, he developed a strong interest in biblical archaeology. Along with Frederick J. Bliss, he excavated several towns in the Shephelah region of Ottoman Palestine from 1898 to 1900, using advances in stratigraphy building on the work of Flinders Petrie, they developed a chronology for the region using ceramic typology. Upon Bliss retirement, Macalister became director of excavations for the Palestine Exploration Fund in 1901, from 1902 to 1909 he was responsible for the excavations at Gezer, in the modern state of Israel, just west of Jerusalem. This was one of the earliest large-scale scientific archaeological excavations in the region, the Gezer calendar found there is a very early paleo-Hebrew calendrical inscription. However, in most respects Macalisters work in Biblical archaeology is considered to have been a failure, due to the quality of his excavation techniques. Because Macalister was the only professional archaeologist involved in the excavation, Macalister left the field of Biblical archaeology in 1909 to accept a position as professor of Celtic archaeology at University College, Dublin, where he taught until his retirement in 1943. During this period, he worked at the ancient Irish royal site of Tara and was responsible for editing the catalogue of all known inscriptions from Great Britain. Many of his translations of Irish myths and legends are widely used today. He was elected to the Royal Irish Academy in 1910 and served as their president from 1926 to 1931 and he was also president of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland from 1924 to 1928. He is buried at the Parish of the Ascension Burial Ground in Cambridge, the Excavation of Gezer,1902 -1905 and 1907 -1909. John Murray, Albemarle Street West, London, a History of Civilization in Palestine The Philistines, Their History and Civilization Muiredach, abbot of Monasterboice, 890–923 A. D.1984. BA portrait, The Success and Failure of Robert Alexander Stewart Macalister
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Aren Maeir
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Aren Maeir is a professor at Bar Ilan University and director of the Tell es-Safi/Gath Archaeological Project. Born in 1958 in Rochester, New York, United States and he has been teaching at Bar-Ilan University since 1992. He is married to Adina, and they have three sons and a grandson and his expertise lies in the Bronze and Iron Age cultures of the Eastern Mediterranean, with special emphasis on those of the Ancient Levant. Between 2005 and 2007 he served as the Chairman of the Martin Department of Land of Israel Studies, since 1996 he has directed the Ackerman Family Bar-Ilan University Expedition to Gath, excavating the ancient site of Tell es-Safi, which is identified as Canaanite and Philistine Gath. Professor Maeir currently has more than a hundred and forty scholarly publications, including, Ackermann, O. A. Faust, Late Philistine Decorated Ware, Typology, Chronology and Production Centers. Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research 335, 1-35, shai, A. Zukerman, and A. Maeir. Cooking Identities, Aegean-Style and Philistine Cooking Jugs and Cultural Interaction in the Southern Levant during the Iron Age, American Journal of Archaeology 112, April, 225-46. The material culture of the Central and Northern Jordan valley in the Middle Bronze Age II, Pottery, T.1181, area L, Hazor, A multiple interment burial cave of the MBIIA/B period. In Hazor V, ed. A. Ben-Tor, 295-340, Bronze and Iron Age Tombs at Tel Gezer, Israel, Finds from the Excavations by Raymond-Charles Weill in 1914 and 1921. British Archaeological Reports International Series 1206, the Historical Background and Dating of Amos VI2, An Archaeological Perspective from Tell es-Safi/Gath. The Middle Bronze Age II Pottery, in Excavations at Tel Beth-Shean 1989-1996, Volume II, The Middle and Late Bronze Age Strata in Area R, ed. A. Mazar and R. Mullins, 242-389. In The New Encyclopedia of Archaeological Excavations in the Holy Land 5, Supplementary volume, ed. E. Stern,2010 Stones, Bones, Texts and Relevance, Or How I Lost My Fear of Biblical Archaeology and Started Enjoying It. Pp. 295–303 in Historical Biblical Archaeology and the Future, The New Pragmatism, ed. T. Levy. 2010 “And Brought in the Offerings and the Tithes and the Dedicated Things Faithfully”, On the Meaning and Function of the Late Iron Age Judahite “Incised Handle Cooking Pot. ”Journal of the American Oriental Society 130,2008 Aegean Feasting and Other Indo-European Elements in the Philistine Household. Pp. 347–52 in DAIS - the Aegean Feast, Proceedings of the 12th Annual International Aegean Conference, Melbourne 25–29 March 2008,2010 “In the Midst of the Jordan”, The Jordan Valley During the Middle Bronze Age - Archaeological and Historical Correlates. Contributions to the Chronology of the Eastern Mediterranean, Vol.26, the Archaeology of earliest Jerusalem, From the late Proto-Historic periods to the end of the Bronze Age. In Jerusalem in Perspective,150 Years of Archaeological Research, Proceedings of the Conference held at Brown University November 12–14,2006, ed. K. Galor and G. Avni. Maeir, A. and P. de Miroschedji, eds, “I Will Speak the Riddles of Ancient Times”, Archaeological and Historical Studies in Honor of Amihai Mazar on the Occasion of his Sixtieth Birthday
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Bar-Ilan University
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Bar-Ilan University is a public research university in the city of Ramat Gan in the Tel Aviv District, Israel. Established in 1955, Bar Ilan is Israels second-largest academic institution and it has nearly 26,800 students and 1,350 faculty members. The University aims to forge links between Torah and universal studies, to blend tradition with modern technologies and scholarship, and teach the compelling ethics of Jewish heritage to all. To synthesize the ancient and modern, the sacred and the material, the spiritual, when it was opened in 1955, it was described by The New York Times as Cultural Link Between the Republic and America. The university was named for Rabbi Meir Bar-Ilan, a Religious Zionist leader who served as the inspiration for its establishment. Although he was trained in Orthodox seminaries in Berlin, he believed there was a need for an institution providing a dual curriculum of academic studies. The founders of the university hoped to produce alumni committed to Jewish tradition, Zionist ideology, in 1965, the professors and lecturers were all religious Jews, as were the majority of students. Today, the student population includes secular and non-Jewish students, including Arabs, in the past, all Jewish male students were required to cover their heads, but this is no longer the case. Seven courses in Jewish studies are required for graduation, in hiring senior academic staff, the university gives preference to religious Jews, although the faculty includes many secular members. Bar-Ilan operates a kollel for men and a midrasha for women, the kollel offers traditional yeshiva studies with an emphasis on Talmud, while the midrasha offers courses in Torah and Jewish philosophy. These programs are open to all free of charge. Yitzhak Rabins convicted assassin, Yigal Amir, was a student of law at Bar-Ilan, one of the steps taken by the university following the assassination was to encourage dialogue between left and right-wing students. Under previous university president Moshe Kaveh, Bar-Ilan underwent a major expansion, New science programs have been introduced, including an multidisciplinary brain research center and a center for nanotechnology. Bar-Ilans Faculty of Law made headlines in 2008 by achieving the highest average Israeli Bar Exam grade of 81.9 by its graduates, in 2016 the university became the center of controversy over womens rights. Bar-Ilan University has eight faculties, Exact Sciences, Life Sciences, Social Sciences, Humanities, Jewish Studies, Medicine, Engineering, the centers mission is to cultivate a new generation of truly interdisciplinary scientists who integrate knowledge from different fields. The center offers several graduate level tracks, including a direct PhD program, an MSc program, candidates are accepted from a variety of backgrounds, including biology, psychology, mathematics, physics and computer science. Accepted students are exempt from tuition and receive a scholarship during the course of their studies. The PhD training program builds on six single-semester required core courses, a set of courses
