1.
Arad, Israel
–
Arad is a city in the Southern District of Israel. It is located on the border of the Negev and Judean Deserts,25 kilometres west of the Dead Sea and 45 kilometres east of Beersheba. The city is home to a population of 24,436, including Ashkenazi and Sephardi Jews. The city is notable for its clean, dry air and serves as an attraction to asthmatics worldwide. After attempts to settle the area in the 1920s, Arad was founded in November 1962 as an Israeli development town, Arads population grew significantly with the Aliyah from the Commonwealth of Independent States in the 1990s, and peaked in 2002 at 24,500 residents. Landmarks in Arad include the ruins of Tel Arad, Arad Park, the city is known for its annual summer music festival, The Arad Festival. Arad is named after the Biblical Canaanite town located at Tel Arad, however, Shoshenq Is chronicles seem to mention a settlement in Tel Arad. During the Byzantine period, the location was correctly identified by Eusebius. Ancient Arad became a Christian bishopric, no longer a residential bishopric, Arad is today listed by the Catholic Church as a titular see. Nine men and two women attempted the task, but after four months were forced to leave because water was not found in the area. On 15 November 1960, a team was appointed by the Israeli cabinet to examine the possibility of establishing a city in the northeastern Negev desert. An initial budget of 50,000 Israeli liras was granted for the project, on 31 January 1961, the final location was chosen, and plans were approved for roads and water connections. In March 1961, blueprints for a city of 10, 000-20,000 residents were drawn up, yona Pitelson was the chief architect and planner. The plan took into account topography and climate, with buildings constructed with large inner courtyards that offered protection from the desert sun. High density residential areas were built first in order to create an urban milieu, the oil company Nefta built a work camp in the area in July 1961, consisting of six temporary sheds, after oil was found there in commercial quantities. The town itself was established in 1962 by a group of young ex-kibbutz and ex-moshav members seeking an environment free of overcrowding, traffic, noise, the founding ceremony was held on 21 November, and attended by then-Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion. It was one of the last development towns to be founded, according to the city website, Arad was the first pre-planned city in Israel. Until 1964 Arad had about 160 families, most of whom were natives
Arad, Israel
–
Aerial view of Arad
Arad, Israel
–
Tel Arad ruins
Arad, Israel
–
Arad town hall
Arad, Israel
–
Gevim neighborhood from the southeast
2.
Hebrew language
–
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
Hebrew language
–
Hebrew street sign, above in
Hebrew alphabet, below in
Latin transliteration. Aluf Batslut veAluf Shum (he) ("The Onion Champion and the Garlic Champion") is a
play by
Hayim Nahman Bialik.
Hebrew language
–
Portion of the
Temple Scroll, one of the longest of the
Dead Sea Scrolls discovered at
Qumran
Hebrew language
–
The
Shebna Inscription, from the tomb of a royal steward found in
Siloam, dates to the 7th century BCE.
Hebrew language
–
Hebrew script used in writing a Torah scroll. Note ornamental "crowns" on tops of certain letters.
3.
Dead Sea
–
The Dead Sea, is a salt lake bordered by Jordan to the east and Israel and Palestine to the west. Its surface and shores are 430.5 metres below sea level, the Dead Sea is 304 m deep, the deepest hypersaline lake in the world. With 34. 2% salinity, it is 9.6 times as salty as the ocean and this salinity makes for a harsh environment in which plants and animals cannot flourish, hence its name. The Dead Sea is 50 kilometres long and 15 kilometres wide at its widest point and it lies in the Jordan Rift Valley and its main tributary is the Jordan River. The Dead Sea has attracted visitors from around the Mediterranean basin for thousands of years and it was one of the worlds first health resorts, and it has been the supplier of a wide variety of products, from asphalt for Egyptian mummification to potash for fertilizers. People also use the salt and the minerals from the Dead Sea to create cosmetics, the Dead Sea water has a density of 1.24 kg/litre, which makes swimming similar to floating. The Dead Sea is receding at an alarming rate, multiple canals and pipelines were proposed to reduce its recession, which had begun causing many problems. The Red Sea–Dead Sea Water Conveyance project, carried out by Jordan, will provide water to neighboring countries, the first phase of the project is scheduled to begin in 2018 and be completed in 2021. In Hebrew, the Dead Sea is Yām ha-Melaḥ, meaning sea of salt, the Bible uses this term alongside two others, the Sea of the Arabah, and the Eastern Sea. The designation Dead Sea never appears in the Bible, in prose sometimes the term Yām ha-Māvet is used, due to the scarcity of aquatic life there. In Arabic the Dead Sea is called al-Bahr al-Mayyit, or less commonly baḥrᵘ lūṭᵃ, another historic name in Arabic was the Sea of Zoʼar, after a nearby town in biblical times. The Greeks called it Lake Asphaltites, the Dead Sea is an endorheic lake located in the Jordan Rift Valley, a geographic feature formed by the Dead Sea Transform. This left lateral-moving transform fault lies along the plate boundary between the African Plate and the Arabian Plate. It runs between the East Anatolian Fault zone in Turkey and the end of the Red Sea Rift offshore of the southern tip of Sinai. It is here that the Upper Jordan River/Sea of Galilee/Lower Jordan River water system comes to an end. The Jordan River is the major water source flowing into the Dead Sea, although there are small perennial springs under and around the Dead Sea, forming pools. The Mujib River, biblical Arnon, is one the larger sources of the Dead Sea other than the Jordan. The Wadi Mujib valley,420 m below the sea level in the southern of Jordan valley, is a biosphere reserve, other more substantial sources are Wadi Darajeh /Nahal Dragot, and Nahal Arugot
Dead Sea
–
A view of the sea from the shore
Dead Sea
–
Satellite photograph showing the location of the Dead Sea
Dead Sea
–
Pebbles cemented with
halite on the western shore of the Dead Sea near Ein Gedi.
Dead Sea
–
Halite deposits (and teepee structure) along the western Dead Sea coast.
4.
Ruth Amiran
–
She received the Israel Prize in 1982. Breaking Ground, Women in Old World Archaeology, jewish Women, A Comprehensive Historical Encyclopedia. Israel Prize Official Site - Recipients in 1982
Ruth Amiran
–
Ruth Amiran
5.
Chalcolithic
–
The Copper Age was originally defined as a transition between the Neolithic and the Bronze Age. The archaeological site of Belovode on the Rudnik mountain in Serbia contains the worlds oldest securely dated evidence of copper smelting from 5000 BCE, the multiple names result from multiple recognitions of the period. Originally, the term Bronze Age meant that either copper or bronze was being used as the hard substance for the manufacture of tools. In 1881, John Evans, recognizing that the use of copper often preceded the use of bronze and he did not include the transitional period in the tripartite system of Early, Middle and Late Bronze Age but placed it at the beginning outside of it. He did not, however, present it as a fourth age, in 1884, Gaetano Chierici, perhaps following the lead of Evans, renamed it in Italian as the Eneo-litica, or Bronze-stone transition. The phrase was never intended to mean that the period was the one in which both bronze and stone were used. The Copper Age features the use of copper, excluding bronze, moreover, litica simply names the Stone Age as the point from which the transition began and is not another -lithic age. Subsequently, British scholars used either Evanss Copper Age or the term Eneolithic, around 1900, many writers began to substitute Chalcolithic for Eneolithic, to avoid the false segmentation. It was then that the misunderstanding began among those who did not know Italian, the -lithic was seen as a new -lithic age, a part of the Stone Age in which copper was used, which may appear paradoxical. Today Copper Age, Eneolithic and Chalcolithic are used synonymously to mean Evanss original definition of Copper Age, there was an independent invention of copper and bronze smelting first by Andean civilizations in South America extended later by sea commerce to the Mesoamerican civilization in West Mexico. The literature of European archaeology, in general, avoids the use of Chalcolithic, the Copper Age in the Middle East and the Caucasus began in the late 5th millennium BCE and lasted for about a millennium before it gave rise to the Early Bronze Age. The transition from the European Copper Age to Bronze Age Europe occurs about the same time, an archaeological site in Serbia contains the oldest securely dated evidence of coppermaking from 7,500 years ago. In Serbia, an axe was found at Prokuplje, which indicates that humans were using metals in Europe by 7,500 years ago. Knowledge of the use of copper was far more widespread than the metal itself, the European Battle Axe culture used stone axes modeled on copper axes, even with imitation mold marks carved in the stone. Ötzi the Iceman, who was found in the Ötztal Alps in 1991, examples of Chalcolithic cultures in Europe include Vila Nova de São Pedro and Los Millares on the Iberian Peninsula. Pottery of the Beaker people has found at both sites, dating to several centuries after copper-working began there. The Beaker culture appears to have copper and bronze technologies in Europe. The term Chalcolithic is not generally used by British prehistorians, who disagree whether it applies in the British context, in Bhirrana, the earliest Indus civilization site, copper bangles and arrowheads were found
Chalcolithic
–
Painting of a Copper Age walled city,
Los Millares,
Iberia
Chalcolithic
–
Chalcolithic copper mine in
Timna Valley,
Negev Desert,
Israel
6.
Bronze Age
–
The Bronze Age is a historical period characterized by the use of bronze, proto-writing, and other early features of urban civilization. The Bronze Age is the principal period of the three-age Stone-Bronze-Iron system, as proposed in modern times by Christian Jürgensen Thomsen. An ancient civilization is defined to be in the Bronze Age either by smelting its own copper and alloying with tin, arsenic, or other metals, or by trading for bronze from production areas elsewhere. Copper-tin ores are rare, as reflected in the fact there were no tin bronzes in Western Asia before trading in bronze began in the third millennium BC. Worldwide, the Bronze Age generally followed the Neolithic period, with the Chalcolithic serving as a transition, although the Iron Age generally followed the Bronze Age, in some areas, the Iron Age intruded directly on the Neolithic. Bronze Age cultures differed in their development of the first writing, according to archaeological evidence, cultures in Mesopotamia and Egypt developed the earliest viable writing systems. The overall period is characterized by use of bronze, though the place and time of the introduction. Human-made tin bronze technology requires set production techniques, tin must be mined and smelted separately, then added to molten copper to make bronze alloy. The Bronze Age was a time of use of metals. The dating of the foil has been disputed, the Bronze Age in the ancient Near East began with the rise of Sumer in the 4th millennium BC. Societies in the region laid the foundations for astronomy and mathematics, the usual tripartite division into an Early, Middle and Late Bronze Age is not used. Instead, a division based on art-historical and historical characteristics is more common. The cities of the Ancient Near East housed several tens of thousands of people, ur in the Middle Bronze Age and Babylon in the Late Bronze Age similarly had large populations. The earliest mention of Babylonia appears on a tablet from the reign of Sargon of Akkad in the 23rd century BC, the Amorite dynasty established the city-state of Babylon in the 19th century BC. Over 100 years later, it took over the other city-states. Babylonia adopted the written Semitic Akkadian language for official use, by that time, the Sumerian language was no longer spoken, but was still in religious use. Elam was an ancient civilization located to the east of Mesopotamia, in the Old Elamite period, Elam consisted of kingdoms on the Iranian plateau, centered in Anshan, and from the mid-2nd millennium BC, it was centered in Susa in the Khuzestan lowlands. Its culture played a role in the Gutian Empire and especially during the Achaemenid dynasty that succeeded it
Bronze Age
–
Chalcolithic copper mine in
Timna Valley,
Negev Desert,
Israel.
Bronze Age
–
Diffusion of metallurgy in
Europe and
Asia Minor. The darkest areas are the oldest.
Bronze Age
–
A
Shang Dynasty two-handled bronze gefuding gui (1600–1046 BC).
Bronze Age
–
Spring and Autumn Period pu bronze vessel with interlaced
dragon design (722–481 BC)
7.
King David
–
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
King David
–
Statue of King David by
Nicolas Cordier in the Borghese Chapel of the
Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore
King David
–
Samuel anoints David,
Dura Europos,
Syria, 3rd century CE
King David
–
"David Giving Thanks to God After the Death of Goliath", 18th century painting attributed to
Charles Errard the Younger
King David
–
David holds the impaled head of Goliath and marches before a general on a white horse, as envisioned by Poussin, ca. 1632
8.
Solomon
–
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
Solomon
–
The Judgment of Solomon, 1617 by
Peter Paul Rubens (1577–1640)
Solomon
–
Cornelis de Vos, The Anointing of Solomon. According to 1
Kings 1:39, Solomon was
anointed by
Zadok.
Solomon
–
Luca Giordano – Dream of Solomon – God promises Solomon Wisdom.
Solomon
–
The judgment of Solomon, painting on ceramic, Castelli, 18th century, Lille Museum of Fine Arts
9.
Kings of Judah
–
The Kings of Judah were the monarchs who ruled over the ancient Kingdom of Judah. According to the account, this kingdom was founded after the death of Saul. After seven years, David became king of a reunited Kingdom of Israel, however, in about 930 BC the united kingdom split, with ten of the twelve Tribes of Israel rejecting Solomons son Rehoboam as their king. The Tribes of Judah and Benjamin remained loyal to Rehoboam, and reformed the Kingdom of Judah, while the other entity continuing to be called the Kingdom of Israel, the capital of the Kingdom of Judah was Jerusalem. All of the kings of Judah lived and died in Judah except for Ahaziah, Jehoahaz, Judah existed until 587 or 586 BC, when it was conquered by the Babylonian Empire under Nebuzaradan, captain of Nebuchadnezzars body-guard. With the deportation of the elite and the destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple, the Davidic dynasty began when the tribe of Judah made David its king, following the death of Saul. The Davidic line continued when David became king of the reunited Kingdom of Israel, when the united kingdom split, the tribes of Judah and Benjamin continued to be loyal to the Davidic line, which ruled it until the kingdom was destroyed in 587/586 BC. However, the Davidic line continued to be respected by the exiles in Babylon, who regarded the exilarchs as kings-in-exile. A more complete biography of the Kings of Judah than that of the Hebrew Bible were written by Iddo the Seer and in the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah, however, both of these works have been lost. He thus came to a violent death and a disgraceful burial such as Jeremiah had foretold several chapters before this one, there has been considerable academic debate about the actual dates of reigns of the Judahite kings. Scholars have endeavored to synchronize the chronology of events referred to in the Bible with those derived from external sources. These scholarly disagreements are reflected in the table above, which contains scholarly attempts to date the reigns of Judahite monarchs in terms of the Gregorian calendar, biblical scholars have noted the apparent inconsistencies in the chronology of the kings of Judah and Israel based on the biblical sources. Some have also pointed out the difficulties of cross-synchronising that dating with those of the cultures of the area. Thiele noticed that for the first seven kings of Israel, the synchronisms to Judean kings fell progressively behind by one year for each king. Thiele saw this as evidence that the kingdom was measuring the years by a non-accession system. Also he concluded that the calendars for reckoning the years of kings in Judah and Israel were offset by six months, that of Judah starting in Tishri and that of Israel in Nisan. This convention was followed in Judah for the three monarchs, Ahaziah, Athaliah, and Jehoash, returning to Judahs original accession reckoning in the time of Amaziah. The official records of Tiglath-Pileser III show that he switched to non-accession reckoning for his reign, another potential confusion arises from periods of co-regency when a son may be made king during the continuing reign of the father, as an equal of the father
Kings of Judah
–
The breakup of the united Kingdom of Solomon
Kings of Judah
–
The genealogy of the kings of Judah, along with the kings of Israel.
10.
Persian Empire
–
Persian Empire refers to any of a series of imperial dynasties centered in Persia. The first of these was the Achaemenid Empire established by Cyrus the Great in 550 BC with the conquest of Median, Lydian and Babylonian empires and it covered much of the Ancient world when it was conquered by Alexander the Great. Several later dynasties claimed to be heirs of the Achaemenids, Persia was then ruled by the Parthian Empire which supplanted the Hellenistic Seleucid Empire, and then by the Sassanian Empire which ruled up until mid 7th century. It is important to note that many of these empires referred to themselves as Persian, they were often ethnically ruled by Medes, Babylonians. Iranian dynastic history was interrupted by the Arab Muslim conquest of Persia in 651 AD, establishing the even larger Islamic Caliphate, the main religion of ancient Persia was the native Zoroastrianism, but after the seventh century, it was replaced by Islam. Since 1979 and the downfall of the Pahlavi dynasty during Iranian Revolution, Persia has had a Shiah theocratic government
Persian Empire
–
Extent of the first Persian Empire, the
Achaemenid Empire.
11.
Maccabean
–
The Maccabees, also spelled Machabees, were the leaders of a Jewish rebel army that took control of Judea, which at the time had been a province of the Seleucid Empire. They founded the Hasmonean dynasty, which ruled from 164 BCE to 63 BCE and they reasserted the Jewish religion, partly by forced conversion, expanded the boundaries of Judea by conquest and reduced the influence of Hellenism and Hellenistic Judaism. In the 2nd century BCE, Judea lay between the Ptolemaic Kingdom and the Seleucid empire, monarchies which had formed following the death of Alexander the Great, Judea had come under Ptolemaic rule, but fell to the Seleucids around 200 BCE. Judea at that time had been affected by the Hellenization begun by Alexander, some Jews, mainly those of the urban upper class, notably the Tobiad family, wished to dispense with Jewish law and to adopt a Greek lifestyle. According to the historian Victor Tcherikover, the motive for the Tobiads Hellenism was economic. The Hellenizing Jews built a gymnasium in Jerusalem, competed in international Greek games, removed their marks of circumcision, when Antiochus IV Epiphanes, became ruler of the Seleucid Empire in 175 BCE, Onias III held the office of High Priest in Jerusalem. Jason, the brother of Onias, bribed Antiochus to make him High Priest instead of Onias, Jason abolished the traditional theocracy and received from Antiochus permission to convert Jerusalem into a Greek polis called Antioch. In turn, Menelaus then bribed Antiochus and was appointed High Priest in place of Jason, Menelaus brother Lysimachus stole holy vessels from the Temple, the resulting riots led to the death of Lysimachus. Menelaus was arrested for Onias murder, and was arraigned before Antiochus, Jason subsequently drove out Menelaus and became High Priest again. Antiochus pillaged the Temple, attacked Jerusalem and led captive the women and children, from this point onwards, Antiochus pursued a zealous Hellenizing policy in the Seleucid satrapies of Coele Syria and Phoenicia. The author of the First Book of Maccabees regarded the Maccabean revolt as a rising of pious Jews against the Seleucid king, the author of the Second Book of Maccabees presented the conflict as a struggle between Judaism and Hellenism, concepts which he coined. In the conflict over the office of High Priest, traditionalists with Hebrew/Aramaic names like Onias contested with Hellenizers with Greek names like Jason, some scholars point to social and economic factors in the conflict. What began as a war took on the character of an invasion when the Hellenistic kingdom of Syria sided with the Hellenizing Jews against the traditionalists. As the conflict escalated, Antiochus prohibited the practices of the traditionalists, thereby, in a departure from usual Seleucid practice, other scholars argue that, while the rising began as a religious rebellion, it was gradually transformed into a war of national liberation. It is said that an idol of Olympian Zeus was placed on the altar of the Temple and this may, however, have represented an exaggerated view of Antiochus support for the Hellenizing party in Judaea. Mattathias killed a Hellenistic Jew who stepped forward to offer a sacrifice to an idol in Mattathias place and he and his five sons fled to the wilderness of Judah. The Maccabees destroyed pagan altars in the villages, circumcised boys, the term Maccabees as used to describe the Jewish army is taken from the Hebrew word for hammer. The revolt involved many battles, in which the Maccabean forces gained notoriety among the Seleucid army for their use of guerrilla tactics
Maccabean
–
Wojciech Stattler 's "Machabeusze" ("The Maccabees"), 1844
Maccabean
–
The descendants of Mattathias
Maccabean
–
What is believed to be the Maccabees' relics – kept in the Maccabees Shrine – is venerated in
St. Andrew's Church, Cologne, Germany.
Maccabean
–
Traditions
12.
Roman Empire
–
Civil wars and executions continued, culminating in the victory of Octavian, Caesars adopted son, over Mark Antony and Cleopatra at the Battle of Actium in 31 BC and the annexation of Egypt. Octavians power was then unassailable and in 27 BC the Roman Senate formally granted him overarching power, the imperial period of Rome lasted approximately 1,500 years compared to the 500 years of the Republican era. The first two centuries of the empires existence were a period of unprecedented political stability and prosperity known as the Pax Romana, following Octavians victory, the size of the empire was dramatically increased. After the assassination of Caligula in 41, the senate briefly considered restoring the republic, under Claudius, the empire invaded Britannia, its first major expansion since Augustus. Vespasian emerged triumphant in 69, establishing the Flavian dynasty, before being succeeded by his son Titus and his short reign was followed by the long reign of his brother Domitian, who was eventually assassinated. The senate then appointed the first of the Five Good Emperors, the empire reached its greatest extent under Trajan, the second in this line. A period of increasing trouble and decline began with the reign of Commodus, Commodus assassination in 192 triggered the Year of the Five Emperors, of which Septimius Severus emerged victorious. The assassination of Alexander Severus in 235 led to the Crisis of the Third Century in which 26 men were declared emperor by the Roman Senate over a time span. It was not until the reign of Diocletian that the empire was fully stabilized with the introduction of the Tetrarchy, which saw four emperors rule the empire at once. This arrangement was unsuccessful, leading to a civil war that was finally ended by Constantine I. Constantine subsequently shifted the capital to Byzantium, which was renamed Constantinople in his honour and it remained the capital of the east until its demise. Constantine also adopted Christianity which later became the state religion of the empire. However, Augustulus was never recognized by his Eastern colleague, and separate rule in the Western part of the empire ceased to exist upon the death of Julius Nepos. The Eastern Roman Empire endured for another millennium, eventually falling to the Ottoman Turks in 1453, the Roman Empire was among the most powerful economic, cultural, political and military forces in the world of its time. It was one of the largest empires in world history, at its height under Trajan, it covered 5 million square kilometres. It held sway over an estimated 70 million people, at that time 21% of the entire population. Throughout the European medieval period, attempts were made to establish successors to the Roman Empire, including the Empire of Romania, a Crusader state. Rome had begun expanding shortly after the founding of the republic in the 6th century BC, then, it was an empire long before it had an emperor
Roman Empire
–
The
Augustus of Prima Porta (early 1st century AD)
Roman Empire
–
Aureus of
Augustus, the first
Roman Emperor.
Roman Empire
–
A segment of the ruins of Hadrian's Wall in northern England
Roman Empire
–
A 5th-century
papyrus showing a parallel Latin-Greek text of a speech by
Cicero
13.
Muslim
–
A Muslim is someone who follows or practices Islam, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion. Muslims consider the Quran, their book, to be the verbatim word of God as revealed to the Islamic prophet. They also follow the teachings and practices of Muhammad as recorded in traditional accounts, Muslim is an Arabic word meaning one who submits. Most Muslims will accept anyone who has publicly pronounced Shahadah as a Muslim, the shahadah states, There is no god but the God and Muhammad is the last messenger of the God. The testimony authorized by God in the Quran that can found in Surah 3,18 states, There is no god except God, which in Arabic, is the exact testimony which God Himself utters, as well as the angels and those who possess knowledge utter. The word muslim is the active participle of the verb of which islām is a verbal noun, based on the triliteral S-L-M to be whole. A female adherent is a muslima, the plural form in Arabic is muslimūn or muslimīn, and its feminine equivalent is muslimāt. The Arabic form muslimun is the stem IV participle of the triliteral S-L-M, the ordinary word in English is Muslim. It is sometimes transliterated as Moslem, which is an older spelling, the word Mosalman is a common equivalent for Muslim used in Central Asia. Until at least the mid-1960s, many English-language writers used the term Mohammedans or Mahometans, although such terms were not necessarily intended to be pejorative, Muslims argue that the terms are offensive because they allegedly imply that Muslims worship Muhammad rather than God. Other obsolete terms include Muslimite and Muslimist, musulmán/Mosalmán is a synonym for Muslim and is modified from Arabic. In English it was sometimes spelled Mussulman and has become archaic in usage, the Muslim philosopher Ibn Arabi said, A Muslim is a person who has dedicated his worship exclusively to God. Islam means making ones religion and faith Gods alone. The Quran states that men were Muslims because they submitted to God, preached His message and upheld His values. Thus, in Surah 3,52 of the Quran, Jesus disciples tell him, We believe in God, and you be our witness that we are Muslims. In Muslim belief, before the Quran, God had given the Tawrat to Moses, the Zabur to David and the Injil to Jesus, who are all considered important Muslim prophets. The most populous Muslim-majority country is Indonesia, home to 12. 7% of the worlds Muslims, followed by Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Egypt. About 20% of the worlds Muslims lives in the Middle East and North Africa, Sizable minorities are found in India, China, Russia, Ethiopia. The country with the highest proportion of self-described Muslims as a proportion of its population is Morocco
Muslim
–
Afghan Muslims praying inside
Gardens of Babur in
Kabul,
Afghanistan.
Muslim
–
Famous
Muslim converts from various fields.
14.
Nebuchadnezzar II
–
Nebuchadnezzar II was a Chaldean king of the Neo-Babylonian Empire, who reigned c.605 BCE – c.562 BCE. Both the construction of the Hanging Gardens of Babylon and the destruction of Jerusalems temple are ascribed to him and he is featured in the Book of Daniel and is mentioned in several other books of the Bible. The Akkadian name,
Nebuchadnezzar II
–
An engraving on an eye stone of onyx with an inscription of Nebuchadnezzar II. Anton Nyström, 1901.
Nebuchadnezzar II
–
Nebuchadnezzar faces off against
Zedekiah, the last king of
Judah, who holds a plan of
Jerusalem, in a
Baroque era depiction in
Zwiefalten Abbey, Germany.
Nebuchadnezzar II
–
Building Inscription of King Nebuchadnezar II at the
Ishtar Gate. An abridged excerpt says: "I (Nebuchadnezzar) laid the foundation of the gates down to the ground water level and had them built out of pure blue stone. Upon the walls in the inner room of the gate are bulls and dragons and thus I magnificently adorned them with luxurious splendour for all mankind to behold in awe."
Nebuchadnezzar II
–
Daniel Interpreting Nebuchadnezzar's Dream
15.
Ostraca
–
An ostracon is a piece of pottery, usually broken off from a vase or other earthenware vessel. In an archaeological or epigraphical context, ostraca refer to sherds or even pieces of stone that have writing scratched into them. Anything with a surface could be used as a writing surface. But limestone sherds, being flaky and of a color, were most common. The importance of ostraca for Egyptology is immense, the combination of their physical nature and the Egyptian climate have preserved texts, from the medical to the mundane, which in other cultures were lost. These can often serve as witnesses of everyday life than literary treatises preserved in libraries. The many ostraca found at Deir el-Medina provide a compelling view into the medical workings of the New Kingdom. These ostraca have shown that, like other Egyptian communities, the workmen and inhabitants of Deir el-Medina received care through a combination of treatment, prayer. The ostraca from Deir el-Medina also differed in their circulation, magical spells and remedies were widely distributed among the workmen, there are even several cases of spells being sent from one worker to another, with no “trained” intermediary. There are also documents that show the writer sending for medical ingredients. From 1964–1971, Bryan Emery excavated at Saqqara in search of Imhoteps tomb, instead, apparently it was a pilgrim site, with as many as 1½ million ibis birds interred. This 2nd-century BC site contained extensive pottery debris from the offerings of the pilgrims. Emerys excavations uncovered the Dream Ostraca, created by a scribe named Hor of Sebennytos, a devotee of the god Thoth, he lived adjacent to Thoths sanctuary at the entrance to the North Catacomb and worked as a proto-therapist, advising and comforting clients. He transferred his divinely-inspired dreams onto ostraca, the Dream Ostraca are 65 Demotic texts written on pottery and limestone. In October 2008, Israeli archaeologist, Yosef Garfinkel of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, has discovered what he says to be the earliest known Hebrew text. This text was written on an Ostracon shard, Garfinkel believes this shard dates to the time of King David from the Old Testament, about 3,000 years ago. Carbon dating of the Ostracon and analysis of the pottery have dated the inscription to be about 1,000 years older than the Dead Sea Scrolls, the inscription has yet to be deciphered, however, some words, such as king, slave and judge have been translated. The shard was found about 20 miles southwest of Jerusalem at the Elah Fortress in Khirbet Qeiyafa, some Christian texts are preserved upon ostraca
Ostraca
–
Ostrakon of
Cimon, an
Athenian statesman, showing his name (as "Kimon [son] of Miltiades")
Ostraca
–
Ostrakon of
Megacles, son of Hippocrates (inscription: ΜΕΓΑΚΛΕΣ ΗΙΠΠΟΚΡΑΤΟΣ), 487 BC. On display in the Ancient Agora Museum in Athens, housed in the
Stoa of Attalus
Ostraca
–
Voting ostraca (for
ostracism, Ancient Greece)
Ostraca
–
One of four official letters to
vizier Khay copied onto a
limestone ostracon, in Egyptian
Hieratic
16.
Yahweh
–
Yahweh was the national god of the Iron Age kingdoms of Israel and Judah. By the end of the Babylonian exile, the existence of foreign gods was denied, and Yahweh was proclaimed as the creator of the cosmos. The Israelites originated as Bronze Age Canaanites, but Yahweh was not initially a Canaanite god, in this case a plausible etymology for the name could be from the root HWY, which would yield the meaning he blows, appropriate to a weather divinity. There is considerable but not universal support for the view that the Egyptian inscriptions refer to Yahweh, the question that arises is how he made his way to the north. A widely accepted hypothesis is that traders brought Yahweh to Israel along the routes between Egypt and Canaan, the Kenite hypothesis, named after one of the groups involved. Israel emerges into the record in the last decades of the 13th century BCE, at the very end of the Late Bronze Age. The milieu from which Israelite religion emerged was accordingly Canaanite and he lived in a tent on a mountain from whose base originated all the fresh waters of the world, with the goddess Asherah as his consort. This pair made up the top tier of the Canaanite pantheon, the tier was made up of their children. Baals sphere was the thunderstorm with its life-giving rains, so that he was also a fertility god, below the seventy second-tier gods was a third tier made up of comparatively minor craftsman and trader deities, with a fourth and final tier of divine messengers and the like. He subdues the ancient gods, shatters the forces of old, so Israel lives in safety, untroubled is Jacobs abode. Your enemies shall come fawning to you, and you shall tread on their backs. After the 9th century BCE the tribes and chiefdoms of Iron Age I were replaced by ethnic nation states, Israel, Judah, Moab, Ammon and others, each with its national god, and all more or less equal. Thus Chemosh was the god of the Moabites, Milcom the god of the Ammonites, Qaus the god of the Edomites, the festivals thus celebrated Yahwehs salvation of Israel and Israels status as his holy people, although the earlier agricultural meaning was not entirely lost. Sacrifice was presumably complemented by the singing or recital of psalms, prayer played little role in official worship. Shiloh, Bethel, Gilgal, Mizpah, Ramah and Dan were also sites for festivals, sacrifices, the making of vows, private rituals. Yahweh-worship was famously aniconic, meaning that the god was not depicted by a statue or other image, pre-exilic Israel, like its neighbours, was polytheistic, and Israelite monotheism was the culmination of a unique set of historical circumstances. The original god of Israel was El, as the name demonstrates—its probable meaning is may El rule or some other sentence-form involving the name of El. Asherah, formerly the wife of El, was worshipped as Yahwehs consort, and various biblical passages indicate that her statues were kept in his temples in Jerusalem, Bethel, and Samaria
Yahweh
–
A
drachm (quarter
shekel) coin from the Persian province of
Yehud Medinata, apparently showing the god YHW (Yahweh) as a bearded man seated on a winged and wheeled throne.
Yahweh
–
Solomon dedicates the Temple at Jerusalem (painting by
James Tissot or follower, c. 1896–1902)
17.
Archaeology of Israel
–
The archaeology of Israel is the study of the archaeology of the present-day Israel, stretching from prehistory through three millennia of documented history. The ancient Land of Israel was a bridge between the political and cultural centers of Mesopotamia and Egypt. Despite the importance of the country to three major religions, serious archaeological research began in the 15th century. The first major work on the antiquities of Israel was Adrian Relands Palestina ex monumentis veteribus, edward Robinson, an American theologian who visited the country in 1838, published the first topographical studies. A Frenchman, Louis Felicien de Saucy, embarked on the first modern excavations in 1850, the Neolithic period appears to have begun when the peoples of the Natufian culture, which spread across present-day Syria, Israel and Lebanon, began to practice agriculture. This Neolithic Revolution has been linked to the period known as the Younger Dryas. This agriculture in the Levant is the earliest known to have been practiced, the Neolithic period in this region is dated 8500–4300 BCE and the Chalcolithic 4300–3300 BCE. Natufian sites in Israel include Ain Mallaha, el-Wad, Ein Gev, Hayonim cave, Nahal Oren, the Bronze Age is the period 3300–1200 BCE when objects made of bronze were in use. Many writers have linked the history of the Levant from the Bronze Age onwards to events described in the Bible, the Bronze Age and Iron Age together are sometimes called the Biblical period. The Amarna Letters are an example of a period during the Late Bronze Age when the vassal kings of the Levant corresponded with their overlords in Egypt. The Iron Age in the Levant begins in about 1200 BCE when iron tools came into use and it is also known as the Israelite period. The Israelite period is characterized by numbers of urban dwellings. The rich and diverse archaeological findings attest to strong international links, the abundance of writings found indicate a broad distribution of knowledge among common people of ancient Israel and not just scribes, a unique phenomenon in the ancient world. In this period both the evidence and the narrative evidence from the Bible become richer and much writing has attempted to make links between them. Israel Finkelstein suggests that the empire of David and Solomon never existed, finklestein accepts the existence of King David and Solomon but doubts their chronology, significance and influence as described in the Bible. Without claiming that everything in the Bible is historically accurate, some story elements appear to correspond with physical artifacts. Inscriptions such as the Tel Dan Stele and the Mesha Stele can be traced to a cultural origin. The Roman period covers the dates 63 BCE to 330 CE, therefore, the late Roman period is also called the Yavne Period
Archaeology of Israel
–
Beit She'an ruins
Archaeology of Israel
–
Hellenistic
Sarcophagus unearthed in
Ashkelon
Archaeology of Israel
–
LMLK seals with Israeli postage stamps commemorating them
18.
Tourism in Israel
–
Tourism in Israel is one of Israels major sources of income, with a record 3.54 million tourist arrivals in 2013. Israel offers a plethora of historical and religious sites, beach resorts, archaeological tourism, Israel has the highest number of museums per capita in the world. In 2009, the two most visited sites were the Western Wall and the grave of Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai, the most visited city is Jerusalem and the most visited site was the Western Wall. Jerusalem is the city with 3.5 million tourist arrivals annually. One of the oldest cities in the world, it is the capital and largest city of Israel, if the area. It is a city to the three major Abrahamic religions-Judaism, Christianity and Islam, and hosts a myriad of historical, archaeological, religious. West Jerusalem was built mainly after the creation of Israel in 1948, selected tourist attractions within this area are, The German Colony, a Temple Society settlement, with a colorful mix of architectural styles. Mea Shearim, established in the century and inhabited largely by ultra-Orthodox Haredi Jews. Ein Karem, the birthplace of John the Baptist, is one of the four most visited Christian pilgrimage sites in Israel. Mt. Zion, the resting place of King David. Mt. Scopus, site of the Hebrew University and standing at 2710 feet above sea level, both the Temple Mount and the Dead Sea are visible from this location. East Jerusalem was captured by Israel in the 1967 Six-day War and considered by the community as being under Israeli occupation. It is the location of, The Old City of Jerusalem, traditionally divided into four quarters, Armenian Quarter, Christian Quarter, Muslim Quarter and Jewish Quarter. Most importantly, the Temple Mount, site of the ancient Temple in Jerusalem with only the Western Wall at its foot remaining, various locations have been proposed as the Tomb of Jesus, traditionally identified as where the Church of the Holy Sepulchre stands. Nor has Golgotha, the hill where he was crucified been located. Immediately south of the Jewish Quarter lies the City of David with archaeological digs including the Siloam Tunnel, the unfinalized status of East Jerusalem has caused issues when attempting to market Jerusalem to international tourists. Israel rejected the ruling, with the Ministry of Tourism releasing a statement that said the ad provided basic, the ruling from 2009 also included criticism about Gaza, the West Bank and the Golan Heights being shown as part of Israel. With 2.3 million tourist visits in 2013, Tel Aviv is Israels second-largest city, the citys greater area is the largest with 3 million inhabitants
Tourism in Israel
–
The
Western Wall and
Dome of the Rock in the
Old City of Jerusalem
Tourism in Israel
–
An aerial view of the
Sea of Galilee
Tourism in Israel
–
Tel Aviv, the second-largest city in Israel
Tourism in Israel
–
Arab market.
Old City of Jerusalem
19.
Haaretz
–
It was founded in 1918, making it the longest running newspaper currently still in print in Israel, and is now published in both Hebrew and English in Berliner format. The English edition is published and sold together with the International New York Times, both Hebrew and English editions can be read on the Internet. In North America, it out as a weekly newspaper. It is known for its left-wing and liberal stances on domestic, as of 2016, the newspaper had a weekday exposure rate of 3. 9% in Israel, significantly lower than the countrys other national newspapers. Haaretz was first published in 1918 as a newspaper sponsored by the British military government in Palestine, in 1919, it was taken over by a group of socialist-oriented Zionists, mainly from Russia. The newspaper was established on 18 June 1919 by a group of businessmen including prominent philanthropist Isaac Leib Goldberg, later, the name was shortened to Haaretz. The literary section of the paper attracted leading Hebrew writers of the time, the newspaper was initially published in Jerusalem. From 1919 to 1922, the paper was headed by a succession of editors and it was shut down briefly due to a budgetary shortfall and reopened in Tel Aviv at the beginning of 1923 under the editorship of Moshe Glickson, who held the post for 15 years. The Tel Aviv municipality granted the financial support by paying in advance for future advertisements. Salman Schocken, a wealthy German Jewish Zionist who owned a chain of department stores in Germany and his son, Gershom Schocken, became the chief editor in 1939 and held that position until his death in 1990. Until August 2006, the Schocken family owned 100% of the Haaretz Group, the deal was negotiated with the help of former Israeli ambassador to Germany, Avi Primor. This deal was seen as controversial in Israel as DuMont Schaubergs father, Kurt Neven DuMont, was member of the German Nazi party, while his publishing house promoted Nazi ideology. On 12 June 2011, it was announced that Russian-Israeli businessman Leonid Nevzlin had purchased a 20% stake in the Haaretz Group, buying 15% from the family and this means that the Schocken family now owns 60% and M. DuMont Schauberg and Leonid Nevzlin have 20% each. In October 2012, a union strike mobilized to protest planned layoffs by the Haaretz management, as a consequence, both the Haaretz newspaper and its TheMarker business supplement were not printed for one day. According to Israel Radio, it was the first time since 1965 that a newspaper did not go to press on account of a strike, the newspapers editorial policy was defined by Gershom Schocken, who was editor-in-chief from 1939 to 1990. Schocken was succeeded as editor-in-chief by Hanoch Marmari, in 2004 David Landau replaced Marmari and was succeeded by Dov Alfon in 2008. The current editor-in-chief of the newspaper is Aluf Benn, who replaced Alfon in August 2011, charlotte Halle became editor of the English Print Edition in February 2008. Haaretz describes itself as having a liberal outlook both on domestic issues and on international affairs
Haaretz
–
Front page of the Hebrew and English editions
20.
International Standard Book Number
–
The International Standard Book Number is a unique numeric commercial book identifier. An ISBN is assigned to each edition and variation of a book, for example, an e-book, a paperback and a hardcover edition of the same book would each have a different ISBN. The ISBN is 13 digits long if assigned on or after 1 January 2007, the method of assigning an ISBN is nation-based and varies from country to country, often depending on how large the publishing industry is within a country. The initial ISBN configuration of recognition was generated in 1967 based upon the 9-digit Standard Book Numbering created in 1966, the 10-digit ISBN format was developed by the International Organization for Standardization and was published in 1970 as international standard ISO2108. Occasionally, a book may appear without a printed ISBN if it is printed privately or the author does not follow the usual ISBN procedure, however, this can be rectified later. Another identifier, the International Standard Serial Number, identifies periodical publications such as magazines, the ISBN configuration of recognition was generated in 1967 in the United Kingdom by David Whitaker and in 1968 in the US by Emery Koltay. The 10-digit ISBN format was developed by the International Organization for Standardization and was published in 1970 as international standard ISO2108, the United Kingdom continued to use the 9-digit SBN code until 1974. The ISO on-line facility only refers back to 1978, an SBN may be converted to an ISBN by prefixing the digit 0. For example, the edition of Mr. J. G. Reeder Returns, published by Hodder in 1965, has SBN340013818 -340 indicating the publisher,01381 their serial number. This can be converted to ISBN 0-340-01381-8, the check digit does not need to be re-calculated, since 1 January 2007, ISBNs have contained 13 digits, a format that is compatible with Bookland European Article Number EAN-13s. An ISBN is assigned to each edition and variation of a book, for example, an ebook, a paperback, and a hardcover edition of the same book would each have a different ISBN. The ISBN is 13 digits long if assigned on or after 1 January 2007, a 13-digit ISBN can be separated into its parts, and when this is done it is customary to separate the parts with hyphens or spaces. Separating the parts of a 10-digit ISBN is also done with either hyphens or spaces, figuring out how to correctly separate a given ISBN number is complicated, because most of the parts do not use a fixed number of digits. ISBN issuance is country-specific, in that ISBNs are issued by the ISBN registration agency that is responsible for country or territory regardless of the publication language. Some ISBN registration agencies are based in national libraries or within ministries of culture, in other cases, the ISBN registration service is provided by organisations such as bibliographic data providers that are not government funded. In Canada, ISBNs are issued at no cost with the purpose of encouraging Canadian culture. In the United Kingdom, United States, and some countries, where the service is provided by non-government-funded organisations. Australia, ISBNs are issued by the library services agency Thorpe-Bowker
International Standard Book Number
–
A 13-digit ISBN, 978-3-16-148410-0, as represented by an
EAN-13 bar code
21.
Jerusalem District
–
The Jerusalem District is one of six administrative districts of Israel. The Jerusalem District has an area of 652 km². The population of 910,300 is 67. 8% Jewish and 30. 6% Arab, a fifth of the Arabs in Israel live in the Jerusalem District, which includes both East and West Jerusalem. Israels annexation of East Jerusalem has not been recognized by the international community, the majority of Arabs in the Jerusalem District are Palestinians, eligible for citizenship under Israeli law, but non-citizens by collective choice. The non-Jewish population is 28. 3% Muslims,1. 8% Christians and 1. 4% unclassified by religion, the Jerusalem Municipality, including East Jerusalem and other annexed parts of the West Bank, constituted with 125 km² about 19% of the Jerusalem District in 2008. Jerusalem Governorate List of cities in Israel Arab localities in Israel Positions on Jerusalem Timeline of Jerusalem Elah Valley Judean Mountains
Jerusalem District
–
The route from Jerusalem to
Ashdod.
22.
Canada Park
–
Canada Park is an Israeli national park stretching over 7,000 dunams, and extending from No mans land into the West Bank. In addition it has picnic areas, springs and panoramic hilltop views, the lands of the 3 villages were confiscated and declared a closed area, and only declared public land to be developed for a recreational park two years later in 1969. According to Meron Benvenisti the function of such re-afforestation projects like that at Canada Park was to confiscate Arab land in the Palestinian territories Israeli occupied after 1967, Canada Park was established on the lands of the two Palestinian Arab villages Imwas and Yalo. The inhabitants were offered compensation but not allowed to return, Imwas, Yalo and Bayt Nuba were demolished as part of strategic plans to widen the Jerusalem corridor. Dayr Ayyub, also on the grounds of the park, had partly destroyed during the fighting in 1948. The settlement of Mevo Horon was built on the lands of Bayt Nuba in 1970, signage in the park indicates that it falls under the Department of Archaeology, Civil Administration of Judea and Samaria, Judea and Samaria being the Israeli terms for the West Bank. In 1972, Bernard Bloomfield of Montreal, then President of JNF Canada, the road leading to the park is named for John Diefenbaker, the former Canadian prime minister, who opened it in 1975. The project was completed in 1984, JNF Canada has continued fund-raising towards the maintenance of the park. They did not receive a reply, in 2007, the Israeli NGO Zochrot wrote to Israels minister of defense, Ehud Barak, on behalf of the residents to ask why they could not return to their homes. In 2008, the ministers office informed them that The return of the inhabitants not allowed for security considerations. In 2013 the Palestinian National Authoritys Negotiations Affairs Department launched a campaign to have the 50-km, contiguous to the Green Line restored to it as vital and integral part of the State of Palestine as defined by the 1967 border. Canada Park covers an area of 7,000 dunams and it is filled with wooded areas, walking trails, water features and archaeological sites. Trees in the park include olive, carob, pomegranate, pine, the area is also home to a range of wildlife from lizards and turtles to gray ravens and blue jays. Historical ruins on the grounds of the include a Roman bathhouse, a Hasmonean cemetery. Two Second Temple-era ritual baths were discovered there. At the foot of one of the hills overlooks the city of Modiin is a large reservoir built by the Jewish National Fund for irrigating local fields. In the middle of the park is a forest planted to commemorate over 300 American and Canadian Jews who died in Israels wars or were victims of terror, an annual memorial ceremony is organized by the Association of Americans and Canadians in Israel. In 2011, the ceremony was attended by the US Ambassador to Israel Daniel Shapiro, ajalon Emmaus Nicopolis List of national parks and nature reserves of Israel Official website
Canada Park
–
Lake in Canada Park
Canada Park
–
Map of destroyed villages and armistice lines
Canada Park
–
Ruins of Byzantine church, Canada Park
23.
Castel National Park
–
Castel National Park is an Israeli national park which consists of a fortified summit located at the Judean Mountains, at the site of the former Arab village of Al-Qastal. It is located 8 km west of Jerusalem on the road linking it to Tel Aviv, the site is mostly known as the place of the key battles of Operation Nachshon which were held there in April 1948 during the 1948 Arab–Israeli War. Fierce battles that claimed many lives took place there as Arabs and Jews fought for control of the site, the Castel exchanged hands several times in the course of the fighting. The tides turned when the revered Arab commander, Abd al-Qadir al-Husayni, was killed, many of the Arabs left their positions to attend al-Husaynis funeral at the Al-Aqsa Mosque on Friday, April 9. That same day, the Castel fell to the Israeli forces, due to its strategic location, settlement in the area go back to antiquity. The Romans built a fortress there, known as Castellum to ensure their control of the road to Jerusalem, later on the Crusaders built the castle Castellum Belveern on the ruins of this fortress, which still stands today. After the fall of the Crusaders, the Castel disappeared from the sources for centuries. Eventually, an Arab village grew up around this spot, the muhktars house was built on the hilltop, on the ruins of the Crusader castle. During the British Mandate of Palestine, the British referred to this district as The Castle, the Arabs called it al-Qastal, pronouncing the t. In 1947, the Arab siege on Jerusalem led to severe water, with the population on the verge of starvation, supply vehicles began traveling the road in convoys accompanied by armored guards. Buses and trucks were covered with steel plates surrounding a wooden board which made them heavy and their slow ascent to Jerusalem made them a perfect target. When the Arabs of al-Qastal saw a convoy approaching they would place a boulder across the narrow road, when the driver stopped to clear the road, they lobbed explosives and massacred everyone in sight. By April 1,1948, when Jerusalem had run out of water and the population was reduced to eating plants, the commandos found the village nearly empty and met with little resistance. When word of the Castels fall reached Arab leaders, they ordered revered commander Abd al-Qadir al-Husayni to take it back, thousands answered his call to arms. Equipped with knives, clubs, rifles, guns and explosives, they ascended the hill in waves, the Jewish defenders ran out of food and ammunition, and reinforcements failed to arrive. On April 8, two guards spotted three unidentified figures walking up the slopes and opened fire on them, two fled, but one of them, who turned out to be al-Huysani, was killed. An hour later, a soldier listening to Arabic radio broadcasts heard a phrase repeated over and over, the bird was a code word for al-Huysani. Masses of Arabs rushed to the slopes of the Castel and opened fire on three fronts, many of the Jewish fighters were killed, and the Castel was recaptured
Castel National Park
–
The Castel fortress
Castel National Park
–
Convoy on its way to Jerusalem, 1948
Castel National Park
–
The Castel during
Operation Nahshon
24.
City of David National Park
–
City of David National Park, also called Jerusalem Walls National Park, is an Israeli national park located near the walls of the Old City of Jerusalem. The National park connects to the site of the City of David on the southern part, the area of the national park includes the gates to the old city of Jerusalem. The promenade of the old city of Jerusalem, the Tower of David - consists today of a museum for the History of Jerusalem and an antiquities site. Mount Zion - the site includes Davids Tomb, the Holocaust chamber and several sites for Christians, among them the Hagia Maria Sion Abbey. Cemeteries - Jewish, Christian Orthodox and Protestant, the eastern side of the garden includes a Muslim cemetery. West and south of the Old City is Gehenna, the Kidron Valley which is also located on the grounds of the National Park consists of a number of burial constructions, including Tomb of Absalom and Tomb of Zechariah. Under the northern wall, between the Damascus Gate and Herods Gate, is a site called Zedekiahs Cave, researchers believe that this was a quarry from Herods period. City of David National Park at the Israeli Parks Authority site
City of David National Park
–
The old city walls near the
Jaffa Gate.
25.
Ein Hemed
–
Ein Hemed is a national park and nature reserve in the hills seven kilometers west of Jerusalem, Israel. It is also known by its Latin name Aqua Bella, the park is located on the path of an old Roman road, also used in later periods, called Emmaus by the Crusaders. The road connected the coastal plain with the Jerusalem hills, the Kingdom of Jerusalem built fortresses along the road to Jerusalem in order to control the traffic to Jerusalem, and protect pilgrims visiting the Holy City. Farms were built using the water for irrigation. Impressive ruins of a 30x40 meter Crusader structure, whose southern wall survives to a height of 12 meters, are located on the site of the riverbed. The building has several gates and two arched halls, the building was known in Arabic as Deir al Benat. Archeological investigations indicate that it was built in 1140-1160, during the reign of Fulk of Jerusalem, in the period as the fortresses on Tzova. South of the building are a reserve and a Muslim cemetery. The nature reserve and park were established in 1968, the cemetery includes the grave of Sheikh Abdullah, in whose honor the oak and terebinth trees in the nature reserve were never cut down. A picnic site has been created nearby, four layer springs issue from the riverbed and nearby caves, and unite into a flow of water which continues for about 400 meter. Several dams have been built, creating pools, the largest of which is 20 x 20 meters and 1 meter deep, in 1925, an American Jew named Isaac Segal Feller purchased a plot of 600 dunams on a hill above the springs. This land was called Nachalat Yitzchak or Kiryat YaSaF after its founder, during the 1936–1939 Arab revolt and Israeli War of Independence, it served as a base for Hagana training and military operations. Since 1994, there have been disputes over development of the site for residential or tourism purposes
Ein Hemed
–
Aqua Bella, Crusader ruins
Ein Hemed
–
Water well drilling in Ein Hemed (~1964)
26.
Judaean Mountains
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The Judaean Mountains, or Judaean Hills, is a mountain range in Israel and the West Bank where Jerusalem and several other biblical cities are located. The mountains reach a height of 1,026 metres, the Judean Mountains can be separated to a number of sub-regions, including the Mount Hebron ridge, the Jerusalem ridge and the Judean slopes. These mountains formed the heartland of the Kingdom of Judah, where the earliest Jewish settlements emerged, the range runs in a north south direction from Galilee to the Negev with an average height of 900 metres. The Judaean mountains encompass Jerusalem, Hebron, Bethlehem and Ramallah, the range forms a natural division between the Shephelah coastal plains to the west and the Jordan Rift Valley to the east. The northern section, in the Ramallah area, is known as Samarian Hills. The Judaean Mountains were heavily forested in antiquity, the range is mostly composed of terra rossa soils over hard limestones. The Judaean Mountains are the expression of a series of monoclinic folds which trend north-northwest through Israel. The folding is the expression of the Syrian Arc belt of anticlinal folding that began in the Late Cretaceous Period in northeast Africa. The Syrian Arc extends east-northeast across the Sinai, turns north-northeast through Israel, the Israeli segment parallels the Dead Sea Transform which lies just to the east. In prehistoric times, animals no longer found in the Levant region were found here, including elephants, rhinoceri, giraffes, in ancient times the Judean mountains were the allotment of the Tribe of Judah and the heartland of the former Kingdom of Judah. An Israel Railways line runs from Beit Shemesh along the Brook of Sorek, media related to Judaean Mountains at Wikimedia Commons Pictures Judaean Mountains & Jerusalem Symbolism and Landscape, The Etzion Bloc in the Judaean Mountains, Yossi Katz and John C
Judaean Mountains
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Judaean Hills
Judaean Mountains
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View from
Beit Meir in the Judaean Mountains
27.
Tomb of Samuel
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The Tomb of Samuel Hebrew, קבר שמואל הנביא, translit. Kever Shmuel ha-Nevi, ), (Arabic, النبي صموئيل, translit, an-Nabi Samuil or Nebi Samwil, is the traditional burial site of the biblical Hebrew and Islamic prophet Samuel, atop a steep hill at an elevation of 908 meters above sea level. It is situated in the Palestinian village of Nabi Samwil in the West Bank,1.3 kilometers north of the Jerusalem neighborhood of Ramot, on the site is a building containing a mosque built in the 18th century that was formerly a church. The tomb itself is located in a chamber where a small synagogue is located. The Israeli Ministry of Tourism website states Over time practically every ancient Jewish traveler mentioned the place and it is currently located in the Seam Zone, effectively annexed in an enclave by the Israeli West Bank barrier together with the Israeli settlement of Givat Zeev. Yitzhak Magen conducted archaeological excavations from 1992–2003, on the southeastern slope is a 4-acre urban settlement dating back to the 8th-7th centuries BCE, and remnants that Magen believed to be the Mizpah in Benjamin of the Book of Samuel. By contrast, Jeffrey Zorn concluded that there are no remains at the site, from the period in which the Samuel narratives are set, and it could therefore not be Mizpah. Furthermore, Judas Machabeus, preparing for war with the Syrians, gathered his men to Maspha, over against Jerusalem, a large monastery was built by the Byzantines, of which little remains. There is no evidence that the place was considered the Tomb of Samuel, or indeed a place of religious significance. Magen argues that the builders of the monastery did not believe they were building over the tomb of Samuel, instead regarding their construction only as a memorial. The fifth century writer Jerome, for example, argues that Samuels remains were moved to Chalcedon, on the orders of Emperor Arcadius, a sixth-century Christian author identified the site as Samuels burial place. According to the Bible, however, the prophet is buried at his hometown, Ramah and he wrote that a church dedicated to St. Samuel of Shiloh had been built on the hill. This may refer to the church of St. Samuel built by Premonstratensian canons. The Crusaders built a fortress on the spot, which was razed by the Mamelukes, some identify the location with the Biblical temple of Gibeon, though consensus among experts places it at the village of al Jib. Nebi Samuels strategic location made it the site of battles during the British conquest of Ottoman Palestine in 1917, and it was resettled in 1921, but various difficulties lead it to again disband after a number of years. The mosque built in 1730 was damaged in the battle between the British and the Turks in 1917 and it was restored in World War I. Nebi Samuel and the archeological excavations are now part of a national park. An Arab village of 20 families is located on the hilltop, both Jewish and Muslim prayers are held at the tomb
Tomb of Samuel
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Nabi Samwil mosque built on remains of
Crusader -era fortress, the Tomb of Samuel is in a
crypt below the Mameluke building.
28.
Achzib
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Achziv is an ancient site on the Mediterranean coast of northern Israel, between the border with Lebanon and the city of Acre -15 kilometers north of Acre, within the municipal area of Nahariya. Today it is an Israeli national park, the legally disputed micronation of Akhzivland is located in the immediate vicinity. Excavations have unearthed a fortified Canaanite city of the second millennium BCE, the Phoenician town of the first millennium BCE is known both from the Hebrew Bible and Assyrian sources. Phoenician Achzib went through ups and downs during the Persian and Hellenistic periods, in Roman times Acdippa was a road station. The Bordeaux Pilgrim mentions it in 333-334 CE still as a road station, there is no information about settlement at the site for the Early Muslim period. The Crusaders built a new village with a castle, during the Mamluk and Ottoman periods a modest village occupied the old tell. This village was depopulated during the 1948 Arab-Israeli war, the only permanent resident of Achziv is an Israeli who has been welcoming visitors to a small stretch of beach where he has lived since 1975. The first fortified settlement found by archaeologists is a large Canaanite port city from the Middle Bronze Age IIB, the massive ramparts, some 4.5 m high, protected the city proper and a large area of port facilities. To the north and south the city extended to the two rivers, which the Canaanite engineers connected by a fosse, thus transforming Achzib into an island. A substantial destruction level from the beginning of the Late Bronze Age proves that even these fortifications were not sufficient. And the outgoings thereof are at the sea from the coast to Achzib, asher did not drive out the inhabitants of Acco. or of Achzib. King David added the city into his Kingdom, but King Solomon returned it to Hiram I as part of the famous pact, during the invasions of Sennacherib the Assyrians conquered the city. During the reign of the Seleucids the border was established at Rosh HaNikra, just north to Achziv, making it a city which they called Ekdippa. A maritime city named Cziv, nine miles north of Acre, is mentioned by Josephus Flavius, Achziv is mentioned in Jewish rabbinic writings, for example Midrash Vayikra Rabba 37,4. Additionally, Achziv is mentioned in the Babylonian Talmud, and by the relating Middle Age commentators, during the Crusader period, the site was known as Casale Umberti, or Casal Humberti, after Hubert of Pacy which held the casale and is documented in 1108. European farmers settled there in 1153 under Baldwin III, in 1232 it was the site of the Battle of Casal Imbert between German and French Crusaders as part of the War of the Lombards. The Arab village of Az-Zeeb was established during the Mamluk period, the town existed during Ottoman rule in the region. In 1946, The Jewish Resistance Movement attempted to blow up the bridge over the creek at Achziv in an operation known as Night of the Bridges
Achzib
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The mosque of al-Zib, restored at Achziv National Park
29.
Beth Alpha
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Beth Alpha or Bet Alpha or Bet Alfa is a sixth-century synagogue located at the foot of the northern slopes of the Gilboa mountains near Beit Shean, Israel. It is now part of Bet Alfa Synagogue National Park and managed by the Israel Nature, the Beth Alpha synagogue was uncovered in 1928 by members of the nearby Kibbutz Hefzibah, who stumbled upon the synagogue’s extensive mosaic floors during irrigation construction. Excavations began in 1929 under the auspices of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and were led by Israeli archaeologist, a secondary round of excavations, sponsored by the Israel Antiquities Authority in 1962, further explored the residential structures surrounding the synagogue. In addition, a hoard of 36 Byzantine coins were found in a depression in the floor apse. Architectural remains from the Beth Alpha synagogue indicate that the synagogue once stood as two-story basilical building and contained a courtyard, vestibule, the Torah Ark within the apse was aligned southwest, in the direction of Jerusalem. The northern entryway features two dedicatory inscriptions in Aramaic and Greek, although partially destroyed, the Aramaic inscription indicates that the synagogue was built during the reign of Roman Emperor Justinus, probably Justin I, and was funded by communal donations. The Greek inscription thanks artisans “Marianos and his son Hanina, ” whom were listed as the artisans of the nearby Beth Shean synagogue. The inscriptions are flanked on either side by a lion and a buffalo, the northern panel depicts the “Binding of Isaac”. To the right, Abraham is depicted dangling Isaac over the altar as he raises his hand to perform the sacrifice. In the center, God, symbolized by the small fire- encircled hand appearing in the upper center, instructs Abraham to sacrifice a nearby ram instead of Isaac. The hand of God is aptly labeled with “al tishlah” or “do not raise, in the lower center of the composition, immediately below the hand of God, the ram that served as Isaac’s substitute is positioned standing sideways, trapped in the nearby thicket. All the figures in the scene, except for the two servants, are identified with Hebrew labels, the iconographic significance of the “Binding of Isaac” is unclear. In contemporaneous Christian church art, where the “Binding of Isaac” was also a popular theme, the central panel features a Jewish adaptation of the Greco-Roman zodiac. The zodiac consists of two circles, with the twelve zodiac signs appearing in the outer circle, and Helios. The outer circle consists of panels, each of which correspond to one of the twelve months of the year. Female busts symbolizing the four seasons appear in the four corners immediately outside the zodiac, in the center, Helios appears with his signature Greco-Roman iconographic elements such as the fiery crown of rays adorning his head and the highly stylized quadriga or four-horse-drawn chariot. The background is decorated with a crescent shaped moon and stars, as in the “Binding of Isaac” panel, the zodiac symbols and seasonal busts are labeled with their corresponding Hebrew names. Some interpret the popularity that the zodiac maintains within synagogue floors as evidence for its Judaization and adaptation into the Jewish calendar, others see it as representing the existence of a “non-Rabbinic” or a mystical and Hellenized form of Judaism that embraced the astral religion of Greco-Roman culture
Beth Alpha
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Panorama of Nave Mosaics
Beth Alpha
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Dedicatory Inscriptions
Beth Alpha
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Binding of Isaac
Beth Alpha
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Zodiac Wheel with Hebrew Labels
30.
Belvoir Fortress
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Belvoir Fortress is a Crusader fortress in northern Israel, on a hill 20 kilometres south of the Sea of Galilee. Gilbert of Assailly, Grand Master of the Knights Hospitaller, began construction of the castle in 1168, the restored fortress is located in Belvoir National Park. It is the best-preserved Crusader fortress in Israel, the Knights Hospitaller purchased the site from Velos, a French nobleman, in 1168. Standing 500 metres above the Jordan River Valley, the plateau commanded the route from Gilead into the Kingdom of Jerusalem, to the north is the Sea of Galilee and west are hills. The site of Belvoir Castle dominated the area, and in the words of Abu Shama the castle is, set admidst the stars like an eagles nest. As soon as the Knights Hospitaller purchased the land they began construction of Belvoir Castle, while Gilbert of Assailly was Grand Master of the Knights Hospitaller the order gained around thirteen new castles, among which Belvoir was the most important. The fortress of Belvoir served as an obstacle to the Muslim goal of invading the Crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem from the east. It withstood an attack by Muslim forces in 1180, during the campaign of 1182, the Battle of Belvoir Castle was fought nearby between King Baldwin IV of Jerusalem and Saladin. Following Saladins victory over the Crusaders at the battle of the Horns of Hattin, the siege lasted a year and a half, until the defenders surrendered on 5 January 1189. An Arab governor occupied it until 1219 when the Ayyubid ruler in Damascus had slighted, in 1241 Belvoir was ceded to the Franks, who controlled it until 1263. In modern times it became an Arab village, Kawkab al-Hawa, the Arab buildings on the site were demolished by the Israeli authorities between 1963 and 1968. The Hebrew name, Kochav Hayarden, meaning Star of the Jordan, preserves the name of Kochava – a Jewish village which existed nearby during the Roman, after the end of the Second World War, the study of Crusader castles experienced a lull. Syria, for instance, declared independence in 1946 and had money to spare for archaeology. In Israel, the study of Crusader castles developed under Joshua Prawer and its most significant discovery was made at Belvoir. Between 1963 and 1968 the Israel Department of Antiquities carried out excavations at the castle, before the investigations, it had been assumed that Belvoir was a simple castle, with just a single enclosure. Excavations in the 1960s demonstrated the complex nature of military architecture in the Kingdom of Jerusalem. Belvoirs design bore similarities to that of a Roman castra, the enclosure was rectangular with towers at the corners. Belvoir is an example of the concentric castle plan, which was widely used in later crusader castles
Belvoir Fortress
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The remains of Belvoir Castle. Note the two circuits of defensive wall, one inside the other (
Concentric castle).
Belvoir Fortress
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Belvoir from southwest
31.
Capernaum
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Capernaum was a fishing village established during the time of the Hasmoneans, located on the northern shore of the Sea of Galilee. It had a population of about 1,500, Archaeological excavations have revealed two ancient synagogues built one over the other. A house turned into a church by the Byzantines is said to be the home of Saint Peter, the village was inhabited continuously from the 2nd century BCE to the 11th century CE, when it was abandoned sometime before the Crusader conquest. This includes the re-establishment of the village during the Early Islamic period soon after the 749 earthquake, kfar Nahum, the original name of the small town, means Nahums village in Hebrew, but apparently there is no connection with the prophet named Nahum. In Arabic, it is called Talhum, and it is assumed that this refers to the ruin of Hum. The town is cited in all four gospels where it was reported to have been near the hometown of the apostles Simon Peter, Andrew, James and John, one Sabbath, Jesus taught in the synagogue in Capernaum and healed a man who was possessed by an unclean spirit. This story is notable for being the one common between the gospels of Mark and Luke, but not contained in the gospel of Matthew. Afterwards, he healed Simon Peters mother-in-law of a fever, according to Luke 7, 1–10 and Matthew 8,5, it is also the place where Jesus healed the servant of a Roman centurion who had asked for his help. Capernaum is also the location of the healing of the paralytic lowered through the roof to reach Jesus reported in Mark 2, 1–12, and Luke 5, 17–26. In Matthew 9,1 the town is referred to only as his own city, most traditional biblical commentators assume that his own city means Capernaum because of the details which are common to the three synoptic gospels. Although the writers of the Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary suggest that alternatively it could refer to Nazareth, according to the Synoptic Gospels, Jesus selected this town as the center of his public ministry in Galilee after he left the small mountainous hamlet of Nazareth. He also formally cursed the city, saying you will be thrown down to Hades. because of their lack of faith in him as the Messiah. Archaeological evidence demonstrates that the town was established in the 2nd century BC during the Hasmonean period, the site had no defensive wall and extended along the shore of the nearby lake. The cemetery zone is found 200 meters north of the synagogue and it extended 3 kilometers to Tabgha, an area which appears to have been used for agricultural purposes, judging by the many oil and grain mills which were discovered in the excavation. Fishing was also a source of income, the remains of another harbor were found to the west of that built by the Franciscans, josephus referred to Capernaum as a fertile spring. He stayed the night there after bruising his wrist in a riding accident, during the first Jewish revolt of 66–70 Capernaum was spared as it didnt have to be occupied by force by the Romans. In 1838, American explorer Edward Robinson discovered the ruins of ancient Capernaum, the Franciscans raised a fence to protect the ruins from frequent vandalism, and planted palms and eucalyptus trees brought from Australia to create a small oasis for pilgrims. They also built a small harbor and these labors were directed by Franciscan Virgilio Corbo
Capernaum
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Capernaum synagogue
Capernaum
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A photo from Capernaum at the ancient synagogue area
Capernaum
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James Tissot - Healing of the Lepers at Capernaum (Guérison des lépreux à Capernaum) -
Brooklyn Museum
Capernaum
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An olive mill and an olive press dating from Roman times in Capernaum
32.
Chorazin
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Chorazin was an ancient village in northern Galilee, two and a half miles from Capernaum on a hill above the northern shore of the Sea of Galilee. Chorazin, along with Bethsaida and Capernaum, was named in the gospels of Matthew, however, because these towns rejected his work, they were subsequently cursed. The gospels make no mention of Chorazin or what works had occurred there. According to the hypothesis, this story originally came from the Q document. Despite this textual evidence, archaeologists have not yet been successful in finding a settlement dating to the first century, due to the condemnation of Jesus, some early Medieval writers believed that the Antichrist would be born in Chorazin. The Babylonian Talmud mentions that Chorazin was a known for its grain. Two settlement phases have been proposed based on coin and pottery findings, cana is famous for the frequent presence and miracles of Christ. But away with conjecture, when it too bold. Chorazin is now the site of a National Archaeological Park, extensive excavations and a survey were carried out in 1962-1964. Excavations at the site were resumed in 1980-1987, the site is an excavated ruin today, but was inhabited starting in the 1st century. It is associated with modern-day Kerazeh, the majority of the structures are made from black basalt, a volcanic rock found locally. The main settlement dates to the 3rd and 4th centuries, a mikvah, or ritual bath, was also found at the site. The handful of olive millstones used in oil extraction found suggest a reliance on the olive for economic purposes. The towns ruins are spread over an area of 25 acres, subdivided into five separate quarters, the large, impressive Synagogue which was built with black basalt stones and decorated with Jewish motifs is the most striking survival. Close by is a bath, surrounded by public and residential buildings. In 1926, archaeologists discovered the Seat of Moses, carved from a basalt block, according to the New Testament, this is where the reader of the Torah sat. In May–June 2004, a salvage excavation was conducted by the Israel Antiquities Authority along the route of an ancient road north of Moshav Amnun. In the literature, the road is referred to as “The Way through Korazim. ”It crossed the Chorazin plateau from west to east, the only synagogue visible today was built in the late 3rd century, destroyed in the 4th century, and rebuilt in the 6th century
Chorazin
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Ancient synagogue
Chorazin
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Olive oil press
Chorazin
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Synagogue
Chorazin
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Decorated stone form Chorazin synagogue
33.
Gan HaShlosha National Park
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Gan HaShlosha National Park, also known by its Arabic name Sakhne, is a national park in Israel. Located between kibbutzim Beit Alfa and Nir David, it has warm water where visitors can swim all year. It is named in memory of three Jewish pioneers who came to survey the land on behalf of the Jewish National Fund in 1938, the spring water that emerges in the western part of the park maintains a constant, year-round temperature of 28 degrees Celsius. Amal Stream, which crosses the park, has widened into pools. An old water-powered mill operates at the site and an adjacent madafeh, or Arab hospitality room, has been restored. A1,1 reconstruction of Tel Amal, one of the first Tower, the Museum of Regional and Mediterranean Archaeology is located on the grounds of the park. It houses a display of rare Greek tools, artifacts from excavations in the Beit She’an Valley and an exhibit about the Etruscans. The Garden of Eden, a film about Gan HaShlosha, premiered at the Jerusalem Film Festival in July 2012, the film was screened at the DocAviv Galilee festival in Maalot-Tarshiha in November 2012. Tourism in Israel National parks of Israel Nir David Gan Hashlosha, by Rochelle Mass at the Wayback Machine Gan Hashlosha National Park
Gan HaShlosha National Park
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Natural warm water pool at Gan HaShlosha
Gan HaShlosha National Park
34.
Hamat Gader
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Hamat Gader is a hot springs site in the Yarmouk River valley, used since the Classical antiquity. It is located in an area under Israeli control, in what was a zone between Israel and Syria from 1949 to 1967. The site is next to the Jordanian border, and about 10 kilometres from the tripoint of Israel, Jordan and it is set on several mineral springs with temperatures up to 50 °C. The ancient Hebrew name means hot springs of Gadara, the latter is above the springs, in modern Umm Qais. The Arabic name El-Hamma preserves this, and the name of the mound located near the site, Hamat Gader was already a widely known health and recreation site in Roman times. It is mentioned in Strabo, Origen and Eunapius, as well as the Rabbinic literature of the first centuries AD, construction of the bath complex began in the 2nd century by the 10th Roman Legion, which was garrisoned in the city of Gadara. The site includes a Roman theatre, which was built in the 3rd century CE, a large synagogue was built in the 5th century CE. Some of the buildings were damaged by an earthquake and restored in 633 by the Umayyad caliph who ruled from Damascus, a century later the 749 Galilee earthquake hit. Eventually, in the 9th century, the baths were abandoned, before 1949, the Palestinian Arab village Al-Hamma was located at this site. At the time of the 1931 census, it had 46 occupied houses, the border between the Mandatory Palestine and the French Mandate for Syria and the Lebanon was drawn in 1923, and Al-Hamma was included in Palestine. The villagers and their property were protected by Article V of the Israeli-Syrian agreement of 20 July that year. However, Israel thought the Arab villagers could pose a security threat, Israel therefore wanted the Palestinian inhabitants, a total of 2,200 people, moved to Syria. On April 4,1951, a force of Israeli soldiers, since Israel was not allowed to have soldiers in the DMZ, members of the patrol were disguised as policemen. Syrian soldiers guarding the entrance to Hamat Gader ordered them to turn back immediately, once the Israeli force had passed, the Syrians opened fire. Of the 22 soldiers and policemen in the force, seven were killed, the skirmish became known as the Al-Hamma Incident. Israeli control over Hamat Gader was secured during the Six-Day War in 1967, since then, it has been under Israeli control and has been developed as a tourist attraction, health resort and an alligator and exotic bird reserve. The health resort opened in 1977, today, Hamat Gader also includes a crocodilian farm with crocodiles, alligators and even caimans and gavials. It has about 200 crocodilians and it is the largest crocodile farm in the Middle East, Hamat Gader is Israels largest and oldest spa complex
Hamat Gader
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Hamat Gader during the day
Hamat Gader
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Hamat Gader during the night
Hamat Gader
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A section of the mosaic pavement recovered from the ancient Hamat Gader synagogue, now installed in the entrance hall of the
Supreme Court of Israel.
Hamat Gader
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Young
Nile Crocodiles at Hamat Gader's
Crocodilias Farm
35.
Hamat Tiberias
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Hammath or Hamma is the Hebrew and Semitic word for hot spring. The Hebrew possessive plural is hamei- and it is adjacent to the ancient city of Tiberias, which was established in the first century CE and is now called Tveriya, thus the springs and the resort are called Hamei Tveriya. Since several places bore the name Hammath, the distinction was made here by adding Tiberias/Tveriya to the name, spelling vary for both parts of the Hebrew name. The Arabic name uses the word, Al-Hammam. The 17 springs of Hamat Tiberias have been known since antiquity for their curative properties, the site was rediscovered in 1920 when the Tiberias-Samakh road was being constructed. The Hamei Tveriya natural hot springs are located on the grounds of the park, according to the sages of the Talmud, the springs were heated when they streamed past the entrance of Hell. Archaeologists have concluded it was built on the ruins of the city of Hammath. (Joshua 19,350 However the finds of the excavations are limited to the 1st-8th centuries CE, the Hammat Tiberias Synagogue is an ancient synagogue on the outskirts of Tiberias, located near the hot springs just south of the city. The synagogue dates to 286 and 337 CE, when Tiberias was the seat of the Sanhedrin, two synagogue sites have been excavated at Hammat Tiberias. A limestone menorah was uncovered there which is now on display at the Israel Museum, the mosaic floor is made up of three panels featuring the zodiac, and Helios, the sun god. Women who symbolize the four seasons of nature appear in each corner, the second synagogue site, excavated by Moshe Dothan, is noted for its elaborate mosaic floor. In the center of one large mosaic is the Sun god, Helios, sitting in his holding the celestial sphere. Nine of the 12 signs of the zodiac survived intact, another panel shows a Torah ark flanked by two the seven-branched menorahs and other Jewish ritual objects. Hamat Tiberias National Park at the Israeli Parks Authority site
Hamat Tiberias
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Zodiac mosaic floor, synagogue in Hamat Tiberias
Hamat Tiberias
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Tiberias thermal baths, 1925
Hamat Tiberias
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Ancient Greek inscription on the Hellenistic mosaic floor belonging to the synagogue in Hamat Tiberias
36.
Banias
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Banias is the Arabic and modern Hebrew name of an ancient site that developed around a spring once associated with the Greek god Pan. It is located at the foot of Mount Hermon, north of the Golan Heights, the spring is the source of the Banias River, one of the main tributaries of the Jordan River. The first mention of the ancient city during the Hellenistic period was in the context of the Battle of Panium, fought around 200-198 BCE, later the region was called Paneas. Both names were derived from that of Pan, the god of the wild, the spring at Banias initially originated in a large cave carved out of a sheer cliff face which was gradually lined with a series of shrines. The temenos included in its final phase a temple placed at the mouth of the cave, courtyards for rituals and it was constructed on an elevated, 80m long natural terrace along the cliff which towered over the north of the city. A four-line inscription at the base of one of the niches relates to Pan and Echo, the mountain nymph, and was dated to 87 BCE. The once very large spring gushed from the cave, but an earthquake moved it to the foot of the natural terrace where it now seeps quietly from the bedrock. From here the stream, called Nahal Hermon in Hebrew, flows towards what once were the malaria-infested Hula marshes, the pre-Hellenistic deity associated with the spring of Banias was variously called Baal-gad or Baal-hermon. Paneas was first settled in the Hellenistic period following Alexander the Greats conquest of the east, the Ptolemaic kings built a cult centre there in the 3rd century BC. In the Hellenistic Period the spring was named Panias, for the Arcadian goat-footed god Pan, the Latin equivalent for Paneas is Fanium. The spring lies close to the way of the sea mentioned by Isaiah, in extant sections of the Greek historian Polybiuss history of The Rise of the Roman Empire, a Battle of Panium is mentioned. This battle was fought in ca, 200-198 BC between the armies of Ptolemaic Egypt and the Seleucids of Coele-Syria, led by Antiochus III. Antiochuss victory cemented Seleucid control over Phoenicia, Galilee, Samaria and it was these Seleucids who built a pagan temple dedicated to Pan at Paneas. Upon Zenodoruss death in 20 BC, the Panion, including Paneas, was annexed to the Kingdom of Herod the Great, Herod erected a temple of white marble there n honour of his patron. In 61 CE, king Agrippa II renamed the administrative capital Neronias in honour of the Roman emperor Nero, Agrippa also carried out urban improvements. In 67CE, during the First Jewish–Roman War, Vespasian briefly visited Caesarea Philippi before advancing on Tiberias in Galilee, with the death of Agrippa II around the year 92 came the end of Herodian rule, and the city returned to the province of Syria. In the late Roman and Byzantine periods the written sources name the city again as Paneas, in 361, Emperor Julian the Apostate instigated a religious reformation of the Roman state, in which he supported the restoration of Hellenic paganism as the state religion. In Paneas this was achieved by replacing Christian symbols, though the change was short lived, in the 5th century, following the division of the Empire, the city was part of the Eastern Empire, but was lost to the Arab expansion of the 7th century
Banias
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The spring of Banias with the Cave of Pan in background
Banias
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The remnants of the temple of Pan with Pan's grotto. The building with the white dome in the background is the shrine of
Nabi Khadr.
Banias
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The remains of the palace of Philip II and/or Agrippa II
Banias
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At Banias or Caesaria Philippi, 1891
37.
Hexagons pool
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The Hexagon Pool is a natural pool in the Meshushim Reserve, part of the Yehudiya Forest Nature Reserve, in central Golan Heights. The pool, at the bottom of a canyon, is named in reference to the shape of the basalt pillars that make up its walls. This geological formation was created by the cooling of layers of lava floes over a long period. When the lava solidified and cooled, it was split into polygonal shapes due to its contraction, a cascade of water, such as a waterfall, created the pool. The walls are columns of basalt in angular formations that appear man-made, the columns reach a height of approximately 5 metres, and most have five or six sides. The diameter of each column is between 30 and 40 centimetres, walls of basalt columns exist in other places in the Golan Heights, along the Hexagon River and Zavitan River. The water temperature rarely exceeds 18 °C, even in summer, the easiest access is 2.5 kilometres north of the city of Had Nes on Route 888 where a junction leads to the Nature Reserve. From there a 30-minute downhill walk leads to the pool, list of places with columnar basalt Israel Nature and Parks Authority Israel travel secrets Society for the protection of nature in Israel
Hexagons pool
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Hexagon Pool
38.
Horns of Hattin
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The Horns of Hattin is an extinct volcano with twin peaks overlooking the plains of Hattin in the Lower Galilee, Israel. Karnei Hittin is believed to be the site of the Battle of Hattin, the Battle of Hattin was fought in summer when the grass was tinder-dry. Saladins troops set fire to the grass, cutting off the Crusaders access to water in the Sea of Galilee, Saladin built a victory dome, Qubbat al-Nasr, on the hill. Thietmar, a German pilgrim who visited the site in 1217, in the early 17th century, ruins were found on the summit that appeared to be those of a church. Prior to 1948, an Arab village, Hittin, lay at the foot of the hill, excavations were carried out on the hill in 1976 and 1981. Some scholars have identified the hill with the Mount of Beatitudes, where Jesus delivered his Sermon on the Mount. Ferguson, Fergus, Sacred Scenes, Or, Notes of Travel in Egypt and the Holy Land, Or, Notes of Travel in Egypt and the Holy Land, Thomas Adamson, Jackson, Walford, travels in the East, tr. from, Oxford University
Horns of Hattin
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Illustration of the Battle of the Horns of Hattin in a medieval manuscript
Horns of Hattin
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Panoramic view of the Horns of Hattin
39.
Hula Valley
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The Hula Valley is an agricultural region in northern Israel with abundant fresh water. It is a stopover for birds migrating along the Syrian-African Rift Valley between Africa, Europe, and Asia. The marshland around Lake Hula, a ground for mosquitoes carrying malaria, was drained in the 1950s. A small section of the valley was later reflooded in an attempt to revive a nearly extinct ecosystem, an estimated 500 million migrating birds now pass through the Hula Valley every year. Lake Hula was historically referred to by different names, the 14th century BCE Egyptians called the lake Samchuna, while the Hebrew Bible records it as Merom. In the 1st century CE, the Jewish-Roman historian Flavius Josephus termed it Semechonitis, John Lightfoot writing it as Samochonitis, currently the lake is called Buheirat el Huleh in Arabic and Agam ha-Hula in Hebrew, stemming from the Aramaic Hulata or Ulata. The Waters of Merom has sometimes used in scientific literature. On both sides of the valley are steep slopes, the Golan Heights to the east and the Upper Galilees Naftali mountains to the west rise to 400 to 900 meters above sea level. Annual rainfall varies greatly between different parts of the valley and ranges from about 400 millimeters in the south of the valley, the wind regime is dominated by regional patterns in the winter with occasional strong north-easterly wind storms known in Arabic as Sharkiyah. Prior to its drainage in the early 1950s, Lake Hula was 5.3 kilometers long and 4.4 kilometers wide and it was about one and a half meters deep in summer and three meters deep in winter. The lake attracted human settlement from prehistoric times. Paleolithic archaeological remains were found near the Bnot Yaakov bridge at the end of the valley. The first permanent settlement, Enan, dates from 9, 000-10,000 years ago and was discovered in the valley, the Hula Valley was a main junction on the important trade route connecting the large commercial centre of Damascus with the eastern Mediterranean coast and Egypt. During the Bronze Age, the cities of Hazor and Laish were built at key locations on this route approximately 4,000 years ago. At some point the area came under Israelite control until it was captured by the Assyrian armies of Tiglath-Pileser III, the Bible records lake Merom as the site of a victory of Joshua over the Canaanites. Throughout the Hellenistic, Roman, Byzantine and early Arab periods rural settlement in the Hula Valley was uninterrupted, during the Seleucid Empire, the town Seleucia Samulias was founded on the lake shore. Traditional crops were rice, cotton and sugar cane, sorghum, water buffalo were introduced in the eighth century supplying milk and serving as beasts of burden. In the 19th century, the valley, mainly marshy ground, John MacGregor, a Victorian adventurer, was captured with his boat, the Rob Roy, by dark-skinned Bedouin living in the Hula marshes
Hula Valley
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A wheat field in the Hula Valley, against the backround of
Mount Hermon, March 2007.
Hula Valley
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Hula Valley farmland
Hula Valley
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Water buffalo grazing in Hula Valley
Hula Valley
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Buildings circa 1885
40.
Hurshat Tal
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Hurshat Tal is a national park and nature reserve in the Northern District of Israel. In 1968,765 dunams were declared national park lands and 107 dunams were declared a nature reserve, hurshat Tal is located on Highway 99, east of Kiryat Shmona, in the northern part of the Hula Valley. The recreation and camping grounds offer bungalows and cabins, a stream branching from the Dan River crosses the site, feeding a swimming pool with water slides. A fishing park is open to visitors. The Hebrew name of the site is taken from Psalms 133,3 referring to the dew of Hermon, the reserve was declared mainly to protect the 240 old Valonia oak trees. These trees survived for years as part of a local Muslim holy site. Some of the trees are 350–400 years old, local folklore tells that 10 of Muhammads cohorts stopped nearby to rest, but could not find trees to which to tie their horses. They stuck their sticks into the ground, which became the origin of the trees in the area, the story is reflected in the Arabic name for the site, Sejrat el-Asara
Hurshat Tal
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Hurshat Tal
41.
Khirbat al-Minya
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Khirbat al-Minya is an Umayyad-built palace in the eastern Galilee, Israel, located about 200 meters west of the northern end of Lake Tiberias. It was erected as a complex, with a palace, mosque. The site is the only Umayyad ruin in Israeli territory with remains above the ground, Khirbat al-Minya was likely built during the reign of the Umayyad caliph al-Walid I and an inscription on a stone found at the site mentions his name. This makes the mosque one of the earliest to be built in Palestine. Khirbat al-Minya served a number of purposes, including as local administrative center for a subregion of the Jund al-Urdunn and as a point for Umar. It also could have served as a caravanserai for traveling along the Sea of Galilee or northeast from the lake shore to the coast. Another purpose of Khirbat al-Minya was a retreat for the governor of Tiberias or an alternative for the traditional summer retreat for the governor at Baysan. Khirbat al-Minya was abandoned at a date, but was later temporarily resettled. There is evidence that the palace was in use until at least the end of the Umayyad period in 750 CE, a strong earthquake hit the region, probably in the 749 Galilee earthquake. This damaged the building, causing a rift to run through the wing, going straight through the mosques mihrab. The damage in the niche were never repaired and it thus remains uncertain whether the palace was ever finished, Fallen debris from the earthquake was discovered in the 20th century in situ on the floor tiles of the main entry. The unused raw materials of a mosaic builder were found in the antechamber of the mosque, moreover, based on the stratification established in the western part of the site and the discovery of Mamluk pottery in 1959, the palace was settled again during the late Mamluk period. It is likely that the building was used as a khan in this period, a Khan al-Minya was constructed 300 m due north of the palace by Saif al-Din Tankiz, the Mamluk governor of Syria, during the reign of Al-Nasir Muhammad. Parts of Khirbat al-Minya might have used as building material for the new khan, baked bricks. Parts of the ruin were used as a reservoir and later a large brick oven was built in the south wing. In the 19th century locals built huts on the rubble heaps, in the second half of the 19th century, Charles William Wilson and other European travelers discovered ancient ruins among the huts of a local Fellah settlement. Some thought it to be Capernaum, where according to the New Testament Jesus had taught at the local synagogue. This was likely an argument for the purchase of the area along with nearby Tell el-Oreme, by the Deutscher Verein vom Heiligen Lande, identifying a large quadratic structure with outer walls and corner towers, he thought it to be a Roman fort or castrum
Khirbat al-Minya
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The ruins of the Minya palace, 2009
Khirbat al-Minya
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Decorations from the Minya palace
Khirbat al-Minya
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The base of Khirbat al-Minya, showing the limestone blocks laid over a lower
course of black basalt stones
42.
Kursi, Golan Heights
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Kursi is an archaeological site containing the ruins of a Byzantine Christian monastery and identified by tradition as the site of Jesus Miracle of the Swine. The site is now an Israeli national park located in the Israel-occupied side of the Golan Heights, Kursi takes its name from the Talmudic site. A marble slab with Aramaic text discovered in December 2015 seems to indicate that the settlement had, as of ca.500 CE, a Jewish or Judeo-Christian population. The site is located near the shore of the Sea of Galilee on the bank of a river bed, Nahal Samakh. Kursi has been identified by tradition as the site of the Miracle of the Swine, the details differ somewhat in the three gospels dealing with the episode, and again some more in different ancient manuscripts of those same gospels. The events take place in the land of either the Gerasenes, Gadarenes or Gergesenes, exorcised was either one man or two. The monastery and its church were built in the 5th century and this being a major pilgrimage site, a number of buildings were built for the accommodation of pilgrims as well as the local monastic community, all surrounded by walls and other fortifications. In 614 the Sassanian armies invaded Palestine laying waste to most of its Christian churches and monasteries, the church was later rebuilt, but part of the destroyed settlement was left in its ruined state. The church continued functioning under Muslim rule after the conquest of Palestine in 638-641 until being totally devastated by the 749 earthquake, arab squatters used the ruins as dwellings and for storage in the 9th century, marking the end of Kursis use as a Christian pilgrimage site. The monastery is surrounded by a stone wall measuring 145 x 123 metres. The entrance facing the Sea of Galilee was guarded by a watchtower, once inside the wall the pilgrims had the choice of going first to a luxurious bath house, or going straight to the centrally placed church. The church is of the type, with two rows of columns separating it into a nave and two aisles. The baptistery chapel on the side of the central apse has a small baptism font. A staircase leads from the end of the narthex to a crypt used for burials. Among the rooms on the side there is one containing an olive press. The atrium is built over a large cistern, as one can see from the two well heads, a ladder leading down to the cistern is not accessible to visitors. A small Byzantine chapel stood outside the compound, on the hill to the south. Here a large boulder was probably considered to be the site of the miracle
Kursi, Golan Heights
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The church seen from the paved street leading up to it.
Kursi, Golan Heights
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Kursi
43.
Montfort Castle
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Montfort is a ruined crusader castle in the Upper Galilee region in northern Israel, about 22 miles northeast of the city of Haifa and 10 miles south of the border with Lebanon. The site is now a park inside the Nahal Kziv nature reserve. The name of the fortress derives from the two French words mont and fort, meaning the strong mountain. It was built on land that the Teutonic Order purchased from the French De Milly family in the 1220s and is one of the finest examples of fortified building architecture in Outremer, the fortress was accordingly called Starkenberg, meaning the same phrase in German. Montfort was the castle of the military Teutonic Order, which was founded in the late 12th century in the port city of Acre. The fortress is built on a narrow and steep cliff above the bank of Nahal Kziv in the Upper Galilee region. The Teutonic Order had at the time come under pressure from the Templars and the Hospitallers in Acre, soon after the Crusaders conquered the Holy Land from the Muslims in 1099 during the First Crusade, European settlers began to populate the land. The noble French De Milly family received the estate and began to cultivate the land, in 1187 Muslims under the leadership of Saladin managed to defeat the Crusaders and take over Jerusalem following the Battle of Hattin. Along with Jerusalem, the property which was to be the Montfort castle became a Muslim possession as well, the Muslims, just like their Crusader predecessors, did not find the property particularly significant. The farmland lacked strategic importance because it was situated inland, above a stream channel, Saladins victory triggered the Third Crusade between 1189 and 1192. Led by King Richard I of England, the Third Crusade ended with a substantial Crusader victory, nonetheless, the territories of the Kingdom of Jerusalem were much smaller in size than those from before Saladins conquests. Most of the central Judea and Samaria mountains remained under Muslim control, and the crusaders ruled mainly in the coastal plain and the Galilee. As the crusaders set their new capital in Acre, the significance of the Montfort estate increased, although the De Milly family received the territory after its recapture during the Third Crusade, they sold it to the Teutonic Knights in 1220. With the help of contributions, the Teutonic Knights fortified the property. The knights set their headquarters, archive, and treasury at the new property in 1229, by that time the property ceased being simply a farming estate and was considered a fortress with all its implications. The Teutonic Knights expanded the fortifications and built a keep in the center, the Mamluk leader Baibars besieged the fortress in 1266. However, the defenders of the fortress resisted and eventually compelled the Mamluk invaders to leave and this operation facilitated the Mamluks stay in the area and after fifteen days of siege, the Teutonic Knights inside the fort surrendered. Due to prior negotiations between Baibars and the Crusaders, the latter were allowed to leave the fortress with all of their belongings, after the fall of that city in 1291, the Teutonic Knights made Venice their headquarters
Montfort Castle
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Monftfort castle at sunrise
Montfort Castle
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Montfort castle
44.
Mount Arbel
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Mount Arbel is a mountain in The Lower Galilee near Tiberias in Israel, with high cliffs, views of Mount Hermon in the Golan Heights, trails to a cave-fortress, and ruins of an ancient synagogue. Mt. Arbel sits across from Mount Nitai, their cliffs were created as a result of the Jordan Rift Valley, there are four villages on the mountain, Kfar Zeitim, Arbel, Kfar Hittim, and Mitzpa. Nearby are the ruins of an ancient Jewish settlement with a synagogue from the fourth century CE with pews, dug into the mountain itself are a number of cave dwellings, expanded from natural caves. There are documented Jewish cliff dwellings dating back to the Second Temple period in the area, the extant fortification walls protecting some of these caves are from the 17th century and were built by Ali Bek, son of the Druze emir Fakhr ad-Din al-Maani. Josephus writes about how Herod the Great, with the help of Roman soldiers, the caves on the steep northern side were reused in the Ottoman period by the Druze Maani dynasty to create the cave castle known as Qalat Ibn Maan. The area was declared a reserve in 1967, covering 1400 dunams. The national park includes most of Nahal Arbel, that begins near Eilabun, the reserve covers the immediate area around the cliff. On the south side of the cliff, there is a gradual prolonged climb through agricultural and pasture land, from here there are metal handholds driven into the rock to aid those who want to make the climb down to the valley below. Below that are a series of switchbacks that eventually lead to the Bedouin village of Hamaam, Mt. Arbel, with its 110-metre vertical drop, is the only known mountain in Israel to serve as a base jumping site. A hike to the top of Mount Arbel from the south is included in the Israel National Trail, and an approach from the west is part of the Jesus Trail, the trails converge temporarily at the peak
Mount Arbel
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Mount Arbel
Mount Arbel
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Arbel ancient synagogue
Mount Arbel
45.
Mount Tabor
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Mount Tabor is located in Lower Galilee, Israel, at the eastern end of the Jezreel Valley,11 miles west of the Sea of Galilee. It was the site of the Mount Tabor battle between Barak under the leadership of the Israelite judge Deborah, and the army of Jabin commanded by Sisera and it is believed by many Christians to be the site of the Transfiguration of Jesus. It is known as Har Tavor in Hebrew, Itabyrium in the Graeco-Roman world, Jebel et-Tur in Arabic, the Catholic church at the top is well visible from afar. At the base it is almost fully surrounded by the Arab villages of Daburiyya, Shibli, the mountain is a monadnock, an isolated hill or small mountain rising abruptly from gently sloping or level surrounding land, and is not volcanic. In spite of its proximity to the Nazareth mountains, it constitutes a separate geological form, at the bottom of the mountain was an important road junction, Via Maris passed there from the Jezreel Valley northward towards Damascus. Its location on the junction and its bulgy formation above its environment gave Mount Tabor a strategic value. The mountain is mentioned for the first time in the Hebrew Bible, in Joshua 19,22, the mountains importance stems from its strategic control of the junction of the Galilees north-south route with the east-west highway of the Jezreel Valley. Descending from the mountain, the Israelites attacked and vanquished Sisera, in 55 BCE, during a Hasmonean rebellion against the Roman proconsul of Syria, Aulus Gabinius, Alexander of Judaea and his army of 30,000 Judeans was defeated in battle at Mount Tabor. As many as 10,000 Jewish fighters were killed in the battle and Alexander was forced to flee, Itabyrium, as Josephus calls it, was one of the 19 sites fortified by the rebels in Galilee under his very orders. According to what is written in his book The Wars of the Jews, Vespasian sent an army of 600 riders, under the command of Placidus, who fought the rebels. Placidus understood that he could not reach the top of the mountain with his forces. A group of Jewish rebels descended from the mountain, supposedly, in order to negotiate with Placidus, many of the Jewish rebels left Mount Tabor and returned to Jerusalem. The rest of the rebels in the fortress on the mountain surrendered after their water ran out. They then handed over the mountain to Placidus, after the destruction of the Second Temple, Jewish settlement On Mount Tabor was renewed. However, none of these accounts identifies the high mountain of the scene by name, the earliest identification of the Mount of Transfiguration as Tabor is by Origen in the 3rd century. This early speculation is recounted by St. Cyril of Jerusalem and it is later recounted in the 5th century Transitus Beatae Mariae Virginis. Mount Hermon is an alternative site according to tradition, due to the importance of Mount Tabor in Christian tradition, from the 4th century onward it became a pilgrimage site. According to descriptions of the pilgrims, during the 6th century there were three churches on the top of the mountain, and during the 8th century there were four churches and a monastery
Mount Tabor
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Mount Tabor
Mount Tabor
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Mount Tabor, 1850
Mount Tabor
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Mount Tabor, 1912
46.
Nimrod Fortress
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The Nimrod Fortress or Nimrod Castle is a medieval Muslim castle situated on the southern slopes of Mount Hermon, on a ridge rising about 800 m above sea level. It overlooks the Golan Heights and was built with the purpose of guarding a major route to Damascus against armies coming from the west. Alternative forms and spellings of the name, Nimrods Fortress, Kalat/Qalaat al-/as-Subayba/Subeibeh, the area is under Israeli administration since 1967 together with the adjacent Golan Heights and belongs to Syria under international law. The fortress was built around 1229 by Al-Aziz Uthman, the son of Saladin. It was named Qalat al-Subeiba, Castle of the Large Cliff in Arabic, the fortress was further expanded to contain the whole ridge by 1230. In 1260 the Mongols captured the castle, dismantled some of its defenses and left their ally, the son of Al-Aziz Uthman, in charge of it and the nearby town of Banias. After the subsequent Mamluk victory over the Mongols at the Battle of Ain Jalut, Sultan Baibars strengthened the castle, the fortress was given to Baibarss second-in-command, Bilik. The new governor started the construction activities. When the construction was finished, Bilik memorialized his work and glorified the name of the sultan in a 1275 inscription, after the death of Baibars, his son arranged for Bilik to be murdered, apparently because he feared his power. At the end of the 13th century, following the Muslim conquest of the city of Acre and the end of Crusader rule in the Holy Land. The Ottoman Turks conquered the land in 1517 and used the fortress as a prison for Ottoman nobles who had been exiled to Palestine. The fortress was abandoned later in the 16th century and local shepherds, the fortress was ruined by an earthquake in the 18th century. Druze who came to the region during the 1860 conflict between themselves and the Maronites began calling it Qalat Namrud, the entire fortress complex is 420 m in length and 150 m in width, and is built of large, carefully squared stones. Along the walls are rectangular and semi-circular towers, roofed with pointed cross-arches. Overlooking the high, eastern edge of the fortress stood a large keep, measuring 65 by 45 metres and protected by massive rectangular towers. The fortress overlooks the deep, narrow valley that separates Mount Hermon from the rest of the Golan Heights, the road linking the Galilee with Damascus, and the former Crusader town of Banias. Today the site is administered by the Israel Nature and Parks Authority, the entrance to the fortress is from the west, and the first section contains secret corridors—winding staircases and underground water cisterns with some of the original plaster still visible. There are many examples of loopholes in fortress—special windows that are narrow on the outside but wide on the inside
Nimrod Fortress
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Nimrod Fortress Qal'at al-Subeiba Mivtzar Nimrod
Nimrod Fortress
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Nimrod Fortress
Nimrod Fortress
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A panoramic photograph of Nimrod's Fortress, looking West.
47.
Rosh HaNikra grottoes
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Rosh HaNikra or Hanikra is a geologic formation in Israel, located on the coast of the Mediterranean Sea, in the Western Galilee. It is a chalk cliff face which opens up into spectacular grottos. The Rosh HaNikra grottoes are cavernous tunnels formed by sea action on the chalk rock. The total length is some 200 meters and they branch off in various directions with some interconnecting segments. For many years though, the access to the grottoes was from the sea. With a 60-degree gradient, this car is advertised as the steepest in the world. A kibbutz, also named Rosh HaNikra, is located nearby, the Israeli city Nahariya is located about 10 km south of Rosh HaNikra. The Book of Joshua mentions Misraphot Mayim as a place south of Rosh HaNikra that was the border of the Israelite tribes of the time, in the Book of the Maccabees, it is referred to as the place that Shimon HaHashmonai was responsible for in 144BCE. Josephus Flavius also describes Rosh Hanikra as the border of the city of Acre. The archaeological tell is situated within the kibbutz. The site was later named an-Nawakir by the Arabs, Rosh HaNikra has served as a passage point for trade caravans and armies between Lebanon, Syria, Israel, Egypt, and Africa. During the Second World War, South African forces blasted railway tunnels through the rocks for trains running along the Cairo-Istanbul line. As repairs were prohibitively expensive, the tunnels were completely sealed. The Lebanese railways have been largely dismantled while the Coastal Railway in Israel currently ends near Nahariya, a border passage across the Blue Line into Lebanon at the site is sometimes used by UNIFIL personnel. Rosh HaNikra beach -230 dunams, declared in 2003 The Rosh HaNikra national park also has jurisdiction of 220 dunams in the area. The Rosh HaNikra cable car is a cable car serving tourists wishing to visit the grottoes The Cable car is situated close to the Lebanese border. The site is popular with tourists, and is one of the facilities available for tourists in Kibbutz Rosh HaNikra. The cable car was manufactured by Austrian manufacturer Doppelmayr Garaventa Group, inasmuch as its lower base station is located on the sea, the cable car is occasionally affected by stormy weather
Rosh HaNikra grottoes
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Rosh Hanikra grottoes
Rosh HaNikra grottoes
Rosh HaNikra grottoes
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The former British Cairo-Istanbul railway tunnel photographed in 1964.
Rosh HaNikra grottoes
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View of Israel looking south from Rosh HaNikra
48.
Hurvat Amudim
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The name derives from the columns that once supported the roof of the synagogue and that remained standing. G. Dalman suggested identifying the site with Kfar Uziel, mentioned in rabbinical sources, the town was abandoned in the late 4th century. A synagogue, one of the largest in the Galilee, was built at the end of the 3rd century or the beginning of the 4th century, the building featured two rows of columns. An Aramaic inscription in the mosaic reads, Remembered well. Bar Tanhum, who made this pavement of mosaic and roof, a second inscription reads, Yoezer the hazan and Simeon his brother made this gate of the Lord of Heaven. Oldest synagogues in the world Archaeology in Israel
Hurvat Amudim
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Ancient synagogue.
49.
Hippos
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Hippos is an archaeological site in Israel, located on a hill overlooking the Sea of Galilee. Between the 3rd century BC and the 7th century AD, Hippos was the site of a Greco-Roman city, besides the fortified city itself, Hippos controlled two port facilities on the lake and an area of the surrounding countryside. Hippos was part of the Decapolis, or Ten Cities, a region in Roman Jordan, Syria and Israel that were tied more closely to Greece. Established as Antioch of Hippos by Seleucid settlers, the city is named after the Greek language word for horse, Hippos, other names include the alternate spelling Hippus and the Latinized version of the Greek name, Hippum. The precise reason why the city received this name is unknown, Hippos was built on a flat-topped foothill 2 kilometres east of and 350 metres above the Sea of Galilee,144 metres above sea level, near modern Kibbutz Ein Gev. The site is just on the Israeli side of the 1949 UN-demarcated ceasefire line between Syria and Israel, Excavations in Hippos have revealed traces of habitation from as early as the Neolithic period. The site was inhabited in the third century BC by the Ptolemies. During this time, Coele-Syria served as the battleground between two dynasties descending from captains of Alexander the Great, the Ptolemies and the Seleucids. It is likely that Hippos, on a defensible site along the border lines of the 3rd century BC, was founded as a border fortress for the Ptolemies. The city of Hippos itself was established by Seleucid colonists, most likely in the middle of the second century BC and its full name, Antiochia Hippos, reflects a Seleucid founding. As the Seleucids took possession of all of Coele-Syria, Hippos grew into a full-fledged polis, Antiochia Hippos was improved with all the makings of a Greek polis, a temple, a central market area, and other public structures. The availability of water limited the size of Hellenistic Hippos, the citizens relied on rain-collecting cisterns for all their water, this kept the city from supporting a very large population. The Maccabean revolt resulted in an independent Jewish kingdom under the Hasmonean dynasty in 142 BC, 83–80 BC, Alexander Jannaeus led a Hasmonean campaign to conquer lands east of the Jordan River. In 63 BC the Roman general Pompey conquered Coele-Syria, including Judea, under Roman rule, Hippos was granted a certain degree of autonomy. The city minted its own coins, stamped with the image of a horse in honor of the citys name, Hippos was given to Herod the Great in 37 BC and returned to the Province of Syria at his death in 4 BC. According to Josephus, during this time Hippos, a city, was the sworn enemy of the new Jewish city across the lake. Jews had resided in Tiberias when it was known by its previous name. Rakkat was later given the name Tiberias some 25 years after Herods death by his son, Herod Antipas, in honor of the Roman Emperor, Tiberius, Josephus reports that during the Great Jewish Revolt of AD 66–70, Hippos persecuted its Jewish population
Hippos
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Ruins of Hippos' Byzantine cathedral, looking west. A Kalybe, a shrine of the
Roman imperial cult, stands in the background against the Sea of Galilee.
Hippos
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National Park of Hippos
Hippos
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Aerial view of Sussita
Hippos
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Gregor von Zirkel, Titular bishop
Israel
.JPG)
