1.
Arad, Israel
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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
2.
Israel
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Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in the Middle East, on the southeastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea and the northern shore of the Red Sea. The country contains geographically diverse features within its small area. Israels economy and technology center is Tel Aviv, while its seat of government and proclaimed capital is Jerusalem, in 1947, the United Nations adopted a Partition Plan for Mandatory Palestine recommending the creation of independent Arab and Jewish states and an internationalized Jerusalem. The plan was accepted by the Jewish Agency for Palestine, next year, the Jewish Agency declared the establishment of a Jewish state in Eretz Israel, to be known as the State of Israel. Israel has since fought several wars with neighboring Arab states, in the course of which it has occupied territories including the West Bank, Golan Heights and it extended its laws to the Golan Heights and East Jerusalem, but not the West Bank. Israels occupation of the Palestinian territories is the worlds longest military occupation in modern times, efforts to resolve the Israeli–Palestinian conflict have not resulted in peace. However, peace treaties between Israel and both Egypt and Jordan have successfully been signed, the population of Israel, as defined by the Israel Central Bureau of Statistics, was estimated in 2017 to be 8,671,100 people. It is the worlds only Jewish-majority state, with 74. 8% being designated as Jewish, the countrys second largest group of citizens are Arabs, at 20. 8%. The great majority of Israeli Arabs are Sunni Muslims, including significant numbers of semi-settled Negev Bedouins, other minorities include Arameans, Armenians, Assyrians, Black Hebrew Israelites, Circassians, Maronites and Samaritans. Israel also hosts a significant population of foreign workers and asylum seekers from Africa and Asia, including illegal migrants from Sudan, Eritrea. In its Basic Laws, Israel defines itself as a Jewish, Israel is a representative democracy with a parliamentary system, proportional representation and universal suffrage. The prime minister is head of government and the Knesset is the legislature, Israel is a developed country and an OECD member, with the 35th-largest economy in the world by nominal gross domestic product as of 2016. The country benefits from a skilled workforce and is among the most educated countries in the world with one of the highest percentage of its citizens holding a tertiary education degree. The country has the highest standard of living in the Middle East and the third highest in Asia, in the early weeks of independence, the government chose the term Israeli to denote a citizen of Israel, with the formal announcement made by Minister of Foreign Affairs Moshe Sharett. The names Land of Israel and Children of Israel have historically used to refer to the biblical Kingdom of Israel. The name Israel in these phrases refers to the patriarch Jacob who, jacobs twelve sons became the ancestors of the Israelites, also known as the Twelve Tribes of Israel or Children of Israel. The earliest known artifact to mention the word Israel as a collective is the Merneptah Stele of ancient Egypt. The area is known as the Holy Land, being holy for all Abrahamic religions including Judaism, Christianity, Islam
3.
Hebrew language
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Hebrew is a language native to Israel, spoken by over 9 million people worldwide, of whom over 5 million are in Israel. Historically, it is regarded as the language of the Israelites and their ancestors, the earliest examples of written Paleo-Hebrew date from the 10th century BCE. Hebrew belongs to the West Semitic branch of the Afroasiatic language family, Hebrew is the only living Canaanite language left, and the only truly successful example of a revived dead language. Hebrew had ceased to be a spoken language somewhere between 200 and 400 CE, declining since the aftermath of the Bar Kokhba revolt. Aramaic and to a lesser extent Greek were already in use as international languages, especially among elites and it survived into the medieval period as the language of Jewish liturgy, rabbinic literature, intra-Jewish commerce, and poetry. Then, in the 19th century, it was revived as a spoken and literary language, and, according to Ethnologue, had become, as of 1998, the language of 5 million people worldwide. After Israel, the United States has the second largest Hebrew-speaking population, with 220,000 fluent speakers, Modern Hebrew is one of the two official languages of the State of Israel, while premodern Hebrew is used for prayer or study in Jewish communities around the world today. Ancient Hebrew is also the tongue of the Samaritans, while modern Hebrew or Arabic is their vernacular. For this reason, Hebrew has been referred to by Jews as Leshon Hakodesh, the modern word Hebrew is derived from the word Ivri, one of several names for the Israelite people. It is traditionally understood to be a based on the name of Abrahams ancestor, Eber. This name is based upon the root ʕ-b-r meaning to cross over. Interpretations of the term ʕibrim link it to this verb, cross over, in the Bible, the Hebrew language is called Yәhudit because Judah was the surviving kingdom at the time of the quotation. In Isaiah 19,18 it is called the Language of Canaan, Hebrew belongs to the Canaanite group of languages. In turn, the Canaanite languages are a branch of the Northwest Semitic family of languages, according to Avraham ben-Yosef, Hebrew flourished as a spoken language in the Kingdoms of Israel and Judah during about 1200 to 586 BCE. Scholars debate the degree to which Hebrew was a vernacular in ancient times following the Babylonian exile. In July 2008 Israeli archaeologist Yossi Garfinkel discovered a ceramic shard at Khirbet Qeiyafa which he claimed may be the earliest Hebrew writing yet discovered, dating around 3000 years ago. The Gezer calendar also dates back to the 10th century BCE at the beginning of the Monarchic Period, classified as Archaic Biblical Hebrew, the calendar presents a list of seasons and related agricultural activities. The Gezer calendar is written in an old Semitic script, akin to the Phoenician one that through the Greeks, the Gezer calendar is written without any vowels, and it does not use consonants to imply vowels even in the places where later Hebrew spelling requires it
4.
Tell (archaeology)
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In archaeology, a tell or tel is an artificial mound formed from the accumulated remains of people living on the same site for hundreds or thousands of years. A classic tell looks like a low, truncated cone with a top and sloping sides. Tells are most commonly associated with the archaeology of the ancient Near East, within the Near East, they are concentrated in less arid regions, including Upper Mesopotamia, the Southern Levant, Anatolia and Iran. A tell is a hill created by many generations of people living and rebuilding on the same spot. Over time, the level rises, forming a mound, the single biggest contributor to the mass of a tell are mud bricks, which disintegrate rapidly. Excavating a tell can reveal buried structures such as government or military buildings, religious shrines and homes and they often overlap horizontally, vertically, or both. Archaeologists excavate tell sites to interpret architecture, purpose, and date of occupation, Edinburgh, Edinburgh University Press – via Internet Archive
5.
Dead Sea
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The Dead Sea, is a salt lake bordered by Jordan to the east and Israel and Palestine to the west. Its surface and shores are 430.5 metres below sea level, the Dead Sea is 304 m deep, the deepest hypersaline lake in the world. With 34. 2% salinity, it is 9.6 times as salty as the ocean and this salinity makes for a harsh environment in which plants and animals cannot flourish, hence its name. The Dead Sea is 50 kilometres long and 15 kilometres wide at its widest point and it lies in the Jordan Rift Valley and its main tributary is the Jordan River. The Dead Sea has attracted visitors from around the Mediterranean basin for thousands of years and it was one of the worlds first health resorts, and it has been the supplier of a wide variety of products, from asphalt for Egyptian mummification to potash for fertilizers. People also use the salt and the minerals from the Dead Sea to create cosmetics, the Dead Sea water has a density of 1.24 kg/litre, which makes swimming similar to floating. The Dead Sea is receding at an alarming rate, multiple canals and pipelines were proposed to reduce its recession, which had begun causing many problems. The Red Sea–Dead Sea Water Conveyance project, carried out by Jordan, will provide water to neighboring countries, the first phase of the project is scheduled to begin in 2018 and be completed in 2021. In Hebrew, the Dead Sea is Yām ha-Melaḥ, meaning sea of salt, the Bible uses this term alongside two others, the Sea of the Arabah, and the Eastern Sea. The designation Dead Sea never appears in the Bible, in prose sometimes the term Yām ha-Māvet is used, due to the scarcity of aquatic life there. In Arabic the Dead Sea is called al-Bahr al-Mayyit, or less commonly baḥrᵘ lūṭᵃ, another historic name in Arabic was the Sea of Zoʼar, after a nearby town in biblical times. The Greeks called it Lake Asphaltites, the Dead Sea is an endorheic lake located in the Jordan Rift Valley, a geographic feature formed by the Dead Sea Transform. This left lateral-moving transform fault lies along the plate boundary between the African Plate and the Arabian Plate. It runs between the East Anatolian Fault zone in Turkey and the end of the Red Sea Rift offshore of the southern tip of Sinai. It is here that the Upper Jordan River/Sea of Galilee/Lower Jordan River water system comes to an end. The Jordan River is the major water source flowing into the Dead Sea, although there are small perennial springs under and around the Dead Sea, forming pools. The Mujib River, biblical Arnon, is one the larger sources of the Dead Sea other than the Jordan. The Wadi Mujib valley,420 m below the sea level in the southern of Jordan valley, is a biosphere reserve, other more substantial sources are Wadi Darajeh /Nahal Dragot, and Nahal Arugot
6.
Ruth Amiran
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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
7.
Chalcolithic
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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
8.
Bronze Age
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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
9.
David
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David was, according to the Hebrew Bible, the second king of the United Kingdom of Israel and Judah, reigning in c. He is described as a man after Gods own heart in 1 Samuel 13,14 and Acts 13,22. The Hebrew prophets regarded him as the ancestor of the future messiah, the New Testament says he was an ancestor of Jesus. God is angered when Saul, Israels king, unlawfully offers a sacrifice and later disobeys a divine instruction to not only all of the Amalekites. Consequently, he sends the prophet Samuel to anoint David, the youngest son of Jesse of Bethlehem, God sends an evil spirit to torment Saul. Sauls courtiers recommend that he send for David, a man skillful on the lyre, wise in speech, and brave in battle. So David enters Sauls service as one of the royal armour-bearers, and plays the lyre to soothe the king, war comes between Israel and the Philistines, and the giant Goliath challenges the Israelites to send out a champion to face him in single combat. David, sent by his father to bring provisions to his brothers serving in Sauls army, refusing the kings offer of the royal armour, he kills Goliath with his sling. Saul inquires the name of the heros father. Saul sets David over his army, all Israel loves David, but his popularity causes Saul to fear him. Saul plots his death, but Sauls son Jonathan, one of those who loves David, warns him of his fathers schemes and David flees. He becomes a vassal of the Philistine king Achish of Gath, but Achishs nobles question his loyalty, Jonathan and Saul are killed, and David is anointed king over Judah. In the north, Sauls son Ish-Bosheth is anointed king of Israel, with the death of Sauls son, the elders of Israel come to Hebron and David is anointed king over all Israel. He conquers Jerusalem, previously a Jebusite stronghold, and makes it his capital. He brings the Ark of the Covenant to the city, intending to build a temple for God, Nathan also prophesies that God has made a covenant with the house of David, Your throne shall be established forever. David wins more victories over the Philistines, while the Moabites, Edomites, Amalekites, Ammonites, during a battle to conquer the Ammonite capital of Rabbah, David seduces Bathsheba and causes the death of her husband Uriah the Hittite. In response, Nathan prophesies the punishment that shall fall upon him, in fulfillment of these words Davids son Absalom rebels. The rebellion ends at the battle of the Wood of Ephraim, Absaloms forces are routed, and Absalom is caught by his long hair in the branches of a tree, and killed by Joab, contrary to Davids order. Joab was the commander of Davids army, David laments the death of his favourite son, O my son Absalom, my son, my son Absalom
10.
Solomon
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Solomon, also called Jedidiah, was, according to the Bible, Quran, hadith and Hidden Words a fabulously wealthy and wise king of Israel and a son of David, the previous king of Israel. The conventional dates of Solomons reign are circa 970 to 931 BC and he is described as the third king of the United Monarchy, which would break apart into the northern Kingdom of Israel and the southern Kingdom of Judah shortly after his death. Following the split, his descendants ruled over Judah alone. According to the Talmud, Solomon is one of the 48 prophets, in the Quran, he is considered a major prophet, and Muslims generally refer to him by the Arabic variant Sulayman, son of David. Solomon was, according to the Quran, a king of ancient Israel as well as the son of David, the Hebrew Bible credits him as the builder of the First Temple in Jerusalem. It portrays him as great in wisdom, wealth, and power any of the previous kings of the country. His sins included idolatry, marrying foreign women, and ultimately turning away from Yahweh, Solomon is the subject of many other later references and legends, most notably in the 1st-century apocryphal work known as the Testament of Solomon. Solomon was born in Jerusalem, the second child of David and his wife Bathsheba. The first child, a son conceived adulterously during Uriahs lifetime, had died before Solomon was conceived as a punishment on account of the death of Uriah by Davids order. Solomon had three named full brothers through Bathsheba, Nathan, Shammua, and Shobab, besides six known older half-brothers through as many mothers, according to the First Book of Kings, when David was old, he could not get warm. So they sought a young woman throughout all the territory of Israel, and found Abishag the Shunammite. The young woman was very beautiful, and she was of service to the king and attended to him, while David was in this state, court factions were maneuvering for power. Solomon greatly expanded his military strength, especially the cavalry and chariot arms and he founded numerous colonies, some of which doubled as trading posts and military outposts. Trade relationships were a focus of his administration, Solomon is considered the most wealthy of the Israelite kings named in the Bible. Solomon also built the First Temple, beginning in the year of his reign. Solomon was the Biblical king most famous for his wisdom, in 1 Kings he sacrificed to God and prayed for wisdom. God personally answered his prayer, promising him great wisdom because he did not ask for self-serving rewards like long life or the death of his enemies. Perhaps the best known story of his wisdom is the Judgment of Solomon, Solomon easily resolved the dispute by commanding the child to be cut in half and shared between the two
11.
Kings of Judah
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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
12.
Persian Empire
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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
13.
Maccabees
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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
14.
Roman Empire
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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
15.
Muslim
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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
16.
Nebuchadnezzar II
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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,
17.
Ostracon
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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
18.
Yahweh
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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
19.
Archaeology of Israel
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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
20.
Tourism in Israel
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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
21.
Haaretz
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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
22.
International Standard Book Number
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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
23.
Jerusalem District
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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
24.
Bayt 'Itab
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Bayt ʿIṭāb was a Palestinian Arab village located in the Jerusalem Subdistrict. The village is believed to have inhabited since biblical times. An ancient tunnel which led to the spring is associated with story of Samson. Prior to, during, and after its incorporation into Crusader fiefdoms in the 12th century, sheikhs from the Lahham family clan, who were associated with the Qays tribo-political faction, ruled the village during Ottoman era. In the 19th century, this clan controlled 24 villages in the vicinity, the homes were built of stone. The local farmers cultivated cereals, fruit trees and olive groves, after a military assault on Bayt ʿIṭāb by Israeli forces in October 1948, the village was depopulated and demolished. Many of the villagers had fled to camps in the West Bank less than 20 kilometres from the village. In 1950, an Israeli moshav, Nes Harim, was established north of the built up portion of Bayt Itab, Bayt ʿIṭāb is identified with Enadab, a name that appears in a list of Palestinian towns compiled by Eusebius in the fourth century CE. The building had two stories, both vaulted, the floor entrance was protected by a slit-machicolation and had stairs leading to the basement. Nonetheless, his wife was forced to sell his landholdings after he was prisoner by Islamic forces in 1161. It was then acquired by and made a fief of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, the Arabic name of the village appears in Latin transliteration as Bethaatap in a list recording the sale of the land holdings belonging to Gothman in 1161. Edward Robinson visited the village in 1838, and described its stone houses, in the center of the village were the ruins of a castle or tower. Robinson estimates, the population was six to seven hundred people. He notes that Beit Atab, as he transcribes it, was the town of the Arkub district. Robinson recounts that he was a man from the Lahaam clan. Rising to greet them, he invited them to stay for the night, but as they were in a hurry to see more of the country before the setting of the sun, in the mid-19th century, the sheikh of Bayt Itab was named Utham al-Lahham. He had been exiled in 1846, but had managed to escape, a supporter of the Qays faction, Lahham was in conflict with the Yamani faction leaders, especially the sheikh of Abu Ghosh. In the 1850s the conflict between two families over the control of the district of Bani Hasan dominated the area
25.
Canada Park
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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
26.
Castel National Park
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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
27.
City of David National Park
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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
28.
Ein Hemed
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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
29.
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
30.
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
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Achziv
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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
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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
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Beit She'an
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It has also played an important role in modern times, acting as the regional center of the villages in the Beit Shean Valley. The ancient city ruins are now protected within a national park, a large cemetery on the northern Mound was in use from the Bronze Age to Byzantine times. Canaanite graves dating from 2000 to 1600 BCE were discovered there in 1926, after the Egyptian conquest of Beit Shean by pharaoh Thutmose III in the 15th century BCE, the small town on the summit of the Mound became the center of the Egyptian administration of the region. The Egyptian newcomers changed the organization of the town and left a great deal of material culture behind, artifacts of potential cultic significance were found around the temple. Based on a found in the temple, inscribed with Egyptian hieroglyphs. University Museums most important finds near the temple is the Lion and Dog stela, the Hebrew University excavations determined that this temple was built on the site of an earlier one. During the three hundred years of Egyptian rule, the population of Beit She’an appears to have been primarily Egyptian administrative officials, the town was completely rebuilt, following a new layout, during the 19th dynasty. The University Museum excavations uncovered two important stelae from the period of Seti I and a monument of Rameses II, Pottery was produced locally, but some was made to mimic Egyptian forms. Other Canaanite goods existed alongside Egyptian imports, or locally made Egyptian-style objects, the 20th dynasty saw the construction of large administrative buildings in Beit Shean, including Building 1500, a small palace for the Egyptian governor. During the 20th dynasty, invasions of the Sea Peoples upset Egypts control over the Eastern Mediterranean, though the exact circumstances are unclear, the entire site of Beit Shean was destroyed by fire around 1150 BCE. The Egyptians did not attempt to rebuild their administrative center and finally lost control of the region, an Iron Age I Canaanite city was constructed on the site of the Egyptian center shortly after its destruction. Around 1100 BC, Canaanite Beit Shean was conquered by the Philistines, during a subsequent battle against the Jewish King Saul at nearby Mount Gilboa in 1004 BC, the Philistines prevailed. 1 Samuel 31,10 states that the victorious Philistines hung the body of King Saul on the walls of Beit Shean, portions of these walls were excavated on the Mound recently. The Assyrian conquest of northern Israel under Tiglath-Pileser III brought about the destruction of Beit Shean by fire, minimal reoccupation occurred until the Hellenistic period. The Hellenistic period saw the reoccupation of the site of Beit Shean under the new name Scythopolis, little is known about the Hellenistic city, but during the 3rd century BCE a large temple was constructed on the Tell. It is unknown which deity was worshipped there, but the continued to be used during Roman times. Graves dating from the Hellenistic period are simple, singular rock-cut tombs, in 198 BCE the Seleucids finally conquered the region. The town played a role after the Hasmonean-Maccabeean Revolt, Josephus records that the Jewish High Priest Jonathan was killed there by Demetrius II Nicator, the city was destroyed by fire at the end of the 2nd century BCE
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Beit She'arim National Park
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Beit Shearim is the currently used name for the ancient Jewish town of Bet Shearāyim or Kfar Shearāyim. The Arabic name of the hill it stands on is Sheikh Ibreik or Sheikh Abreik, another Arabic name is bayt al-ġurabāʾ. The partially excavated archaeological site consists mainly of a necropolis of rock-cut tombs. The site is managed by the National Parks Authority as the Beit Shearim National Park and it borders the town of Kiryat Tivon on the northeast and is located five kilometres west of Moshav Beit Shearim. It is situated 20 km east of Haifa in the foothills of the Lower Galilee. In 2015 it was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site, the rationale of the committee was as follows, The towns vast necropolis, carved out of soft limestone, contains more than 30 burial cave systems. Although only a portion of the necropolis has been excavated, it has been likened to a book inscribed in stone, the wealth of artistic adornments contained in this, the most ancient extensive Jewish cemetery in the world, is unparalleled anywhere. According to Moshe Sharon, following Yechezkel Kutscher, the name of the city was Bet Shearayim or Kfar Shearayim. The ancient Yemenite Jewish pronunciation of the name is also Bet Shearayim, the popular orthography for the Hebrew word for house, בֵּית, is beit, while the traditional King James one is beth, the effort being now to replace both with the etymologically better suited bet. Pottery shards discovered at the site indicate that a first settlement there dates back to the Iron Age, Beit Shearayim was founded at the end of the 1st century BCE, during the reign of King Herod. The Roman Jewish historian Josephus Flavius, in his Vita, referred to the city in Greek as Besara, the Galilee earthquake of 363 did damage Bet Shearayim, but without long-lasting effects. After the destruction of the Second Temple in 70 CE, the Sanhedrin moved to Beit Shearayim, the town is mentioned rabbinical literature as an important center of Jewish learning during the 2nd century. Rabbi Judah the Prince, head of the Sanhedrin and compiler of the Mishna, in the last seventeen years of his life, he moved to Sepphoris for health reasons, but planned his burial in Beit Shearim. According to tradition, he owned there land he received as a gift from his friend, the most desired burial place for Jews was the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem, but in 135 CE, when Jews were barred from the area, Beit Shearim became an alternative. While it was thought that Bet Shearayim was destroyed during the Jewish revolt against Gallus in the mid-4th century. An earthquake in 386 caused some damage, but the town recovered and enjoyed prosperity during the era of Byzantine rule, almost 300 inscriptions primarily in Greek, but also in Hebrew, Aramaic, and Palmyrene were found on the walls of the catacombs containing numerous sarcophagi. From the beginning of the Early Islamic period, settlement was sparse, excavations uncovered 75 lamps dating to the period of Umayyad and Abassid rule over Palestine. A large Abbasid-period glassmaking facility from the 9th century was found at the site
35.
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
36.
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
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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
38.
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
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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
40.
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
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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
42.
Hexagon 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
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