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Showing posts from April, 2018

Israel Sea of Galilee Tabgha Church of the Multiplication of Loaves and Fishes Mark 6:41.

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Background: Tabcha (Ein Sheva) is a place in the north-west section of the Sea of Galilee which is blessed by seven springs. The area of Tabcha (Ein Sheva) was one of the best places in the Sea of Galilee for fishing. Some of the seven springs are warm sulfuric springs, such as Ein-Nur and Ein-Ayub (Job's spring). This caused the fish to gather here, especially in the cold winter months, and so were an easy catch for the fishermen. The waters from the springs were delivered to the fields and villages around using aqueducts. Near the springs there are pools that were used to raise the level of the water in order to deliver them via the aqueducts. The waters were also used for powering water based bread mills. The last bread mill worked here until 1948. The site is an important pilgrimage place: according to the tradition, Jesus performed here two miracles: first feeding of the

How Ancient Jews Dated Years

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During the First Jewish Revolt against Rome (66–70 C.E.), which ended with the destruction of the Temple, Jews minted their own coins dated to the first, second, third, fourth and, more rarely, even fifth year of the revolt. In other words, dating began with the beginning of the revolt. Many of the coins also bore legends like “Jerusalem the Holy” or “Freedom of Zion.” The Romans crushed the Jewish revolt in 70 C.E. ( except for the holdouts at Masada , among other places), but the Jews managed to revolt again a little more than 60 years later. This revolt, the so-called Bar-Kokhba Revolt (132–135 C.E.) , a lasted only two-and-a-half years. And the coins from this revolt are much rarer. As in the first revolt, however, coins are dated beginning with the start of the revolt. An example is a coin inscribed, “Year 1 of the Redemption of Israel,” or another inscribed, “Year 2 of the Freedom of Israel.” Rarely, a coin bears the legend “Year 3 of the Redemption of Israel.”

The Masada Siege The Roman assault on Herod’s desert fortress

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Masada—for many, the name evokes the image of a cliff rising dramatically above an austere desert landscape . The name is famously associated with the Masada siege , the final stand between the Jewish rebels and the relentless Roman army at the end of the First Jewish Revolt in 73/74 C.E. Trapped in the desert fortress-palace Herod built in the previous century, the rebels chose—as Jewish historian Josephus tells us—to commit mass suicide rather than be captured and enslaved by the Romans. This final scene in the siege of Masada has been celebrated and immortalized as an act of heroic resistance on the part of the Jewish rebels. But what do we know about the Roman siege itself? In “The Masada Siege—From the Roman Viewpoint” in the July/August 2014 issue of Biblical Archaeology Review , Gwyn Davies examines the assault from the Roman perspective. After the fall of Jerusalem in 70 C.E., the Romans turned their attention to stamping out the last of the rebels holding out at

A Second Triumphal Arch of Titus Discovered

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Archaeologists in Rome have discovered the foundations of a second triumphal arch of Roman Emperor Titus, which was thought to be lost to history, the Telegraph reports . The arch once stood at the entrance to ancient Rome’s chariot-racing stadium, the Circus Maximus. A member of the Flavian dynasty, Titus was emperor of Rome from 79 to 81 A.D. Even though he responded quickly with aid when Vesuvius erupted barely two months into his reign in 79 and is credited with completing the Colosseum in 80, it is the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem and his victory against the Jews in 70 when he was just a general that has made Titus one of the more well-known figures in Roman history.   The excavation site of a second triumphal arch of Titus in Rome’s Circus Maximus. Photo: Courtesy the Telegraph. Scenes of Titus’s victory in Judaea—culminating with the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem—decorate the world-famous monumental Arch of Titus that stands on the Via Sa