Ten Top Discoveries

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Of course, we think every archaeological discovery reported in BAR is important—from the smallest seal or ostracon to the largest imposing fortress. But there’s no denying that some finds do stand out. The following ten examples are by no means exclusive; others would make different selections for their top ten. But that’s not to say they were chosen randomly.

Ashkelon’s Arched Gate

Southern Israel

When we think about the great architects, engineers and builders of the ancient world, the Canaanites are generally not the first civilization to come to mind. The Egyptians had their pyramids and the Mesopotamians their ziggurats, but what architectural first did the Canaanites come up with?

In the summer of 1992, while excavating the Canaanite city of Ashkelon on the southern coast of Israel, archaeologist Lawrence E. Stager of Harvard University discovered what may be one of the great architectural achievements of the Canaanites: the oldest known monumental arch. The mudbrick arch, which measures 12 feet high and 8 feet wide, provided a vaulted passageway through the city’s massive Middle Bronze Age (2000–1550 B.C.) gate. The arched corridor was flanked by two imposing towers that are preserved to a height of nearly 20 feet.

The entire gate structure, which Stager believes may have risen two or even three stories high, stood atop the northern slope of the 076immense 1.5-mile-long earthen rampart that encircled the Bronze Age city of 15,000 inhabitants. The city’s defensive earthwork—another imposing feat of Canaanite engineering—was 70 feet thick at its base and rose to a height of nearly 50 feet. The outer face of the entirely manmade fortification was covered with rough fieldstones and then capped with a fine mud plaster that would have made the steep 40-degree slope nearly impossible to ascend. Stager believes the massive rampart was built to deter and defend against enemy tunneling, an ancient strategy for penetrating or undermining a walled defense.^a

Normal traffic into and out of the city, however, was conveyed via a broad roadway that led from the nearby harbor to the city’s monumental arched gateway. About 300 feet along this path from the sea, just as one starts to ascend the city’s sloping rampart, Stager and his team found the remains of a small building, an ancient roadside sanctuary dating to the last phase of the Middle Bronze Age city (c. 1550 B.C.). Inside the building, Stager found something even more remarkable: an exquisitely crafted statuette of a silver calf. In Canaanite religious iconography, the calf was often associated with the chief deities El and Baal. The Israelites, especially in the northern kingdom, occasionally also used bovine imagery to symbolize the power and presence of Yahweh (Exodus 32; 1 Kings 12:28–29; Hosea 13:1–2).

The silver calf, which measures only 4.5 inches long and 4 inches high, was cast from solid bronze and covered with silver leaf. Found next to the calf was a beehive-shaped ceramic shrine with a small rectangular opening at the base. The calf and the shrine likely sat on a small platform or dais within the roadside sanctuary, where the calf could be shown emerging from the door of its sacred house. No doubt many sea- and road-weary merchants passed by this simple wayside shrine and offered prayers of thanksgiving to the Canaanite god as they made the ascent to the city gate.

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Stepped Stone Structure

Jerusalem

Perhaps more than any other find from the City of David, the massive Stepped Stone Structure stands as a momentous reminder of just how grand David and Solomon’s Jerusalem might have been. Although at first glance it appears to be little more than a towering mass of twisted stone and rubble, this unique 12-story-high foundational structure—the largest Iron Age construction in Israel—likely supported a major fortress or administrative building. As archaeologist Eilat Mazar first reported in BAR, it may have even been used to buttress David’s palace.

Since the first steps of the massive structure were revealed in the 1920s, generations of archaeologists have puzzled over exactly who built the edifice and why. The great Kathleen Kenyon, who excavated much of the structure in the 1960s, dated portions of the stepped facade to Iron Age IIa, the period of David and Solomon. After his excavations in the 1980s, Yigal Shiloh agreed with Kenyon that the Stepped Stone Structure itself dated to the time of the United Monarchy, but that the feature’s substructure and rubble core was originally built at the end of the Late Bronze Age (13th century B.C.) or during Iron Age I (1200–1000 B.C.). These earlier terraced walls, Shiloh believed, were the fortifications of the ancient Jebusite “Fortress of Zion” that confronted David and his forces as 080they attacked the city (2 Samuel 5:7; 1 Chronicles 11:5). The debate over the exact date and function of the Stepped Stone Structure has continued to rage in the pages of BAR.

Still other scholars believe the Stepped Stone Structure is actually part of the mysterious Millo that appears several times in the Bible. Perhaps originally a Jebusite structure, the Millo appears to have been vital to the organization and defense of the City of David. Upon capturing Jerusalem, David is said to have “ built the city round about from the Millo inward” (2 Samuel 5:9), and later kings, including Solomon and Hezekiah, undertook major initiatives to ensure that the Millo remained strong and sound (1 Kings 9:15; 2 Chronicles 32:5).

But what exactly was the Millo? In most English translations of the Bible, the word is left untranslated, for the Biblical writers made no attempt to describe the structure or its exact whereabouts. The word itself is thought to derive from the Hebrew root ml’ (“filling”) and thus many scholars have suggested that the Millo was a massive constructional fill that supported the royal citadel. If so, the Stepped Stone Structure would seem to be an ideal candidate. But not so fast. As first argued by Kenyon, a better candidate for the Millo may actually be a series of broad stone terraces uncovered along the eastern slope of the City of David. These terraces, which nearly doubled the buildable area of the narrow ridge, would have supported a large number of private and public buildings and thus would have required constant repair and upkeep.

‘Ain Dara Temple

Northern Syria

For centuries, scholars have searched in vain for any remnant of Solomon’s Temple. The fabled Jerusalem sanctuary, described in such exacting detail in 1 Kings 6, was no doubt one of Solomon’s most stunning achievements, yet nothing of the building itself has been found.

Fortunately, several Iron Age temples discovered throughout the Levant bear a striking resemblance to the Solomonic Temple described in the Bible. Through these remains, we gain extraordinary insight into the architectural grandeur of the building that stood atop Jerusalem’s Temple Mount nearly 3,000 years ago.

As revealed by John Monson in the pages of BAR, the closest known parallel to Solomon’s Temple is the recently discovered temple of ‘Ain Dara in northern Syria. Nearly every aspect of the ‘Ain Dara temple—its age, its size, its plan, its decoration—parallels the vivid description of Solomon’s Temple in the Bible. In fact, Monson identified more than 30 architectural and decorative elements shared by the ‘Ain Dara structure and the Jerusalem Temple described by the Biblical writers.

The similarities between the two temples are 081indeed striking. Both buildings were erected on huge artificial platforms built on the highest point in their respective cities. The buildings likewise have similar tripartite plans: an entry porch supported by two columns, a main sanctuary hall (the hall of the ‘Ain Dara temple is divided between an antechamber and a main chamber) and then, behind a partition, an elevated shrine, or Holy of Holies. They were also both flanked on three of their sides by a series of multistoried rooms and chambers that served various functions. Even the decorative schemes of the two temples are similar: Nearly every surface, both interior and exterior, of the ‘Ain Dara temple was carved with lions, mythical animals (cherubim and sphinxes), and floral and geometric patterns, the same imagery that, according to the Bible, adorned Solomon’s Temple (1 Kings 6:29).

It is the date of the ‘Ain Dara temple, however, that offers the most compelling evidence for the authenticity of the Biblical account of Solomon’s Temple. The ‘Ain Dara temple was originally built around 1300 B.C. and remained in use for more than 550 years, until 740 B.C. The plan and decoration of such majestic temples no doubt inspired the Phoenician engineers and craftsmen who built Solomon’s grand edifice in the tenth century B.C. As noted by Lawrence Stager of Harvard University, the existence of the ‘Ain Dara temple proves that the Biblical description of Solomon’s Temple was “neither an anachronistic account based on later temple archetypes nor a literary creation. The plan, size, date and architectural details fit squarely into the tradition of sacred architecture from north Syria (and probably Phoenicia) from the tenth to eighth centuries B.C.”

Certain features of the ‘Ain Dara temple also provide dramatic insight into ancient Near Eastern conceptions of gods and the temples in which they were thought to reside. Carved side-by-side in the threshold of the ‘Ain Dara temple are two gigantic footprints. As one enters the antechamber of the sanctuary, there is another carving of a right foot, followed 30 feet away (at the threshold between the antechamber and the main chamber) by a carving of a left foot. The footprints, each of which measures 3 feet in length, were intended to show the presence (and enormity) of the resident deity as he or she 082entered the temple and approached his or her throne in the Holy of Holies. Indeed, the 30-foot stride between the oversize footprints indicates a god who would have stood 65 feet tall! In Solomon’s Temple, the presence of a massive throne formed by the wings of two giant cherubim with 17-foot wingspans (1 Kings 6:23–26) may indicate that some Israelites envisaged their God, Yahweh, in a similar manner.

Tel Dan (“David”) Stela

Northern Israel

In the world of modern Biblical archaeology, few discoveries have attracted as much attention as the Tel Dan stela—the ninth-century B.C. inscription that furnished the first historical evidence of King David outside the Bible.

Discovered in 1993 at the site of Tel Dan in northern Israel in an excavation directed by Israeli archaeologist Avraham Biran, the broken and fragmentary inscription commemorates the victory of an Aramean king over his two southern neighbors: the “king of Israel” and the “king of the House of David.” In the carefully incised text written in neat Aramaic characters, the Aramean king boasts that he, under the divine guidance of the god Hadad, vanquished several thousand Israelite and Judahite horsemen and charioteers before personally dispatching both of his royal opponents. Unfortunately, the recovered fragments do not preserve the names of the specific kings involved in this brutal encounter, though most scholars believe the stela recounts a campaign of Hazael of Damascus in which he defeated both Jehoram of Israel and Ahaziah of Judah.

For many scholars and especially the broader public, what was most exciting about the stela was its unprecedented reference to the “House of David.” The stela’s fragmented inscription, first read and translated by the renowned epigrapher Joseph Naveh, proved once and for all that David was a genuine historical figure and not simply the fantastic literary creation of later Biblical writers and editors. Perhaps more important, the stela, set up by one of ancient Israel’s fiercest enemies more than a century after David’s death, still recognized David as the founder of the kingdom of Judah.

There were skeptics, however, especially the so-called Biblical minimalists (see “BAR’s Crusades”), who attempted to dismiss the “House of David” reading as implausible and even sensationalistic. In a famous BAR article, Philip Davies argued that the Hebrew term bytdwd referred to a specific place (akin to bytlhm or Bethlehem) rather than the ancestral dynasty of David. Such skepticism aside, however, most Biblical scholars and archaeologists readily accepted that the Tel Dan stela had supplied the first concrete proof of a historical David.

Even though the Tel Dan stela has confirmed the essential historicity of David, scholars have reached little consensus about the nature and extent of his rule. Was David the great king of Biblical lore who founded his royal capital at Jerusalem and established an Israelite kingdom? 084Or was David a ruler of only a tribal chiefdom, as Israel Finkelstein of Tel Aviv University contends? Questions like these, which lie at the heart of the complex relationships among archaeology, history and the Bible, will continue to be debated in the pages of BAR for years to come.

“Yahweh and His Asherah”

Eastern Sinai Desert

In the summer of 1975, while excavating the small Iron Age site of Kuntillet ‘Ajrud in the eastern Sinai desert, archaeologist Ze’ev Meshel happened upon a handful of painted sherds that would forever change our perception of early Israelite religion.

Upon the shattered fragments of a large eighth-century B.C. storage jar, Meshel found an inscription that referred to “Yahweh of Samaria and his Asherah.” As Asherah was a well-known goddess of the Canaanite and Phoenician pantheons, the inscription, written in ancient Hebrew, suggested that at least some Israelites believed Yahweh had a female consort, an aspect of Yahwistic faith ignored by the more orthodox Biblical writers. This and other inscriptions found at the site also offered clear evidence that Yahweh 086was worshiped in a variety of regional guises within ancient Israel, including the northern “Yahweh of Samaria” and the more southern “Yahweh of Teiman.”

But these were not the sole religious insights provided by the sherds. Painted just below the inscription were two standing bovine-like figures, as well as a seated woman playing a lyre. If the inscription and drawings are linked, as many scholars believe, it is likely that two of the roughly painted figures represent Yahweh and his Asherah. Some scholars believe that the larger bovine figure, drawn to resemble a bull, represents Yahweh, while the smaller bovine figure should be interpreted as the goddess and consort Asherah. Other scholars, however, have proposed that the bull figures are actually representations of the androgynous Egyptian deity Bes and that the third human figure playing the lyre represents Asherah. It is also possible that a flowering sacred tree flanked by two ibexes, painted on the opposite side of the vessel, was intended to be a depiction of Asherah.

The site of Kuntillet ‘Ajrud, situated along a major caravan route through the Sinai desert, attracted both travelers and pilgrims from across ancient Israel, many of whom left blessings and divine images that reflected their diverse origins and beliefs. The findings from Kuntillet ‘Ajrud provided archaeologists, historians and religious scholars with fresh perspectives on the religious life of ancient Israel and archaeological evidence that Israelite religion—far from being the single monolithic Yahwistic faith depicted in the Bible—was practiced and understood in a variety of ways.

Babylonian Siege Tower and Arrowheads

Jerusalem

In 586 B.C., the armies of Nebuchadnezzar attacked Jerusalem, burned the city and destroyed the Temple (2 Kings 25:1–17). Sick and starving survivors were deported in what became known as the Babylonian Exile. Thus ended the 400-year dynasty of King David.

The fall of Jerusalem was preceded, however, by two years of armed resistance. Archaeology provides a dramatic physical narrative of the conflict. In the 1970s, while excavating in the Jewish Quarter of the Old City, archaeologist Nahman Avigad excavated the remains of a watchtower from the late First Temple period (eighth and seventh centuries B.C.), now 45 feet 088below ground, that still stood to a height of more than 22 feet with walls 12 feet thick. Less than 150 feet away from the tower was a 22-foot-thick city wall, now known as the Broad Wall, that also protected the city.

This wall and watchtower helped confirm the theory that the city had expanded to the western ridge (now called Mt. Zion) during King Hezekiah’s reign (727–697 B.C.) before the city and its inhabitants were threatened by the Assyrian armies of Sennacherib. The Assyrians, however, were unable to conquer Jerusalem, protected as it was by this fortification system. Both the wall and watchtower were still standing when Nebuchadnezzar’s men laid siege to Jerusalem in the early sixth century.

Adjacent to the base of the tower, Avigad also uncovered remains of fortifications that date to the Hasmonean period 500 years later (second–first centuries B.C.). The construction of this later structure was vastly better than the earlier watchtower, with nicely squared ashlar stones in alternating header/stretcher courses compared to the crude boulders and chinking stones of the earlier tower, apparently constructed in haste. Only the corner stones of the earlier tower were shaped into square ashlars.

While the discovery of the wall system was a substantial contribution to our understanding of Jerusalem in the Israelite period, Avigad’s watchtower brought to light an even more dramatic snapshot of the forces that faced the city during the Babylonian siege. Around the base of the watchtower, a thick layer of charred wood, ashes and soot bore witness to the raging fire that accompanied the Babylonian destruction. Among the charred rubble, excavators found five arrowheads: four of iron, and one of bronze. The bronze arrowhead was of the Scytho-Iranian type used by the Babylonian army (see “The Riches of Ketef Hinnom”). The iron arrowheads were typical of those used by the Israelites. Lying in the ashes at the base of the ruined watchtower, these five small artifacts gave poignant testimony to the furious clash that preceded the fall of Jerusalem nearly 2,600 years ago.

St. Peter’s House

Capernaum

For much of his adult life, Jesus resided in the small fishing village of Capernaum on the Sea of Galilee. It was here that he began his ministry in the town synagogue (Mark 1:21), recruited his first disciples (Mark 1:16–20) and became renowned for his power to heal the sick and infirm (Mark 3:1–5).

Early travelers to the site had long recognized the beautifully preserved remains of the ancient synagogue that many thought marked the site, if not the actual building, of Jesus’ earliest teachings. But an important question still remained: Where in the town had Jesus actually lived? Where was the house of Peter, where the Bible suggests Jesus stayed while in Capernaum (Matthew 8:14–16)?

As first reported in BAR more than 25 years ago, Italian excavators working in Capernaum may have actually uncovered the remnants of the 089humble dwelling Jesus once called home while in Capernaum.

Buried beneath the remains of a Byzantine martyrium church, excavators found the ruins of a rather mundane dwelling dating to the first century B.C. Although slightly larger than most, the house was a simple structure supported by coarse basalt fieldstone walls and roofed with nothing more than earth and straw. Like most early Roman-period houses, it consisted of a few small rooms clustered around two open courtyards. In a word, the house was ordinary. According to the excavators, however, it is what happened to the house after the middle of the first century A.D. that marked it as exceptional and most likely the home of Peter.

In the years immediately following Jesus’ death, the function of the house changed dramatically. The house’s main room was completely plastered over from floor to ceiling—a rarity for houses of the day. At about the same time, the house’s pottery, which had previously been basic domestic wares such as cooking pots and bowls, now consisted entirely of large storage jars and oil lamps. Such radical alterations indicate that the house no longer functioned as a residence but instead had become a place for communal gatherings, possibly even Christian gatherings.

More important, the excavators found that during the ensuing centuries, the plastered room from the original house had been renovated and 090converted into the central hall of a rudimentary church. The room’s old stone walls were buttressed by a newly built two-story-high arch that, in turn, supported a new stone roof. The room was even replastered and painted over with floral and geometric designs of various colors.

The Christian character of the building was confirmed by more than a hundred graffiti scratched into the church’s walls. Most of the inscriptions, according to the excavators, say things like “Lord Jesus Christ help thy servant” or “Christ have mercy.” They are written in Greek, Syriac or Hebrew and are sometimes accompanied by etchings of small crosses or, in one case, a boat. The excavators claim that the name of St. Peter is mentioned in several graffiti, although many scholars now dispute these readings.

This simple church survived for more than 300 years before it was finally replaced in the fifth century by a well-built octagonal martyrium church. Octagonal martyria were built to commemorate an important site, such as the original house that once stood here. The inner sanctum of the octagonal building was built directly above the remains of the very room of the first-century house that had formed the central hall of the earlier church.

Thus, even though there is no definitive proof that the original house uncovered by the excavators actually belonged to Peter, there is layer upon layer of circumstantial evidence to support its importance in earliest Christianity and association with Jesus and his foremost disciple. Were it not for its association with Jesus and Peter, why else would a run-of-the-mill first-century house in Capernaum have become a focal point of Christian worship and identity for centuries to come?

The Siloam Pool in Jesus’ Time

Jerusalem

The Siloam Pool has long been a place of sacred significance to many Christians, even if the correct identification of the site itself was uncertain. According to the Gospel of John, it was at the Siloam Pool where Jesus performed the miracle of restoring sight to the blind man (John 9:1–11). Traditionally, the site was believed to be the pool and church that were built by the Byzantine empress Eudocia (c. 400–460 A.D.) to commemorate the miracle recounted in the New Testament. However, the exact location of the pool itself as it existed during the time of Jesus remained a mystery until June 2004.

During construction work to repair a large water pipe south of Jerusalem’s Temple Mount, on the ridge known as the City of David, archaeologists Ronny Reich and Eli Shukron identified two ancient stone steps. Further excavation revealed that they were part of a monumental 091pool from the Second Temple period, the period in which Jesus lived. The structure Reich and Shukron discovered was 225 feet long, with corners that are slightly greater than 90 degrees, indicating a trapezoidal shape, with the widening end oriented toward Tyropoeon valley. The pool is adjacent to the area in the ancient City of David known as the King’s Garden, and is just southeast of the remains of the fifth-century church and pool originally believed to be the sacred site.

The pool is fed by waters from the Gihon Spring, located in the Kidron Valley. As with many sites in the Holy Land, the origins of the Siloam Pool reach back even further in history—at least seven centuries before the time of Jesus. Judah’s King Hezekiah (late eighth century B.C.) correctly anticipated a siege against Jerusalem by the Assyrian monarch Sennacherib. To protect the city’s water supply during the siege, Hezekiah undertook a strategic engineering project that would be an impressive feat in any age: He ordered the digging of a 1,750-foot tunnel under the City of David to bring water from the Gihon Spring, which lay outside the city wall, inside the city to a pool on the opposite side of the ridge. In the years that followed, “Hezekiah’s Tunnel” continued to carry fresh water to this section of Jerusalem, and different pools were built here over the centuries, including the Second Temple pool that Jesus knew.

What was the function of the pool during Jesus’ time? The naturally flowing spring water would have qualified the pool for use as a mikveh for ritual bathing. However, it could also have been an important source of fresh water for the inhabitants on that side of the city. One scholar has even suggested that it was a Roman-style swimming pool. Whatever its original purpose, the pool remains a place of great significance to many Christians, and its discovery represents a watershed moment in the field of Biblical archaeology.

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Mona Lisa of the Galilee

Sepphoris

In 363 A.D., an earthquake destroyed the Roman city of Sepphoris. Although the disaster was catastrophic for the Galilee city’s inhabitants, it proved crucial to the preservation of a mosaic floor in one of the city’s villas.

More than 16 centuries later, beneath the debris and collapsed buildings of the earthquake’s destruction, in the villa’s triclinium (dining room) archaeologists uncovered a white mosaic floor measuring 23 by 40 feet, at one end of which was a stunning 20-by-20 mosaic carpet of colorful tesserae in an excellent state of preservation.

The mosaic, which dates to the early third century A.D., is a fine example of Hellenistic art. The panels depict scenes from the life of Dionysus (the Greek god of wine) labeled with Greek inscriptions, surrounded by an elaborate border of hunting scenes and acanthus vines, and flanked on two sides by processional scenes. The crowning jewel of this mosaic, however, is the elegant portrait of an unnamed woman (or goddess) at the center of one end. The enchanting tilt of her head and near-smile earned her the nickname “Mona Lisa of the Galilee.” Although she had a counterpart in antiquity at the other end of the mosaic, that portion was unfortunately destroyed in the earthquake.

The high level of artistic skill in the mosaic is apparent. The artist used tiny tesserae (less than 0.2 in. square) in a wide range of natural stone colors. The bright whites of the subject’s earrings and the trim of her garment, as well as the gentle shading of her blush and the wreath that sits in her wavy hair, all demonstrate an exquisite attention to detail.

Perhaps as mysterious as the Mona Lisa is the character of the city in which she was found. The proximity of Sepphoris to Nazareth (hardly 4 mi. away) has focused scholarly attention on the influences from Sepphoris that surrounded Jesus as he grew up.

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Some scholars have argued that Sepphoris in the first century was essentially a typical Roman city where Jesus was exposed to various Western ideas and philosophies. These scholars have suggested, for example, that Jesus’ repeated use of the word “hypocrites” (which comes from the Greek word for “actor”) reflects his familiarity with the grand theater at Sepphoris, which he and his father Joseph may even have helped build!

To be sure, first-century Sepphoris was a bustling urban center with highly developed infrastructure and some undoubtedly Hellenistic influences, but archaeology also paints a decidedly more Jewish picture of the city.

The dating of the theater’s construction is actually a subject of debate. Some archaeologists prefer a late-first-century or early-second-century date—after the time of Jesus. And further excavation shows that Sepphoris lacked many of the features of a traditional Roman city, such as a gymnasium, hippodrome, amphitheater, nymphaeum, shrines or statues. Moreover, archaeologists have uncovered several signs of Jewish culture: negligible amounts of pig bones (suggesting that pork was not part of the diet), several fragments of stone vessels (preferred for their resistance to ritual impurity) and mikva’ot (stepped ritual baths). And unlike most coins of the Roman Empire, the coins minted at Sepphoris bear no human or animal likenesses—probably in deference to the Second Commandment’s prohibition of graven images.

After the end of the First Jewish Revolt in 70 A.D., Sepphoris, which had opted for peace and welcomed the Roman soldiers, began to change. It still remained home to many Jews and was an important center of rabbinic study (the Mishnah was codified here in the second century A.D.), but it also became progressively more Hellenized in its art, architecture and culture. It was even renamed Diocaesarea. Thus did a major Jewish city from Jesus’ youth come to be home of one of the Roman world’s greatest works of art: the Mona Lisa of the Galilee.

The Nag Hammadi Library

Upper (Southern) Egypt

Until the discovery of the Nag Hammadi Library in 1945, the Gnostic view of early Christianity had largely been forgotten. The movement’s teachings—vilified since the rise of orthodox Christianity in the fourth century—had been virtually erased from history by the early church fathers, its gospels banned and even burned to make room for the view of Christian theology outlined in the canonical gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John.

But when two peasants discovered a 13-volume library of Coptic texts hidden beneath a large boulder near the town of Nag Hammadi in upper Egypt, the world was reintroduced to this long-forgotten and much-maligned branch of early Christian thought. The 13 leather-bound volumes, which dated to the mid-fourth century, 096contained an unprecedented collection of more than 50 texts, including some that had been composed as early as the second century. Once translated and published by a team of scholars led by Claremont Graduate University’s James M. Robinson, the documents showed that Gnosticism (from the Greek word gnosis, “knowledge”) was not the depraved cult described by orthodox Christian writers, but rather a legitimate religious movement that offered a competing testament to Jesus’ life and teachings.

The writings, which represent a range of Gnostic attitudes and beliefs and include everything from competing gospels to apocalyptic revelations, all assert the primacy of spiritual and intellectual knowledge over physical action and material well-being. The Apocryphon of John, for example, is the most important tractate of classic Sethian Gnosticism. In it the risen Jesus reveals to John, son of Zebedee, the truth of creation. According to this myth the God of the Hebrew Bible is actually a corrupted lower deity. Only through the intervention of Sophia (Wisdom) can gnosis be revealed and salvation attained. Thus, while Christian Gnostics certainly acknowledged the role of Jesus in their faith, their theology placed greater significance on the intellectual revelation of his message than on his crucifixion and resurrection.

Also among the Nag Hammadi texts was the fully preserved Gospel of Thomas, which does not follow the canonical Gospels in telling the story of Jesus’ birth, life, crucifixion and resurrection, but rather presents the reader with a very early collection of Jesus’ sayings.^b Although this mystical text was originally believed to be a Gnostic text, it now seems to reveal yet another strand of early Christianity.

From a historical perspective, the Nag Hammadi texts provided a clear picture of the diverse theological and philosophical currents that found expression through early Christianity. Indeed, Gnosticism and its classically inspired philosophical ideals permeated not just early Christian thought, but also the Jewish and pagan traditions from which Christianity arose. The Nag Hammadi library, widely regarded as one of the most significant finds of the 20th century, revealed this complex religious milieu and offered an unparalleled glimpse into alternative visions of early Christianity.

Of course, we think every archaeological discovery reported in BAR is important—from the smallest seal or ostracon to the largest imposing fortress. But there’s no denying that some finds do stand out. The following ten examples are by no means exclusive; others would make different selections for their top ten. But that’s not to say they were chosen randomly. Ashkelon’s Arched Gate Southern Israel When we think about the great architects, engineers and builders of the ancient world, the Canaanites are generally not the first civilization to come to mind. The Egyptians had their pyramids and the Mesopotamians their […]