Skirting Trouble in the Golan

COURTESY MICHAEL EISENBERG

The Golan Heights boasts one of the best-preserved Roman roads in the southern Levant. Running from the eastern shore of the Sea of Galilee to the Syrian village of Nawa, the road has been known for decades. Recent archaeological work along its length, however, is providing new insights into the social and political climate of the area at the time of the road’s construction in the early 160s CE.

Probably built in anticipation of the impending Parthian War (163–167 CE), the road was part of a network connecting the coastal cities of Tyre and Akko to inland Syria. Strikingly, however, although it provided easy travel between vital supply centers and economic hubs, it did not connect local villages to the rest of the Roman world, instead largely bypassing the region’s predominantly Jewish communities.

Although it is possible the road simply followed the easiest topographical route through the region, its avoidance of local villages and a trio of recently excavated Roman watchtowers built at various points along the road suggest Rome remained concerned about internal conflict across the area. Indeed, archaeologists believe the watchtowers were built to protect those on the road from the local population, which evidently was still hostile to Roman rule even several decades after the Bar-Kokhba Revolt (132–135 CE).

Who Did It?

SMITHSONIAN NATIONAL MUSEUM OF AMERICAN HISTORY/CREATIVE COMMONS ZERO (CC0)

Which U.S. President created his own version of the New Testament Gospels?

Answer: Thomas Jefferson

Thomas Jefferson (1743–1826) was known for many things—politics, philosophy, even archaeology—but one thing he shied away from was religion. The Founding Father and third U.S. President rarely spoke publicaly about his religious beliefs for fear they would become fodder for rivals and the press.

Thankfully, Jefferson’s personal writings were passed down by his family, and many of his thoughts on religion have been preserved in memoirs. One of the more unique expressions of his religious ideas was his book The Life and Morals of Jesus of Nazareth, written after Jefferson had retired from public life. Also known as the “Jefferson Bible,” it is essentially an 84-page redacted version of the New Testament Gospels. He painstakingly used a penknife and glue to cut out sections of the Gospels in English, French, Latin and Greek, and then pasted them back together, creating his own version of the sacred text.

Not believing in the divinity of Jesus but holding him up as a paragon of moral teaching, Jefferson removed all miracles, supernatural elements, and repeated stories from the text to create a chronological biography of Jesus’s life, words, and deeds. He never intended his work to be widely read, however; in his will, he left the text to his daughter Martha. Years later, in 1895, Jefferson’s great granddaughter sold it to Smithsonian librarian Cyrus Adler. Nine years after that, Congress decreed the text be published and made available to the American people.

Today, the Jefferson Bible is in the Smithsonian National Museum of American History but is currently not on view. A published version of Jefferson’s work, however, can be purchased or viewed online, or obtained from many libraries.

Living in Luxury

COURTESY ASAF PERI / CITY OF DAVID

A gold ring with bright red garnet inset discovered in Jerusalem is the latest find indicating the considerable wealth and status of the city’s residents during the Hellenistic period (c. fourth–first centuries BCE), when many scholars had assumed Jerusalem was just a small town with few connections to the larger Mediterranean world.

Marion Zindel of the Israel Antiquities Authority described the ring’s manufacture and stylistic significance: “The ring was manufactured by hammering thin pre-cut gold leaves onto a metal ring base. Stylistically it reflects the common fashion of the Persian and early Hellenistic periods. In that period, people began to prefer gold with set stones rather than decorated gold.”

This ring and several other ornamental artifacts discovered at the Givati Parking Lot excavations in the City of David Archaeological Park, just south of Jerusalem’s Old City, are rewriting the history of Hellenistic Jerusalem. “In the past, we found only a few structures and finds from this era, and thus most scholars assumed Jerusalem was then a small town,” remarked archaeologists Yuval Gadot and Efrat Bocher. “These new finds tell a different story. The character of the buildings—and now, of course, the gold finds and other discoveries—display the city’s healthy economy and even its elite status.”

What Is It?

—–

1. Lipstick tube
2. Ink pot
3. Blowgun
4. Knife handle
5. Scroll case

Answer: 1. Lipstick tube

This small, 2.5-inch-tall vial carved from greenish chlorite stone was recovered from an ancient burial ground in south-eastern Iran that was partially exposed during recent flooding. Inside the tube, archaeologists found traces of a powdery residue that is mostly hematite, a mineral that produces a deep red color. They believe the original substance, possibly a liquid or paste, was a cosmetic product, most likely an early form of lipstick. Radiocarbon dating indicates the tube was in use sometime between the 20th and 17th centuries BCE.

Interestingly, unlike other ancient cosmetics, the product contained only a negligible amount of lead. Experts theorize that the craftspeople who made the lipstick were cognizant of lead’s toxic properties and deliberately left it out of the mixture. Other substances in the lipstick included plant fibers and tiny particles of quartz crystal, which may have provided a shimmering or glittering effect when the cosmetic was applied.

The lipstick vial and other artifacts, now housed in the Jiroft Archaeological Museum in Iran, were part of the funerary deposits exposed by the flooding. Cosmetic products were frequently interred with the deceased in antiquity. Although little is known about the cultural background of the buried individuals, they were likely associated with the kingdom of Marhashi, which is referenced in Mesopotamian sources.

Slaying the Serpent

COURTESY MANUEL CIMADEVILLA / THE SEL Z FOUNDATION
HAZOR EXCAVATIONS IN MEMORY OF YIGAEL YADIN

A stamp seal excavated in 2022 by the Selz Foundation Hazor Excavations in northern Israel, under the direction of Igor Kreimerman and the late Amnon Ben-Tor, offers a tantalizing glimpse of a widespread mythological theme: the battle between a hero and a seven-headed serpent. This motif is attested throughout the ancient Near East and eastern Mediterranean, with reverberations in both the Hebrew Bible and New Testament.

Barely 1.5 inches wide and dating to the eighth century BCE, the seal bears a depiction of a seven-headed serpent on the far right, where it is held at bay by a hero who grasps one of its branching necks in one hand and brandishes a spear with the other. At the hero’s feet are an ankh symbol and a monkey, and at his back are other mythological images: a griffin, a winged scarab, a winged cobra, and another monkey.

According to biblical scholar Christoph Uehlinger, who recently published the seal, the defeat of the seven-headed serpent is an act attributed to various divine figures across the region, from third-millennium Mesopotamia to second-millennium Ugarit on the Levantine coast.1 In the Hebrew Bible, the Israelite God Yahweh is credited with this victory (Psalm 74:13–14). Although this account does not describe the creature as seven-headed, it names it Tannin and Leviathan, which correspond to the names attested at Ugarit. The seven-headed serpent emerges yet again in the New Testament (Revelation 12:3), as well as in ancient Greek and postbiblical Jewish sources.

Archaeology Argot: Flabellum

SCALA / ART RESOURCE, NY

A flabellum (plural: flabella) is a ceremonial fan. Widely used across the Near Eastern and Mediterranean worlds already by the second millennium BCE, it is attested in numerous artistic and textual depictions and through surviving examples.

The fan typically consisted of a head with an elongated flange at its base, which then was set in a long shaft. Whereas the shaft was typically wood, the head was covered with metal foil or made of solid metal. Heads could be richly ornamented with bands of friezes in silver or gold, with gilding, etched or embossed scenes, and inlaid precious stones. Flabella were held in both hands.

This example from ancient Egypt is one of eight found in the tomb of Pharaoh Tutankhamun (d. 1324 BCE). Both the handle and the head are made of wood covered with gold foil. The head, which measures about 7 inches wide, is decorated with an embossed and chased scene of the pharaoh hunting ostriches from his chariot and was originally ornamented with 42 real ostrich feathers inserted in holes around its semicircular outer edge. The reverse side (not shown) pictures Tutankhamun’s triumphal return. It was used in royal processions and religious ceremonies.

As early as the fourth century CE, flabella were used by the Christian church as liturgical implements in the celebration of mass. They served the practical function of keeping flying insects away from the Eucharist, but they also appeared on either side of the papal chair in solemn processions.

World Wonders: The Crux Vaticana

SCALA / ART RESOURCE, NY

One of the holiest relics of the Catholic Church, the Crux Vaticana is the oldest known reliquary of the true cross, which Emperor Constantine’s mother, Helena, claimed to have discovered in Jerusalem in the fourth century. It was gifted to the people of Rome by Emperor Justin II and Empress Sophia in the late sixth century and has been used as a processional cross during Christmas and Easter services in Rome for more than a millennium. The cross has been restored several times, most recently in 2009. This photo, which predates the last restoration, shows the accumulated wear and tarnish from repeated handling and use.

The silver-gilt cross stands nearly 16 inches tall and is about 12 inches wide, not including the stand, which was a later addition. The fragment of the true cross is displayed in a medallion in the center of the cross’s face. On the four arms of the cross is a Latin inscription reading, “With the wood with which Christ conquered man’s enemy, Justin gives his help to Rome and his wife offers the ornamentation.” The back of the cross, not visible in the photo, is decorated with images of Jesus, as well as of Justin and Sophia.

Symbols of the Goddess

COURTESY BENJAMIN YANG, TEL BURNA ARCHAEOLOGICAL PROJECT

The Tree of Life was an important and ubiquitous motif throughout the ancient world. We find it in ancient Near Eastern texts and depictions presenting a tree or other plant with the power to impart health or life (e.g., Epic of Gilgamesh 11.283–309). A tree of life also appears in the biblical account of the Garden of Eden (Genesis 2:9; 3:22, 24). Now a recently discovered pottery decoration from Tel Burna may reveal how this popular motif was understood in Canaanite religion.1

Tel Burna, a candidate for biblical Libnah (e.g., Joshua 10:29; 2 Kings 8:22), is a multi-period site in the Shephelah, the foothills between the coastal plain and the Judean highlands. This borderland gained importance in the Bronze Age, as attested by a wide range of ancient texts and archaeological remains. Yet Tel Burna remained unexcavated until the inauguration of the Tel Burna Archaeological Project in 2010. Since then, archaeological discoveries have shed light on the socio-economic, geo-political, and religious life of this Canaanite and, later, Judahite city.a

TEL BURNA ARCHAEOLOGICAL PROJECT

Excavations in the courtyard outside a cultic building dated to the end of the Late Bronze Age (c. 13th century BCE), when Tel Burna was still a Canaanite city, revealed a variety of cult-related items. These included ceramic masks, offering vessels, and an especially intriguing decorated krater. The courtyard also yielded a high concentration of animal bones, which may indicate feasting. This archaeological context suggests the decorated krater, too, was used in the cultic activity that took place in the adjacent building.

The outside of the vessel is decorated with multiple scenes depicting the tree of life. One depicts a typical date palm (see drawing below, at right end). To the left of the date palm is a partially preserved image of what appears to be the hindquarters of two animals with tails. These could be lions or bulls, both of which appear in other Levantine examples of the tree of life motif. The next image contains two horned ibexes feeding on a dot-filled object. Similar depictions of flanking quadrupeds (or other figures) typically include a tree in the center. The last image depicts a bird.

Considering its cultural and archaeological context, the decorated krater was likely used to offer food or libation during Canaanite worship. The decorations depict not only the age-old tree of life motif, which first emerged in the Levant as early as the sixth millennium BCE, but also a Canaanite goddess, represented as a fruitful tree in one image and as a blooming pubic triangle fed on by quadrupeds in another. The animals were likely symbols of the earthly creatures whose lives were sustained by the deity, imagery that finds parallels in the Bible (Ezekiel 31:3–9; Daniel 4:10–12).

CHRISTIAN LOCATELL

A sacred tree being fed on by quadrupeds also decorates the well-known ewer found in a Late Bronze Age temple at Lachish, not far from Tel Burna. An inscription on that vessel identifies it as a gift to the goddess Elat, with the name of the goddess positioned directly over the tree. On a decorated goblet from Lachish, a similar goddess tree appears as a dot-filled, inverted triangle. Such tree imagery is frequently associated with the Canaanite goddess Asherah, who, according to the Bible, was often worshiped at sacred trees or groves (e.g., Deuteronomy 7:5; 16:21).

During the second millennium, we also find examples of Canaanite goddess iconography with dot-filled inverted triangles flanked by quadrupeds. These include metal goddess pendants with pronounced, dot-filled pubic triangles, as well as clay figurines, such as the one pictured here from Revadim Quarry, that depict a goddess with ibexes on her thighs feeding on trees that flank her pubic triangle.

In light of this converging imagery, the ibex-flanked and dot-filled object on the Tel Burna krater can be identified with a Canaanite goddess who was invoked in local cultic rituals. The piece thus illustrates the common identification of the cult goddess with a life-giving tree, which offers nourishment to the creatures of the world. This and other tree of life motifs reveal the centrality of this imagery as an important theme shared by cultures throughout the ancient Near East.

Book Review: Encountering Syriac Christianity

The Syriac World: In Search of a Forgotten Christianity

Go east across the Euphrates River and journey to meet the Syriac Christians. They are still there and continue to speak, teach, and worship in both the classical and modern dialects of their own language—Syriac. When you pack your bag, don’t forget a guidebook: Françoise Briquel Chatonnet and Muriel Debié’s The Syriac World. This book touches upon nearly every aspect of the Syriac Christian tradition, bringing its people, religious legacy, language, and history to life. By attending to the Syriac heritage, you will see the Christian tradition and its Aramaic-speaking founder (Jesus) with a fresh pair of eyes. This book is beautifully illustrated with photos and maps, providing a visual journey even for armchair pilgrims.

The Syriac tradition, whose literary heritage is almost exclusively Christian, has gained more attention in the Anglophone world in the past three decades due to increased scholarly focus. Despite this growing recognition of the Syriac tradition in academic circles, a comprehensive book was missing—until now.

In the first few centuries following the death of Jesus, Christian missionaries moved east along the trade routes to Upper Mesopotamia and as far as India. Christian legend teaches that one of the 72 missionaries Jesus commissioned was Addai, who converted the city of Edessa to Christianity. The people of Edessa, modern-day Şanlıurfa (Urfa) in southeastern Turkey, spoke an Aramaic dialect known as Syriac, which became a critical cultural language of Syro-Mesopotamia. The contributions of Syriac-speaking Christians produced the third-largest Christian corpus of texts after Greek and Latin. The standard Bible for the Syriac churches, the Peshitta, is a vital attestation of its prominence, since its text of the Old Testament was translated directly from Hebrew. The enduring legacy of the Syriac-speaking Christians and their resilience in the face of historical adversities is a testament to their enduring spirit.

The Syriac World opens the Syriac tradition in an accessible way with chapters addressing the origins of the Syriac language and community, its distinctively Christian identity and literary heritage, and early legends about the beginnings of the Syriac Christian community. Although Syriac Christians never enjoyed the freedom of their own country, they have made far-reaching contributions to a wide range of fields. The crown jewel of Syriac literature is perhaps theological poetry, demonstrated most profoundly in the works of the fourth-century poet and theologian Ephrem the Syrian. Ephrem wrote hymns about the Bible and composed them for women’s choirs. His hymns illustrate how the Syrians privileged metaphors and images from the Bible and nature to speak about God and God’s interactions with humanity. However, the contributions of the Syriac Christians do not end in the fourth century.

As this book shows, the Syriac Christians studied all branches of learning and offered their study as a holy gift to God. They composed theological texts, established schools and monasteries, studied and translated the Bible, and composed stories about their saints. They worked as doctors, philosophers, and scientists under Muslim rulers. They traveled as missionaries, bringing their language and brand of Christianity with them. This book brings the reader into the monasteries of the Syriac-speaking Christians, places of rich scholarly formation that trained the bishops who would be critical players in the theological controversies of the fifth and sixth centuries. One meets not only the Syrian Christians but also the cultures with which they came into contact. The authors shed light on the rich translation culture of the Syriac traditions: Greek into Syriac and Syriac into Greek, as well as Latin, Armenian, Georgian, Ethiopic, Middle Persian, Arabic, Sogdian, Uighur, Turkish, and Malayalam translation efforts.

The Syrian Christian heritage has persisted since the late antique period, radiating from its geographical roots in Upper Mesopotamia to Iran, Iraq, Syria, the Gulf States, Central Asia, China, and India. Now, Syriac Christians have planted new churches in the diaspora, in dialogue with the modern cultures of Europe and North America. The living heirs of this Syriac Christian heritage include the Syrian Orthodox Church, the Church of the East, the Syrian Catholic Church, the Maronite Church, the Malabar and Malankara Churches of India, and the Chaldean Church. The Syriac World celebrates the persistence of this venerable tradition and its ancient and modern communities that identify with their Aramaic roots and continue to commemorate the heroes and minds who shaped their tradition.

The Megiddo Mosaic

© MUSEUM OF THE BIBLE, 2024

Through July 6, 2025
Museum of the Bible
Washington, D.C.
museumofthebible.org

An extraordinary mosaic from the area of ancient Megiddo in northern Israel is now on display at the Museum of the Bible. Featuring the earliest known inscription to identify Jesus as God, the mosaic adds much to our understanding of early Christian communities in the Holy Land.

The mosaic was discovered during salvage excavation of Kfar Othnay, a Roman- and Byzantine-era settlement identified within the grounds of the modern Megiddo Prison. Measuring about 16 by 32 feet, this extensive mosaic covered the floor of a Christian worship hall. Astonishingly, this hall formed a wing of a large residential building used by Roman soldiers, namely the Sixth Ironclad Legion stationed at the nearby military camp of Legio. Dating from around 230 CE, the hall is the earliest monument in Israel dedicated to Christian worship.a Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA) archaeologists explored the rural settlement of Kfar Othnay between 2003 and 2005.

Presented in partnership with the IAA, The Megiddo Mosaic: Foundations of Faith highlights three Greek inscriptions that appear in the mosaic alongside many decorative and figural motifs. These inscriptions acknowledge seven people for their beneficial roles in the local church. Significantly, five were women, confirming their importance in this early Christian community. One inscription recognizes a woman named Akeptous and contains the abbreviated words “God Jesus Christ”—an early affirmation of Jesus’s divinity, officially decreed by church authorities a century later.

Specialists cleaned and conserved the mosaic before it was lifted and transported to Washington. Preparations are also underway for a dedicated exhibit space at the original site near Megiddo.