This article is BAR at its best. It uses simple archaeology and historical accounts along with the Bible to give you the likely location of Cana of Galilee.
Gary Archer Big Spring, Texas
McCollough Educates Students on Cana
Several of my students read Tom McCollough’s article (BAR 41:06), and each was most grateful for the way it helped them understand the process by which Cana was located. Thank you for making it available.
John Munroe, M.Div., Ph.D. Faculty, Online Learning (Theology) St. Joseph’s College Standish, Maine
Coptic
Leo Depuydt Offends Reader
I’m one of the many subscribers who read BAR cover to cover shortly after it arrives. I particularly enjoy articles outside my area of primary interest. This time, however, I was stopped short by the first paragraph of Leo Depuydt’s article (“Coptic—Egypt’s Christian Language,” BAR 41:06). I’m used to BAR as a forum for respectful disagreement, but the absurd metaphors and mean tone in this article were out of line. If the goal was to get my attention, Depuydt succeeded by offending me and so losing me as a reader.
Ann Stehney, Ph.D. Bethlehem, Pennsylvania
Potpourri
A Happy BAR Reunion
What an excellent magazine you have. BAR and I reunited after 20 years of unintentional separation. Glad you, Hershel, and I are still alive.
Brett Williams Iowa City, Iowa
Heavier Ancient Stones
In the November/December 2015 issue, the Strata question on p. 22 asked, “How many tons does the largest ancient stone block weigh?” The answer given was 1,650 (metric) tons for a limestone block measuring 64 feet by 19.6 feet by 18 feet in Lebanon’s Baalbek quarry. There is, however, a much larger limestone block in a quarry near the Greco-Roman town of Akoris (modern Tihna el-Gebel) in Middle Egypt. This block, which is rounded at one end, measures 80.4 feet long by 29.5 feet wide by at least 21.3 feet thick. Assuming an average limestone density of 2.6 grams per cubic centimeter, as was done for the Baalbek block, and taking into consideration its non-rectangular shape, the estimated weight of the Akoris block is about 3,600 metric tons.1
There is another, better-known limestone block of similar size in the Sultan Pasha quarry near the modern city of El Minya, also in Middle Egypt. This one is cut in the outline of a colossal seated statue of the 18th Dynasty king Amenhotep III and is 72.2 feet long by 26.2 feet wide by 29.5 feet thick.2
James A. Harrell Professor Emeritus of Geology The University of Toledo Toledo, Ohio
From BAR to MEAR?
Inasmuch as locations in Syria, Iraq and Jordan are among the places referred to in the Bible, and many of the finds in Israel are from pre-Biblical times, maybe the magazine should change its name, so no one is left out. Middle Eastern Archaeology Review would be more inclusive, and readers could relate the finds to the Bible, or not.
Judith Abeles San Diego, California
Addendum
Manuscript Moved
The Ashkar-Gilson Hebrew Manuscript, discussed in Paul Sanders’s “Missing Link in Hebrew Bible Formation” (BAR 41:06), has now been returned from the Shrine of the Book in Jerusalem to Duke University, where it is on display in the David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library.
Congrats on Cana
McCollough Delivers
Re: Tom McCollough “Searching for Cana: Where Jesus Turned Water into Wine” (BAR 41:06).
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