The second millennium B.C. was an epoch of unprecedented political and economic contact among the great powers of the Near Eastern and Mediterranean worlds. In history’s first true “international age,” the royal palaces of Egypt, Mesopotamia, Anatolia, Syria and Greece established a global network of trade and communication that stretched from the Nile to the Caucuses and beyond.
Beyond Babylon showcases this remarkable period of international relations with over 350 priceless artifacts recovered from the palaces, temples, tombs and royal workshops of the competing powers. The objects, which include magnificent finds from such renowned sites as Kanesh, Ebla, Qatna, Ugarit, Amarna and the Uluburun shipwreck, document the remarkable exchange in luxury goods, artisans and ideas that characterized the period.
Bible Lands Museum
Jerusalem, Israel
+972–2-561–1066
www.blmj.org
Continuing through December 31, 2008
The first exhibition of its kind, Sounds of Ancient Music allows visitors to experience the music and musical instruments of the Biblical world through both sight and sound. More than 130 objects, ranging from original and reconstructed ancient instruments to millennia-old depictions of musicians, reveal the various ways that music and sound colored the rituals, ceremonies and everyday experience of Biblical life.
Among the instruments on display are a flute that was first played some 5,000 years ago, ancient noise-making pendants that may have once adorned a dancer’s costume, and a unique pair of 4,000-year-old miniature bronze trumpets. Throughout the exhibit, visitors experience what these and other instruments actually sounded like through accompanying musical interludes and interactive multimedia demonstrations.
North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences
Raleigh, North Carolina
(919) 733–7450
www.naturalsciences.org
Continuing through December 28, 2008
Those in the southern United States have the opportunity to discover the Dead Sea Scrolls this fall at the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences in Raleigh. Fragments from six different scrolls will be on display, including portions of Genesis, Isaiah, Exodus and a first-century A.D. prayer text, Brachot (“Blessings”), which is being exhibited to the public for the first time.
In addition to offering full translations and interpretations of the scroll fragments, the exhibit also highlights the various scientific methods that are being used to read, conserve and preserve the fragile documents.
The Jewish Museum
New York, New York
(212) 423–3271
www.jewishmuseum.org
Continuing through January 4, 2009
This fall, visitors to the Jewish Museum in New York City can also peruse fragments of six Dead Sea Scrolls that have never before been on display in the U.S. Among the scroll fragments are an early copy of the Book of Jeremiah, the Book of Tobit, which was rejected from the Hebrew canon but retained in the Christian apocrypha, and a scroll (The War Rule) describing the great battle at the end of days.
The exhibit also showcases a variety of objects recovered from the site of Qumran, close to where the scrolls were found.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art
New York, New York
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