Cartoon Captions

Summer 2020 Caption Contest Winners

Biblical Archaeology Review Summer 2020: Winners

And the Winner Is …

“Herod’s having another of his Temple Tantrums!”

—Frank Walsh, Plano, Texas

Thank you to all those who submitted caption entries for our Summer 2020 cartoon, based on Josephus’s Jewish Antiquities 15.380 (15.11.1): “And now Herod, in the eighteenth year of his reign, and after the acts already mentioned, undertook a very great work, that is, to build of himself the temple of God, and make it larger in compass, and to raise it to a most magnificent altitude, as esteeming it to be the most glorious of all his actions, as it really was, to bring it to perfection, and that this would be sufficient for an everlasting memorial of him.” We are pleased to congratulate Frank Walsh of Plano, Texas, who wrote the winning caption.

Runners-up:

“There is no way we can build this as big as Herod’s ego!”

—Larry E. Jones, Litchfield, Minnesota

“Will the worship be streamed live?”

—Rajan al Bikaadi, Adelaide City, SA, Australia

Staff Caption:

“OK boys, let’s flip this temple.”

—Bob Cargill, Editor

Honorable Mentions:

“Now that’s a fixer upper”

—Jeffrey Harrison Wagner, Folsom, California

“No, No, No! The furnace was supposed to be built inside  the temple!”

—Dennis Roberts, Urbana, Illinois

“It’s still 200 shekels over asking price.”

—Cheryle Paglialonga, East Greenbush, New York

“Um … Herod, there’s some official here to see you, something about a building permit”

—Chris Whitmarsh, Niskayuna, New York

“… and a HUGE torch sign saying: HEROD’S TOWER.”

—Dorian Alu, Belvidere, New Jersey

“But where’s the dome?!”

—Tammy Mascarenas, Chandler, Arizona

“And now for the second floor!”

—Buzz Brown, Woodland Hills, California

“Location, location, location!”

—Andy Stafford, Bloomington, Indiana

“Where’s my rooftop bar?”

—Steve Shaffer, Tallahassee, Florida

“It must be this big!”

—Judith D. Holm, Brentwood, California

“Imagine an infinity rooftop pool!”

—Michael C. Olsen, Lake St. Louis, Missouri

“Make the Temple great again.”

—Lester Freundlich, Stamford, Connecticut

“And best of all, we’ll get the Pharisees to pay for it!”

—Michael Carniello, Deerfield, Illinois

“There goes the balanced budget.”

—Robert Capron, Boise, Idaho

“I told you I wanted the doors this wide!”

—Yossi Liebowitz, Spartanburg, South Carolina