The Jerusalem Column is the first inscription from the Second Temple period where the full spelling of the Hebrew name of Jerusalem appears. Read more…
Inscriptions
Inscriptions, whether inscribed or chiseled on a hard substance like stone or written on papyrus or another more delicate surface, record the thoughts of ancient people in writing. Inscriptions express awe before God and monarchs and preserve everyday transactions and fundamental documents.
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First Person: A Little Jot on a Jerusalem Column
• 01/14/2019
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Classical Corner: Phidias and Pericles: Hold My Wine
• 01/07/2019
One way we protect our things is to label them. Ancient Greeks were no different when it came to such practices, including two famous fifth-century B.C.E. Athenians. Read more…
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How Ancient Taxes Were Collected Under King Manasseh
• 01/01/2019
Discovered during the Temple Mount Sifting Project, this seventh-century B.C.E. clay bulla inscribed in paleo-Hebrew script with the phrase “Gibeon, for the king” provides evidence for how ancient taxes were Read more…
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Was Pontius Pilate’s Ring Discovered at Herodium?
• 12/04/2018
Thorough cleaning and advances in photographic technology have shed new light on this discovery. Read more…
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2,000-Year-Old Jerusalem Inscription Bears City’s Name
• 10/09/2018
Archaeologists have unearthed a Second Temple period stone inscription that spells the name Jerusalem as Yerushalayim (as it’s spelled in Hebrew today). Read more…
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Precursor to Paleo-Hebrew Script Discovered in Jerusalem
• 10/08/2018
Alan Millard examines the Proto-Canaanite script of the earliest alphabetic text ever found in Jerusalem. What can it tell us about literacy during the time of David and Solomon? Read more…
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Early Christian Amulets: Between Faith and Magic
• 10/01/2018
Just like their pagan neighbors, Jesus’s followers of the first Christian centuries would commonly resort to protection amulets to guard themselves from illness and any kind of harm. Read more…
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The Tel Dan Inscription: The First Historical Evidence of King David from the Bible
• 09/10/2018
Few modern Biblical archaeology discoveries have attracted as much attention as the Tel Dan inscription—writing on a ninth-century B.C. stone slab (or stela) that furnished the first historical evidence of Read more…
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The Animals Went in Two by Two, According to Babylonian Ark Tablet
• 06/18/2018
A recently translated Old Babylonian flood tablet describes how to build a circular ark.
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Papyrus Amherst 63 Up Close
• 06/01/2018
Karel van der Toorn contends that three Israelite psalms appear in Papyrus Amherst 63—although only one is attested in the Bible. Read more…
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The Oldest Hebrew Script and Language
• 04/01/2018
In a BAR article, epigraphy scholar Christopher Rollston asks a seemingly straightforward question: What is the oldest Hebrew inscription? Read more…
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King Hezekiah in the Bible: Royal Seal of Hezekiah Comes to Light
• 02/21/2018
For the first time, the royal seal of King Hezekiah in the Bible has been found in an archaeological excavation. Read more…
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Miniature Writing on Ancient Amulets
• 01/29/2018
In 1979, archaeologist Gabriel Barkay discovered two miniature silver scrolls from a late Iron Age (seventh century B.C.E.) tomb in Ketef Hinnom outside of Jerusalem. When unrolled, the scrolls had Read more…
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Can Abecedaries Be Used to Date the Book of Psalms?
• 01/13/2018
Mitchell First compares ancient abecedaries to the Book of Psalms for a new perspective on letter order in the ancient Hebrew alphabet. Read more…
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The King of Judah, Jars of Wine, and the City of Jerusalem
• 10/25/2017
The so-called Jerusalem Papyrus is purported to be an ancient papyrus from the seventh century B.C.E. that mentions “Jerusalem,” “the king,” and “jars of wine.” Epigraphist Christopher Rollston thinks it’s Read more…
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The Phoenician Alphabet in Archaeology
• 09/12/2017
The Phoenician script was borrowed by the Israelites, Greeks and Romans. Learn what sorts of texts the Phoenicians wrote as revealed by a recent archaeological excavation. Read more…
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Is the Gospel of Jesus’ Wife a Fake?
• 06/10/2017
When Harvard’s Karen King announced at a 2012 scholarly conference in Rome that a fragment of an authentic fourth-century gospel had come into her hands in which Jesus, speaking in Read more…
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When Was the Hebrew Bible Written?
• 05/10/2017
When was the Hebrew Bible written? Ostraca with Hebrew inscriptions excavated from the Iron Age fortress at Arad in Israel may provide clues, say researchers from Tel Aviv University. Read more…
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Inscription Reveals Governor of Judea Before the Bar-Kokhba Revolt
• 12/08/2016
Who was the Roman governor of Judea during the time leading up to the Bar-Kokhba revolt, the second Jewish revolt against Rome? This question has now been answered thanks to Read more…
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First Person: Why Consult Scholarship to Judge “Jesus’ Wife” Fragment?
• 11/04/2016
BAR editor Hershel Shanks discusses a recent article in the Atlantic unmasking a fake ancient inscription in which Jesus refers to “my wife.” Read more…
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“Down the Rabbit Hole”: Owner of the Gospel of Jesus’ Wife Papyrus Unmasked
• 06/30/2016
An investigative article by Ariel Sabar recently published in The Atlantic delves into the identity of the anonymous owner of the Gospel of Jesus’ Wife papyrus, revealing more than anyone Read more…
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Timeline of the Gospel of Jesus’ Wife Saga
• 06/30/2016
Coptic scholar Christian Askeland provides a timeline of events in the controversial case of the Gospel of Jesus’ Wife. Read more…
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First Person: Banning Ba’al
• 04/04/2016
Did King David ban Ba’al names in Judah? Read more…
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Givati Parking Lot Dig Unearths Rare Seal of Woman
• 03/15/2016
Two First Temple period seals were discovered in the Givati Parking Lot excavations in Jerusalem. One seal belonged to a woman named Elihana bat Gael. Read more…
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Sepphoris Inscriptions Reference Rabbis
• 02/18/2016
A team of researchers have recently discovered three 1,700-year-old funerary inscriptions at Sepphoris in western Galilee. Two of the inscriptions refer to rabbis buried at Sepphoris. Read more…
