Dec 16
By: Marek Dospěl
A Tel Moza temple, within sight of Jerusalem, was a rival to the First Temple in Jerusalem. Solomon's Temple had previously been thought to be unrivaled in ancient Judah.
Dec 11
By: Biblical Archaeology Society Staff
The Jewish menorah—especially the Temple menorah, a seven-branched candelabra that stood in the Temple—is the most enduring and iconic Jewish symbol. But what did the Temple menorah actually look like? Learn more in this post and view a number of important menorah depictions from antiquity.
Nov 11
By: Biblical Archaeology Society Staff
Building and furnishing the Herodian Temple involved more than stone quarrying and laying, but the stones and foundations of Herod’s Temple can give us clues to Temple Mount history.
Oct 27
By: Megan Sauter
In the Bible, the inner shrine of Solomon’s Temple is described as having five mezuzot. What are they? The question has puzzled Biblical scholars for centuries. Does a recently discovered shrine model from Khirbet Qeiyafa hold the answer?
Oct 15
By: Jonathan Laden
An Iron Age weight was discovered in the rubble and dirt from the fills beneath Wilson’s Arch by the Temple Mount in Jerusalem. The weight […]
Oct 7
By: Biblical Archaeology Society Staff
The black basalt ruins of the Iron Age temple discovered at ’Ain Dara in northern Syria offer the closest known parallel to the Temple of King Solomon in the Bible.
Sep 8
By: Megan Sauter
Were there synagogues before the Romans destroyed the Temple, or did they develop only afterward? Communal structures from the Second Temple period have been discovered, but should they be considered synagogues even though they don’t share the major architectural feature common to post-destruction synagogues?
Jul 13
By: BAS Staff
Archaeologists are no longer primarily dependent on descriptions from the first-century Jewish historian Flavius Josephus for understanding what Herod’s Royal Portico (also known as Herod’s […]
Jun 5
Fifty years ago, leading Israeli scholar Michael Avi-Yonah constructed a now-iconic model of Herod’s Temple in Jerusalem. How accurate is it?
Jan 13
By: Jonathan Laden
Archaeologists have found rare 2,000-year-old measurement tools that indicate a major town square. In a rare find, they unearthed the top of a table used […]
