People in the Bible

By: John Drummond

Who was Miriam the prophetess in the Bible? It sounds like a simple question with a simple answer—Miriam was Moses’s sister. But as is often […]

By: Megan Sauter

Who are Rachel and Leah in the Bible? Sisters, rivals, mothers, matriarchs—these two women had a complicated relationship. In the Fall 2022 issue of Biblical Archaeology […]

By: BAS Staff

Reading the story of Noah’s ark today (Genesis 6–9), we naturally imagine that Noah, his family, and the loaded animals of all kinds survived the […]

By: BAS Staff

Bearing gifts for the infant Jesus, the three wise men from the east traversed afar to reach Bethlehem. What do we really know about the magi, who are so central to the traditional telling of the Christmas story?

By: Lee M. Jefferson

Whenever visitors arrive at the Church of St. Peter-in-Chains in Rome, they are struck with the grandeur of Michelangelo’s sculpture of Moses but ultimately are […]

By: Lawrence Mykytiuk

See a visualization of the Herodian family tree and key events in the New Testament related to members of the Herodian family.

By: Janet Howe Gaines

For more than two thousand years, Jezebel has been saddled with a reputation as the bad girl of the Bible, the wickedest of women. But just how depraved was she?

By: BAS Staff

In a Biblical Views column, Robin Gallaher Branch presents several examples of how, in the Bible, widows can serve as special textual markers to alert readers that something significant is about to happen.

By: Marek Dospěl

Flavius Josephus was a first-century Jewish historian personally involved in the Great Jewish Revolt against Rome. A former political leader and priest, he is our […]

By: Lawrence Mykytiuk

How many people mentioned in the Hebrew Bible have been confirmed archaeologically? Lawrence Mykytiuk reveals the surprising number—from Israelite kings to Mesopotamian monarchs—and some lesser figures as well.