Second Temple Shephelah

Just a quick post to recount the last field study of the year (excepting Jordan).  

This last Thursday (the30th)  the Second Temple Class, accompanied by our professor, Dr. Yigal Levin, went into the Shephelah for a day trip.  Though I've spent nearly two semesters here now, and though the shephelah is vitally important for Judah, I've only spent part of a day there  in all of our field studies (not counting the day at Lachish), so it was nice to go and catch a few places that we've missed along the way.

Our day started at Maresha/Marissa/Beit Guvrin.  Technically, Maresha and Beit Guvrin are different sites.  Maresha is the tell that was occupied until Hellenistic times, and then the city moved down the hill and became Beit Guvrin during the Roman era.  It's an important site, for many reasons which I don't feel up to ennumerating at the time, nor would you probably enjoy it if I did.  At any rate, much of the remains in the area are underground - man made, often bell shaped caves.  Some were carved and used as columbariums, some as olive presses, others as cisterns or storage area.  They probably also played a strategic role in the Bar Kokhbah rebellion.  There are also some tombs with beautiful paintings of animals, both mythical and real, dating to the Hellenistic period.  The original paintings are mostly destroyed, but thanks to some photographs and paintings of the paintings, they have sort of been "restored" and are visible today.  We also visited an amphitheater at Beit Guvrin.

The next stop of the day was Mizpeh Mishoah (I think), a sort of look-out/fire-watch-tower area.  Good view, good lunch.

After lunch we stopped at nearby Khirbet Etri, a Jewish village of the Hellenistic and Roman periods, a bit off the beaten track.  There was probably a synagogue there.  We crawled through another fun little tunnel.  

We paused along the road and walked along a Roman road for a short time.  

Our last stop was, well, I'm not quite sure of the name, at least in historical terms.  The sign said Mata Forest.  I think it's mostly a picnic site.  There is the remains of a one building visible, dating probably to the Islamic Era or later.  An any rate, the building just happens to be on a beautiful mosaic floor, from a Byzantine "wayside chapel." The mosaic had been defaced during the time of Islaam, and then rebuilt in a haphazard manner.    This is also the traditional site of Goliath's tombs.  So we all threw three stones at the tomb.  

I really haven't done that great of a job recounting the day, but it was really enjoyable.  Beautiful day, vineyards, fields, and flowers.  Rocks, caves, and sunlight.  Interesting history lessons, coming at the end of a class on Second Temple history.  Who knew that history could be so enjoyable?  :)  It was good.  

The Temple Mount

This morning (or rather, yesterday morning - I've had some issues with uploading pictures) Amy and I took advantage of a canceled class to make another attempt to summit the temple mount. Don't get the wrong impression. It's really not much of a "mount" and not at all difficult to climb. It is, however, difficult to find a time that it's open. I think it's supposed to be open from about 8-11am. But that means very little here.

Today we got there around 9:30 and were in luck! It was open, and up we went.

We spent most of our time on the eastern side of the platform, alternating between looking across at the Mount of Olives and back towards the Dome of the Rock. We even climbed up on the wall encircling the platform for a better view.
It had been rainy and cloudy, but every now and then the clouds would clear and few rays of sunlight would alight on the golden dome, making it shine almost as brightly as the sun itself.(As beautiful as the Dome itself is, with its amazing architecture and mosaics, I think it looks even better surrounded by green trees and a blue, cloudy sky.)

One thing that both Amy and I remarked on was the amount of trash they have even there, on the 3rd holiest Muslim site in the world. Then again, it does seem to be a bit of a construction site, and I have yet to see a completely trashless construction site.

As we were about to get down from the wall some guy started yelling at us to hurry and leave. I think they were closing to tourists. We were quite a ways from the entrance where we came in so we took quite a bit of time in trying to get out (and still ended up going out a different exit) but at least we had a little extra time to snap a few shots - without extraneous tourist blocking the scenery!

After we had exited we came across some sort of tour group, accompanied by none other than my archaeology professor, Gabi Barkai. I'm quite sure he doesn't know my name, but he seemed to recognize me and we talked for a second. (Back home I run into people I know around town all the time...I think this may be the first time it's happened in Jerusalem.)

As we made our way back to the school we passed the Dormition Abbey and decided to stop there too.
It is a beautiful church, built by Kaiser Wilhelm for the German Catholics, I believe. It is one of the traditional sights where Mary supposedly died or "fell asleep." They have some very beautiful mosaics in the main sanctuary (including a floor mosaic with the signs of the Zodiac, the minor prophets, the major prophets, and the trinity), and then some other interesting things in the crypt.
So that was yesterday's adventure. I'm going to have to make an effort have more of my own adventures, since I won't be doing as much group travel as last semester.

Churches and such

Yesterday I had the chance to actually go to two different churches for two different reasons.

In the morning I went to St. Andrew's Scottish Presbyterian Church, just across the Hinnom Valley from my school. (Maria, I thought of you!) It was a pretty good service. (I liked the windows too.)
The message was on Matthew (specifically 25:31-46). Of course. I seem to be unable to escape Matthew. My pastor at home has been going through Matthew for a couple years now. I'm taking a class on Matthew this semester. I don't claim to know much about the church calendar for readings and such, but apparently the book of Matthew has been part of the scheduled readings for this semester. Therefore, since of the 4 times I've been able to attend church this semester, I've gone twice to an Anglican church and once to a Presbyterian church, those three services have been on Matthew. It's kind of funny, but hey, it's a good book, so I won't complain. Anyway, I'm not sure that I would agree theologically with everything that was said, but for the most part it seemed pretty solid. The preacher started out with a story of how world renowned violinist Joshua Bell had once gone to the train station in Washington DC and started playing like a student trying to earn some extra cash. He played for nearly an hour and only a couple people stopped to listen. He earned something like $32, when just nights ago hundreds of people had payed hundreds of dollars to hear him play in a large concert hall. How often are we so busy with our life that we miss things like that? In the context of Matthew 25:31-46, how often are we so busy that we miss opportunities to do good? Jesus here doesn't judge people based on the bad that they did but on the good they failed to do. Hmm...

After the service we stayed around for a bit and talked to people. I gather that it's normally a pretty small congregation. There were probably about 10 of us from JUC and then there was a group of about 20 visiting from Edinburgh. All together, we must have made up over half the congregation. The only people I ended up talking to were the visitors, but they were very pleasant people. It makes me sad, though. There are so many huge church buildings over here representing so many different denomonations, and they have such tiny memberships. I kind of get the feeling that they are just surviving, not thriving. I do hear, though, that the palestinian church is growing quite a bit, which is encouraging.

As we were heading out Vernon showed us the sight of "Ketef Hinnom" (meaning "the shoulder of Hinnom"). This site was excavated by my own archaeology professor, Gabby Barkay. In fact, it was kind of the sight that made him famous. It also provides numerous problems for the minimalists, which is always a good thing. :) I don't know much about it, but maybe I'll ask in my next archaeology class.

Last night, after finishing my Matthew paper, I headed out with some people to the Dormition Abbey for a free brass ensemble concert! I hadn't been inside the Dormition Abbey before, and it was pretty impressive. As Cameron said, one wonders where they get the money for that sort of a building. (I guess in this case, Kaiser Wilhelm probably provided most of it.) And I wonder if the money could be better spent elsewhere? I mean, how important is it for a church building to be beautiful? I don't think that it's entirely unimportant, but it seems like there are so many other things that should take precidence. Anyway, the concert was a lot of fun. The group was, I believe, from Germany, which means that most of the explanations were done in German. Unfortunately, I understand very little German. Oh well. I enjoyed the music anyway, and recognized some of the songs. And yes, they definitely played Mary Bennet's song ("Slumber dear maid....") It made me smile and wish for someone who would get the joke. They may have not been the best ensemble ever, but since pretty much the only concerts I've been to in recent years have been High School bands, well, I thought they were pretty decent. :) It was fun hearing the resonance in the church too. It made me think fondly of all my brass playing relatives and friends. Miss y'all!

Oh, and while we were there, Peter noticed something about the floor of the church. You may remember a while ago from our Galilee trip I mentioned that a lot of Synagogues in that region had the Zodiac in mosaics on their floor? Well this church did too. Which I find very odd. Why would they do such a thing? It makes even less sense than it did in Jewish Synagogues. Odd.

Galilee, Day 4

October 28, 2008
Today was yet another full and rainy day. I’m so glad that it’s raining – the land needs it so badly. I’m also so glad that I’m staying here for a couple years so that I’ll have a chance to see some of these sites on clear days.

Today, besides being a day of rain, was also a day of mosaics. I don’t think I can even count all the different mosaics I saw today. Some well preserved, some not quite as well. Some spectacular in their coloring and precisions. Others, well, a bit more warped and amateur looking. All of them were pretty amazing.

The first stop of the day (not counting modern-day Kana where we got Pita for what ended up being our very late lunch) was Sepphoris (Zippori today). Sepphoris apparently was the location of a Jewish revolt of some sort right after the death of Herod the Great. Rome, of course, crush it and burned down the city in the process. They then turned right around and re-build the city. It was, after all, their capital in that region. It was being built, then, from around 4BC to 17AD or so. Notably, it is just across the way from Nazareth – a walk of a couple hours. Hmmm… Joseph was a carpenter who lived in Nazareth. A carpenter in those days probably worked in all sorts of materials – stone, wood, leather, metal. He would probably help specifically in laying foundations and making doors for houses, but could be involved in all aspects of a construction project. Nazareth was a pretty small town. It doesn’t seem likely that it would keep a carpenter occupied all the time. Maybe, just maybe Joseph and any apprentices he had (like a son, maybe?) headed over to Sepphoris to help rebuild it. This is, of course conjecture, which will likely never be proved or disproved. It is a reasonable conjecture, though. At very least it seems likely that Jesus was in Sepphoris on a number of occasions, even if he didn’t help build it.

Sepphoris was the first place today where we saw mosaics, and it also had the most spectacular ones. According to the informational video we watched, Sepphoris was the “Ornament of Galilee.” According to Dr. Wright, on part of a specific mosaic we saw is also referred to at the “Ornament of Galilee.” It was truly spectacular. What was it? Well, here’s another hint. It is also called “The Mona Lisa of Galilee.” As little as I know about art, I think that is an apt title. This lady is to mosaics what the DaVinci’s painting is to oil paintings. From a distance you can hardly tell that it is a mosaic – the colors and shading are so smooth. Most mosaics I’ve seen have things that are recognizable as faces but only barely. This looked almost alive. But enough gushing. The lady is part of a larger mosaic that was found in the remains of a triclinium.

The mosaics are from a time quite a while after the time of Christ, but still give us a lot of food for thought.

For one thing, Sepphoris was a mixture of Jewish and Gentile inhabitants. In fact, we can’t even tell which owned the house that contained this spectacular mosaic. The mosaic itself is very Greek in nature but we know that the Jews had to some extent “adopted” Greek culture. How do we know this? There is another fairly spectacular mosaic found at this site – in the remains of the synagogue. Not only that, but it has pictures of people and animals on it – graven images?! Not only that, but some of those people and animals are in the Zodiac wheel – the central mosaic of the floor. What would a Zodiac be doing in a Jewish synagogue? That’s a good topic for discussion.

Sepphoris also gives us another snapshot of what life was like in this region around the time of Christ. A lot of the remains are later, but the culture was still similar in many ways to that of the earlier time so we can gain insights. Did Jesus and his disciples eat the last supper in a triclinium? Does this mean that Judas was in the seat of honor beside Jesus?

Moving on, our next stop was Jezreel, the site of Ahab’s winter palace. Winter palace because it is warmer and drier than Samaria. So said Dr. Wright as it was pouring rain. Oh well, I suppose it has to rain there sometimes. There wasn’t a whole lot to see, but we did get a bit of a feel for the site in terms of its position along travel routes. Also, Seth and I wandered off a bit and took a trail that, in retrospect, maybe we should have rejected in favor of a more direct path back to the bus. It was really muddy and not all that interesting. Oh well, it was an adventure. J

Our plans were modified a bit because of the rain, so our next stop was the Kibbutz Beth Alpha. It was sometime in 1928, just when the Kibbutz was starting, that they were plowing a field or something and uncovered another mosaic. Again, it was the floor of a synagogue, and again it contained a Zodiac wheel. In fact, there are 6 synagogues from around this time that have been discovered with a Zodiac mosaic. This one was not nearly as sophisticated as the one at Sepphoris, but it was much more completely. I don’t think there were really any parts of it missing, which is pretty amazing preservation.

The final stop (which, finally, included lunch) was at Beth Shean. This was another highly anticipated site for me. It has been mentioned numerous times in almost all of my classes. The tell itself has 21 layers including Egyptian, Israelite, and Canaanite remains. And then there is the bottom of the tel – where the city moved to in Roman times (renamed Scythopolis). It is truly a spectacular site. It was a fairly major city up until 749AD when it was devastated by a large earthquake. Hundreds of pillars toppled and were found as they lay – all in rows. It was one of the 10 cities of the Decapolis – the only one on the west side of the Jordan River. Looking at travel routes, we can be fairly certain that Jesus and his disciples visited it a time or two. It also had numerous mosaics, as well as spectacular colonnaded streets,

a large theatre, a bridge, temples, market places, bath houses, and, of course, a public latrine. (Who thinks of these things?!) We had about an hour to explore the site, but it’s never enough. We did have probably the best view of the trip from on top of the tell. The clouds had cleared off a bit and it wasn’t hazy, enabling us to actually see things.

(Looking down into the rift valley here. You can see the Jabbok cut the transjordan mountains in the right side of the picture.)

When I heard that the town was destroyed in 749AD, I thought something along the lines of “Wow, that was really recent.” And then I remembered that that was still about 1000 years before America was even founded. But compared to most of the times we talk about here, that was really recent.

I also think it is ironic that the general rule seems to be that the “spectacularness” of a site today (state of preservation, cool looking mosaics and columns and such) is inversely related to its Biblical significance. This isn’t totally true, but most of the cool looking ruins are from a time after the Bible was written, and most of the remains from the time of the Bible are mud brick that, to me at least, is barely distinguishable from the dirt around it. Oh well. I’m learning to appreciate the mud brick. Though I still enjoy seeing columns and mosaics. J I guess Beth Shean has the best of both worlds.

(This is the remains of a bridge at Scythopolis.)

More ruins at Scythopolis...

On this trip we have also gotten lots of experience in public bathrooms. Almost all of the ones we’ve stopped at I would rate as being above the public latrine at Beth Shean. The one at Sepphoris was really quite nice.