Jordan, Day 2

November 14, 2008

Pillars! Capitals! More Pillars!

That’s kind of what our tour today was like. Of course, our guides had more intelligent things to say about the pillars, but as far as what we saw…mostly pillars. I even started to get a little tired of them and stopped taking as many pictures (also because I was a little afraid of having my battery die before the end of the day.)

We started the day a bit late (again) due to anther mishap involving oversleeping. Oh well. Our first stop was at Rabbah, the capital of Ammon, in modern day Amman. The first thing we saw upon entering the site was the “proto-ionic capital” that we have come to know and love since our first introduction to it at Rachel Ramon. The header-stretcher construction of what I think was an Iron Age palace was also pointed out. The point being, of course, that while we always here stories of the wars between Israel, Judah, and Ammon, most of the time they got along and there was a trade of goods and ideas and building styles. The most obvious aspect of the sight was the huge pillars which once made up a temple to Hercules. We spent some time looking at different aspects of the site from different time periods (Greek, Roman, Byzantine, and Islamic). It was a bit frustrating because I wanted some time to wander and then to go to the museum. Instead, our Jordanian guide kept going to one next place. It was interesting, but I was more interested in the museum. We eventually did get there, though I felt far more rushed than I would have liked to be. There was so much amazing stuff there! I really wish I would have had more time to take it all in. I think I did manage to see all the main “highlights” but there’s so much more I could have absorbed with another hour or two. Oh well. (Here's one of the Dead Sea scrolls...or what was left of it.)

Our next stop Gerasha, “Beth-Shean on steroids and fertility drugs.” It has been called “The City of a Thousand Columns” and the name definitely fits. I did not count the columns, but between the long cardo and other streets, the various temples, churches, theatres, and other areas, one thousand doesn’t seem like an unreasonable estimate. It was a huge sight and we spent quite a bit of time going around it with our Jordanian guide.
It was one of the Decapolis cites, and after the destruction of Jerusalem apparently attracted quite few Christians. Hadrian slept over night there at one point, and to commemorate (?) that they built a huge, beautiful gate. It was a pretty amazing site, but I’m afraid that I wasn’t quite as interested in its history as I have been of sites with much more mundane ruins. Oh, I believe it's also a traditional site for the story of Luke 8:26. The geography doesn't so much fit, though.

After considering the ruins we had an amazing lunch. All sorts of dips and sauces for pita, HOT from the oven. Various hot dishes. Good (though well seeded) oranges and little “donut holes” that we figured had been dipped in a rosewater syrup. One of the sauces I got was even spicy. It was wonderful. I’ve missed spicy food so much!!

On our way to the last stop of the day, we paused for a couple minutes on the bank of the Jabbok. In spite of the large canyon through which it flows, today it is little more than a trickle. For those who read Patrick McManus, it would definitely qualify as a “crick” rather than a “creek.” It had old tires, soap suds, and the smell of sewage.
In spite of all this, it was still a beautiful place. Back in antiquity, of course, it would have been really quite lovely – a symbol of all that is beautiful and fertile and good. We spent some time talking about the night that Jacob spent along the Jabbok river. The name Jacob means “heel” or, kind of as an allusion, “deceiver.” Jeremiah 17:9 says that the heart is “deceitful.” Apparently, the Hebrew verb there is derived from the Hebrew noun meaning “heel.” So, we could say , our hearts are all like Jacob – clever, out for our own good, sneaky.

The last stop of the day was a “Mystery” sight. Dr. Wright did let the modern name slip – “Iraq Al Amir.” When we arrived we saw a large, rectangular building, made of huge stones, much like some in base of the temple platform. There were also carvings of many large cats around the outside, as well as some more Jewish symbols. Inside, the area had apparently been divided up into quite a few rooms, generally smaller. There were large windows all over the walls. The question was, when was it built, and what was it built for? Apparently four suggestions have been made over the years: palace, temple, fortress, or really elaborate grave. The last three we found unlikely for a variety of reasons. It turns out that Josephus mentions a “country estate” built in this area of the country by a Hasmonean Jew named something like "Herconus". It seems likely that this is that site. I have to admit, it was a beautiful area. I wouldn’t mind living there myself.

And now we are off – traversing the desert high way, on the way to Petra. It is now 6:30. We probably have slightly less than 3 hours left to go. Long day! But worth it.

Addendum: We drove through the darkness to Petra. It was difficult to make out anything along the road, but I sort of got the feeling that it was a bit similar to eastern Montana. Just with better roads (or maybe worse if compared to the highway?), a few more trees, and more people. It seemed fairly flat and fairly barren, though it was hard to tell. I liked it. When we got to Petra it was much too dark to make out anything, but we were told that the site begins where the lights end. (Apparently, electricity is illegal there.) We ate a late dinner, and I headed to bed pretty quickly.

Back from Jordan!

And indeed, what a trip it was! We covered a huge area in only 4 days, a feat that was made slightly easier by the fact that they Jordanians apparently have no interest in excavating or keeping up Biblical sites and therefore not enough is known about them to keep us there for long periods of time. Rather a mixed blessing, I guess.

At any rate, here are my thoughts from the first day:


November 13, 2008, Amman, Jordan.

Hooray! My first time in Jordan! I don’t think I really learned or saw anything earth-shattering today, but it has been an interesting day, though not so much in terms of history or geography. Probably the most interesting thing to me has just been to observe the country – the towns, the people, and to see similarities and differences between Jordan, Israel, and home.

The day started out at the border crossing near Jericho. It had poured rain in Jerusalem shortly before we left, and apparently had even rained some in the rift valley. It was fun to see puddles still sitting and wadis flowing with small amounts of muddy water. I think it’s one of my goals to see a flash wadi flood (from a safe distance, of course), but for now I enjoyed actually seeing water in these wadis. Crossing the border went as smoothly as could be expected. I was amused by the mobile x-ray machine for our baggage as we entered Jordan. Security is definitely not as tight as at the airports back home. At any rate, we made it through, both the Israeli side and the Jordanian side.

Our first “real” stop of the day was as Deir Alla (not sure of the spelling?) which is thought to be ancient Succoth. It was supposedly in this area that Solomon molded metals in clay to furnish his house. Strangely enough, there is evidence of smelting here, dating to the 10th century. Not proof, but interesting. It is also the place where an inscription mentioning Balaam son of Beor was found. From there we could see the Alexandrium and the Wadi Faria. I personally was favoribly impressed with the vaious colored rocks they had. I've gotten a little tired of similarly colored limestones.


It turns out that the archaeologist of that region lives or works right across the street from the tell, and he was very impressed a) that we visited and b) that we stayed so long. I wouldn’t necessarily say that archaeological interest is thriving in that area of the country. I’m sure there’s some, but probably very few tourists.

After that we stopped at the window place (Pella). No, they don’t really have windows, that’s just my lame attempt at a joke. They did have some spiffy columns, though, as well as a huge, steep tell. Pella was one of the Decapolis cities, right across the rift valley from Beth Shean. This probably would have been the most important Jordan crossing in ancient times. From transjordan all the way to the coast there is very minimal elevation changes.


The next stop was Gadera (another spot of the commemoration of the demonized pigs). This place is special for a couple reasons. It’s a Decapolis city which, of course, means a cardo, columns, a couple theaters, temples, etc. However, it just so happens that it is built in a small region with basalt rock. So it has Corinthian capitals made of basalt (instead of limestone or marble or granite).
How cool is that? It also has some very hot springs nearby that I believe were used in/as a Roman bath. This site was also special because we finally got to eat here. At 3pm. Actually, we ate on the bus on our way to our next site.

The final stop of the day was Ramoth Gilead. It was indeed remote. This is the place that Ahab with Jehoshephat of Judah tried to take and ended up dying. It’s quite a ways (and climb) from Samaria. It’s a much easier trip (flatter) from Damascus. What he was attempting would have been quite a feat if he had pulled it off. There wasn’t much on the tell. They had apparently found a small fort from about the right time, but all I saw of it was a small corner. There was a Bedouin tent, though, a few bones, a beautiful sunset, and a lovely full moon. The land there is a bit like eastern Montana in its feel. Its partly the openness (fairly dry too) and partly the smell of animals, I think. We even used Montana for an analogy – how does someone who’s grown up in the hills (of Western Montana or Ephriam) feel when they get to the open areas (of eastern Montana or Gilead)?


Turning back from that site we came as close to Iraq as we will on this trip…not very close, really, though we did see a sign for an Iraqi border.

That was about all the geographical and historical information we covered. I had a few other impressions, though. In general the people seemed friendly. Many of the kids we passed would smile and wave…or sometimes throw fruit at us. It’s a colorful place – I’m not quite sure what the point of the multi-colored trucks is, but they’re fun.

Our bus driver apparently got lost while finding our hotel in Amman, Jordan. The hotel is pretty nice, though we’re not to drink the water. It’s lovely to use elevators – I’m so tired. It’s odd – the elevators are pretty nice, but the stairs are pretty sketchy. Some of use went out wandering after dinner. I thought we were just going to wander a bit, and I suppose we did, but somehow we still ended up at Starbucks (where everyone else had gone, but by taxi.) I think that may be the first “real” Starbucks (not counting B&N) that I’ve been in. And I didn’t even buy anything. Driving through Amman (a city of about 2.6 million) it was odd to see so many American places – McDonald's (who apparently delivers here),
Burger King, Subway, Pizza Hut, even Hardee's. Our outing ended up being about 2 hours. I was exhausted when we started. But I enjoyed seeing a bit of Jordan. Crossing streets was interesting. I’m not sure how it happened, but a boy fell right in front of a car while we were walking. That was a little scary. I felt sorry for him. Walking home, a man in a car kept talking to us. “Welcome to Jordan! I love Americans! Me, I am Turkish!” It was kind of funny.

I’m sure I could write more, but I need sleep! Bon Nuit.

Randomness!

Today I went to volunteer again. I helped in a 3rd grade classroom, which went fairly well. I don't think I would have the patience to teach there full-time, though. The kids are pretty wild and the school seems pretty disorganized (both in discipline and other areas.) Anyway... Melissa, who had been going with me, was again unable to go today. I always miss her, but I am also growing in my confidence to go about the city by myself when necessary. Apparently I'm starting to look like I belong too. Today I was walking back to school from the bus stop and a lady stopped me by Jaffa gate to ask about "Mamilla." I think she was Muslim (by her head covering) and I think she was speaking Hebrew, so that's about all that I understood. I pointed her to the Mamilla Mall (hopefully that's what she wanted) and was thanked in Hebrew. Anyway, not sure why she choose to ask me, but I guess I'll take it as a compliment. :)

I heard a fairly strong indictment of Christian music the other day. I was talking to a friend here who likes to listen to rap music. He apparently especially likes this Muslim rapper from Chicago. I must have looked skeptical or something becaue he tried to assure me, saying something like "It's clean - pretty much the same as Christian music." If all we expect of Christian music is that it be clean and otherwise indistinguishable from the music of any other worldview (secular humanism, Islam, Budhism, etc.) then our standards are far too low. (In defense of him, that's probably not quite what he meant, and he would probably agree that Christian music should have higher standards, but I think that his statement, whether he meant it that way or not, reflects the attitude of a lot of people. We listen to Christian music because it's clean, not because it's specifically CHRISTIAN in its worldview.)

Today is election day in Jerusalem. Interesting issues in this city. An article I read the other day said that Jerusalem rated pretty low in "livablity" when compared to other Israeli cities - lots of trash, fewer city services, bad parking. Jerusalem is also on the border between Israel and the West Bank, which means it has a larger Arab population. In addition to the Arab population there are Religious Jews, Ultra-Orthodox Jews, and Secular Jews, all of which have very different ideas of how thing should be. I didn't know this before coming here, but apparently the Ultra-Orthodox don't work so they can spend all day studying Torah and Mishnah. They also have lots of children. They expect to be supported by the government. Kind of a drain on the economy. Jewish-Arab tensions aside, Jewish-Jewish tensions are fierce.

Here's an interesting article: http://haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1035415.html.

I have Hebrew today! We are working on translating Ruth. As much as I get rather frustrated with that class, I do enjoy starting to understand the text.

I leave for Jordan on Thrusday! I'm pretty excited. :) I get to see the "real" Petra. I'm sure I'll post notes and photos when I get back. Until then...

How lovely

I just had a delightful experience.

"And what" you might ask, "was that experience?" Or you might not ask, but I will tell you anyway.

First, though, I must inform you of a couple relevant circumstances.
1. The main "caretaker" (for lack of a better term) on campus has a wife and two daughters, all of whom live on campus. The daughters are named Luna and Lamara, and are (I believe) 9 and 8 years old, respectively.
2. A small orange kitty has recently been "adopted" by some students here on campus. It was in pretty poor shape, but has been showered with some care, and is now doing better and has become at least marginally tame.

This afternoon I was outside, sitting under our grape arbor, enjoying the cool breeze and warm sunshine, listening to some Celtic music, occasionally catching a whiff of the fragrance of dying roses, and reading about the history of Israel, when these two circumstances converged in a way that was simply marvelous.

The two girls had just gotten home from school (I greeted them) and immediately commenced to search for the small orange kitty (who someone decide to name "Francis"). The found him and proceeded to hold him (very badly), pass him back and forth, ask me to guard him while they got food for him, attempted to "force" him to eat, chased him as he ran away, and the continued to search for him and try to get him back until they had to leave for a meal. This may not seems like a delightful experience to you, but really it was. It was so similar to the dramas I've seen acted out with the kitties at camp, over and over. It just made me laugh and remember that kids are the same, wherever you are in the world. And come to think of it, kitties are pretty much the same too. :)

The Joys of Museums

Today, a few of us finally made the effort to go to one of the nearby museums that has been recommended numerous times. Specifically, we went to the Pontifical Biblical Institute Museum, near the King David Hotel. It turns out that they're not generally open on Saturday, but they let us in anyway, and we even got a personal tour from Father Maurice Gilbert. It was pretty sweet. It's a small place (2 rooms, one small and one larger), but it has quite a few fairly famous pieces, as well as various archaeological remains from all time periods and from all over this region. I think I may have mentioned before how exciting it is to see things that you've learned about in class. Some of the artifacts they have we've heard mentioned in several classes numerous times, which just adds to the excitement. Many of the remains are from Teleilat Ghassul, a chalcolithic site NE of the Dead Sea, which was excavated from 1921-1929 by Jesuit Monks. Possibly the most spectacular things they found there were frescoes, beautifully preserved, on the walls of a couple buildings. Unfortunately, almost as soon as they were uncovered, they crumbled to dust. They did manage to make a replica, though, which is at the museum we visited. (There was more than one painting, as I understand, but this is probably the most famous.)

This is a fenestrated basalt pedestal. I don't recall where this one was found, but in archaeology we learned about them in conection with the Chalcolithic period around Beersheva. Of course, since Basalt is only found in the north of the country, this means that they had some level of trade going on.

Just yesterday in archaeology we talked about how during the Middle Bronze Age is was apparently very common to bury infants in large jars underneath the floor of the house. Rooms from this time have been found with up to 10 burials in the floor. We don't really know why. It's possible that there was a really high infant mortality rates and they wanted to keep the remains of the child close to home so they were in some sense still part of the family. We also know that there were times and places where human sacrifice was practiced and its possible that at least some of these infants were victims of that horrendous practice. The picture below is of a simliar infant burial from the Chalcolithic Age, found at Teleilat Ghassul.

These are connical pottery vessels from the Chalcholithic Period called "cornettes," generally considered to be drinking glasses.


These are just some cool looking figures. I don't know much about them. Quite a few of the things in the museum were also found in Egypt (maybe at Elephantine?), and these may have been among them.
Tell el-Yehudiyah ware! The first examples of this type of pottery were found at Tel el-Yehudiyah ("Mound of the Jews") in the Nile Delta by none other than Flinders Petrie. It's an interesting site for many reasons which I will not go into at this point. At any rate, this type of pottery actually originated in Palestine, but is still named after the first place it was found. It's generally dark in color, usually jugs or juglets (though occasionally shaped as animals or even people), and decorated with "holes" to form a pattern. One theory is that the jugs, which are thought to have held perfume, were shaped to imitate the fruit from whence the perfume came.


So, that was an example of the delights I experienced this morning. Facinating, isn't it? :)

It's Fall! It's Spring! It's...I'm so confused!

It's fall:

Friday night here on campus we celebrated Halloween. They said they wouldn't feed us if we didn't dress up....I kind a hate being forced into things like that, but I did end up being fun.

The evening started at 4:30 with a tour of our graveyard. Yes, we do have a graveyard. It's kind of a long story, but for quite some time it we the only protestant graveyard in the country. Various and sundry people are there, including some famous ones: Flinders Petrie (minus his head), the father of modern middle-eastern archaeology; Brian Starkey, the excavator of Lachish who was murdered on his way to the opening of the Rockefeller museum; and Horatio G. Spafford, author of the hymn, "It is well." To add spice to the adventure there was a low hanging 220V live wire (duck!), soft ground, and sink-holes. It wasn't dark when we started, but the twilight was rapidly deepening by the end.


As dinner approached, various odd creatures began apearing in the dining area: a couple pirates, a fairy or two, Aladdin, a gypsy, Absolom, the Rosh Pinnah Sill (a basalt plug above the Sea of Galilee), a Greek Lady, a Roman Statesmen, the two witnesses from Revelations, and much more.
I personally came as Pippi Longstockings.

We said the normal Shabbat blessings before the meal, but the meal itself was anything but normal. We got to choose 5 things for each of our 3 courses, but everything was given odd names. For my first course I got noodles, humus, a plate, dirt pie, and juice. No fork or spoon. Yeah, one of those. It made it entertaining, though.

After dinner we finished the festivites by breaking open a couple pinatas, singing some worship songs, and then watching an eppisode of "The Office" from an earlier Halloween.

And that was Fall.


It's Spring:
Today my archaeology class and our professor, Dr. Gabi Barkai, headed off to Lachish for a field study. We've gotten some good rain lately, and as we drove along I couldn't help but notice that the fields that have been lying fallow are slowly being covered by a fuzzy green carpet.
In Montana such things are always a harbinger of spring. Here, where wheat and such things are grown in the winter (the rainy season!) I don't think it means the same thing... Still, it was fun to see little green sprouts here and there where before it had been all brown.

We spent pretty much the whole day at Lachish. Dr. Barkai spent a number of years excavating there and used it to give us an idea of what to look for and technique and all those sorts of thing. Lachish (and the area around it) has evidence of inhabitance since the neolithic period. Most of what has been excavated is from the Iron Age, though, with everthing earlier still buried.

And what, you might ask, is the Biblical significance of Lachish? Well, to give you a summary, it's mentioned about 23 times in the Old Testament, it was conquered by Joshua, fortified probably by Rehoboam and/or Hezekiah, defeated by Sennacherib and the Assyrian army, and then was defeated again by Babylon before Jerusalem finally fell itself. It was then probably rebuild during the time of Nehemiah.
(Dr. Barkai pointing out some feature outside the gate area. W)

Lachish is especially interesting because of two archaeological finds. The first is called "The Lachish Letters." Those are 21 ostraca from around that time and contain the line that mentions Lachish and Azekah. There are debates over how to translate it and what it means. Dr. Barkai was of the opinion that it said something like "We are guarding Lachish whole-heartedly and we can't see Azekah" (implying that Azekah had fallen). It's likely that these were written before the Babylonian captivity.

The second interesting find was actually in the palace of Sennacherib in Ninevah. In his chamber there he had a relief done, depicting his siege and destruction of Lachish.

Both offer some evidence (circumstantial, but still) that this tel is, in fact, the ancient sight of Lachish.

It was a long trip, but interesting. So much to learn, so many questions...

(Here's some of our group examining the wall of the platform of the Judean palace.)

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.