I took this shot of the Sinai region while walking up toward Mt. Sinai, looking at the area below, to give a feel for the geography of this part of the biblical world.
Rugged Region of Mt. Sinai. Photo by Leon Mauldin.
The Sinai Peninsula today is within Egyptian territory. You can see traditional Mt. Sinai itself in this photo, in upper right.
Mt. Sinai, upper right. Photo by Leon Mauldin.
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Posted by Leon Mauldin
A panoramic view looking toward the SW corner of the Temple Mount in Jerusalem.
Panorama of Jerusalem, SW corner of Temple Mount. Photo by Leon Mauldin.
At the base of the ancient wall on your left (western side) you can see stones lying in place. These were from the Herodian Temple of Jesus day, falling down to their present position in the 70 AD Roman destruction of Jerusalem. Though seemingly small in our photo, some of these broken stones weight tons.
The view straight across shows southern side of temple mount. The distant view at right center is the Mount of Olives, across from the Kidron Valley (which cannot be seen from this view.
This photo is from Spring, 2017.
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Posted by Leon Mauldin
In 1927 the archaeologist Leonard Woolley uncovered spectacular finds in southern Mesopotamia, in the ancient city he had identified as Ur, home of Abraham. The treasury of his finds included this figure, known as “The Ram in the Thicket.”
Ram in the Thicket. British Museum. Photo by Leon Mauldin.
This statuette is composed of gold, silver, copper, lapis, shell and coral. Two of these were in what is called “the Great Death Pit.” The other is housed in the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology.
This figure is illustrative of the ram which Abraham offered at Moriah, in the stead of Isaac his son (Gen. 22:13). This figure here is actually a male goat.
Interestingly, this artifact predates Abraham by a few centuries.
Fant and Reddish suggest that
. . . the discoveries at Ur are a significant indication of an amazing level of cultural sophistication in an early period in the locale identified as the birthplace of the father of the Hebrews. If Abraham and his family came from Ur, a city of such considerable cultural advancement, to the tents of the land of Canaan, it further dramatizes the biblical story of his sacrificial following lowing of the promises of an unknown God. (Clyde E. Fant; Mitchell G. Reddish. Lost Treasures of the Bible: Understanding the Bible through Archaeological Artifacts in World Museums, Kindle Locations 580-581. Kindle Edition.)
1 Comment | Archaeology, Bible History and Geography, Bible Places, British Museum, Old Testament, photography, Travel, Uncategorized | Tagged: Abraham, Ram in the Thicket, Ur, Wooley | Permalink
Posted by Leon Mauldin
References to the diadem in the book of Revelation include 12:3, 13:1, and 19:2.
Gold Diadem. Made in southern Italy, 250-200 BC. Photo by Leon Mauldin.
“The diadem is the sign of royal status. Rev 12:3: the dragon had “seven diadems” on his seven heads; 13:1: the beast had “ten diadems” on his ten horns; 19:12: the rider of the white horse had “many diadems” on his head.” (Exegetical dictionary of the New Testament (Vol. 1, p. 298).
This is one of the literally thousands of interesting artifacts in the British Museum, so many of which can be used in the context of biblical teaching/illustrations, etc.
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Posted by Leon Mauldin
Among the many artifacts we photographed today was the Black Obelisk of Shalmaneser III (r. 858-824 BC). This Assyrian king forced Jehu, King of Israel (r. 841-814 BC) to pay tribute. This is one of those many exciting finds where the Bible and other historical records intersect! The Black Obelisk includes a pictograph/cuneiform record of this very important historical event. The reads:
The inscription reads: I received the tribute of Jehu of the House of Omri silver, gold, a golden bowl, a golden goblet, golden cups, golden buckets, tin, a staff of the king’s hand, (and) javelins (7).” All 14 of the Israelites pictured are bearded, with long hair and pointed caps. Each wears a belted tunic with fringe at the bottom. In addition, each of the 13 porters wears a mantle or cloak over the tunic, which extends over the shoulders and is fringed or tasseled down the front on both sides. Jehu is not wearing the outer garment, possibly as a sign of humiliation before Shalmaneser. (NIV Arch. Bible).
This is detailed on one of the four sides, second panel down:
Shalmaneser’s Black Obelisk. This panel shows King Jehu paying tribute to the Assyrian King. The year was 841 BC. Photo by Leon Mauldin.
Here is a photo of the 4-sided stone in its entirety, with our facing the side that mentions Jehu:
Shalmaneser’s Prism. The Black Obelisk. British Museum. Photo by Leon Mauldin.
Todd Bolen has an article on the Obelisk here.
You can read of Jehu in the Bible in 2 Kings 9-10.
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1 Comment | Bible History and Geography, Bible Study, Israel, Old Testament, photography, Travel, Uncategorized | Tagged: Assyria, Black Obelisk, British Museum, Inscriptions, Jehu, Shalmaneser III | Permalink
Posted by Leon Mauldin
Rosetta Stone. Photo by Leon Mauldin. British Museum.
Today I had opportunity in the British Museum to photograph numerous biblical and historical artifacts, including the Rosetta Stone. The inscriptions on this stone turned out to be the key to deciphering Egyptian Hieroglyphics as well as the ancient Egyptians Demotic language.
The Rosetta Stone was discovered by a French officer in 1799 in the western delta of Egypt. It was surrendered to the British during the Napoleonic war and was brought to the British Museum in 1802. The stone is carved on black basalt and is valuable because it contains the same message in two forms of ancient Egyptian writing and one in Greek. The Egyptian writing at the top of the stone is hieroglyphic writing whilst the second section is demotic Egyptian; the third section is in Greek capital letters (know as “uncial). The Greek was translated relatively easily proved to be part of a citation by Egyptian priests in Memphis to celebrate the first anniversary of the coronation of Ptolemy V in 196 BC The two Egyptian scripts were found to be the equivalent text and, once deciphered,, this helped scholars to understand ancient Egyptian writing (Edwards and Anderson, Through The British Museum–with the Bible, p. 78
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Posted by Leon Mauldin
“. . . they sailed to Cyprus. When they reached Salamis, they began to proclaim the word of God in the synagogues of the Jews” (Acts 13:4,5). The preaching here at Salamis in Cyprus was the beginning of what is usually called Paul’s “First Missionary Journey” (Acts 13-14).
Salamis on the Island of Cyprus. Pictured here is area of the gymnasium. Photo by Leon Mauldin.
Luke, the author of Acts, is very brief in his account of the preaching that took place here, without recording any results from the proclamation of the Gospel in the synagogues, quickly moving on in his narrative SE to Paphos, and continuing on from there. Our photo here shows the area of the gymnasium at Salamis.
It is interesting to note that Barnabas, Paul’s traveling companion and fellow-preacher, was from Cyprus (Acts 4:36).
Here is the harbor into which their ship would have sailed for their arrival at Salamis.
Harbor at Salamis, Cyprus. Photo by Leon Mauldin.
2 Comments | Bible History and Geography, Bible Places, Cyprus, New Testament, photography, Salamis, Travel, Uncategorized | Tagged: Acts, gymnasium, harbor, Paul's Preaching | Permalink
Posted by Leon Mauldin
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