Oxford Bible Atlas

240 Pages·2007·3.16 MB·English

by  Adrian Curtis

oxford bible atlas

Oxford Bible Atlas
fourth edition
Edited by
ADRIAN CURTIS
1
1
Great Clarendon Street, Oxford ox2 6dp
Oxford University Press is a department ofthe University ofOxford.
It furthers the University’s objective ofexcellence in research, scholarship,
and education by publishing worldwide in
Oxford New York
Auckland Cape Town Dar es Salaam Hong Kong Karachi
Kuala Lumpur Madrid Melbourne Mexico City Nairobi
New Delhi Shanghai Taipei Toronto
With offices in
Argentina Austria Brazil Chile Czech Republic France Greece
Guatemala Hungary Italy Japan South Korea Poland Portugal
Singapore Switzerland Thailand Turkey Ukraine Vietnam
Published in the United States
by Oxford University Press Inc., New York
© Oxford University Press 2007
The moral rights ofthe authors have been asserted
Database right Oxford University Press (maker)
First edition 1962, second edition 1974, third edition 1984
All rights reserved. No part ofthis publication may be reproduced,
stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means,
without the prior permission in writing ofOxford University Press,
or as expressly permitted by law, or under terms agreed with the appropriate
reprographics rights organization. Enquiries concerning reproduction
outside the scope ofthe above should be sent to the Rights Department,
Oxford University Press, at the address above
You must not circulate this book in any other binding or cover
and you must impose the same condition on any acquirer
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
Data available
Library ofCongress Cataloging in Publication Data
Data available
ISBN 0‒19‒100158‒9
978‒0‒19‒100158‒1
1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2
Printed on acid free paper through Phoenix Offset,China
PREFACE TO THE FOURTH EDITION
T
heOxford Bible Atlas has been a much valued companion of readers of the
Bible since its first publication in 1962. This fourth edition is substantially
revised yet it is very much the child of its predecessors. There are definite family
resemblances, but also some differences. In some sections, the text has been
changed completely, while in others it follows closely that of the third edition.
Some amendments have been made to the maps, and the format of some of
them has been changed. The most striking difference in the presentation is in the
use of colour photography throughout. It is hoped that this will enhance the
readers’ appreciation of the lands of the Bible.
One of the difficulties in preparing such an atlas lies in what name to give to
the area of land in the southern Levant with which it is most closely concerned,
not least because many terms have come to have very particular political and
religious connotations. Terms such as ‘Promised Land’ and ‘Holy Land’ have
been coined from the perspective of those religions which regard the land as
‘promised’ or ‘holy’. They have been avoided in this Atlasalthough it is acknowl-
edged that many people’s interest in the land is precisely because of its religious
significance. The problem with the term ‘Israel’ is that it has meant different
things at different times. Within the Bible itself, the term is used with a variety of
senses—a people who traced their descent from the eponymous ancestor Israel
(a name given to Jacob; cf. Gen. 32:28), the land occupied by all the twelve tribes
who claimed descent from the sons ofJacob, and the northern kingdom ofIsrael
as distinct from the southern kingdom of Judah. So ‘Israel’ and ‘Israelites’ are
used from time to time in this Atlaswith the appropriate biblical sense for the
context. A term which has often been used as a convenient geographical desig-
nation for the southern part ofthe east Mediterranean coastal strip is ‘Palestine’,
from a name given to the area by the Romans and deriving ultimately from the
word ‘Philistine’. ‘Palestine’ is used in this Atlaswith that geographical sense.
The dating scheme used in this Atlasfollows that inThe Oxford History of the
Biblical World (edited by Michael D. Coogan, New York and Oxford: Oxford Uni-
versity Press, 1998). The Chronological Chart is that used in The Oxford History of
the Biblical World, slightly adapted.
v
This page intentionally left blank
CONTENTS
list of maps ix
abbreviations x
The Setting
The Text in Context 3
The Lands of the Bible 13
Climate, Flora, and Fauna 29
Israel and the Nations 37
The Hebrew Bible
The Setting of the Genesis Stories 65
The Patriarchs in Canaan 73
The Exodus and Wilderness Traditions 77
The Stories of Joshua and the Judges, Samuel and Saul 83
The Stories of David and Solomon 91
Ancient Trade Routes 99
The Kingdoms of Israel and Judah 103
The Assyrian Empire 109
The Kingdom of Judah 115
The Babylonian Empire 122
The Persian Empire 127
Judah, Yehud, and Judea 131
Alexander’s Empire and its Aftermath: The Hellenistic Period 137
Jerusalem in the 1st Millennium bce 141
The New Testament
The Kingdom of Herod and his Successors 147
The Ministry of Jesus and the Beginnings of the Church 149
The Roman Empire: The Background of the New Testament 156
vii
Contents
Jerusalem in New Testament Times 161
Paul’s Journeys 167
The Cradle of Christianity 171
Archaeology in Bible Lands
Archaeology in the Ancient Near East 177
Archaeology and the Bible 185
chronology 199
illustration sources 202
acknowledgements 202
further reading 203
index of place names 205
general index 221
viii
LIST OF MAPS
Palestine 14
Lands of the Bible 16
Natural Regions of Palestine 20
Mean Annual Rainfall 30
Vegetation in Biblical Times 33
The Ancient Near East: The Setting of the Genesis Stories 66
The Land of Canaan 72
The Setting of the Exodus and Wilderness Traditions 78
The Setting of the Stories of Joshua, the Judges, Samuel and Saul 84
The Setting of the Stories of David and Solomon 92
Ancient Trade Routes 100
The Kingdoms of Israel and Judah 105
The Assyrian Empire 110
The Kingdom of Judah 114
The Babylonian Empire 124
The Persian Empire 128
Judah, Yehud, and Judea 133
Alexander’s Empire: The Hellenistic Period 138
Jerusalem in the 1st Millennium bce 143
The Kingdom of Herod and his Successors 146
Palestine in New Testament Times 150
The Roman Empire: The Background of the New Testament 158
Jerusalem in New Testament Times 162
Paul’s Journeys 168
The Cradle of Christianity 172
The Near East: Principal Archaeological Sites 178
Palestine: Principal Archaeological Sites 182
ix