The Biblical Archaeologist - Vol.40, N.2

50 Pages·1977·9.55 MB·English

by  American Schools of Oriental Research

ISSN:
00064)895
OF
BIBLICAL
ARCHEOLOGIST
MAY 1977 VOLUME4 0 NUMBER 2
Templesa nd High Places in -Israel
Publishedw ith the financiala ssistanceo f
ZIONR ESEARCHF OUNDATION
Boston, Massachusetts Biblical Archeologist is published quarterly
A nonsectarianP rotestantf oundation (March, May, September, December) by the
American Schools of Oriental Research in
for the study of the Bible cooperation with Scholars Press. Its purpose is
and the history of the ChristianC hurch to provide the general reader with an accurate
scholarly yet easily understandable account of
archeological discoveries, and their bearing on
the biblical heritage. Unsolicited mss. are
welcome but should be accompanied by a
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editorial correspondence to Biblical
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Copyright @ 1978 American Schools of
Oriental Research. Annual Subscription:
$10.00. Current single issues: $2.50. Printed in
the United States of America, Printing
Department, University of Montana,
Missoula, MT 59812.
&?I
i:
.........
Editor:
David Noel Freedman, University of
R; M7 Michigan.
Editorial Committee:
Frank M. Cross, Harvard University
Edward F. Campbell, Jr., McCormick
Theological Seminary
John S. Holladay, Jr., University of Toronto
H. Darrell Lance, Colgate-Rochester Divinity
School.
Cover
Second Class Postage paid at
Clay statue of a ram with three goblets on its back, from Missoula, MT 59812
Gilath, the Chalcolithic period. and additional offices
OF
BIBLICAL
ARCHEOLOGIST
Claire Epstein 57 THE CHALCOLITHIC CULTURE OF THE
GOLAN
David Alon 63 A CHALCOLITHIC TEMPLE AT GILATH
Christa Clamer and David Ussishkin 71 A CANAANITE TEMPLE AT TELL
LACHISH
Emmanuel Eisenberg 78 THE TEMPLES AT TELL KITTAN
Amihai Mazar 82 ADDITIONAL PHILISTINE TEMPLES AT
TELL QASILE
Ephraim Stern 89 A LATE BRONZE TEMPLE AT TELL
MEVORAKH
66 COLOR SECTION: Photos of artifacts from Kuntilat cAjrud, Tell
Qasile, Tell Mevorakh, Lachish, and Tell Kittan.
46 LETTER TO THE READERS
49 POLEMICS & IRENICS
49 NEWS FROM THE FIELD
52 COLLOQUIA
92 COLOPHON
A LETTER TO THE READERS
You brought them in modeled upon it (Exod 25:8, 40) so the correspondence
You planted them between earthly tabernacle and heavenly temple, one at
in your hereditary mountain the base and the other at the top of the mountain, is exact.
The dais of your throne (2) Mt. Zion/Jerusalem where Yahweh established his
Yahweh, you made new permanent dwelling at the time of David's reign and
Your sanctuary, Lord his selection of the ancient city on the border between
your hands created Judah and Benjamin as his capital. Here, however, the
Exod 15:17 picture has been modified. The earthly temple, made with
(human) hands, is on top of the mountain (which is too
small to have a heavenly crest) while the heavenly temple,
In an issue devoted to sanctuaries and temples, it to which the earthly structure is related in the same
seems appropriate to begin with the eternal temple, made fashion as the tabernacle, has not moved from its original
not by human but divine hands. It is not easy to locate an location at Mt. Sinai.
imaginaryt emple on an unidentified mountain in a poem So far as I am aware, these are the only instances in
full of rich but imprecise imagery, but that is the task the Bible with the threefold linkage of earthly sanctuary
which confronts us in the attempt to interpretT he Song of (miqdds?,h eavenly temple, and sacred mountain. In my
the Sea (Exod 15:1-18, 21) and especially the crucial and opinion, the only significant shift involves the movement
enigmatic v 17. The temple can only be located on top of of Yahweh in his earthly travels from Sinai to Canaan and
the mountain sacred to the god who dwells in that temple, the ultimate establishment of a permanent earthly
however, and the possibilities are limited in the biblical residence in Jerusalem. The heavenly temple and the
tradition by historical and mythological criteria. sacred mountain remain the same throughout. They
There are only two cases in the Bible which qualify began at Sinai/ Horeb and remain there.
for consideration: It is my contention that the divine sanctuary (made
(1) Mt. Sinai/Horeb where Yahweh, whose oldest without hands) is not associated with Jerusalem and Mt.
surviving designation may well have been zeh sinay, "the Zion, though many able scholars have thought so, but
One of Sinai," had his palace. As we know from the rather with Mt. Sinai/Horeb. I do not believe that a
tradition, the "tent of meeting" or "tabernacle" was serious case exists or can be made for any other location.
46 MAY 1977
The attempt to generalize the site (e.g., the mountainous itself flashes light on a single moment in ancient history.
areas of Canaan) is faulty and misses the basic (4) The contents and terminology breathe the desert air.
requirement that the heavenly temple be on top of the The horizon of the poem does not extend beyond Sinai
mountain peak which joins earth and heaven. Other and the wilderness wanderings. In spite of assertions or
efforts to localize it at Gilgal or Shechem or Shiloh fail for assumptions to the contrary, there are no allusions to the
lack of any combination of earthly and heavenly conquest of the land of Canaan. There is direct reference
sanctuaries or mountain mystique. Where there were to Canaan, to be sure, but not as an object for conquest.
important sanctuaries, for example at Shiloh, Bethel, The passage from the Song of the Sea relating to
Dan, Beer-sheba, if sacred mountains played a role in the the Temple made by Yahweh (vv 13, 17) is familiar and
local cult or mythography, no significant trace has has been treated extensively in recent years by a number
survived. On the other hand, where there are clearly of scholars. According to the vantage point of the poet,
identifiable elements of the sacred mountain theme, in the events belong to recent history. The action proceeds
particular the references to Sapon (= the North), the from the victory at the Reed Sea to the journey through
sacred mountain of Canaanite mythology associated in the wilderness to the settlement at the "mount of
the first instance with Baal, but also, in a different manner inheritance"w hither they are brought and where they are
with El, these are not associated with a specific cult place. planted. It is my contention that the expression ndwjh
Baal's temple on Mt. Sapon is described in detail-it is qodleka, "your holy habitation," and the har nahdlatxkd,
also made without human hands, though in polytheism "the mountain of your possession," describe one and the
the principal god need not use his own hands. It may be same place, namely the area or territory around the holy
that Baal can claim the temple not only as his possession mountain of Yahweh, wherever that may be. A related
but as his work-but I doubt that this is correct. In the passage is Ps 78:52-54, where a similar association occurs:
biblical tradition Mt. Sinai serves as the original locus for in v 54 we have gdbdzql odd6 in parallel or complementary
Yahweh, the heavenly palace and earthly counterpart, or combinatory relationship with har. The context is
while Mt. Zion is the only inheritor of the threefold clearly that of the wilderness wandering, since the
tradition and the location which displaces Sinai as the immediately preceding verse speaks of the guidance of his
center of worship and the focal point of the religio- people by Yahweh to a secure refuge (= sanctuary) after
political entity. the drowning of the enemy in the sea (an obvious
There are four basic arguments for identifying Mt. reference to the episode at the Reed Sea). Here the word
Sinai/ Horeb rather than Mt. Zion with the passage in gdbtzl," territory,"i s used instead of newjh, but the sense
Exod 15:17. is the same.
(1) The date of the poem. If as I and others have argued In any event the use of the term qd? to describe the
this is a very early premonarchic song in its entirety, then region brings us back to the "mountain of God" which is
it can hardly refer to the later Jerusalem Temple. There is where the story begins with the episode of the burning
much evidence and an excellent array of data and bush. As Prof. Mazar has pointed out, the expression
arguments in support of an early premonarchic date that Dadmat q5del, "holy ground," is not to be restricted to the
effectively rules out Jerusalem and David's tabernacle or few square meters on which Moses and the bush stood,
Solomon's temple. If I am right, the only viable but the entire district which presumably bore the name
alternative is Sinai. Qade? for a reason. The persistence in the tradition
(2) The unity of the poem can be defended on structural concerning the holiness of the site of the sacred mountain
grounds: its patterning-symmetry, envelope construc- of God / Yahweh convinces me that the use of the root qd?
tion, and the like. Possibly the second part is a in the passages is no accident but a direct allusion or
skillful imitation of the first, but it is so skillful as to reference to the area in Sinai.
warrant the adoption of a simpler hypothesis, namely I have pointed to the link between Exodus 15, vv
unity of authorship. If it be agreed that the first part of the 13 and 17; the combination of Del-newjh qodleka and
poem (at least vv 3-12) is very early, then the same tdbiP(cid:127)m6 may be rendered quite naturally: "To your holy
argument applies to the poem as a whole. habitation you brought them," which balances
(3) The genre analysis supports the view expressed. beautifully with wattitta CYm6b ehar nahdldtakai "and
Victory odes customarily are composed in the lifetime of you planted them in the mountain of your inheritance
those who participated. Such odes tend to concentrate on (better: possession)." This arrangement not only stresses
the central episode, with marginal references to events the congruence of the ideas but also links the holy
immediately preceding and following the action. The habitation with the mountain of possession. It was
dramatic and epic unities are maintained and the poem precisely on this mountain that Yahweh's palace stood, a
BIBLICAL ARCHEOLOGIST 47
palace made by Yahweh for himself with its throne-room the one who loved Mt. Zion.
and throne, on which he is seated, king forever (v 18). This (69) And he built like the heights his sanctuary
heavenly temple or sanctuary with its holy of holies, like the earth which he founded forever.
where the deity was seated on his cherubim throne,
constituted the tabnit or model seen by Moses during his The contrast between the tent of Joseph (i.e., the migkan
sojourn on the same mountain. (Cf. Exod 25:8-"And at Shiloh) and Mt. Zion is indicative of the shift from
they shall make for me a sanctuary and I shall dwell in Shiloh to Jerusalem, reflecting the wars with the
their midst according to everything which I am showing Philistines and the ultimate triumph of David (who is
you, the [tabnit] model of the tabernacle [mikan] and the mentioned in vv 70-72). In that context we must attempt
model for all of its furnishings, and so shall you do.") to interpret v 69. The basic content seems clear enough:
While the language of v 17 may seem much more "And he built his sanctuary"-apparently a reference to
suitable for the later settlement of the Israelites in Yahweh's construction of his miqdai. (If our presup-
Canaan, it is nevertheless appropriate for the first set- position is correct that Yahweh built one sanctuary
tlement at Sinai. After all, the principal object of the at one time, then this can only be a reference to the
Exodus, after escaping from bondage in Egypt, was to sanctuary in the wilderness at Mt. Sinai; but the context
seek God in the wilderness. The actual settlement at points to Mt. Zion.) The comparison between heaven and
Qadesh-barneaw hich must be somewhere in the vicinity earth is established by the repetition "like the heavenly
of the great mountain itself extended over the better part heights," "like the earth," and a comparison of heavenly
of a generation (typically 40 years), and in the eyes of that and earthly temples is involved here. The heavenly
first generation may well have appeared to be a sanctuary is eternal, whereas the earthly counterpart is
permanent settlement-"you brought them and you not. The former is made by God while the latter is made
planted them." It is only later when a new generation and by men. The temple or sanctuary on Mt. Zion is said to be
a new situation had arisen that the march from Sinai like the one in the heights of heaven-its replica and with
the special status accorded the place, the mountain which
began.
The new state of affairs is reflected in the Song of God loved.
Deborah and Deuteronomy 33. In these poems the Nevertheless it is my contention that the heavenly
removal of Yahweh from Sinai is asserted, along with his palace of Yahweh is located, as it always has been, on Mt.
march to Canaan. During this period, Yahweh travels in a Sinai in the southern wilderness. Men may worship
tent or a tabernacle, since he does not yet have a Yahweh anywhere, especially at the approved earthly
permanent earthly abode. Shrines and sanctuaries shrine (or shrines) and especially where the ark and the
abound, and the divine presence may be made manifest in shrine are-and Yahweh, who customarily dwells in his
any one of them, but in no case is there the developed heavenly sanctuary, will hear and respond. On special
tripartite imagery which we find in relation to the Sinai occasions he travels to and with his people-to deliver
episodes in the beginning and the construction of the them from bondage in Egypt and to settle them in the land
house of David and Solomon at the end. While the latter of their fathers (the latter after a long internal and
(the temple of Solomon in Jerusalem) effectively external struggle-with himself and with Moses).
displaced the former as the cult center of the nation, the Even though his name and his glory are attached
tradition about the earlier domicile never entirely faded first to one and then another and then finally only to
from view. So what the Bible presents us with is two Jerusalem and the temple there, his home remains in
phases or stages in the faith of Israel-one focusing on the Sinai/Horeb, and an intrepid worshiper may seek him
revelation at Sinai, the tradition of the founding fathers, there, as in fact Elijah did-rejecting the convenience of
and the organization of the new order, the other arising sanctuaries from Dan to Beer-sheba--going all the way to
out of the military, political, and religious circumstances the sacred precinct at Horeb (= Sinai) and seeking the
of the monarchy. presence of God in the same cave or grotto where Moses
If the passage in Exodus 15 points to the heavenly had met the deity long before. Elijah was granted a certain
sanctuary erected by Yahweh himself on top of the sacred vision (or anti-vision), but unlike Moses was not invited
mountain in the midst of the holy territory, then we must to see the true tabnit, the sanctuary which served as a
ask about the corresponding passage in Ps 78:67-69: model for all the replicas, especially the tabernacle and
the temple in Jerusalem. But there is no reason to doubt
that it was still there. Heavenly temples are built to
(67) Then he rejected the tent of Joseph
last-M6ldlam in fact.
and the tribe of Ephraim he did not choose.
(68) But he chose the tribe of Judah DNF
48 MAY 1977
POLEMICS & IRENICS NEWS FROM THE FIELD
Eblaite in Sumerian Script
In the September 1976 issue of the BIBLICAL Politics and Archeology
ARCHEOLOGIST( Vol. 39, No. 3) there appears "A Letter to Aaron Sittner in the Jerusalem Post, March 17,
the Readers." In this letter it is stated: "Eighty percent of
1977. "Approval of the Government-sponsored
the Ebla tablets are not in the native Eblaite language at
Antiquities Law was blocked yesterday when the Knesset,
all but in pure Sumerian." This statement does not reflect
in a surprise vote, adopted an amendment submitted by
the situation as I understand it. While it might be
Yehuda Meir Abramowitz of Agudat Yisrael.
legitimate to say that the tablets are written in pure
"A year in the making, the law was framed to
Sumerian (if this were taken to refer to the script), it is not
replace the Mandatory Antiquities Ordinance which
correct to say that they are not in the native Eblaite
currently governs the exploitation and marketing of
language at all. Dr. Matthiae, later in the same issue (p.
ancient artifacts of historical value.
103), states that all the texts, excepting the Sumerian
"Abramowitz was disturbed by the inclusion of the
word lists, are written in this oldest known Northwest
term 'anthropological remains' in the law. Noting that
Semitic language. Dr. Pettinato, in the May issue (Vol.
this refers to human skeletons, Abramowitz said the
39, No. 2, p. 50), explains: ". . . the tablets, though
Jewish religion requires prompt interment of a person's
written in Sumerian, were surely read as Northwest
remains-regardless of their antiquity.
Semitic." Pettinato, as I follow his argument, points to
"He recalled that there have been cases in which
the presence of Northwest Semitic affixes and lack of
ancient bones have been taken from historical sites,
Sumerian affixes as evidences that the Sumerian
exhibited in museums, and then handled without respect
logograms with which these tablets were written were
and even discarded as rubbish.
read by the scribes as Northwest Semitic words ("Testi
"The vote was 12 for the Abramowitz proposal
cuneiformi del 3. millenio in paleo-cananeo rinvenuti
and 10 for the Government version.
nella campagna 1974 a Tell Mardikh = Ebla," Orientalia
"In accordance with Knesset rules, the final
NS [1975], p. 368).
reading could not be held yesterday since an amendment
It is important to make clear that the Eblaite
had been approved. The law . . will probably have to
language was written with Sumerian script in two
wait until the Ninth Knesset for a final vote."
different ways because of the significance of this for the
history of writing. Twenty percent of the tablets, it seems,
use the Sumerian script solely as a phonetic repre- And More Politics
sentation of Eblaite. This implies that a revolution in the
Abraham Rabinovich in the Jerusalem Post, June
theory of writing took place at Ebla. From the clumsier
29, 1977. "Israel's top archeologists are to gather in
system employing both logograms and phonetic signs, the
Jerusalem next week to discuss limitations placed on
scribes at Ebla turned to the simpler, purely phonetic
archeological activity by the coalition agreements
method of writing, a considerable step forward in the
between the Likud and the religious parties.
utility of writing.
The Likud agreed to support an amendment to the
In closing let me thank you for the impressive
Antiquities Law which calls for burial of human remains
coverage you have been giving the discoveries at Ebla. It
found in archeological excavations, without subjecting
has been much appreciated by me as I am sure it has by
them to areheological or anthropological study.
others.
Archeologists would have to report such finds to the
Academy of the New Church Stephen D. Cole religious authorities and receive their permission to
Bryn Athyn, Pennsylvania Theological School continue to dig in the area of the burials.
BIBLICAL ARCHEOLOGIST 49
"The agreements also would give a committee Jerusalem Post, April 8, 1977, describes the Ceremony of
attached to the Religious Affairs Ministry authority over the Holy Fire, which takes place on Easter Saturday:
the area south of the Temple Mount, the site of extensive "About mid-day, crowds of Arab Christians join
archeological activity. with monks, pilgrims, and people of the Greek,
"Yosef Aviram, head of the Israel Exploration Armenian, Syrian, and Coptic communities around the
Society, expressed concern . . . over the reported empty tomb in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. The
agreement between the Likud and the religious throng fills the galleries and balconies as the Greek
parties. . . Patriarch (or his representative)a nd an Armenian priest
"The study of human remains and ossuaries often enter the tomb and the door is sealed.
plays an important role in recreating the society, cus- "After some moments, the doors burst open and
toms, and history being examined by the excavators. the Greek prelate, with two flaming bundles of candles in
From the bones, the scientists can determine sex, age, and his hands, calls, 'Come and receive light from the eternal
cause of death. (Prof. Yadin found 25 skeletons of men, light which does not set, and embrace the risen Christ!'
women, and children heaped inside a cave at Masada, People stretch out their arms to ignite their candles from
presumably the remains of the Jewish zealots who died the light which originated in the tomb. The fire'spreads
there in the Roman siege in the First Century.) quickly from hand to hand until all the worshippers have
"The archeologists can also draw cultural a lighted candle.
inferences from styles of burial. Examination of bones "The joyful processions around the edicule of
found on Givat Hamivtar in Jerusalem several years ago the tomb and the basilica continue for almost two
produced the first remains of a crucified person ever hours. . ... Then a triumphal procession leaves the
found in the city." building and disperses to respective community churches
in the Old City. The parish scout bands participate in the
Gethsemane's Ancient Olive Trees happy occasion. Each group is led by someone who
carries aloft a burning brand.
Tour guides are inveterate romantics so it is not
"Metropolitan Vassilios of the Greek Orthodox
surprisingt hat the guides to Gethsemane maintain that its
grove of olive trees sheltered Christ. They may, in fact, be Patriarchate . . . stated that the ceremony is the
'symbolic commemoration of our Lord's resurrectiona nd
right. Carbon-14 tests on roots from the trees show that
events which accompanied it.' . . . Archmandrite
they are 2300 years old. Such dating is notoriously
Modestos tells how 'pilgrimsf rom nearby Arab countries,
flexible, but the antiquity of the trees is also supported by
Greece, and Cyprus, keep the flame alight in oil-lamps
Prof. Shimon Lavi, director of the Orchard Department
designed for that purpose, and convey it safely to their
of the Volcani Institute, who estimates that they are
native churches.'
between 1600 and 1800 years old, but quite possibly more.
Prof. Lavi had examined the eight ancient trees in "When in history did the Ceremony of the Holy
the Gethsemane Garden at the request of the Franciscan Fire begin? Documents which relate the visits of pilgrims
during the Byzantine period (A.D. 325-614) indicate that
friars who oversee Gethsemane because the trees were
drying out and shedding leaves. Pruning seems to have by 384 there was already a regular practice of taking 'fire
arrested the disease, although it apparently was over- from the cave of the resurrection'a nd lighting lamps and
zealous pruning that caused the death of two of the trees candles from it. . . . Later it evolved into an annual
ceremony. The practice of having it on Saturday seems to
earlier in the century. Souvenir-hunters lopped off so
have started in order for runners to reach scattered
many branches after the First World War that they killed
churches in the Land by Easter Sunday morning with
the trees, which have only recently been replaced. The two
their torches of fire."
dead trees supplied the material for the Carbon-14 tests
made at the University of California some years ago.
Samaritan Passover
Easter in Jerusalem
On the 14th day of the Samaritan month of Nisan
The crowds of Christian pilgrims, overflowing the (May Ist), the tiny Samaritan community in Israel
streets and churches of Jerusalem's Old City, were even celebrated Passover: "In the tenth day of this month they
larger than usual this year since Easter was celebrated on shall take to them every man a lamb, according to the
the same date by both the Eastern and Western churches. house of their fathers, a lamb for a house. .. . And they
From among the countless ceremonies, services, and shall keep it until the fourteenth day of the month and the
processions during Holy Week here, Oikoumenikos in the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it
50 MAY 1977
after noon. . ." (Exodus 12). (Using a different calendar, Wall--600 meters to the east-which was part of the
the Jewish community had observed Passover a month support wall of the Temple Mount. They are, however,
earlier.) smaller and not as handsomely dressed as the latter. Their
For nearly 3,000 years the Samaritans have lived purpose clearly was to withstand the onslaught of an
outside Nablus in the shadow of Mt. Gerizim. Their enemy, and aesthetics were not as important as in a wall
numbers have dwindled to somewhere between 200 and supporting a holy temple.
400, many having migrated in the last decades to Holon. "In a lecturey esterday at the Rockefeller Museum,
The four priestly families-Tsadaka, Danfi, Marhiv, Broshi said that the security-conscious Herod made use of
Sason, and headed by the high priest Amram ben an existing 5 /2-meter-thickH asmonean wall-itself twice
Itzhak-continue to live in the home of their ancestors as thick as the present Turkish wall. To this he added on
and to venerate Mt. Gerizim as the holy mountain of God. the outside a 2 ?-meter-thick wall of his own, giving him a
The Samaritan rites are based on a Samaritan variant text defence wall eight meters thick. (The Temple Mount wall,
of the Pentateuch which had to support a massive fill, was five meters thick.)
A month before the Passover feast, the Samaritans "This is the first time that a city wall from the
assemble on Mt. Gerizim, where they remain until the Herodian period has been uncovered. A length of 150
feast. On the feast day, the men don the traditional dress meters has been exposed.
of loose white trousers and white shirts. The elders are "In a separate dig along the southern city wall,
distinguished by red tarbooshes. Broshi discovered evidence of the 'scorched-earth'p olicy
A limited number of invitations are issued to adopted by a 13th-century Moslem ruler which left
outsiders, who were seated this year on both sides of a Jerusalem as an unwalled city for more than three
fenced enclosure within which were the elders, their centuries.
families, and the sheep to be slaughtered for the sacrifice. "About 150 meters east of Zion Gate Broshi found
The ceremony began at 5:30 when the high priest, in a remains of a gate and defense tower together with part of
bright green robe and a red turban encircled with white an Arabic inscription indicating that they were built by
brocade, approached the altar. After readings and the ruler of an Ayyubid Dynasty, Al-Malik Muadham
responses from the sacred text, 15 sheep were carried to a Issa of Damascus, in the year 1212.
stone slab, where they were killed soundlessly and with "Seven years later, the same ruler destroyed what
despatch. The knife was held aloft, signaling the he had built. The Ayyubids, as part of a settlement with a
completion of the ritual slaughter-elders, priests, and Crusader force then battling in Egypt, agreed to turn over
other members of the community embraced one another. to them Jerusalem and other cities regarded as holy by
All the visitors were requested to leave before the Christians. Before the Crusaders came to claim their
preparation of the sheep for the Passover feasting: prize, however, Al-Malik Muadham razed the city walls
"nothing of it [shall] remain until the morning; and that in order to leave the Crusaders exposed when they
which remaineth of it until the morning ye shall burn with arrived.
fire" (Exodus 12). "The Crusaders were to regain possession of
Jerusalem forjust 10 years; and it would be 320 years, said
Broshi, before the city was walled again by the Turks.
New Herodian "Western Found
Wall"
Having been exposed to the elements for just seven years
Abraham Rabinovich in the Jerusalem Post, before being buried in rubble, the inscription is still fresh
March 22, 1977. "A new 'western wall' from the Second and is still touched with red paint.
Temple period has been uncovered in Jerusalem-this "The point where the gateway was found is in a
one a testament to King Herod's fear of his fellow man direct line with the Byzantine cardo (Fourth-Sixth
rather than his awe of the Almighty. Centuries C.E.)u ncovered inside the Jewish Quarter by
"The new wall, uncovered by archaeologist Magen archaeologist Nahman Avigad. Broshi is convinced that
Broshi on the western flank of the Citadel, was part of the the southern city gate of that period depicted in the
western city wall built by Herod 2,000 years ago. The Madeba map lies beneath the 13th-centuryg ate he found.
section uncovered protected his palace, which stretched "The same site was chosen by modern-day city
south from today's Citadel. The wall is more than three planners as the point where an underground vehicular
times as thick as the present city wall built by the Turks tunnel beneath the city wall would connect the 'Pope's
four centuries ago. Road' on Mount Zion with an underground parking lot
"The stones in the city wall bear a clear resemblance to be developed beneath the large open space on the
because of their margins to those of the Western southern edge of the Jewish Quarter."
BIBLICAL ARCHEOLOGIST 51
issue of the Annual of the American Schools of Oriental
Research (Vol. 44, 1977) will be devoted to the results
from this important series of excavations in the Syrian
Euphrates region.
Institute of Archaeology ROBERTM ILLER
London
COLLOQUIA
The 2nd Temple University Aegean Symposium
The Aegean Bronze Age-An
Interdisciplinary Approach
Euphrates Valley Archeology
In 1976 Philip P. Betancourt, professor of History
Scholars from Syria, Europe, and the United of Art at Temple University, instituted the first
States gathered in Strasbourg 10-12 March 1977 to share symposium on the Bronze Age in the Aegean. The interest
the results of a decade of excavations in Syria on the it aroused warranted a second symposium on 25 March
middle Euphrates. Through the initiative of the Syrian 1977 which also attracted a large crowd. *
Directorate-General of Antiquities and Museums, with Dr. Claireve Grandjouan, chairman of the
the assistance of UNESCO, the construction of a massive Classics Department at New York's Hunter College,
dam on the Euphrates at Tabqa for irrigation and opened the meeting with a spirited paper entitled "Aegean
electricity has been accompanied by an international Leisure Time." She contended that in spite of the
campaign of archeological excavations. Digging has expansion of tourismi n the Aegean and offshorer adio
uncovered important evidence for cultural development transmissions, the islanders' use of leisure time remains
over more than ten millennia. today much the same as in the 2nd millennium B.c., as
Papers presented at the conference covered a rich depicted on palace murals, vase reliefs, seals, ivories, and
range of topics from prehistoric demography and intaglios. Because the Aegean islands were isolated for
architecture,e arly Sumerian trading and cult centers, the most of the year, their culture differs from that of the
flowering of town life and international relations during Mediterranean civilizations where contact with new
the Bronze Age, down to events on the Roman frontier in peoples and ideas inevitably modified the lifestyle of the
the first centuries A.D.N ot all the sites reported on have inhabitants.
been flooded, and work is continuing on opposite banks The Aegeans, particularly the residents of Crete
of the Euphrates at Tell Hadidi where R. H. Dornemann and the Cyclades, were sensitive observers of nature,
directs the Milwaukee Public Museum expedition, and leaving little doubt that they spent much of their time
Tell Halawa where a German team is directed by outdoors. The emphasis on flowers, gardening, and
W. Orthmann. potted plants has no equal elsewhere.
The scope of the conference was extended to There is scanty representation of people eating and
include two sites west of the Euphrates. At Abu Danne, a drinking, which probably accounts for the slim figures
Belgian team under R. Tefnin is continuing work on a site depicted on the frescoes. The lack of importance attached
with evidence from the Iron Age as well as earlier and to feasting in the Aegean is in marked contrast to the
later periods. Readers of BIBLICAALR CHEOLOGwISilTl b e emphasis on large banquets found elsewhere in the Near
particularly interested in the report by the director of the East. In the Aegean, moreover, there is no evidence of
Tell Mardikh excavations, P. Matthiae of the University professional party entertainerss uch as musicians, singers,
of Rome (see"'Ebla in the Late Early Syrian Period: The and dancers, although there are representations of
Royal Palace and the State Archives," BIBLICAL amateur performers in outdoor settings.
ARCHEOLOGIST 39, September 1976, pp. 94-113). The If feasting was not highly regarded, however,
papers presented at the Strasbourg conference have been
edited and will be published in the near future by the
conference organizer, Professor J. C. Margueron of the * It is a pleasuret o acknowledgeth e generoush ospitalityw ith
University of Strasbourg's Centre de Recherches sur le which the participantso f the meeting were met and the
Proche-Orient et la GrAce Antiques. A forthcoming consideratione xtendedt o them.
52 MAY 1977