Biblical Archaeology Review, September/October 1996
Features
Is the Bible Right After All? BAR Interviews William Dever—Part Two
Continuing their wide-ranging conversation, excavator Bill Dever and Hershel Shanks turn to a crucial issue: How the Bible and archaeology can be used—and misused—to illuminate each other. HS: What does it mean to be an Israelite in the 12th century B.C.E.? You call them proto-Israelites. What’s the...Read more ›
Multiculturalism at Sardis
Jews and Christians live, work and worship side by side
Christian anti-Semitism in the Byzantine period (312–1453 C.E.) is well documented—in legal codes, in religious and secular literature, and in iconographic depictions.1 The Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium describes the situation: [Jews] lived among a triumphant, arrogant, and multi-ethnic Christian population whose literature, religion, liturgy,...Read more ›
Death Knell for Israel Archaeology?
For years, ultra-Orthodox Jews in Israel have used any means at their disposal, including violence, to stop archaeological excavations on the alleged ground that ancient Jewish graves are being desecrated. Recent elections have significantly strengthened the religious bloc in the Israeli knesset, or parliament. With 23 seats...Read more ›
The Twins and the Scholar
How two Victorian sisters and a rabbi discovered the Hebrew text of Ben Sira
This year marks the 100th anniversary of one of the most famous letters in the history of Biblical scholarship: University Library, Cambridge May 13, 1896 Dear Mrs. Lewis, I think we have reason to congratulate ourselves. For the fragment I took with me...Read more ›