Biblical Archaeology Review

B.C.E. (Before the Common Era) is the scholarly alternate designation corresponding to B.C.

Rabban Gamaliel was the leader of the rabbinic movement at Yavneh (Jamnia), about 90 C.E. Rabban, meaning “our teacher,” is an honorific title referring to the patriarch.

“R.” is the standard talmudic abbreviation for rabbi.

The Druze are a Moslem sect found in the mountains of Lebanon, northern Israel and southern Syria.

See Shlomit Nemlich and Ann Killebrew, “Rediscovering the Ancient Golan—The Golan Archaeological Museum,” BAR 14:06.

The Talmud (tahl-MOOD), literally “teaching,” consists of laws and discussion by generations of scholars. It comprises tractates of the Mishnah (a compilation of laws collected and edited by Rabbi Judah the Prince about 200 C.E.) and the Gemara (a discussion of the Mishnah), sometimes by itself called the Talmud. (For additional details, see the sidebar “Entry into Rabbinic Literature.”)

B.C.E. (Before the Common Era) and C.E. (Common Era) are the scholarly alternate designations corresponding to B.C. and A.D.

As we shall see in Part III, there were other Phoenician deifies and their cults, such as Tanit and her temple, which persisted right on through Roman times, sometimes under a new Greek or Latin name.

An amphora (sing., AM-fo-ruh) is a large storage jar.