Biblical Archaeology Review

The Talmud (from the Hebrew, to “study”) is a written compendium of oral law completed by about the fifth century A.D. and is composed of the Mishnah and the Gemara, a commentary on the Mishnah. The Talmud exists in two versions: the Jerusalem and the Babylonian.

See “Israel’s Emergence in Canaan—BR Interviews Norman Gottwald,” BR 05:05.

See Hershel Shanks, “Destruction of Judean Fortress Portrayed in Dramatic Eighth-Century B.C. Pictures,” BAR 10:02.

The poetical versification is my own, with the advice of Dr. Edward F. Wente of the University of Chicago.

See Joseph A. Callaway, “Sir Flinders Petrie: Father of Palestinian Archaeology,” BAR 06:06.

This name is often written “Merneptah.” The hieroglyphic signs do not indicate vowels, so either vocalization is possible. The name means Beloved of Ptah. The sign for “of” is the hieroglyphic equivalent of n. I believe it much more likely that it was read en, rather than ne.

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

Bienkowski does not differentiate between Middle Bronze II and III; he calls the entire period from 1800–1550 B.C. Middle Bronze II.

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