Biblical Archaeology Review

Jotapata was a fortress in the Galilee where Josephus, who was commander of Jewish forces in the Galilee, took refuge from the Romans and where he surrendered to them in 67 A.D. after forty-seven days of siege.

Gamla, which means camel, was named after the camel-like profile created by the peak and its slender connection to the surrounding ranges.

The Priestly tradition is contained in the P Source, one of the four strands which are generally considered to comprise the Pentateuch. The others are J (Yahwist), E (Elohist) and D (the Deuteronomist).

The restoration work was under the direction of the late Paul A. Underwood, and the cleaning of the mosaic was most skillfully executed by the greatest expert in the field, Ernest Hawkins.

According to Tacitus, Nero “fastened the guilt [of arson] and inflicted the most exquisite tortures on a class hated for their abomination, called Christians by the populace” (Annales 15, 44).

Barnabas’ first theological motivation for the observance of Sunday is eschatological. The eighth day (i.e. Sunday) is to be spent rejoicing because it represents “the beginning of another world” (The Epistle of Barnabas 15, 8). Justin’s first reason for the Christians’ Sunday assembly is the commemoration of the inauguration of creation: “because it is the first day on which God, transforming the darkness and prime matter, created the world” (I Apology 67).

The sequence pe-ayin is also found in the Septuagint version of Proverbs 31:25–26. At least two Psalms (Psalms 10 and Psalms 34) have been reconstructed by scholars who suggest that the original form of the poem included an acrostic with a pe-ayin sequence.