Biblical Archaeology Review

The roots of this plant were apparently an aphrodisiac. See Hector Avalos, “Ancient Medicine: In Case of Emergency, Contact Your Local Prophet,” Bible Review, June 1995, p. 30.

The Madaba Plains Project (MPP) excavates three sites—‘Umayri is sponsored by LaSierra University in consortium with Canadian University College and Walla Walla College and in association with Andrews University. MPP also includes excavations at Tall Hisban and Tall Jalul, both sponsored by Andrews University.

New official spellings of all sites in Jordan now correspond to the Arabic spellings of the written words, not the Arabic pronunciations of the spoken words; thus, the word for an ancient mound, tell, has become tall; it is, however, pronounced exactly the same as tell! ‘Umayri’s spelling was also changed from ‘Umeiri.

See now the translation of the Bavian rock inscription by Cogan in The Context of Scripture, vol. 2, ed. William W. Hallo and K. Lawson Younger (Leiden: Brill, 2000), p. 305.

Pritchard, ANET, p. 303: entry for the second year, concerning the town of Arza.

See Harold Brodsky, “The Shephelah—Guardian of Judea,” Bible Review, Winter 1987.

The Rassam cylinder, named after its discoverer, Hormuzd Rassam, contains reports of Sennacherib’s first three campaigns. Though known for over a century, it has only recently been fully treated in Eckart Frahm, “Einleitung in die Sanherib-Inschriften,” Beihefte zur Archiv für Orientforschung 26 (1997), pp. 51–61.

For example, the matter of Hezekiah’s illness, related in 2 Kings 20:1–11, preceded the Assyrian invasion, as is clearly implied in verse 6.