Often referred to as the Butcher's Tomb, the decorated tomb of Irukaptah in the Unis Cemetery at Saqqara has been fully recorded for publication. A well-preserved example of Old Kingdom rock architecture, it retains much of its painted decoration. An outstanding feature is the large number of engaged statues, some left in various stages of completion which provide valuable information on the progressive steps in the execution of rock-cut statuary. The volume includes some comparisons of significant artistic and architectural features with data from other near-contemporary tombs.

This volume contains progress reports on the work of these two seasons as well as a number of short reports on excavations at the Roman site of Kellis (Ismant el-Kharab). Contents: Preliminary Reports on the 1992-3 and 1993-4 Seasons (A J Mills); Interim Report on the 1992 Season (M McDonald and K Walker); Interim Report on the 1993 Season (M McDonald); 'Ein Birbiyeh (A J Mills); Deir el-Haggar (A J Mills); Excavations at Ismant el-Kharab (ancient Kellis): Settlement and Cemeteries: Excavations in the Cemeteries of Ismant el-Kharab (M Birrell); Coinage Preliminary Report (G E Bowden); Progress on the Coptic texts from Ismant el-Kharab (I Gardner); Interim Report on the West Tombs (C A Hope and J McKenzie); Epigraphy at Ismant el-Kharab (C Marchini); Brief Report on the Study of Ceramics (S F Patten); Plant Remains from Ismant el-Kharab (U Thanheiser); A Painted Panel of Isis (H Whitehouse).

Recent books about Jesus and early Christianity can be divided into two kinds: those that examine the life and work of the historical Jesus prior to his death and those that reconstruct events between JesusGCO death and the writings of the first Gospels. SawickiGCOs provocative book challenges the results of both kinds of research by using both archaeology and anthropology to situate Jesus clearly in his Galilean cultural context. Sawicki contests recent portraits of Jesus as a Mediterranean peasant, a Cynic sage, or the convener of a fellowship of equals. In addition, she calls into question readings of ancient Galilee that emphasize it as a society marked simply by economic stratification or by an GC honor-shameGCY sociology. Rather, she discovers the Galilean JesusGCO indigenous cultural idiom in its material structures for the negotiation of kinship, the management of labor, the distribution of commodities, and the construction of gender. SawickiGCOs book is the first to balance classical urban archaeology against the more recent archaeology of villages and of local and regional commerce. It frames current issues in Jesus research in terms that can guide both ongoing village excavations in Israel and responsible exegesis of the Gospels in church and academy. Marianne Sawicki is the author of Seeing the Lord: Resurrection and Early Christian Practices. For: Seminarians; graduate students; biblical archaeologists

This study focuses on the origins and development of resource exchanges between the regions bordering the Nile and the Red Sea, in the protohistoric period (3rd and 2nd millennium BC). Andrea Manzo looks at the geography, resources and routes of communication, textual and archaeological evidence relating to the exchange of objects and resources during this period. The political, social and belligerent implications of exchanges are considered and it is argued that exchange routes may have more to do with politics than the ecology or geography. French text.

From the first major discoveries a century ago, the painted portraits of Roman Egypt were a revelation to scholars and the public alike, and the recent finding of a new cache of these gilded images, which made national headlines, have only heightened their mystery and appeal. Published to coincide with a new major exhibition of these portraits, "Ancient Faces" is the most comprehensive, up-to-date survey of these astonishing works of art.
Dating from the later period of Roman rule in Egypt, shortly before the birth of Christ, the painted mummy portraits are among the most remarkable products of the ancient world, a fusion of the traditions of pharonic Egypt and the Classical world. They are historical and cultural objects of outstanding importance and beauty, superb works of art that represent some of the earliest known examples of life-like portraiture. Though the subjects of the portraits believed in the traditional Egyptian cults, which offered them a firm prospect of life after death, they also wished to be commemorated in the Roman manner, with their fashion of dress and adornment signaling their status in life. Despite their ancient history, these portraits speak to the modern eye with a beauty and intensity that would be lost to portraiture until the Renaissance.

This handsome report describes work in the 1980s and 1990s on the tomb of Udjahorresnet, a prominent official who participated in the Persian occupation of Egypt around 525 BC and may even have been one of their main collaborators. As well as chapters on the results of excavations, on the development of the Saite-Persian shaft tomb tradition, and the finds, this book presents a full review of what we know about this colourful 1st Millennium BC figure.

This is a readable introduction to the religious traditions of the ancient Israelites, the people of the Hebrew Bible. It sets forth the biblical and extra-biblical evidence concerning their beliefs, myths, and ritual practices.

This study presents the first comprehensive reconstruction of the 'New Jerusalem' Scroll from the Dead Sea, through integration of all the known fragments into a single entity. Secret ceremonies in the temple are discussed; an architectural reconstruction of the elements described in the scroll is presented, accompanied by computerized plans; a consideration of the tradition of planning the ideal city leads to an examination of the use of metrology, mathematics; and a number mysticism in the plan of the 'New Jerusalem'. A comparison is also made with the traditions of building orthogonal cities in Egypt, Greece, Rome and the Holy Land, as manifested in archaeological findings.>

The most impressive legacy of the Dynasty of Akkade (ca. 2310-2160 B.C.E.) was the widespread, popular legends of its kings. Dr. Westenholz offers an annotated edition of all the known legends of the Akkadian kings, with transliteration, translation, and commentary. Of particular interest to biblical scholars is the inclusion of "The Birth Legend of Sargon," which is often compared to Moses in Exodus.

This text, published with translation and commentary, is a work attributed to Shenoute, the 4th-5th century abbot of the White Monastry in Upper Egypt. The work is based on the theme God never turns his face from those who truly worship him, and contains six distinct miraculous episodes.

The most impressive legacy of the Dynasty of Akkade (ca. 2310-2160 B.C.E.) was the widespread, popular legends of its kings. Dr. Westenholz offers an annotated edition of all the known legends of the Akkadian kings, with transliteration, translation, and commentary. Of particular interest to biblical scholars is the inclusion of "The Birth Legend of Sargon," which is often compared to Moses in Exodus.

El-Hagarsa lies on the west bank of the Nile near the border of Nomes 8 and 9, though it is disputed as to which of them it belonged. Some of the tombs were recorded and published by Petrie in 1908, but the cemetery was re-examined by the Australian Centre for Egyptology in an attempt to further document the archaeological remains of the ninth province of Upper Egypt, and this book reports on their findings. The investigation revealed some inconsistencies in the earlier record, some important unrecorded decorated tombs, as well as the discovery of two undecorated tombs with undisturbed burial chambers.

For over one hundred years archaeologists have explored the land of Israel, investigating such fascinating topics as the migrations of the patriarchs, the Israelites’ conquest of Canaan, and the establishment of the monarchy by David and Solomon. In this book some of Israel’s foremost archaeologists present a thorough and up-to-date survey of this research, providing an assessable introduction to early life in the land of the Bible.   The authors discuss the history of ancient Israel from the Neolithic era (eighth millennium B.C.E.) to the fall of Jerusalem and the destruction of the First Temple in 586 B.C.E. Each chapter describes a different era as seen through relevant archaeological discoveries. The reader is introduced to the first permanent settlements in the land of Israel, the crystallization of the political system of city-states, the nature of Canaanite culture, the Israelite patterns of settlement, and the division of the country into the kingdoms of Judah and Israel. The lavishly illustrated text explores and demonstrates developments in religious practices, architecture, technology, customs, arts and crafts, warfare, writing, cult practices, and trade.   The book will be a delightful and informative resource for anyone who has ever wanted to know more about the religious, scientific, or historical background to the events described in the Bible, or to current developments in the Middle East.

Joseph P. Free's Archaeology and Bible History, first published in 1950, served well an entire generation of pastors, Sunday school teachers, laypersons, and college students by summarizing the history of the Bible and shedding light on biblical events through archaeological discoveries. The author demonstrated how such data helps us understand the Bible and confirm its historical accuracy. At times he also dealt with issues of biblical interpretation and criticism, always from a historically orthodox position. When the book was withdrawn from circulation in 1976 after the fourteenth printing, many hoped for the day when it would be revised and updated. That task has now been undertaken by one of Dr. Free's former students and a biblical archaeologist in his own right, Dr. Howard Vos. He has brought the archaeological and historical material up to date and has modified earlier archaeological interpretations where necessary. The bibliography has been almost totally replaced.

This volume covers the Isin-Larsa and Old Babylonian periods, a period marked initially by the struggle of two city-states, Isin and Larsa, for control over the land of Sumer in southern Babylonia. In the end the city-state of Babylon, under its energetic ruler Hammurabi, intervened. At an opportune moment, Hammurabi struck swiftly, defeated Larsa, and incorporated the southern domains into his own realms, thereby creating an empire that for a short time united the lands of Sumer and Akkad. The inscriptions in this volume are grouped by dynasties and arranged in order by ruler within each dynasty. Further, the inscriptions are arranged chronologically within each king's reign. A short introduction for each inscription gives its general contents, place of origin, and relative dating. Also included are a detailed catalogue of exemplars, a brief commentary, bibliography, and text in transliteration facing an English translation. The appended microfiches contain a transliteration of each individual exemplar displayed in a format reminiscent of a musical score.

Seafaring is a mode of travel, a way to traverse maritime space that enables not only the transport of goods and materials but also of people and ideas - communicating and sharing knowledge across the sea and between different lands. Seagoing ships under sail were operating between the Levant, Egypt, Cyprus and Anatolia by the mid-third millennium BC and within the Aegean by the end of that millennium. By the Late Bronze Age (after ca. 1700/1600 BC), seaborne trade in the eastern Mediterranean made the region an economic epicentre, one in which there was no place for Aegean, Canaanite or Egyptian trading monopolies, or 'thalassocracies'. At that time, the world of eastern Mediterranean seafaring and seafarers became much more complex, involving a number of different peoples in multiple networks of economic and social exchange. This much is known, or in many cases widely presumed. Is it possible to trace the origins and emergence of these early trade networks? Can we discuss at any reasonable level who was involved in these maritime ventures? Who built the early ships in which maritime trade was conducted, and who captained them? Who sailed them? Which ports and harbours were the most propitious for maritime trade? What other evidence exists for seafaring, fishing, the exploitation of marine resources and related maritime matters? This study seeks to address such questions by examining a wide range of material, documentary and iconographic evidence, and re-examining a multiplicity of varying interpretations on Bronze Age seafaring and seafarers in the eastern Mediterranean, from Anatolia in the north to Egypt in the south and west to Cyprus. The Aegean world operated on the western boundaries of this region, but is referred to more in passing than in engagement. Because the social aspects of seafaring and transport, the relationship different peoples had with the sea, and the whole notion of 'seascapes' are seldom discussed in the literature of the eastern Mediterranean Bronze Age, this volume devotes significant attention to such factors, including: mobility, connectivity, the length and purpose as well as the risk of the journey, the knowledge and experience of navigation and travel, 'working' the sea, the impact of distance and access to the exotic upon peoples' identities and ideologies, and much more.

Apres la formidable avancee que fut la theorie documentaire a la fin du xixe siecle, identifiant des " auteurs " et des ecoles de redaction, un siecle plus tard, la theorie a laisse de plus en plus la place a un reel complexe, celui des scribes modifiant les textes a mesure qu'ils les copiaient. " La Bible " n'apparait plus alors comme etant un projet theologique et historiographique maitrise mais comme l'agencement empirique de textes heterogenes relies entre eux par une ideologie religieuse evolutive. Si le grand recit d'ensemble des premiers livres se construit sur l'election et la migration d'un peuple en son entier, les fondements ideologiques du yahwisme font plutot etat d'un dieu etranger qui serait parvenu jusqu'en terre israelite pour, a terme, s'y imposer. Cette ideologie monotheiste fut surtout un exclusivisme qui se renforca de l'epoque des rois d'Israel et de Juda jusqu'aux revoltes judeennes contre Rome aux premiers siecles de notre ere. Pour tenter de saisir la nature et l'origine, ainsi que l'evolution, de cette forme specifique de monotheisme, qui a fait d'un dieu jaloux le seul Dieu, nous nous sommes appuye avant tout sur le concept des " deux yahwismes ". Cette theorie permet en effet de comprendre comment un dieu faisant alliance avec un peuple en particulier a pu etre egalement un dieu createur de l'univers et de l'humanite entiere.

Wadi Qitna is located in Egyptian Nubia, 65 kilometers south of Aswan, on the west bank of the Nile. The cemetery here occupies the slopes and adjacent high ground along the edges of the valleys, with the highest concentrations of graves situated along rock outcrops where stone was readily available. This book describes excavations at the Roman and Byzantine tumulus graves and the finds unearthed, particularly the pottery which forms the basis of the Eastern Desert Ware type.

This book casts light on a much neglected phase of the UNESCO world heritage site of Palmyra, namely the period between the fall of the Palmyrene 'Empire' (AD 272) and the end of the Umayyad dominion (AD 750). The goal of the book is to fill a substantial hole in modern scholarship - the late antique and early Islamic history of the city still has to be written. In late antiquity Palmyra remained a thriving provincial city whose existence was assured by its newly acquired role of stronghold along the eastern frontier. Palmyra maintained a prominent religious role as one of the earliest bishoprics in central Syria and in early Islam as the political centre of the powerful Banu Kalb tribe. Post-Roman Palmyra, city and setting, provide the focus of this book. Analysis and publication of evidence for post-Roman housing enables a study of the city's urban life, including the private residential buildings in the sanctuary of Ba'alshamin. A systematic survey is presented of the archaeological and literary evidence for the religious life of the city in Late Antiquity and Early Islam. The city's defences provide another focus. After a discussion of the garrison quartered in Palmyra, Diocletian's military fortress and the city walls are investigated, with photographic and archaeological evidence used to discuss chronology and building techniques. The book concludes with a synthetic account of archaeological and written material, providing a comprehensive history of the settlement from its origins to the fall of Marwan II in 750 AD.