Ancient Pergamum

Pergamun or modern Bergama was the third church to which Jesus Christ directed his personal letters.
About seventy miles north of Smyrna and fifteen miles inland lay the magnificent city of Pergamum, with a citadel nearly thirteen hundred feet above the plain of the Caicus River and a major city at its base. It became an important city in the third century B.C.
Pergamum was a center of

• Learning and education. Along with Athens and Alexandria it became a major intellectual center. Eumenes II was directly responsible for popularizing writing sheets made from animal skins that became known as περγαμηνή (pergamenē), known today as “parchment” (tradition says it was invented there, but that has been disproven).
• Art and culture
• Political capital
• Commercial
• Religious. 
• Medical/healing.
• Emperor worship.

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Museum of the Church of the Annunciation

the Crusader capitals that were never installed

one of the four Crusader capitals for the Crusader church

Born in a hole in the Ground

Luke was the one who gave the most details about Jesus' birth.

LK 2:4 So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David. 5 He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child. 6 While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, 7 and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn. 

A manger is a trough for holding animal feeds. We often assume that Jesus was born in a stable because that is where a manger will be. Maybe we assume wrong?

traditional site of Mary's house

This is the traditional site of Mary's house which is beside the Basilica of the Annunciation. This was where Mary lived with her family and where the conversation with the angel Gabriel took place. Wood are scarce in Israel so many peasants live in cave-like holes in the ground. They would dig and make their homes there. A typical house will have two rooms and a common area. One room will be where the family sleep and the other room will be where the animals are kept. The common area will the kitchen, dining area and family room. The smell must be challenging especially when the humans and animals are kept indoor during the cold winter!

Bethlehem and Nazareth were tiny villages at the time of Jesus and most people will likely live in houses like this.Hence it is likely that a peasant family had taken in poor Joseph and a very pregnant Mary and allowed them to stay in the animal room (together with the animals). After birth, the baby was laid in the manger. The King of Kings, the Glory of God, the Son of Man, God incarnate was born in a dirty and smelly little hole in the ground. We complain when we move out of our comfort zones. Our comfort zones are usually brightly lit, warm, clean, and safe. Imagine God's sacrifice. Not only was God incarnate born in a hole in the ground, it is likely that he grew up in one such as these too.

another view of "Mary's house"

Orthodox are  familiar with the kontakion of the Nativity (Third Tone) by St Romanos the Melodist.

Today the Virgin giveth birth to Him Who is transcendent in essence;and the earth offereth a cave to Him Who is unapproachable.Angels with shepherds give glory;with a star the Magi do journey; for our sake a young Child is born, Who is pre-eternal God.

(HT: Nathaniel Woon and  Collins Michael Nunis)

the bricks are added to shore up the walls

Mary's neighbor

roof of the neighborhood

photo of site of the Nazareth village in the 1955 excavations (source: Franciscan cyperspot)

 The excavations reveals silos, cisterns and cave-dwellings. This is one of the few sites where these were left relatively intact.

the Baptistry is built over the site of the ancient village (source: Franciscan cyperspot)

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Masada

 For many Christians, our knowledge of the history of Israel ended with the crucifixion of Jesus Christ, then we fast forward to the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 AD, and then to the formation of the state of Israel in 1948. Actually there are lots more in the history. Most of our knowledge about this period comes from Josephus, a former Jewish Zealot who became a Roman historian. According to him, Herod the Great built a wonderful winter palace for himself on Masada and also fortified it in case there is a revolt. It was a magnificent engineering feat considering the plateau is located in the Judean desert beside the Dead Sea.

According to Josephus, during the First Jewish-Roman War, a group of zealots called Sicarri, overcame the Roman garrison on Masada and entrenched themselves on the mountain fortress. After the destruction of Jerusalem and the Second Temple, thousands of refugees escaped to Masada. From Masada, the Sicarri carried out raid against the Jewish settlement which were under Roman control. A raid on Ein-Gedi was recorded by Josephus where an alleged 700 Jewish villagers were massacred.

The Romans decided to end this rebellion in 72 AD and laid siege to Masada. It was almost impossible to mount a frontal attack on the fortress.

The cliffs on the east edge of Masada are about 1,300 feet (400 m) high and the cliffs on the west are about 300 feet (91 m) high; the natural approaches to the cliff top are very difficult. The top of the plateau is flat and rhomboid-shaped, about 1,800 feet (550 m) by 900 feet (270 m).(Wiki)

In typical Roman fashion, the Roman built a ramp up to the walls- a result of great strategic thinking and engineering skills.With the ramp built, they were able to breach the wall in the evening. They decided to invade Masada in the morning. However, all they found are dead bodies because in a last act of defiance, all 960 inhabitants committed mass suicide during the night. Ten men were chosen by lots to kill the rest and then each other.

view of the plateau from the direction of the Dead Sea

Snake path -route up and down; the rectangle in the back is the remains of a Roman camp

residential area

model of Masada

commandant's headquarters

remains of the Roman ramp

Map of Masada: 1. snake path gate. 2. rebel dwellings. 3. Byzantine monastic cave. 4. eastern water cistern. 5. rebel dwellings. 6. mikvah. 7. southern gate. 8. rebel dwellings. 9. southern water cistern. 10. southern fort. 11. swimming pool. 12. small palace. 13. round columbarium tower. 14. mosaic workshop. 15. small palace. 16. small palace. 17. public immersion pool.
18–21. Western Palace: 18. service area. 19. residential area. 20. storerooms. 21. administrative area. 22. tanners' tower. 23. western Byzantine gate. 24. columbarium towers. 25. synagogue. 26. Byzantine church. 27. barracks.
28–39. Northern Palace: 28. grand residence. 29. quarry. 30. commandant’s headquarters. 31. tower. 32. administration building. 33. gate. 34. storerooms. 35. bathhouse. 36. water gate.
37–39. Herod's Palace: 37. upper terrace. 38. middle terrace. 39. lower terrace.
A. ostraca cache found in casemate. B. Herod's throne room. C. colorful mosaic. D. Roman breaching point. E. coin cache found. F. ostraca cache found. G. three skeletons found.

source: Wiki

St Paul and his bones

My good friend, the Reverend Dr Lim Kar Yong, our local St. Paul expert went to Rome a few days ago and then the Paul announced that St.Pauls remains are found. Coincidence?

From Times Online

June 29, 2009

Basilica bones are St Paul's, Pope declares after carbon dating tests

(Patrick Hertzog)

The tomb of St Paul in Rome

Richard Owen in Rome

Pope Benedict XVI said last night that bone fragments found inside the tomb of St Paul in Rome had been carbon dated for the first time, "confirming the unanimous and uncontested tradition that they are the mortal remains of the Apostle Paul".

He said that archaeologists had inserted a probe into the white marble sarcophagus under the Basilica of St Paul's Outside the Walls which has been revered for centuries as the tomb of St Paul.

The pontiff said: "Small fragments of bone were carbon dated by experts who knew nothing about their provenance and results showed they were from someone who lived between the 1st and 2nd century. This seems to confirm the unanimous and uncontested tradition that these are the mortal remains of Paul the Apostle."

The Pope, who said the discovery "fills our souls with great emotion", made the unexpected announcement during Vespers at St Paul's Basilica last night, marking the end of the Pauline year held in honour of the apostle. He said that as well as bone fragments, archaeologists had found grains of red incense, a piece of purple linen with gold sequins and a blue fabric with linen filaments in the tomb.

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King Herod Revealed

Masada-King Herod's 3 tiered palace

This interesting article from National Geographic, December 2008

The Holy Land's visionary builder.

By Tom Mueller

Photograph by Michael Melford

 Eight miles south of Jerusalem, where the last stunted olive trees and stony cornfields fade into the naked badlands of the Judaean desert, a hill rises abruptly, a steep cone sliced off at the top like a small volcano. This is Herodium, one of the grand architectural creations of Herod the Great, King of Judaea, who raised a low knoll into a towering memorial of snowy stonework and surrounded it with pleasure palaces, splashing pools, and terraced gardens. An astute and generous ruler, a brilliant general, and one of the most imaginative and energetic builders of the ancient world, Herod guided his kingdom to new prosperity and power.

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Top 15 Finds in Archaeology

Top Fifteen Finds from Biblical Archaeology

Dr. Walter C. Kaiser, Jr., is President and Colman M. Mockler Distinguished Professor of Old Testament, Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary published in CONTACT (Winter 2005/2006)
It is difficult to reduce several hundred rather major archaeological finds to a mere 15 that top the list. Indeed, Michael D. Coogan attempted to list the "10 Great Finds" in the 20th anniversary issue of the magazine Biblical Archaeology Review (BAR, vol. 21.3, May-June 1995, pp 36-47). Some of my top picks will coincide with his, but all 15 will be listed here because of the way each has affected the interpretation of Scripture. With some attention to their importance, I will list the 15 in order of greatest significance.

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Archaeology and the New Testament

Archaeology and the Reliability of the New Testament

by Dr. Sean M. McDonough, Associate Professor of New Testament, who taught New Testament at Pacific Theological College in Suva, Fiji Islands, where he also served as Chair of the Biblical Studies Department before coming to Gordon-Conwell in 2000. Published CONTACT (Winter 2005/2006)

Much of the discussion in New Testament archaeology surrounds the identification of specific places mentioned in the biblical texts. Sometimes this can yield important insights. For example, the five-porticoed pool of Bethesda in Jerusalem (John 5) was thought by some to be a fiction invented by John to symbolize the Pentateuch or some other five-membered set. But archaeological study has demonstrated that John spoke about the pool because it was there, and he said it had five porticoes because it did. Just last year, excavators in Jerusalem uncovered another pool mentioned in John’s gospel: the pool of Siloam to which the blind man of John 9 was sent.

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Archaeology and the Old Testament

Archaeology and the reliability of the Old Testament

This article by Dr. John Sailhamer, Professor of Old Testament
and Hebrew at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary in Wake Forest, North Carolina was published in CONTACT (Winter 2005/2006) , a publication of Gordon-Cornell Theological Seminary


Biblical narratives as a whole cannot always be treated as eyewitness accounts. Much of the book of Kings, for example, records events several hundred years earlier than the time of its composition. That does not mean that these narratives are spun out of thin air. Here is where evangelicals may serve a valuable (if unappreciated) purpose in the larger scheme of things. They, as few others, are prepared to take these biblical texts at face value and ask how they fit into what historians and archaeologists tell us happened.

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