by admin | May 8, 2018 | Browse All, Inscriptions, Masada, Pottery
Ten pieces of pottery, each bearing the name of a person, were found in the ruins of Masada. These pieces were believed (by Prof. Yigael Yadin, who excavated the site in the early 1960’s) to be the lots cast by the last defenders of the place. These pieces, soon to be...
by admin | May 7, 2018 | Browse All, Ceramics, Inscriptions, Masada, Popular, Pottery
The emperor Nero sent three legions—the Fifth, Tenth, and Fifteenth—under the command of General Vespasian to Judea in the spring of 67 CE. By the end of that year, Vespasian has reduced the Galilee and the Golan. He returned the following spring and campaigned in...
by admin | May 8, 2018 | Browse All, Masada
Finding Bible Texts Stored in the Synagogue Every archaeologist wants to find written materials but not all of them succeed. Professor Yigael Yadin, leading his crew excavating the ruins of Herod’s fortress of Masada in the early 1960′s, was one of the lucky ones who...
by admin | May 8, 2018 | Browse All, Masada, Scrolls from the Judean Desert
There are some references, usually disparaging, to Bar Kokhba in the Talmud. They concern the proclamation of Rabbi Akiva, who seems to have been the spiritual leader of the revolt and who is credited for changing the leader’s name from Bar Kosiba to Bar Kokhba (in...
by admin | May 8, 2018 | Browse All, Masada, Scrolls from the Judean Desert
Who Was Bar Kokhba? Judea rose in revolt against Rome in 66 CE. That revolt was crushed by the Romans within four years, ending when the Romans destroyed Jerusalem in the late summer of the year 70 CE. A few isolated places, most famously Masada, still held out. In...
by admin | May 8, 2018 | Browse All, Dead Sea Scrolls, Masada, Scrolls from the Judean Desert
The discovery of a room on Masada they could confidently call a synagogue caused great excitement in the scholarly world. It had long been believed that the synagogue, an institution in which Jews prayed, was a later invention, created after and because of the...
