Who were the Galatians in the Bible? This map shows the regions of Anatolia during the first century C.E., when Paul would have traveled through the area. Recent archaeological discoveries suggest that the province of Galatia would have included the regions of Pisidia, Phrygia, Lycaonia, and Pamphylia at that time. Map: Biblical Archaeology Society.

Who were the Galatians in the Bible? The apostle Paul addressed one of his now-canonical letters to the “churches of Galatia” (Galatians 1:2), but where exactly were these churches located?

Galatia refers to a region in north central Turkey; Ankara, the capital of modern Turkey, was once a major Galatian city (Ancyra). The name of Galatia is derived from the 20,000 Gauls who settled in the region in 278 B.C.E. More than two centuries later, in 25 B.C.E., the area became a Roman province and was extended to the south. In Paul’s day, the new province included the regions of Pisidia, Phrygia, and Lycaonia. Scholars often refer to these new, southern regions as “south Galatia” and to geographic Galatia as “north Galatia.”

Yet recent archaeological discoveries suggest that Galatia extended even further south during the first century C.E.—meaning that the audience of Paul’s letter might be larger than earlier supposed.

In the Fall 2020 issue of Biblical Archaeology Review, Mark Wilson of the Asia Minor Research Center in Antalya, Turkey, examines the size of Galatia at the time that Paul visited and wrote his letter. As suggested by its title, “Galatia in Text, Geography, and Archaeology,” his article weighs all the available evidence for tracking down this province’s borders to determine the original audience of Paul’s letter to the Galatians.

Become a BAS All-Access Member Now!

Read Biblical Archaeology Review online, explore 50 years of BAR, watch videos, attend talks, and more

Dated to the late 40s C.E., this Latin inscription from Perga mentions Galatia and Pamphylia as a joint Roman province and names Sextus Afranicus Burrus as its procurator. Photo: Mark Wilson.

The Book of Acts records Paul’s travels through “south Galatia,” including the cities of Pisidian Antioch, Iconium, Lystra, and Derbe (Acts 13–16). Paul also visited Perga and Attalia in the region of Pamphylia on the Mediterranean coast (Acts 13–14). Three recent archaeological discoveries suggest that these cities in Pamphylia were part of Galatia when Paul visited the region:

The Stadiasmus Patarensis, a road monument from the city of Patara in the region of Lycia, dates to 46 C.E. and lists Pamphylia as a bordering province. While some scholars had thought Lycia and Pamphylia were a joint province at this time, this road monument contradicts that theory and shows that Pamphylia and Lycia were not a joint province when Paul visited the area.

Further, two Latin inscriptions, excavated from the city of Perga in Pamphylia, name Galatia and Pamphylia as a joint province during the late 40s and early 50s C.E.

These inscriptions show that the province of Galatia stretched from central Anatolia to the Mediterranean Sea during Paul’s day. Wilson concludes that the audience of Galatians would have included cities in Pisidia, Phrygia, Lycaonia, and Pamphylia. Learn more about Galatia in Mark Wilson’s article “Galatia in Text, Geography, and Archaeology,” published in the Fall 2020 issue of Biblical Archaeology Review.

Subscribers: Read the full article “Galatia in Text, Geography, and Archaeology” by Mark Wilson in the Fall 2020 issue of Biblical Archaeology Review.

Not a BAS Library or All-Access Member yet? Join today.

Related reading in Bible History Daily

Galatians 3:28—Neither Jew nor Greek, Slave nor Free, Male and Female

The Great Paul Debate

Who Governed the Roman Province of Lycia-Pamphylia?

All-Access members, read more in the BAS Library

On the Road and on the Sea with St. Paul

After the Flood!

Paul’s Contradictions

A version of this post first appeared in Bible History Dailyin September 2020

The post Who Were the Galatians in the Bible? appeared first on Biblical Archaeology Society.

Neolithic Bread from Catal Hoyuk. Courtesy Necmettin Erbakan University.

Excavations at the important site of Catal Hoyuk in south-central Turkey have uncovered what archaeologists have termed “the world’s oldest bread.” According to a press release from the Necmettin Erbakan University, the bread dates to around 8,600 years ago, during the Pottery Neolithic period (c. 6900–6400 BCE). At the time, Catal Hoyuk was one of the world’s largest proto-urban settlements, with a population of around 8,000 people.

FREE ebook, Recipes from the BAR Test Kitchen Make your own food from recipes handed down from biblical times. Download now.

Email(Required)

REQUEST FREE BOOK

The small piece of bread was discovered in an oven structure within the settlement. The entire structure was covered with clay, which allowed the bread to be preserved. Analysis revealed the bread had not been baked, but had instead fermented, allowing its starches to be detected. The team also identified ground plant material from barley, wheat, and even peas. This material would have been mixed with water and flour and left near the oven. It is not known, however, if it was intended to be cooked. As the bread was quite small (about the size of a human palm), it may have originally been part of a larger dough.

Read about an experiment in building a tannur, a type of oven, and baking bread as the ancient Israelites might have done.

According to the excavation’s director, Ali Umut Türkcan, “We have to say that the starting point of food archaeology is Anatolia. Catal Hoyuk is one of the most important stops here. Catal Hoyuk was already the center of many firsts. In the years when it was excavated, the world’s first weavings were in Catal Hoyuk. The wooden artifacts were also in Catal Hoyuk. Wall paints and paintings were added to it.”

Catal Hoyuk thrived from around 7500 to 6400 BCE and is known for the wealth of impressive artwork found within its tightly packed buildings. This art includes murals, impressive carvings, and clay figurines.

Related reading in Bible History Daily

Biblical Bread: Baking Like the Ancient Israelites

Çatalhöyük Mural: The Earliest Representation of a Volcanic Eruption?

Remarkable Wall Paintings Discovered at Catalhoyuk

Video: 3-D Digging at Çatalhöyük

Remarkable Wall Paintings Discovered at Catalhoyuk

All-Access members, read more in the BAS Library

Excavating Catalhoyuk

Discovering Catalhoyuk

This article was originally published in Bible History Daily on March 18, 2024.

The post Neolithic Bread at Catal Hoyuk appeared first on Biblical Archaeology Society.

The Urartian sheilds. Courtesy Republic of Türkiye Ministry of Culture and Tourism.

Excavations at the site of Ayanis Castle in eastern Turkey revealed three magnificent bronze shields and a helmet dedicated to Haldi, the chief god of Urartu, an Iron Age kingdom known in the Bible as Ararat. According to a statement by the Turkish Minister of Culture and Tourism, “The artifacts discovered during the excavations at the monumental temple complex in Ayanis, dedicated to the god Haldi, reflect the richness and high level of Urartian metal craftsmanship.”

FREE ebook: Exploring Genesis: The Bible’s Ancient Traditions in Context Mesopotamian creation myths, Joseph’s relationship with Egyptian temple practices and 3 tales of Ur, the birthplace of Abraham.

Email(Required)

REQUEST FREE BOOK

A Forgotten Biblical Kingdom

The fortress of Ayanis was one of the last castles constructed by the Urartians. At its height, the powerful Iron Age kingdom, located north of Assyria, stretched from Armenia and northwestern Iran to the Mediterranean Sea. Located around 22 miles north of the capital city of Tushpa, the castle housed a temple to Haldi, the chief deity of the Urartians. Recent excavations have focused on uncovering the temple, which is one of the best preserved in Urartu. It was in this context that the team uncovered three beautifully crafted bronze shields and a decorated bronze helmet, all dedicated to Haldi. The objects date to the mid-seventh century BCE, shortly after which the castle was destroyed by an earthquake.

Excavations at Ayanis have been ongoing for nearly four decades and have revealed much about the 15-acre fortress, which sits on a hill overlooking Lake Van. The fortress’s sudden destruction has made it an incredible site in Urartian archaeology, with the discovery of bronze weapons, royal and cultic buildings, reliefs, inscriptions, and an entire outer city. In antiquity, the site was known as Rusahinili Eidurukai after the Urartian king, Rusa II (r. 678–654 BCE), who built it.

The bronze Urartian helmet. Courtesy Republic of Türkiye Ministry of Culture and Tourism.

The kingdom of Urartu lasted from the ninth to sixth centuries, often fighting with its southern neighbor, Assyria. Urartu finally lost its sovereignty in 590 BCE, when it was conquered by the Medes and the Persians, shortly after those groups had conquered the Assyrians. Within a hundred years, Urartu’s former realms came to be known as Armenia.

Both the region and the kingdom of Urartu are mentioned in the Hebrew Bible, under the cognate name Ararat. It is first mentioned in Genesis 8:4 when Noah lands on Mount Ararat. Although the exact identification of the mountain this name referred to is highly debated, it likely resides within the kingdom of Ararat/Urartu. The second mention of Ararat comes in 2 Kings 19:37 when the two sons of Sennacherib fled to Ararat after assassinating their father.

Related reading in Bible History Daily:

Where Noah Landed?

The Assassination of Sennacherib

Long-Lost Temple of Haldi Found in Iraqi Kurdistan?

All-Access members, read more in the BAS Library:

Assyrian Palace Discovered in Ashdod

Gilgamesh—Like You’ve Never Seen Him Before

Grisly Assyrian Record of Torture and Death

A Futile Quest: The Search for Noah’s Ark

The post Cultic Weaponry of Urartu appeared first on Biblical Archaeology Society.

THE ARTICLE “The Millo: Jerusalem’s Lost Monument,” by Chris McKinny et al. is excellent and makes a good case for the purpose and location of the Millo. I would like to add some points to support the article by following a possible chronology of events in the life of the Millo as the authors have cited it.

In 2 Samuel 5:8, we read that David suggested the Jebusite city be taken by “going up the water shaft.” My interpretation had been that Joab and his men climbed up Warren’s Shaft or something similar.  However, I do not know whether the shaft existed at that date. In any case, the biblical description could also describe climbing up whatever access route existed from the spring into the city, even if the house over the spring was a smaller structure than the Spring Tower shown in the article.

In 2 Samuel 5:9, we read that David “built the city all around from the Millo inward.” I suggest we can assume that this included enlarging and fortifying the Millo/Spring House. The next event recorded regarding the Millo is the crowning of Solomon at the Gihon Spring (1 Kings 1:33).

Then there is 1 Kings 9:15, where we are given a list of the several facilities that Solomon built: “… the house of the Lord and his own house and the Millo and the wall of Jerusalem and Hazor and Megiddo and Gezer ….” I concur with the authors that the Millo must have been a major facility to be included in this list. We also read, in 1 Kings 11:27, that “Solomon built the Millo and closed the breach of the City of David.” This probably greatly enlarged the Millo, which would then appropriately be part of the major projects listed in verse 15.

The next Millo reference is in 2 Chronicles 32:3–5. With Sennacherib having already defeated most cities in Judah, Hezekiah digs a tunnel from the Gihon Spring under the City of David to the west side so the water flowed into the Pool of Siloam. In verse 4, we read, “A great many people were gathered, and they stopped all the springs and the brook that flowed through the land ….” Once the tunnel was complete, the Spring Tower over the Gihon Spring was apparently blocked with rock and debris. Even if Sennacherib’s forces were aware of the spring’s location, the Judahites on the wall above would be able to defend it.

Verse 4 also says they stopped all the springs, which would have included Ein Rogel, located about 650 feet down the Kidron from Gihon. Regarding the brook, that likely refers to the Kidron, which, before Hezekiah’s Tunnel, would have flowed year-round because of Gihon overflow that was not being used.

Steven C. Borell
Lindsborg, Kansas

Shimon’s Receipt

On page 16, there is a small news article about “Shimon’s Receipt.” The last paragraph is a bit misleading since it reads, “Recovered from an old tunnel created in the 19th century.” Those who do not know its history might think the drainage ditch was first created in the 1800s, not knowing that it was first excavated in the 1800s. That tunnel existed well before AD 70, and ran under the now-excavated pilgrimage road, which had been enhanced by Herod Agrippa, if I recall correctly from Josephus.

Lia Mason
Scottsdale, Arizona

The team headed by Joe Uziel of the Israel Antiquities Authority recently concluded that the road construction was started and completed under the Roman prefect Pontius Pilate, around AD 31. This is because the coins they found under the pavement do not predate Pilate, and the latest one dates to around AD 31. But not everyone agrees with these findings published in Tel Aviv 46.2 (2019). Some, such as Leen Ritmeyer, assume it was built not long before AD 70, likely under Agrippa II. In AD 70, the road ended up buried under rubble following the Roman destruction of Jerusalem. And, indeed, the road was first excavated by British archaeologists Frederick Bliss and Archibald Dickie at the end of the nineteenth century.—Ed.

The Location of Ur

THE ANSWER TO “WHERE IS IT?” states that the great Sumerian city of Ur “was also known to the biblical writers as the birthplace of the patriarch Abraham (Genesis 11:31).” This popular belief and oft-repeated statement is totally baseless, however. Instead, as I have published on several occasions, including here, the birthplace of Abraham is to be identified with Urfa (called Ura in antiquity), located in modern south-central Turkey, 28 miles north of Harran (also mentioned in Genesis 11:31).

While I cannot review all the evidence here, suffice to note that Abraham’s homeland was located “beyond the River [Euphrates]” (Joshua 24:2‒3), which works for Urfa in northern Mesopotamia, but not for Ur of Sumer in southern Mesopotamia. The same opinion was expressed on the pages of BAR many years ago by my teacher Cyrus Gordon (BAR, June 1977); and then Hershel Shanks also weighed in on the matter decades later (BAR, January/February 2000).

Gary A. Rendsburg
Distinguished Professor
Rutgers University
Brunswick, New Jersey

Moses as Pharaoh’s Equal

IN RENDSBURG’S ARTICLE “Moses as Pharaoh’s Equal—Horns and All” (Fall 2023), the focus is on the Hebrew word qaran. A brief look at the Masoretic text shows that the Masorites pointed this word as a Qal verb, not as a noun. My investigation of multiple lexicons consistently stated that the Qal form indicates “rays,” while the Hiphil form would suggest “growing horns.” The other uses of q-r-n are pointed as a noun, which does mean “horn.”

I also disagree with the interpretation of Exodus 4:16 and 7:1 as suggesting that Moses was “elevated to the level of deity.” Instead, I would see those verses as an emphasis on Moses’s authority with the phrase “as a god” or “like god.”

Daniel Burnham
Uniontown, Ohio

The Genesis of Judaism

I WANT TO COMMENT on Yonatan Adler’s recent BAR article “The Genesis of Judaism” (Winter 2022). Adler posits a very slow onset of halachic observance in the public sphere, as late as the Hasmonean period, yet the article omits whole areas of halacha, totally ignoring these, as if they didn’t exist. There is a modern coloring to his outlook, and significant elements of halacha, especially those that conflict with his thesis, are simply not discussed. Thus, it seems to me that his thesis is fundamentally flawed.

My critique is that Adler apparently makes no reference to the great amount of Temple stipulations. Whether or not these were observed in the First Temple, Second Temple, or prior, clearly something was going on in the temples. Some framework of rules and practices was followed, founded upon stipulations in the Torah, whenever these may have been put down. There is a significant body of halachic-legal stipulation involved in Temple practice, and no one would question or deny that these temples existed and were in operation 800 years prior to the Hasmoneans.

David Schonberg
Jerusalem, Israel

YONATAN ADLER RESPONDS: Sacrificial worship of the Israelite/Judean national deity, YHWH, was undoubtedly practiced on a wide-scale basis many centuries prior to the Hasmonean period. Among other places, the temples in Jerusalem were certainly a central locus for this activity. There is nothing surprising about this; I know of no human group living in the ancient Near East that did not offer sacrifices to its gods. Indeed, temples abound in the entire region, and well beyond! Regardless of the society involved, sacrificial rituals (like most rituals) tend to have rules and regulations surrounding the “proper” performance of the various rites. None of this is unique to ancient Israel/Judea.

Importantly, however, none of this implies that any ancient Israelites/Judeans were practicing this sacrificial worship in line with the rules and regulations of the Torah. We simply do not know what ritual rules these early YHWH worshipers followed when performing their sacrifices. There is little compelling reason to assume that the sacrificial regulations followed at the Jerusalem temple (or other YHWH temples) during the Iron Age and Persian periods were those stipulated in the Pentateuch. Although the Pentateuchal rules concerning sacrificial worship most likely date to these early periods, this does not imply that officiating priests necessarily knew about these laws, regarded them as authoritative, and were actually putting them into practice at such an early date. To make such a claim, one would need to provide evidence of some sort. As of now, no such evidence is available.

The post More Queries & Comments Spring 2024 appeared first on Biblical Archaeology Society.

Limestone boar statue from Gobekli Tepe. Courtesy DAI-IST, Lee Clare.

Excavators at the site of Gobekli Tepe in southeastern Turkey have uncovered the life-size statue of a wild boar, carved out of limestone. According to a statement by the German Archaeological Institute, the statue dates to the early Pre-Pottery Neolithic B (c. 8700–8200 BCE). The boar is yet another of the dozens of statues and reliefs discovered at the incredible cultic site of Gobekli Tepe. Described as Turkey’s Stonehenge, Gobekli Tepe predates that site, as well as the Egyptian pyramids and even the invention of writing, by more than 5,000 years.

FREE ebook: Ten Top Biblical Archaeology Discoveries. Finds like the Pool of Siloam in Israel, where the Gospel of John says Jesus miraculously restored sight to a blind man.

Email(Required)

REQUEST FREE BOOK

A Wild Boar at Gobekli Tepe

The boar statue was discovered within the remains of one of the site’s buildings, dubbed Special Building D. Placed on top of a long and decorated bench between two pillars, the boar occupied a central position within the building. The decorations of the bench include depictions of snakes, human faces, and geometric designs. Roughly the size of an actual boar, the statue is 4.5 feet long and a little over 2 feet tall.

The boar statue between two massive T-shaped pillars. Courtesy DAI-IST, Lee Clare.

Archaeologists were also able to detect various pigments on the statue, including red, black, and white. While red was found on the boar’s tongue, black and white were found on the body, indicating that the entire piece was likely once painted. It has long been believed that many of the pillars and statues at Gobekli Tepe were decorated with color, but this is one of the first to provide clear evidence to support this hypothesis.

Gobekli Tepe and the Birth of Neolithic Religion

Gobekli Tepe (which means “Potbelly Hill” in Turkish) is thought to be one of the oldest religious sites in the world and has been called the “world’s first temple.” Predating sites like Stonehenge (c. 3000–2000 BCE) and the Stepped Pyramid of Djoser (c. 2660 BCE) by many thousands of years, Gobekli Tepe has drastically altered what anthropologists think about the origins of ancient religion. Previous theories had suggested religion only developed after the establishment of agriculture and village life. However, Gobekli Tepe appears to appeared earlier, having been built by what was likely a hunter-gatherer society. While there is plentiful evidence of Neolithic religion around the ancient Near East, almost all of this evidence postdates Gobekli Tepe by thousands of years, although the tower of Jericho, which some believe to have also been a cultic installation, possibly dates to only a few hundred years later.

Map of Gobekli Tepe. Courtesy Biblical Archaeology Society.

Gobekli Tepe includes a number of circular enclosers, consisting of massive T-shaped pillars, some as tall as 16 feet and weighing 50 tons. Many of the pillars are ornately decorated with elaborate carvings, including depictions of vultures, scorpions, lions, bulls, boars, foxes, gazelles, donkeys, snakes, human figures, and more. Some of the anthropomorphic figures even include details such as arms, legs, and clothes.

Excavations at Gobekli Tepe have uncovered tens of thousands of animal bones, indicating that many different species—including those depicted on the pillars—were slaughtered, sacrificed, and presumably eaten at the site. While it is uncertain to whom these sacrifices were made, it is possible they were offered to the site’s anthropomorphic pillars, which, as some have suggested, may represent priests, deities, or revered ancestors. Given that human bones were also found, others believe the Göbekli Tepe ruins may have been a Neolithic burial ground where funerary rituals and perhaps even excarnations were practiced.

Read more in Bible History Daily:

The Göbekli Tepe Ruins and the Origins of Neolithic Religion

Striking Discovery Sheds Light on Neolithic People

All-Access members, read more in the BAS Library:

In the Beginning: Religion at the Dawn of Civilization

Mysterious Jewish Building in Roman Turkey

Colossae—Colossal in Name Only?

Not a BAS Library or All-Access Member yet? Join today.

The post 11,000-Year-Old Boar Statue Uncovered at Gobekli Tepe appeared first on Biblical Archaeology Society.

Two anthropomorphic figures, nicknamed by researchers “Ghassan” (left) and “Abu Ghassan” (right), discovered inside a Neolithic ritual complex in southeast Jordan. Credit: Courtesy South Eastern Badia Archaeological Project.

While excavating ancient Neolithic hunting traps in Jordan’s southeastern desert near the site of Jibal al-Khashabiyeh, a team of French and Jordanian archaeologists (led by Dr. Tarawneh and Dr. Abu-Azizeh) made a unique discovery that sheds new light on daily life and belief in the prehistoric Levant. The traps, known as “desert kites,” were used extensively throughout prehistoric southwestern Asia. But while most have been dated to the fourth and third millennia B.C.E., the kites from Jibal al-Khashabiyeh date more than three millennia earlier, making them one of the earliest-known large-scale human constructions. Now, as reported by the Department of Antiquities of Jordan, the team has discovered a ritual complex associated with one of the kites that rewrites our understanding of the Neolithic people of the ancient Levant.

FREE ebook: Exploring Jordan: The Other Biblical Land. Delve into a legendary land rich with Biblical history.

Email(Required)

REQUEST FREE BOOK

The unique ritual complex, which dates to around 7000 B.C.E., was made and organized by the Neolithic people to resemble a miniature desert kite. Inside were found two anthropomorphic stone figures. The taller figure stands 3.5 feet high and bears a depiction of a human face and possibly a drawing of a hunting trap. The smaller figure is a little over 2 feet tall and features a stylized but finely carved human face. The archaeologists nicknamed the figures Abu Ghassan and Ghassan, after the so-called “Ghassanian” culture the researchers associate with the site. In addition to the stone figures, the excavation also uncovered nearly 150 marine fossils, a variety of unusually shaped stones, animal figurines, worked flint objects, and a possible stone altar.

Close-up image of Ghassan, the smaller of the two anthropomorphic figures. Credit: Courtesy South Eastern Badia Archaeological Project.

Although other Neolithic cultic sites have been discovered, including the famous site of Göbekli Tepe in southeastern Turkey, the Jibal al-Khashabieh discovery is unique. The site’s design as a miniature of a desert kite, as well as the depiction of a kite on one of the figures, clearly indicates the importance of hunting to the cultic and ritual activities of these Neolithic people. Researchers believe that prey animals may have been sacrificed at the site to invoke divine favor for successful hunts at the nearby kites. The site’s exceptional preservation as well as the detailed artistic depictions on the stone figures shed incredible light on the Neolithic people who once inhabited the region. Other Neolithic figurines and cultic places have been discovered in the southern Levant over the years, but this is the first site associated with this specific group.

Aerial view of the anthropomorphic figures and other items in the ritual structure of the Ghassanian Neolithic people. Credit Courtesy South Eastern Badia Archaeological Project.

Desert Kites and the Neolithic Ghassanian People

Desert kites were a common hunting installation throughout the arid and semiarid regions of prehistoric southwest Asia, with examples found from Saudi Arabia to Kazakhstan. These installations were made of multiple long stone walls, sometimes extending for miles, that converged to a single point or enclosure. The walls functioned to funnel wild gazelle and other animals into the small area at the end of the kite, where hunters would be waiting. The Jibal al-Khashabiyeh kites and associated finds show that the region’s Neolithic people were far more sophisticated than previously thought, and had developed a mass hunting strategy that would have required wide-scale cooperation and resource mobilization. The finds also suggest that the region’s Neolithic people hunted for more than subsistence purposes and likely had complex trade relations with neighboring regions.

The remains of a desert kite used by Neolithic people to hunt gazelles. Credit: Courtesy Wikicommons, Galpaz.

Read more in Biblical Archaeology Daily:

Neolithic Shrines and Pilgrimages in Saudi Arabia

Neolithic Figurines Discovered near Jerusalem

The Göbekli Tepe Ruins and the Origins of Neolithic Religion

IAA Announces Recovery of 9,000-Year-Old Neolithic Stone Mask

This article first appeared in Bible History Daily on August 28, 2022.

The post Striking Discovery Sheds Light on Neolithic People appeared first on Biblical Archaeology Society.

Martha Joukowsky. Photo courtesy of the family of Martha Joukowsky.

On January 7, 2022, Martha Joukowsky died at the age of 85 at her home in Providence, Rhode Island, near the Brown University campus where she taught from 1982 to 2002. In addition to being a professor of archaeology and anthropology, she and her late husband, Artemis (“Artie”) Joukowsky, were instrumental in the funding and creation of Brown University’s Joukowsky Institute for Archaeology and the Ancient World, a leading institute in the archaeology of the classical and Near Eastern worlds. Martha’s career in archaeology spanned five decades, during which she participated in or led excavation projects in Greece, Hong Kong, Italy, Lebanon, and Tukey, though she is perhaps best known for directing the long-running Great Temple excavations in the ancient city of Petra in Jordan.

Martha Content Sharp was born to Martha and Waitstill Sharp, who in 1939 went to Europe to help Jewish refugees as documented in the book and PBS film Defying the Nazis: The Sharps’ War. She attended Pembroke College, where she also met Artie, and the two were married in 1956, thus starting a life mixed with familial and academic milestones. Artie’s career with American International Group took them to Milan in 1960 with their three young children, Nina, Artemis, and Michael. In 1966, they moved to Beirut and lived there until 1972, and it was during this period that she earned her M.A. in Archaeology from the American University of Beirut (AUB). She was an active participant in excavations at Tell el Ghassil, an AUB Museum project led by Dimitri Baramki and Leila Badr and wrote her master’s thesis on the Bronze and Iron Age ceramics from that site. She was also a member of the excavation team at the Phoenician site of Sarafand directed by James B. Pritchard of the University of Pennsylvania.

The next move was to Hong Kong where she led the excavations of Neolithic Sham Wan in 1973. The Joukowsky family returned to the U.S. in 1974. She was involved with the New York University excavations in Turkey at Aphrodisias under Kenan Erim from 1975 to 1986 and received her Doctorat d’État from Paris I Panthéon Sorbonne in 1982 based on her dissertation on prehistoric Aphrodisias.

In 1982, she joined the Brown University faculty of the Center for Old World Archaeology and Art and the Department of Anthropology. She and her husband received honorary doctorates from Brown in 1985 and, in 2005, the Rosenberg medal, the highest Brown faculty award. She directed fieldwork for Brown excavations at the Early Bronze Age site of La Muculufa in Sicily (1982–1985) and the Kasfiki site on Corfu (1987–1990). Her commitment to the field of archaeology was manifest in many ways, including taking on the presidency of the Archaeological Institute of America (1989–1993). Martha also served as the Vice President for ASOR (then American Schools of Oriental Research) from 2001 to 2005.

The last phase of her archaeological career was focused in Jordan. In 1992, she started a major excavation program at the Great Temple in Petra, a project that served as a training ground for many students whom she mentored over the years. Three major final publications (vols. I–III, 1998, 2007, 2017) were produced as well as a legion of articles. This partially restored, multi-level temple complex is now a major feature in the Petra city center. A massive amount of data was collected and the archaeological material not included in the final publications can be found on Open Context. The Joukowsky Family Foundation established in the early 1980s supported many individual researchers and archaeological projects, including restoration activities in the Petra Great Temple.

During the Petra Great Temple years (1992–2009), the Joukowskys came to Jordan annually. ACOR (then American Center of Oriental Research, now American Center of Research) in Amman was their base before and after the excavations. Artie Joukowsky became the ACOR Board President in 1992 and from the start improved its governance and financial status in conjunction with ACOR Director Pierre Bikai. Pierre and his wife Patricia were close friends from the Lebanon years when the Joukowskys’ interest in the Middle East was kindled and which continued to expand over the ensuing decades.

In all the places that she and her family lived (including excavations), they made life-long friends. Martha retained a remarkable curiosity about the world—ancient and modern—and had the ability to engage people of all ages and interests to the end.

Barbara A. Porter is the former director of the American Center of Research (ACOR) in Amman, Jordan, and current ACOR Ambassador.

The post Milestones: Martha Sharp Joukowsky (1936–2022) appeared first on Biblical Archaeology Society.

Turkey is suing for the return of the Female Idol of Kiliya which it says was illegally excavated in the 1960’s

The female idol is distinctive of works produced exclusively in the ceramic workshops of Kiliya, Western Anatolia c. 3000-2200 B.C.E. The suit alleges the nine-inch tall statuette, described as the “Female Idol of Kiliya,” was illegally excavated in the early 1960s, unlawfully smuggled out of the country and then soon found its way to the J.J. Klejman Gallery in New York. According to the plaintiff’s brief filed in the case, John J. Klejman was “well known in the industry at that time as a ‘dealer-smuggler’ of stolen antiquities.” The defendants dispute this characterization of the late art dealer.

After two short-term owners in the early 1990s, the Kiliya Idol was acquired by Michael Steinhardt in 1993. Steinhardt has been involved in several high profile legal cases involving allegedly looted antiquities, including U.S. v. One Triangular Fresco Fragment and U.S. v. Antique Platter of Gold, both of which date to the latter 1990s. The latter case involved a 4th Century B.C.E. antique gold platter of Sicilian origin that was alleged to have been stolen, and was found to have been subject to forfeiture.

The Court’s decision in Antique Platter of Gold notes that the art dealer who sold the gold platter to Steinhardt in 1991 previously sold 20 to 30 objects to him, totaling $4 to $6 million in sales. The plaintiffs raised these earlier cases to demonstrate a pattern of practice under which Steinhardt may have purchased the female figurine.

The Republic of Turkey claims it was alerted to the whereabouts of the figurine in early 2017 after Steinhardt engaged the services of Christie’s to sell the Female Idol of Kiliya, and it was included in Christie’s public announcement of an upcoming auction. The Counsel General of the Republic of Turkey and its legal counsel met with Christie’s and demanded that Christie’s return the artifact, but Christie’s and Steinhardt refused their entreaties and proceeded with an auction in April 2017. The Republic of Turkey has referred to the idol as “priceless.”

A 2006 article in Forbes magazine quoted Steinhardt:

“Ancient art has not appreciated much in value for a long time,” says Steinhardt. “It has been under a certain cloud because there are issues of provenance, which have made headlines in the last five-to-ten years and continue to make headlines.”

Steinhardt says the inherent risk in antiquities collecting doesn’t intimidate him. “It’s a bit dangerous, but that’s what makes it exciting,” he says. “But life is full of risks, isn’t it?

Since the filing of the suit the successful bidder for the idol, whose identity has not been disclosed, has withdrawn its tender of some $14 million. The Court has noted that the idol is alleged to be “an integral and invaluable part of the artistic and cultural patrimony of the Republic,” and has ordered the defendants to suspend their efforts to sell or transfer the antiquity and to keep it in a secure vault at Christie’s.

The case has attracted two heavyweights in the practice of art restitution law: Lawrence Kaye, Esq. of Herrick Feinstein in New York for the plaintiff, and Thomas Kline, Esq. of Cultural Heritage Partners of Washington, D.C. and New York for the defendants. Judge Alison Nathan will preside over the trial, which was set to begin on April 27, 2020, but has been put on hold.

Read about stolen antiquities in BHD

Slowly, Iraqi Antiquities Begin to Return
Germany  returned 45 ancient artifacts to Iraq that were stolen and looted from the country’s museums and archaeological sites following the 2003 U.S.-led invasion.

Not a BAS Library or All-Access Member yet? Join today.

The post The Republic of Turkey sues in U.S. Court appeared first on Biblical Archaeology Society.

Photo: Meg Ramey
Assos Way Location: Northwestern Turkey (Ancient Troad)

Nestled on the Troad Peninsula in western Turkey are the remains of a Roman road that once connected the port cities of Alexandria Troas and Assos, which I have lovingly dubbed “the Assos Way.” It’s a road that’s significant not only for its antiquity but also for one of its most famous pedestrians—the apostle Paul.

According to Acts 20, as Paul made his way down from Macedonia to Jerusalem, he stopped to visit Christians along the Anatolian coast, starting with those in Alexandria Troas. After spending a week there, Paul did something a little unusual. Rather than traveling with his companions by boat around the Troad Peninsula, he instead walked to Assos and rendezvoused with them there.

Whether or not Paul was alone for the entire journey to Assos and why he decided to walk there instead of sailing with his friends have been the subjects of debate. While we cannot know all the details of what did or did not happen and why, we do have a fairly good idea of his route since some of the segments of that old Roman road still exist.

In fact, one of the better-preserved portions of this Roman road along the Assos Way is only about 4 miles (7 km) from Assos. There, travelers coming into the city would have caught some of their first glimpses of the Assos acropolis with the Aegean’s sparkling turquoise waters in the distance. If you’re interested in stepping back into Paul’s sandals, make sure to visit this section of the Assos Way.

In order to find it, drive west from Assos along the main road (Ayvacık Gülpinar Yolu) in the direction of Alexandria Troas. While enjoying some lovely views of the Aegean Sea and Lesvos Island, you’ll pass by old fountains, animal feeding troughs, stone fences, and olive groves.

When you see a sign on your right that reads “Kulaf 7 Tamiş 10,” begin watching for a group of old farmhouses about a mile (2 km) from that sign, in the village of Korubasi. You should be able to park by these houses. If you turn back in the direction that you’ve just come and walk a bit to the left on the right side of the road, you’ll soon discover the stone remnants of the ancient Roman road. From Korubasi, you can follow the road back east toward Assos for a mile to the aforementioned sign. The Roman road ends by this sign, which is also another great place to park.

FREE ebook: Paul: Jewish Law and Early Christianity. Paul’s dual roles as a Christian missionary and a Pharisee.

Email(Required)

REQUEST FREE BOOK

This section of the Assos Way is a very flat, gentle walk that should be accessible for anyone not impaired by mobility issues. Those who have the energy, time, and desire to walk into Assos on foot, just as Paul did almost 2,000 years ago, can use the modern road to continue into town.

Now, I’m sure that some of you avid hikers and adventurous pilgrims may share my dream of completing the entire 31-mile (50-km) walk from Alexandria Troas by foot. Unfortunately, it’s currently not recommended to do the walk without an experienced guide, since the trail is not marked out. One hopes, in the not-too-distant future, it will be possible to make the entire journey solo, as the apostle likely did.

Some steps have already been taken to establish the trail and to make the route more accessible. For example, in 2017 Tutku Educational Travel arranged for a group of intrepid Biblical Archaeology Society (BAS) members to be some of the first modern pilgrims to retrace that route together. Led by Dr. Mark Wilson (Director, Asia Minor Research Center), Dr. Glen Thompson (Wisconsin Lutheran College), and tour guide Cenk Eronat, they spent three days hiking between the two cities in search of accessible sections of the old Roman road and contributed additional knowledge to develop the Assos Way.

Also, Turkey’s Ministry of Culture and Tourism has caught the vision for preserving and promoting this sacred way, which is important for two historical reasons in addition to its connection with Paul. In antiquity, rather than retracing the steps of the apostle Paul, pilgrims walked this road to visit the Temple of Apollo Smintheus (the Smintheum) located about halfway between Alexandria Troas and Assos. There they worshiped Apollo, the “mice god,” at this famous sanctuary, which is mentioned by Homer in the Iliad (1.39). A visit to the temple remains is certainly one of the highlights of walking the entire Assos Way. They are not to be missed!

Additionally, this road is famous because it is the legendary route that Aeneas used in the Aeneid to escape from Troy after the Trojan War. According to Virgil, Aeneas built his fleet and mustered his men in Antandros, a harbor slightly east of Assos by Mount Ida, and sailed from there to Italy (Aeneid 3.5–6). Therefore, Turkey’s Ministry of Culture and Tourism intends on way-marking the entire route from Troy to Antandros, not only the “Assos Way” portion. The plan is to promote this 87-mile (140-km) hike to visitors as the “Aeneas Route.”

Until that time, consider doing just the final 6 miles (10 km) into Assos or at least the 1-mile (2-km) accessible portion of the ancient Roman road. Also, keep an eye out in future BAR editions for announcements of upcoming group expeditions arranged by BAS and Tutku to walk the entire Assos Way. Paul may have walked to Assos by himself, but that doesn’t mean that you have to do it alone!

Not a BAS Library or All-Access Member yet? Join today.

Meg Ramey is Director of Education Abroad for Tutku Educational Travel. She holds a Ph.D. in New Testament and Literature from the University of St. Andrews, and she edits the Bible in Fiction project for Oxford Biblical Studies Online.

Related reading in Bible History Daily

Paul’s First Missionary Journey through Perga and Pisidian Antioch

Paul and Sacred Prostitution in Corinth

The Quest for the Historical Paul

Paul and the Slave Girl in Philippi

When Did Saul Become Paul?

The Apostle Paul in Arabia

All-Access members, read more in the BAS Library

Five Myths About the Apostle Paul

What Was Paul Doing in “Arabia”?

On the Road and on the Sea with St. Paul

Biblical Profile: Paul of Arabia? The Apostle’s Early Adventures

Did Paul Commit Suicide?

Corinth in Paul’s Time—What Can Archaeology Tell Us?

The post Site-Seeing: Hiking in Paul’s Footsteps appeared first on Biblical Archaeology Society.