The Dead Sea Scrolls and the Jewish Origins of Christianity by Carsten Peter Thiede.

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DESCRIPTION: Softcover: 256 pages. Publisher: Palgrave for St. Martin’s Press; (2003). Size: 9½ x 6¼ x ¾ inch, 1 pound. Carsten Peter Thiede’s bestseller, “Eyewitness to Jesus”, written with journalist Matthew d’Ancona, established him as one of the leading figures on the history and texts of the first century. Now in this controversial new book, Thiede focuses on what are perhaps the most enigmatic ancient documents ever found; the Dead Sea Scrolls. Drawing upon his own pioneering methods in restoring the scrolls, Thiede reveals that the Essene Library represented by the scrolls demonstrates that the first Christians were essentially a Jewish movement, not a radically new and fundamentally different religion.

This perspective clearly has major implications. It affects both how we view the scrolls and it changes how we consider the history of first-century Christianity. Unraveling the complete history of the scrolls since their discovery in 1947, Thiede places them in the context of what has previously been unknown about the Essene community at Qumram. His identification of scroll fragments from Mark’s Gospel and Paul’s first letter to Timothy indicates that such Jewish-Christian writings were written before the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 A.D. 

Moreover, it also suggests that the Essene community viewed the early Christians as fellow Jews, whose provocative ideas about the true Messiah they wanted to scrutinize. Eye-opening and stimulating, “The Dead Sea Scrolls and the Jewish Origins of Christianity” reveals for the first time the fruits of much painstaking and original research.

CONDITION: NEW. New oversized softcover. Palgrave Macmillan (2003) 256 pages. Unblemished and pristine in every respect except for faint edge and corner shelfwear to covers, principally in the form of faint abrasion to the cover spine head. Pages are pristine; clean, crisp, unmarked, unmutilated, tightly bound, unambiguously unread. Condition is entirely consistent with new stock from a traditional brick-and-mortar bookstore environment wherein new books might show faint signs of shelfwear, consequence of simply being shelved and re-shelved. Satisfaction unconditionally guaranteed. In stock, ready to ship. No disappointments, no excuses. PROMPT SHIPPING! HEAVILY PADDED, DAMAGE-FREE PACKAGING! Meticulous and accurate descriptions! Selling rare and out-of-print ancient history books on-line since 1997. We accept returns for any reason within 30 days! #1714.1c

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PLEASE SEE PUBLISHER, PROFESSIONAL, AND READER REVIEWS BELOW.

PUBLISHER REVIEW:

REVIEW: Since their discoveries in 1947, the Dead Sea Scrolls have been a source of constant controversy. Scholars still argue over the meaning of the fragmentary texts; especially what they say about the Jewish roots of the first Christian communities. Discovering that the scroll fragments date Mark's gospel much earlier than once believed, Carsten Peter Thiede claims that the scrolls establish links between the two great faiths, and that they literally revolutionize our understanding of the Bible. Unraveling the complex and fascinating history of the Dead Sea Scrolls, this book will challenge and even change how people think about religion.

Carsten Peter Thiede is a papyrologist and one of the world’s pre-eminent authorities on the history and texts of the first century. Co-author with Matthew d’Ancona of the bestseller, “Eyewitness to Jesus”, he has written numerous books including “Jesus: Life or Legend?”, and also with Matthew d’Ancona, “The Quest for the True Cross”. Thiede is Profesor of Early Christian History at STH Basel, Switzerland; teaches at the Ben Gurion University of the Negev, Beer-Sheva, Israel; and is a member of the International Papyrologists’ Association. He is also an ordained Minister in the Anglican (Episcopal) Church.

PROFESSIONAL REVIEWS:

REVIEW: Most people know that the Dead Sea Scrolls exist, and most people have a vague idea that they contain some sort of secrets about the early days of Christianity and about a crucial period of Jewish history. But most of the literature pertaining to the scrolls is written in scholarly jargon that is all but impenetrable to the general reader. For a straightforward, who-what-when-where orientation to the scrolls and their significance in early Christianity, lay people are lucky to have “The Dead Sea Scrolls and the Jewish Origins of Christianity” by Carsten Peter Thiede.

The book begins by providing basic information about the scrolls. They were written by an orthodox Jewish sect called the Essenes between 150 B.C. and A.D. 68. They are written in Hebrew and Aramaic (the language that Jesus spoke). And they were known by other ancient writers, including Origen, an influential theologian in the early Church, until at least the third century. Although most of Thiede's book reviews basic information, his arguments are by no means bland.

Readers already familiar with the scrolls will be challenged by Thiede's argument that cutting-edge, microscopic analysis has revealed previously unnoticed texts in the scrolls; and readers coming to the scrolls for the first time will have to reckon with his invitation "to develop a new awareness of [Christianity's] roots"; in other words, to attempt to overcome "2,000 years of mainly anti-Jewish church history," in order to grapple with the fact that "Christianity is Jewish."

REVIEW: This highly technical treatise will appeal especially to specialists on the Dead Sea Scrolls and early Christianity. Thiede (author of “Eyewitness to Jesus”) uses sprightly prose to advance his arguments. Essentially, he claims that the Dead Sea Scrolls contain writings that were later included in the New Testament, thus demonstrating that the early Christians, including Jesus, were Jews. However, Thiede also notes that the community of Essenes at Qumran who produced the Dead Sea Scrolls were not the first Christians; they "did not all of a sudden mutate to Christians”. Whether or not some Essenes became Jewish Christians is an open question.

To answer this and other questions, Thiede has developed "confocal scanning optical microscopy" to examine the scrolls, as well as "high resolution X-ray radiography and Computer-Aided Tomography." While most readers will find these methods to be incomprehensible, they will enjoy Thiede's frank castigation of other Dead Sea Scrolls scholars, such as one he accuses of harming "public understanding of the scrolls”. Patient readers will be fascinated by Thiede's carefully documented assertion that, in its earliest days, Christianity was basically a Jewish movement. As a papyrologist and expert on the history and texts of the first century, Thiede is eminently qualified to present this erudite analysis.

REVIEW: Exploring questions from his best-selling “Eyewitness to Jesus”, papyrologist Thiede illumines interaction between early Christians and the Essenes. Most importantly, he identifies two Qumran papyri fragments as versions of documents that later became part of the New Testament as Mark and First Timothy. Thiede provides much background to support this controversial view. Besides comparing various textual theories, Thiede describes the Essenes by quoting from many historical sources and by interpreting the results of many excavations. Emphasizing that both the Essenes and early Christianity represent movements within Judaism, Thiede views the scrolls as a library documenting a variety of Jewish perspectives.

Much technical discussion is included, ranging from comparisons of different versions of text to brief explanation of confocal scanning optical microscopy, which is used to analyze the papyri. Also offering technical discussion, Joseph Fitzmyer examines Qumran Messianism in Dead Sea Scrolls and Christian Origins, and Israel Knohl presents a specific theory relating Jesus to Qumran leader Menahem in “Messiah Before Jesus: The Suffering Servant of the Dead Sea Scrolls”. This scholarly, thought-provoking work is recommended for those students or enthusiasts of religious studies, ancient world history, or archaeology.

REVIEW: Thiede (a papyrologist, he teaches early Christian history at STH Basel, Switzerland and Ben Gurion University in Israel) presents a new theory on the Dead Sea Scrolls, suggesting that the first Christians were a Jewish movement, rather than a radically new religion. Readers are led through the history of the scrolls and the history of their study in painstaking detail as Thiede analyzes their texts in the context of the Jewish teaching of the time.

REVIEW: Were the first Christians really Jewish? In this controversial book, Carsten Peter Thiede argues that the first Christians were not a radically new and fundamentally different religion but part of a Jewish movement. Impressive to see the immense knowledge and the impartiality with which inquisitive questions are asked and preconceived ideas are torpedoed.

READER REVIEWS:

REVIEW: This book provides valuable information for laypeople who want to understand the significance of the Dead Sea Scrolls in relation to Christian history. It gets pretty technical in parts, but the author's conclusions are clearly stated. The most important thesis he sets forth concerns the possibility that there are fragments of the gospel of Mark and I Timothy among the Qumran scrolls. If this is true, then it is a clear indication that the New Testament literature was around earlier than many believe, for the community was destroyed in 68 A.D.. I also like the way Thiede addresses, although through brief asides, some of the more outlandish theories about the Dead Sea Scrolls, obviously alluding to the "Holy Blood Holy Grail" genre of books. He also demolishes the popular bromide that the New Testament is "anti-Semitic."

REVIEW: Thiede reviews documents and fragments that have not previously been translated or have not been discussed widely. He has some detailed and exciting analyses, critically comparing with other proposals for reconstruction of fragments in Caves 4 and 7. This book provides a thoroughly stimulating and satisfying read, handling the scenarios of history and culture in a flowing fashion that held my interest, even with extensive notation and comparison with some other materials on the Dead Sea Scrolls. The author presents an especially fascinating reconstruction and detailed critical argument proposing that two small fragments are actually sections of two New Testament documents. He does this by way of a general review and criticism of attitudes and assumptions by previous scholars, who have automatically ruled out the possibility that documents we now know as the New Testament could have been collected at Qumran before the destruction of the place by the Romans in 63 A.D.

The two passages he convincingly details as present in Cave 7 are Mark 6:52-53, represented in document fragment 7Q5, and 1 Timothy 3:16-4:1, 3, represented in two document fragments designated together as 7Q4. He provides a detailed and highly reasoned proposal, in addition to the textual analysis, to show how the Qumran archives could have easily gotten documents that later became part of the New Testament. Thiede also provides another great critical service in this volume, by reviewing all the known similarities and differences between the Essenes and the Nazarenes, later called Christians in Antioch and European history. Since the followers of Jesus were Jews, it is not startling that other messianic Jews would be interested in their documents. Especially it makes sense that an eclectic library like Qumran appears to have been would have had a copy of some or all available before 63 A.D.

He points out even more similarities than have previously been proposed, by criticizes the previous naive assumption that the Essenes were either a source of John the Baptist and Jesus' teachings, or that the Essene community became a new Christian community wholesale, or that they were totally unrelated to the new Nazarene messianic sect. The author reviews very competently the already established fact that the first Nazarenes, or Christians, were fully Jewish, and the writers on the New Testament writing fully within the Jewish tradition. In this regard, he also agrees with a growing numbers of commentators who feel that even Luke was not a Gentile, as traditionally proposed, but also a Jew. He points out that no commentator suggested this before Jerome in the fifth century A.D.

Thiede emphasizes, however, that the Essenes would only have been a likely group to respond to the news that Jesus was the Messiah. He detailed the novel way in which the followers of Jesus interpreted the Old Testament passages to indicate that Jesus was the Messiah. He further uncovers more practical ties between the Essene movement and the disciples of Jesus during Jesus' lifetime. I learned here for the first time that the Essenes had members all over Palestine and even in Syria, not just the well-known Qumran monastic community. He reviews much previous information and correlates that with recently discovered information to provide a revised, more complete picture of the Essenes and the overall messianic milieu of Judaism in the first century.

REVIEW: One reviewer claims the book breaks no ground, in that it is already established that Christianity has Jewish roots. While this is true, liberal theology has often claimed that the orthodox doctrines of the deity of Christ and his physical resurrection were not believed by his earliest followers. Thiede's claim, if true, that a fragment of 1 Timothy has been found among the scrolls would shatter this liberal perception. I also found the book compelling in its treatment of the Septuagint, the Greek translation of the Hebrew Old Testament. Thiede demonstrates evidence the Septuagint is based on a different and, perhaps, older Hebrew text than the Masorite copy we currently use for our translations. The ramifications may be profound, indicating the Septuagint is a more reliable version of the Old Testament than the Masorite. This also has implications for orthodox Christianity, as the Septuagint has been used by Christians to effectively demonstrate Jesus as Messiah and God.

REVIEW: I'm not much of a scholar, but for those layman and history enthusiasts who are interested in the Dead Sea Scrolls I would recommend this book. It is a little heavy in places, but overall I really enjoyed it.

ADDITIONAL BACKGROUND:

Ancient Israel/Judaea: Human settlement in Judaea stretches back to the Stone Age. The region is believed by paleoanthropologists to have been one of the routes through which homo-sapiens traveled out of Africa around 100,000 years ago to colonize the rest of the world. However the Mousterian Neanderthals were the earliest known inhabitants of the area. They can be traced back to about 200,000 BC. The first anatomically modern humans to live in the area were the Kebarans, dating to about about 18,000 BC. They were followed by the Natufian culture (about 10,000 BC.), the Yarmukians (8,500 to 4,300 BC) and the Ghassulians (4,300 to 3,300 BC).

The Semitic culture followed the Ghassulians. During this period the inhabitants of the region became urbanized and lived in city-states, one of which was Jericho. Archaeological evidence of human settlement dates back 11,000 years. In the case of Jericho the city is believed to be the oldest continuously inhabited settlement in the world. The area's location at the center of routes linking three continents made it the meeting place for religious and cultural influences from Egypt, Syria, Mesopotamia, and Asia Minor. It was also the natural battleground for the great powers of the region and subject to domination by adjacent empires. This began with Egypt in the 3rd millennium BC.

Traditional history refers to the early inhabitants as the sons of Shem. The history speaks of an invasion by a people called Canaanites. Also known as the Phoenicians the Canaanites were in myth descended from Ham. “Recorded” history traditionally begins with Abraham being promised by God that he would become the father of a great nation. If the events described in the Bible actually took place they would appear to take place around 1,800 BC. In legend Terah and his son Abram move from the Sumerian city of Ur to the city of Haran. Abram was of course later known as “Abraham”. In Haran Abraham declares his belief in the One God. This declaration initiates the beginnings of Judaism. Abraham marries Sarai, who was later named Sarah.

Abraham and his extended clan move to the land of Canaan, or Israel. Abraham’s descendants became the most famous inhabitants of the region, and are known as the Israelites. Most historians believe these events to be purely mythical. What history does record is that in about 1600 BC Egypt was conquered by Canaanite tribes known by the Egyptians as the Hyksos. The Hyksos were eventually defeated by Kamose. Kamose was the last king of ancient Egypt’s seventeenth dynasty. However it is believed that much of the Hyksosian population might have remained settled in the region of the Nile Delta under Egyptian dominion. Egypt's 19th dynasty began with the reign of Ramses I. Ramses II who reigned from 1279 to 1213 BC signed a treaty with the Hittites. This occurred after losing the northern Levant to the Hittite Empire.

If Moses was a historical figure, this is about the time of the Exodus. Historians believe it probable that the Exodus involved the remaining Hyksosian population. Persecuted by the ethnic Egyptians the Hyksos returned to Canaan. Specifically it is believed that the Hyksos returned to that region of Canaan recently lost by Egypt to the Hittites. According to the Bible, Moses led the Israelites out of Egypt and eventually came to "the promised land" in Canaan. Historians believe that this exodus was in actuality a return to their ancestral homeland. Moses died before entering Canaan, and Joshua became the next leader.

About 1,200 BC the Hittites were conquered from the North, and he northern coastal Canaanites (called the Phoenicians by the Greeks) were temporarily displaced, but returned when the invading tribes showed no inclination to settle but instead continued southward toward Egypt. The ancient Egyptians referred to this horde of invading tribes that swept across Asia Minor and the Mediterranean the “Sea Peoples”. Some hold that the Philistines originated from them. In any event by 1185 BC the invasion of the Sea Peoples had been repelled by the ancient Egyptians. Deflected back northward, the “Sea Peoples” settled in Canaan, in the cities of Gaza, Gat, Gezer, Ashkelon, and Ashdod. These people are the Philistines of the Bible and provided the name Palestine to the area. In about 1140 BC the Canaanite tribes tried to destroy the Israelite tribes of northern and central Canaan. According to the Bible, the Israelite response was led by Barak, and the Hebrew prophet Deborah.

Ultimately the Canaanites were defeated, and ancient Israel was ruled by a series of “Judges”. Saul became the first king of the Israelites in approximately 1020 BC. David succeeded him in 1006 BC, and moved the capital from Hebron to Jerusalem. David waged several successful military campaigns, annexing a large area from Philistine to Damascus. David was succeeded by his son Solomon in about 965 BC, who constructed the Temple of Solomon at Jerusalem and had a prosperous reign. Following the death of King Solomon in about 922 BC, the realm was divided into a Northern Kingdom, known as Israel and a Southern Kingdom, known as Judah, whose capital was Jerusalem. For the first sixty years the kings of Judah aimed at re-establishing their authority over the kingdom of the other ten tribes (the Northern Kingdom), so that there was a state of perpetual war between them. However for the following century they were for the most part in friendly alliance, co-operating against their common enemies, especially against the Syrians.

In 722 BC the Assyrians under Shalmaneser, and then under Sargon the Great, conquered Israel (the northern Kingdom), destroyed its capital Samaria, and sent many of the Israelites into exile and captivity. The ruling class of the Northern Kingdom were deported to other lands in the Assyrian empire and a new nobility was imported by the Assyrians. Judah, the southern Kingdom, fell to the Babylonians a little over a century later in 597 BC When in 586 BC the conquest of Judah was completed by the Babylonians under Nebuchadnezzar, a large part of Judaea's population was exiled to Babylon. In 559 BC Cyrus the Great became King of Persia, and by 539 BC the Babylonian Empire fell to Persia. Persia ruled over Israel until 332 BC, when the Persian Empire was defeated by the Macedonian Alexander the Great. In the power struggle which ensued following Alexander’s death in 323 BC, that part of his empire which included Israel changed hands at least five times in just over twenty years. The post-Alexander Hellenic Seleucid Kingdom ruled Babylonia and Syria; and the Hellenic Ptolemaic Kingdom ruled Egypt.

In 198 BC the armies of the Seleucid King Antiochus III (Antiochus the Great) ousted Ptolemy V from Judaea and Samaria. The Kingdom of Judaea became a client-kingdom of the Persian Seleucid Dynasty. It gained its independence briefly during the middle of the second century BC during the period of Hasmonean State A deterioration of relations between Hellenized Jews and religious Jews led the Seleucid king Antiochus IV Epiphanes to impose decrees banning certain Jewish religious rites and traditions. Consequently, the orthodox Jews revolted under the leadership of the Hasmonean family, (also known as the Maccabees). This revolt eventually led to the formation of an independent Jewish kingdom, known as the Hasmonaean Dynasty, which lasted from 165 BC to 63 BC The Hasmonean Dynasty eventually disintegrated as a result of civil war between the sons of Salome Alexandra, Hyrcanus and Aristobulus.

Following the end of Rome’s Third Mithridatic war in 63 BC and the defeat of Mithridates VI of Pontus, general Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus (Pompey the Great) found himself embroiled in this succession struggle. Ultimately Pompey put Hyrcanus in charge of the kingdom as prince and high priest. Judaea and Galilee became client kingdoms of Rome, which meant that, although independent, they had a subservient position towards the Republic. After Julius Caesar’s defeat of Pompey at the conclusion of Rome’s Civil War, Hyrcanus was succeeded by his courtier Antipater. Both Caesar and Antipater were killed in 44 BC, and Herod (Antipater's son) was appointed as Governor (Tetrarch) by Rome 41 BC He became the outright ruler (Basileus) of Judaea in 37 BC and was later known as King Herod the Great. During his reign the great port of Caesarea Maritima was built. He died in 4 BC and Judaea became part of a larger Roman province, also called Judaea, annexed to the Roman province of Syria.

Between then and the outbreak of the first Judaean Revolt in 66 AD, a series of fourteen Procurators (Governors) ruled over Judaea from the magnificent harbor city built by Herod I at Caesarea. The first of these governors imposed a census of Jews so as to levy heavy taxes. Many of the later Governors of Judaea were increasingly and especially cruel, including Pontius Pilate, Antonius Felix, Albinus, and the last (before the revolt), Gessius Florus. The final insult was when in 66 AD Gessius Florus demanded that Jerusalem's Temple pay him a large amount of money for his own personal use. In protest the Jews quit making daily sacrifices to the reigning Roman Emperor (Nero), and the insult amounted to a declaration of war. Several different factions of Jews were able to band together long enough to rout the Roman garrisons stationed in and around Jerusalem.

In response, the Romans massacred innocent Jews elsewhere throughout the Empire. In Ceasarea 20,000 Jews were put to death in the space of an hour. In Damascus, Syria, the Roman garrison there executed 10,000 Jews. Rome's 12th Legion was dispatched from Syria to put down the revolt, but the Jewish rebels were able to repel these troops. Roman Emperor Nero then dispatched his greatest general against the Jewish rebels, Vespasian, leader of Rome's armies to victories in Britain and Germany, and gave him command of some of Rome's most elite forces. As recounted by the great historian Josephus, Vespasian first encircled the Jewish forces around Galilee, which fell within a few months. By the middle of 68 AD Vespasian's troops had crushed the revolt throughout all of Palestine, with the exception of Jerusalem and the zealot fortress of Massada. Vespasian was forced to return to Rome upon the death of Nero, and the resulting civil wars which rocked Italy. Vespasian was declared Emperor by his troops, as well as the troops in Alexandria and in the Danube region.

Fighting his way into Rome, Vespasian vanquished the army of his rival Lucius Vitellius, and within a year he victoriously claimed his throne in Rome. Upon his arrival in Rome, Vespasian dispatched his son in his stead to finish off the Jewish rebels. The city of Jerusalem was sacked and the Temple destroyed. An estimated 1,100,000 Jews died in the war, and the golden Menorah and the other holy implements of the temple were taken to Rome as booty and eventually lost to history. Some historians believe that the mountain fortress of Massada, near the Dead Sea, held off the Roman Legions for another three years. The era was of enormous consequence not only for those of the Jewish faith, but for all of Christianity, and the coinage leading up to the Revolt as well as the coinage struck by the rebels during the revolt are of tremendous significance to collectors. However from this time forward, notwithstanding a second revolt against Rome from 132 to 135 AD, Israel was either a possession of the Roman, Byzantine, or Arab Muslim Empire up through the twentieth century when an independent Israel was again reborn [AncientGifts].

Tel Kanbri, Israel, Bronze Age City: Tel Kabri is an archaeological site in the Western Galilee in northwestern Israel. It is the location of one of the largest palaces in Canaan in the Middle Bronze Age. The palace dates to the period in which Tel Kabri was at the height of its power, approximately 2,000 through 1,500 BC. The palace belonged to a political entity that is as yet unnamed and is largely unknown.

Like many Ancient Near Eastern archaeological sites, much of the Kabri site is located on a “tell”. A "tell" is a manmade mound composed of layers or strata. Each strata represents the remains of a period of occupation. These strata are deposited one on top of the other as settlements rose and fell. The strata are compressed over the centuries by the weight of overlying strata and occupation levels. Of course the most recent strata or occupation layers are found at the top of the tell.

The strata at Kabri date from the Neolithic period, which are the deepest strata. They end with modern times which are the strata nearest the surface. It is a relatively low mound extending over a wide area. The area today is covered by avocado groves tended by the local kibbutz, Kibbutz Kabri. The site has been excavated by archaeologists from time to time since 1956. There were two surveys, five minor excavations, and two major excavations. The first major excavation was conducted from 1986 through 1993. The archaeological expedition found many of the structures comprising the Middle Bronze Age palace. The excavations also uncovered floor and wall frescoes reflecting the style of far-off Aegean cultures.

The second major excavation began in 2005 when the University of Haifa and The George Washington University reopened excavations of the site. The ongoing excavations have provided archaeological evidence of the development of the palace. The findings permitted study of the Canaanite society and economy of Kabri. The studies encompassed as well the surrounding areas and their relationship to the wider Mediterranean world, particularly the Aegean. The current expedition has found additional Aegean-style wall and floor frescoes. In 2013 and 2015 large storage areas and many ceramic storage vessels were uncovered. Together they represent the oldest wine cellar in the world and the largest in the Ancient Near East.

Kabri saw its heyday in the Middle Bronze Age. However the area was inhabited as far back as the Pottery Neolithic period, 6,400 through 4,500 BC. Kabri remained occupied through the early part of the Chalcolithic period, or Copper Age, from about 4500 through 3500 BC. The inhabitants were drawn to Kabri by the waters of its springs. But the Kabri settlements mysteriously disappeared in the later part of the Copper Age. Then in the Early Bronze Age which began around 3500 BC a Canaanite town sprang up on the site of Tel Kabri. The town likely covered the northern half of the tell.

In ancient times the region that includes modern Israel and surrounding areas was inhabited by a people called "Canaanites". Their land was called “Canaan”. They were eventually displaced by Israelites sometime in the Iron Age. The circumstances of their displacement are much debated by historians. Along with countless others throughout the eastern Mediterranean the Canaanite town situated atop Tel Kabri disappeared. This occurred around the end of the Early Bronze Age in about 2100 BC. At that time there was a mysterious, unidentified wave of destructive events generally known today as the "Early Bronze Age Collapse."

The site remained uninhabited until early in the first part of the Middle Bronze Age, which equates approximately to 2000 to 1720 BC. Archaeologists refer to the period as “Middle Bronze Age I”. In the early and middle parts of the Middle Bronze Age Tel Kabri was inhabited once more. This is evidenced by the appearance of new tombs and private houses at the site. During much of the early Middle Bronze Age the Kabri settlement appears to have been unfortified. Kabri is notable for the remains of four palaces. The first palace and fortifications were constructed during the middle to late Middle Bronze Age.

Construction of the first palace began after residential structures built earlier in the Middle Bronze Age were razed. The land was flattened out and covered with a layer of earth and debris. The main structures were two thick parallel stone walls which Kabri archaeologists call the "corridor". There’s a room at its north terminus with a plaster floor. The first palace may have resembled a fortress more than a grand residence for royalty. Then Kabri's palace grew larger, becoming what archaeologists call the "second palace”. This occurred at about the juncture between the earlier portion of the Middle Bronze Age (Middle Bronze Age I) to the latter portion of the Middle Bronze Age. This is known to historians as the “Middle Bronze Age II”, which lasted from about 1720 BC to beween1550 or 1500 BC.

The larger second palace replaced the fortress-like first palace. The corridor and northern room were filled in. Three rooms were built to the east of the corridor area. One or possibly two meeting halls were built to the west. A thick barrier of earth was built around the site. This would help the rulers secure their authority and likely also give Kabrians a greater sense of safety. It is believed that around this time Kabri and the coastal city of Acre were in contention for control of the Western Galilee. This may have been reflected in the construction of the fortress-like first Kabri palace. Then as well it would be reflected in the great earthen wall around the second palace. This might also provide an explanation for the abandonment of smaller sites near Kabri. The inhabitants of those smaller sites loyal to Kabri under such circumstances may have moved to Kabri and to the fortifications of some of Kabri's outposts, such as nearby Achziv.

Later on still within the Middle Bronze Age II period the palace was greatly expanded again. This time the expansion was to the northeast and south, creating what archaeologists call "third palace”. It was at this time that Kabri apparently won out over Acre for control of the Western Galilee. This supremacy may be reflected in a change in the focus of the palace. In the new third palace the emphasis seems to have shifted away from defense and military might. The new emphasis of the third palace seemed displays of culture and wealth. The third palace incorporated many advanced architectural elements. It was decorated with wall frescoes and floor paintings incorporating Aegean art styles and themes. These changes may have represented an attempt to make Kabri appear to be a player on the international stage.

One final expansion resulted in the "fourth" and final palace at Kabri. The fourth palace included a separate two-room building. In that building plaster-covered stone slabs from the beach called "orthostats" lined the foundations. The building was called the "Orthostat Building" by the archaeologists excavating Kabri. Most importantly the fourth palace included the Southern Storage Complex. It also included perhaps many more rooms to the north and west of the Southern Complex, but unfortunately beneath a contemporary roadway and so inaccessible to archaeologists.

The storage rooms that may lie beneath the Southern Complex probably belong to the third palace. The fourth palace was larger than any of the previous three. However it was not as artistically decorated as the third palace. In fact the frescoes and other plaster paintings of the third palace appear to have been destroyed. Their fragments were used not as decoration but as packing material. The painted fragments were turned face down to conceal their colors. They were then used as filler within the white or plain floors and walls of the fourth palace. It is believed that this change was not the result of Kabri losing contact with the Aegean. Historians believe the change was more likely the result of a shift in the focus of the Kabrians’ international communications to Cyprus at this time. The fourth palace appears to have been expanding in size right up to about 1550 BC.

However around 1550 BC, perhaps even earlier, the palace was destroyed and the entire site was abandoned. The reasons for this and the precise date are unknown. Archaeologists excavating Kabri suggest that the storage rooms may yield clues. Following the destruction of the Middle Bronze Age palace there is little evidence that the site was occupied again until the 8th century BC during the Iron Age. At that time Phoenicians established a town called Rehov. The Phoenician city-state of Tyre ruled what had been Kabri. There was a garrison of Greek mercenaries at the site. However in 585 BC the Neo-Babylonian armies of King Nebuchadnezzar destroyed many sites in the Levant, including the town and citadel of Kabri. The Neo-Babylonians eventually captured Tyre itself 12 years later.

In 538 BC the Persian armies of Cyrus the Great swept through the region. A small village appeared on Tel Kabri. The village only lasted until 332 BCE when Alexander the Great and his Macedonian army swept through the region. In the Hellenistic period after 332 BC Tel Kabri itself was largely deserted. The only known organized human activities in this period were local burials in the old Phoenician citadel. However no one appears to have lived at Tel Kabri. Starting in the Roman Period an area to the east of the tell took a name derived from Kabri. Kabrita was its name. Kabrita thereafter became the preferred locale for occupation in the area right up until the foundation of the modern State of Israel.

In the Ottoman period of about 1517 through 1917 AD the Arab village of el-Qahweh was founded at Tel Kabri. It later became known as en-Nahr, and there was also an offshoot village of et-Tell. The inhabitants operated farms at en-Nahr, and a mill at et-Tell. A major aqueduct was also constructed from Kabri to Acre during this period. The Ottomans were defeated in World War I. This was followed by the British Mandate Period which ran from 1920 through 1948. After World War I and during the Mandate the tell remained relatively unchanged. The only addition was a road running through the tell from the coastal city of Nahariyyah to a nearby Jewish village.

During Israel's War of Independence in the late 1940s the Arab villages on Tel Kabri and the village of Kabri to the east emptied. In 1948 the site became part of the current Kibbutz Kabri. In 1956 the first archaeological remains of the Neolithic inhabitants were identified and the story of Tel Kabri as an archaeological site began [Ancient History Encyclopedia].

Roman Judaea: Following the exile of King Herod Archelaus in 6 AD, Judaea was annexed to the Roman province of Syria. Between then and the outbreak of the first Judaean Revolt in 66 AD, a series of fourteen Procurators (Governors) ruled over Judaea from the magnificent harbor city built by Herod I at Caesarea. The first of these governors imposed a census of Jews so as to levy heavy taxes. Many of the later Governors of Judaea were increasingly and especially cruel, including Pontius Pilate, Antonius Felix, Albinus, and the last (before the revolt), Gessius Florus. The final insult was when in 66 AD, Gessius Florus demanded that Jerusalem's Temple pay him a large amount of money for his own personal use. In protest the Jews quit making daily sacrifices to the reigning Roman Emperor (Nero), and the insult amounted to a declaration of war.

Several different factions of Jews were able to band together long enough to rout the Roman garrisons stationed in and around Jerusalem. In response, the Romans massacred innocent Jews elsewhere throughout the Empire. In Ceasarea 20,000 Jews were put to death in the space of an hour. In Damascus, Syria, the Roman garrison there executed 10,000 Jews. Rome's 12th Legion was dispatched from Syria to put down the revolt, but the Jewish rebels were able to repel these troops. Roman Emperor Nero then dispatched his greatest general against the Jewish rebels, Vespasian, leader of Rome's armies to victories in Britain and Germany, and gave him command of some of Rome's most elite forces.

Vespasian first encircled the Jewish forces around Galilee, which fell within a few months. By the middle of 68 AD, Vespasian's troops had crushed the revolt throughout all of Palestine, with the exception of Jerusalem and the zealot fortress of Massada. Vespasian was forced to return to Rome upon the death of Nero, and the resulting civil wars which rocked Italy. Vespasian was declared Emperor by his troops, as well as the troops in Alexandria and in the Danube region. Fighting his way into Rome, Vespasian vanquished the army of his rival Lucius Vitellius, and within a year he victoriously claimed his throne in Rome.

Upon his arrival in Rome, Vespasian dispatched his son in his stead to finish off the Jewish rebels. The city of Jerusalem was sacked and the Temple destroyed. An estimated 1,100,000 Jews died in the war, and the golden Menorah and the other holy implements of the temple were taken to Rome as booty and eventually lost to history. Some historians believe that the mountain fortress of Massada, near the Dead Sea, held off the Roman Legions for another three years. The era was of enormous consequence not only for those of the Jewish faith, but for all of Christianity, and the coinage leading up to the Revolt as well as the coinage struck by the rebels during the revolt are of tremendous significance.

Jerusalem Dig Uncovers Ancient Greek Citadel: In the shadow of Jerusalem’s city walls, archaeologists have found a fortress that spawned a bloody rebellion more than two millennia ago. What Jews call the Temple Mount rises above the remains of a Greek citadel exposed by an archaeological dig in Jerusalem. Israeli archaeologists have uncovered the remnants of an impressive fort built more than two thousand years ago by Greeks in the center of old Jerusalem. The ruins are the first solid evidence of an era in which Hellenistic culture held sway in this ancient city.

The citadel, until now known only from texts, was at the heart of a bloody rebellion that eventually led to the expulsion of the Greeks, an event still celebrated by Jews at Hanukkah. But the excavation in the shadow of the Temple Mount, called Haram esh-Sharif by Muslims, is stirring controversy in this politically charged land. “We now have massive evidence that this is part of the fortress called the Acra,” said Doron Ben-Ami, an archaeologist with the Israeli Antiquities Authority who is leading the effort.

Situated under what had long been a parking lot between the Temple Mount to the north and the Palestinian village of Silwan to the south, the site is now a huge rectangular hole that plunges more than three stories below the streets. On a recent visit, workers cleared away dirt as Ben-Ami jumped from rock to rock, enthusiastically pointing out newly excavated features. Massive stones as well as smaller rock provided clues to the identity of the fortress. Roman houses and a Byzantine orchard later covered the site, which more recently was a parking lot.

Alexander the Great conquered Judea in the 4th century BC, and his successors quarreled over the spoils. Jerusalem, Judea’s capital, sided with Seleucid King Antiochus III to expel an Egyptian garrison, and a grateful Antiochus granted the Jews religious autonomy. For a century and a half, Greek culture and language flourished here. Yet archaeologists have found few artifacts or buildings from this important era that shaped Jewish culture. Conflicts between traditional Jews and those influenced by Hellenism led to tensions, and Jewish rebels took up arms in 167 BC The revolt was put down, and Antiochus IV Epiphanes sacked the city, banned traditional Jewish rites, and set up Greek gods in the temple.

According to the Jewish author of 1 Maccabees, a book written shortly after the revolt, the Seleucids built a massive fort in “the city of David with a great and strong wall, and with strong towers.” Called the Acra—from the Greek for a high, fortified place—it was a thorn in the side of Jews who resented Greek dominance. In 164 BC, Jewish rebels led by Judah Maccabee took Jerusalem and liberated the temple, an event commemorated in the festival of Hanukkah. But the rebels failed to conquer the Acra. For more than two decades, the rebels tried in vain to overwhelm the fortress. Finally in 141 BC, Simon Maccabee captured the stronghold and expelled the remaining Greeks.

Towering Over the Temple? What happened next has confused and divided scholars for more than a century. According to historian Josephus Flavius, a Jew who served Rome in the first century AD, Simon Maccabee spent three years tearing down the Acra, ensuring that it no longer towered over the temple. The temple was located to the north of the City of David, on ground more than a hundred feet above the boundaries of early Jerusalem, so Josephus’s story explained this geographical puzzle. But the author of 1 Maccabees insisted that Simon actually strengthened the fortifications and even made it his residence.

This discrepancy spawned many theories in the past century, but no solid archaeological evidence. When an Israeli organization named the Ir David Foundation announced plans to build a museum on top of the parking lot, Ben-Ami began a salvage excavation in 2007. His team dug through successive layers, from an early Islamic market, through a Byzantine orchard and a hoard of 264 coins from the seventh century, under an elaborate Roman villa, and then beyond a first-century place for ritual Jewish bathing. Under buildings that pottery and coins demonstrated to be from the early centuries BC, the archaeologists found layers of what looked like random rubble.

But the rubble turned out to be carefully placed rocks that formed a glacis, or a defensive slope protruding from a massive wall. “The stones are in layers, at an angle of 15 degrees at the bottom and 30 degrees at the top,” Ben-Ami said, gesturing at color-coded cards pinned into each layer. “This wasn’t a building that collapsed; this was put here on purpose.” Archaeologists exposed a Roman villa close to the Greek fortress. After the citadel’s destruction, the site became a residential area.

The team also found coins that date from the time of Antiochus IV to the time of Antiochus VII, who was the Seleucid king when the Acra fell. “We also have Greek arrowheads, slingshots, and ballistic stones,” he added. “And also amphorae of imported wine.” Since observant Jews drank only local wine, that suggests the presence of foreigners or those influenced by non-Jewish ways. Sling stones and arrowheads found in and around the Greek fortress attest to pitched battles fought by Greek and Jewish defenders against those Jews opposed to Hellenistic control of Jerusalem.

Ben-Ami found no sign that the fortress was dismantled abruptly, or that the entire hill was leveled, as Josephus claimed. Instead, the succeeding Jewish kingdom under Hasmonean rule cut into the glacis during construction in later years. Hasmonean and later Roman builders reused the cut stones for other structures, eating away at the Greek citadel. The find lays to rest theories that placed the Acra north of the temple, immediately adjacent to it, or on the high ground to the west that is now covered by the current walled city.

No one is more delighted by the discovery than Bezalel Bar-Kochva, an emeritus historian at Tel Aviv University. He wrote a 1980 article suggesting that the fort could be found exactly where Ben-Ami dug—a few hundred meters south of the Temple Mount, in the midst of the old City of David. “By the time of Josephus,” he said, “Jerusalem had spread to the west and north, and the city of David was a low spot.” Bar-Kochva believes that the author copied a spurious tale by a Greek historian about Simon’s effort to level the Acra in order to account for this.

Oren Tal, an archaeologist at Tel Aviv University not associated with the dig, said that Ben-Ami’s discovery is the “best possible candidate” for the Acra. “The find is fascinating,” added Israeli archaeologist Yonathan Mizrachi. “This suggests that Jerusalem was for a longer time a Hellenistic city in which foreigners were dominant, and who built more than we thought.” Mizrachi, who heads a consortium of scholars called Emek Shaveh, opposes the museum development because it will damage the ruins.

An Israeli planning board last June ordered the Ir David Foundation to scale back the size of the complex. Mizrachi also complains that local residents, who are mostly Palestinian, have not been consulted or involved in the dig that is, almost literally, on their doorsteps. He noted that Ir David supports Jewish settlement of the occupied territories, including the Silwan neighborhood. Meanwhile, Palestinians in Silwan said that the work has led to dangerous cracks in walls and foundations of neighboring houses that threaten their safety.

There is a deeper concern among residents that the dig, however illuminating for scholars, is a step toward dismantling their village. “This excavation is not searching for history,” said Jawad Siam, director of the Madaa Community Center based in Silwan. “It’s designed to serve a settlement project.” Ir David officials did not respond to requests for comment. “When Jerusalem calls, you never say no,” said Ben-Ami. “My expertise is in archaeology, not politics.” [National Geographic (2016)].

Marine Archaeoloy in Caesarea: Divers find largest golden coin hoard ever discovered in Israel. The Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA) has announced the discovery of a massive hoard of almost 2,000 gold coins by divers in the ancient harbor in Caesarea. The coins, which are over 1,000 years old, constitute the largest find of its kind in the country. It is believed the treasure belongs to a shipwreck of an official treasury boat on its ways to Egypt with collected taxes.

The discovery was made when a group of divers from a local dive club spotted what they initially thought were “toy coins”, while diving in the Caesarea National Park. The ancient Caesarea Maritima (or Caesarea Palestinae) city and harbor, which lies on the Mediterranean coast of Israel, was built by Herod the Great in about 25–13 B.C. and was populated through the late Roman and Byzantine era. The divers reported the discovery to the Marine Archaeology Unit of the IAA, which immediately sent out additional divers with metal detectors to the discovery site, yielding nearly 2,000 gold coins in a spectacular state of preservation.

The coins were in such good condition that archaeologists were even able to identify teeth and bite marks in the coins, evidence they had been physically inspected by their owners or the merchants. The coins are in different denominations, including a dinar, half dinar, and quarter dinar, and date to the era of the Fatimid Empire (909 – 1171 A.D.), a Shia Islamic caliphate which spanned a large area of North Africa, from the Red Sea in the east to the Atlantic Ocean in the west. The dynasty ruled across the Mediterranean coast of Africa and ultimately made Egypt the center of the caliphate.

“The discovery of such a large hoard of coins that had such tremendous economic power in antiquity raises several possibilities regarding its presence on the seabed. There is probably a shipwreck there of an official treasury boat which was on its way to the central government in Egypt with taxes that had been collected. Perhaps the treasure of coins was meant to pay the salaries of the Fatimid military garrison which was stationed in Caesarea and protected the city,” said Kobi Sharvit, director of the Marine Archaeology Unit of the IAA.

“Another theory is that the treasure was money belonging to a large merchant ship that traded with the coastal cities and the port on the Mediterranean Sea and sank there,” he added. The IAA revealed that most of the coins belong to the Fatimid caliphs Al-Ḥākim (996–1021 A.D.), and his son Al-Ẓāhir (1021–1036 A.D.), and were minted in Egypt and North Africa. Al-Ḥākim is sometimes referred to as the “Mad Caliph” due to his erratic and oppressive behavior concerning religious minorities under his command.

This differed markedly from the previous caliphs who had shown tolerance to non-Muslims such as Christians and Jews, who occupied high levels in government. It was, however ‘tolerance for a purpose’, set in place to ensure the flow of money from all those who were non-Muslims in order to finance the Caliphs' large army of Mamluks (slave soldiers). Az-Zāhir assumed the Caliphate after the disappearance of Al-Ḥākim on the night of 12/13 February 1021 and at the age of 36.

Al-Ḥākim had left for one of his night journeys to the al-Muqattam hills outside of Cairo, and never returned. A search found only his donkey and bloodstained garments. The disappearance has remained a mystery. According to the IAA, “the great value and significance of the treasure become apparent when viewed in light of the historical sources.” Ancient records reveal that the Muslim residents of the settlements were required to pay half their agricultural produce at harvest time, in addition to payment of a head tax of one dinar and five carats (twenty-four carats equal one dinar, hence the method used to measure gold according to carats).

The Caesarea Development Company and Nature and Parks Authority were thrilled with the discovery of the treasure. They said: “There is no doubt that the discovery of the impressive treasure highlights the uniqueness of Caesarea as an ancient port city with rich history and cultural heritage. After 2,000 years it is still capable of captivating its many visitors, of continuing to innovate and surprise again when other parts of its mysterious past are revealed in the ground and in the sea”.