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This panel, from a relief in Sennacherib’s palace in Nineveh, complements Sennacherib’s statement, in the account of his campaign to Judah, that Hezekiah sent him “his elite troops (and) his best…
Ishtar Gate and processional avenue, Babylon. This scale model in the Pergamon Museum in Berlin shows the splendor of the city in the days of the prophet—or prophets—whose words are preserved in…
City plan incised on clay tablet, Babylonia. The command in Ezekiel 4:1 to “incise Jerusalem” on a brick may have meant to incise a map of it, like this map of the Babylonian city Nippur (near where…
In the 1930s, Lotte Errell and her husband, also a photographer, traveled the world, visiting countries in Africa, Asia, and the Middle East. The outbreak of war in 1939 found the now divorced and…
Lot (puru), Assyria, 8th century BCE. The inscription identifies this as a lot (puru—the Akkadian form of Hebrew pur, the word used in Esther 3:7) that belonged to an Assyrian official named Yahalu…
Idol-quickening instructions, Babylonia, 6th century BCE. The “mouth-washing” ritual was a ceremony for transforming a newly manufactured idol into a living deity. The instructions include these…
These gilt-silver finials—which bear the Hebrew calendar year of 5502 (1742)—are considered the earliest dated finials from Iraq. On top of each finial is a miniature ḥamsa, a charm in the shape of a…
Scribes writing lists, Nimrud, late eighth century BCE. Two Assyrian scribes, standing side by side, make lists of booty as it comes in. One writes on a clay tablet and the other writes on a scroll.
This section of the relief from the palace of Sennacherib, king of Assyria (reigned 705–681 BCE), in Nineveh depicting his conquest of Lachish in 701 BCE, shows Judahite inhabitants filing out of the…
Cyrus Cylinder, Babylonia. In the inscription, Cyrus, the king of Persia (reigned 559–530 BCE), declares that he was chosen by Marduk, the god of Babylon, to free its citizens from the tyranny and…
