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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…
Asenath the daughter of R. Samuel Adoni (Barazani) was a wise woman and a great Torah scholar. She studied the secrets of kabbalah and acquired a considerable reputation for performing miracles and…
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…
A. O my sisters! O my daughters! O women, my people and pride! Hear my words, understand my musings, consider my way, for I am your brother. I have gathered for you beautiful words, chosen from the…
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…
Cult statues in Assyrian relief from the Palace of Tiglath-pileser III (reigned 745–727 BCE) in Kalhu/Calah (today’s Nimrud, Iraq). Although no Mesopotamian cult statues have been found, reliefs such…
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…
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 relief, from Sennacherib’s palace in Nineveh, shows Sennacherib’s army attacking Lachish (an event alluded to in 2 Kings 18:14 and 17). Sennacherib is sitting on his throne outside the city…
