Showing Results 41 - 50 of 83
Lion-shaped weight, Arad, Iron Age II (ca. 980–586 BCE). A balance scale would use weights to measure goods. Weights were usually dome-shaped, but some were shaped like animals. This well-preserved…
This terra-cotta figurine from Lachish is very schematic, and the rider’s legs are not shown. The rider cannot represent an average person because people—even kings—more often rode on donkeys and…
In this terra-cotta dove figurine from Beth Shemesh, 4 inches (10 cm) long, care was taken with the shape of the head and body and in showing the tail by painted lines. Yet there are no feet and the…
This image, found at En Gedi, depicts a prancing or galloping horse with its head and right foreleg raised. The high level of skill shown in the realistic engraving makes it one of the finest seals…
In the ancient Near East, images of paired lions served as guardians at building entrances and on furniture, where these two figurines from Samaria were presumably placed. According to 1 Kings 10:19…
This small sculpture of a pomegranate with a bird (most likely a dove) sitting on top is from the City of David in Jerusalem. The sculpture was probably mounted on a piece of furniture (fragments of…
Israel Paldi was a member of the Land of Israel movement, a group of post-impressionist artists who, in the 1920s, broke with the conventions of the Bezalel School. Some, like Paldi, became well-known…
This flute from Tel Goren at En Gedi, 4 inches long and .67 inches wide (10 × 2 cm), is made from the hollowed shaft of an animal bone. The hole near the center was probably for blowing air across the…
Wasp hive in cow’s skull, Golan Heights. The hive is reminiscent of the swarm of bees and honey that Samson found in a lion’s carcass, which became the subject of his riddle (Judges 14:8).
On a turquoise sea sails a ship. A sharp-eyed gull flies around the mast, swooping down from time to time to see what is happening on the ship, in all its decks. The boat has three decks and a bridge…
