Archeology and Geography of Holy Scripture. From Biblical Illustration to Anthropology of Ancient Israel

In March 2016, Israeli sports walkers found a gold Roman coin with the profile of Emperor Augustus. This is the second such coin known to science, the other is in the British Museum. The coin was minted during the reign of Emperor Trajan. Until now, a gold coin from the era of the Roman Emperor Trajan (AD 107) with the profile of Emperor Augustus minted on it has existed in a single […]

The biblical story of Balaam has been proven by archeology. In March 1967, in the east of the Jordan Valley, on a hill called Tell Deir Alla (Tell Deir ‘Alla), a Dutch expedition led by Professor Henk Franken (Henk J. Franken) excavated an ancient pagan sanctuary (temple). This tell has been identified by some scholars as the biblical Succoth (Genesis 33:17), by others as the […]

Discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls The Dead Sea Scrolls remained hidden until 1947, when a Bedouin shepherd made the initial discovery. He was a member of the Temerian Bedouin tribe that settled in the desert region between Bethlehem and the Dead Sea. It was a teenager who was tending a flock. In search of a lost goat, he entered one of the caves. According to […]

Parts of a marble stele with an inscription of the Persian king Darius I were discovered by archaeologists during excavations at the site of the ancient Greek city of Phanagoria in the Temryuk district of the Krasnodar Territory. This was reported on Thursday in the press service of the Oleg Deripaska Foundation "Volnoe delo", with the support of which the excavations are being carried out. “The deciphered inscriptions indicate that they were made on behalf of the Persian king Darius the First. Inscription […]

Philistine graveyard found An incredible discovery has taken place in southern Israel. The discovery of a large Philistine cemetery outside the walls of ancient Ashkelon, which was the main city of the Philistines between the 12th and 7th centuries BC, is the first of its kind in the region. The find of archaeologists will help to learn about the origin of the Philistines, from whom the Israelites suffered the most. For more than a century […]

We continue to publish materials from the Biblical Archeology series. In this article, we will talk a little about the finds concerning the emperor Tiberius, and at the beginning we will cite one of the passages of the Bible that talks about him. This happened in the fifteenth year of the reign of Emperor Tiberius, when Pontius Pilate ruled Judea, Herod ruled in Galilee, his brother, Philip, was the ruler of Iturea and […]

Jacob's well is a deep well carved into the rock. It is located near the archaeological site of Tel Balata, which is considered the site of the biblical Shechem (Shechem). According to legend, this well, filled with water from a spring, was dug by Jacob, the son of Isaac. Near this place there is a road along which the patriarchs once traveled. Currently, the well is located in the Greek Orthodox monastery of that […]

BIBLICAL ARCHEOLOGY BIBLICAL ARCHEOLOGY

BIBLICAL ARCHEOLOGY , a branch of archeology whose task is to reconstruct and analyze the historical realities reflected in the Bible (cm. BIBLE). The specificity of this field of science lies in the comparative analysis of materials from archaeological excavations and texts of the Holy Scriptures. After 1917, this area of ​​archeology, for obvious reasons, turned out to be inaccessible to Russian scientists and, until recently, was practically not covered in domestic publications. Meanwhile, scientists from Europe, the United States and Israel were actively excavating on the territory of the biblical countries throughout the 20th century. The geographic scope of the excavations extended to all the territories described in the texts of the Bible, that is, practically to the entire Eastern Mediterranean, Mesopotamia and, in part, Egypt.
The Emergence of Biblical Archeology
Interest in the lands mentioned in the Holy Scriptures existed in all eras, but regular research into biblical antiquities began only in the 19th century, with the beginning of the identification of ancient cities mentioned in the Old Testament. Beginning in 1865, societies for the exploration of Palestine began to appear: the first arose in Britain, then in America, Germany and Russia (1882). Early archaeological research was reconnaissance in nature: the ruins that were on the surface were entered on maps and described. The first excavations in Jerusalem were carried out by the Englishman C. Warren in 1867, but archaeological work at that time did not yet give satisfactory results due to the lack of a rigorous scientific methodology. The beginning of truly scientific archeology can be considered 1890, when the English archaeologist F. Petrie (cm. Petrie Flinders William Matthew) developed a method for systematizing pottery complexes, which made it possible to determine the relative chronology of cultural layers identified during excavations of a particular settlement. Thus, the first truly scientific excavations in Palestine began at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries. They were led by the British (Pitrie, Mackenzie, Macalister), the Americans (Reisner, Fischer), the Germans (Schumacher, Watzinger), the French (Voghus, Clermont-Ganneau). Russian scientists also made their contribution to the exploration of Palestine at the turn of the century (Olesnitsky, Kondakov (cm. KONDAKOV Nikodim Pavlovich), Rostovtsev (cm. ROSTOVTSEV Mikhail Ivanovich), Archimandrite Antonin (Kapustin) (cm. ANTONIN (Kapustin))).
During this period, active excavations were carried out not only in Palestine, but also in Mesopotamia, where work went on in many directions at once: Ashur (cm. ASSHUR (city)), Nineveh (cm. NINEVIA), Babylon (cm. BABYLON) and the most ancient Sumerian centers (Uruk (cm. URUK), Nippur (cm. NIPPUR) and etc.). On the territory of Syria, Alalakh was found - a city that existed from 4 to the end of 2 thousand BC. e.
First half of the 20th century
In the period between the two world wars, the chronological range of research expanded dramatically: the study of monuments of pre-literate eras - the Paleolithic, Mesolithic and Neolithic - began. During this period, the outstanding American archaeologist W. Albright began to work in Palestine, who began to study small centers, thereby forming a new, broader archaeological context for the analysis of biblical sources. Ras Shamra excavations begin in Syria (cm. RAS SHAMRA)- a settlement that existed from the Neolithic era, and from the middle of 2 thousand BC. e. known as the Amorite center of Ugarit (cm. UGARIT). In Mesopotamia, Khalafskaya was opened (cm. HALAF CULTURE) and Ubeid early agricultural cultures (5-4 thousand BC).
Israeli school
The Israeli school of archeology began to form even before the creation of the State of Israel itself: excavations were carried out by Jewish scientists from the time when Palestine became the territory of the English mandate (Mazar, Avigad, Sukenik, Yadin). After 1948, the circle of Israeli archaeologists expanded (Avi-Iona, Dotan, Aharoni, Kaplan, later - Barag, Ronen, Ussishkin, Epshtein, and others). Archaeological excavations were carried out almost throughout the country. It was possible to trace the stages of development of the Syro-Palestinian region during the pre-literate period of its history: from the appropriating economy of the Paleolithic and Mesolithic to early agricultural cultures (7-4 thousand BC) with a producing economy.
Second half of the 20th century
In the middle of the 20th century manuscripts were found on the western coast of the Dead Sea in the caves of Qumran and the Judean Desert (cm. DEAD SEA MANUSCRIPTS) dating from the 3rd c. BC e. up to the 8th c. n. e. In northwestern Syria, an Italian expedition discovered the city-state of Ebla (cm. EBLA)(3 thousand BC). In the 1980s Russian scientists (Munchaev, Merpert, Bader) began to work in Iraq and Syria, who studied monuments of 7-3 thousand BC. e. Along with the expansion of the chronological and geographical scope of archaeological research, excavations continued in such well-known centers as Jerusalem, Jericho, Megiddo, Samaria, Lachish, Hazor, etc.
Comprehensive Research
Since the end of the 1960s, a multidisciplinary approach has been developed in the archeology of the Middle East region: in addition to field archaeologists and specialists in stratigraphy and ceramics, climatologists, paleobotanists, anthropologists, etc., began to be involved in the work. These revolutionary innovations for archeology were proposed by the American archaeological school, which in the 1970s and 1980s acquired leading value. American scientists Dever, Cohen, Seger, Levy, Schaub and others carried out several broad multidisciplinary projects in the Negev mountains, the Jordan region (Bab ed-Dra), Khirbet-Iskander and a number of other places. A new approach to research has made it possible to multiply the amount of information extracted from archaeological sites. However, changes in the approach to research led to a rethinking of biblical archeology as such: it gradually became apparent that the increase in information did not lead to qualitative changes in understanding the accumulated material. New data obtained through multidisciplinary research still made it possible to reconstruct the types of settlements and features of life, but not the social organization and, moreover, the ideology and religion of the ancient inhabitants of Palestine.
Rethinking
At the time of the birth of biblical archeology in the middle of the 19th century. scientists believed that the mutual correlation of archaeological sources and biblical texts would make it possible to form a more objective idea of ​​the objects described in the Bible. historical events. The problem of the relationship between archaeological data and biblical texts turned out to be much more complex than it was imagined by the positivist scholars who stood at the origins of this discipline. Hopes that the Bible could be placed on a solid archaeological foundation, characteristic of older archaeologists, have given way to a more pragmatic approach: numerous disputes about the relationship between the Bible and archeology have led to the realization that a direct correlation between archaeological finds and biblical texts is essentially not exists. Scholars have had to acknowledge the fact that, over the hundred and fifty years of its existence, biblical archeology has failed to prove the historicity of many biblical characters and events, especially in relation to early eras(for example, the era of the patriarchs or the conquest of Canaan). Thus, today the concept of "biblical archeology" is gradually giving way to the concept of "Syro-Palestinian archeology". In other words, the archeology of this region began to lose its specific status, and most modern researchers consider it as one of the territorial branches of general archeology.
Nevertheless, no matter how one calls this branch of archeology, one cannot but admit that its achievements in themselves are very significant.
On the lands of the "fertile crescent
The territory of Palestine has been inhabited since time immemorial: in the place of Ubeidiya, 3 km south of Lake Tiberias, in the layers of the ancient Paleolithic (about 700 thousand BC), the oldest stone tools were found. In the Middle Paleolithic (170-45 thousand BC), along with cave sites, open sites are already recorded, as well as the beginnings of funeral rituals. In the Upper Paleolithic (45-14 thousand BC) in the Syro-Palestinian region, the so-called. Kebaran culture (20-13 thousand BC): in its settlements, the first artificial dwellings appear, round or oval in terms of a semi-dugout. The role of vegetable food is increasing, as evidenced by the finds of reaping knives, mortars and pestles for grinding grain. In the Mesolithic, the Kebaran culture was replaced by the Natufian (cm. NATUFI CULTURE)(13-10 thousand BC), spreading from the Mediterranean coast in the west to the middle Euphrates in the east. Within the framework of this culture, extensive long-term settlements are already emerging, and at its later stage, land houses with stone walls and thatched roofs. The first signs are visible in the burials social stratification, but the economy is still appropriating. At this stage, there are no domesticated animals or cultivated plants yet. The transition to a productive economy occurs only in the Neolithic era.
One of the oldest centers of agriculture in the history of mankind arose on the territory of the so-called. "fertile crescent" (from the northern tip of the Negev desert to southern Turkey, eastern Mesopotamia and the valleys of southwestern Iran). Impressive evidence of the Neolithic revolution that took place here - the transition to productive forms of economy - is a settlement discovered under the Tell es-Sultan hill, better known in the later era under biblical name Jericho (cm. JERICHO). The age of this city, which has survived to this day in its original place, is 11 thousand years. Excavations by the English researcher K. Kenyon (1952-1958) discovered here a stone wall and a tower about 8 m high - stone structures that are 5 thousand years older than the Egyptian pyramids. Similar early Neolithic settlements (the epoch of the so-called pre-pottery Neolithic), although inferior to the proto-Jericho in scale, were found in various parts of Palestine, Syria and southeastern Turkey. In the second half of 7 thousand BC. e. there is a strong decline of these settlements, but the reasons for it are unclear. The development of river valleys acquires predominant importance: individual large centers are replaced by a mass of small ones. In the era of transition from the early, pre-ceramic Neolithic to the next stage, the Ceramic Neolithic (i.e., the period characterized by the appearance of fired clay vessels), a cultural regression is observed in Palestine.
At the early stage of the Ceramic Neolithic (6 thousand BC), new centers arose, among them - Byblos (cm. BIBL (city)), the oldest port, which played an important role in trade with Egypt at a later time. In Mesopotamia, large agricultural communities began to form: the Hassun, Samarra and, a little later, Khalaf culture.
At the turn of 5-4 thousand BC. e. active mining of copper ore begins. The Eneolithic (Copper Stone Age, the era of the coexistence of copper and stone tools) in Palestine dates from about 4300-3300 BC. BC. Eneolithic settlements have been found in the Judean Desert, in the region of Ber Sheva, near the Golan Heights. Their location indicates that in 5000–4000 these now arid territories were dominated by a different climate. One of the significant centers of that era is Teleilat-Ghassul - a settlement in the southeast of the Jordan Valley. Worth mentioning are the frescoes found there, which have no analogues in the art of the Ancient East: they depict mythological creatures, gods, animals, ritual masks and astral symbols. In this era, the first necropolises appeared in Palestine: before, burials were made on the territory of settlements, under the floors of houses.
At the beginning of the Bronze Age (the end of the 4th millennium BC), population movements are recorded in Palestine, possibly caused by external pressure from the north and east. At this time, it began to lag behind the level of development from the early states of Egypt and Mesopotamia. Her connections with Egypt are attested: a fragment of a vessel with the name of the Egyptian pharaoh Narmer was found in Arad (cm. NARMER), Palestinian ceramics are recorded in the settlements of the Nile Delta. The active formation of the most ancient cities begins: Asora, Megiddo (cm. MEGIDO), Tell el-Fara, Jericho, Lachish, Arad, etc. Defensive structures appear in them. The population density is increasing, active ties are being established with Lebanon, Syria, Mesopotamia and Eastern Anatolia. There are, for example, cylinder seals with drawings typical of the early dynastic period in Mesopotamia. However, in the last third of 3 thousand BC. e. the development of cities in western Palestine is abruptly interrupted and resumed only after three centuries. The most likely reasons for this decline are external influences: Egyptian military campaigns or the invasion of nomadic Amorite tribes. (cm. AMORIAN).
At the turn of 3-2 thousand BC. e. significant groups of the Semitic-speaking population penetrate into Palestine from the northeast, thanks to which urban culture begins to revive and develop. The newcomer population was agricultural, it created an extensive and long-term cultural community that persisted in this region for more than 500 years. Cities were rebuilt and fortified. Large palace complexes appeared in them. A type of temple structures was formed, characteristic of the entire Syro-Palestinian region: the temples were monumental, rectangular structures with an entrance in the end wall and a niche in the wall opposite the entrance. Great changes took place in the field of military affairs: defensive systems became much more complicated, chariots, battering rams, and bronze weapons appeared.
Arrival of the Jews in Palestine
Period 18th–16th centuries BC e. characterized by mass movements of nomadic pastoral tribes, covering not only Mesopotamia and the Syro-Palestinian region, but even Egypt (the Hyksos invasion (cm. HYKSOS)). With this era, researchers usually associate the events that formed the basis of the biblical tales of the patriarchs: the movement of a nomadic tribal group led by Abraham (cm. ABRAHAM) from Ur (cm. UR) to Haran and on to the territory of Canaan (cm. CANAAN). However, any hypotheses regarding the movement of Abraham are based only on the analysis of narrative sources: archaeological research in no way sheds light on this issue. It is hardly to be expected that the situation will change here, since with the help of archeology it is impossible to trace the paths of small groups of the population moving in a related ethnic and cultural environment.
The middle of 2 thousand BC. e. dated inscriptions found in Sinai in Serabit el-Khadim, and in the place of the find were called proto-Sinaitic. They are pictograms with a small number of acrophonic signs (signs that convey not depicted objects, but initial sounds corresponding words). Later, similar inscriptions were found in Shechem, Gezer and Lachish, some of which turned out to be even older than the proto-Sinaitic ones. This type of writing was called proto-Canaanite. It is generally accepted that it served as the basis for the Phoenician script. (cm. PHOENICIAN LETTER), and the latter, in turn, influenced the development of the Paleo-Hebrew alphabet. Along with proto-Canaanite writing in Palestine in the second half of the 2nd millennium BC. another peculiar type of writing was recorded: Ugaritic alphabetic cuneiform (cm. UGARITIC LETTER).
Thanks to the excavations of the French archaeological expedition led by A. Schaefer in Ugarit (cm. UGARIT)- an ancient port city, which flourished in the 17th-13th centuries. BC e. - an archive was found, consisting of tablets written in different languages(Ugaritic, Sumerian, Akkadian, Egyptian, Hittite, Hurrian). The Ugaritic cuneiform turned out to be a kind of modification of the Akkadian syllabary: the signs of the Ugaritic cuneiform, unlike the Akkadian, were not syllabic, but alphabetic. Ugaritic literary texts are older than the biblical ones and therefore they are the most important source for studying the genesis of the texts of the Bible. The similarity between the Ugaritic texts and biblical literature can be traced at the level of linguistic and stylistic commonality. The significance of the Ugaritic texts is especially great because they are, in fact, the only literary monuments of ancient Canaan, for the literature of the Phoenician cities has practically not been preserved.
Palestine and Egypt
In the third quarter of 2 thousand BC. e. The Syro-Palestinian region began to experience very strong pressure from Egypt: in the 15th century. BC e. most of the region fell under Egyptian rule, and then found itself in the path of the Egyptian armies fighting the Hurrians and - later, in the 13th century. BC e., with the Hittites. As a result, the number of major cities in Palestine has declined. Jericho, Hebron, Dan and a number of other centers suffered, but many cities (Lachish, Ashdod, Megiddo, Hazor, etc.) continued to exist throughout the entire period of Egyptian domination, and new centers even appeared on the Mediterranean coast thanks to the intensified maritime trade.
In 1897, a very valuable find was made in Egypt: the Egyptian fellahs accidentally stumbled upon the royal archive (cm. AMARNA), buried in the sands of Tell el-Amarna (ancient Egyptian Akhetaten - the capital of Amenhotep IV-Akhenaton (cm. EKHNATO)(1351-1334 BC), containing more than three hundred cuneiform tablets, on which the correspondence of Egyptian kings (Amenhotep III (cm. Amenhotep III) and Akhenaten) with the Babylonian, Hittite, Mitannian kings, as well as the Syrian and Palestinian vassals of Egypt. These invaluable documents are the main source of information for the reconstruction of the circumstances of life in Palestine in the 15th-14th centuries. BC when it was under the control of the Egyptian kings. It should be noted that the Amarna correspondence does not yet know tribal names that can be attributed to the tribes of the Jewish circle. The names of three such tribes (Israel, Moab (cm. MOAB) and Edom (cm. EDOM)) appear only on the monuments of the XIX - early XX dynasty (13-12 centuries BC): Moab is mentioned in the texts of Ramesses II (cm. RAMSES II), Edom - in the report of the commander of the times of Merneptah (cm. MERNEPTACH), Israel - on the famous so-called. the stele of Israel also from the time of Merneptah. Under Ramesses III, Edom is mentioned again.
Another curious archaeological problem is connected with Egypt - the problem of localization of the biblical city of Pit, mentioned in Ex. 1:11. This city is supposedly identified with Tell el-Maskhuta - a settlement in the eastern part of the Nile delta, the ancient name of which was Per-Atum ("House of Atum"). However, archaeological confirmation of this hypothesis has not yet been found: the currently generally accepted dating of the events of the Exodus dates them to the middle of the 13th century. BC e., a ancient traces The stay of Jews in the territory of Tell el-Maskhuta, according to the latest excavations, dates back to the turn of the 7th-6th centuries. BC e.
Israel and the Philistines
The last quarter of the 2nd millennium BC e. - this is the beginning of the Iron Age, which in Palestine was accompanied by drastic ethnic and cultural changes: the invasion of Israeli tribes began from the north and east, from the west - the peoples of the sea. The people of Aegean origin were called the Philistines. According to the Bible (Jer. 47:4, Am. 9:7), the Philistines came from Caphtor (Crete), but archaeological evidence of this has not yet been found. The Philistines took possession of four Canaanite cities: Ashkelon, Ashdod, Gath and Gaza, the fifth city - Ekron - was, apparently, founded by them. In the 12th-11th centuries. characteristic Philistine pottery is recorded throughout Canaan, another characteristic feature of the Philistine culture is anthropoid ceramic sarcophagi. The Philistines' own language is unknown: shortly after their arrival in Canaan, they adopted the Canaanite dialect, and all known Philistine gods have Semitic names.
Archaeological picture of the Exodus
In the 12th-11th centuries. BC. There are three spheres of influence in Palestine: Canaanite, Philistine, and Israelite. Archaeological data do not allow us to talk about a single crushing invasion of the Israelite tribes into the territory of Canaan. A number of cities (Lachish, Hazor, Bethel) were indeed destroyed, but in some cases, archaeological data contradict the biblical evidence (Arad, Jericho). Probably, the settlement of Canaan by the Israelites took place gradually and was accompanied by a long series of wars against individual Canaanite cities. A significant number of small Israelite settlements have been found coexisting with Canaanite and Philistine cities. There is very little information about cult centers: in those places where, according to biblical texts, altars or sanctuaries should have been located, as a rule, nothing has been preserved. Sometimes there are monuments, the identification of which is difficult.
In general, the culture of the settled Canaan was higher than the culture of the Israelite nomadic tribes who came here, and it had a great influence on them. Thus, the Canaanite traditions during the period described were preserved in ceramics and metalworking, and in the cities occupied by the Israelites, the former architectural canons dominated. An independent branch of the Canaanite culture continued to exist for a long time on the Mediterranean coast (the territory of modern Lebanon), where it began to be called Phoenician (probably Phoenicia is the Greek equivalent of the name Canaan), and retained its specific appearance until the Hellenistic era.
Israelite kingdom and division
The short period of the unified Kingdom of Israel (1000-925 BC) - the time of the reign of the biblical kings of Saul (cm. SAUL), David (cm. DAVID (Jew) and Solomon (cm. SOLOMON (Judea)- is also poorly represented by archaeological sites. In Jerusalem, the remains of a bypass wall that existed in the 10th century were found. BC e., however, the most interesting monument - the temple of Solomon, described in detail in the 3rd Book of Kings - is currently not available for excavations, since it is located under a Muslim shrine, the so-called. Dome of the Rock. Judging by the description, the temple of Solomon had undoubted prototypes in Canaanite architecture, but exceeded its known examples in scale. There is no archaeological evidence for Solomon's palace either. Buildings from the time of Solomon preserved in Megiddo (cm. MEGIDO), Asor and Gezer: monumental six-chamber gates were found there, built of hewn stones (in Gezer - from wild, but faced along the facade) and fortified with protruding towers. A single type of monumental structures found in different places, testifies to the centralized royal construction. Artificial water supply systems found in a number of Israeli cities speak of the high development of engineering art and the ability to organize the large masses of the population necessary to create such structures.
In 925 BC. e. The united kingdom split into two parts: Israel (Northern Kingdom) with its capital in Samaria and Judah (Southern Kingdom) with its capital in Jerusalem. Samaria (cm. SAMARIA)- the first city founded by the Israelites in a new place. Remains of buildings from the time of the kings of Omri and Ahab, powerful defensive walls, as well as a treasure trove of decorative bone plates of Phoenician origin, possibly a trace of the “ivory house” built by Ahab (1 Kings 22:39), were found here.
Active building activity was also carried out in Dan and Bethel, which became the new cult centers of the Northern Kingdom, as well as in Megiddo, Hazor and Tirza. In Azor, 9th–7th centuries. BC e. there are as many as five building phases, reflecting a series of destruction of the city during local wars with Judea and external conquests that ended with the Assyrian invasion, three waves of which - in 732, 720 and 701. BC e. put an end to the existence of the kingdom of Israel. Its capital Samaria resisted for two years, but in 720 (the invasion of the Assyrian king Sargon II (cm. Sargon II)) the city fell and in some places was completely destroyed. Even the excavation of stones from the foundations of its defensive structures was recorded. Samaria was later restored and turned into the center of the Assyrian province: the archaeological layers of the city dating back to the time after the defeat differ sharply from the previous ones, they show a strong Assyrian influence, indicating a change in the dominant culture. In Megiddo and Hazor, judging by the abundance of Assyrian ceramics, the garrisons of the conquerors were stationed.
Judea was also subjected to the Assyrian invasion, but withstood and continued to exist as an independent state for more than a century. In Judea, Jerusalem stood out sharply among other cities: its area was more than 7 times the area of ​​Lachish, the second largest city in the Southern Kingdom. In Jerusalem, new defensive walls were erected and the Siloam water tunnel was built - a real miracle of engineering art of that era - which made it possible to provide the city with water from the Gihon spring in any conditions. Thanks to this, Jerusalem withstood during the invasion of Sennacherib. (cm. SYNACHERIBE) in 701 BC e., as a result of which the kingdom of Israel was finally destroyed and a number of cities in Judea, including Lachish, were destroyed. The siege and assault of Lachish are depicted in detail on the reliefs of the palace of Sennacherib in Nineveh. (cm. NINEVIA). The archaeological layers of the city, corresponding to this rout, are very informative and are combined with biblical texts. An Assyrian siege mound, large layers of ash and numerous arrowheads were found here.
An important settlement of Judea in the 8th century BC. e. there was Arad - a fortress that protected the paths to the Red Sea and Edom. Many ostraca were found here, most of which are letters from the archive of the military commander who commanded the fortress. These ostraca represent the largest and most informative group of written sources covering the end of the First Temple era.
Captivity and the Second Temple era
The Kingdom of Judah fell in 586 BC. e. under the blows of the Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar (cm. NEBUCHADONOSOR II). The Babylonian invasion of Judah, like the earlier Assyrian invasion that destroyed Israel, came in several waves: during the first and second invasions of 598 and 588. BC e. the long-suffering Lachish was defeated twice. After that, it was no longer revived as a significant center. In 588, the siege of Jerusalem began, lasting 18 months. At the end of the siege, the system of terraces that supported the lower walls of the city collapsed. The collapsed stones were subsequently partially used in the construction of new walls. As a result of this military campaign of Nebuchadnezzar, a significant part of the population of Judea was resettled on the territory of the Babylonian Empire.
Babylon ( cm.

Introduction

"What did those who wrote the Bible know, and when did they know it?" This is the title of his book Professor of the University of Arizona William Dever. This book was published in 2000, but the question itself has been standing ever since the excavations made it possible to verify the facts known from written sources.

The attitude of historians of the 18th and 19th centuries towards the reliability of the Bible was, for the most part, very skeptical, and therefore biblical archeology was formed in a confessional environment. Most of the specialists were teachers of theological educational institutions, and the funds for research were provided by seminaries and other church institutes. The statement of the archaeologist Nelson Gluck is characteristic: "It can be categorically stated that not a single archaeological discovery has ever contradicted the data of the Bible." In his opinion, we should talk about the "almost incredibly accurate historical memory of the Bible, especially explicit when it is reinforced by archaeological evidence."

Not so categorically, but even more convincingly, William Albright, an eminent scholar of Israelite antiquities, president of the International Association of Old Testament Specialists, argued for the solid historical foundations of the biblical messages. In From the Stone Age to Christianity: Monotheism and the Historical Process, published in 1940, he first placed the Bible in a historical and geographical context.

Albright had no doubts about the correspondence between the biblical data and archeological data: "One after another, discoveries are being made that confirm the accuracy of countless details and strengthen the recognition of the Bible as a historical source." Responding to critics, he wrote: “Until recently, it has been fashionable among biblical historians to regard the stories of the patriarchs of Genesis as artificial creations of Israelite scribes of the Divided Kingdom era, or as tales that sang inventive rhapsodes around Israelite fires for centuries after the occupation of the country ... Archaeological the discoveries made since 1925 have refuted these views.Apart from a handful of hard-nosed scholars of the older generation, there is hardly a biblical historian who has not been deeply impressed by the rapidly accumulating data confirming how, in fact, the historical traditions of the patriarchs are. ".

It must be said that the excavations have enriched not only knowledge in the field of ancient history, but also the methods of archeology itself. The Englishwoman Kathleen Canyon, during the excavations of Samaria in 1931-1934, for the first time in the Middle East, applied the stratigraphic method, examining the monument in layers. Her excavations in Jericho and Jerusalem received worldwide recognition.

And again - now from the standpoint of a more subtle study - skeptics-"minimalists" began to speak, finding only scattered reliable evidence in biblical texts.

In 1999, Tel Aviv University archaeologist Ze'ev Herzog made a splash in Israeli public life. In one of the popular magazines, he wrote that the stories of the biblical patriarchs are ordinary myths, as well as the exodus of the Israelites from Egypt and the campaigns of Joshua. Continuing to shock the public, the Duke declared that the states of David and Solomon, described in the Bible as great and famous powers, were, at best, only small tribal kingdoms.

The book The Unearthed Bible, published in 2000, added fuel to the fire of discussions. The authors believe that the story of the Exodus was written during the time of the Jewish king Josiah in the 7th century BC, that is, 600 years after the event itself (approximately 1250 BC). It was a kind of political manifesto designed to unite the Israelis in the fight against Egypt, who sought to expand their possessions. The nascent conflict between the Israelite kings and the newly enthroned Egyptian pharaoh Necho was metaphorically rendered by the author (or authors) of the Exodus as a struggle between Moses and the pharaoh.

William Dever also believes that this is a typical ethnological legend designed to explain the origin of the people of Israel as a God-chosen nation. Israel itself, according to critical historians, arose in the lands of Canaan, which included the territories of modern Lebanon, southern Syria, and the western bank of the Jordan River. The inhabitants of these places are described in the Bible as malicious idolaters. The Israelites were part of the local Canaanite population, united or led by a small group of Semites who came from Egypt.

Other researchers continue to defend the historical accuracy of the biblical text and even find the exact dating of disputed events on the basis of archaeological materials. The director of the Association for Biblical Studies, Bryant Wood, and a number of his associates are convinced of the reality of the descriptions of the Exodus and the wars of Joshua.

Since both those and other researchers are based mainly on the dating of Israeli settlements, we will talk about them in more detail.

Israeli cities in Egypt

The Book of Exodus mentions Pif, Ramesses (Ramessi) and He, founded by the Israelites. The first of them is called a warehouse city. Its location has long been controversial.

Eduard Naville, who conducted excavations in 1885 at the settlement of el-Maskutah, discovered there inscriptions that called this place "per-itm", which is consonant with Pithom. From ancient Egyptian per-rhythm" is translated as "house of Atum" - the god of the sun. Since in other sources the excavated settlement is called Tkut or Sakkot, Naville suggested that this was the religious name of the city, while Tkut was civil.

Based on the same consonance, D. Uphill suggested that Pithom is Heliopolis, where the temple of Atum existed. The famous Egyptologist A. Gardiner, however, reasonably objected that Ra-Khorakhti, and not Atum, was revered in this city.

The point in the dispute was put by Donald Redford, who noticed that the expression " per rhythm" was never used in relation to the city, but only denoted a temple site. He also found the earliest name reminiscent of Pithom outside the biblical text. It turned out to be the city of Patumos in Herodotus' History. It was located near the canal, the construction of which was started by Pharaoh Necho II and completed by the Persian king Darius.Redford therefore suggested that the information of the Pentateuch on the geography of Egypt refers to the period of the reign of the Egyptian 26th dynasty (664-525 BC) and was borrowed after the Babylonian captivity (575 BC). ).

There is, however, another source that directly names not only the city of Pith, but also the land of Goshen or Goshen, where, according to the book of Genesis, the biblical Jacob and Joseph settled. This is a well-known guidebook of the Christian pilgrim Eteria or Egeria, circa 396 AD, which gives the key to the solution of the question of the location of these cities and territories.

From the Etheria guide

"The land of Goshen (biblical Goshen - A.S.) was, of course, known to me since the time when I first visited Egypt. However, now my goal was to see all those places where the sons of Israel came on their way from Ramesses (Ramses - A.S.), until they reached the Red Sea at a place now called Klisma, because of the fortress located there. So, our desire was to go from Klysma to the land of Goshen, especially we wanted to visit the city of Arabia. According to this city, all this land is called the "land of Arabia", which is the "land of Goshen", and is the best part of Egypt. From Klisma, i.e. from the Red Sea to the city of Arabia through the desert four days' journey. On the way, I constantly asked the holy men, monks, and presbyters who accompanied us along the way about the places mentioned in Holy Scripture. Some of these places were located on the left side of the road, others on the right side, some far from the road, others almost near the road itself..

From a distance on the road to Magdala, we saw Epauleum. In Magdala there is now a fortress with a garrison and an officer representing the power of Rome in these places.

According to the rule, they accompanied us to the next fortress and there they showed us Baal Zephon, which we did not hesitate to visit. It is now a plain above the sea, near the side of the mountain, where the children of Israel cried out at the sight of the Egyptians pursuing them. We saw Othom lying near the wilderness, according to Scripture, and also Succoth, now a small hill in the middle of the valley, near which the children of Israel encamped, since in this place the law of Passover was given to them (Ex. 12:43).

On the way, we saw the city of Pithom built by the sons of Israel, and at this place, leaving the lands of the Saracens, entered the borders of Egypt. Today Pithom is a fortress. And the city of Iroon, which existed even at the time when, according to the Scriptures (Gen. 46:28), Joseph went out to meet his father Jacob, who was heading to Egypt; now this village, though large, is what we would call a small town. In this small town there is a church, the tombs of the holy martyrs, as well as many cells of the holy monks. According to our custom, we stopped here to look around. This town, now called Iro, is already within Egypt and 16 miles from the land of Goshen. So, having left this very pleasant country, thanks to the tributary of the Nile flowing here, and the city of Iro, we came to a city called Arabia, which lies within the land of Goshen. It is written about her in the book of Genesis (47:6) as follows: "And Pharaoh said to Joseph: In a better land, settle your father and your brothers, let them live in the land of Goshen".

Ramessi lies four miles distance from the city of Arabia. In order to reach the overnight stay in Arabia, we had to pass through the middle of Ramessi.

Today, Ramessi is an empty place, without a single dwelling. But even now it can be seen that there were many buildings that occupied a huge area. Now there is nothing here but one huge Theban stone, in which two very large figures of holy men are carved, as they say, Moses and Aaron. It is also said that the sons of Israel erected these statues in their honor. In addition, a sycamore tree, planted, as they say, by the (biblical - A.S.) patriarchs, grows here, very ancient and already almost dried up, but still bearing fruit. And even now, if someone is sick, he comes and tears off a branch from this tree, it will help him. We learned about this from the holy bishop of the city of Arabia. He told us that this tree in Greek is called dendros alethiae, but we call it the tree of truth... The blessed bishop also told us how Pharaoh, having learned that the sons of Israel had abandoned him, that it was a great city, burned it to the ground, and then only rushed in pursuit of the children of Israel.

Now our path lay through the borders of Egypt, along which the open (safe) road passed from Thebaid to Pelusium, through the city of Arabia, and therefore there was no longer any need for military protection..

From here our path took us through the land of Goshen, among wine-producing vineyards, balsam plantations, orchards, richly cultivated fields, and numerous orchards along the banks of the Nile. The road passed by numerous estates and villages that once belonged to the sons of Israel. I think that I have never seen a country more beautiful than the land of Goshen.".

The "City of Arabia" mentioned by the pilgrim makes it possible to accurately determine the location of Ramesses, Pithom and Sakkot. On the map of Egypt, in the area of ​​​​the western entrance to the dry bed of Wadi Tamilat, a settlement is indicated, called in Arabic El Abbassa el Gharbiya. "Gharbiya" is very similar to the distorted "Arabiya".

And if so, then the country "Gesen" or "Goshen" could retain its distorted name in the names of the Arab villages of Ghazalet el Kis and el Kis. Both of them are located west of Gharbiya and east of the ancient Egyptian city of Bubastis. In 1887, the French archaeologist Naville discovered tombs here, which allowed him to identify this area with the land of Kes. In the name "Kes" the scientist saw a distorted Goshen, or Goshen.

Let's pay attention to one more detail - in what order the pilgrim described these places. It turns out that all of them: the land of Goshen (Gesen), the "city of Arabia", Ramesses, Iroon-Pifom and Sakkot - lie on the same line in the direction from west to east. Interestingly, the pilgrim mentions an arm of the Nile flowing next to Pithom. So it suggested its identification with a canal dug in the 4th century. BC. Necho and Darius. But by the time of Egeria's pilgrimage, it had long been covered with sand. But what if it is a branch that ends in the middle of the dry bed of Wadi Tamilat near the place marked on the map of Naville as Kassassan? Here, the further flow of the Nile to the east was stopped by a steep hill - the western part of the Tell Retabeh hill. Perhaps Retabeh is Pithom, especially since the Egyptian sources of the time of the pharaoh of the 19th dynasty Merneptah mention the ponds of Pithom?

However, the researchers were disappointed. Excavations at El Maskutah have shown that the city, founded in the Middle Kingdom, was subsequently abandoned until the 20th dynasty, and there was no settlement during the reign of Merneptah.

Excavations in 1970 under the leadership of J. Holloday revealed a completely paradoxical picture. The architectural monuments of the time of Ramesses II, discovered by Naville, were combined with the complete absence of ceramics from this period. All of it belonged to the end of the 7th century BC. and was associated with the era of Pharaoh Necho II, the very one who became famous for the construction of the famous canal from the Mediterranean to the Red Sea, which anticipated the Suez.

After reviewing the materials obtained in 1885 by Naville, Holloday became convinced that the warehouses in Maskhutakh were mistakenly attributed by his predecessor to the Ramsessid era. The first, earliest layer dates back to the Hyksos period (1550 - 1530 BC), and the later ones - to the Persian and even Ptolemaic time. But where, then, did the statues of Ramses II come from? It turned out that they were transported on boats by order of Necho during the construction of the canal. So, if Pythom is really Maskutah, then it was founded during the construction of the canal in about 610 BC.

Having made such a conclusion, J. Holloday inevitably came to the following. The Biblical Pithom could have been included in the text of the Pentateuch no earlier than 610. Studying other texts, the researcher found that some part of the Jews, fleeing revenge for the murder of the ruler of Judea, Gedalaya, protege of the Babylonian king (582 BC), could settle in Pithom-Maskutah. Nearby were the graves of the Hyksos era, and tradition associated them with famous episode Exodus of the Israelites led by Moses from Egypt. Consequently, the Pentateuch and the Book of Exodus are late works dating back to the 6th-5th centuries BC. This conclusion is consistent with Radford's point of view. So, by the time of Etheria's pilgrimage, Pithom changed his name to Iroon.

with the city ramessi(Ramses), it would seem that everything is clear, since the city of Per-Ramses, built by Ramses II in the Kanatira region, is known. Here, in the fields near Tsoan - Tanis, God, according to the Psalms, showed his miracles. But the description of the pilgrim says that Ramessi lies four Roman miles from the city of Arabia. Why such a discrepancy? Again, the assumption suggests itself that the Pentateuch was compiled in the 6th-5th centuries, in that era when the Jews did not have a clear idea where the city of Ramses was located. Since numerous monuments containing inscriptions with the name of Ramses II were known in Egypt, practically any Egyptian city, from the point of view of the alien people, could be called Ramses. The large concentration of inscriptions and monuments dedicated to this pharaoh in the area of ​​Wadi Tamilat and the western delta may have led the Jews to mistakenly call this area "Land of Ramesses" after the captivity.

Israelites in Sinai

"On the third new moon after the departure of the Children of Israel from the Land of Egypt, on this day they came to the wilderness of Sinai. And they set out from Rephidim, and came to the wilderness of Sinai, and halted in the wilderness, and Israel halted there opposite the Mountain. And Moses climbed the Mountain of God ... "( Exodus 19:1-3).

The site of Mount Sinai where the Israelites came is usually identified with the area of ​​Gebal Musa or Katarina. Archaeological research in order to confirm the information of the book of Exodus unfolded here in the late 1960s, after the peninsula came under the control of the state of Israel as a result of the six-day war. The next task was to find traces of the stay of 600,000 Israeli soldiers and their families in the south of Sinai.

Antiquities of the early Bronze Age are well represented here, and in the Negev - even of the Middle Bronze Age 1, dating back to 3150 - 2000 BC. However, a long period of neglect followed. The events described in the book of Exodus are dated by supporters of the orthodox direction to 1446, and by adherents of the liberal school - to the 1240s, that is, the period of the "Late Bronze Age". However, nothing relating to this era was found in the Sinai and in the Negev region. There are no thousands of graves of admirers of the golden calf here.

According to Steven Rosen, the Exodus account of the thirty-eight years that the Israelites were in the area is not confirmed in any way. It is also not possible to identify the places mentioned in the Exodus with settlements in the Central Negev. William Dever concludes: "Our detailed knowledge of this small and hostile area today raises questions about the validity of the biblical tradition, according to which "more than one and a half million people wandered here for almost 40 years. Barren terrain and occasional oases could support a few solitary nomads, but nothing more."

Assyrian cities and the chronology of the book of Genesis

Genesis 10:10-13).

Genesis: Abraham to Solomon

"And it was the beginning of his (Nimrod-A.S.) reign - Babylon, and Uruk, and Akkad, and Khalna in the country of Shinear. Ashur came out of this country and built Nineveh, and Rehovot-Ir, and Kalkha, and Resen between Nineveh and Kalhu; this is a big city ... "( Genesis 10:10-13).

In a fragment of the book of Genesis, called the "Table of Nations", the Assyrian cities of Nineveh, Rehovot-Ir, Kalah (Kalhu) and Resen are mentioned. The order in which they are listed reflects their importance. Of these cities, only Nineveh and Kalah have been identified through archaeological excavations, the results of which have been summarized by Kirk Grayson.

In the 7th century BC. Nineveh, by decision of King Sannacherib (704 - 681), became the capital of the entire Assyrian state. According to the conclusion of an English archaeologist, the city was actually rebuilt in a short time and surrounded by a powerful defensive wall. He fell in 612 BC. under the blows of a coalition of Medes and Babylonians.

Let's turn to Kalah. In the III and II millennia BC. it was an insignificant center that survived the rise much earlier than Nineveh, in the 9th century. It was then that the Assyrian king Ashurnatsirapal II made it the capital of Assyria. The city remained the administrative center of the state until about the 700s, when it lost the palm to Nineveh.

Now let's pay attention to the order of listing cities in the "Table of Nations". First there is not Kalah, but Nineveh. This means that it was she who was the capital of Assyria at the time of the compilation of the "Book of Genesis", which dates, in this case, no earlier than the 7th century BC.

This is in no way consistent with the Jewish tradition, which traces the "Book of Genesis" to the time of the reign of King Solomon, i.e. X century. The main city of Assyria at that time was Ashur, which served as the capital from the XIV century, that is, even before Kalah. Meanwhile, according to K. Grayson, the city of Ashur is not mentioned at all in the Bible.

Guy and Beer Sheba

"And Yahweh appeared to Abraham and said: "I will give this country to your offspring." And he built an altar there for Yahweh, who appeared to him there. And he moved from there to the mountain east of Bet-El and pitched his tent. west, and Ai from the east, and built an altar there, and called by the name of Yahweh" ( Genesis 12:8)

City Guy, modern at-Tell, next to which Abraham placed the altar, was completely excavated by archaeologists. J. Callaway, who studied it, notes that the city was inhabited from about 3200 to 2400 BC. Then it was completely destroyed and abandoned. It was restored around 1200 BC. No records of Abraham's time have been found.

“And he (Isaac) went up from there to Beersheba. And Yahweh appeared to him that night and said: “I am the God of Abraham your father. Fear not, for I am with you, and I will bless you and multiply your offspring for the sake of Abraham my servant. "And he built an altar there, and called it the name of Yahweh, and pitched his tent there, and the servants of Isaac dug a well there ... And it was that day, and the servants of Isaac came and informed him of the well that they dug, and said to him: "We found water." And he called it: Shiva, therefore to this day the name of the city is Beersheba" ( Genesis 26:23-25; 32-34);

"And Abraham rebuked Abimelech because of the well of water, which was taken by the servants of Abimelech. And Abimelech said: "I do not know who did this, and you also did not tell me, and I also did not hear until this day." And Abraham took And he gave Abimelech a ram and an ox, and they both made a pact. And Abraham set seven lambs separately. And Abimelech said to Abraham: "What are these seven lambs that you set apart?" And he said: "For you will take seven lambs from my hands, that they may be my witness that I have dug this well." Therefore the place is called Beersheba, for there they both swore an oath. and they returned to the country of the Philistines. And he planted a tamarisk in Beersheba and called there the name of Yahweh, the eternal God. And Abraham lived in the country of the Philistines for long days "( Genesis 21:25-34).

Remains of the biblical beersheba were discovered in the northern Negev region, a few kilometers from the city of Beer Sheva that still exists today. The hill that hid the ancient settlement was called Tel Sheva.

The ancient city was built on a low hill near the bank of a river that dries up in summer, but is full-flowing in winter. Such rivers are called in Arabic "wadis". In the biblical tradition, Beersheba has always been a symbol of the southern border of Israel, whose territory is outlined in the characteristic biblical expression "From Dan to Beersheba."

Excavations in 1969 - 1976 revealed layers of different periods: before the Israeli settlement of the Stone Age, the Israeli fortified city that arose at the end of the 12th century BC, the city of the Kingdom of Judah, the fortresses of the Persian and Roman times.

Moreover, in the earliest layers of the settlement, Philistine ceramics were found, which recalls the plot of the book of Genesis associated with the well of Beersheba. He himself was located at the city gates next to the oldest buildings of the settlement. The head of the excavation, Aharoni, suggested that he had found the same well, which is mentioned in the book of Genesis. However, it was excavated from a layer dating from the end of the 12th century BC. Attribute it to more early period, and even more so by the time of Abraham - the XXI century BC. - impossible. Since the dating clearly contradicted the traditional biblical chronology, the Israeli archaeologist could only assume that the stories about the patriarchs arose no earlier than the 12th century BC, after the Exodus from Egypt and the conquest of Canaan.

By the end of the XI century BC. a very peculiar fortification system appears in Beersheba. The houses were so closely built on top of the hill that they formed a solid defensive wall with a narrow opening for the gate. The houses were opened inside the settlement, towards the central square, where cattle were kept.

The city became fundamentally different in the middle of the 10th century, in the so-called "royal" period of the history of Israel. Beersheba of the time of David and Solomon is a large fortified city, the administrative center of the southern part of the state. The territory of the settlement was about 3 hectares. The city received a regular layout, a strong defensive wall made of mud bricks on a stone plinth, as well as a gate with a four-chamber guardroom, typical of Israeli military architecture of that time. Despite a number of reconstructions, the layout of the city was preserved for almost three hundred years.

A century later, a new defensive wall replaced the dilapidated old one. Now it was already the so-called casemate structure, consisting of two parallel walls, the space between which was divided into small rooms for various purposes.

Beersheba of the next, 8th century, can be called a classic example of a provincial frontier town for the Kingdom of Judah. Its territory was divided into quarters. The main street crossed the center of the city, and to the outskirts of the street the streets were gradually rounded parallel to the line of the city wall. They all met in one place - in the square at the gate. Gutters were laid under the streets, leading to a central canal under the city gates, which brought water to a well outside the city wall.

Another impressive water supply system was created in the northeastern part of the city. Inside the wall, a stone staircase led to a culvert deep in the rock that provided the city with water during long sieges. In the eastern part there was a huge, about 600 sq. m., a warehouse complex where thousands of vessels were found, many of which were intended for the transport of products.

Not far from the city gates stood the palace of the ruler with numerous rooms and three large halls for receptions.

It is estimated that in the VIII century BC. the population of Beersheba numbered from 400 to 500 people, including officials and soldiers. The discovery of an altar in situ and parts of it in a later building testify to the existence of a temple or cult center, which apparently was destroyed during the reform of King Hezekiah.

Beersheba was destroyed by the Assyrian king Sannakhherib during a campaign against Judea in 701 BC. A small poor settlement that arose in the 7th century on the site of the city ceased to exist with the conquest of Judea by the Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar II in 587-586.

Gerard

“And there was a famine in the land, just like the first famine that was in the days of Abraham. And Isaac went to Abimelech, the king of the Philistines in Gerar. which I will tell you. ... And Isaac settled in Gerar "( Genesis 26:1-2, 6).

Gerar, identified with the settlement of Tell Haror, is mentioned in the Book of Genesis as a city of the Philistines. They are known to have come to Canaan about 1175 B.C. BC. Egyptian sources call them "Pelest" after one of the "peoples of the sea", whose invasion was repelled by Pharaoh Ramesses III.

Tell Haror, with a total area of ​​approximately 1.6 hectares, was one of the largest Bronze Age settlements in Southern Canaan. The earliest layer, dating back to the 12th-11th centuries, contained a huge amount of characteristic, beautifully decorated Philistine pottery. One of the household pits gave a large collection of defective iron products, which indicates the production of iron tools here. According to the Israeli archaeologist Elzer Oren, Tell Haror was founded around the 18th century, and existed in the Late Bronze Age, Iron Age 1-2 and the Persian period. However, not only construction remains, but also no finds of ceramics that could date back to the 21st century BC. - the time of Abraham - was not found.

Abraham's tomb at Mamre

"And this is the time of Abraham's life, which he lived: one hundred and seventy-five years. And he reposed and died in good gray hair, old and full of days, and joined his people. the field of Efron the son of Zohar, the Hittite, which is in front of Mamre, in the field that Abraham bought from the Hittites; Abraham and Sarah, his wife, are buried there "( Genesis 25:7-11).

Abraham's tomb at Mamre is identified with the modern Beit El-Khalil, or Haram El-Khalil. Excavations at this site have revealed the remains of two towers with ceramics from the 9th-7th centuries BC. Apparently, they stood at the entrance to the sacred site - temenos. Research in the temenos itself yielded a huge amount of ceramics from the 12th to 9th centuries, although no building remains of this period were found.

The cult complex suggests the existence of legends associated with Abraham in the 9th-7th centuries BC. This is almost 300 years later than the well of Beersheba, which indicates the time of the formation of the tradition of the burial of Abraham in Hebron during the XII - IX centuries BC.

Botsra

"And these are the kings who reigned in the country of Edom before the kings of the Sons of Israel reigned. And Bela the son of Beor reigned in Edom, and the name of his city was Dinhava. And Bela died, and Yovav the son of Zerah from Bozra reigned after him ... " ( Exodus 36:31-33)

Botsra, the ancient capital of the state of Edom, is identified with the modern village of Bazeirah in Northern Edom. This ancient city guarded both the royal road, the main route through the Trans Jordan, and the largest highway of that time, leading to Wadi Arabah, the Negev and further to South Judea.

Excavations have shown that it was the largest fortified point in the region, with monumental public buildings. The city arose not earlier than the 8th century BC, and the main time of its existence covered the 7th - 6th centuries.

The fragment of Genesis cited, therefore, could not have been composed prior to this period. The Bible reports that Bozra was inhabited by the descendants of Esau, and they are referred to as the kings of Edom, who ruled even before kingship was established in Israel. Therefore, the accepted dating of the reign of Saul, the first king of Israel (usually 1020-1000 BC) will apparently have to be significantly corrected.

Jericho

"Then the Lord said unto Jesus, Behold, I give into your hands Jericho, and its king, and the mighty men who are in it. Go around the city, all those who are capable of war, and go around the city once a day; and do this for six days. And seven priests let them carry the seven trumpets of jubilee before the ark, and on the seventh day go round the city seven times, and let the priests blow the trumpets: when the horn of jubilee blows, when you hear the sound of the trumpet, then let all the people shout with a loud voice, and the wall of the city shall fall to its foundations, and all the people shall go into the city, each one rushing from his side.... The people cried out, and they blew trumpets, and as soon as the people heard the voice of the trumpet, the people cried out with a loud voice, and the wall of the city fell down to its foundations, and the people went into the city, each one from his side and they took the city ... And they burned the city and everything in it with fire ... ". ( Joshua 6:1-4, 19, 23)

The excavations of Jericho began in 1907 by a German archaeological expedition led by Ernst Sellin. The goal was to search for the collapsed walls of the city, which were found. Their size amazed them. The thickness of the outer wall was about one and a half, the inner - three and a half meters!

John Gerstang, who continued excavations in 1920 - 1930, announced that the walls of the legendary city had been found, which collapsed from trumpet sounds. “As for the main fact,” wrote Garstang, “there is thus no doubt left in it: the walls of the city fell outward, and completely, so that the attackers could climb their rubble and pass into the city.” It seemed that a complete confirmation of the biblical text had finally been found. However…

In 1953, the famous British archaeologist Kathleen Canyon took up the excavations of Jericho. And soon there was no trace left of the assumptions of Gerstang and his predecessors. Another walls were opened, but… VIII millennium BC! They were built and collapsed many millennia before the alleged biblical events, in a period that has come to be known as "Pre-Pottery Neolithic A". The early city was built at the turn of IX and V III millennium and existed until about 6935 - it was this date that was given by radiocarbon analysis of materials from one room that died in a fire. The fact that at least 23 construction periods have been recorded testifies to the intensive life of the ancient city.

The early wall of Jericho covered an area of ​​2.5 hectares. Inside were round huts made of unbaked bricks. According to archaeologists, a huge population for that time lived here - about three thousand people. But most of all, the researchers were shocked by the remains of the tower. Only its excavated height was 8 meters - the same as the diameter! Outside, a stone rampart adjoined it, and from the side of the city - a staircase. In front of the wall was a moat more than 8 meters wide and about 3 meters deep.

All this was not, however, the biblical Jericho. Rather, it could have arisen here five millennia after the city of the Bronze Age. The remains of the collapsed walls, discovered at one time by Gerstang, also belonged to him. True, by the time of the alleged storming of the city by Joshua - around 1220 BC. - and they were gone. They existed between 3000 and 2300, and were rebuilt at least seventeen times. Over the past three times, the defensive line of the city has undergone a radical reconstruction, the walls were lowered down the hillside by almost seven meters. It was they, built almost a thousand years before the campaign of Joshua, that Garstang took for the biblical walls of Jericho.

Around the year 2300, Jericho suffered a catastrophe. The desolation continued for almost 400 years - until the 1900s, when a new settlement arose here. This was Jericho of the Middle Bronze Age, which existed until about the middle of the 16th century BC. - the time of the defeat of the city by the Hyksos. Then the city was deserted again. Around the year 1400, some faint signs of life appear on the settlement, but by the time of the campaign of Joshua, they also fade. There are no traces of the two cities that replaced Jericho: the city of palm branches and Jericho, where, according to the Bible, the ambassadors of King David stopped.

Restoration of Jericho by Giel the Bethelian in the time of King Ahab in the early 9th century B.C. (message of 1 Kings 16:34) could be, according to K. Kenyon, an action of "insignificant scale", since it did not leave "any traces of settlement." According to T. Holland, after Jericho was abandoned around 1350 - 1275, it was never revived before the 7th century. The last period of the existence of the ancient city ended in 587 BC. the invasion of the army of the Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar II and the "Babylonian captivity of the Jews." After that, the settlement of Ein Es-Sultan - Jericho was abandoned until Roman times.

hazor

Joshua 11:11-13).

1 Kings 9:15).

2 Kings 15:29).

Part 2

"At the same time, returning, Joshua (Nun) took Hatzor, and killed his king with a sword (Hazor was the head of all those kingdoms before). the servant of the Lord. However, the Israelites did not burn all the cities that lay on a hill, except for one Hatzor, which Joshua burned down "( Joshua 11:11-13).

"And this is the order of the tax that King Solomon imposed to build the temple of the Lord and his house, and Millo, and the wall of Jerusalem, Hatzor, and Megiddo, and Gezer" ( 1 Kings 9:15).

"In the days of Pekah, king of Israel, Tiglath-pileser, king of Assyria, came and took Jon, Abel-Beth-Maacha, and Janoch, and Kadesh, and Hatzor, and Gilead, and Galilee, all the land of Naphtali, and transferred them to Assyria" ( 2 Kings 15:29).

The excavations of Hatzor, begun in the mid-1950s under the leadership of Yeguel Yadin, were the largest in all the years of the existence of the state of Israel. Interest in the city was dictated by the Bible, especially since it was about the conquest of Canaan - milestone history of Israel. Yadin hoped to discover not only the biblical Hatzor, but also the Canaanite city that preceded it. I was especially attracted by the opportunity to find his cuneiform archive, similar to those that have survived from the second millennium BC. in Mesopotamia, Egypt and Syria. Letters from Hazor, found in other archives, gave hope for success. Moreover, in 1962, an American tourist who happened to be at the excavations accidentally picked up on the surface of a hill ... a cuneiform tablet that mentioned Hatzor and his ruler!

Alas, the find remained the only one of its kind. But the excavations made it possible to recreate the history of the ancient city, the largest and most significant in the entire region. Its total area already in the second millennium was about 80 hectares, and the population reached almost 20,000 people. Suffice it to say that the territory of Hatzor was 10 times larger than Jerusalem of the era of David and Solomon!

Ancient information about Hatzor are found in Egyptian curse texts dating back to the 19th century BC. This is the only Canaanite city that was honored with a mention in the archive of the city of Mari (XVIII century). Documents show its importance, wealth and extensive trade connections. It also appears in the famous Tell-Amarna archive of the Egyptian capital, which belongs to XIV century. The city is repeatedly mentioned in the victorious inscriptions of the Egyptian pharaohs of the 15th-14th centuries. The advantageous strategic position on the road connecting Egypt and Babylon made Hatzor, as it is said in the Bible, "the head of all those kingdoms."

The conquest of Hatzor by the Israelites opened the way for their subjugation of Canaan. The city was rebuilt and fortified by King Solomon and flourished during the reigns of Kings Ahab and Jeroboam II.

The settlement of Hatzor is divided into two parts: the upper and lower city, surrounded by a wall. The earliest settlement appeared in the third millennium BC. and was limited to the territory of the upper city. The lower one was settled later, in the 18th century. The life of the Canaanite Hatzor continued until the 13th century. (end of the Late Bronze Age), when both parts of the city were destroyed. Traces of severe destruction and fires confirm the information of the Bible about the capture of the city by the Israelites.

Hazor of the Israelite period occupied only the upper part of the former Canaanite city. From the era of the Judges, very poor architectural fragments have been preserved, indicating the intermittent settlement of the city. The only noteworthy building discovered by Yadin is a cult building, which was an artificial elevation resembling a bench in shape. On the floor lay a jug with bronze dedicatory objects and two lamps. Other materials reflecting the appearance of the Israelites in Hatzor turned out to be extremely inexpressive: numerous pits filled with ash and broken ceramics dating back to the 12th-11th centuries.

Further studies, however, showed that all this could accumulate in a maximum of 50, but not in 200 years. And this immediately created a gap between the death of the Canaanite city and the appearance of the first buildings of the Israelites.

The rise of Hatzor came in the Royal period. According to 1 Kings, Solomon imposed tribute to build the fortifications of Hazor, Megiddo, and Gezer. One of Yadin's discoveries was the six-chamber city gates associated with the so-called. double or casemate wall, which he attributed to the tenth century. BC. Since the same gates were found in Megiddo and Gezer, the archaeologist concluded that they were all built by King Solomon according to a single fortification system. Soon even the term "Archaeology of the United Monarchy" appeared to refer to the construction activities of King Solomon.

Yadin's view and his dating of the gate has been accepted by most archaeologists. However, in Lately there were doubts that David and Solomon were able to carry out large-scale fortification construction in three cities at once. In addition, it turned out that the gate to Megiddo dates, most likely, from the 9th century, i.e. a century later. And in Hatzor itself, as Aharoni, a colleague and main opponent of Yadin, pointed out, the chronology is not all right.

All these doubts were to be answered by the excavations of the 1990s. The remains of a three-part building with columns and the so-called. four-room house, a type well known in Israeli architecture. Therefore, they were dismantled and transferred to the territory of the open-air museum. And archaeologists were rewarded: the remains of a large building that existed from the second half of the 10th to the beginning of the 9th century came to light. The question immediately arose: would it help to date the six-chamber gates and the casemate wall? After all, fortifications themselves are ungrateful material for chronology. They existed for a long time, and the finds associated with them reflect the last period of the functioning of the structures. The found building was separated from the casemate wall by a paved street leading to the six-chamber gate. Accordingly, the pavement reflects the earliest stage in the existence of both an open building and the entire defensive complex.

The comparison showed that the appearance of six-chamber gates with casemate walls falls on the second half of the 10th century. This dating is confirmed by the thickness of six layers, the upper of which falls on 732 BC. And so, the construction of six gates and a casemate wall in the western part of the city really fits during the reign of Solomon or, less likely, his son Jeroboam I. In the next century, under King Ahab, the territory of Hatzor expanded. The eastern part of the upper city was fortified with a powerful wall and built up with buildings for various purposes, among which warehouses stand out. At the same time, the citadel and the famous water supply system of the city appeared.

Hatzor was repeatedly destroyed by both the Arameans and the Assyrians. The final blow to the city was delivered in 732 BC. King Tiglath-Pileser III during the campaign that destroyed the Kingdom of Israel. According to the biblical text, the inhabitants of Hatzor were taken captive by the Assyrians, however, the excavations of Yadin suggest that some part of the population survived the death of the city and returned to the ashes: in one of the districts, houses were found that belonged to the same people before the Assyrian fire and after him.

In the next five centuries, some life in the city continued, but only within the citadel. The last mention of Hatzor in historical documents is in the book of Maccabees, where it is said that Jonathan fought against Demetrius in the valley of Hatzor. These events date back to 147 BC.

Tell Dan and the golden calf

"Abraham, having heard that his relative was taken captive, armed his servants, born in his house, three hundred and eighteen, and pursued the enemies to Dan" ( Genesis 14:14);

"And those five men went and came to Lais, and they saw the people who were in it, that they lived in peace, according to the custom of the Sidonians, quiet and careless, and that there was no one in the land who would offend in anything, or would have power: they lived far from the Sidonians, and they had nothing to do with anyone ... And those five men who went to inspect the land of Laish said to their brothers: Do you know that in one of these houses there is an ephod, a teraphim, an image and a molded idol? was to help, because he was distant from Sidon and had no dealings with anyone. This city is in the valley that is near Beth Rehob. And they built the city again and settled in it. And they called the name of the city: Dan after the name of his father Dan the son of Israel, and before that the name of the city was Laish, and the sons of Dan set up an image for themselves, and Jonathan the son of Girsov the son of Manasseh, himself and his sons were priests in the tribe of Dan until the day of the migration of the inhabitants of that land. And they had the image made by Micha all the time that the house of God was in Shiloh" ( Book of Judges 18:7-31);

"And the sons of Dan went to war against Lasem (Leshem), and took him, and struck him with a sword, and received him as an inheritance, and settled in him, and called Lasem Dan by the name of Dan, his father" ( Joshua 19:47);

"And having consulted, the king made two golden calves, and said to the people: You do not need to go to Jerusalem; here are your gods, Israel, who brought you out of the land of Egypt. And he placed one in Bethel, and the other in Dan. And this led to sin ; for the people began to go to one of them, even to Dan" ( 1 Kings 12:28-30).

The settlement, identified with the biblical city of Dan, is located at the foot of Mount Hermon in northeastern Israel. A bilingual inscription from the Hellenistic period, in Greek and Aramaic, found here mentions a certain Zoilus (Zilas in Aramaic) who made a dedication to "God who is in Dan". The fertility of the local lands is noted in the Book of Judges (18:9).

The area of ​​the ancient settlement, at the foot of which flows the waters of the Dan River, one of the sources of the Jordan, exceeds 20 hectares. Favorable natural conditions and a convenient location on the main trade route from Galilee to Damascus made Dan the most important city in northern Israel. And since it is repeatedly mentioned in biblical texts, the excavations carried out here since 1966 were of particular importance.

During the Canaanite period, the city was known as Leshem (Joshua 19:47) or Leish (Judges 18:29). In the XVIII century BC. it was surrounded by powerful earthen ramparts. This is one of the best examples of the fortification system of that era. Arched gates 2.4 meters wide with two towers led to the city from the east.

According to the Book of Genesis, the patriarch Abraham, having defeated the northern kings who had captured his nephew Lot, approached precisely this Canaanite city (Genesis 14:14) and destroyed it. Later, as excavations confirmed, it was inhabited by the Dan tribe, which in the 12th century BC. occupied a small area in the western foothills of the Judean mountains. The Book of Judges tells how 600 people from the tribe (tribe) of Dan moved northward, and after the capture of Leisha, they named the conquered city after their father Dan (Book of Judges 18:29).

The cult center of the Israelite Dan was discovered above a spring on the north side of the hill. Its existence is attested in the biblical text (Judges 18:30). From the First Book of Kings (12:29-30) it is known that the cult center with altars, the so-called. heights (Bamah) was built by Jeroboam I at the end of the 10th century BC. after the collapse of the united state of Israel into two parts - the real Israel and the Kingdom of Judah. The same king, as is known, erected one of the two images of the "golden calf" in Dan.

The sanctuary occupied an area of ​​60 x 45 m. It was a wide courtyard with an altar in the center, surrounded by rooms around the perimeter. The first restoration was carried out in the middle of the 9th century by the Israeli king Ahab, who built a large altar - a platform measuring 20 x 18 m. Its outer wall was made of hewn stones with recesses for wooden beams. According to researchers, this is a clear reminiscence of the Temple of Solomon in Jerusalem with its "three rows of hewn stones and one row of cedar beams" (1 Kings 6:36; 7:12).

At the beginning of the VIII century BC. under Jeroboam II, a staircase was added to the south side of the altar platform and a smaller altar was built. Three iron scoops about 54 cm long were found in one of the adjoining rooms. By analogy with the Jerusalem temple, it is believed that these were ritual tools. Mahta And ya"eh used to remove ashes from the altar.

The cult complex of Dan was destroyed during the capture of the city by the king of Assyria, Tiglath-pileser III in 732 BC. Although the sanctuary was soon restored, it no longer acquired its former significance.

The Israelites placed a double basalt city gate at the southern foot of the hill. They were adjacent to an area of ​​about 400 square meters. m., from them a processional road rose up the slope. The best-preserved inner gate of the classical design. They consisted of four guard rooms, two on each side of the paved passage. Nests for attaching wooden door structures have been preserved in the threshold.

Outside, five uncut stones about 60 cm high were placed vertically. Researchers believe this is the so-called. matzevot - "upright stones", marking the boundaries of the cult place. Nearby, a bench was found - the place where, according to the biblical text, the elders sat (Genesis 19:1; Psalms 69:13; Ruth 4:1-2). Four more squat decorated stones, apparently, supported the pillars on which the canopy was attached. It is possible that a king or a judge stopped here, as evidenced by the phrase from the 2 Book of Samuel: "And the king arose and sat at the gate; and they announced to all the people that the king was sitting at the gate. And all the people came before the presence of the king ..." (2 Kings 19:8).

Finally, in the same place, in front of the gate, a find was discovered, without exaggeration, of historical importance. This is the so-called "Aramaic stele". On the basalt stone, thirteen lines of the Aramaic text have been preserved, telling about the events of the 9th - 8th centuries related to military conflicts between the Israeli and Damascus kingdoms. They, as is known, are reflected in the biblical Book of the Third Book of Kings (15:20).

The stele was erected by one of the Aramean kings of Damascus, who captured Dan, whose name is still unknown. In the seventh and eighth lines, the Israeli king Jehoram and Ahaziah, "the king of the house of David" from Judah, are mentioned who ruled in parallel. The allies were defeated by Hazael of Aram-Damascus. The information of the stele confirms the biblical information in the Fourth Book of Kings (2 Kings 8:7-15, 28; 9:24-29).

According to one version, the stele describing the victory of Khazail (Azail) was installed after the capture of Dan in the middle of the 9th century. When the king of Israel Joash, who fought three times with the Arameans and eventually defeated them, returned the lost territories, he completed the victorious campaign with a spectacular gesture - the symbolic destruction of the stele set up by the enemy.

As we can see, Dan's excavations confirm the biblical texts, at least those relating to the "Divided Kingdom" period.

Gat: Visiting Goliath

"Not a single one of the Enakims remained in the land of the sons of Israel; only Gaza, Gath (Gat) and Ashdod remained. Thus Joshua (Nun) took the whole land ... "( Joshua 11:22-23);

"And they sent, and gathered to themselves all the rulers of the Philistines, and said, What shall we do with the ark of the God of Israel? And they said, Let the ark of the God of Israel go to Gath. And they sent the ark of the God of Israel to Gath..." ( 1 Samuel 5:8);

“And a combatant named Goliath, from Gath (Gath) stepped out of the camp of the Philistines ... And the men of Israel and the Jews rose up, and exclaimed, and drove the Philistines to the entrance to the valley and to the gates of Akkaron. And the defeated Philistines fell along the road of Shaarim to Gath ( Gata) and up to Accaron" ( 1 Samuel 17:4,52);

“There was also a battle in Gath; and there was a tall man, who had six fingers on his hands and on his feet, twenty-four in all, also from the descendants of Rephaim. four were from the line of Rephaim in Gath, and they fell by the hand of David and his servants" ( 2 Kings 20-22);

"And the priest said: here is the sword of Goliath the Philistine, whom you struck ... And David arose, and fled from Saul the same day, and came to Anchish, king of Gath ... "( 1 Samuel 21:9, 10);

"Then Hazael, king of Syria, set out on a campaign, and went to war against Gath, and took him ..." (2 Kings 12:17).

Biblical Gat is famous primarily as the birthplace of the unforgettable Goliath, the Philistine giant defeated by David (1 Kings 17). Of course, the very plot of the duel between David and Goliath is a legend. The Second Book of Kings says that Goliath was killed by Elchanan, the son of Yagare-Orgim of Bethlehem, and in the battle in Gath itself, an unnamed six-fingered Philistine fell at the hands of Jonathan, David's nephew. There is also a variant of this story in 1 Chronicles where Elchanan slew Lahmia, Goliath's brother (1 Chronicles 20:5). The generally legendary story contains one important reference to the location of ancient Gath: after David killed Goliath, the Israelites pursue the Philistines to Gath and Ekron (Akkaron) (1 Samuel 17:52). These cities, therefore, were nearby.

Gath appears to have been one of the largest and most important cities in the Philistine land of Palestine. For many centuries, Europe owed information about the Philistines solely to the Bible. "Philistine" ("philistine") is an international common noun for "a dull, prosaic, often meticulous person who is guided by material rather than spiritual or artistic values." Obviously, this characterization comes from the biblical descriptions of the Philistines, who were among the most implacable enemies of Israel.

The discoveries of the twentieth century made us look at the culture of this people differently. As it turned out, it was in many ways superior to the culture of the Israelis. It was one of the so-called. "peoples of the sea", mentioned in Egyptian sources. In the eastern Mediterranean, they appeared at the end of the Bronze Age (about 1200 BC). Having failed in their attempt to conquer Egypt, the Philistines settled in Canaan, according to the assumption of a number of researchers, as Egyptian mercenaries. After an attempt to expand their territory into inner Canaan, reflected in the biblical texts, they were forced out in the early 10th century, possibly by King David, into the southwestern coastal strip of Canaan.

The country of the Philistines was a confederation of five main cities described in the Bible: coastal Ashdod, Ashkelon and Gaza, as well as Ekron and Gat on the border with Israel (Judea). The first three continued to exist for millennia with the same names. Archaeologically, this was confirmed by the excavations of Ashdod in the 1960s and 1970s and Ashkelon in the 80s. The identity of Gaza is beyond doubt.

Since the 1950s, the small hill of Tell Mikne has been the main candidate for the role of the Philistine Ekron. At the end of the century, this hypothesis finally found indisputable evidence - an inscription with the name of the city.

Now it's Gat's turn. Another of the Church Fathers, Bishop of Caesarea, Eusebius, at the beginning of the 4th century, identified Gath with the village of Safita, which he knew from the famous thousand-year-old mosaic map from Madeba in Jordan. By the end of the 19th century, it was believed that Tell es-Safi was the most likely candidate for the role of the Philistine Gath. This hypothesis attracted F. Bliss and R. McAlister, who spent two short seasons of excavations there in 1899.

Today, according to all written sources, it has become clear that Gath was located in the north of the Philistine territory, in the valley of Elah and not far from Ekron and Ashdod. Tell es-Safi is located just about six miles south of Ekron, at the mouth of the Elah Valley and on one of the main routes leading to Judea and Jerusalem. In addition, there were significant reserves of alluvial waters and agricultural land.

However, there are other points of view. The famous W. Albright correlated the phrase about the persecution of the Philistines "all the way to Gath and Ekron" with the biblical expression "from Dan to Beersheba." It, we recall, outlines the whole earth ancient Israel from North to South. So, "before Gath and Ekron" can also mean all the territory of the Philistines, and not the neighborhood of two cities. And if Ekron was its southern limit, then Gath was its northern one. Therefore, Albright suggested that Gath was the settlement of Tell Irani. However, excavations at this site did not reveal the main sign of the Philistine culture - a large number of two-color, red and black clay vessels. The version is gone.

Almost a century after the Bliss-McAllister expedition, Tell es-Safi attracted practically no attention. In part, this can be explained by the fact that until 1948 there was an Arab village with its cemeteries on the top of the hill, and powerful strata of the Middle Ages and the New Age awaited archaeologists. This, however, did not deter the well-known Israeli General Moshe Dayan, who took up illegal amateur excavations. The results, as one would expect, were disastrous...

Only in 1996, an expedition led by Aren Mayer from the University of Bar-Ilan, with the participation of an employee of the Hebrew University, Adrian Boas, resumed research on the ancient monument. The surprise for them was that the site was inhabited almost continuously from the Chalcolithic period (4th millennium BC) to the present day.

It was possible to determine that the area of ​​the ancient city at Tell es-Safi was four times larger than expected, and was only partially covered by layers of subsequent eras. Large-scale excavations began in 1998 and continue to this day.

They made it possible to compare two settlements: Tell Miknu (Ekron) and Tell es-Safi. The resulting picture was striking: during the Iron Age (1000 - 586), and especially in the Philistine period, the history of the two settlements was reflected as if in a mirror.

A large number of early Philistine wares in the ruins of ancient Ekron indicate its importance in 1200 - 1000 BC. In Tell es-Safi, this pottery, on the contrary, is scarce. The next stage in the life of both settlements is similar; a huge amount of bichrome ceramics remained from it. Around 1000 BC, however, Ekron experienced a decline, from which it did not recover until after 721, when the Assyrians defeated the Northern Kingdom of Israel. Tell es-Safi, on the contrary, flourished in the 10th and 9th centuries and was destroyed at the turn of the 9th and 8th centuries.

The fire was so strong that the walls of some buildings were caked, while others simply melted. This layer has become a real gift for archaeologists. Everything that was in the premises at the time of death was preserved in it: hundreds of vessels, the remains of looms and utensils. Cult objects were found, which were cow's shoulder blades with engraved ornaments. They are of Aegean or Cypriot origin, but still came across in much more ancient layers, XIII - XI centuries. Their discovery at Tell es-Safi shows the persistence of the Philistine religious traditions until the late Iron Age.

Among other striking finds are a bowl with an unusual artistic decorative pattern applied after firing, and a vessel with molded figures, apparently also of a cult. One of the most interesting items, as often happens, comes from an obscure stratigraphic context. This is a stone pendant. dark green with carvings of a scorpion and a fish with a trident in its mouth. It is tempting to associate the image of a fish with the Philistine god Dagon, whose name some researchers derive from the Hebrew dag - fish. However, it is much more likely to be of Semitic origin. dagan- grain.

At one of the sites, archaeologists reached the layer of the Late Bronze Age (1550-1200), left by the Canaanite Gath. They were rewarded with an engraved Proto-Canaanite inscription, several Egyptian seals, and a huge amount of local and imported pottery.

Outside the site, a major discovery was made using aerial photography, which revealed a huge ancient trench. Intrigued by such an unusual object, archaeologists decided to conduct trial excavations. During the 2000 field season, the trench was driven to a depth of four meters, but the foundation was not visible. In 2001, after incredible efforts, they finally reached it at a depth of six meters.

In search of an answer to the question of what they found, the researchers suggested that they were dealing with a siege moat. Similar stories are described in the stories about the campaign of Pharaoh Thutmose III against the city of Megiddo in 1482 BC, and about the siege of the northern Syrian city of Hadrash by Bir-Hadad, the son of Hazael, in about 800 BC. But in the course of archaeological excavations, neither city nor ditches were found ...

The besiegers of Tell es-Safi undoubtedly had plenty of time and men at their disposal. And the "dry ditch" prevented the attacks of the besieged, did not allow them to leave and did not allow the delivery of food.

The pottery found in the lower horizon resembles the vessels of northern Israel and southern Syria. It seems that the Arameans from the detachments of King Khazael left it, who besieged for a long time and finally burned down the Philistine Gat at the end of the 9th century. BC. (2 Kings 12:17-18; Amos 6:2.) This is indirectly indicated by the use of the "dry ditch" by Hazael's son Bir-Hadad a few years later. Who knows, maybe we are dealing with Aramaic siege tactics?

Of course, the era of King David aroused great interest, when the role of the Philistines in the political arena abruptly disappeared. In one of the fragments of the biblical text, it is reported that David subjugated Gath and put an end to his dependence on the Philistines. Excavations, however, have shown the persistence of their economic influence, although the material culture of the city and its environs became Semitic. In any case, until the middle of the VIII century BC. the city remained independent.

Apparently, the campaign in 712/711 BC became decisive for Gat. Assyrian king Sargon II, who captured Gat, Ashdod and Ashdod-yam. After these events, Gat disappears from historical sources.

But what about Goliath? The question still remains unanswered...

Ashkelon city of the times of Samson and Delilah

"Judah also took Gaza with its borders, Ascalon (Ashkelon) with its borders, and Ekron with its borders." (1 Judges 1:18);

"And the Spirit of the Lord descended on him (Samson), and he went to Ascalon, and, having killed thirty people there, took off their clothes, and gave their changes of dress to those who solved the riddle ... "( 1 Judges 14:19);

"And they (the inhabitants of Gath) sent the ark of God to Ascalon, the Ascalonites cried out, saying: They brought us the ark of the God of Israel to kill us and our people ... "( 1 Kings 5:10);

"Gaza is bald, Ascalon, the remnant of their valley (the Philistines), is perishing. How long will you cut, O sword of the Lord! How long will you not calm down? Return to your sheath, stop and calm down. But how can you calm down when the Lord gave a command against Ascalon and against the coast sea? there He sent him "( Jeremiah 47:5-7).

The oldest and largest seaport of Ashkelon is located on the Mediterranean coast of Israel, 40 miles south of Tel Aviv. It was the capital of the rulers of Canaan, a Philistine port, and the story of the biblical hero Samson is also connected with it.

During the Middle Bronze Age (2000-1550 BC), the territory of Ashkelon was almost 50 hectares. It was surrounded by powerful clay ramparts. At the top they were complemented by a large mud wall with the oldest arched gate in the world. Their remains were preserved to a height of 3.6 meters and a width of about two and a half meters, which easily allowed the chariot to pass. On the sides of the gate were guarded by two mud brick towers, preserved to a height of about six meters. True, they were built on twice. The gates were destroyed and rebuilt several times during the Middle Bronze Age. From the very beginning, the arched passage through the gate was so long that the builders had to use a special structure to support the foundation of the building. A unique box vault made of stone covered with plaster connected the outer and inner arches.

Ashkelon reaches its maximum size, about 60 hectares, already at the beginning of the 2nd millennium BC; the fortifications of subsequent periods, from the Hellenistic to the Islamic, followed the former defensive line. Built around 1550 B.C. the shaft had a height of 15 meters with a 40-degree slope along the outer line and a thickness at the base of 21 meters!

The city road of Canaanite time, about six meters wide, climbed the rampart from the nearby harbor and then led to the gate. An important find was made not far from it: a well-made bronze figurine of a calf measuring 10x10 cm, originally covered with silver. Together with her, they found a ceramic model of the tomb with a miniature doorway.

It is known that images of calves and bulls (Golden calves) were dedicated to the Canaanite gods El and Baal, against whose worship the Old Testament kings and prophets sharply opposed. (Exodus 32; Hosea 13:2). The image found was probably at a wayside shrine frequented by travelers and merchants on their way from the harbor to the city gates.

Another important discovery of the Canaanite time was the burial of a girl with beautiful "imported" dishes, three Egyptian scarabs and the remains of sacrificial food in a small vessel. On her shoulders were found two button-pins used to fasten clothes. The raw crypt was covered with white plaster. The custom of burying the dead within the city was widespread in the Canaanite settlements of the Middle and Late Bronze Age.

Around 1175 B.C. Canaanite Ashkelon fell to then become the main seaport of the Philistine alliance of five cities.

The Philistines arrived from the Aegean region, as evidenced by the same forms of utensils as in Greece during the Late Bronze Age. In Palestine, they first made one-color ceramics with red or black ornaments, very close to Mycenaean, from local clay. Much later, under the influence of the Canaanite style, they moved to the so-called. bichrome, red and black dishes. (It is she who is usually called the Philistine.) A large number of cylindrical weights were also found in their earliest buildings. Their form differs sharply from the Canaanite and is very reminiscent of the Mycenaean.

The Philistines in Ashkelon restored the Canaanite rampart and the glacis - the front slope of the parapet, and built a powerful mud tower in the area of ​​the old gate. The prosperity of Ashkelon continued until the beginning of the 7th century BC, except for a short period when it was under the rule of the Israeli kings David and Solomon. The inscriptions on the ostraca shards showed that the Philistines, even adopting the Semitic dialect, retained their traditions.

A real disaster for the city was the campaign of the Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar II in 604 BC, which completely destroyed Ashkelon. The Babylonian Chronicle says that Nebuchadnezzar "came up to the city of Ashkelon and took it in the month of Kislev (December - A.S.). He captured its king and plundered it and took the booty out of it ... He turned the city into a hill and a heap of ruins, and then, in the month of Sebat, he returned back to Babylon. "The prophet Jeremiah also speaks of the destruction of Ashkelon.

The most expressive find reflecting this event is the skeleton of a middle-aged woman. She was buried alive by the collapsed walls and roof of the building in which she hoped to take refuge. Less ominous, but just as dramatic evidence of the Babylonian defeat are traces of a grandiose fire in different parts of the city. Among them are thousands of broken pots and numerous objects thrown by the fleeing residents. A number of Egyptian items were found in the winery building: a bronze statuette of the god Osiris, seven bronze situlas - vessels for libations, and a faience pendant depicting the Egyptian god Bes. Who knows, maybe the increased Egyptian influence was the reason for the Babylonian campaign against Ashkelon?

As is known, sudden death The city is a real gift for archaeologists. Ashkelon was no exception, where the excavations of the Babylonian destruction layer made it possible to restore its life on the eve of the events of 604 BC.

At one of the sites, the remains of the market were opened. In the shops adjacent to a small area, fragments of pottery with inscriptions remained, which made it possible to determine the specialization of these outlets. Flasks and painted jugs indicate a liquor store, which is confirmed by two ostracon shards with the mention of "red wine" and "strong drink". The latter, apparently, was date palm wine.

Another shop clearly belonged to a butcher, as evidenced by animal bones with characteristic cuts for butchering carcasses. Finally, one of the buildings, where more than a dozen scales with stone and bronze weights of various scales were found, was a kind of office that dealt with accounting. The shards with inscriptions found in this building played the role of a kind of receipts for payment in silver for the received grain. But the most amazing thing was yet to come. It turned out that the office occupied only the first floor, and on the second there was ... a sanctuary! Eloquent evidence of this was a small sandstone altar, which brings to mind the words of the prophet Jeremiah about houses, on the roofs of which "incense was offered to Baal and libations were poured to strange gods" (Book of the Prophet Jeremiah 32:29). However, the close proximity of God and Mammon was characteristic of the Philistine cities. And the name Ashkelon itself is associated with monetary unit that time, shekel. No wonder the Canaanites and Philistines appear in the Bible mainly as merchants.

And yet the Philistine Ashkelon not only traded, but also produced, and not just anything, but wine. The winery revealed by the excavations consisted of three working rooms, which were interspersed with warehouses. The grape presses were located on platforms covered with zemyanka and having a drain on one side leading to a vat. In the corner of the vat itself, a small drain for the pulp was arranged. While the wine was left to ferment, the juice was collected in flasks, which were placed in adjacent storage rooms. Vessels with fermented wine were provided with clay plugs with through holes.

After the defeat by Nebuchadnezzar II, Ashkelon remained in ruins for some time. Some time later, the Phoenicians, who were under the rule of the Persian state, moved here. The Persians were replaced by the Greeks, the Greeks by the Romans and the Byzantines. Then come the Muslims, who are replaced by the crusaders for a while. All these civilizations have left their mark on the powerful cultural layers of Ashkelon.

At the walls of Armageddon

Judges of Israel 1:27);

Judges of Israel 5:19);

1 Kings 9:15; 17-19);

2 Kings 9:27);

2 Kings 23:29-30).

).

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no dating finds

Part 3. Archeology of Jerusalem

"And Manasseh did not drive out the inhabitants of Betshean and the cities dependent on it, Faanach and the cities dependent on it, the inhabitants of Dor and the cities dependent on it, the inhabitants of Ibleam and the cities dependent on it, the inhabitants of Megiddo and the cities dependent on it, and the Canaanites remained to live in the land this " ( Judges of Israel 1:27);

"The kings came and fought, then the kings of Canaan fought in Fanaah near the waters of Megiddon, but did not receive any silver" ( Judges of Israel 5:19);

“This is the order of the tax that King Solomon imposed to build the temple of the Lord and his house, and Millo, and the wall of Jerusalem, Hatzor, and Megiddo, and Gezer ... And Solomon built Gezer and lower Bethoron, And Balath, and Tadmor in the wilderness. And all the cities for the stores that Solomon had, and the cities for the chariots, and the cities for the cavalry, and all that Solomon wanted to build in Jerusalem and in Lebanon and in all the land of his possession "( 1 Kings 9:15; 17-19);

Ahaziah, the king of Judah, seeing this, ran along the road to the house in the garden. And Jehu chased after him, and said: And beat him with a chariot. and died there" 2 Kings 9:27);

"In his days Pharaoh Necho, king of Egypt, went against the king of Assyria on the river Euphrates. And king Josiah went out to meet him, and he slew him in Megiddo when he saw him. And his servants took him dead from Megiddo, and brought him to Jerusalem, and they buried him in his tomb" ( 2 Kings 23:29-30).

"And I saw coming out of the mouth of the dragon and out of the mouth of the beast and out of the mouth of the false prophet three unclean spirits like frogs: These are demonic spirits, working signs; they go out to the kings of the earth of the whole universe, to gather them for battle on that great day of God Almighty ... And he gathered them to a place called in Hebrew Armageddon "( Revelation of John the Evangelist 16: 13-14, 16).

Megiddo is the only place in Israel mentioned in the sources of all the great powers of the ancient Near East. It is natural that this city is considered as the most important monument of biblical times in Israel.

Megiddo existed continuously for six thousand years, approximately 7000 to 550 BC. and was periodically settled in subsequent centuries. The reason for its longevity was its unique location in the Valley of Jezriel, at the narrowest point of the ancient road that connected Egypt with Syria, Anatolia and Mesopotamia. The city was the scene of several battles that sealed the fate of all of Asia west of the Euphrates. Surrounded by powerful fortifications, equipped with a complex, well-designed water supply system, adorned with magnificent palaces and temples, it was one of the largest cities of Canaan and Israel.

Already in the middle of the 4th millennium BC. Megiddo began to dominate the surrounding countryside. In its second half, the settlement occupied an area of ​​about 50 hectares and was one of the largest in the Levant..

At the site where powerful fortifications of the Early and Middle Bronze Age were discovered, archaeologists discovered the remains of temples that made up the famous temple complex of Megiddo. It turned out that the earliest sanctuary consisted of two temples overlapping each other, which belonged to the second half of the 4th millennium BC.

Massive walls built of partially worked stones with bricks in the upper part date back to the same time. The dimensions are amazing - the length is about 50 m, the preserved height is about 2 m, and the thickness is up to 4 meters! The corridors between them were filled with animal bones - apparently the remains of sacrifices made on the altar. If this is so, then the walls protected the sacred area - the temenos of some very large temple.

An unexpected discovery was made inside it. These were twenty Egyptian vessels made in ... the vicinity of Megiddo! It turns out that even then Egyptian merchants visited such a remote territory and, without any embarrassment, brought sacrificial gifts to the temple of the local Canaanite deity. This picture shocked many Egyptologists.

In the II millennium BC. the city becomes the center of Egyptian administration in Canaan. When the Canaanite cities rebelled against the power of the pharaohs, they gathered precisely in Megiddo to give battle. Thutmose III, however, took the rebels by surprise, choosing the most dangerous route to attack through the narrow passage of the Aruna. After the victory under the walls of the city and the capture of rich booty, the Egyptians besieged it for another seven months. Having mastered Megiddo, the pharaoh included Canaan as a province in the empire.

From the XIV century BC Six letters from King Megiddo Biridia to Akhenaten have been preserved. These documents, discovered in the famous tell Amarna archive of the Egyptian capital, testify that Megiddo remained one of the most powerful city-states in Canaan. The magnificent ivory items found in the late Bronze Age palace indicate the richness of the city, its extensive cultural contacts.

By the X century BC. Megiddo became the center of the royal province of the United Monarchy of the State of Solomon. According to the Bible, his reign was to leave a noticeable mark on the architectural appearance of the city. However, heated debates continue among specialists concerning both the nature of the Israeli state of the era of the "United Monarchy" and the monuments associated with it. So, what is considered the city of Solomon, and what buildings of Megiddo are associated with it?

The discrepancy is based on the unfortunate fact that in the layers of Israeli settlements from the 12th to the 8th centuries BC. No no dating finds. And this era, by the way, included not only the time of David and Solomon, but also a significant segment of the first Iron Age and the entire history of the Northern Kingdom of Israel.

In the pitch "darkness" of four centuries, the basis for dating Israeli antiquities of the 10th - 9th centuries BC. as early as the 1920s, Megiddo monuments and Philistine bichrome pottery were adopted.

On one of the sections of the city in the so-called. layer IV, archaeologists unearthed an open large building with stone pillars. Since 1 Kings (9:15,19) briefly mentions the construction of Solomon in Megiddo, and mentions "cities" for horsemen and chariots, the conclusion suggests itself - the building was nothing more than stables. In the 1960s, however, one of the greatest Israeli archaeologists, I. Yadin, proved that it dates back to a much later time. He placed the city of Solomon in the previous layer (the so-called VA - IVB) with palaces made of hewn stone, as well as characteristic gates. Their similar layout in Megiddo, Hazor and Gezer, in his opinion, testified to a single plan drawn by the architects of the king.

However, as it turned out, the gate is not an option either. Soon another Israeli archaeologist Ussishkin found out that they were built later in Megiddo. In addition, similar ones were found in Lakish, Tell Ira, and ... Philistine Ashdod, which was outside the borders of the state of Solomon.

No less problems arose with the dating of the ceramics of the Philistines. According to Alt and Albright's theory, Ramesses III settled them in the southern coastal plain of Canaan shortly after his victory in 1175 BC. over the Sea Peoples. Since bichrome pottery existed for a long time, it was dated to the 12th - 11th centuries. The overlying layers were attributed to the 10th century.

The tension of such a chronology was obvious, but it was only recently refuted by Israel Finkelstein. He noted that early Philistine monochrome ware was never found in the Egyptian fortresses of the region that existed during the reign of the 20th dynasty pharaohs Ramesses III and Ramesses IV until 1135 BC. In turn, the so-called. Egyptianized ceramics, characteristic of all the settlements of the south of Israel during the XX dynasty, have never been found together with monochrome Philistine.

It remained to be assumed that the Philistines settled in southern Canaan after the collapse of Egyptian rule. In this case, later bichrome vessels were used in the 11th and early 10th centuries, and historically the next layer in Megiddo, the so-called. VIA, refers to the middle - the end of the X century BC. This was the time of Solomon's kingdom.

Decisive confirmation was given by radiocarbon analysis of wooden structures that died in the fire of a terrible fire. It turned out that the floor beams were cut down between 1000 and 940 BC. In this layer, archaeologists have discovered a number of monumental stone buildings of King Solomon. But, alas, neither stables nor hewn stone palaces had anything to do with it.

In 925 BC. Megiddo was taken by Pharaoh Sheshenq. This is reflected in the famous "Sheshenq stele" found here and in the inscriptions of the Egyptian temple at Karnak.

The next stage in the life of the city is connected with the Northern, Israelite Kingdom. Its rulers, the Omri dynasty, rebuilt the fortress according to a well-thought-out plan. The palaces, water systems and fortifications of Israel's Megiddo are considered some of the best architectural structures of this time in the Levant. The most impressive are the remains of the water system that have survived to this day. The shaft, cut into the rock to a depth of 36 meters, was connected to a 65-meter tunnel that led to a source outside the city walls.

In the middle of the VIII century BC. Assyrian king Tiglath-pileser III seized the surrounding territories and made the entire region a province, the center of which again became Megiddo. After the fall of the Great Assyrian military power, King Josiah of Judea, known as a religious reformer, led his troops to Megiddo to stop the army of the Egyptian pharaoh Necho, who was eager to help the Assyrians. (2 Kings 23:29).

The strategic importance of Megiddo and the history of this place as an eternal battlefield between different peoples is reflected in the biblical name "Armageddon", which translates as "The Hill of Megiddo". According to the Apocalypse, it is here, after the end of the world, that the decisive battle between the forces of God and the devil will take place.

City and fortress

The history of the Old Testament Jerusalem can be divided into two periods: the Canaanite-Jebusite and the Israelite, including the eras of the United and Divided Kingdoms.

The settlement arose on one of the hills in the southeastern part of the modern city. There, archaeologists discovered rock burials dating back to the end of the 4th - beginning of the 3rd millennium BC. The first mention of Jerusalem contains the ancient Egyptian "texts of curses", dating back to the 19th-18th centuries BC. These were hieroglyphic inscriptions with the name of the cursed enemy on small figurines of captives or vessels.

The burials at the foot of the Mount of Olives and the remains of the wall in the area of ​​the Gihon spring date back to the same time. In these arid places, it was the only one, and its name (from the Hebrew "Giha" - "eruption") received from the fact that the water in it did not flow in a steady calm stream, but erupted from time to time. He came to the surface at the foot of a hill in the valley of the Kidron stream.

The early settlement was believed to be located on the top and slopes of a hill, which created problems with drinking water in the event of an attack by enemies, who could easily cut off the city from its only source. Another major shortcoming in terms of defense was the openness of the southern direction, not protected, like everyone else, by natural boundaries. This problem has become eternal for Jerusalem, it was not for nothing that the prophet Jeremiah proclaimed: "From the north, disaster will open on all the inhabitants of this land" (Book of the Prophet Jeremiah 1:14).

Who were the inhabitants of the early city? There is no direct answer to this question. However, the "Book of Genesis" (14:18-20) tells how the king of Salem, who is also the priest of the supreme God Melchizedek, blessed the biblical patriarch Abraham, bringing him bread and wine. There is no doubt that Salem is Jerusalem. However, what time period does this fragment belong to? Since no other news came of either Abraham or Melchizedek, the reliability of these reports until recently seemed very small.

However, the work of recent years has led to truly sensational results. Israeli archaeologist Ronnie Reich, who studied the underground water tunnels of the time of King David, came to the conclusion that they were built almost 800 years earlier than expected. That is, even at the time of the Canaanite-Jebusite settlement, the source of Gihon was located within the city. This was indicated by the location of the tunnels and the newly opened walls. This means that the territory of the early city covered an area almost twice as large! So early Jerusalem was not a small seedy village, but a large city with a developed communications system.

A direct consequence of the discovery of the Reich was ... a political scandal. Having heard about the sensational results of the study, one of the members of the Israeli Knesset, Taleb al-Sanaa, an Arab by nationality, demanded parliamentary hearings. He invited the legislators to officially record that it was his ancestors - the ancient Canaanites, and not the Israelites, who built the city on the site of present-day Jerusalem. In response to this "provocation", the leaders of radical Jewish religious parties took a sharp stance. They understood where their colleague was driving, and their indignation knew no bounds.

The poor fellow Reich was to blame for everything. He got it for…. belittling the role of King David in world history. Moreover, it was stated that the scholar was pouring water on the mill of the revisionists of Jewish history and the enemies of Israel. Reich only had to shrug. However, his results are still awaiting comprehensive verification.

The following reliable information about the existence of Jerusalem dates back to the 14th century BC. and are connected with the world-famous "Tell-Amarna archive" - ​​the correspondence of the Egyptian pharaoh Amenhotep IV (Akhenaton). It was discovered in the place "tell Amarna", hiding under itself the remains of Akhetaten, the Egyptian capital of that time. Six letters from this archive belonged to the ruler of Jerusalem, Abdi-Heb. From them it turns out that Jerusalem, which was under Egyptian rule, was going through hard times. Abdi-Heba tearfully asked Pharaoh Akhenaten to send troops.

"And if there is no army, then the lands and the rulers of the cities will depart from the King. Look at the country (city-state) Jerusalem, not my mother and not my father made me who I am: the powerful hand of the King gave me [him]. Malkiulu and the sons of Labai gave the country of the King to Aphra. O King, my lord, you will see that I am right about the Nubians; let the King ask the governors whether the house is strong. They planned [to commit] a serious crime: they (the Nubians) took their weapons and climbed up on the buttress of the roof [of the house]. And let the King send an army into the city (Jerusalem). Let the King take care of them, and all the lands be gathered under their rule. And let the king ask for them a lot of bread, a lot of oil and a lot of clothes. More before the King's vicegerent arrived in Jerusalem, Adayah left with the army that the King sent. Let the King know [about this]! Adayah said to me: "Listen, let me go! Do not leave it (the city)". This year, send an army to me and send a governor here. My king! I sent caravans to the King, my lord, warriors, 5000 (shekels) of silver and 18 guides of royal caravans. [However] they robbed them in valley of Ayalon. Let the King know, my lord, that I will not be able to send the King another caravan this year. Know, my lord! The king has established himself in Jerusalem forever, and cannot leave the city of Jerusalem."

There is practically no reliable information about the fate of the city in the next four centuries. The only source for Jerusalem in the 14th - early 10th centuries is the Torah, the data of which are extremely contradictory. Joshua 10 says that King Adonisedek of Jerusalem was defeated in battle by Joshua, but there is no mention of taking the city itself. In the Book of Judges (1:8) it is said: "And the sons of Judah fought against Jerusalem, and took it, and struck it down with the sword, and set the city on fire." Since the Book describes the wars of the Israelites after the death of Joshua, it turns out that the capture of Jerusalem took place later. Moreover, Judges (1:21) ascribes the unsuccessful campaign against Jerusalem to the tribes of the tribe of Benjamin, while Joshua 15:63 clearly speaks of the tribes of the tribe of Judah trying to take over the city.

The Israeli scholar B. Mazar believes that these books reflect several stages of the conquest: first, at Gibeon, the Jerusalem king Adonisedek was defeated, and later the city was captured and destroyed by the tribes of the tribe of Judah. The design is outwardly logical, but purely speculative and based solely on conjecture. According to the most authoritative researchers, the information in the Book of Judges about the capture of Jerusalem is secondary and can hardly claim historical authenticity.

Who were the Jebusites who inhabited Jerusalem before the Israeli conquest? Everything that we know about them fits in the line of Ezekiel's prophecy: "And say: thus says the Lord God to the daughter of Jerusalem: your root and your homeland are in the land of Canaan, your father is an Amorite, and your mother is a Hittite" (Ezekiel 16:3 ). Based on this, the Jebusites were considered either as ethnic Hittites, or as an Asia Minor tribe expelled from their historical homeland as a result of the invasion of the "peoples of the sea" and settled in Israel. On one point, researchers are unanimous: on the eve of the Israeli conquest, Jebusite Jerusalem was a typical Canaanite city with a Semitic, Hurrian, and Hittite population.

The site with the "Jebusite fortification" on the eastern slope of the hill, where the early Jerusalem was located, was discovered in the 1960s by British archaeologist Kathleen Canyon. Unfortunately, the excavation was small in area, so until today, archaeologists have not come to the conclusion what they found - the corner of the city gate tower or some other fortification in the city wall. Usually this site is depicted in reconstructions as an imposing city gate, but they are built mainly on conjecture.

A much more interesting "Jebusite" object is the "Warren Mine", named after an English explorer who discovered this unusual structure in the 19th century. It is connected with a well-known historical plot - the conquest of the city by King David, which opens the next, Israeli period in the history of Jerusalem.

In the biblical text, the story of the capture of Jerusalem exists in two versions. According to the Second Book of Kings (5:4-10), David made a campaign against the country of the Jebusites and Jerusalem. The Jebusites "said to David:" You will not enter here, the blind and the lame will push you back, "it meant: David will not enter here. But David took the fortress of Zion: this is the city of David. And David said that day: everyone, killing the Jebusites , let him strike with a spear both the lame and the blind who hate the soul of David. This is why it is said: The blind and the lame will not enter the house of the Lord. And David settled in the fortress, and called it the city of David, and built it around from Millo and inside.

However, the synodal translation of the line we have highlighted is inaccurate. The original reads: "Whoever beats the Jebusites and touches the trumpet and the lame and the blind, hated by the soul of David." And the word "tsinor" (the only time mentioned in the biblical text) conveys the meaning of "pipe", "tunnel", "chute" .

What kind of "pipe or tunnel" is meant, and why was the special wrath of the king directed against the "lame and blind"? The expression "touches the pipe" according to the researchers, means nothing more than the penetration of David's soldiers into the city through the water canal - "Warren's mine". This diagonal tunnel, carved along the line of a natural rock crack, ended in a deep shaft, where jugs descended from above.

Moreover, according to I. Yadin, the Jebusites tried to frighten David by placing the sick and the blind on the walls of the city. It was this rite, which meant that if the city was taken, the enemies would become lame and blind, was performed by the Hittites when they took the army oath.

No less mysterious was the mention of the fortress in Jerusalem ("City of David") and "Millo". The search for these places has been going on for a long time. The situation was complicated by one circumstance: according to all sources, the biblical temple of Solomon was located on Mount Moriah. It was quite natural to assume that the Tabernacle and the Ark of the Covenant, transported by David to Jerusalem, were located there. Since the biblical text definitely reported that the Ark of the Lord was brought into the city of David (2 Kings 6:16), the conclusion followed was that the city of David was located on Mount Moriah.

An English map from an 18th-century atlas gives a schematic plan of Jerusalem based on a figurative interpretation of the Old Testament descriptions and the information of the Jewish historian of the Roman period, Josephus Flavius. The west-facing map depicts the city of David in a bizarre circular shape on Mount Zion in the southwestern part of the old walled city. The fallacy of such topography became clear as early as the 19th century, but only recent archaeological excavations have made it possible to correct it. It turned out that the city of David was located on the southeast mountain range, south of the Temple Mount, and not on it.

This place, known in the archaeological literature as "region G", was explored from 1978 to 1985 by an expedition led by Professor Yigal Shiloh. There they found big number buildings modern to the First Temple and later. The most interesting was a stepped stone structure, which apparently served as a retaining wall for the fortress of David and the kings of Judah. Researchers believe that this was the "Millo" mentioned in the biblical text. The word "miloh" itself is derived from a verb meaning "to fill". The artificial platform terrace was formed by stone retaining walls, the gap between which was filled with stones and earth. On it stood the houses of the fortified city. Towards the end of the First Temple period, residential buildings were erected within this terrace. The "House of Ahiel", which consisted of four rooms, was reconstructed by archaeologists after the completion of the excavations.

The eastern section of the district yielded a superb collection of bullseal seals made of clay used by officials. Apparently, it was here that both the fortress of Zion and the place where David transferred the Ark of the Covenant were located, which made Jerusalem the political and religious center of Israel.

The plot for the Ark of the Covenant was bought by David from Orna the Jebusite for six hundred golden shekels, according to the First Book of Chronicles (21:25), or for fifty silver shekels, as mentioned in the Second Book of Kings (24:24). After that, on the site of the threshing floor of Orna, "David built an altar to the Lord, and offered a burnt offering and peace offerings. And the Lord had mercy on the country, and the defeat of Israel ceased" (2 Kings 24:25).

In search of a temple

The temple, as you know, was given to build only Solomon on the mountain Moriah. This was the name of the area stretched from north to south between the Kidron and Hagai valleys, bounded by Mount Zion from the west, and Mount Olive from the east. It is with this place that the emergence of the sacred topography of Jerusalem is connected.

At the origins of this tradition is the plot from the Book of Genesis about the meeting of Abraham with Melchizedek (14:18-19): "He was the priest of the Most High God. And he blessed him, and said: blessed is Abraham from the Most High God, Lord of heaven and earth ..." a more important moment in the sacred history of the mountain was Abraham's sacrifice of his son Isaac (Genesis 22).

Finally, tradition associated with Mount Moriah the famous dream of Jacob, who saw a ladder reaching heaven, descending and ascending on it angels: "And, behold, the Lord stands on it and says: I am the Lord, the God of Abraham your father, and the God of Isaac. Earth, on which you lie, I will give it to you and to your offspring" (Genesis 28:11-13).

According to Israeli tradition, on the top of Mount Moriah were the "Foundation Stone", the symbolic foundation of the universe, and the "Holy of Holies" of the Temple of Solomon - the highest embodiment of the relationship between God and the people of Israel.

The "Foundation Stone" on Mount Moriah turned out to be a very stable element of sacred topography. Christian pilgrims of the Middle Ages were not at all embarrassed by the fact that, according to the Bible, the "Dream of Jacob" and the construction of the altar did not take place in Jerusalem, but in another city, Bethel. Many simply called Mount Moriah Bethel, since "Bethel" or "Beth-El" means "House of God" and was easily identified with Solomon's Temple in Jerusalem.

They believed that it was here that the forefather Jacob rested, and here he saw his dream, after which he erected the Foundation Stone. Johann of Würzburg, who visited the Holy Land in 1170, wrote: "This is holy land. Here he saw a staircase, here he built an altar, here he heard the words of the Lord: "The land on which you lie, I will give you and your offspring."

Jewish Orthodox adhere to a similar interpretation today. Jacob, awakening from his sleep in Bethel, erected a monument to God from the stone that served as his headboard, and anointed it with oil: "This was the Foundation Stone. The Torah says:" And (Jacob) came to a certain place and stayed there overnight" (Gen. 28:11). This place is Jerusalem, where the Temple was later erected; here Jacob prayed, saying with trembling: How terrible is this place!" (Gen. 28:17). Why did he say so? Because a vision arose before him: he saw the construction of the sacred Temple, its destruction and its restoration to its former splendor. Two Jerusalems appeared before him: earthly and heavenly. And he said: " Truly the Lord is present in this place!" (Gen. 28:16). He saw Shokhina hovering over Mount Moriah, the site of the Temple, and so he called it Bet-El - the House of God."

Solomon's construction of the Temple on Mount Moriah is described in detail in the Book of Kings. As you know, it was rebuilt several times, and the final reconstruction was undertaken by Herod the Great. However, during the famous Jewish war, the Romans destroyed the Second Temple.

So where did he stand? Let us immediately note that the current political situation in Israel makes it impossible to conduct any serious archaeological research on the Temple Mount. Traditionally, it was located on the site where the Arab mosque of the Dome of the Rock, Qubbat al-Sahra, now stands, or next to it.

Supporters of this point of view rely on the information of historical sources, according to which the Qubbat-as-Sakhra mosque blocked the remains of the Second Temple that stood here. This concept was presented most convincingly and consistently by Professor Lin Ritmeyer. He singled out two descriptions of the Temple Mount in Jerusalem. One of them belongs to Josephus Flavius ​​and belongs to the 1st century AD, the second is contained in the treatise Middot, which was part of the Mishna, the oldest part of the Talmud, written about 200 years. AD According to Josephus, Solomon ordered the top of the Temple Mount to be leveled, resulting in a quadrangular terrace-square, "a completely smooth and even place without protrusions. The entire circumference of this area embraced four stages in total, and each side of it had one stage in length" ( Jewish Antiquities XV, 11, 3). After Herod the Great expanded the area of ​​the Temple Mount, its circumference was already measured by six stages (Jewish War 5.192). The Middot states that the Temple Mount measured 500 by 500 cubits (Middot 2.1). It would seem that it is simpler: bring all dimensions to one scale and apply the resulting area to the plan.

However, here a problem arose. The sizes did not match, and alas, not only the sizes ... In fact, the sources are unanimous in only one thing - at one of the stages of construction, the top of the Temple Mount became a square area. What to believe, the information of Josephus Flavius ​​or the data of "Middot"? Since the Middot was written much later than the year 70, the time of the destruction of the Second Temple, Flavius' data is more reliable. This was also confirmed during the study of the Western Wall, where four gates were discovered - exactly as many as indicated by Joseph ("Middot" names one).

There are other options for the localization of the temple. Nearly two decades ago, Israeli physicist Asher Kaufman suggested that both the First and Second Temples were located 110 meters north of the Rock Mosque. According to his calculations, the Holy of Holies and the Foundation Stone are located under the current "Dome of Spirits" - a small Muslim medieval building.

The opposite, "southern" (in relation to the mosque) localization of the temple over the past five years has been developed by the famous Israeli architect Tuvia Sagiv. He places it on the site of the modern Al-Qas fountain.

Who is right: "traditionalists", "southerners" or "northerners"? Each of these concepts faces considerable difficulties.

In order to evaluate some of them, let us dwell on the topography of the Temple Mount and its surrounding places. All modern photographs clearly show the oblong Mount Moriah rising at the southern end of the City of David. This range continues through the Temple Mount and reaches its highest point outside the northern walls of the Old City. Thus, the rock foundation rises in a northerly direction, from the city of David to the Temple Mount. To the east of it are the valley of the Kidron River and the Mount of Olives, to the south - the city of David and the valley of Hinnom, to the west - the world-famous western wall, or "Wailing Wall". To the north of the place occupied by the temple was the Roman "fortress of Antonia", behind which a hill stretched outside the city walls - according to a number of Bizita researchers, mentioned by Josephus Flavius.

It would seem that what is easier - having a relief map of the area to create a three-dimensional model of the Temple Mount, placing known objects on it. But this is where problems arise.

From the descriptions it is known that on the northern side of the city, on a hill twenty-five meters high, stood the fortress of Anthony. Supporters of the traditional localization of the temple place it on the site where the modern building of the El Omria school stands. However, the height of the cliff there is only five meters.

Another problem is a deep ditch, found between the Temple Mount and the fortress of Anthony, which, according to ancient authors, adjoined each other. So, it could only be north of the defensive tower, but this is where the Dome of the Rock Mosque stands!

Trying to get out of a difficult situation, Asher Kaufman placed the temples right next to the moat, which was immediately followed by a venomous remark from one of the opponents: "Kaufman's temple is falling into the moat!"

That is why Tuvia Sagiv believes that the fortress of Anthony was to the south, on the site of the mosque of the Dome of the Rock.

And one more inconsistency with the traditional version. The Hulda Gate was the southern entrance to the temple district in ancient times. According to the Mishnah, the height difference between them and the "Holy of Holies" was approximately 10 meters, and between the lower level of the entrance to the Temple Mount and the Temple itself - 39 meters. If the Temple of Solomon is placed on the site of the Mosque of the Rock, the figures are different - 20 and 80 meters.

There are some other important data as well. Flavius ​​Josephus describes that the hill of Bizita was located north of the Temple Mount, so it obscured the view of the temple from the north. If the Temple stood on the site of the Dome of the Rock, it would be visible from the city of Ramallah. Therefore, it had to stand below the mosque, i.e. south of it.

Further. Josephus in his "Jewish Wars" mentions that King Herod Agrippa from his Hasmonean palace could see the sacrifice taking place on the altar of the Second Temple. This angered the Jews, who raised the western wall of the temple. In response, the Roman soldiers demanded that it be completely demolished in order to have a view while on patrol. The Jews, however, managed to insist on their own, having received the permission of the emperor Nero. If the temple was located on the site of the Rock Mosque, the height of the palace tower should have been at least 75 meters. Only then could the scene of sacrifice on the altar of the sanctuary be seen from the palace. A skyscraper in early Roman Jerusalem is an obvious absurdity. Consequently, the temple was located much lower, and this also pours water on the mill of its "southern" localization.

Finally, the canals that supplied Jerusalem with water began in the mountains of Hebron, passed through the Pools of Solomon at Bethlehem to Jerusalem. The lower channel went to the Temple Mount through the Jewish Quarter and the modern Wilson Bridge. According to sources, the ancient plumbing supplied water to mikveh - a pool for ritual ablutions of the high priests, which was located above the Water Gate. In addition, blood was washed from the altar of the temple with water from the same water supply. Separate sections of this aqueduct have survived to this day.

They allow us to judge that the aqueduct would be 20 meters below the Temple if it were located on the site of the Rock Mosque. He could not serve the Water Gate and the Altar of the temple. Another thing is if the temple was 20 meters lower, i.e. south of the mosque...

An important argument for the localization of the temple are the results of a preliminary radar sounding conducted by Tuvia Sagiv. They suggest the presence of vaults and other structures, which, if we adhere to the traditional localization of the temple, should have been much to the south. The northern section on the Temple Mount, illuminated by the radar, gave a disappointing picture - there was a rock everywhere.

In addition, Sagiv recently came up with another interesting idea - to conduct a thermal scan of the walls and platform of the Temple Mount. The fact is that this area has a curious feature. During the day, the sun heats the Temple Mount evenly, revealing subsurface anomalies as it cools at night. Infrared scanning has revealed an ancient pentagonal structure under the Dome of the Rock Mosque. What kind of building is still unknown.

Finally, one more circumstance should be taken into account. After the suppression in 132 BC. In the Bar Kokhba uprising, the Romans demolished Jerusalem and built a new city in its place - Elia Capitolina with the Temple of Jupiter on the Temple Mount. A similar temple, built at the same time and by the same architect, was discovered in Baalbek (Lebanon). The complex consisted of a Roman rectangular basilica and a polygonal building opposite the courtyard. If you superimpose the buildings of Baalbek on the plan of the Temple Mount in Jerusalem, then the Roman temple will be exactly on the site of the Al-Aqsa mosque, and the polygonal building on the site of the mosque of the Dome of the Rock. All this coincides with the testimony of Saint Jerome. In one of his comments, he writes that the equestrian statue of Emperor Hadrian was placed directly above the "Holy of Holies" section of the Jerusalem temple. If the model from Baalbek accurately reflects the topography of the buildings on the Temple Mount of Jerusalem, then the "Holy of Holies" should be under the modern Al-Qas fountain.

So the arguments of the supporters of the "southern" localization of the temple are by far the most convincing.

The question of the location of Solomon's temple is, unfortunately, not only of scientific interest. Recently, he has become involved in big politics. A radical religious movement is growing in Israel advocating the construction of a Third Temple on the Temple Mount. In July 2001, it took only a few minutes for the ceremony of laying the first stone in its foundation. Under the protection of the police and the army, dozens of supporters of the Jewish movement "Faithful to the Temple Mount" laid a stone weighing 4.5 tons in the parking lot near the walls of the Old City at the base of the future temple, after which the block was immediately taken away, most likely to the nearest police station.

This was the first major attempt to start building the Third Temple. The very idea belongs to representatives of the extreme right. Among her supporters are member of the Knesset Benny Alon, brother of the Minister of Communications Limor Livnat, Assistant Minister of Transport Yitzhak Levy, settler rabbis.

These people are determined to build the Temple during their lifetime. They sometimes refer to these plans as "changing the status quo on the Temple Mount." First, they want to ensure that individuals pray on the Temple Mount, then the time will come for the fulfillment of the commandment to establish the Altar, the Sanhedrin and the Assembly of the sons of Israel will be recreated, and only then the construction of the Temple will begin. The Institute for the Study of the Temple Mount also developed projects for the Third Temple.

What's more, the members of the "Temple Revival Movement" are busy raising... red cows! Their ashes are necessary for the ritual cleansing of anyone who wishes to set foot on the territory of the Temple Mount. According to their ideas, based on the Jewish tradition, all people are in a state of "impurity and decay", because at least once in their lives they touched the deceased or things that were in close proximity to him. For this reason, they are currently prohibited from climbing the Mountain. Only the ashes of red cows can correct their condition...

The reaction of the opposite side was not long in coming. The representative of the Jerusalem Orthodox Church Raouf Abu Jaber. He stated that "Israel wants to change the religious situation that has existed in Palestine for 1400 years," and "this provocation could lead to an explosion with unpredictable consequences." In his opinion, "aggression against Islamic shrines will be followed by aggression against Christian values, in the first place - the Church of the Holy Sepulcher." That is why "the Arabs - both Christians and Muslims - are ready to resist the Judaization of Palestine."

So a purely scientific dispute about the location of Solomon's temple develops into a major political problem. It remains to hope for a sober calculation and common sense of leading politicians on both sides of the barricades.

The very appearance of the temple is reconstructed on the basis of a very lengthy biblical description in the First Book of Kings and architectural analogies. It is believed that his style was formed from elements characteristic of different countries of the Middle East region. This is also indicated by the biblical lines: “And King Solomon sent and took from Tire Hiram, the son of a widow, from the tribe of Naphtali. he went to King Solomon, and did all kinds of work for him" (1 Kings 7:13-14).

Clay models of shrines in Israel and nearby regions have survived. One of them was discovered at Tell Tainat in northern Syria and belongs to a slightly later time. The temple was divided into three parts: the courtyard, the actual temple and the "Holy of Holies", which fully corresponds to the biblical description of Solomon's temple (1 Kings 6:2-3, 16). Another clay model from Trans Jordan adds to the information about the entrance to the temple, in front of which there were two columns on the sides.

Of course, the architectural details and ornamentation are reconstructed very presumptively. Column shapes similar to clay models have been found in many places in Israel since the era of Solomon. Many researchers focus on the columns from Hatzor that stood at the main entrance to the fortress. The style of their capitals is usually defined as "Proto-Aeolian". It is possible that this is exactly what those mentioned in the Bible looked like. Yakhin and Boaz- two columns at the entrance to the Jerusalem temple.

It is worth noting, however, that the gate at Hatzor was built almost a hundred years later. Another version of the capitals is shown on the famous bone tablet depicting a woman looking out of a window with a balustrade. Among other things, this find echoes a passage from 4 Kings: "And Jehu arrived in Israel. Jezebel, having received the news, rouged her face, and adorned her head, and looked out of the window" (2 Kings 9:30). There is a version that this image was taken out by the Assyrians from the one they took in 721 BC. capital of the Israelite kingdom of Samaria. The remains of a similar lattice balustrade were found in Ramat Rachel near Jerusalem. Again, they are not identical to the capitals of the columns from Hazor, although they are very similar. Despite all the differences, these finds reflect the general artistic style of that time and can equally be used to reconstruct the appearance of Solomon's temple.

According to the prophet Amos, Solomon's temple was "the sanctuary of the king and the royal house" (Amos 7:13). Such a characteristic in the ancient Near East meant that the temple was part of a complex royal palace. Note that the temple undoubtedly dominated the surrounding buildings. The entrance to it led directly from the palace.

Our idea of ​​what was inside the temple is also based on the biblical text and individual archaeological finds from other places. Ceramic incense burners were apparently used for burning incense. Such vessels are well known from the excavations of other sanctuaries.

One unusual object, recently acquired by the Israel Museum, is connected with the worship services that took place in the temple. This is a small, about 5 cm high, product made of elephant pomegranate, which had the shape of a vase, with a high elongated neck, decorated with six oblong petals. The massive looking case has a small, rather deep hole at the base. Apparently, it was intended to insert a rod.

On the shoulders of the vessel was an engraved inscription, partially knocked down. Researchers, however, managed to reconstruct it. The text read: "A sacred gift for the priests of the house of Yahweh." The study of the paleographic features of the inscription made it possible to attribute it to the middle of the 8th century BC. The purpose of the object is obvious - a gift to the temple of Yahweh in Jerusalem, built by Solomon. The pomegranate fruit, replete with juicy seeds, was considered a symbol of abundance. It is often mentioned in the Bible among other natural gifts for which the land of Israel was famous. The pomegranate was one of the favorite motifs of Hebrew art. In 1 Kings (7:42) it is said that the capitals of two columns on the facade of the temple were decorated with images of pomegranates. In addition, the clothes with pomegranates were worn by the high priest (Exodus 28:33-34). According to researchers, some ceremonies in the Jerusalem temple were performed by priests with scepters decorated with pomegranates.

The biblical text mentions a large "horned" altar in the temple courtyard, used for animal sacrifices, and a small altar for incense (1 Kings 1:50; 2:28-34). "Horned altars", so named because of the stylized completion of the corners of their upper parts, were discovered during the excavations of Beersheba and Megiddo.

City of a divided kingdom

After Solomon, Jerusalem grew and expanded beyond the borders of David's time. The Bible mentions the names of the districts outside its walls, Mishneh And Makhtesh . The construction took place in a rather specific way: due to the terraced layout of many sections, the walls of some houses were built on the roofs of others. Inside the city of David, archaeologists discovered stairs carved into the rock, which played the role of streets on steep slopes.

Tsar Hosea, who ruled in the Kingdom of Judea in 769 - 733 BC, was reminded by a curious find from ... the collection of ancient objects of the Russian Women's Monastery on the Mount of Olives! An inscription in Aramaic is carved on a stone tablet measuring 35 by 35 cm and reads as follows: "Here were brought the bones of Hosea, king of Judah. ​​Do not open!". This is nothing more than a funerary inscription of the ruler. Unfortunately, the place of its discovery is not known.

King Hosea is a notable biblical figure. The Bible describes both the deeds of this ruler and his funeral. "And Uzzias slept with his fathers, and they buried him with his fathers in the field of the royal tombs; for they said he was a leper" (2 Chronicles 26:23). Josephus, on the contrary, indicates that Hosea was buried alone in the garden. (Antiquities 9:10,4). The inscription in question shows that Hosea was reburied, which may be due to the expansion of the city under Herod the Great.

Jerusalem experienced two periods of rapid population growth. The first and most significant occurred around 721 BC, when the Northern Kingdom of Israel was defeated by Assyria, and its surviving inhabitants were forced to move to the Southern Judean state. The second peak came twenty years later, when the inhabitants of the seaside lands of Israel sought salvation outside the walls of Jerusalem from the invasion of the Assyrian king Sannacherib.

The ruins of Lakish and the famous Assyrian reliefs from detailed descriptions victories in cuneiform texts. In 705, the Jewish king Hezekiah, taking advantage of the death of the Assyrian king Sargon II, tried to free himself from Assyrian power. The new king Sannakherib decided to put the rebellious ruler in his place. His troops approached Jerusalem and laid siege to it. Ezekiah was saved from a complete catastrophe only by an epidemic of the plague that broke out in the enemy camp.

Monuments of the siege of Jerusalem by the Assyrians - the so-called. Hezekiah's Tunnel and the Siloam Inscription. To protect access to water from enemies, the tunnel was carved inside the mainland rock. It connected the Gihon Spring and the Pool of Siloam, which was within the new walls of the city built by Hezekiah.

From the Second Book of Chronicles (32:30) it is known that the king also built a tunnel, preparing for the siege of the city by the Assyrians: "He, Ezekiah, blocked the upper channel of the waters of Geon (Gichon), and led them down to the western side of the city of David." The outer entrance to the Gihon spring was hidden.

"When Ezekiah saw that Sennacherib (Sannacherib) had come with the intention of fighting against Jerusalem, then he decided with his princes and with his military men to fill up the springs of water outside the city; and they helped him. And a multitude of people gathered, and covered up all the springs and the stream, flowing through the country, saying, Let not the kings of Assyria, when they come hither, find much water" (2 Chronicles 32:2-4).

Now the waters of the Gihon flowed to the Pool of Siloam, a small reservoir also built by Ezekiah. As it says in 2 Kings (20:20), "he made a pond and a water pipe and brought water to the city." At the end of the 19th century, an inscription was found in the tunnel, telling how it was dug. Although the name of the king is not indicated, it becomes clear from the content that we can only talk about the time of Hezekiah.

"Tunnel. And here is the story of the tunnel ... Pick against pick. And when three cubits were left to break, they could hear how they called to each other, since there was a crevice in the rock on the right. And on the day the tunnel was completed, the masons struck towards each other, pick against pick. And water flowed from the spring into the pond at a distance of 1200 cubits, and 100 cubits was the height of the rock above the head of the masons.

The Jewish ruler made peace with the Assyrian king by paying a huge tribute. In his annals, Sannacherib proudly reported: “As for Hezekiah the Jew, who did not bend under my yoke, I surrounded and conquered with an attack of war machines and an onslaught of rams, infantry fighting, digging 46 cities of his mighty, fortresses and small villages, which in surroundings, which are without number ... He himself, like a bird in a cage, I locked inside Jerusalem, his capital. And I erected fortifications against him and turned the exit from the city into an abomination to him ... ".

During the excavations of Professor Avigad, a powerful seven-meter wall was discovered, which was called "wide". According to ceramic finds, it also belongs to the time of Hezekiah. A characteristic detail: it goes on top of pre-existing buildings. How can one not remember the phrase of the prophet Isaiah: "And mark the houses in Jerusalem, and destroy the houses to strengthen the wall" (Isaiah 22:10). In the modern Jewish quarter of the Old City, another section of the wall was explored. And a little to the north of the "wide" once stood a massive defensive tower, built in the same technique. Arrowheads, both Israeli and enemy, scattered outside, were witnesses of the battles flaring up here.

The fortifications withstood the siege of the Assyrians, fell before the Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar II in 586 BC. The finds in the fire layer confirmed the lines of the biblical text:

"In the fifth month, on the seventh day of the month, that is, in the nineteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, Nabuzardan, the head of the bodyguard, the servant of the king of Babylon, came to Jerusalem. And he burned the house of the Lord and the king's house; and all the houses in Jerusalem, and all the houses big ones he burned with fire; and the army of the Chaldeans who were with the captain of the bodyguard tore down the walls around Jerusalem” (2 Kings 25:8-10).

By the way, the fortifications of Hezekiah were restored only five hundred years later during the Hasmonean dynasty ("Second Temple Period"). The time of Hezekiah also includes a rock tomb with an interesting funeral rite. The carved inscription is similar in style to that of Siloam. She warns of the absence of treasures: there are only the bones of the buried and his mother. And whoever dares to open the burial will be cursed. The title of the deceased himself sounds literally like "The one who is on the house." A person with such a title could be the head of the royal palace.

The seals can tell a lot of interesting things about the officials of Ezekiah. Their impressions were left on clay, with which the officials sealed scrolls with letters and instructions. They were preserved due to the fact that the fire strengthened the clay and prevented it from exfoliating. So now we have information about the positions and even about the names of the officials who sent the messages.

One of them was Jehozarah ben-Hilkiahhu, "the servant of Ezekiah." Another seal depicts the king handing over royal signs to an official bearing the title of "Minister of the City". This title was held by the ruler of the city of Jerusalem, who was appointed by the king (Judges 9:28-30; 1 Kings 22:26).

Destruction of Jerusalem in 586 BC Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar II completes the history of the Old Testament city.

So what is biblical archeology today? It should be recognized that she failed to cope with the originally set confessional task - to find the historical basis of the Old Testament texts. Recent research has revealed that the descriptions of the era of the Patriarchs are entirely legendary, and only from the time of David and Solomon are reliable information found in them.

The conclusions of I.Sh. Shifman: "In the narration of the Book of Genesis, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob are the actors of a mythologized historical legend placed in a fictional situation ... Parallel ethnographic material shows that the initial ancestors of a particular society are usually legendary, mythological characters; Israel in this respect was hardly an exception ... Nevertheless, the legends about the patriarchs contain abundant and varied material that allows us to judge the lifestyle, way of life and customs of the population of Palestine in the era when these traditions were formed.

It's always good to separate fact from fiction. In this case, especially, because symbols sometimes acquire exceptional power if real events are seen behind them. One of the key episodes of the Old Testament - the Exodus from Egyptian captivity - has recently been used so successfully that the Soviet people humbly rushed after the new Moses in a forty-year wandering through the desert in order to kill the slaves in themselves, and at the same time themselves. To what has already been said about this plot, we will add only the words of I. M. Dyakonov: "The cited story (about Moses - Auth.) - a myth, moreover, stated three or four hundred years later than the alleged events; so far, no objective evidence and external data could confirm it, and it is useless to look for a rational grain in it "...

It is time, however, to sum up. The newly discovered "Jewish antiquities" are unlikely to particularly encourage confessionally oriented researchers or teachers: biblical archeology is not in a position to confirm the Old Testament texts "from A to Z". However, it has already taken its rightful place in the study of the Middle East and opened many pages in the history of one of the centers of world civilization, where entire peoples collided, merged and perished. There is no doubt that the "archeology of biblical lands" will bring many more amazing finds.

Andrey Sazanov. Doctor of Historical Sciences

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The main step towards the scientific study of East. antiquities in the 1st half. 19th century began work on deciphering the Assyro-Babylonian cuneiform and Egypt. hieroglyphic writing. At the same time, the European diplomats, military instructors and travelers made the first attempts to measure and excavate in the "biblical countries", laying the foundation for archaeological research of such monuments as Babylon, the biblical Ascalon, the tombs of the pharaohs and the temples of Egypt, the Behistun inscription, Nineveh (Kuyundzhik) and Khorsabad with the palace of Sargon II and then Nimrud.

Mesopotamian archeology began with the work of P. E. Bott in Nineveh (1842-1846) and O. G. Layard in the cities of Babylonia (1845-1848). A number of monuments important for biblical history were discovered: a “black obelisk” with a description of the Assyrian wars. king Shalmaneser III, including with the kingdom of Israel; the image of the siege of Lachish, found in the palaces of Sennacherib on Kuyunjik, and most importantly, the library of Ashurbanipal, in which cuneiform texts of the Babylonian era were stored. In 1850, Loftus continued to describe the monuments in the Euphrates valley, starting with the biblical Erech (Uruk).

Syro-Palestinian period

All R. 19th century archeology dr. Egypt, M. Asia and the Syro-Palestinian region took only the first steps: in Egypt in 1842-1845. a Prussian expedition (K. R. Lepsius) worked, publishing its research Denkmäler aus Aegypten und Aethiopien (12 volumes); in 1850 to Egypt for a Copt. O. F. Mariet sent manuscripts; in M. Asia, the British Museum began excavations of Ephesus.

Especially important for A.'s development. there were studies in the Holy Land, but work here progressed slowly. The scientific stage began with a trip to Palestine in 1838 by Amer. Hebraist E. Robinson and missionary E. Smith. They described a number of archaeological sites on the spot, identifying them with cities known from the Bible (Robinson E ., Smith E . Biblical Research of Palestine and Adjacent Regions. N. Y., 1841-1842, 1956. 3 vol.). The case was continued by him. researcher T. Tobler and Frenchman V. Guerin, who started in 1852 a project to map monuments and measure them. Mapping of monuments Zap. Palestine in 1871-1878 conducted by K. R. Konder and G. G. Kitchener; Haurana and Sev. Jordan in 1896-1901 - G. Schumacher and A. Musil; much later Yuzh. Jordan and the Negev Desert - N. Gluck.

An important step was the founding in 1865 of the Palestine Research Fund for the study of Jerusalem. Excavations have been carried out here since 1848, when L. F. de Solsi cleared the tract of the “royal tombs” (the graves of the kings of Adiabene). scientific study topography and history of the city began in the 60s. 19th century Foundation staff, Brit. officers C. Warren and C. Wilson. De Solsi and Warren were not archaeologists, so their work in Jerusalem and Jericho turned out to be ineffective and gave rise to confusion: the monuments of the era of Herod the Great (I century BC) were attributed to King Solomon, and Tell el-Ful (the fortress of the Maccabees) was attributed to the era of the Crusades. In 1872-1878. for examination Zap. Palestine The Palestine Research Foundation organized an expedition at the hands of. Kitchener and Conder; the latter's books about the results of his work have served many. generations of researchers and have retained their significance to the present. time.

A significant event in the history of the formation of A. b. there were finds of C. Clermont-Ganno, fr. consul in Palestine (since 1867), to-ry laid the foundations of Palestinian epigraphy, introducing into scientific circulation a number of the most important for A. b. objects: the stele of the Moabite king Mesha, the inscription in Greek. language, forbidding non-Jews to enter the courtyard of the Jerusalem temple, graffiti on ossuaries; he also identified the ruins of the city of Gezer and others. In the 60s. 19th century in the study of ancient Jerusalem included Rus. scientists. Having headed the Russian spiritual mission in Jerusalem in 1865, archim. Antonin (Kapustin) organized excavations and publication of their results at the advanced scientific level for his time. He opened the second bypass of the city wall (445 BC), the “Doomsday Gate” and part of the constructions of the basilica of imp. Constantine (see in the articles "Jerusalem", "Church of the Holy Sepulcher"). In the same years, prof. KDA A. A. Olesnitsky began to publish essays on the antiquities of Palestine (The fate of the ancient monuments of the Holy Land. St. Petersburg, 1875; the Old Testament Temple in Jerusalem. St. Petersburg, 1889, etc.). The basic role in their natural study was played by imp. Palestinian Orthodox Society (since 1882). In the 90s. 19th century he was supported by a number of expeditions to the Holy land under the arms. N. P. Kondakova, M. I. Rostovtseva, N. Ya. Marra, in the 10s. 20th century it was supposed to open the Russian. archaeological in-t in Jerusalem (see Belyaev L. A. et al. Church science: Biblical archeology // PE. T .: ROC. S. 435-437).

In con. XIX - beginning. 20th century

the study of antiquities important to A. b. accelerated. This had non-scientific geopolitical prerequisites (the weakening of Turkey, the “development” of the Middle East by European states) and was associated with the formation of methods of scientific archeology, with the need of theologians to refute the conclusions of hypercritics on the basis of archaeological sources (see Hypercriticism).

The disproportion in the development of field studies still remained: the primacy remained with the objects of Mesopotamia and Egypt, the lands of which were better studied, and the monuments provided many written sources. In 1872, among 25 thousand texts from the library of Ashurbanipal, a Babylonian version of the description of the flood "The Epic of Gilgamesh" was discovered; the missing part of the text of the epic was found by J. Smith in Kuyundzhik.

In Nineveh, a clay prism with the annals of Ashurbanipal and 4 cylinders with a description of the campaigns of Sennacherib, including the invasion of Judea and the siege of Jerusalem, were found. There followed the discovery of more ancient monuments of Sumer, the systematic study of Babylon by R. Koldevey (1899-1917), who recreated the structure of the fortifications, residential quarters, palaces and temples of the city, the discovery of C. L. Woolley of the city of Alalakh beyond the river. Orontes. In the beginning. 20th century Hittology appeared: in 1906 it. the scientist G. Winkler began work in Sidon and Bogazkoy, but the texts from Bogazkoy, written in the Hittite language, were deciphered only 10 years later in Czech. scientist F. Grozny.

Since the 80s 19th century began a new flowering of archeology in Egypt. In 1887, the first tablets with Amarna letters were accidentally discovered in the ruins of Tell el-Amarna, containing new information about the life and politics of Egypt and ancient Canaan before it was settled by ancient Jews.

In the Syro-Palestinian region, the exploration period dragged on for a long time. Although in the 70s and 80s 20th century the American Palestine Research Society, the Lutherans, originated here. German Palestine Union (1877), Russian. Orthodox Palestine Society (1882), Dominican French School of Biblical and Archaeological Research (1894), Franciscan Bible School, and later "schools" in Jerusalem (German Evangelical Institute for the Study of Antiquities of the Holy Land, American Schools of Oriental Studies (1900) , British Archaeological School in Jerusalem (1919)), they were unable to scientifically organize long-term excavations at large sites. Nevertheless, the exploration work they carried out made it possible to continue the tradition. reconstruction of the historical geography of Palestine, which led to the creation of the classic work of J. Smith (The Historical Geography of the Holy Land. N. Y., 18973).

Interwar years

(Especially 1920-1935) is called the "golden age" of the Middle East. archeology. After the First World War, the former lands were opened for archaeological work. The Turkish Empire, to which England and France received mandates. To Near In the East, excavation methods developed by prehistoric and classical archeology were increasingly used. Of particular importance was the increased interest in archeology, as well as the continuation of the theological controversy between "modernists" and "traditionalists".

From the 20s. 20th century discoveries followed one after another: El-Amarna (where J. Pendlebury began work) and Byblos (bibl. Eval), the port of ancient Phenicia, where P. Monte opened a tomb with the sarcophagus of King Ahiram (see Ahiram sarcophagus), Bet-Shean in Decapolis, where K. S. Fisher, A. Rowe and G. Fitzgerald uncovered layers up to the 3rd millennium BC; C. L. Woolley (until 1914 led the work in Carchemish) led the expedition of the British Museum (until 1934) to the ruins of Ur, the city of Abraham (Ur, or Tell el-Muqayyar); 1925 - the opening of an "archive" in Nuzi containing information about the era of the Old Testament patriarchs (Yorgan-Tepe, northern Baghdad, near the mountains of South Kurdistan).

For the development of the archeology of the Holy Land, a favorable time began with the establishment of Brit. mandate (1917). Monument protection authorities were created, similar to Brit. (Palestinian Department of Antiquities). Of particular importance was the beginning of the work of the American Schools of Oriental Research under the hands of. W. Albright. Arriving in Jerusalem in 1919, he organized work on Tell el-Ful and Kiriath Sefer (1922). His students also worked at Bet Tzur (see Beth Tzur), Tell Beit Mirsim, Bet Shemeshei and others. , K. Duncan and J. W. Crowfoot from 1923 explored Ophel Hill; E. L. Sukenik - city walls) and in caves above the Galilee m., where traces of prehistoric man were found. At the same time, one of the first agricultural crops, Natufian (D. Garrod, 1928-1934), was discovered and studied. Excavations began at Megiddo (Fisher and others), Geras in Jordan (Horsfield and Crowfoot), Mitzpah (Tell en-Nasbeh) and Tell Beit Mirsim southwest of Hebron. The organization of work and the fixation of the excavated objects were set to the proper height. Albright was able to draw up a clear typology and chronology of Iron Age pottery (clarified by Phidian-Adams on Ascalon, Albright himself on Giweaf and Tell Beit Mirsim, works in Bethel (see Bethel) and Megiddo), Crowfoot in Samaria and E. Grant (excavations at Bet-Shemesh, which opened the period of its capture by the ancient Jews in the XII-IX centuries BC).

Seal with the inscription: "Shems, servants of Jeroboam". 8th century (?) BC Megiddo. Copy

Seal with the inscription: "Shems, servants of Jeroboam". 8th century (?) BC Megiddo. Copy

30s 20th century were marked by the work of J. Garstang (Palestinian Department of Antiquities) in Jericho, where the first Neolithic urban culture was discovered (in 1952-1958 by K. Kenyon). Excavations began on the Maccabean fortress at Beth Tzur. J. L. Starkey dug in Lachish and collected important information about the era of the preaching of the prophets. Jeremiah (626/27-586 BC). Works in the biblical Ai allowed further identification of this city. Of particular importance were the 13-year surveys of Transjordan, from the Gulf of Aqaba. to Sir. borders. N. Gluck identified and dated the cemetery of the Nabataean era in Jebel al-Tannur (1937), northeast of the Dead Sea, and in the post-war period - Etzion-Gever. B. Mazar began to study the largest Heb. Cemetery of Beth Shearim. Important are the results of the excavations of Mari (Tell-Hariri) on the Euphrates, which lasted until 1960 (A. Parro), as well as the work of K. Sheffer on Ras Shamra (Ugarit), which gave samples of the world's oldest alphabetic writing.

During the interwar period, expeditions were better organized, their composition became more professional, reports were written more carefully, and materials were more quickly analyzed, compared with others and published. On the eve of World War II, relations between the colonial authorities and the local population took on a form of conflict, sometimes leading to the death of archaeologists.

2nd floor 20th century

The basis of the work in the 50-60s. remained Western European projects. and Amer. scientific schools: the complex excavations of Jericho were carried out under the hands of. K. Kenyon (1952-1968); work in Seachem (under the direction of E. Wright) proved that the city dates back to the Bronze Age. Digging at Givvefon (J. B. Prichard), in Jericho, r. era (D. L. Kelso, J. B. Pritchard), in Beth San (N. Zori), in Divon (W. Merton) and Dothan (J. P. Free). P. Lapp excavated Arak-el-Emir, Taanah, a settlement of the 4th millennium BC Bab-ed-Dra (with a large necropolis) and discovered a papyrus from Samaria near Jericho, dated 722 BC. in Caesarea, an inscription was found mentioning Pontius Pilate. In the 70-80s. a major project was carried out - long-term excavations in Gezer (W. Dever, J. D. Seger, etc.). Israeli archaeologists trained in Gezer then set to work on the sites of synagogues in the Galilee, at Tell el-Khesi, Sepphoris, Lahav, Tell Mikne, and other places.

Especially widely developed work in Petra: in the 50s. The Jordanian Department of Antiquities began the restoration of monuments and excavations (F. Hammond), from the 60s. continued by the Princeton Theological Seminary expedition. Many works of Sabaean art and a temple of the goddess of the Moon of the 8th century have been revealed in Marib. BC Perrot worked in Tell Abu Matar (near Beersheba). A number of Eneolithic settlements to the east were found and studied. on the bank of the Dead Sea, in Jordan (Teleilat-el-Ghassul).

A significant contribution to the study of Mesopotamia was made by the Russian expedition under the arm. R. M. Munchaeva, N. Ya. Merpert and N. O. Bader, who worked since 1969 in Iraq and Syria on the monuments of the 7th-3rd millennium BC.

The independent states that emerged after the war, and above all Israel, were interested in the study of archeology. Along with Western European and Amer. scientists began to expand the work of the museums of Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, the Israeli Research Society, the Jewish University, and other organizations. They were led by the first generation of local archaeologists who had been educated in Europe and America even before the war—Mazar, Sukenik, Avigad, Avi Yona, and others. 2 years later, R. de Vaux launched research on the site of Qumran and the rural settlement of Ain-Feshka.

Israeli archaeologists adhered to several. methods other than European. and Amer. They paid more attention to local history and continuous surveys of territories (N. Gluck's intelligence in the Negev desert, etc.), purposefully studied the Late Bronze Age; early iron; period of the Second Temple. I. Yadin launched a search for monuments of the last phase of the history of Dr. Israel, especially during the Bar Kochba uprising (the first serious finds were made in 1951 by Harding and de Vaux, including the "copper scroll" - a list of treasures of the Qumranites). In the 60s, while examining the Dead m., Yadin, using aerial photographs, determined the place of Rome. camp near En Gedi and found the remains of Bar Kokhba fighters in the surrounding caves. The remains of the Israeli fortress of Masada were soon explored.

Israeli scientists of the new generation since the 50s. began digging in Hazor (since 1955), on Ramat Rachel and Arad (Aharoni, 50-60s of the XX century), in Ashdod and in Caesarea (Avi Yona, A. Negev), explored the synagogues of the first centuries R. H., Mampsis - the most east. the city of Center. Negev. In con. 60s excavations began in the Old City of Jerusalem (in 1968 under the direction of Mazar south of the Temple Mount) and in Sinai. Finds followed one after another: a scroll from Qumran - a "textbook" of religions. rules, notes for the construction of the temple and even a military mobilization plan; in one of the many ossuaries, the remains of a man subjected to crucifixion were found; inscriptions containing many names mentioned in the Gospels and Acts. The work begun in the Jewish Quarter of the Old City of Jerusalem (under the direction of Avigad) uncovered villas and cobbled streets of the Hellenistic era, the remains of ancient walls, Herod's residence, baths, Byzantium. church.

An important role was played by the work of the 70s. on Tell el-Khesi, showing the complexity of the fortifications and high level development of the city of the Bronze Age. It has been proven that the habitation of Tell Hisban goes back to about 1200 BC and it could be ancient Sihon. When working in the yard of the arm. church on Mount Zion (Jerusalem), a settlement of the 7th century was discovered. BC, where figurines of animals and people were found; in 1975 a cemetery of the 7th-8th centuries was opened. BC on the slope of the Kidron Valley, north of the Damascus Gate; in Dane, they found a “horned altar” of the ancient Jews (a cubic block of limestone from the 9th century BC), which stood on a hill in the courtyard. New materials from the era of the Second Temple have appeared: in Jerusalem, these are streets built in the era of Herod. The first sanctuaries of the Philistines were also opened (for example, the temple in Tell-Kasil, the remains of 2 wooden columns to-rogo resemble those described in the Book of Judges (16. 26)). In the 70s. storage vessels with royal seals, levels of destruction of the city by Sennacherib (early VIII century BC) and Nebuchadnezzar II (VI century BC), as well as Egypt were found in Lachish. an inscription in the level of the 12th century, which made it possible to attribute the death of the city of the Canaanites to the era of the conquest of Canaan by Heb. tribes. The most important for A. b. discoveries were made in Syria - Ras Shamra (Ugarit), in Lebanon - Baalbek, Byblos, Sidon, Tire, Kamed el-Loz (Kumidi) and Zarefat, Eble (Tell Mardikh, near Aleppo). Italian archaeologist P. Mattie found evidence that the inhabitants of Ebla, the city-state of the 2nd floor. III millennium BC, they spoke a special Semite. language, their beliefs can be correlated with information from the OT.

Outside the Holy Land, the study of monuments important to A. b., intensified in the widest range, from the “epoch of the patriarchs” to New Testament times, and on a vast territory: from the North. Africa to Ephesus and Corinth, from V. Nile to England. In 1979, the discovery of Egypt was announced. archaeologists of the ancient city of Yona, where Joseph, Moses, Plato visited.

On the basis of the appeared new data And. scientists came to the conclusion about the special role of Near. East and its ancient history in the development of mankind: for example, agriculture found in this region turned out to be more ancient than previously thought. The most important link in the transition to settled life and the creation of "proto-villages" (Natufian culture of the Mesolithic) was identified. The excavations of K. Kenyon in Jericho showed the following stage: the flourishing of the producing economy and the formation of the first "cities". Based on a developed system of stratigraphy, Kenyon discovered layers of a previously unknown era - the “pre-ceramic Neolithic”. It turned out that already in the 9th-7th millennium BC, mankind firmly mastered the skills of agriculture and the construction of stone fortresses, that monuments close to ancient Jericho cover the south of M. Asia, the foothills of Zagros, Sev. Mesopotamia, Jordan (Beida), the Syro-Palestinian region (Ain Ghazal, Beisaman, etc.).

Archaeological Evidence for the Biblical OT Story

Archaeological sites Near. East have features that allow you to restore history for many years. centuries. The most important of them are telli - hills formed by the remains of long-term settlements (including cities that grew up on the basis of an agricultural economy), successively layered one on top of the other. This sequence reflects the continuity of development, sometimes with short or long breaks that mark natural or historical cataclysms: seismic and climatic shifts, wars, migrations, regrouping or population change. The average chronological framework for the existence of tells is from 1 to 2 thousand years, but among them there are such “long-livers” as Tell es-Sultan, first settled more than 11 thousand years ago (modern Jericho stands on its peak). In Palestine, telli are characteristic primarily of coastal, intermountain, and river valleys; their height in some cases exceeds 20 m, the area varies on average from 2.8 to 8 ha, very small (0.8 ha) hills and telly giants (Asor, 80 ha) are known. The information content of the tell is extremely high: they serve as standards both for establishing the relative chronology of the sites and for the historical interpretation of their materials.

Single-layer monuments are also important, not as long-term as telli. Their diversity (partly dictated by the sharp difference natural areas Holy land, see Art. "Biblical Geography") allows you to explore the structure of the settlement of the region. Many are known. thousands of settlements: from agricultural settlements, coastal and river valleys with adobe ground houses to karst caves and basalt houses of mountainous areas, underground dwellings and mines of ancient miners. Copper mines constitute a special group of monuments, documenting the special role of the Holy Land in the emergence of metallurgy. Funeral monuments are the most important for judging the ideology, worldview and spiritual culture of the population. In Palestine, the most diverse forms of the rite are recorded: corpses in pits (elongated or crouched), secondary burials of bones in ossuaries, ground (dolmens, stone boxes, domed tombs, etc.) and underground structures. Part of the burials is accompanied by funeral gifts, sometimes quite rich and informative. To religion. The monuments include less common desert sanctuaries and single stone zoomorphic images. The most important type of finds (comparatively rare in Palestine) are the oldest inscriptions on stone, clay, and other materials, from the famous Gezer calendar (X century BC) and the Mesha stele (IX century BC) to Qumran manuscripts.

Development of a unified generally accepted methodology for comparing archaeological materials with the texts of St. The Scriptures are still far from complete, since the task of conjugating archaeological and written data is complicated by 2 seemingly opposite trends: attempts to find accurate archaeological confirmation even for those biblical events that could hardly leave a significant archaeological trace at all, or, conversely, to refute the biblical tradition of little use for this archaeological material. In addition, the researcher is tempted to somehow connect any significant monument in the region with biblical history. Similar attempts were made even by very prominent scientists, for example. N. Gluck, who, according to his excavations, connected the desolation of Transjordan in the middle. II millennium BC with the raid of Chedorlaomer on this territory (Gen 14), although such a raid could hardly have significantly affected the settlement of the region, subsequent excavations showed that there was no desolation itself. On the other hand, information from the Bible about the capture of a particular city is often questioned, since archaeological excavations have not revealed traces of destruction there in the corresponding era; however, traces can only remain from the destruction of a large scale, and it might not be reflected in the biblical narrative.

Archeology, as a rule, fixes individual details of cultural development or the main stages in the history of settlements and regions, reflecting large-scale processes - climatic, economic and social changes, but it cannot accurately determine either the causal relationship, or what exactly caused these processes and changes.

For a long time, the era of the Old Testament patriarchs was associated with the period known from the excavations of Mari (XIX-XVIII centuries BC), since both the biblical narrative and these excavations depict the life of the “nomadic” zap. Semites; however, a similar way of life was common in the Middle. East, both in earlier and later times, and only by chance became known by the discovery of Marie's archive.

In the Holy Land for the period earlier con. XI - 1st floor. 10th century BC (the reign of Kings David and Solomon), archaeological material draws a general picture of development, but does not reveal specific events in biblical history: the vicissitudes of the existence of a small ancient Hebrew. groups, the material culture of which is not separated from the related Semites. environments known from the Bible are not yet known archaeologically. But since the advent of the Heb. kingdoms, when the scale and illumination of ancient Hebrew. stories grow in comparison with previous epochs, archaeological correlates of many others. important events of St. stories can be set.

A. b. shows that the process of settlement of Palestine by Israeli groups from the early 12th century. BC covered the Central Highlands, a number of regions of Transjordan and North. Negev, while in Galilee it is recorded mainly in the 11th century. to R. X. In con. 11th century before R. X. pl. settlements were abandoned and not revived (Silom, Gai, Tell-Masos, etc.). Others (Beth Tzur, Hebron, Tell Beit Mirsim, Dan, Hazor, Tell en Nasbeh) were restored and flourished during the period of the United Kingdom, which was associated with a concentration of population in the emerging Israeli cities and, obviously, the Philistine invasions, however, there is no fortification in most of the settlements, and their layout speaks of the building traditions of the Bedouin semi-nomads.

Direct archaeological evidence of the era of the United Kingdom of David and Solomon is small, with the exception of Jerusalem and other cities that have preserved the remains of their construction activities, but these traces are not always sufficiently definite (which is partly due to the difficulties of archaeological work in Jerusalem).

Jebusite Jerusalem was located on the high hill of Ophel, its natural protection from the very beginning was supplemented by fortifications. Appearing on Wed. Bronze Age, they were subsequently rebuilt many times, supplemented, replaced by new ones. The wall of the era of the Jebusites and King David repeated the line of the wall cf. Bronze Age and fenced the area approx. 4.4 ha. On the steep east on a hillside, above the source of Gihon, a giant supporting wall supported a destroyed monumental structure - possibly the Jebusite “Zion fortress”, taken during the storming of Jerusalem and becoming the “City of David” (1 Chronicles 11. 5). Under Solomon, the citadel was shifted to the north.

It is assumed that the temple of Solomon was located to the west of the sacred rock, possibly playing the role of an altar-altar (now covered by a large dome and included in the complex of the Muslim shrines of Haram el-Sherif), and its long axis is oriented from east to west.

Modest unfortified settlements that arose on the ruins of the kon destroyed during the wars are attributed to the era of David. XI - beg. 10th century BC Canaanite and Philistine cities (Megiddo, layer V B; Tell Kasil, layer IX). Lachish, defeated in the middle. 12th century BC, revived in the tenth century. to R. X. on a limited, originally unfortified area (layer V). These monuments are considered indicators of the process of urbanization that began in Israel. For the X century. BC, a close picture of the origin of Israeli settlements on the ruins of cities was recorded by the excavations of Tell Beit Mirsim and Timna.

Evidence of Israel's exit to the Gulf of Aqaba. and the flourishing of the Red Sea trade under Solomon, described in the Bible (1 Kings 9. 26-28), consider powerful fortifications in the Elat region (Tell-Keleifa, date on ceramics of the 10th century BC). Probably, the rapid and widespread appearance of new settlements in the Negev desert (including about 50 fortified ones), dating back to the time of Kings David and Solomon, is probably connected with the control over the ways. They arose primarily near water sources, where agriculture was possible; houses were placed outside the fortresses, along rivers and wadis. The pottery of the settlements demonstrates the symbiosis of the new settled agricultural (Israeli?) and the local semi-nomadic population: vessels of the same group are common for the period of the United Kingdom, ch. arr. for Judea; the second is the so-called. Negev ceramics, akin to those that existed among local nomads from the late Bronze Age.

For the era of the Divided Kingdoms (IX-VIII centuries BC), the discovery of fortifications and royal stables of Megiddo 1st half. 9th century BC (the time of Ahab), designed to contain more than 450 horses, as well as the remains of the residence of the ruler, the nature of the clutches of the swarm bears clear features of the influence of the Phoenician building practice. The largest of the fortifications of Palestine in the 1st millennium BC was studied in Jerusalem: obviously, this is the wall of Hezekiah, built in preparation for the next assir. the invasion of Sennacherib. The wall goes for a considerable distance to the south, further to the west and again to the south up to the south. the end of the city of David at the confluence of the valleys of Ennom, Central and Kidron. Between it and the old wall of the city of David were important water sources, such as the biblical "lower pool" (Is 22.9) and the newly created "between the two walls of the reservoir for the waters of the old pond" (Is 22.11). The fortifications of the city now covered both main components of Jerusalem, east. and app. hills, and the total fenced area reached almost 60 hectares. Fortification works of King Hezekiah in con. 8th century to R. X., associated with the Assyrians. threat, are witnessed by other structures. Part of the monumental gate in the northwest (an 8-meter tower of roughly hewn stones) may have belonged to the Middle Gate of Jerusalem, mentioned by the prophet. Jeremiah (Jer 39. 3), where "all the princes of the king of Babylon" settled down, after more than 100 years he broke into Jerusalem. Unprecedented in scale and complexity, the new underground water supply system, the main part of which was a tunnel 538 m long (the Siloam inscription tells about its construction), delivered water from the Gihon spring.

The excavations also confirm the capture of the Assyrians. King Sennacherib in 701 BC, the densely built-up city of Lachish. It was protected by 2 walls: the outer one, in the middle part of the hill, and the inner one, which protected the top and reached a thickness of six meters; the six-chambered internal gates (exceeding the gates of Megiddo, Hazor and Gezer) were distinguished by special power. The palace-fortress stood on a high (6 m) podium - the largest of the Iron Age structures known in Palestine, which changed in size from a square of 32´ 32 m to a rectangle of 36´ 76 m.

Direct archaeological data of the III layer of Lachish are well combined with biblical texts, written and pictorial evidence of the Assyrians about the destruction of the city. According to the relief of the palace of Sennacherib in Nineveh, one can imagine the assault on both walls with gates and towers: the defenders of the city threw stones from slings, arrows, stones and torches, battering rams pulled up on specially built ramps hollowed out the walls. Indeed, in the southwest. corner of the city wall, a siege stone ramp was found, equal in height to it, accumulations of sling stones and iron arrowheads, powerful fire layers, heavy stone blocks thrown by the defenders of the city on enemies, a counter ramp built by them, which strengthened the wall against a ram, and even a chain for trapping and stopping the ram (I. Yadin's assumption).

A picture of the fall of the Heb. kingdoms is complemented by the complete destruction of Samaria, which resisted until 722: even the foundations of its fortifications and the royal quarter, which were razed to the ground, were chosen. The city was turned into one of the centers of Assyrian domination: the casemate walls preserved around the top now protected structures built according to completely different plans, and ceramics also changed dramatically. A complete break in the course of the cultural process is recorded in Megiddo, Tell el-Far, and a number of other cities. Domination of Assyria in the 7th century BC demonstrates the appearance in Palestine of the so-called forms. Nimrud style and the development of cities in Assyrian. and sir. (aram.) traditions (documented by the III layer of Megiddo, turned into a typical center of the Assyrian province).

The invasion of the Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar is archaeologically recorded in many places. cities of Judea, part of which (Tell Beit Mirsim, Bethshemesh) was no longer restored. The destructiveness of the Babylonian policy for the country's economy is also confirmed: it could no longer support the densely populated cities of Heb. kingdoms Twice Lachish was defeated and burned (in 597 and 588 BC). The third layer of the city is covered with calcined building remains, the palace-fort is completely destroyed, a huge accumulation of human skeletons (over 2 thousand) was found outside the city, placed in an ancient cave tomb.

After the defeat of 598 BC, Lachish was partially restored, but in 588 BC it was burned a second time, as they say so-called. "Lakhish letters" - an accumulation of 18 ostraca in the conflagration layer, in the guard room between the outer and inner gates of the city. Some of the letters are military reports from Hoshayahu, the commander of the advanced fortification, to Yaush, the ruler of Lachish, including the termination of communication with Azek (cf. the role of Azek in Jer 34.7). It is believed that the "Lachish letters" reflected the confrontation between adherents and opponents (the prophets Jeremiah and Uriah) of resistance to the enemy.

On the siege and fall of Jerusalem in 588-587. BC says the state of the walls of the city. The fortifications withstood the Babylonian assaults for many months, their sections were even reconstructed and strengthened (for example, the eastern wall over the Kidron Valley). But during the final assaults, the lower walls collapsed, the outer edge of the terrace system resting on them, and the structures standing on these terraces (the stones of the old wall were partially used by Nehemiah during the construction new wall upon his return from the Babylonian captivity). After the Babylonian defeat, the large cities of Judea actually turn into villages, the centuries-old tradition of the development of the material culture of Palestine is stopped forever, the monuments of later times (for example, the bypass wall of Nehemiah in Jerusalem) belong to a different tradition, formed in the multi-tribal state of the Achaemenids, with the undivided dominance of the Aram. influence in the Syro-Palestinian region.

A. b. and Archeology of the Syro-Palestinian Region: Problems of Methodology and Interpretation

As an area of ​​biblical studies, A. b. uses the general archaeological methodology of field and desk research, borrowed from the classical, primitive and Middle East. archeology. However, the approach to interpreting sources in A. b. for a long time was determined by a special view of the object under study and was formed both in connection with the deployment of field work, and in discussions of theological, historical-religious. and even political.

Recently, professional archaeologists are increasingly abandoning the name A. b. in favor of "archeology of the Syro-Palestinian region", "archeology of the Middle. East of the Bronze and Early Iron Ages” (cf. the titles of the publications “Near Eastern Archaeologist” and “Encyclopaedia of the Near Eastern Archeology”, etc.). Behind these names is the completed delimitation of 2 scientific fields. One studies material culture, using the accepted modern. archeology, field work methods and a comprehensive analytical approach in order to restore the historical and cultural process as part of the global one. The second remains a branch of biblical studies and strives through archeology to understand the Bible more deeply, comprehensively, both as a complex historical source and as a sacred book.

At the pre-scientific stage, the stimulus for the study of antiquities was the attitude towards them as relics. In the era of the birth of rational knowledge, 2 schools of study of religions arose. antiquities - Rome. and Protestant. (see the section “Christian Archeology”), which during this period in the East set themselves not so much archaeological as biblical-geographical tasks: to identify the places described in the Bible with the real landscape and thereby “illustrate” the information, known from St. Scriptures.

In the 2nd floor. 19th century to the task of identification was added the need to confirm the historicity of OT messages as a reaction to the development of modern. historical-lit. critics of the Bible (see article "Bible Studies"). The search for independent, external arguments has led theologians to study the archeology of Palestine. Since that time, the methodological level of field work and cameral analysis procedures in the field of A. b. started falling behind general development science, since research was often carried out by theologians who were not professional archaeologists. A significant part of the work was controlled by monastic orders (Italian Franciscans, French Dominicans) and other religions. org-tion.

Archaeologists were not interested in Palestine for a long time, because it did not promise bright field discoveries, the finds were modest compared to Ugarit, Ur or Egypt. On the other hand, scientists who set themselves the goal of apologia for the Bible, starting from the turn of the 19th-20th centuries. very actively studied Palestine. They chose first of all those monuments that could be directly connected with the OT (for example, Jericho, Shechem), and tried to "dig up" direct evidence of the sacred text. The extracted facts of ancient history were considered strictly within the framework of the OT - observations that were not correlated with the text were simply not taken into account. A. b. began to develop separately, the materials of individual works were not compared for a long time, and a common chronological scale for Palestine was not created.

fundamentalism and modernism. The heyday of A. b. in the 20-60s. 20th century determined the efforts of the head of the Amer. the school of W. Albright, who proved the fundamental possibility of the formation of this scientific field. Under his influence, the method of research finally took shape, in many respects akin to the old "Roman school", where the goals and methods of archeology were subordinated to the tasks of interpreting the Bible. The choice of the excavation site had to be substantiated by Ph.D. biblical text, personnel were selected almost exclusively from teachers of theological schools, financial and business support was provided by religions. (mostly Protestant.) structures. Albright considered it possible to archaeologically confirm the historicity of the figures of the Old Testament patriarchs and Moses, the early emergence of monotheism, the conquest of Canaan. The position of his follower E. Wright, who argued that “today faith in the Bible depends entirely on the answer to the question of whether the main events described in it really took place” (God Who Acts: Biblical Theology as Recital. L., 1952), was closer to fundamentalism than Albright's historicism.

Changes in A. b. happened in the 70s and 80s. Although many US archaeologists have remained within the tradition. A. b. (J. A. Gallaway, P. Lapp, J. B. Prichard), the younger generation of Albright's students was convinced in practice that field methods and scientific approaches A. b. needs to be updated. On the development of A. b. the “stratigraphic revolution” of Kenyon influenced, as well as the complexity of the excavations, which required the abandonment of the services of amateurs and the creation of professional personnel, the financial support for the work increased many times over. The emergence of "field schools" and the involvement of students of secular high fur boots in the work led to the improvement of the methodology. The most important "field school" of the new direction of archeology in Palestine was the work in Gezer, where in the 60-80s. methods were tested and cadres of scientists were formed.

A. b. succeeded in the 80s. connect contemporary working methods with more traditional. approaches. Mn. scholars, especially Amer., sharply criticized the "old" A. B., accusing her of confessional bias and a narrowly pragmatic approach to the history of the Near. East. They announced the birth of an academic discipline independent of biblical studies, with strictly scientific methods for collecting and analyzing materials and broader goals, and the abandonment of the name A. b. in favor of the term "Syro-Palestinian archeology" (proposed by Albright in the 30s). Dr. Canaan (including the biblical Israel of the Iron Age) became for her only one (albeit very important) area of ​​research.

Fragment of a stele with an inscription mentioning "the house of David". 9th century BC Tell Dan

2nd floor 20th century turned out to be for A. b. no less tense in the political-religious. relation. The struggle of the powers for influence in the Syro-Palestinian region intensified due to the confrontation between Israel and the Arabs. gos-you. The ability to build a system of national ideology for these states, to justify the rights to resettlement or control over territories often depended on the solution of issues of ancient history. Already in the 20-30s. 20th century youth organizations of Jews in Palestine demanded that young settlers participate in archaeological work, believing that direct contact with antiquities would be one of the means of forming the identity of the nation. Later, Israeli archaeologists created their own system of studying the "biblical past" and aimed to fill in the gaps in the history of the "era of conquest" of Canaan, the formation of monotheism, the era of the Second Temple and the Jewish wars. State. support helped Israeli archeology in the 70-90s. not only to withstand competition in field research, but also to quickly create generalizing works that reconstruct the course of the historical process in the Syro-Palestinian region in the era from the Bronze Age to the Roman Empire.

The results of the discoveries were used in the ideological, political and religious. fight. However, already in the 80s. some researchers of history Dr. Israel started talking about the excessive one-sidedness of the "Israeli paradigm" in the study of the Holy Land. A number of scholars (F. Z. Davies, T. L. Thompson, N. P. Lemhe) accused them of “stealing history”, in an attempt to appropriate the “Palestine heritage” belonging to Muslim Palestinians. They proceed from the fact that the texts of the OT date back no earlier than the time of the Persians. captivity or the Hellenistic era and are therefore unsuitable for the reconstruction of the history of ancient Israel. Traditional A. b. are accused of incorrect conclusions regarding the absence of cities in the center of Bronze Age Palestine, of the lack of criteria for distinguishing between the cultures of the Canaanites and the Jews, and even of the absence of archaeological evidence for the existence of the Canaanites, of the impossibility of the existence of the state of Judea until the 7th century. BC because of its weak population, etc. This caused a reaction from younger generation Albright's students, led by W. Dever, who opposed the refusal to recognize the antiquities of the early Iron Age as "Israeli" specific finds, such as inscriptions of the 9th century. BC from Dan (Northern Israel), where the “house of David” and “the king of Israel” are mentioned, as well as the polyethnicity of the monuments of Palestine of the Iron Age, referring them to different cultures (Gezer - Canaanites, Izbet-Sartakh - proto-Israelites, Tell Mikna - Philistines, etc.).

Prospects for interaction between archeology and biblical studies

Archaeology is an independent field of study of monuments of the material culture of the past, closely connected with related disciplines (general archeology, ethnography, sociology), natural and exact sciences. Unlike A. b. Syro-Palestinian archeology does not regard the history of ancient Israel as unique, Rev. history, but studies Canaan and Israel as part of the complex development of life on Dr. East, as part of the "history of settlement", seeking to reveal the course of the real cultural process and the very phenomenon of culture in Palestine. Archeology, not having its own confessional interests, is able to open up new opportunities for studying the Bible as a historical source, and almost the only one capable of introducing independent sources and new data about the events described in the Bible into scientific circulation. Archaeological finds give an idea of ​​the cultural background of Dr. East, on the way comparative studies the features of Israel as a cultural and historical region are revealed.

Lit.: Macalister R . A. A Century of Excavations in Palestine. L., 1925; Watzinger C. Denkmäler Palaestinas. Lpz., 1933-1935. 2 bde; Aharoni Y . The Present State of Syro-Palestinian Archeology // The Haverford Symp. on Archeology and the Bible / Ed. E. Grant. New Haven, 1938. P. 1-46; idem. The Old Testament and the Archeology of Palestine // The Old Testament and Modern Study / Ed. H. R. Rowley. Oxf., 1951. P. 1-26; idem. The Archeology of Palestine, 1960; idem. The Impact of Archeology on Biblical Research // New Directions in Biblical Archeology / Ed. D. N. Freedman, J. C. Greenfield. Garden City (N. Y.), 1969. P. 1-14; idem. The Archeology of the Land of Israel. Phil., 1979; Wright G. E. The Present State of Biblical Archeology // The Study of the Bible Today and Tomorrow / Ed. H. R. Willoughby. Chicago, 1947, pp. 74-97; idem. Archaeology and Old Testament Studies // JBL. 1958 Vol. 77. P. 39-51; idem. Biblical Archeology Today // New Directions in Biblical Archeology / Ed. D. N. Freedman, J. C. Greenfield. Garden City (N. Y.), 1969. P. 149-165; idem. Archaeological Method in Palestine // Eretz Israel. 1969 Vol. 9. P. 13-24; idem. The "New Archeology" // BiblArch. 1974 Vol. 38. P. 104-115; Dever W. G. Archeology and Biblical Studies: Retrospects and Prospects. Evanston, 1973; idem. Two Approaches to Archaeological Method - The Architectural and the Stratigraphic // Eretz Israel. 1974. P. 1-8; idem. Biblical Theology and Biblical Archeology: An Appreciation of G. Ernest Wright // HarvTR. 1980 Vol. 73. P. 1-15; idem. Archaeological Method in Israel: A Continuing Revolution // BiblArch. 1980 Vol. 43. P. 40-48; idem. The Impact of the "New Archaeology" on Syro-Palestinian Archeology // BASOR. 1981 Vol. 242. P. 14-29; idem. Syro-Palestinian and Biblical Archeology // The Hebrew Bible and Its Modern Interpreters / Ed. D. A. Knight, G. M. Tucker. Phil., 1985. P. 31-74; Smith M. S. The Present State of Old Testament Studies // JBL. 1969 Vol. 88 Vol. 19-35; Lapp P. W. Biblical Archeology and History. Cleveland, 1969; Frank H. Th. Bible, Archeology and Faith. Nashville (N. Y.), 1971; Ben Arieh Y . The Rediscovery of the Holy Land in the Nineteenth Century. Jerusalem, 1979; Harker R. Digging up the Bible Lands. 1972; Kroll G. Auf den Spuren Jesu. Stuttg., 19808; Toombs L. E. The Development of Palestinian Archeology as a Discipline // BiblArch. 1982 Vol. 45. P. 89-91; idem. A Perspective on the New Archeology // Archeology and Biblical Interpretation / Ed. L. G. Perdue, L. E. Toombs, G. L. Johnson. Atlanta, 1987. P. 41-52; Klaiber W. Archaeologie und Neues Testament // ZNW. 1981. Bd. 72. S. 195-215; Lance H. D. The Old Testament and the Archaeologist. Phil., 1981; Moorey P. R. S. Excavation in Palestine. Grand Rapids., 1981; Sauer J. A. Syro-Palestinian Archeology, History, and Biblical Studies // BiblArch. 1982 Vol. 45. P. 201-209; Bar-Yosef O ., Mazar A . Israeli Archeology // World Archeology. 1982 Vol. 13. P. 310-325; Silberman N. A. Digging for God and Country: Exploration, Archeology, and the Secret Struggle for the Holy Land, 1798-1917. N.Y., 1982; Dornemann R. H. The Archaeology of the Transjordan in the Bronze and Iron Ages. Milwaukee, 1983; Kempinski A . Syrien und Palästina (Kanaan) in der letzten Phase der Mittlebronze IIB-Zeit (1650-1570 v. Chr.). Wiesbaden, 1983; King P. J. American Archeology in the Mideast. Phil., 1983; Recent Archaeology in the Land of Israel / Eds. H. Shanks, B. Mazar. Washington, 1984; Stern E . The Bible and Israeli Archeology // Archeology and Biblical Interpretation / Ed. L. G. Perdue, L. E. Toombs, G. L. Johnson. Atlanta, 1987. P. 31-40; Mazar B. Archeology of the Land of the Bible: 10000 - 586 BCE. N.Y., 1988; Weippert H. Palestine in vorhellenistischer Zeit. Munch., 1988; Kuhnen H.-P. Palästina in griechisch-römischer Zeit. Munch., 1990; The Archaeology of Ancient Israel / Ed. Ben-Tor A. New Haven, 1992; Belyaev L . A . Christian Antiquities. M., 1998; Deopik D . IN . Biblical archeology and ancient history of the Holy Land: a course of lectures. M., 1998; Merpert N. I . Essays on the archeology of biblical countries. M., 2000; Bibliography: Thomsen P . Die Palästina-Literatur. Lpz.; B., 1908-1972. 7 Bde. [Bibliography. 1878-1945]; Röhrich R . Bibliotheca geographica Palaestinae. Jerusalem, 1963. [Bibliogr. before 1878]; Vogel E . K. Bibliography of Holy Land Sites: Comp. in Honor of Dr. N. Glueck // Hebrew Union College Annual. 1971 Vol. 42. P. 1-96; Vogel E . K ., Holtzclaw B . Bibliography of Holy Land Sites II // Ibid. 1981 Vol. 52. P. 1-91 [Bibliogr. before 1980]; Elenchus Bibliographicus Biblicus R., 1968-1984. Vol. 49-65; Elenchus of Biblica. R., 1988-.; Intern. Zeitschriftenschau für Bibelwissenschaft und Grenzgebiete. Leiden, 1954-. bd. 1-.; Atiqot: Engl. Ser. Jerusalem, 1965-.

L. A. Belyaev, N. Ya. Merpert

The Bible is a collection of ancient books written and edited over thousands of years. The cultures that created these books are long gone. As for the New Testament era, we can learn a lot about it from the writings of Greek and Roman authors. But there is almost no written evidence about the era of the Old Testament, except for the Bible itself. Of course, in order to understand the main thing in these books, the most general ideas about life in ancient world: after all, the Word proclaimed to people by the Bible is eternal. It is intended for all mankind, all epochs. But very much in the content of the Bible is inextricably linked with the specific destinies of individuals and nations. So, for example, digging up the ruins of the cities of the 9th century BC, you can find out what the house looked like in which the prophet Elisha stayed, and what kind of lamp the rich Sonamite placed at the head of the bed (2 Kings 4: 8-10). Thanks to archeology, we have been able to learn a lot about the world of Biblical times.

People have always been interested in their past. In the 19th century, as travel became easier and education became more accessible to more people, interest in antiquities skyrocketed. Local residents and visiting treasure hunters dug up statues, jewelry and pottery, tools from the ruins and graves and sold them to collectors. Then the scientists realized how valuable the information about the circumstances of the find was: where they found it, with what they found it, etc.

Archeology can provide certain information that is essential for understanding the first five books of the Bible: information about events and customs, generally about the person of that era. Archaeological evidence may shed New World on many episodes of the Bible. Of all the archaeological discoveries made in the Middle East, the most important, of course, are the finds of written monuments. Here are the names of ancient cities, and the names of kings and priests, and stories about invasions and wars, about famine and destruction. There are texts dedicated specifically to the description of social order and customs, while others mention it only in passing. Religious hymns and prayers, legends about the heroes of the past were often recorded. In other words, written testimonies reflect all aspects of human life.

By far the most amazing discovery associated with the New Testament era is the Dead Sea Scrolls. No one expected that such ancient documents could be preserved in Palestine. In 1947, in a cave near the northwestern shore of the Dead Sea, a shepherd boy accidentally found a jar filled with old leather scrolls. He had no idea what it was and sold the scrolls for next to nothing. Archaeologists soon learned about the find and organized targeted searches. In total, fragments of more than 400 scrolls were found. The ancient books turned out to be the collection of the library of the Qumran religious community. The library was hidden in caves in 68 AD, during the invasion of the Roman army. The dry and hot climate of the mountains near the Dead Sea saved the scrolls from destruction. The New Testament texts, however, were not there. However, we have access to a huge amount of new information about religious life Jews in the New Testament era. scripture bow biblical

The language of the scrolls is mainly Hebrew and Aramaic. Most of the texts are Old Testament books, of which only the book of Esther is missing. Thanks to these copies, scientists have come to the conclusion that the traditional Hebrew text (until this discovery was known only from lists made at the end of the 1st millennium AD) already in the 1st century AD. was generally accepted.

Do not forget that the interpretation of any archaeological find largely depends on the general concept that guides the archaeologist. In the 19th century, for example, it was very common for Western scholars to be suspicious of the testimonies of ancient writers. Thus, the Greek historian Herodotus (c. 450 BC) was often accused of errors and inaccuracies. But archaeological discoveries in Egypt, Iraq, and the former Soviet Union confirm the validity of his books time and time again. The same can be said about other ancient texts. We gradually get used to treating them with respect. Together with other archaeological materials, they become an invaluable source of interesting information about the most distant past.

A very valuable discovery for the science of the New Testament was the discovery in Egypt of many papyrus documents. The found papyri contain records of the most diverse properties - from tax receipts to literary masterpieces. Most of them are state documents: correspondence of officials, instructions from superiors, complaints, records of tax payments or debts. Most texts are written by professional scribes and secretaries. If the sender knew how to write, then at the end of the letter he usually own hand gave a greeting. The official letter must be signed. The Apostle Paul thus "assured" some of his epistles: 1 Corinthians, Galatians, Colossians and 2 Thessalonians. The existence in the history of the cities and localities in question does not raise any doubts now. But here is another example of the attitude towards the reliability and correctness of the geographical location of the cities mentioned in the Holy Scriptures. At first, archaeologists questioned the information taken from the text of Luke that the cities of Lystra and Dervia were in Lycaonia, but the city of Iconium was not (Acts 14: 6). They relied on the writings of Roman authors, in particular, Cicero, who pointed out, that Iconium was in Lycaonia, and, on this basis, it was argued that the Book of the Acts of the Apostles was not trustworthy. However, Sir William Ramsey discovered an ancient monument that proved that Iconia was a Phrygian city. This discovery was confirmed by later findings.

The Apostle Paul, who preached the Gospel in many places, often had to come into contact with the officials of the Roman Empire. Among the Romans, each position corresponded to a certain official title. Since independence from Rome, the provinces have retained their own titles. Some of these titles are found in the Acts of the Apostles. At one time, scholars considered this work of Luke to be a fiction created a hundred years after Paul's death. But when the text of the book was examined in terms of the reliability of the details found in it, and in particular the official titles of officials mentioned, it turned out to be remarkably accurate. Of course, such checks alone cannot fully guarantee the authenticity of the book of Acts. But the diligence and accuracy of the author, his attentive attitude to details are very revealing. This means that the author talks about the main thing with no less conscientiousness.

Sir William Ramsey, one of the greatest learned geographers, was a follower of the German historical school of the mid-19th century. After a topographical survey of Asia Minor, during which he had to refer to the writings of Luke, he became convinced that the book of Acts was not written in the middle of the second century AD, as he believed before. As a result of the irrefutable evidence uncovered in the course of the study, Ramsey was forced to radically reconsider his views. Speaking about the merits of Luke as a historian, Ramsey, who devoted 30 years to studying this issue, came to the following conclusion: “Luke is a first-class historian; not only are his descriptions of the facts completely trustworthy… this author should be on a par with the greatest historians.”

At one point, it was thought that Luke was mistakenly referring to the Philippine rulers as "praetors" - historians argued that "duumvirs" should have ruled the city. However, it turned out that Luke was right: later finds showed that in the Roman colonies the members of the magistrate were called praetors. In the same way, it turned out that Luke quite correctly uses the term “proconsul” in relation to the office of Gallio (Acts 18:12): an inscription was found in the Greek city of Delphi, which contains, in particular, the following lines: “Lucius Junius Gallio, my friend and proconsul of Achaia…”. This Delphic inscription, dated to AD 52, allows us to determine the time when Paul preached in Corinth for a year and a half. From other sources we know for certain that Gallio assumed the office of proconsul on July 1 and held it for a year, which means that Paul was in Corinth just at that time. The ruler of the island of Melite, named Publius, Luke calls "the head of the island." Ancient inscriptions have been discovered in which Publius is called "the first man on the island."

In favor of the reliability of the information contained in the writings of Luke, the word “politarch”, with which he describes the mayors of Thessalonica (Acts 17: 6), testifies. Since this word is not in classical literature, many critics convicted Luke of a mistake. However, since then, archaeologists have discovered 19 different inscriptions in which the word occurs.

All other administrative terms in the Acts of the Apostles also correspond to the usage adopted in the 1st century AD. e. The same can be said about the Gospels. Pontius Pilate officially held the position of prefect of Judea (the title "procurator" was assigned only to his successors after 54 AD). In the inscription on a stone found in the Roman theater in Caesarea, Pilate is called "prefect of Judea." It is this title (and not “procurator”) that appears in the Greek text of the Gospels and the Acts of the Apostles.

Science sometimes agrees well with the Bible, and sometimes, on the contrary, insists on their unreliability. In any case, however, the following must be kept in mind. It makes no sense to say that archeology "confirms" or "refutes" the Bible. For the Bible tells about God and His relationship with people, and science is not able to discuss these topics.

Used Books

• 1. Bible Encyclopedia. Russian Bible Society. 1996 edition.
• 2. Josh McDowell. "Proof of the Resurrection". Publishing house "Soviet Siberia". 1992.