Excavator uncovering a mosaic at the Byzantine monastery. Courtesy Yoli Schwartz, IAA.

Editor’s Note: This blog article contains images of human skeletal remains.

Excavations near Jerusalem’s Old City have revealed the first known archaeological example of a nun participating in extreme asceticism. Primarily known through written records, this Christian practice involved abstaining from pleasure to the point of self-affliction. Although historical sources indicate that this was a predominantly male act undertaken by monks, the new archaeological discovery, and a few notable historical examples, show that it could also be performed by nuns.

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Nuns and Byzantine Asceticism in Jerusalem

While excavating a Byzantine monastery, archaeologists with the Israel Antiquities Authority uncovered a grave under the church altar. Inside the grave, they discovered a poorly preserved skeleton, bound with nearly 30 iron rings around its arms, neck, and legs. These rings were then attached to plates on the abdomen that gave the whole skeleton the look of wearing armor. However, this was not a form of torture, but rather a type of self-affliction meant to restrict worldly pleasures. Such acts, known as extreme asceticism, were an unusual way in which some monastics would seek to reject their earthly existence and bring their souls closer to God.

Grave of the Nun of the Rings. Courtesy Yoli Schwartz, IAA.

After performing tests on the enamel of the skeleton’s teeth, the archaeologists were surprised to discover the individual was a woman. This makes the woman, dubbed the “Nun of the Rings,” the only known archaeological example of such a practice being performed by a woman, and one of only a handful of examples of the rare practice known anywhere.

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Close up of the nuns neck and arm rings. Courtesy Yoli Schwartz, IAA.

Extreme asceticism, especially wrapping the body in chains, is thought to have originated around modern Turkey and Syria before it spread to the rest of the Middle East and then to Europe. The excavators suggest the Nun of the Rings was likely either a nun who came to Jerusalem from Syria, or a local nun who adopted the custom after seeing travelers to the city. A similar individual, though a man, was previously discovered at the Mar Elias monastery between Bethlehem and Jerusalem.

This article was first published in Bible History Daily on March 14, 2025.

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Aerial view of Tel Megiddo. AVRAM GRAICER, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Although remembered in the Bible as one of Judah’s most pious rulers, King Josiah met a rather untimely death, slain at Megiddo by Pharaoh Necho II. While Josiah’s death is recorded in both 2 Kings and 2 Chronicles, no archaeological evidence has ever been found to corroborate the story, until now. Publishing in the Scandinavian Journal of the Old Testament, archaeologists excavating at the site of Megiddo in northern Israel propose that new ceramic finds provide the first evidence for Egyptian forces stationed in the city at the time of Josiah’s end.

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When Egypt Reigned at Megiddo

The death of pious King Josiah at the hands of Pharaoh Necho II at Megiddo (c. 609 BCE) was the beginning of the end for the biblical kingdom of Judah, which just a few decades later would finally fall at the hands of the Babylonians. Now, the discovery of massive amounts of Egyptian and Greek pottery has confirmed at least one major element of the story: that Egyptian forces and their Greek mercenaries had a significant presence at Megiddo at the end of the seventh century BCE.

In searching for traces of the biblical event, the archaeologists had little to go on, with much of the upper layers of the archaeological mound at Megiddo having been removed by prior excavations. Finally identifying a promising spot, known as Area X, the team hit pay dirt: a small area containing the remains of a mudbrick wall and two successive buildings with well-preserved layers dating from the eighth to sixth centuries BCE.

The earliest layers excavated in the area contained evidence of the Israelite occupation of the site and the fiery destruction that brought that occupation to its end at the hands of the Assyrian army under Tiglath-Pileser III (c. 732 BCE). Later layers showed evidence for the site’s Assyrian occupation, a period when it was the capital of the province of Magiddu and home to a mixed population of Israelites and deportees from around the Assyrian Empire. None of that was unexpected based on previous excavations. However, it was the latest layers of Area X that provided striking new evidence of the biblical story.

Although no destruction layer was identified at the end of Assyrian control over the site (mid- to late seventh century), there was a sudden change in ceramic remains, with the inclusion of a large amount of imported Egyptian and eastern Greek pottery. Dating to the late seventh century BCE, these ceramic finds perfectly matched the period of Josiah’s death. According to the excavators, no other site in the region has such a large amount of Egyptian pottery, and no non-coastal site has as much Greek pottery.

Considering the data, the archaeologists suggest that the most logical explanation for such a large and sudden presence of Egyptian and Greek pottery is the presence of a large garrison of Egyptian and Greek troops, the latter well known as mercenaries who served under the employ of Necho II. Besides fitting the biblical story, the evidence also fits with Assyrian history. Conquering the southern Levant in the latter half of the eighth century, the Assyrian Empire would slowly start to decline, and upon losing control of the Levant about a century later, it was Assyria’s Egyptian allies that filled the power vacuum. In the last two decades of the seventh century, Assyria was on the ropes, under attack by the Babylonians, the Medes, and the Persians. It was then that Pharaoh Necho rode out from Egypt to aid the Assyrians.

As recorded in 2 Kings 23:29, “In his days Pharaoh Necho king of Egypt went up to the king of Assyria to the river Euphrates. King Josiah went to meet him, and Pharaoh Necho killed him at Megiddo, as soon as he saw him.” Although 2 Chronicles 35:22–24 specifies that Josiah fought against Necho (an element of the story that is debated by scholars), it can no longer be doubted that the Egyptian army was stationed at Megiddo, exactly where and when the biblical narrative places them.

This article was first published in Bible History Daily on March 10, 2025.

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The procession of Bacchus depicted on a frieze in Pompeii. Courtesy Pompeii Archaeological Park.

While carrying out excavations at the archaeological site of Pompeii in Italy, archaeologists uncovered a large banqueting room painted with a nearly life-size frieze of the sacred procession of Bacchus. Buried by the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius in 79 CE, the frieze reveals fascinating details about Roman culture and the mystery cult of Bacchus.

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Scene of Mystery Cult Initiation

The Initiate and Silenus on the Pompeii frieze. Courtesy Pompeii Archaeological Park.

The frieze was uncovered in the central part of Pompeii, as part of an ongoing project aimed at regenerating the archaeological and urban landscape of the ancient Roman city. Covering three walls of a large banquet hall, the frieze depicts the Thiasus (procession) of the god Bacchus, the Roman equivalent of the Greek Dionysus, the god of wine and festivity. This procession was primarily made up of women, known as bacchantes, and human-goat hybrids called satyrs. The frieze depicts the bacchantes as dancers and ferocious hunters, shown either with slaughtered goats or holding a sword and the innards of an animal. Meanwhile, one satyr is playing a double flute while the other offers a libation of wine. In the center of the frieze is a woman standing beside Silenus, the tutor and companion of Bacchus. The frieze depicts the woman as an initiate into the mysteries of Bacchus who, according to myth, died and was reborn, promising his followers the same. Above the procession of Bacchus was painted a second, smaller frieze with various animals, including deer, wild boar, chickens, birds, and fish.

The archaeologists at Pompeii gave the house the name Thiasus, in reference to the procession. Dated to the 40s or 30s BCE, the frieze connects directly to the mystery cult of Bacchus, one among many cults in antiquity that were only accessible by those who went through an initiation ritual, as illustrated in the frieze. It was only after initiation that one could learn the secrets of the cult. These cults were often linked to the promise of a new blissful life, in this world and the next.

One of the bacchantes with a goat over her shoulder. Courtesy Pompeii Archaeological Park.

According to Alessandro Giuli, the Italian Minister of Culture, the frieze “provides another glimpse into the rituals of the mysteries of Dionysus. It is an exceptional historical document and, together with the fresco of the Villa of the Mysteries, constitutes a one-of-a-kind, making Pompeii an extraordinary testimony to an aspect of life in classical Mediterranean life that is largely unknown.”

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View of the banquet hall of the house of Thiasus. Courtesy Pompeii Archaeological Park.

The house of the Thiasus was just one of many buildings in its neighborhood at Pompeii that included incredible and vibrant paintings. Other such examples were a large reception room decorated with scenes from the Trojan War, and a massive private bath complex with paintings of athletes and more scenes of the Trojan War.

This article was first published in Bible History Daily on September 8, 2025.

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Climbing Vesuvius

The post The Bacchic Cult at Pompeii appeared first on Biblical Archaeology Society.

The Hula Valley at sunrise. Courtesy Nathan Steinmeyer, BAS.

Today, the Hula Valley, north of the Sea of Galilee, is one of the most fertile agricultural regions in Israel. In the biblical period, however, it was better known as an important trade route connecting the commercial centers of Syria and northern Mesopotamia with the eastern Mediterranean and Egypt. Home to important biblical sites like Hazor, Dan, and Abel Beth Maacah, the Hula Valley is never mentioned by name in the Bible but it played an important role in the geopolitical history of the region.

Discover other lands mentioned in the Bible in the “Lands of the Bible” article from our new Knowledge BAR feature.

Exploring the Hula Valley

A fertile valley between the Golan Heights and the Upper Galilee, the Hula was home to several major Bronze Age and Iron Age cities. The valley also formed the northernmost extension of the Northern Kingdom of Israel. While today the region is filled with agricultural fields, historically the area was made up of extensive marshlands centered on the Hula Lake, which was fed by the Hasbani, Banias, and Dan rivers. The waters from the Hula Lake would then flow south through the marshlands into the Sea of Galilee. The Hula Lake has sometimes been identified as the Waters of Merom, where Joshua fought and defeated the Canaanite kings led by Jabin, the king of Hazor (Joshua 11). However, those “waters” are more often thought to refer to various springs located along the western side of the valley.

The six-chambered gate of Israelite Hazor. Courtesy Nathan Steinmeyer, BAS.

Although the Hula Valley has been inhabited since prehistory, its major settlements—Hazor, Dan (Canaanite Laish), and Abel Beth Maacah—were all established as Canaanite cities in the Bronze Age (c. 3300–1200 BCE). During this period, Hazor was the largest fortified city in the southern Levant and one of the most important in the entire Near East, with cultural and economic ties to Syria and Mesopotamia. This status is reflected in the Book of Joshua, where Hazor is called “the head of all those kingdoms” (Joshua 11:10).

Courtesy BAS.

The Hula Valley came under Israelite control during the Iron Age (c. 1200–586 BCE), when it became a frequent battle ground between the Israelite and Aramean kingdoms, as witnessed in the famous Tel Dan Stele. The valley’s major cities were largely destroyed during the Assyrian conquest of the Northern Kingdom by Tiglath-Pileser III (c. 733/732 BCE). The area thrived again during the Roman period (c. 37 BCE–324 CE), when it formed part of the agricultural hinterland of Caesarea Philippi/Panias.

View of the agricultural fields of the Hula Valley from Tel Hazor. Courtesy Nathan Steinmeyer, BAS.

With a warm Mediterranean climate and lots of water, the valley is exceedingly rich in flora and fauna, and today it is home to a large nature reserve. The valley is an important stop on the migratory path of birds traveling between Europe and Africa. As such, it is often filled with hundreds of bird species, including pelicans, cranes, herons, ibises, and many more. It is also home to many mammal species, including boars, jackals, otters, and lynx. The Hula Lake once covered nearly 5 square miles and was one of the largest bodies of fresh water in the region. However, following systematic attempts in the 20th century to drain the surrounding marshland in order to combat malaria, today the lake is only around 0.5 square miles.

This article first appeared in Bible History Daily on March 3, 2025.

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Rising with the sun at the Azekah excavations in Israel. Photo by Efrat Sheffi, Courtesy Lautenschläger Azekah Expedition.

In joining an excavation for the first time, many dig volunteers might dream of discovering the Ark of the Covenant, the next Rosetta Stone, or a magnificent golden statue hidden away in the remains of some ancient temple. The reality of the dig experience, of course, is far more mundane, with volunteers spending most of their days in the trench excavating pottery sherds, discarded pieces of bone, and, not surprisingly, lots and lots of dirt.

Yet, as any archaeologist will tell you, it is often the most mundane, ordinary, and entirely expected finds that can reveal the most dramatic insights into the ancient past. Here, we visit several of Israel’s most prominent excavations to learn about seemingly routine discoveries that, when studied with the latest scientific methods and techniques, completely changed how archaeologists thought about a site’s history, function, or ancient inhabitants.

Tel Hadid

Agricultural terraces surrounding the ancient mound of Tel Hadid in central Israel. Photo by Omer Ze’evi-Berger, Tel Hadid Archaeological Project.

At Tel Hadid, a large multiperiod site located in the area of modern Tel Aviv, the local topography was dramatically shaped by the countless generations who settled there across the millennia. Especially notable are the many agricultural terraces that ring the slopes of the ancient mound. But when were these terraced fields—a common sight in the region’s rural landscape—first built and cultivated? Unable to date the terraces using traditional means (such as pottery or radiocarbon dating), the team turned to optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) dating, which measures how much time has passed since buried soil samples were last exposed to sunlight. Using this method on soils from the terraces, archaeologists found they were likely first farmed in the Byzantine period (c. 324–634 CE), revealing the continuous nature of site formation processes at Tel Hadid.

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Legio

Similarly, at Legio—the imposing camp of Rome’s Sixth “Ironclad” Legion located at the foot of ancient Megiddo in northern Israel—archaeologists uncovered several cemeteries where soldiers stationed at the base were buried. In line with ancient Roman burial practices, however, most of the deceased were cremated, leaving precious few skeletal remains for archaeologists to study. But the team didn’t give up. Partnering with Tel Aviv University’s archaeology laboratory, they are testing a new method that will allow them to collect DNA samples from cremated remains. If successful, they will gain incredible insight into the background and daily lives of the soldiers of the Sixth Legion, including where they were from and what their diet may have been like.

Abel Beth Maacah

Faience head of a royal figure from Abel Beth Maacah. Photo by Gabi Laron, Courtesy the Tel Abel Beth Maacah Excavations.

At Abel Beth Maacah, also in northern Israel, archaeologists recently discovered a small, 2-inch-tall faience head during excavation of the site’s Iron Age citadel. Routine analysis of the head—thought to be part of an idealized representation of a royal figure—revealed much about its design, date, and decoration, though key questions remained, including how it was made. Someone from the team then suggested conducting a CT scan on the piece, which would provide a look inside the object without causing irreparable damage. The scan ultimately revealed that the head (and presumably the rest of the statue) had been crafted using a mold.

Hazor Lower City

At the nearby Late Bronze Age Canaanite city of Hazor—famously remembered in the Book of Joshua as “the head of all those kingdoms” (11:10)—excavations in one of the temples of the lower city identified a massive ceremonial pit (favissa) filled with broken and discarded cultic pottery and other ritual objects. The sheer quantity of pottery allowed graduate student Ron Palzur to conduct a robust scientific analysis of the different types of ritual vessels that were discarded and how they were used. Amazingly, his study revealed that the entire ritual deposit—which included cooking pots, lamps, and other vessels—had been created during a single ceremonial event and was then immediately buried and covered over.

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Tell es-Safi

Finally, at Tell es-Safi, a site in the Shephelah identified with the Philistine city of Gath, a quarter-century of excavations produced countless examples of beer-drinking vessels used and enjoyed by ancient Israel’s archenemy. As such, when excavator Aren Maeir was approached by microbiologists Ronen Hazan and Michael Klutstein about doing a more detailed analysis of the pottery to see what more could be learned about Philistine beer culture, he gladly accepted. Remarkably, even after thousands of years, active yeast cells could still be found in the fabric of the ancient clay. Propagating the yeast in the lab, Maeir, Hazan, and Klutstein learned not only what types of yeast were used in Philistine beer (surprisingly, the same families of yeast that are still used in beer making today), but also how to brew the yeasty concoction themselves.

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Fragments of alabaster jars and a wooden poll bearing the cartouche of Pharaoh Thutmose II. Courtesy Egyptian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities.

A joint Egyptian-British archaeological team has discovered the royal tomb of Pharaoh Thutmose II (r. 1513–1500 BCE), marking the first discovery of a pharaoh’s tomb since that of Tutankhamen more than a century ago. Located near the Valley of Kings, west of Luxor, the tomb was originally thought to belong to a wife of one of the pharaohs. This assumption was based on its proximity to the tombs of Pharaoh Thutmose III’s wives, as well as the tomb of Pharaoh Hatshepsut, Thutmose II’s wife and successor. However, continued excavations revealed the surprising truth: alabaster jar fragments inscribed with the name of Thutmose II, identified as the “deceased king,” alongside inscriptions bearing the name of Hatshepsut.

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According to Mohamed Khaled, the Secretary-General of Egypt’s Supreme Council of Antiquities, the find is “one of the most important archaeological discoveries in recent years. The artifacts discovered there are an important addition to the history of the archaeological area and the reign of King Thutmose II, as the funerary furniture of this king was found for the first time, for whom there is no funerary furniture in museums around the world.”

The entrance to the tomb was discovered in 2022. It marked 100 years since the last tomb of a pharaoh was found, that of Tutankhamun in 1922. Thutmose II’s tomb was also the last undiscovered tomb of the pharaohs of the 18th Dynasty, during which Egypt reached the height of its power. According to Piers Litherland, the British director of the excavation, the tomb’s simple architectural design served as a prototype for later royal tombs of the 18th Dynasty, including that of Tutankhamun. It features a plastered corridor leading to the burial chamber, with the floor of the corridor elevated above the level of the burial chamber.

A poorly preserved chamber in the tomb of Thutmose II. Courtesy Egyptian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities.

Unfortunately, Thutmose II’s tomb was poorly preserved due to flooding that occurred shortly after his death. Because of the flooding, much of the tomb’s contents, including the pharaoh’s mummified remains, were already removed in antiquity and taken to a secondary location. A mummy, suggested to be that of Thutmose II, was previously uncovered at the site of Deir el-Bahari, a mortuary complex that held the mummified remains of numerous pharaohs and royal family members whose tombs were damaged for various reasons. Among the other pharaohs in the cache were Thutmose I, Seti I, and Ramesses II. The royal mummies are now held in the National Museum of Egyptian Civilization in Cairo.

This article was first published in Bible History Daily on February 28, 2025.

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The post Tomb of Pharaoh Thutmose II Discovered appeared first on Biblical Archaeology Society.

A section of the Assyrian siege ramp as seen on the Lachish relief from Sennacherib’s palace at Nineveh. Credit: Osama Shukir Muhammed Amin FRCP(Glasg), CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Perhaps no event recorded in the Hebrew Bible is better supported by archaeology and external evidence than Sennacherib’s siege of Lachish in 701 B.C.E. The siege of Lachish is documented in multiple Assyrian texts and reliefs and is also clearly visible in the site’s archaeology. These various sources agree that Lachish eventually fell to the Assyrians, who built a massive siege ramp to reach the top of the city’s walls. The same tactic would later be used by the Romans in their siege of Masada. A study, published in the Oxford Journal of Archaeology, examines what went into the construction of the Lachish siege ramp and, in turn, argues for the accuracy of the biblical description of the event.

Plan and section drawings of the reconstructed siege ramp at Lachish, starting from the far end with a stone quarry nearby. Credit: Yosef Garfinkel et al.

In investigating the Assyrian siege ramp at Lachish, the team examined several questions, specifically how the construction material for the ramp was collected and transported, how the ramp was built, how the ramp’s builders were protected from the city’s defenders, and how the ramp was made usable for Assyria’s heavy siege engines. In answering these questions, the team relied on textual and archaeological information, as well as statistical and computer analyses of the efficiency of various ramp models.

The Assyrian siege ramp, constructed with three million stones. Credit: Yosef Garfinkel

The study showed that it would have taken hundreds of workers laboring 24 hours a day over three weeks to build the siege ramp. It was constructed from medium-sized stones, around 15 pounds each, that were quarried and gathered by the Assyrian army from a small hillside adjacent to the city. The stones were likely carried to the construction site by workers made up mostly of foreign prisoners taken by the Assyrians on their way to Judah. These workers would have been protected by large shields as they carried their stones to the site and dumped their stones to gradually build up the ramp. This is in line with the biblical description of the siege in 2 Kings 19:32, which mentions how the Assyrian army confronted the city with shields.

The ramp was constructed from its back end forward, not from the ground up. Thus, the stones would be dropped over the edge of the ramp to the open area between the city’s wall and the end of the ramp. This would in turn minimize the height advantage of the defenders on the wall. The study notes that this particular construction method was clearly known to the biblical authors, who used the Hebrew verb spk, meaning “to pour,” to describe the building of the ramp (2 Kings 19:32). Thus, in the same way that liquids are poured, stones were poured over the end of the ramp in its construction

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Finally, the upper surface of the ramp was constructed with a smoothed layer of dirt topped by wooden boards. This is seen in contemporary depictions of the siege including the famous Lachish relief from Sennacherib’s palace at Nineveh. The smoothed surface allowed the heavy Assyrian battering rams to reach and then breach the city walls. These siege devices, which weighed up to a ton, were made up of a wooden frame and a heavy metal chain that held a log used to batter the city wall. Remarkably, one of these chains was uncovered from the excavations at Lachish.

According to the study, the siege ramp was roughly 260 feet long and would have required almost 20,000 tons of stones. Even if working 24 hours a day, it would have taken the Assyrian army between 20 and 25 days to construct the ramp. The Assyrian army was one of the most advanced of the day and easily conquered most of the smaller kingdoms and city-states in the southern Levant. During the reign of King Hezekiah, however, Judah posed a major threat and, as a relatively large kingdom, was likely more difficult to conquer. This also explains why Merodach-Baladan, the king of Babylon, as well as the kingdom of Cush would have allied with Judah in their attempt to overthrow the Assyrians.

Map of the Kingdom of Judah and the location of Lachish. Credit: Yosef Garfinkel et al.

Located southwest of Jerusalem in the Judean foothills, Lachish was the second most important city in Judah during the First Temple period. The city was conquered in 701 B.C.E. as part of the Assyrian advance to Jerusalem in response to King Hezekiah withholding Judah’s tribute and inciting a regional rebellion against Assyrian control. The events of the campaign are recorded in numerous royal Assyrian inscriptions as well as several letters from Assyrian and Judahite soldiers. The events are also described in several biblical texts, including Isaiah 36–37, 2 Kings 18, and 2 Chronicles 32. Although Sennacherib was successful in conquering Lachish and many other Judahite cities and towns, he did not conquer Jerusalem. The reasons for this are debated, but it is known that a short time later, Judah was once again paying tribute to the Assyrian Empire.

Read more in this special collection of seven seminal BAR articles on the Lachish excavations in the BAS Library.

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The post Sennacherib’s Siege of Lachish appeared first on Biblical Archaeology Society.

The temple of Bel in Palmyra before its destruction. James Gordon from Los Angeles, California, USA, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

Following the fall of the Assad regime in December 2024, archaeologists and residents have begun to return to the ancient city of Palmyra. Before the start of the Syrian Civil War, Palmyra—located in central Syria and one of the country’s six UNESCO World Heritage sites—received nearly 2 million visitors a year. After more than a decade of heavy conflict, little of the city’s awe-inspiring monuments remain. According to a new report by the Spanish National Research Center, around 80 percent of the modern city is destroyed and all of its major archaeological monuments have suffered heavy damage or are completely ruined.

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What’s Left for Palmyra?

Palmyra’s history stretches back to the early second millennium BCE when the city’s famous palm oasis served as a stopover for caravans making their way from the Persian Gulf to the Mediterranean. After the Roman invasion of Syria (c. 64 BCE), it became a prosperous Roman colony. It was during the Hellenistic and Roman periods that much of Palmyra’s impressive archaeological structures were constructed, including a magnificent colonnaded street, a theater, a city wall, an agora, temples dedicated to Levantine, Mesopotamian, and Arabian deities, and much more. The city also had a thriving Jewish population, with tombstones of Palmyrene Jews having been found in the Beit Shearim necropolis in the Lower Galilee.

The temple of Bel in Palmyra after its destruction by ISIS in 2015. Tasnim News Agency, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

In 270 CE, Palmyra rebelled against Roman rule and succeeded in temporarily conquering a large swath of the Middle East before Rome was able to defeat the Palmyrene army. Following another uprising in 273, the city was sacked and much of it was destroyed. After the Roman period, the city faded in importance but it continued to be inhabited, with sporadic periods of wealth and importance.

Fast forward to 2011, when the city became a battleground between rebel and regime forces, with both sides actively shelling the city, including archaeological areas. Things became much worse in 2015, however, when ISIS captured the city. In addition to bombings by Syrian forces, ISIS carried out large-scale destructions of many of the ancient buildings, blowing up the temples of Baal Shamin and Bel, the Arch of Triumph built by the Roman Emperor Septimius Severus (r. 193–211 CE), and numerous other ancient structures. ISIS even used the Roman theater as a site to carry out executions, including the execution of Khaled al-Asaad, a renowned expert on ancient Palmyra who had served as the head of antiquities for the city for more than 40 years. ISIS also destroyed numerous Islamic buildings and was responsible for the mass looting of archaeological artifacts, many of which ended up on the black market.

Theater of Palmyra before ISIS control of the city. Jerzy Strzelecki, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

Although Syrian forces managed to retake Palmyra in 2017, much of the ancient city lies in ruins, mirroring the state of the modern city. Despite some limited restoration efforts by the Assad regime, the archaeological site has continued to deteriorate. Additionally, several of Palmyra’s archaeological sites were requisitioned as defensive fortifications by Russian and Syrian forces. In 2020, Assad forces even set fire to the palm orchards around the Efqa Oasis, from which the city takes both its Semitic and Latinized names, Tadmar and Palmyra.

The Palmyra Museum, which was hit especially hard by the conflict, sits largely empty, with most of its once impressive collection having been either looted by ISIS or taken away by the Assad regime to Damascus for safekeeping. Today, the museum is protected by a few guards from the Directorate of Antiquities and local volunteers, but it lacks the staff to begin restoration work. Unfortunately, the situation is not likely to change anytime soon, as only 10 percent of the pre-war population of 100,000 remains in the city. With infrastructure and housing destroyed, it will be a long time before heritage conservation becomes a priority. However, archaeologists hope that with the fall of Assad, international organizations will be willing to partner with Syria to restore Palmyra to its former glory.

This article was first published in Bible History Daily on February 21, 2025.

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Roman boundary stone from the area of Caesarea Philippi. Courtesy Ecker and Leibner. photo T. Rogovski.

During excavations at Abel Beth Maacah in northern Israel, archaeologists made an unexpected discovery: a large Roman boundary stone, reused as a cover for a late medieval burial. Although surprising in a medieval context, Roman boundary stones are nothing new for this area, which during the late Roman period was part of the hinterland of Paneas (biblical Caesarea Philippi). While the boundary stone joins more than 40 other such markers, it provides new insight into an intriguing phenomenon alluded to in rabbinic sources and unknown anywhere else in the Roman world.

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The Effects of Diocletian’s Tax Reforms

Measuring more than 3 feet tall, the Abel Beth MaacahAbel Beth Maacah stone is one of the largest Roman boundary stones ever discovered. According to scholars writing in Palestine Exploration Quarterly, the stone would have stood upright, embedded several inches into the ground, making it easily visible. The Abel Beth Maacah stone is especially interesting as it contains the names of two previously unknown towns, Tirthas and Golgol, as well as the name of an imperial surveyor, Baseileikos. Like other boundary stones, it begins with the names of the four Roman Tetrarchs of the late third century CE: Diocletian, Maximian, Constantius, and Maximian. The Tetrarchs were co-emperors, with Diocletian and Maximian being the highest ranking with the title Augustus, and Constantius and Maximian being lower-level emperors with the title Caesar.

It is thought that such stones were placed as part of the tax reforms of Diocletian and Maximian, which altered the way taxes were levied around the empire. The boundary stones would have demarcated where the lands of one village ended and another’s began. However, this was more important than simply showing who owned what. It served the Roman government in determining which villages and cities owed taxes on which lands.

Map of boundary stones discovered in the area of Caesarea Philippi/Paneas. Courtesy Ecker and Leibner. Map R. Sabar.

Strangely, despite several dozen such stones having been discovered, primarily in the hinterland of Caesarea Philippi, none have ever been found outside the Levant. However, since the tax reform of Diocletian and Maximian was an empire-wide reform, we might expect to find such stones all around the empire, not just in one particular region. Thus, the peculiar distribution of the stones has remained a problem for Roman and Levantine archaeologists.

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One possible explanation may be found in the specific function of these boundary stones. As suggested by some scholars, the stones indicated where the tax zone of one village ended and another began. With so many stones found around Caesarea Phillipi, many smaller settlements in the area may have been outside of the tax jurisdiction of the city. It is possible that the Herodian dynasty privatized the area, turning it into a patchwork of small tax zones rather than a single area under the authority of one city. This would explain the abundance of boundary stones in the region, as each of these small villages would have needed its own.

View of Lebanon from on top of Abel Beth Maacah. Courtesy Nathan Steinmeyer, BAS.

According to the scholars who published the Abel Beth Maacah stone, this practice may even be referenced in the Jerusalem Talmud. Compiled in the fourth century, not long after the reign of Diocletian, the Jerusalem Talmud says: “Diocletian oppressed the inhabitants of Paneas. They said to him: We are going (i.e., fleeing).” It appears that the region of Caesarea Philippi was hit particularly hard by Diocletian’s tax reforms, likely because of the abundance of small tax zones. Under the reforms, each zone had to pay taxes on every field under its control, whether in use or not. While this was not a problem for large cities that could distribute the added tax burden across hundreds of families, for small settlements, such a situation could quickly become untenable and result in more and more families leaving for areas with a lower tax burden. And, indeed, archaeology tells us that by the time of the Islamic conquest in the seventh century, the area of Caesarea Phillipi was largely abandoned.

This article was first published in Bible History Daily on February 17, 2025.

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The caves at Qumran in the Judean Desert. Courtesy Nathan Steinmeyer, BAS.

Also known as the Wilderness of Judah, the Judean Desert is only mentioned by name a few times in the Bible. However, it played an important role in several biblical and non-biblical events, including as a refuge for David, a place of temptation for Jesus, and the last stand of Jewish rebels against Rome. With steep mountain slopes to the west and the lowest place on earth (the Dead Sea) to the east, the Judean Desert is one of the Holy Land’s more unique and awe-inspiring regions.

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Wilderness Wanderings

Hiking through the wadi at Ein Gedi. Courtesy Nathan Steinmeyer, BAS.

The Judean Desert consists not of rolling sand dunes but instead is a rocky plateau cut by cavernous valleys (wadis) that ends abruptly in a steep escarpment dropping down hundreds of feet to the Dead Sea and the Jordan Valley to the east. Largely lacking vegetation except for seasonal grasses, the Judean Desert is home to ibexes, rock hyraxes, and a variety of reptiles and birds. The area has been sparsely inhabited throughout history, with most of its settlements being located near wadis and desert springs, such as Ein Gedi.

The Judean Desert features many caves along its wadis and the steep escarpment that abuts the Dead Sea and the Jordan Rift Valley. It was in these caves that David hid from King Saul and cut off a corner of his robe (1 Samuel 24). Throughout history, people have hid both themselves and their possessions in these caves. This includes important archaeological finds such as the Dead Sea Scrolls (also known as the Judean Desert Scrolls), which were discovered in both man-made and natural caves throughout the region. Archaeologists have also discovered caches of Roman swords, cultic objects, and much more. The rugged and secluded beauty of the region also made it an ideal place for Christian monasteries, with several dozen having been built from the Byzantine period (fourth to seventh centuries CE) to more recent times.

St. George Monastery in Wadi Qelt. Dr. Avishai Teicher Pikiwiki Israel, CC BY 2.5, via Wikimedia Commons.

Beyond its caves and ravines, the desert is also home to several important mountains, including the Mount of Temptation, which towers above the nearby city of Jericho and is widely associated with the narrative of Jesus’s 40-day wandering in the wilderness (Mark 1). In addition, Masada was a mountaintop fortress first built by the Hasmonean ruler Alexander Jannaeus and later turned into a palace by Herod the Great. It was also at Masada that some of the last Jewish rebels famously sought refuge during the First Jewish Revolt (66–72 CE).

View of the Dead Sea from on top of Masada. Courtesy Nathan Steinmeyer, BAS.

This article was first published in Bible History Daily on February 14, 2025.

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