Clyde E. Fant - Lost Treasures of the Bible: Understanding the Bible through Archaeological Artifacts in World Museums

Clyde E. Fant & Mitchell G. Reddish

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Maps

i. The Ancient Near East xxvi

2. The New Testament World xxvii

Photographs

1. Fragments of tablet three of Enuma Elish 3

2. Clay tablet (AO 6020) containing portions of the creation myth Enki and the World Order 8

3. Fragmentary copy of tablet one of the Epic of Atrahasis 15

4. Tablet eleven of the Epic of Gilgamesh 17

5. The Weld-Blundell Prism containing the Sumerian King List 23

6. Detail of the figure the "Ram Caught in a Thicket" from Ur 31

7. The Rosetta Stone 34

8. An assortment of Amarna tablets 39

9. Stela depicting Pharaoh Akhenaten with his wife and three daughters 44

io. Panel showing Pharaoh Akhenaten and his family 45

n. Fragmentary clay tablet containing a portion of the Birth Legend of Sargon 49

12. The mummy of Ramesses II 50

13. Mud brick with name of Ramesses II 53

14. Fragments of the tablet containing portions of the Treaty of Kadesh 56

15. Stela containing the Law Code of Hammurabi 6i

i6. Fragmentary clay tablet containing portions of the Law Code of Ur-Nammu 65

17. Tablet A of the Middle Assyrian Laws 67

i8. Clay tablet containing part of the New Hittite laws 69

i9. The Merneptah Stela (or, the Israel Stela) 73

20. Bronze statuette of a calf and a clay model shrine 77

21. A clay Philistine cult stand decorated with figures of musicians 79

22. Stela with a relief of the Canaanite storm god Baal 82

23. Bronze statuette of Baal (AO 11598) 83

24. Cylinder seal with a scene of the gods El and Baal 85

25. Tablet six of the Myths of the Baal Cycle (AO 16636) 88

26. Inscribed stone known as the Gezer Calendar 96

27. The Mesha Stela, also known as the Moabite Stone 98

28. Inscription from Tel Dan mentioning the "House of David" 105

29. A small ivory plaque mentioning King Hazael of Damascus 108

30. Ivory carving from Samaria of a winged sphinx 110

31. Ivory carving from Samaria showing a lion attacking a bull 111

32. Ivory carving from Nimrud with a scene of "the woman at the window" 113

33. The Kurkh Monolith of Shalmaneser III 118

34. The Black Obelisk of Shalmaneser III 120

35. Detail of the Black Obelisk showing King Jehu of Israel offering tribute 122

36. Statue of Shalmaneser III 123

37. Bronze cast of the seal of Shema from Megiddo 125

38. Relief carving showing King Tiglath-pileser III in his chariot and a scene of the captured city of Astartu 127

39. Clay tablet containing the annals of Tiglath-pileser III 132

40. Stone panel with a relief of King Sargon II of Assyria and a high dignitary 134

41. Two winged, human-headed bulls that guarded an entrance of the palace at Khorsabad 136

42. Stone plaque with an epitaph for King Uzziah of Judah 141

43. Stamp seal belonging to Shebnayau, a servant of King Uzziah of Judah 143

44. Inscription commemorating the completion of Hezekiah's Tunnel 146

45. Large horned altar from Beer-sheba for burnt offerings 149

46. Incense stands from the sanctuary at Arad 152

47. Inscription from the tomb of Shebna at Silwan 155

48. The Taylor Prism, which describes Sennacherib's siege of Jerusalem 159

49. Inscription from under a bull statue mentioning Hezekiah's tribute payment to Sennacherib 165

5o. Relief panel showing prisoners from Phoenicia or Palestine playing lyres 170

51. Detail of a relief panel depicting Sennacherib's assault on the city of Lachish (ME 124906) 175

52. Stela showing King Esarhaddon of Assyria with two captives 177

53. Stela depicting King Ashurbanipal carrying a ceremonial basket of earth 182

54. Relief of King Ashurbanipal and his queen in his garden, sometimes called the "Garden Party" (ME 124920) 186

55. Ashurbanipal in his chariot on a lion hunt (ME 124866-ME 124868) 187

56. Clay tablet from Nineveh that mentions King Gyges of Lydia 191

57. Clay cylinder commemorating Nabopolassar's rebuilding of the inner wall of Babylon 193

58. Babylonian Chronicle 3, which covers the years 616-609 B.C.E. and tells of the fall of Nineveh 196

59. Nebuchadnezzar's Ishtar Gate at Babylon 200

6o. Ostracon found at Arad (letter 18) addressed to Elyashib that mentions the "house of Yahweh" 206

61. Babylonian Chronicle 5, covering the years 605-595 B.C.E., which mentions the capture of Jerusalem in 597 B.C.E. 209

62. Front and back sides of ostracon 4 found at Lachish 215

63. Clay tablet listing rations for King Jehoiachin and his sons, captives in Babylon 219

64. Tablet containing a portion of the Sumerian Lamentation over the Destruction of Ur 223

65. Babylonian Chronicle 7, known as the Nabonidus Chronicle 229

66. Basalt stela of Nabonidus in the British Museum (ME 90837) 231

67. Clay foundation cylinder belonging to Nabonidus of Babylon 233

68. Clay tablet from Ras Shamra containing part of the Legend of Aqhat 236

69. Fragments of a clay tablet containing a collection of Sumerian proverbs 241

70. Fragmentary tablet with a portion of the text of The Instructions of Shuruppak 246

71. Tablet containing the Sumerian love poem "Bridegroom, Spend the Night in Our House till Dawn" 247

72. Stela of Amenmose with the text of The Great Hymn to Osiris 251

73. Clay tablet with part of the text of the Dialogue between a Man and His God 256

74. Clay tablet from Nineveh containing a portion of "the Babylonian Job" 260

75. The Cyrus Cylinder, which contains a description of Cyrus returning captives to their homelands 267

76. Frieze made of glazed bricks from the palace at Susa showing a group of archers (AOD 488) 272

77. Part of a column capital shaped like a human-headed bull, from Persepolis 277

78. Fragment of a vase with the name of Xerxes I in hieroglyphics, now in the Louvre (Sb 54) 279

79. A silver bowl inscribed with the name of Artaxerxes I, now in the Freer Gallery of Art 281

80. Base of a column from Susa containing the name of Artaxerxes II 284

81. Marble statue of Alexander the Great in the Archaeological Museum in Istanbul 290

82. A sculpture of the head of Alexander the Great found at Pergamum 292

83. Marble head of Antiochus IV Epiphanes 294

84. Silver tetradrachma containing a likeness of Antiochus IV 295

85. Upper portion of a bronze statue of Augustus on a horse 300

86. Marble bust of Emperor Tiberius 303

87. Silver denarius bearing the image of Tiberius 304

88. The remains of the "Galilee Boat" 309

89. Limestone slab from Caesarea mentioning Pontius Pilate 313

90. Limestone ossuary of Caiaphas 317

91. Heel bone, pierced by a large nail, from a victim of crucifixion 319

92. Ossuary belonging to Simon, "builder of the temple" 322