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Biblical Archaeology Review AND Archaeology of the Land of the Bible


Rick Ausdahl

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While they're on sale, I'm considering a purchase of either Biblical Archaeology Review Archive OR Archaeology of the Land of the Bible.  But I already own the Graphics Pro Collection and I'm wondering if either of these two resources would add much value or if there is likely to be a lot of duplication.

 

If you own one of these two resources in addition to the Graphics Pro Collection, would you share your opinion regarding added value?

 

Thanks!

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Sorry you are not getting a response from users over the holiday weekend, and the sale will end tonight. I can assure you that there is very little overlap between all the riches in the Graphics Pro, and these two extremely valuable resources which focus on the archaeology of the Biblical places.

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Bar is a very good and accessible resource. It has little overlap with the information in the graphics package from what i can remember. The Anchor reference library volumes are very in-depth not overly pictorial but does have many good photos and maps , I tend to think of the Anchor reference set to be some of the best historical information out there.

 

Here is a sample from one of the ARL books:

 

The Yehud Coins and Jar Handles

The Hellenistic Yehud coins appear in the early part of the third century and continue well into the Ptolemaic era, being attested through the reign of Ptolemy II. Although only a small number have been found in controlled excavations it is fairly certain that the Yehud issues were minted in Jerusalem or its environs. As we have already seen, the earlier coins and bullae from the Persian period refer to the governor, whose name and title (peha) disappear from the Yehud series in the Hellenistic period. The reason for this development is not entirely clear, but with the rapidly changing social and economic scene in the third century and the growing politicization of the temple establishment, especially the high priesthood, we may understand this new pattern to reflect the new political realities and changed conditions of the third century b.c.e. The regular design of the coins in the time of Ptolemy I, which bear either his image or that of his consort Bernice, and the Ptolemaic eagle, point to the strong influence of the Egyptian Ptolemies, who had direct responsibility for administering Coele-Syria; the Hebrew inscriptions on them appear to be of secondary importance. The denominations are very small and the tiny silver coins were intended to serve a constituency that was limited in size and wealth. If this is the case then, and given the absence of the term for governor on any examples, we may suggest that authority had shifted to the high priesthood, a likely scenario in view of the subsequent further politicization of the office at the end of the century and beginning of the next.15

The fact that the Ptolemies took control over the Yehud coins early in their rule, within decades of their conquest of Palestine, and that the coins were nearly standardized, indicates the degree to which they were interested in the minutest details of the administration of Yehud from Alexandria. The minting of local coins, however, in no way suggests that Yehud during this time had any higher degree of independence or even administrative autonomy than before. Moreover, the coinage ends in the reign of Ptolemy II. In addition, the very small denominations show that they were intended for only minimal exchanges. Together with the Zenon papyri and the Tobiad estate, the Ptolemaic coins illustrate the degree to which the southern Levant and Transjordan were integrated into the Ptolemaic kingdom and how the rulers exploited the local populations in the third century. Whether one can consider this corpus of numismatic material as supporting a case for rapid Hellenization, as some do, is not clear. At the very least the coins suggest that Judean traditions remained very strong and utilized Hellenistic symbols and conventions to promote their own political and religious agenda.

The discovery of the bilingual (Greek and Aramaic) ostracon, from Khirbet el-Kom, located between Hebron and Lachish, in 1971 along with four other ostraca in Aramaic and one in Greek, indicates how even as far south as Idumea the Greek world of commerce had penetrated.16 Dated to the “year 6” of the reign of Ptolemy II, or 277 b.c.e. by the excavator, the text included a Semitic transliteration of the Greek term kapelos, probably “moneylender,” referring to someone named Qos-yada who had lent thirty-two drachmas to a Greek by the name of Nikeratos. The text suggests that the Idumeans, like the Jews in other parts of Coele-Syria, were deeply affected by the growing monetization of the local economy and that parts of the population were already multilingual. But the use of Greek in these instances may only provide evidence that those individuals inhabiting the military installation at Khirbet el-Kom were capable of engaging in financial interactions with the Greek-speaking world.

Another group of artifacts, some of which date to the third century, may assist us in the task of reconstructing the world of that century. These inscribed stamps with YHD on them or a shortened form have turned up in large numbers of late, with most coming from the recent excavations at Ramat Rahel (fig. 2.6).17 Oded Lipschits and David Vanderhooft have identified a “middle type” that does not bear any personal names as the earlier ones from the Persian period do, and they date the later ones to the fourth–third century b.c.e. Yehud coins from the same period have been most helpful in establishing a chronology using paleographical analysis. The corpus points to an administrative continuity between the Persian and Macedonian through the Ptolemaic period, possibly down to the Seleucid period. The next change in this artifact class occurs in the second century b.c.e., during the Hasmonean period. The distribution of the Yehud stamp impressions in the Hellenistic period before the Hasmoneans shows the increasing importance of Ramat Rahel as an administrative center for the collection of taxes in kind and trade. While numerous subtypes from this period have been identified, their similarity indicates an increasing consolidation and centralization of provincial power in the Jerusalem area, with Ramat Rahel the major administrative center and Nebi Samwil and Tel en-Nasbeh serving as lesser administrative centers.

post-29263-0-40624800-1496080297_thumb.png

Fig. 2.6. Inscribed stamps from Yehud. The first is an extremely popular form, with more than 96 examples across 9 subtypes. This type contains only the toponym yhd and lacks the waw. Dates paleographically to the fourth century b.c.e. At middle is one of two subtypes of the most common from of Yehud stamp impression, counting 175 examples. These impressions read yh, dropping the daled. Paleographic and stratigraphic considerations indicate a date in the later half of the fourth century b.c.e. The bottom example, known only from Ramat Rahel, has been read by Lipschits and Vanderhooft as an overlapping yod and he, a variation on the preceding example, and perhaps a transitional type between earlier yh stamp impressions and later types. Only a general date of the fourth to third century c.e. can be suggested. (Drawing and caption courtesy of Oded Lipschits)

 

15 Meshorer, Ancient Jewish Coinage, volume 1, 14–34.

16 Geraty, “Khirbet el-Kom Bilingual Ostracon.”

17 An older, outdated treatment of this subject is a Ph.D. dissertation by James Christoph, “The Yehud Stamped Jar Handle Corpus,” Duke University, 1993. More recent works are Lipschits and Vanderhooft, “Yehud Stamp Impressions in the Fourth Century,” 75–94, and their similar but more up-to-date treatment, “New Typology of the Yehud Stamp Impressions.” These studies anticipate Lipschits and Vanderhooft’s 2011 monograph, which appeared too late to be consulted.

 

 Eric M. Meyers and Mark A. Chancey, Alexander to Constantine: Archaeology of the Land of the Bible, ed. John J. Collins, vol. 3, The Anchor Yale Bible Reference Library (New Haven; London: Yale University Press, 2012), 21–23.

 
As you can see it is still very accessible and I find interesting. I looked for a small section I could share as a whole since Accordances policy is to ask for sharing of snippets under 2000 words. Which is fair enough.
 
-dan
PS: I did see your message earlier but wasn't sure if someone else may have some better  insight and I am glad Helen was able to give you an answer as I would consider her opinion very authoritative on the matter.
 
PPS: Accordance has private messaging and you can always send a message directly to me  and I will hopefully see the notice in my email box and come here and reply. I do come to the forum daily but do not read every post unless it looks interesting or I think I might be able to help...
Edited by Daniel Francis
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I should also mention this sample was not from the Accordance version, I am not aware if the size of the photos/maps/drawings in ACC are larger or the same.

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Helen and Dan,

 

Thank you both for the info regarding added value.  And thank you Dan for the sample from Archaeology of the Land of the Bible.

 

Since the question of overlap/duplication with the Graphics Pro collection doesn't seem to be a concern, I guess one of the major differences between the other two resources is that BAR is basically a journal so there will be very little (if any) over-arching structure to how the articles are organized, whereas ALB is organized chronologically, so one would have to rely more on searches to find an article of interest in BAR, while it would be fairly easy to at least determine which ALB volume would contain an article of interest, provided it's covered by the series at all.

 

In light of the issue I've posted regarding font and graphic problems I've experienced in my Windows version of Accordance, I guess now I just have to decide whether or not to make another resource purchase now and hope the problems do in fact get fixed, or hold off until they are fixed.  On May 15th I accepted an invitation from OakTree to become a beta tester, but I haven't heard anything since,  so I'm a little indecisive.

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Well I can't tell you when your issues might get solved... but I am sure they are working on it....

 

-dan

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