The Cliffs

One week after posting on September 11 my computer hard drive crashed. I had some things backed up (most of my pictures from Israel), but really not much in the way of documents.

This includes my blog.

Thankfully, I only lost one post unpublished. So little by little, I’ve been copying and pasting all of my old posts to a new Word Document. Did I ever mention I had over 70 pages of posts compiled over my nearly two years of blogging? I was hoping to recover my old files, but that is still a working process. The plus of the situation is how much fun it has been to look at my old posts. This is actually a great opportunity for me, despite the bad that comes with losing files.

In the mean time, I’ve been thinking about Arbel often. Located west of the Sea of Galilee, this site was one of my favorite stops in retrospect. I had a picture snapped of me (which I did stage a bit) looking at the amazing view from the top of the cliffs. Every time I feel frustrated, I just think back to that picture, and it helps me get through it.

As with most places in Israel, Arbel does have a history. This story comes from the time of King Herod, and is simply fantastic. I quote the story by Josephus, with all its flair and possible additions. Enjoy!
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“Herod reached Sepphoris in a snow storm. From there he then sent out a troop of cavalry and three companies of foot soldiers against some of his political opponents hiding in the caves near Arbel.

“Herod Had made up his mind to put an end to their resistance. After forty days, Herod came with his entire army. After a brief military setback, Herod rallied his troops and routed the people as far as the Jordan river. Thus, Herod secured Galilee for himself, except for those holding out in the cliffs of Arbel. Herod began to hasten his assault.

“Now their caves were altogether rugged, having the entrances half-way up the sheer cliffs, and being surrounded by sharp rocks. In such dens did they lurk with all their people. Thereupon, Herod, whose men were unable either to climb up from below or creep upon them from above because of the sheer steepness of the cliffs, had baskets built and lowered them with chains from the summit.

“The baskets were filled with armed men with grappling hooks, which were to be used to pull the resisters from the caves to their death. The baskets being lowered proved to be a risky tactic due to the immense depth that lay below them, although the soldiers in the baskets had everything they needed. But when the baskets were let down, none of the men near the mouth of the caves dared to come forward. Instead, they remained quiet out of fear.

“However, one of Herod’s soldiers, irritated at the delay being caused by those in the caves, girded on this sword, and holding on with both hands to the chain below the basket, lowered himself to the entrance of a cave. And when he came opposite an entrance, he first drove back with his javelin those that were at the entrance, then with his grappling hook he drew his opponents toward him and pushed them over the precipice.

“After this, he attached those within and slaughtered many of them. He then re-entered the basket and rested.

“Then fear seized the others as they heard the shrieking, and they despaired of their lives. As night fell, all actions ceased and Herod offered those in the caves an opportunity to surrender, and many chose to do so. The next morning the same method of attack resumed and the soldiers in the baskets fell upon them still more fiercely. Fighting at the cave entrances, the soldier threw flaming fire into the caves and so the caves, which had much wood in them, were set afire.

“Now there was an old man shut up in on e of the caves with his seven children and his wife. When they begged him to allow them to slip through the enemy, he stood at the entrance to the cave and killed each on of his sons as they came out. Afterwards, he killed his own wife. Then he hurled their dead bodies over the precipice and hurled himself upon them; submitting to death rather than to slavery.

“But before doing so, he bitterly reviled Herod for his meanness of spirit; although, as a witness of what was happening, Herod put forth his right hand and promised him full immunity.

“By such methods the caves in the Arbel cliffs were taken.”

View of Galilee from Arbel

I hope you enjoyed my post, Happy History as always, and now go back everything up on your computer. Trust me, it is no fun having to recover everything.

September 11, 2011

Ten years ago I was in 7th grade, age 12, and I didn’t even know what the world Trade Center was. I woke up that morning, and went about my morning business as normal, only to walk onto the bus to blaring news reports. These reports sounded frantic and scared, this World Trade Center constantly mentioned.

It wasn’t until someone asked for the news coverage to be turned down, and our bus driver insisted what was being said was important I really began to listen. But at 12 how can you imagine the horror that was September 11, 2001?

Through the day I pieced together the severity of the day; the intense pain and loss that seemed to grip my entire middle school, teachers and students alike. It was only once the World Trade Center crumbled to the ground that I learned what they were in the first place.

Ten years later I can look back and realize that moment was a defining one for our country, but was even more defining for my generation. People my age have grown up in the shadow of this event, the powerful images searing our memory as much as everyone else. This one single day was the defining moment in our young lives.

On this day of remembrance I take the time to put these thoughts into words. Excuse the personal nature of this post, but this history is personal in the fact that it happened during my lifetime. Beyond that, it is an event I can consciously remember, and was old enough to understand.

Jezreel Valley

View of the Jezreel Valley from Megiddo

Remember the earlier trading routes post? I went south already, and now it’s time to travel north to the Jezreel Valley. This route linked the region to Damascus and Mesopotamia further east, and it is also the trading route I am more knowledgeable about, since it was the one discussed in my Ancient Israel class.

On the north-south trading route, travelers continue north from Aphek along the central hills away from the Sharon, or swamps lying close to the coast in the north. They would then reach the Carmel Mountain range, and have three choices for travel through the mountains. The most southern valley was Dothan Pass. To the north lay the Yokneam Pass, and in the middle lay the Megiddo Pass.

The middle route is known as the Megiddo pass because of the large ancient town lying at the end of it. Megiddo sat at a very strategic location with views of the surrounding valley and beyond. At a high point it was easy to defend, and it could monitor who was traveling through the pass.

Megiddo has some unique history to it. Megiddo had Egyptian influence. Story tells of Pharaoh Tutmosis III and his military campaigns to regain the north. Story tells how the Canaanites knew Tutmosis was coming up the coast, and they decided to defend the northern and southern passes in anticipation of his attack. Of the three passes, Tutmosis chose the Megiddo pass, even though it was narrow and caused his troops to walk single file at times. Lore says he did this to show how fearless he was; it is also believed his scouts informed him the Canaanites were stationed at the two other passes. Regardless the reason, Tutmosis and his army overwhelmed the Canaanites.

Evidence found at Megiddo shows Egyptian influence at the site.

Megiddo is also important because it is cited in the Bible as one of King Solomon’s building projects. There is evidence of one six-chambered gate there that may date from the 10th Century, and would support the Biblical claim that Solomon built up his country (I will post more about this later).

Three chambers of the six chamber gate at Megiddo.

The most interesting part of Megiddo for me was the view of the surrounding area; you can see everything from there. Away in the distance you can see the Cliffs of Arbel, Nazareth across the valley and every other mountain along the valley. I can only imagine being an ancient soldier posted at the spot watching the movement of the traders below.

Next we traveled west to Bet She’an, another site on the ancient trading route. This site is actually located in the Herod Valley, the area that connected Jezreel to the Jordan River, leading travelers north.

Looking out onto the Roman settlement at Bet She'an from the Tel

The actual Tel of Bet She’an is what was settled by the Israelites and Cannaites, with an ancient Roman town surrounding the Tel. It was at the Tel archeologists discovered remains from the Egyptian army stationed at this location during the 12th Century B.C.E. At this time Egyptian rule of the region reached its peak, and Bet She’an became a key administrative center in the north.

The governors house at Bet She'an

The Egyptian governor was stationed at Bet She’an and lived in a house built in the Egyptian style. The Canaanites were not happy being ruled by the Egyptians, and so rulers of two cities, Hamat and Pehel, rebelled against Egyptian leadership. The rebellion was defeated, and the Egyptians constructed a stele to commemorate their victory.


The stela constructed for the Egyptian victory over the Canaanites

Both of these locations were interesting to see. Their strategic location along the northern trading route is what made them so important. Coupled with unexpected Egyptian influence, I learned a lot more than expected about this region.

Early Canaanite entrance/ gate to Megiddo

Sacrifice altar at Megiddo. Notice these stones are not cut, unlike those seen at Tel Beersheva

view looking over the Roman settlement at Bet She'an and out to the ancient Tel site

Aqueducts

The uncovered aqueduct as seen from inside the covered aqueduct

The Roman aqueducts were highly advanced and are considered by some the greatest achievement of the ancient world. Built from a combination of stone, brick and an ancient cement, these structures brought fresh water to populations, reducing disease and improving life.

Some aqueducts ran below the surface; of the around 260 miles of aqueducts only 30 miles were visible above ground. The system used gradients, making sure the water continuously flowed down, allowing gravity to do its work. For the ancient world these structures were a tremendous engineering feat!

Because Israel was once part of the Roman Empire (Romans destroyed the Second Temple after revolts after all), it makes sense that they would invest in the area and place infrastructure there.

North of Caesarea the aqueducts are still visible today. There were two different lines from two different time periods. The large uncovered structure is older, and was later replaced by the covered structure.


The outside of the covered aqueducts

Here we have a clashing of time periods; aqueducts standing on both sides of a parking lot for the local beach. We had only 15 minutes to explore, and I choose to explore the covered aqueduct. The structure was close enough to the ground we were ale to climb in, and crawl through the covered area. The experience was unique and genuinely interesting.


Looking out of the aqueduct, some members of my group coming to explore


The earlier uncovered aqueduct




Both images of the inside of the aqueduct

Caesarea (again)

Revisiting sites is not always a bad thing. For me, I get to learn new information each time I visited the locations. This includes the three times I’ve visited Masada, twice to Tel Dan and now twice to Caesarea. The revisit to Caesarea turned out to be a good thing for me; I got to see some new sites I didn’t have time to explore last time I visited.

King Herod also built Caesarea, but unlike Masada, which catered to both outside and inside people groups, Caesarea is a strictly Roman city built in the style of Rome.


The Amphitheatre at Caesarea

One new interesting fact I learned about Caesarea is about the amphitheatre. Usually, when building an amphitheatre the orientation is north south for lighting reasons; this orientation allows a majority of the day for lighting the state. The amphitheatre at Caesarea is oriented east west, with the stage facing the ocean. This in the ancient times was not the wisest orientation because in the mornings the sun would be in the actors eyes, and in the evening the audience would be blinded. So why did King Herod decide to orient this structure this way? The thesis is King Herod’s audience would be able to sit in awe of Herord’s building, and face Rome, a place he identified and sympathized with.


The palace at the far left

King Herod was a really interesting character. It is my opinion he was probably a narcissist. Take his palace for instance. It jutted into the sea, and featured a swimming pool not five feet from the ocean. the impression of the palace has been excavated. With his usual lavish personality, King Herod even had a fresh water pool, just feet from the ocean. Because it jutted into the ocean, those sailing into the harbor would see the palace easily, and would see Herod’s tremendous wealth and power.


View of where Herod's palace would have stood

There were also meshing of cultures at Caesarea. There are examples of pagan, Christian and other religious imagery.

As with any important site, Caesarea is layered with history from later periods as well. There is a Byzantine part of the city built by the Crusaders, as well as buildings from the Persian period.

Enjoy my pictures, and as always Happy History!


Roman sculpture outside the amphitheatre



The Bath House at Caesarea. Notice the beautiful mosaic floors


A Roman Arch (see my post on Tel Dan for a little trivia!)


An Ancient latrine


The moat dating from the Cursader time period

Masada Again

I found out during my third visit to Masada King Herod had wells built at the base of Masada to store even more water for his use. It was the job of his servants to go fetch fresh water to keep these wells full.

In addition to the wells at the base of Masada, there are several cisterns on top of Masada used to store water. One of these cisterns can hold one million gallons of water. With the only access to the top of Masada being the Snake Path on the eastern side (the Roman siege ramp was not yet built), servants would have to walk miles to the nearest fresh water source and then walk up a steep, windy path with water daily.



King Herod wanted to impress his visitors when they visited Masada. This was done by keeping lush green gardens at the top of Masada, and by erecting a spectacular northern palace, which had three different tiers. King Herod covered all the local stone used to construct the buildings with plaster. He then shaped and painted the plaster to look like Jerusalem rock. This would give the location a look of decadence, and his visitors would think he imported the stone from up north, adding to his perception of power.



I know I’ve already posted once from this trip on Masada, but these facts were too good to go undocumented

Thanks again to Miss Madeleine Tappy for these pictures (my camera was still dead).

Mampsis

In the Sixth Century BCE the Nabateans, a nomadic people group, began to settle in southern Jordan, the Negev region of Israel and northern Arabia. Their capitol was Petra, earlier inhabited by the Edomites; it was the Nabateans who carved the structures into the sandstone remaining today.

The Nabateans were able to establish a trading network stretching from China, India and the Far East to western areas including Egypt, Syria, Greece and Rome. The trading routes dealt with goods including spices, incense, perfumes, fabrics and other commercial goods. This trading network was the source of power for the Nabatean Empire.

Mampsis (Mamshit), located deep in the Negev Desert, is one location built by the Nabateans. Not only were the Nabateans able to survive in this harsh location, they were ale to thrive.

Mampsis was built during the first century CE during the late Nabatean period, and was located along one of the most important branches of the Incense Route. Mampsis even appeared in the ancient mosaic floor of Madaba, Jordan, depicting Israel during the Byzantine period (4th-7th Century CE).

Mampsis was later used by the Romans after the Nabatean kingdom was annexed to Rome. Additions were made during this time, including the building of two churches. The site ceased to exist after the Persian invasion in 614 CE.

Water is important in the dry region of the Negev. The Nabateans were the only people who knew the secrets of the desert, making them the only people group able to cross the Arabian Desert. These secrets helped them maintain their monopoly on the spice trade. These secrets also helped them survive in the harsh deserts of the Middle East. Their secret to survival at Mampsis was to collect rainwater and brought it into the city through a channel system, build dams along the Mampsis stream and plaster their cisterns to preserve their water.

Mampsis is another example of the ingenuity of people living in southern Israel.

I enjoyed visiting the location, and hope the pictures highlight the sites at Mampsis!


The Marketplace in Mampsis. Both sides of the street have rooms serving as shops.


The Byzantine Bathhouse at Mampsis. This structure contained three rooms: a hot room, a tepid room and a dressing and furnace room. Similar to Masada, clay pipes along the walls allowed hot air to travel to the rooms from a furnice room below the structure.




The "Church of the Martyrs."