The Foothills

So, way back in February when we rented that car, we went to the foothills (Shephelah) before we gave the car back to the rental company. We made it to the Valley of Elah, Bet Guvrin, Maresha, Lachish, and  a mosaic that is now covered. Shawn took most of the pictures so I asked him to comment on these photos!

This is over looking the Elah valley. This is where David challenged and defeated Goliath.

Inside the bath house [at Maresha], the servants could pour water through this opening, so as not to embarrass the modesty of the nude bathers. Not something you find in most Roman baths! Which lends itself to the interpretation that it was for Jewish bathers, who were much more protective of their modesty than their Graeco-Roman cohorts.

These next few photos are all part of an olive press.

This is a water cistern. Would you like to be the one that carved each of these steps by hand?

These are the remains of a house. The courtyard is here in the front, and the house surrounds.  The house probably dates to the period around the first century AD.

Each of house had a cistern underneath it. Because of the way the rock is, now it is a whole underground network of cisterns. It was really cool to walk through.

Off in the distance there is the remains of a crusader era church.

These beautiful murals decorate a Roman period tomb. Many of the themes in the pictures pertain to mythology.

Aren't these fish sweet?

Here is a better view of the crusader church.

There is also a beautifully preserved amphitheater at Bet Guvrin (Just on the other side of the highway from Maresha).

This is the guard chamber right at the gate of Lachish. Lachish was destroyed by Senacherib (and pictured beautifully in the monumental inscriptions he built at Nineveh, which are now on display at the British Museum). However, right before the siege, one of the commanders wrote several letters on pot shards that were discovered here.

This square rise was probably the base of the palace complex. 

This is called "The Ghost Oak" but I have no idea why. 

This isn't the best picture of the siege ramp, but there are still remains of the Assyrian siege ramp.

This is a beautiful mosaic floor that Israel doesn't have enough money to maintain, so they have already covered it up. We heard about it ahead of time, so I tried to take as many pictures of it as I could. It was a Roman/Byzantine colombarium (place for keeping pigeons). *Update* We've been told this was not the colombarium, but a church.

Awe, he is kind of a cute little pigeon, eh?

I kind of like scenes of lions killing other beasts. This one is pretty good.

Most countries would be over blown with pride at a mosaic this old and this well preserved. But Israel has so many of these, and this one is less significant then those at Zippori or Tabgha that they just don't have the money to display it or to preserve it. What an embarrassment of riches!

I didn't have time to give more information on this sites, but I recommend reading the wikipedia article about Maresha; and the short overview of Bet Guvrin at bibleplaces.com.

Tel Dan and a piece of the Galilee

For Shawn's break between semesters (three weeks in Jan and Feb), we decided we needed to go north and see some sites that an ancient Near East scholar must see. Tel Dan ("hill" of Dan) was high on Shawn's list so we made it a priority.

Trying to get a view of Mt. Hermon, with its snowy peaks.

The Golan is green.

Ready for a hike!

Boys on a field trip.

Olives

A beautiful olive tree

This is the Israelite period wall around the city of Dan. Some of this has been restored. 

You can see the paved stones at the entrance of the gate complex. These paving stones are original. The entrance to the gate is at the corner to the left. 

Though we assume that most of this gate and the wall is reconstructed, this gives a good picture of the width of the wall. Thick!

These are the remaining walls of some of the shops after the entrance of the gate. 

We wandered the wrong way and found the back of the Canaanite gate.

The front of the Canaanite gate. They are still excavating it.

Look at that beautiful gate! A completely intact gate arch dating from the 9th century BC! Now that is interesting!

"Cultic" means "Ritual/Religious" in the academic world. FYI :) [this is totally Beth's comment. I would have just assumed you knew what cult means]

This is a cistern outside of the main altar chamber. There is a lot of water used in rites and rituals,  and this cistern probably had a similar function to the "bronze sea" mentioned in Solomon's Temple (2 Kings 25:13).

This metal box is just a representation to mark off where the altar would have been at the cultic site. But you should notice that each corner has a 'horn' this is what is meant by the 'four horns of the altar'. (Check out the picture of a reconstructed altar here).

This is probably the place of the altar.

Up to the high place.

Part of reconstruction? Maybe.

Nothing like make your annual pilgrimage to the high place to.... change a diaper!  

Hurry! Get those pants back on!

Warm and sleepy

Left over from the recent wars in the area.

Looking towards Mt. Hermon.

That didn't take long.

Looking back to the high place on our way out.

Mushroom!

Bamboo!

Next, we headed down to the Galilee because we had just enough time to see a Christian site before everything closed for the day. We chose the Tabgha Church.

This church is famous for this mosaic of the bread and two fish. The rock is the traditional place where Jesus actually set the loaves and the fishes as he preformed the miracle.

The rest of the mosaic is amazing too.

The Kinneret (Sea of Galilee).