Levant

"This monograph is the first to study the detailed relationship between the Prophet Muhammad and the Holy Land in the Muslim sources. Indeed, the study of this relationship in the Muslim sources has always been limited to the ahadith (oral traditions) of the Prophet Muhammad on the virtues of the Holy Land and al-Aqsa Mosque, in addition to the famous Muhammad’s Night Journey.

This monograph takes this issue to a new dimension, asserting that the Prophet Muhammad was in fact the true planner of the Muslim conquest of Jerusalem that took place five years after his death. This conquest marked a major shift of the history of the Holy Land and changed its face forever.
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In this article we describe and analyse skeletal element representation in two different sized ungulates, Bos and Dama, from the open-air, lower Paleolithic site of Holon, Israel (OIS 7). Results show inter-species differences in several skeletal indices which probably reflect variation in carcass exploitation according to the size of the animal. Both species have a reverse utility curve (MGUI index) which is characteristic of butchery sites. Bone density was not correlated with skeletal element representation such that the anatomical profile has not been significantly biased by bone preservation. Multivariate analysis of skeletal representation at Holon together with data for modern and archaeological analogues and Paleolithic sites from Europe and the Levant, illustrates that the assemblages fall into four groups each dominated by different element category: cranial, trunk, upper limbs and extremities. Holon falls between assemblages dominated by crania and extremities indicating that the meat rich axial and upper limb elements have been removed from the site. The high MNI counts per species and species diversity at the site, as well as the presence of cut marks and carnivore damage on some 6% of the bones best support a model for Holon of a palimpsest of kill/butchery occurrences where animals were killed and/or scavanged by both early hominids and carnivores.

"A lo largo de su historia el Imperio romano tuvo que hacer frente a numerosas revueltas, debido al enorme territorio que controlaba. De entre los pueblos que las protagonizaron, los hebreos se contaban entre los que con mayor insistencia lucharon por recuperar su independencia. En cuanto a los diversos conflictos que enfrentaron a judíos y romanos, la que, a la postre, seria recordada como la Primera Guerra Judeo-romana (66-73 d.C.) pasó a la historia como el más importante de todos. Ello se debe tanto a que requirió de la participación de dos futuros emperadores al mando de las tropas romanas que debían restablecer la paz en la provincia de Judea, Vespasiano y su hijo Tito, como al hecho de que la ciudad de Jerusalén y el Gran Templo que albergaba acabaron completamente destruidos.

En el año 66 d.C. numerosos factores se unieron al odio que sectores radicales hebreos sentían hacia sus conquistadores romanos, provocando la caída del procurador de Judea, Gesio Floro, y la derrota del Legado de Siria, Cestio Galo, en Beth Horón, quien acudió con sus tropas a pacificar la región sin conseguirlo. El movimiento fue cobrando fuerza tras estos éxitos, y Jerusalén se convirtió en el epicentro del independentismo judío. Roma no podía permanecer pasiva ante estos acontecimientos y Nerón envió allí a Vespasiano, un general experimentado, para acabar de una vez por todas con el problema. La resistencia implacable que demostraron los rebeldes y los problemas políticos que, durante ese tiempo, se produjeron en Roma, provocaron que la conquista final quedara en manos de su capaz hijo Tito quien, a la postre, consiguió conquistar Jerusalén y acabar con la revuelta. El gran triunfo que se celebró en Roma para conmemorar la victoria era lo que la nueva dinastía Flavia necesitaba para afianzar su poder. Sin embargo, la campaña no finalizó hasta el año 73 d.C., tras la toma de la fortaleza de Masada, donde los últimos insurrectos prefirieron suicidarse antes de ser derrotados. El enfrentamiento se saldaría con una enorme pérdida de vidas, tanto entre los soldados romanos como entre los insurrectos judíos y la población civil. Gracias a la obra de Flavio Josefo, podemos reconstruir lo sucedido para poder así conocer con detalle uno de los grandes episodios de la Historia Antigua."

After the death of Alexander III of Macedon, the Seleucid Empire emerged as one of the most powerful Hellenistic kingdoms of Asia. His huge territorial extension and the various peoples who came under their control necessitated the creation of a mighty army that would ensure their control and help protectit from its enemies.

The present paper addresses three newly identified and heretofore undocumented reliefs fragments belonging to biographic inscriptions of the sealbearer Iny, a recently rediscovered Egyptian officer, who lived and acted as commander of expeditionary activities toward the Levant, during the reign of Pepy I, Merenre and Pepy II. Two of these new limestone fragments join virtually break-to-break with each other and fit on top of the previously known ‘large’ fragment, completing it in its upper part. The third piece, an inscribed panel bearing also a representation of the owner, fits with the so-called ‘minor’ fragment as its lower part. The importance of the reliefs lays evidently in their inscriptional contents, as they not only provide the missing parts of the inscriptions, with new relevant information concerning the objectives of Egyptian expeditionary activities to Byblos and the Levant during the Sixth Dynasty as well as a series of new and valuable toponyms, but, by revealing further startling details on the vicissitudes of the owner, they also confirm the previously attempted interpretations of their significance.