Ancient Samaria

The previously unpublished field diaries of the principal leaders involved in the first season of the Harvard Expedition to Samaria are held by the University's Semitic Museum. The narrative they contain sheds light on the organization and archaeological techniques applied at the site and gives some context to the much acclaimed final publication of the excavations (Reisner, Fisher & Lyon, 1924).

[Judah and Samaria. On the Relationship of Two Post-Exilic YHWH-Communities.]
Published in German.
Benedikt Hensel presents in this volume new insights on the emergence of the Old Testament and Judaism. Starting with the Mt. Gerizim Yahwists, who were later identi ed as “Samaritans”, the author investigates their relationship to their Judean counterparts in the post-exile period (600–100 BCE) by using all the currently available Samarian archaeological, iconographic, numismatic and epigraphical sources. He also simultaneously evaluates the literary testimonies of the Old Testament and later Jewish traditions, esp. Ezra-Nehemiah, the books of the Chronicles and 2 Kings 17. The religious-sociological and -political developments hereby demonstrated lead to the conclusion that there were two Yawhistic communities in Judah and Samaria existing side-by-side and in communication with one another in post-exile Palestine.

In Amos 4:1, the prophet launches an attack upon a group described as “cows of Bashan on Mount Samaria.” The traditional view identifies this group with the elite women of Samaria who are condemned for acts of oppression committed through the agency of their husbands. One recent challenge to this view has been to regard the passage as condemning the people of Samaria for their involvement with a fertility cult. This paper strengthens the case for the traditional view by providing additional evidence for the comparison of women to cows. In addition, however, this paper goes further to examine the women’s demand, “Bring so that we may drink” and argues that this statement represents an effort to challenge the social hierarchy by which ancient Israelite society protected the vulnerable. In this way, this line stands in parallel with the previous two to condemn the women for their direct oppression of the poor.

From Samaria, my colleague Aaron Lipkin is capturing footage from an aerial drone (named Penelope) to view and analyze ancient biblical sites. These are early Israelite sites from the period beginning at Joshua and the crossing of the Jordan, inclusive of the ensuing Conquest years, up through the times of the Judges to Samuel, Saul, David, Solomon and the first Temple.

(Originally published in the Origin of Nations magazine, vol. 3, no.3. (1999): pages 2-3, 12-20.
Note: Turkish born Professor Megalommatis, is one of the Middle East’s and Greece’s foremost historians)

Initially written in Greek and published in the Greek monthly ‘Trito Mati’ – ‘Third Eye’, before my adhesion into Islam, under author’s name ‘Cosmas Megalommatis’ / successively translated by me in French and published in France / more recently
translated in 1999 in English and published in various media). At this point, I want to thank the translator for his excellent English translation. My adhesion into Islam did not make me change my approach and opinion in anything related to this subject as
developed in this text.

At these times of useless divisions, it would be necessary for Northern Europeans and Americans to bear in mind that they are the descendants of two great peoples of the Ancient Oriental World, who merged and then migrated together: the Assyrians and the 10-tribed Israelites (that are not to be confused with the 2-tribed Jews).
http://www.originofnations.org/books,%20papers/Elizabeth%20II.pdf

Israelites worshipped here for (about) 360 years from the time immediately following Joshua Ben Nun's conquest of the Land of Canaan. Visiting Ancient Shiloh is useful for fleshing out early their religious activity, including grasping the scale and appearance of an early Israelite cult site from a time that preceded the construction of Solomon's Temple at Jerusalem.

Wounded Israeli soldier, Adam Zertal, became a giant in the field of modern biblical archaeology - this article honors his memory and highlights his important life's work and discoveries in Judea and Samaria, namely Joshua's Altar on Mount Ebal and multiple Gilgal sites from the early Israelite conquest period.

The chapter discussed the worked ivory and bone artifacts from Eilat Mazar's excavations at the Ophel, Jerusalem. Key finds include typical Middle Bronze geometric bone inlays, Late Bronze Age incised inlays, and some intriguing Iron Age II inlays shaped as uraei snakes, or cobras in an Egyptian style. These colorful inlays may have once adorned a piece of wooden furniture, a box, or even an architectural model. They form an important contribution to our understanding of the Iron Age ivory assemblages found in sites such as Samaria and Nimrud, as these are inlays used locally in Jerusalem itself.

The following study discusses numismatic depictions of the figure in the winged disc minted in Samaria in the fourth century BCE. While Samarian die-engravers were capable of following prototypes closely, their depictions of this image vary greatly from those on coins and monuments from other parts of the Persian Empire. The differences between these Samarian types and the usual Achaemenid composition are the result of inspiration from a comparatively rare Achaemenid style, often found on clothing ornaments.

Since its first season of excavation, Fort Shalmaneser has puzzled archaeologists with its bizarre distributions of ivories, and the social motivations behind these contexts. With the current state of research, much work has been conducted on the site of Nimrud. The primary focus of recent research, however, as been heavily focused on the stylistic attributes of the ivories. Little consideration has been given to the social contexts that they are uncovered in, and the sociocultural meanings that they convey through their distribution. This essay aims to highlight the importance of the ivories with a new perspective. Using the ivories from Fort Shalmaneser, and comparing them to the two Assyrian provincial capitals of Samaria and Arslan Tash, the social environment of the empire is analyzed, and the ivory use patterns is determined. Then, to put the site of Nimrud into a wider archaeological context, Fort Shalmaneser is compared to Hasanlu, determining the cultural differences in the way ivory is socially adapted to the daily lives of the elite. The research conducted has yielded some promising results, with a clear aesthetic fashion being associated with the Assyrian elite. Furthermore, some evidence for the social power that the ivories represented has also become evident, with the Assyrian Style carvings demonstrating a higher status of power than the Phoenician Style.

This article focuses on a Samarian issue portraying a biga carrying Iranian clad personages on the obverse and an Iranian horseman on the reverse. It was struck in the name of BDYḤBL and forerunners of the type can be traced to Sidonian coinage and Achaemenid influenced minor arts. It is possible that the issuer of the coin held a military or administrative post in the Achaemenid realm, which could explain why this and other issues bearing his name contained motifs drawn from its iconography.

Die Samaritaner und die
Bibel: Die Samaritaner in der biblischen Tradition—die jüdische und frühchristliche Geschichte in samaritanischen Quellen, ed. Jörg Frey, Ursula Schattner-Rieser, and Konrad Schmid; Studia Samaritana 7; Berlin: de Gruyter, 2012) 81–118