Mosul, 55
Mot (deity), 40, 42–43. See also Death (deity)
Mount of Olives, 171, 185–86, 190, 192
Mughrabi Ramp, 169
Muḥammad (prophet), 167
Muḥammad “the Wolf” (el-Hāmed, Muḥammad Aḥmed), 198, 200–201, 205
Muratorian Fragment, 254
Musaeum of Alexandria, 138
Muses, 138
Muslim, 167, 171, 194
Muslim Quarter, 166
Mycenae(an), 31
Myers, Mike, 154
Nabonidus, 96
Nabopolassar, 81
Naftali (tribe), 104
Naḥum, 53, 64, 66–68
Na‘omi, 222
Nathan, 95, 184
National Geographic Channel, 196
National Museum of Aleppo, 43
Nazareth, 11, 148, 186, 188, 213, 225–26, 228–32, 265
Nebuchadnezzar Chronicle, 83
Nebuchadnezzar II, 25, 57, 77, 82–84, 155, 165, 180, 225
Nebuzar’adan, 84
nefesh, 125
Neḥemiah (Neḥemyah; biblical figure), 181
Neko II, 107
Neoplatonism, Neoplatonist, 121–22
Neo-Assyrian (empire), 54–55, 69, 81–82
Neo-Babylonian (empire), 69, 78, 81–82, 96, 116
Neptune (deity), 241
New York State Bar Association, 208
New York University, 50, 207
Nicea, Council of, 2, 258–60
Nicene confession, 193
Night Journey, 167
Nile River, 135–36, 147
Nimrud (Kalhu), 53, 59
Nimrud Prisms, 59
Nineveh, 10, 53, 55–57, 62–69, 115, 264
Ninth of Av (Tish‘a B’Av), 87
Noaḥ, 46, 76
Northern Cheyenne (Native American tribe), 108
Numitor, 238
‘Obed, 222
‘Obed ’Edom the Gittite, 178
Octavian, 241
Odysseus, 46
Old Assyrian Kingdom, 54
Old Babylonian Kingdom, 54
Olympics (games), 112
Olympus, Mount, 35, 114
On Benefits, 130
On the Sovereignty of Reason, 162
One, The, 121–22
O’Neal, Shaquille, 210
Opis, Battle of, 96
Oral Torah, 123
Origen of Alexandria, 220, 254
Orlinsky, Harry (“Mr. Green”), 203
‘Orpah, 222
Ottoman, 168, 221
Palatine Hill, 239
Palestine, Palestinian, 104, 108, 133, 139, 164, 171, 190, 201–202, 213–16, 235, 242, 264
Panium, Battle of, 115
pantheon, 34, 42
papyrus, 18, 135
Pardee, Dennis, 44
Paris, 38, 55, 80
Parthenon, 112, 114
Parthia(n), 242
Paul (apostle), 11, 17, 113, 119–20, 125–33, 187, 225, 239–40, 245, 262
Passover, 186
Pastafarianism (religion), 268
Pastoral Letters, 253
Pax Romana, 241
Pelethites, 184
peloni almoni (“Mr. So-and-So”), 222
Pelops, 124
Pentateuch, 174
Pepperdine University, 1, 14
Peqaḥ, 149–50
Pergamon Museum, 85
Perkins, Stewart, 137
Perseus, 152
Persia(n), 16, 20, 25, 75, 81, 91–92, 96–98, 111, 114–15, 117, 123, 156, 166, 180–81, 183, 241, 264
Persian Gulf, 147
Peter (apostle), 193, 239–40
Peter II, 193
Petra, 199
Phaenomena, 131
Pharsalus, Battle of, 242
Phidias, 114
Philip II of Macedon, 114
Philistia, Philistine, 33, 38, 106, 176, 210
Philo of Alexandria, 126, 145
Philocrates, 141
Phoenicia(n), 9–10, 16–26, 28, 34, 37, 41, 48, 50, 59, 76, 82, 241
Pilate, Pontius, 245–46, 262; Stone, 246
Plato, 114, 121, 127
Platonic Academy of Athens, 121
Platonism, Platonist, 121
Plotinus, 121
Plutarch, 138
Politics, 127
Pompey the Great (Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus), 241–43
Porcius Festus, 128
Porphyry of Tyre, 121
Poseidon, 241
Prayer of Nabonidus (4Q242), 92
Princeton Theological Seminary, 141
Propylaia, 114
Protoevangelium of James, 220
Psalmsa Scroll (11Q5a), 160, 211
Ptolemies, Ptolemaic (dynasty), 115, 136, 138, 161
Ptolemy: I Soter, 115, 138; II Philadelphus, 141; IV, 161; VII, 161; VIII Eugeretes II, 139
Pubala, 43
Púgatu, 46
Pul, 54
Punic Wars, 16, 22
Puzur-ashur I, 54
Qadesh, 104
Qohelet, 87, 122–23
Quirinius, Publius Sulpicius, 228, 231, 245
Qumran, Khirbet, 11, 57, 156, 195, 198–99, 203–7, 212, 250, 264
Qumran-Essene Hypothesis, 204–7
Qur’an, 2
Rapa’u, 44
Rab Shaqeh, 61
Radiohead, 86
Rachel (Raḥel), 222
Raiders of the Lost Ark, 135
Ras Shamra, 31–32
Rassam, Hormuzd, 56
Rebecca (Rebekah, Ribqah, Rivqah), 105
Records of the Seers, 160
Red Sea, 24, 146–47
Reed Sea (Sea of Reeds), 40, 146–47
Reḥav‘am (Reḥoboam), 57–58, 105
Remaliah, 150
Remus, 177, 237–39
Repha’im: people, 45; Valley of, 181
Republic, The, 127
Reṣin, 149–50
resurrection, 162, 166, 190
Rhea Silvia, 238
Riblah, 84
Roitman, Adolfo, 196–98
Roman Catholic Church, 163, 194, 262, 267
Rome, Roman, 11, 16, 55, 111, 119–20, 126, 130, 133, 136, 138–39, 142–43, 145, 151, 166–67, 177, 187, 190, 193, 205, 230–31, 235–43, 245, 262, 265
Romulus, 177, 237–39
Rubicon, crossing of, 242
Rum Stars Camp, 199
Ruth (biblical figure), 105, 222–23
Sabine, 239
Sadducee, 154–55, 188
Ṣafon (Zaphon), Mount, 35, 43, 114
Samaria (Shomron), Samaritan: city, 37, 57, 59–60, 64, 66, 69, 107, 150, 174, 178, 264; Pentateuch, 9; Revolt, 221
Samson (Shimshon), 154
Samuel (Shmu’el), 222
Samuel Scroll (4QSama), 210
Sanders, James A., 5
Sarah (S´arah; biblical matriarch), 46
Sarah (Tobit), 154–55
Sardinia, 16
Sargon II, 55, 59
Sargon of Akkad, 33
satan, the, 44
Satan, 109
Saul (Sha’ul; king), 53, 57, 106–7, 176, 224
Saul (pre-conversion Paul), 128
Schaeffer, Claude Frédéric-Armand, 31, 38
Schiffman, Lawrence, 207–8
Schniedewind, William M., 5
Scriptorium, 204
Scripture, 2, 8–9, 10, 139–46, 152– 53, 164, 188–89, 209, 249, 261
Scythia(n), 81
Seleucid (dynasty), 92, 115–16, 155, 161, 242
Seleucus I Nicator, 115
Sennacherib: (king), 55–56, 60–63, 149, 151, 165; Palace, 56; Prisms (Royal Annals), 62–63
Seneca the Younger, Lucius Annaeus, 119, 130, 132
senet, 102
September 11th attacks, 171–72
Septuagint, 9–10, 51, 139, 142, 144– 48, 151–54, 156, 163–64, 210–11, 219, 250–60, 262, 264–65
Service des Antiquités en Syrie et au Liban, 31
Shadrach, 157–58
Shabbat, Sabbath, 168–70
Shafan, 84
Shalem, 174–75
Shalmaneser III: king, 54, 59; Black Obelisk of, 59
Shalmaneser V, 25, 54
Shamash, 79
Shamgar son of ‘Anat, 38
Sharon, Ariel, 242
Shebna’, 61
Shechem, 36, 174, 178
Shekinah, 168
Sheol (She’ol), 40, 125
Shepherd of Hermas, 254, 256–57
Shem, 76
Shib‘ā Farms, 13
Shiloh, 174, 177–78
Shishak, 105–6
Shoshenq I, Hedjkheperre Setepenre, 105–6
Shrine of the Book, 196–98, 203
Sicily, 16
Ṣidon, 9, 13, 19, 21, 25–29, 263
Simeon, 231
Simon Maccabeus, 161
Sinai: Mount, 49, 80–81; peninsula, 108, 146
Sisera’, 105, 155
Sisyphus, 124
six-chambered gate (Solomonic gate), 100, 101
Six-Day War, 167
“slaughter of the innocents”, 243
Smith, Mark S., 50
Smoak, Jeremy, 183
Snyder, Zack, 108
So I Married an Axe Murderer, 154
Socrates, 114, 119, 127
Socrates of Constantinople, 126–27, 190, 192
Sodom (Sedom), 223
Solomon (Shlomoh), 22, 24–25, 29, 53, 55, 57–58, 100–101, 165, 179, 183–84
Songs for Sabbath Sacrifices, 250
Song of the Three Jews, 157–58
Sophocles, 114
soul, 125, 133
Spain, 16, 240
Spartan, 106, 108
Sphinx, 135
Spock, Mr., 119
St. Catherine’s Monastery, 257
Staley, Cale, 103
Star Trek: original series, 119; The Next Generation, 119
Star Wars: Episode I—The Phantom Menace, 161
Stoicism, Stoic, 119, 122, 129– 30, 148
Suez, Gulf of, 147
Sukenik, Eleazar, 201–4
Suleiman I the Magnificent, 168
Sumerian, 36
Susanna (character), 158
Synoptic (gospels), 185–186
Syria(n), 31, 43, 104, 115, 179, 228, 231, 240–41
Syrian Orthodox Church, 201
Syrophoenician woman, 27–28
Talmud, Babylonian (Bavli), 98, 189, 251
Tamar, 105
Tantalus, 124
targum, 9, 250
Tartarus, 124–25
Tel ‘Arad, 179
Tel ‘Azeqah (Akekah), 72–75, 199–200
Tel Dan, 38, 50
Tel Gezer, 50
Tel Ta‘yinat, 179
Temple: of ‘Astarte (Bet She’an), 106; of Athena Nike (Athens), 114; of Ba‘al Hadad (Ugarit), 32–33; of Dagon (Ugarit), 32–33; Mount (Jerusalem), 166–69, 171, 187, 237, 242; of Saturn (Rome), 236; of Venus (Jerusalem), 190, 192; of Yahu (Elephantine), 39; of YHWH (Jerusalem), 10, 17, 21–23, 25, 29, 36, 84, 87, 92–96, 98, 105, 118, 145, 166–68, 172, 178–80, 183, 185, 187–89, 193, 235, 242, 245, 262, 264–65; of YHWH (Samaria), 178; of YHWH (Tel ‘Arad), 179
Tertullian, 130
Texas Revolution, 108
Thaïs, 126
Thanksgiving Hymns Scroll (1QHodayota), 201
Theodosius II, 121
Theophilus (pope), 138
Thermopylae, 108
Thucydides, 114
Tiber River, 238
Tiglath-pileser III, 54, 107
Tigris River, 55, 117, 147
Tischendorf, Constantin von, 257
titulus, 190
Titus: Roman emperor, 187–88, 237; Arch of, 187–88, 237
Tobias, 154
Tobit (character), 154–55
Torah, 142, 156
Tower of Babel, 71, 75–78
Trinity, 242, 263
triumphal entry, 185
Triumvirate: First, 242;
True Cross, 190, 193
Trypho, 152–53
Tunis, 16
Turkey, Turkish, 16, 115, 179, 240
Tuthmoses III, 104
Twain, Mark, 192
Tyre (Ṣur, Ṣor), 9, 13, 17, 19, 21–29, 121, 263
Tyre, Siege of, 25
Tzaferis, Vassilios, 14
U2 (band), 140
UCLA, 5, 208
Udum, 43
Ugarit(ic): city, 9, 31–37, 39–41, 44, 46–48, 51, 114, 263–64; language, 31, 34–36, 38, 41, 43, 47
UN Resolution 181(II) (Partition Plan for Palestine), 201
United Nations, 201–2
Uzzah (‘Uzza’), 178
Venus, 190, 241
Vespasian, 237
Vesta, 238
Vestal Virgins, 238
Via Maris, 104
Via Sacra (Rome), 188
Virgil, 177, 238
virgin, 147–48, 151–53, 229
Vulgate, Latin, 156, 163, 259
Wadi Rum, 199
Wailing Wall, 167
Wall Street Journal, 202
War Scroll (1QMilḥamah), 201
Washington D.C., 202
Waterloo, 108
West Bank, 48, 213–14, 217
Western Wall, 10, 166–71
Willis, Bruce, 99
Wilson, John F., 244
Worcester, Massachusetts, 202
Writing the Dead Sea Scrolls, 196
Xenophon, 114
Yabin (Jabin) of Ḥaṣ or, 104–5
Yadin, Yigael, 203
Ya‘el (Jael), 105, 155
Yagrushu, 42
Yam, 39–40, 42, 50
yam suf, 146
Yariḥ, 41
Yassub, 44
Yaṭ pan the Drunken Soldier, 45
Yehoḥanan ben Ḥagqol, 14
Yehud (Persian province), 98, 115, 180
Yerubba‘al, 106
YHWH (Yahu): 10, 25, 33, 35–36, 39–40, 47–48, 50–51, 61, 63–64, 66, 93, 94, 97, 106, 122, 129, 132, 150, 155–56, 59, 181–83; of Samaria, 47; of Teman, 48; Ṣaba’oth, 50
Yo’aḥ (Joah), 61
Yon, Marguerite, 33
Zadok (Ṣadoq), 184
zarb, 199–200
Zedekiah (Ṣidqiyah, Ṣidqiyahu), 83–84, 94
Zeno of Citium, 119
Zephaniah (Ṣefanyah), 53, 64, 66–67
Zeus, 114, 127, 132, 152, 241
ziggurat, 71, 77
Zion (Ṣiyon), Mount, 90, 173–74, 184
CREDITS
Map on page viii courtesy Google Earth, Data SIO, NOAA, U.S. Navy, NGA, GEBCO, and Image Landsat.
Photographs on insert pages xvi, xvii (bottom), xviii, xix, xx, xxi (top), xxii, xxiii, xxiv, xxv, xxvi, xxvii (top), xxviii, xxx, xxxi, and interior pages 14, 73, 79, 101, 103, 112, 131, 135, 167, 169, 170, 188, 191, 199, 202, 204, 205, 217, 229, and 236 by Robert R. Cargill. Used with permission.
Photograph on insert page xvii (top) by Benjamin Sitzmann. Used with permission.
Photograph on insert page xxi (bottom) by Roslyn Cargill. Used with permission.
Photograph on insert page xxvii (bottom) by Yuval Peleg (). Used with permission.
Chart on page 20 created by Robert R. Cargill. Used with permission.
Images on insert page xxix and interior pages 37, 38, 48, 49, 63, 102, 182, 237, and 246 copyright © The Israel Museum, Jerusalem. Used with permission.
Photograph on page 137 by Stewart M. Perkins. Used with permission.
Photograph on pages 171, 197, and 198 by John Fothergill. Used with permission.
Photograph on page 244 of obverse and reverse of Herodian coin from the John F. Wilson collection by Robert R. Cargill, courtesy John F. Wilson. Used with permission.
PRAISE FOR THE CITIES THAT BUILT THE BIBLE
“An engaging journey into the Bible and archaeology from a new perspective: instead of sta
rting with kings, prophets, or texts, the author starts with ancient cities in which so much was born—all the while combined with a lively personal account that puts flesh and bones on the tale.”
—Richard Elliott Friedman, Th.D., author of The Bible with Sources Revealed
“Cargill offers a riotous gazetteer, one filled with astute observations about the literal and figurative building materials that biblical authors mined—and sometimes had foisted upon them—from key cities of the ancient world. Readers will happily accompany their learned tour guide as they reconsider Near Eastern influence on the Bible and perceive its text from new perspectives.”
—David Vanderhooft, Ph.D., associate professor of Hebrew Bible in the Department of Theology at Boston College
“Cargill is a lucid and expert tour guide, taking us from city to city to explain how and why the Bible is an extraordinary product of its material and urban contexts. The people, places, and peculiarities of ancient West Asia come alive in this exhilarating tour of the biblical past.”
—Francesca Stavrakopoulou, D.Phil., professor of Hebrew Bible and Ancient Religion at the University of Exeter
“In a compelling narrative that sparkles with life, Cargill takes his readers on a thrilling tour through the cities that built the Bible. The expert guide leaves his readers longing for more. A wonderful way to deepen your knowledge of the biblical writings, their historical context, and the ancient world.”
—Mark Goodacre, D.Phil., professor of New Testament in the Department of Religious Studies at Duke University
“With heartfelt sincerity and timely humor, Cargill possesses the historical knowledge, command of biblical languages, and archaeological expertise necessary to successfully communicate the tale of the Bible’s beginnings with a passion that highlights his love for the biblical world.”
—Oded Lipschits, Ph.D., professor of Jewish history and director of the Sonia and Marco Nadler Institute of Archaeology at Tel Aviv University
“Cargill explores the urban settings that influenced and shaped some of the Bible’s most profound people and events. He uses archaeology, literature, and personal experience to help readers contextualize the biblical Mediterranean and gain a firm hold on the topography of the Old Testament, the New Testament, and the spread of Christianity. By tying the literature to the geography, Cargill has provided a fascinating, dynamic map for readers to navigate with.”
—Sarah E. Bond, Ph.D., assistant professor in the Department of Classics at the University of Iowa
“Woven through from start to finish with insightful scholarship, humor, and the warmth of Cargill’s personal experience. He will take you places you couldn’t otherwise go—under the ground, into a cistern, across a border, and into closely guarded archives—to see things you’d never otherwise see, which in turn will allow you to see the Bible itself in new ways.”