Decoding the Past: Prophecies of Iraq

Monday, November 13 11am on The History Channel
It was one of the greatest cities ever depicted in biblical text. Hebrew prophets of the Bible all predicted its destruction–as many as 150 years before it happened. And, when in 539 BCE, Babylon fell to Cyrus the Great of Persia, the prophets were thought to have been proven correct. But scholars and academics have long debated the question of whether these ancient predictions were meant for the city of Babylon of more than 2,500 years ago, or whether they referred to a different Babylon, a future Babylon to be rebuilt where the old city once stood. Ancient Babylon is now known as modern-day Iraq, and eerily similar parallels exist between the prophecies of Babylon and the events of the late 20th and early 21st centuries–including both Gulf Wars and the downfall of Saddam Hussein. Is it possible that Biblical prophecies are playing out in modern times?

Modern Marvels: Egyptian Pyramids

Monday, November 06 12pm on The History Channel
Constructed as tombs for the ancient pharaohs, over 100 pyramids remain in Egypt. Built during a span of well over 1,000 years, they stand as cultural and engineering marvels of staggering proportions. But many things about these monuments, including the exact methods used to construct them, remain tantalizingly obscure. Travel back in time as we investigate their evolution–from the earlier mastaba to the Step Pyramid, Bent Pyramid, and of course, the magnificent necropolis at Giza.

Digging For The Truth: Nefertiti: The Mummy Returns.

Monday, November 06 10am on The History Channel
Queen Nefertiti was once the most beautiful and powerful woman in Egypt, renowned throughout the ancient world. But she vanished without a trace, lost to the sands of Egypt for more than 3,000 years. Only in the last century did archeologists discover that this legendary queen really lived at all. Since then, though, only fragments of her story have emerged. Host Josh Bernstein, an explorer and survival expert, is determined to put the pieces together and uncover the true story of Queen Nefertiti. Who was this mysterious woman? Why did she disappear? And can her mummy still be found today? To find out, he’ll follow a trail of clues into Egypt’s most sacred and secret places, exploring dark tombs and coming face-to-face with the truth of at least one ancient mummy’s identity.

Timeline of Ancient Egypt – National Geographic

Predynastic

About 5500-3000 B.C.
Climatic change about 7,000 years ago turns most of Egypt—except for along the Nile—to desert. Farming begins and communities form along the river, with important population centers at Buto, Naqada, and Hierakonpolis. Egypt remains divided into Upper and Lower (southern and northern) Egypt.

Complete timeline of Ancient Egypt

The Naked Archaeologist (History Channel program)

Is the Bible a record of actual historical events? In this world premiere documentary series, Emmy Award winning producer and director Simcha Jacobovici travels to the Middle East to uncover the archaeological treasures of the Biblical world.

Fast, funny and irreverent (think Ali G. meets Indiana Jones), he investigates extraordinary new finds and asks the questions we all want to know the answers to: Why is it so bad to be called a Philistine? Was Jezebel really that sexy? And where do you stop for a good falafel when you’re on your way to find the real Mount Sinai?

With footage of seldom-seen artifacts and insights from the world’s foremost archaeological experts, the program offers startling revelations on everything from the story of Jonah to the life of John the Baptist.

Upcoming episodes

The Queen who would be King?

Mummy dearest? Recent scholarship is changing thinking about female pharaoh Hatshepsut, whom Egyptologists once called “the vilest type of usurper.”

See full article in Smithsonian Magazine

Dentists of the Pharoahs?

Thieves last week led archaeologists to the graves of three royal dentists, located near to the Step Pyramid of King Djoser, believed to be Egypt’s oldest pyramid.

Hawass told reporters that the tombs date back more than 4,000 years to the 5th Dynasty. They were meant to honor a chief dentist and two others who treated the pharaohs and their families.

Read full article now

Check out the article in the Chicago Tribune

NPR story

Looters wreaking havoc in Iraq

The cultural treasures of Iraq — the birthplace of writing, codified law, mathematics, medicine and astronomy — are being obliterated as looters take advantage of the country’s bloody chaos.

Fourteen of the world’s leading archaeologists have written to the President and Prime Minister of the country, demanding immediate action to stem the vandalism after seeing photographs of sites left pockmarked by enormous craters.

See full article

‘One night with the King’ – movie about Esther

Steven Isaac (Plugged In) seems as impressed with what the movie doesn’t do than what it does. He says it “soars far more often than it stumbles. While actors’ accents are all over the map and the story feels too dense to follow in spots, the action and intrigue is undeniably exciting and compelling—without ever resorting to gratuitous gore, violence, foul language or sexual situations.”

Other critics were less generous in their praise of the film.

See article in Christianity Today

Qumran – monastery, fortress or factory?

A feisty University of Chicago professor (Golb), has long argued that the [Dead Sea] scrolls are a sort of library of writings by different Jewish sects hidden near a site known as Qumran to protect the texts from Roman invaders.

Most scholars, meanwhile, have insisted that the scrolls are the work of a tiny sect that wrote them in a monastery at Qumran.

Was Qumran a monastery?  A fortress?  A factory?

Read the full article in the Chicago Tribune