Day 1

I spent significant time during Day 1 at sessions pertaining to Wilson’s Arch and the Odeon discovered beneath it. These lectures celebrated the publication of a report on recent archaeological work. Hadrian’s plans for Jerusalem led to the abandonment of the structure before it was completed.

A report on excavation under the floors of the church of the Holy Sepulchre added more detail about the quarry outside the city during the late second temple period including terraces for grape vines and fragments of a suburban road. Although the foundation for a wall was revealed from the Hadrianic period, the excavators did not find evidence supporting the hypothesis of a major temple built on the site.

Two papers addressed the upper aqueduct servicing Jerusalem.

I was most intrigued by a paper on “Image of God as an emblem of the neo-Assyrian empire.” While I would disagree with assigning the usage to a priestly source from the time of the Babylonian captivity, the archaeological context for understanding the term might indeed be the steles from the Mesopotamian world that were emblems for a king or god. The usage of “image of God” may not be a compliment, but rather a statement of what humanity is like — tempted to be “like God” and seeking to build a tower up to the heavenly realm. That might explain why the term disappears f rom the biblical texts following the scattering after Babel. I am not sure this works, but it is a matter for more thought and study.