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Archaeologists unearth ancient Bethlehem seal
Fox News ^ | May 23, 2012

Posted on 05/23/2012 5:57:37 PM PDT by SJackson

JERUSALEM – Israeli archaeologists have discovered a 2,700-year-old seal that bears the inscription "Bethlehem," the Israel Antiquities Authority announced Wednesday, in what experts believe to be the oldest artifact with the name of Jesus' traditional birthplace.

The tiny clay seal's existence and age provide vivid evidence that Bethlehem was not just the name of a fabled biblical town, but also a bustling place of trade linked to the nearby city of Jerusalem, archaeologists said.

Eli Shukron, the authority's director of excavations, said the find was significant because it is the first time the name "Bethlehem" appears outside of a biblical text from that period.

Shukron said the seal, 1.5 centimeters (0.59 inches) in diameter, dates back to the period of the first biblical Jewish Temple, between the eighth and seventh century B.C., at a time when Jewish kings reigned over the ancient kingdom of Judah and 700 years before Jesus was born.

The seal was written in ancient Hebrew script from the same time. Pottery found nearby also dated back to the same period, he said.

(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...


TOPICS: Israel; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: bethlehem; godsgravesglyphs; letshavejerusalem
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1 posted on 05/23/2012 5:57:40 PM PDT by SJackson
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To: dennisw; Cachelot; Nix 2; veronica; Catspaw; knighthawk; Alouette; Optimist; weikel; Lent; GregB; ..
Middle East and terrorism, occasional political and Jewish issues Ping List. High Volume

If you’d like to be on or off, please FR mail me.

..................

A few weeks ago, Hebrew seal bearing the name 'Matanyahu' uncovered in Jerusalem

2 posted on 05/23/2012 5:59:50 PM PDT by SJackson (As a black man, you know, Barack could get shot going to the gas station, M Obama)
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To: SunkenCiv

ping. Think I’m on your list, but if not, could you add me


3 posted on 05/23/2012 6:01:21 PM PDT by SJackson (As a black man, you know, Barack could get shot going to the gas station, M Obama)
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To: SJackson
...the find was significant because it is the first time the name "Bethlehem" appears outside of a biblical text from that period.

Reminds me of how the Learned Experts used to say that Assyria didn't really exist and it was only a Biblical fable. Then, they unearthed some bits of junk and suddenly, "looky there Marge, there really was an Assyria!"

4 posted on 05/23/2012 6:09:07 PM PDT by stormhill
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To: SJackson

Interesting! Thanks for posting...


5 posted on 05/23/2012 6:12:05 PM PDT by Errant
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To: SJackson

What did the rest of it say?

“EAT AT JOSEPH’S”


6 posted on 05/23/2012 6:49:18 PM PDT by UCANSEE2 (Lame and ill-informed post)
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To: UCANSEE2

No it says:

“Eat at Herod’s”


7 posted on 05/23/2012 8:07:28 PM PDT by jimpick
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To: UCANSEE2

NO VACANCY


8 posted on 05/23/2012 8:21:52 PM PDT by CrazyIvan (Obama's birth certificate was found stapled to Soros's receipt.)
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To: SJackson

Any mention of the seventh seal?


9 posted on 05/23/2012 8:47:47 PM PDT by dragonblustar (Allah Ain't So Akbar!)
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To: stormhill
The Hittites and Nineveh didn't exist either. And the Egyptian Kings list was 100% accurate with no Pharaohs left off.

It is interesting what you find when you look.

10 posted on 05/23/2012 8:58:34 PM PDT by Harmless Teddy Bear (Migrating elephant herds react badly to flaming motor homes and dry ice doesn't repel killer bees)
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To: SJackson; StayAt HomeMother; Ernest_at_the_Beach; decimon; 1010RD; 21twelve; 24Karet; ...

 GGG managers are SunkenCiv, StayAt HomeMother & Ernest_at_the_Beach
Thanks SJackson, and thanks for joining GGG!

To all -- please ping me to other topics which are appropriate for the GGG list.


11 posted on 05/23/2012 9:40:54 PM PDT by SunkenCiv (FReepathon 2Q time -- https://secure.freerepublic.com/donate/)
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To: All


Help End The Obama Era In 2012
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Sponsoring FReepers are contributing
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12 posted on 05/23/2012 9:45:29 PM PDT by musicman (Until I see the REAL Long Form Vault BC, he's just "PRES__ENT" Obama = Without "ID")
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To: SJackson; StayAt HomeMother; Ernest_at_the_Beach; decimon; 1010RD; 21twelve; 24Karet; ...

 GGG managers are SunkenCiv, StayAt HomeMother & Ernest_at_the_Beach
Thanks SJackson, and thanks for joining GGG!

To all -- please ping me to other topics which are appropriate for the GGG list.


13 posted on 05/23/2012 9:50:12 PM PDT by SunkenCiv (FReepathon 2Q time -- https://secure.freerepublic.com/donate/)
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To: SJackson

14 posted on 05/23/2012 10:05:35 PM PDT by shibumi (Cover it with gas and set it on fire.)
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Comment #15 Removed by Moderator

To: SunkenCiv

Thanks Civ and SJackson
Another amazing discovery! I can’t keep up with you guys ;•}


16 posted on 05/23/2012 11:31:36 PM PDT by Cincinna ( *** NOBAMA 2012 ***)
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To: Cincinna

Imagine trying to keep up when the GGG pingmeister pings you twice to each one! [blush]


17 posted on 05/24/2012 6:54:47 AM PDT by SunkenCiv (FReepathon 2Q time -- https://secure.freerepublic.com/donate/)
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To: stormhill; Harmless Teddy Bear

There were never any Learned Experts who denied that Assyria existed; the locations of the major Assyrian sites were unknown, and became known because people looked for them. The site of Akkad/Agade, Sargon the Great’s capital of Assyria during the eponymous Akkadian period, remains unknown, although in surviving texts it was new-built somewhere near Kish, where Sargon spent his early years.

The Assyrian Empire was destroyed late in the 7th c BC by an alliance of Medes, Scythians, and Babylonians. Herodotus (for example) discusses the Assyrians as if they were still a going concern, perhaps confusing the Assyrians with the Babylonians. By his time, neither one was a going concern, but both are Semitic peoples, and they hadn’t ceased to exist as ethnic groups. The ancient Greeks sometimes referred to the Persians as Medes, but that’s not accurate; the Greeks called one or more of the New Kingdom pharaohs Sesostris, but Sesostris was actually the name of some pharaohs during the Old Kingdom. Ramses II “the Great”, interestingly enough, had a monumental statue of one of those Old Kingdom Sesostrises recarved a bit into his own image.

The name “Hittites” was only known in the Bible, and when the site of Hattusas was found, the name was lifted from the Bible, regardless of the facts that 1) it isn’t accurate and 2) the invention of the so-called “Forgotten Empire” actually props up the conventional pseudochronology of the Middle East, which itself is hung on the Egyptian chronology, itself an invention with only a trivial connection to the various fragmentary lists of pharaohs.


18 posted on 05/24/2012 7:58:04 AM PDT by SunkenCiv (FReepathon 2Q time -- https://secure.freerepublic.com/donate/)
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To: stormhill
Reminds me of how the Learned Experts used to say that Assyria didn't really exist and it was only a Biblical fable.

Neither do Troy nor Atlantis...

19 posted on 05/24/2012 8:56:20 AM PDT by null and void (Day 1220 of our ObamaVacation from reality [and what dark chill/is gathering still/before the storm])
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To: SunkenCiv

Can you expand on your Hittites 1 & 2 or point me in the right direction or both? Thanks.


20 posted on 05/24/2012 4:48:10 PM PDT by 1010RD (First, Do No Harm)
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