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Mosaics depicting prominent Bible scenes were uncovered during annual excavations of an ancient synagogue in Israel's Lower Galilee. During the excavation in June, archaeologists found two new panels of a mosaic floor in a Late Roman (fifth-century) synagogue at Huqoq, an ancient Jewish village. One panel showed Noah's ark with pairs of animals, such as lions, leopards and bears. The other panel depicted soldiers being swallowed by large fish, surrounded by overturned chariots in the parting of the Red Sea. Such images are extremely rare for the time period, according to excavation director Jodi Magness, of the University of North...

[Syria] Palmyra [Syria] Mar Elian Monastery [Syria] Apamea [Syria] Dura-europos [Syria] Mari [Iraq] Hatra [Iraq] Nineveh [Iraq] Mosul Museum And Libraries [Iraq] Nimrud [Iraq] Khorsabad [Iraq] Mar Behnam Monastery [Iraq] Mosque Of The Prophet Yunus [Iraq] Imam Dur Mausoleum

Marsyas, Public Domain, Wikimedia Commons / ChurchPOP The Church is the mystical body of Christ. In Scripture, Jesus says “where two or three gather in my name, there am I with them.” (Mt 18.20)So the Church doesn’t strictly need special buildings, because the Church is the people. Nonetheless, from early on, Christians dedicated buildings for their communal worship to God. Most of these early churches are long lost to history, yet a few from the first few centuries still remain, at least in some condition. Here is a picture of the oldest known church that’s still standing (at least partially): Wikimedia...

LONDON, (CAIS) -- Almost 2,000 years ago, 19 Roman soldiers rushed into a cramped underground tunnel, sent to defend the Roman-occupied Syrian city of Dura-Europos from an army of Persians digging to undermine the city's mudbrick walls. But instead of Persian soldiers, the Romans met with a wall of noxious black smoke that turned to acid in their lungs. Their crystal-pummelled swords were no match for this weapon; the Romans choked and died in moments, many with their last pay of coins still slung in purses on their belts. Nearby, a Persian soldier — perhaps the one who started the...

CHAPTER III THE CANON OF THE NEW TESTAMENT Even when we have come to a conclusion about the date and origin of the individual books of the New Testament, another question remains to be answered. How did the New Testament itself as a collection of writings come into being? Who collected the writings, and on what principles? What circumstances led to the fixing of a list, or canon, of authoritative books ? The historic Christian belief is that the Holy Spirit, who controlled the writing of the individual books, also controlled their selection and collection, thus continuing to fulfil our...

The Euphrates River, as seen from the Greco-Roman fortress of Dura-Europos. (Frederick Deknatel) Syria: Where war hides history By Frederick Deknatel | Contributor 08.26.09 DURA-EUROPOS, SYRIA – Syria is Damascus to the growing number of Western tourists here. A short trip to the Greek desert city of Palmyra, about halfway to the Euphrates from the capital, is often as far east as visitors go. Down the highway, however, where the Euphrates greens a strip of the rocky landscape, is a corner of the country less known for historical sights than for its proximity to war-torn Iraq. It is from here...

Chapter 5 - Reaction Against The Worship Of Images And Other Superstitious Practices By The Iconoclast Emporors Of The East— Opposition to the Same Worship by Charlemagne. THE worship of images, as well as other Pagan practices, introduced into the church during the fourth and fifth centuries, were prevailing in the east as much as in the west; and I have mentioned, that the monks, particularly those of Egypt, had greatly contributed to the introduction of anthropomorphism into the Christian church. A great blow to image worship was given in the east by the rise and rapid progress of Mahometanism,...

Yale University professor Jaime Lara recalls standing before a sculpture of Jesus with a mirror where the face should be. Lara, who teaches courses on Christian art and architecture, including a semester-length examination of Jesus' ever-changing appearance through the centuries, thinks it's as good a portrait as any. "The face of Christ as depicted in artwork, sculpture, mosaics and frescoes is always going to be in part something that springs from the artist's imagination," he said, bound by cultural conventions and to some degree the racial features of those who crafted the image. So what did Jesus really look like?...

In 1920, British soldiers digging trenches near the Euphrates River came across ancient wall paintings. In the sands of eastern Syria, they uncovered the remains of the ancient town of Dura-Europos. Located on the Euphrates River, the long-buried settlement was ruled successively by the Macedonians, Parthians, and Romans until its destruction in A.D. 256. Today, the site is known for its buildings, including the world's oldest church, one of the earliest synagogues ever found, and numerous Greco-Roman temples. Covering about 180 acres, Dura-Europos was founded around 300 B.C... Dura's location was ideal because it was both defensible and near a...

They gassed Roman soldiers with toxic fumes 2,000 years ago, researchers have discovered. Archeologists have found the oldest evidence of chemical warfare yet after studying the bodies of 20 Roman soldiers' found underground in Syria 70 years ago. Archeologists have found the oldest evidence of chemical warfare after studying the bodies of 20 Roman soldiers Clues left at the scene revealed the Persians were lying in wait as the Romans dug a tunnel during a siege – then pumped in toxic gas – produced by sulphur crystals and bitumen – to kill all the Romans in minutes. Dr Simon James,...

Roman soldiers defending a Middle Eastern garrison from attack nearly 2,000 years ago met the horrors of war in a most unusual place. Inside a cramped tunnel beneath the site’s massive front wall, enemy fighters stacked up nearly two dozen dead or dying Romans and set them on fire, using substances that gave off toxic fumes and drove away Roman warriors just outside the tunnel. The attackers, members of Persia’s Sasanian culture that held sway over much of the region in and around the Middle East from the third to the seventh centuries, adopted a brutally ingenious method for penetrating...