Category Archives: Art

Buried Christian Empire Casts New Light on Early Islam

Archaeology and Antiquities, Art, Bible and Holy Land, Islamic History, Judaism, Yemen


The “crowned man” relief found in Zafar, Yemen is seen as evidence that there was a Christian empire in the region before Islam took hold.

by Matthias Schulz, Der Spiegel, December 21, 2012

The commandment “Make yourself no graven image” has long been strictly followed in the Arab world. There are very few statues of the caliphs and ancient kings of the region. The pagan gods in the desert were usually worshipped in an “aniconic” way, that is, as beings without form.

But now a narcissistic work of human self-portrayal has turned up in Yemen. It is a figure, chiseled in stone, which apparently stems from the era of the Prophet.

Paul Yule, an archeologist from the southwestern German city of Heidelberg, has studied the relief, which is 1.70 meters (5’7″) tall, in Zafar, some 930 kilometers (581 miles) south of Mecca. It depicts a man with chains of jewelry, curls and spherical eyes. Yule dates the image to the time around 530 AD.

The German archeologist excavated sites in the rocky highlands of Yemen, an occupation that turned quite dangerous recently because of political circumstances in the country. On his last mission, Yule lost 8 kilograms (18 lbs.) and his equipment was confiscated.

Nevertheless, he is pleased, because he was able to bring notes, bits of debris and bones back to Heidelberg. Yule has concluded that Zafar was the center of an Arab tribal confederation, a realm that was two million square kilometers (about 772,000 square miles) large and exerted its influence all the way to Mecca. Continue reading Buried Christian Empire Casts New Light on Early Islam →

Wise Men and the Infant Jesus, a Century Past

Bible and Holy Land, Lithographs


In sorting through the books owned by my maternal grandmother, I recently came across a gift she received in 1901, when she was 10 years old. The book is entitled The Good Shepherd and consists of the life of Jesus in language for a young child. There are several lithographs and line drawings. I include here one of “The Infant Jesus” in a more realistic setting than most Christmas card scenarios. I love the cow in the immediate background. clearly one of good European stock, as the face of Mary also suggests. It must have been warm enough this Christmas season in Bethlehem, as the infant child is naked, apart from the halo.


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Buried Cities Recovered #4

Archaeology and Antiquities, Bible and Holy Land, Lithographs, Palestine, Travel


In a previous post I continued a thread on a 19th century Bible Lands text by Rev. Frank S. DeHaas. Now it is on to Jerusalem, holiest of the holiest places for this Protestant pilgrim. Yet again he has a hard time seeing past the poverty and destruction. But then he is consoled by the fact that such ruin was all according to prophecy. Unfortunately for a century more than this book, facts are indeed stubborn things and the artifacts DeHaas thought so compelling turn out not to be very factual.


Continue reading Buried Cities Recovered #4 →

Buried Cities Recovered #3

Archaeology and Antiquities, Architecture, Bible and Holy Land, Lithographs, Orientalism, Palestine


In a previous post I continued a thread on a 19th century Bible Lands text by Rev. Frank S. DeHaas. His account covers Egypt and Palestine. He entered Palestine at the port of Jaffa and discusses his disembarking, which he compares to the turmoil surrounding Jonah on the same sea, in the following passage. But it seems the crowded streets of Jaffa did not inspire the kind of reverence he wanted from traversing on holy ground. So he was quite glad to be out and out where the patriarchs trekked…


Continue reading Buried Cities Recovered #3 →

Buried Cities Recovered #2

Bible and Holy Land, Lithographs, Palestine, Travel


In a previous post I began a thread on a 19th century Bible Lands text by Rev. Frank S. DeHaas. This is a typical devout travel account for an American audience by an author who served both a political and religious role. The frontispiece shows the American consulate opposite the Old City wall, shades to come of where the American Embassy might locate if Romney is elected President in November.

Here is his Introduction…


Continue reading Buried Cities Recovered #2 →

Buried Cities Recovered

Archaeology and Antiquities, Bible and Holy Land, Lithographs, Palestine, Travel


During the 19th century there was a flourishing genre of “Explorations in the Bible Lands.” As the geography and archaeology of the Holy Land came to light, often with only a modicum of scientific investigation, books flooded the market on how the remains and customs in this area were bringing the Bible to life for Protestants in England and America. Despite Mark Twain’s biting satire of the genre in his Innocents Abroad, the Bible Lands books piled on. One of these is Buried Cities Recovered by the Rev. Frank S. DeHass, who was appointed U.S. Consul to Palestine, where he lived for a considerable period. This was first published in 1882 and was in its 10th edition only two years later. The small print at the bottom of the title page says it all: “CONTAINING A FULL ACCOUNT OF EGYPT AND THE EGYPTIANS, RISE AND FALL OF EMPIRES IN THE LIGHT OF PROPHECY, AND WONDERFUL CONFIRMATION OF REVELATION BY LATE DISCOVERIES.” Such was the enthusiasm of Bible enthusiasts of the late 19th century.


The dedication of the book, reproduced below, is quite flowerly and hardly leaves anyone out, except perhaps the emerging higher critics of the Bible at the time.


to be continued