Category Archives: Archaeology and Antiquities

The Fortress of Saone and Salah al-Din, 1

Archaeology and Antiquities, Architecture, Islamic History, Syria


Figure 1: Looking northeast at the western town and central fortification of Qal‘at Salah al-Din

On my recent visit to Lattakiya, Syria, I was given a guided tour of a most extraordinary castle/fortress with visible Crusader and Mamluk ruins. This is the crusader castle named for Robert of Saone, who was given control of it by Roger, Prince of Antioch in 1119 CE. Located almost 30 km from Lattakiya, it was obviously a strategic asset for the Crusaders. But it appears Robert of Saone chose a bad architect for his expansion of the existing fortress. Instead of building up the Byzantine fortress at the high point, he built along the walls, so there was not a second site of defense once the walls were breached. He also failed to consider the range of mangolins, which Salah al-Din used effectively from the nearby ravines to breach the castle walls.

It is no wonder why this impressive location also appealed to defenders from the Phoenician period on. It is recorded that Alexander the Great conquered it, but only with the divine help of Hercules’ club, in 334 BCE. In the 10th century CE the Byzantine Emperor John I Tzimisces gained control and built up the walls, which were expanded by the crusaders. The crusaders did not even last a century, despite the seemingly impregnable aspect of the castle. The walls were breached by the armies of Salah ed-Din in July 1188. In 1957 the official name of the remains was fixed by the Syrian government as the castle (qal‘a) of Salah al-Din, proving once again that to the victor go the spoils and history’s nod. Continue reading The Fortress of Saone and Salah al-Din, 1 →

Visit the Topkapi for free

Archaeology and Antiquities, Architecture, Islamic History, Ottoman Empire, Saudi Arabia, Teaching Resources, Turkey

Given the economy, you may not be planning any trips this summer or anytime soon. But who would not like to take a tour of the Topkapi Palace in Istanbul? No problem, you can do it for free. Just go to this website (http://www.3dmekanlar.com/topkapi_palace.htm), download and start clicking away. And when you exhaust that, check out a number of major Islamic sites that are yours for digital pleasure.

Entering King Tut’s Tomb

Archaeology and Antiquities, Egypt, Photography


Howard Carter cleaning the sarcophagus.

February 16, 1923 — one of those days that marks a momentous event, if you are an Egyptologist or just curious about the Pharaonc past. On this day British archaeologist Howard Carter entered the tomb of what turned out to be the golden hold of King Tutankhamun. For a treasure trove of photographs and details about this discovery, see Tutankhamun: Anatomy of an Excavation, an online resource of the Griffith Museum at Oxford.


The tomb when first opened.

Picturing the Exodus

Archaeology and Antiquities, Bible and Holy Land, Egypt, Maps, Orientalism, Palestine

The ubiquity of GPS threatens to leave the old printed map out of the picture. This is a pity, for there is much to be learned from the way maps frame the world. As J. Z. Smith once remarked, map is not territory. True enough, but maps are the way we imagine not only territory but our place in it. When Edward Said wrote his critique of Orientalism in 1978, he cited novelists, travelers, poets and academics, but no mapmakers. But in a way Holy Land maps are what put the Holy Land on the map. Maps not only illustrated what was thought to be the lay of the land, but what people imagined was there.

A splendid example of this is an 1856 pictorial Bible map of the Journey of the Israelites from Egypt to Canaan. I reproduce the image above, but if you
click here you can get a greatly enlarged view to see the details. Mind you, this was 1856, when few of the archeological discoveries in Bible territory had come to light. This is evident in the depiction of the “Chief God of Egypt,” (left side of map) who looks like a cross between an Assyrian and a Viking.

Continue reading Picturing the Exodus →

History of Frankincense

Archaeology and Antiquities, Oman, Plants


Omani women refreshing clothing with frankincense smoke

The website of the Sultan Qaboos Cultural Center has a number of interesting online pages. One of these is a pictorial history of frankincense and myrrh. Here are some of the tidbits about both of these important trade items:

• Almost all frankincense comes from western Oman, where it is used for everything from deodorant and toothpaste to food and drink flavoring.
• Frankincense and myrrh were so expensive in Europe that southern Arabia became known as Arabia Felix, “Arabia the Blessed.” Continue reading History of Frankincense →

New Life for the Dead Sea Scrolls

Archaeology and Antiquities, Bible and Holy Land, Israel, Judaism


Book of Enoch, Copied ca. 200-150 B.C.E.


Israel to Display the Dead Sea Scrolls on the Internet

By ETHAN BRONNER, The New York Times, August 27, 2008

JERUSALEM — In a crowded laboratory painted in gray and cooled like a cave, half a dozen specialists embarked this week on a historic undertaking: digitally photographing every one of the thousands of fragments of the Dead Sea Scrolls with the aim of making the entire file — among the most sought-after and examined documents on earth — available to all on the Internet.

Equipped with high-powered cameras with resolution and clarity many times greater than those of conventional models, and with lights that emit neither heat nor ultraviolet rays, the scientists and technicians are uncovering previously illegible sections and letters of the scrolls, discoveries that could have significant scholarly impact. Continue reading New Life for the Dead Sea Scrolls →

Uncovering Evidence of a Workaday World Along the Nile

Archaeology and Antiquities, Egypt


Parts of an administration building, above, and a large silo, top, at the site of an ancient provincial capital on the Upper Nile; Top, N.Moeller/Tell Edfu Project; above, G. Marouard/Tell Edfu Project.

By JOHN NOBLE WILFORD, The New York Times, July 1, 2008

Archaeologists have long fixed their sights on the grandeur that was ancient Egypt, the pyramids, temples and tombs. Few bothered to dig beneath and beyond the monumental stones for glimpses into the living and working spaces of ordinary Egyptians.

That is changing slowly but steadily. In the last two or three decades, excavations have uncovered urban remains and swept aside the conventional wisdom that the Egypt of the pharaohs, in contrast to Mesopotamia, was somehow a civilization without cities.

“We can now confirm that this was not the case,” said Nadine Moeller, an Egyptologist at the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago. Dr. Moeller was speaking of her own recent findings, as well as those of other excavators who practice what is known as settlement archaeology. Continue reading Uncovering Evidence of a Workaday World Along the Nile →