Air Jordan

My last field study for Physical Settings took me to Jordan.




This is a theater in Gedara. This is one of those possiblities for the pigs/Legion plummeting off of the cliff into the Sea of Galilee. The black basalt makes things look pretty unique here.











Gerasa is one of the Decapolis cities. Some call it the "city of 1000 pillars." This is the Temple of Hercules.












We also went to Petra, the capitol of the Nabatean kingdrom. They built huge edifices into the sides of the sandstone cliffs. Pretty incredible.

















A pretty famous site at Petra. Some people believe it's where an important king/general type guy is buried.




























Castle Karak is a Crusader era fort.













Medeba contains some pretty incredible mosaics, but I think i actually liked the icons there better. Yup.




















The view from Mount Nebo looking toward Israel.

A.R.E you Ready?

It's been a pretty long time since I've done anything with this. I apologize. I've been kind of busy at times, but other times I just wasn't thinking about it. Anyway, I've been to Egypt, some interesting places in Bethlehem, and Jordan since I last posted. I'll start with Egypt I suppose.

Over our spring break, I and several friends from JUC went to Egypt. We took a bus from Tel Aviv to Eilat, got a visa at what appeared to be a random guy's porch, and crossed into Taba, Egypt.



We went to Giza. Sphinx and Great Pyramids. Incredible stuff. It was kind of fun to go there. It wasn't my favorite part of the trip (believe it or not), but it was nice to feel like I was fulfilling a childhood dream. Remember how excited you got to learn about the Pyramids when you were little? Remember making those silly cartouches with your name inside? I felt like 7-year old Danny was living vicariously through 21-year-old Daniel.



You can see all three of the Great Pyramids. Lovely.


The Pyramids are very, very large. If you look to the right, you'll see a tiny blue blip. That is my friend, Pang.






Cairo is pretty much the most stressful place I've ever been to. If I had to compare it to a place in the U.S. I would compare it to Times Square NYC... but 3 times busier. Traffic lights are optional, everyone has "exactly what you need" in their shops, and when you blow your nose at the end of the day your tissue is left an ashen gray color. It has a lot of history and some neat things anyway. Plus it's dirt cheap. I got a meal (koshari and it's pretty good) for 3ish pounds (about 5o-60 U.S. cents).


I visited the Hanging Church in the Coptic Quarter of old Cairo. It's a beautiful place. It reminds me of a lot of the Orthodox churches here in Jerusalem.


We took a boat ride on the Nile. There's Muhammad (a guy from our hostel), Bonnie, and Pang enjoying themselves (L to R).









My favorite part of the trip was hiking Mount Sinai to see the sunrise. It is incredible up there. At night, I saw so many stars. I've never seen so many in my life. I was in awe of it. The sight was definitely one of the most beautiful I've ever seen.






P.S. 8000 pride points for someone who can explain the title of my post.

Galilee

A couple of weeks ago I went to the Galilee. Sorry for being so late in this stuff. I've been pretty busy lately. I'll have to do a couple of posts in the next couple of days. Anyway, Galilee was pretty incredible. I got to swim in the Sea of Galilee, climb down the Cliffs of Arbel, and explore Mount Carmel.

Our first stop was to Caesarea. Herod the Great built this crazy place. He couldn't build a port naturally out here, so he made a port a few hundred yards out in the sea. A lot of it is broken down now, but some people still fish on it. Caesarea is picturesque. Lots of Bible stuff happened there, so that makes it interesting as well. I've never seen so many whole seashells either.









Mount Tabor


Sunset over Nazareth.









Burn layer from Joshua's siege on Hazor.

A Canaanite mud brick gate to Tel Dan.

Caesarea-Philipi where Peter is called The Rock (not to be confused with the wrestler and star of the Scorpion King.

Gergesa by the Sea of Galilee. Where Jesus sent Legion into the pigs.

The Cliffs of Arbel.

The Cardo at Scythopolis. Common bathroom in Scythopolis. Marble "toilet seats."



I think those are the highlights. The Galilee was pretty amazing. I really enjoyed it up there. There were a few other things that we did, but this was the important stuff I think.

Shephelah, Beersheba, and Dead Sea Area

Last weekend my Historical Geography class went to the Shephelah, the Negev, and the Dead Sea area. I'll stick to the formula. Post pictures, and then comment on them.



We went to Sataf. This is a Roman era house that was built on the hillside. It's a beautiful site full of mikvot baths, water systems, and almond blossoms.








Beth-Shemesh. It's the big city that once overlooked the areas where Samson busted some heads (Timnah, Zorah, and it leads to Gaza).





Beersheba on the Nahal Beersheba and Nahal Hebron.














The city of Arad. Here is a sacrificial altar and the Holy of Holies in a "mini-Temple"







The tomb of David ben Gurion, a founder of the modern state of Israel and its first Prime Minister. He is buried near a kibbutz on the Nahal Zin.




We went to Avdat which is kind of a mix of different times and peoples. It was a Nabatean trade route stop, but that died out with Roman conquest. It was pretty much abandoned until the Byzantine Era when it was turned into a religious site. There were forts, houses, and a couple of churches in this place. It was beautifully rebuilt too. This was probably my favorite place that we went to that weekend.



The Machtesh Ramon. This is the largest erosion crater in the world. It's huge and amazing. You can see the descent pretty well in this picture. Keep in mind though, that if you were to turn maybe 90 degrees clockwise from this point, you wouldn't be able to see the other side of the "bowl."






We also went to Masada. Masada is pretty amazing. It's a for that Herod the Great built on top of a big mountain in the middle of the desert. He created this crazy aqueduct system to keep it watered and it was totally revolutionary in terms of architecture. The Jewish rebels against Rome took this place as a fort until 73AD. Uncle Larry was in a TV movie about this. Basically, Rome destroyed it and according to Josephus, the Jews inside killed themselves with honor before the Romans could get in.




Qumran cave number 5 (I think). Most of us know this story. Lots of "monastic" type of Jews living away from the debauchery and corruption of Rome eagerly awaiting the Messiah to come and they wrote lots of stuff that gave OT Textual Criticism revolutionary resources.











It was a very nice field study. I got to see lots of incredible sights and I got to swim in the Dead Sea. A+

Church of the Holy Sepulcher and the Dormition Abbey

Throughout the last week I've been on a couple of smaller field studies and done some independent traveling in the Old City.


At the Church of the Holy Sepulcher there is a room where tradition says Adam was resurrected at the time of Christ's resurrection. This has become known as the "center of the world" according to my Church in the East prof. This is the dome above that place.








At the entrance of the Church of the Holy Sepulcher is a rock where tradition says Jesus was prepared for burial. The eggs above the rock all symbolize the different Churches that have a presence in the Holy Sepulcher: Roman Catholic, Greek Orthodox, Ethiopian, Coptic, and Armenian.






Saint Anthony's Church is adjacent to the Church of the Holy Sepulcher. It is a beautiful Coptic Church that smells richly of incense. When you enter the sanctuary you can actually see the smoke like a thin fog throughout the whole area.









On Thursday, A few friends and I went to the Dormition Abbey by our school. The Dormition Abbey was built in 1906 by Kaiser Wilhelm of all people. Tradition holds that this is the place where Mary died and was brought into heaven. This is its belltower.

The Armenian Church holds this spot to be the home of Caiphas.


Views of the Old City and Mount of Olives from the Dormition Abbey


Statue of Mary, mother of Jesus.


Above that statue is a beautiful mural of Jesus and many righteous women from the Bible and the Apocrypha. They include: Eve, Judith, Ruth, Miriam, and others.






Altars at the Dormition Abbey

I really enjoy these places. I think that since I've arrived here, I've begun to appreciate a variety different faith practices both within and without Christianity. I find myself drawn to places of spiritual significance. It's a beautiful thing when people attempt to draw close to their God and with the faith of their fathers- whether it be at the Wall, the Holy Sepulcher, the Dome of the Rock, or a tiny church in semi-rural Pennsylvania.