All  

Ancient Origins Tour IRAQ

Ancient Origins Tour IRAQ Mobile

Jews

impression of Bar Kokhba by Polish-Jewish artist Arthur Szyk Source: Arthur Szyk/CC BY-SA 4.0

Judaic Devastation: The Bar Kokhba Revolt’s Tragic Legacy (Video)

The Bar Kokhba Revolt of 132 AD had profound and enduring effects on Jews and Judaism. Firstly, it led to the shattering of Judaic society, with devastating consequences for Jewish communities. The...
A Jewish mikveh ritual bath from Syracuse, Sicily (not the ritual bath reported in this article). Source: Zde / Adobe Stock.

Sacred Jewish Ritual Bath Found Under Seedy Strip Club in Poland

The basement of a former strip club in the historic area of Lesser Poland, purchased 15 years ago, has accidentally revealed a historic Jewish site - a mikveh or Jewish ritual purification bath...
Auto de Fe in the Plaza Mayor, an oil painting from 1683 by Francisco Rizi. The painting depicts the ritual public penance carried out by heretics and apostates during the Spanish Inquisition. Source: Public domain

The Spanish Inquisition: The Truth behind the Dark Legend (Part I)

One of the most controversial organizations in history, the Spanish Inquisition has been poorly understood by the general public. This period of religious persecution, which took place between 1478...
Remains of 17 People Were Ashkenazi Jews, Victims of Medieval Antisemitism

Remains of 17 People Were Ashkenazi Jews, Victims of Medieval Antisemitism

Ashkenazi Jews, who migrated into Holy Roman Empire territories around the 1st millennium AD, also settled in parts of England but how they were treated is less understood. Now, genome analysis of...
Ancient Oil Lamp Find Sheds Light on Middle Eastern History

Ancient Oil Lamp Find Sheds Light on Middle Eastern History

Archaeologists from Israel’s Antiquities Authority have announced an intriguing new discovery . In the city of Beit Shemesh, just 22 kilometers (14 miles) west of Jerusalem in Israel , they unearthed...
Detail of ‘Ashkenazi Jews praying in the Synagogue on Yom Kippur. (1878 painting by Maurycy Gottlieb)

Where are Ashkenazi Jews from? Their Origins May Surprise You

Ashkenazi Jews are a Jewish ethnic group who have their earliest ancestors from the indigenous tribes of Israel…at least on one side of the family tree. A study published in 2013 in Nature...
Missing Stone Inscription Holds Key to Almazán Skeletons Enigma

Missing Stone Inscription Holds Key to Almazán Skeletons Enigma

Archaeologists in Almazán Spain are boxed into a corner with a double-edged mystery in which a missing carved stone holds the answer to why eleven bodies were buried beneath a massive medieval...
The magi or three kings who followed the Star of Bethlehem to find the new-born Jesus. Source: Pawel Horazy / Adobe Stock

Did Augustus' Royal Coins Lead the Magi from Parthia to Bethlehem?

One of the great mysteries of the New Testament is the Star of Bethlehem and the magi (the three kings or wise men) who “followed” the star to pay their respects to the newborn Jesus . Most...
The Sefer Torah, or Toral scroll, is a handwritten copy of the Torah Pentateuch, used for ritual Torah readings, known as parashah. Source: pamela_d_mcadams / Adobe Stock

The Torah: Its History, Use, and Continued Purpose

The name of the Torah has a complicated history. It has been thought to mean a multitude of things including “instruction”, “law”, and “teaching”. The Torah is often misunderstood to represent the...
Golem of Prague and Rabbi Loew

Golem: A Legendary Clay Beast Created to Protect Jewish People

The gothic horror novel, Frankenstein , is one of the most well-known stories in which man tries to play god by attempting to manufacture a living being. A similar story, that of the golem, exists in...
The Fall of Babylon

The Monumental Fall of Babylon: What Really Shattered the Empire?

The fall of Babylon is a historical event that occurred in 539 BC. This event saw the conquest of Babylon by the Achaemenid Empire under Cyrus the Great and marked the end of the Neo-Babylonian...
Sarcophagus of Canaanites, now at Israel Museum   Source: Davidbena / CC BY-SA 4.0

Canaanite Genomes Reveal Truth About Their Descendants

The people who lived in the area known as the Southern Levant - which is now recognized as Israel, the Palestinian Authority, Jordan, Lebanon, and parts of Syria - during the Bronze Age (circa 3500-...
egypt, tomb, deir-el-medina, hieroglyphs, isis, horus, osiris, divinities, antique, culture (free photo)

Hieroglyphics Deciphering The Origin Of The One God

It is not possible to genetically identify any person living or past as a Jew. Gerald Massey, a Victorian self-taught Egyptologist, researcher and author, explained it thus: “To follow the Jews as...
Bar-Kokhba Rebellion coin inscribed with the words "Return to Israel" with a cluster of grapes in the center. Source: (Koby Harati/City of David/Israel Antiquities Authority)

Ancient Coin of Jewish Bar-Kokhba Rebellion Against Rome Unearthed

In Jerusalem, archaeologists have unearthed a very rare find. They have revealed a coin that was issued by Jewish rebels against Roman rule from the 2 nd century AD. It was minted by the last Jewish...
Depiction of the Captivity of Judah.   Source: The Providence Lithograph Company / Public domain

The End of Ancient Judaism: The Captivity

The twelve tribes of ancient Judaism were united into a single kingdom under the reigns of Saul, David, and Solomon. The destruction of this kingdom and the forced exile of its population is known as...
Morning Prayers

The Essenes: The Mystery Holy Men Behind the Dead Sea Scrolls?

The Essenes were a Jewish sect that flourished around the end of the Second Temple Period, i.e. between the 2nd century BC and the 1st century AD. The main source of information regarding this...
Herod the Great as depicted in a painting in the Chapel of Madonna and Child. Photo source: Jbribeiro1 / CC BY-SA 4.0.

Herod the Great: A Biblical Tyrant But An Able Protector of Judaea

Herod the Great was a Roman client king of Judaea (known also as the Herodian kingdom) who lived during the 1st century BC. He was also the founder of the Herodian dynasty, whose members, like Herod...
Jewel made of gold and silver found at Mt Zion. Credit: Mt Zion Archaeological Expedition/Virginia Withers

2,500-Year-Old Smashed Jewel Found at Site of Babylonian Destruction of Jerusalem

Archaeologists working at Mount Zion in Jerusalem have unearthed a rare, gold and silver jewel and a Scythian arrowhead in a layer of ash that dates to the Babylonian destruction of the city (587 BC...
A mysterious secret garden.

The Secrets of the Kabbalists Garden

Does a hidden garden hold the encoded secrets of the Kabbalists? Hidden away in a cul-de-sac at the base of the towering medieval walls of Girona, Catalonia, Spain, is a tranquil garden. A statue of...
The Burning of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar’s Army (1630-1660)

By the Rivers of Babylon: Life in Ancient Babylon’s Thriving Jewish Community

In the 6th-century BC, the armies of Babylon destroyed Jerusalem and the Kingdom of Judah. They tore down the city walls, burned the temples, and ran down every person who tried to escape. The few...
Picture of the Inner Court of Tabernacle of Moses with the Ark of Covenant (unknown illustrator)

Can the Bible, Bones and Bronze Age Jugs Finally Pinpoint the Tabernacle that Housed the Ark of the Covenant?

Separate archaeological teams working at the vast ancient site of Shiloh city on the West Bank are confident they have made finds consistent with the area being the location of an ancient tabernacle...
A Jewish prayer shawl adorned with ritual tassels that contain tekhelet-dyed threads.

Piece of Ancient Fabric Revealed True Source of Biblical Blue Dye Lost for 1,300 Years

An ancient blue dye, known as tekhelet, once adorned the precious robes of kings, priests, and high-ranking Jews. But around two millennia ago, this highly-valued commodity became lost to the pages...
A photo of a troglodyte cave house in Gharyan, Libya.

Want a Unique Underground Experience? Live Like a Modern Troglodyte at a Libyan Cave House Hotel

Troglodyte (which means ‘cave dweller’) cave houses are a type of dwelling that may be found in certain parts of the world. In Libya, this unique type of house can be found in the Jabal Nasufah (...
Archaeologists to Explore Mysterious Underground Structure at the Desert Fortress of Masada

Archaeologists to Explore Mysterious Underground Structure at the Desert Fortress of Masada

A team of archaeologists from Tel Aviv University have returned to Masada in Israel, after a 11-year hiatus, in order to excavate previously unexplored areas of the desert mountain fortress,...

Pages