Shechem

The basis of the Legend about Joseph the Beautiful was taken from the life story of Prophet Joseph, narrated in Torah (Genesis, 37-50) and the 12th surah (chapter) of Holy Qur`an. There is given all Joseph’s life in the Torah – from birth to his death. And, in Qur’an unlike stories of other Prophets, the details of which are scattered throughout the Holy Qur`an, the history of Prophet Joseph was revealed completely in one surah.
This article explores the location of the tomb of the Prophet Joseph based on the Sacred Books, as well as scientific and religious literature. The study shows that the location of the Prophet Joseph`s tomb is still controversial. Muslims believe that the tomb of the Prophet Joseph is located about 35 km south of Jerusalem, the Cave of the Patriarchs (also called the Cave of Machpelah), placed in the ancient city of Hebron. Jews, as well as some Christian scholars,  claim that the Prophet Joseph`s tomb is located in a grave on the outskirts of the city of Nablus on the West Bank, 300 meters northwest of Jacob`s Well. Neither Jewish, Christian, nor Islamic sources until the 5th century have information about the existence of this grave, although the tomb has been revered by Jews, Samaritans, Christians, and Muslims for centuries. Many archaeologists believe that a Muslim saint named Yusuf Al-Duveykat is buried in this tomb, and the burial is not so ancient. Hassan Al-Shaqa, the mayor of Nablus stated the need to conduct an international inquiry into the presence of bones in the grave. And if the discovered bones belong to the Prophet Joseph, this place will be considered burial place attributed to Biblical personality, and the Jews will have the full legal right to visit this tomb. In 2009-2010 the tomb was refurbished, a new cupola installed, and visits by Jewish pilgrims have resumed. Currently, groups of Jewish worshippers are regularly delivered to the tomb of Joseph by agreement with the Israel Defense Forces.

This paper discusses the Middle Bronze IIC compound at Tel Shechem/Tell Balatah. First, it discusses Wall A (the Cyclopean Wall) and presents new data supporting the view that it was a core-wall incorporated in the earthen fills of the compound and not a massive fortification wall. Second, it discusses the character of the compound, arguing that it was an unfortified, sacred compound centered on the Tower Temple. Published in Israel Exploration Journal 69, 2019, pp. 1-19.

Three previously untranslated Philistine (Sea Peoples) texts are translated in the empire language of Alphabetic Akkadian/Aramaic. Their script style is in the Minoan lineage which began with the Phaistos Disk and continued on with Linear A. Unlike those texts these texts are now fully alphabetic meaning their inner word signs are consonants followed by arbitrary vowel sounds. These are the earliest readable linear texts of the Iron Age so far discovered. The texts are from Qubur al-Walaydah, Gath (Tel es-Safi), and Izbet Sartah. They all deal with religion indicating that local Pagan temples were responsible for maintaining alphabetic literacy through the dark age of the Bronze Age economic collapse. Izbet Sarteh is discussing the reasons for a local drought around the time Shechem and Shiloh were destroyed suggesting a drought was the root cause of that conflict.

Our proposal is to present elements that allow us to discuss the organization of the sacred space of the city Flavia Neapolis. We developed our reflection from the dialogue between the perspective of Landscape Archeology and the current debates on urbanization in the ancient world and we also consider monetary iconology. The main focus of our approach is to analyze the fluid relationships between Mount Gerizim as a sacred space (from the Samaritan temple to the temple dedicated to Zeus-Hypsistos) and the nature of Flavia Neapolis as a Roman city.

It is a cross-generational record of native stories of people living around the historical site of Tell Balata, identified with ancient Shikmu, Shechem in Palestine. This oral history project was undertaken by a Palestinian-Dutch team under supervision of M. van der Dries and S. van der Linde, within the framework of the Tell Balata Archeological Park Project, directed by H. Taha and G. van der Kooij.

The purpose of this article is to present the revolt that took place in Canaan under the leadership of Lab'ayu, ruler of Shechem, shortly before the emergence of Israel, which had the adhesion of several city-states of that region. The study will be done by analyzing the letters found at Tell el-Amarna and sent to Pharaoh by Lab'ayu (EA 252-254) by Tagi, ruler of Ginti-Kirmil (EA 264-266), and by Mut-Ba'lu, ruler of Pella (EA 255-256). It is noted in these letters that the territory conquered by the Lab'ayu revolt is similar to what King Saul, the first monarch of Israel, occupied a few centuries later.

This book examines various cultic dramatizations of the history of salvation. It illustrates the existence in ancient Israel of liturgical functions such as the Exodus Drama, the Procession from Succoth to Shechem, the Procession from Shittim to Gilgal and the ritual of Land-giving. The book also attempt to assemble the information obtained in the various sections in a historical survey of how cultic drama and the sacred narrative of salvation were related. It provides a new insight into fundamental problems that affect the whole of Old Testament studies: the relationship between various literary traditions and the influence of the cult on the growth of the history of salvation. The historical survey of this cultic drama permits us at the same time to outline some new theories regarding the deuteronomic schools. The general line of development which is sketched on the concluding pages provides a constructive hypothesis on which the inter-relationship of the various deuteronomic traditions should be further examined.

"The book examines biblical narratives describing the origins of holy places other than Jerusalem. The accounts are examined with three main questions in mind: 1. are there any common features in biblical accounts about the foundations of places of worship; 2. are there any particular elements in the aetiological stories that can show anything about the 'real' mythology and/or rituals of the sanctuary; and 3. what were the circumstances of the creation of such narratives?

The answer for the first question is positive, i.e., the stories of the origins of holy places contain the elements relevant to local cult and rituals, e.g.: the grave, altar, sacrifice practice, tree, etc. Answering the second question revealed possible reconstructions of a few cult practices (e.g.: in Beer-Sheba, Hebron and Shechem). The third question, about the possible dates of the narratives, provided some new insights. The assumption was made that the stories of the origins of holy places could have been created only when the sanctuary existed. If so, the archaeological data point to the 10th - 9th century BCE and the 3rd -2nd century BCE as possible points of origin. Such possibilities incline the author to advance the hypothesis of Hellenistic origins or redaction of most of the examined aetiological narratives."

El propósito de este artículo es reconstruir la historia del intento fracasado de crear una escuela catalana de arqueología oriental con sede en Atenas. Dicho proyecto fue ideado y financiado por Francesc Cambó en 1928, y contaba con la colaboración científica de Pere Bosch Gimpera y con el trabajo sobre el terreno de Josep Gibert i Buch. Entre sus principales resultados conviene destacar las excavaciones llevadas a cabo en Naxos y, sobre todo, en Siquem. Sin embargo, diversos problemas personales, económicos y políticos entre las personas implicadas en dicho proyecto provocaron que finalmente no se concretase.