That the World May Know

Jerusalem was a fitting place for Jesus, the greatest king of all, to live out the final moments of his life.Jerusalem held deep cultural and religious significance for the Jewish people. Many of their great leaders, David, Solomon, Hezekiah, reig...

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Encyclopedia

Cistern of Masada

Cisterns Herod built to provide water during times of siege and to fill his luxurious swimming pools and supply his bathing complexes. The amount of water needed was staggering. There were several swimming pools on top of the desert mountain, wher...

Column Style and Fresco Panels on Masada

The photograph here displays a column style used by Herod on Masada. The columns were made of sandstone pieces that were plastered to look like fluted columns. When new, they probably looked like polished limestone or even marble. In the same plac...

Confronting Evil

The CityAncient Beth Shemesh guarded the Sorek Valley of Israel's Shephelah; a place where the pagans and the Israelites often interacted.Beth Shemesh stands in Israel's Shephelah;foothills lying between the coastal plain and Judea Mountains. Seve...

Confronting the Hellenism of Today

Confronting the Hellenism of Today "Man," said the Greek philosopher Protagoras (481-411 BC), "is the measure of all things of what is and what is not." This philosophy provided the foundation for Hellenism, which was devoted...

Crusades

Soldiers of the Cross? In November, 1095, Pope Urban II called upon all true Christians to free the Holy Land from so-called Muslim infidels. His speech sparked a period of violent conflict between Christian Europeans and the Muslims of the Middle...

Decapolis Area

Decapolis means "10 cities." Though the number of cities changed from time to time, the Decapolis was a group of independent city-states that were thoroughly pagan and Hellenistic. Veterans of Alexander the Great's army founded several o...

Dionysus Temple and Cult Center

Originally built in the third century before Christ, this small, beautiful temple was remodeled by the Romans. It was approached by a twenty-five-step stairway at the end of a 770-foot terrace. Here, people worshiped Dionysus, the fertility god of...

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Glossary

Copper Scroll Definition

One of the Dead Sea Scrolls, etched on copper, claiming to identify a great treasure that had been hidden before the Temple was destroyed.

Dead Sea Definition

An inland lake in the Great Rift Valley known as the Salt Sea; 50 miles long and 10 miles wide, the salt content is five times more concentrated than the ocean and is uninhabitable by marine life. The Essene community lived in the wilderness along...

Decapolis Definition

Ten Hellenistic cities established at the time of Alexander the Great east of the Sea of Galilee and north of Perea. Later, the Roman emperor Pompey organized the cities into a league named the Decapolis, largely populated by Roman army troops. In...

Defense Tower Definition

Scholars debate the importance of the large tower that once stood in Qumran because it was essentially a religious community of separatists who lived in a peaceful, almost monastic existence. The Essenes did, however, believe in the Messiah's immi...

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