Memori Mento-- Please Remember Me; Part One

Museums are fascinating places for those who love history, and know what they are looking at! This post begins our tour of statuary, grave art, and stone inscriptions of relevance to NT studies which are found in the Istanbul Archaeological Museum.

The first item which is of direct relevance to understanding the NT is the small altar from Palmyra with the inscription to the "nameless (and thus unknown) god". Scholars used to debate at length whether the reference in Acts 17 to altars for unknown gods was historically accurate, but they seldom do so any more not only because of finding altars like this one, but also because of the now considerable inscriptional evidence as well. Ancient pagans liked to have all their bases covered, since they were polytheists and were not sure on any given day who was blessing them and who was blighting them. Better to have a catchall altar to any gods they had not named just to be sure everyone was properly honored. The next two pictures take us to the actual temple in Jerusalem, and the famous inscription warning Gentiles to keep out of the inner sanctums of that temple. Yes, this inscription stone now resides in Istanbul, thanks to the Ottomans or even earlier Moslems who carted it off at some juncture.

Below that is the famous Siloam inscription also from Jersalem and its famous tunnel dating back to the eight century B.C. You can just see the Hebrew in the middle of the stone, and the translation is hopefully readable in the following picture.
















Graeco-Roman statuary and grave art were of course the main means of keeping the memory of a deceased person from slipping into oblivion. It also teaches us a great deal about the values, styles, and afterlife beliefs of the ancients. Few places in the world have a better collection of Graeco-Roman grave art and statuary than the Istanbul Archaeological Museum, in which a person like myself could get lost for days.

In this part of your tour of that famous museum we will concentrate on certain samples from the inter-testamental and NT period. Let us start with busts and statues.

In some cases all we have left is the head of a huge statue, such as the huge head of this high status woman. No one was likely to forget her. You will notice that almost all the statuary was done in marble, though sometimes it would be done in bronze (see the next post).

We are fortunate to have a full statue of an ephebe, a young boy in his toga and cape, showing appropriate deference (or indifference?) to the sculptor. To his right is a bust of the young Alexander the Great, nearly always depicted with hs head inclined a bit to the right.

The Romans tended to prefer more realistic portraiture, the Greeks more idealistic portraiture, with the result that we have a bit clearer picture of what ancient Romans looked like than ancient Greeks. At the top eschelons of society one finds many busts of women, almost as many as that of men. Here above is a nice example of a bust of a patrician woman, with prominent Roman nose. One of the things you learn a great deal about from such statues is women's hairstyles of the period, which is of direct relevance to the discussion of a text like 1 Tim. 2.8-15 where Paul critiques women who wear their hair piled up on their head with jewels woven into it. One can well imagine the effect of such a hairdo, if not covered by a head-covering, in a small room at night full of lamps. The woman's coiffure would have been a constant distraction, having the effect of an ancient disco-ball glinting in the lights. This is why Paul insists on women, especially high status women keeping their heads covered, as only God's glory, not human glory was supposed to show up in Christian worship, and a woman's hair was viewed then (and often now) as her own, or if married her husband's glory.

Ephesos and the Artemesion

There is a special exhibit at the Istanbul Archaeological Museum on the Temple and cult of Artemis in Ephesos (Ephesus), or the Artemsion. You will see a scale model on the left here of this temple and its precincts, which of course is mentioned at length in the book of Acts. Temples served many purposes in antiquity, besides the obvious religious ones of providing priests and opportunities for sacrifices. They were also centers of scribal activity and education, and furthermore they were banks (remember the phrase Temple treasury). The wealthy and socially elite would sometimes keep their valuables there, and often their most precious documents, such as wills (e.g. in Rome the Vestal Virgins guarded not only the eternal flame of Roma, but also the wills of many well to do Romans).

Artemis or Diana was the goddess of many things, including the hunt, but by NT times she was I suppose primarily the goddess of fertility and one who was believed to help
women when they had problems with infertility. Scholars debate the significance of all the orbs on the chest of the statue of Artemis, specifically whether they are a multitude of breasts or eggs, but either way these are emblems of fertility.

You will notice below the inside model of the silver statue of Artemis which was said to be huge in the central hall of the temple. Of course the temple precincts were considered sacrosanct, and inviolable which is why people kept money and valuable things there.

Since money, at least in the form of gold coins, seems to have originated in the region of Lydia, it is entirely appropriate that there is a display talking about the rise of the use of money, in connection with the temple of Artemis. The picture on the left below shows all that is left of the temple of Artemis today--- a single standing column in a mosquito swamp! In Paul's day however is was a vital center of the city, and it brought trade, tourists, and of course business to the city. Anyone who threatened the ongoing function of the temple was threatening more than just the cities dominant religious opinions. He or she would also be threatening the economy, the money trade, the will business, the educational operations of the town, and so on. There was a lot of trickle down effect, and the true consequences of a vast adoption of monotheism would have been devastating to this town. The silversmiths were not over-reacting to the message of Paul about idols.

I have included in this post two of the stone monuments which are genuine from Ephesos and they attest to several things. First of all, the family stele seems to indicate that this family did business under the auspices of the Emperor and his cult in this town (notice the temple cornice with the eagle in the center). It is especially interesting that the Emperor cult emblem is higher on the stele then the circular emblem of Artemis. This is very interesting indeed and bespeaks the changing landscape of what was the dominant pagan religion in the first century. It needs to be kept in mind that Ephesos had suffered from its harbor silting up a great deal by the mid-first century, and so trade based in the temple and patronage connected to religion became all the more crucial as seaport trade faded, as the silting up could not be stopped.

The second of the stone monuments shows a gladiator. Now this is a very telling monument, because gladiatorial games were Roman games. They were no part of the original Greek games, as they were deemed by the more refined Greeks as too bloodthirsty in character, and not in accord with Greek family values. But by the time Paul got to Ephesos, most great cities in the Empire were actually activiely seeking imperial patronage, and what came with it--- more games, including gladiatorial ones, and more temples, including the Emperor cult. The barter economy was fading and the money economy was growing and the pagan golden rule was becoming increasingly 'the rule'-- that is, whoever has the gold, makes the rules. Into this high powered environment Paul came and sought to change the social and religious landscape, 'turning the world upside down' and for over 2 years he made a considerable impact whilst dwelling in this town, befriending its socially elite persons (including the Asiarchs), renting its lecture hall, exorcising its unclean spirits and mediums, and in general creating spiritual and economic mayhem of various sorts.

Get Smarter--- 'Missed it by That Much'

I must confess a guilty please. I used to enjoy the old Get Smart TV spy spoof. I even like the cartoon remake called 'Inspector Gadget' which I watched with my children. I was hoping for some more low camp humor and general slapstick fun, in a summer season of otherwise rather droll or abysmal fare. And, I suppose, be careful what you wish for, because I got it-- to an extent. And furthermore, I love Alan Arkin, Terrence Stamp, and Steve Carrell is fun, and then there is Anne Hathaway whose name suggests she belongs in Shakespeare, not slapstick. So, why am I not entirely amused? Well first the plot Synopsis from Warner---

"Maxwell Smart (Steve Carell) is on a mission to thwart the latest plot for world domination by the evil crime syndicate known as KAOS. When the headquarters of U.S. spy agency Control is attacked and the identities of its agents compromised, the Chief (Alan Arkin) has no choice but to promote his ever-eager analyst Maxwell Smart, who has always dreamt of working in the field alongside stalwart superstar Agent 23 (Dwayne Johnson). Smart is partnered instead with the lovely-but-lethal veteran Agent 99 (Anne Hathaway). Given little field experience and even less time, Smart-armed with nothing but a few spy-tech gadgets and his unbridled enthusiasm-must thwart the doomsday plans of KAOS head Siegfried (Terence Stamp)." --© Warner Bros.


This movie is PG-13 because of a good deal of sexual humor, sometimes hardly covert (unlike the original show for the most part), and there is the usual quotient of violence. The film only lasts 1 hour 50 minutes, and is filmed in visually enjoyable locales such as L.A., D.C. and Moscow (and perhaps elsewhere in Russia also). I suppose any film that has Mel Brooks as a consultant will be required to have a lot of physical and visual humor, and I suppose as well that since the original Get Smart was in some ways a spoof of a spoof (namely of Peter Seller's Pink Panther films), we should not expect plot consistency, great wit, and characters noted for their bon vivant. And we don't get them either. O.K. we do have a fun cameo with Bill Murray as an agent hiding in a tree next to the reflection pool in Washington.

But let us say what was fun about this light, and light weight summer fare. First of all, I like Steve Carrell, he is capable of being quite funny, and to his credit though he uses some of Don Adams famous lines ('Would you believe....' and 'Missed it by that much') he does not attempt to imitate the voice pattern or intonation of Adams, which would have seemed very contrived and forced. Secondly, I also like Anne Hathaway, she puts the hot back in 99, as in agent 99 and Fahrenheit 99.

The problem is, alas, that the plot is so thin and threadbare that between the set piece humor situations, the movie as a movie is not moving, or even plausible. One of the best scenes is the dance scene in Russia, with certain hilarious and implausible moves, and the scene with the agents dodging the lasers is pretty hilarious as well as is the scene with the miniature cross bow. But in some cases the sight gags and pratfalls sadly just fall flat. A few of the zingers of Carrell do work, but most of them are too predictable. I did enjoy seeing one of the gargantuan Bond characters once more in a film, making even Lurch look little. And there is something a bit odd about this remake, namely Maxwell Smart doesn't just get lucky, he is actually pretty smart in places in this film. This can only be called 'out of character' or Maxwell Smart gets a makeover.

The problem with a movie that tries to redo a beloved earlier fictional character is that of course comparisons will be made, and what was once innovative, on rewind becomes innocuous. And one has to say that there is probably too much sexual humor and innuendo to make this a truly wholesome family film. I am not surprised that the reviews thus far have been split right down the middle between thumbs up and thumbs down. The movie has the right components and participants to be a funny movie, but it needed a decidedly better script. In the end weighing the pros and cons, I must say in the words of Max--- "Sorry chief, missed it by that much." But I also have to say "Would you believe this movie is better than most that have come out in the last 45 days, except Iron Man, and to a lesser extent Prince Caspian (and an even lesser extent Indiana Jones)". Maybe Wall-E will intervene and restore order to the comedic celluloid universe. Lord knows the Incredible Bulk, err Hulk doing his mean green giant thing didn't do it.

Visiting the Land Down Under=Oz

The first stop on my world circling bone-wearying tour was Australia, to do a conference at Morling colleague and to give a lecture on Oral Texts at MacQuarrie University, which certainly has one of the leading Ancient History Departments in the world, when it comes to the study of early Christianity in its original social setting. Whilst there I had some time with my friends Edwin Judge and Alanna Nobbs and Chris Forbes, and made a new friend, Don Barker, who kindly gave me the tour of the papyrology and ancient artifacts museum. Contained in this museum are many things of importance for Biblical and Christian studies, but this post is devoted to some of the papyri Do showed me and let me take pictures of.

Let me explain what you are looking. Firstly, the picture is of myself Edwin Judge, whom we were honoring on the occasion of this conference. Clearly he is one of the major figures in the reorientation in the way we view the social level, life, and status of early Christians (see the recent collection of his crucial essays edited by my old mentor David Scholer). Beside Edwin is Alanna Nobbs a central figure in the History department at Macquarrie and finally there is Larry Welborn who has just been added to the faculty there half time, and will continue at Fordham half time. When you add Steve Llewellyn, Chris Forbes, Don Barker and others you have the best department there is in the world when it comes to early Christian history. One of the specialities is the cataloguing and publishing and translating and analyzing of ancient papyri relevant to the NT period, which of course includes some Christian ones, some NT ones, and some Greco-Roman ones. I have included pictures of all of these sorts in this post.

What you see is the blow up image under the microscope of one of the early Christian papyri, here focusing on the nomina sacra, the abbreviated sacred name, in this case the abbreviation for Christ. Note the line over it as well indicating abbreviation of the sacred name. The next two pictures are of their famous Acts 8 fragment, and I am sorry they are not of better caliber but it is hard to shoot through glass, and especially at an angle. Then we have a lead curse tablet which roles up, by which it was believed you could zap your foes. Next to this is a practice tablet, where someone is learning to write Greek, and perhaps doodling as well. Below this is a letter fragment and you can see how delicate it is, and how it must be carefully handled. The last picture is a Christian papyri with an image of a demon on it, no less!

There is much more of interest in this little museum at MacQuarrie, and I wish to thank all my friends there for a splendid time indeed. Australian hospitality is justly famous-- Good on you mates :)

The Spectacular Kultepe Excavations

Approximately 15 miles north of Kayseri in south central Turkey are the now famous Kultepe-Kanish Excavations, which are of direct relevance to OT studies, as this site provides us with a clear link between the Assyrians and the Hittites. This site is a rather rare one in Turkey, in that excavations have gone on for almost sixty years now with some remarkable results. I have here two pictures give you an aerial view of the tumulus mound that has been being excavated all these years-- a tumulus like a tel, is an artificial hill, man-made in nature forming a city site or a burial site or both.


Some 300 meters of the city walls have been unearthed from this city, and the goal is to unearth all 2,000 meters of them! If you Google Kultepe Excavations you will find the full story in the Turkish Daily News May 26th edition (which thankfully is entirely in English) and another excellent story in the Turkish Airline publication.

One of the most significant finds is of course the cuneiform tablets, some 20,000 of them (!) which appear to be the oldest written documents ever found in Turkey, some dating possibly as early as 2,000 B.C. (see picture above). What links these older cuneiform tablets with the later Hittite finds is that there is a gold god Hittite statue found there, the same god that appears in the much earlier tablets. This, among other things has led the archaeologists digging this site to suggest that Hittite civilization was just the continuation of the Assyrian civilization.

Here you see some of the drinking vessels and lamps that have been uncovered from the site, showing the level of artisanship in the city. Also present is a picture of a Hittite warrior with moustache. The boat at the top of this post may well be the Hittite version of the Noah's ark boat, since their capital was near Ararat, and the story existed in various forms throughout the ANE (cf. Enuma Elish, and the story of Utnapishtum).

Finally I have included some jewelry pictures as well, demonstrating the wealth of this city. These are the kinds of finds which Biblical scholars need to study closely and learn more about, if they hope to assess the relationship between the Israelites, the Hittites, and the Assyrians.

Exploring Erythrai

Set on a hill overlooking the beautiful Aegean is the ancient city of Erythrai. It is not on anybody's tour itinerary, because it has hardly been excavated. Some of it simply sticks out of a farmer's plot of eggplants. The theater still has various steps intact and a tremendous view from the top (see the picture of me and my good friend Levent sitting on the top row of theater seats. Yes that's me wearing a Turkish football jersey, for Levent's favorite soccer team Fenerbache. The colors are the same however for the Carolina Panthers :).

As the Turkish sign tells us, this city was an important Greek city at one juncture, and the famous traveler Pausanias (see his famous work Descriptions of Greece etc.) visited it and commented on its splendor overlooking the sea. To judge by the size of the theater, the population of this town was probably about 15,000 or so at one juncture in antiquity. Like so many other Classical and Biblical sites in Turkey, the sheer cost of excavating all such promising sites and maintaining them has made it impossible for all such sites to be dug. Notice the beautiful keystone arch from the theater just lying on the ground untouched. Notice also the purple thistle and the poppies-- the former being the bane of the archaeologist's existence with its serious prickers.

In my estimation, having now traversed from the eastern to the western end of Turkey, I would reckon there are perhaps 100 times as many important unexcavated sites of Biblical and classical importance in Turkey in comparison to Israel. In part the fault lies with NT scholars who have done nowhere near the amount of spade work as OT scholars in unearthing our past. NT archaeology continues to be the step child of OT archaeology unfortunately, and it is a pity since there are so many more NT sites of interest that we have yet to assess. Here is a city from the Ionian League just sticking out of the ground and begging to be unearthed. But alas, while the harvest is vast and plentiful the workers and funds are few.