Biblical Archaeology / Adventure Done Right.

Biblical Archaeology / Adventure

is about to get a MAJOR shot in the arm. A new "mini-series" has been filmed called "Walking the Bible" that I think is going to be incredible.

www.walkingthebibletv.com...

A gentleman named Bruce Feiler, archaeologist, author, historian and adventurer has turned his book, "Walking the Bible" into a 3 hour "mini series" that is going air on PBS this fall.

Bruce literally "walked the Bible" on foot, on a camel, in a row boat and in a Jeep. His 10,000 mile odyssey was documented on film by TCM Entertainment for PBS.

I wonder if he came accross any lost civilizations, any evidence that supports Biblical text?

The idea of actually walking through the lands of the Good Book while you read it fascinates me to no end. Imagine reading a passage that describes geographical marker where some huge event took place like Mt. Sinai while you are climbing Mt. Sinai, it would have to be near magical.

I wonder about the civilizations that were washed under as the Romans took hold of their empire and spread their legions accross the land conquering all who stood before them. Are there traces to be found of their history?

If so you'd think someone of Bruce Feiler's calibre could find it. I for one will be tuning in.

Springer...

[edit on 16-8-2005 by John bull 1]

[edit on 8-16-2005 by Springer]

Great stuff. He's of course not the first to walk the line, some guy with a straw hat did it in about /86 (Doc on PBS) and couldn't find a thing, and I felt then was skepical about the First Testament.

Then a few years later someone else dug below the surface to find burnt out skulls and remnants of stone walls in the Sodom & Gamora scene area.

Sorry, names I can't help with but PBS no doubt has the series on record.

Dallas

I wonder if he came accross any lost civilizations, any evidence that supports Biblical text?

Maybe not him, but I've seen some inklings of other Biblical finds. I think they're trying to verify whether or not a couple of digs are Soddom and Gamora.... Personally, even though not a Christian, I've no doubt the cities did exist....I just differ on their likely method of destruction....

Ever delve into the historical record of the Ark of the Covenant? Now that's some fascinating stuff...even the Tabernacle ritual, etc.

Originally posted by Dallas

Great stuff. He's of course not the first to walk the line, some guy with a straw hat did it in about /86 (Doc on PBS) and couldn't find a thing, and I felt then was skepical about the First Testament.

Then a few years later someone else dug below the surface to find burnt out skulls and remnants of stone walls in the Sodom & Gamora scene area.

Sorry, names I can't help with but PBS no doubt has the series on record.

Dallas

It was done even earlier by another guy:

For a really good travelogue about traveling through the Holy Land and visiting the supposedly "holy sites", read "The Innocents Abroad" by Mark Twain. Hilarious and insightful.

Harte

Try "Return to Sodom and Gomorrah" by Charles Pellegrino. Way good.

I've seen a similar show where they retraced alexander's warpath from macedon into India. Not exactly easy these days, iran, central asia, pakistan, israel, egypt, iraq, etc etc.


Its really stunning to think that a person could do all that, back in his day, actually take control of that much land, with that many peoples, and hold it together for quite a while, whereas the US is having a hell of a time with just parts of iraq. The situation is different, but also the same. US Tanks have to deal with IEDs, but the macedonian Phalanx had Scythed Chariot attacks and rampaging war elephants to deal with, along with assasins and guerillas and all that 'good' stuff too. Shows why he's still called 'The Great', I'd think.

As far as biblical archaeology, the surprise is when there is something from the bible that can be confirmed, rather than the other way around. Our understanding of just what 'israel' was is frustratingly vague, especially in the earlier eras.

I do recall that there was a stele found in arabia, supposedly created by the Moabites, and it recorded a battle fought between them and the Israelites, which was an independant confirmation of an event in the bible (alas, the nomads who found it firecracked it to find out if there was gold it in and only a 'rubbing' was preserved. They figured it must have gold in it, supposedly, since europeans were very interested in it or somesuch).

Another time that somthing in the bible was able to be confirmed was when they found an hitherto secret unground carved tunnel from the days when the Assyrians assaulted Jerusalem, the tunnel is mentioned in the bible, the city's water supply was camoflagued and the tunnel made to transport water within the city walls.

There was also an ancient section of the city walls that was found (a tower infact) that had arrow heads at its foot, specifrically Babylonian arrowheads apparently, and this is thought to be from when the Babylonians attacked the city and carted off the population into the "Babylonian Exile".

There, however, lots of other questions. There's no evidence for the Exodus, for example, let alone a pharoah who went off to capture some escaped slaves (lead by a turncoat court official??) and never returned or anything like that, and I don't think that there is any evidence that the hebrews aren't 'native' to Israel either.

These are definitly intersting questions however, especially considering that the Semitic languages are thought to be related to the Elamite languages, and that that group is sometimes thought to be related to whatever was being spoken and written at Harrappa in india-pakistan. The more southerly 'tamil' languages of india are also thought to be descendants of that 'harrappa' language too. This all might indicate that there was a diffuse, but still 'cohesive' culture from the jordan to the indus (tho I wouldn't suggest that there was some ancient world spanning empire that has been forgotten).

Sodom and Gammorah? You Mean San Fransico and Las Vegas? We found them already.

Also, what journey? Already no there were no Hebrew Slaves, no mass Exodus, so all that is wrong.

Thanks for the heads up Springer
I look forward to watching the series.
I do remember though that there were a couple of short documentaries back in the 70's that said that they had done the same. Will do a search to see if I can find any info on them.