Like Alex in Everything Is Illuminated, I didn't always appreciate history. Perhaps unlike Alex, though, I always craved meaning and purpose. In time I came to appreciate the fact that with a greater apprehension of history comes a deeper sense of meaning and a clearer sense of purpose.Ergo, museums draw me. And of course there are no museums like the Smithsonian complex in Washington D. C. After our jaw-dropping tour of the In The Beginning exhibit at the Sackler Gallery (see previous post), Rachel and I tried to take in as many of the Smithsonian galleries as we possibly could. Having once collected butterflies, I quite enjoyed the insect gallery at the Museum of Natural History. I found the ornithology display rather Hitchcockian, but appreciated it nonetheless. It's always a pleasure to see a T-Rex of course, along with various fossil R.O.U.S's.
Having read Spindler's Man in the Ice, I found the display dedicated to that 5,300-year-old Neolithic hunter a wonderful shrine to the mystery of his life and death. I was also intrigued by a nearby display of a man of antiquity "taming a goat." I had no idea that taming a goat took so long, but the gentleman in the display obviously would not give up!
Because of my work, I'm most interested in the Ancient Near East exhibits. Mummified cats don't have much to do with my areas of specialty, but cats have never gotten over their deification in antiquity, have they? The attitude that "humans are just household staff/furniture" shows right through the sarcophagus of this specimen. I know a couple of his/her descendants who have definitely inherited the regal disdain for mere humans; they let me know by leaving a "present" on top of my suitcase.
Also, though I don't know much about Egyptian heiroglyphics, I recognize a rock star swinging a mic stand when I see one:
Okay, I'll get serious. My interest in artifacts of the ANE and of the Mediterranean world has to do with their potential to illuminate biblical texts.
Cistophoros (or cistophorus, cistophor), a silver coin first issued in the Kingdom of Pergamon (Pergamum) in the 2nd Century B.C., meaning "chest bearer", relating to the cista mystica, the serpent-entwined chest or basket of the Dionysian Mysteries, that originally appeared on it. It was a type of tetradrachm worth 3 denarii in Roman times.For example, this tedrachm from Pergamum (Pergamos) features the Aescuplapian serpents worshipped in that city. Pergamum worshipped the serpent in connection with Dionysias (Bacchus), as a fertility symbol and a god of healing. (Hislop claims that serpent worship was brought to Pergamum from Babylon in the time of Darius.) Since Pergamum was the capital of the region (and cultural center) until AD 133, it may have been this serpent worship that prompted Christ's words to the Pergamum Christians (in Revelation 2.13): "I know where you live -- where Satan has his throne."
Speaking of Babylon, I was excited to see this pottery sculpture of a Babylonian man in the Smithsonian's ANE display:
Notice the conical crown and hat-like brim of the turban, the shoulder length hair and trimmed beard, the necklace and pendant, and full-length robe. It's because of artifacts like these that we can visualize how people of the Arabian peninsula looked in the time of Daniel and Nebuchadnezzar!
I know that it's fashionable among Darwinists and other skeptics Bible these days, but this much is certain: unlike more recently originated "holy books," the Bible, Old Testament and New, originated in a real cultural and historical matrix.
The Smithsonian even displays a signet ring attributed to "Jotham, son the Judaean king Uzziah, who 'built Elath and restored it to Judah.'" (2Chron 26.2). The ring was "found in the third level of Tell el-Kheleifeh...The inscription reads 'belonging to Jotham.'...The seal indicates Jotham's function as an official of Elath, whose approval was needed on various economic transactions."
The Bible is not a book of fairy tales that occurred in a remote but unspecified time (long, long ago) in a mythical place (far, far away). It is primarily a history book, anchored by specific names, dates and cultural allusions to well known geographical and historical settings. Anyone can verify this by spending a day at the museum. Whether or not one accepts the supernatural elements in the biblical stories, the Bible's authors intended it to be read as a report of historical events.
Speaking of Babylon, I was excited to see this pottery sculpture of a Babylonian man in the Smithsonian's ANE display:
Notice the conical crown and hat-like brim of the turban, the shoulder length hair and trimmed beard, the necklace and pendant, and full-length robe. It's because of artifacts like these that we can visualize how people of the Arabian peninsula looked in the time of Daniel and Nebuchadnezzar!I know that it's fashionable among Darwinists and other skeptics Bible these days, but this much is certain: unlike more recently originated "holy books," the Bible, Old Testament and New, originated in a real cultural and historical matrix.
The Smithsonian even displays a signet ring attributed to "Jotham, son the Judaean king Uzziah, who 'built Elath and restored it to Judah.'" (2Chron 26.2). The ring was "found in the third level of Tell el-Kheleifeh...The inscription reads 'belonging to Jotham.'...The seal indicates Jotham's function as an official of Elath, whose approval was needed on various economic transactions."The Bible is not a book of fairy tales that occurred in a remote but unspecified time (long, long ago) in a mythical place (far, far away). It is primarily a history book, anchored by specific names, dates and cultural allusions to well known geographical and historical settings. Anyone can verify this by spending a day at the museum. Whether or not one accepts the supernatural elements in the biblical stories, the Bible's authors intended it to be read as a report of historical events.
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