Discover the Siege of Masada from the Roman Viewpoint in the July/August 2014 Issue of Biblical Archaeology Review

Online, June 11, 2014 (Newswire.com) - In the siege of Herod's desert fortress at Masada at the end of the First Jewish Revolt, the Romans waged both literal and psychological warfare to impress upon the Jewish rebels that their situation was hopeless. In "The Masada Siege—From the Roman Viewpoint," Gwyn Davies examines the archaeological remains of the Roman siege works, the most complete surviving siege system of the ancient world.

Israel Finkelstein's recent publication, The Forgotten Kingdom, traces the development of Israel's northern kingdom to an earlier time associated with the reign of King Saul. In "Divided Kingdom, United Critics," William G. Dever and Aaron Burke critically and independently review the
prize-winning work.

The Marriage of the Virgin by Flemish painter Robert Campin depicts the very dawn of Christianity, when it was separating from—and superseding—Judaism. In "Parsing 'The Parting' Painting," Theodore Feder explores what this 15th-century painting reveals about the parting of the ways between the Church and Synagogue.

More than 200 Biblical texts written in Hebrew were discovered among the Dead Sea Scrolls. How do these ancient Biblical texts compare with the Masoretic Text and the Greek Septuagint in scholars' search for the most authoritative text of the Hebrew Bible? Emanuel Tov examines this question in "Searching for the 'Original' Bible."

The Bible condemns infant sacrifice. Did it occur at Carthage? In "Infants Sacrificed? The Tale Teeth Tell," Patricia Smith presents evidence that seems to confirm that infant sacrifice was indeed practiced at Carthage. But this conclusion has not gone unchallenged.

Also visit online at www.biblicalarchaeology.org to read the latest archaeological data—fresh from the trenches—in Bible History Daily's Field Notes on the 2014 excavation season. Dig deeper into the archaeology at Masada in the brand-new BAS eBook Masada: The Dead Sea's Desert Fortress. Check out Bible History Daily for breaking news in Biblical archaeology, a collection of over 20 free eBooks and additional articles on key topics, including the Dead Sea Scrolls. For BAR digital issues, download our highly rated app for iPad, Android and Kindle Fire tablets. And let's not forget, the robust BAS Library features members-only access to every article ever published in BAR, to all footnoted articles in BAR Notables and to new Special Collections each month.

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