Thanks SJackson.
Posted on 10/16/2018 6:29:26 PM PDT by SJackson
Archaeologists now know whodunnit — the Hasmonean king Alexander Jannaeus — after uncovering a 2,000-year-old mass burial ground in the municipality’s backyard
Evidence of a mass slaying, including cruel beheadings, committed during the bloody reign of the Hasmonean king Alexander Jannaeus (103-76 BCE) was recently uncovered in a courtyard next to the Jerusalem municipality during excavations of an ancient water cistern.
“We removed from the pit more than 20 neck vertebrae which were cut by a sword,” said Dr. Yossi Nagar, an anthropologist at the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA). “We discovered in the pit, bodies and body parts of infants and adult individuals, women and men, who were probably victims of a brutal slaughter.”
Embryonic bones discovered in the excavation indicate that among victims were even pregnant women.
IAA archaeologists Kfir Arbiv, Nagar and Tehillah Lieberman presented their gruesome discovery on Thursday in a talk called, “The Riddle Behind a Mass Burial in the Russian Compound.”
As the son of John Hyrcanus, Alexander Jannaeus, known in Hebrew as Alexander Yannai, also served as the High Priest of the Second Temple during his 27-year reign. The era of the “holy man” was marked by court intrigue and seemingly endless war campaigns in which he conquered — and lost — swaths of territory.
It was a time of violent power struggles between the Jewish Sadducees and Pharisees, which led to a six-year Judaean Civil War that, according to historical sources such as the Pharisaic historian Josephus, left some 50,000 Jews dead. During the war, the Judaeans engineered a failed intervention by the Seleucid king, which, while eventually uniting the Jewish people against a common enemy, backfired mightily against those who had enlisted him.
(Excerpt) Read more at timesofisrael.com ...
Humans have a pretty violent track record.
The Russians again!
Yes, but some of us have attempted to improve ourselves; and that has had a generally benign overall and cumulative effect.
I agree.
Read up on Babi-Yar.
Very important backdrop for understanding the New Testament Gospels.
Yes, kind of sad how quickly the Hasmonean kingdom went downhill after Hyrcanus. AJ in particular was a real piece of work.
You are correct, of course, to point out that massacres are not restricted to long ago history. They are still happening in the 21st century. I do believe we have made progress as human beings, but it is often 2 steps forward 1 step back. Sometimes it's more than 1 step back. This is why, in my opinion, intellectual advancement (e.g. advanced technologies) don't necessarily lead to (or occur concomitant with) moral advancement. That is, to me, the reason why spiritual advancement is what will allow us to survive, and is the most crucial aspect of our growth as humans.
We have a long way to go.
Damn..was hoping around D.C.
Are there any particular scriptures that you may have in mind about this period?
Many: The interrogation “contests” between the Pharisees and the Saducess (Mark 12 and parallels); the questioning at Caesara Philipi “who do you say that I am?” and the follow-up rebuke of Peter for his disappointment that Jesus would not be a political conquering Messiah but one whose victory is claimed through suffering (also see 1 Corinthians 1:18-25), That’s just for starters.
Thanks.
Also the dialog between the Risen Christ and the two disciples along the road to Emmaus (Luke 24).
BCE = PC.
They did not in any way alter the timeline. They usurped an existing timeline based upon the life of Christ.
Pure cultural communism.
Thanks SJackson.
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BCE = PC will always equal BC.
‘Face
This might have been front page news back then...
:o])
‘Face
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