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Archaeologists in Israel have unearthed the 2,100-year-old remains of a farmstead whose owners likely abandoned it in a hurry, possibly to avoid an impending military invasion...The excavators discovered ancient, still-intact storage jars at the site, as well as weights for weaving looms on a shelf, suggesting that whoever lived there left them behind when they quickly departed...The archaeologists don’t know who lived there, but it’s possible they were subjects of the Seleucid Empire who left to escape an invasion of the area by the forces of the Hasmonean Kingdom — an independent Jewish kingdom based in Jerusalem to the south."We...

Archaeologists said on Saturday they had discovered what was believed to be the tomb of a Seleucid satrap or general in Hamedan, providing an extraordinary insight into the Hellenistic life in west-central Iran.According to the senior archaeologist Mohsen Khanjan, who leads the excavation, they have discovered a tomb, which is probably the burial place of one of the satraps, ILNA reported.The discovery is made in Tepe Naqarechi near what archaeologists have long been tracing to unearth the Seleucid Laodicea Temple under the modern town of Nahavand in Hamedan province...Over the past couple of years, Khanjan has led several archaeological seasons...

We are in the midst of the Hanukkah season, the eight-day festival that commemorates the second century BC victory of Judah Maccabee and his family over the forces of the Seleucid king Antiochus Epiphanes. It was a remarkable, almost miraculous, victory. Antiochus was close to achieving the long-time Seleucid goal of recreating the empire of Alexander the Great. He and his predecessors had annexed Turkey, Mesopotamia, Persia and parts of India. They solidified their control of Judaea and came close to turning Egypt into a satellite kingdom as well. Like so many ancient rulers, Antiochus fixated on the idea he...

The discovery of the Acra last week is "a dream come true" for archaeologists, who have been speculating on the citadel's location for 100 years, the IAA said. The discovery of Acra comes at a delicate time, for it reveals the story of the Maccabees, Antiochus and the coming Antichrist. All this is understood once we connect the dots and see the parallels between the Grecian Empire at the time of the Maccabees harassing God's people and the Antichrist who is also from the same empire (Asia Minor) harassing God's people today.

On Monday afternoon, the Israeli Antiquities Authority (IAA) sent a newsbrief to reporters in Jerusalem, calling for a press conference the following day to announce the “solution to one of the greatest questions in the history of Jerusalem.” Tuesday’s announcement did not disappoint: On site, in Jerusalem’s City of David, archaeologist Doron Ben-Ami announced that the famed Akra (citadel) of Antiochus Epiphanes had been discovered. Up until that announcement, little had been found testifying to the massive Hellenistic intrusion into the city early in the second century B.C. Yet here, at the northwestern portion of the City of David, a...

A recent discovery by the Israel Antiquities Authority in Jerusalem’s City of David may reveal the answer to one of archaeology's most enduring mysteries: the location of the Greek Acra citadel. The exact location of the famous stronghold built by Antiochus IV, to control Jerusalem and monitor activity on the Temple Mount, has long been unknown due to the paucity of architectural remains that can be traced to the Greek presence in Jerusalem. Over the past 100 years of archaeological research in Jerusalem, numerous theories have been put forth identifying the location of the Acra, which was eventually overtaken by...