The Siloam Inscription

Posted on March 11, 2022 by vanbraman

This morning when I woke up and checked my Facebook feed I found an interesting news story.

The Siloam inscription is being returned to Israel.

The Siloam inscription was found in Hezekiah’s Tunnel in 1880 by Jacob Eliahu who was a student of Conrad Schick. Later Jacob was adopted by Horatio Spafford.

It is well with my soul, horatio spafford, American ColonySpafford of course is best know for writing the hymn It is Well with My Soul. Above is a picture of the original draft of the hymn. It is hanging in the lobby of the American Colony Hotel in Jerusalem.

Hezekiah's Tunnel, Water Tunnel, Jerusalem, City of DavidI have walked through Hezekiah’s Tunnel several times when I have been in Jerusalem.

Hezekiah's Tunnel, Water Tunnel, Jerusalem, City of DavidThe inscription was found about five meters behind where I am standing at the exit of the tunnel.

Hezekiah's Tunnel, Water Tunnel, Jerusalem, City of DavidHezekiah's Tunnel, Water Tunnel, Jerusalem, City of DavidIt was difficult to take a picture of the replica that was placed on the wall of the tunnel at the same place where the original was found as it is dark and narrow at that point.

The inscription gives details of the construction of the tunnel in Paleo Hebrew script.

Istanbul archaeology museum, istanbul, museum, siloam inscription The original inscription is currently at the Istanbul Archaeology Museum in Istanbul, Turkey.

Istanbul archaeology museum, istanbul, museum, siloam inscriptionUnfortunately when I was there the hall where the inscription is displayed was closed. See: Historic Istanbul

The inscription was sent to the museum in Istanbul as Jerusalem was part of the Ottoman Empire at the time it was found.

There is currently a movement to repatriate historic artifacts to countries where they were found, and I am sure that we will see more headlines like this in the future.

There are two other inscriptions that Israel would like to have repatriated. The Gezer calender and the Temple Warning inscription are also in the museum in Istanbul.

Steven

Posted in Israel, Travel, Turkey | Tagged , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Telescope?

Posted on March 10, 2022 by vanbraman

Tonight while out walking I looked up at the night sky and started thinking about telescopes.

Night Sky - Constellations - Orion - StarsI thought about using a telescope to take pictures of the night sky. I have taken some decent pictures with just my digital camera.

Moon, Mars, Spica, Lunar Eclipse, Blood Red MoonI usually try to take pictures of eclipses. Here was one that I took that has a red moon along with Mars and Spica. I imagine what this would have looked like with a telescope.

First Moon Photo, Henry Draper, First picture with telescope, Louis DaguerreHere is the first picture taken of the moon through a telescope in 1864. I wrote a post that included  this photograph back in 2014 and also included a picture that I took with  my camera on a tripod.

See: First Photos

Just Past Full Moon, Full Moon, Moon, Picture of Moon, SupermoonHere is the picture I took.

I thought back to long ago when my younger brother got a telescope for selling items. I think it may have been greeting cards. I remember looking at the moon through his telescope.

Blood Red Moon, Eclipse, tripod, Sony, ZeissHis telescope was a reflector that had just a cardboard body. Tonight I thought about what type of telescope I would buy if I decided to get one. Would I get a refractor or a reflector? Would I get one that is motorized so that I could track objects? Would I get one that connects to the internet for positioning? Would it have an integrated camera? So many things to think about.

Or, perhaps I  should just get a simple telescope to see how often I would use one before investing more money.

What do you think?

Steven

Posted in Astronomy, Memories, Nature | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment