Volume 55 / Number 1

2013

Spotlight On: Beth Shean Revisited

On The Cover: Studying excavation records provides an understanding of the context of assemblages of objects. For our cover, we recreated an archaeologist's work table from the 1920s. The molded ceramic figurine of a nursing maid, the small broken jug, and the fragments of bone pins were just some of the objects recovered from Tomb 218 in the Northern Cemetery at Beth Shean. See Life and Death at Beth Shean for information on the cemetery and Death and Eternal Life at Beth Shean to learn more about the figurine. Photograph by Jennifer Chiappardi, Museum Photo Studio

Excavation photograpgh of the Round Church, looking South, with the apse in the left foreground. Museum Image #41613

Vol. 55 / No. 1

By: Daira Nocera

The Round Church at Beth Shean

A visitor to the Penn Museum may fail to notice two orphaned Corinthian columns tucked away in the Egypt (Sphinx) […]

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Vol. 55 / No. 1

By: Emerson Avery

Life and Death at Beth Shean

Objects associated with daily life also found their way into the tombs, either as offerings to the deceased, implements for […]

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Vol. 55 / No. 1

By: Gabriel Mazor

The Visits of St. Sabas to Beth Shean

What did Beth Shean look like in Late Antiquity? We have a much more complete image of the city following […]

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Vol. 55 / No. 1

By: Robert Ousterhout

From the Guest Editor – What Lies Beneath

I like to compare the Penn Museum to an iceberg. What you see in the galleries is merely the tip, […]

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Vol. 55 / No. 1

By: Jordan Pickett

Contextualizing Penn’s Excavations at Beth Shean: (1921–1933)

When the dust had cleared from the devastation of World War I, the San Remo Conference of 1920 divided he […]

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Nicholas Harris points to the graffitied column in the Penn Museum Egypt (Sphinx) Gallery.

Vol. 55 / No. 1

By: Nicholas Harris

Beth Shean Columns in Lower Egypt

The marble columns, majestic in their own right, contain a further curiosity: they are criss-crossed with Arabic and Hebrew graffiti. […]

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Vol. 55 / No. 1

By: Geoffrey Shamos

New Light on Daily Life at Beth Shean

The Roman city of Scythopolis extended to the south of the tell, with broad colonnaded streets and large public buildings, […]

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Vol. 55 / No. 1

By: Robert Ousterhout

Beth Shean Revisited: Reexamining a Late Antique City in Transition

Beth Shean (“house of ease”), ancient NysaScythopolis, sits on an important crossroads in the Galilee and is watered by abundant […]

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Vol. 55 / No. 1

By: Rina Talgam

Unearthing a Masterpiece – A Roman Mosaic from Lod Israel: Now in the Galleries

The renowned Lod Mosaic, excavated in 2009, is on exhibit at the Penn Museum through May 12, 2013. This is […]

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Vol. 55 / No. 1

Beth Shean Plan

Plan of Roman-Byzantine city of Beth Sheanor ancient Nysa-Scythopolis. After Mazor and Najjar, 2007, Plan 1.1. Civic center Tell Beth […]

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Vol. 55 / No. 1

By: Jordan Pickett

Domestic Devotions in Late Antique Beth Shean

A variety of objects found in the residential quarter testify to the expression of the Christian religious identity of the […]

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Vol. 55 / No. 1

By: Jane Hickman

Treasure Beneath the Floor

Although the Monastery of Lady Mary is best known for its fine mosaics, another discovery awaited Fitzgerald’s team as they […]

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Vol. 55 / No. 1

By: Julian Siggers

From the Director – Crossroads of History: Beth Shean, Israel

My first glimpse of Beth Shean occurred in the 1990s. I was a graduate student at the University of Toronto […]

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