I often use this column to write about references to the Biblical world from outside of the Bible. It helps to confirm the accuracy of the Bible to read a reference to a person, place or event from external contemporary sources. But there is no doubt that it is even more exciting to see pictures of Bible people or Bible places. One scholar believes he has identified an overlooked portrayal of Jerusalem from 2,700 years ago. First, let’s review a few well-known examples.
Considered the earliest map of the world, a Babylonian clay tablet held at the British Museum dates to 600 BC and shows the world as a disk with Babylon at the centre. The map includes the Euphrates River, distant regions and outer oceans. It also shows the locations of Assyria and Urartu (Ararat). The map indicates where the Babylonians thought that the ark had landed after the great flood of ancient history.
The later Madaba Map (c.570 AD) is a beautiful mosaic floor to be seen at a Greek Orthodox church in Jordan. It is an extensive map of the Holy Land and includes a detailed pictorial map of the city of Jerusalem. Originally made up of over 1million stones, the mosaic would have stretched for 21 metres. Even today, the remaining 16 metres are an impressive sight. Apart from the details of Jerusalem, the map includes 150 different named places including Bethlehem, Hebron, Jericho and Samaria. Some of the illustrations are magnificent, depicting fish, boats and houses.
At the British Museum you can see a number of Biblical sites from Old Testament times. The Lachish reliefs present the fall of the Jewish (Judahite) town to the Assyrian King Sennacherib (701 BC). It portrays the hills and trees around Lachish along with the walls and towers. The enormous Assyrian siege ramp is still visible to this day, 2,700 years later (2 Kings 18-19). Ashteroth (Josh.12v4) was a city on the east side of the Jordan River. Another Assyrian relief (again at the British Museum) renders the fall of the city and capture of its people at the time of Tiglath-Pileser III, as recorded in the Bible (2 Kings 15v29). The relief even shows the town sitting on top of a ruined mound or tel.
Many unidentified towns appear in the reliefs of the Assyrians. We can only really be confident of their identity if there is an accompanying inscription. But gradually, plausible identifications are made. One small panel rarely noticed by visitors to the British Museum is probably a picture of Geshur (Bethsaida) from 732 BC. Archaeologist Rami Arav has made the identification by noticing several features – trees, gate, walls and hill – that fit what he has found in recent excavations.
The Assyrians were particularly notable for leaving detailed inscriptions, including artistic impressions of their conquests. Many panels await identification either by finding an associated written inscription or reappraising the visible clues.
The latest identification of Jerusalem concerns another 2,700-year-old panel. After the fall of Lachish, Sennacherib went on to besiege Jerusalem. The Lachish relief held at the British Museum in London was only a selection of panels; others remained at the site in modern-day Iraq. The discoverer, Austen Henry Layard, recorded the slabs left behind in detailed drawings. They form a sequence of cities attacked by the Assyrians. Panel 28 depicts an elaborate city with a single person standing at the top of a high tower. Researcher Stephen Compton has provided a number of reasons why the image is a good match for Jerusalem. Unusually, it portrays the Assyrian army departing from a city having not looted or burned it. That is what the Bible tells us about Sennacherib’s assault on Jerusalem (2 Kings 19v36). And the lone figure in the high tower? A perfect fit for Sennacherib’s description of King Hezekiah, “trapped like a bird”.
Slab 28 might well be our earliest picture of Jerusalem. Sadly, like many ancient reliefs and inscriptions the panel is now gone. All we have are records, intricate drawings and copies, made from the time of its discovery. Left in Iraq, the originals were victims of the destruction under the Islamic State group. They were among other alabaster reliefs and treasures destroyed by these terrorists. Smashed to pieces and discarded as rubble, ISIS sought to erase these important records of history.
