Roman-Era Frescoes Discovered in the Galilee

In the town of Sepphoris, thought to be the place where the Mishnah was redacted, archaeologists have unearthed a series of elaborate 2nd-century-CE frescoes unlike anything else found from this time and place. Robin Ngo writes:

Just four miles north of Nazareth, Sepphoris was a thriving urban center during the . . . 1st century CE. With the conclusion of the first Jewish Revolt against Rome in 70 CE, the ancient Jewish historian Josephus reports that the residents of Sepphoris welcomed the Roman garrison [rather than risk destruction by resisting].

Following the revolt, in the late 1st through 3rd centuries, the city experienced a building boom with the construction of . . . public buildings, a marketplace, a theater, an aqueduct system, and public bathhouses. . . .

The fragments [of the newly discovered frescoes] display a variety of bright colors and designs, including geometric and floral patterns. Of special interest are fragments depicting both human and animal figures: a lion, a bird, a tiger, a horned animal—maybe a bull—and a man holding a club. . . .

Who commissioned the building of this monumental structure decorated with colorful frescoes? Was the person Jewish? Roman?

Archaeologists are still seeking answers.

Read more at Bible History Daily

More about: Ancient Israel, Archaeology, Art, Galilee, History & Ideas, Mishnah

What a Strategic Victory in Gaza Can and Can’t Achieve

On Tuesday, the Israeli defense minister Yoav Gallant met in Washington with Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin. Gallant says that he told the former that only “a decisive victory will bring this war to an end.” Shay Shabtai tries to outline what exactly this would entail, arguing that the IDF can and must attain a “strategic” victory, as opposed to merely a tactical or operational one. Yet even after a such a victory Israelis can’t expect to start beating their rifles into plowshares:

Strategic victory is the removal of the enemy’s ability to pose a military threat in the operational arena for many years to come. . . . This means the Israeli military will continue to fight guerrilla and terrorist operatives in the Strip alongside extensive activity by a local civilian government with an effective police force and international and regional economic and civil backing. This should lead in the coming years to the stabilization of the Gaza Strip without Hamas control over it.

In such a scenario, it will be possible to ensure relative quiet for a decade or more. However, it will not be possible to ensure quiet beyond that, since the absence of a fundamental change in the situation on the ground is likely to lead to a long-term erosion of security quiet and the re-creation of challenges to Israel. This is what happened in the West Bank after a decade of relative quiet, and in relatively stable Iraq after the withdrawal of the United States at the end of 2011.

Read more at BESA Center

More about: Gaza War 2023, Hamas, IDF