I wasn't 100% sure if the Book of the Shrines was open or if I was even supposed to be there so I ended up just heading out to the Bible Lands Museum.
That's the Knesset behind my left shoulder. Kind of odd looking building but the head of Israel's government.
The Bible Lands Museum was absolutely incredible. There were twenty rooms that told the story of the area from the time of the Hunters and early Urban Dwellers through the coming of Civilizations, Symbolic Communication, Pre-Patriarchal World, Old Egypt, Iranian Horseman, Israel Among the Nations, Assyria, Persia, Roman and Judaea and up through Sassanian Mesopotamia and the Home of the Babylonian Talmud.
There was a ton of information about seals, which I found totally fascinating after the incredible exhibit on seals at the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge last year.
There were tons on antiquities and stories, including this two-wheeled cart driven by, oddly enough, a two-headed man.
Always beautiful mosaics.
And then, they caught me taking pictures so I took notes instead. The following bits and pieces are some of the information that I found fascinating:- the first seal was found in 65000 BCE in Levant and Anatolia, used for labels and prints of cloth
-amulets were made in the forms of animals who were considered potent, often they were connected to supernatural powers and used as a form of seal
-presentation seals were given to people as a sign of allegiance and they were collected, like pilgrims would collect coins from wherever they traveled on pilgrimmages
- the fringe that Jews wear are found in old texts; often they were grabbed in order to bring someone to court, the hem would be held to implore divine majesty, they were used as a sign of identification (like Tamar and Judah in Gen 38:18)
-the fringe was also used as a sign of commitment to the Torah, like a signature when used to touch the Torah
-the Sumerians has very specific animal imagery
-the bull/cow represented the divine, or the new moon; the ibex, goat, ram and ewe represented the Sumerians safe under the control of the gods; eagle was an attacker or defender; lion was a storm god or warrior and the wild boar represented the god of water
-burial rites of a pharaoh included mummification, pharaohs being wrapped in bandages and moulded to make the faces lifelike; 70 days later, the temple was purified and offerings were made, mummy was placed on a sledge to get to the pyramid while priests placed incense and water and milk before the corpse; before placed into the pyramid, the "Opening of the Mouth" ritual took pace which returned the soul to the body in the afterlife, the organs were placed with the body in the pyramid along with furniture and treasures, then the pyramid was sealed with granite
-in ancient Israel, there was no division between sacred and profane love, therefore mystical unions between humans and deities could be depicted lyrically and symbolically, such as in Song of Songs
-in ancient Egypt, Seth and Osiris wre brothers who fought over who had more power. Seth killed Osiris by drowning and cut his body up into little pieces. Their sisters/wives, Isis and Nephthy, gathered up Osiris' body and Isis mummified and revived him. She became pregnant and Osiris went to be the god of the underworld. Horus, their son, grew up to avenge his father's death. He was able to steal the throne from Seth and become leader of Egypt while Seth was given the desert and all foreign lands.
I then headed out to Machne Yehuda, an incredible outdoor and covered market. Enjoy the goods, this is only a percentage.
I walked the rest of the way back to the Israel museum, stopping at the memorial at Yad La'Banim and a large park. All in all, a lovely day!
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