When cultures meet, mutual influences and cultural exchanges are unavoidable. Egypt’s contact with Syro-Palestine goes back to at least the Chalcolithic Period. Egypt was a major role player in the region throughout the Bronze Age. The discoveries at Ugarit have placed a lot of emphasis on possible Canaanite influences on the religion of ancient Israel. The purpose of this study is to investigate if cultural exchanges led to Egyptian religious concepts being accepted in Israel and Judah during the period 900-587 B.C.E. (Iron IIB and C). For this reason the iconography on contemporary seals was investigated. Symbols in ancient times, especially amongst illiterate societies, were important instruments in conveying ideas and concepts. The Hebrew Bible abounds with symbolism to illustrate the powers of Yahweh. Egyptian iconography on Hebrew seals, in particular seal amulets, has been regarded by most biblical scholars as mere decorations and the amulets regarded as ‘good luck’ charms. Seal amulets were important instruments of magical ritual in ancient Egypt, where there was no distinction between magic and religion. Biblical prohibitions against magic show that in Israel and Judah, it was regarded as a form of idolatry, thus religious rituals. An important factor to be considered is the influence of Phoenicia on the region during the Period. Close relationships seem to have existed between Phoenicia with the United Kingdom of Israel and later with the northern Kingdom of Israel. An investigation of Phoenician seals from the period revealed that Egyptian religious iconography was used by all levels of Phoenician society. They inter alia used Egyptian imagery to portray their own gods. Seals from Israel and Judah during Iron IIB and C indicate that Egyptian religious iconography was also used on seals by all levels of society in those kingdoms. Israel, due to its close proximity to Phoenicia, probably imported these images via Phoenicia. Judah, due to its isolation, probably got those images directly from Egypt. Some of these images may be ascribed to attempts to portray aspects of Yahweh’s powers. Others convey definite Egyptian religious messages. Egyptian influences on Israelite religion played a larger role than previously accepted. / Biblical Archaeology / D. Litt. et Phil. (Biblical Archaeology)

Our perception, of the Omrid kings of the Kingdom oflsrael in the ninth century BCE, is based on the Books of 1 and 2 Kings in the Hebrew Bible. The Biblical author's concentration, on Omrid apostasy rather than on their abilities and accomplishments, has robbed these competant monarchs of the prominence allotted to kings like David and Solomon. Recent archaeological excavations, in conjunction with extra-Biblical sources, have however projected a different image. Excavations at the royal Omrid cities of Samaria, and especially Jezreel, have indicated that Omri, and his son Ahab, had erected immense and grandiose structures. These edifices bear testimony to periods of peace, stability and great economic prosperity. The Omrids deserve new assessments as to their accomplishments, and therefore, by means of visible and tangible structural remains, I wish to promote the persuasion of archaeology as vindication of Omrid grandeur and achievement at Samaria and Jezreel. / Biblical and Ancient Studies / M.A. (Biblical Studies)

The historicity of the United Monarchy has recently come under attack. The biblical 'minimalists' say that a reconstruction of ancient Israel is impossible with the sources that we have access to, and the glory and wealth of Solomon's empire is mere fiction. They disregard the Bible as a reliable source, and archaeology because it is mute and open to interpretation. Some scholars have suggested lowering the traditional dates on certain archaeological strata, resulting in an entirely different picture of the tenth century BCE. Other scholars say that the United Monarchy definitely did exist and consider the Bible a valuable historical source. The evidence for the tenth century and the United Monarchy as shown by the Hebrew Bible and archaeology is investigated as well as various key sites in Israel. The conclusion is that the traditional chronology and viewpoint of the United Monarchy still needs to be respected. / Biblical and Ancient Studies / M.A. (Biblical Studies)

The historicity of the United Monarchy has recently come under attack. The biblical 'minimalists' say that a reconstruction of ancient Israel is impossible with the sources that we have access to, and the glory and wealth of Solomon's empire is mere fiction. They disregard the Bible as a reliable source, and archaeology because it is mute and open to interpretation. Some scholars have suggested lowering the traditional dates on certain archaeological strata, resulting in an entirely different picture of the tenth century BCE. Other scholars say that the United Monarchy definitely did exist and consider the Bible a valuable historical source. The evidence for the tenth century and the United Monarchy as shown by the Hebrew Bible and archaeology is investigated as well as various key sites in Israel. The conclusion is that the traditional chronology and viewpoint of the United Monarchy still needs to be respected. / Biblical and Ancient Studies / M.A. (Biblical Studies)

Bibliography: leaves 176-186 / The relationship between political, religious ideology and the interpretation of archaeological excavation in the Holy Land has faced criticism and has been debated by scholars since the beginning of biblical archaeology in the 19th century and up to the present day. These debates are not just academic but have manifested itself in the public narrative and are alleged to have consequences regarding the history of Israel and the physical space inhabited by both the Israelis and the Palestinians. Some of the current excavations in Jerusalem are viewed with suspicion. Archaeology is singled out to be biased in its interpretation and that it is being used for political ends. An investigation of the point of intersection between archaeology, politics and religion is important for the discourse and question whether archaeology in Israel has become complicit in the establishment and continued maintenance of nationhood and the Zionist project, as alleged by the minimalist scholars and opponents of Israel. Biblical archaeology has been drawn into this debate and its interpretation. The negative externalities of this discipline are the perceived use of the biblical text as a reference document and the subsequent findings of Late Bronze and Iron Age archaeology, which raise questions about the veracity of the biblical text and its impact on biblical scholarship and religion. Archaeologists and their interpretation of these spaces find themselves amid this paradigmatic revolution. The integrity of these scholars, their methodologies and their motivations are interrogated to the point of an ideological debate. The position of Palestinian archaeology hangs in the balance and there is no clear indication as to its future or whether any collaboration with Israeli archaeology is possible due to the politicisation in the region and the distrust that exists between Israel and the West Bank in general. This research reveals the extent in which these externalities of biblical archaeology and its interpretation have had an effect on ideology and its prevalence, and whether the questions and criticisms raised are justified. The views of archaeologists who have been actively involved in the excavation of the region provide these answers. / Biblical and Ancient Studies / D. Phil. (Biblical archaeology)

The archive as a site of ‘knowledge retrieval’* has long been the exemplary domain of astute historical inquiry. Following the recent ‘historic turn’* to address the politics of knowledge in the broader human and historical sciences, rather than its function as a site of ‘knowledge retrieval’*, I will reflect on the function of the archive as a site of ‘knowledge production’* in the writing of the histories of ancient Israel. Aligned within the conversations among historians and archivists and the new archival turn, the research will endeavour to offer a contribution to the debate on the topic of historical methodology of ancient Israel in the disciplines of Biblical Archaeology and History of ancient Israel. I will argue that an examination into the function of the archive as historical a priori in a study of the discourses on the Lachish reliefs in the disciplines discloses the practical and theoretical tenets that converge to construct knowledge on the Lachish reliefs and hence also knowledge on ancient Israel. The research will contend that a bounded formation of knowledge on the Lachish reliefs has evolved in the disciplines since the nineteenth century that is along the British imperial archival grain. * Terminology from Stoler, A L 2002. Colonial Archives and the Arts of Governance: On the Content in the Form, in Hamilton C, Harris, V, Taylor, J, Pickover, M, Reid, G & Saleh, R (eds) 2002. Refiguring the Archive. Cape Town: David Philip, 83-102. / Biblical and Ancient Studies / MA (Biblical Archaeology) / 1 online resource (xii, 194 leaves) ; illustrations (some color), maps