High on the mountain

I'm not quite sure where to go with this...

The biblical Israelites may have been high on a hallucinogenic plant when Moses brought the Ten Commandments down from Mount Sinai, according to a new study by an Israeli psychology professor.

Writing in the British journal Time and Mind, Benny Shanon of Jerusalem's Hebrew University said two plants in the Sinai desert contain the same psychoactive molecules as those found in plants from which the powerful Amazonian hallucinogenic brew ayahuasca is prepared.

And then, as if that wasn't enough fun, the good professor just has to explain how he knows what these effects are:

Shanon wrote that he was very familiar with the affects of the ayahuasca plant, having "partaken of the ... brew about 160 times in various locales and contexts."

So now we're asserting that taking hallucinogenic drugs makes someone a subject matter expert. I wonder if he can get SME fees in court for this kind of knowledge.

Of course, leave it to a good Rabbi to have the best last word:

Some biblical scholars were unimpressed. Orthodox rabbi Yuval Sherlow told Israel Radio: "The Bible is trying to convey a very profound event. We have to fear not for the fate of the biblical Moses, but for the fate of science."

This whole thing just begs for a fisk, but there just isn't enough meat on the bones to even make it worth boiling them. One does wonder from where the funding for this study came - someone may be looking for a refund. What some people won't do in an attempt to disprove the Bible...

Ancient Jerusalem escape route uncovered

Archaeologists have unearthed an underground drainage tunnel that they claim was used by the Jews to escape the Romans in 70 AD. Pottery and coins from that time period appear to confirm the when it was used. It is always most intriguing to see things from such ancient times - it helps reconnect us to the fact that these were real people, living real lives and not just some static facts in a history book. The full article is at BBC News.

Tags: History, Archaeology, Jerusalem

Need a bath?

One of the things ancient Rome is known for is its extensive system of baths, both public and private. They provided opportunities to discuss politics or philosophy, to relax or to engage in other, err, activities. Archaeologists are currently working their way through uncovering a massive bath complex in Rome which is believed to have belonged to a friend of Emperor Hadrian.

From the article: "[t]he exceptionally well-preserved two-story complex, which extends for at least five acres, includes ornate hot rooms, vaults, changing rooms, marble latrines and an underground room where slaves lit the fire to warm the baths." This sentence alone should help explain why I find this dig interesting. It is another key to understanding the world in which the early Christian Church grew in - the vast difference in wealth between the rich and the poor, their ultimate minority status, how ultimately contradictory their lives were called to be to the surrounding society. Certainly this is nothing new for those well-versed in the ancient world, but it is times and discoveries like this that can open the eyes of new generations.

Tags: Catholic, History, Archeology, Rome

Qumran warriors

From LiveScience, we hear that the ruins at Qumran, where the Dead Sea Scrolls were discovered, was in fact originally a fortress.

Fierce warriors once occupied the famous complex where the Dead Sea Scrolls were written, new research suggests.

Ruins of the Qumran site—in the present-day West Bank—resemble a monastery, but scholars have argued over its uses before the religious sect who penned the scrolls moved in somewhere between 130 and 100 B.C.

Using the world's first virtual 3-D reconstruction of the site, historians recently found evidence of a fortress that was later converted into its more peaceful, pious function.

I have to say, it is pretty neat to see these virtual 3-D reconstructions of ancient sites. This isn't the first site I've seen reconstructed like this, and it's always intriguing to visualize how people used to live. I'm hoping folks like Mike Aquilina will hop on this story and see if there's anything more to it.

Tags: Catholic, History, Qumran, Dead Sea Scrolls