Paul Fronczack, Reunited With the Wrong Parents As a Baby 49 Years Ago, Discovers the Truth.

Heartbreak and shock of man who believed he was baby kidnapped from hospital in 1964 – only to be told 50 years later he is NOT related to the parents to whom he was returned. By Michael Zennie. Daily Mail, June 2, 2013.

Twice disappeared: Paul Joseph Fronczakrealizes he’s NOT kidnapped baby claimed by parents. By Nina Golgowski. New York Daily News, June 3, 2013.

Baby Reunited With Wrong Parents 50 Years Ago Discovers Truth. Video. AOL On.

Paralyzed Bride Rachelle Friedman on How to Rise Above the Challenges of Change.

Paralyzed bride Rachelle Friedman Chapman with husband Chris Chapman

“Paralyzed Bride”: How to Rise Above the Challenges of Change. By Rachelle Friedman. The Mobility Resource, June 10, 2013. Also at The Huffington Post.

Bride-to-Be Rachelle Friedman Is Paralyzed After a Bachelorette Party Joke Went Wrong. By Emily Friedman. ABC News, November 17, 2010.

Paralyzed bride-to-be determined to beself-reliant, get married. By Phil Gast. CNN, November 22, 2010.

Paralyzed bride: “You can be sexy in a wheelchair.” By Scott Stump. Today. NBC News, March 30, 2012.

“The Paralyzed Bride” Talks Life & Sex as a 27-Year-Old Quadriplegic. The Daily Beast, February 27, 2013. Full Q&A at Reddit.

Rachelle Friedman website.

Prank leaves bride-to-be Rachelle Friedman paralyzed. Video. HLN, November 19, 2010. YouTube.




Rachelle Friedman and Chris Chapman Wedding Video. 1800registryvideo, April 3, 2012. YouTube.




Rachelle Friedman and Chris Chapman Return from Fiji. Video. 1800registryvideo, April 3, 2012. YouTube. Also at Today. NBC, August 5, 2011.




Paralyzed bride’s “big step to independence.” Video. Today. NBC, March 30, 2012.

Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Ozymandias. By Percy Bysshe Shelley.

Shelley's vision of Ozymandias.  David Roberts, Fragments of the Great Colossi (of Rameses II), at the Memnonium (Ramesseum), 1838.

Ozymandias. By Percy Bysshe Shelley. The Works of Percy Bysshe Shelley in Verse and Prose. Vol. 1. Edited by Harry Buxton Forman. London: Reeves and Turner, 1880. Originally published in The Examiner, January 11, 1818, p. 24. Also here. (Horace Smith’s version on p. 74).

Shelley:

I met a traveller from an antique land

Who said: Two vast and trunkless legs of stone

Stand in the desert. Near them on the sand,

Half sunk, a shattered visage lies, whose frown

And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command

Tell that its sculptor well those passions read

Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things,

The hand that mocked them and the heart that fed.

And on the pedestal these words appear:

“My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings:

Look on my works, ye mighty, and despair!”

Nothing beside remains. Round the decay

Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare,

The lone and level sands stretch far away.

 

Percy Bysshe Shelley’s haunting sonnet “Ozymandias” is one of the most powerful poems ever written. Shelley, inspired by travelers’ descriptions of Egypt’s fallen grandeur, wrote a poetic meditation on the death of civilizations and the hubris of autocrats and kings; how even the greatest monuments to their megalomania and vanity are destined to crumble into the dust. The Ozymandias of the poem was of Rameses II (r. 1279-1213 BC), often considered the Pharaoh of the Exodus. The name Ozymandias is a Greek transliteration of the first part of Rameses’s throne name Usermaatre Setepenre, “Ra’s mighty truth, chosen of Ra.” The statue in the poem may have been based on descriptions of the fallen statue of Rameses at the Ramesseum in Thebes, which would be drawn by the Scottish artist David Roberts in 1838, twenty years after Shelley wrote his poem.


The Library of History, Book I, Chap. 47. By Diodorus Siculus. Written c. 60 BC.

Diodorus’s description of the Ozymandias statue:

Ten stades from the first tombs, he says, in which, according to tradition, are buried the concubines of Zeus, stands a monument of the king known as Osymandyas. At its entrance there is a pylon, constructed of variegated stone, two plethra in breadth and forty-five cubits high; passing through this one enters a rectangular peristyle, built of stone, four plethra long on each side; it is supported, in place of pillars, by monolithic figures sixteen cubits high, wrought in the ancient manner as to shape; and the entire ceiling, which is two fathoms wide, consists of a single stone, which is highly decorated with stars on a blue field. Beyond this peristyle there is yet another entrance and pylon, in every respect like the one mentioned before, save that it is more richly wrought with every manner of relief; beside the entrance are three statues, each of a single block of black stone from Syene, of which one, that is seated, is the largest of any in Egypt, the foot measuring over seven cubits, while the other two at the knees of this, the one on the right and the other on the left, daughter and mother respectively, are smaller than the one first mentioned. And it is not merely for its size that this work merits approbation, but it is also marvellous by reason of its artistic quality and excellent because of the nature of the stone, since in a block of so great a size there is not a single crack or blemish to be seen. The inscription upon it runs: “King of Kings am I, Osymandyas. If anyone would know how great I am and where I lie, let him surpass one of my works.” There is also another statue of his mother standing alone, a monolith twenty cubits high, and it has three diadems on its head, signifying that she was both daughter and wife and mother of a king.


Travelers from an Antique Land: Shelley’s Inspiration for “Ozymandias.” By John Rodenbeck. Alif: Journal of Comparative Poetics, No. 24 (2004).

Exploring Exodus: The Oppression. By Nahum M. Sarna. The Biblical Archaeologist, Vol. 49, No. 2 (June 1986).

Shelley’s “Ozymandias.” By Johnstone Parr. Keats-Shelley Journal, Vol. 6 (Winter 1957).

Ozymandias and the Travelers. By H.M. Richmond. Keats-Shelley Journal, Vol. 11 (Winter 1962).

Shelley’s “Ozymandias” and Diodorus Siculus. By J. Gwyn Griffiths. The Modern Language Review, Vol. 43, No. 1 (January 1948).

Ozymandias: Shelley, Horace Smith, and Denon. By Eugene M. Waith. Keats-Shelley Journal, Vol. 44 (1995).

Travels in Upper and Lower Egypt During the Campaigns of General Bonaparte in that Country. Vol. 2. By Vivant Denon. New York: Heard and Forman, 1803. Reference to Osymandias on p. 252.

Denon’s description of the Ozymandias statue:

At the north of these temples we found the ruins of two figures of granite, overthrown and broken. They might have been about thirty-six feet in height: their attitude was the usual one, of the right foot advanced, and the arms hanging down beside the body; and they doubtless adorned the gate of some large edifices, the ruins of which are now buried under the soil. I then went to the two colossi, supposed to be those of Memnon, and took an accurate drawing of their actual state of preservation. These two pieces of art, which are without grace, expression, or action, have nothing which seduces the judgment; but their proportions are faultless, and this simplicity of attitude, and want of decided expression, has something of majesty and seriousness, which cannot fail to strike the beholder. If the limbs of these figures had been distorted in order to express some violent passion, the harmony of their outline would have been lost, and they would be less conspicuous at the distance at which they begin to strike the eye, and produce their effect on the mind of the spectator, for they may be distinguished as far as four leagues off. To pronounce upon the character of these statues, it is necessary to have seen them at several intervals, and to have long reflected on them; and after this it often happens, that what is at first considered as the work of the infancy of art, becomes assigned to its maturer age. If the group of the Laocoon, which speaks to the soul as well as to the eyes, were executed in a proportion of sixty feet, it would lose all its beauty, and would not present so striking a mass of workmanship as this; in short, if these statues were more agreeable, they would be less beautiful, as they would then cease to be (what they now are) eminently monumental, a character which should belong peculiarly to that outdoor sculpture, which is intended to harmonize with architecture, a style of sculpture which the Egyptians have carried to the highest pitch of perfection.

I have no hesitation in appealing for the truth of this system, to the happy result which has always attended the use of this severe style by the moderns, and the partiality which all the artists in our Egyptian expedition have acquired for the grave and simple, a partiality which is a most decisive proof that its beauty is not merely an idea.

I again examined the block of granite, which lies between these two statues, and I am still more convinced that it is the ruins of the famous colossal statue of Osymandias, who, on the inscription, braved both the ravages of time and the pride of men; and that the two figures which are left standing, are those of his wife and daughter. I am likewise persuaded, that in a much later period, travellers have chosen to suppose one of the latter statues to be that of Memnon, that they might not be supposed to have come away from Egypt without seeing it, and according to the usual progress of enthusiasm, that they have fancied they heard the sound which it was famed for uttering at the rising of the sun.

Photograph of the Ozymandias colossus at the Ramesseum

Lt. Col. Ralph Peters: “Bring Back the Death Penalty” for Edward Snowden.

Making treason cool. By Ralph Peters. New York Post, June 10, 2013.

Leaker loving his celebrity.  The Jacksonian perspective on Snowden and Manning.

NSA Leaker Is No Hero. By Max Boot. Commentary, June 9, 2013.

Edward Snowden’s Parallel Universe. By Max Boot. Commentary, June 11, 2013.

Snowden’s Quest Isn’t About Civil Liberties. By Max Boot. Commentary, June 12, 2013.

NSA secrets leaker: Hero or traitor? Video. The Five. Fox News, June 10, 2013. YouTube.




Fox News analyst Ralph Peters: “Bring back the death penalty” for NSA leaker. With Video. By David Edwards. The Raw Story, June 10, 2013. Also at NewsHounds. The Huffington Post. Real Clear Politics. YouTube.

Edward Snowden: The Whistleblower Behind the NSA Surveillance Revelations. By Glenn Greenwald. NJBR, June 10, 2013.




Peters:

Forget skinny ties and retro hats: The surest way to attain super-cool status (and fame) today is to betray your country.

The impossibly self-important NSA contractor, Edward Snowden, who “exposed” two vital intelligence programs, isn’t a leftie Paul Revere. He’s Kim Kardashian with stubble.

He revealed very highly classified programs, alerting our enemies about our most sophisticated intelligence-collection capabilities (programs designed to keep us safe, not spy on us).He broke his oath to protect the information with which we entrusted him, lied about who we target and aided those who want to kill Americans. And he hints he could do more damage.

To this old-fashioned American, that’s plain treason.

It’s always been a hipster thing to trash government, but the left’s generations-long effort to destroy the positive image of patriotism has made betraying our country a fashion statement. Snowden is a copycat who “admires” Pfc. Bradley Manning, another now-famous young man who knew better than those who serve dutifully for decades. He’s also enamored of Julian Assange, the left’s favorite accused rapist.

There’s nothing brave about his brag that he was the source of the NSA leaks (especially since he fled the country first). This is clearly about the desire to be a star.

To get a sense of Snowden’s phenomenal vanity, check out the 12-minute film (all over the Internet) in which he justifies his deed. The high-school dropout may have a flair for tech, but he knows nothing about our history, trade relations, international affairs or even the conditions in Hong Kong (where he says he now fears assassination by CIA-backed Triad gangsters).

Claiming that he only wants to make government accountable, Snowden then brags that he could expose CIA stations around the world. He wants “asylum from any countries that believe in free speech.” So he went to China? Hope you enjoy your stay, Mr. Snowden.

In his I-love-me interview, he further opines that the American people, not the government, should decide about programs such as those he revealed. He should have stayed in school until he got to the Civics block on democracy. The American public does vote on these programs — through their representatives in Congress. That’s why we have regular elections.

And to my leftist friends: Do you really want a 29-year-old high-school dropout, rather than Congress, deciding which intelligence programs should be authorized? Really? Sounds like a dictatorship to me.

Snowden, not the NSA, subverted democracy.

It may disappoint conservatives, but I’m a fan of Sen. Diane Feinstein (D-Calif.). I don’t agree with all of her positions, but I respect her integrity. Protective of civil liberties, she’s an excellent litmus test on intelligence matters. And Feinstein believes the NSA programs in question help keep us safe.

Again to my leftist friends: Do you really think Snowden or Manning or Assange care more about your freedom than Sen. Feinstein?

There is a scandal here, though, one that’s overdue for serious attention: the out-of-control use of contractors to perform vital government services.

This is a mess for which Republicans bear the chief blame. For a generation, they’ve insisted that the private sector can perform all government work cheaper and better — even when it comes to national security. But as I’ve seen myself, from the Pentagon to Iraq, it ain’t cheaper and it’s rarely better.

This spoiled-brat, dropout Benedict Arnold claims he was pulling down a $200,000 salary for his NSA contract work. A direct NSA employee on the government payroll might get between $75,000 and $90,000 for the same work. And the contractor adds on exorbitant overhead, so Snowden probably cost us at least $500,000 per year. Wonder why we’ve seen the defense and intelligence budgets soar?

Obviously, Snowden’s employer, Booz Allen Hamilton, failed in its oversight duty. But contractors are desperate for techies with security clearances, and Snowden already was cleared above top secret. There was no incentive to look too closely at him: The company needed a warm body in Hawaii.

And Booz Allen Hamilton is actually one of the better contracting outfits.

So: We have a fame-hungry traitor, a compromise of vital security programs, a turncoat who’s put himself at China’s mercy, the left-leaning media making the creep a hero and contractors desperate to cover up their greed.

Coming to a TV near you: “Real Spies of DC.”

Fixing the Digital Economy. By Jaron Lanier.

Fixing the Digital Economy. By Jaron Lanier. New York Times, June 8, 2013.

The Meta Question. By Jaron Lanier. The Nation, June 12, 2013.

Israel Prods Ultra-Orthodox to “Share Burden.” By Jodi Rudoren.

Israel Prods Ultra-Orthodox to “Share Burden.” By Jodi Rudoren. New York Times, June 6, 2013.

Palestinians Have Suffered . . . at the Hands of Their Leaders. By Jonathan S. Tobin.

Palestinians Have Suffered . . . at the Hands of Their Leaders. By Jonathan S. Tobin. Commentary, June 7, 2013.

Top PA official Jibril Rajoub: Israel “is our main enemy, resistance is still our agenda.” By Elhanan Miller. The Times of Israel, May 8, 2013.

Arab states should put their money where their mouth is to “liberate” Jerusalem, says Jibril Rajoub, a signatory to the Geneva Initiative who had pledged he was Israel’s peace “partner.”
 
Senior Fatah official Jibril Rajoub: Palestinians suffered more from Munich Olympic killings. By Lazar Berman. The Times of Israel, June 7, 2013.

Palestinian Leaders Tell Their Own People What They Really Mean. By William A. Jacobson. NJBR, May 11, 2013.

PA personalities: Jibril Rajoub. Articles on Palestine Media Watch.

Jibril Rajoub, senior PA official, prevented entry into Israel because of his hate speech exposed by PMW. By Itamar Marcus and Nan Jacques Zilberdik. Palestine Media Watch, June 9, 2013.

Senior PA official Jibril Rajoub: “All of Palestine – from the river to the sea – it’s all occupied.” By Itamar Marcus and Nan Jacques Zilberdik. Palestine Media Watch, June 10, 2013. Video. YouTube.




Full interview of Jibril Rajoub with Al Mayadeen TV (Lebanon) in Arabic. Video. Nidal Amro, May 1, 2013. YouTube.

PA Official Jibril Rajoub Threatens Pro-Hamas Arab Regimes with War, Adds: Would Have Used Nuclear Weapon against Israel. Interview with Al Mayadeen TV (Lebanon). MEMRI TV, Video Clip No. 3839, May 1, 2013. YouTube. Transcript.

Rajoub:

We are not against the revolutions. On the contrary, we are rebels ourselves, we love all rebels, and we’d like to see the whole world waging revolutions. But on what grounds and according to what perspective? If you are asking me as a Palestinian, I will tell you that our struggle is against the Israeli occupation, and that our main enemy – not just of the Palestinians, but of all the Arabs and Muslims – is Israel and the Israeli occupation. If we had seen a general mobilization – money flowing, and armies marching to liberate Jerusalem, with unsheathed swords against the Zionist enemy – that would have been a great thing. But I hope that the Palestinian cause is not dragged into this mutual slaughtering. This will not benefit us. Getting involved in this will only harm us.




Fatah Central Committee Member Jibril Rajoub: Fatah Will Not Lay Down Its Swords Until the Refugees Return, Resistance Is Its Strategic Choice. MEMRI TV, Video Clip No. 3663, November 29, 2012. YouTube.

Combating Political Islam. By Raheel Raza.

Combating political Islam. By Raheel Raza. Ynet News, June 6, 2013.

Why Rock Stars Love Israel. By Liel Leibovitz.

The Rock Star’s Guide to Eating, Praying, and Loving in the High Security State of Israel. By Liel Leibovitz. Tablet, June 5, 2013.

2033: The American Police State. By Brian Sussman.

2033: The American Police State. By Brian Sussman. BrianSussman.com, June 9, 2013.

How he Human Face Might Look In 100,000 Years. By Parmy Olson.

How The Human Face Might Look In 100,000 Years. By Parmy Olson. Forbes, June 7, 2013.

No, This Is Not How The Human Face Might Look In 100,000 Years. By Matthew Herper. Forbes, June 7, 2013.

Faces Of The Future? Artist Nickolay Lamm’s Illustrations Show Freaky Facial Features. The Huffington Post, June 11, 2013.

Designer Nickolay Lamm’s depiction of how the human face might look in 100,000 years.

Image credit Nickolay Lamm.

The Higher Ed Bubble Is No Myth. By Walter Russell Mead.

The Higher Ed Bubble Is No Myth. By Walter Russell Mead. Via Meadia, June 10, 2013.

Online Education Will Be the Next “Bubble” To Pop, Not Traditional University Learning. By John Tamny. Forbes, June 9, 2013.

Sorry Left AND Right, No Job Requires a College Degree. By John Tamny. Forbes, February 10, 2013.

What Do U.S. College Graduates Lack? Professionalism. By Mark Bauerlein. Bloomberg, May 8, 2013.

The EU is the Holy Roman Empire Reborn. By Brendan Simms.

The Ghosts of Europe Past. By Brendan Simms. New York Times, June 9, 2013.

For Retirees, a Million-Dollar Illusion. By Jeff Sommer.

For Retirees, a Million-Dollar Illusion. By Jeff Sommer. New York Times, June 8, 2013.

Retiring on $1 Million? Think Again. By Walter Russell Mead. Via Meadia, June 10, 2013.

When It Comes to Working, 74 is the New 65. By Walter Russell Mead. Via Meadia, June 13, 2013.

Edward Snowden: The Whistleblower Behind the NSA Surveillance Revelations. By Glenn Greenwald.

Edward Snowden: the whistleblower behind the NSA surveillance revelations. By Glenn Greenwald. With Ewen MacAskill and Laura Poitras in Hong Kong. The Guardian, June 8, 2013.

NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden: “I don’t want to live in a society that does these sort of things.” Video. The Guardian, June 9, 2013. YouTube.

UPenn’s Stephanie McCurry to Lead First MOOC on History of Slavery. By David Austin Walsh.

UPenn’s Stephanie McCurry to Lead First MOOC on History of Slavery. By David Austin Walsh. History News Network, June 10, 2013.

Adding Spice to MOOCs. By Walter Russell Mead. Via Meadia, June 10, 2013.

The GOP’s Huge, Growing Modernity Gap. By Lloyd Green.

The GOP’s Huge, Growing Modernity Gap. By Lloyd Green. The Daily Beast, June 9, 2013.

College Republican National Committee Report Has Grim Findings for GOP. By Jon Favreau. The Daily Beast, June 5, 2013.

Introducing the Grand Old Party to a Brand New Generation. By Alex Smith and Kristen Soltis. NJBR, June 5, 2013.

Gypsy. By Fleetwood Mac.

Gypsy. By Fleetwood Mac. Video. Reno Raines, December 8, 2013. YouTube. From the 1982 Mirage album. Also here.

A classic work of Stevie Nicks’s mythopoetic romanticism.

Long Island Muslim Leaders Focus on Youth After Boston. By Bart Jones.

LI Muslim leaders focus on youth after Boston. By Bart Jones. Newsday, June 8, 2013.

The Internship: Not the Movie. By Thomas L. Friedman.

The Internship: Not the Movie. By Thomas L. Friedman. New York Times, June 8, 2013.

How to Get a Job. By Thomas L. Friedman. NJBR, May 30, 2013.

The Muslim Civil War. By Bret Stephens.

Islamist fighters carry their flag during the funeral of their fellow fighter Tareq Naser, who died during clashes on Sunday, near the village of Fafeen in Aleppo’s countryside September 17, 2012.

The Muslim Civil War. By Bret Stephens. Wall Street Journal, June 3, 2013.

When Sunni and Shiite Extremists Make War: A Response to Bret Stephens. By Daniel Pipes. DanielPipes.org, June 5, 2013. Also at National Review Online.

Muslim Civil Wars Stem from a Crisis of Civilization. By David P. Goldman. PJ Media, June 5, 2013.

Goldman:

If we had a Syrian elite dedicated to modernization, free markets, and opportunity, we could have an economic recovery in Syria. But the country is locked into suppurating backwardness precisely because the dominant culture holds back individual initiative and enterprise. The longstanding hatreds among Sunnis and Shi’ites, and Kurds and Druze and Arabs, turn into a fight to the death as the ground shrinks beneath them. The pre-modern culture demands proofs of group loyalty in the form of atrocities which bind the combatants to an all-or-nothing outcome. The Sunni rebels appear quite as enthusiastic in their perpetration of atrocities as does the disgusting Assad government.

What are we supposed to do in the face of such horrors? I am against putting American boots on the ground. As I wrote in the cited May 20 essay, “Westerners cannot deal with this kind of warfare. The United States does not have and cannot train soldiers capable of intervening in the Syrian civil war. Short of raising a foreign legion on the French colonial model, America should keep its military personnel at a distance from a war fought with the instruments of horror.”

The most urgent thing to do, in my judgment, is to eliminate the malignant influence of Iran, which is treating Syria like a satrapy and sending tens of thousands of fighters as well as material aid to the Assad regime. Attacking Iran would widen the conflict, but ultimately make it controllable. No sane American should want Iran to acquire nuclear weapons. As Admiral James Stavridis told the New York Times today,  “If you can move 10 tons of cocaine into the U.S. in a small, semi-submersible vessel, how hard do you think it would be to move a weapon of mass destruction?”

Ultimately, partition of Syria (and other Middle Eastern countries) on the model of the former Yugoslavia probably will be the outcome of the crisis. There are lots of things to keep diplomats busy for the next generation. But the terrible fact remains that it is not in our power to prevent the decline of a civilization embracing over a billion people, and to prevent some aspects of that decline from turning ugly beyond description. Among the many things we might do, there is one thing we must do: limit the damage to ourselves and our allies.


Message from the Ruins of Qusair. By Charles Krauthammer. National Review Online, June 6, 2013. Also at the Washington Post.

Syrian Civil War. By Andrew C. McCarthy. National Review Online, June 5, 2013.

Losing the Middle East. By Thomas Donnelly. The Weekly Standard, June 17, 2013.

A Syrian Girl in a Ruined House. Video. Mohmad Rad, April 7, 2012. YouTube. Also here.

Chinese and American Dreams Can’t Coexist. By Marco Rubio.

President Barack Obama and Chinese President Xi Jinping in 2012.

Do Two Dreams Equal a Nightmare? By Marco Rubio. Foreign Policy, June 7, 2013.

U.S. and China Will Never Trust Each Other. By Minxin Pei. Foreign Policy, June 6, 2013.

Pei:

The vast gap between the two countries’ political systems makes trust impossible. The Chinese Communist Party does not hide its hostility to and fear of the political values – freedom, human rights, political competition, and constitutional rule – that underpin American democracy. In the eyes of the Chinese ruling elites, the United States presents a political threat, even though they understand that a full-fledged military conflict between two nuclear-armed great powers is extremely unlikely. Chinese leaders feel so endangered by U.S. soft power that they are now even orchestrating a propaganda campaign against constitutionalism.

This threat perception has created its own reality. China's ruling elites know very well that China’s economic rise would not have happened as fast or as successfully without U.S. help, which included bestowing Most-Favored Nation trading status on China, supporting its 2001 entry into the World Trade Organization, and awarding scholarships for hundreds and thousands of Chinese students, among other factors. Still, such awareness does not prevent them from insisting, almost daily, that “hostile Western forces” seek China's destruction.

For the U.S. political establishment, a repressive one-party state is simply illegitimate. Its opacity, lack of constraints on its power, and capriciousness make it difficult to understand and even more difficult to trust.

Since the fundamental differences between the two political systems are almost certain to continue in the foreseeable future, the United States and China need to cooperate without the luxury of strategic trust. Most people might argue, understandably, that such cooperation is impossible. But this does not need to be the case.

Was King Saul Impaled on the Wall of Beth Shean? By Amihai Mazar.

Tel Beth Shean rising above the ruins of Hellenistic/Roman Scythopolis. The Philistines hung the lifeless bodies of King Saul and three of his sons from the walls of Beth Shean, according to the Bible (1 Samuel 31; 1 Chronicles 10). When approaching an important and impressive site like Tel Beth Shean, archaeologists seek to understand more about the Biblical stories as well as answer questions about the broader history of the site and the people who lived there.

Now the Philistines fought against Israel; and the men of Israel fled before the Philistines, and many fell on Mount Gilboa. The Philistines overtook Saul and his sons; and the Philistines killed Jonathan and Abinadab and Malchishua, the sons of Saul. The battle pressed hard upon Saul; the archers found him, and he was badly wounded by them. Then Saul said to his armour-bearer, “Draw your sword and thrust me through with it, so that these uncircumcised may not come and thrust me through, and make sport of me.” But his armour-bearer was unwilling; for he was terrified. So Saul took his own sword and fell upon it. When his armour-bearer saw that Saul was dead, he also fell upon his sword and died with him. So Saul and his three sons and his armour-bearer and all his men died together on the same day. When the men of Israel who were on the other side of the valley and those beyond the Jordan saw that the men of Israel had fled and that Saul and his sons were dead, they forsook their towns and fled; and the Philistines came and occupied them.

The next day, when the Philistines came to strip the dead, they found Saul and his three sons fallen on Mount Gilboa. They cut off his head, stripped off his armour, and sent messengers throughout the land of the Philistines to carry the good news to the houses of their idols and to the people. They put his armour in the temple of Astarte; and they fastened his body to the wall of Beth-shan. But when the inhabitants of Jabesh-gilead heard what the Philistines had done to Saul, all the valiant men set out, travelled all night long, and took the body of Saul and the bodies of his sons from the wall of Beth-shan. They came to Jabesh and burned them there. Then they took their bones and buried them under the tamarisk tree in Jabesh, and fasted for seven days.

—1 Samuel 31. New Revised Standard Version.


Was King Saul Impaled on the Wall of Beth Shean? By Amihai Mazar. Biblical Archaeology Review, Vol. 38, No. 2 (March/April 2012).

Ancient Inscription Refers to Birth of Israelite Monarchy. By Gerard Leval. Biblical Archaeology Review, Vol. 38, No. 3 (May/June 2012).

State Formation in the Hebrew Bible: An Institutional Economic Perspective. By Sigmund Wagner-Tsukamoto. Journal for the Study of the Old Testament, Vol. 37, No. 4 (June 2013).

State Formation Theory and the Kingdom of Ancient Israel. By Daniel M. Master. Journal of Near Eastern Studies, Vol. 60, No. 2 (April 2001).

The Rise of Secondary States in the Iron Age Levant. By Alexander H. Joffe. Journal of the Economic and Social History of the Orient, Vol. 45, No. 4 (2002).

Political Rights and Power in Monarchic Israel. By Douglas A. Knight. Semeia, No. 66 (1994).

The Emergence of the Monarchy in Israel: The Environmental and Socio-Economic Aspects. By Israel Finkelstein. Journal for the Study of the Old Testament, No. 44 (June 1989).

When Pharaohs Ruled Jerusalem. By Peter Van Der Veen. Biblical Archaeology Review, Vol. 39, No. 2 (March/April 2013). NJBR, February 26, 2013.

Archaeologists Reveal a Desecrated Iron Age Temple and Find Possible Evidence of Samson at Beth Shemesh. NJBR, February 9, 2013.

How We Know When Solomon Ruled. By Kenneth A. Kitchen. Biblical Archaeology Review, Vol. 27, No. 5 (September/October 2001).

The Israelite Village: Cultural Conservatism and Technological Innovation. By Avraham Faust. Tel Aviv, Vol. 32, No. 2 (September 2005).

How Did Israel Become a People? The Genesis of Israelite Identity. By Avraham Faust. Biblical Archaeology Review, Vol. 35, No. 6 (November/December 2009).

Early Israel: An Egalitarian Society. By Avraham Faust. Biblical Archaeology Review, Vol. 39, No. 4 (July/August 2013).

“Mortuary Practices, Society and Ideology”: The Lack of Iron Age I Burials in the Highlands in Context. By Avraham Faust. Israel Exploration Journal, Vol. 54, No. 2 (2004).

Ethnic Complexity in Northern Israel During Iron Age II. By Avraham Faust. Palestine Exploration Quarterly, Vol. 132, No. 1 (January 2000).

The Emergence of Iron Age Israel: The Question of “Origins.” By Avraham Faust. UCSD Exodus Conference, May 31-June 1, 2013. Video. Calit2ube, June 7, 2013. YouTube. Also at Exodus: Out of Egypt website. Calit2.net.




Ethnicity, Assimilation and the Israelite Settlement. By Pekka Pitkänen. Tyndale Bulletin, Vol. 55, No. 2 (2004).

Ancient Israel and settler colonialism. By Pekka Pitkänen. Settler Colonial Studies, Vol. 4, No. 1 (2014).

Migrations, Ethnogenesis, and Settlement Dynamics: Israelites in Iron Age Canaan and Shuwa-Arabs in the Chad Basin. By Thomas E. Levy and Augustin F. C. Holl. Journal of Anthropological Archaeology, Vol. 21, No. 1, (March 2002).

Biblical Peoples and Ethnicity: An Archaeological Study of Egyptians, Canaanites, Philistines, and Early Israel, 1300-1100 B.C.E. By Ann E. Killebrew. Atlanta: Society of Biblical Literature, 2005.

A Comparison of Two Contemporaneous Lifestyles of the Late Second Millennium B.C. By Gloria London. Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research, No. 273 (February 1989).

I Samuel 25 as Literature and as History. By Jon D. Levenson. Catholic Biblical Quarterly, Vol. 40, No. 1 (January 1978).

An Anthropologist’s View of Early Israel. By Jill Katz. Biblical Archaeology Review, Vol. 38, No. 3 (May/June 2012).

Israelite Life Before the Kings. By Robert D. Miller. Biblical Archaeology Review, Vol. 39, No. 2 (March/April 2013).


Mazar:

The next period, the Late Bronze Age, produced the earliest spectacular finds from Beth Shean. They date from the mid-15th century to the mid-12th century B.C.E. At this time the site became an administrative center and garrison town of Egypt’s New Kingdom empire that then ruled Canaan. The University of Pennsylvania expedition uncovered a wealth of buildings and artifacts from this period (Egyptian dynasties XVIII, XIX and XX), including successive temples, administrative buildings, a governor’s house, and a number of inscribed stelae, door lintels and statues erected by Pharaohs Seti I, Ramesses II and Ramesses III. Our excavations uncovered additional Egyptian administrative and residential buildings. Both expeditions revealed a rich collection of artifacts reflecting the high status of the Egyptian officials stationed here. They were living in what might be called “little Egypt.” Their pottery was manufactured by Egyptian potters who produced vessels similar to those in Egypt. Seals (and seal impressions), cult objects, jewelry and other artifacts were made in Egyptian style. Houses were decorated with Egyptian-style wall paintings.

During the 13th–12th centuries B.C.E., Egyptian garrison members were buried in anthropoid pottery coffins, a practice known in Egypt and at several Egyptian strongholds in southern Canaan, such as Deir el-Balah south of Gaza. Almost 50 of these anthropoid coffins (mostly just small pieces) were recovered at Beth Shean. These finds provide dramatic evidence of the extent of Egyptian domination of Canaan in the period when the earliest Israelites just began to settle in the hill country south of Beth Shean.

The portraits on some of the anthropoid coffin lids from Beth Shean were made in a kind of “grotesque” style foreign to Egypt. At one time it was thought that these might be the coffins of Philistines, especially because of the “feather” headdress on one of the coffin lids and other signs on two other lids that resemble the headdress of the Philistines and other “Sea Peoples” pictured on the wall of the temple of Ramesses III at Medinet Habu in Egypt. But as suggested already in 1973 by Eliezer Oren, it is now clear that the anthropoid coffins at Beth Shean and elsewhere are related to Egyptian garrisons there during the late New Kingdom. The most that one can say is that the three coffins in the “grotesque” style with those special signs belonged to mercenaries in the Egyptian garrison; we know that the Egyptians hired mercenaries among the population groups known as the Sea Peoples (they included Sherden and Danuna as well as Philistines). Whether there were a few Philistines (mercenaries) among them at Beth Shean we cannot tell. In any case, the use of those anthropoid coffins ended with the end of the Egyptian presence in Canaan, no later than about 1130 B.C.E., at a time when the Philistines had just begun their settlements in Philistia and much earlier than the time of the assumed battle against Saul, which, if historical, must have occurred closer to 1000 B.C.E.

Toward 1140/30 B.C.E. the Egyptian presence in Canaan came to an end. Beth Shean was destroyed by heavy fire, perhaps after being captured by local Canaanites who were happy to get rid of their then-weakened foreign rulers.

During the late 12th–11th century B.C.E., the town was resettled and the destroyed residential quarter was rebuilt. The material culture this time, however, is Canaanite. The local Canaanite population simply replaced the Egyptian garrison.

This is the city that existed when the battle of Gilboa between Saul and the Philistines is supposed to have taken place. But there is no evidence of a Philistine presence at Beth Shean at this time. Philistine painted pottery, which is quite distinctive, is absent from Beth Shean, though it was found in small quantities at Tel Rehov to the south, as well as at a few other sites in the Jezreel Valley. Beth Shean, however, was never a Philistine town. If the Biblical story has historical validity, if the Philistines hung Saul’s body on the wall of Beth Shean, the most that we can assume is that the Philistines who arrived from the southern coastal plain took over the local Canaanite town for a short time—but such an event cannot be corroborated by archaeology.

What about the wall of Beth Shean where the Bible says the bodies of Saul and his sons were hung? After all, walls are an archaeological specialty. Alas, no fortification walls have been found at Beth Shean—from any period. Benny Arubas, the architect of the Hebrew University excavations of the Roman city at lower Beth Shean, has suggested an explanation, however. The critical part of the mound with the wall may have been cut off in the Roman period during the construction of Scythopolis at the foot of the mound. The main street of this Roman city was a very wide, straight road flanked by roofed sidewalks and shops. The adjacent tell interfered with this plan. Therefore the entire southern and perhaps also part of the western portions of the mound were simply cut away by huge earth works. This would leave no chance for 20th-century archaeologists to find any fortifications on these sides of the mound. On the other sides of the mound, excavations were not carried out to a sufficient depth due to thick occupation deposits of later periods. For this reason, we have no archaeological confirmation of the Biblical account. It could have been a historical event or it could be a literary construct. Archaeology has not provided a clear answer.

The Canaanite town of the Iron Age I came to an end some time around 1000 B.C.E. We found some evidence for violent destruction, but the exact circumstances of the end of this town remain unknown.

A new city was built during the Iron IIa period, dated to the tenth–ninth centuries B.C.E. We discovered the remains of three substantial buildings from this period on the summit of the mound. Their wide mudbrick walls were laid on large basalt stone foundations with charred wooden beams between the bricks and the stone foundation. These structures had been part of an administrative complex. If indeed this complex was constructed during the tenth century B.C.E., it would agree with the Biblical notice that Beth Shean was one of three important towns in one of Solomon’s administrative districts (the other two being Megiddo and Tanaach; see 1 Kings 4:12).

These buildings were destroyed in a fierce conflagration. When and how this happened is somewhat of a question. The Bible records an attack on Jerusalem by Shishak, king of Egypt, five years after the death of Solomon, during the reign of his son Rehoboam (1 Kings 14:25). Scholars agree that Biblical Shishak is Pharaoh Sheshonq I of Egypt. His campaign into Judah and Israel c. 920 B.C.E. is recorded in detail on a wall of the Egyptian temple at Karnak. Among the cities he claims to have conquered is Beth Shean. Shishak’s campaign surely tends to confirm Beth Shean’s importance in Solomon’s time and may explain the fiery destruction at the site. Yet I must admit that our pottery chronology is not sufficiently developed to enable us to date precisely the final destruction of these buildings. It may have occurred either in the late tenth or in the ninth century B.C.E. If the later date is accepted, the destruction could have been caused by the wars between Israel and the Arameans, rather than by Shishak’s campaign. It is difficult to decide between these two alternatives.

Following this destruction, Beth Shean was rebuilt yet again and continued to be a thriving town in the northern kingdom of Israel. Both the University of Pennsylvania expedition and the Hebrew University expedition found significant structures from this time period. A typical Israelite “four-room house” excavated by our expedition is exceptional in its size and contained massive mudbrick walls that probably carried a second floor. It was destroyed and burnt with the rest of the town in a great fire probably set by the Assyrians when they conquered the northern part of the Kingdom of Israel in 732 B.C.E. The devastation was total, followed by hundreds of years of an occupational gap.


Katz:

Let me conclude with an example from my own research. Recently I have been exploring ancient Israel through the lens of social and political complexity. While most Biblical archaeologists agree that Iron Age I Israel (c. 1200–1000 B.C.E.; the period of the Judges) was a tribal society, there has not been much discussion on what that really means, that is, what kind of tribal society was ancient Israel?

To find out, I began by culling the anthropological literature on tribal societies, from “Big Man” to “acephalous” (literally, “without a head”) to chiefdoms. I then used these paradigms to construct a model of how they might be identified in the archaeological record. Finally, I compared the actual archaeological record with my model. This has led me to conclude that Iron Age I Israel best fits the paradigm of a “Big Man” society.

In brief, “Big Man” societies generally correspond with small, autonomous, village-based agricultural communities. Good examples of “Big Man” societies are found in Melanesia and New Guinea where the typical village size is about 100 people. Leadership is informal and emerges out of achievement based on charisma, personality, etc.; it is not inherited. No one is considered inherently superior to anyone else, and this egalitarianism is manifest in uniform material wealth. The giving of gifts is important for establishing relationships and reciprocal obligations.

By using this ethnographic material, we give ourselves a new avenue for interpreting early Israel. That leadership was conceived of as informal during the period of the Judges is expressed most clearly in an episode concerning Gideon. After a successful campaign against Midian, the “men of Israel” specifically request that Gideon and his children become permanent leaders: “Rule over us, you, your son, and your grandson as well” (Judges 8:22). Gideon rejects the offer on behalf of himself and his children in the spirit that the “Lord alone shall rule over you” (Judges 8:23).

While this passage makes explicit that the Judges (shoftim) did not pass on their leadership from generation to generation, only the anthropological literature can inform us just how hard it is to be a leader when you have no formal authority. You have to beg, nag, harass and persuade people to do what you want. You have to be a good talker and patient and persistent. Your reward is the reward of leadership and no more. Yet these leaders emerge, and the rest of the people tolerate them, egg them on and benefit from their hard work.

This type of political organization can continue unimpeded for centuries, even millennia. But in certain circumstances, a threshold is crossed and a new type of leadership emerges, that of a chief who is given (or seizes) significant power and authority. How does this happen? We’ll just have to ask an anthropologist.

The Hellenistic/Roman city of Scythopolis from Tel Beth Shean