1. Siloam
Inscription - Stone
inscription removed from Hezekiah’s tunnel in
Jerusalem shortly after it was discovered in 1880
CE. This tunnel was dug ca. 710 BCE to connect Gihon
spring with the pool of Siloam. Biblical references:
2 Kings 20:20; 2 Chron 32:30; John 9:7.
2. Herod’s
“Thanatos” temple inscription
- Stone inscription from the temple in Jerusalem,
forbidding Gentiles to enter under penalty of death.
Biblical references: Acts 21:27-31; 24:6,12,13. Only
two known copies exist; the other (a partial and
less-well preserved one) is in the Rockefeller
Museum in Jerusalem.
3. Gezer
Calendar - Discovered in
Gezer excavations about 1908, and Gezer boundary
stone, used by Clermont-Ganneau to identify Gezer in
1874 CE. Only two exist in the world; again, the
other is in the Rockefeller Museum in Jersualem.
4. Tile
panels from the Ishtar gate, Babylon
(from the reign of Nebuchadnezzar, ca. 605-562 BCE).
There is an extensive collection in the island
museum in old East Berlin, and perhaps one panel in
the Louvre, but the Istanbul display is said to be
second only to Berlin in the world. They are in
Rooms III and IX in the Ancient Orient building of
the museum.
There are of course many other artifacts in the
museum, but for just a short trip, these are perhaps
the most important from a Biblical standpoint.