Bar-Kokhba

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BAR-KOKHBA by Yigael Yadin Out of a crevice in a canyon near the Dead Sea, where it had lain for almost two thousand years, came a woman's bag. Out of the bag came a fragile batch of papyrus inside which were wrapped four wooden slats. And as the excited archaeologists stared incredulously at the strips of wood, one name blazed at them. It was the name of Bar-Kokhba, a figure who, though shadowy, looms as great among national heroes as Arthur or Ulysses, through his fame in Jewish legend as the guerilla leader of the Second Revolt against Hadrian's Romé-the revolt that for an intoxicating moment recaptured the Holy City before the legions fought their way back into it. The batch of papyrus contained letters from Bar-Kokhba, proof of whose existence had until then been only somé coins with an inscription of his name and a few references by Jewish and Román historians. This was a find to excite the whole archaeological world. The story of that find, as well as the detective skill, the... Tovább

Fülszöveg

BAR-KOKHBA by Yigael Yadin Out of a crevice in a canyon near the Dead Sea, where it had lain for almost two thousand years, came a woman's bag. Out of the bag came a fragile batch of papyrus inside which were wrapped four wooden slats. And as the excited archaeologists stared incredulously at the strips of wood, one name blazed at them. It was the name of Bar-Kokhba, a figure who, though shadowy, looms as great among national heroes as Arthur or Ulysses, through his fame in Jewish legend as the guerilla leader of the Second Revolt against Hadrian's Romé-the revolt that for an intoxicating moment recaptured the Holy City before the legions fought their way back into it. The batch of papyrus contained letters from Bar-Kokhba, proof of whose existence had until then been only somé coins with an inscription of his name and a few references by Jewish and Román historians. This was a find to excite the whole archaeological world. The story of that find, as well as the detective skill, the danger and drama that led up to it, is told here by the leader ofthe expedition. As a young man Yigael Yadin was himself a guerilla leader in Palestine at the time ofthe British mandate, and he is now Professor of Archaeology at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. He is already familiar to many readers as the author of the best-selling book on his discovery of the dramatic evidence of the Zealots' last stand at Masada. During the amazing new discoveries in the desert caves of Judaea in 1960-61, the finds by Yadin's group included a pathetic heap of skeletons, probably refugees from Román pursuit, a spectacular rangé of clothes, glass and kitchen utensils of AD 132, and an archive belonging to a woman fugitive named Babata which forms the most complete and coherent series of documents yet found from this period. But above all, Yadin's book is the story ofthe find that brought Bar-Kokhba out of the shadows of legend and restored to Jewish history a real-life hero of his people. The book is illustrated throughout in color and black-and-white. And the reader can himself experience the excitement of discovery in pictures taken at the moment when the finds were made. Vissza