Jerusalem through the Ages: New Perspectives

Joint Conference of the Ingeborg Rennert Center of Jerusalem Studies, Bar-Ilan University and the Minerva Center for the Relations between Israel and Aram in Biblical Times

Organized by Aren M. Maeir, Angelika Berlejung and Joe Uziel

April 27-29, 2025
Schloss Beuggen, Rheinfelden, Germany
The lectures will also be broadcast on zoom at the following link:
https://biu-ac-il.zoom.us/j/3696964081?omn=87680357586

Schedule:
1. April 27th:
a. 15:00-16:00 Arrival and Apéro
b. 16.00-17:00 Jodi Magness - Opening Lecture: What Makes Jerusalem Special?
c. 17:00-19.00 FIRST SESSION: Monumental Construction
i. 17.00-17.30 Katja Soennecken - Jerusalem during Hezekiah’s reign
ii. 17:30-18.00 Filip Vukosavovic - Rethinking the Iron Age fortifications
iii. 18:00-18:30 Ayala Zilberstein - The Seleucid Akra and the Hasmonean 'First Wall'
iv. 18:30-19.00 Dieter Vieweger - The ‘Second Wall’ of Herodian Jerusalem and the Threats to the Late Antique City
d. 19:00-20:00 Plenary Session: Israel Finkelstein and Yuval Gadot - Debating Early Jerusalem in light of recent books on Jerusalem (respondent: Aren M. Maeir)
20:15 DINNER

2. April 28th:
a. 8:00-10:30 SECOND SESSION: Jerusalem in the Literary Traditions
i. Joachim Friedrich Quack - The target, the gap and the goal. Vistas on Jerusalem from Ancient Egyptian texts
ii. Eckart Frahm - The political, economic, and cultural significance of Jerusalem in the late 8th century BCE according to Assyrian royal inscriptions
iii. Hannes Bezzel - Daughter Zion from Jeremiah to Deutero-Isaiah to Deutero-Zechariah
iv. Christl Maier – Jerusalem as a Mother-City: Destroyed and Rebuilt
v. Raik Heckl - The Transformation of Jerusalem into a Sacred Space of Aspiration in the Book of Ezekiel
10:30-11:00 COFFEE BREAK
b. 11:00-13:00 THIRD SESSION: Jerusalem in the Literary Traditions (continued)
i. Jonathan Price - Jerusalem in Josephus’ Geography and Theology
ii. Jens Herzer - On the way up to Jerusalem: The ambivalent relationship of the Pharisee Paul to the holy city
iii. Hugo Antonissen - Revelations 3,21 and 22 on the one hand and Aramaic New Jerusalem on the other hand: The same denomination for two different kings of “New Jerusalem”
iv. Avner Ecker - The Inscriptions of Late Hellenistic/Early Roman Jerusalem
13:00-14:30 LUNCH
c. 14:30-16:00 FOURTH SESSION: Jerusalem and Cult
i. Ariel Winderbaum - Jerusalem in the Iron I and Iron IIA as seen from the Ophel
ii. Shua Kisilevitz - On (and under) the Road to Jerusalem: Iron Age Cultic Patterns at Tel Moza and Reflections of Ritual Practices in Jerusalem
iii. Filip Čapek - The First Temple Lost between Archaeology and Texts?
16:00-16:30 COFFEE BREAK
d. 16:30-18:30 FIFTH SESSION: Jerusalem and Cult (continued)
i. Orit Peleg-Barkat and Uzi Leibner - "A Song of Ascents… Let Us Go to the House of the LORD" (Psalm 122:1): Ascending to the Temple in Late Second Temple Period Jerusalem
ii. Klaus Bieberstein - The Fate of the Churches of Jerusalem in the Abbasid Period
iii. Adrian Boas - Jerusalem as Maimonides saw it
iv. Discussion
19:00 DINNER

3. April 29th:
a. 8:30-10:00 SIXTH SESSION: Jerusalem and Empires
i. Joe Uziel - Did Hazael ever reach Jerusalem? On the relationship between Empires and Jerusalem's Defensive Architecture
ii. Angelika Berlejung - Jerusalem and the Babylonian Empire
iii. Andrea Berlin – From Possession to Prize: Jerusalem under the Ptolemies and Seleucids
10:00-10:30 COFFEE BREAK
b. 10:30-12:30 SEVENTH SESSION: Jerusalem and Empires (continued)
i. Nahshon Szanton - The Roman Influence on Jerusalem's Urban Planning in the Early Roman Period
ii. Shlomit Weksler-Bdolah - Jerusalem after 70 CE: The Tenth Legion Camp and the Foundation of Aelia Capitolina in Light of Archaeological Finds
iii. Gideon Avni - Between Empires: Jerusalem in the Early Islamic Period, Continuity and Change
iv. Anna Gutgarts - Innovation and Adaptation - Trends in the Urban Development of Jerusalem during the Crusader Period
12:30-14:00 LUNCH
c. 14:00-16:00 EIGHT SESSION: Deathscapes
i. Aren M. Maeir – Deathscapes of Bronze and Iron Age Jerusalem
ii. Boaz Zissu - Life and Death in Ancient Jerusalem: Tombs and Funerary Practices during the Second Temple Period
iii. Tehillah Leiberman - Burial practices and their reflection on the status of women in the Early Roman Period
iv. Amit Reem - The medieval burial structure at Akeldama – observations and reflections
16:00-16:30 Coffee BREAK
d. 16:30-18:00 NINTH SESSION: Trade and Economy
i. Felix Hagemeyer - “You have to be very rich or very poor to live without a trade." (Albert Camus) - On Jerusalem's trade relations with the Philistine and Phoenician coasts in the Iron Age
ii. Ehud Weiss - The fruits (and grains) of Early Roman Jerusalem
iii. Debi Sandhaus - Dining Practices in Aelia: Tableware in Jerusalem and its surroundings and its reflection on the political and cultural milieu
e. 18:00-18:45 Final Discussion and Publication Plans
19:00 DINNER