ARCHAEOLOGY, BIBLICAL. —Archzeology, or, as it has been called by some writers, Archzeo graphy, has been defined to be an explanation of those ancient monuments in which former nations have left us the traces or records of their religion, history, politics, arts and sciences' (Miscellanea Antiq. erred.) It may perhaps be more conveni ently described as a systematic knowledge of the public institutions and domestic habits of the ancients (Fabricius, Bibl. Antiq. viii. I). Plato uses cipxcu oNo-y/a for antiquarian lore in general (Hipp. Maj. 285 D.) Although the word has been very vaguely applied, it is generally understood to exclude his tory, and to deal rather with the permanent condi tion' than with the progressive development' of the nations concerned (De Wette, § 1). It is thus used in a sense far more limited than was understood by Diodorus Siculus in the title 'Ieropla aPXatoXoyoukclin7, or by Josephus, when he gave to his celebrated History the title of 'ApxacoXo-yla 'Iou8aFto). We should not apply such a term to books like Ewald's Geschichte des Volkes Israel, or Dean Milman's History of the Sews. Jahn, who very loosely considers Archzeology to involve the knowledge of whatever in antiquity is worthy of remembrance' (Archavl. Bibl. § r), makes it in chide Geography ; but this subject must he excluded from meaning of the term, although books like Bochart's Phaleg and Canaan, and Reland's Palestina ex Monumentisveterum illustrata, abound in information most valuable to the biblical student. Biblical Archaeology must therefore be considered as the science which collects and systematizes all that can be discovered about the religious, civil, and private life of the people among whom the Bible had its origin ; and of those nations by whose history and customs they were mainly influenced. The Archteology of the Bible is both more difficult and more interesting than that of the Greeks and Romans ; and its interest is commensurate with its importance. To reproduce in living pictures the bygone life of other ages must always be a worthy task for the thoughtful student, and lessons of the utmost importance will arise from the endeavour to resuscitate an extinct civilization. But when such a study is pursued in order to understand the character and institutions of that peculiar nation to which was entrusted the propagation of a revealed religion, it becomes worthy of the highest intellect. Without it no true conception can be formed of the views and circumstances which lent their chief force and value to many of the profoundest utterances of inspired philosophy during a period of fifteen cen turies •, and the neglect with which it was long treated gave rise to numerous unnecessary difficulties and unworthy sneers. Had the peculiarities of Jewish civilization been thoroughly understood, half of the innuendoes which delighted the admirers of Bayle and Volney would only have raised a smile.
The sources of Biblical Archeology are few and meagre, and those that are most copious are un fortunately also most questionable. Following Fabricius, Jahn, and other writers, we may state them as follows The first and chief source is, of course, that collection of sacred books, com prising almost the sole relics of ancient Hebrew literature, which were written in different centuries, in different styles, and under different circumstances, during the entire period of Jewish history, and which are now comprised under the one name ' Bible.' But
among these books there is not a single document professedly archatological, and our knowledge of the subject must be pieced from scattered and inci dental notices, and illustrated from other sources. 2. Ancient monuments, comprising coins, inscrip tions, bas-reliefs, statues, gems, and the ruins of such cities as Baalbec, Palmyra, Persepolis, Nine eh, and Petra. The most valuable books on this branch of the subject, are Reland, De Spoliis Tem pli in Arcu Thiano conspicuis, 17i6; F. G. Bayer, De nunzis Hebr. Samar. ; J. H. Hottinger, De Cippis Hebraicis ; Hessey on Ancient Weights, etc., 1836 ; Ackerman's Numismatics of the N. T. ; Brissonius, De regno Persarunz ; Mover's Ph5nizier, and Layard's Nineveh. The translations of cunei form inscriptions by Sir H. Rawlinson, Dr. Hincks, and others, have lately thrown a flood of light on the Jewish monarchy ; some of the information thus acquired may be found in the Rev. G. Rawlinson's Heroa'otza, but the labours of Dr. Hincks are un fortunately scattered through a number of separate publications. 3. The works of Philo and Jose phus. 4. Ancient Greek and Laths authors, as Xenophon, Diod. Siculus, Aelian, Strabo, Plu tarch, and especially Herodotus. This field has been so well worked that probably little more can be gleaned from it. A book has recently been published on the illustrations of Scripture to be found in Herodotus. 5. The Apocrypha, and the later Jewish writings, as the Jerusalem and Baby lonian Talmuds, consisting of the Mishna (or text), and Gemaras (or commentaries on it). This ' rich but turbid source' (as Hagenbach calls it, quoted in Herzog's Encyclop.) has been amply con sulted, and the results may be largely found in Buxtorf's Lex. Talmud/cum, Otho's Lex. Rabbizzi cum, Meuschen N. T ex Taint. illustratum, Lightfoot's Hor. Hebraica, and Schoettgen's Hor. Hebraicce, as also in Wettstein's Annot. in N. T. 6. Oriental writers, as Avicenna, Abulfeda, El Edrisi, the Zend Avesta, and especially the Koran. Something, too, can be gleaned from writers who, like Jerome and Ephrem Syrus, lived in Syria. As much as an English reader is likely to want on the subject, may be found in Hottinger's Historia Orientalis, D'Herbelot's Bibl. Orient., and Weil's Legends. 7. Books of Travel. These have added very largely to our knowledge of Biblical Archm ology, because of the stationary character of all oriental forms of civilization. A list of them may be found in Winer's Handbuch der Theologischen Literatur. We may mention the Travels of Po cocke, Maundrell, Bruce, Clarke, and De Saulcy; Niebuhr's Description de l'Arabie, Burckhardt's Travels in Syria, Shaw's Travels in Barbary and the Levant, Chardin's Travels in Persia, Harmer's Observations, Lieutenant Wellsted's Travels in Arabia, Professor Robinson's Biblical Researches, Bonar's Desert of Sinai, Thomson's The Land and the Book, and especially Professor Stanley's Sinai and Palestine. On Jerusalem alone, several most valuable works have recently appeared, as the Rev. G. Williams' Holy City, Thrupp's An cient yerusalenz, and Ferguson's Essay on the Ancient Topography of 7erusalenz. Much may also be learnt from the Description de l'Egypte, Wilkinson's Ancient Egyptians, and Lane's Modern Egyptians.