BIBLE ANTIQ'UITIES, or BIBLICAL ARTHIEOL'OGY. A study which has for its object enlightenment as to the religious, social, and political conditions, the arts and sciences, manners and customs, geography, topography, etc., of the Jews and other peoples mentioned in the Bible. It falls into tAo main sections—the Old and the New Testapent. The Old-Testament field, from its historic extent and variety, fur nishes far the greater amount of material. Al though the antiquities of the Hebrews themselves form the centre of these studies, the trend of investigation and discovery during the past cen tury has given an ever-increasing importance to their relations with other nations, and the light thrown upon the Bible from these sources has been unexpectedly full. Egypt. Babylonia, As syria ; the Hittites, Pheenicians, Syrians, Per sians—all have furnished a large quota of ma terial. The cosmogony of Genesis and the account of the Deluge are being compared with the corresponding legends of the early Baby lonians; the sojourn of the Israelites in Egypt has been tested by excavations and Egyptian documents; the official historic annals of the Assyrian kings, where they record operations in .Futhea and Samaria, can now be used to compare with the texts of Kings and Chronicles, and even the capture of Nineveh. the times of Daniel. and the last days of Babylon. The Hittites, casually mentioned in the Old Testament, are found to have been a powerful confederacy; excavations have disclosed the antiquities of these and other tribes among whom the Hebrews came to settle.
Phoenician studies have helped to show the prim itive form of the Hebrew alphabet and language. In short, the old supplements to the Bible text, such as the writings of Jasephus and Philo, the Targums, and the Talmud, no longer retain their exclusive importance. Palestine itself has been thoroughly axplored and surveyed. and many old sites identified. The English Palestine Ex ploration Fund and the German Palastina-Ver ein have done the most systematic collective work, and have published maps, surveys, and periodical reports and new contributions. The American association for the same purpose was at work only a few years. but such Americans as `elate Merrill and Frederick Bliss have done dis tinguished service. There has been organized a school of Oriental studies in Palestine, to study biblical archa'ology and to work in exploration and excavation. A corpus of Semitic inscrip tions is published by the French Academy of inscriptions, and will furnish all such original material. Much attention is of course paid to archmeology in the Bible dictionaries, especially in the larger ones of William Smith, T. K. Chevne ( Eneycloprrdia Bihlica). and James Hast ings. See articles ASSYRIA BABYLON : BABY LONIA : PALESTINE time cross references under ARC1LEOLOGY. and the biblical geographical ar ticles generally.