Biblical Archaeology in the Pergamon Museum (2)

The Pergamon Museum contains much more than we had time to see. There were however a few items which stood out, in addition to the great Ishtar Gate mentioned in the previous post. These first two images are of the reconstructed Market Gate of Miletus, a Roman construction from around AD100. The Pergamon museum many decades ago took the controversial decision to use the archaeological finds as a basis for complete reconstruction of the buildings with signifiacnt additions of new material. So what the visitor sees here is something which is marketed as a 'live album' but which largely consists of studio overdubs... (or something). This gate adorned the great city of Miletus, but was not completed until approximately forty years after 'St' Paul's several visits to the city described in the New Testament book of The Acts of the Apostles.

The photos above and below are the remaining fragments of huge statues of Hadrian and Trajan respectively. Roman political-theology welded together the adoration and ritual honouring of their gods with the veneration of Emperors who were given a semi-divine status. Participation in worship of these statues of the Emperors therefore become as much a matter of loyalty to the Roman State as it was something done borne out of theological conviction or spirituality. The museum provides headsets with brilliant commentary on all the exhibits, available in many languages, it was this commentary that said something interesting about this statue of Trajan. It said that while participation in the state religious rituals was near universal, the one group who refused to take part was the early Christian community for whom idol worship was fundamentally incompatible with their beliefs. It was their refusal to worship this piece of stone, which led to the persecution of the Christian church by the Roman Empire throughout the Middle East.

Empires come and go, but history lives on. This week both Labour, Shadow Foreign Secretary, MP Douglas Alexander and Prince Charles have brought attention to the plight of Christians in the Middle East today. The threat today looks substantially different to the enforced Emperor worship of Trajan's Roman empire; but yet is strikingly similar. Islamism is a religio-political movement which seeks to use religion as a political tool, and which makes outward observance of its religious code a matter of loyalty to its vision of the state. Like in Rome, what is perceived as 'heresy' is defined as 'treason' and therefore subject to the most severe persecution. Many good organisations campaign for religious freedom in the Middle East today, click here to find out more.

Moving from room to room through the Pergamon Museum involved leaping through the centuries in the imagination. In Biblical terms, turning a corner is like flipping over from the Acts of the Apostles to the early books of Old Testament History. These final three photos take us into the book of 2 Kings, 2 Chronicles and Isaiah. Prior to the hegemony of Babylon, Assyria was the major regional power in the Ancient Near East. After Israel was divided into two kingdoms by Solomon's sons, Assyria assaulted The Northern Kingdom and conquered it. Sennacherib's assault on Jerusalem during the reign of King Hezekiah is on of the great escape stories of the Old Testament. 2 Kings 18-19 describes the siege of Jerusalem, and Hezekiah's pleading with God for deliverance, in the temple. In response the angel of the Lord attacked the Assyrian troops at night, and Sennacherib return to Nineveh, where he was subsequently killed by his own sons pursuing his throne.

This water tank from archaeological digs of ancient Assyria, features inscriptions and depictions of the great King Sennacherib.

These battle-reliefs, feature images of the greatly feared and well-armed Assyrian troops.

Like Babylon, Assyria was a nation whose religious life was strongly orientated around idol worship. This Assyrian statue represented a weather-god, veneration of whom was supposed to secure the ideal conditions for the fruitful harvest upon which the whole society depended. The arms have long fallen off the statue but contained a spear in one hand and a lightning bolt in the other. The Old Testament presents such idols as these as a source of constant temptation for the Jewish people. While they very rarely actually abandoned the worship of YHWH as directed in the Law of Moses, the complaint of the prophets like Elijah, was that they combined it with the worship of idols like this one. The Baal's were thought to be fertility gods who could supply harvests and so forth, if suitably venerated and appeased. The temptation for the people was to 'hedge their bets' between God and the Baals, seeking to keep both on side. Old Testament theology revolves around the central idea that YHWH is the one true God, who will not share His people with rivals; but who called His people to trust Him for everything.

To Museum Island, The Pergamon Museum and some Biblical Archaeology!

The walk from Hakesher Markt station to the Pergamon Museum is a great start to a remarkable visit. Sights on the way include not only the Cathedral, but also the  DDR museum with its lovely Trabant in the window, and some nice sculptures by the river. Whether the naked bathers statues are themselves a tribute to the former East Germany and its penchant for naturism, I do not know.

The Museum Island on Berlin has a cluster of world-class exhibitions all gathered together in once corner of the city. There's enough here to fill many, many days; so we chose the Pergamon Museum which contains many interesting finds by German archaeologists in the 1800s from the Ancient Near East.

The outside of the museum is (like so much of Berlin) a building site; however once signs are followed around the fences, diggers, pipes and cranes; the museum is quiet astonishing. The main entrance inside is dominated by the Ishtar Gate; which was Nebuchadnezzar IIs main entrance into the ancient city of Babylon. Enough of the glazed bricks of the original city were recovered from the deserts of Iraq to reconstruct the whole gate by adding newly cast bricks to fill in the gaps. This 47ft high front gate has been completely reconstructed, while the pieces of the larger inner gate are stored. It was King Nebuchadnezzar II who features in the Old Testament of the Bible as the ruler whose successful campaign against Judah lead to the destruction of Jerusalem and the exile of most of the inhabitants. 

It was 'by the rivers of Babylon' that the Jewish people 'wept as they remembered Zion', but one of their first sights of their captors city would almost certainly have been the great Ishtar Gate. These would have included great characters from Bible stories such as Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego. The reliefs on the side of the gate represent the array of Babylonian deities, whose worship formed the structure of the Babylonian City. Whilst the common assumption of the time would have been that these gods had triumphed over YHWH as His people had been captured; one of the main messages of the Old Testament history tellers is to refute that interpretation of events.

The Processional Way, a great walled street running up to The Ishtar Gate, was similarly decorated, and played an essential role in the main celebrations of The Babylonian religious calendar - centred around the worship of the idol, Marduk. While this 'conflict between gods' was common currency in the ANE, as a way of interpreting battles and their outcomes; the Old Testament writers rarely use such a framework. While Israel's victories are accredited to YHWH, these are usually described as victories against Israel's enemies themselves, rather than over their gods. The victories are intended not to demonstrate their overthrow but the inherent falability of idols as sources of strength and objects of worship. Likewise the Yahwhistic interpretation of losses does not suggest the victory of the idol; but of YHWH's displeasure with his people and the withdrawal of His protection from them. Of course, the thing which was the cause of this displeasure was idolatry; repeated introduction of which into Israel and Judah is defined as the root cause of the fall and exile of the two Kingdoms. 

This statue of the Babylonian god Uruk, stands tall and proud in the Pergamon Museum behind the Ishtar Gate. It is typical of the kind of idols carved in this period, which the exiled Jews would have seen being worshipped. If the Old Testament's Yahweh focussed interpretation of history doesn't view these epic political struggles as competitions 'between gods', that does not mean that there is no sense of a spiritual battle between good and evil. The Bible-writers view of this struggle though is that it is not primarily played out between YHWH and the Babylonian gods on the battlefields of the ANE, but in the hearts, minds and affections of the Jewish people in Israel and Judah. That is to say the Old Testament presents YHWH, not as a regional, or national deity; but as the creator and ruler of the whole world; who had a special relationship with one people. These people's success, basically centred on the state of their relationship to Him.

Having studied these Bible-stories for many years, to see the Ishtar Gate, and the artefacts from Babylon is quite simply staggering!

Berlin Hauptbanhof

Berlin's new Central Station is an overwhelmingly impressive structure, beautiful in its design, functionally brilliant, and overpowering in its size. The city needed a new station in the post Cold-War era, as the transport network had spent almost half a century evolving around the needs of the divided city, and under the authority of two separate systems; East and West. Building an integrated transport system for the integrating city required a new hub, and Hauptbanhof is what they built; where the main East/West mainlines meet the new North/South routes.

The building looks deceptively small as you enter it on the East/West route. (yes, the photo is the latest in my many recent please for a Tripod!). Stepping off the train reveals a conventional train-shed, albeit with a huge glass vaulted roof, spanning all the tracks. Further inspection in all directions reveals that there is far, far more than this, however. Looking upwards reveals that two great office blocks are vaulted up above and over the train-shed, without ever appearing to touch it. Looking down reveals four floors of shopping and then the North/South station far below that!

All bedecked with Christmassy schmaltz too..

Exploring further around the Hauptbanhof reveals that long trainshed running East/West has tracks supported high above the shops on elegant piers; while the subterranean North/South tracks have a matching glass roof which forms massive entrance halls.

Huge escalators and glass lifts lead down to the clinical underground, 'hidden' station below.

Up on the top, passengers wait for the local E/W service to take them across to the East of the city.

Brandenburg Nights

Not so much a series of photos, more a plea for a tripod! There's a limit to what can be achieved with a shaky hand, a park bench, a litter bin or a phone or a telephone booth for night photography! Ah,.. one day!

Christmas Contradictions

When I was young people used to say, “Nostalgia eh? It ain't what it used to be”. It’s a shame really that no-one really laughs at that joke like they used to in the old days…..still we can always look back fondly and remember when they did.

In 2013 we have a strange relationship with the past. Culturally we indulge the twin habits of witheringly dismissing everything which has passed from contemporary fashion; be it, music, clothes or perhaps most poignantly ideas; while on the other hand immersing ourselves in repeated bouts of nostalgia-frenzy. So we mock the social attitudes of preceding generations while enjoying The Morecambe and Wise Christmas Special, or assume a wry superiority to our grandparents parochialism while watching The Dam Busters, The Fifty Greatest Hits of the 1970s  (not ‘arf), or maybe worst of all The 100 Greatest Moments from The Soaps.

Christmas seems especially prone to this tendency. (“Merry Kitschmas One and All, Ho Ho Ho!”) and the Christmas Card industry makes its millions with scenes of mulled-wine quaffing robins on holly in snow, at a medieval church, surrounded by be-scarffed carol-singing Edwardians. All this to provoke a dreamy longing for a mythical lost world of rural calm and security, to a generation who actually grew up in post-war suburbs.

The church has hardly been immune to having its gaze firmly fixed in the cultural rear-view mirror either. Maybe as Kitschma.., sorry, Christmas contains one the few remaining points of overlap between the church and wider society, we have been so busy milking it for opportunities to connect, that we have joined in distorting it. But celebrating the birth of Christ shouldn’t be about whimsically dreaming about a world lost; but about God’s announcement of a better one to come. Connecting with Him is supposed to be about having the past, which is full of sins and errors, forgiven and forgotten. It's not supposed to be about what we have lost, but about gaining eternal life from Christ; which arrives now, and stretches ever-on into the future. 

"So, here it is Merry, wish it could be Christmas Every Day"

Merry Christmas and a Happy Everlasting Life.  And may your chestnuts always roast on an open fire.

Brandenburg Days

The Brandenburg Gate lies at the heart of Berlin, the one remaining of four original city gates which were part of the historical Prussian capital. Like many of the great landmarks of Berlin it was devastated in the Second World War, but has been immaculately restored.

The Brandenburg Gate was a symbol of the division of Europe in the Cold War era, as the most well-photographed section of the Berlin Wall ran right in front of it. Anti-wall protests were focussed around this symbolic structure. It was here that the TV cameras descended in November 1989 when the people breached The Wall and Germans celebrated the end of their enforced East/West estrangement.

In Cold War photos, the gate is surrounded by acres of empty land, which contrasts with the shopping and hotel developments which now line the great avenues which approach it.

On the cold, rainy, December Day we visited The Brandenburger Tor, it was still a focal point for public demonstration. Members of Berlin's Muslim community were out in force protesting against executions in Afghanistan.

Standing in the Brandenburg Gate is something which, if not taken for granted, is slightly surreal. The Gate has obviously come to mean more as a symbol of freedom and unity than, its' historical value alone confers upon it. Nevertheless it is odd to stand, and photograph, a place through which generals, tyrants, and Emperors have come, and in turn stood and been photographed. It is equally amazing to stand under the gate and look out, and see for miles down a view which in memories of childhood photographs was completely blocked by a monstrous wall.

The Berliner Dom

Berlin's magnificent Cathedral, which sits on the 'Museum Island' in the heart of city, has benefited from a massive rebuilding programme which was completed in the 1980s. The bombing of WWII, and the fall of Berlin to the Red Army of Soviet Russia left many of Berlin's great landmarks in ruins. Photos from the years after the Second World War show a tattered building, with its great domed roof caved in. 1950s images shot from within the crumbling building, (with little regard for the health and safety of the photographer) reveal a view of the sky above the main sanctuary. 

It seems that no expense has been spared in the restoration process, which has been detailed, meticulous and spectacular. The Berliner Dom today functions as a working church, a museum, the place in which the tombs of many Prussian Kings rest, an architectural showcase, and a wonderful viewpoint.

I rarely take a 'selfie' with my camera (note cunning use of the Oxford English Dictionary's new entry as 'word of the year' there: making this blog 'contemporary' for perhaps the first and only time). However, a selfie here there is! See if you can spot me in the following photo, taken from the top of the Berliner Dom. And no, I'm not the statue.

The Berliner Dom has strong roots in the Lutheran/Reformed tradition of Protestant Christianity. This is celebrated at the top of the massive staircase leading up to the dome itself, in a huge carved stone relief depicting Martin Luther at a key point in the Reformation.

The Diet of Worms sounds like a rather unsavoury Horrible Histories gag. In fact in 1521 Luther, (depicted to the left of the image with hands clasped) had been summoned to the town of Worms, to an enquiry 'diet' to account for his writings which the Pope had pronounced heretical. Pressured to recant his views he allegedly said (but probably didn't), "Here I stand, I can do no other". There is no doubt however, that he bravely stood his ground and maintained his views in favour of "salvation by faith alone", and against the abuses of the Medieval Catholic Church. He did so, in full knowledge that previous people who had stood but such views had been executed.

The Victorians made recent Movember efforts look rather pathetic. Now this is a proper 'tache...

Berliner Fernsehturm / Berlin's TV Tower

When Walter Ulbricht's DDR needed to build a new TV aerial for East Berlin in the late 1960s, it was decided to build it as a monstrous ego-statement about the progress of communism. They built one of the highest buildings in Europe and allegedly modelled the top of it on the look of the Soviet Sputnik spacecraft, which vied with the USA for supremacy far above the tower, in space. The Fernsehturm is still in use for TV broadcasts, and as a tourist attraction, with its revolving viewing gallery and restaurant decks still in operation; offering paying customers unparallelled views out over this great city.

Even on the foggy day when we visited, when the top of the tower disappeared up into the cloud; all the city's great landmarks were visible from the viewing gallery. It also revealed how much of the city is now a building site; with cranes and pipes in all directions. In total and ironic contrast to the message the planners of the TV tower had anticipated however, these building boom does not signal the triumph of the planned socialist economy but of Germany being the core of Europe's free-market capitalist economy; primed with available real-estate courtesy of the collapse of communism and the freeing of available land it had once used for walls, fences, barbed wire, gun-turrets, trip-wires, guard-dogs and all the other paraphernalia of repression.

"Back in the DDR?" Pointing the camera out across East Berlin reveals that despite the changes, the imprint of communist planning is still an essential part of the new Berlin.

The Holocaust Memorial, Berlin

Long after I have forgotten many of the things we saw on our trip to Berlin, the overwhelming impression left on me by the 'Memorial to the murdered Jews of Europe" will remain. In the heart of Berlin, a stone's throw from the Brandenburg Gate, and the Reichstag over 2,700 concrete blocks, "Stelae" project up from the ground in rows. At a distance the Stelae all look alike - faceless and anonymous; but in fact each is unique. They all vary in size, weight, dimensions, and angle. This, quite remarkably I think, represents the way in which the vast scale of evil weighed in terms of millions of deaths can anonymise the victims and paint them as uniform. This must be challenged, as this is the lie of the perpetrators of these crimes. The stelae do not let such things go unanswered however, because when the visitor actually walks amongst them and sees, and touches their uniqueness; the vast figure of 6million is hidden behind the view of individual tragedies. And each one is unique, and valuable. The great and the good, the rich and poor, the old and the young, the fat and the thin.

Amongst the stelae there is a silence, a deep mournful silence. As we walked in amongst them, Berlin was bathed in a gentle rain, of fine misty droplets, which clung to the stalae. Miriam Brysk's work on the Holocaust is called "The Stones Weep". I don't know if the designers of this memorial had her words in mind as they built their solemn structures; but these slabs were weeping the morning we were there. 

They didn't weep great gushing tears of anguish, like those which are the accompaniment to great shock or sudden trauma; rather the tears gently and consistently welled on the slabs, as if they had wept for a long time and would weep forever. 

Underneath the ground in the information centre, the stelae continue, as coffin shaped indentations on the ceiling, or as great slabs hanging down from it. On these subterranean columns, the stories of the murdered, and their murdered communities are told. The first-hand accounts of what happened to the Jews of Europe are appalling. It is a place where everyone reads and no one speaks.

This is an important place. There are two great dangers which remembering the evil of the 1930s and 40s faces; glorification and denial. Tragically, there are still those in the world today who would wish to honour and imitate this great wickedness - and they must be given no opportunity. On the other hand there are those who would wish to deny these events, and erase them from public memory, and they must be confronted with the truth in memorials. With its focus on the victims, this place presents no opportunities for the misuse of this history, but deeply and powerfully speaks the truth about what occurred.  In the entrance to the information centre, which contains the names of every known Jewish victim of Nazi terror, these words are written:

This is why the memorial is so important. Humanity has sunk this low before, and so has the propensity to do so again.