Etruscans resting in peace

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This old bone box at the Bible Lands Museum touched my heart.

The deceased couple is depicted on the lid of the ossuary.

The panels show winged genii leading the dead away.

(Click on the photo and then again on the enlarged photo to see it up close.)

This is an Etruscan ossuary from Etruria, central Italy, dated 400-300 B.C.E.

This is the Bible Lands Museum Jerusalem with a modern statue of the tower of Babel in front.

It is located on "museum row," across the street from the Israel Museum and just up the hill from the science museum.
Just to the BLMJ's left I was excited to see the progress of the National Campus for the Archaeology of Israel.
I posted about it two years ago when they were just putting up the sign about its future construction.
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I hope the folks at Our World Tuesday enjoy this tour and that the taphophiles at Taphophile Tragics appreciate the bone box.
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White magic, angels and demons

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White magic beneath a blue sky . . . for Sky Watch Friday.

Believe it or not, the first-of-its-kind exhibition "Angels & Demons" is about Jewish magic.
The Bible prohibited Jews from dabbling in black magic, but white magic (what I would call superstitions) was not so bad.

Don't ask, 'cause we didn't go in to see it.

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But we did have fun outside the museum photographing a visiting Franciscan monk!

Fr. Eduardo, if you see this post, please leave a comment so I can find your blog on Blogger.

Someday soon I will have to take a whole day, alone, and slowly go through the Bible Lands Museum Jerusalem.

Opened in 1992, it bills itself as "the only museum in the world dedicated to the history of the Bible and the Ancient Near East."
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This Ministry of Tourism press release shows some fascinating examples of the objects that many believed, and some still believe, to be magical.

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