Anyone who has ever searched for images of the splendors of Biblical lands only to come up with grainy images with little in the way of provenance will deeply appreciate Todd Bolen's impressive job of assembling so many excellent pictures in one place - and granting purchasers the right to use any or all of them freely for personal or educational use. Not only does this CD feature hundreds of high-resolution (1600 x 1200 pixels or higher) photographs from out-of-the-way locations as well as familiar sites (Todd Bolen, a professor at the Israel Bible Extension campus of The Master's College, and his colleagues have lived and traveled extensively over the whole area for years), it provides the purchaser with several ways of viewing and using them. You get all of the images in JPEG format, so they can be viewed in a browser, in any number of photo editing software products, or in VueSlide (a trial version of which is included on the CD). On top of that, though, the CD also features ready-made PowerPoint presentations featuring the images in a local tour-like sequence and, in many cases, built-in notes about each image. Identifying information is coded into the name of each file: the site name, the date the photo was taken, and the initials of the photographer. Even those who have toured the Holy Land could not have traveled to so many sites on multiple occasions in order to view each of them under optimal conditions.
Volume 1, Galilee and the North, features over 600 photographs from the Golan Heights, Huleh Basin, Galilee Hill Country, Sea of Galilee, Jordan River, and the Plain of Asher. Specific sites include the Dan, Hazor, Capernaum, Chorazin, Bethsaida, Arbel cliffs, Baram, Sepphoris, Nazareth, Acco, Haifa, Caesarea Philippi, and such less-visited places as Rosh HaNiqra, Montfort Castle, Jotapata, Kadesh, Abel Beth Maacah, Banias Waterfall, Nimrod's Castle, Nahal Ammud, Nahal Iyon, Nahal Senir, the lower city of Hazor, Mt Hermon, Mt Merom, Qatzrin, Gamla, Rogem Hiri, Tabgha, Cove of the Sower, and Kursi.
Volume 2, Samaria and the Center, features over 550 photographs from the Jezreel Valley, Harod Valley, Mt. Carmel, Sharon Plain, Samaria, Jordan Rift, and Benjamin. Specific sites include the Megiddo; Beth Shean; Mounts Gilboa, Tabor, and Moreh; Muhraqa, Caesarea; Mounts Gerizim and Ebal; Shiloh; Gibeon; and Jericho, as well as such less-visited places as the Dothan Valley, Tanaach, Jokneam, Shunem, Sachne, Dor, Tirzah, Salim near Aenon, the Samaritan Passover, the Beth Horon ridge, et-Tell, Khirbet el-Maqatir, Michmash, Mizpah, and Nebi Samwil.
Volume 3, Jerusalem, features over 650 photographs from the Old City, Southern Temple Mount excavations, the Temple Mount, City of David, Western wall tunnels, the Jewish Quarter, Mt.Zion, and the Mount of Olives. Specific sites include the Gates of the Old City, the Broad Wall, Area G, Warren's Shaft, Hezekiah's Tunnel, the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, Bethany and Yad VaShem, as well other assorted images including important tombs, new discoveries in the City of David, and a topographical map of Jerusalem.
Volume 4, Judah and the Dead Sea, features over 600 photographs from the Hill Country of Judah, the Judean Wilderness, the Dead Sea, Shephelah, and the Philistine Plain. Specific sites include En Gedi, Masada, Qumran, Bethlehem, Herodium, Hebron, Gezer, the Valley of Elah, Bet Guvrin, Lachish, and Ashkelon, and you get images of Wadi Qilt, Nahal Arugot, Mar Saba, the Bar Kochba caves, Sorek Cave stalactites, the cave of Adullam, Yarmuth, Gath (Tell es-Safi), Tell Eiton (Eglon), Tell Beit Mirsim, Gaza and nearly all 11 caves of the Dead Sea Scrolls.
Volume 5, Negev and the Wilderness, features over 500 photographs from Biblical Negev, the Negev Highlands, Nabatean cities, Nahal Zin, the Spice Route, the Wildernesses of Zin and Paran, Aravah, and the Red Sea. Specific sites include Gerar, Ziklag, Tell Jemmeh, Nahal Besor, Tell el-Farah South, Beersheba, Arad, Sede Boqer, Avdat, Mampsis, Nessana, Machtesh Ramon, Red Canyon, Timna Valley, Model of the Tabernacle, and Eilat.
Volume 6, Jordan, features over 550 photographs from Gadara, Gerasa, Jabesh Gilead, Ramoth Gilead, Penuel and Mahanaim, Tell Deir Alla (Succoth), Bethany Beyond the Jordan, Iraq el-Emir, and Amman. Among the sites you'll find Tell Hesban, Tell Jalul, Medeba Map, Mt. Nebo, Macherus, Kerak, Bozrah, Petra, and Aqaba. You'll get photographs from atop the High Place, the Monastery and Umm el-Biyara in Petra, Bab edh-Dhra (Sodom?), the Wadis Yarmuk, Jabbok, Arnon, Zered and Punon, the Pools of Heshbon, and the King's Highway.
Volume 7, Egypt, features over 550 photographs from Coral Island, Northern Sinai, Jebel Musa, St. Catherine's Monastery, the Suez Canal, the Pyramids in Giza, Saqqara, Cairo, and the Dashur Pyramids. Among the sites included are the Temples at Karnak and Luxor, the Valley of the Kings, Medinet Habu, Aswan, Elephantine Island, and Philae Island. You'll get photographs of the Nilometer at Aswan, Shishak's city list, Thutmose's city list, Merneptah's campaign panels, Medinet Habu reliefs of the Sea Peoples, the Ben Ezra Synagogue and Wadi el-Arish.
Volume 8, Turkey, features over 700 photographs from Paul's old stomping grounds (Antioch on the Orontes, Seleucia, Tarsus, Pisidian Antioch, Lystra and Derbe, Colossae, Hierapolis, Assos, Alexandria Troas, and Miletus) as well as the locations of the seven churches referred to in Revelations (Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia, and Laodicea). In addition, you'll find photographs of as Istanbul, Cappadocia, Didyma, Priene, and Troy.
Volume 9, Greece, features over 550 images of Amphipolis, Arcadia, Argos, Athens, Berea, Cenchrea, Corinth, Delphi, Dion, Dodona, Epidaurus, Isthmia, Meteora, Mycenae, Neapolis, Nicopolis, Olympia, Philippi, Thessalonica, and Tiryns.
Volume 10, Rome, features over 500 images from the Arch of Titus, the Basilicas of Rome, the Church of St. Paul, the Circus Maximus, the Colosseum, the Roman Forum, Mamertine Prison, the Museum of Roman Civilization, Ostia, Palatine Hill, the Pantheon, Pompeii and Paestum, and the Vatican.
This is a veritable treasure trove for church leaders and educators, as personal users are given the rights to use these images in class presentations, lectures, course syllabi, newsletters, and church materials.
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