The Museum of Fine Arts in St. Petersburg, Florida will open its newly renovated galleries to the public on October 27. Among the items now on display include a 3400 pound carved marble sarcophagus probably from Roman Syria featuring a reclining couple surrounded by Erotes and smaller animal figures. The piece is on loan from a private collection. The museum also displays a 2200-year-old bronze head of Dionysus, also on long-term [...]

Was Mary Magdalene a prostitute? Was Mary Magdalene wife of Jesus? Her being a repentant whore was not part of the Biblical text. Pictured here is Chris Gollon's painting The Pre-penitent Magdalene. Photo: Private Collection / Bridgeman Art Library / Courtesy of IAP Fine Art.

When novelists and screenwriters try to insert something salacious into the life of Jesus, they focus on one woman: Mary from Magdala. Was Mary Magdalene a prostitute? [...]

Dated to c. 1219 B.C.E., the Merneptah Stele is the earliest extrabiblical record of a people group called Israel. Set up by Pharaoh Merneptah to commemorate his military victories, the stele proclaims, “Ashkelon is carried off, and Gezer is captured. Yeno'am is made into nonexistence; Israel is wasted, its seed is not.” Ashkelon, Gezer and Yeno'am are followed by an Egyptian hieroglyph that designates a town. Israel is followed by a hieroglyph that means [...]