Search Results: Jacob

Jacob is one of the patriarchs of ancient Judaism and the father of who became the twelve tribes of Israel. His story is told in Genesis 25-50. His Hebrew name is derived from Ya-aqob ("to supplant" or "circumvent") and is constructed from...

The Twelve Tribes of Israel refer to the sons of the Jewish Patriarch Jacob and are important for the tribal lineages of those who constituted the nation of Israel. In the ancient world, all ethnic groups developed stories of their ancestors...

The Battle of Marj Ayyun (10 June 1179, also given as the Battle on the Litani) was a military engagement between Baldwin IV, King of Jerusalem (r. 1174-1185) and Saladin, Sultan of Egypt and Syria (r. 1174-1193). Saladin decisively won the...

Modern practitioners of Judaism and Christianity often turn to the Bible for stories concerning women and their roles in ancient religion and society. It is important to acknowledge that these stories were written by men. The male perspectives...

Jacob's Dream at Bethel, fresco by Raphael (1483-1520). Vatican Palace.

Esau & Jacob on Lorenzo Ghiberti's Doors of Paradise for the Baptistry, made between 1420 and 1447 with assistance from Lucca della Robbia, Donatello, Michelozzo, Benozzo Gozzoli, Bernardo Cennini, and two of Ghiberti's sons. Museo dell'Opera...

Jacob wrestling with an angel or God. Palantine Chapel, Palermo, Sicily

The Book of Genesis is the first book of the Jewish scriptures and the Old Testament of the Christian Bible. Genesis takes its name from the opening line in Hebrew – beresit, ("in the beginning") – later translated into Greek as genesis ("origin"...

In 1896 Flinders Petrie discovered what is for many the most important achievement of his long and celebrated career as an archeologist. It is a large granite stela, over ten feet high, dating to 1208 BCE. This stone bears an account of how...

Return of Jacob van Neck (Thuiskomst van JC van Neck), painting by Cornelis Vroom, 17th century.