"The Modern David and Goliath..." Talk with Professor Shawn Zelig Aster

Please join the Azrieli Institute of Israel Studies on Monday, September 12, 2022 at 12:00 PM ET for a talk with Professor Shawn Zelig Aster. 

This event will be held in person at The Azrieli Institute of Israel Studies' Reading Room (2155 Guy St, Suite 740, Montreal, Quebec H3H 2L9). For those who can't make it in person, there will also be an option to join via Zoom.

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About the talk:

"The fastest-growing city in modern Israel is Beth-shemesh. The area is full of archaeological sites and many compromises between development and preservation are being made. But one site has been accorded a special status, in which not only the site itself but all of the adjacent hills are being excluded from development. This is the site of Khirbet Qeiyafa, which occupies a special place in the heritage-consciousness of modern Israel, because of its association with the David and Goliath story. The talk will explore how archaeology in general is balanced against development, and how heritage-consciousness is uniquely tied to specific narratives. The links between the David and Goliath story and the historical reconstruction based on the finds at Qeiyafa will be emphasized. This is a case where David beat Goliath, once in ancient times, and once again in 2019, when he beat back the bulldozers of development."

Biography:

Shawn Zelig Aster is Associate Professor in the Martin (Szusz) Department of Land of Israel Studies and Archaeology at Bar-Ilan University, where he researches and teaches the history and geography of the Biblical Israel. He is the author of Reflections of Empire in Isaiah 1-39 (Society of Biblical Literature 2017), written at the Azrieli Institute, and has since co-edited The Southern Levant under Assyrian Domination (Eisenbrauns 2018) and many articles on Biblical literature and history. His talk reflects a new project exploring how modern-day visitors experience archaeological sites from the Biblical period in Israel.