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database: Images of the Biblical World Online
database: Images of the Biblical World Online

Images of the Biblical World Online

Archive Benedikt Schwank, Beuron

Images of the Biblical World: The Benedikt Schwank Archive
Licensed Unlicensed Requires Authentication

Overview

About this database

Images of the Biblical World is a collection of hitherto unpublished photographs that documents biblical material culture and at the same time reflects the development of bible-related locations between 1952 and 2004.

  • Over 24,000 photographs from biblical places in the Mediterranean world and Southern Europe
  • Many pictures document historical settings of excavation sites and buildings which no longer exist today
  • All images are indexed by description, place, date of photography, and a geographical index

As a result of industrialization and political alteration the lands of the Bible have undergone remarkable changes in the second half of the 20th century. Also biblical settings and archaeological sites nowadays look completely different from what they were only few decades ago. Thanks to the extensive photographic material by Benedikt Schwank OSB, it is possible to trace and comprehend these changes.

For more than five decades Benedikt Schwank OSB, Professor for New Testament and Biblical Archaeology at the Munich School of Philosophy, travelled across Southern Europe and the Middle East. In his photographic oeuvre he documents excavations, buildings and landscapes as well as a wide range of realia, including plants, animals, scenes from the daily life, and details from objects of sacred art. Many photographs capture historical settings which no longer exist today. Therefore, this collection of pictures provides a unique and valuable glimpse on the biblical world.

The database is a helpful tool for research on the biblical material world and provides an excellent visual aid for presentations, lectures and classroom teaching. With its wide geographical and thematic scope the collection is of interest not only to theologians but also to archaeologists, classicists and art historians. The database offers a variety of search options such as full text, title, place, keyword, date, inventory number; additional information help to contextualize particular photographs.

Your Benefits

  • Comprehensive and illustrative material that can be used for academic courses
  • 24,825 photographs of biblical places in the Mediterranean world (Holy Land, Turkey, Italy, Egypt, Syria etc.) taken between 1952 and 2004
  • Pictures of excavations, buildings, landscapes and realia (plants, animals, scenes from daily life, coins, details from objects of sacred art)
  • Images are indexed by description, place, date of photograph, geographical index
  • Non-restrictive DRM – allows for an unlimited number of simultaneous users campus / institution-wide

Editorial

Editorial

Wolfgang Zwickel, Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz; Benedikt Schwank, Beuron.

Lemmas A-Z

Persons A-Z

Places A-Z

Search Help

Search Help

Here you will find instructions for searching in the Images of the Biblical World Online and explanations of the individual search functions.

Search

You have the following options for searching.

Search form

The search form allows you to search using various search criteria. To do so, select the appropriate criterion in the search field and enter your search term(s) in the search field. The following search criteria are available:

  1. Full Text: Searches in all entries for the entered terms. Finds all entries that contain all searched terms and therefore returns the most results. For a more specific search, the other search criteria are more suitable.

    The following operators can be used in the search field:
    • *: Added to a string. Searches for entries including all terms that match the searched string with any addition.
    • AND: Searches for entries including all the terms connected by this operator (default search function).
    • OR: Searches for entries including at least one of the terms connected by this operator.
    • NOT: Searches for entries including the first, but not the second of the terms connected by this operator.

    These operators can be combined with each other.

  2. Title: Finds all entries whose titles contain all searched terms. This search criterion can be used to search specifically for entries for particular terms. Search with truncation does not work at the moment.
  3. Keyword: Finds all entries to which the searched keyword is assigned. Suggests up to 15 matching keywords in alphabetical order as you type. This search criterion can be used to search for entries that can be assigned to a certain category, for example, building, inscription or topography.
  4. Publication Year: Select Exact to search for a single year, or Range to search for a range of years. Finds all entries that have been published electronically in this year or range of years.
  5. Place: Finds all entries which contain the searched place. Suggests up to 15 matching places in alphabetical order as you type. This search criterion can be used to search for entries in which specific locations are mentioned.
  6. Country: Finds all entries that contain the searched country. Suggests up to 15 matching countries in alphabetical order as you type. This search criterion can be used to search for entries in which specific countries are mentioned.
  7. Date: Select Exact to search for a single date (required: year; optional: month and day), or Range to search for a range of years (required: years; optional: month[s] and day[s]). Finds all entries that have this date or range of years.

Please note: The search is not case sensitive.

You have the option to apply several search criteria at the same time. To do this, click on "Add row" in the search form. This creates a second search field in which you can set another search criterion (or else the same one). You can create as many additional search fields as you like.
If you use more than one search field, the search will find all entries that match all search criteria ("Search for all of these terms"). Instead, you can also select "Search for any of these terms" above the search fields, which will cause the search to find all entries that match at least one of the searched criteria.
By clicking on "Add NOT" you create a search field to which you can assign a search criterion. Terms entered in this search field will be excluded from the search. You can add this search field as often as you like.
By combining the above functions, you are able to perform very specific searches.

Example

You want to search the Images of the Biblical World Online for all entries that mention the word "Kirche" and the place “Jerusalem”. However, you want to exclude the keyword “Topographie” from the search. For this you use the search form as follows:

  1. Create a second search field via "Add row".
  2. Select the search for "all of these terms" (default option).
  3. In the first search field, select the search criterion Full Text and enter the search term "Kirche".
  4. In the second search field, select the search criterion Place and enter the search term "Jerusalem".
  5. Create a third search field via "Add NOT". This is marked with a "NOT".
  6. Select the search criterion Keyword in this search field and enter the search term “Topographie”.
  7. After clicking on "Search" you will see 10 out of 15 hits in the results list.

Results list

The results that match your search are listed on one or more pages. The number of search results as well as the search criteria can be found above the results list.

Each search result consists of the title of the entry, author(s) if existent, access information, entry type, online publication date (print publication date in brackets, if applicable), the cover of the database as well as a button to download the PDF ("Download PDF"), if available, and a text preview showing relevant text passages and highlighting the searched term in yellow (only for Full Text search criterion).

You can access a search result by clicking on the title or cover of the database. If you do not have access to the database, please log in first.

The search results are sorted by relevancy (frequency and weighting of the searched terms). You can also sort by date ("New to old" or "Old to new") or by title ("A to Z" or "Z to A").
Furthermore, instead of the default 10 results per page, you can also display 20, 50 or 100 results per page.

The search results can be further restricted under "Filter Results". Various filter options are available for this:

  1. Access: This option filters the search results according to who can access them. By default, "All content" is found. It is possible to filter by "Licensed content", "Open Access", "Publicly available" as well as "All available content".
  2. Publication Year
  3. Place
  4. Country

All filters can be combined with each other. Filtering by certain filter options excludes further certain filter options if there are no entries which match both options.

 
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