The Naked Archaeologist - Season 3
Season 3
Episodes
Moses vs Akhenaten
The Bible says that Moses was the first person to bring the idea of Monotheism - the worship of one God and one God only - to the ancients. But Sigmund Freud has a different idea. The famous psychoanalyst wrote a book crediting a little known Pharaoh named Akhenaten with the idea. He says Moses heard about it from Akhenaten, not directly from God.
Ancient Glass
A giant slab of glass is discovered in the middle of an ancient cemetery where important Rabbis are buried. What's it doing there?
Biblical Beauty Secrets
Simcha investigates ancient fashions and scents in this trend-setting episode.
The Bath That Changed History
When David saw Bathsheba bathing, he was in love. They were married and history was changed. What are the impacts of the most important bath in history?
The Hairy Show
The Bible is not a picture book so even though it's chock full of references to hair we have no idea what ancient Israelite hair-dos looked like. Did women braid or cover their hair? And did men sport long hair and long beards or just Elvis style sideburns? The Naked Archaeologist goes on a quest to find out.
Rebuilding the Temple
Over two thousand years ago, the Temple in Jerusalem was destroyed, but now it is being rebuilt in some surprising places. Simcha travels from Texas to Jerusalem to London to visit model builders obsessed with discovering what Solomon's Temple looked like. For decades, they have studied all the evidence and are making spectacular models of computer and clay. But why do they do it?
Gone Fishing
he Gospels tell us Jesus was a 'tekton' or a builder but there's not a single stone mason or carpenter among his disciples. Why were fishermen so important to Jesus' ministry and why did he choose to spread his word among the fishing culture of the Sea of Galilee?
Lilith: Queen of the Night
According to a rabbinical interpretation of the Book of Genesis, Adam's first wife wasn't Eve, but a woman named Lilith. But where did the rabbis get the idea of Lilith from? Tracking backwards in time, The Naked Archaeologist uncovers evidence that Lilith was actually a child-killing demon who first shows up in Ancient Babylon.
Bethsaida and the Cross
Apostles & Spies, Part 1
Simcha follows a spy checklist to see if St. Paul was a secret agent, working for the Romans to infiltrate the Jesus movement. Paul hits every item on the list, and archeology shows that James, the brother of Jesus, may have gotten short shrift in the Gospels, thanks to Paul's espionage tricks.
Queen Esther and Purim
The Book of Esther tells us that a 5th Century bad guy named Haman wanted to kill all the Jews in Persia. He relied on a game of chance to select the day. But which game of chance was it? The Naked Archaeologist goes on a hunt to uncover archaeological clues that will unravel this ancient mystery.
Apostles & Spies, Part 2
A letter addressed to a royal found in the Dead Sea Scrolls sheds light on an apparent rift between the message of St. Paul and the message of James, brother of Jesus. The Scrolls letter leads Simcha to a stunning archeological site in Jerusalem, where walls of what appears to be a royal palace points to an early convert to a version of Christianity that is all James, not Paul's.
Naked Letters
Simcha answers letters sent in to The Naked Archaeologist. Viewers' questions take him from Israel to Egypt to Istanbul, as he investigates ancient sports, Biblical sex quandaries, and we learn fascinating things about our forbearers, everything from their fashion sense to where their bones ended up.
Recently Updated Shows
Doc
Doc centers on the hard-charging, brilliant Dr. Amy Larsen, Chief of Internal and Family Medicine at Westside Hospital in Minneapolis. After a brain injury erases the last eight years of her life, Amy must navigate an unfamiliar world where she has no recollection of patients she's treated, colleagues she's crossed, the soulmate she divorced, the man she now loves and the tragedy that caused her to push everyone away. She can rely only on her estranged 17-year-old daughter, whom she remembers as a 9-year-old, and a handful of devoted friends, as she struggles to continue practicing medicine, despite having lost nearly a decade of knowledge and experience.
Dark Matter
Hailed as one of the best sci-fi novels of the decade, Dark Matter is a story about the road not taken. The series follows Jason Dessen, a physicist, professor, and family man who – one night while walking home on the streets of Chicago – is abducted into an alternate version of his life. Wonder quickly turns to nightmare when he tries to return to his reality amid the multiverse of lives he could have lived. In this labyrinth of mind-bending realities, he embarks on a harrowing journey to get back to his true family and save them from the most terrifying, unbeatable foe imaginable: himself.
