438 ANN^UAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1919. 
with Rome and other Christian centers. But the land of the Old 
Testament and the New Testament left no contemporaneous symbols 
of its faith in architectural symbols which would stand for that faith 
as does Gothic art for medieval Europe. Rather, the remains in 
Palestine represent the primitive religion which the prophets fought, 
and for the New Testament we have the splendid temples of the 
Graeco-Roman religion, such as those at Baalbec and Palmyra, which 
reveal the actual conditions of the pagan world in which Christianity 
was born. But only the more keenly does archeology enable us to 
realize the triumphs which the religion of the Bible achieved in over- 
coming its pagan and often debased environment. The religion of 
the Old Testament and then that of the New won out in conflict with 
the mighty civilizations which constituted their environment and 
whose massive ruins remain as tj^pes and proofs of their greatness. 
But apart from these various phases of archeological interest, the 
pursuit of archeology in Syria, as in any other ancient land, is chiefly 
of value for the world at large in enabling us to picture those ancient 
times. Because we think of the Bible as the Word of God we easily 
detach it from its original location in the world, and as a result we 
make it too unworldly. Even Palestine becomes for the believer a 
land that is not on this world's map, quite as unreal and mysterious 
as were Atlantis and Cathaj?^, those lands of fable, to our forefathers. 
Archeology brings the home of the Bible nearer to us, makes it real 
and understandable, and so becomes an interpreter of the Bible. Just 
as archeology has been to us the greatest stimulus in the interpreta- 
tion of Greek and Roman literature, so the same study should be of 
equal value for the home of the Bible. 
Palestinian archeolog}^ has by no means been ignored ; a great deal 
has already been accomplished in exploration and excavation. But it 
can not be said that Palestine has claimed anything like the atten- 
tion paid to Babylonia and Egypt. America itself has contributed 
most important results in developing the archeology of those lands. 
But although their primary interest was largely due to the fact that 
they belonged to the biblical world, that Abraham came from the 
one and Moses from the other, the interest in Palestine as a land of 
research has never received its due. 
America took the lead in Palestinian enterprise in Edward Rob- 
inson, of Union Seminar}'^, New York City, who, in his two visits to 
Palestine in 1838 and 1852, is acknowledged to have established bibli- 
cal geography on a scientific basis. Since then the coimtries of Eu- 
rope have taken the lead. England has led, in the establishment of 
its Palestine Exploration Fund, the first society of the kind, in the 
mapping out of the country, and in pursuing the most complete and 
most numerous excavations. The Germans have been next in their 
