The Naked Archaeologist

- Season 3

(2010)

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.

A giant slab of glass is discovered in the middle of an ancient cemetery where important Rabbis are buried. What's it doing there?

Simcha investigates ancient fashions and scents in this trend-setting episode.

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?

Know what this is about? Be the first one to add a plot.

Know what this is about? Be the first one to add a plot.

The 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?

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.

Know what this is about? Be the first one to add a plot.

Know what this is about? Be the first one to add a plot.

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.

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.

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.