Assyrian inscriptions that mention Israelite kings

BIBLE HISTORY DAILY: The Kurkh Monolith and Black Obelisk. References to Ancient Israel in Assyrian Texts (Nathan Steinmeyer).

This is the first part of an exclusive Bible History Daily series on historical texts that are important for understanding the history and world of the Bible.

When discussing historical references to ancient Israel outside of the Bible, many note the famous Tel Dan Inscription or the Mesha Stele, but there are two important Assyrian texts that are often forgotten: the Kurkh Monolith and the Black Obelisk.1 These inscriptions contain not only two of the oldest mentions of ancient Israel, but also describe events not mentioned in the Bible.

[...]

The Kurkh Monolith recounts the Battle of Qarqar, on which a bit more is here.

Visit PaleoJudaica daily for the latest news on ancient Judaism and the biblical world.

Excavating Jerusalem's Hasmonean-era city wall

ANCIENT FORTIFICATION: Huge Section of Jerusalem's 'First' City Wall Found Beneath Prison. Hasmonean Jerusalem had a bristling stone city wall five meters thick to protect the people against the bitter enemy, but that apparently isn't who brought the wall down 2,000 years ago (Ruth Schuster, Haaretz).

The Roman-Jewish historian of dubious reputation, Yosef ben Matityahu or Josephus, who would be captured by the Romans in the battle over Yodfat, wrote in detail about the mighty Jerusalem wall and its gates, calling it "impregnable" with no less than 60 guard towers along its length.

Maybe it was impregnable. "It is clear that it was systematically destroyed and razed to the ground. This is predetermined destruction – not the result of the ravages of time, nor of enemy attack," says [excavation director Dr. Amit] Re'em. "This raises questions about who was responsible for the wall's destruction."

Visit PaleoJudaica daily for the latest news on ancient Judaism and the biblical world.

Pretend to be a Time Traveler Day 2025

IT'S THAT DAY AGAIN: Pretend To Be A Time Traveler Day (Days of the Year).

Pretend To Be A Time Traveler Day was created in 2007 by Senna Diaz, author of the webcomic Dresden Codak, but the dream of the human race one day being able to travel through time is much older than that. The first known mention of such a concept is in ancient Hindu mythology.

Now an established annual tradition that I have egregiously neglected for some years.

One of the original announcements is here. The original Facebook page is long gone, but the X hashtage is #PretendToBeATimeTravelerDay.

Have fun, but behave yourself.

Past posts on the day are here and links.

Visit PaleoJudaica daily for the latest news on ancient Judaism and the biblical world.

Ancient glass ring found by Sifting Project volunteer

THE TEMPLE MOUNT SIFTING PROJECT: FINDER AND FIND OF THE MONTH: IRÈNE POLLAK-REIN AND THE GLASS RING.

Glass rings were popular in the Roman and Byzantine periods, roughly between the 1st and 7th centuries CE. They were often made by winding molten glass around a rod or using a mold, then smoothing the surface. These rings served as affordable decorative items compared to precious metal jewelry and were widely worn by different social classes.

Finding such an artifact at the Temple Mount Sifting Project reflects the everyday life and craftsmanship of people who lived in Jerusalem during these eras. For Irène, sifting through the soil of the Temple Mount is not just an archaeological act, it is a spiritual privilege touching the very center of Jewish and world heritage.

Visit PaleoJudaica daily for the latest news on ancient Judaism and the biblical world.

3-4 Maccabees and the Apocalypse of Baruch According to the Syriac Peshitta Version with English Translation (Gorgias)

NEW BOOK FROM GORGIAS PRESS:

3-4 Maccabees and the Apocalypse of Baruch According to the Syriac Peshitta Version with English Translation

English Translation by Philip Forness & J. Edward Walters; Text Prepared by George Anton Kiraz & Joseph Bali

Publisher: Gorgias Press LLC
Availability: In stock
SKU (ISBN): 978-1-4632-0588-1

Formats *
Cloth (In Print) ISBN 978-1-4632-0588-1

Publication Status: In Print
Series: Surath Kthob 15
Publication Date: Sep 15,2025
Interior Color: Black
Trim Size: 7 x 10
Page Count: 0 [Sic!]
Languages: English
ISBN: 978-1-4632-0588-1
Price: $150.00 (USD)
Your price: $120.00 (USD)

Overview

This volume is part of a series of English translations of the Syriac Peshitta along with the Syriac text carried out by an international team of scholars. Forness and Walters have translated the text, while Kiraz has prepared the Syriac text in the west Syriac script, fully vocalized and pointed. The translation and the Syriac text are presented on facing pages so that both can be studied together. All readers are catered for: those wanting to read the text in English, those wanting to improve their grasp of Syriac by reading the original language along with a translation, and those wanting to focus on a fully vocalized Syriac text.

Visit PaleoJudaica daily for the latest news on ancient Judaism and the biblical world.

Ogden, Proverbs 1–9 (SBL/Sheffield Phoenix)

NEW BOOK FROM SBL (SHEFFIELD PHOENIX) PRESS:

Proverbs 1–9
Graham S. Ogden

ISBN 9781914490705
Status Available
Publication Date June 2025

Hardback $85.00
Paperback $35.00

This reading of Proverbs 1–9 is unique in that it complements Israelite advice by setting alongside it Chinese examples of wisdom from the Confucian Analects, highlighting their fundamental similarity and affirming Wisdom’s human-derived instructions within two very different cultural worlds.

The reading uses the literary and rhetorical features of the Hebrew text to highlight the Sages’ advice encouraging audiences to accept and endorse that advice, emphasizing the potential benefit that Wisdom is able to grant those who follow its path.

The phenomenon of Wisdom is not exclusive to any one community; it is universal or ecumenical and embraces all levels of counsel – that of parents teaching children, of artisans teaching practical techniques to apprentices, of ‘professional’ Sages giving political and personal direction to rulers. Wisdom’s basic concern is for the individual and community to aspire to the highest of ideals, to find the ‘paths’ that lead to personal and communal well-being. Wisdom is never just an intellectual pursuit; it is intensely practical, an ideal manner of living and working within specific religious and cultural contexts. Ancient Israel and a contemporary China arrived at similar conclusions as to what constituted ‘wise living’, expressing their conclusions within their own social and cultural contexts and forms.

Visit PaleoJudaica daily for the latest news on ancient Judaism and the biblical world.

Ruins of an ancient palace excavated at Sartaba-Alexandrium

ANCIENT ARCHITECTURE: Israeli archaeologists uncover remains of dramatic mountaintop royal palace. “It sheds light on the architectural style and the function of the site, which is not mentioned by Josephus, our only historical source for the period,” Dr. Raviv, director of the excavation, said. (Tazpit Press Service, Jerusalem Post).

The newly identified palace on the northwestern slope clarifies both the scale and splendor of the hilltop complex. Given Josephus's brief references to Alexandrium, physical evidence is essential for understanding how the Hasmoneans and Herod built and used the fortress.

According to Raviv, the architectural fragments uncovered so far allow archaeologists to reconstruct portions of the palace layout and better understand its function.

Early this year I noted the decipherment of an Aramaic ostracton excavated at Sartaba-Alexandrium in the 1980s. See here and here. Then a new exavation commenced at the site in March. Already it has discovered a major ancient architectural feature.

This site is also on the West Bank. The article discusses some of the arising issues and complications.

Visit PaleoJudaica daily for the latest news on ancient Judaism and the biblical world.

Israel seizes artifacts from damaged West Bank site

CONFISCATED: Israel seizes rare artifacts in Palestinian villa built atop major archaeological site. Civil Administration inspectors recovered coins, Byzantine-era columns and other looted items from the Burj Lasanan hilltop site, saying the unauthorized construction damaged layers dating from the Iron Age to the Crusader period (Yoav Zitun, Ynet News).

Visit PaleoJudaica daily for the latest news on ancient Judaism and the biblical world.

"Lost" Languages That Shaped Culture

PHILOLOGY: Lost Languages That Shaped Culture (ADAM GARCIA, Go2Tutors).

Languages die all the time. Scholars estimate that one language disappears every two weeks.

Most vanish quietly, leaving little trace beyond memories held by the last speakers. But some dead languages cast shadows that stretch across centuries.

They influenced literature, law, religion, and entire ways of thinking about the world. You live in a culture shaped by languages nobody speaks anymore, and most people don’t realize how much these extinct tongues still matter.

[...]

As the article makes clear, "lost" in the headline means languages that no longer have native speakers. I assume that this was to avoid calling them "dead."

This is quite a good list of such languages, many well known (e.g., Sumerian, Akkadian, ancient Egyptian, Latin), others less so (e.g., Old Church Slavonic and Sogdian). All of them have come up from time to time in PaleoJudaica. Yes, even Etruscan and Gothic!

I could quibble about this or that detail in the descriptions, but they are generally good too.

Visit PaleoJudaica daily for the latest news on ancient Judaism and the biblical world.

Lucian of Samosata—a Syrian barbarian?

ARAMAIC WATCH: Lucian of Samosata: ܠܘܩܝܰܢܳܣ ܫܰܡܝܼܫܰܛܳܝܐ (Denho Bar Mourad–Özmen, Syriac Press).

Lucian of Samosata is far more than a Greek satirist. He represents one of the earliest global voices from the Syriac–Aramaic world, navigating multiple linguistic and cultural spheres with insight and creativity. Restoring him to his proper historical and cultural context corrects longstanding misconceptions and reinforces a richer understanding of ancient intellectual history.

I have Lucian's De Dea Syria on my bookshelf, but I didn't realize how many surviving works he left us. They are all in Greek now, but some many have been composed in Aramaic.

This new Syriac Press has been publishing some good articles on the history of Syriac and Aramaic.

Visit PaleoJudaica daily for the latest news on ancient Judaism and the biblical world.

Noah's administrative calendar?

MICHAEL L. SATLOW: The Calendar Before Chaos.

It is plausible, but speculative, that the authors of P were close enough to the scribal and bureaucratic structures of the Babylonian administration that they would have been exposed to the 360 day administrative calendar. Whether or not they did know about this calendar, though, they may have been drawn ideologically, and independently, to their own schematized calendar, at least outside of cultic contexts.

Visit PaleoJudaica daily for the latest news on ancient Judaism and the biblical world.

The site of Ur is being renovated

CONSERVATION: Iraq preparing $14.5 million renovation of ancient city of Ur. The head of the General Authority for Antiquities and Heritage said the work was to ensure its preservation for the future. (The New Arab).

Iraq's ancient city of Ur, birthplace of the Biblical patriarch Abraham, is located in the country's south near the modern city of Nasiriyah in Iraq's Dhi Qar province.

It hosts numerous archaeological sites, the most famous of which is the Ziggurat of Ur, a stepped pyramid dating back 4,000 years that has the status of a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

The restoration of the site of Ur is good news.

The biblical references to Ur ("Ur of the Chaldeans") are in Genesis 11:28, 31; 15:7; and Nehemiah 9:7. They all involve Abraham's origin in that city. The reference to the Chaldeans is anachronistic in this context, but it perhaps gives insight into when the Abraham traditions were assembled.

The Chaldeans as an ethnic group only show up around the beginning of the first millennium BCE. Ur was under their rule only commencing with the Chaldean Neo-Babylonian dynasty in the seventh century BCE.

UPDATE (5 December): There is more on the Chaldean dynasty, and on later uses of the term Chaldean, here.

Visit PaleoJudaica daily for the latest news on ancient Judaism and the biblical world.

The narrative "hypothesis" behind the Gospels

ANCIENT JEW REVIEW: The Hypothesis of the Gospels (Ian N. Mills)

An author's summary of Ian N. Mills, The Hypothesis of the Gospels: Narrative Traditions in Hellenistic Reading Culture. Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2025.

We do not have to wonder whether early readers of the gospels used the same mental model to understand the pluriform narrative tradition about Jesus. Irenaeus, Clement, Origen, Epiphanius, and Eusebius make explicit use of hypothesis language to describe, limit, and legitimize the multiplicity of gospels. The same authors and other early readers, I argue, use the title “gospel” to refer to the narrative hypothesis that they imagined constituting the narrative tradition about Jesus.

Visit PaleoJudaica daily for the latest news on ancient Judaism and the biblical world.

Les stèles puniques de Carthage au musée du Louvre

THE AWOL BLOG: Les stèles puniques de Carthage au musée du Louvre: Des offrandes à Tanit et à Baal Hammon.

An open-access online catalogue of the Carthaginian Punic steles in the Louvre, produced by Hélène Le Meaux et al.

Cross-file under Punic Watch.

Visit PaleoJudaica daily for the latest news on ancient Judaism and the biblical world.