Recording of Dr. Gad Barnea's public lecture for the Penn State Department of Classics and Ancient Mediterranean Studies on “Prophets, Intrigue and Redemption at the Achaemenid court: 4Q550 as Irano-Judaic Literature in Qumran,” delivered on November 21, 2024.HT the Bible Places Blog.Abstract: “A newly restored small Aramaic scroll from Qumran called 4Q550 reveals an unexpected text: it contains an Achaemenid Persian court-tale set in the court of king Xerxes I. The narrative’s main heroes are a Jewish prophet by the name of Bagsaro and his righteous father Patriza who saves the king from a wicked conspiracy. This text is unique among the Dead Sea Scroll “library” from Qumran, and, indeed, within “Second Temple” literature in general, in that it contains a mostly secular, non-sectarian and non-biblical tale. It is a sort of “Midrash Agadah”—but rather than being a midrash (commentary) on a biblical text, it is based on a paragraph from column IV of Darius the Great’s famous inscription at Behistun in Iran. This talk will review the scroll’s reconstruction, as well as this text’s implications for Biblical studies, Jewish Studies, and Iranian Studies.”
CAMS thanks the Jewish Studies program for its co-sponsorship of this talk.
The text is otherwise known as 4QPrEstherabcde (more or less)
I have not yet had time to listen to this lecture, but meanwhile here it is for you.
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