The mis-mapping of Solomon's Pools?

POLITICS AND ARCHAEOLOGY: Holy Land battle: Solomon's Pools become flashpoint in fight over Israel's biblical heritage. The ancient reservoirs between Efrat and Bethlehem supplied Jerusalem with water for 2,000 years along Route 60 (Amelie Botbol F, Fox News).

Under the agreements, the West Bank was divided into Areas A, B and C. Solomon's Pools are located in Area A, which falls under Palestinian civil and security control.

Yonatan Marcus, chief of staff of the Efrat Municipality, told Fox News Digital that during the negotiations, then-Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin maintained that the pools would remain under Israeli control, alongside other archaeological sites of major Judeo-Christian significance such as Rachel's Tomb in Bethlehem.

However, during the mapping process, he said, the words "Solomon's Pools" remained within Area C on zoomed-out maps, while the reservoirs themselves ultimately mistakenly fell inside Area A.

The Solomon's Pools situation has been going on for a while. Have a look. Make of it what you will.

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Orlov, Broken Vessels (SUNY)

NEW BOOK FROM SUNY PRESS:

Broken Vessels
Theogonies of the Divine Light in Judaism and Christianity

By Andrei A. Orlov

Subjects: Kabbalah, Jewish Mysticism, Christianity, Jewish Studies, Jewish Religious Studies, Bible Studies, Theology

Hardcover : 9798855808735, 314 pages, August 2026
Paperback : 9798855808742, 314 pages, February 2027
Hardcover $135.00

Pre-Order Now
Paperback $39.95

Description

Undertakes a thorough investigation of early Jewish theogonic and cosmogonic traditions found in the Enochic writings and their formative influence on subsequent Gnostic, Manichaean, and Kabbalistic developments.

In Broken Vessels, Andrei A. Orlov offers a comprehensive examination of early Jewish theogonic symbolism as reflected in early Enochic texts and its subsequent influence on Gnostic, Manichaean, and later Kabbalistic traditions. Introducing a new methodological approach to understanding the conceptual foundations of theogonic imagery in Lurianic Kabbalah, Orlov argues that this symbolism was neither a later invention of Jewish mystics nor merely a remnant of Manichaean and Gnostic motifs. Rather, these mystical traditions drew upon authentic Jewish theogonic currents that originated during the Second Temple period. The book further demonstrates that the distinctive theogonic and eschatological concepts preserved in early Jewish writings—most notably in 2 Enoch—offer valuable insights into the evolution of the Enochic tradition during the first centuries of the Common Era. This era witnessed significant reinterpretations of the biblical creation narrative by diverse Jewish and Christian groups. Within these developments, the notion of a "time before creation" emerged as a pivotal theme in debates concerning the completeness and authority of divine revelation.

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Variants from the MT in the Great Isaiah Scroll?

THE OTTC BLOG: How Close is the Great Isaiah Scroll to the Medieval Masoretic Manuscripts? (Drew Longacre).

I have addressed this question and noted some meaningful variants from the MT in this scroll here and links. Dr Longacre notes some of those and others I did not mention.

For many other posts on the Great Isaiah Scroll (1QIsa^a), which is currently on exhibit in the Israel Museum, start here and follow the links.

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A Mithraeum in Spain was really a Roman library?

BILBIOTHECAL ARCHAEOLOGY: Oldest Known Roman Library in Spain Identified at Ancient Villa (Nisha Zahid, Greek Reporter).

Archaeologists have identified the oldest known library on the Iberian Peninsula inside a Roman villa in southern Spain, overturning decades of belief that the room was a sanctuary dedicated to the Roman god Mithras.

The discovery was made at the Roman villa of Fuente Álamo in Puente Genil, in Spain’s Córdoba province. Researchers concluded the room served as a space for reading, study, and preserving written works, making it the westernmost known library in the Roman Empire and one of its best-preserved private examples.

[...]

PaleoJudaica is all about ancient libraries, so this is newsworthy in itself. But over at Variant Readings, Brent Nongbri has a post that brings out an additional point of interest:

A Roman Library in Spain and the “declamatio sarcophagus.”

The sarcophagus is in the vicinity of the ancient villa, is possibly connected to its owner, and it is engraved with a man holding up a scroll, but perhaps not a codex in addition. Have a look and see what you think.

For many PaleoJudaica posts on ancient libraries, see here, here and links, here, here, here, here, here, here, and here. It's always good to find another one, even if, sadly, the books are gone.

Incidentally, another Mithraeum was excavated in Spain a few years ago. But that one was in Córdoba in Andalusia. The site now interpreted as a library is in Fuente Álamo in Murcia.

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NEH awards to Princeton profs on the Cairo Geniza

CAIRO GENIZA WATCH: Eve Krakowski and Marina Rustow awarded grants from the National Endowment for the Humanities (Rebekah Schroeder, Princeton University).

Princeton professors Eve Krakowski and Marina Rustow have received grants from the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) for projects connected with Princeton’s Geniza Lab, which studies a cache of more than 400,000 ancient paper and parchment documents recovered from a synagogue in Cairo.

Congratulations to Prof. Krakowski on the grant for her project “Living with Death in Medieval Egypt: Editions and Translations of a Cairo Geniza Corpus” and to Prof. Rustow on the grant for her project “Indian Ocean Documents from the Cairo Geniza.” The projects received $300,000 each.

For more on Prof. Rustow's work on the Geniza, see here, here, and here. Prof. Krakowski is new to me.

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Update on Avdat's vintage resurrection

ARCHAEOBOTANY: Long-lost Byzantine-era vines are again cultivated on ancient Negev terraces. Discovery of 7th-century grape seeds at Avdat National Park in southern Israel inspires Nature and Parks Authority archaeologist to recreate wine valued across the ancient empire (Sue Surkes, Times of Israel).

The project was sparked by the discovery of well-preserved carbonized grape seeds during an archeological excavation that ran from 2017 to 2019 at Avdat, located between Beersheba and Mitzpe Ramon.

The seeds, dated to the seventh century CE, were sent to Tel Aviv University for genetic analysis. One was found to be the ancestor of the Syriki variety, which has small black grapes and is still drunk in the monasteries of Lebanon and Greece. Another was identified as Ba’ar, which produces white wine.

A year ago we left it that grapes had been produced by the Debuki (Dabouki) vines and the Bar (Ba’ar) and Siriki grapes were to be harvested in a few weeks.

Now wine has been produced from all three types of grape and the verdict is in:

While all [three local Negev winemakers] used modern equipment rather than feet to extract the juice, they were asked not to use any modern additives, such as industrial yeast, sulfites, or chemicals.

The three grape varieties yielded five varietals, or types of wine.

“The biggest surprise when we opened the bottles was to discover amazing wine,” said Schweimer, who added that seeing so much green in the desert was a delight.

As an archaeologist but not a wine expert, he took some of the 300 bottles to Tel Aviv to conduct blind tastings for 20 experts.

“They were impressed,” he said. “They couldn’t identify exactly what it was —nobody had drunk it for 1,300 years — but they said it was very balanced, with a bit too much alcohol. It’s not a drink you should drive after!”

Last year's post has background to the story, as well as on the site of Avdat in the Negev, which flourished from the Nabatean (Nabataean) era into the Byzantine era.

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The Nash Papyrus and the Odyssey

VARIANT READINGS: A Cambridge Papyrus of the Odyssey and the Nash Papyrus (Brent Nongbri).

This is Cambridge University Library Add MS 4074 (TM 61188), containing some fragmentary lines of Book 12. What caught my eye about the post was the note on the tape that seals the glass frame: “Presented by F.C. Burkitt, M.A., 1903.” There are many sub-collections of papyri kept at Cambridge, but I was not aware of a “Burkitt” collection. In any event, a little digging revealed that these fragments are said to have been purchased together with the much more famous “Nash Papyrus” (Cambridge University Library MS Or.233), a Hebrew papyrus containing a version of the ten commandments now usually assigned to the second century BCE on the basis of palaeography. ...

For more on the Nash Papyrus, the oldest surviving copy of the Ten Commandments (and discovered before the Dead Sea Scrolls), see here and links, here, and here. The Odyssey, of course, has been in the news lately for other reasons. And, speaking of Homer, recently a Roman-era excerpt from the Iliad was found entombed with an Egyptian mummy.

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The Gospel of Barnabas, the Nicodemites, and Don Quixote?

THE ANXIOUS BENCH: The Gospel That Broke The Fourth Wall (Philip Jenkins).

Briefly, Barnabas presents itself as the one authentic gospel, which tells the real story of Jesus before St Paul made up all his foolish nonsense about Resurrections, the Trinity and so on. As it stands, it offers a Jesus who in many ways is very close to the canonical figure, except that he repeatedly declares the future coming of a new prophet, who will be Muhammad. The book survives in both Italian and Spanish, and it is a matter of debate which version came first. ...

But Barnabas is far more than a simple Muslim apologetic. At every stage we encounter truly subversive themes of deception and illusion, which allegedly permeate all the major faiths. ...

For more on the Gospel of Barnabas, see here and links. Also see there and links for posts noting Professor Jenkins's continuing Lost and Found Scriptures series.

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Time Sensitive: Magic in the Ancient Near East and the Hebrew Bible

CAMBRIDGE CORE ELEMENT: Magic in the Ancient Near East and the Hebrew Bible (Ilan Peled).

Summary

This Element introduces the reader to the fascinating world of magical rituals performed in the ancient Near East and ancient Israel. It is designed for a diverse audience of professionals, students, and general readers. It surveys the definitions and history of research on magic in the ancient world, delineates the chronological and geographical boundaries of the ancient Near East, and details the pertinent sources of information. The Element distinguishes between different types of magical rituals and identifies their aims, beneficiaries, performers, and procedures. It sheds fresh light on the mechanics of ritual performance in the ancient Near East and explicates the rationales that guided it.

Open access only until 7 August, so don't dawdle if you want to read it.

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Barcelona's ancient synagogue

HISTORY (AND TOURISM): The Ancient Synagogue of Barcelona: 2,000 Years of History in One Place (Jay Abramson, Times of Israel Blogs).

The Ancient Synagogue of Barcelona contains architectural and archaeological elements spanning several historical periods. Its foundations and walls include remains dating to the 3rd century from the Roman era, while the building was significantly renovated and expanded in the 13th century, when it functioned as a major synagogue. The Archaeological Room preserves the original floor level, located about two meters below today’s street level, illustrating the gradual rise of the city over time.

Among its key features is a section of Barcelona’s Roman wall dating to the 3rd to 4th century, built using the opus africanum technique, characterized by large vertical stone blocks (pillars) alternating with horizontal blocks. One stone bears the Roman numeral XIIX (18), which corresponds to the Hebrew word Chai, life, a detail some researchers interpret as suggesting earlier religious significance at the site.

This Barcelona synagogue is new to me.

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A call to move the Trumpeting Stone from the Israel Museum

POLITICS AND ARCHAEOLOGY: Kotel Rabbi Demands Return Of Second Beis Hamikdash Trumpeting Stone (Chaim Racer, Belaaz.com).

Kotel Rabbi Shmuel Rabinovitch has demanded that the Israel Museum transfer a rare Second Beis Hamikdash-era stone bearing the inscription “To the Place of Trumpeting” to the Western Wall Heritage Foundation. Its return would complete a wider campaign to bring four original Kotel stones back from government institutions and museums.

[...]

For more on the Herodian-era "To the place of trumpeting..." Hebrew inscription, see here and here (and here, but link has rotted).

Another stone is mentioned in the article as having been displayed in the Knesset. It was moved from there to Ben Gurion Airport. The article reports that it has been returned, apparently to the to the Western Wall Heritage Foundation. Looks like I mentioned the stone that was on display at the Defense Ministry here. I was not aware of a stone on display at the President’s Residence.

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Can AI identify when Josephus was using a source?

ALGORITHM WATCH: Was Josephus a reliable historian? AI offers a surprising answer. Israeli researchers used computational analysis of ancient Greek to identify Josephus’ sources, finding that when he named an author, he generally quoted that source faithfully (Shilo Freid, Ynet News).

Now, using advanced artificial intelligence tools and stylistic analysis of ancient Greek, researchers have achieved what was once considered nearly impossible: identifying where Josephus quoted known sources, where he drew on the writings of Nicolaus of Damascus, Herod’s court historian, and where he relied on other works that have been entirely lost. ...

Schler said the ability to demonstrate stylistic changes computationally was itself a significant achievement.

This sounds interesting, but I have questions. The sample size is small. Do these quotations have overlaps with other sources that quote Nicolaus, such as the Constantinian Excerpts? Have those overlaps been cross-checked? Has the method been tested against other passages in which Josephus quotes sources which survive, so that we can verify how well the algorithm can assess the quotations?

Perhaps the researchers have done such cross-tests. No underlying article is cited, so it's hard to tell. Let's see how this develops.

An aside regarding this paragraph:

Born into a priestly family in Jerusalem, Josephus commanded Jewish forces in the Galilee during the Great Revolt against Roman rule. After his forces were defeated, he hid in a cave with a group of commanders. The others chose to kill themselves rather than surrender, but Josephus, the final survivor, emerged and gave himself up.

Actually there were two survivors. Josephus persuaded the other to surrender with him. Whether Josephus ended up among the last two due to luck or to impressive math skills is an interesting question. See here and links on the "Josephus Problem."

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Hayes, St. Ephrem the Syrian on Beatitude and the Afterlife (CUP)

NEW BOOK FROM CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS:

St. Ephrem the Syrian on Beatitude and the Afterlife

Series: Elements in Early Christian Literature
Author: Andrew J. Hayes, The University of St. Thomas
Published: June 2026
Availability: Available
Format: Hardback
ISBN: 9781009515382

£55.00 GBP
Hardback

£18.00 GBP
Paperback

$25.00 USD
eBook

Description

The poetry of Ephrem the Syrian abounds with vivid symbols for the conclusion of salvation history, which forms a path leading from Paradise back to God. His transfiguring glory-light nourishes and enriches the blessed. Those in Gehenna behold the same goal, yet due to self-inflicted inner blindness, they experience it in opposite fashion. Ephrem's eschatology takes shape along the relation between creator and creature rather than along the contrast between particular and universal outcomes. This Element argues that freedom's capacity for transformative growth in relation to God, even post mortem, establishes Ephrem's coherent epektatic account of blessedness, rooted in the quasi-infinite character of human desire despite the finitude of human effort. Freedom's inherent uncertainty makes the salvation of all unknowable. Ephrem refuses to collapse definitively the polarity between creator and creature. Yet a person's freedom remains capable, with divine assistance, of repentance and growth even in Gehenna.

Cross-file under Syriac Watch.

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Newsom & Schuller, The Thanksgiving Scroll (OUP)

NEW BOOK FROM OXFORD UNVERSITY PRESS:

The Thanksgiving Scroll

Carol A. Newsom and Eileen M. Schuller

Oxford Commentary on the Dead Sea Scrolls

£104.00
Hardback

Published: 02 July 2026
368 Pages
234x156mm
ISBN: 9780198727842

Also Available As:
E-book

• The first commentary on the Thanksgiving Scroll since the 1960s
• Provides detailed analysis of editorial structures within the Scroll
• Presents new arguments concerning authorship of the various compositions
• Makes the poetic form of the Thanksgiving Psalms accessible to readers who do not know Hebrew
• Addresses exegetical issues and the rhetoric of the Thanksgiving Psalms, illuminating their function within the Sectarian community

Description

1QHa was one of the first Dead Sea Scrolls discovered by the Bedouin in 1947 and is recognized as one of the most important. Also known as Hodayot, it contains a collection of psalms, addressed to God, in which the author(s) give thanks to God for deliverance, salvation, knowledge, and divine mercy. The Thanksgiving Scroll by Carol A. Newsom and Eileen M. Schuller is the first commentary based on 1QHa as reconstructed by Hartmut Stegemann and Émile Puech, with the revision of 1QHa 1-8 by Michael Johnson. The Hebrew text and the division of the scroll into twenty-four compositions largely follows that established by Stegemann. The Introduction also includes accounts of the history of publication, reconstruction, and interpretation of the Hodayot, as well as information on the material aspects of 1QHa, its paleography, and scribal practices, much of which was not included in the previous edition in Discoveries in the Judaean Desert 40.

In this commentary, attention is given primarily to exegetical, literary, and rhetorical issues. In contrast to the earlier distinction between Teacher Psalms and Community Psalms, Newsom and Schuller attribute all the non-Teacher Psalms to the work of various Maskilim, the instructors and liturgical leaders of the Yahad. Internal evidence from 1QHa and comparison with the Hodayot manuscripts from Cave 4 (4QHa-f) provide grounds for identifying three successive editions in the growth of the Hodayot collections that appear to have served different functions. The careful editorial framework provided by Maskil Psalms (cols. 9, 18-19, plus 15:29-16:4) contains numerous intertextual allusions to the Teacher Psalms (cols. 10-17)—which form the core of the collection—and supplies grounds for understanding the Teacher Psalms as compositions by the Teacher of Righteousness.

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On ancient Jewish court tales

THE BIBLE AND INTEPRETATION:

New Perspectives on Court Tales in the Hebrew Bible and Early Jewish Literature

Evidence from the Dead Sea Scrolls substantially expands the extant corpus of early Jewish court tales and provides an opportunity for a major reassessment of this important literary form. Incorporating these newly available texts alongside the traditional biblical and related corpora redefines the scope of the genre, traces its historical development, and reconsiders its relationship to themes of exile, courtly wisdom, and emerging apocalyptic traditions in early Judaism.

See also The Place of Court Tales in the Hebrew Bible and Early Jewish Literature: Form, Development, and Function (T&T Clark, 2026).

By Andrew Knight-Messenger
King’s University College (Western University)
Department of Religious Studies
July 2026

I noted the publication of the book here.

For more on the Prayer of Nabonidus, see here, and on the historical Nabonidus here, here, and here. For the recently deciphered Aramaic court tale 4Q550, which has a connection with the Behistun Inscription, see here and here. Some posts on the Genesis Apocryphon are here, here, here, and here, and here. And for more on the Story of Ahiqar, see here and links (cf. here and here). Cross-file under Aramaic Watch.

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Tanit-faced incense-burner excavated in Iberia?

PUNIC WATCH: The Face of Tanit, the Goddess of Life and Death, Returns to Alicante After 2,200 Years. The incense burner found intact in the Iberian necropolis, linked to a warrior elite, in La Albufereta embodies the great Punic protector of fields, stars, navigation, and the beyond (Adrián Mazón, TodoAlicante).

For over 2,200 years, she remained surrounded by the weapons of warriors. Falcatas, spears, knives, shields, and long javelins accompanied a small female head beneath the earth of La Albufereta, which has now once again seen the light of day.

According to initial investigations, exclusively reported by TodoAlicante, that face belonged to Tanit, the great Punic deity who protected fertility, harvests, and those embarking on their final journey.

The extraordinary incense burner was found in perfect condition during the excavation of a new Iberian necropolis located on a private plot in Alicante, as reported by this newspaper. The cemetery, dated to the last third of the 3rd century BC, consists of four tombs and two ritual areas where an exceptional collection of funerary objects has been recovered.

[...]

For the Punic (and Phoenician?) goddess Tanit (Tannit), the "Snake Lady," see here and links (cf. here, here, and here). Cross-file under Archaeology.

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Tu B'Av 2026, belatedly

THE FESTIVAL OF TU B'AV was on the 28th-29th of July this year. Best wishes to all those who celebrated.

Tu B'Av (which just means the 15th day of the month of Av) is an ancient matchmaking festival. Its first mention is in the Mishnah (Ta’anit 4). It has been revived in recent years as a kind of Jewish Valentine's Day.

For past posts on it, see here and links.

Pardon my tardiness again this year. I was away this week (hence no posting yesterday) and missed it.

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