Yom Kippur 2026

YOM KIPPUR, the Day of Atonement, began last night at sundown. An easy and healthy fast to all those observing it.

Last year's post on Yom Kippur is here, with links (plus here). Biblical etc. background is here and links.

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Excavations at Leontopolis

EGYPTIAN ARCHAEOLOGY: Rare ancient tombs uncovered at Egypt’s ‘Mound of the Jews.’ Archaeologists uncover rock-cut tombs and Roman military remains at Tell el-Yahudiya, an ancient Egyptian site with a remarkable connection to Jewish history (Israel National News).

The newly uncovered tombs themselves have not been identified as Jewish and date from centuries before the well-documented Jewish presence associated with the area.

The location of the discovery, however, gives it particular significance for Jewish history. Tell el-Yahudiya literally means "Mound of the Jews," and archaeological research has documented a substantial Jewish community in the area during the Hellenistic and Roman periods.

Historian Dorothy Thompson, writing in the Transactions of the Royal Historical Society, noted that the cemeteries at Tell el-Yahudiya produced a large collection of Greek epitaphs, more than half of which contain names regarded by scholars as distinctly Jewish.

The site has also long been associated with the "Land of Onias" and the Jewish Temple of Onias in Egypt.

The site is perhaps better known as Leontopolis. For more on it and its connection to the Jewish temple of Onias, see here and links.

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Complaints about West Bank police action

ALLEGATIONS: Police Officer Tied to Illegal West Bank Antiquities Thefts Also Visited Area B Cave. Meir Rotter, head of the police's ultra-Orthodox unit, entered a cave in a Palestinian Authority-administered area with soldiers, lacking authorization, months after he was accused of unlawfully seizing an ancient artifact elsewhere in the West Bank (Nir Hasson, Haaretz).

Duly noted. There's a lot going on in this story and I don't pretend to understand it all. Some background is here.

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Venturini, A Syriac Patristic Florilegium against Julian of Halicarnassus (Brill, open access)

NEW BOOK FROM BRILL:

A Syriac Patristic Florilegium against Julian of Halicarnassus

Critical Edition, Translation, and Study

Series:
Eastern Christian Texts, Volume: 3

Author: Guido Venturini

How is a florilegium constructed, and why does this peculiar type of literary work deserve to be studied? The huge anti-Julianist florilegium preserved in the Catenae Patrum of the British Library represents an exceptional repository of patristic testimonies transmitted in Syriac, some of which are lost in the Greek original and remained unpublished until now. After a methodological introduction, the volume presents the critical edition, English translation, and comment of an intriguing dogmatic florilegium, conceived by an enigmatic intellectual active at the end of the sixth century to refute Julian of Halicarnassus’ doctrine on the incorruptibility of Christ’s body before the resurrection. The critical edition aims to open new methodological horizons in the field of Syriac philology, as it integrates the stemmatic method with the historical study of the textual tradition, according to Giorgio Pasquali’s fundamental teaching. For the first time, the most important piece of the anti-Julianist literature after the death of Severus of Antioch this work is translated into a modern language, giving new insights into the theological controversies that took place within the Miaphysite Church during the Byzantine period.

Copyright Year: 2026

E-Book (PDF)
Availability: Published
ISBN: 978-90-04-76173-5
Publication: 29 Jul 2026
Open Access

Hardback
Availability: Published
ISBN: 978-90-04-76172-8
Publication: 27 Aug 2026
EUR €180.00

Cross-file under Syriac Watch.

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Eisenberg, CLASSIC MIDRASH (Urim)

NEW BOOK FROM URIM PUBICATIONS (KTAV):

CLASSIC MIDRASH: An Anthology of Talmudic Insights into the Bible

Price: $39.95 $36.00

by Ronald L. Eisenberg
Hardcover, 558 Pages
KTAV Publishing, 2024
ISBN: 978-1-60280-504-0

As an ancient document, the Bible reflects its time of origin and the early history of Israel. However, the social and political situation had dramatically changed by the time of the Rabbis in the first centuries. Midrash afforded an opportunity for the Rabbis to reread the biblical text, rendering it meaningful to their contemporaries.

A vast genre of rabbinic literature, Midrash fills in the gaps of the terse biblical narrative by providing the thoughts and feelings of the characters and the motivations behind their actions. Classic Midrash is a distillation of this extensive collection of works into an accessible, single-volume narrative with numerous citations offering the interested reader the opportunity to delve into specific stories in more detail.

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Grape-stomping archaeology

VINTAGE RESURRECTION: How did ancient Israelites make wine? Scientists are stomping grapes to find out. Researchers use reconstructed Hasmonean winepress, four tons of Merlot and modern sensors in attempt to recreate how residents of Holy Land prepared their libations (Zev Stub, Times of Israel).

Standing at an ancient wine press on a West Bank hilltop last week, a team of researchers and volunteers removed their shoes in the name of science. Then they washed their feet and began stomping on several tons of red grapes on the reconstructed treading floor.

The goal: to uncover the ancient process of winemaking in the land of Israel.

“This is a once‑in‑2,200‑years event,” scientist and winemaker Shivi Drori told The Times of Israel in a phone call after the initial wine pressing. “We are recreating the ancient wine industry of Israel.”

[...]

In the name of science!

Professor Drori's project has been around for a while. I noted it more than a decade ago here and here. For additional efforts at vintage resurrection, see here and links.

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Massive mikveh moved intact from Kiryat Gat

ANCIENT ARCHITECTURE RELOCATED: Discovery of Mikveh Reveals Unknown Ancient Jewish Settlement in Southern Israel (Ruth Schuster, Haaretz).

There you are, all set to build a new neighborhood in southern Israel, but a 2,000-year-old ritual bath gets in the way. You don't want to damage a precious artifact, but you do want to expand the gritty city of Kiryat Gat. What to do?

Dig the mivkeh up and move it intact was the solution at the Israel Antiquities Authority, not because mikvehs from the Second Temple period are rare. But this one and other sundry finds are the first indication that there was once a Jewish settlement in what is now Kiryat Gat's Carmei Gat neighborhood, the antiquities authority said Thursday.

[...]

To make the story even better, they're putting it back once the new neighborhood is built.

For the ancient mikveh likewise relocated from Kibbutz Hanaton (Hannaton) in 2020, see here and links.

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Did the Phoenicians teach the Spaniards to drink wine?

PHOENICIAN WATCH: PHOENICIANS BROUGHT FIRST CULTIVATED GRAPEVINES TO IBERIA (Archaeology Magazine News).

For more on Phoenician archaeology in Iberia, see here.

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Voo, ... Composite Allusions in the Gospel of John and Other Jewish Literature (Mohr Siebeck)

NEW BOOK FROM MOHR SIEBECK:

Samuel L. Voo

Themes, Lexemes, and »Mnemes«

Composite Allusions in the Gospel of John and Other Jewish Literature

2026. 336 pages.
Wissenschaftliche Untersuchungen zum Neuen Testament 2. Reihe (WUNT II) 643

€99.00
including VAT

sewn paper
available
978-3-16-163517-5

Also Available As:
eBook PDF

Summary

Samuel L. Voo examines composite allusions to the Jewish scriptures in the Gospel of John and compares these to similar phenomena in late Second Temple Jewish literature. Composite allusions are defined in this study as allusions clustered together in a single literary unit that are best interpreted together. To analyze such allusions, the author develops a three-fold method integrating literary analysis, Jewish catchword exegesis, and insights from studies in ancient media culture. He examines six passages from Jewish literature (from the Hodayot, the Damascus Document, and the LXX), and four passages in the Fourth Gospel (12:37¬-40; 1:29; 7:37-39; 15:1-11). The author argues that the composite features across all of these passages function on the basis of common lexemes, common themes, and orally-derived metonymy.

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Fragments of lost late-antique Roman law code found in Penn Museum

MUSEUM EXCAVATION: 1,600-Year-Old Scraps Turn Out to Be a Lost Roman Law Book. Learn how seven pieces of 1,600-year-old parchment revealed what may be a Roman pocket law book about taxes, roads, grain, and public buildings (Anastasia Scott, Discover Magazine).

Matthijs Wibier’s love of Latin first drew him to Classics. Years later, that fascination brought him to 50 tattered scraps of animal skin at the Penn Museum in Philadelphia, where faded Latin sentences stopped at torn edges.

[...]

Substantial fragments of a lost late-antique Latin law code languished in the Penn Museum for over a century until Prof. Wibier noticed them. Just a reminder of how many ancient texts still lie buried, not just in the field, but also in museum collections.

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Is Moses' name really Egyptian?

PROF. THOMAS SCHNEIDER: Moses’ Name Is Semitic, Not Egyptian (TheTorah.com).

Pharaoh’s daughter names the baby מֹשֶׁה, “for I drew him out of the water”—a Hebrew wordplay from an Egyptian princess?! Since the 19th century Egyptologist, Karl Lepsius, scholars have dismissed this biblical explanation as folk etymology, and instead posited that the name derives from Egyptian mśy, “to give birth,” as in Ramesses or Ahmose. But neither the consonants nor the vowels line up, and no ancient author ever made the connection. Rather, Moses’ name derives from the Semitic מ.שׁ.י, “to draw or glean.”

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Did Herodotus think that Linear B was Phoenician?

PHOENICIAN WATCH: Greek Alphabet’s Phoenician Origins Questioned After 2,500 Years (Dimitrios Aristopoulos, Greek Reporter).

The Phoenician alphabet myth has long dominated discussions of Greek writing. Herodotus’ prestige and clarity made his account persuasive, but evidence from other traditions, linguistic analysis, and modern archaeology challenges his claim. The phrase “phoinikeia grammata” did not originally mean “Phoenician letters” after all; it referred instead to an older practice—Linear B writing on palm leaves.

Herodotus reinterpreted the phrase and linked it to the Phoenicians. His version prevailed, transforming Cadmus into a foreign bringer of letters. Yet the deeper truth is more complex: the Greeks had their own pre-alphabetic writing, and they preserved faint memories of it in myths, scholia, and surviving phrases.

This headline sounds completely daft. The article doesn't help much. You have to look at the underlying technical article to see what is actually being argued.

There are two separate issues. First, the origin of the Greek alphabet. It was developed from the Phoenician alphabet—the Northwest Semitic alphabet used by naval traders from Lebanon, whatever you call it and them. This is obvious. No one disputes it. The Greek Reporter article doesn't quite come out and deny this, but it doesn't ever say it clearly either.

Second, Herodotus, in his account of the Cadmus myth, say that in pre-Trojan War times the "Phoenicians" brought a writing system in "Phoenician letters" which the Greeks used. The article argues that this is a reference to the syllabic (not alphabetic) Linear B script, which was indeed used early on to write Greek. Arguably, Linear B was written mostly on palm leaves, which is one meaning of this Greek word phoinix. Herodotus misunderstood earlier references to Linear B as phoinikeia grammata, "palm-leaf letters," to mean the Northwest Semitic alphabet from which the Greek alphabet derives. Thanks to him that alphabet was erroneously called "Phoenician."

I don't know if this argument is correct, but it looks credible. There's nothing daft about it.

The full article in The Journal of Hellenic Studies (2022), 142, 219–254 (doi:10.1017/S0075426922000131) is available online.

Deconstructing the Phoenician myth:‘Cadmus and the palm-leaf tablets’ revisited

Willemijn Waal

Leiden University, The Netherlands Institute for the Near East
E-mail: w.waal@hum.leidenuniv.nl

Abstract

According to Herodotus, the expression phoinikeia grammata means ‘Phoenician letters’ and refers to the Phoenician origins of the Greek alphabet. This account has found general acceptance, but it is not the only interpretation possible and other theories circulated in antiquity. The adjective φοῖνιξdoes not only mean‘Phoenician’; it can also refer to a palm tree or the colour red. This article argues that the expression phoinikeia grammata did not originally refer to the alphabet, but to Linear B writing on palm leaves, as already suggested by Frederick Ahl. It is shown that the account of Herodotus is the result of a‘learned reinterpretation’, triggered by the ambiguity of the word φοῖνιξ. The new under- standing of phoinikeia grammata proposeds here has some important consequences: it implies that Linear B, as has long been suspected, was primarily written on palm leaves (hence‘palm-leaf writ- ing’) and that in classical antiquity there was at least a limited historical awareness of the existence of pre-alphabetic writing systems in the Aegean. This paper adduces additional evidence to substan- tiate these claims. Lastly, a case will be made that Herodotus’ incorrect reinterpretation has led to the‘Phoenicianization’ of Cadmus, who was originally a Greek hero.

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Sheridan, Sogdian Christians (Brepols)

BIBLIOGRAPHIA IRANICA: Sogdian Christians.

Notice of a New Book: Sheridan, Daniel . 2026. Sogdian Christians. Networks, Books, Homilies, and Medicine. Turnhout: Brepols.

PaleoJudaica has considerable interest in the Sogdian Manicheans, who preserved much of our surviving material from and on the Book of Giants. More on them, it, and the ancient Sogdian language is here and links. The promised volume, MOTP2, came out not long after that post.

This book on Sogdian Christians looks like a valuable contribution to the field of Sogdian studies.

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How did Prof. Christopher A. Rollston change his mind?

SYMPOSIUM: I CHANGED MY MIND: Farm Boy to Biblical Scholar (Prof. Christopher A. Rollston, TheTorah.com).

This pilgrimage of mine is certainly not unique to me. But it does reveal something about the way in which the texts of the Hebrew Bible and Greek New Testament themselves, knowledge about their transmission through the centuries (i.e., the copying), and knowledge about the world from which these texts hailed, have all combined to refine and nuance my understanding of the Hebrew Bible and New Testament. The pilgrimage continues, and I am grateful for that.

For more on the series, see here. A recent topically related post is here.

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Scripta Classica Israelica again

THE AWOL BLOG: Open Access Journal: Scripta Classica Israelica.

It's been a while since I noted this journal, so this is a good chance to mention it again.

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At the National Library of Israel

LIBRARY TOUR: What Can Texts Do? A Morning at the National Library of Israel (Keira Kahn, Yeshiva University Commentator).

The oldest items in the collection are in the first display case. They are clay incantation bowls made by the Jews of Babylonia between roughly the fifth and eighth centuries, and they look like ordinary cereal bowls, except that the inside of each one is covered in Aramaic script that spirals from the center outward. They are amulets. People commissioned them by name, had them inscribed with blessings and incantations, and then buried them upside down beneath the threshold of the house so that demons could not get in. Nobody was ever supposed to read them; we only have them because they were buried intentionally and then unearthed. The plaque above the case ends by asking the question the entire exhibit is built around: what can texts actually do?

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