"Ancient Jewish Memories of Achaemenid Persia" (JHS special issue)

BIBLIOGRAPHIA IRANICA: Ancient Jewish Memories of Achaemenid Persia. Open-access journal special issue: Joachimsen, Kristin & Jason S. Mokhtarian (eds.). 2025. Ancient Jewish Memories of Achaemenid Persia (The Journal of Hebrew Scriptures 25).

Follow the link for a link to the issue.

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

The Jewish Kingdom of Himyar

HISTORY: The Jewish Kingdom of Southern Arabia. The tale of Himyar reminds us of the ongoing Jewish presence in the Middle East, its important history, but also of the danger of religion interwoven with state politics (Lane Igoudin, Jewish Journal).

Two well-documented academic works shed light on the mysterious kingdom: “The Throne of Adulis: Red Sea Wars on the Eve of Islam” by G. W. Bowersock (Oxford University Press) and “The Judaism of the Ancient Kingdom of Himyar In Arabia: A Discreet Conversion” by the French historian Christian Robin in volume 3 of Cambridge Semitic Languages and Cultures. Their scholarship is based on historical chronicles written in Arabia and Ethiopia, contemporary reports from Indian and Syrian travelers, Byzantine diplomatic dispatches, as well as hundreds of stone inscriptions found on both sides of the Red Sea.

I have added the links. The OUP book is for sale only, but you can read the description and see the TOC. The article by Robin is chapter 7 of the linked-to Openbook Publishers book.

For PaleoJudaica posts on the late-antique Jewish Kingdom of Himyar in Arabia, start here and follow the links.

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Review of Dead Sea Scrolls: The Exhibition (Museum of the Bible)

EXHIBITION REVIEW: New Dead Sea Scrolls Exhibit Is the Real Deal. After an embarrassing snafu in 2020, the Museum of the Bible celebrates an authentic documents display (GORDON GOVIER, Christianity Today).

“These are the oldest biblical texts ever discovered,” explained Robert Duke, the museum’s chief curatorial officer. “Our average guest is just blown away knowing that you’re looking at texts that were from the time when the disciples and Jesus were walking the earth.”

Portions of the Psalms, Numbers, and Lamentations that have never before been exhibited are currently on display, along with five nonbiblical texts. In May they will be swapped with a new set of texts, including a portion of Isaiah, provided by the Israel Antiquities Authority.

I noted this exhibition as forthcoming here and mentioned it briefly again here. This is the first time I recall hearing about it since.

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

DNA from all over in the Shroud of Turin?

PALEOGENETICS: New DNA research confirms Shroud of Turin's passage through the Middle East (Vatican News).

The Holy Shroud of Turin passed through the Middle East, reveals new DNA research in the scientific article authored by Dr. Gianni Barcaccia, Professor of Genetics and Genomics at the University of Padua, along with other researchers. The scientists confirm the presence of a genome predominantly from the Middle East and show that microorganisms thriving in extremely saline environments, such as the Dead Sea, were detected.

For a somewhat different take on the same research, see this Ancient Origins article by Gary Manners:

Shroud of Turin DNA Analysis Reveals Shocking Indian Origins

The latest DNA study of the Shroud of Turin has revealed that nearly 40% of the human genetic material found on the famous linen traces back to Indian lineages, raising the startling possibility that the cloth may have originated in the ancient Indus Valley. ...

The underlying (rather technical) open-access pre-print article in bioRxiv is available here:

DNA Traces on the Shroud of Turin: Metagenomics of the 1978 Official Sample Collection

Gianni Barcaccia, Nicola Rambaldi Migliore, Giovanni Gabelli, Vincenzo Agostini, Fabio Palumbo, Elisabetta Moroni, Valeria Nicolini, Liangliang Gao, Grazia Mattutino, Andrew Porter, Pawel Palmows Noemi Procopio, Ugo A. Perego, Massimo Iorizzo, Timothy F. Sharbel, Pierluigi Baima Bollone, Antonio Torroni, Andrea Squartini, Alessandro Achilli
doi: https://doi.org/10.64898/2026.03.19.712852
This article is a preprint and has not been certified by peer review

Abstract

This research provides original insights into the diversity of DNA extracted from samples collected in 1978 from the Turin Shroud, revealing its biological complexity through rigorous DNA and metagenomic analyses. Our findings highlight its preservation conditions and environmental interactions, offering valuable perspectives into the identified genetic variants, which originated from multiple biological sources. Several human mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) lineages were identified, including K1a1b1a, which matches the 1978 official collector’s mitogenome, H2a2 (i.e. the lineage of the mtDNA reference sequence rRCS), H1b, which is common in Western Eurasia, and H33, which is prevalent in the Near East and frequent among the Druze. Moreover, the reconstructed microbiome of the Shroud reveals a rich tapestry of multiple microbes commonly found on the human epidermis, as well as archaeal communities adapted to high salinity, and fungi including molds. This is indicative of the Shroud’s preservation conditions over the centuries. Additionally, the presence of abundant Mediterranean endemic red coral, various cultivated plants (e.g. carrot, wheat, corn, bananas, and peanuts) and domesticated animals (e.g. cattle, pigs, chickens, dogs, and cats) provide a fascinating glimpse into the diverse biological sources of the contaminants that have accumulated on the Turin Shroud over time. Finally, radiocarbon dating of two distinct threads collected from the reliquary provides evidence of their use to repair the Shroud in the years 1534 and 1694 of the Common Era (CE).

Noted for information. I emphasize that this is a pre-print article. It has not undergone peer review or been accepted for publication anywhere. There is no guarantee that it will be. I myself am not qualified to evaluate its contents. Probably you aren't either. Let's just see what happens.

For many PaleoJudaica posts on the Shroud of Turin, some of which note arguments in favor of or against its authenticity, start here and follow the links. The vast majority of scholarship views it as a medieval forgery.

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More on the iron blooms from the Dor shipwreck

BIBLE HISTORY DAILY: Understanding Iron in the Iron Age. Carmel Coast discovery shows iron was traded before forging (Lauren K. McCormick).

I have already noted the discovery of these iron objects excavated from the Dor L2 shipwreck here. This BHD essay covers the highlights of that story and gives some useful background.

Cross-file under Maritime (Marine, Underwater) Archaeology

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Review of Longman, The Book of Ecclesiastes, 2nd ed.

READING ACTS: Tremper Longman III, The Book of Ecclesiastes, 2nd ed. (NICOT) (Phil Long).

Longman III, Tremper. The Book of Ecclesiastes, 2nd ed. NICOT. Eerdmans, 2026. xxxix+320 pp. Hb. $46.99 Link to Eerdmans

... Conclusion. As with other volumes of the NICOT series that have been updated, some readers will wonder whether they need to upgrade their commentary. In this case, Longman has not radically changed his views since 1998. However, for scholars, pastors, and students looking for an excellent commentary on the book of Ecclesiastes, Longman’s new edition will serve them well. This is a well-written and insightful commentary on one of the more difficult books of the Hebrew Bible.

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

More on that marble baptismal (?) artifact

LITURGICAL ARCHAEOLOGY (?) UPDATE: Marble bowl buried 1,300 years ago in Golan church sheds light on ancient baptisms. Found in a cathedral destroyed by an earthquake in 749, a unique liturgical object suggests the ceremony there featured three moments of anointment, a ritual never documented before (Rossella Tercatin, Times of Israel).

I have already noted this discovery here. This article covers some of the same ground, but also interviews another archaeologist who offers a different interpretation of the artifact.

While we're at it, this Ancient Jew Review book note on a new (and in itself important) book by Georgia Frank is of some background interest:

Unfinished Christians: Ritual Objects and Silent Subjects in Late Antiquity (Ethan Laster)

Chapter two is especially relevant.

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

Why a golden calf?

BIBLE HISTORY DAILY: Why Did the Israelites Make a Golden Calf? The root of Israel’s idolatry at Sinai (John Drummond).

Why did the Israelites make a golden calf? It’s a question that has puzzled readers of the biblical Book of Exodus for millennia.

[...]

This essay gives a good, brief, overview of some of the main answers. It came out last year, but I missed it at the time.

For more on the interpretation of the story as a criticism of the iconography of Jeroboam I's Yahwistic sanctuaries at Bethel and Dan, see here and, more generally, the links collected here. For golden calf and other metal bull artifacts, some of them quite ancient, see the links collected here.

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

A Lost Ark docudrama

CINEMA: Next Week: Legends of the Lost Ark (Todd Bolen, The Bible Places Blog).

I can’t count how many times I’ve been asked: where do you think the ark of the covenant is now? The group usually laughs when I say I’m pretty sure I saw it being hidden away in a warehouse in New York.

I usually then tick off the leading theories: the ark is hidden underneath the Temple Mount, the ark was taken to Mount Nebo, the ark is now in a church in Ethiopia, the ark was destroyed by the Babylonians.

But now there is a much better, and much more entertaining, answer to this perennial question. Archaeologist Chris McKinny, a longtime friend and partner on various BiblePlaces projects, has spent years researching the subject, and Gesher Media has produced a beautiful new docudrama that travels the world to bring the best evidence to light.

[...]

Sounds interesting.

For a great many posts on the Ark of the Covenant and the many places where it's claimed to be, start here and keep following the links.

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How was Hezekiah shut up "like a caged bird" in Jerusalem?

THE BIBLE AND INTERPRETATION:

The Language of Power in the Simile, “Like a Caged Bird”: The Assyrian Royal Lion Hunt and Sennacherib’s Military Campaign against Hezekiah of Judah

Sennacherib’s claim that he shut Hezekiah up in Jerusalem “like a caged bird” reflects a broader Assyrian ideological language of domination rather than face-saving rhetoric for a failed siege. Read against Assyrian lion-hunt imagery and military inscriptions, the simile signifies control, confinement, and royal victory, presenting Hezekiah as subdued even without Jerusalem’s destruction.

See also The Language of Power in the Simile “Like a Caged Bird”: A Critical Discourse Analysis of the Assyrian Royal Lion Hunt and Sennacherib’s Military Campaign Against Hezekiah of Judah (Pickwick, 2025).

By Woo Min Lee
Adjunct Professor
McCormick Theological Seminary April 2026

For lots more posts on Sennacherib's siege of Jerusalem, its archaeology, and what may have happened there, start here and follow the links.

I'm curious what the author of this essay and book makes of those odd reports about a visit of the Angel of the Lord to Sennacherib's camp during this siege or, alternatively, a plague of mice at his camp in Pelusium during the same campaign.

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

The missing cuneiform evidence

THE ANCIENT NEAR EAST TODAY: Cuneiform Written Artifacts and Missing Evidence in the Study of the Ancient Near East (Cécile Michel).

Excavated archives are never complete. They are the result of ancient sorting and archaeological choices, which makes any reconstruction provisional and subject to revision when new information comes to light. While spectacular new discoveries can reveal previously unknown aspects of ancient cultures, they also highlight all that has been lost. Successive discoveries, from Babylon to Mari and Ebla, have revealed that Mesopotamian history is not singular, but multiple; each site and period has its own history. Such new evidence must be treated with caution and with an awareness of its incomplete nature and the risks of overinterpretation. Cuneiform sources provide an uneven picture of Mesopotamian society over time and across space, offering more insight into the lives of the elite and men than into the experiences of ordinary people and women.

Cross-file under New Book:

Cécile Michel, Michael Friedrich and Jorrit Kelder (eds.), Missing Evidence in the Study of Ancient Cultures: Methodological Reflections and Case Studies on Fragmentary Sources (Studies in Manuscript Cultures, 50), De Gruyter, 2025.

We are very fortunate to have such ancient literature as we have. But its preservation has been scanty and uneven. We must be very careful about generalizing from it.

For more on Mespotamian scribal practices and the uneven nature of our surviving sources, see here and here.

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

Easter 2026

HAPPY EASTER to all those celebrating.

The Easter post for 2025 is here with links. More recent Easter-related posts are here, here, and here.

My 2016 Easter post contains links leading to New Testament and related passages concerning Easter and to correct information on the origin of the word (dead link, but summary intact). And this post gives NT references for the Passion narrative.

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

Isaiah between Judaism and Christianity (Mohr Siebeck)

NEW BOOK FROM MOHR SIEBECK:

Isaiah between Judaism and Christianity Early Christian Reception and Interpretation
Edited by Tobias Nicklas, Judith König, Stefan Green and Antti Laato

2026. 395 pages.
Wissenschaftliche Untersuchungen zum Neuen Testament 2. Reihe (WUNT II) 647
DOI 10.1628/978-3-16-163287-7

€109.00
including VAT

sewn paper
available
978-3-16-163286-0

Also Available As:
eBook PDF

Summary

The contributors to this volume illustrate the way in which exegesis of the book of Isaiah was developed in early Christianity. Reception unfolded within spaces opened, shaped, and defined along Judaeo-Christian borderlines. The book of Isaiah was of utmost importance to the first Jesus followers and their literary production, particularly in the way they articulated their beliefs. Consequently, scholars have often referred to Isaiah as »the fifth Gospel.«
The present volume collects investigations into the specific ways the book of Isaiah was received in various early Christian contexts - from the canonical gospels to early Syriac Christian literature. The contributors explore the different modes and purposes of reading Isaiah and integrating its ideas, style, and concepts into new writings.

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

Does the Exodus story subvert Egyptian propaganda?

FOR PASSOVER: How the Exodus story subverts pharaonic texts to mock ancient Egypt. According to Bar-Ilan University’s Joshua Berman, who curated the new hagaddah ‘Echoes of Egypt,’ the biblical narrative ‘culturally appropriates’ facets of Egyptian culture — by design (Rossella Tercatin, Times of Israel).

In the new “Echoes of Egypt: A Haggada,” curated by Berman and recently published by Koren, the scholar argues that the term “a mighty hand and outstretched arm” represents just one of the many examples where the Torah seems to employ tools of the Egyptian narrative or propaganda and use them against the very people who enslaved the ancient Israelites.

For more on that biblical phrase, see here and links.

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

Levin, The Chronicles of David and Solomon (T&T Clark)

NEW BOOK FROM BLOOMSBURY/T&T CLARK:

The Chronicles of David and Solomon

1 Chronicles 10 - 2 Chronicles 9: A New Translation and Commentary

Yigal Levin (Author)

Hardback
$175.00 $157.50

Ebook (PDF)
$157.50 $126.00

Product details

Published Jan 22 2026
Format Hardback
Edition 1st
Extent 584
ISBN 9780567674302
Imprint T&T Clark
Dimensions 9 x 6 inches
Publisher Bloomsbury Publishing

Description

The book of Chronicles, the last book of the Hebrew Bible and a central historical book of the Christian Old Testament, has in recent decades gone from being “the Cinderella of biblical studies” to being one of the most researched books of the Bible. The anonymous author, often simply called “the Chronicler” by modern scholars, looks back at the old Israelite monarchy, before the Babylonian exile, from his vantage point in the post-exilic early Second Temple Period, and attempts to “update” the older historiographies of Samuel and Kings in order to elucidate their meaning to the people of his own time.

In The Chronicles of the David and Solomon, Yigal Levin does the same for the modern reader. He offers a brand-new translation and commentary on 1 Chronicles 10 – 2 Chronicles 9, examining the period of David's and Solomon's reign as presented in the text in exhaustive detail.
The Chronicles of David and Solomon is preceded in publication by The Chronicles of the Kings of Judah on 2 Chronicles 10 – 36, and will be followed by The Chronicles of All Israel on the genealogies of 1 Chronicles 1-9 and including comprehensive essays on the book of Chronicles, its time, purposes, methods and meanings.

I noted the publication of The Chronicles of the Kings of Judah (2017) here.

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

On Easter and the Passover Haggadah

PROF. ADELE REINHARTZ: Easter with the Women at Jesus’ Empty Tomb: The Four Gospels (TheTorah.com).

Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John all include accounts of women discovering Jesus’ tomb empty three days after his crucifixion that share a common structure, but vary considerably in their details. Christians reading the story at Easter experience vicariously the women’s fear and awe, just as Jews re-experience the Exodus through the Haggadah.

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

Jewish Responses to Jesus’ Crucifixion and Resurrection

DR. BARRY DOV WALFISH AND DR. RABBI ZEV FARBER: Behind the Mockery: Jewish Responses to Jesus’ Crucifixion and Resurrection (TheTorah.com).

The products of a period in which Judaism was considered to have been superseded by Christianity and Jews were treated as inferiors, the Talmud and Toledot Yeshu literature developed a biting, farcical retelling of Jesus’ story, which, at the same time, reveals the Jewish struggle to explain his massive impact on world religion. Yet, medieval rabbis also responded to Jesus’ death in a serious way, noting that ultimately, things turned out for the best: Jesus always planned to be crucified, and Jesus asked God to forgive everyone involved.

For more on Toledot Yeshu start here and follow the links. Arguably on linguistic grounds, the earliest (Aramaic) version was composed as early as the third or fourth century. For some discussion see, e.g., here.

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"Reclining" or sitting during the Last Supper?

BIBLE HISTORY DAILY: Laying Out the Last Supper. What Did Jesus's Final Meal Actually Look Like? (Clinton J. Moyer).

When Jesus and his disciples gathered for the Last Supper, how was the meal laid out? Did the group emulate the Roman dining practice of the triclinium, reclining at low tables arranged in a U shape and eating from individual place settings? Or did they sit around an arrangement of communal dishes from which all individuals partook? In the Spring 2026 issue of Biblical Archaeology Review, in his feature article titled “What Did the Last Supper Really Look Like?,” Matthew J. Grey considers these questions, shedding valuable light on the workings of this famous feast.

[...]

The article is behind the subscription wall, but this BHD essay summarizes it. Grey thinks that they were sitting in the domestic common room, not reclining in the triclinium.

Be that as it may, you can get a glimpse of a reconstructed Roman triclinium at Cartagena here. For a clearer reconstruction of one, see the Haaretz article linked to here.

Some other PaleoJudaica posts on the Last Supper are here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, and here.

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