As before, the posts are in Dutch, but Google Translate can easily give you an English version.
I have posted on the Roman conquest of Cartagena here and here.
For my visit there last year and related, see the posts collected here, plus here.
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I've not paid much attention to this debate in the pages of BAR over the last several years. The issue is whether the House of David is mentioned in the rather poorly preserved text of the Mesha Stele or Moabite Stone. Anyway, you can go over the discussion at the link: mostly BHD summaries, although one full article appears and the last one, at least at present, is completely 404'ed.
For more on the proposed reading "House of David," see here—although the Haaretz article is now behind the subscription wall—and the links here. For many other PaleoJudaica posts on the Mesha Stele, start here and follow the links.
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The decor of the restaurant has some visual elements to justify the name – a few stone-like embellishments on the walls, and a mural of cave dwellers painted on a brick-colored wall.But for the most part, it’s a modern, streamlined place that offers not just kosher dining but a cabaret later in the evening for the diners’ enjoyment.
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A rare 2,000-year-old stone vessel recently uncovered in the Galilee is on display for the first time as part of the exhibition, “From the Great Assembly to the Knesset” at the Knesset in Jerusalem to celebrate the building’s 60th anniversary, the Israel Antiquities Authority announced in a statement on Monday.The display includes a couple of intriguing inscription fragments.[...]
I keep pretty good track of ancient stone vessel discoveries in Israel, but this one, from "the Pundaka de Lavi site in the Lower Galilee," is new to me. For a couple of stone vessel workshops elsewhere in the Galilee, see here.
For more on ancient Jewish stone vessels and their purity implications, start here and follow the links, notably here.
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It wasn’t until the late Second Temple period—shaped by Greek and Roman legal culture—that Torah law started to function as actual law.
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A tide of books about the Gospel of John are now hitting the shelves, marking a trend that is perhaps worthy of a biblical text that opens with the phrase, “In the beginning was the Word.”Lots of promising-sounding John books have been coming out. I noted Mark Goodacre's last year here. And I hadn't heard that George van Kooten, in his 2025 book Reverberations of Good News: The Gospels in Context, Then and Now (Eerdmans), argues that John's Gospel may be the earliest of the Four. That should be rile things up.These recent and forthcoming books consider new and different theological, historical, and cultural perspectives on the book that is often called “the fourth gospel”—distinct in tone and authorship from the books of Matthew, Mark, and Luke.
[...]
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On January 20, the Ganeles family was among a group of roughly 30 people to take an inaugural walk up the road. Starting from an area where the archaeologists believe the ancient Siloam pool stood at the entrance of the ancient city, in what is today the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Silwan, the largely subterranean road runs underneath modern infrastructure for several hundred meters to the Jerusalem Archaeological Garden adjacent to the Western Wall.The road was formally opened by dignitaries back in September 2025, but now it's open to the public. For more on the Jerusalem Pilgrimage Road excavation and its discoveries, start here and follow the many links.
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A rare Greek (Hellenistic) period Aramaic inscription uncovered at Rabat Fortress in eastern Turkey is providing the first direct evidence of local elites in the ancient Kingdom of Sophene (Greek:Σωφηνή), reshaping scholarly understanding of power and identity in this little-documented region.Arkeonews has a more detailed article by Leman Altuntaş, but you have to watch an ad to read it:The stone inscription, dating to the second century BC, was found reused in a village stable near the fortress during archaeological surveys. Though long exposed to earthquakes and reconstruction, the artifact remained intact.
[...]
The Syriac Press also has a briefer article that summarizes some information from the latter:
For more on the ancient kingdom of Sophene, see here.
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Ory Amitay, Alexander the Great in Jerusalem: myth and history. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2025. Pp. 220. ISBN 9780198929529.I have noted the book already here and here.Review by
Jodi Magness, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. magness@email.unc.eduThis book is only marginally concerned with whether Alexander the Great ever visited Jerusalem—an historical question that Ory Amitay ultimately leaves unanswered. Instead, it is mostly about stories describing a visit by Alexander to Jerusalem, which were composed at different times and in different places. Amitay examines four main versions of these stories ...
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Last year's Tu B'Shevat post is here.
For biblical background, see here. The name "New Year for Trees" comes from Mishnah Rosh HaShanah 1.1. That passage gives two alternative dates for the celebration, one from Shammai and one from Hillel. Hillel's date (15 Shevat) is the one celebrated at present. The Hebrew phrase Tu B'Shevat means "the 15th of Shevat."
The first link above gives last year's date range for the holiday on the top right. Hopefully, this will be corrected by the time you see it.
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Early Byzantine Apocalyptic DiscoursesCoping with Crises in the Sixth and Seventh Centuries
Series:
Brill's Series on the Early Middle Ages, Volume: 32Author: Ryan W. Strickler
The Byzantine Empire faced many threats, but few were as great as the events of the sixth and seventh centuries, when paranoia, plagues, and wars threatened to tear the empire apart. Like today, prophets predicted horrors to come while preachers called on their congregations to repent. This book considers how the Byzantines understood the crises of the period and their role in divine history by reframing their troubles through an apocalyptic lens. While most scholars have interpreted these messages as a prediction of the end, this book argues for a different reading, understanding them instead as messages of hope.
Copyright Year: 2026
E-Book (PDF)
Availability: Published
ISBN: 978-90-04-74588-9
Publication: 27 Oct 2025
EUR €110.00Hardback
Availability: Published
ISBN: 978-90-04-74585-8
Publication: 06 Nov 2025
EUR €110.00
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Domenico Lo Sardo2026. 371 pages.
Forschungen zum Alten Testament 2. Reihe (FAT II) 166€109.00
including VATsewn paper
available
978-3-16-164684-3Also Available As:
eBook PDF
€109.00Summary
In this study, Domenico Lo Sardo examines the textual and literary development of Exodus 25-31 and Leviticus 8-9, expanding on prior research on the Tabernacle's second account (Exodus 35-40). He argues that Exodus 25-31 was later composed to legitimize the Temple's construction and was shaped alongside Leviticus 8. Challenging the idea of an early, fully developed Priestly Writing (Pg), his analysis of the texts studied in terms of textual and literary criticism presents it as an evolving tradition with a multistage production history. He further demonstrates that Priestly Writing (P) concludes at Leviticus 8 and does not extend beyond this point. Highlighting themes of divine presence, worship, and sacred space, the author ultimately situates the Temple-cult project within the broader theological framework of creation and covenant fulfillment.
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The [six-week] course [at the Siegal Lifelong Program at Case Western Reserve University] covers the Georgian Jewish history from the sixth century BCE, when fleeing the conquest of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar, they arrived in Mtskheta (the ancient capital of Georgia) to the modern era. The program will focus on the Georgian Jewish material culture, archaeological treasures, and literary corpus of Georgian Jewry, including extant Armazic Aramaic inscriptions, bilingual stelae, golden amulets, the Bret Bibles, the Lailashi Codex, and the Chianurashvili Tehillim (Psalter).For more on Dr. Gomelauri's work on the Lailashi Codex, see here and here. And for an important Georgian/Aramaic palimpsest, the Codex Sinaiticus Rescriptus, see here and links.
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Inspectors in Israel have seized hundreds of ancient and forged coins hidden inside a balcony planter at a private home in East Jerusalem, authorities said this week.The raid uncovered about 450 coins, including authentic ancient pieces and modern counterfeits. Authorities carried out the operation at the home of a resident suspected of involvement in the unlawful possession and trafficking of antiquities.
Coins span the Hasmonean, Herodian, and Roman periods
Experts examining the seized items said the cache included Hasmonean, Herodian, and Roman-era coins, spanning several centuries of ancient history in the region. Some of the coins were confirmed to be authentic antiquities, while others were identified as forgeries.
[...]
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Allowing this new archaeological evidence to complicate Nebuchadnezzar’s character invites us to move beyond the idea of history as a straightforward moral tale, toward a more nuanced understanding of how power, memory, and identity are shaped by competing narratives. The biblical authors, writing in the aftermath of exile, understandably portray Nebuchadnezzar as a destroyer because he literally did destroy their temple. Babylonian inscriptions, on the other hand, depict the same ruler as a restorer of temples—a deeply pious and reverential figure. ...For more on King Nebuchadnezzar, including on the Nebuchadnezzar Cylinder(s) and other cuneiform material, see here and links.
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Taylor O. Gray, Ethan R. Johnson, Martina Vercesi, Belief and unbelief in the ancient world. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2025. Pp. 288. ISBN 9780802878977.I noted (as upcoming) the conference at my home institution here (but I was unable to attend) and the publication of the book here.Review by
Justin M. Rogers, Freed-Hardeman University. jrogers@fhu.eduThe current volume represents the proceedings of a conference hosted by the University of St. Andrews in 2021 entitled, “Aspects of Belief in Ancient West Asia and the Mediterranean Basin: 1000 BCE–100 CE.” ...
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AI may have helped solve an ancient puzzle. For his new book Josephus and Jesus: New Evidence for the One Called Christ, Dr. T. C. Schmidt used AI to test something long in dispute: what the first century historian actually said.I noted the publication of the book, with some thoughts of my own, here.[...]
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John of History, Baptist of Faith: The Quest for the Historical BaptizerThat's a bit ouchy.
By James F. McGrath
(Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2024), 486 pp., $59.99 (hardcover and eBook)Reviewed by Zeba Crook
In a style that is easy to read, James F. McGrath has undertaken this study into the historical John the Baptist in the true spirit of scientific inquiry: It is daring, creative, and exploratory. As with all novel scientific experiments, however, value is not always measured in terms of success but rather learning, for one can learn as much from a failed experiment as from a successful one.
[...]
I noted the publication of the book here.
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