On the Sibylline Oracles

THE KIWI HELLENIST BLOG: Sibyls and Sibylline oracles. 3. The Sibylline oracles.

The Sibylline oracles are closer imitations. These are a group of eleven poems and eight fragments, mostly Jewish, with an assortment of Christian additions, in Greek hexameter verse. They range in date from the 2nd century BCE to the 7th century CE. Several of the poems list off dynasties of kings and emperors, framing them as though they’re predictions. In some poems the timeline reaches all the way from the Creation (as in Genesis) up to the end times and the Last Judgement (as in Enoch or Revelation).

I noted the earlier posts in this informative series here (with links to earlier PaleoJudaica posts) and here.

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Biggerstaff, De-Marginalizing Prophetic Suprahuman Knowledge (2022 PhD thesis)

THE AWOL BLOG: De-Marginalizing Prophetic Suprahuman Knowledge.

De-Marginalizing Prophetic Suprahuman Knowledge
Biggerstaff, Michael
Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2022, Near Eastern Languages and Cultures

... Prior to the nineteenth century, exegetes never understood prophetic claims of suprahuman knowledge as subordinate to issues of social justice and repentance. ...

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Why is ancient Greek pronunciation important?

THE OTTC BLOG: Reconstructed Koine Pronunciation (Drew Longacre).

What does a question of Greek language learning pedagogy have to do with OT textual criticism? More than you might think, actually. ...

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Who was God talking to at creation and why?

WHO IS "US?" The Role of Angels in the Creation of Humankind ("Staff Editors," TheTorah.com).

“Let us make humankind” (Genesis 1:26)—whom is God addressing? Across Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, some interpreters have identified God’s audience as the angels but have assigned them strikingly different roles in humanity’s creation: collaborators, creators, or critics who question the wisdom of bringing humans and their corruption into existence.

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Nicosia, Excerpting History in the Syriac World (open access, De Gruyter/Brill)

THE AWOL BLOG: Excerpting History in the Syriac World: The Miaphysite Collections (6th–10th c.).

Excerpting History in the Syriac World: The Miaphysite Collections (6th–10th c.)
Giorgia Nicosia
Volume 119 | Millennium-Studien / Millennium Studies, 2026
De Gruyter/Brill

Cross-file under Syriac Watch.

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Review of Eisenstock, The Talmud Chronicles

BOOK REVIEW : ‘Extra, extra!’ New book brings ancient Talmudic texts to life for readers of all ages - review The Talmud Chronicles: Bringing Talmudic Events to Life covers significant historical events from around 100-200 CE and breathes life into characters from the Talmud (Marion Fischel, Jerusalem Post).

TALMUD CHRONICLES:
BRINGING TALMUDIC EVENTS TO LIFE
By Zalman Eisenstock
Urim Publications
112 pages; $35

I noted the publication of the book here. Cross-file under Talmud Watch.

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Rapp, Early Christian Georgian Literature (CUP)

NEW (SHORT) BOOK FROM CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS:

Early Christian Georgian Literature

Making Christian Identity in an Iranic Culture

Series: Elements in Early Christian Literature
Author: Stephen H. Rapp Jr, Sam Houston State University
Published: August 2026
Availability: Available
Format: Paperback
ISBN: 9781009481588

£18.00 GBP Paperback

£55.00 GBP Hardback

$25.00 USD eBook

Description

This Element re-evaluates the genesis and early development of Georgian literature. Sparked by the Christian invention of a Georgian script ca. 400 AD, this literature was a product of the Christianization of the Caucasus region. But to what extent was early Georgian literature a Christian one? What were the ecclesiastical, cultural, and linguistic contexts of Georgian literature? And how did Georgia's, and Caucasia's, existing ties to Iranian cultural world affect the evolution of a distinctly Georgian literature?

For some background on Georgian language and culture (not just Christian, also Jewish), see here and links and here.

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Klawans, Biblical Forgery and Academic Authentication (OUP)

NEW BOOK FROM OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS:

Biblical Forgery and Academic Authentication: Persisting Patterns of Guile and Gullibility

Jonathan Klawans

£29.99

Hardback
Published: 29 September 2026
286 Pages
235x156mm
ISBN: 9780197850534

Also Available As:
E-book

• Informs, for the first time, on a wide-range of biblical forgery cases
• Focuses on issues relating to academic authentication: why scholars fall for forgeries and the poor arguments used to authenticate
• Introduces forgery studies and proposes a new "scale of authenticity," from 1 to 5

Description

Biblical Forgery and Academic Authentication describes and decries the roles academics have played in the authentication of biblical forgeries. The most notorious recent incident is surely the 2016 publication of thirteen minuscule Dead Sea Scroll fragments displayed in the Museum of the Bible in Washington, DC, quickly determined to be clever forgeries. Additional episodes range from Cyrus Gordon's 1970s authentications of supposedly ancient Hebrew inscriptions discovered in America to more recent trusting re-evaluations of the suspicious Deuteronomy manuscripts offered for sale by Moses Wilhelm Shapira in 1883.

While various articles and books have focused on one incident or another, no recent monograph has tried to grasp the larger, repeating dynamic of academic naiveté among biblical scholars. Nor has any work on forgery to date isolated and illustrated the distinct role played by the academic authenticator-a figure who stands between forgers and skeptics, neither forging nor criticizing the artifacts they encounter and endorse. The inherently controversial act of authenticating unprovenanced finds occasionally coincides with other broken norms (undue secrecy, insufficient disclosures, at times with money involved). This book sheds new light on long-resolved forgery cases, to tip the balance in some open cases, and to expose the ethical and intellectual lapses that permit the current situation to persist and fester.

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Tel Shikmona National Park now open to the public

RENOVATED AND REOPENED: Ancient coastal site in Haifa reopens after 3 million shekel restoration. (Ynet News).

Tel Shikmona National Park, home to 3,500 years of archaeological history and remnants of an ancient purple dye industry, welcomes visitors again after a two-year renovation that added walking paths, restored ruins and improved public access

PaleoJudaica posts on the archaeological finds at Tel Shikmona are here, here, and here and links.

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"10 Important Biblical Archaeological Finds"

LISTICLE: 10 Important Biblical Archaeological Finds (J.D. Cohen, Aish.com).

This is a good list. You can find more on most of these items in PaleoJudaica posts. See the blog search engine.

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Why aren't Torah scrolls vocalized?

DR. ELIAV GROSSMAN: Why Don’t Torah Scrolls Have Vowels? And why do the letters have crowns? (TheTorah.com).

At that precarious moment in the history of rabbinic authority and Jewish textuality, certain rabbis sought to maintain a distinction between the Torah scroll and a codex, protecting the Torah scroll as the privileged ritual object of liturgical reading.

A deep dive into the background of Masoretic vocalization, punctuation, and ornamentation of Torah scrolls.

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God of justice and mercy or mercy and justice?

PROF. RABBI HERBERT BASSER: YHWH and Elohim: One God, Different Attributes (TheTorah.com).

Why does Elohim, and not YHWH, create the world? Philo and the rabbis—though in opposite directions—each read the two names as two divine attributes, one beneficent and one that judges. The kabbalists see these as the sefirot דין Judgment and חסד Lovingkindness—while Ramchal further unites them as two colors in the prism of the divine crystal.

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On the Bar Kokhba Revolt

BIBLE HISTORY DAILY: What Is the Bar-Kokhba Revolt? Judah’s other great revolt against Rome (Lauren K. McCormick).

Rome put down one Jewish uprising in Judea that lasted from 66 to 74 CE, called the First Jewish Revolt. It culminated in the burning of the Jerusalem Temple by the then-general (future emperor) Titus. Afterward, tensions over taxation, sacrifice, and imperial policy still plagued the province, and erupted again in 132 in the Bar-Kokhba Revolt.

For many PaleoJudaica posts on the Bar Kokhba Revolt see the links collected here (cf. here).

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The Israelite Samaritan Torah app

THE AWOL BLOG: The Israelite Samaritan Torah.

Yep, there's an app for that too.

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On Ashoka and his Aramaic edicts

BUDDHIST ARAMAIC WATCH: Ashoka, History, Edicts, Inscription, Policy of Dhamma, Death (Vajiram & Ravi).

Explore Ashoka the Great's reign, including his Kalinga War, Dhamma policy, administration, edicts, and efforts to promote Buddhism. Learn about his economic policies, societal reforms, and cultural contributions to ancient India

These study notes for the 2026 UPSC Civil Services Examination in India give a good detailed account of the reign of Emperor Ashoka the Great, including, of course, his Aramaic Dhamma edicts.

Earlier PaleoJudaica posts on or involving Ashoka and his Aramaic are here (but links rotted), here, here, here, and here.

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Hezse & Willems (eds.), The Talmud Yerushalmi’s Civil Law in Its Ancient Legal Context (Harrassowitz)

THE AWOL BLOG: The Talmud Yerushalmi’s Civil Law in Its Ancient Legal Context: Rabbinic Law – Roman Law – Hellenistic Law.

Notice of a New Book (with open access): Hezser, Catherine / Willems, Constantin (eds.). The Talmud Yerushalmi’s Civil Law in Its Ancient Legal Context: Rabbinic Law – Roman Law – Hellenistic Law. Harrassowitz, 2026.

Follow the link for abstract and access link.

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Taylor Swift's Babylon?

BIBLE HISTORY DAILY: Taylor Swift’s Babylon. Excavating the life of a symbol (Lauren K. McCormick ).

The song “Babylon” is a meditation on leaving home, having success, and coming to appreciate what you had only in hindsight. The chorus turns on the realization: “You never knew that it was Babylon ’til it was gone.”

For many PaleoJudaica posts on the archaeology, history, and legends of ancient Babylon, see here and links, here, here, and here and links.

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