Cowan, The Writings of Luke and the Jewish Roots of the Christian Way

NEW BOOK FROM BLOOMSBURY/T&T CLARK:

The Writings of Luke and the Jewish Roots of the Christian Way An Examination of the Aims of the First Christian Historian in the Light of Ancient Politics, Ethnography, and Historiography
By: J. Andrew Cowan

Published: 08-20-2020

Format: Paperback
Edition: 1st
Extent: 232
ISBN: 9780567696144
Imprint: T&T Clark
Series: The Library of New Testament Studies
Dimensions: 6 1/8" x 9 1/4"
List price: $39.95
Online price: $27.96
Save $11.98 (30%)

About The Writings of Luke and the Jewish Roots of the Christian Way

J. Andrew Cowan challenges the popular theory that Luke sought to boost the cultural status of the early Christian movement by emphasising its Jewish roots – associating the new church with an ancient and therefore respected heritage. Cowan instead argues that Luke draws upon the traditions of the Old Testament and its supporting texts as a reassurance to Christians, promising that Jesus' life, his works and the church that follow legitimately provide fulfilment of God's salvific plan.

Cowan's argument compares Luke's writings to two near-contemporaries, Dionysius of Halicarnassus and T. Flavius Josephus, both of whom emphasized the ancient heritage of a people with cultural or political aims in view, exploring how the writings of Luke do not reflect the same cultural values or pursue the same ends. Challenging assumptions on Luke's supposed attempts to assuage political concerns, capitalize on antiquity, and present Christianity as an inner-Jewish sect, Cowan counters with arguments for Luke being critical of over-valuing tradition and defining the Jewish people as resistant to God and His messages. Cowan concludes with the argument that the apostle does not strive for legitimisation of the new church by previous cultural standards, but instead provides theological reassurance to Christians that God's plan has been fulfilled, with implications for broader debate.

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

Reception of the Apocryphal Acts of Thomas

ANCIENT JEW REVIEW: Retelling Thomas’ Story: Reception of the Apocryphal Acts of Thomas in the Synaxarion of the Liturgical Thomas-Feast (Cosmin Pricop).

The indisputable presence of information from the Apocryphal Acts of Thomas in the Synaxarion of the Thomas-Feast (concerning especially the beginning of the Thomasine mission in India and his martyrdom there) proves the liturgical functionality of the reception of this apocryphal text. At the same time, it reveals the fact that this complex process (which is to be understood also as retelling stories) continued not only beyond the canon of New Testament writings, but also beyond the canon of what we typically think of as apocryphal literature.

Is that meta-apocrypha then?

Cross-file under New Testament Apocrypha Watch.

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

The mission of BAR

BIBLE HISTORY DAILY: First Person: A Magazine, Not a Journal. A statement from Bob Cargill, the chief editor of Biblical Archaeology Review.

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

Udjahorresnet

BIBLIOGRAPHIA IRANICA: Udjahorresnet and His World. The open-access Journal of Ancient Egyptian Interconnections takes a deep dive into the life of an Egyptian official with close royal connections in the Achaemenid era.

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

Roskovec & Hušek, Interactions in Interpretation

NEW BOOK FROM BRILL:

Interactions in Interpretation

The Pilgrimage of Meaning through Biblical Texts and Contexts

Series: Biblical Interpretation Series, Volume: 185

Volume Editors: Jan Roskovec and Vít Hušek

The concept of intertextuality was originally coined as an instrument in answering the question of how meaning is communicated through texts. The Interactions in Interpretation discusses various aspects of how the world of the Bible (seen as a world of a certain language: a complex of ideas, notions, images, idioms, stories, that are shared and referred to) communicates with other worlds in both directions. The collection of studies follows three types of interactions with marked bearing on understanding: (1) interactions with a particular motif of dream, (2) interactions with a particular text of Isa 6:9–10, (3) intertextuality in changing contexts.

Prices from (excl. VAT): €105.00 / $126.00

E-Book (PDF)
Availability: Published
ISBN: 978-90-04-43982-5
Publication Date: 04 Nov 2020

Hardback
Availability: Published
ISBN: 978-90-04-42963-5
Publication Date: 05 Nov 2020

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

Bathsheba's psyop and Solomon's kingship?

PROF. CARL S. EHRLICH: Bathsheba the Kingmaker (TheTorah.com).

Bathsheba first appears as the object of David’s lust, then as the mother of Solomon, who pleads with the king to make her son his heir. And yet, a close look at her actions shows her to be someone with agency, able to manipulate her husband and even her son to ensure Solomon’s safety and rule.

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

Machaerus in history and art

GYÖZÖ VÖRÖS, the director of the Machaerus excavation, has two essay on the site in Bible History Daily:

Machaerus Through the Ages. Timeline of Events at Machaerus.

Artistic Representations of Herod’s Royal Throne. The Bible site of the beheading of John the Baptist has inspired many artists.

For many PaleoJudaica posts on Machaerus and its excavation, start here (cf. here) and follow the links.

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

Verde, Conquered Conquerors

NEW BOOK FROM SBL PRESS:

Conquered Conquerors: Love and War in the Song of Songs
Danilo Verde

$28.00 – $42.00

Series: Ancient Israel and Its Literature
Volume: 41

Publisher: SBL Press
Publication Date: 2020
ISBN: 9781628372892

Description

Danilo Verde explores the Song of Songs’ use of military language to describe both love and lovers from the perspective of cognitive metaphor theory. love is war is one of the main recurring themes of the Song, and the poem’s representations of love/rs using military imagery thematically connects the poem, providing the reader with a coherent and conceptually unified understanding of the Song. Additionally, this book investigates how the Song conceptualizes the female and the male, revealing their tight interconnection in the poem. By exploring one of the Song’s most overlooked images, Conquered Conquerors provides fresh insights into the Song’s figurative language and the conceptualization of gender in biblical literature.

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

Social media and saving the Mar Benham manuscripts

THE DIGITAL ORIENTALIST: Social Media and the Distribution of Knowledge about Missing Syriac Manuscripts (Ephrem A. Ishac).

PaleoJudaica was among the social media that followed the story of the Mar Benham manuscripts as it was happening. See here and links. Cross-file under Syriac Watch.

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

Did Hagar have a nickname or did she die?

PROF. RABBI REUVEN FIRESTONE: Abraham Visits Ishmael and His Wives: Between Jewish and Islamic Tradition (TheTorah.com).

Abraham banishes Ishmael as a lad, and the break between them seems final. To reconcile father and son, Jewish and Islamic traditions tell a story about Abraham going to visit Ishmael and meet his wives. Despite being similar, the two stories are used for different purposes.

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

An Iron-Age fortress in the Golan

BIBLE HISTORY DAILY: Geshurite Fort Excavated. Iron Age Building belonged to the Geshurites, the people of Maachah, who, in the Biblical account, married King David and bore Absalom and Tamar (Jonathan Laden). The headline is more confident than the story. There is some circumstantial evidence that could associate the fortress with the Geshurites. That seems likely enough. But so far there is no inscription that says, "Welcome to the Fortress of the Geshurites."

(Story first brought to my attention by reader David Schottenfels.)

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

Leuchter (ed.), Scribes and Scribalism

NEW BOOK FROM BLOOMSBURY/T&T CLARK:

Scribes and Scribalism
Editor(s): Mark Leuchter

Published: 11-12-2020
Format: Hardback
Edition: 1st
Extent: 200
ISBN: 9780567659743
Imprint: T&T Clark
Series: The Hebrew Bible in Social Perspective
Illustrations: 1 B&W illus
Dimensions: 6 5/8" x 9 5/8"
List price: $115.00
Online price: $103.50
Save $11.50 (10%)

About Scribes and Scribalism

This volume is a concentrated examination of the varied roles of scribes and scribal practices in ancient Israel and Judah, shedding light on the social world of the Hebrew Bible. Divided into discussion of three key aspects, the book begins by assessing praxis and materiality, looking at the tools and materials used by scribes, where they came from and how they worked in specific contexts. The contributors then move to observe the power and status of scribal cultures, and how scribes functioned within their broader social world. Finally, the volume offers perspectives that examine ideological issues at play in both antiquity and the modern context(s) of biblical scholarship. Taken together, these essays demonstrate that no text is produced in a void, and no writer functions without a network of resources.

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

Schellenberg & Kruger, Sounding Sensory Profiles in The Ancient Near East

RECENT BOOK FROM SBL PRESS:

Sounding Sensory Profiles in The Ancient Near East
Annette Schellenberg (Editor), Thomas Kruger (Editor)

ISBN 9781628372410
Status Available
Price: $59.95
Binding Paperback
Publication Date July 2019

An interdisciplinary essay collection from an international group of experts

For several decades sociologists and cultural anthropologists have intensively researched the role of the senses in a variety of cultures, and their studies show how diverse cultures understand and evaluate the five or more senses differently. In this collection of eighteen essays, biblical and ancient Near Eastern scholars, as well as cultural anthropologists, apply the questions and methods from anthropological and sociological studies to Israel, Mesopotamia, and Egypt. Experts offer insights into the meaning of the senses in the ancient world, examining the classical senses (seeing, hearing, touching, smelling, tasting) as well as other senses (such as kinesthesis and the sense of balance) and sense-related issues (such as disgust, sensory imagination, and disabilities). This collection provides a stimulus and a basis for students and scholars to explore the senses in the ancient Near East.

Features

• Exploration of the relationship between sensory experience and reasoning
• Assessments of how theory and practice of the senses relate to each other
• Essays examining connections between emotions and senses

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

Mis-retro-diagnosing Adam's penis-bone?

THE BIBLE AND INTERPRETATION:

A Penis Bone in Genesis 2:21? Retrodiagnosis as a Methodological Problem in Scriptural Studies

Ziony Zevit is the Distinguished Professor in Bible and Northwest Semitic Languages in the Ziegler School of Rabbinic Studies at the American Jewish University. He has done widely respected work on the religion of ancient Israel. However, Zevit makes a claim that is difficult to accept or understand linguistically, exegetically, and medically. In so doing, he is engaging in “retrodiagnosis.” Typically, such approaches seek to diagnose a condition mentioned in the Bible in precise modern medical terms.

Zevit specifically asserts that the Hebrew word sela (צֵלָע) in Genesis 2:21 refers to a penis bone (os baculum), not a rib, in speaking of the creation of Eve. This essay will show that none of the arguments adduced by Zevit, including those drawn from Alan Dundes’ research on the practice known as couvade, will yield the results he asserts for Genesis 2:21.

By Hector Avalos
Professor of Religious Studies,
Iowa State University
November 2020

PaleoJudaica posts on Professor Zevit's hypothesis about Adam's penis-bone are here and here.

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

Studies in Mediterranean Antiquity and Classics

THE AWOL BLOG: Open Access Journal: Studies in Mediterranean antiquity and classics. Includes some articles on the Hebrew Bible and ancient Judaism.

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

Avioz, Legal Exegesis of Scripture in the Works of Josephus

NEW BOOK FROM BLOOMSBURY/T&T CLARK:

Legal Exegesis of Scripture in the Works of Josephus
By: Michael Avioz

Published: 11-12-2020
Format: Hardback
Edition: 1st
Extent: 192
ISBN: 9780567681157
Imprint: T&T Clark
Series: The Library of Second Temple Studies
Volume: 97
Dimensions: 6 1/8" x 9 1/4"
List price: $115.00
Online price: $103.50
Save $11.50 (10%)

About Legal Exegesis of Scripture in the Works of Josephus

Michael Avioz builds upon his earlier work on Josephus as an exegete, providing a comprehensive study of Josephus' contribution to the crystallization of the Halakha which focuses on the similarities (and dissimilarities) between his work and the tannaitic sources, as well as contemporary Second Temple sources.

Avioz begins by providing a clear definition of Halakha, and offering an explanation of methodology and sources. He then examines the structure and contents of the Pentateuch in Josephus' writing, before moving on to more specific coverage of the Decalogue in the work of Josephus and its relation to other laws in the Pentateuch. Further analysis is applied to the laws in the books of Leviticus-Deuteronomy and on laws that appear outside the Pentateuch. Throughout, Avioz makes close comparisons between biblical laws and Josephus' rewriting of them, in order to consider the reasons behind this rewriting and the origins of the texts that Josephus may have had access to in his exegetical work. Avioz is consequently able to draw clear conclusions about the interpretative traditions that Josephus had access to and worked within, and about how he used them in his writing.

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

How well does scroll reconstruction really work?

PLOS ONE: The length of a scroll: Quantitative evaluation of material reconstructions (Eshbal Ratzon , Nachum Dershowitz). Published: October 21, 2020https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0239831.

Abstract

Scholars have used mathematical models to estimate the missing length of deteriorated scrolls from ancient Egypt, Qumran, Herculaneum, and elsewhere. Based on such estimations, the content of ancient literature as well as the process of its composition is deduced. Though theoretically reasonable, many practical problems interfere with the method. In the current study, the empirical validity of these mathematical models is examined, showing that highly significant errors are quite frequent. When applied to comparatively intact scrolls, the largest contribution to errors is the subjectivity inherent in measuring patterns of damaged areas. In less well preserved scrolls, deterioration and deformation are more central causes of errors. Another factor is the quality of imaging. Hence, even after maximal reduction of interfering factors, one should only use these estimation methods in conjunction with other supporting considerations. Accordingly, past uses of this approach should be reevaluated, which may have substantial implications for the study of antiquity.

Stegemann's method of scroll reconstruction has been influential and widely used, notably for the Dead Sea Scrolls. If it is less reliable than we thought, that could indeed have substantial implications. Let's keep an eye on how this article is received.

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

Beyond the Canon?

ANCIENT JEW REVIEW: Manuscripts Beyond the Canon ( Garrick V. Allen).

In anticipation of the upcoming annual meeting of #sblaar20, Ancient Jew Review will host a series of articles from a panel organized by Janet Spittler and Lily Vuong, chairs of the Christian Apocrypha Section. For the next two weeks, we will publish essays from a session celebrating the work of Tobias Nicklas and the "Beyond Canon: Heterotopias of Religious Authority in Ancient Christianity” project of the Universität Regensburg.

From Dr. Allen's essay:

What I want to do in this discussion is more specific: to gesture toward the importance of manuscripts, even manuscripts that preserve “biblical” works, as vectors for researching beyond the canon. The manuscript evidence demonstrates that there is often no hard and fast bibliographic distinction between canonical and non-canonical material and that, in certain circumstances, it is the very presence of non-canonical material that defines the canonical as such. ...

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

Review of Stray et al., Liddell and Scott (history, methodology, languages)

BRYN MAYR CLASSICAL REVIEW: Liddell and Scott: the history, methodology, and languages of the world’s leading lexicon of Ancient Greek.

Christopher Stray, Michael Clarke, Joshua Timothy Katz, Liddell and Scott: the history, methodology, and languages of the world's leading lexicon of Ancient Greek. Oxford; New York: Oxford University Press, 2019. Pp. xviii, 453. ISBN 9780198810803 $115.00.

... Liddell and Scott, edited by Christopher Stray, a sociologist, Michael Clarke, a literary critic, and Joshua Katz, an expert in linguistics, aims to look at the LSJ as cultural and intellectual product—with Stray leading on the history of the book; Clarke, the methodology and literary implications; and Katz, the philology and linguistics. It is a book that is fascinating—full of detailed and intelligent appraisal and analysis—and frustrating, for the questions not broached and the avenues not pursued. ...

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

Sappho's German officer found?

VARIANT READINGS: Further Revelations from Sampson’s Article: The Sappho Papyrus and the German Officer (Brent Nongbri).

One seemingly intractable mystery that Sampson has (to my mind, anyway) solved involves one of the first provenance stories associated with the Sappho papyrus. Early on, it was claimed that the papyrus had originated in mummy cartonnage that had once been owned by “a high-ranking German officer.” This provenance story quickly evaporated and was never explained. A little background will help to illuminate Sampson’s discovery.

For more on C. Michael Sampson's recent article on the provenance of the Sappho Papyrus, see here. And follow the links from there for many past posts with background on and ramifications of the Sappho papyrus and, more broadly, the missing papyri scandal.

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

Choi, The Use and Function of Scripture in 1 Maccabees

NEW BOOK FROM BLOOMSBURY/T&T CLARK:

The Use and Function of Scripture in 1 Maccabees
By: Dongbin Choi

Published: 10-15-2020
Format: Hardback
Edition: 1st
Extent: 288
ISBN: 9780567695420
Imprint: T&T Clark
Series: The Library of Second Temple Studies
Volume: 98v Dimensions: 6 1/8" x 9 1/4"
List price: $120.00
Online price: $84.00
Save $36.00 (30%)

About The Use and Function of Scripture in 1 Maccabees

Dongbin Choi offers a philological and thematic analysis on the scriptural language in the book of 1 Maccabees, a text that is written with a linguistic technique that utilizes earlier Jewish texts in order to promote the religiopolitical agendas of its author. Choi engages in the dialogue between the traditional view that treats 1 Maccabees as a religious writing, and the radical view that considers it as political propaganda.

Choi suggests that the author of 1 Maccabees deploys scriptural language in such a nuanced way that he both promotes the legitimacy of the Hasmonean rule in Judea under John Hyrcanus I, and shows his appreciation of conservative Jewish sensitivity toward their traditions relating to Deuteronomic covenant, biblical judges, and Jewish messianism. By discussing past scholarly literature on the use and function of Scripture in 1 Maccabees, analyzing various literary, political, and cultural aspects that influenced the creation of the text, and finally exploring philological and conceptual parallels between Scripture and 1 Maccabees and the use of Scripture in the eulogies of the Hasmoneans, Choi has created a singular reinterpretation of both text and author.

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

More on Khirbet Kafr Murr

SALVAGE ARCHAEOLOGY: Beit El settlement expansion threatens to bury Jewish Second Temple heritage. As apartment towers rise in West Bank town, remains of Jewish village conquered by Romans fight the elements — and population boom — for a chance at preservation in planned park (Amanda Borschel-Dan, Times of Israel).

Despite the obvious investment taking place to document and preserve it, Khirbet Kafr Murr is not a classically “important” site: The archaeological surveys and excavations point to a small agricultural settlement spanning from the 8th century BCE to 749 CE. At its peak during the Jewish Revolt against the Romans, some 100 Jews would have taken a final stand here. Today, just one of the many towering apartment buildings encroaching upon the excavation site holds many more.

As with every salvage excavation, the question looms over how much will be done to preserve and present the findings for the public. And while concrete plans are discussed in the local regional council and COGAT to establish a modest archaeological park in the heart of the new neighborhood, other sections have already been documented, carefully covered, and are now buried under the cement foundations of the new apartment towers.

A long, informative article on an impressive off-the-main-road site.

I noted the discovery of Second Temple-era remains at Khirbet Kafr Murr (Khirbet Kafr Mer) back in 2006. For recent notice of that pottery found there in a cistern, see here.

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

Another cuneiform algorithm

TECHNOLOGY WATCH: Israeli Scientists Use AI to Reconstruct Broken Babylonian Tablets. Gaps in ancient text are so frustrating. Now artificial intelligence can be trained to plausibly restore missing cuneiform signs in ancient Babylonian texts, Israeli historian demonstrates (Ruth Schuster, Haaretz).

Understanding texts written using an unknown system in a tongue that’s been dead for thousands of years is quite the challenge. Reconstructing missing bits of the ancient text is even harder – though admittedly, if one gets it wrong, who’s to know?

Filling in missing text starts with being able to read and understand the original text. That requires much donkey work. Now an Israeli team led by Shai Gordin at Ariel University in the West Bank has reinvented the donkey in digital form, harnessing artificial intelligence to help complete fragmented Akkadian cuneiform tablets.

[...]

Ms. Schuster links to the underlying article in PNAS: Restoration of fragmentary Babylonian texts using recurrent neural networks (Ethan Fetaya, Yonatan Lifshitz, Elad Aaron, and Shai Gordin). The article is behind a subscription wall, but you can read the abstract.

The algorithm looks like a useful tool, but it still (for now!) requires a good bit of human intervention to operate. For other posts on algorithms being applied to cuneiform studies, archaeology, paleography, and epigraphy, see here and links, here, here, and here.

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

Leviticus on taboo tattoos

BIBLE HISTORY DAILY: What Does the Bible Say About Tattoos? Taboo tattoos (Megan Sauter). This BHD essay is based on a 2015 BAR article by Mark Chavalas which is behind the subscription wall. But it has some details that might interest you.

For many PaleoJudaica posts on tattoos involving ancient languages, start here and follow the links. Some are disasters, most are amusing.

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

Sonia, Caring for the Dead in Ancient Israel

NEW BOOK FROM SBL PRESS:

Caring for the Dead in Ancient Israel
Kerry M. Sonia

ISBN 9781628372854
Status Available
Price: $38.00
Binding Paperback
Publication Date November 2020

A new reconstruction of cultic practices surrounding death in ancient Israel

In Caring for the Dead in Ancient Israel, Kerry M. Sonia examines the commemoration and care for the dead in ancient Israel against the broader cultural backdrop of West Asia. This cult of dead kin, often referred to as ancestor cult, comprised a range of ritual practices in which the living provided food and drink offerings, constructed commemorative monuments, invoked the names of the dead, and protected their remains. This ritual care negotiated the ongoing relationships between the living and the dead and, in so doing, helped construct social, political, and religious landscapes in relationship to the past. Sonia explores the nature of this cult of dead kin in ancient Israel, focusing on its role within the family and household as well as its relationship to Israel’s national deity and the Jerusalem temple.

Features:

• A reevaluation of whether burial and necromantic rituals were part of the cult of dead kin
• A portrait of the various roles Israelite women played in the cult of dead kin
• A reassessment of biblical writers’ attitudes toward the cult of dead kin

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

Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks, 1948-2020

SAD NEWS: Lord Jonathan Sacks, former chief rabbi, dies aged 72 (BBC). I met Rabbi Lord Sacks several years ago when he gave a Templeton Lecture in St. Andrews.

May hs memory be for a blessing.

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

Schmidtkunz, Das Moselied des Deuteronomiums

NEW BOOK FROM MOHR SIEBECK: Petra Schmidtkunz. Das Moselied des Deuteronomiums Untersuchungen zu Text und Theologie von Dtn 32,1–43. [The Song of Moses in Deuteronomy. Studies on the Text and Theology of Deut 32:1–43.] 2020. XVIII, 451 pages. Forschungen zum Alten Testament 2. Reihe 124. 109,00 € including VAT. sewn paper ISBN 978-3-16-158293-6.

Published in German.
In her analysis of the »Song of Moses« (Deut. 32:1–43), Petra Schmidtkunz combines classical exegesis with an enquiry into the textual pragmatics of the composition. As a result, the Song can be characterised as a religious exhortation, addressing the community of YHWH's followers in Persian-period Yehud (fifth century BC).

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

Palmyre

THE FRENCH MINISTRY OF CULTURE has antiquities websites that have just come to my attention. Here is the one on Palmyra.

The oasis of Palmyra is in northwest Syria. The city stood at the meeting point of several routes across the desert steppe. It came to prominence in Roman times and was later closely associated with Queen Zenobia.

It has an excellent collection of photos and commentary on every aspect of the history and architecture of Palmyra. The link is to the English version of the website.

For many PaleoJudaica posts on Palmyra, its history, the ancient Aramaic dialect spoken there (Palmyrene), and the city's tragic reversals of fortune, which more recently seem to have been trending for the better, start here and follow the links.

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