Saturday, February 13, 2021

Judeo-Arabic travelers' checks?

PROF. RABBI PHIL LIEBERMAN: Suftaja and the Laws of Interest in a Post-Biblical Economy (TheTorah.com).
The Torah’s prohibition against loaning money with interest addresses a culture of subsistence farmers. Later Jews devised halakhic loopholes to enable them to make use of credit instruments such as the suftaja and to participate in market economies.

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More on the "Return to Palmyra" exhibition.

PALMYRA WATCH: ‘Return to Palmyra’ celebrates Syrian ancient city’s legacy. Dive into the remarkable history of the ancient city of Palmyra and explore its influential culture through the online exhibition in the 10th year of the Syrian War (İREM YAŞAR, Daily Sabah).

More on the Getty's Palmyra exibition is here. Follow the links from there (cf. here) for many 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.

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Adams et al. (eds.), Sirach and Its Contexts (Brill)

NEW BOOK FROM BRILL:
Sirach and Its Contexts

The Pursuit of Wisdom and Human Flourishing

Series: Supplements to the Journal for the Study of Judaism, Volume: 196

Volume Editors: Samuel Adams, Greg Goering, and Matthew J. Goff

In Sirach and Its Contexts an international cohort of experts on the book of Sirach locate this second-century BCE Jewish wisdom text in its various contexts: literary, historical, philosophical, textual, cultural, and political. First compiled by a Jewish sage around 185 BCE, this instruction enjoyed a vibrant ongoing reception history through the middle ages up to the present, resulting in a multiform textual tradition as it has been written, rewritten, transmitted, and studied. Sirach was not composed as a book in the modern sense but rather as an ongoing stream of tradition. Heretofore studied largely in confessional settings as part of the Deuterocanonical literature, this volume brings together essays that take a broadly humanistic approach, in order to understand what an ancient wisdom text can teach us about the pursuit of wisdom and human flourishing.

Prices from (excl. VAT): €110.00 / $132.00

E-Book (PDF)
Availability: Published
ISBN: 978-90-04-44733-2
Publication Date: 25 Jan 2021

Hardback
Availability: Not Yet Published
ISBN: 978-90-04-44732-5
Publication Date: 25 Mar 2021

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Dell, The Solomonic Corpus of 'Wisdom' and Its Influence (OUP)

NEW BOOK FROM OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS:
The Solomonic Corpus of 'Wisdom' and Its Influence

Katharine J. Dell

  • A bringing together of the work of a leading expert on wisdom literature, Katharine Dell, with old and new material.
  • A fresh synthesis of material relating to definitions of 'wisdom', the canonical corpus of such books redefined, the historical, literary and contextual aspects of Solomon's reign, wisdom influence on psalms and prophets, and the method of intertextuality and its application to texts linking to the Solomonic corpus.
  • Includes three new chapters that have not been published before

Description

Solomon is the figurehead who holds the family of 'wisdom' texts together. In this study, Katharine Dell argues that a core of Proverbs and Ecclesiastes forms the inner sanctum of the 'Solomonic wisdom corpus', with the Song of Songs as a close relative, but Job at one remove. Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and the Song contain attributions to Solomon and demonstrate key 'wisdom' connections. Solomon is also portrayed as an idealized character in the narratives about him in 2 Sam. 24-1 Kings 11.

He is the embodiment of wisdom, thus linking both the narrative portrayal and canonical memory of his significance. His connections with Egypt and Sheba shed light on how Solomon gained his reputation for wisdom, as do the roles in his court for scribes, sages, and seers. Formative wisdom themes, notably that of God as creator, characterize the book of Proverbs and also influenced certain 'wisdom psalms' and the prophets Isaiah and Jeremiah, texts which share links to wisdom ideas and contexts. For these prophets criticism of 'the wise' is a key concern. Dell introduces an intertextual method to open up fresh possibilities of ranging together different texts alongside the Solomonic corpus, without the constraints of probing literary or historical linkages: Ruth is considered with Proverbs, Genesis 1-11 with Ecclesiastes and the wider theme of gardens and water in the Hebrew Bible with the Song of Songs. While Solomon probably had very little to do with such readerly text-play, Dell's argument in The Solomonic Corpus of 'Wisdom' and Its Influence is that he is the lynch-pin that holds 'wisdom' in its core texts and wider family together.

£70.00

Hardback
Published: 03 September 2020
272 Pages
234x153mm
ISBN: 9780198861560

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Friday, February 12, 2021

Allen et al. (eds.), Passion, Persecution, and Epiphany in Early Jewish Literature (Routledge)

NEW BOOK FROM ROUTLEDGE:
Passion, Persecution, and Epiphany in Early Jewish Literature

Edited By Nicholas Peter Legh Allen, Pierre J. Jordaan, József Zsengellér
Copyright Year 2020

Hardback
£120.00

eBook
£33.29

ISBN 9780367369828
Published April 27, 2020 by Routledge
292 Pages 3 B/W Illustrations

Book Description

This volume examines Jewish literature produced from c. 700 B.C.E. to c. 200 C.E. from a socio-theological perspective. In this context, it offers a scholarly attempt to understand how the ancient Jewish psyche dealt with times of extreme turmoil and how Jewish theology altered to meet the challenges experienced.

The volume explores various early Jewish literature, including both the canonical and apocryphal scripture. Here, reference is often made to a divine epiphany (a moment of unexpected and prodigious revelation or insight) as a response to abuse, suffering and passion. Many of the chapters deal with these issues in relation to the Antiochan crisis of 169 to 164 B.C.E. in Judea, one of the more notable periods of oppression. This watershed event appears to have served as a catalyst for the new apocalyptic texts which were produced up until c. 200 C.E, and which reflect a new theological dynamic in Judaism – one that informed subsequent Christianity and Rabbinic Judaism.

Passion, Persecution and Epiphany in Early Jewish Literature will be of interest to anyone working on the Bible (both Masoretic and LXX) and early Jewish literature, as well as students of Jewish history and the Levant in the classical period.

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The Septuagint: "Let the Wrong One In?"

THE ANXIOUS BENCH: To Trap Him in His Words (Philip Jenkins). The Gospel of Matthew used the LXX of Psalm 91 to demonize the Pharisees. Plus, when is an asp an asp?

For more on the history of the interpretation of Psalm 91, see here. And I have just turned in my review of Gerrit C. Vreugdenhil, Psalm 91 and Demonic Menace (Brill, 2020). You will be able to read it in this year's SOTS Book List.

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Reports: road works damage Mount Ebal altar complex

LEEN RITMEYER: The destruction of the site of Joshua’s altar on Mount Ebal. There have been reports, with video, of damage to the site in recent news. And today there is this update: In Clandestine Operation Samaria Settlers Rebuild Joshua’s Altar Destroyed by Palestinian Authority (David Israel, The Jewish Press). To be clear, the altar was not damaged. The reports say that there was damage to the wall of the complex.

I have seen the video, but I am not qualified to evaluate it. I have not seen comments on the situation from the Israel Antiquties Authority. The area is not under their jurisdiction, but I image they would be interested.

PaleoJudaica posts involving the Iron Age I altar on Mount Ebal (which may or may not have anything to do with Joshua) are here, here, and here.

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Satlow on Ben Sira and wine

VIDEO: Ben Sira and Wine (Michael Satlow). Note also the announcement of his recent commentary on Ben Sira in the Jewish Annotated Apocrypha.

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Thursday, February 11, 2021

Review of Westerfeld, Egyptian Hieroglyphs in the Late Antique Imagination

ANCIENT JEW REVIEW: Book Note | Egyptian Hieroglyphs in the Late Antique Imagination (Chance E. Bonar).
Jennifer Taylor Westerfeld, Egyptian Hieroglyphs in the Late Antique Imagination. Philadephia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2019.
The focus of the book is Christian writers, but it also interacts with Greek, Roman, Hermetic, and Neo-Platonic writers. There is a chapter on the Coptic monastic leader Shenoute.

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Sarkhosh & Magub, Rivalling Rome: Parthian coins and culture (Spink)

BIBLIOGRAPHIA IRANICA: Parthian Coins and Culture. Notice of a New Book: Curtis, Vesta Sarkhosh & Alexandra Magub. 2020. Rivalling Rome: Parthian coins and culture. London: Spink Books.

Cross-file under Numismatics. Some PaleoJudaica posts on Parthia, the Parthian Empire, and Parthian coins, are here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, and here.

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James Aitken lectures on the LXX

THE ETC BLOG: Grinfield Lectures on the Septuagint (Peter Head).
The famous and learned James K. Aitken, Reader in Hebrew and Early Jewish Studies in the University of Cambridge, is presenting this year's Grinfield Lectures on the Septuagint and the History of the Book (in the University of Oxford) ...
Yes, I know I just posted on this. But I didn't want you to get distracted with International LXX Day and not notice this excellent lecture series. It's free on Zoom, starting 15 February. There is lots more information in the immediately preceding post below.

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Happy belated International LXX Day!

WILLIAM ROSS: INTERNATIONAL LXX DAY 2021: THE UPCOMING GRINFIELD LECTURES. In case you are wondering, since this post does not seem to say, International Septuagint Day is 8 February. Previous PaleoJudaica posts on the day are here and links, here, here, and here.

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Wednesday, February 10, 2021

Antoninus Pius coin found during IDF training exercise

NUMISMATICS: Rare 1800-Year-Old Roman coin found on southern Carmel. The coin bears the head of the Roman emperor Antoninus Pius. Very few coins of this kind from recorded contexts have been found in Israel.

This IAA press release (via the Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs) give an informative factual account of this important discovery. Other articles, such as this one by Naama Barak in Israel21c, tell a more personal story involving the Israeli soldier who found the coin and turned it in: Soldier stumbles on rare coin from two millennia ago. The coin probably disappeared from its owner who was traveling on the road, waiting nearly 2,000 years to be picked up again.

Archaeologists excavated a gold Antoninus Pius coin at "Bethsaida" (et-Tell/e-Tell) back in 2010. See here and here.

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Still more Shanks memorials

NEW OBITUARIES FOR HERSHEL SHANKS:

Hershel Shanks served biblical archaeology with joy (Suzanne Singer, Times of Israel Blogs)

Dead Sea Scrolls liberator Hershel Shanks passes away at 90. (Abigail Adler, Jerusalem Post)

Background here and links.

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Khaled al-Asaad's body recovered?

PALMYRA WATCH: Syria 'finds body of archaeologist Khaled al-Asaad beheaded by IS' (BBC).
State media reported that his body was thought to be among three discovered in Kahloul, east of Palmyra.

DNA tests will be carried out to confirm their identities.

I hope that they have found his body, so that his remains can be laid to rest.

Background here and links. Many other past posts on Palmyra, its history, the ancient Aramaic dialect spoken there (Palmyrene), and the city's tragic reversals of fortune, now trending for the better, are here and links (cf. here).

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

On the Iraqi Jewish Archives

IRAQI JEWISH ARCHIVES WATCH: The Iraqi Jewish Archives. Lost and Found…and LOST? 52 years ago, 9 Jews were hanged in Baghdad. Today, their descendants risk losing everything they left behind (Carole Basri and Adriana Davis, Jewish Ledger). Before this article I had heard nothing about the Iraqi Jewish Archives for a couple of years. The article notes that "Carole Basri is the daughter of Iraqi Jewish refugees." She and filmmaker Adriana Davis give some background on Ms. Basri's family in Iraq and discuss the current situation concerning the archive as they understand it. The article reports that they have made a film about the Archives

To recap the story of the Iraqi Jewish Archive(s): a lot of Jewish documents in Hebrew and Arabic were found rotting in the flooded basement of the Iraqi Intelligence headquarters during the Iraq war in 2003. In a few weeks these were frozen to preserve them and they were later shipped to the United States for conservation. Meanwhile, Iraq was asking for them back. They have been conserved for some years and have traveled in an exhibition. There have been negotiations with Iraq about their return. The return deadlines have repeatedly been extended. Some, including some Iraqi Jewish refugees and their descendants, oppose the return to Iraq. There was a rumor of a three-year extension to the most recent return agreement, which would put the current informal return date in September of 2021.

Background here, with links going back to the discovery of the archive in 2003.

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Tuesday, February 09, 2021

Soldier's payslip from the siege of Masada

LATIN EPIGRAPHY: Ancient soldier's payslip, found during excavation of 1,900-year-old Roman Empire camp in Israel, reveals the infantryman was left BROKE after military deducted his uniform and food (Stacy Liberatore, Daily Mail).
It reads: ‘The fourth consulate of Imperator Vespasianus Augustus.’ ‘Accounts, salary. Gaius Messius, son of Gaius, of the tribe Fabia, from Beirut.’ ‘I received my stipendium of 50 denarii, out of which I have paid barley money 16 denarii. […]rnius: food expenses 20(?) denarii; boots 5 denarii; leather strappings 2 denarii; linen tunic 7 denarii.’ And the total of deductions is 50 denarri – Messius’ entire pay check.
Fun extra fact. Gaius Messius was from Beirut. He was a Phoenician in the Roman army. You can read the Latin text of the payslip here.

James Clark wrote an ironically appreciative article on this papyrus in the military magazine Task & Purpose in March of 2019, based on a tweet by Dr. Jo Ball. No one, including me, noticed it at the time. But it was republished yesterday and now the Mail has taken it up.

UPDATE (10 Feb): Richard Bauckham e-mails: "If he belonged to the gens Fabia, surely he must be Roman, not Phoenician."

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More Shanks memorials

NEW OBITUARIES FOR HERSHEL SHANKS:

Hershel Shanks, who made biblical archaeology widely available, dies. (Yonat Shimron, Religion News Service).

Died: Hershel Shanks, Editor Who Saved Biblical Archaeology from Academics (DANIEL SILLIMAN, Christianity Today)

Background here and here.

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Happy international Greek Language Day!

TIME TO PARTY: February 9, Celebrating International Greek Language Day (Greek City Times).
February 9 has officially been declared as International Greek Language Day and is a day for Greeks and non-Greeks to celebrate the important role the Greek language has played in world culture.
I didn't know that this was a thing. But since it is, let's celebrate.

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Reynolds, John among the Apocalypses (OUP)

NEW BOOK FROM OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS:
John among the Apocalypses

Jewish Apocalyptic Tradition and the 'Apocalyptic' Gospel

Benjamin E. Reynolds

  • Draws on modern genre theory to compare the Gospel of John and Jewish apocalypses
  • Explains the importance of revelation in John and John's portrayal of Jesus as a figure descending from heaven
  • Explores reception history, including Byzantine iconography, to consider historical explanations for the apocalyptic shaping of the Gospel
Description

The Gospel of John has long been recognized as being distinct from the Synoptic Gospels. John among the Apocalypses explains John's distinctive narrative of Jesus's life by comparing it to Jewish apocalypses and highlighting the central place of revelation in the Gospel. While some scholars have noted a connection between the Gospel of John and Jewish apocalypses, Reynolds makes the first extensive comparison of the Gospel with the standard definition of the apocalypse genre. Engaging with modern genre theory, this comparison indicates surprising similarities of form, content, and function between John's Gospel and Jewish apocalypses.

Even though the Gospel of John reflects similarities with the genre of apocalypse, John is not an apocalypse, but in genre theory terms, John may be described as a gospel in kind and an apocalypse in mode. John's narrative of Jesus's life has been qualified and shaped by the genre of apocalypse, such that it may be called an 'apocalyptic' gospel. In the final two chapters, Reynolds explores the implications of this conclusion for Johannine Studies and New Testament scholarship more broadly. John among the Apocalypses considers how viewing the Fourth Gospel as apocalyptic Gospel aids in the interpretation of John's appeal to Israel's Scriptures and Mosaic authority, and examines the Gospel's relationship with the book of Revelation and the history of reception concerning their writing. An examination of Byzantine iconographic traditions highlights how reception history may offer a possible explanation for reading John as apocalyptic Gospel.

£65.00

Hardback
Published: 22 October 2020
272 Pages
234x156mm
ISBN: 9780198784241

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Monday, February 08, 2021

The Sasanian Empire

THE ANCIENT NEAR EAST TODAY: The Last Empire of Iran (Michael R.J. Bonner).
The third and last pre-Islamic Iranian empire was ruled by the Sasanian dynasty from the 220s to 651 CE.
For more on the Sasanian (Sassanian) Empire and why it is of interest to PaleoJudaica, see the links collected here (cf. here)

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Dershowitz, The Dismembered Bible (Mohr Siebeck)

NEW BOOK FROM MOHR SIEBECK: Idan Dershowitz. The Dismembered Bible. Cutting and Pasting Scripture in Antiquity. Forschungen zum Alten Testament 143. 99,00 € including VAT. cloth ISBN 978-3-16-159860-9.
Published in English.
It is often presumed that biblical redaction was invariably done using conventional scribal methods, meaning that when editors sought to modify or compile existing texts, they would do so in the process of rewriting them upon new scrolls. There is, however, substantial evidence pointing to an alternative scenario: Various sections of the Hebrew Bible appear to have been created through a process of material redaction. In some cases, ancient editors simply appended new sheets to existing scrolls. Other times, they literally cut and pasted their sources, carving out patches of text from multiple manuscripts and then gluing them together like a collage. Idan Dershowitz shows how this surprising technique left behind telltale traces in the biblical text – especially when the editors made mistakes – allowing us to reconstruct their modus operandi. Material evidence from the ancient Near East and elsewhere further supports his hypothesis.

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Memorials to Hershel Shanks

BIBLE HISTORY DAILY is (re)publishing numerous memorials to the late Hershel Shanks. They are by Christopher Rollston, Eric and Carol Meyers, Eric H. Cline, Amy-Jill Levine, André Lemaire, Alan Millard, and William G. Dever. The links have all been added to the BHS link from yesterday. Here it is again. It also includes a link to the full open-access Shanks Festschrift.

In Memory of Hershel Shanks (Bas Staff).

Background here.

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New Perspectives on Aramaic Epigraphy ... (Mohr Siebeck)

NEW BOOK FROM MOHR SIEBECK: New Perspectives on Aramaic Epigraphy in Mesopotamia, Qumran, Egypt and Idumea. Proceedings of the Joint RIAB Minerva Center and the Jeselsohn Epigraphic Center of Jewish History Conference. Research on Israel and Aram in Biblical Times II. Edited by Aren M. Maeir, Angelika Berlejung, Esther Eshel, and Takayoshi M. Oshima. Orientalische Religionen in der Antike 40. 124,00 € including VAT. cloth ISBN 978-3-16-159894-4.
Published in English.
This volume contains the proceedings of two international meetings held by the Minerva Center for the Relations between Israel and Aram in Biblical Times (RIAB) in Ramat-Gan/Jerusalem (March 2017) and Leipzig (May 2018). Most of the papers relate to various aspects of the Aramaic epigraphy in different contexts with a second part of the volume dealing with Idumean ostraca. The papers will be of interest to ancient historians, archaeologists of the ancient Near East, scholars of Semitic and Biblical studies and the ancient Near East.

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Sunday, February 07, 2021

Hershel Shanks, 1930-2021

THE SAD NEWS is coming in from various sources that Hershel Shanks, founding editor of Biblical Archaeology Review and founder of the Biblical Archaeological Society, passed away on 5 February at the age of 90.

H-Judaic: Passing of Hershel Shanks.

H-Judaic is deeply saddened to learn of the passing of Hershel Shanks (1930-2021), founder and longtime editor of Biblical Archeology Review and once described in The New York TImes as "probably the world's most influential amateur Biblical archaeologist." ...
Bible History Daily: In Memory of Hershel Shanks. Honoring the Founder, Longtime Editor, and Editor Emeritus of Biblical Archaeology Review.

Some PaleoJudaica posts on Hershel and his work are here, here, here, here, and here. You can find links to many of his essays in the archives. And the latest, from last week, on developments regarding the BAR editorship is here and here

May his memory be for a blessing.

UPDATE: Bad link now fixed.

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Israeli, Massekhet Qiddushin Chapter 4 (Mohr Siebeck)

NEW BOOK FROM MOHR SIEBECK: Anat Israeli. Massekhet Qiddushin Chapter 4. Volume III/7/d. Text, Translation, and Commentary. In collaboration with Esther Fisher and Inbar Raveh. 2021. X, 304 pages. 114,00 € including VAT. cloth ISBN 978-3-16-159896-8.
Published in English.
Anat Israeli presents the first feminist commentary in the series on a chapter from the »Order of Women.« She discusses the last chapter of Tractate Qiddushin, devoted to »betrothals.« Chapter 4 deals in general with two major topics: the first is Jewish genealogies (what parts the mother and father play in deciding who is a Jew and who can marry whom). The second topic is about forbidden seclusions between members of the opposite sex (since they can bring about promiscuity, adultery and other unwanted sexual contacts). In this study, Anat Israeli and her collaborators first analyze the Mishnah and show what its authors had considered important about these two topics, and then they show how the emphases had shifted on the way between the land of the Mishnah (Israel) and the land of the Talmud (Babylonia).

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DiPalma, Masculinities in the Court Tales of Daniel (Routledge)

RECENT BOOK FROM ROUTLEDGE:
Masculinities in the Court Tales of Daniel
Advancing Gender Studies in the Hebrew Bible

By Brian Charles DiPalma
Copyright Year 2018

Paperback
£36.99
Hardback
£125.00
eBook
£33.29

ISBN 9780367592660
Published August 14, 2020 by Routledge
172 Pages

Book Description
In this volume, Brian Charles DiPalma examines masculinities in the court tales of Daniel as a test case for issues facing the burgeoning area of gender studies in the Hebrew Bible. In doing so, it both analyses how the court tales of Daniel portray the characters in terms of configurations of masculinity in their socio-historical context, and also seeks to advance gender studies in the Hebrew Bible on theoretical, methodological, and political grounds.

Masculinities in the Court Tales of Daniel is therefore of interest not only to scholars working on Daniel, but also biblical scholars studying gender in the Hebrew Bible more broadly, including those engaged in feminist criticism, queer criticism, and studies of masculinity, as well as anyone studying gender within an ancient Near Eastern context.

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