Pages

Saturday, June 05, 2021

The Ark of the Covenant as Egyptian ritual furniture?

BIBLE HISTORY DAILY: The Ark of the Covenant in its Egyptian Context ( David A. Falk ). I noted the publication of Dr. Falk's book with the same title here.

For many, many PaleoJudaica posts on the the Ark of the Covenant in the Bible and tradition and in light of archaeology, start here and follow the links. And don't miss the results of the Winter 2020 BAR caption contest here.

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

The salads Goliath's ancestors ate

CUNLIARY ARCHAEOLOGY: What kind of salads did the Canaanites eat? The researchers analyzed more than 3,500 plant finds and identified emmer, lentils, pistachio, grass peas, figs, olives, flax, barley and grapes, among others (Rossella Tercatin, Jerusalem Post).
The botanical finds, mostly charred seeds and other plant remains, allowed the researchers to understand not only what kind of food the ancient Canaanites ate, but also how they warmed up their houses, where their fields were located, the seasons of the crops, how work was split between agriculture and herding, and how Gath related to the contemporary commercial routes.
The JP article refers to an underlying article in the Journal of Archaeological Science, but that paper does not yet appear on the journal's website.

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

Another review of Stanley, A Rooster for Asklepios

THE BIBLE PLACES BLOG: Recommended: A Rooster for Asklepios. Todd Bolen reviews the book.
As a scholar whose expertise is in the social and religious history of the Greco-Roman world, Professor Stanley knows well the background of the New Testament world. My common sentiment as I read was gratitude—gratitude for the author’s careful research and his ability to weave a fascinating story. Sometimes his descriptions confirmed what I knew, but he usually delved much more deeply than I ever have, and I thoroughly enjoyed soaking it in.
I noted another review by Phil Long at Reading Acts.

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

Punic tomb found in Zabbar, Malta

PUNIC WATCH: Punic tomb discovered during water works in Zabbar (Malta Independent). There seems to be lots of Punic and Phoenician archaeology yet to be done in Malta.

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

Friday, June 04, 2021

Fake and real news about the Shapira scroll affair

SOME NINETEENTH CENTURY FAKE NEWS is debunked by Michael Press in a Twitter thread. Shapira didn't ask for £1,000,000.

HT Rogue Classicism.

Now here's some real Shapira news from Daniel Stoekl, circulated in various places:

A scholarly webinar on Idan Dershowitz' recent reassessment of the Shapira documents

Please register here: https://tinyurl.com/bfdjjn9a

June 10, 2021
3-8 pm CEST // 9 am - 2 pm EDT
---------------------------
3 pm CEST

Daniel Stökl Ben Ezra (EPHE, PSL), Introduction - 10'
Idan Dershowitz (U Potsdam) and Naama Pat-El (UT Austin), New
Observations and Reactions on the Valediction of Moses - 30'
Rebecca Jefferson (U Florida), Moses Shapira’s Manuscript Sales - 10'
Benjamin Sass (Tel Aviv U), A Note on the Palaeography - 10'
Matthieu Richelle (UCLouvain), Paleography- 10'

Pause 30 min

4:40 pm CEST Robert Holmstedt (U Toronto), Linguistics - 15'
Daniel Stökl Ben Ezra (EPHE, PSL), Dead Sea Scrolls - 10'
Konrad Schmid (U Zurich), Is V a Literary Precursor to Deuteronomy? - 15'
Jeffrey Stackert (U Chicago), Hebrew Bible - 10'

Pause 30 min

From 6 pm CEST: General Discussion

Please register here https://tinyurl.com/bfdjjn9a in order to receive the webinar link.

I have some conflicting meetings on that day, but I shall be able to attend part of it.

For background on the Shapira affair and recent reassessments arguing that his scroll was a genuine ancient artifact, see here, here, here and links.

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

Review of Schmalzgruber, Speaking animals in ancient literature

BRYN MAYR CLASSICAL REVIEW: Speaking animals in ancient literature.
Hedwig Schmalzgruber, Speaking animals in ancient literature. Kalliope - Studien zur griechischen und lateinischen Poesie, 20. Heidelberg: Universitätsverlag Winter, 2020. Pp. 619. ISBN 9783825346904 €78,00.

Review by
Diego De Brasi, Universität Trier. debrasi@uni-trier.de

As you would expect, the serpent in the Garden and Balaam's donkey receive attention. So do Philo of Alexandria and the Acts of Thomas.

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

Interview with BAR's new editor

BIBLE HISTORY DAILY: 5 Questions: Meet BAR’s New Editor. Glenn J. Corbett became Editor of Biblical Archaeology Review in March, 2021.
Glenn J. Corbett, the new Editor of Biblical Archaeology Review, answers 5 Questions about his training and experience that led him to fill this new role at the Biblical Archaeology Society. From South Carolina to Petra, it’s been an exciting journey!

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

BAR Caption Contest

BIBLE HISTORY DAILY: Summer 2021 Caption Contest. Biblical Archaeology Review Summer 2021 Contest. "No John, it's carobs!"

For posts on the diet of John the Baptist, see here and links.

For more on and from the current issue of Biblical Archaeology Review, see here and links.

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

Thursday, June 03, 2021

Hobby Lobby sues Dirk Obbink

LITIGATION: Hobby Lobby Sues Oxford Professor Over Stolen Bible Artifacts. Facing separate criminal charges over the theft of ancient Egyptian papyrus, professor Dirk Obbink has called allegations against him “entirely false” (NINA PULLANO, Courthouse News Service).
BROOKLYN (CN) — Craft chain Hobby Lobby is going to court again, this time to recover some $7 million it paid a former Oxford University classics professor for ancient fragments of the Christian gospels and other artifacts that turned out to be stolen.

[...]

The full text of the federal complaint is here. The article posts, summarizes, and discusses it.

Over at Evangelical Textual Criticism, Peter Gurry links to the article and complaint and has a briefer summary and discussion: Hobby Lobby Sues Obbink for $7m.

For PaleoJudaica posts on the Oxford missing-papyri scandal and its alleged connections with Dirk Obbink and Hobby Lobby, see here and here and links. For the various other problems with the provenance and authenticity of artifacts associated with the Museum of the Bible and the Green Collection, see here and here and follow the many links.

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

20 bizarre stories from A Most Peculiar Book

THAT'S IN THE BIBLE? 20 of the most bizarre stories from the bible (Owen Jarus, Live Science).
From a talking donkey to a man being eaten by a giant fish, the Bible has no shortage of strange stories. In her new book "A Most Peculiar Book: The Inherent Strangeness of the Bible" (Oxford University Press, 2021), Kristin Swenson, an associate professor of religious studies at Virginia Commonwealth University, delves into these stories and many others. Here's a look at 20 of the more bizarre biblical stories that Swenson discusses in the book.
This is a good list. The examples could, of course, be multiplied. And it leaves out some of the most disturbing stories. Perhaps that is good thing.

For more on Prof. Swenson's new book, see here.

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

Moses' Kushite wife

PROF. SIDNIE WHITE CRAWFORD: Moses’ Black-Skinned Wife: What Does the Torah Think of Her? (TheTorah.com).
Miriam and Aaron speak negatively about Moses for marrying a Kushite woman. Does their issue have to do with her skin color? Miriam’s punishment may hold the key.
For more on Cushites (Kushites) in the Bible, see here and here.

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

Pirke Avot in the news

MISHNAH WATCH: White House science adviser to be sworn in on a 500-year-old Jewish text. The minute we realized the question was values, we all went to tikkun olam,’ said Eric Lander, incoming director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (Jack Jenkins, Religion News Service).
His family picked up on a similar sentiment. “The minute we realized the question was values, we all went to tikkun olam,” Lander said, explaining that tikkun olam has particular resonance in his family: “What is our purpose here? Our purpose is to repair the world, to help others in need of help, to take in strangers, to have empathy.”

That realization, in turn, reminded Lander of an expression found in the Mishnah, the earliest collections of rabbinic interpretations of oral Jewish law: “It’s not required that you complete the work, but neither may you refrain from it.”

In scouring the Library of Congress catalog for a copy of Mishnah, however, Lander stumbled upon something a bit more specific: a 13-page volume containing the Pirkei Avot, a subset of the Mishnah that focuses on ethics and contains the expression.

Lander couldn’t help but notice the publication date: 1492, an era when Jewish populations were expelled from the Kingdom of Spain. ...

Dr. Lander was sworn in by the Vice President yesterday.

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

Wednesday, June 02, 2021

DSS "paperbacks?"

ALGORITHM WATCH: Dead Sea Scrolls: 2,000 years ago Jews used biblical ‘paperbacks.’ (Rossella Tercatin, Jerusalem Post).
Some 2,000 years ago, Jews used formal beautifully written biblical manuscripts for public reading, but also informal and sloppily written biblical texts for personal use, new research on the Dead Sea Scrolls has shown.

In addition, some of the scrolls might be more ancient than previously thought, suggesting that the current canonical form of the Book of Psalms might date earlier than previously believed.

[...]

For more on "The Hands that Wrote the Bible Project," see here, here, here, here, and here.

The Jerusalem Post article interviews Dr. Drew Longacre, whose Old Testament Textual Criticism blog I link to from time to time. He comments on the article here.

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

Litwa, How the Gospels Became History (Yale)

RECENT BOOK FROM YALE UNIVERSITY PRESS:
How the Gospels Became History
Jesus and Mediterranean Myths

M. David Litwa

A compelling comparison of the gospels and Greco-Roman mythology which shows that the gospels were not perceived as myths, but as historical records

Did the early Christians believe their myths? Like most ancient—and modern—people, early Christians made efforts to present their myths in the most believable ways.

In this eye-opening work, M. David Litwa explores how and why what later became the four canonical gospels take on a historical cast that remains vitally important for many Christians today. Offering an in-depth comparison with other Greco-Roman stories that have been shaped to seem like history, Litwa shows how the evangelists responded to the pressures of Greco-Roman literary culture by using well-known historiographical tropes such as the mention of famous rulers and kings, geographical notices, the introduction of eyewitnesses, vivid presentation, alternative reports, and so on. In this way, the evangelists deliberately shaped myths about Jesus into historical discourse to maximize their believability for ancient audiences.

Format: Hardcover
Price: $65.00

ISBN: 9780300242638
Publication Date: August 6, 2019
312 pages, 6 1/8 x 9 1/4

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

Spatial arrangements in ancient Galilee

ANCIENT JEW REVIEW: Dissertation Spotlight | Religious Identity and Spatiality in Hasmonean and Herodian Galilee (Joseph Scales).
Joseph Scales, “Religious Identity and Spatiality in Hasmonean and Herodian Galilee” (Ph.D. Dissertation, The University of Birmingham, 2021).

During the 2nd century BCE, the Hasmonean kingdom began to expand beyond the confines of ancient Judea. The region known as “Galilee” appears to have been incorporated into the kingdom around 100 BCE. My dissertation argues that this incorporation generated various spatial arrangements in the region that enabled Jewish expression.

[...]

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

Biblical Studies Carnival 183

THE LIBRARY MUSINGS: Biblical Studies Carnival # 183 (Bobby Howell).

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

Tuesday, June 01, 2021

More non-invasive archaeology

TECHNOLOGY WATCH: A non-invasive procedure allows obtaining archaeological information without excavating (Universitat Pompeu Fabra - Barcelona press release, Phys.org).
An international archaeological study, led by researchers from the Culture and Socio-Ecological Dynamics (CaSEs) research group at Pompeu Fabra University, has advanced in the understanding and preservation of archaeological sites and in improving their analysis and surveying, thanks to the application of pXRF (portable X-ray fluorescence analysis) to anthropogenic sediments in Africa. It is a rapid, inexpensive, non-invasive procedure, which enables generating an additional archaeological record from the anthropogenic deposit by analyzing chemical elements, combined with geostatistics.

[...]

I keep saying it: non-invasive and non-destructive technologies are the future of archaeology. Also see here.

HT Archaeologica News (28 May) and Joseph I. Lauer. Joe also notes:

The underlying journal article, “Identifying anthropogenic features at Seoke (Botswana) using pXRF: Expanding the record of southern African Stone Walled Sites,” was published in PLoS ONE on May 12, 2021, and may be read at https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0250776
https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0250776

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

Berlin & Kosmin (eds.), The Middle Maccabees (SBL)

NEW BOOK FROM SBL PRESS:
The Middle Maccabees: Archaeology, History, and the Rise of the Hasmonean Kingdom

Andrea M. Berlin, Paul J. Kosmin, editors

ISBN 9781628373059
Volume ABS 28
Status Available
Publication DateMarch 2021

Paperback
$73.00

eBook
$73.00

Hardback $93.00

A focused, interdisciplinary examination of a tumultuous, history-making era

The Middle Maccabees lays out the charged, complicated beginnings of the independent Jewish state founded in the second century BCE. Contributors offer focused analyses of the archaeological, epigraphic, numismatic, and textual evidence, framed within a wider world of conflicts between the Ptolemies of Egypt, the Seleucids of Syria, and the Romans. The result is a holistic view of the Hasmonean rise to power that acknowledges broader political developments, evolving social responses, and the particularities of local history. Contributors include Uzi ‘Ad, Donald T. Ariel, Andrea M. Berlin, Efrat Bocher, Altay Coşkun, Benedikt Eckhardt, Gerald Finkielsztejn, Christelle Fischer-Bovet, Yuval Gadot, Erich Gruen, Sylvie Honigman, Jutta Jokiranta, Paul J. Kosmin, Uzi Leibner, Catharine Lorber, Duncan E. MacRae, Dvir Raviv, Helena Roth, Débora Sandhaus, Yiftah Shalev, Nitsan Shalom, Danny Syon, Yehiel Zelinger, and Ayala Zilberstein.

Features

  • Up-to-date, generously illustrated essays analyzing the relevant archaeological remains
  • A revised understanding of how local and imperial histories overlapped and intersected
  • New analysis of the book of 1 Maccabees as a tool of Hasmonean strategic interest

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

Berlejung, Divine Secrets and Human Imaginations (Mohr Siebeck)

NEW BOOK FRO MOHR SIEBECK: Angelika Berlejung. Divine Secrets and Human Imaginations. Studies on the History of Religion and Anthropology of the Ancient Near East and the Old Testament. 2021. XVI, 678 pages. Orientalische Religionen in der Antike 42. 169,00 € including VAT. eBook PDF ISBN 978-3-16-160098-2 DOI 10.1628/978-3-16-160098-2.
Published in English.
The articles in this volume of collected essays, written over the last two decades and all revised, updated, and supplemented with unpublished material, are grouped around two themes: Divine Secrets and Human Imaginations. The first essays deal with the production, initiation, use and function, the abduction, repatriation, and the replacement of divine images, their outer appearance, and the many facets of the divine presence theology in Ancient Mesopotamia. The essays on the second topic deal with human imaginations, human constructs, and constructed memories, which assign meaning to the past or to things or experiences that are beyond human control. Thematically, several aspects of the human condition are examined, such as the ideas associated in the Old Testament and the Ancient Near East with death, corporeality, enemies, disasters, utopias, and passionate love.

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

BAR letters, Summer 2021

BIBLE HISTORY DAILY: More Queries & Comments, Summer 2021. For more on and from the current issue of Biblical Archaeology Review, see here, here, and here.

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

Monday, May 31, 2021

Ashkelon basilica

ANCIENT ARCHTECTURE: 2,000-year-old basilica unearthed in Ashkelon. “The basilica was first discovered in the 1920s by British archaeologist John Garstang who then covered it once again,” said Dr. Rachel Bar Nathan, IAA director of excavation. (Rossella Tercatin, Jerusalem Post).
The remains of a magnificent 2,000-year-old Roman basilica, the largest in Israel, have been uncovered in Ashkelon in an excavation conducted by the Israel Antiquities Authority within a development project of the Tel Ashkelon National Park and will soon be accessible to the public, the Nature and Parks Authority announced on Monday.

[...]

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

Fishbones pushback

THAT STUDY ON THE FISH DIET OF THE ANCIENT JUDEANS is receving some critical responses.

Those fishy reports on ancient Israelites eating non-kosher seafood. Analysis of fish remains in ancient Israel actually confirms what the Bible tells us and indicates these laws were widely known during the biblical period (JOSHUA BERMAN and ARI Z. ZIVOTOFSKY, Times of Israel). (HT the Bible Places Blog).

The truth is that archeologists have long known that non-kosher fish remains are widely found in ancient Israel. What Adler and Lernau maintain, however, goes much further. They claim that during the first temple period, “all the fish assemblages from Judah available for analysis contained significant numbers of scaleless fish remains, especially catfish.” This, however, is not true, as brought out by the very evidence they adduce.
The authors also argue that the Book of Isaiah alludes to the the kosher laws on fish.

Also, Dr. Sarah Bond addresses the study in a Twitter thread. (HT Rogue Classicism.) She does not dispute its conclusions, but she too points to earlier research that discusses the archaeology of catfish bones in the region.

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

Mazar obituary

THE TELEGRAPH: Eilat Mazar, leading light of Israeli biblical archaeology who uncovered what she claimed was the palace of King David – obituary. Her discoveries included a hoard of gold coins and other treasure possibly left after the 7th century Persian conquest of Jerusalem. (You can read a limited number of Telegraph articles with free registration.)

Background here and links.

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

Salvage archaeology at Beth Shemesh

BIBLE HISTORY DAILY: The Other Side of Beth Shemesh. Salvage archaeology exposes deep history of famed biblical site (Boaz Gross).
In 2018, the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA) mandated salvage excavations at the ruins of the Arab village, Tel Beth Shemesh (East), to allow for the expansion of Highway 38. The excavations, which I directed, were carried out by the Israeli Institute of Archaeology, on behalf of Tel Aviv University and the IAA, with the assistance of Dr. Aaron Tavger and Yoram Haimi, from 2018 to 2020. The excavations were funded by Israel’s National Transport Infrastructure Company (Netivei Israel).[i] Until our excavations, there had been no investigation of what lay under the abandoned village bordering the site on the east, except for the examination probes conducted by the IAA’s Eli Hadad and Nathan Ben Ari.
This appears to be the full article from the current issue of Biblical Archaeology Review.

For many posts on Beth Shemesh (Beit Shemesh) and its archaeology, see here and links and here.

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

Sunday, May 30, 2021

The Studia Philonica Annual XXXII, 2020 (SBL)

NEW BOOK FROM SBL PRESS:
The Studia Philonica Annual XXXII, 2020: Studies in Hellenistic Judaism
David T. Runia, Gregory E. Sterling

ISBN 9780884144878
Volume SPhiloA 32
Status Available

eBook
$65.00

Hardback
$65.00

Celebrate the contributions of Gregory E. Sterling

Friends and colleagues of Professor Gregory E. Sterling offer essays honoring his life and work in this special edition of the The Studia Philonica Annual. This volume includes Sterling’s biography and a bibliography of his scholarship. Contributors include Harold W. Attridge, Ellen Birnbaum, Adela Yarbro Collins, John J. Collins, Michael B. Cover, Jan Willem van Henten, Carl R. Holladay, Andrew McGowan, Karl-Wilhelm Niebuhr, Maren R. Niehoff, James R. Royse, and David T. Runia. Essays cover a range of topics of related to Hellenistic Judaism, including Philo, the Bible, and Josephus.

Sterling is listed as a co-editor above, but that seems to be an error. I don't think he would be co-editing his own Festschrift. And at the bottom of the page Michael B. Cover is listed as the co-editor.

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

Whitt, Exodus Commentary

THE AWOL BLOG: Exodus: A new translation with commentary.
by William Whitt
Publication date 2021-05-22
There is also a link there to his other commentaries on Deuteronomy, Genesis and Samuel. The main link is to the Archive.org version. PDF versions are also available at Dr. Whitt's Academia.edu page. See the bottom of the post linked to above.

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

The Byzantine Church mosaic at Aluma

THROWBACK PHOTO: Byzantine Church Excavated In Southern Israel. I noted the discovery of the pictured mosaic back in 2014. Follow that link for better photos. But this one seems to capture the historic moments of its uncovering.

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

Sørensen & Petersen (eds.), Theoretical and Empirical Investigations of Divination and Magic (Brill)

NEW BOOK FROM BRILL:
Theoretical and Empirical Investigations of Divination and Magic

Manipulating the Divine

Series: Numen Book Series, Volume: 171

Editors: Jesper Sørensen and Anders Klostergaard Petersen

In Theoretical and Empirical Investigations of Divination and Magic ten leading scholars of religion provide up-to-date investigations into the classic domains of divination and magic. Spanning historical, anthropological, cognitive, philosophical and theoretical chapters, the volume’s authors invite the reader to explore how divinatory practices and magical rituals, both apart and in interaction, can be reconceptualized in line with 21st century scholarship.

Following an introduction addressing the ever-pertinent discussion of the status and epistemological value of the categories inherited from our scholarly predecessors, the volume includes analyses of divinatory and magic practices in particular historical areas, as well as comparative, theoretical and philosophical discussions, making this an indispensable volume for anyone interested in broader comparative approaches to magic and divination.

Contributors are Lars Albinus, Edward Bever, Gideon Bohak, Corby Kelly, Lars Madsen, Anders Klostergaard Petersen, Jörg Rüpke, Jesper Frøkjær Sørensen, Jørgen Podemann Sørensen, Dimitris Xygalatas.

Prices from (excl. VAT): €119.00 / $144.00

E-Book (PDF)
Availability: Published
ISBN: 978-90-04-44758-5
Publication Date: 03 May 2021
Copyright Date: 01 Jan 2021

Hardback
Availability: Not Yet Published
ISBN: 978-90-04-44757-8
Publication Date: 06 May 2021
Copyright Date: 01 Jan 2021

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