Published in English.
This volume contains papers read at the seventh meeting of the Aberdeen Prophecy Network, an interdisciplinary symposium held in June 2018 in Jena. From the points of view of Classical and Old Testament/Hebrew Bible studies, the contributions ask how phenomena of divination and concepts of prophecy were understood in the Mediterranean oecumene after the conquests of Alexander the Great.
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The Archaeology of Qumran and the Dead Sea ScrollsI had a couple posts on the first edition (here and here) shortly after it came out. A lot has happened since then. It is good to have the second edition now.
Second Edition
Jodi MagnessPAPERBACK; Published: 7/22/2021
ISBN: 978-0-8028-7908-0
Price: $ 29.99
340 Pages
Trim Size, in inches: 6.125 x 9.25vA Choice Outstanding Academic Title and winner of the Biblical Archaeology Society’s Publication Award for Best Popular Book on Archaeology
The Dead Sea Scrolls have been described as the most important archaeological discovery of the twentieth century. Deposited in caves surrounding Qumran by members of a Jewish sect who lived at the site in the first century BCE and first century CE, they provide invaluable information about Judaism in the last centuries BCE.
Like the Dead Sea Scrolls, the Qumran site continues to be the object of intense scholarly debate. In a book meant to introduce general readers to this fascinating area of study, veteran archaeologist Jodi Magness provides an overview of the archaeology of Qumran that incorporates information from the Dead Sea Scrolls and other contemporary sources. Magness identifies Qumran as a sectarian settlement, rejecting other interpretations including claims that Qumran was a villa rustica or manor house. By carefully analyzing the published information on Qumran, she refines the site’s chronology, reinterprets the purpose of some of its rooms, and reexamines archaeological evidence for the presence of women and children in the settlement. Numerous photos and diagrams give readers a firsthand look at the site.
Considered a standard text in the field for nearly two decades, The Archaeology of Qumran and the Dead Sea Scrolls is revised and updated throughout in its second edition in light of the publication of all the Dead Sea Scrolls and additional data from Roland de Vaux’s excavations, as well as Yitzhak Magen and Yuval Peleg’s more recent excavations. Specialists and nonspecialists alike will find here an overview of the Qumran site and the Dead Sea Scrolls that is both authoritative and accessible.
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Technically the Severan dynasty was of Punic descent (i.e. of colonial Phoenician descent from North Africa) rather than Phoenician. The article says that Severus's wife "Julia Dominia" (Julia Domna) was also Phoenician, but she was born in Emesa, Syria, to a local royal and priestly family.
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In the Bible, Tubal-cain is the inventor metallurgy, the Canaanites fight with iron chariots, and the Philistines control iron usage. What does archaeology tell us about when and how iron was introduced into the Levant?
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For more on the neopagan revival of Canaanite religion, see here.
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A Walk to Caesarea: A Historical-Archaeological Perspective By Joseph Patrich
(Jerusalem: Israel Exploration Society and Yad Izhak Ben-Zvi, 2018), xii + 174 pp., 193 ill. (maps, plans, reconstructions, photos), $34 (hardcover) Reviewed by Joseph L. Rife... It is a marvelous accomplishment that Patrich has captured the complexity of Caesarea’s history and archaeology in such a lucid, authoritative, and compact book. A day of focused reading will suffice to finish it, and the traveler can easily pack it for the road. ...
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The agrarian import of Deuteronomy 11:14‒15, found in what Jewish readers know as the second paragraph of the Shema prayer, may not be self-evident to modern readers, the majority of whom live in urban and suburban settings. The text speaks directly to both those who grew crops and those who engaged in animal husbandry.
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Yes, yes, they didn't bark because they were dead and buried. You have to know your Sherlock Holmes to get the titles.
The mystery is - why did people at Ashkelon bury 1,400 street dogs who were not pets?
I have collected some other posts on dogs in antiquity here.
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Spoiler: the current archaeological research indicates there were two routes between Judea and Edom in the Iron Age. This would make better sense of the route reconstructed by earlier research.
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As usual, the article garbles the question of the language of the fragment. The sentence about it mentions both Sumerian and Akkadian in a way that makes no sense and isn't even grammatical. The tablet fragment is part of the Epic of Gilgamesh, which is written in Akkadian. There were also stories about Gilgamesh written in the very different Sumerian language, but this is not one of them.
Background here, here (underlying article no longer available), here and links.
For more on Gilgamesh and on his importance for ancient Judaism, see here and links and here.
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Several years ago I noted the project by Wojciech Kosior at Jagiellonian University in Poland to catalogue the supernatural entities mentioned in the early rabbinic literature. The project is now expanded to include the Hebrew Bible.
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John Jarick (ed.), Society for Old Testament Study Book List 2021 (= JSOT 45.5) (London: Sage, 2021).In all the havoc of the last couple of years, I missed noting the 2019 and 2020 issues. I'm pretty sure they did arrive. In any case, this is the current one.
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Background here and links.
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Unesco says online that Hima is “located in an arid, mountainous area of southwest Saudi Arabia, on one of the Arabian Peninsula’s ancient caravan routes, Ḥimā Cultural Area contains a substantial collection of rock art images depicting hunting, fauna, flora and lifestyles in a cultural continuity of 7,000 years.” Inscriptions are in different scripts, including Musnad, Aramaic-Nabatean, South-Arabian, Thamudic, Greek and Arabic.I have a couple of posts on the history and languages of this region (which is also known as Bir Hima) here and here. For some ancient rock art in Jordan with a similar linguistic profile, see here.
For more posts on Aramaic in Saudi Arabia, see here, here, here and links.
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The project The Coptic Magical Papyri: Vernacular Religion in Roman and Early Islamic Egypt at the Julius-Maximilians-Universität Würzburg is pleased to announce a vacancy within the Department of Egyptology. This will be a 23-month 65% position, paid at the level of TVL E-13, suitable for a scholar with a master’s degree, who may be presently working on a doctoral degree. The position will begin 1 October 2021 and continue until 31 August 2023.HT Rogue Classicism.[...]
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Clementina Caputo, Julia Lougovaya, Using ostraca in the ancient world. New discoveries and methodologies. Materiale Textkulturen, 32. Berlin; Boston: De Gruyter, 2021. Pp. vi, 245. ISBN 9783110712865 $91.99.The volume includes an article on the Aramaic ostraca from Elephantine. It is good that they are getting some attention. They tend to be ignored in favor of the Aramaic papyri. For more on Elephantine island and its ancient Aramaic and other inscribed objects, see here (arguably), here, here, here, and many links.Review by
Sofia Torallas Tovar, University of Chicago. sofiat@uchicago.edu
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Calev Ben-Dor argues that the fight raging today between Israeli politicians about how to interpret the meaning of ancient Jewish texts reflects the political chasm currently separating the two national-religious parties. ‘One focuses on the dangers of zealotry, the other on the importance of principles come what may,’ he writes. Some Zionists have long heroised Bar Kochba, the leader of the doomed Jewish revolt of 132-135 CE against the Romans, while in recent decades others have warned of the suicidal consequences of contracting ‘Bar Kochba Syndrome’.Cross-file under Talmud Watch.
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The introductory post by Melonie Schmierer-Lee: Introducing the Genizah Fragments Blog.
The Unit's Geniza Fragments Newsletter has been on hold during the pandemic. It's Geniza Fragment of the Month series is still active and I link to it from time to time. The addition of the blog is very welcome.
Cross-file under Cairo Geniza Watch.
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Cross-file under marine (maritime, underwater) archaeology.
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Expressions of Sceptical Topoi in (Late) Antique JudaismHT the AWOL Blog.Funded by: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft
Edited by: Reuven Kiperwasser and Geoffrey HermanVolume 12 in the series Studies and Texts in Scepticism
https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110671483About this book
Open Access
Scepticism has been the driving force in the development of Greco-Roman culture in the past, and the impetus for far-reaching scientific achievements and philosophical investigation. Early Jewish culture, in contrast, avoided creating consistent representations of its philosophical doctrines. Sceptical notions can nevertheless be found in some early Jewish literature such as the Book of Ecclesiastes. One encounters there expressions of doubt with respect to Divine justice or even Divine involvement in earthly affairs. During the first centuries of the common era, however, Jewish thought, as reflected in rabbinic works, was engaged in persistent intellectual activity devoted to the laws, norms, regulations, exegesis and other traditional areas of Jewish religious knowledge. An effort to detect sceptical ideas in ancient Judaism, therefore, requires a closer analysis of this literary heritage and its cultural context.
This volume of collected essays seeks to tackle the question of scepticism in an Early Jewish context, including Ecclesiastes and other Jewish Second Temple works, rabbinic midrashic and talmudic literature, and reflections of Jewish thought in early Christian and patristic writings. Contributors are: Tali Artman, Geoffrey Herman, Reuven Kiperwasser, Serge Ruzer, Cana Werman, and Carsten Wilke.
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Routledge, Robin L. Hosea. Tyndale Old Testament Commentary. Downers Grove, Ill.: IVP Academic, 2020. xxxiii+181 pp. Pb. $25.00 Link to IVP AcademicThis new volume in the Tyndale Old Testament Commentary series replaces the 1989 volume by David Allan Hubbard. Routledge previously published Old Testament Theology: A Thematic Approach (IVP Academic 2012) as well as several articles on the prophets.
[...]
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