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Saturday, August 28, 2021

Who was the first sinner?

BIBLE HISTORY DAILY: The Origin of Sin and Death in the Bible. Who sinned first—Adam or Cain? (Megan Sauter).
What is the origin of sin and death in the Bible? Who was the first sinner?

To answer the latter question, today people would probably debate whether Adam or Eve sinned first, but in antiquity, it was a different argument altogether. They debated whether Adam or Cain committed the first sin.

[...]

This essay summarizes a 2017 BAR article by John Byron. The article itself is behind the subscription wall, but the essay has some points of interest.

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On the Cambridge Greek Lexicon

LEXICOGRAPHY: Cambridge’s New Look at Ancient Greek: A 23-Year Project. Faculty lead on the Cambridge Greek Lexicon James Diggle says, ‘It took over my life’ during the effort’s final 15 years (Porter Anderson, Publishing Perspectives). HT Rogue Classicism.

I noted the publication of the Lexicon here. I noted an interview with James Diggle by William Ross here. For links to a review of the Lexicon by Dirk Jonkind, see here and links.

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Friday, August 27, 2021

Writing and scribes in ancient Israel

THE ANCIENT NEAR EAST TODAY: From Texts to Scribes: Evidence for Writing in Ancient Israel (Philip Zhakevich).
But what about the act of writing and the scribal culture that produced written documents? Here we must glance at the occurrences of two words in the biblical text, the verb ‘write’ (katav) and the noun ‘scribe’ (sofer). How much information about writing from the biblical text can we extract while focusing on two words central to the act of writing?
PaleoJudaica has published many posts relevant to this essay.

For the Lachish inscribed ostraca, see here and here and links. For the inscribed Arad ostraca, see here and links. For the inscribed Samaria ostraca, see here.

For the Gezer Calendar, see here and links. For the Siloam Tunnel inscription, see here and links (cf. here). For the Aramaic Tel Dan inscription, see here and links.

For the Balaam inscription from Tel Deir 'Alla (Deir Alla), see here and links. For the Hebrew inscriptions found at Kuntillet Ajrud, see here and here and links.

For the LMLK stamps, see here and links.

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

Ritmeyer on Hellenistic Jerusalem & Temple Mount

LEEN RITMEYER: Jerusalem and the Temple Mount in the Hellenistic period. Very informative.

Cross-file under Temple Mount Watch.

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New PhD thesis on Targum Canticles

ARAMAIC WATCH: Paul Moore has recently completed a doctoral thesis at University College London: Studies in the Language of Targum Canticles, with Annotated Transcription of Geniza Fragments.
ABSTRACT

While the language of Targum Canticles—a species of Late Jewish Literary Aramaic—has attracted previous study, many of its peculiarities have been overlooked, or accorded but cursory treatment. The present work investigates a range of morphological, syntactic, and semantic anomalies that punctuate the text. These impinge on various domains, including predicate argument marking, verbal stems, the nominal dimensions of state and gender, and particle usage. Attending to these phenomena, with descriptive sensitivity and comparative perspective, yields insight into literary influences, the process of composition, and the conceptions of Aramaic—both grammatical and aesthetic—of the Jewish literati who adopted this dialectally eclectic idiom. This study also probes the still under-researched nexus between Late Jewish Literary Aramaic and the Aramaic of Zoharic literature. It concludes with an annotated transcription of the fragments of Targum Canticles from the Cairo Geniza: Cambridge, T-S B11.81, T-S NS 312—which are among the earliest, known, extant witnesses to the text—and Oxford Heb. f. 56, whose colophon bears the date 1416 CE. The latter features a Judaeo-Arabic translation of the Targum—possibly the earliest known example—which is included in the transcription. The alignments of the readings of these fragments with other witnesses are highlighted, accompanied by ad hoc textual and exegetical commentary.

It is available for open-access download at the link.

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Thursday, August 26, 2021

The Sibyl's Cave in Cumae

OLD TESTAMENT PSEUDEPIGRAPHA GEOGRAPHY?The Cave of the Sibyl. (Heritage Daily). HT Rogue Classicism.
The Cave of the Sibyl is a subterranean complex beneath the ancient city of Cumae, located on the outskirts of the present-day Metropolitan City of Naples in Campania, Italy.

The cave has been associated with the Cumaean Sibyl, a priestess presiding over the Apollonian oracle, who according to legend, prophesied from the depths of the earth beneath the temple to Apollo, where she wrote her prophecies on leaves that were then displayed at the cave’s entrance.

[...]

For a PaleoJudaica post discussing the Cumaean Sibyl and another discovery at Cumae, see here. This is the first time I remember seeing her cave.

The Roman Sibylline oracles are virtually entirely lost, but ancient Jews and Christians adopted the Sibyl as their own prophetess and composed various oracles in her name. These are generally filed as Old Testament Pseudepigrapha. For more posts on the ancient Sibylline oracles, start in the links in the above post, plus here, here, and here.

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

Porter (ed.), James Barr Assessed (Brill)

NEW BOOK FROM BRILL:
James Barr Assessed

Evaluating His Legacy over the Last Sixty Years

Series: Biblical Interpretation Series, Volume: 192

Volume Editor: Stanley E. Porter

James Barr is a widely recognized name in biblical studies, even if he is still best known for his The Semantics of Biblical Language. Barr’s Semantics, although first published in 1961, still generates animated discussion of its claims. However, over his lengthy career Barr published significant scholarship on a wide variety of topics within Old Testament studies and beyond. This volume provides an assessment of Barr’s contribution to biblical studies sixty years after the publication of his first and still memorable volume on biblical semantics. As a result, this volume includes essays on major topics such as the Hebrew language, lexical semantics, lexicography, the Septuagint, and biblical theology.

Prices from (excl. VAT): €123.00 / $148.00

Copyright Year: 2021

E-Book (PDF)
Availability: Published
ISBN: 978-90-04-46566-4
Publication Date: 16 Aug 2021

Hardback
Availability: Not Yet Published
ISBN: 978-90-04-46552-7
Publication Date: 19 Aug 2021

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A Syriac liturgy in Cairo and China?

THE GENIZA FRAGMENTS BLOG: Throwback Thursday: A surprise in Syriac script (Melonie Schmierer-Lee). The surprise is the discovery in the early 1980s of Nestorian Syriac liturgical fragments, some unparalleled. That is notable in itself, but what caught my eye is the following:
Very little is known of the dwindling “Nestorian” community in Cairo after the end of the twelfth century, and so these small fragments provide tangible evidence for its continuing existence into the thirteenth or even fourteenth century; perhaps the manuscript was sold as scrap when the community finally faded out of existence.

It is a remarkable coincidence that one of the fragments contains a text which overlaps with one that occurs in an even earlier Syriac liturgical fragment – found in Chinese Turkestan! These two identical liturgical fragments thus provide unexpected testimony to the far-flung geographical extension of the Church of the East in the Middle Ages.

I don't know which discovery in Turkestan is involved here. PaleoJudaica posts on Syriac discoveries in China are collected here (final paragraph).

A parallel Nestorian liturgical fragment from medieval Cairo and earlier Chinese Turkestan is intriguing. This is well outside my expertise, but was there regular communication between Egypt and China in the Middle Ages? Or was this liturgy disseminated independently to both countries in late antiquity?

Cross-file under Syriac Watch.

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

Wednesday, August 25, 2021

Olyan & Rosenblum (eds.), Animals and the Law in Antiquity (SBL Press)

NEW BOOK FROM SBL PRESS:
Animals and the Law in Antiquity

Saul M. Olyan, Jordan D. Rosenblum, editors

ISBN 9781951498825
Volume BJS 368
Status Available

Publication Date
August 2021

Paperback
$29.00

Hardback
$82.00

eBook
$29.00

Original studies at the intersection of animals and the law in antiquity

Animal law has become a topic of growing importance internationally, with animal welfare and animal rights often assuming center stage in contemporary debates about the legal status of animals. While nonspecialists routinely decontextualize ancient texts to support or deny rights to animals, experts in fields such as classics, biblical studies, Assyriology, Egyptology, rabbinics, and late antique Christianity have only just begun to engage the topic of animals and the law in their respective areas. This volume consists of studies by scholars from a range of Mediterranean and West Asian fields on animals and the law. Contributors include Rozenn Bailleul-LeSuer, Beth Berkowitz, Andrew McGowan, F. S. Naiden, Saul M. Olyan, Seth Richardson, Jordan D. Rosenblum, Andreas Schüle, Miira Tuominen, and Daniel Ullucci. The volume is essential reading for scholars and students of both the ancient world and contemporary law.

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MNTA 3 nearing completion

THE APOCRYPHYCITY BLOG: New Testament Apocrypha 3 Near Completion (Tony Burke). Good news!

For more on the More New Testament Apocrypha Project (MNTA), see here and here and links.

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

Tuesday, August 24, 2021

Bauks & Olyan (eds.), Pain in Biblical Texts and Other Materials of the Ancient Mediterranean (Mohr Siebeck)

NEW BOOK FROM MOHR SIEBECK:
Pain in Biblical Texts and Other Materials of the Ancient Mediterranean. Edited by Michaela Bauks and Saul M. Olyan. 2021. VIII, 267 pages. Forschungen zum Alten Testament 2. Reihe 130. 79,00 € including VAT. sewn paper ISBN 978-3-16-160641-0.

Published in English.
This volume includes a wide range of studies on pain and its representation in texts and non-literary remains of the ancient Eastern Mediterranean, suggesting both the richness and complexity of the topic and the need for scholars to address it from a variety of perspectives. The essays engage the subject of pain and its representation in a multitude of ways, including consideration of the representation of physical pain, of psychological anguish, and the often complex relationship between the two. Several essays focus on the representation of pain in a particular genre of ancient literature such as Greek medical texts, narratives, prophetic texts, poetry, or legal texts. The volume also explores descriptions of concrete pain and the metaphorical use of pain imagery and idioms, as well as pain's relationship to shame, illness and torture. Finally, both communal and individual dimensions of pain are of interest to the contributors, as is the role pain might have had in ritual action and the part rites might play in the imposition of pain.

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

Dell (ed.), The BIblical World, 2nd ed. (Routledge)

NEW (2ND EDITION) BOOK FROM ROUTLEDGE:
2nd Edition
The Biblical World

Edited By Katharine J. Dell
Copyright Year 2021

Hardback
£152.00

eBook
£31.99

ISBN 9781138932920
Published July 30, 2021 by Routledge
1098 Pages 115 B/W Illustrations

Book Description

The Biblical World is a comprehensive guide to the contents, historical settings, and social context of the Bible. This new edition is updated with several new chapters as well as a new section on biblical interpretation. 

Contributions from leading scholars in the field present wide-ranging views not just of biblical materials and their literary and linguistic context, but also of the social institutions, history and archaeology, and religious concepts. New chapters cover topics such as the priesthood and festivals, creation and covenant, ethics, and family life, while a new section on biblical interpretation discusses Jewish and Christian bible translation and key thematic emphases, and modern reader-response and cultural approaches. 

This revised edition of The Biblical World offers an up-to-date and thorough survey of the Bible and its world, and will continue to be an invaluable resource for students and scholars of the Hebrew Bible and New Testament and their history and interpretation, as well as anyone working on the societies, religions, and political and cultural institutions that created and influenced these texts.

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Rotasperti, Decoding the Language of Metaphor in the Book of Proverbs (Brill)

NEW BOOK FROM BRILL:
Metaphors in Proverbs

Decoding the Language of Metaphor in the Book of Proverbs

Series: Vetus Testamentum, Supplements, Volume: 188

Author: Sergio Rotasperti

Proverbs is a poetic book full of images and metaphors, many of which are often obscure and enigmatic. In this volume, Rotasperti offers a contribution to the understanding of figurative language in Proverbs by looking at the grammatical and social contexts in which many of the book’s metaphors appear. The brief introduction explains the process and methodological assumptions used for identifying metaphors. The study then continues with a lexical review of four semantic categories: the body, urban fabric, nature and animals. The result of this survey is a deep analysis of several key metaphors that looks at their composition, structure, and interpretation.

Prices from (excl. VAT): €109.00 / $131.00

Copyright Year: 2021

E-Book (PDF) Availability: Published
ISBN: 978-90-04-46605-0
Publication Date: 29 Jun 2021

Hardback
Availability: Not Yet Published
ISBN: 978-90-04-46410-0
Publication Date: 22 Jul 2021

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Monday, August 23, 2021

Review of Gitin's autobiography

NEW BOOK REVIEWED: Sy Gitin and the Albright (Deb Reich, Times of Israel Blogs).
Renowned biblical archaeologist Seymour (Sy) Gitin is a great storyteller. So naturally his new memoir, The Road Taken: An Archaeologist’s Journey to the Land of the Bible, is a fascinating read.

[...]

The book came out this month.

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

Does the Vatican have Dead Sea Scrolls?

VARIANT READINGS: Dead Sea Scrolls at the Vatican. Brent Nongbri has been on a visit to the Vatican Museum. He has noticed something interesting.

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

The HMML has received a $5M grant

NICE PROFILE OF THE LIBRARY: Hill Museum and Manuscript Library at St. John's University works to preserve history (BECCA MOST, St. Cloud Times).
Earlier this month the Hill Museum and Manuscript Library, housed at St. John's University, received a $5 million grant to continue their work digitizing, archiving and cataloguing endangered manuscripts outside Europe, like in South Asia, the Middle East and West Africa. The grant was the largest HMML had ever received in its 56 years of operation.
Congratulations and keep up the good work!

For many PaleoJudaica posts on the Hill Museum & Manuscript Library, start here and follow the links.

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

Sunday, August 22, 2021

Review of Allison, Saving one another

BRYN MAYR CLASSICAL REVIEW: Saving one another: Philodemus and Paul on moral formation in community.
Justin Allison, Saving one another: Philodemus and Paul on moral formation in community. Ancient philosophy and religion, volume 3. Leiden; Boston: Brill, 2020. Pp. xii, 238. ISBN 9789004434004 €127,00.

Review by
David Douglas, McGill University. david.douglas2@mail.mcgill.ca

For more on the Epicurean philosopher Philodemus, whose work has mainly been recovered from the carbonized Herculaneum scrolls, see here.

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

Lederman-Daniely, Sarai: Is She the Goddess of Ancient Israel? (Wipf & Stock)

NEW BOOK FROM WIPF AND STOCK:
Sarai
Is She the Goddess of Ancient Israel?

by Dvora Lederman-Daniely
Imprint: Wipf and Stock
74 Pages, 5.50 x 8.50 x 0.15 in

Paperback
9781725298880
Published: June 2021
$12.00 / £9.00 / AU$17.00

Hardcover
9781725298897
Published: June 2021
$27.00 / £20.00 / AU$37.00

eBook
9781725298903
Published: June 2021
$12.00 / £9.00 / AU$17.00

DESCRIPTION

Who was the mother goddess of the ancient religion of Israel, the spouse of the god Yahweh? Archaeological and literary-biblical studies refer to her as "Asherah," yet, they cannot explain why this name is not mentioned in the book of Genesis, a book that portrays the formation of Israel's religion. In this groundbreaking book, Dvora Lederman-Daniely provides an answer to this enigmatic question. Based on meticulous research she argues the goddess's name does appear in the book of Genesis but it is concealed within the name of the first human matriarch of the people of Israel: Sarai. Deciphering and identifying the forgotten and censored name of the divine spouse of Yahweh opens the door to a revolutionary understanding of the relationship between Yahweh and the people of Israel, as perceived during the formation of the Hebrew people. Moreover, biblical images and metaphors are stripped back and their outrageous mythological content is laid bare. Through careful argument Lederman-Daniely excavates the very origins of Jewish customs and decrees exposing how they embody the ancient worship of a goddess who was Yahweh's spouse.

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