Three archaeologists discuss popular biblical archaeology

BIBLE HISTORY DAILY: Biblical Archaeology for the People. BAR Editor Glenn J. Corbett talks with distinguished archaeologists Eric H. Cline, Melissa Cradic, and Jodi Magness.

In April 2021, BAR Editor Glenn J. Corbett interviewed three leading scholars who share the same commitment to engaging public interest in biblical archaeology ...

In their conversation, they discuss the importance of public scholarship, new efforts to reach broader audiences, and the critical role BAR plays in bridging the gap between scholars and a public eager to know more. The responses here have been lightly edited and modified for clarity and readability.

The full interview is at the link

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

Can divine revelation decide halakhah?

PROF. ANDREW D. GROSS: Does God Have Halakhic Authority? (TheTorah.com).

In the famous story of the Oven of Akhnai, Rabbi Eliezer makes recourse to divine revelation to defend his legal ruling. Rabbi Joshua responds that “the Torah is not in heaven” and God has no say. Elsewhere in the Talmud, however, heavenly voices are considered authoritative, a view which aligns with that of the Qumran sect, which believed God continues to reveal secret details of Torah laws.

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

A fraudulent weight from First-Temple Jerusalem?

ARTIFACT: Rare First Temple Era Fraudulent Weight Uncovered in Ancient Jerusalem (Aryeh Savir, Tazpit News Agency/trans. The Jewish Press).

Israeli archeologists digging in the City of David in Jerusalem’s Old City came upon an extremely rare finding from the days of the First Temple – a biblical weight called a gerah that was probably used by a cheater.

Although inscribed as weighing two gerah it weighs three times as much, evidence of possible fraudulent trading dating around the time period of 589 BCE.

[...]

This is a genuine ancient artifact, but it appears to have been used for fraudulent purposes.

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

More on the Church of the Glorious Martyr

ANCIENT ARCHITECTURE AND EPIGRAPHY: Byzantine church dedicated to unknown martyr unearthed in Israel (Owen Jarus, Live Science).

A couple of years ago I noted the discovery of the late-antique Church of the Glorious Martyr at Beit Shemesh.

The inscription does not name the martyr or even indicate a grammatical gender. There was speculation at the time that the martyr could have been Thecla, a legendary Christian woman known from the Acts of Paul and Thecla. See also here. The current article suggests that the martyr could have been one Zechariah, known from a nearby shrine.

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

Press on the Shapira affair

ANCIENT JEW REVIEW: The Myth of Moses Shapira (Michael Press).

Michael Press interacts with the two recent books arguing that the Shapira scroll fragments were genuine ancient artifacts. He disagrees. For the books, see here and here (and note the links).

I have noted earlier essays by Dr. Press on the Shapira affair here and here.

For Chanan Tigay's Shapira book, see here and links. And for an article in PEQ by Shlomo Guil arguing for the authenticity of the scroll, see here.

For subsequent PaleoJudaica posts on the subject, see here (also noting work by Press) and links.

This AJR essay has some interesting details that are new to me. Did you know, for example, that Shapira's daughter published a fictionalized account of the Shapira scroll affair in a novel?

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

The Library of Alexandria

THE GREEK REPORTER: Ancient Library of Alexandria One of Greatest Treasures of Mankind (Patricia Claus).

This article gives a nice summary of the history of the Library of Alexandria. For PaleoJudaica posts on the subject, see here and links.

The Library of Alexandria also figures importantly in the Letter of Aristeas, the earliest, albeit still legendary, account of the translation of the Pentateuch into Greek. The Greek Reporter also had an article on the Septuagint story which I noted yesterday.

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

Biblical Studies Carnival 186

BRENT NIEDERGALL: BIBLICAL STUDIES CARNIVAL 186 FOR AUGUST 2021.

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

More relics of the Carthaginian defeat at the Aegates

PUNIC WATCH: Discovery of four ancient 450lb battering rams shed new light on how Rome took command of the Mediterranean 2,000 years ago by smashing through Carthage's ships (Ian Randall, Daily Mail).

• The ancient artefacts were recovered from the waters to the east of Sicily
• The rams would have been used in the Battle of the Aegates in March 241 BC
• Roman vessels surprised and outmanoeuvred the cargo-laden Carthaginian fleet
• They sunk 50 enemy vessels and captured 70 more, ending the First Punic War
• Following this, Carthage sued for peace and surrendered Sicily to the Romans

For more on the underwater archaeology of the Battle of the Aegates, with my own commentary, see here.

Cross-file under Maritime (Marine) Archaeology.

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

The Septuagint in the news

THE GREEK REPORTER: First Translation of the Bible, the Septuagint, was in Greek (Luisa Rosenstiehl).

The article is mainly a recounting of the legend of the translation of the Pentateuch into Greek in the Letter of Aristeas, plus some later legends. It is substantially accurate, except that it takes the Letter of Aristeas at face value as recounting what actually happened. All indications are that it is a later legendary account whose historical value is at best unclear. For more on that, see here and links.

Nevertheless, I am always happy to see the Septuagint and the Old Testament Pseudepigrapha receiving media attention.

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

Photo essay on the Tel Motza temple

ARCHAEOLOGY: IN PHOTOS: Excavating the Great Temple at Motza Near Jerusalem (Ruth Schuster, Haaretz).

For more on the recently discovered Iron-Age temple at Tel Moza (Tel Motza, Tel Moẓa, Tel Moẓah), see here and here.

UPDATE: Bad link now fixed!

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

Did the Golem inspire Frankenstein's monster?

GOLEM WATCH? The secret Jewish history of Frankenstein (Seth Rogovoy, The Forward).

Author Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley was born on this day, Aug. 30, in 1797 in London. Shelley is best known as the author of the Gothic novel “Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus” and as the wife of the Romantic poet Percy Bysshe Shelley. Mary Shelley was something of a radical in her time: a believer in free love, a proto-feminist, an atheist and a prolific female author when the prevailing notions of womanhood did not include writing novels and biographies. Among dozens of writings that challenged her father’s political theories and her husband’s notion of Romanticism, Shelley’s legacy includes the age-old question: Was the premise of her “Frankenstein” based on the Jewish folktale of the Golem?

[...]

It doesn't sound likely, but it's an intriguing question.

Last year I linked to another article that explored the same question. But it has succumbed to link rot. For many PaleoJudaica posts on the Golem tradition, start at that post and follow the links.

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

New Tiqqunei Soferim (scribal corrections to the Bible) from the Cairo Geniza

GENIZA FRAGMENT OF THE MONTH (JULY 2021): New Tiqqunei Soferim: T-S A4.10 and T-S D1.37 (Joseph Ginsberg).

One of the most celebrated and infamous topics relating to the Masorah is the Tiqqunei Soferim, or “emendations of the scribes”. The Tiqqunei Soferim are a group of words that are deliberately written in the Masoretic Text differently than intended, in order to protect the honor of God. Whether these instances are indeed emendations by an early group of scribes (a term often referring to the biblical figures Ezra and Nehemia) or just euphemisms employed by the original authors of the text is a controversy that is as old as the Tiqqunei Soferim themselves, with some sources employing the term “tiqqun soferim” – “emendation of the scribes”, and others the term “kinnah hakatuv”, or “the text is euphemistic” (a less contentious interpretation, as it does not imply that the biblical text was actually tampered with).1

The number of Tiqqunei Soferim is most commonly given as 18, though there are some sources that list fewer.2

Four entirly new Tiqqunei Soferim seem like a big deal to me.

Past posts noting Cairo Geniza Fragments of the Month in the Cambridge University Library's Taylor-Schechter Genizah Research Unit are here and links.

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

Was Qumran a festival gathering site?

ARCHAEOLOGY AND THE DAMASCUS DOCUMENT: Cairo Genizah paper may hold key to secrets of Qumran, Dead Sea Scrolls. An ancient religious ceremony, described in several Dead Sea Scrolls, could explain the mysteries of the archaeological site of Qumra (Rossella Tercatin, Jerusalem Post).

Why have archaeologists only found remains of public buildings and not of private dwellings? How is it possible to explain the presence of thousands of pottery vessels in a place that had a few dozen residents at most? And why did the area feature such a multiplicity of mikvaot ritual baths, including very large ones, for such a small population?

According to [Dr. Daniel] Vainstub [of Ben-Gurion University of the Negev], Qumran was intimately connected to the Essenes, but rather than a permanent settlement of the group, it was the site where all its members and candidates would flock from communities all over the country to hold their annual celebration of the “passing of the covenant.”

Could be. I don't know the archaeology of Qumran well enough to have an opinion on this one.

You can read the full text of the underlying open-access article in the journal Religions here and make up your own mind.

For many PaleoJudaica posts on the debate over the archaeology of Qumran and how the site is connected to the scrolls, see here and links, plus here.

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

McGrath defends online conferencing

RELIGION PROF: Are Academics Really So Unimaginative? In Defense of Online Conferences and Networking (James McGrath).

For what it's worth, my experience of online conferencing during the pandemic has been entirely positive.

A related post is here.

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

On Deuteronomy's beautiful captive woman

DR. RABBI DAVID RESNICK: The Captive Woman at the Intersection of War and Family Laws (TheTorah.com).

Deuteronomy’s law of the beautiful captive woman protects the non-Israelite woman taken in war from rape and from being re-enslaved after marriage. At the same time, it discourages the man from marrying her, in order to preserve the interests of the Israelite family.

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