Review of Hannestad, Nicator Seleucus I and his empire

BRYN MAYR CLASSICAL REVIEW: Nicator Seleucus I and his empire.

Lise Hannestad, Nicator Seleucus I and his empire. Aarhus: Aarhus University Press, 2020. Pp. 181. ISBN 9788772191737 249,95 Kr.

Review by
Branko van Oppen, Tampa Museum of Art. branko.vanoppen@tampamuseum.org

Excerpt:

While acknowledging throughout that sources for Seleucus are scarce, Hannestad presents her interpretations with surprising certainty. The point is not so much that this reviewer disagrees with her interpretations, but that historians ought to differentiate established facts from their own understanding – if only for the sake of the general reader.

King Seleucus I Nicator is mentioned in the Bible in Daniel 11:5 as one of the princes of the king of the south. For more on him and on his son Antiochus I Soter and on Seleucus's second wife, Queen Stratonice, who also married Antiochus, see here and links.

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On the origin of the Armenian alphabet

ARMENIAN WATCH: All Things Assyrian: The Origin of the Armenian Alphabet (Rev. Dr. Vahan Tootikian, Armenian Weekly, rpt. AINA). Earlier PaleoJudaica posts on the origin of the Armenian alphabet are here, here, and here. For other posts on the Armenian language, which preserves some otherwise lost ancient Jewish literature, start here and follow the links..

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Interview with Raija Sollamo

WILLIAM ROSS: SEPTUAGINT SCHOLAR INTERVIEW: RAIJA SOLLAMO. For notice of Dr. Ross's previous interviews with Septuagint scholars, see here and links.

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The Sifting Project is seeking donations

THE TEMPLE MOUNT SIFITING PROJECT: HELP SUPPORT THE PARTICIPATION OF SCHOOL STUDENTS IN THE SIFTING.

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Did an evil angel father Cain?

PROF. RACHEL ADELMAN: Cain, Son of the Fallen Angel Samael (TheTorah.com).

What made Cain capable of murdering his brother? Why was the flood generation so wicked? According to Pirqei de-Rabbi Eliezer, the fallen angel Samael embodies the serpent and seduces Eve, whereupon she conceives Cain. Engendered by this “bad seed,” all the descendants of Cain become corrupt, destined to be wiped out by mighty waters.

In other legends, Sammael (Samael, Samma'el) mated with Adam's first wife Lilith and, as the evil angelic Prince of Rome, conspired against the Ten Martyrs. Sammael also appears in the Aramaic incantation bowls.

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Steven Fraade reflects on his own work.

ANCIENt JEW REVIEW: Retrospective on the Intersection of Translation and Commentary in Ancient Judaism and Its Greco-Roman Context | Steven Fraade.

From my first book to my most recent, comparison (and its pitfalls), both within Judaism and without, has been a constant preoccupation as I continued to focus on texts of legal interpretation, and to struggle with how best to translate the rabbinic texts upon which I was commenting and to what extent either should inform or presume the other.

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Fossil giants?!

BIBLE HISTORY DAILY: On the Shoulders of Giants. How the ancients understood prehistoric fossils (Jennifer Drummond).

In this rich world of stories and folklore, it was only natural for people to look for evidence of giants in the world around them. In their article “Encounters with Fossil Giants” in the Fall 2021 issue of Biblical Archaeology Review, Steven Fine and Elisha Fine discuss examples from ancient history where individuals found what they thought were the bones of giants. Locals would often discover unusually large fossils and present them to visitors as the remains of famous or mythical giants.

Most of the article is behind the subscription wall.

For a thematically related post, see here. Many years ago I commented here on Josephus' giant bones. For some modern giant-skeleton hoaxes, see here.

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First-Temple-era toilet excavated in Jerusalem

ANCIENT ARCHITECTURE: Archaeologists find 2,700-year-old toilet in luxurious palace in Jerusalem. The extraordinary find sheds light on life under the kings of Judah: "Only the rich could afford toilets" (Rossella Tercatin, Jerusalem Post). For more on the excavation of the Armon Hanatziv Promenade, see here and links. Cross-file under Latrine News.

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Biblical Studies Carnival 187

THE AMATEUR EXEGETE: BIBLICAL STUDIES CARNIVAL #187 (SEPTEMBER 2021) (Ben).

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Bodor, The Theological Profile of the Peshitta of Isaiah (Brill)

NEW BOOK FROM BRILL:

The Theological Profile of the Peshitta of Isaiah

Series: Supplements to the Textual History of the Bible, Volume: 5

Author: Attila Bodor

In The Theological Profile of the Peshitta of Isaiah, Attila Bodor explores theological elements in the book of Isaiah as represented in the Peshitta. Through a close study of its interpretative renderings, the author shows that this lesser-known ancient version is not only an important witness to textual history and a repository of early exegetical traditions but also testifies to the beliefs of the early Syriac-speaking community from which the Peshitta emerged. In the monograph, sixty-three Peshitta divergences from the Hebrew version of Isaiah are collected and analyzed in order to illustrate the theological implications and the impact of these divergent renderings on the interpretation and reception of the major Isaianic themes that treat God, the Messiah, and the people of God.

Prices from (excl. VAT): €108.00 / $130.00

Copyright Year: 2021
E-Book (PDF)
Availability: Published
ISBN: 978-90-04-46912-9
Publication Date: 30 Aug 2021

Hardback
Availability: Published
ISBN: 978-90-04-46903-7
Publication Date: 02 Sep 2021

Cross-file under Syriac Watch.

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Israel or YHWH?

DR. RABBI DAVID FRANKEL: When YHWH Went Forth: A New Reading of Psalm 114 (TheTorah.com).

What did the sea see to make it flee? Who caused the mountains to skip like rams?

The emendation of "Israel" to "YHWH" in v. 1 may sound extreme, but I think the author of the essay makes a good case for it.

Not mentioned in the essay, but arguably there is parallel scribal emendation in Deuteronomy 32:8. The Masoretic Text refers to "the sons of Israel," but the Septuagint and 4QDeut^j read "the sons of God." The latter reading is clearly more original. One can hardly imagine a scribe introducing it to replace "the sons of Israel." It also makes much better sense in context. But the mythological element of God parceling out the nations to other divine beings became an embarrassment. Some later scribe introduced the awkward reference to Israel to try to get around it.

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Who were the Levites?

PROF. ALEXANDER ROFÉ: Levites: A Transjordanian Tribe of Priests (TheTorah.com).

Pre-exilic biblical texts describe Levites as landless priests who can serve in any holy site. The origin of this status can be found in ancient times, when the tribe of Levi lost control of their territory in the Transjordan, but remained in the vicinity serving in the Nebo temple, where their ancestor Moses was buried.

This seems as plausible as the various other reconstructions of the origin and history of the Levites. Our sources are incomplete and contradictory.

Some PaleoJudaica posts on the subject are here, here, here, here, here, and here.

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Where was the "Red Sea?"

THE ANCIENT NEAR EAST TODAY: The Location of the Biblical ‘Red Sea’ (Barry J. Beitzel).

At the end of the day, one must recognize that beyond a limited and generic description found in the Bible, augmented by textual clues found in both Hebrew and Egyptian lexicography, and by considerations of geographic and terrestrial logic, no definitive evidence of any sort exists to support a precise locational tradition, aside from the demonstrable fact that the event must have occurred within relatively close proximity to the eastern frontier of Egypt’s Delta.

I have posted on the question of the crossing-place of the "Sea of Reeds" here.

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Review of Mastrocinque et al. (eds.), Ancient magic: then and now

BRYN MAYR CLASSICAL REVIEW: Ancient magic: then and now.

Attilio Mastrocinque, Joseph Sanzo, Marianna Scapini, Ancient magic: then and now. Potsdamer Altertumswissenschaftliche Beitraege, 74. Stuttgart: Franz Steiner Verlag, 2020. Pp. 451. ISBN 9783515127967 €82,00.

Review by
Elaine Sanderson, University of Liverpool. elaine.sanderson@liverpool.ac.uk

[Authors and titles are listed at the end of the review.]

This volume is the product of the Humboldt Kolleg ‘Magic in the Ancient World – New Perspectives’ conference held in Italy in 2016. Following broad surveys of the relationships between magic and science and magic and religion in the Preface (Giacomo De Angelis) and Foreward (Hans-Christian Günther) respectively, Marianna Scapini and Joseph E. Sanzo (Introduction) outline the volume’s aim to consider ‘ancient magic’ as an ‘analytical construct and as a domain of historical inquiry and imagination’ (p. 19). ...

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Ancient Near East Monographs

THE AWOL BLOG: Open Access Monograph Series: ANCIENT NEAR EAST MONOGRAPHS / MONOGRAFIAS SOBRE EL ANTIGUO CERCANO ORIENTE. There are many volumes of interest in this series. They are all open access.

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