Review of McNamara et al. (eds.), Apocrypha Hiberniae II, Apocalyptica 2

BRYN MAYR CLASSICAL REVIEW: Apocrypha Hiberniae II, Apocalyptica 2.

Martin McNamara, Caoimnín Breatnach, John Carey, Joseph Flahive, Charles D. Wright, Apocrypha Hiberniae II, Apocalyptica 2. Corpus Christianorum. Series Apocryphorum, 21. Turnhout: Brepols, 2019. Pp. xxiv, 589. ISBN 9782503585352 €355,00.

Review by
Thomas Kraus, University of Zürich. t.j.kraus@web.de

Conclusion:

This volume is a masterpiece of editorial technique and methodology; and it is an invaluable foundation of further studies of Irish apocrypha. At the same time it provides essential insights into the ongoing processing of biblical or non-biblical material, its transmission and reception, and its regional adaptation. It comprises the most distinguished scholars working in the field, who must be thanked for their meticulous and scrupulous work.

Some PaleoJudaica posts involving Irish apocrypha (linking to essays by Philip Jenkins) are here, here, and here. See also Grant Macaskill's essay on The Pseudepigrapha in the Irish Church for a class we co-taught on the Old Testament Pseudepigrapha.

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Beyerle & Goff (eds.), Notions of Time in Deuterocanonical and Cognate Literature (De Gruyter)

NEW BOOK FROM DE GRUYTER:

Notions of Time in Deuterocanonical and Cognate Literature

Edited by: Stefan Beyerle and Matthew Goff

Volume 2020/2021 in the series Deuterocanonical and Cognate Literature Yearbook
https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110705454

eBook
Published: December 20, 2021
ISBN: 9783110705454

Hardcover
Published: December 31, 2021
ISBN: 9783110702194

About this book

A comprehensive investigation of notions of "time" in deuterocanonical and cognate literature, from the ancient Jewish up to the early Christian eras, requires further scholarship. The aim of this collection of articles is to contribute to a better understanding of "time" in deuterocanonical literature and pseudepigrapha, especially in Second Temple Judaism, and to provide criteria for concepts of time in wisdom literature, apocalypticism, Jewish and early Christian historiography and in Rabbinic religiosity.
Essays in this volume, representing the proceedings of a conference of the "International Society for the Study of Deuterocanonical and Cognate Literature" in July 2019 at Greifswald, discuss concepts and terminologies of "time", stemming from novellas like the book of Tobit, from exhortations for the wise like Ben Sira, from an apocalyptic time table in 4 Ezra, the book of Giants or Daniel, and early Christian and Rabbinic compositions. The volume consists of four chapters that represent different approaches or hermeneutics of "time:" I. Axial Ages: The Construction of Time as "History", II. The Construction of Time: Particular Reifications, III. Terms of Time and Space, IV. The Construction of Apocalyptic Time. Scholars and students of ancient Jewish and Christian religious history will find in this volume orientation with regard to an important but multifaceted and sometimes disparate topic.

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Finale: Lied's Invisible Manuscripts

ANCIENT JEW REVIEW: The final essays on Liv Ingeborg Lied's book, Invisible Manuscripts:

Celebrating the Remedy of Neglect: a review of Liv Ingeborg Lied, Invisible Manuscripts: Textual Scholarship and the Survival of 2 Baruch (Jeff Childers).

With 2 Baruch, we have so little to hand, we are quick to welcome the expansion of sources that Lied’s approach affords us. But if we were to amend our ways and quit neglecting the artifacts and their readers generally, how might that transform our approach to works for which the embodiments are exponentially more numerous than for 2 Baruch? ...

Response to the Respondents (Liv Ingeborg Lied).

For previous essays in the AJR forum (SBL 2021 panel) on Professor Lied's book, see here and links.

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The Cologne Mani Codex has been C-14 dated

VARIANT READINGS: Radiocarbon Dating of the Cologne Mani Codex (Brent Nongbri).

Finally, what is the best way to describe the date of the codex in light of all the data (palaeographic and radiocarbon)? We can now say with a high degree of confidence: “fourth century to mid-sixth century.”

That's good, and that's what we expected. But the intrusive conservation process does still leave some doubt about the C-14 result.

For more on the Cologne Mani Codex, including online photos and background information, see here and links.

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Purim 2022

HAPPY PURIM to all those celebrating! The festival began last night at sundown.

Last year's Purim post is here, with links. Purim-related posts since then are here, here, here, here, here, and here.

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The (traditional) Tomb of Esther and Mordechai was bought by Iranian Jews in 1971.

FOR PURIM: Iranian Jews acquired tomb of Queen Esther and Mordechai, Israel's National Library reveals. The government of Iran's shah facilitated the purchase of the land in 1971 to mark 2,500 years to Cyrus the Great's edict allowing Babylonians to worship the god of their choic (Hanan Greenwood, Yisrael HaYom).

Ahead of the Purim holiday, Israel's National Library has revealed the exchange of historical letters proving Iranian Jews purchased the Tomb of Esther and Mordechai in the Iranian city of Hamadan. The purchase of the land in 1971 marked 2,500 years to Persian King Cyrus the Great's edict allowing Babylonians to worship the god of their choice.

[...]

I noted this story a couple of years ago, so it is not exactly a revelation. But this year's story includes scans of a couple of the letters, which I have not seen before.

Again, this is the traditional tomb of Esther and Mordechai. They are characters in the Book of Esther, an ancient novel. But apparently there is some reason to believe that the tomb goes back to late antiquity and has a Jewish connection.

For that and for more on this tomb, which was in the news a good bit in 2020, start here and follow the links.

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Xerxes I and Ahasuerus

FOR PURIM: Persian King Xerxes thought to be Biblical Ahasuerus ‘famous example of arrogance.’ The story of Esther would have taken place in the third year of Xerxes’ reign in 483 BCE, noted Dr. Yigal Bloch, curator of the Bible Lands Museum Jerusalem (JUDITH SUDILOVSKY, Jerusalem Post).

“This doesn’t mean the story is real, but it gives a chronological anchor for when it should have taken place,” he said.

For more on the historical Xerxes I, see here. A couple of posts on legends about Ahasuerus inspired by the Book of Esther are here and here.

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Esther in Hebrew and Greek

PURIM IS COMING: The Other Side of Esther. The Hebrew version we read doesn’t mention God, and avoids theology. But the ancient Greek versions of the story took a very different approach (A.J. Berkovitz, Tablet Magazine).

As in modern times, many diasporic Jews in the ancient world could barely read, let alone understand, Hebrew. Those living in places dominated by Hellenism—such as Alexandria in Egypt and the Greek isles—would gather in synagogues to read from sacred scripture translated into their Greek vernacular. The story of Esther that these communities heard on Purim vastly differs from the tale as told by our familiar Hebrew text.

Cross-file under Septuagint.

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On Mordechai

PURIM IS COMING: Mordechai the Spy-Master. (Rabbi Eric Grossman, TheTorah.com).

Mordechai learns of a secret plot to assassinate King Ahasuerus. He also knows that in a private meeting, Haman tried to bribe the king to kill the Jews. At the same time, Mordechai is able to keep his relationship with Esther a secret.

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Esther scrolls in the Israel National Library

PURIM IS COMING: National Library unveils largest collection of Esther scrolls in the world. As the nation marks Purim, the National Library provides a rare glimpse into part of its collection of Esther scrolls (Jerusalem Post).

For more on the Valmadonna Library, its acquisition by the INL, etc., see here and links and here.

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Turkey denies there is a deal to return the Siloam Inscription.

SO MUCH FOR RUMORS: Not So Fast: Turkey Denies Deal to Return Siloam Inscription to Israel (Hana Levi Julian, The Jewish Press).

Of course its always possible that the denial is just part of the negotiation and that matters will turn around. But the history of the discussion does not encourage optimism.

For the earlier report on the supposed deal, see here. Follow the links from there for more posts on previous negotiations that also fell through and other posts on the Siloam Inscription.

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

Dugan on Lied’s Invisible Manuscripts

ANCIENT JEW REVIEW: Is That All There Is?: On Limits in the Study of Second Temple Literature (Elena Dugan).

So, these are three ways in which Lied’s book has fundamentally reoriented my view of antiquity and Second Temple literature in particular. I am no longer so sure that we have any stable cases of late-Second Temple voices mourning the loss of the Temple. I am galvanized to check and see just how much of the material reception-history of the pseudepigrapha is in service of Christian supersession, and anti-Judaism, and suspicious that it may be more than we might have imagined. And I am worried about the extent to which the textual stability on which scholars of the ancient world tacitly rely to build our archive is built on particularly vile early-modern attitudes towards our manuscripts’ careful and tireless guardians. In short, I am rethinking much thanks to Lied’s groundbreaking work, and it remains only for me to thank her greatly for it.

For previous essays in the AJR forum (SBL 2021 panel) on Liv Ingeborg Lied's book, Invisible Manuscripts, see here and here.

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

JQR 111.1 (2022)

H-JUDAIC: ToC: The Jewish Quarterly Review 112.1 (2022). One article of particular interest:

Babylonian Jewish Society: The Evidence of the Incantation Bowls
Simcha Gross, Avigail Manekin-Bamberger

Since their discovery, the Jewish Babylonian Aramaic incantation bowls have typically been understood to represent “popular” Jewish religious practice that stood in marked contrast with the scholastic rabbinic elite. As a result of this characterization, the usefulness of the bowls for understanding Babylonian Jewish society and the position of the rabbis within it has remained largely unexplored. With the continued publication and study of the bowls, however, the dichotomy between the world of the learned elites and the masses allegedly responsible for the bowls has become increasingly difficult to maintain. This article argues that the Jewish Babylonian Aramaic incantation bowls do not constitute a single corpus; rather, they were produced by different groups of scribes, some of whom consistently employed recognizable Jewish literature from a variety of genres and eschewed non-Jewish invocations. Moreover, we demonstrate how some bowl scribes invoke in an unprecedented manner not only rabbis of the distant past but also local rabbis, the rabbinic class, and even rabbinic academy heads. This evidence suggests that some bowls scribes had greater intellectual and social proximity to the rabbis, rendering a more complicated depiction of Babylonian Jewish society.

The article and this JQR issue are behind a subscription wall.

For many PaleoJudaica posts on the ancient Babylonian Aramaic incantation bowls, see the links collected here.

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

Jews or Judeans in the Book of Esther?

OPHIR YARDEN: Jewish Not Judean: The Diaspora in the Book of Esther (TheTorah.com).

Although Judea is one of the provinces of the multicultural empire of Persia, the book of Esther never mentions it. Rather, it grapples with the precarious position of Jews scattered throughout Persia, outside their ancestral homeland, and who stand out among the non-Jews in their insistence on keeping to their cultural rules and norms.

For some thoughts (including mine) on the debate on whether the ancient terms ioudaios/yehudi are best understood as "Jew" or "Judean," see here and links.

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Zoom event on the Aramaic incantation bowls

YALE UNIVERSITY JUDAIC STUDIES PROGRAM: The Aramaic Incantation Bowls in Their Late Antique Jewish Contexts, virtual event. Takes place on Monday, April 4, 2022 - 7:00am to Tuesday, April 5, 2022 - 12:30pm. Follow the link for the registration link.

For many PaleoJudaica posts on the Babylonian Aramaic incantation bowls, see the links collected here and follow them back from there.

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

Leviathan in the Bible and the ANE

BIBLE ODYSSEY: Leviathan (Alessandro Rivera & Dexter Callender). An excellent overview of the biblical traditions about this sea monster and its ancient Near Eastern background.

For more on the Leviathan myth, including reception history to the present, see here and links, plus here, here, here, here, here, here, and here.

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Review of Fischer-Bovet & von Reden, Comparing the Ptolemaic and Seleucid empires

BRYN MAYR CLASSICAL REVIEW: Comparing the Ptolemaic and Seleucid empires: integration, communication, and resistance.

Christelle Fischer-Bovet, Sitta von Reden, Comparing the Ptolemaic and Seleucid empires: integration, communication, and resistance. Cambridge, United Kingdom; New York: Cambridge University Press, 2021. Pp. 400. ISBN 9781108479257 £90.00.

Review by
Benedikt Eckhardt, University of Edinburgh. B.Eckhardt@ed.ac.uk

Ancient Judaism comes up a couple of times in the review, but the book is also of great interest for background information on the Ptolemaic and Seleucid empires.

For many PaleoJudaica posts on both empires, including their coins, and their importance for biblical and ancient Jewish studies, start here (plus here and here) and follow the links.

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