Visit PaleoJudaica daily for the latest news on ancient Judaism and the biblical world.
E-mail: paleojudaica-at-talktalk-dot-net ("-at-" = "@", "-dot-" = ".")
This is a good list. You will find PaleoJudaica posts on most of the sites (see the search engine).
I didn't know about the "Finger of Og" (the giant). Cool. For posts on Og, see here and links, plus here, here, and here.
Visit PaleoJudaica daily for the latest news on ancient Judaism and the biblical world.
It appears to be open access: The Past Decade in Septuagint Research (2012–2021) (William A. Ross, Currents in Biblical Research 21 [2022]).
Abstract
This article overviews the very active past decade in the discipline of Septuagint scholarship, including publications dating from the beginning of 2012 through the end of 2021. It organizes and discusses this activity within numerous categories, beginning with a brief overview of previous disciplinary surveys before moving on to the many new publications that have appeared, including primary texts, commentaries, general introductions, handbooks and companions, and reference works. Further sections give attention to important trends and publications in the main disciplinary journal, as well as in the major conference volumes and series. The second half of the article gives attention to several important areas of development and debate in the discipline, with attention to how it has developed globally over the last ten years. In the course of this discussion, this article, while not exhaustive in scope or coverage, also contributes to the tradition within modern Septuagint scholarship of compiling a bibliography of scholarly publications in the discipline.
Visit PaleoJudaica daily for the latest news on ancient Judaism and the biblical world.
Of course, if the question is “could these restorations be correct?,” the answer is yes. But there is a vast difference between suggesting something is “possible” and suggesting it is “probable,” “compelling,” or “certain.” Someone might say, “well, is it plausible?” The answer to that may be yes as well. But there is also a lot of distance between something being “plausible” and something being probable, compelling, or certain.Background here.
And while we're on the subject, Bible History Daily has republished a 2009 BAR article on the fragment by Hershel Shanks, originally published when it was first announced: Hezekiah’s Monumental Inscription? Revisiting an inscription from the pages of BAR.
Visit PaleoJudaica daily for the latest news on ancient Judaism and the biblical world.
Memory in a Time of Prose: Studies in Epistemology, Hebrew Scribalism, and the Biblical Past by Daniel D. Pioske. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2018.... In this tight, readable book, Pioske weaves together related but distinct studies of scribalism and memory with newly discovered material evidence to give a useful insight into the study of early biblical narratives. ...
Visit PaleoJudaica daily for the latest news on ancient Judaism and the biblical world.
The Cave of Letters is quite literally a cave of secrets. Rediscovered by archaeologists in the 1960s, its contents told of uprisings as well as everyday life in ancient Israel.This essay ably demonstrates the importance of the Cave of Letters for ancient Jewish history. But I am still going with Qumran Cave 4 as the most important.What at first appeared to be an unassuming cave located in a cliff face in the Judean desert actually turned out to be a perfectly preserved time capsule, full of letters and documents from the 1st and 2nd centuries. Archaeologists have worked hard to pick apart these letters and the other items found in the cave in order to understand who used the cave and why.
[...]
For PaleoJudaica posts on Richard Freund's work on the Cave of Letters, see here, here, here, and here. For some posts on the Babatha archive, see here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, and here. And for more on the Cave of Letters, see here and links.
For additional posts on the Bar Kokhba Revolt and the texts and artifacts (mostly coins) associated with it, follow the links collected here, and see also here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here and links.
Visit PaleoJudaica daily for the latest news on ancient Judaism and the biblical world.
A new multi-faceted project by the Yeshiva University Center for Israel Studies introduces the Samaritans to a wide and varied audience, and explores how they have managed to survive for millennia despite efforts by conquering powers to erase them. Crucially, the project asks how the Samaritans plan to continue to survive into the future when today they number a mere 862. ...For more on the project and its various elements, see here and links.The Samaritans Project features a book of academic essays, a full-length documentary film, and an exhibition at the Museum of the Bible in Washington, DC. All three share the same title: “The Samaritans: A Biblical People.” A Samaritan cookbook and artworks created through a collaboration with the Jewish Art Salon are also part of the project.
Cross-file under Cinema.
Visit PaleoJudaica daily for the latest news on ancient Judaism and the biblical world.
Found in 2017 in the biblical city of Lachish, the artifact joins the pantheon of ancient combs assumed to be for lice that have been found up and down the Holy Land. But this one is different.The object was found in a scientific excavation. And epigrapher Christopher Rollston says the inscription is real. It looks like this is the real deal.This one bears the earliest sentence ever found in Israel, seven words in the world’s first alphabet, archaic proto-Canaanite: “May this tusk root out the lice of the hair and the beard.”
This is an important discovery. Also, Eww.
UPDATE: Amanda Borschel-Dan has a characteristically thorough article on the comb and inscription: Ivory lice comb – a dating head-scratcher – may hold earliest Canaanite sentence. With a paucity of contemporary Bronze Age examples for comparison, scholars believe relatable 7-word inscription is first recorded complete proto-Canaanite sentence in Holy Land (Times of Israel).
Among the extras in the article is the story of how "the world has a camera thief to thank for this discovery" (of the inscription).
Visit PaleoJudaica daily for the latest news on ancient Judaism and the biblical world.
Archeologists in Egypt have uncovered a vast underground tunnel near the city of Alexandria, and hope it may lead them to the long-lost tomb of Egypt’s last pharaoh and possibly its most famous ruler, Queen Cleopatra VII.This sounds like the logline for a new Mummy movie.
Be that as it may, I hope something interesting comes of the the discovery. Presumably the tunnel was built to lead to something.
For PaleoJudaica posts on Queen Cleopatra VII (the Cleopatra) and on the excavation at Taposiris Magna, start here and follow the links.
Visit PaleoJudaica daily for the latest news on ancient Judaism and the biblical world.
Rodney A. Whitacre, A grammar of New Testament Greek. Eerdmans language resources. Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2021. Pp. 522. ISBN 9780802879271 $49.99.Review by
Erich Merkel, University of Virginia. em7ec@virginia.eduIt is worth emphasizing at the beginning what this book is not. It is not, on the one hand, an exhaustive reference grammar of Koine Greek. Nor, on the other, is it an introductory textbook. It rather occupies a somewhat ambiguous middle position, that of a “pedagogical grammar” aimed at beginning and intermediate students, and intended both for “occasional reference” as well as “reading through” from cover to cover (ix). Its stated purpose is to help beginner-intermediate students to read the Greek of the New Testament (ix-x). To a lesser degree it also covers Koine Greek generally; but its aim and its focus are narrowly tailored to reading and interpreting the NT. ...
Visit PaleoJudaica daily for the latest news on ancient Judaism and the biblical world.
Horizons of Ancestral InheritanceCommentary on the Levi, Qahat, and Amram Qumran Aramaic Traditions
Andrew B. Perrin (Author)
Hardback
$115.00$103.50Ebook (PDF)
$103.50$82.80Ebook (Epub & Mobi)
$103.50$82.80Product details
Published Jul 14 2022
Format Hardback
Edition 1st
Extent 272
ISBN 9780567705433
Imprint T&T Clark
Dimensions 9 x 6 inches
Series The Library of Second Temple Studies
Publisher Bloomsbury PublishingDescription
In this study of the Aramaic materials at Qumran, Andrew B. Perrin examines the Aramaic Levi Document, Words of Qahat, and Visions of Amram, showing how they exhibit a concentration of priestly concerns/knowledge and exploring new models for evaluating their potential textual or traditional connections. The Aramaic texts among the Dead Sea Scrolls are among the most understudied items in the Qumran collection, and with open questions posed around their origins, transmission, and reception in and beyond the Second Temple period, these writings provide both new materials and fresh insight into the thought, identity, and practice of ancient Judaism.
Perrin's analysis includes a new transcription, critical notes, and translation of the Aramaic Levi, Qahat, and Amram fragments based upon the latest digital images. He pairs them with a comprehensive commentary on the conceptual elements, codicological features, and cultural contexts of the materials, and he concludes with a fresh synthesis regarding the textual formation of these Aramaic, priestly pseudepigrapha as a “constellation” of texts within a larger world or scribal-priestly activity and traditions.
Visit PaleoJudaica daily for the latest news on ancient Judaism and the biblical world.
Author’s MusingsCross-file under Talmud Watch.
Bringing Down the Temple House: Engendering Tractate Yoma (Brandeis University Press)
Marjorie Lehman
Professor and Chair of Rabbinic Literatures and Cultures
Jewish Theological Seminary of America
Visit PaleoJudaica daily for the latest news on ancient Judaism and the biblical world.