The siege of Yodfat

HISTORY AND ARCHAEOLOGY: Yodfat, the Jewish Town Attacked by 60,000 Roman Soldiers. Commanded by Josephus, the rebellious Jews of Yodfat withstood the Roman siege for 47 days. And when they knew it was hopeless, they chose how to die. Two millennia later they were finally brought to rest (Ruth Schuster, Haaretz).

One town there was Yodfat. A hallmark of Judaism is that some homes had their own mikvehs, or ritual baths, says Prof. Mordechai Aviam of Kinneret Academic College, who has been involved in the study at the site for decades. Last week he brought a group of graduate students to Yodfat, which probably is named after a Seleucid princess, he explained. I was invited to join the tour.

This a fascinating and nearly comprehensive account of what we know from Josephus and archaeology about the fall of Yodfat (Jotapata) during the Great Revolt.

It does gloss over Josephus' self-described creative handling of the suicide pact he had as part of a group of forty defenders of the city. He managed to be one of the two who didn't carry out the pact. For more on that, see my posts on the Josephus Problem (the algorithm he supposedly used to come out among the last in the suicide rota).

For PaleoJudaica posts on the siege of Yodfat, see here and links.

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The million-dollar Vesuvius Challenge

CONTEST: Vesuvius Challenge – Decipher These 2,000-Year-Old Scrolls And Win $1 Million. Can you help identify and read the texts on these ancient scrolls from Herculaneum? (DR. RUSSELL MOUL, IFLScience).

Fancy yourself a code breaker or a technological wiz? If so, you could win $700,000 if you can solve a 2,000-year-old mystery. The former GitHub CEO Nat Friedman and a group of scientists are giving away prizes worth a total of $1,000,000, at the time of writing, to anyone who can successfully decipher scrolls recovered from a library in Herculaneum, which was buried when Mount Vesuvius erupted in 79 CE.

[...]

For many PaleoJudaica posts on the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 CE and its destruction of Pompeii and Herculaneum, and on the efforts to reconstruct and decipher the carbonized library at Herculaneum, start here and just follow those links.

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Roman-era mosaic (re-)uncovered in Shoham

DECORATIVE ART: Archaeologists uncover Roman-era church mosaic along Israel Nat'l Trail. The mosaic was first discovered in the 80s but has been uncovered over the last month by the Israel Antiquities Authority and Shoham residents (Jerusalem Post).

The mosaic, which had been part of a church floor, was part of a church that most likely dated back to the Roman era. The design shows colorful sections with flower designs in them that are likely inspired by anemones that flower in the area.

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Lessons from the fake Darius ostracon

ANALYSIS: Too-good-to-be-true Darius ostracon mix-up teaches a public lesson etched in pottery. While archaeologists worry about forgeries, the IAA vows to implement more rigorous testing after a highly touted potsherd thought to be from 498 BCE was found to be inauthentic (Melanie Lidman, Times of Israel).

The IAA quickly identified that the potsherd itself was an authentic potsherd, which led to the assumption that the inscription on it was also authentic. However, there are thousands of potsherds similar to the unauthenticated ostracon lying around Lachish.

Avni said the experts fell into a mistake common not just in archaeology, but in all types of science: they already believed the item was real, and they performed tests that confirmed that bias.

For more on confirmation bias, see here.

Background on the story, with my commentary, is here and links.

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VanderKam, R.H. Charles: A Biography (OUP)

NEW BOOK FROM OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS:

R. H. Charles

A Biography

James C. VanderKam

The Bible and the Humanities

• Provides the first book-length biography of R.H. Charles, a pioneer in the study of Jewish apocalyptic literature
• Exploits fully the archival evidence for Charles's career
• Establishes the first comprehensive analysis of Charles's publications and their reception in his time and today

£120.00
Hardback
Published: 02 February 2023
608 Pages
234x156mm
ISBN: 9780192869289
Also Available As: Ebook

R.H. Charles: A Biography first situates Charles's work in the history of biblical scholarship. The remainder of the book is divided into three parts that draw on material stored in several archives and other sources. The first provides an account of his early life and education in Ireland. Part two is devoted to his Oxford years (1890-1913). Within a chronological framework, the chapters regarding the Oxford period focus on his pioneering work with Jewish apocalypses as evident in his many textual editions, translations, and commentaries. For all of his major publications an attempt is made to assess how his work was received at the time and how it continues to affect the field of early Judaism. The third part furnishes a biographical overview of his work as a canon of Westminster (1913-31). At the Abbey, he carried out pastoral duties but also published books that made contributions to publicly debated issues such as divorce, while at the same time continuing his scholarly endeavours. The volume includes bibliographies of Charles's many publications and of works cited.

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Bakker, The Secret of Time (Brill, Open Access)

NEW BOOK FROM BRILL:

The Secret of Time: Reconfiguring Wisdom in the Dead Sea Scrolls

Series: Studies on the Texts of the Desert of Judah, Volume: 143

Open Access

Author: Arjen F. Bakker

Copyright Year: 2023
E-Book (PDF)
Availability: Published
ISBN: 978-90-04-53779-8
Publication date: 13 Feb 2023

Hardback
Availability: Not Yet Published
ISBN: 978-90-04-52974-8
Publication date: 22 Mar 2023

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Review of Rogers, For the Freedom of Zion

BIBLE HISTORY DAILY: For the Freedom of Zion: The Great Revolt of Jews Against Romans, 66–74 CE.

By Guy MacLean Rogers (New Haven: Yale Univ. Press, 2021), xxii + 721 pp., 23 b/w photos and drawings, 5 maps; $37.50 (hardcover), $28.49 (eBook)
Reviewed by Dennis Mizzi

... In his approach to Josephus, Rogers departs from previous scholarship in a fundamental way. Instead of limiting his focus to the causes of the revolt—a major scholarly preoccupation—he takes a deep dive into every aspect of Josephus’s narrative. Although Rogers reads Josephus critically, he is more receptive to his viewpoint than most scholars today. ...

I noted the publication of the book here.

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Frevel & Nihan, Purity and the Forming of Religious Traditions ... (Brill, open-access)

THE AWOL BLOG: Purity and the Forming of Religious Traditions in the Ancient Mediterranean World and Ancient Judaism.

I noted the publication of this Brill volume when it came out a decade ago. But now you can get the e-book version for free. For you, special deal!

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Tov on the evolution of the biblical DSS

THE ETC BLOG: The Evolution of the Biblical Dead Sea Scrolls (Anthony Ferguson).

Emanuel Tov is the most well-known textual critic of the Hebrew Bible and for good reason. Under his leadership, thirty-three volumes of the authoritative series Discoveries in the Judaean Desert (DJD) were published in less than twenty years. Before his tenure, only seven volumes were published in nearly forty years. Despite this impressive feat, Tov is probably most well-known for his work Textual Criticism of the Hebrew Bible.

The book is now in its fourth edition, and it is the go-to work for those interested in textual criticism of the Hebrew Bible. One aspect of the fourth edition, among many, worth discussing is his categorization of the biblical Dead Sea Scrolls. A comparison of these categories across his four editions shows a certain evolution in how he views the text of the Hebrew Bible in the Second Temple period.

[...]

A detailed breakdown for all you textual criticism nerds.

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The "Tomb of Absalom"

THE ANCIENT NEAR EAST TODAY: The “Tomb of Absalom”: The Earliest Judeo-Christian Place of Pilgrimage in Jerusalem (Joe Zias).

Jews and Christians alike would have been aware of the fact that the monument, apparently lacking inscriptions, was known by the local population as the Tomb of Absalom, as suggested by Josephus and the Copper Scroll. By converting it into a Christian martyrium and a dwelling, monks would simply have to rename it the Tomb of Zacharias, add three inscriptions, holy water and baptismal fonts, modify its architecture, and break down parts of the northern, western, eastern and southern walls for light and air.

I still would like to know what the structure was originally for. I see that it has been proposed that it is the tomb of the Herodian ruler Agrippa I.

I followed the discovery of the inscriptions in 2003. Most of the links have rotted, but some substantive posts are here, here, here, here, here, here, and here.

The structure was damaged by fire in 2016.

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Ezekiel's Babylonian-inspired temple?

DR. TOVA GANZEL: Ezekiel’s Temple Plan Draws on Babylonian Temples (TheTorah.com).

During the Babylonian exile (6th c. B.C.E.), Ezekiel prophesies the building of a future temple in Israel that is unlike the Tabernacle or First Temple, but that incorporates elements familiar from Babylonian temples, including the Ezida temple of Borsippa.

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Antiquities-smuggling arrests in West Bank

APPREHENDED: Security forces thwart illegal antiquity trade in West Bank. "The suspect knew the provisions of the law but chose to ignore them and act against the law in order to make money," said Amir Ganor (Jerusalem Post).

Military officials intercepted an antiquities-smuggling ring in the West Bank, IDF officials said in a statement released early Wednesday.

Following a large-scale investigation conducted in secrecy, the Israeli Civil Administration arrested three antiquities smugglers who had hundreds of thousands of shekels worth of rare archaeological finds in their possession.

[...]

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More on those Turkish Esther scrolls

ANALYSIS: How the removal of Jewish scripture from Turkey marred Israel’s rescue operation. ZAKA volunteers brought back and showcased 2 Scrolls of Esther said to be decades old, sparking frenzied allegations of ‘archaeological theft’ in the Turkish media (CANAAN LIDOR, Times of Israel).

The scrolls are now "decades old" instead of centuries.

Background here and here.

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Temple menorah coin on display in Jerusalem

NUMISMATICS: Coin with oldest depiction of Temple menorah displayed for first time. New renovation of the Davidson Center in Jerusalem utilizes interactive tech and augmented reality to highlight history and archaeology of Temple-era Jerusalem (Melanie Lidman, Times of Israel).

The coin dates to around 40 BCE, during the Roman times and the reign of the last Hasmonean king. “This is the oldest known artistic depiction of the menorah, created 107 years before the destruction of the Second Temple,” says Dr. Yuval Baruch, head of archaeology and administration at the Israel Antiquities Authority, who was one of the excavators of the site and led the archaeological curation of the Davidson Center. The coin was donated to Israel sometime during the 1940s, during the British Mandate period, and it’s unclear where or when it was found.

That is, it's unprovenanced. Just saying.

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Codex Sassoon going on display in Tel Aviv

FOR SALE: Oldest near-complete Hebrew Bible to be displayed at Tel Aviv museum. Thousand-year-old Codex Sassoon manuscript is expected to fetch up to $50 million at Sotheby’s (ETGAR LEFKOVITS).

(March 12, 2023 / JNS) The oldest near-complete edition of the Hebrew Bible, a manuscript from a millennium ago, will be on display on March 23-29 at the ANU—Museum of the Jewish People in Tel Aviv, the museum announced on Sunday.

The Codex Sassoon—which was shown to the public only once before, four decades ago—will then be displayed in Dallas, Los Angeles and New York before being auctioned at Sotheby’s in New York on May 16. It is expected to fetch an estimated $30 million-$50 million, making it potentially the most expensive book or historical document ever to be sold at auction.

[...]

Background here and here.

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Halivni, Zevahim, Menahot, Hullin (Magnes)

NEW BOOK FROM MAGNES PRESS (IN HEBREW):

Sources and Traditions
A Source Critical Commentary on the Talmud Tractates Zevahim, Menahot, Hullin

By: David Weiss Halivni

Synopsis
This volume - Zevahim, Menahot, Hullin - is the ninth in the series Sources and Traditions: Commentaries on the Talmud. Like its predecessors, it distinguishes between sources (the original sayings in the Talmud) and traditions (sayings that have been changed in the course of transmission).

More details

Publisher: Magnes Press
Year: 2023
Catalog number : 45-131161
ISBN: 978-965-7790-52-6
Pages: 316
Language: Hebrew
Weight: 750 gr.
Cover: Hardcover

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TC 27 (2022)

THE ETC BLOG: TC Journal vol. 27 (2022) Is Out (Tommy Wasserman). With articles on the textual criticism of the Hebrew Bible, the New Testament, and the Old Latin and Septuagint.

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

The Coins of Carthage from the Second Punic War

NUMISMATICS: The Coins of Carthage During Hannibal’s War With Rome (Mike Markowitz, CoinWeek). With rampaging elephants! And maybe with Hannibal's portrait, sort of.

For many PaleoJudaica posts on Hannibal Barca and the Second Punic War, see here and links.

Cross-file under Punic Watch.

This seems like a good time to link to this post, which explains why PaleoJudaica pays attention to the Phoenicians, the Phoenician language, the Carthaginians, and Punic and Neo-Punic

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

Review of The Routledge handbook of the senses in the ancient Near East

BRYN MAYR CLASSICAL REVIEW: The Routledge handbook of the senses in the ancient Near East.

Kiersten Neumann, Allison Thomason, The Routledge handbook of the senses in the ancient Near East. Routledge handbooks. Abingdon; New York: Routledge, 2022. Pp. xxix, 739. ISBN 9780367235284

Review by
Nassos Papalexandrou, University of Texas. papalex@austin.utexas.edu (with Amir Abou-Jaoude and Marina Schneider)

The volume gives some attention to the Hebrew Bible and ancient Judaism.

I noted its publication here.

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

Does Hebrew have a "reduced alphabet?"

COMPARATIVE SEMITICS: Hebrew Has a ‘Reduced Alphabet’ (Mitchell First, Jewish Link).

It's true! This is a good, accessible (if you know some Hebrew) account of comparative Semitic phonology in relation to biblical Hebrew. It solves a good many mysteries.

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A Persian-era city in Nahariya?

ARCHAEOLOGY: Israel unveils 2,500-year-old Mediterranean Persian city.

JERUSALEM, March 9 (Xinhua) -- Israeli archaeologists uncovered an ancient Persian city from 2,500 years ago, the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA) said Thursday.

The ruins, situated in today's Mediterranean city of Nahariya in northern Israel, include residential areas with buildings and streets, a commercial and industrial area, worship buildings, and a large storage area, said the IAA.

[...]

I can't find the IAA announcement anywhere, but Xinhua sometimes does come up with the first English annoucement about archaeology stories in Israel.

For another ancient city recently unveiled by archaeologists (this one in Egypt), see here.

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

Career retrospective: Sidnie White Crawford

ANCIENT JEW REVIEW: Retrospective | My Journey with the Dead Sea Scrolls (Sidnie White Crawford).

I have always acknowledged that the Dead Sea Scrolls have been very good to me. I was very fortunate, as a young graduate student, to have the opportunity to work on the Scrolls at the moment when scrolls scholarship was breaking open. I was also fortunate to work with a close circle of fine colleagues, who freely shared ideas and supported each other’s work.[14] The Dead Sea Scrolls captured my intellectual interest very early in my development as a scholar, and they have held it ever since.

Professor Crawford and I were PhD students of Frank Moore Cross at the same time in the 1980s.

I noted a review of her 2019 book, Scribes and Scrolls at Qumran, here. Last year she published another book, The Text of the Pentateuch, with De Gruyter, noted here.

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Milan Fashion Week meets 3 Enoch

INSTALLATION ART: Tod's sensual elegance on show amidst The Seven Heavenly Palaces (Elena Passeri, translated by Nicola Mira, Fashion Network). The location:

Pirelli HangarBicocca is a not-for-profit foundation set up in Milan in 2004, when a disused industrial plant was converted into the home of an organisation that produces and promotes contemporary art. Kiefer’s ‘The Seven Heavenly Palaces’ installation was conceived and presented for the opening of the Pirelli Hangar. It owes its name to the palaces described in the ancient Hebrew treatise ‘Sefer Hekhalot’ (the book of palaces), dating back to the 4th-5th century AD. The installation’s seven towers are made of reinforced concrete. Each weighs 90 tons, and they vary in height from 14 to 18 metres.

I have noted Kiefer's hekhalot installation previously here and his earlier, apparently related, painting here. See those posts for commentary on Sefer Hekhalot (3 Enoch).

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Lioness carving found in the Golan

LAPIDARY ART: College Students Find Ancient Stone Lioness During Field Trip in Northern Israel. Israel is littered with archaeological finds and antiquities, but finding not one but two lioness statues by accident is quite the achievement (Ruth Schuster, Haaretz).

Such is Israel. Take a walk, find a lioness, or at least an ancient statue of one. Discovered by chance at Ein Nashut in the Golan Heights, the lady lion was depicted nursing cubs. The artifact is quite weathered after almost 2,000 years of exposure to the elements and much is missing but the identification is unmistakable, says Prof. Mordechai Aviam of Kinneret College on the Sea of Galilee.

[...]

Does this object count as a provenanced or unprovenanced artifact? Interesting question. It was not scientifically excavated. It was found by a group of archaeology students on the surface. It may already have been moved before they found it.

It would be nice to hear more about the object's relationship to the synagogue. Evidently both were made of the same material. Are there other artistic representations in the ruins of the synagogue? Can we tell if the object was made with the same workmanship?

No one seems to doubt that it is an ancient artifact originating from the site. I am not suggesting otherwise. But surface surveys raise their own questions and we should still be asking them.

I noted the discovery of the other lioness statue at el-Araj in 2017 here.

Cross-file under Numismatics, with reference to the coin of the Roman Emperor Gallienus found by the same student group at Khirbet Majdukiya.

This seems to be lion statue week. Archaeologists have also excavated a Sphinx-like statue, perhaps representing the Emperor Claudius, in southern Egypt.

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Purim 2023

HAPPY PURIM to all those celebrating! The festival begins tonight night at sundown.

Last year's Purim post is here, with links. Another recent (indirectly) Purim-related post is here. The latter is now debunked.

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More on the fake Darius inscription

THE DARIUS OSTRACON INSCRIPTION, which reportedly turned out to be a modern pedagogical exercise that went awry, is receiving a good bit of media attention. I have followed the story with my own comments here and here.

Here are some follow-up articles:

Analysis | The Darius Artifact: How Did We Get From Discovery of the Decade to Disgrace? An inscription mentioning the Persian invader found in the city of Lachish, which had a strong Persian presence, correctly written in the language of the time. What could go wrong? (Ruth Schuster, Haaretz)

Israel Antiquities Authority must rein in enthusiasm before its next find - editorial The Israel Antiquities Authority must curb its enthusiasm and double and triple check its archaeological findings before publication (Jerusalem Post)

The Darius Ostracon: From Real to Fake. How experts authenticated a modern forgery (Nathan Steinmeyer, Bible History Daily)

[Christopher Rollston] added that this lack of scrutiny could have had real implications for our understanding of the ancient past. “What if the archaeologist who made this piece had not come forward?” asked Rollston. “We could end up writing histories and citing inscriptions in those histories, and in part basing some of what we say on something that is a modern forgery.”

It is possible that we already are. I flagged concerns about this almost twenty years ago .

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Review of Greek and Egyptian magical formularies, vol. I

BRYN MAYR CLASSICAL REVIEW: Greek and Egyptian magical formularies, vol. I: text and translation.

Christopher A. Faraone, Sofia Torallas Tovar, Greek and Egyptian magical formularies, vol. I: text and translation. California classical studies, 9. Berkeley: California Classical Studies, 2022. Pp. xxviii, 531. ISBN 9781939926166

Review by
Sofia Bianchi Mancini, Max-Weber-Kolleg (Universität Erfurt). sofia.bianchi_mancini@uni-erfurt.de

... After Karl Preisendanz’s influential first edition of the magical papyri––Papyri Graecae Magicae (PGM), completed between 1928 and 1931, and revised in 1974 by Albert Henrichs––and Hans Dieter Betz’s 1986 English translation of the Greek and Demotic magical papyri, Faraone and Torallas Tovar have created in Greek and Egyptian magical formularies (GEMF) an invaluable and much needed corpus. ...

The book is open access.

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Photos of the Book of the Dead scroll from Saqqara

PHOTO ESSAY: See photos of stunningly preserved 52-foot-long Book of the Dead papyrus from ancient Egypt. Egypt has released photos of a newly discovered Book of the Dead from more than 2,000 years ago (Owen Jarus, Live Science).

Egyptian officials have released photos of an ancient scroll, the 52-foot-long (16 meters) Book of the Dead papyrus recently discovered in Saqqara. The 10 images show ancient illustrations of gods and scenes from the afterlife, as well as text on the document, which is more than 2,000 years old.

[...]

I made a big deal of the discovery of this scroll and its implications here. Now you can see more of it.

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Review of The Lexham Old Testament Apocrypha

READING ACTS: The Lexham Old Testament Apocrypha: A New Translation (Phil Long).

Conclusion: The subtitle “A New Translation” is misleading since the majority of this new edition of the Apocrypha is extracted from the Lexham English Septuagint. If you already own the Lexham English Septuagint, then there is little need to add the Lexham Old Testament Apocrypha to your Logos library since they are identical, except for 2 Esdras and deSilva’s introductions. However, the printed book is an inexpensive translation of the Apocrypha (plus) which will serve students of the Second Temple period.

For more on the Lexham English Septuagint, see here and here.

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List of C-14 dated manuscripts

VARIANT READINGS: Radiocarbon Analysis of Papyrus and Parchment Manuscripts: A List (Brent Nongbri).

It occurs to me that it would be useful to have (as complete as possible) a list of papyrus and parchment manuscripts that have been subjected to radiocarbon analysis. I have tried to arrange this list chronologically by the date when the analysis was carried out (which sometimes differs substantially from the date of publication). I would be grateful to be informed of omissions (especially Pharaonic-era papyri and medieval parchment manuscripts; I know that many have been analyzed, but I am not aware of the publication details). Thanks in advance. Links are provided for open access materials.

Looks very useful. Thanks Brent.

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The Darius ostracon was a modern showpiece?

OOPS: Unfounded: Ancient Darius inscription shard isn’t authentic – Antiquities Authority. Officials backtrack on claim of find linked to Purim king’s father, say fragment was created by an expert showing inscription techniques to students, accidentally left at dig site (Times of Israel).

However, on Friday, the IAA said that following the publication of the find they were approached by an expert who participated in an excavation expedition last August, who informed the authority that she had created the inscription “while demonstrating to a group of students the manner in which sherds were inscribed in ancient times.”

“She then left the sherd on the site, which led to the erroneous identification. She was questioned and said this was done unintentionally and without malice,” the statement said.

If we assume this update is correct – and I don't know what's real anymore – the key takeaway is this. When the original story broke, we were assured of the following:

But a few weeks later, after the IAA had put the potsherd through multiple scans and laboratory tests, including at the Dead Sea Scrolls Lab, Ganor called Levy and told him the potsherd was believed to be authentic.

What are all those scans and laboratory tests worth if they can't even identify a modern pedagogical showpiece that wasn't intended to fool anyone? This is a major hit to their credibility.

I said that this find seemed awfully lucky and that my instinct was that the object was a modern plant. Well, it wasn't planted deliberately. Otherwise my instinct was right.

But I trusted the authentication. Again, assuming this revised story bears up, from now on I am trusting my instincts.

Have a nice weekend.

UPDATE (4 March): Ruth Schuster provides additional details in an Haaretz article: Israel Antiquities Authority: ‘Ancient’ Darius Inscription Deemed Inauthentic in Mix-up. A world expert on Aramaic scripts on a foreign expedition in Tel Lachish had written on the shard of pottery as a demonstration to students illustrating how pottery was inscribed in ancient times.

Following the announcement, a world expert on Aramaic scripts who was participating in a foreign expedition to Lachish last August contacted the IAA and explained that she had demonstrated how sherds were inscribed in ancient times to students by scratching on an existing sherd at the site. She then left the ancient sherd with the modern addition on the site, the IAA stated.

That is proper practice in the sense that removing any artifact from an archaeological site in Israel is prohibited, but in this case its subsequent discovery four months later led to confusion. “She was questioned and said this was done unintentionally and without malice,” the IAA said.

The potsherd itself was ancient, but the inscription was scratched onto it last year. I guess that is why it passed all the scans and tests as authentic.

In this case the object was made with no intent to deceive. But it raises the question, how many other unprovenanced, but supposedly-genuine, inscribed (incised) ostraca are modern forgeries made in exactly the same way?

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The Bar'am Synagogue

ANCIENT ARCHITECTURE: Exploring Israel: A Visit to a 1,600–year–old Synagogue. The ancient synagogue at the Bar'am National Park, near the Lebanese border, makes it easy to imagine the ancient Galilean worshipers congregating there (Moshe Gilad, Haaretz).

Even in a country replete with antiquities, it’s rare to find such a magnificent, well-preserved edifice. The 1,600-year-old synagogue in the Bar'am National Park, near Israel's border with Lebanon, is one of the oldest, best-preserved ancient buildings in the country. The lintel stones are decorated with branches, vines and inscriptions in Aramaic, the language spoken by Galilean Jews during the Mishnaic and Talmudic periods.

[...]

Previous posts on the Bar'am (Baram) Synagogue are here and links.

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When did copying a Torah scroll became a sacred process?

PROF. EMANUEL TOV: The Torah Scroll: How the Copying Process Became Sacred (TheTorah.com).

For most Second Temple scribes, the Torah’s sanctity did not translate into a requirement to avoid the imprecisions common in all books. The Paleo-Hebrew and Proto-MT scribes were an exception, although the latter were committed to precise copying of all biblical scrolls. Only with the emergence of scrolls containing all five books (2nd cent. C.E.) did Torah scrolls take on their special level of sanctification.

Drew Longacre has comments at the OTTC Blog.

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The Sassoon family and their collections

ANTIQUARIANS: The sensational collections of the Sassoon family (Tom Stammers, Apollo Magazine).

In recent years, the story of David Sassoon and his remarkable descendants has been a subject of interest to scholars, collectors and curators. Having succeeded in cracking the Baghdadi-Jewish dialect the family used in the correspondence preserved in the Jerusalem archives, business historian Joseph Sassoon has chronicled their success as global merchants. In December 2020 Sotheby’s New York presented ‘Sassoon: A Golden Legacy’, which fetched $5 million, far outstripping estimates and attracting bidders from all over the world. Sharon Mintz, Sotheby’s senior consultant for Judaica, attributed the result to the ‘dazzling quality of the objects together with the storied legacy of the family’. Now a major exhibition at the Jewish Museum in New York, curated by Claudia Nahson and Esther da Costa Meyer and opening this month (3 March–13 August), digs into the stories and the objects that have made the family name into both a brand and a myth.

The Codex Sassoon, reportedly the oldest complete copy of the Hebrew Bible, is going up for auction in May. It was part of the collection of of bibliophile and manuscript collector David Solomon Sassoon, although it now has another owner.

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Biblical Studies Carnival 204

THE AMATEUR EXEGETE: Biblical Studies Carnival #204 (February 2023) (Ben). There are a lot of YouTube entries in this one. A sign of changing times?

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Today is Mani's death day, maybe.

MANICHEISM (MANICHAEISM) WATCH: The Prophet Mani and Christianity’s Problem with Dualism (James Ishmael Ford, Monkey Mind Blog).

This is a good, brief summary of the life of Mani and his influence. It concludes with some theological reflections. I leave you to evaluate those yourself.

If you would like a much deeper dive into Mani's life, including the question of the date of his death, see Werner Sundermann's article MANI in the online Encyclopaedia Iranica

One thing Revd. Ford's essay does not mention is that one of Mani's scriptures was a version of the Book of Giants. It was perhaps written in Syriac and seems to be based on the Jewish Aramaic Book of Giants, fragments of which survive in the Dead Sea Scrolls. Our surviving fragments of Mani's Book of Giants are written in Middle Persian (various languages) and Old Turkic translations.

For some PaleoJudaica posts on the Book of Giants, see here and here and links.

The second volume of the More Old Testament Pseudepigrapha Project will include translations of all surviving fragments of the book.

For many posts on the prophet Mani, see here, here, here, and links.

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

Ostracon mentioning Darius I found at Lachish

NORTHWEST SEMITIC EPIGRAPHY: Hiker discovers 2,500-year-old ancient receipt from reign of Purim king’s father. Eylon Levy, international media adviser to President Isaac Herzog, finds ostracon at Tel Lachish with the first-ever reference in Israel to the name of Persian king Darius I (MELANIE LIDMAN, Times of Israel).

A hiker in Israel’s Judean lowlands region recently discovered a 2,500-year-old pottery shard inscribed with the name of the Persian king Darius the Great, the father of king Ahasuerus. It is the first discovery of an inscription bearing the name of Darius I anywhere in Israel, the Israel Antiquities Authority announced on Wednesday.

[...]

It seems awfully lucky to find an inscribed ostracon bearing a date and the name of a king mentioned in the Bible (e.g. Haggai 1:1; Zechariah 1:1; Ezra 6:1; Nehemeiah 12:22) just lying around. Like the finder, my first instinct was to think it might be a modern plant. But the IAA says they have run multiple tests on it and they think it is authentic. Sometimes you're just lucky.

For the Canaanite sentence on a lice comb from Lachish, see here. For two early inscribed ostraca found at Lachish in recent years, see here and links. For the "Lachish letters" — inscribed ostraca excavated at Lachish about a century ago, see here and links. For more on the archaeology of Lachish in general, see here and here and links.

UPDATE (3 March): If it seems awfully lucky, that's almost certainly because it's not real.

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

Saranda synagogue signage restored

MAINTENANCE: Dignity restored to ancient Jewish site in Albania, thanks to concerned visitor (World Israel News).

“This is a beautiful thing for tourists and locals alike, and finally gives the dignity due to this important Jewish site,” says Dave Gordon, who advocated for repairs to signage at the ruins of the 1,700-year-old synagogue.

Well good.

I noted the discovery in 2003 of the late-antique synagogue ruins in Saranda, Albania. See here and here.

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

Tombs excavated at Oxyrhynchus

OXYRHYNCHUS WATCH: Group Of Persian, Roman and Coptic Tombs Discovered In Egypt (Paula Tsoni, Greek Reporter).

The Egyptian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities announced on Friday the discovery of a group of tombs from the Persian, Roman and Coptic eras in the Al-Bhansa region, Minya governorate.

[...]

Most of the media coverage does not realize that Al-Bhansa is also Oxyrhychus, the place where a gigantic trove of inscribe papyri was recovered in trash dumps over a century ago. The papyri are still being deciphered and edited.

There is no indication that the current excavation found any papyri. But there is a report of murals inscribed in Greek and Coptic at the site.

For many PaleoJudaica posts on Oxyrhynchus and its papyri, start here and follow the links.

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

Robots RePAIR Pompeii's frescoes

TECHNOLOGY WATCH: Solving Pompeii’s Shattered Puzzles With a Robot. Artificial intelligence will aid the robot in its attempts to put together frescoes that were shattered when Mount Vesuvius erupted (Ofer Aderet, Haaretz).

Many vestiges of Pompeii such as mosaics and frescoes have been preserved in their entirety because they were buried under the volcanic ash. In the 18th century, the first archaeologists to excavate the city discovered these works.

The 15,000 stones apparently were parts of frescoes that the eruption scattered in all directions. After painstaking work, archaeologists and other researchers concluded that the challenge was beyond human capabilities.

Prof. Ohad Ben-Shahar of Ben-Gurion University’s Department of Computer Science agrees, so the Sisyphean task will be done by a robot fueled by artificial intelligence.

Cross-file under Algorithm Watch and Decorative Art.

For many PaleoJudaica posts on the eruption of Vesuvius and its destruction of Pompeii and Heculaneum, start here and follow the links

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

Hallmark meets the Golem

GOLEM WATCH: From dust to human: A new Hallmark rom-com puts a twist on the Jewish golem legend. ‘Made for Each Other,’ written by Israeli-American screenwriter Adi Blotman, centers around a mystical 16th-century folktale, with a 21st-century twist (Amy Spiro, Times of Israel).

In the film, Rachel Becker, a sculptor and art teacher played by Alexandra Turshan, feels unlucky in love. She sculpts her ideal man out of clay and, egged on by her neighbor Doris (Illeana Douglas), places an old pendant with Hebrew letters around his neck. The next day, her perfect man has come to life, named, of course, Clay.

For many PaleoJudaica posts on the golem tradition, start here and follow the links. Despite the relatively recent origin of the Golem of Prague, the concept of the golem developed out of ideas in the Talmud.

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

Meccariello & Singletary (eds.) Uses and Misuses of Ancient Mediterranean Sources (Mohr Siebeck)

NEW BOOK FROM MOHR SIEBECK: Uses and Misuses of Ancient Mediterranean Sources. Erudition, Authority, Manipulation. Edited by Chiara Meccariello and Jennifer Singletary. Studies in Education and Religion in Ancient and Pre-Modern History in the Mediterranean and Its Environs 12. 69,00 € including VAT. hardcover ISBN 978-3-16-159943-9.

Published in English.
This interdisciplinary collection of essays explores the use and manipulation of ancient textual sources from different settings across the ancient Mediterranean as a key to understanding the dissemination of religious and mythological knowledge in different historical contexts. In a series of case studies focusing on texts and artifacts from ancient Egypt, Mesopotamia, Israel, Greece, and Rome, and their ancient as well as modern reuse, this volume displays multiple approaches to and perspectives on strategies of incorporation of derivative materials in antiquity and beyond.

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

Eshel & Langlois (eds.), The Scribe in the Biblical World (De Gruyter)

NEW BOOK FROM DE GRUYTER:

The Scribe in the Biblical World

A Bridge Between Scripts, Languages and Cultures

Edited by: Esther Eshel and Michael Langlois

Volume 547 in the series Beihefte zur Zeitschrift für die alttestamentliche Wissenschaft
https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110984293

PDF & EPUB £87.00
Hardcover £87.00

eBook
Published: December 5, 2022
ISBN: 9783110984293

Hardcover
Published: December 5, 2022
ISBN: 9783110996685

About this book

This book offers a fresh look at the status of the scribe in society, his training, practices, and work in the biblical world.

What was the scribe’s role in these societies? Were there rival scribal schools? What was their role in daily life? How many scripts and languages did they grasp? Did they master political and religious rhetoric? Did they travel or share foreign traditions, cultures, and beliefs? Were scribes redactors, or simply copyists? What was their influence on the redaction of the Bible? How did they relate to the political and religious powers of their day? Did they possess any authority themselves?

These are the questions that were tackled during an international conference held at the University of Strasbourg on June 17–19, 2019. The conference served as the basis for this publication, which includes fifteen articles covering a wide geographical and chronological range, from Late Bronze Age royal scribes to refugees in Masada at the end of the Second Temple period.

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

Review of Minets, The slow fall of Babel

BRYN MAYR CLASSICAL REVIEW: The slow fall of Babel: languages and identities in Late Antique Christianity.

Yuliya Minets, The slow fall of Babel: languages and identities in Late Antique Christianity. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2021. Pp. 400. ISBN 9781108980821

Review by
Philip Forness, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven. philip.forness@kuleuven.be

... With this broader background, Yulia Minets’s timely monograph The Slow Fall of Babel investigates the ways in which Late Antique Christian sources reflect on and conceptualize language. The book takes as its source material Christian texts written roughly between 200 and 600 ce in Greek, Latin, Syriac, and occasionally Coptic, focusing on Christian interpretations of “language-related phenomena described in the biblical narrative” (p. 7) as well as “metalinguistic comments in early Christian narratives” (p. 8). ...

The book also gives considerable attention to Jewish sources and Jewish scriptural exegesis.

I noted an essay by the author on the then-forthcoming book here.

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

Materiality and Liminality in Aramaic incantation bowls

THE COPTIC MAGICAL PAPYRI BLOG: Materiality and Liminality in Incantation Bowls. A guest post by Anne Sieberichs.

In this post, I will illustrate the entanglements of the use of the incantation bowls and their text through the concept of liminality that is present in both the text and its use. More specifically, I will look at the placement of the bowls within thresholds, and how they served as a second wall providing protection inside against the non-protected outside, using bowl CAMIB 49A as an example.

The Aramaic incantation bowl CAMIB 49A (BM 135563) is housed in the British Museum, acquired in 1971. It appears not to have been scientifically excavated: the provenance is "said to be from." Caveat lector accordingly.

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

More on "Rediscovering Enoch"

ANCIENT JEW REVIEW: Rediscovering Enoch from the Fifteenth to Nineteenth Century (Annette Yoshiko Reed).

If there is an origin myth for modern scholarship on Second Temple Judaism, one of its protagonists is no doubt the Scottish adventurer James Bruce (1730–1794), widely celebrated as the man who “rediscovered” 1 Enoch. The manuscripts that he brought from Ethiopia to Europe were key catalysts for academic interest in the Judaism of this so-called “intertestamental” period ...

I noted the publication of Rediscovering Enoch here, with comment.

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

The Ptolemaic Kingdom

THE WORLD IS FULL OF HISTORY: The Ptolemaic Kingdom (World Atlas).

The Ptolemaic Kingdom was an ancient Greek state based in Egypt. Alexander the Great conquered Egypt in 332 BC, liberating the people from Persian rule. After his death, his companion and general, Ptolemy I Soter, founded the Ptolemaic Kingdom in 305 BC and ruled over Egypt. He took advantage of Egypt's geographical position and expanded Egypt's role in trade networks, which led to the domination of the Ptolemaic Kingdom over the Mediterranean. The Ptolemaic rulers reigned for nearly three centuries before the end of the empire marked by the death of Cleopatra VII in 30 BC, and the beginning of Roman rule in Egypt.

[...]

A nice overview of the Ptolemaic dynasty and its history.

For many PaleoJudaica posts on the Ptolemaic empire, including its coins and its importance for biblical and ancient Jewish studies, start here (cf. here and here) and follow the links.

For Ptolemaic coins and mention of the rulers in the Bible, see the posts collected here.

For Cleopatra VII (the Cleopatra), who reportedly spoke Hebrew and Aramaic, see here and links.

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

More on Antakya (Antioch)

HISTORY: Ruins of Turkish city of Antakya tell story of a rich past. Jewish community’s leaders died in 7.8-quake this month; city ‘can be rebuilt, but it will not be like the old one,’ resident says (SARAH EL DEEB, Times of Israel).

Antakya, known as Antioch in ancient times, has been repeatedly destroyed by earthquakes and rebuilt over history. But residents fear it will be a long time before it recovers from this one, and that its unique historical identity may never be fully restored. The destruction is so great, and they say the government cares little for this area.

Antioch, built in 300 B.C. by a general of Alexander the Great in the Orontes River valley, was one of the biggest cities of the Greco-Roman world, rivaling Alexandria and Constantinople. Saints Peter and Paul are said to have founded one of the oldest Christian communities here, and it’s here that the word “Christian” first came into use. It later drew Muslim and Christian Crusader invaders.

Antaka has tragically been in the news due to that dreadful earthquake. I followed a story pertaining to the city here and here.

The Book of Acts reports that ancient Antioch had a Jewish community signficant enough to make it attractive as a missions ground for first-generation Jesus followers. But some of them also began preaching to gentiles, evidently with some success. Acts says that Jesus followers were first called Christians at Antioch (11:19-30).

Incidentally, this city was Antioch on the Orontes. There were other ancient cities with the same name. Acts mentions one of them, Antioch of Pisidia (or Phrygia) (Acts 13:13-52), near Yalvaç in Isparta Province in present-day Turkey.

I wish the citizens of Aktakya all success in rebuilding their city.

UPDATE (24 February): This post by Carl Rasmussen at the Holy Land Photos' Blog is also relevant: Earthquakes in Turkey and the formation of the Jordan Valley.

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

Rediscovering Enoch? (Brill)

NEW BOOK FROM BRILL:

Rediscovering Enoch? The Antediluvian Past from the Fifteenth to Nineteenth Centuries

Series: Studia in Veteris Testamenti Pseudepigrapha, Volume: 27

Volume Editors: Ariel Hessayon , Annette Yoshiko Reed , and Gabriele Boccaccini

The books of Enoch are famed for having been “lost” in the Middle Ages but “rediscovered” by modern scholars. But was this really the case? This volume is the first to explore the reception of Enochic texts and traditions between the fifteenth and nineteenth centuries. Bringing specialists in antiquity into conversation with specialists in early modernity, it reveals a much richer story with a more global scope. Contributors show how Enoch and the era before the Flood were newly reimagined, not just by scholars, but also by European artists and adventurers, Kabbalists, Sufis, Mormons, and Ethiopian and Slavonic Christians.

Prices from (excl. shipping): €147.00

Copyright Year: 2023
E-Book (PDF)
Availability: Published
ISBN: 978-90-04-53751-4
Publication date: 13 Feb 2023

Hardback
Availability: Published
ISBN: 978-90-04-52979-3
Publication date: 16 Feb 2023

Nothing on John Dee? I'm surprised. In the sixteenth century, Dee and his "scryer," Edward Kelley, showed some interest in the quotation of 1 Enoch in Jude 14-15. They also produced their own Enochian apocrypha.

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

Candle handle found on an amble

ARTIFACT: Israeli family discovers ancient Byzantine relic on Shabbat walk. According to a release from the Israel Antiquities Authority, the family noticed a small clay face in the ground, which appeared to be looking up at them (Jerusalem Post).

Researchers at the IAA examined the item and determined that it is the decorative handle of a candle holder from the 6th or 7th century CE.

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

The Phoenix and ancient Judaism

MYTHOLOGY: The surprising Jewish origins of the phoenix. Israeli expert delves into the history of the mythical bird, from the Hebrew Bible to classical Jewish sages and even Harry Potter (Shmuel Munitz, YNet News).

The legend of the phoenix appears in different cultures - from Greek mythology and ancient Egypt to modern fantasy stories. The legendary bird is made of fire and lives for centuries before it bursts into flames and is reborn from the ashes.

However, the mythical winged creature also makes several appearances in Jewish scripture and subsequent commentaries on the Hebrew Bible.

“In all mythologies, there is a concept of hope after loss and death. The possibility for Tikkun (amendment/fixing) exists in the phoenix itself – and it is very strong,” says Ayala Dekel, an author and a spiritual expert who serves as the head of the secular yeshiva The Jewish Movement for Social Change.

[...]

Despite the headline, the article itself (correctly) does not assert that the phoenix originated in Judaism. But the creature does make appearances in rabbinic literature and subsequent Jewish traditions.

For more on the phoenix in the Talmud, see here — alas with bad link, but still with substantive comment.

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

Esther scrolls returned to Turkey

BACK HOME: Turkey earthquake: Israel returns antique Jewish scrolls taken from Antakya. Israeli rescue mission says it was given the texts for safekeeping, but the issue has angered many (Middle East Eye).

However, the reaction on Turkish social media quickly became hostile, with discontent rumbling over the weekend despite the scrolls being returned on Friday. The removal of the texts tap into longstanding fears that historical items have previously been looted from the country in times of crisis, for instance during the Ottoman period.

The Turkish Chief Rabbinate Foundation quickly attempted to quell fears by addressing the issue on Twitter and assuring that the scrolls are in its possession.

"The relevant Esther scroll was received from Israel and is kept in our Chief Rabbinate. [The scroll] will return to its home in Antakya after the renovation of our synagogue," it tweeted on Friday.

Background here.

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

Author summary of Kiperwasser, Going West

ANCIENT JEW REVIEW: "Going West" in Talmudic Literature | Publication Preview (Reuven Kiperwasser).

Kiperwasser, Reuven. Going West: Migrating Personae and Construction of the Self in Rabbinic Culture. Vol. 369. SBL Press, 2021.

... My book examines narratives of Late Antiquity in which rabbinic figures travel either westward from Babylonia to Palestine or eastward from Palestine to Babylonia. They encounter local rabbis, local laypeople, and the practices and customs of these new settings. My study is the first in-depth research of the social, cultural, and religious aspects of the encounters between Babylonians and their Palestinian brethren from narratives dating between the third- to sixth-centuries. ...

I noted the publication of the book here.

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Shelby White's antiquities collection under investigation

MORE PROBLEM ARTIFACTS: American patron of Israeli archaeology becomes focus of New York’s antiquities trafficking unit. Shelby White has already relinquished two dozen items worth at least $20 million due to investigations (Asaf Elia-Shalev, JTA via Times of Israel).

JTA — The crusading New York prosecutor who has been exposing illicit trafficking in the antiquities market through a succession of high-profile raids has zeroed in on his next big target: the private collection of Shelby White, the widow of a Wall Street legend and philanthropist known for donating to Jewish museums in New York and to the Israeli government agency charged with policing the antiquities trade.

As a result of the ongoing investigation into looted artifacts by Manhattan Assistant District Attorney Matthew Bogdanos, White has already relinquished at least two dozen items worth at least $20 million, according to reporting by New York magazine.

[...]

For more on Shelby White, see here and here and links. For more on Matthew Bogdanos, see here and here and links. And for the investigation of Michael Steinhardt's collection, see here and here.

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

Lasine, Divine Envy, Jealousy, and Vengefulness in Ancient Israel and Greece (Routledge)

NEW BOOK FROM ROUTLEDGE:

Divine Envy, Jealousy, and Vengefulness in Ancient Israel and Greece

By Stuart Lasine

Copyright Year 2023
Hardback
£120.00

eBook
£33.29

ISBN 9781032261799
Published November 11, 2022 by Routledge
214 Pages 1 B/W Illustrations

Book Description

This book is the first in-depth comparative analysis of envy, jealousy, and vengefulness experienced by divine personalities in the Hebrew Bible and ancient Greek texts and the functions served by attributing negative emotions and traits to one’s gods.

Readers are informed about the vigorous debates concerning the nature of emotion, a field with rapidly growing interest, including the specific emotions of envy, jealousy, and vengefulness. The book charts the complex, multi-faceted presentation of divine beings in the Hebrew Bible and ancient Greek literature, including their negative emotions. While the detailed readings of key biblical and Greek texts can stand on their own, Lasine’s comparative analyses allow readers to appreciate the uniqueness of each tradition. Finally, examining the functions served by envisioning one’s God or gods as jealous, envious, and vengeful offers readers a fresh perspective on biblical theology and the ways in which Greek poets and dramatists imagined the nature of their deities.

Divine Envy, Jealousy, and Vengefulness in Ancient Israel and Greece is intended for biblical, classical, and literary scholars, as well as the general reader interested in the Hebrew Bible and/or ancient Greek literature.

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

On the Diadochoi, the successors of Alexander the Great

THE WORLD IS FULL OF HISTORY: Who Are the Diadochi of Alexander the Great? (The Collector).

This is a good, brief article on the Diadochoi, the generals who succeeded Alexander after his death. Nice coin photos too.

Some of them are mentioned (glancingly or using secret code names) in the Bible in the Book of Daniel.

Ptolemy I is "the king of the south" (a title reused later in the chapter for other Ptolemids) and Seleucus I is "one of his princes" in Daniel 11:5. Verse 4 also says more generally that Alexander's kingdom will be "broken up and divided toward the four winds of heaven" to others besided his posterity. This apparently refers to Ptolemy I, Seleucis I, Cassander, and Lysymachus. Cf. Daniel 8:8, 22 and, more generally 1 Maccabees 1:8-9.

I am unaware of any biblical references to Antigonus I.

For more on the Ptolemaic dynasty, including biblical references and the coins of the rulers, see here and links. For more on Seleucus I Nicator, see here and links. For more on the Seleucid dynasty and their coins, see here and links.

What appears to be a lost history of the Diadochoi has recently been partially recovered in a carbonized scroll from Herculaneum.

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

Review of Jim, Saviour gods and soteria in ancient Greece

BRYN MAYR CLASSICAL REVIEW: Saviour gods and soteria in ancient Greece.

Theodora Suk Fong Jim, Saviour gods and soteria in ancient Greece. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2022. Pp. xii, 319. ISBN 9780192894113

Review by
Tony Keddie, The University of Texas at Austin. tony.keddie@austin.utexas.edu

[...]

This book is in many ways a groundbreaking investigation of a significant religious concept. It should be widely read by scholars of religion in the ancient Mediterranean. Unfortunately, its reduction of “Christian monotheism” to an orientation toward otherworldly soteria is a well-intentioned strawman that nonetheless reproduces a longstanding metanarrative of Christian exceptionalism. Researchers building on this study would do well to recast Jim’s division between this-worldly “protection” and other-worldly “salvation” along the lines of the fluidity Jim has so effectively illustrated elsewhere.

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Oldest Hebrew Bible up for auction

BY SOTHEBY'S: World's oldest Hebrew Bible could fetch up to $50 million at auction. If the 1,000-year-old holy book sells for near its estimated value, the Codex Sassoon would become the most valuable printed text or historical document ever sold at auction (Reuters via Jerusalem Post).

The world's oldest and most complete Hebrew Bible will go on display in London next week before an auction in May where it could sell for up to $50 million, Sotheby's said on Wednesday.

If the 1,000-year-old holy book sells for near its estimated value, the Codex Sassoon would become the most valuable printed text or historical document ever sold at auction, Sotheby's said.

[...]

Good. Then I hope the new owner donates it to a museum in Israel.

Nadia Khomami has additional details in the Guardian: Oldest complete Hebrew Bible expected to break auction records. Ninth-century Codex Sassoon, critical link between Dead Sea scrolls and today’s Bible, will have estimate of $30m-$50m.

Cross-file under It Belongs In A Museum.

UPDATE (3 March): For more on the Sassoon family and their antiquarian collections, see here.

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

Coins and the date Judaism emerged

NUMISMATICS: Coins Provide Key Evidence in Historic Origins of Judaism (David Hendin, American Numismatic Society via CoinWeek).

The bulk of this article summarizes Professor Yonatan Adler's case for the late origin of Torah-observant Judaism. See also here and here. But keep reading and it does get to the coin evidence in some detail.

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

Old Esther scrolls recovered in Turkey

NOW SAFE: Ancient Book of Esther scrolls survive Turkey earthquake, brought to Israel. Local elder salvages centuries-old documents from rubble of collapsed Antakya synagogue and hands them to Israeli rescuers; 'this is one of the most moving moments of my life,' says rescue mission chief (Korin Elbaz Alush, YNet News).

As Israeli rescue teams were rummaging through the rubble in the Turkish city of Antakya after last week's devastating earthquake in hopes of finding survivors trapped underneath, a local elderly Jewish man approached them holding something unique in his hands — two centuries-old Book of Esther scrolls that were kept in the local synagogue before the shock.

[...]

Unlike many of the manuscript "discoveries" that have been coming out of Turkey, this looks real. From the photos, they do look like Esther scrolls and they do look old, perhaps centuries old.

They aren't exactly ancient, but right now we'll take any good news coming from Turkey.

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Rocca, In the Shadow of the Caesars (Brill)

NEW BOOK FROM BRILL:

In the Shadow of the Caesars: Jewish Life in Roman Italy

Series: The Brill Reference Library of Judaism, Volume: 74

Author: Samuele Rocca

The main contribution of this book is that it tries to determine how the Jews answered the challenges of Roman society. Thus, the book presents a refreshing approach to the nature of the Roman attitude toward Judaism and the Jews. In addition, it provides the first detailed examination of the demography and geography of the Jewish communities in Roman Italy. The book also offers a new look at the legal standing of the Jewish communitarian organization. Last but not least, this study also addresses the various facets of the culture of the Jews living in Roman Italy.

Prices from (excl. shipping): €145.00

Copyright Year: 2023
E-Book (PDF)
Availability: Published
ISBN: 978-90-04-52562-7 Publication date: 19 Sep 2022

Hardback
Availability: Published
ISBN: 978-90-04-51704-2
Publication date: 08 Sep 2022

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"Legends of Destruction" film dubbed in English

CINEMA: Award-winning animated feature about Second Temple destruction now in English. Gidi Dar says ‘Legend of Destruction’ film is ‘warning sign to Israelis’ at a time of renewed national discord (Jessica Steinberg, Times of Israel).

Director Gidi Dar’s award-winning film “Legend of Destruction” about the Jewish revolt against Rome in 70 CE has been dubbed into English, with voices by Oscar Isaac, Evangeline Lilly, Elliot Gould, Billy Zane and others.

The 2021 film, made entirely of still drawings, was written by Dar and actor Shuli Rand, and drawn by Michael Faust and David Polonsky of the Oscar-nominated, Golden Globe-winning 2008 animated film, “Waltz with Bashir.”

[...]

I noted the release of the film here.

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

Did curse tablets influence the Book of Revelation?

IMPRECATORY APOCALYPSE? New Testament's Book of Revelation Was Influenced by Curse Tablets, Scholar Deduces. The style of John’s Revelation, the apocalyptic final book of the New Testament, smacks of formally cursing one’s enemies in true Middle Eastern tradition, proposes scholar at Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz (Ruth Schuster, Haaretz).

John’s Revelation includes wording and phrases that smack of curse tablets such as: “With such violence the great city of Babylon will be thrown down, never to be found again.” (Revelation 18:21)

This is the stuff of curse-ritual material, Hölscher feels (albeit talking about the fallen Babylon, not the neighbor), and the text goes on: “The music of harpists and musicians, flute players and trumpeters, will never be heard in you again” – (Revelation 18:22) and it goes on and on and on.

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

Lead sarcophagus excavated in Gaza

ARCHAEOLOGY: Roman-era sarcophagus uncovered in Gaza. 90 individual and mass graves have been found at the site (Reuters via Jerusalem Post).

A Roman-era sarcophagus, likely to have belonged to a prominent individual, was uncovered at the site of a 2,000-year-old Roman cemetery discovered last year in the northern Gaza Strip, the territory's antiquities ministry said on Tuesday.

[...]

For more on the Roman-era cemetery found last year in Gaza, see here and here.

Another, evidently smaller, cemetery from the same period was found in a Gaza resident's back yard in 2018.

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

Were the Ten Commandments an afterthought?

DR. CYNTHIA EDENBURG: The Origins of the Decalogue (TheTorah.com).

The Decalogue was not originally part of the Sinai theophany but was added later, both in Exodus and Deuteronomy. Its origins lie in wisdom literature.

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Saqqara still holds secrets

WHAT I SAID: Egypt’s pharaonic treasure trove of Saqqara still holds secrets waiting to be unlocked (NADA SHAKER, Arab News).

For background and implications, see here and here links.

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A 50-year career retrospective by Leen Ritmeyer

LEEN RITMEYER: 50 years of visualising the Bible.

So – if this turning of the year makes you feel like hearing the story of Ritmeyer Archaeological Design, gather round and I will try my best to tell it. And for those of you who on occasion have asked: “How can we learn to do what you do?”, you may pick up some hints or feel that you have had your fill already.

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A Nietzschean Avestan manifesto

BIBLIOGRAPHIA IRANICA: Towards a Manifesto for Middle Iranian Philology. A programmatic essay by Arash Zeni.

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How YHWH became Jehovah

BIBLE HISTORY DAILY: The History of the Tetragrammaton. How YHWH became Jehovah ( John Drummond).

This is a nice brief look at the history of the Tetragrammaton. The full article by Juan Manuel Tebes is behind the BAR subscription wall.

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The Transformation of Archaeology

BIBLE HISTORY DAILY: From Dust to Data. A Journey of Archaeological Investigation (Alexandra Wrathall).

Archaeological method is an increasingly rapidly moving target.

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A cave that hid refugees for 6,000 years

SPELUNCIC ARCHAEOLOGY: Cave Where Generations Hid for 6,000 Years Found in West Bank. Inside el-Janab Cave near Nablus, archaeologists have found first-ever solid evidence of Muslims fleeing Mongol forces sweeping through the Levant in 1260 (Ruth Schuster, Haaretz).

The earliest items found in the survey date to the Late Chalcolithic 6,500 years ago, and the latest are from the period of the Mamluks, who ruled this land from Egypt between 1260 and 1516 C.E. It’s not hard to imagine knowledge of this refuge passing from generation to generation, Lewis says.

But, based on pottery and coinage, it's clear that the place was mainly used during three periods: the late Persian/early Hellenistic, the Early Roman, and the late Ayyubid/early Mamluk period, which is where the Mongols enter the story.

The most interesting finds pertain to the time of the Mongul invasion, and most of the article covers that period. But regarding the earlier finds from historical periods:

In the late Persian/early Hellenistic period, the cave may have sheltered as many as dozens of people, based on the plethora of pots and their distribution throughout the space. These folks would have been fleeing the Samaritan revolt against Alexander the Great in 331 B.C.E. and/or the wars from 312 to 301 B.C.E. following Alexander’s death.

The Early Roman finds are thought to have been brought by Jews during the First Jewish Revolt, the Bar Kochba Revolt, or both.

There are photos of coins from this time range.

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A Mithras sanctuary excavated in Spain

ARCHAEOLOGY: 1,800-Year-Old Sanctuary to Mithras Uncovered by Archaeologists in Spain (Francesca Aton, ARTnews).

A sanctuary dedicated to the ancient god Mithras was uncovered by archaeologists excavating at the Villa del Mitra in Cabra, Spain. Remains of ritual banquets were found within the sanctuary.

Mithraism was a cult religion that became popular among the Roman Empire during the first century CE. Mithras was a Romanized form of the Iranian god of the sun and justice Mithra.

[...]

For PaleoJudaica posts on the Mithras mystery cult (Mithraism), start here (cf. here) and follow the links. There was a Mithras sanctuary (Mithraeum) at Caesarea. Another was reportedly discovered recently in southeastern Turkey.

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A lost history of the Diadochoi being recovered?

ALGORITHM WATCH: AI is deciphering a 2,000-year-old 'lost book' describing life after Alexander the Great. When Mount Vesuvius erupted in A.D. 79, it carbonized a book on rulers who followed Alexander the Great. Now, machine learning is deciphering the "lost book" (Owen Jarus, Live Science). HT Rogue Classicism.

Only small parts of the heavily damaged text can be read right now. "It contains the names of a number of Macedonian dynasts and generals of Alexander," Janko said, noting that it also includes "several mentions of Alexander himself." After Alexander the Great died in 323 B.C., his empire fell apart. The text mentions the Macedonian generals Seleucus, who came to rule a large amount of territory in the Middle East, and Cassander, who ruled Greece after Alexander's death.

The lost book is from the Villa of the Papyri at Herculaneum, a city that was destroyed alongside Pompeii when Mount Vesuvius erupted after the turn of the first millennium. ...

For many PaleoJudaica posts on the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 CE and its destruction of Pompeii and Herculaneum, start here and follow the links. For the works of the Philosopher Philodemus and other works recovered from the carbonized library at Herculaneum, see here and here and links. For posts on the work of Dr. Brent Seales on recovering the text of the Herculaneum scrolls and other ancient documents, see here and links.

For many posts on Alexander the Great and his connection with ancient Jewish traditions, notably in the Alexander Romance, see here and links. Some posts on the Diadochoi (Alexander's generals who took over after him) and their successors are collected here.

Cross-file under Lost Books.

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International Septuagint Day 2023 (belatedly)

INTERNATIONAL SEPTUAGINT DAY WAS YESTERDAY, 8 FEBRUARY. I hope you had a good time celebrating.

William Ross posted some Septuagintal news for the day: 17TH INTERNATIONAL SEPTUAGINT DAY.

For past posts on the day, see here and links.

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Ancient gold bead found in Jerusalem

MATERIAL CULTURE: Archaeologists Find Rare Mesopotamian-style Gold Bead in Jerusalem. Discovered in a Late Roman building in the ‘City of David,’ the exquisite bead is one of few gold jewels ever found in the area, archaeologists say (Ruth Schuster, Haaretz).

The bead was found in pristine condition by Hallel Feidman, a volunteer sifting and washing dirt removed from the Roman building, itself a big, ornate construction. It can’t be dated but the building where it was lost can. It is from the Late Roman era, about 1,600 years ago.

Made of pure gold, the bead was crafted by affixing dozens of tiny golden spheres together to shape a tiny ring. It likely wouldn’t have been worn in solo glory like a pendant but probably formed part of a bigger piece, says Dr. Amir Golani, the IAA’s ancient jewelry expert.

An article by Michael Bachner in the Times of Israel has additional details: Rare 1,600-year-old gold bead found by teenager in Jerusalem’s City of David. Piece of jewelry, which required unique expertise to make, discovered in earth sifted from magnificent Roman structure in Pilgrimage Road, near Old City.

The Temple Mount Sifting project found a gold bead in 2020.

Archaeologist Gabriel Barkay heads the Sifting Project. His excavation at Ketef Hinnom also found about fifty silver beads some decades ago.

I have not yet mentioned the jewelry found in the undisturbed repository. That deserves special notice. The treasure trove of jewelry from this repository is unequalled in Jerusalem excavations. It gives us our first glimpse of the jewelry worn by women (and perhaps also by men) in Jerusalem at the end of the First Temple period. The repository yielded more than a hundred silver items and six gold items, including simple crescent-shaped earrings, 15 silver earrings, four silver finger rings, about 50 silver beads, a silver pendant and a scarab mounted in silver. The most common decoration on the earrings was a granulation technique, that is, the attachment of tiny silver balls to the body of the earrings. A large number of beads were made of semiprecious stones—agate, carnelian and rock-crystal— as well as more common materials like glass, faience and shell. Another especially fine piece is a silver signet ring bearing the figure of a galloping griffin with a feline body, the head and wings of an eagle and a coiled tail.

(BAR 2013. My emphasis.) Ketef Hinnom is better known for the silver scrolls excavated there which were inscribed with biblical texts. See here and here and many links.

Cross-file under Ancient Bling.

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What language did Adam speak?

PHILOLOGOS: Did Adam Speak Hebrew? The ancient rabbis believed there was linguistic proof that the first man spoke Hebrew with God. Why? (Mosaic Magazine).

It seemed like a good argument at the time.

The Renaissance polymath and occultist John Dee thought that Adam spoke Enochian, the "Adamical" or "Angelical" language.

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Sinai - from Exodus to the Rabbis

DR. KEVIN MATTISON: Anchored in the Authority of Sinai. “Who controls the past controls the future.” – George Orwell, 1984 (TheTorah.com).

A series of processes—a combination of intentional literary decisions and historical accidents—has obscured the diversity of the Sinai/Horeb narratives that existed among the ancient sources.

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The Gittin Book of Remedies

THE GENIZA FRAGMENTS BLOG: Q&A Wednesday: Talmudic therapy with a Mesopotamian pedigree? The Gittin Book of Remedies with Jason Sion Mokhtarian (Melonie Schmierer-Lee and Jason Sion Mokhtarian).

It’s [a geniza fragment] an excerpt from a medical work, the Gittin Book of Remedies. What makes this work unique is that it appears to have been an independent handbook that was edited into the Babylonian Talmud. Most interestingly, as Mark Geller has argued convincingly, it seems to come from a much earlier Mesopotamian milieu, from an Akkadian precursor.

I noted the publication of Prof. Mokhtarian's book, Medicine in the Talmud, here.

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