History of ancient Egypt

THE WORLD IS FULL OF HISTORY: Notes on the history of Egypt I (Zahi Hawass, Ahram Online).

In a two-part series, Zahi Hawass gives an outline history of ancient and modern Egypt similar to the one that can be seen at Cairo’s National Museum of Egyptian Civilisation.

Part one, linked to above, is a pretty good quick overview of ancient Egyptian history to the rise of Islam. It zips over the Post-Empire, Saite, and Persian Periods very rapidly. It could also say more about Jewish connections to Egyptian history, although it does at least touch on that once.

If you are interested, part two continues from the Islamic period up to the present: Notes on the history of Egypt — II.

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The Chaldean Dynasty

THE WORLD IS FULL OF HISTORY: The Chaldean Dynasty and the Rise of the Neo-Babylonian Empire (Aleksa Vučković, Ancient Origins).

Empires are formed and fall, dynasties rise to prominence and crumble in poverty and ruin, ethnicities disappear from the fate of the Earth - these are the inevitable aspects of the histories of ancient empires. Mesopotamia, rightfully called the cradle of civilization, was an area of the Middle East where many important kingdoms, empires, and cultures arose over many millennia. Amongst these was the Chaldean Empire, whose ruling Chaldean dynasty is the perfect example of how much uncertainty and unpredictability there was for the rulers of these ancient realms. Who were the Chaldeans? And how did they rise to such lofty prominence?

[...]

This essay gives a good account of the Chaldeans and their Neo-Babylonian dynasty, which included King Nebuchadnezzar II. He is famous from the Bible for his invasion of Judea and his destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple in 586/587 BCE.

There is a lot of confusion about the Chaldeans due to the Book of Daniel, which mostly treats them as a type of magico-religious practitioner. This meaning is the more common one in the Hellenistic period.

In modern times, one group of Aramaic-speaking Iraqi Christians calls themselves "Chaldeans." They are mostly expatriated to other places, including Southern California. See here and links and here.

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Lee, Reimagining Exile in Daniel (Mohr Siebeck)

NEW BOOK FROM MOHR SIEBECK: James Seung-Hyun Lee. Reimagining Exile in Daniel. A Literary-Historical Study. 2023. XIV, 192 pages. Forschungen zum Alten Testament 2. Reihe 143.79,00 € including VAT. paper ISBN 978-3-16-162337-0.

Published in English.
The widely accepted view of exile in the Book of Daniel is that it was an ongoing reality which went beyond the initial return of the Babylonian golah (based on Dan. 9). James Seung-Hyun Lee's study, however, reaches deeper to tread the insufficiently explored territory of how the book reconceptualizes exile and how this informs the self-identity of the Danielic group, the final editors of the book. Proposing that for the Danielic group, exile is a place of privilege and a locus of God's revelation and presence, the author shows how this creates a middle space for them that provides a unique historical perspective that both embraces and critiques Babylon and Jerusalem. By identifying themselves with those remaining in exile, the Danielic group claims the legitimacy of their prophetic identity and teaching during the Antiochene persecution.

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Sanders on philology and music

ANCIENT JEW REVIEW: Dead Words and Haunting Melody: Unexpected Influences with Seth Sanders.

What is missing is not the text or the “performativity” but imaginative curiosity about the event itself where people participated in the prayer, where it unfolded. As the musicologist Christopher Small writes, “Most of the world's musicians—[meaning] anyone who sings or plays or composes—have no use for musical scores and do not treasure musical works but simply play and sing, drawing on remembered melodies and rhythms and on their own powers of invention… For performance does not exist in order to present musical works, but rather, musical works exist in order to give performers something to perform.”(Musicking: The Meanings of Performing and Listening, 7-8) If, as Small argues, “Music is not a thing at all but an activity, something that people do,” (p. 2) this suggests that like music, religion cannot be contained in a written text (or score) or a single individual (an isolated listener or performer). Instead, like music, these prayers and blessings only enter the world when they are done by people and become events. But what does that tell me about my dried-up ancient texts—what kind of event is a prayer; what does it sound like?

A long essay with a great deal happening in it.

Cross-file under Yom Kippur.

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How many crimson threads?

YOM KIPPUR IS COMING: Crimson to White: Yom Kippur’s Miraculous Thread (Dr. Rabbi Joshua Kulp, TheTorah.com).

In the Second Temple period, a crimson thread was placed on the horn of the Yom Kippur scapegoat and tied to a stone in the desert before the goat was pushed off the cliff. After the verse “If your sins be as scarlet they shall be as white as snow” (Isaiah 1:18) was used as a prooftext for this non-biblical practice, the Talmud envisaged a magical ritual in which a second crimson thread would turn white on Yom Kippur to signal God’s acceptance of the people’s repentance.

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Kalimi, The Book of Esther between Judaism and Christianity (CUP)

NEW BOOK FROM CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS:

The Book of Esther between Judaism and Christianity

AUTHOR: Isaac Kalimi, Johannes Gutenberg Universität Mainz, Germany
DATE PUBLISHED: July 2023
AVAILABILITY: Available
FORMAT: Hardback
ISBN: 9781009266123

£ 100.00
Hardback

Description

The book of Esther is one of the most challenging books in the Hebrew Bible/Old Testament, not only because of the difficulty of understanding the book itself in its time, place, and literary contexts, but also for the long and tortuous history of interpretation it has generated in both Jewish and Christian traditions. In this volume, Isaac Kalimi addresses both issues. He situates 'traditional' literary, textual, theological, and historical-critical discussion of Esther alongside comparative Jewish and Christian interpretive histories, showing how the former serves the latter. Kalimi also demonstrates how the various interpretations of the Book of Esther have had an impact on its reception history, as well as on Jewish-Christian relations. Based on meticulous and comprehensive analysis of all available sources, Kalimi's volume fills a gap in biblical, Jewish, and Christian studies and also shows how and why the Book of Esther became one of the central books of Judaism and one of the most neglected books in Christianity.

• Includes inter-disciplinary and multi-disciplinary perspectives, showing how different disciplines can interact
• Presents a meticulous and comprehensive analysis of the available sources concerning the book of Esther within their biblical, historical, and ancient Near Eastern contexts
• Describes the neglect of Esther in Christianity, and how the biblical text is used and abused to advance Judeophobic and anti-Semitic agenda of some theologians and scholars

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Review of Moore, New Aramaic papyri from Elephantine in Berlin

BRYN MAYR CLASSICAL REVIEW: New Aramaic papyri from Elephantine in Berlin.

James D. Moore, New Aramaic papyri from Elephantine in Berlin. Studies on Elephantine, 1. Leiden; Boston: Brill, 2022. Pp. xiii, 261. ISBN 9789004505575

Review by
Amit Gvaryahu, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem. amit.gvaryahu@mail.huji.ac.il

... The present volume is a contribution to the study of these documents: a trove of very small fragments, not published by the editors of the previously published collections, and overlooked for nearly 80 years, found in the Berlin Museum. ...

I noted the publication of this open-access volume here. For more on the Aramaic Elephantine papyri, follow the links from there, plus see here, here, here, here, and links.

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Porten & Yardeni, Textbook of Aramaic Ostraca from Idumea, volume 5 (Eisenbrauns)

NEW BOOK FROM EISENBRAUNS:

Textbook of Aramaic Ostraca from Idumea, volume 5

Dossiers H–K: 485 Ostraca

Bezalel Porten and Ada Yardeni

Since the early 1990s, about two thousand Idumean Aramaic ostraca have found their way onto the antiquities market and are now scattered across a number of museums, libraries, and private collections. This fifth and final volume of the Textbook of Aramaic Ostraca from Idumea completes the work of bringing these ostraca together in a single publication.

Description

Since the early 1990s, about two thousand Idumean Aramaic ostraca have found their way onto the antiquities market and are now scattered across a number of museums, libraries, and private collections. This fifth and final volume of the Textbook of Aramaic Ostraca from Idumea completes the work of bringing these ostraca together in a single publication. Volumes 1–4 published some 1,600 ostraca that gave us insight into agriculture, economics, politics, onomastics, and scribal practices from fourth/third-century BCE Idumea and Judah. The ostraca in volume 5 come from the same milieu, but the information they provide is entirely new and different. This volume presents 485 ostraca, including 99 land descriptions, 168 uncertain texts, and 218 assorted remains, scribal exercises, and forgeries, along with useful indexes and tables and a comparative list of entries. The land descriptions—which record local landmarks, ownership boundaries, and land registration—provide rich complementary material to the rest of the Idumean ostraca. The “uncertain texts” are fragmentary, in poor condition, or contain other abnormalities. As the TAO corpus becomes better understood and as imaging techniques improve, these texts will help to fill gaps in knowledge. The final section includes the remains of scribal practices and forgeries, important because they help to show the authenticity of the other two thousand pieces.

A unique collection of documentary sources for fourth/third-century BCE Idumea—and, by extension, Judah—this multivolume work will be a powerful resource for those interested in onomastics and social and economic history.

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The Hall of Shofars

EXHIBITION: At biblical fauna museum, a blow-by-blow of all things shofar, and more horns to toot. Beit Shemesh Biblical Museum of Natural History director Natan Slifkin’s collection features everything from rams to kudus to African buffalo and even a unicorn (Jessica Steinberg).

Spoiler alert: Neither the unicorn horn nor the horns of the mythical jackalope can be used as a shofar.

For more on Rabbi Natan Slifkin, the "Zoo Rabbi," and his Biblical Museum of Natural History, see here and follow the links. For more on his book, The Torah Encyclopedia of the Animal Kingdom, see here (cf. here).

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Runia, Philo of Alexandria. Collected Studies 1997–2021 (Mohr Siebeck)

NEW BOOK FROM MOHR SIEBECK: David T. Runia. Philo of Alexandria. Collected Studies 1997–2021. 2023. XIII, 555 pages. Texts and Studies in Ancient Judaism 187. 169,00 € including VAT. cloth ISBN 978-3-16-161876-5.

Published in English.
The Jewish exegete and philosopher Philo of Alexandria (ca. 15 BCE – ca. 50 CE) has left behind by far the largest surviving body of writings of Greek speaking Judaism. Deeply loyal to his own Jewish community, Philo nevertheless has an open stance towards Greek philosophy and uses its ideas to develop his own thought as he expounds the scriptural text. The present volume brings together a collection of essays by David T. Runia on Philonic thought published between 1997 to 2021. In the first section, two introductory studies show the breadth of relevant understanding that Philo has for seven sub-disciplines of ancient and patristic studies. The essays in the second section examine Philo's knowledge of and use of Greek philosophy. One of these, Philo's reception of Plato's Phaedo, has not yet been published in English. Further studies focus on biblical interpretation in an Alexandrian context and explore theological themes relating to theodicy, divine power, and human hope. Finally, another seven studies give close readings of key Philonic texts.

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Review of Allen & Doedens (eds.), Turmoil, trauma and tenacity in early Jewish literature

BRYN MAYR CLASSICAL REVIEW: Turmoil, trauma and tenacity in early Jewish literature.

Nicholas P. L. Allen, Jacob J. T. Doedens, Turmoil, trauma and tenacity in early Jewish literature. Berlin; Boston: De Gruyter, 2022. Pp. 285. ISBN 9783110784893

Review by
Matthew Kraus, University of Cincinnati. matthew.kraus@uc.edu

... The authors are to be commended for acknowledging that the depiction of trauma can be used as a literary strategy, may evoke or re-evoke trauma in the reader, and may influence the author who experienced trauma. Nevertheless, the reader will be left frustrated and unconvinced by how these topics are to be understood in Hellenistic Jewish texts. The authors raise insightful questions, while the answers remain obscured in the analyses of specific texts.

I noted the publication of the book here.

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Ancient stone workshop found in the West Bank

ARCHAEOLOGY: Israel uncovers Second Temple-era stone workshop in West Bank. During the Second Temple period, it was customary to use tools made of stone and indeed stone tools are being discovered at almost every site in the region (Jerusalem Post).

Remains of a Second Temple-era quarry and an early stone tool factory site were uncovered during road works on Route 437 in the West Bank, according to a Monday statement from the Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT).

[...]

For two other Second Temple-era stone workshops, both in the Galilee, see here and links.

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Rosh HaShanah and the heritage of the Temple Mount

THE TEMPLE MOUNT SIFTING PROJECT BLOG: UNITY AROUND THE REALLY IMPORTANT THINGS – THE HERITAGE OF THE TEMPLE MOUNT. Some Rosh HaShanah-related ancient and modern history.

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A new translation of P

ANCIENT JEW REVIEW: Displaying The Literary Artistry of P (Liane Feldman).

The Consuming Fire: The Complete Priestly Source, from Creation to the Promised Land. UC Press, 2023.

... Lest this project begin to sound like a gathering of esoteric academic arguments (which in a way it is), I should say that I had a strong secondary agenda in creating this translation. I wanted to make this text accessible to a broad audience. Put simply: I wanted the language and the ideas to work for an undergraduate classroom or make sense to a non-academic audience. After all, to my mind P is first and foremost a story. It should be able to be read as such. ...

An ambitious and interesting attempt to reconstruct and translate the full surviving text of the Pentateuchal Priestly source (P).

Cross-file under New Book.

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Robert A. Kraft, 1934-2023

SAD NEWS: This weekend the news came in that Professor Robert A. Kraft passed away on Friday after a long illness.

Bob was American Berg Professor of Religious Studies Emeritus at the University of Pennsylvania. He was a major figure in biblical and early Jewish studies in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. He made massive advances in applying computer technology to these fields.

Bob's Wikipedia entry is here. An e-mail message from the Philadelphia Seminar on Christian Origins notes that he was a founding member of the Seminar and and links to a history of the Seminar by him and Annette Yoshiko Reed. His page of collected online work is here. I wrote briefly about his influence on the field in my 2010 SBL paper What Just Happened and PaleoJudaica has referred often to his work. Septuagint scholar William A. Ross interviewed him in 2017.

Bob was a great scholar and a kind and good man, alway supportive of his younger colleagues. We will miss him.

Reqiescat in pace.

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Magnetometry in Archaeology

BIBLE HISTORY DAILY: Magnetometry in Archaeology. A new method for seeing buried buildings (Marek Dospěl).

In the Summer 2023 issue of Biblical Archaeology Review, Andrew Creekmore introduces the use of magnetometry in archaeology. His article, “Seeing into the Ground,” explains how magnetometry works and demonstrates what results this novel method has brought so far at Tell es-Safi, the site of the biblical Gath in southern Israel. ...

The BAR article is behind the subscription wall, but this brief essay summarizes some main points.

A couple of PaleoJudaica posts dealing with magnetometry in archaeology are here and here.

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