PaleoJudaica's top ten (with bonuses) for 2024

ONE MORE (FOR NOW) 2024 TOP TEN LIST: Below is my own list of PaleoJudaica's top ten stories/posts for 2024, with some bonuses at the end. My criterion is stories that I found most interesting. They are mostly in chronological order of posting.

• FIRST, a very important annnouncement: Forthcoming: More Old Testament Pseudepigrapha, vol. 2. With follow-up posts here, here, and here (and anticipatory post here).
• Chaos dragon stamp seal excavated at Hazor. With follow-up posts here and here.
• Plato's last night revealed in Herculaneum scroll? With follow-up posts here and here.
• The Holy Grail has not been found at Petra. Nope. But read on .... With follow-up posts here and here.
• The Mazzarón II has been raised. For the long saga of the raising of the Phoenician shipwreck, the Mazzarón II, off the coast of Spain, follow the links. It is currently being restored at nearby Cartagena.
• Alphabetic inscriptions from 2,400 BCE? Yep, currently looks like it. Follow-up posts are here and here.
• A first-century synagogue in Russia? (updated and bumped). See also the earlier link in the update. A follow-up post is here.
• Samaritan Decalogue tablet sells for more that $5m. Follow the links for posts on this object, and its two sales, going back to 2016.
• Does the Tel Dan Stele prove there was a King David? The Tel Dan Stele has been in the news a lot in 2024. It is currently on an exhibition tour in the United States. Follow the links for this year's posts and more.
• A.I. is finding more Gilgamesh Epic. There were many Artificial Intelligence stories this year. That one is a win. So is this: A Grand Prize winner for the Vesuvius Challenge. So-called "AI" is good for rote detailed jobs like matching up clay fragments. To do much of anything else, it requires lots of human assistance. To a large degree the limitations are not solvable by adding more computing power. They are intrinsic to the technology. It can't perceive reality directly. It can only remap the reality maps handed to it. I discuss some of the issues here. Some other posts are here, here, and here. Personally, I think LLM technology is a dead end that will never produce real AI.

Bonus Story:

• Bronze bulls and other goodies excavated at MBA Tel Shimron

And finally, a few 2024 posts which are not news stories per se, but which I think have useful observations:

• The Haggadah counters an intermediary angel at the Exodus
• Should we trust reconstructions of fragmentary texts?
• What is "Late Antiquity?"

Last year's top-ten list is here.

Have a good and safe New Year's Eve 2024!

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The Bible Places Blog comprehensive "top ten" 2024 list

ANNUAL ARCHAEOLOGY LIST WATCH: Top 10 Discoveries of 2024 (Todd Bolen, The Bible Places Blog).

I find it easy to get lost in the trees of weekly roundups and not be able to quickly recall what stood out above the rest. This end-of-the-year survey is my attempt to review, organize, and highlight what was most important in 2024.

I’ll start with the “Top 10 Discoveries” related to biblical archaeology, prioritizing items made in Israel and in the biblical eras over those made in surrounding regions and later periods.

This survey also includes a couple of the most controversial stories of the year and other noteworthy reports from Jerusalem, Israel, and the broader biblical world. We have a section of top stories related to tourism, as well as stories related to the antiquities trade and vandalism.

Near the end, we highlight the best print and digital resources we noted this year, as well as the deaths of influential figures. Our survey concludes with links to other top 10 lists.

[...]

As you can see, the brief title is misleading. Todd's annual list cover much more than a top ten. It is easily the best and most comprehensive of the end-of-year discoveries list. Enjoy.

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Christianity Today's biblical archaeology top 10 for 2024

ANNUAL ARCHAEOLOGY LIST WATCH: Top 10 Biblical Archaeology Stories of 2024. From a Mediterranean shipwreck to a mosaic on display in Washington, DC, these are the discoveries that made scholars of the biblical world say “wow” this year (Gordon Govier, Christianity Today).

Access to this article requires free registration.

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Bible History Daily’s top ten 2024 stories

ANNUAL ARCHAEOLOGY LIST WATCH: Bible History Daily’s 2024 Year-in-Review. A look back at the year’s most popular stories (Nathan Steinmeyer).

What were the most read biblical archaeology stories of 2024? As the year winds down, we look back at some of the most popular news stories published on Bible History Daily in 2024, plus a few of our own favorites thrown in. From carrying out sci-fiesque excavations of Jerusalem to unlocking an ancient library destroyed by Mt. Vesuvius, this year provided some incredible archaeology news. The articles below are not listed in any particular order, though readers are welcome to share their top picks in the comments section below.

[...]

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ANE & Mediterranean top ten discoveries 2024

ANNUAL ARCHAEOLOGY LIST WATCH: Ten Fascinating Discoveries in Near Eastern and Mediterranean Archaeology in 2024 (Jessica Nitschke, The Ancient Near East Today).

Another year done and dusted! We’ve been sharing news stories about archaeological breakthroughs and discoveries all year. In case you missed any, here are some of the highlights (in no particular order).

[...]

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Top ten 2024 discoveries in Egypt

ANNUAL ARCHAEOLOGY LIST WATCH: 10 stunning ancient Egyptian discoveries made in 2024, from hidden temples to hallucinogenic rituals. Every year brings new discoveries from ancient Egypt and 2024 was no exception. In this countdown, Live Science takes a look at 10 fascinating discoveries from the past year. (Owen Jarus, Live Science).

An astronomical observatory, gold tongues found in mummies, a sword inscribed with the name of pharaoh Ramesses II and a 4,500 year-old attempt to treat cancer are just some of the interesting ancient Egyptian discoveries made in 2024. Here are 10 of the biggest discoveries from ancient Egypt this year.

[...]

More lists coming today!

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Hanukkah coin hoard excavated

HANUKKAH NUMISMATICS: ‘Miracle’ hoard of Hasmonean coins discovered during Hanukkah in Jordan Valley dig. Haifa University team finds cache of 160 extremely rare coins – dated to 80/79 BCE, during the reign of Judah Maccabee’s grand-nephew – near Alexandrion Fortress, north of Jericho (Gavriel Fiske, Times of Israel).

The coins were dated by experts to the reign of “King Alexander Jannaeus, whose Hebrew name was Jonathan… He reigned from 104–76 BCE. He was the son of Johanan Hyrcanus, [and] the grandson of Simon the Hasmonean (brother of Judah Maccabee),” the statement said, noting that the Alexandrion Fortress, near where the coins were discovered, was built by Jannaeus.

One of the archaeologists manifested the coin hoard with Hanukkah Gelt. Really, that's what it says.

Happy Hanukkah!

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Haaretz top archaeology stories 2024

ANNUAL ARCHAEOLOGY LIST WATCH: Stoned Barbarians, Kneading Cats, and Nine Other Top Archaeology Stories of 2024 (Ruth Schuster, Haaretz).

Another top-eleven list from Ms. Schuster. This one has a wider geographic and chronological range. Again, PaleoJudaica has posted and commented on some of the stories.

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

Top Haaretz biblical archaeology stories 2024

ANNUAL ARCHAEOLOGY LIST WATCH: Where Jacob Wrestled, When Shishak Destroyed: Top Biblical Archaeology Stories in 2024 (Ruth Schuster, Haaretz).

This top-eleven list contains all first-Temple-era stories, but PaleoJudaica has noted some of them.

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

On Shikhin and its pottery works

FOR HANUKKAH: Lost Village of Shikhin and Its Oil Lamp Industry Discovered in Israel. On the green hills of Galilee in the shadow of Sepphoris, archaeologists found the village recorded by Josephus and Jewish sources, and its synagogue (Ruth Schuster, Haaretz).

Standing on the weathered ruins of the synagogue of Shikhin, one can see the great city of Sepphoris it served, just a mile to the south.

The name Shikhin stems from the Hebrew word for cave, today denoting a dugout for soldiers. Yet, it's hard to think of a less baleful place than this ancient Jewish village nestled amid the rolling hills of the Lower Galilee, which existed from about the second century B.C.E. Its raison d'etreO wasn't to fight the good fight but to serve the pottery needs of Sepphoris (Tzipori in Hebrew) and the wider Galilee until it was abandoned – apparently in the third century.

[...]

A long and informative article

PaleoJudaica posts on the ancient village of Shikhin are here and links, here, and here. And for posts on nearby Sepphoris (Zipori//Tzipori/Tzippori/Zippori), where an impressive oil-lamp lantern was recently excavated, start here and follow the links.

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

Late-antique oil lamp inscribed with menorah excavated

FOR HANUKKAH: Rare oil lamp with Temple menorah found from time when Romans barred Jews from Jerusalem. Intricately designed 1,700-year-old artifact was discovered intact near the Mount of Olives, will go on display in Jerusalem (Gavriel Fiske, Times of Israel).

A rare, 4th-century CE ceramic oil lamp recently discovered during Israeli Antiquities Authorities excavations near the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem will be displayed to the public for the first time during the current Hanukkah holiday, the IAA said Thursday.

The unusual lamp is decorated with imagery related to the services in the Jewish Second Temple in Jerusalem, including a Temple menorah (which had seven branches, unlike the nine-branched menorahs used during Hanukkah). Also depicted on the small lamp are an incense shovel, which Temple priests used when making offerings, and a lulav, the date palm frond used during the Sukkot holiday.

[...]

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

Narsai: The Homilies. Volume 1 (Peeters)

NEW BOOK FROM PEETERS:

Narsai: The Homilies. Volume 1

SERIES:
Eastern Christian Texts in Translation, 6

EDITORS:
Butts A.M., Heal K.S., Kitchen R.A.

PRICE: 58 euro
YEAR: 2024
ISBN: 9789042950986
PAGES: XVI-189 p.

SUMMARY:

Narsai, who is variously called “the tongue of the East” and “the harp of the Spirit”, is among the most important and influential Syriac authors. His life spanned the fifth century, which was a tumultuous time for Christians following the controversies surrounding the First Council of Ephesus, the Second Council of Ephesus, and the Council of Chalcedon. Playing a crucial role at this critical juncture, Narsai would ultimately be remembered as one of the foundational figures of the Church of the East. The present volume inaugurates the series Narsai: The Homilies, which aims to provide English translations of all the surviving homilies of Narsai. The homilies translated in this volume are “On Revelations to Patriarchs and Prophets (I)” (1), “On Jonah” (14), “On Peter and Paul” (8), “On Stephen” (10), “On Mary” (5), and “On the Evil of the Time” (12).

For another new translation of selected homilies by Narsai, see here. Cross-file under Syriac Watch.

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Anthony & Shoemaker, The Capture of Jerusalem (ISAC)

BIBLIOGRAPHIA IRANICA: The Capture of Jerusalem.

Notice of a New Book: Anthony, Sean W. & Stephen J. Shoemaker. 2024. The capture of Jerusalem by the Persians in 614 CE by Strategius of Mar Saba (Late Antique and Medieval Islamic Near East 5). Chicago: Institute for the Study of Ancient Cultures.

Follow the link for description and link to the free downloadable pdf version.

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The oldest Hebrew manuscript of Esther?

GENIZA FRAGMENT OF THE MONTH (DECEMBER 2024): T-S A36.18 – hole-y megillah it’s the oldest! (Marc Michaels).

There is a long and technical paleographic analysis of the manuscript, which adds up to this:

Overall, it would seem that this megillah, represented by the single surviving fragment of T-S A36.18, was likely written sometime during the 10th century. This is clear from comparisons with the dated ketubba fragment T-S 24.35, the midrash on Esther, and the gimel, in particular, of the Codex Babylonicus from the National Library of Russia. However, it could even be a little earlier than that based on the Bodleian's Ms. Heb. d. 26.

The implications:

In conclusion, T-S 36.18 may have originally attracted attention because of its visually interesting damage pattern, but a full examination of this fragment has yielded what may be the oldest Megillat ʾEster fragment found to date.

The article notes that no fragments of the Book of Esther have been recovered from the Dead Sea Scrolls.

This Geniza manuscript may be the oldest preserved of the original Hebrew. There is at least one much older Greek manuscript. And at least one earlier manuscript of a Syriac translation.

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2025 digs in Israel etc.

BIBLE HISTORY DAILY: Digs 2025. Join an excavation to unearth the biblical past (Nathan Steinmeyer).

Let us hope and pray that the war is over by next summer.

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

Looting arrests at Horbat Binit

APPREHENDED: Suspects Caught Red-Handed Looting Galilee Archaeological Site (Pesach Benson / TPS, Jewish Press).

Horbat Binit is a significant ancient settlement known for its well-preserved agricultural installations, particularly olive oil production facilities. Situated on a remote hill between the villages of Ilaniya and Kfar Kana, the site is important for understanding the agricultural and economic life in the region during several historical periods, including the Persian, Hellenistic, Roman, and Byzantine eras.

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

Hanukkah 2024

HAPPY HANUKKAH (CHANUKKAH, CHANUKAH, HANNUKAH) to all those celebrating! The eight-day festival begins tonight at sundown.

Last year's Hanukkah post is here. It links to earlier Hanukkah/Hasmonean-era-related posts. And see also here here, here, and here.

As noted in the immediately preceding post, this year's cosmic synchronicity places Christmas and the beginning of Hanukkah on the same day. Have a great day, however you choose to celebrate or enjoy it.

UPDATE (2 January 2025): Additional Hanukkah-related posts are here, here, here, and here.

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

Christmas 2024

MERRY CHRISTMAS to all those celebrating!

For posts of Christmases past, see my 2023 Christmas post and links.

More recent Christmas-related posts are here, here, here, here, and here. And since we haven't yet done the Star of Bethlehem or the Magi this year, see also here.

In a cosmic synchronicity, Hanukkah also begins this evening. See the next post (above).

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

Megillat Antiochus

FOR HANUKKAH: Megillat Antiochus: The “Biblical” Chanukah Scroll (Dr. A. J. Berkovitz, TheTorah.com).

The medieval Scroll of Antiochus does more than enrich Chanukah with details. It models the holiday after Purim by telling the story in the biblical language and idiom of Daniel, Ezra, and Esther.

For PaleoJudaica posts on Megillat Antiochus, start here and follow the links. Also see here.

We did not include this work in MOTP2, for reasons explained at the latter link. But for an English translation, see the link noted here.

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

The origins of the Hanukkah menorah

HANUKKAH IS NEARLY HERE: The Hanukkah Menorah and Its Obscure Origins and Evolution. Ancient Jews also marked Hanukkah with fire, but the menorahs we know today are a modern innovation (Elon Gilad, Haaretz).

On Hanukkah Jews the world over light a menorah to commemorate a miracle that occurred at the height of the Maccabean revolution against their Greek oppressors in the 2nd century BCE. But that is a postfact explanation for a tradition whose origins are shrouded in mystery.

[...]

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

When did December 25th become Christmas?

BIBLE HISTORY DAILY: December 25th and Christmas. When did December 25 become the date for Christmas? (Megan Sauter).

This essay's answer to the question may surprise you.

For more on this subject, see here.

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

What does Daniel 11 actually say about Antiochus IV?

HANUKKAH IS COMING: Antiochus IV’s Persecution as Portrayed in the Book of Daniel (Prof.Reinhard G. Kratz, TheTorah.com).

Two key accusations against Antiochus IV in 1 Maccabees are that he suspended the tamid, the daily offering, and that he placed an “abomination of desolation” on the Temple altar— either a cultic object or a new, pagan altar. What does the older source, Daniel 11:31, actually tell us about these two accusations and, more broadly, about Antiochus IV’s intervention in the Jerusalem cult?

Some interesting revisionist commentary on the account of Antiochus's desecration of the Temple in Daniel 11.

Some PaleoJudaica posts on Daniel 11 are here, here, here, here, here, here, and here, with links and commentary.

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

Where was Jesus born?

'TIS THE SEASON: A second Bethlehem? Some researchers re-think Jesus' birthplace. Recent findings suggest Jesus' birthplace may differ from tradition, with experts proposing Nazareth or another Bethlehem in Galilee (Jerusalem Post).

Scientists and historians are raising fresh questions over the long-held belief that Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea. Recent archaeological findings and scholarly debates suggest that the historical birthplace of Jesus may not align with traditional narratives, with some experts proposing alternative locations such as Nazareth or another Bethlehem in Galilee.

[...]

I don't seem to have posted on this question since 2007, but I agree with what I said there and don't have much to add. The current article does refer to more evidence that Bethlehem of Judea may have been inhabited in the first century CE. It's also interesting, but not significant, that the apocryphal Protevangelium of James places Jesus' birth not quite in Bethlehem, but in the desert between Bethlehem and Jerusalem.

Jesus was born sometime around the turn of the era in Bethlehem of Judea, or another Bethlehem, or Nazarerth, or somewhere. We really don't know.

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Late-antique incised menorah defaced at Mount Karkom

VANDALISM: Ancient menorah carving vandalized at Mount Karkom as visitors return to site. Israel Nature and Parks Authority suspects deliberate defacement of ancient menorah engraving at Mount Karkom, with branches etched to obscure them; guide calls it attempt to erase Jewish history (Gilad Carmeli, Ynet News).

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Late-antique oil-lantern lamp excavated in Sepphoris

JUST IN TIME FOR HANUKKAH: Rare, intact 1,500-year-old ceramic lantern discovered in Galilee. Small clay lantern uncovered in Tzippori National Park dated to the 4th-6th centuries CE, was likely used by flourishing Jewish community there, archaeologists say (Gavriel Fiske, Times of Israel).

The small round lantern, dated to the Byzantine period (4th to 6th centuries CE), is just 18 centimeters in diameter and 19 centimeters high (4.1×4.5 inches) and could be rested on a flat surface or hung. It has a rectangular opening in the front, into which an oil lamp would be placed, and some 55 small openings or “light slits” around the body to radiate light, the notice said.

For more on the archaeology of Sepphoris (Zipori//Tzipori/Tzippori/Zippori), start here (cf. here) and follow the links.

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

James Ossuary on display in Atlanta

CONTROVERSIAL ARAMAIC EPIGRAPHY: Ossuary inscribed with the words ‘brother of Jesus’ now on display in Atlanta. In 2003, its owner, Oded Golan, was accused of forging the inscription. Golan was later acquitted of all charges (Ami Matthew Bonder, Jerusalem Post).

An ancient ossuary inscribed with the words "James, son of Joseph, brother of Jesus" in now on display at Pullman Yards in Atlanta, sparking renewed controversy and debate over its authenticity and historical significance. The 2,000-year-old limestone box is part of an exhibition featuring 350 historical artifacts from the time of Jesus.

PaleoJudaica has followed the James Ossuary story from nearly the beginning. For the posts, start here and keep following the links. The authenticity of the second part of the inscription, "brother of Jesus," remains highly debated.

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

Those legs of the Queen of Sheba

PROF. JILLIAN STINCHCOMB: The Queen of Sheba’s Hairy Legs (TheTorah.com).

In the Bible, the Queen of Sheba is an unnamed foreign visitor to Solomon’s court. How did she later become a paradigmatic religious convert, Solomon’s wife, and the mother of Nebuchadnezzar and Menelik I, the founding figure of the Ethiopian royal court? The answer begins in the Qur’an.

For many PaleoJudaica posts on the Queen of Sheba and the legends about her, including about her legs, start here and and follow the links. And for posts on the the medieval Ethiopian national epic, the Kebra Negast, follow the links from there too.

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Forderer & Schumann (eds.), Antiocha I (Mohr Siebeck)

NEW BOOK FROM MOHR SIEBECK: Antiochia I. Frühchristliche und diasporajüdische Identitätsbildung im Ausstrahlungsbereich einer antiken Großstadt. Edited by Tanja Forderer and Daniel Schumann. [Antioch I. Early Christian and Diaspora Jewish Identity Formation in the Sphere of Influence of an Ancient Metropolis.] 2024. VIII, 502 pages. Civitatum Orbis MEditerranei Studia (COMES) 8. Published in German. €159.00 including VAT. cloth available 978-3-16-163900-5. Also Available As: eBook PDF €159.00.

Summary

Antioch on the Orontes is of great importance for the formation of Hellenistic Judaism in the Diaspora and the emergence of Christianity. This volume shows the factors that influenced the shape and development of both religious communities from different specialist perspectives and emphasizes the religious-historical significance of Antioch.

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Simkovich, Letters from Home (Eisenbrauns)

NEW BOOK FROM EISENBRAUNS:

Letters from Home

The Creation of Diaspora in Jewish Antiquity

Malka Z. Simkovich

“An excellent and thought-provoking analysis of Hellenistic period Jewish literature.”—Daniel L. Smith-Christopher, Catholic Books Review

$74.95 | Hardcover Edition
ISBN: 978-1-64602-274-8

$24.95 | Paperback Edition
ISBN: 978-1-64602-275-5

Available as an e-book

230 pages
6" × 9"
1 map
2024

Description

The announcement by the Persian king Cyrus following his conquest of Babylon in 539 BCE that exiled Judahites could return to their homeland should have been cause for celebration. Instead, it plunged them into animated debate. Only a small community returned and participated in the construction of the Second Temple in Jerusalem. By the end of the sixth century BCE, they faced a theological conundrum: Had the catastrophic punishment of exile, understood as marking God’s retribution for the people’s sins, come to an end?

By the Hellenistic era, most Jews living in their homeland believed that life abroad signified God’s wrath and rejection. Jews living outside of their homeland, however, rejected this notion. From both sides of the diasporic line, Jews wrote letters and speeches that conveyed the sense that their positions had ancient roots in Torah traditions. In this book, Malka Z. Simkovich investigates the rhetorical strategies—such as pseudepigraphy, ventriloquy, and mirroring—that Egyptian and Judean Jews incorporated into their writings about life outside the land of Israel, charting the boundary-marking push and pull that took place within Jewish letters in the Hellenistic era. Drawing on this correspondence and other contemporaneous writings, Simkovich argues that the construction of diaspora during this period—reinforced by some and negated by others—produced a tension that lay at the core of Jewish identity in the ancient world.

This book is essential reading for scholars and students of ancient Judaism and to laypersons interested in the questions of a Jewish homeland and Jewish diaspora.

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What is "Late Antiquity?"

ASKING THE IMPORTANT QUESTIONS: What is “Late Antiquity”? (Michael L. Satlow). After a detailed and informative discussion, he concludes:

My own conception of Late Antiquity emerges from my background as a historian of Jews and Judaism. It thus covers the years 70 CE – 620 CE, with special attention to the third through sixth centuries (the rabbinic period). There has been much scholarly discussion, due to its relevance to the question of Christian origins, about whether there was a “common Judaism” when the Jerusalem Temple stood. Less attention has been paid to the time after the Temple’s destruction. Chronology, though, is only one component of Late Antiquity. Late Antiquity also gestures toward a shared culture. Jews are part of this fabric, neither central nor marginal. The evidence that they left can thus be seen as reflecting this wider culture, not as the parochial writings of an isolated community.

PaleoJudaica's focus is on the Second Temple Period to the end of Late Antiquity, so this question is of interest. I think everyone agrees (I know, I just jinxed it) that the Second Temple Period runs from the building of the Second Temple in the late 500s BCE to the destruction of its Herodian restoration in 70 CE. This overlaps with the Hellenistic and Roman Periods.

My conception of Late Antiquity is similar to Professor Satlow's. I would start it in the early third century CE (when the Mishnah was assembled) and like him take it to the rise of Islam in the early seventh century. Some would end it with the fall of Rome c. 400, others with the Carolingian Renaissance c. 800. I use the latter occasionally, when it suits me.

In any case, focus is not mandate. I try to maintain some relevance to ancient Judaism and not veer off into, e.g., politics and latest-thing current events. Within that range, I post on what I think is interesting. Anything pertaining directly to ancient Judaism, of course. But also most news involving Northwest Semitic epigraphy, many stories dealing with the broadly-construed biblical period, and some about the Middle Ages. Even an occasional modern story.

For more details see my About PaleoJudaica page.

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

Joseph and those Egyptian women

DR. RABBI EDWIN C. GOLDBERG: Egyptian Women, Captivated by Joseph’s Beauty, Cut Their Hands Slicing Citrons (TheTorah.com).

Potiphar’s wife sets up her friends to learn about Joseph’s beauty for themselves, the hard way, in a story that appears in both rabbinic midrash and the Quran. Sefer HaYashar, a 16th century midrashic work, dramatizes this story in a way sympathetic to her character, even giving her the name Zuleikha, borrowed from Islamic sources.

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Preview of Narsai: Selected Sermons

ANCIENT JEW REVIEW: Publication Preview | Narsai: Selected Sermons (Andrew Younan).

Andrew Younan. Narsai: Selected Sermons. Paulist Press, 2024

Cross-file under Syriac Watch and New Book.

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

Samaritan Decalogue tablet sells for more that $5m

SOLD! Oldest known stone tablet inscribed with the Ten Commandments sells for over $5m. Winning bid is far higher than predicted; anonymous buyer will donate Samaritan-linked slab to Israeli institution, while some question its authenticity ("Agencies" and Times of Israel).

All right then. The market has spoken. For more on those specialist reservations about the object's authenticity and date, see here. And follow the links from there for more posts on it, going back to its earlier sale in 2016.

I'm glad the new owner intends to donate it to an Israeli museum. I hope he or she follows through with that. Then there will be better opportunities to address questions of date and authenticity.

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

Still more on those 3rd-millennium alphabetic (?) inscriptions

ALPHABETIC NORTHWEST SEMITIC EPIGRAPHY? A claim that the earliest alphabet was found in Syria sparks a media maelstrom – finally. A Johns Hopkins archaeologist recycles a 20-year-old hypothesis that small clay cylinders found in an ancient tomb reset the genesis of letters by 500 years. Why are people listening now? (Gavriel Fiske, Times of Israel).

Numerous experts have expressed support, sometimes tentatively, for Schwartz and his theory. Schwartz declined an interview with The Times of Israel and would not comment further about his theories. However, a former student was willing to weigh in.

“The writing on these cylinder seals seems to me to be alphabetic writing, and I don’t really have any doubt about that,” wrote Prof. Christopher Rollston, department chair and professor of Biblical and Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations at George Washington University, in an email exchange.

A long and informative article.

Background here and here.

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

Does the Tel Dan Stele prove there was a King David?

HISTORY AND EPIGRAPHY? This ancient archeological marvel celebrates the defeat of King David — does it prove he existed? The Tel Dan stele, currently on display at the Jewish Museum, is the oldest non-biblical mention of the House of David (Olivia Haynie, The Forward).

Although the stele is significant for being a non-biblical reference to King David, it is not indisputable evidence that he existed. In The New York Times, Dr. Jack M. Sasson, a former religious studies professor at UNC-Chapel Hill, argued David may still only be a mythical ancestor for those who created the stele, a figure they used to legitimize their rule.

I haven't seen the NYT article, but, yes, this is possible. Also, if there was an actual King David, which is how I think I would bet, it does not necessarily follow that the stories about him in the Deuteronmistic History have much basis in fact. Maybe, but we have too little information and too few external controls in our data to know.

Background on the Tel Dan Stele, a fragmentary Aramaic inscription from roughly the late ninth century, see here and links. It is currenly on display at the Jewish Museum in New York.

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

White, The Poetics of Visuality (Mohr Siebeck)

NEW BOOK FROM MOHR SIEBECK: Justin J. White. The Poetics of Visuality. Ekphrasis, Material Agency, and the Visual Imagination in Biblical Antiquity. 2024. XV, 279 pages. Forschungen zum Alten Testament (FAT) 182. €129.00 including VAT. cloth available 978-3-16-163344-7. Also Available As: eBook PDF €129.00.

Summary

Justin J. White explores the nature of images in ancient Israel through a reconceptualization of the relationship between image and text. He proposes that in ancient Israel, texts evoked images as a core part of their rhetoric. Rather than conceptualizing texts and images as ontologically or functionally distinct media, he argues that both media are mixed media even while neither medium is reducible to the other. In order to make this argument, he focuses on the visual aspects of textual rhetoric—what he terms »the poetics of visuality.« He builds his argument across three text-specific axes of visual rhetoric: ekphrasis, the visual imagination and material agency. He makes the claim that each of these three axes are endemic to Israelite literature, and mutually contribute to the formation of a robust ontology of visual representation in ancient Israel.

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Collins, The Apocalypse and Apocalyptic Topics (Mohr Siebeck)

NEW BOOK FROM MOHR SIEBECK: Adela Yarbro Collins. The Apocalypse and Apocalyptic Topics. Collected Essays II. 2024. VI, 371 pages. Wissenschaftliche Untersuchungen zum Neuen Testament (WUNT I) 524. €149.00 including VAT. cloth available 978-3-16-163669-1. Also Available As: eBook PDF €149.00.

Summary

In this volume of collected essays, Adela Yarbro Collins provides a wide-reaching insight into her work on the Apocalypse that spanned her professional career from 1973 to 2021. Emphasizing the variety in form and content of the early and late antique Christian apocalypses within the genre, she focusses on the apocalyptic Son of Man sayings in the Synoptic Gospels and raises questions about the impact of Revelation on its ancient and modern audiences regarding ethical norms and the problem of violence. Also examined in detail are a range of themes in the Apocalypse, feminine symbolism, the role of the city of Pergamon in the work, its use of vivid description (ekphrasis), its millennial themes, portraits of rulers, and time and history, especially the author's contemporary history. The collection is rounded off with a discussion of the challenge of apocalypticism to the project of creating a New Testament theology.

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Elgvin, My Lips Play Flute for the Highest (Cascade)

NEW BOOK FROM WIPF & STOCK:

My Lips Play Flute for the Highest
Jewish Hymns and Prayers before Jesus

by Torleif Elgvin
Imprint: Cascade Books
244 Pages, 5.50 x 8.50 x 0.49 in

Paperback
9781666770018
Published: November 2024
$31.00 / £25.00 / AU$48.00 DESCRIPTION

My Lips Play Flute for the Highest presents fifty-five poetic texts from the Dead Sea Scrolls and other early Jewish writings: hymns, psalms, liturgies, petitions, visions, and end-time scenarios. In psalms and prayers we may come close to the souls of ancient Judeans, who pour out their sufferings, laments, hopes, and praises to their God. We encounter a plurality of end-time hopes, with or without messianic actors on earth. Jewish piety from the last two centuries before the turn of the era emerges vibrant and powerful, but also sensitive and full of hope. Introductions to the various scrolls and writings inform readers about how scholars understand these texts and where scholarship locates them in time and space. This book provides a moving and vital entry into early Judaism, before the emergence of the Jesus movement and rabbinic Judaism.

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"Josephus, Translated and Transformed" at USC

EXHIBITION: Flavius Josephus, Lion Feuchtwanger and the Eternal Struggle with History (JACOB WIRTSCHAFTER, Moment Magazine).

In the hushed, book-lined halls of the Doheny Memorial Library at USC, visitors are greeted with a provocative question: How do you write history when you’re part of it—and when the world around you is crumbling?

The library’s new exhibit, “Josephus, Translated and Transformed: From the 1st to the 21st Century,” runs until December 18 and pairs Flavius Josephus, the first-century chronicler of a doomed Jewish revolt, with Lion Feuchtwanger, the 20th-century German-Jewish novelist who fled Nazi persecution. Two men separated by nearly two millennia, yet linked by their ability to record catastrophe from the eye of the storm.

[...]

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Rollston on the Samaritan Decalogue tablet - Caveat emptor

EPIGRAPHIC DOUBTS? Sotheby’s Samaritan 10 Commandments and the Antiquities Market: Caveat Emptor (Christopher Rollston, Times of Israel).

Am I certain the Sotheby’s Samaria Ten Commandments were forged some 75 to 100 years ago? No. But am I convinced these are genuine ancient Samaritan inscriptions from 1000 or 1500 or 2000 years ago? Absolutely not. In short, Sotheby’s seems to be making a number of problematic assumptions, and I do not find that to be useful. Thus, I would simply conclude with these words: caveat emptor.

Northwest Semitic epigrapher Christopher Rollston raises some signficant points in this essay.

Background here and here, with links to posts on its previous sale in 2016. The object goes up for auction on 18 December.

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Did Bar Kokhba come late to the revolt?

REVISIONIST HISTORY: The Bar Kokhba Revolt Against the Romans in 131 CE Was Initially Led by Jewish-Origin Legionaries (Guillermo Carvajal, LBV).

A recent study led by Haggai Olshanetsky, a researcher at the University of Warsaw, has changed the historical perception of the Bar Kokhba Revolt or Second Jewish Revolt (sometimes also called the Third Jewish-Roman War) against the Roman Empire between 132 and 136 CE.

According to this analysis, Simon Bar Kokhba, traditionally regarded as the undisputed leader of the uprising, assumed control amid the conflict by displacing or eliminating the original leaders. This revelation challenges the narrative established by Roman and Judeo-Christian sources and sheds new light on the events of this historic rebellion.

[...]

Bold-font emphasis in original.

The open access, underlying article in the Palestine Exploration Quarterly is available online:

The Identity of the Leaders of the Second Jewish Revolt and Bar Koseba's True Role in the Insurrection
Haggai Olshanetsky
Published online: 09 Dec 2024
https://doi.org/10.1080/00310328.2024.2435788

ABSTRACT

This paper demonstrates that Bar Koseba was not necessarily the only leader of the uprising at its inception; the insurrection's leadership possibly included Jews who had previously served in the Roman army. The theory that there were numerous leaders in the beginning agrees with Dio's description and explains why, unlike Jewish-Christian sources, no Roman author named Bar Koseba occurs in any of the accounts. This interpretation answers further questions regarding the archaeological evidence from the war, such as how the revolt could have lasted so long despite the limited geographical area in which rebel coins were discovered, and why there are hidden complexes in the Galilee but no rebel coins or destruction layers. This is owing to the likely withdrawal of numerous provinces from the uprising once, or in the following months after, Bar Koseba came to power, a theory that fits well with the scrolls discovered in the Judaean Desert that are linked to the conflict.

There are countless PaleoJudaica posts involving the Bar Kokhba revolt. For many, not all, of them, see the links collecte here, plus here, here, here, here, here, here, and here, sometimes with additional links.

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

Have the Tel Dan Stele fragments been mis-assembled?

NORTHWEST SEMITIC EPIGRAPHY AND PALEOGRAPHY: Has the Tel Dan Stele Been Reconstructed Incorrectly? New Research Suggests Yes. A compelling new study reveals the three chunks of the famous stele to be the work of two scribes. (CHRISTOPHER EAMES, Armstrong Institute of Biblical History).

Now, [Prof. Michael] Langlois has turned his attention to the very “House of David” inscription itself—the Tel Dan Stele. It’s an artifact that has become arguably the most famous piece in the world of biblical archaeology. And in the latest issue of the Israel Exploration Journal (Vol. 74, No. 2), Langlois has produced a consequential new assessment of it.

No, the new analysis doesn’t change anything about the reading of the “House of David” phrase on the stele. Rather, it reinterprets how the three main fragments of the stele go together—or, perhaps more accurately, how they don’t go together.

The article in the current issue of IEJ is available only to subscribers.

The Tel Dan Stele is current on exhibition at the Jewish Museum in New York. Earlier this year it was exhibited at Armstrong College in Oklahoma. For many posts on the stele, start here and follow the links. For a brief introduction to the stele and its inscription, see here

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Kilgallon & Mitchell (eds.), Time and Chronology in Creation Narratives (Routledge)

NEW BOOK FROM ROUTLEDGE:

Time and Chronology in Creation Narratives
Edited By Silvie Kilgallon, Fiona Mitchell
Copyright 2025

Hardback
£97.50
eBook
£29.99

ISBN 9780367481667
158 Pages 1 B/W Illustrations
Published August 26, 2024 by Routledge
United Kingdom Flag Free Shipping (6-12 Business Days)

Description

This book explores the ways in which the origins of time, of the gods, and processes associated with time were conceptualised in antiquity, examining a variety of ancient sources from across the ancient world and addressing issues surrounding the sources themselves.

Time is a key framework through which we understand the world around us. Shared structures to measure the passage of time reveal certain cultural and societal values, while time’s less concrete forms are evident across art and literature. This volume examines how the tangible and intangible, direct and complex representations of time are used in ancient sources. The chapters in this book are written by scholars whose work focuses on India, Assyria, Greece, and Rome. Their analyses explore poetic and mythological narratives, philosophical discourse, and representations of the divine, allowing us to see how ideas about time and chronology reveal various cultural understandings of our world. Accessibly written, this volume enables scholars from a variety of disciplines to engage effectively with each chapter.

Time and Chronology in Creation Narratives offers a fascinating interdisciplinary collection suitable for scholars working in ancient literature, philosophy, and religion across Classics, Ancient History, Indology, and Near Eastern Studies.

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Nam, The Theology of the Books of Ezra and Nehemiah (CUP)

NEW BOOK FROM CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS:

The Theology of the Books of Ezra and Nehemiah

Part of Old Testament Theology

AUTHOR: Roger S. Nam, Emory University, Atlanta
DATE PUBLISHED: November 2024
AVAILABILITY: Available
FORMAT: Hardback
ISBN: 9781108423625

£ 70.00
Hardback

Other available formats:
Paperback

Description

In the opening verses of the Book of Ezra-Nehemiah, King Cyrus exhorts the exiled Judeans to return to Jerusalem to restore worship in Jerusalem. It then narrates this restoration through the construction of the temple, the repair of the city walls, and the commitment to the written Torah. In this volume, Roger Nam offers a new and compelling argument regarding the theology of Ezra-Nehemiah: that the Judeans' return migration, which extended over several generations, had a totalizing effect on the people. Repatriation was not a single event, but rather a multi-generational process that oscillated between assimilation and preservation of culture. Consequently, Ezra-Nehemiah presents a unique theological perspective. Nam explores the book's prominent theological themes, including trauma, power, identity, community, worship, divine presence, justice, hope, and others – all of which take on a nuanced expression in diaspora. He also shows how and why Ezra-Nehemiah naturally found a rich reception among emerging early Christian and Jewish interpretive communities.

• Highlights Ezra-Nehemiah as migration literature and thus presents the repatriation as having a totalizing impact on the return Judeans
• Presents the God of Ezra-Nehemiah as distant and absent
• Follows the reception of Ezra-Nehemiah in later Christian and Judaic diasporic settings

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What's left of Jewish material history in Syria?

SEEKING A RECKONING: What happened to relics of Syria’s Jewish history? Assad’s collapse spurs efforts to assess the damage. Bombardment, looting and disuse have wreaked an uncertain toll on the country’s former synagogues and Jewish sites (Shira Li Bartov).

(JTA) — The fall of Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad has opened up a sea of uncertainty about Syria’s future — and about the treasures of its past, including the remnants of its Jewish history. ...

Scholars also worry about the ruins of Roman-era synagogues in Syria’s ancient cities, such as Apamea and Dura-Europos. Satellite imaging has shown that Dura-Europos was heavily looted while being held by Islamic State forces, according to Adam Blitz, a fellow of the Royal Anthropological Institute.

Remnants from the synagogue of Dura-Europos are treasured by museums, including the Yale University Art Gallery, which displays 40 tiles from the synagogue’s ceiling. But Blitz said other artifacts from the site are feared to have been pilfered by combatants.

“There has been tremendous fear about mosaics being looted,” he said. ...

For many PaleoJudaica posts on the Jobar Synagogue in Damascus, which was destroyed in 2014, start here and follow the links. For more on Apamea, see here. And for a great many posts on Dura-Europos, start here and follow the links.

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

Interview: Drew Longacre and the Genizah Psalms

THE GENIZA FRAGMENTS BLOG: Q&A Wednesday: Drew Longacre and the Genizah Psalms.

Author:
Drew Longacre and Melonie Schmierer-Lee

Wed 11 Dec 2024

Drew, you visited Cambridge this summer to look at Genizah Psalms fragments – tell us about your project.

I came to examine a dissertation here, and then stayed for an extra week to work on Psalms manuscripts for a critical edition of the Hebrew text of the Psalms for the HBCE (Hebrew Bible: a Critical Edition) series. Brent Strawn and I have funding from the National Endowment for the Humanities for a three-year project to produce the printed edition, and it will be accompanied by a digital edition too.

[...]

For more on the Critical Edition of the Hebrew Psalter Project, see here.

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Social Biographies of the Ancient World 12.2

BIBLIOGRAPHIA IRANICA: Social Biographies of the Ancient World.

The latest issue of Journal of Ancient History (volume 12, issue 2) is a special issue: Social Biographies of the Ancient World with Jason M. Silverman as guest editor. Below is the list of articles: ...

The issue has some articles on PaleoJudaic topics. It is behind the De Gruyter paywall.

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

A Hellenistic-era fortress at Ashdod-Yam

ARCHAEOLOGY: TAU researchers discover second-century BCE fortress at Ashdod-Yam. Excavations at Ashdod-Yam reveal a second-century BCE fortress destroyed in conflict, the Institute of Archeology at Tel Aviv University reported (Raquel G. Frohlich, Jerusalem).

A second-century BCE military stronghold was established at Ashdod-Yam, according to excavations and interim results reported by the Institute of Archeology at Tel Aviv University (TAU).

The research, published November 20, focused on the site’s Hellenistic period and used numismatic and ceramic evidence. Ashdod-Yam contains remains of occupations from the Late Bronze Age to the early Islamic period, according to the TAU Institute of Archeology.

[...]

The underlying article is available with open access in the journal Tel Aviv:

Hellenistic Ashdod-Yam in Light of Recent Archaeological Investigations
Alexander Fantalkin, Matasha Mazis, Yaniv Schauer, Donald T. Ariel, Shahar Krispin, Orit Tsuf, Tzilla Eshel & Eli Itkin

Pages 238-278 | Published online: 20 Nov 2024
Cite this article https://doi.org/10.1080/03344355.2024.2385149

Abstract

Ashdod-Yam is an important archaeological site with a history spanning the Late Bronze Age to the early Islamic period. The Hellenistic period marked an important phase for the site, when its acropolis served as a military base. This report presents the interim results of recent excavations that focused on the Hellenistic period at Ashdod-Yam. Based on the numismatic and ceramic evidence, the stronghold was established in the first half of the 2nd century BCE and should be considered within the framework of Seleucid military activity. Although it is difficult to determine under which Seleucid king this military stronghold was initially commissioned, it was most probably reinforced in the days of Antiochus VII Sidetes by his general Cendebaeus and then destroyed by John Hyrcanus I towards the end of his reign. The precision in dating the Hellenistic occupation at Ashdod-Yam offers a rare window into the life of a 2nd-century BCE coastal military settlement, enriching our knowledge of the site and contributing new insights into the region’s historical and cultural developments.

For a Byzantine-era discovery at Ashdod-Yam some years ago, see here.

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A Cleopatra bust from Taposiris Magna?

ICONIC ICONOGRAPY? Possible bust of Cleopatra VII found at ancient Egyptian temple. A small statue of a woman wearing a royal crown may depict Cleopatra VII, an archaeologist claims. Other archaeologists think it is likely someone else. (Owen Jarus, Live Science).

If only the ancients had labeled things more diligently. Why couldn't they have put ΚΛΕΟΠΑΤΡΑ on the base of the bust and made it easy for us?

For many PaleoJudaica posts on Cleopatra VII (the Cleopatra), who reportedly spoke Hebrew and Aramaic, start here (cf. here) and follow the links.

For more on the site of Taposiris Magna, and the so-far unsuccessful search for Cleopatra's tomb there, see the links collected here, plus here. A recent article in the Jerusalem Post surveys the current situation: Are we getting closer to the elusive tomb of Cleopatra? New discoveries at the Taposiris Magna temple complex west of Alexandria reignited hopes of locating the tomb.

Even though no Cleopatra has turned up so far, the site keeps producing interesting artifacts and architecture.

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

Has Santa's coffin been found?

'TIS THE SEASON: Just in time for Christmas? Sarcophagus possibly belonging to Saint Nicholas discovered in Turkey. Archaeologists assume the sarcophagus was covered by a layer of gravel and sand brought by a flood or tsunami (Jerusalem Post). HT Rogue Classicism.

Archaeologists in Turkey uncovered a limestone sarcophagus in the Church of Saint Nicholas in Demre, Antalya, which they believe could be linked to Saint Nicholas himself, known worldwide as Santa Claus.

[...]

If it is the sarcophagus of the historical Saint Nicholas, it will presumably be empty. Most of St. Nick's bones were nicked (or preemptively saved from the Seljuks, depending on your perspective) in 1087 and are now in the Basilica di San Nicola in Bari, Italy. The rest were reportedly taken by the Venetians in 1100 and are now in the Monastery of San Nicolò al Lido.

Saint Nicholas Day was 6 December. For more on the historical man, a late-antique bishop in Anatolia, start with the links collected here and keep following them back.

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

Rabbinics & Hebrew Bible jobs at the University of Postdam

H-JUDAIC has post two job advertisements at the University of Potsdam in Germany:

FEATURED JOB: Full Professorship (W 3) for Rabbinic Literature and Halacha, Universität Potsdam

The School of Jewish Theology, created in 2013 as part of the Faculty of Arts at the University of Potsdam, invites applications for the following position to be filled by October 1, 2025:

Full Professorship (W 3) for Rabbinic Literature and Halacha

The successful candidate will represent the field of Rabbinics and have specific expertise in the domain of Halacha, employing both traditional and innovative methodologies. The candidate will demonstrate ability to connect the Talmud and Rabbinics with broader Jewish intellectual history and contribute to the interdisciplinary scholarship.

[...]

Also at the School of Jewish Theology:

FEATURED JOB: Professorship (W 2) for Hebrew Bible and its Exegesis, Universität Potsdam

Professorship (W 2) for Hebrew Bible and its Exegesis

The successful candidate will represent the entire field of the Hebrew Bible and its exegesis in both teaching and research. They will place the Bible in the context of its historical, social, religious, and cultural origins, critically engaging with the text while also addressing traditional Jewish reception and interpretation

[...]

Both jobs include the following requirements:

Applicants must be members of a Jewish congregation. Non-native speakers are expected to acquire sufficient skills to function in the German academic environment over a transition period of two years.

For full particulars and application information, follow the links for both. The deadline for email submission of application materials is 9 January 2025.

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Review of Mokhtarian, Medicine in the Talmud

H-JUDAIC: Marcus on Mokhtarian, 'Medicine in the Talmud: Natural and Supernatural Therapies between Magic and Science'.

Mokhtarian, Jason Sion. Medicine in the Talmud: Natural and Supernatural Therapies between Magic and Science. Oakland: University of California Press, 2022. xix + 236 pp. $95.00 (cloth), ISBN 9780520389410.

Reviewed by Alexander Warren Marcus (Franklin and Marshall College)
Published on H-Judaic (December, 2024)
Commissioned by Jessica Carr (Lafayette College)

Excerpt:

Mokhtarian’s monograph is an important corrective to earlier apologetic scholarship by non-Talmudists, as well as to more recent studies that emphasize only the supernatural components of Talmudic remedies. He does an excellent job of synthesizing recent contextual scholarship on Babylonian rabbinic healing therapies, pointing to the importance to local contextualization and complicating simplistic distinctions between a supposedly rational West and superstitious East. In situating both “medicine” and “magic” under the umbrella of healing, he successfully recovers the understudied empirical dimensions of Babylonian rabbinic therapeutics.

I noted the publication of the book here, with more on the author's work there and here.

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Review of Davies, Representing the dynasty in Flavian Rome

BRYN MAYR CLASSICAL REVIEW: Representing the dynasty in Flavian Rome: the case of Josephus’ Jewish War.

Jonathan Davies, Representing the dynasty in Flavian Rome: the case of Josephus' Jewish War. Oxford classical monographs. Oxford; New York: Oxford University Press, 2023. Pp. 256. ISBN 9780198882992.

Review by
Jan Willem van Henten, Universiteit van Amsterdam. j.w.vanhenten@uva.nl

This book offers an excellent, detailed analysis of all the references to the three Flavian emperors in Josephus’s Jewish War. Davies consistently pays attention to Roman and Jewish perspectives and reads Josephus in line with postcolonial theory as a historian who is in between two worlds. His conclusions are well-argued and careful. He rejects the binary oppositions that in his view underly previous scholarship and lead to a one-dimensional interpretation of Josephus’s role as a historian. ...

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Potsherd-core "cave pearls" in a Jerusalem tunnel

SPELUNKIC ARCHAEOLOGY: Study finds first cave pearls containing archaeological artifacts in ancient Jerusalem tunnel (Sandee Oster, Phys.org). HT Rogue Classicism.

A study conducted by Dr. Azriel Yechezkel of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and his colleagues from the Hebrew University and Tel Aviv University, published in the journal Archaeometry, discovered the largest known cave pearl deposit in the southern Levant. What makes these 50 cave pearls so unique is that some of them contain archaeological artifacts, making them the first in the world to contain man-made objects.

Cave pearls are a type of speleothem found in caves. They are round, pearl-like formations usually between 0.1 mm and 30cm long. They form around central nuclei, such as sand grains covered in layer upon layer of mineral deposits.

[...]

Cave pearls? Well that's something different. The pottery cores over which they accumulated seem to date mostly from the late-Persian to Hellenistic and the Byzantine eras.

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

Orville S. Wintermute (1927-2024)

SAD NEWS: Official Obituary of Orval Wintermute November 20, 1927 - November 25, 2024.

Noted by the Agade List and Explorator.

Professor Wintermute is known particulary (at least by me) for his translations of the Apocalypse of Zephaniah and the Book of Jubilees in Charlesworth's two-volume collection, The Old Testament Pseudepigrapha.

Requiescat in pace.

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Review of Briquel Chatonnet & Debie, The Syriac World

BIBLE HISTORY DAILY: Review: The Syriac World: In Search of a Forgotten Christianity.

The Syriac World: In Search of a Forgotten Christianity
By Françoise Briquel Chatonnet and Muriel Debié, trans. by Jeffrey Haines
(New Haven: Yale Univ. Press, 2023), 304 pp., 68 b/w figs., 11 maps; $35 (hardcover and eBook)

Reviewed by Jeanne-Nicole Mellon Saint-Laurent

... The Syriac tradition, whose literary heritage is almost exclusively Christian, has gained more attention in the Anglophone world in the past three decades due to increased scholarly focus. Despite this growing recognition of the Syriac tradition in academic circles, a comprehensive book was missing—until now.

I noted the publication of the French original here and the English translation here. Cross-file under Syriac Watch.

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The Sifting Project needs help to continue

THE TEMPLE MOUNT SIFTING BLOG: FORCED TO PAUSE: THE SIFTING SITE FACES CLOSURE AFTER HANUKKAH.

Now, more than a year since the war began, and in light of the IDF’s remarkable achievements, it seems that the existential threat to the State of Israel is behind us. In contrast, the Temple Mount Sifting Project now faces an existential threat of its own. Donations to the project have dropped by approximately 70%, and government funding processes have been frozen. These challenges, combined with a significant decline in visitors to the sifting site, force us to dramatically scale back our activities. Consequently, starting next month (after Hanukkah), we are regrettably compelled to suspend operations at the sifting site until appropriate funding is secured.

If you are feeling generous this holiday season, they could really use a contribution.

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

Review of Hopkins & McGill (eds.), Forgery beyond deceit

BRYN MAYR CLASSICAL REVIEW: Forgery beyond deceit: fabrication, value, and the desire for ancient Rome.

John North Hopkins, Scott McGill, Forgery beyond deceit: fabrication, value, and the desire for ancient Rome. Oxford; New York: Oxford University Press, 2023. Pp. 464. ISBN 9780192869586.

Review by
Rebecca Menmuir, Lincoln College, Oxford. rebecca.menmuir@lincoln.ox.ac.uk

Forgery Beyond Deceit is an excellent volume, immediately securing a place as required reading for anyone interested in fakes and forgeries across disciplines and chronological boundaries. At its heart is an insistence that forgeries are valuable objects which are worthy of study in and of themselves; no longer should the forgery be consigned to Philology’s growing pile of discarded works, deemed inauthentic and therefore worthless. In this way the volume represents a fundamental shift in authenticity studies of the late-twentieth and twenty-first century, and holding this belief as the book’s core allows contributors to explore avenues beyond deceit, as the title has it. ...

Follow the link for a preview and list of authors and titles.

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Apocryphal Christmas again

BIBLE HISTORY DAILY: Christmas Stories in Christian Apocrypha. The birth of Jesus in the apocryphal gospels (Tony Burke).

Yep, time to note this one again. For more on the Protevangelium of James, see here, here, here, and links.

And here's something new. James McGrath argues that the whole of the Protevangelium of James is a reworked John the Baptist source. (Scroll down a bit to find the discussion.)

Cross-file under 'Tis the Season.

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Langton, The Womb and the Simile of the Woman in Labor in the Hebrew Bible (Routledge)

NEW BOOK FROM ROUTLEDGE:

The Womb and the Simile of the Woman in Labor in the Hebrew Bible
Embodying Relationship with YHWH

By Karen Langton
Copyright 2025

Hardback
£101.25

eBook
£29.99

ISBN 9781032834474
178 Pages
Published October 30, 2024 by Routledge

Original Price£135.00
Sale Price GBP £101.25

Description

This book explores figurative images of the womb and the simile of a woman in labor from the Hebrew Bible, problematizing previous interpretations that present these as disparate images and showing how their interconnectivity embodies relationship with YHWH.

In the Hebrew Bible, images of the womb and the pregnant body in labor do not co-occur despite being grounded in an image of a whole pregnant female body; the pregnant body is instead fragmented into these two constituent parts, and scholars have continued to interpret these images separately with no discussion of their interconnectivity. In this book, Langton explores the relationship between these images, inviting readers into a wider conversation on how the pregnant body functions as a means to an end, a place to access and seek a relationship with YHWH. Readers are challenged and asked to rethink how these images have been interpreted within feminist scholarship, with womb imagery depicting YHWH’s care for creation or performing the acts of a midwife, and the pregnant body in labor as a depiction of crisis. Langton explores select texts depicting these images, focusing on the corporeal experience and discussing direct references and allusions to the physicality of a pregnant body within these texts. This approach uncovers ancient and current androcentric ideology which dictates that conception, gestation, and birth must be controlled not by the female body, but by YHWH.

The Womb and the Simile of the Woman in Labor in the Hebrew Bible is of interest to students and scholars working on the Hebrew Bible, gender in the Bible and the Near East more broadly, and feminist biblical criticism.

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Hays (ed.), The Cambridge Companion to the Book of Isaiah

NEW BOOK FROM CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS:

The Cambridge Companion to the Book of Isaiah

Part of Cambridge Companions to Religion

EDITOR: Christopher B. Hays, Fuller Theological Seminary, California
DATE PUBLISHED: November 2024
AVAILABILITY: AvailableFORMAT: Hardback
ISBN: 9781108471862

£ 80.00
Hardback

Other available formats:
Paperback

Description

Few writings have shaped the world as much as the Book of Isaiah. Its lyricism, imagery, theology, and ethics are all deeply ingrained into us, and into Judeo-Christian culture more generally. It has been a cultural touchstone from the time when it was formed, and it influenced later Biblical authors as well. The Book of Isaiah is also a complex work of literature, dense with poetry, rhetoric, and theology, and richly intertwined with ancient history. For all these reasons, it is a challenge to read well. The Cambridge Companion to Isaiah serves as an up-to-date and reliable guide to this biblical book. Including diverse perspectives from leading scholars all over the world, it approaches Isaiah from a wide range of methodological approaches. It also introduces the worlds in which the book was produced, the way it was formed, and the impacts it has had on contemporary and later audiences in an accessible way.

• Provides up-to-date and focused explanations of current scholarship on the history, nature, and legacy of The Book of Isaiah
• Offers insight into the Book of Isaiah as a cultural touchstone and how its influence has perpetuated since antiquity
• Contains numerous interdisciplinary essays by internationally recognized authorities on Isaiah

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Review of Matsangou, The Manichaeans of the Roman east

BRYN MAYR CLASSICAL REVIEW: The Manichaeans of the Roman east: Manichaeism in Greek anti-Manichaica and Roman imperial legislation.

Rea Matsangou, The Manichaeans of the Roman east: Manichaeism in Greek anti-Manichaica and Roman imperial legislation. Nag Hammadi and Manichaean studies, 105. Leiden; Boston: Brill, 2023. Pp. xxii, 580. ISBN 9789004542846.

Review by
Martin Devecka, University of California at Santa Cruz. mdevecka@ucsc.edu

... Matsangou makes a fairly compelling case that some Greek Christians writing against Manichaeanism did so with access to genuine Manichaean documents (mostly lost to us). She effectively punctures the myth that later writers in this tradition build their images of Manichaeanism mostly out of borrowings from the fourth-century Acta Archelai, and she also draws attention to the valuable evidence offered by the various abjuration statements to which Manichaeans were subject when they wanted to convert to Orthodoxy. ...

I noted the publication of the book here. Cross-file under Manichean (Manichaean) Watch.

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Reviews of the Reagan Library's DSS exhibition

TWO REVIEWS of the new Dead Sea Scrolls (etc.) exhibition at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library:

A Journey Back in Time at the Reagan Library: The Dead Sea Scrolls Exhibit. “Dead Sea Scrolls: The Exhibition” opened at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library on November 22. The exhibit includes 200 artifacts dating back to around 250 BCE to 68 C.E. (Ayala Or-El, Jewish Journal).

“Dead Sea Scrolls: The Exhibition” opened at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library on November 22. The exhibit includes 200 artifacts dating back to around 250 BCE to 68 C.E.

One of the artifacts is the Magdala Stone, which dates to the Second Temple Period and features intricate carvings of the Temple. The stone served as ceremonial furniture on which sacred scrolls were placed. There’s also the Sea of Galilee Boat, a 1st-century CE fishing boat made from oak and cedar. The Psalm Scroll, the most substantial and well-preserved manuscript of Psalms, which contains several Psalms not found in the Hebrew Bible, is on display. Ossuaries, small stone receptacles used for secondary burial and Objects from Masada including small potsherds bearing writing in Aramaic, Hebrew, and Latin ostraca can be found at the exhibit as well.

[...]

Fragments of antiquity. Hebrew history comes alive at Dead Sea Scrolls exhibit ( Michele Willer-Allred, Thousand Oaks Acorn).

Journalists at the preview stood in hushed awe as the historic artifacts were shown, as did the curators who had traveled from Israel to set up the display in Simi Valley.

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Tony Burke's Regensburg Year: November

THE APOCRYPHICITY BLOG: My Regensburg Year Part 4: November 2024.

Tony Burke is on research sabbatical for the 2024-25 academic year at the University of Regensburg in Germany.

In this most recent update he tracks down some Mary of Magdalene traditions and gives us a preview of what to expect in his forthcoming Anchor Yale volume on the Christian apocrypha. There's plenty of New Testament apocrypha and Old Testament pseudepigrapha in this post.

For earlier posts in the series and more on Tony's work, see the links collected here.

Cross-file under New Testament Apocrypha Watch.

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AJR reviews Hamori, God’s Monsters

ANCIENT JEW REVIEW: God’s Monsters: Vengeful Spirits, Deadly Angels, Hybrid Creatures, and Divine Hitmen of the Bible (Ethan Schwartz).

Esther J. Hamori, God’s Monsters: Vengeful Spirits, Deadly Angels, Hybrid Creatures, and Divine Hitmen of the Bible. (Minneapolis: Broadleaf, 2023).

... Some readers might find Hamori’s combination of seriousness and frivolousness to be incoherent. However, I would argue that it’s a faithful reflection of what she’s talking about. Monsters themselves are both serious and frivolous. If we aren’t open to this duality, then we’re going to miss crucial dimensions of how the Bible presents God. Hamori’s goal is to encourage that openness. ...

I noted the publication of the book here and another review of it here. See the links collected in the latter post, plus here, for more on monsters in the biblical world.

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

A MOOC on ancient Israel

ONLINE COURSE: Jerusalem: A Journey Through Time: Bar-Ilan launches new course on ancient Israel. Students will study ancient Jerusalem starting from the prehistoric period through key historical phases (Raquel G. Frohlich, Jerusalem Post).

A new online undergraduate-level course, titled “Jerusalem: A Journey Through Time,” was recently launched by Bar-Ilan University, the institution announced in a Sunday statement.

The course, available as a Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) on the edX platform, is taught by Prof. Aren Maeir, who specializes in the archeology of ancient Jerusalem and the southern Levant, the statement said.

[...]

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

Candida Moss to head the Anchor Yale Bible Series

PUBLISHING NEWS: Candida Moss to Lead Anchor Yale Bible (Cathy Lynn Grossman, Publisher's Weekly).

Thirty years ago, a British schoolgirl had a unique request for her 16th birthday present. Candida Moss wanted scholar Raymond Brown's 1971 commentary on the Gospel According to John from the illustrious Anchor Bible Series, then published by Doubleday. That treasured book is still on her home bookshelf today as Moss, now a well-published New Testament scholar and professor of theology at the University of Birmingham, prepares to become the fifth general editor, the first New Testament scholar, and the first woman to lead the 68-year-old series, now known as the Anchor Yale Bible Series, in May 2025.

[...]

Congratulations to Professor Moss and to Yale University Press.

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

Rogue Classicism is back

ROGUE CLASSICISM is up and running again. It's good to see you back, David Meadows.

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

Herod Agrippa II's aqueous banqueting cave?

SPELUNKIC ARCHAEOLOGY: In a watery Golan cave, Herod’s great-grandson entertained in the Roman imperial style. An altar dedicated to the cult of Pan was likely converted to a banquet area by Herodian ruler Agrippa II, aligning with the account of Josephus, new research shows (Gavriel Fiske, Times of Israel).

The latest excavations at Banias, an archaeological site and national park in the Golan Heights that abuts the border with Lebanon, have shown that a sacred cave long associated with the worship of nature deity Pan was likely repurposed during the late 1st century CE by Agrippa II, the great-grandson of King Herod, as an ancient event hall in the Roman style.

[...]

The underlying technical article is behind a subscription wall. But you can read the abstract for free: Dine and Worship: The Roman Complex in Front of the Pan Grotto in Paneas/Caesarea Philippi (Adi Erlich and Ron Lavi, BASOR 392))

For PaleoJudaica posts on the site of Banias, see the links collected here. For posts on King Herod Agrippa II, see here and links (cf. here).

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

AJR reviews the Berlin Elephantine exhibition

ANCIENT JEW REVIEW: Exhibition Review | Elephantine: Island of the Millennia (Simcha Gross).

As one of the few fora where academic knowledge is mediated to the general public, museum exhibitions are often revealing windows into the contemporary stakes and concerns that underpin scholarship. The stunning exhibition on Elephantine currently hosted at the James-Simon-Galerie and the Neues Museum in Berlin is no exception. The visitor is expertly guided through a sumptuous display of objects discovered, beginning in the late nineteenth century, on the famous island lying in the middle of the Nile in Upper Egypt. ...

But the review is not without its criticisms. Read on.

For more on the Elephantine exhibition at the Staatliche Museum zu Berlin, see here and here. Subsequent posts on the Elephantine papyri (etc.) are here, here, and here.

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Biblical Studies Carnival 222

READING ACTS: Biblical Studies Carnival #222 for November 2024 (Phil Long). With lots of SBL 2024 recaps and posted papers.

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