Auvinen, Philo’s Influence on Valentinian Tradition (SBL)

NEW BOOK FROM SBL PRESS:

Philo’s Influence on Valentinian Tradition

Risto Auvinen

ISBN 9781628375749
Volume SPhiloM 10
Status Available
Publication Date June 2024

Paperback $59.00
eBook $59.00
Hardback $79.00

Risto Auvinen reevalutes the relationship between the exegetical and philosophical traditions found in the works of Philo and those of the Valentinian gnostic tradition, with a particular focus on the latter half of the second century, Valentinianism’s formative years. Texts examined include fragments of Valentinus, Heracleon, and Ptolemy’s Letter to Flora, in addition to the Valentinian source included in the Excerpta ex Theodoto by Clement of Alexandria and related sections in Irenaeus’s Adversus haereses. Auvinen asserts that the number of parallels with Philo in the Valentinian sources increases the likelihood that there was a historical relationship between Philo’s writings and Valentinian teachers. These connections expand our knowledge not only of the preservation and circulation of Philo’s texts in the latter part of the second century but also the importance of the allegorical traditions of Hellenistic Judaism on Valentinus’s school of thought and on Gnosticism more broadly.

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An egregious cheating weight after all?

BIBLE HISTORY DAILY: First Temple Cheating Weight. Find shows how Jerusalem merchants manipulated weights to defraud customers (Nathan Steinmeyer ).

I noted the discovery of the weight here and the pushback about it here (cf. here). The response from the Hebrew University team in the BHD essay is new to me. If the hinge marks do appear on the labels of all other eight gera weights, that would seem to establish that the weight was highly fraudulent, instead of just (maybe) a wee bit.

It bothers me, though, that it is so much heavier than the displayed weight. Would customers really fall for being overcharged nearly fourfold? That seems like a lot. Being cheated by 20%, if that, seems more plausible.

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Inscribed genie seal excavated in Jerusalem

ARCHAEOLOGY, HEBREW EPIGRAPHY, ICONOGRAPHY: ‘Extremely rare, beautiful’ First Temple-era ‘genie’ seal discovered in Jerusalem. 2,700-year-old stone seal is inscribed with the words ‘Yehoʼezer son of Hoshʼayahu’; its image of a protective winged demon or genie betrays Assyrian influence (Gavriel Fiske, Times of Israel).

“This is an extremely rare and unusual discovery. This is the first time that a winged ‘genie’ – a protective magical figure – has been found in Israeli and regional archaeology. Figures of winged demons are known in the Neo-Assyrian art of the 9th-7th Centuries BCE, and they were considered a kind of protective demon,” Dr. Filip Vukosavović, an assyriologist and IAA archaeologist, said of the seal.

It seems the seal originally contained just the image of the winged figure, and the text was inscribed later. At first, the item was probably “worn as an amulet around the neck of a man named Hoshʼayahu, who held a senior position in the Kingdom of Judah’s administration,” the IAA said.

When Hosh’ayahu died, his son Yeho’ezer inherited the seal, and he “added his name and his father’s name on either side of the demon,” in an effort to “directly appropriate to himself the beneficial qualities he believed the talisman embodied as a magical item,” the archaeologists hypothesized.

The seal invites a lot of fascinating inferences. Over at Haaretz, Ruth Schuster unpacks more of them:

Ancient Seal Featuring Assyrian Demon From First Temple Period Discovered in Jerusalem. A black stone seal-amulet with name 'LeYehoʼezer ben Hoshʼayahu' inscribed in paleo-Hebrew shows the cultural influence of the Neo-Assyrian Empire in ancient Judah, archaeologists say

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Ancient tomb art going on display in Ashkelon

ARCHAEOLOGY, DECORATIVE ART: Never Before Seen Ancient Roman Tombs to Be Shown to Public for the First Time. One of the tombs was first discovered in the 1930s, only to be reburied and excavated again in the 1990. Having undergone extensive restoration, the city of Ashkelon will create a special archaeology park to display the two tombs (Ruth Schuster, Haaretz).

The tomb paintings depict scenes from Greco-Roman mythology. My first thougth was, I wonder who was buried there. An article by Joseph Feldman in VIN News (Ancient Tombs With Vibrant Wall Paintings Open to Public in Southern Israel) addresses that question:

The tombs, located a few hundred meters from the beach, were likely the burial place for aristocratic Romans some 1,700 years ago, when Ashkelon was a Roman city, according to archaeologists.

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Review of Filtvedt & Schröter, Know yourself

BRYN MAYR CLASSICAL REVIEW: Know yourself: echoes of the Delphic maxim in ancient Judaism, Christianity, and philosophy.

Ole Jakob Filtvedt, Jens Schröter, Know yourself: echoes of the Delphic maxim in ancient Judaism, Christianity, and philosophy. Beihefte zur Zeitschrift für die neutestamentliche Wissenschaft, 260. Berlin; Boston: De Gruyter, 2024. Pp. ix, 634. ISBN 9783111083544.

Review by
Maria Carmen De Vita, University of Siena. mariacarmen.devita@unisi.it

The reviewed volume originated within a research group at MF Norwegian School of Theology, Religion and Society in Oslo. Its title reflects the variety of sources considered to reconstruct the reception of the Delphic precept “know thyself” across the first four centuries AD and various intellectual traditions. The editors have two stated objectives: to check the flexibility of the concept of self-knowledge in the range of interpretations it gives rise to through various contexts; and to assess the possibility of comparing modern conceptions of the self with those derivable from ancient sources. ...

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Lammers, "Have You Not Read this Scripture?" (Peeters)

NEW BOOK FROM PEETERS:

"Have You Not Read this Scripture?"
Memory Variation and Context-Based Modification in the Old Testament Quotations in the Gospel of Mark

SERIES:
Contributions to Biblical Exegesis & Theology, 116

AUTHOR:
Lammers H.

PRICE: 93 euro
YEAR: 2024
ISBN: 9789042951556
PAGES: XVI-430 p.

SUMMARY:

In the study presented in this book, Hans Lammers sets out to answer the question which Old Testament (OT) version was used by the Markan Evangelist as the source of his scriptural quotations. Next, he observes that in most cases, the text of the quotations in Mark deviates from that in the OT source used. Whereas scholars usually ascribe the observed variation to the use of variant versions or forms of the OT text that are no longer extant, Lammers offers a different explanation. He argues that the Markan author quoted the OT from memory, a process in the course of which a considerable portion of the observed variation was generated. This explanation requires us to modify current views of evangelists sifting through biblical books from which they copy certain passages. In addition, Lammers suggests that another part of the observed variation may be the result of conscious adaptation of OT quotations making them better serve the purpose of supporting the Gospel’s message. By means of four case studies, he tries to demonstrate how views of Jesus developed in the Markan Gospel may have prompted the Evangelist to alter OT quotations, a practice for which he proposes the designation context-based modification.

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Galatello, The Syriac Script at Turfan (Austrian Academy of Sciences)

NEW BOOK FROM THE AUSTRIAN ACADEMY OF SCIENCES PRESS:

GALATELLO Martina

The Syriac Script at Turfan

First Soundings

Veröffentlichungen zur Iranistik, 90

Denkschriften der philosophisch-historischen Klasse, 551

AVAILABLE AS

Print (softcover)
49,00 €

eBook (Digital)
0,00 €

1. Auflage, 2023

This is the first book-length palaeographic study of about a thousand fragments in Syriac and Sogdian languages discovered between 1902 and 1914 in the Turfan area on the ancient Northern Silk Roads. This manuscript material, probably dating between the late 8th and 13th /14th centuries, is of utmost relevance for the history of an area that represents a crossroads region of various communities, languages and religions, not least the East Syriac Christian community. Palaeographic factors such as form, modulus, ductus, contrast, spaces between letters and ligatures have been examined. Particularly significant is a peculiar ligature of the letters ṣādē and nūn. One important observation that emerges from this research is the almost total absence of monumental script in favour of mostly cursive forms, most of them East Syriac cursive forms. These represent a valuable source for the study of the history of the East Syriac script due to the paucity of earlier and contemporary East Syriac manuscript evidence from the Middle East, at least before the twelfth century. Moreover, this research sheds light on scribal habits that are highly relevant for a better comprehension of the Sogdian and Syriac-speaking Christian communities, for the history of writing between Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, and for a greater understanding of the social context in which these and other communities in the same area read, wrote, and shared handwritten texts. This study is part of the FWF stand-alone project “Scribal Habits. A case study from Christian Medieval Central Asia” (PI Chiara Barbati) at the Institute of Iranian Studies of the Austrian Academy of Sciences.

Note that the electronic version is free.

HT the AWOL Blog.

Many of the fragments of the Manichean Book of Giants recovered from Turfan are in Sogdian.

Translations of the Book of Giants fragments from Turfan etc., as well as the fragments of the original Aramaic from Qumran, are coming out soon in More Old Testament Pseudepigrapha volume 2.

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Atkins, The Animalising Affliction of Nebuchadnezzar in Daniel 4 (T&T Clark)

NEWISH BOOK FROM BLOOMSBURY/T&T CLARK:

The Animalising Affliction of Nebuchadnezzar in Daniel 4

Reading Across the Human-Animal Boundary

Peter Joshua Atkins (Author)

Paperback
$39.95 $27.96

Hardback
$115.00 $80.50

Ebook (PDF)
$35.95 $25.16

Product details

Published Aug 22 2024
Format Paperback
Edition 1st
Extent 280
ISBN 9780567706225
Imprint T&T Clark
Dimensions 9 x 6 inches
Series The Library of Hebrew Bible/Old Testament Studies
Publisher Bloomsbury Publishing

Description

This is a detailed investigation into the nature of Nebuchadnezzar's animalising affliction in Daniel 4 and the degree to which he is depicted as actually becoming an animal. PeterAtkins examines two predominant lines of interpretation: either Nebuchadnezzar undergoes a physical metamorphosis of some kind into an animal form; or diverse other readings that specifically preclude or deny an animal transformation of the king. By providing an extensive study of these interpretative opinions, alongside innovative assessments of ancient Mesopotamian divine-human-animal boundaries, Atkins ultimately demonstrates how neither of these traditional interpretations best reflect the narrative events.

While there have been numerous metamorphic interpretations of Daniel 4, these are largely reliant upon later developments within the textual tradition and are not present in the earliest edition of Nebuchadnezzar's animalising affliction. Atkins' study displays that when Daniel 4 is read in the context of Mesopotamian texts, which appear to conceive of the human-animal boundary as being indicated primarily in relation to possession or lack of the divine characteristic of wisdom, the affliction represents a far more significant categorical change from human to animal than has hitherto been identified.

I seem to have missed this one when it came out last year. Now out in paperback.

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Karla & Konstan (trans.), Life of Aesop the Philosopher (SBL)

NEW BOOK FROM SBL PRESS:

Life of Aesop the Philosopher

Grammatiki A. Karla; David Konstan, translator

ISBN 9781628373271
Volume WGRW 50
Status Available
Publication Date May 2024

Hardback $65.00
eBook $45.00
Paperback $45.00

The Life of Aesop the Philosopher, an anonymous Greek literary work, presents one version of the novelistic biography of Aesop, which dates to the fourth to fifth century CE. In this volume, Grammatiki A. Karla offers an extended introduction to the Life of Aesop in general, the history of the textual tradition, and the MORN manuscript family and its relationship to other versions and papyrus fragments. She then presents a new edition of the late antique version (MORN) alongside David Konstan’s English translation. A commentary addresses editorial choices and focuses on words and phrases that are of interest for the history of the Greek language.

Aesop, known especially for his fables, appears in the Greek Classical tradition. But one section of his biography derives from the Story of Ahiqar, which the Jewish apocryphal tradition also adopted. See the introduction to this volume.

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Korpel & Sanders (eds.), Meaningful Meetings with Foreigners in the World of the Bible (Spronk Festschrift, Peeters)

NEW BOOK FROM PEETERS:

Meaningful Meetings with Foreigners in the World of the Bible
Essays in Honour of Klaas Spronk on the Occasion of His Retirement

SERIES:
Contributions to Biblical Exegesis & Theology, 119

EDITORS:
Korpel M.C.A., Sanders P.

PRICE: 100 euro
YEAR: 2024
ISBN: 9789042952942
E-ISBN: 9789042952959
PAGES: LII-428 p.

SUMMARY:

Several Bible characters travelled to other regions to sojourn there, either temporarily, or for the rest of their lives. Some of them left their place of birth because of famine, war, or conflicts with relatives, while others were deported. Not only the Bible but also other texts from the ancient Near East call attention to the plight of desperate foreigners and express the obligation to offer them help and asylum. The articles in this volume are devoted to the status of foreigners in ancient Israel and in the ancient Near East, as well as in Early Judaism and in the Early Church, and the influence of these foreigners on those who welcomed them. Special attention is given to contextual Bible reading, an approach that highlights the influence of readers’ opinions on the interpretation of ancient texts, including texts about foreigners.

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Baker, Mesopotamian Civilization and the Origins of the New Testament (CUP)

RECENT BOOK FROM CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS:

Mesopotamian Civilization and the Origins of the New Testament

AUTHOR: Robin Baker, University of Winchester
DATE PUBLISHED: June 2022
AVAILABILITY: Available
FORMAT: Hardback
ISBN: 9781009098946

£ 75.00
Hardback
Other available formats:
Paperback, eBook

Description

In this ground-breaking study, Robin Baker investigates the contribution ancient Mesopotamian theology made to the origins of Christianity. Drawing on a formidable range of primary sources, Baker's conclusions challenge the widely held opinion that the theological imprint of Babylonia and Assyria on the New Testament is minimal, and what Mesopotamian legacy it contains was mediated by the Hebrew Bible and ancient Jewish sources. After evaluating and substantially supplementing previous research on this mediation, Baker demonstrates significant direct Mesopotamian influence on the New Testament presentation of Jesus and particularly the character of his kingship. He also identifies likely channels of transmission. Baker documents substantial differences among New Testament authors in borrowing Mesopotamian conceptions to formulate their Christology. This monograph is an essential resource for specialists and students of the New Testament as well as for scholars interested in religious transmission in the ancient Near East and the afterlife of Mesopotamian culture.

• Provides a deeper and richer understanding of the New Testament, significantly supplementing information from Hebrew Biblical, Jewish and Classical sources
• Examines the channels by which Mesopotamian ideology, theology and mythology reached New Testament authors
• Demonstrates a considerable diversity in reception of that material between New Testament writers and offers explanations for the diversity

This book is a couple of years old. I seem to have missed it when it came out.

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1-2 Maccabees as "contemporary history"

THE BIBLE AND INTERPRETATION:

Modern Scholarship on 1–2 Maccabees in Its Historical Context: Three Episodes

What are the theological implications of the First and Second Books of Maccabees, as well as their reception and interpretation in modern scholarship? Although these texts recount the same historical events—the Maccabean revolt against the Seleucid Empire—their differing portrayals have elicited distinct responses from historians and theologians within Christian and Jewish traditions.

See also, Ancient Jewish Historians and the German Reich (De Gruyter Oldenbourg, 2024).

By Daniel R. Schwartz
Department of Jewish History and Contemporary Jewry
The Hebrew University of Jerusalem
August 2024

Cross-file under New Book.

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Four new Babylonian lunar-omen tablets published

CUNEIFORM LUNAR OMENS: Ancient Babylonians thought solar eclipses predicted disasters. Deciphering four Mesopotamian tablets, team led by Assyriologist Andrew George shows Babylonians understood celestial events as messages from the gods (Times of Israel).

We already knew how omens worked. The point of the underlying article is the publication of these four interesting tablets. The story has been getting some media attention. The article in the Journal of Cuneiform Studies is behind a subscription wall, but you can read the abstract here. Notably:

As products of the middle and late Old Babylonian periods [the tablets] represent the oldest examples of compendia of lunar-eclipse omens yet discovered and thus provide important new information about celestial divination among the peoples of southern Mesopotamia in the early second millennium BCE.

For the possible relevance of Mesopotamian lunar (but not eclipse) omen literature to a famous passage in the Bible, see here.

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Haspia?

ARCHAEOLOGY: Was the Jewish Settlement of ‘Haspia’, Mentioned in Rabbinic Sources, Found in the Golan? (crownheights.info).

Impressive remains of a structure dating from the 2nd century to the mid-4th century CE were uncovered in excavations, conducted by the Israel Antiquities Authority, between 2014-2019 in the settlement of Hispin in the Golan Heights, together with the community and students from the nearby Golan School. Researchers speculate that the discovered structure was, in fact, part of the Jewish settlement of ‘Haspia’, mentioned in rabbinic sources.

[...]

First I've heard of this.

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O'Connell, The Hay Archive of Coptic Spells on Leather (British Museum, open-access)

THE AWOL BLOG: The Hay Archive of Coptic Spells on Leather: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Materiality of Magical Practice. A 2022 open-access book by Elisabeth O'Connell in the British Museum Research Publications Series. Follow the link for a link to the pdf file.

Abstract

The Hay archive of Coptic manuscripts consists of seven fragmentary sheets of leather bearing spells for divination, protection, healing, personal advancement, cursing and the satisfaction of sexual desire. Purchased from the heir of the Scottish Egyptologist and draftsman, Robert Hay (1799–1863), the manuscripts arrived at the British Museum in 1869. Since they were first published in the 1930s, they were understood to be the work of a single copyist writing around AD 600 in the Theban region of upper Egypt. The present volume has confirmed, nuanced, or challenged these assessments on the basis of scientific analysis and close study of the manuscripts.

Prompted by the urgent conservation needs of the corpus, this study seeks to provide a model integrated approach to the publication of ancient texts as archaeological objects by providing a full record of provenance and collection history; scientific analysis; conservation approach and treatment; a new complete edition and translation of the Coptic texts; and an extended discussion of the cultural context of production. Written on poorly processed calf, sheep and goat skin, the manuscripts were copied by multiple non-professional writers in the 8th–9th centuries. Employing a striking combination of ancient Egyptian, Graeco-Roman, biblical and extra-biblical motifs, their contents represent a Christian milieu making use of the mechanics of earlier ‘magical’ practice in a period well after the arrival of Islam.

Cross-file under Coptic Watch.

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