The Greek historian Herodotus, who visited Egypt in the 5th century B.C.E., reports that Egyptians would not kiss a Greek on the mouth or use any of their food implements—knife, fork, or pot—because Greeks ate cows, which Egyptians regarded as sacred. This background sheds light on the biblical account of Egyptians refusing to eat with Joseph’s brothers—or even with Joseph himself.
Visit PaleoJudaica daily for the latest news on ancient Judaism and the biblical world.
The Coptic Magical Formularies project finished its first full year in 2025, with some big changes. ...I noted the 2024 inception of the project here and an interim report here. It arises out of the work of the earlier Coptic Magical Papyri Project.
Visit PaleoJudaica daily for the latest news on ancient Judaism and the biblical world.
Leslie Kelly, Philosophers, Jews, and Christians in the Roman empire: authority, text, and tradition. Routledge focus on classical studies. London: Routledge, 2025. Pp. 114. ISBN 9781032904214.Review by
Mark Letteney, University of Washington. letteney@uw.eduThis slim book by Leslie Kelly aims to offer an overview and comparison of three groups as they existed in the first and second centuries of the Common Era, attending to their respective interactions with texts and authorities in their “traditions.” It succeeds in part. ...
Visit PaleoJudaica daily for the latest news on ancient Judaism and the biblical world.
The code had been considered to be impossible to decipher, mainly because of the sheer paucity of Cryptic B material. All we have are isolated fragments from two scrolls called 4Q362 and 4Q363, and a few spots in other scrolls where scribes briefly introduced Cryptic B in the middle of a Hebrew text, Oliveiro explains, in the journal Dead Sea Discoveries in December.A simple alphabetic substituion code is easy to decipher—if you have a reasonable-sized corpus. But the tiny size of the surviving corpus writtin in the Cryptic B script presented a huge challenge. Epigrapher Christopher Rollston says that the proposed decipherment is plausible, but hard to confirm, since the corpus is so small. That sound about right to me.Oliveiro's process was based on analysis and intuition, similar to the methodology the scholar Józef Milik used when deciphering Cryptic A in 1955. Both began with assuming that they were dealing with a mono-alphabetic substitution system– where each of the 22 letters of Hebrew or Aramaic is consistently replaced with a specific cryptic sign (as in – say A is always be replaced by $).
The abovementioned advance-published DSD article is open-access, so you can decide for yourself.
Cracking Another Code of the Dead Sea ScrollsWe can only hope for the discovery of more texts in Cryptic B, so that this decipherment can be tested.Deciphering Cryptic B (4Q362 and 4Q363) through Analysis and Intuition
In: Dead Sea Discoveries
Author: Emmanuel Oliveiro
Online Publication Date: 01 Dec 2025
Abstract
Among the Qumran manuscripts, several enigmatic scripts, including Cryptic A and Cryptic B, have been discovered. While Cryptic A was deciphered in 1955, Cryptic B has until now remained undeciphered. This study offers the first decipherment, transcription and translation of two Cryptic B manuscripts, 4Q362 and 4Q363. Their content appears to reflect familiar biblical idioms and eschatological themes, and the findings provide a foundation for future inquiry into the variation within Cryptic B letterforms, its relationship to Cryptic A, its role within Qumran scribal practices, and the development of cryptic scripts.
That's a more realistic hope than you might think. Cryptic A was known only in some Qumran texts, and Milik had a go at deciphering it from them. But then in 2009 an inscribed stone cup was recovered by the Mount Zion excavation. The inscription was written in, among other things, the Cryptic A script. It's decipherment remains in progress, but our previous knowledge of Cryptic A seems to have helped.
Whether the cup's inscription will in turn help with understanding the Cryptic A scrolls remains to be seen.
Visit PaleoJudaica daily for the latest news on ancient Judaism and the biblical world.
Meanwhile, although the interministerial committee still has to formulate its recommendation regarding the future of the Rockefeller, the IAA told The Times of Israel that it has requested to be reassigned the responsibility for the facility.The title of the article is unfortunate, if attention grabbing. But it gives a good overview of the history of the museum, some of its key holdings, and the issues around its coming fate.“For the Israel Antiquities Authority, the Rockefeller Museum is the historic and symbolic home of the archaeology of the Land of Israel,” read a statement shared by an IAA spokesperson.
“The Authority has formally requested that the museum’s operation be returned to its hands, in order to promote its reopening,” the statement added, pledging that the IAA “will do everything possible to ensure that the Rockefeller Museum once again becomes a living museum, full of content, as it deserves to be.”
Visit PaleoJudaica daily for the latest news on ancient Judaism and the biblical world.
From a previously unknown royal tomb to DNA revelations to a newly deciphered alphabet, here are our picks for some of the most interesting breakthroughs and discoveries in the archaeology of the Middle East and North Africa in 2025. ...And so the 2025 listing begins. Most of the discoveries in this one are outside PaleoJudaica's interests. But a few have come up.
For "3. Evidence of the Egyptian Army at Megiddo in the Time of King Josiah," see here. For "4. DNA Evidence Suggesting Levantine Phoenician Contributions to Punic Settlements Were More Cultural Than Genetic," see here and here. And for "8. First Iron Age Shipwrecks from the Southern Levant Excavated," see here.
Visit PaleoJudaica daily for the latest news on ancient Judaism and the biblical world.
TEHRAN – Iranian restoration teams have launched a new conservation program at the UNESCO-designated Persepolis and the nearby Naqsh-e Rostam site using advanced imaging, special material, and stone-analysis technologies, officials said on Saturday.For many PaleoJudaica posts on Persepolis, the ancient Achaemenid ceremonial capital city, see here and links.The project is being carried out by Iranian researchers with scientific support from international institutions. According to authorities, the work involves laser scanning, 3D imaging, detailed structural analysis of stone surfaces and the use of environmentally friendly protective materials aimed at slowing erosion.
Persepolis, founded by Darius the Great around 518 BC, served as the ceremonial capital of the Achaemenid Empire (c. 550 – 330 BC). The terrace complex, about 60 km northeast of Shiraz, was largely destroyed by Alexander the Great in 330 BC. Its surviving palaces, stairways and cuneiform inscriptions are considered among the most significant archaeological remains of the ancient world.
[...]
Visit PaleoJudaica daily for the latest news on ancient Judaism and the biblical world.
The Cyrus Cylinder is one of the best-known surviving texts from the Achaemenid Persian Empire (c. 550–332 BCE), due almost entirely to its proposed connection to the return of the Judean exiles and the rebuilding of the Jerusalem Temple as recorded in the Book of Ezra. However, beyond its biblical connection, the Cyrus Cylinder is a rather standard inscription, closely resembling many that came before it. So, what is the Cyrus Cylinder and how does it relate to the history and world of the Bible?I noted the first part here. This essay gives a nice overview of the Cyrus Cylinder, taking into account the latest developments.This is the second part of an exclusive Bible History Daily series on historical texts that are important for understanding the history and world of the Bible.
[...]
For many PaleoJudaica posts on Cyrus and the Cyrus Cylinder, start here and follow the links.
Visit PaleoJudaica daily for the latest news on ancient Judaism and the biblical world.
The Huqoq Excavation Project will benefit from a $1.6 million grant from the U.S. Department of State to the W.F. Albright Institute of Archaeological Research.Congratulations to both.Huqoq, a UNC-Chapel Hill-led archaeological project in Israel’s Lower Galilee region, is revolutionizing our understanding of ancient Jewish religious and cultural life.
[...]
For much more on the Huqoq excavation, start here (cf. here) and follow the many links.
Visit PaleoJudaica daily for the latest news on ancient Judaism and the biblical world.
If I succeeded in showing that parataxis as Exhibit A for Semitism is not in fact a Semitism by any reasonable definition, then it stands to reason that the term Semitism itself deserves greater scrutiny for the sorts of assumptions it may smuggle into our discipline.That could mess with some of my past research. I hope he continues to follow the question up.
I have noted previous posts in this series here and links.
Visit PaleoJudaica daily for the latest news on ancient Judaism and the biblical world.
Cross-file under Asking the Important Questions.
Oddly, Smith doesn't seem to have said that the actor has been offered or has accepted the part yet.
Visit PaleoJudaica daily for the latest news on ancient Judaism and the biblical world.
Visit PaleoJudaica daily for the latest news on ancient Judaism and the biblical world.
The miracle of the jug of oil lasting eight days is first narrated in the Babylonian Talmud, centuries after the establishment of Chanukah. In 1891 Poland, Chaim Zelig Slonimski, an observant, science-minded Jew, denied the historicity of this miracle, claiming that he was following in the footsteps of Maimonides. Some of his enlightened colleagues—and even some secular Zionists—thought he was endangering people’s connection to Judaism and providing antisemites a pretext to mock the Talmud.
Visit PaleoJudaica daily for the latest news on ancient Judaism and the biblical world.
For a report of illegal construction at the site of the palace at Tel Aroma (Tel Aruma) in 2020, see here. In 2023 I noted the Israeli Government conservation project that included the Jericho palaces.
Visit PaleoJudaica daily for the latest news on ancient Judaism and the biblical world.
The lamp, exposed during work led by the head of the unit, was found together with a Second Temple–period writing implement believed to have been used on wax tablets. According to the Civil Administration, the discovery offers fresh evidence of Jewish life and settlement continuity around Jerusalem nearly 2,000 years ago.The artifacts were discovered at Nabi Samuel, a village in the West Bank.
Another Hasmonean-era oil lamp is nice to have, but it is not especially rare.
The stylus, however, is a rare find. Reportedly a (much older??) iron one was found a few years ago at Mount Ebal. No indication what the newly recovered one was made of.
Confusingly, they are not the objects in either photo. The lamp and coins in the top one came from Tel Yavneh (a.k.a. Yavneh Yam). The second photo is of a bronze half-face lamp discovered in 2021. See here, here, and here.
Visit PaleoJudaica daily for the latest news on ancient Judaism and the biblical world.
As Jews around the world light Hanukkah candles to celebrate resilience and identity, the ruins of Apamea — an ancient city in modern‑day Syria — reveal a chapter of Jewish history that complicates common perceptions of Jewish life under Hellenistic influence.It's the time of the year when journalists, bless their hearts, are scrambling to work Hanukkah into any story involving Judaism and archaeology. This article has to try pretty hard. But it's a good overview of the ancient Syrian city of Apamea and the Jewish presence there. Worth reading for that.Apamea was founded in the 3rd century BCE by Antiochus I Soter (280–261 BCE), the great‑grandfather of Antiochus IV Epiphanes, the Seleucid ruler whose later policies in Judea ignited deep conflict. Antiochus I established the city on the Orontes River as part of a broader strategy to strengthen Seleucid control across Asia Minor. Built on a plateau by the Marsyas River at a crossroads of trade and travel, Apamea became a major commercial and strategic centre on the Great Southern Highway linking inland Anatolia to Mediterranean ports.
[...]
For more on Apamea, see here and links.
Visit PaleoJudaica daily for the latest news on ancient Judaism and the biblical world.
Both sides of the pendant depict a flaming seven-branched menorah in a circular frame. One side was preserved well, while the other became patinated. Analysis back at the IAA labs by artifact conservator Ilya Reznitsky found that the pendant was made of 99 percent lead. ...Cross-file under "Apotropaic Artifact?"Baruch suspects the owner, a Jew visiting Jerusalem, may have worn this crude, plain object beneath his or her clothing as a charm to protect them from evil, not as an ornament; not as a jewel.
Visit PaleoJudaica daily for the latest news on ancient Judaism and the biblical world.
In an exclusive interview with TPS-IL, Dr. Dvir Raviv of Bar-Ilan University said that a survey at Horbat Bet Zecharia, in the Gush Etzion region south of Jerusalem, has uncovered objects that match both the date and the military profile of the famous battle described in the Book of Maccabees in 163 BCE.The article does cite 1 Maccabees and Josephus for the information on the battle, but it would be nice if such pieces also gave the specific references. In this AI era, they aren't hard to find. (But double check them in the primary sources.)The site, on a hill about seven kilometers southwest of Bethlehem, is widely identified with the ancient village of Bet Zecharia, where the Seleucid army and the forces of Judah Maccabee clashed in what is known as the fifth Maccabean battle.
The references are 1 Maccabees 6:32-47 and Josephus, Antiquities 12:369-74 and Jewish War 1:41-45. I have posted on the battle some years ago here. It would be asking a lot to hope to find elephant bones at the site, but who knows?
Visit PaleoJudaica daily for the latest news on ancient Judaism and the biblical world.
The twilight of the Hasmonean dynasty does not remain solely in history books; it is clearly reflected in the soil of the Temple Mount, particularly in a special find: the bronze “Degraded Hasmonean Coins.” These coins, minted during the final decades of Hasmonean rule (~60-40 BCE), were previously misidentified as sloppy versions of the Royal coins of King Alexander Jannaeus who ruled from 104 to 76 BCE.Tangentially Hanukkah related (Hasmonean finds). Cross-file under Numismatics.
Visit PaleoJudaica daily for the latest news on ancient Judaism and the biblical world.
Last year's Hanukkah post is here. It links to earlier and some subsequent Hanukkah/Hasmonean-era-related posts. And see also here, here, here (follow-ups here and here), here, and here. And more is coming!
Posting was light last week because I've had the flu. I'm still a little under the weather, but I aim to catch up this week.
Visit PaleoJudaica daily for the latest news on ancient Judaism and the biblical world.
Reading Psalms with the ScribesUsing Ancient Manuscript Evidence to Inform Biblical Studies
John Screnock
£99.00
Hardback
Published: 18 November 2025
304 Pages
234x156mm
ISBN: 9780198853640Also Available As:
E-bookDescription
Reading Psalms with the Scribes argues for a new approach to the study of the Hebrew Bible, “reading with the scribes,” which puts variation in the ancient witnesses at the center of the endeavor. With a focus on texts from Psalms, Reading Psalms with the Scribes explores how ancient manuscript evidence can impact scholars' thinking about poetics, composition, and interpretation. Whereas most biblical scholarship keeps textual criticism distinct from other kinds of analysis — as a preliminary step that provides one correct version of the text to be studied, for example — the practice of reading with the scribes leverages moments of variation for their insights into the thoughts, practices, and work of scribes. The scribes of the Second Temple period were much more than copyists; they were practiced readers who paid close attention to the poetic features of psalms, competent editors who polished the existing strengths of psalms, talented authors who could add new elements to psalms without altering their compositional unity, and skilled interpreters with robust understandings of the text. Though current scholarship has extensive knowledge of these ancient texts in all their facets, there is much we can learn from the scribes of the Second Temple period. When we focus our attention on the places in the text where the scribes were at work and explore the elements of the text involved in that work — when we explore some of the paths that scribes have made in the text — we can glean methodological insights and consider psalms and other ancient Hebrew texts in new ways.
Visit PaleoJudaica daily for the latest news on ancient Judaism and the biblical world.
Religious Experience and Divinization in the Sectarian Dead Sea ScrollsLiving in the Liminal
Series:
Supplements to the Journal for the Study of JudaismAuthor: Rebecca L. Harris For members of the sectarian Dead Sea Scrolls movement, participation in the group would have granted an individual special privileges, including present, unmediated access to otherworldly realities. This understanding of the present as a type of liminal space is rooted in the group’s constructions of time and space. Drawing on theories of liminality and anthropological research on religious consciousness, this study seeks to demonstrate how sectarian identity and ritual and liturgical practice might have cultivated an experience of present communion with divine beings that was also aspirational and aimed to achieve the human worshiper’s permanent incorporation into the heavenly realm.
Copyright Year: 2026
E-Book (PDF)
Availability: Published
ISBN: 978-90-04-74804-0
Publication: 24 Nov 2025 EUR €121.00Hardback
Availability: Published
ISBN: 978-90-04-74803-3
Publication: 20 Nov 2025
EUR €121.00
Visit PaleoJudaica daily for the latest news on ancient Judaism and the biblical world.
This is the first part of an exclusive Bible History Daily series on historical texts that are important for understanding the history and world of the Bible.The Kurkh Monolith recounts the Battle of Qarqar, on which a bit more is here.When discussing historical references to ancient Israel outside of the Bible, many note the famous Tel Dan Inscription or the Mesha Stele, but there are two important Assyrian texts that are often forgotten: the Kurkh Monolith and the Black Obelisk.1 These inscriptions contain not only two of the oldest mentions of ancient Israel, but also describe events not mentioned in the Bible.
[...]
Visit PaleoJudaica daily for the latest news on ancient Judaism and the biblical world.
The Roman-Jewish historian of dubious reputation, Yosef ben Matityahu or Josephus, who would be captured by the Romans in the battle over Yodfat, wrote in detail about the mighty Jerusalem wall and its gates, calling it "impregnable" with no less than 60 guard towers along its length.Maybe it was impregnable. "It is clear that it was systematically destroyed and razed to the ground. This is predetermined destruction – not the result of the ravages of time, nor of enemy attack," says [excavation director Dr. Amit] Re'em. "This raises questions about who was responsible for the wall's destruction."
Visit PaleoJudaica daily for the latest news on ancient Judaism and the biblical world.
Pretend To Be A Time Traveler Day was created in 2007 by Senna Diaz, author of the webcomic Dresden Codak, but the dream of the human race one day being able to travel through time is much older than that. The first known mention of such a concept is in ancient Hindu mythology.Now an established annual tradition that I have egregiously neglected for some years.
One of the original announcements is here. The original Facebook page is long gone, but the X hashtage is #PretendToBeATimeTravelerDay.
Have fun, but behave yourself.
Past posts on the day are here and links.
Visit PaleoJudaica daily for the latest news on ancient Judaism and the biblical world.
Glass rings were popular in the Roman and Byzantine periods, roughly between the 1st and 7th centuries CE. They were often made by winding molten glass around a rod or using a mold, then smoothing the surface. These rings served as affordable decorative items compared to precious metal jewelry and were widely worn by different social classes.Finding such an artifact at the Temple Mount Sifting Project reflects the everyday life and craftsmanship of people who lived in Jerusalem during these eras. For Irène, sifting through the soil of the Temple Mount is not just an archaeological act, it is a spiritual privilege touching the very center of Jewish and world heritage.
Visit PaleoJudaica daily for the latest news on ancient Judaism and the biblical world.
3-4 Maccabees and the Apocalypse of Baruch According to the Syriac Peshitta Version with English TranslationEnglish Translation by Philip Forness & J. Edward Walters; Text Prepared by George Anton Kiraz & Joseph Bali
Publisher: Gorgias Press LLC
Availability: In stock
SKU (ISBN): 978-1-4632-0588-1Formats *
Cloth (In Print) ISBN 978-1-4632-0588-1Publication Status: In Print
Series: Surath Kthob 15
Publication Date: Sep 15,2025
Interior Color: Black
Trim Size: 7 x 10
Page Count: 0 [Sic!]
Languages: English
ISBN: 978-1-4632-0588-1
Price: $150.00 (USD)
Your price: $120.00 (USD)Overview
This volume is part of a series of English translations of the Syriac Peshitta along with the Syriac text carried out by an international team of scholars. Forness and Walters have translated the text, while Kiraz has prepared the Syriac text in the west Syriac script, fully vocalized and pointed. The translation and the Syriac text are presented on facing pages so that both can be studied together. All readers are catered for: those wanting to read the text in English, those wanting to improve their grasp of Syriac by reading the original language along with a translation, and those wanting to focus on a fully vocalized Syriac text.
Visit PaleoJudaica daily for the latest news on ancient Judaism and the biblical world.
Proverbs 1–9
Graham S. OgdenISBN 9781914490705
Status Available
Publication Date June 2025Hardback $85.00
Paperback $35.00This reading of Proverbs 1–9 is unique in that it complements Israelite advice by setting alongside it Chinese examples of wisdom from the Confucian Analects, highlighting their fundamental similarity and affirming Wisdom’s human-derived instructions within two very different cultural worlds.
The reading uses the literary and rhetorical features of the Hebrew text to highlight the Sages’ advice encouraging audiences to accept and endorse that advice, emphasizing the potential benefit that Wisdom is able to grant those who follow its path.
The phenomenon of Wisdom is not exclusive to any one community; it is universal or ecumenical and embraces all levels of counsel – that of parents teaching children, of artisans teaching practical techniques to apprentices, of ‘professional’ Sages giving political and personal direction to rulers. Wisdom’s basic concern is for the individual and community to aspire to the highest of ideals, to find the ‘paths’ that lead to personal and communal well-being. Wisdom is never just an intellectual pursuit; it is intensely practical, an ideal manner of living and working within specific religious and cultural contexts. Ancient Israel and a contemporary China arrived at similar conclusions as to what constituted ‘wise living’, expressing their conclusions within their own social and cultural contexts and forms.
Visit PaleoJudaica daily for the latest news on ancient Judaism and the biblical world.
The newly identified palace on the northwestern slope clarifies both the scale and splendor of the hilltop complex. Given Josephus's brief references to Alexandrium, physical evidence is essential for understanding how the Hasmoneans and Herod built and used the fortress.Early this year I noted the decipherment of an Aramaic ostracton excavated at Sartaba-Alexandrium in the 1980s. See here and here. Then a new exavation commenced at the site in March. Already it has discovered a major ancient architectural feature.According to Raviv, the architectural fragments uncovered so far allow archaeologists to reconstruct portions of the palace layout and better understand its function.
This site is also on the West Bank. The article discusses some of the arising issues and complications.
Visit PaleoJudaica daily for the latest news on ancient Judaism and the biblical world.
Visit PaleoJudaica daily for the latest news on ancient Judaism and the biblical world.
Languages die all the time. Scholars estimate that one language disappears every two weeks.As the article makes clear, "lost" in the headline means languages that no longer have native speakers. I assume that this was to avoid calling them "dead."Most vanish quietly, leaving little trace beyond memories held by the last speakers. But some dead languages cast shadows that stretch across centuries.
They influenced literature, law, religion, and entire ways of thinking about the world. You live in a culture shaped by languages nobody speaks anymore, and most people don’t realize how much these extinct tongues still matter.
[...]
This is quite a good list of such languages, many well known (e.g., Sumerian, Akkadian, ancient Egyptian, Latin), others less so (e.g., Old Church Slavonic and Sogdian). All of them have come up from time to time in PaleoJudaica. Yes, even Etruscan and Gothic!
I could quibble about this or that detail in the descriptions, but they are generally good too.
Visit PaleoJudaica daily for the latest news on ancient Judaism and the biblical world.
Lucian of Samosata is far more than a Greek satirist. He represents one of the earliest global voices from the Syriac–Aramaic world, navigating multiple linguistic and cultural spheres with insight and creativity. Restoring him to his proper historical and cultural context corrects longstanding misconceptions and reinforces a richer understanding of ancient intellectual history.I have Lucian's De Dea Syria on my bookshelf, but I didn't realize how many surviving works he left us. They are all in Greek now, but some many have been composed in Aramaic.
This new Syriac Press has been publishing some good articles on the history of Syriac and Aramaic.
Visit PaleoJudaica daily for the latest news on ancient Judaism and the biblical world.
It is plausible, but speculative, that the authors of P were close enough to the scribal and bureaucratic structures of the Babylonian administration that they would have been exposed to the 360 day administrative calendar. Whether or not they did know about this calendar, though, they may have been drawn ideologically, and independently, to their own schematized calendar, at least outside of cultic contexts.
Visit PaleoJudaica daily for the latest news on ancient Judaism and the biblical world.
Iraq's ancient city of Ur, birthplace of the Biblical patriarch Abraham, is located in the country's south near the modern city of Nasiriyah in Iraq's Dhi Qar province.The restoration of the site of Ur is good news.It hosts numerous archaeological sites, the most famous of which is the Ziggurat of Ur, a stepped pyramid dating back 4,000 years that has the status of a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
The biblical references to Ur ("Ur of the Chaldeans") are in Genesis 11:28, 31; 15:7; and Nehemiah 9:7. They all involve Abraham's origin in that city. The reference to the Chaldeans is anachronistic in this context, but it perhaps gives insight into when the Abraham traditions were assembled.
The Chaldeans as an ethnic group only show up around the beginning of the first millennium BCE. Ur was under their rule only commencing with the Chaldean Neo-Babylonian dynasty in the seventh century BCE.
UPDATE (5 December): There is more on the Chaldean dynasty, and on later uses of the term Chaldean, here.
Visit PaleoJudaica daily for the latest news on ancient Judaism and the biblical world.
An author's summary of Ian N. Mills, The Hypothesis of the Gospels: Narrative Traditions in Hellenistic Reading Culture. Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2025.
We do not have to wonder whether early readers of the gospels used the same mental model to understand the pluriform narrative tradition about Jesus. Irenaeus, Clement, Origen, Epiphanius, and Eusebius make explicit use of hypothesis language to describe, limit, and legitimize the multiplicity of gospels. The same authors and other early readers, I argue, use the title “gospel” to refer to the narrative hypothesis that they imagined constituting the narrative tradition about Jesus.
Visit PaleoJudaica daily for the latest news on ancient Judaism and the biblical world.
An open-access online catalogue of the Carthaginian Punic steles in the Louvre, produced by Hélène Le Meaux et al.
Cross-file under Punic Watch.
Visit PaleoJudaica daily for the latest news on ancient Judaism and the biblical world.
At the very end of that dynasty stood one extraordinary woman: Miriam, the last Jewish princess, the crown jewel of Judean royalty. Her life plays out like a Greek tragedy in Hebrew letters: heroic, dramatic, and ultimately heartbreaking, a portrait of Jewish dignity caught between the fading glory of the Hasmoneans and the rising shadow of Herod the Great.This "Miriam" is better known as Mariamne, but also as Mariamme and even Marianne.
This biographical essay is based on Josephus' account of her life, which we should receive with some caution. Josephus tends to write from an omniscient narrator perspective, sometimes repeating news as fact which he couldn't possibly have checked. For example, I imagine he gives us a reasonably accurate account of the accusations against Mariamne and her sons, but he couldn't have known whether any of them were true. Granted, Herod was crazy enough that the distinction may not have made much difference to their fates.
For notice of another account of Mariamne's life which also takes into account Talmudic legends, see here. And there are some links to follow as well. For more on Herod's ancestral background and his religion, see here.
Mariamne's Hanukkah connection is that she was the last Hasmonean to have a royal role.
Visit PaleoJudaica daily for the latest news on ancient Judaism and the biblical world.
Lost Words and Forgotten Worlds: Rediscovering the Dead Sea ScrollsThe headline is potentially confusing, since the 2010 book edited by Maxine Grossman also has the title Rediscovering the Dead Sea Scrolls. More on that one here and links.
By Andrew Perrin
(Bellingham: Lexham Press, 2025), 348 pp., 66 figs. (color & b/w photos, maps); $28.99 (paperback), $25.99 digital)
From the current review of Perrin's book:
With a clear and pedagogical style, Perrin methodically explains and unpacks these ancient artifacts, equipping the reader with the tools to explore them further. He frequently includes excerpts from the documents themselves, accompanied by comprehensive explanations that contextualize the contents and elucidate their significance. Non-specialist readers are guided through the issues that have dominated scrolls scholarship in recent decades, including the stability of biblical texts through centuries of transcription, the social landscape the scribes inhabited, and the archaeology of the site of Qumran near where the scrolls were discovered.I noted another review of the book here.
Visit PaleoJudaica daily for the latest news on ancient Judaism and the biblical world.
The project extends beyond mere identification of textual parallels. We are conducting in-depth historical and philological analyses of how Christian authors integrated, modified, and appropriated Josephus' writings. This includes examining famous cases like the Testimonium Flavianum—a controversial passage in Jewish Antiquities that mentions Jesus—as well as countless other, less studied instances of Christian engagement with Josephus' texts. While recent scholarship has made great progress in understanding Josephus' Latin reception, the Greek tradition has received comparatively less attention.
Visit PaleoJudaica daily for the latest news on ancient Judaism and the biblical world.
Why would God make righteous people suffer just to test their faithfulness? With Job, the Bible is explicit that it was in response to Satan’s challenge, but what about Abraham? Jubilees (2nd cent. C.E.), and later the Talmud and midrash, reimagine the Akedah to have been instigated by Mastema, the Satan, or jealous angels. The midrash goes further and envisions the demon Samael tempting Abraham to make him fail.For many PaleoJudaica posts on the Aqedah (the binding of Isaac, Genesis 22), see here and links. For more on Abraham in the Book of Jubilees, see here and here. For a bit of background on Mastema, see here.
Visit PaleoJudaica daily for the latest news on ancient Judaism and the biblical world.
Signs of Dream Divination in the Exagoge of Ezekiel the Tragedian, 68–89: Hypotexts, Tragedy, and Jewish Creativity in the Hellenistic PeriodThis peer-reviewed open-access article is technical (assumes you read Greek), but between the abstract, the introduction, and the conclusion, you can get the gist of the argument. You also need to know what polysemy and paranomasia mean.Scott B. Noegel https://doi.org/10.4000/158jz
Aitia. Regards sur la culture hellénistique au XXIe siècle 15 | 2025
ABSTRACT
The dream sequence found in the Exagoge of Ezekiel (68-89) has long captured the attention of scholars who have seen it as either typical of Greek tragedy, representative of an early merkavah tradition, engaging in haggadic midrash, an investiture story, or a polemic against Enochic traditions. Classicists also have pointed to numerous parallels from Greek and Jewish literary traditions that might have informed the play. However, what has hitherto gone unnoticed is that Raguel’s interpretation of Moses’ dream conforms to a number of conventions for reporting enigmatic dreams in ancient Near Eastern literature. Of specific interest is Ezekiel’s use of polysemy and paronomasia to tie the dream to its interpretation. In the wider Near East, this hermeneutical strategy derives from divinatory practice generally, and consequently features in dream omen manuals and literary reports of dream interpretation.
For PaleoJudaica posts on Ezekiel the Tragedian's Hellenistic-era play The Exagoge, see here and links.
Visit PaleoJudaica daily for the latest news on ancient Judaism and the biblical world.
In his book A 3,000-Year History of Jews and the Pig, author Jordan D. Rosenblum shares more than two decades’ worth of research. He explains that at the beginning of the Second Temple period, in the Persian era of the 4th to 5th centuries BCE, pigs did not have a unique status; other non-kosher items were viewed as non-kosher as the pig. But by the time of the destruction of the Temple by the Romans in 70 CE, the pig was king of non-kosher and had taken on its role as uber non-kosher.I noted the publication of the book here.
Visit PaleoJudaica daily for the latest news on ancient Judaism and the biblical world.
Ezra and Nehemiah According to the Syriac Peshitta Version with English TranslationEnglish Translation by Professor John Healey; Text Prepared by George Anton Kiraz & Joseph Bali
Publisher: Gorgias Press LLC
Availability: In stock
SKU (ISBN): 978-1-4632-4374-6Formats *
Cloth (In Print) ISBN 978-1-4632-4374-6
eBook PDF (In Print) ISBN 978-1-4632-4817-8 on Gorgias Mobile App (Glassboxx)Publication Status: In Print
Series: Surath Kthob 11
Publication Date: Sep 15,2025
Interior Color: Black
Trim Size: 7 x 10
Page Count: 300
Languages: English
ISBN: 978-1-4632-4374-6
Price: $150.00 (USD)
Your price: $120.00 (USD)Overview
This volume is part of a series of English translations of the Syriac Peshitta along with the Syriac text carried out by an international team of scholars. Healey has translated the text, while Kiraz has prepared the Syriac text in the west Syriac script, fully vocalized and pointed. The translation and the Syriac text are presented on facing pages so that both can be studied together. All readers are catered for: those wanting to read the text in English, those wanting to improve their grasp of Syriac by reading the original language along with a translation, and those wanting to focus on a fully vocalized Syriac text.
Visit PaleoJudaica daily for the latest news on ancient Judaism and the biblical world.
The Pseudo-Clementine TraditionThe Hermeneutics of Late-Ancient Sophistic Christianity
Series: Elements in Early Christian Literature
Author: Benjamin M. J. De Vos, Ghent University
Published: October 2025
Availability: Available
Format: Hardback
ISBN: 9781009506700£55.00 GBP
Hardback£18.00 GBP
Paperback$23.00 USD
eBookDescription
This Element, through detailed example, scrutinizes the exact nature of Christian storytelling in the case of the Greek Pseudo-Clementines, or Klementia, and examines what exactly is involved in the correct interpretation of this Christian prose fiction as a redefined pepaideumenos. In the act of such reconsideration of paideia, Greek cultural capital, and the accompanying reflections on prose literature and fiction, it becomes clear that the Klementinist exploits certain cases of intertextual and meta-literary reflections on the Greek novelistic fiction, such as Chariton's Chaereas and Callirhoe and Achilles Tatius' Leucippe and Cleitophon, in order to evoke these reconsiderations of storytelling, interpretive hermeneutics, and one's role as a culturally Greek reader pepaideumenos. This Element argues that the Klementia bears witness to a rich, dynamic, and Sophistic context in which reflections on paideia, dynamics regarding Greek identity, and literary production were neatly intertwined with reflections on reading and interpreting truth and fiction.
Product details
Published: October 2025
Format: Hardback
ISBN: 9781009506700
Length: 102 pages
Dimensions: 229 × 152 × 8 mm
Weight: 0.287kg
Availability: Available
Visit PaleoJudaica daily for the latest news on ancient Judaism and the biblical world.
At the heart of this patrimony lies Aramaic, the language of the Targum, the Talmud, and of Jesus. Aramaic is not an exotic relic. It is heard in the Kaddish in every Jewish community worldwide; it shapes Passover hymns, the Zohar, and the daily liturgy of Jews from Iraq and Syria. In Israel today, Aramaic is not perceived as foreign but as a part of Hebrew’s own breathing space. This proximity has encouraged a quiet but significant revival of interest: Bar-Ilan University, Hebrew University, Haifa, and Ben-Gurion University now study Jewish and Christian Neo-Aramaic dialects together. Researchers map the speech patterns of former communities from the Hakkari mountains, the Nineveh plain, and northern Iran, rediscovering a shared Semitic past in which Jewish and Syriac Christian bilingualism was common and natural.A wide-ranging essay on the status of living Aramaic in Christian and Jewish communities worldwide on the 1700th anniversary of the Council of Nicaea. Well worth a read.
Likewise, the Syriac Press has a long article on the current efforts of the Syriac Church (Catholic and Orthodox) to preserve and digitize Syriac manuscripts, including mention of the Department of Syriac Studies based in the Syriac Orthodox St. Aphrem Clerical School, currently in Damascus:
Syriac Manuscripts: Delving into a Rich Human Legacy.
In preserving, photographing, and digitizing these manuscripts, the Syriac Church is safeguarding its religious and spiritual legacy alongside a vast cultural, linguistic, and scientific heritage. Each manuscript offers a window into the intellectual life of past centuries, reflecting the dedication of scribes, scholars, and Church leaders who meticulously recorded knowledge for future generations. Through modern technology, these treasures are no longer confined to the walls of monasteries or patriarchal libraries — they can now be accessed, studied, and appreciated worldwide, ensuring that the wisdom, artistry, and history they contain continue to inspire and inform. In this way, the Church’s commitment to its manuscripts bridges the past and the present, transforming fragile pages into enduring sources of learning and cultural memory for generations to come.Again, informative and well worth a read.
Visit PaleoJudaica daily for the latest news on ancient Judaism and the biblical world.
After more than a decade of silence, the ancient civilization of Ugarit, once one of the most influential trade hubs of the Late Bronze Age, is coming back into focus. Archaeologists have resumed excavations near Latakia, northwestern Syria, revealing long-buried layers of a city that shaped the cultural and linguistic history of the ancient world.Good, find more texts![...]
Ugarit is, of course, not the birthplace of the alphabet. Current evidence puts that in the Sinai some centuries earlier than the Ugaritic Kingdom, although a case is currently being argued for alphabetic inscriptions in northern Syria in the mid-third millennium BCE.
A few PaleoJudaica posts on Ugarit and the Ugaritic language are here, here, and here. But it comes up often.
Visit PaleoJudaica daily for the latest news on ancient Judaism and the biblical world.
Manuscript Mystery. Mary, Martha, and Mary Magdalene in the Gospel of John (Bible History Daily)
In her article entitled “The Mystery of Mary and Martha” in the Winter 2024 issue of BAR, Elizabeth Schrader Polczer points out that some early copies of John’s Gospel exhibit unusual treatments of the sisters of Lazarus, which together suggest that an early version circulated in which there was only one sister, Mary—sometimes thought to be Mary Magdalene—while Martha was added later.The BAR article is behind the subscription wall, but this BHD essay has a good summary of it.
Researchers Restore Long-Lost Greek Woman to the Bible After 2,000 Years (Nisha Zahid, Greek Reporter). HT Rogue Classicism.
A Brigham Young University researcher says he has recovered the name of a woman whose identity vanished from the Bible for nearly two millennia. According to new findings, the woman addressed in 2 John, New Testament , was not an unnamed “elect lady,” as scholars long believed, but a Greek woman named Eclecte.The book is Lincoln H. Blumell, Lady Eclecte: The Lost Woman of the New Testament (Minneapolis, MN: Fortress Press, 2025). You can read a review of it here.[...]
The Greek Reporter article is unclear about this, but the proposed reading of the name does appear in some NT manuscripts, so it is not just an emendation.
I would not bet the farm on either of these textual reconstructions, but they are worth noting.
Visit PaleoJudaica daily for the latest news on ancient Judaism and the biblical world.
As Thanksgiving approaches, we’re reminded that the idea of giving personal thanks to God for the blessings, bounty, and miracles in our lives is deeply rooted in the biblical tradition. Leviticus 7:11–15 introduces the concept of the Korban Todah, the Thanksgiving Offering. This passage gives the basic framework: it is a type of peace offering accompanied by loaves of bread that must be eaten within a limited time.The Sifting Project has to work pretty hard to find a connection between its discoveries and today's holiday, but the effort is appreciated. Read the post for details.
And happy American Thanksgiving to all those celebrating!
Visit PaleoJudaica daily for the latest news on ancient Judaism and the biblical world.
The recent discovery of a Roman inscription in Cartagena has illuminated an obscured chapter of Hispania Citerior’s history, revealing the name of an unknown Roman governor and offering rare, tangible evidence of lot-casting rituals in the late Republic.While we're on the topic of Cartagena (see immediately preceding post), I may as well note this recent discovery there.[...]
I have posted a couple of photos of the Roman Forum atrium area and lots of context here. And I see from my photo archive that the inscribed vessel was on display in the Museum when I was in Cartagena in late September. Here are photos of it and its description plaque.
For more on (somewhat later) ancient sortilege, see the posts collected here.
Visit PaleoJudaica daily for the latest news on ancient Judaism and the biblical world.
I'm sad to have just missed this exhibition at the National Museum of Subaquatic Archaeology in Cartagena, Spain.
On my recent trip to Cartagena, I did visit the museum. A few of the artifacts recovered from the seventh century BCE San Javier Bajo de la Campana shipwreck were on display. I commented on some of them here. But there are many more in this new exhibition.
Visit PaleoJudaica daily for the latest news on ancient Judaism and the biblical world.
Robert W. Daniel, Alexander Hollmann, Magica Levantina (Mag. Lev.). Sonderreihe der Abhandlungen Papyrologica Coloniensia, 52. Leiden: Brill, 2025. Pp. xxvi, 372. ISBN 9783506797773.Both volumes look like important contributions, but the first is of particular interest to PaleoJudaica:Jaime Curbera, Inscriptiones Graecae II/III: Inscriptiones Atticae Euclidis anno posteriores. Part 8: Miscellanea. Fascicule 1: defixiones Atticae. Berlin: De Gruyter, 2024. Pp. xiv, 462. ISBN 9783111335780.
Review by
Christopher Faraone, University of Chicago. cf12@uchicago.edu
The curses collected in Magica Levantina were also found primarily in wells, but date to somewhat later periods, when chariot racing became a cultural craze throughout the Empire and created a special and presumably lucrative focus on magical rituals designed to affect the outcome of races. As one would expect given their Levantine provenience, they often reflect the power of the Jewish god and his angels, refer to stories from the Hebrew Bible and a single example was even inscribed in Aramaic. Here we often get a close look at how the originally Greek practice of inscribing lead tablets with curses was adapted to local ideas and beliefs.I noted the Project Magica Levantina several years ago.
I also noted the publication of that Aramaic racing curse amulet here. As that post notes, the late-antique magical tractate Sefer HaRazim includes what amounts to a magical blessing on a race horse. I discuss that passage a bit more here.
Visit PaleoJudaica daily for the latest news on ancient Judaism and the biblical world.
A newly published study has brought surprising clarity to one of Anatolia’s most iconic sacred landscapes. An untranslated Late Iron Age inscription discovered nearly four decades ago near the famous İvriz rock relief has finally been deciphered—revealing not only the ancient name of the İvriz spring but also unexpected details about the 8th-century BCE ruler who commissioned it: Warpalawa, King of Tuwana.Progress in the decipherment of Luvian is exciting. But it is not particularly relevant to biblical studies. This Luvian lapidary inscription does have lots of new information, but what caught my eye is that it is bilingual. There's a Phoenician summary of the Luvian text.[...]
Another remarkable detail: İVRİZ 2 carries two inscriptions. The Luwian hieroglyphs occupy the front, back, and right side, while a much-damaged Phoenician text appears on the left and lower sections. This bilingualism highlights İvriz as a cultural crossroads where Luwian, Aramaic-Phoenician, and Assyrian spheres intermingled.I was hoping that the damaged Phoenician text, which has already been deciphered and published, contributed to the decipherment of the Luvian inscription. But the underlying article here doesn't show much interest in it. Nevertheless, every scrap of ancient epigraphic Norwest Semitic is good to have.The Phoenician sections appear to mirror or summarize the Luwian text—possibly for a linguistically diverse audience of merchants, travelers, or regional elites.
Visit PaleoJudaica daily for the latest news on ancient Judaism and the biblical world.
Hackl, Johannes. 2025. The Unfinished Story of the Babylonian Version of the Bīsotūn (Behistun) Inscription (DB Bab.). Iraq. Published online 2025:1-20. doi:10.1017/irq.2025.10033The article is open-access. It is highly technical, but if you are familiar with the Behistun inscription (which was the Rosetta Stone for deciphering Akkadian cuneiform) you can pick up the introductory and summary sections and the conclusion and get the gist.
For background on the Behistun (Bistun, Bīsotūn) inscription, see here. For more posts follow the links. As you can see, the Aramaic version has some relevance for the study of ancient Judaism.
Visit PaleoJudaica daily for the latest news on ancient Judaism and the biblical world.
Sarah is absent from the biblical account of Isaac’s binding, and there’s no indication that Abraham even discussed God’s command with her. Would she have been an active participant, a faithful supporter, or a grief-stricken mother? Later interpreters filled in her role according to their religious and cultural contexts.For many PaleoJudaica posts on the Aqedah (the binding of Isaac, Genesis 22), see here and links.
Visit PaleoJudaica daily for the latest news on ancient Judaism and the biblical world.
Looks like everything in this issue is behind the subscription wall. But hopefully Bible History Daily will produces summaries of some of the articles.
Visit PaleoJudaica daily for the latest news on ancient Judaism and the biblical world.
Naturally, the faithful will wonder if a self-described “Jesus horror movie” — a movie in which a moping, teenaged Jesus fights a nonbinary Satan (pronouns: they/legion) while Cage’s Joseph struggles with his faith and pop star FKA Twigs pouts vapidly as the Blessed Mother — is heretical, blasphemous or any number of other appalling things, but it’s simply too mindless and incoherent to be genuinely offensive.That's harsh, but not untypical of the reactions to the film.It’s a grimy, meandering and pointless exercise that can’t quite decide if it wants to be a genuine exploration of faith or an exploitative thriller, and thus winds up being nothing at all.
This review gives a good overview of the Infancy Gospel of Thomas and its limited influence on the movie. It's refreshing to find a reviewer who made the effort to read and read up on the book.
I was looking forward to a cinematic version of the Infancy Gospel, which, as the review observes, has no shortage of horror material. I'm disappointed to hear how thin the apocryphal veneer actually is.
Background here and links.
Visit PaleoJudaica daily for the latest news on ancient Judaism and the biblical world.
Dr. Tzafra Siew, the National Library’s project manager for digital humanities, said MiDRASH is transforming the study of medieval manuscripts. By combining machine learning with the library’s digitized collections, she said, tasks that once required years of painstaking work can be done quickly and at scale. Researchers will be able to identify individual scribes, track how texts traveled between regions and ask new kinds of questions about the past. In practical terms, she said, hidden links between documents will come to light and many manuscripts that have never been deciphered will gain new meaning.I have posted on the Friedberg Genizah Project, which has been around for some time, here and links, here, here, and here. As you can see, it has associations with Princeton and Tel Aviv Universities.
There is also a crowdsourcing Cairo Geniza digitization project that is associated with the Princeton project and with with the University of Pennsylvania.
For background on the Cairo Geniza and more PaleoJudaica posts see here and links. And for many PaleoJudaica posts noting Cairo Geniza Fragments of the Month in the Cambridge University Library's Taylor-Schechter Genizah Research Unit, start here and follow the links.
Visit PaleoJudaica daily for the latest news on ancient Judaism and the biblical world.
Dating is often difficult, but about 80% of the reports offered at least approximate periods, indicating quarrying from Iron Age II through the Second Temple, Roman, and Byzantine eras into the Early Islamic period, with evidence for reuse and multi-period activity at some sites.As the JP article notes, the underlying article is open access in the current issue of the peer-review journal Heritage.
The Lithic Journey of Jerusalem Stone: New Evidence of Ancient QuarriesI have noted reports on ancient quarries in the vicinity of Jerusalem here and many links, here, here and links, and here.by Adi Sela Wiener 1,2, Laura Medeghini and Gabriele Favero
1 Master’s Program in Urban Design, Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design, Jerusalem, 1 Zmora Street, Jerusalem 9515701, Israel
2 Department of Earth Sciences, Sapienza University of Rome, Piazzale A. Moro, 5, 00185 Rome, Italy
3 Department of Environmental Biology, Sapienza University of Rome, Piazzale A. Moro, 5, 00185 Rome, Italy
* Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.Heritage 2025, 8(11), 490; https://doi.org/10.3390/heritage8110490
Submission received: 4 September 2025 / Revised: 31 October 2025 / Accepted: 10 November 2025 / Published: 19 November 2025
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Preservation of Cultural Heritage: The Nexus of Diagnosis-Prevention-Sustainability)
Abstract
Jerusalem’s prominent building material of limestone and dolostone, which is commonly known as “Jerusalem stone”, characterizes the city’s architecture and built environment. The distinctive stone was quarried from the Jerusalem landscape, prepared as building stone, and transported to building sites, a process referred to in this paper as the “lithic journey”. While these ancient quarries have been identified in previous studies, new evidence identifies the characteristics and the spatial distribution of these quarries and the connections between them. This study examined over one hundred archeological reports resulting from mainly salvage excavations conducted in the last decade (2012–2024), which has enabled the creation of updated mapping. Data collected from the Hadashot Arkheologiyot: Excavations and Surveys in Israel (HA-ESI), are included in a database that classifies quarry types, building material provenance, and specific characteristics of the ancient quarries that supplied Jerusalem’s building stones. The resulting expanded dataset of this open-access, online resource broadens our understanding of the quarry landscape and the continuous use of stone in the city’s building culture, while also offering an understanding of Jerusalem’s urban development and the design of Jerusalem’s cityscape from antiquity to the present day, as well as contribute to the city’s heritage management.
Visit PaleoJudaica daily for the latest news on ancient Judaism and the biblical world.
Across more than two millennia, separated by oceans and empires, two small copper coins have told a remarkably similar story about money, value, and what society chooses to preserve even when economics says otherwise. The ancient Jewish prutah of Hasmonean Judaea and the modern American penny share far more than their diminutive size and copper heritage; they reflect timeless tensions between intrinsic value, symbolic meaning, and practical utility.For more on the prutah and the half-prutah (the lepton or "widow's mite"), see here and links.[...]
Visit PaleoJudaica daily for the latest news on ancient Judaism and the biblical world.
Syriac, Coconut Trees and ElephantsCongratulations to the Saint Ephrem Ecumenical Research Institute.
A Festschrift to SEERI on its 40th AnniversaryEdited by Daniel L. McConaughy & Françoise Briquel-Chatonnet
Publisher: Gorgias Press LLC
Availability: In stock
SKU (ISBN): 978-1-4632-4977-9Formats *
Hardback (In Print) ISBN 978-1-4632-4977-9
eBook PDF (In Print) ISBN 978-1-4632-4978-6 on Gorgias Mobile App (Glassboxx)Publication Status: In Print
Series: Gorgias Eastern Christian Studies 73
Publication Date: Oct 8,2025
Interior Color: Black with Color Inserts
Trim Size: 6 x 9
Page Count: 252
Languages: English
ISBN: 978-1-4632-4977-9
Price: $114.95 (USD)
Your price: $91.96 (USD)The Saint Ephrem Ecumenical Research Institute (SEERI) was founded in 1985 as the fruit of the efforts of Rev. Dr. Jacob Thekeparampil. Since then, it became a major centre for teaching Syriac and conducting research on this topic, not only in India but in the whole world. Though founded in 1985, SEERI’s roots are deep within the soil of the ancient Syriac churches that trace their origins to St. Thomas. Among some of its more notable contributions, SEERI has organized and hosted ten World Syriac Conferences. The Harp, the periodical published by SEERI, has already forty volumes. SEERI also has published the monograph series, Moran Etho and Awṣār Ṣlawōto. SEERI is a recognized Research Centre associated with Mahatma Gandhi University and conducts MA and PhD programs. SEERI is the face of the ancient Syriac heritage of South India not only in India but the world. This volume is intended as a modest tribute to this extraordinary enterprise.
Visit PaleoJudaica daily for the latest news on ancient Judaism and the biblical world.
Jan N. BremmerJews, Pagans and Christians in the Roman Empire
Collected Essays III
2025. 680 pages.
Wissenschaftliche Untersuchungen zum Neuen Testament (WUNT I) 547
€179.00
including VATcloth
available
978-3-16-170562-5Also Available As:
eBook PDF
€179.00Summary
This volume brings together a series of articles on religion in the Roman Empire by Jan N. Bremmer, all of which have been updated and revised where necessary. Organised into four thematic sections, the author emphasises the interplay between early Christianity and its pagan surroundings but also analyses the religious developments in Late Antiquity. Starting with Jewish history, he pays particular attention to the 38 CE pogrom, the emergence of the terms 'Judaism' and 'Christianity', and the interest of Roman authors in Jewish literature, as exemplified by Vergil. The second section focuses on the mutual influences of pagans and Christians, examining subjects such as ghosts, sacrifices, miracles, and, especially, mysteries. The third section analyses various topics relating to early Christianity, such as human sacrifice, martyrs and persecutors, and the disputed dates of significant Christian texts, including the Letters of Ignatius and the Martyrdom of Polycarp. The final section examines key elements of religion in Late Antiquity, such as the demise of traditional Greek and Roman religion and Constanine's conversion. Thanks to its wide-ranging approach and rich bibliographies, this book is essential reading for anyone interested in religion in the Roman Empire.
Visit PaleoJudaica daily for the latest news on ancient Judaism and the biblical world.
Refining Linguistic Dating of Biblical Texts: Methodological Considerations for Future UseThe Hebrew Bible corpus is not that large. There is often a small number of examples of a given linguistic feature—too small for statistically significant comparison.My analysis suggests that the cumulative linguistic evidence aligns most coherently with a pre-exilic dating of Isaiah 40-66. In fact, a post-exilic dating would require such extensive redating of other books that the traditional Classical vs. Late Biblical Hebrew distinction becomes unstable.
See also Linguistic dating und das Jesaja-Buch: eine Untersuchung der sprachlichen Entwicklung des Hebräischen im Jesaja-Buch sowie ihre Auswirkung auf die Datierung des Buches und auf die Verwendung des Linguistic Dating im Allgemeinen (Ph.D. dissertation, 2024).
By Samuel Koser
Part-time Lecturer
Bible Study College, Ostfildern
November 2025
Moreover, there is debate about the dating of many of the texts. Even texts composed in the pre-exilic period were edited, possibly heavily edited, in the post-exilic period, when the authoritative books were assembled. So any attempt to date a given HB text by comparing it to other texts in the HB is in danger of circular reasoning.
Comparing HB texts to external epigraphic evidence is more promising. I think that Ugaritic has been helpful for establishing a corpus of early biblical poetry. And attention to the development of Hebrew and Aramaic orthography (spelling) has also made a contribution. But we don't have many Iron Age Northwest Semitic inscriptions, so their usefulness for dating biblical prose is limited.
It is worth asking comparative linguistic questions, even if we won't agree on the answers. This essay has a good discussion of the methodological challenges. I have no opinion on what that means for establishing the date of Isaiah 40-66 on linguistic grounds.
Visit PaleoJudaica daily for the latest news on ancient Judaism and the biblical world.
The headline about sums it up. There's lots of controversy over what this move means. This article gives a good presentation of both sides.
Visit PaleoJudaica daily for the latest news on ancient Judaism and the biblical world.
Ancient textiles from the Judean Desert reveal that many Roman-era “purple” garments were not dyed with costly murex but with a clever blend of madder and woad, exposing a widespread fake-luxury industry 2,000 years ago.I'm not sure which specific textiles are involved. According to the IAA, "thousands of scraps of textiles dating from the Roman period" have been recovered in Israel. One such piece, discovered at Masada, is noted here. Another, discovered in the 1950s in a Wadi Murabba’at cave, is noted here. Both seem to have been dyed with genuine murex shell dye.[...]
Murex shell dye was used by the Phoenicians to make Tyrian purple, and also by the Israelites for the tekhelet dye. For many posts on the subject, start here and follow the links.
Visit PaleoJudaica daily for the latest news on ancient Judaism and the biblical world.
Prof. Aejmelaeus passed away a few days ago. Many tributes are coming in on social media. She was an important figure in Septuagint studies. Her Wikipedia page is here. Dr. Longacre has additional information in his post.
Requiescat in pace.
UPDATE (21 November): Here is a long list of her many publications. HT the Agade List.
Visit PaleoJudaica daily for the latest news on ancient Judaism and the biblical world.
The Poetics of Prophecy, then, presents the tension between the construction of a strong authoritative prophetic voice (the ever-present radio!) and the weakness, uncertainty, doubt, and fissure built into prophecy from the Bible onward, through three staged encounters between scholars and poets, all of whom are deeply invested in the idea of prophecy, and come to shape its very form in modernity. I hope that these particular encounters serve as metonymies for larger intellectual and literary responses to the Bible from the eighteenth to the twentieth century. I can also see, in retrospect, that they comprise investigations into my own intellectual genealogies.This is the fourth AJR essay on Yosefa Raz's The Poetics of Prophecy. The earlier essays are noted here and links. Cf. also here.
Visit PaleoJudaica daily for the latest news on ancient Judaism and the biblical world.
In the 2nd century C.E., when Christianity emerged as a religion, theologians such as Justin and Chrysostom interpreted Paul’s letters to mean that Christians with faith in Jesus are Abraham’s spiritual descendants through Sarah. Jews, in contrast, are only his flesh descendants, banished like Hagar. Genesis Rabbah responds that after Sarah’s death, Abraham remarried Hagar—now called Keturah, “adorned” (kitra) with commandments and good deeds—and had many more children with her than he did with Sarah.
Visit PaleoJudaica daily for the latest news on ancient Judaism and the biblical world.