Perspectives on Pseudepigraphy in Antiquity (Brepols)

NEW BOOK FROM BREPOLS:

Regards croisés sur la pseudépigraphie dans l’Antiquité / Perspectives on Pseudepigraphy in Antiquity

Anne-France Morand, Eric Crégheur, Karine Laporte, Gaëlle Rioual (eds)

Pages: 304 p.
Size: 156 x 234 mm
Illustrations: 2 b/w
Language(s): French, English
Publication Year: 2024

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ISBN: 978-2-503-60260-8
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SUMMARY

Whether under the names of Pythagoras, Orpheus, Pythia, Paul of Tarsus or Enoch, the Ancients wrote under famous names to express themselves. A fundamental phenomenon of Antiquity, pseudepigraphy only became the subject of a monograph in the 1970s, with Wolfgang Speyer’s Die literarische Fälschung im heidnischen und christlichen Altertum (1971) and the Hardt Foundation’s “Entretiens”, Pseudepigrapha I. Pseudopythagorica – Lettres de Platon – Littérature pseudépigraphique juive (1972). The publications attracted criticism from several scholars. More recently, Bart Ehrman’s book on the same topic, Forgery and Counterforgery (2013), has helped to revive the debate, generating both critical and very positive reactions. The aim of this volume is to revisit these important syntheses, looking at them from the perspective of specific figures, as well as different time periods, languages and regions. It also aims to broaden research by testing the various theories set out by the scholarly literature. It has now become essential to extend and reshape this notion of pseudepigraphy, which also relates the themes of authorship, poetic inspiration, the intention of ancient authors, and literary genres.

A couple of the essays are in English. The rest are in French.

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AJR review panel on Gross, Babylonian Jews and Sasanian Imperialism in Late Antiquity, part 3

ANCIENT JEW REVIEW: Beyond Influence: Simcha Gross’ Babylonian Jews and Sasanian Imperialism in Late Antiquity (Shai Secunda).

This is part of a 2024 Association for Jewish Studies panel celebrating the publication of Gross, Babylonian Jews and Sasanian Imperialism in Late Antiquity (Cambridge Press, 2024). Read the full forum here.

... Aside from the immense value of this book for the study of Jewish history (this is the first monograph on Babylonian Jewish history in decades), its dynamic mode of approaching Babylonian Jewry in the space of the Sasanian Empire has also been critical for someone like me —less a historian of Babylonian Judaism, and more, a student of the text of the Babylonian Talmud. ...

I noted the first two essays in the series here and here.

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Video on the Sifting Project

THE TEMPLE MOUNT SIFTING PROJECT BLOG: WATCH/LISTEN TO THE TMSP STORY ON LET THE STONES SPEAK.

We were honored to be featured on the biblical archaeology series Let the Stones Speak, co-hosted by Christ Eames of the Armstrong Institute. In this first installment—part of a longer conversation—you’ll hear the Temple Mount Sifting Project’s detailed background story on video for the very first time in English. Many thanks to the hosts for helping to bring this story out.

Follow the link for a link to the YouTube video etc.

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More on the "of the Sidonians" inscription

PHOENICIAN WATCH: Did a daring semiliterate sailor wreck a ship off the Israeli coast 2,400 years ago? Parts of two double-handled jugs were found in the waters near Tel Achziv in 2016. Scholars recently deciphered the etched writing on one of them (Rossella Tercatin, Times of Israel).

I posted on this inscription here a couple of days ago. This article includes material from interviews with two of the authors of the underlying article.

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Hasmonean-era coin hoard excavated at Khirbet el-Eika

NUMISMATICS: Hoard of coins illuminates triumphant Maccabee campaign in 2nd-century-BCE Israel. A rare intact Hellenistic estate at Khirbet el-Eika in Eastern Galilee was likely abandoned by its inhabitant as Yonatan Maccabee and his army drew nearer, new research shows (ROSSELLA TERCATIN, Times of Israel).

A hoard of bronze coins unearthed in the remains of a Hellenistic-era building offers new evidence for life in Israel in the tumultuous mid-2nd century BCE’s victorious military campaign led by Yonatan Maccabee, brother of the Hanukkah hero Judah, according to new research.

The cache of 26 coins was found in 2016 at the site of Khirbet el-Eika, on the top of a mountain overlooking the Eastern Galilee in Israel’s north. Its discovery was published for the first time in an academic paper in the American Journal of Numismatics last month. ...

While many sites in Israel were occupied during the Hellenistic period, most remained active in the Roman and Byzantine eras, making it harder for archaeologists to uncover the relevant layer.

Khirbet el-Eika, however, was abandoned around the mid-2nd century BCE, most likely due to a violent event, [Dr. Roi] Sabar pointed out. ...

Some of the coins in the hoard are of Demetrios (or Demetrius) II, one of the baddies in the book of 1 Maccabees.

A couple of corrections:

The Books of Maccabees are apocryphal works not canonized in the Hebrew Bible (while some are part of the Catholic and Protestant canons).

"Protestant" is clearly a typo. None of the Apocrypha are part of the Protestant biblical canon. I think "Orthodox" was intended. Also, the reference from 1 Maccabees should read 11:63-64.

The American Journal of Numismatics, which published the underlying journal article in vol. 36 (2024), appears only to be available in hard copy and by subscription or for a fee.

I noted another discovery at Khirbet el-Eika some years ago.

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Ancient caravan human-trafficking in the Negev? Maybe.

ARCHAEOLOGY: Ancient arrowheads in the Negev reveal human trafficking caravans from 2,500 years ago. Located near Tlalim Junction, the excavation site has revealed dozens of tombs containing a rich variety of artifacts (JOANIE MARGULIES, Jerusalem Post).

Israel Antiquities Authority archaeologists have uncovered a previously unknown burial site in the Negev Highlands, shedding light on ancient trade networks spanning Arabia, Phoenicia, Egypt, and Southern Europe, the IAA said Wednesday.

Among their discoveries were 2,500-year-old arrowheads from Yemen, which suggested that the site had served as a burial ground for trade caravans traversing the desert.

[...]

The case for human trafficking being involved is inferential, but possible. The case made in the IAA video (linked in the article) sound more robust than the one made in the article.

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Review of Hezser (ed.), The Routledge handbook of Jews and Judaism in late antiquity

BRYN MAYR CLASSICAL REVIEW: The Routledge handbook of Jews and Judaism in late antiquity.

Catherine Hezser, The Routledge handbook of Jews and Judaism in late antiquity. Routledge handbooks. Abingdon; New York: Routledge, 2024. Pp. 568. ISBN 9781138241220.

Review by
Elsa Laurenzi, Centro Cardinal Bea per gli Studi Giudaici, Pontificia Università Gregoriana. e.laurenzi@unigre.it

This volume brings together 34 papers by 31 contributors, in addition to the editor, to highlight the major issues and debates in the study of Jews and Judaism in Late Antiquity (from the third to the seventh century C.E.). It analyzes the relationship between Jews and non-Jews as well as internal Jewish developments, both in Roman Palestine and in the diaspora, and compares these two worlds. Its main purpose, as Catherine Hezser remarks in her introduction, is to integrate the study of Jews and Judaism into a more complex and balanced assessment of Late Antiquity, within the wider context of the late Roman, early Byzantine and Sasanian Persian empires, and of the Graeco-Roman, Christian and Zoroastrian cultures, whose interrelationships are based on exchange as well as on competition and conflict.

[...]

I noted the publication of the book here.

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

Review of Raja (ed.), The Oxford handbook of Palmyra

BRYN MAYR CLASSICAL REVIEW: The Oxford handbook of Palmyra.

Rubina Raja, The Oxford handbook of Palmyra. Oxford handbooks. New York: Oxford University Press, 2024. Pp. 632. ISBN 9780190858117.

Review by
Marco Ferrario, Trento / Universität Augsburg. marco.ferrario@unitn.it

... It follows from the above that a synthetic work capable of presenting an accessible and, at the same time, a well-informed overview of the entire history of Palmyra and its oases from its early settlement phases to the conquest of Syria by the Caliphal army was urgently needed. The unprecedented destruction leveled on the site (and the country as a whole) by the civil war and its spillover in the form of the Islamic State (Dā‘iš) only made the matter more pressing. ...

I noted the publication of the book here. Subsequent posts on Palmyra are here, here, and here.

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

Phoenician inscription recovered in IAA underwater survey

PHOENICIAN WATCH: “… Of the Sidonian[s]”: a Persian period inscription on a Phoenician amphora found underwater near Tel Achziv, Israel (Christopher A. Rollston, Jacob Sharvit, Meir Edrey, Paula Waiman-Barak, Assaf Yasur-Landau). Published (open access) in CARMEL: Studies in Archaeological Sciences and Conservation.

Abstract
This is the first publication of Persian period pottery found underwater near Tel Achziv, including a Phoenician amphora bearing a two-line inscription containing the phrase “of the Sidonian[s]”. The petrographic analysis of this amphora indicates an origin in the Lebanese coast between Tyre and Sidon. These finds may reflect a maritime itinerary along the Phoenician coast between Sidon, “a city with an enclosed harbor”, and Achzib, a city “with a river”, as mentioned in the 4th-century BCE Periplous of Pseudo-Skylax.

The inscription itself is unremarkable, but it is "the first Phoenician alphabetic inscription found underwater in Israel." Also, the possible connection with the Shavei Ẓion (Shavei Zion) finds is intruiguing. For more on the latter, see here, here, and here.

Cross-file under Marine (Maritime, Underwater) Archaeology and Northwest Semitic Epigraphy.

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The Musk Foundation is funding the Vesuvius Project

TECHNOLOGY WATCH: Musk Foundation funds research on ancient Rome: what Musk wants to do with his $3 million (Finestre sull'Arte, with the help of an AI translator). HT Rogue Classicism.

The Musk Foundation has allocated $3 million to support archaeological and restorative studies focused on ancient Rome. Andrea Stroppa, an associate of Elon Musk, announced the funding, which also includes deciphering papyri from Herculaneum. Here's what Musk plans to do.

One million is to be disbursed by the American Institute for Roman Culture for "archaeological and Roman heritage conservation projects." There is a link with application information. Deadline 31 March 2025.

The remaining two million (amounts to each not specified) goes to the (AIRC-related) Ancient Rome Live educational platform – and to this:

The second part of the $2 million in funding is for a particularly fascinating project: the Vesuvius Challenge. The initiative, which aims to decipher papyri discovered at Herculaneum, focuses on texts written in Greek that date from the time of the 79 A.D. eruption. These papyri contain important writings by philosophers of antiquity, particularly Epicurus, whose thought had great influence on the Herculaneum school of philosophy. The new funds earmarked for the Vesuvius Challenge will be used to scan and decipher the papyri, work that will be done in collaboration with researchers and scientists from around the world.

For many PaleoJudaica posts on the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 CE and its destruction of Pompeii and Herculaneum, and on the efforts to reconstruct and decipher the carbonized library at Herculaneum, start with this post, specifically the links on the new Plato biography from Herculaneum and on the Vesuvius Challenge. Follow the links from there.

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

AJR review panel on Gross, Babylonian Jews and Sasanian Imperialism in Late Antiquity, part 2

ANCIENT JEW REVIEW: Babylonian Rabbinic "Class Consciousness" and Competition for Social and Religious Influence in Sasanian Iran (Alyssa Gray).

This is part of a 2024 Association for Jewish Studies panel celebrating the publication of Gross, Babylonian Jews and Sasanian Imperialism in Late Antiquity (Cambridge Press, 2024). Read the full forum here.

How do we understand the social, religious, and political world in which late ancient Babylonian Jews lived and within which a group of religious virtuosi Simcha Gross identifies as “a select group. . . steeped in the contemplation, instruction, and practice of Jewish law and lore” (14)—the group we call the “Babylonian rabbis”—functioned? Gross’s project is to decisively revise how we think about this question. ...

I noted the first essay in the series here.

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

Tony Burke's Regensburg Year: January

THE APOCRYPHICITY BLOG: My Regensburg Year Part 6: January 2025.

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

This post includes Tony's visit to Spain and updates on the apocryphal hypomnemata of Symeon Metaphrastes, the Pilate Cycle, and the Dream of Nero.

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

Cross-file under New Testament Apocrypha Watch.

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Limitied sifting continues ...

THE TEMPLE MOUNT SIFTING PROJECT BLOG: CONTINUATION OF THE SIFTING AT MITZPEH HAMASU‘OT (THE MASU’OT LOOKOUT) AND SOME UPDATES.

About two months ago, we announced financial difficulties that threatened the continued operation of the sifting site at Mitzpe HaMasuot. Fortunately, thanks to additional donations and significant processes initiated since then – including government funding and commitments from new supporters – the threat of the site’s closure has passed. However, until these funding processes are fully realized, we have resumed operations in a limited format ...

Background here.

The updates include notice of the discovery of a Second Temple-era stone seal.

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

Poirier, Aseneth and the Honeycomb (Peeters)

NEW BOOK FROM PEETERS:

Aseneth and the Honeycomb
Apicultural Keys to Joseph and Aseneth

SERIES:
Contributions to Biblical Exegesis & Theology, 121

AUTHOR:
Poirier J.C.

PRICE: 68 euro
YEAR: 2024
ISBN: 9789042953338
PAGES: X-214 p.

SUMMARY:
Joseph and Aseneth is a fascinating writing, most likely composed in Egypt in the first century BCE. Often considered the world’s first romance novel, it survives both in its original Jewish form, and in several later Christian reworkings. Aseneth and the Honeycomb makes three major contributions to Joseph and Aseneth studies: (1) it examines the details of Aseneth’s encounter with the divine honeycomb and bees in the light of ancient apicultural beliefs and practices, (2) it uses the varying apicultural expertise displayed in the four main textual families to settle the heretofore intractable debate over which family preserves the earliest form of the work, and (3) it proposes a literary solution to a central concern of any attentive reader: the question of why Aseneth’s heavenly visitor calls her a “city of refuge”.

For PaleoJudaica posts on Joseph and Aseneth, see here and links, plus here.

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Profile of an IAA archaeologist

ARCHAEOLOGY: Benyamin Storchan: An archaeologist who really digs Israel. While fully employed at the IAA, he earned a master’s degree at Bar-Ilan University and is now a doctoral candidate at Ben-Gurion University (Abigail Klein Leichman, Jerusalem Post).

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Biblical Studies Carnival #224

THE RACHACK REVIEW: Biblical Studies Carnival #224 for January 2025 (Reuven Chaim Klein).

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

Jacobs (ed.), The Dynamics of Early Judaean Law (De Gruyter)

NEW BOOK FROM DE GRUYTER:

The Dynamics of Early Judaean Law
Studies in the Diversity of Ancient Social and Communal Legislation

Edited by: Sandra Jacobs
Volume 504 in the series Beihefte zur Zeitschrift für die alttestamentliche Wissenschaft
https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110532807

Institutional price £110.00

Language: English
Publisher: De Gruyter
Copyright year: 2025
Audience: All those interested in Biblical Studies, Ancient Near East, Second Temple Judaism, Legal History, Aramaic
Pages
Front matter: 10
Main content: 353
Illustrations
Coloured Illustrations: 1
Keywords: Bible; Law; Judaean history

eBook
Published: December 30, 2024
ISBN: 9783110532807

Hardcover
Published: December 30, 2024
ISBN: 9783110529678

About this book

This collection of essays explores aspects of civil and criminal law in ancient Judaea. Whereas the majority of studies on Judaean law focus on biblical law codes (and, therefore, on laws related to sacrifice, cultic purity, and personal piety) this volume focus on laws related to the social and economic dealings of Judaeans in the Neo-Babylonian, Persian, and Greco-Roman periods and on the contribution of epigraphic and archival sources and to the study of this material.

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