Chapman, The Victorians and the Holy Land (Eerdmans)

NEW BOOK FROM EERDMANS:

The Victorians and the Holy Land
Adventurers, Tourists, and Archaeologists in the Lands of the Bible

by Allan Chapman

Imprint: Eerdmans

280 Pages, 6.00 x 9.00 in

PAPERBACK
9780802884091
Publication Date: February 6, 2025
$34.99
£26.99

EBOOK
9781467468206
$34.99
Publication Date: February 6, 2025

DESCRIPTION

Why were people in the Victorian age fascinated with the archaeological mysteries of the Holy Land?

In this engaging study, Allan Chapman shows how the Holy Land took on new meaning for Europeans during the Victorian era. Previously, most Europeans had viewed the area between the Mediterranean Sea and the eastern bank of the Jordan River as a literary backdrop for biblical narratives. During the nineteenth century, however, they began to take interest in this region as a literal, physical place. Technological inventions such as steam-powered travel, telegraphy, and photography made the Holy Land more accessible. In public museums, ordinary people could view artifacts ranging from Egyptian mummies to statues from Nimrud and Nineveh. In linguistics, translations of Egyptian hieroglyphs and Assyrian cuneiform broadened Europeans’ awareness of myths, legends, and history. These discoveries in archaeology and linguistics brought new energy to nineteenth-century debates about whether the Scriptures were based on factual history.

In addition to explaining how Holy Land studies changed during the Victorian era, Allan Chapman identifies key people who facilitated those changes. He introduces readers to a diverse demographic that includes adventurers, astronomers, missionaries, ministers, learned women of independent means, and Queen Victoria’s eldest son. Driven by a wide range of professional and personal motives, these individuals had a powerful impact on the Victorian public’s understanding of the Holy Land.

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Jug decorated with camels etc. excavated in Negev

THERIO-ORNAMENTAL CERAMICS: Archaeologists in Negev unearth 1,200-year-old jug decorated with camels. Artifact daubed with red pattern and trio of animals, considered advanced for its time, discovered near olive press in Yatir Forest (Rossella Tercatin, Times of Israel).

A 1,200-year-old clay jug painted in bright colors and ringed with camels and a mystery beast was unearthed by archaeologists at the Horvat Anim site in the Yakir Forest, the Israel Antiquities Authority announced Thursday.

[...]

Cool jug. Notably also:

The jug was unearthed during conservation and preparation efforts by IAA and KKL-JNF preceding the public opening of the Horvat Anim site.

Once open, visitors will also be able to access the synagogue remains, originally discovered some 40 years ago.

“Around 1,500 years ago, the Yatir region was part of an area known as the ‘Daroma,’ where Jewish and Christian communities lived side by side,” Shmueli said. “There is no doubt that the synagogue discovered in Anim served as the religious center for the Jewish population living there.”

For more on the history and archaeology of the site of Anim, including that synagogue, see here.

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More on the Western Wall stone airport-controversy

EXHIBITION: Controversy erupts over 2000-year-old Western Wall stone on display at Ben-Gurion Airport. Israel’s Chief Rabbinate has condemned the exhibit but the Israel Antiquities Authority claims it is ‘right and proper’ (Ellie Grant, Jewish Chronicle).

I noted the dispute some time ago here. This article related some further developments:

Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi Kalman Ber echoed his sentiment [i.e., in Rabbi Rabinowitz's letter], stressing that such religiously significant stones should not be treated as museum artefacts. Both the chief rabbis are expected to issue a formal declaration in the coming days regarding their position on the matter.

However, the IAA is standing firm in its decision to exhibit the stone, pointing out that it was previously displayed at the Knesset without objection.

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The CIA had a psychic looking for the Ark of the Covenant?

THEY HAD TOP MEN WORKING ON IT: Declassified CIA files reveal psychic quest for the Ark of the Covenant. Review the documents: Remote Viewer No. 032 described a container made of wood, gold, and silver, adorned with images of six-winged angels, and similar in shape to a coffin (Jerusalem Post).

Recently declassified CIA documents reveal that in 1988, the CIA conducted an experiment as part of a secret project called Sun Streak, aiming to locate the lost artifact using remote viewing techniques.

[...]

Is this real? If so, my psychic powers say that Remote Viewer No. 032 had seen Raiders of the Lost Ark.

For many, many PaleoJudaica posts on the Ark of the Covenant, start with the links collected here and just keep going. I have seen many wacky Ark stories. This one is a contender for wackiest.

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The Mail on Tacitus on Jesus and Pilate

HISTORY: Firsthand evidence of Jesus' crucifixion is found in ancient Roman manuscript. (Stacy Liberatore, Daily Mail).

Ancient manuscripts detailing the events during the Roman Empire are believed to contain 'first hand' evidence about the life and death of Jesus Christ.

The Annals, written by the Roman historian Tacitus only 91 years after Jesus's death, begins with the death of Emperor Augustus in 14AD and finishes with Nero's suicide 54 years later.

In Book 15, the historian discusses the Great Fire of Rome in 54AD, shortly before Nero's death, which the emperor blamed on a class 'called Christians.'

The second sentence reads: 'Christus, from whom the name had its origin, suffered the extreme penalty during the reign of Tiberius at the hands of one of our procurators, Pontius Pilatus.'

'Christus,' the Latin version of 'Christ,' means 'the Anointed One' or 'the Messiah,' and comes from the Hebrew word Mashiach (Messiah).

[...]

Aside from some pedantic details, this article gives a pretty good account of Tacitus's comments on "Christus" and the early Christians.

Tacitus's history is indeed ancient, from the early second century CE. But, alas, the earliest surviving manuscripts of his work date to the early Middle Ages. Roger Pearse has comprehesive details here.

I'm not sure why the Mail has noticed Tacitus's comments. The article says:

While the manuscripts have long been known, the details in them recently surfaced online and have been welcomed by those of Christian faith.

No link, so I don't know where they surfaced. But it's nice to see the Mail drawing the attention of a wider audience to the passage. For more on the works of Cornelius Tacitus, see here.

The article also briefly covers the "Testimonium Flavianum" (the comments about Jesus in the surviving manuscripts of the Antiquities of Flavius Josephus. More on that here and links.

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The Reception of Philo of Alexandria (OUP)

NEW BOOK FROM OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS:

The Reception of Philo of Alexandria

Edited by Courtney J. P. Friesen, David Lincicum, and David T. Runia

£143.00

Hardback
Published: 04 February 2025
688 Pages | 11 black-and-white figures
246x171mm
ISBN: 9780198836223

Description

Philo of Alexandria was a Jewish statesman, philosopher, and religious thinker. A significant amount of his literary corpus was preserved by Christian hands and thereby came to resource numerous theologians in the Christian tradition. After passing into obscurity in Jewish circles in antiquity, Philo was rediscovered in the Italian Renaissance and came to feature in Jewish tradition once again. Philo's works straddle an interest in exegesis and philosophy, and the multi-faceted contents of his thought ensured a long history of reception among readers with their own agendas. This authoritative and systematic collection of essays by an international team of experts surveys Philo's reception from the time of his immediate contemporaries to the present day. The book unfolds over six sections: the first centuries, late antiquity, the middle ages, the renaissance and early modern period, from the eighteenth to the twentieth centuries, and contemporary perspectives.

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More on the pyramid and scroll finds at Nahal Zohar

ARCHAEOLOGY AND EPIGRAPHY UPDATE: Enigmatic 2,200-year-old ‘pyramid’ near Dead Sea may have been fortress for ancient taxman. Excavations by Israeli archaeologists at the mysterious Judean Desert site reveal artifacts suggesting it served as a post for tax collection and later, a Roman-era tomb (Rosella Tercatin, Times of Israel).

This article on the recently announced discoveries at the Nahal Zohar excavation covers the earlier information and also interviews excavator Dr. Eitan Klein. It has some new thoughts about what the pyramid was for:

“The heap is five or six meters high above the surface of the hill, made of huge stones,” Dr. Eitan Klein told The Times of Israel over a phone interview. “We immediately noticed that someone had dug at the top of the structure, probably looters who had identified the grave.”

“At first, we thought the site could be just a tomb, but later, we noticed the shape of the original walls, and we understood that the structure was a building,” he added. “Eventually, we identified it as a tower or fortress dating back to the Hellenistic period, or 2,200 years ago.” ...

“We know that the main road linking Edom — modern-day Jordan — to Gaza passed directly beneath our structure,” said Klein, co-director of the excavation for the IAA alongside Matan Toledano and Amir Ganor. “We believe the building served to safeguard the road and may have been used by Ptolemaic officials to collect taxes from travelers.”

And more on the scroll fragments:

Although looters reached it first, archaeologists still managed to recover a wealth of organic and inorganic findings, such as papyri fragments inscribed in Greek, wooden tools and fabrics.

While additional research is required to decipher the content of the papyri, Klein said that they might have been part of tax documents.

I don't know if that is based on already deciphered content or just on the suggested purpose of the building.

There is also more discussion of the coin finds.

Background here.

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Guide to ethnographic passages by Alexander Polyhistor

ETHNIC RELATIONS AND MIGRATION IN THE ANCIENT WORLD: Guide to Alexander Polyhistor (Philip Harland).

This is a guide to ethnographic passages from Alexander Polyhistor’s (early to mid-first century BCE) works on this website, as well as a separate outline of noteworthy passages from his ethnographic works generally. All fragments or citations of his works (F#) are from FGrHist 273 (link to FGrHist).

The first-century BCE historian Alexander Polyhistor compiled an impressive collection of quotations and information from earlier, now lost, works. Unfortunately, his works are lost too. They only survive in quotations from later authors. Still, what is left preserves much of interest.

These include passages on ancient Israel and ancient Judaism, as well as an excerpt from the Babyloniaca, a compendium of Babylonian religious traditions written in Greek by Berossus, an early Hellenistic, Babylonian-Chaldean priest of Bel.

For more on the Ethnic Relations and Migrations blog, see here and here and links.

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Half a century of Biblical Archaeology Review

BIBLE HISTORY DAILY: Setting the BAR. The Story of Biblical Archaeology Review.

I've been around so long that I remember when that first issue of BAR came out.

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

A pyramid and scroll fragments excavated in Judean Desert

ANCIENT ARCHITECTURE AND SCROLL BITS! Archaeologists discover massive 2,200-year-old pyramid in Judean Desert. Experts uncover a massive pyramid-shaped structure, ancient papyrus documents and rare artifacts from Hellenistic-era rule in southern Israel, shedding new light on the region’s history Yaron Drukman, Ynet News).

A massive pyramid-shaped structure and a roadside station dating back approximately 2,200 years — to the era of the Ptolemaic and Seleucid rulers in Judea — are being unearthed north of Nahal Zohar in the Judean Desert. The excavation, led by the Israel Antiquities Authority and the Heritage Ministry, includes volunteers from across the country.

At the Zohar Fortress site, near the Dead Sea, archaeologists have discovered fragments of written papyrus documents, bronze coins from the reign of Antiochus IV and Ptolemaic kings, weapons, wooden artifacts and pieces of fabric.

Wow. This excavation is just getting started and it's already producing exciting discoveries. I look forward to hearing more. If you are in the area, they are recruiting volunteers.

A smaller Maccabean-era pyramid has been excavated at Khirbet Madras (Hirbet Madras, Horvat Midras) near Jerusalem. It appears to be a tomb. I don't know if the Nahal Zohar has the same function.

It sounds like this project is part of what was once called Operation Scroll (scroll down to links).

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

Four ancient Armenian inscriptions from Jerusalem

ARMENIAN WATCH: Armenian Inscriptions Found in Jerusalem, Revealing 7th-Century Settlement (Abdul Moeed, Greek Reporter).

Archaeologists found four Armenian inscriptions in Jerusalem’s Musrara neighborhood. These writings are from the sixth or seventh century.

Experts say the discovery offers clues about early Christian life in the city. Scholar Michael E. Stone says the findings bring “completely new historical information concerning the Christian, and particularly Armenian, settlement in Jerusalem in the seventh century CE.”

[...]

Oddly, the rest of the article refers to Professor Stone as "E. Stone," which makes me wonder if an AI was involved in its writing. Be that as it may, although unmentioned, it looks as though its basis is a technical article published in the current volume, 116 (2025), of the open-access peer-review journal ‘Atiqot. As usual, this volume has a lot of goodies in it. (See immediately previous post.)

Sixth–Seventh-Century CE Armenian Inscriptions of a Monastic Community in Jerusalem

Michael E. Stone, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Jerusalem

Abstract

Excavations in the Musrara neighborhood of Jerusalem uncovered four Armenian inscriptions within a monastic complex founded in the fifth–sixth centuries CE. The inscriptions were found on a mosaic floor, on tombstones and on a large pottery bowl, and together with the Birds Mosaic, they probably formed part of one monastic complex, in which Armenians played a significant role. As there is no hint in the historical sources of the existence of this complex, the archaeological discovery contributes new historical information concerning the Christian, and particularly Armenian settlement in Jerusalem in the seventh century CE.

Although this article has just been published, according to a footnote, it was written in the early 1990s shortly after the discovery of the inscriptions. They have been published elsewhere in the meantime.

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

Late-antique monastery excavated in northern Negev

ARCHAEOLOGY: Byzantine monastery in Northern Negev reveals monastic life in the desert. Archaeologists uncover rare Byzantine-era structures near Beersheba, including a monastery, winepress, and burials (Jerusalem Post).

An excavation report from the Israel Antiquities Authority reveals the discovery of a well-preserved Byzantine-period monastery and farmhouse at Naḥal Peḥar, within the modern settlement of Giv‘ot Bar, north of Beersheba.

According to excavator Nir-Shimshon Paran, “The monastery was well-preserved, attesting to the daily life of the monks in the Negev in the Byzantine period. It was paved with poorly executed mosaic floors, probably laid by the monks themselves.”

[...]

The underlying technical articles have just been published in the open-access peer-review journal ‘Atiqot 116 (2025):

A Byzantine-Period Monastery and Farmhouse in Nahal Pehar (Giv‘ot Bar), in the Northern Negev

Nir-Shimshon Paran, Israel Antiquities Authority

Abstract

A Byzantine-period monastery and farmhouse were uncovered on the southwestern bank of Naḥal Peḥar, within the modern settlement of Giv‘ot Bar, in the northern Negev. The monastery was well-preserved, attesting to the daily life of the monks in the Negev in the Byzantine period. It was paved with poorly executed mosaic floors, probably laid by the monks themselves. Most of the finds in the monastery were uncovered on the floors, attesting to its orderly abandonment in the late Byzantine or beginning of the Umayyad period (sixth–seventh centuries CE). The monastery seems to have belonged to the widespread ecclesiastical system documented in the Be’er Sheva‘ Valley and the southern Judean Shephelah. It is possible that the monastery was abandoned in the transition to the Early Islamic period due to a deterioration in the security situation in the region.

**********

Three Greek Inscriptions from the Monastery at Nahal Pehar (Giv‘ot Bar), in the Northern Negev

Leah Di Segni, The Hebrew University, Jerusalem

Abstract

Three Greek inscriptions were discovered within a small coenobium at Giv‘ot Bar in the northern Negev. One was set in a mosaic pavement in the chapel, and the other two were painted in red ink on building blocks found in the debris near the entrance to the chapel. The mosaic inscription mentions a string of names, probably of the monks who cared for the laying of the mosaic pavement in the chapel, or perhaps for the foundation of the coenobium. The two other inscriptions are epitaphs, indicating that the chapel was also used for burial. One epitaph mentions a date that demonstrates that the monastery was still active in the seventh century CE.

**********

The Glass Finds from the Monastery at Nahal Pehar (Giv‘ot Bar), in the Northern Negev

Tamar Winter, Israel Antiquities Authority

Abstract

The glass finds distributed throughout the monastery at Giv‘ot Bar include vessels that denote the religious nature of the building: bottles, juglets, several types of lamps and windowpanes. These finds are characteristic of ecclesiastical complexes of the late Byzantine period, and attest to an active Christian community at the site.

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

An ancient garden at the Church of the Holy Sepulcher?

ANCIENT ARCHITECTURE: Echoing Gospel account, traces of ancient garden found under Church of Holy Sepulchre. A landmark excavation, set to conclude soon at Old City of Jerusalem church, has offered unprecedented historical insights. ToI gets a sneak peek (Rossella Tercatin, Times of Israel).

“Low stone walls were erected, and the space between them was filled with dirt,” said Stasolla. “The archaeobotanical findings have been especially interesting for us, in light of what is mentioned in the Gospel of John, whose information is considered written or collected by someone familiar with Jerusalem at the time. The Gospel mentions a green area between the Calvary and the tomb, and we identified these cultivated fields.”

A long, detailed article with coverage of the excavation results through the late antiquity. For some PaleoJudaica posts on the recent renovations and excavations in the Church of the Holy Sepulcher (Holy Sepulchre), and much more on the Church, see here and links.

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

Review panel on Neis, When a Human Gives Birth to a Raven (2)

ANCIENT JEW REVIEW: Rabbinic World-Making and Imagining Multiplicity (Andrea Dara Cooper).

I suggest that Neis’s work itself takes part in making worlds, despite demarcating their project from SF strategies.

I noted the first essay in the series here.

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Where was Cana of Galilee?

BIBLE HISTORY DAILY: Where Did Jesus Turn Water into Wine? Finding Cana of Galilee, site of Jesus’ first miracle (Robin Ngo).

Where did Jesus turn water into wine? Where is Cana of Galilee? There are at least five candidates for Cana in the Bible, but, according to archaeologist Tom McCollough in “Searching for Cana: Where Jesus Turned Water into Wine” in the November/December 2015 issue of BAR, only one site offers the most compelling evidence.

The article itself is behind the subscription wall.

They have been excavating for quite a while. Twenty years ago David Meadows and I noted some dogdy media coverage.

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Bauer & Doole (eds.), Ideas of Possession (OUP)

NEW BOOK FROM OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS:

Ideas of Possession

Interdisciplinary and Transcultural Perspectives

Edited by Nicole M. Bauer and J. Andrew Doole

£88.99

Hardback
Published: 18 December 2024
456 Pages
235x156mm
ISBN: 9780197679920

Also Available In:
Oxford Scholarship Online

Description

The idea that an external force can enter an individual and possess their body is prevalent in most cultures across the globe and throughout history. This possession can last for varying lengths of time, and its effects can be considered positive—when a "spirit" provides the individual with powers, abilities, knowledge, or authority—or negative—when the individual suffers and the "spirit" should ideally be cast out, usually through a ritual performed by someone with a designated role.

The study of possession remains marginal in most academic disciplines, but current public discourses indicate that the topic remains relevant across modern and postmodern societies. A globalized world has brought about an unprecedented situation in which decidedly different ideas about possession influence one another, and people attribute a wide variety of experiences and behaviors to spiritual possession. There are those who describe themselves as possessed, sometimes as an inherent element of their identities, and those who are labelled as possessed by others, though this label often comes with a stigma.

Ideas of Possession brings together scholars of various disciplines to consolidate an ongoing academic discussion on how possession is understood within different cultural contexts. Essays present ideas of possession from Antiquity, Biblical Studies, Religious Studies, History, Ethnology, Anthropology, and Psychology, demonstrating how each field's approach to this subject can benefit from interdisciplinary dialogue as we attempt to make sense of such a broad range of interpretations.

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