The Scrolls of the Torah (Mohr Siebeck)

NEW BOOK FROM MOHR SIEBECK:

The Scrolls of the Torah

Material, Compositional and Interpretive Perspectives

Edited by Jan Christian Gertz, Julia Rhyder, Thomas Römer and Konrad Schmid

2026. 464 pages.
Forschungen zum Alten Testament (FAT) 196

€159.00
including VAT

cloth
available
978-3-16-200695-0

Also Available As:
eBook PDF

Summary

This volume brings together twenty-four contributions from leading scholars that address enduring questions about the composition of the Pentateuch in the first millennium BCE across its various cultural settings, including the southern Levant, Mesopotamia, and possibly Egypt.
The first part offers a new assessment of the scribal cultures behind the Pentateuch, examining the material and sociological dimensions of scroll production in ancient Israel, Judah, and beyond. It underscores the importance of exploring the composition of the Pentateuch in light of broader ancient Near Eastern scribal cultures, while also attending to the particularities of Israelite text production in the Iron Age and Persian and Hellenistic periods. The volume then presents a series of case studies and methodological reflections that explore the literary history of the Pentateuch and the dating and interpretation of its texts. Particular attention is given to the interrelationship of narrative and legal materials, illustrated through case studies drawn primarily from Genesis and Numbers.
Together, the contributions offer a fresh assessment of how the Pentateuch reflects the scribal strategies, socio-political challenges, and the literary and theological debates that shaped textual production in the first millennium BCE. The volume concludes with two reception-historical studies that offer new insights into current scholarly discussions concerning the formation of the Pentateuch.

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What is happening in Sebastia?

POLITICS AND ARCHAEOLOGY: ‘Weaponization of cultural heritage’: Israel accuses PA of exploiting UNESCO in bid for Sebastia. The 450-acre site, which has awaited joining the world heritage list since 2012, has a history dating back at least 3,000 years (Danielle Greyman-Kennard, Jerusalem Post).

The Palestinian Authority has increased lobbying to have the historic archaeological site of Sebastia recognized as a UNESCO World Heritage Site ahead of a debate in South Korea later this month, a move that the Foreign Ministry claimed on Wednesday is politically motivated and poses a threat to the ancient ruins.

[...]

I've been following this story for a while, trying to work out what is going on. Both this Jerusalem Post article and the CNN article below have their own leaning, but both make an effort to present both sides. I blog, you decide.

On this West Bank hilltop, a fight over the past will determine who controls the future (Tal Shalev, Jeremy Diamond, Zeena Saifi, CNN).

Over the past year, Israel has moved to seize roughly 500 acres of privately owned Palestinian land around the town of Sebastia, a small Palestinian hamlet with a rich archaeological site. The government allocated $10 million to develop the site into a tourist attraction.

The Palestinian Authority, in turn, is racing to get Sebastia urgently recognized as a UNESCO World Heritage site, a bid the organization is debating this month in South Korea. Each side believes the land – and its past – belongs to them.

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Was Isaiah's voice in the wilderness or not?

DR. RABBI DAVID M. FREIDENREICH: “A Voice Cries Out in the Wilderness”—Isaiah, Translated and Improved (TheTorah.com).

Can translators improve texts like Shakespeare? Or the Bible? Christians, drawing on the Greek Septuagint, claimed that the voice in the wilderness (Isaiah 40:3) refers to John the Baptist. Jews, relying instead on the Aramaic Targum, viewed this verse as explicitly foretelling the return of Jewish exiles after the destruction of the Second Temple. But what did Isaiah actually mean?

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Damage to Gaza's antiquities sites

BIBLE HISTORY DAILY: Gaza’s Catastrophic Loss. Scores of sites in ancient coastal city damaged or destroyed (Glenn J. Corbett).

Official reports place the number of damaged or destroyed religious, historical, and heritage sites at more than 145, though local monitoring groups believe the number to be much higher. Among these are some of the most important and recognizable sites in the territory.

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What happened to the Ark of the Covenant and the Temple treasures?

FOR TISHA B'AV: Where are the Ark of the Covenant and the lost Temple treasures?Ancient texts place the Ark beneath the Temple Mount, historical accounts trace the menorah from Jerusalem to Rome, and archaeologists reject claims that the Vatican holds the sacred vessels, leaving one of Judaism’s greatest mysteries unresolved (Itzchak Tessler, Ynet News).

As you might guess, this article does not answer the questions. It does interview some archaeologists etc. and ask some more pretty good questions.

I suspect the Ark of the Covenant was melted down for its gold by the Babylonian conquerers. Jeremiah 3:16 implies it was already gone in Jeremiah's time. The Temple treasures may or may not have been evacuated and survived the destruction of Herod's Temple. If they did, they are likely irretrievably scattered and lost. But, naturally, there are proposals to the contrary.

For PaleoJudaica posts on the Ark of the Covenant, start here and follow the links. There are a great many posts, so many that it's hard to pick out key ones. Overal, I think, they cover just about every proposal about what happened to the Ark.

For posts on the Temple treasures, see here (cf. here) and many links. Some notable more recent posts are here, here, here, and again, follow the links.

The legendary Treatise of the Vessels (Maasekhet Kelim, not to be confused with the Mishnaic tractate), which tells the supposed story of the fate of the Temple treasures and the Ark after the Babylonian destruction of the Temple, comes up in these posts. For more on it, see here and links. I published an English translation of it in MOTP1.

The website of the Temple Mount Sifting Project is here. I have linked to it many times.

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Two Tisha B'Av essays

TWO TISHA B'AV ESSAYS have been posted at TheTorah.com:

Did They Fast on Tisha B’Av During the Second Temple Period? (Prof. Tova Ganzel).

In the early post-exilic period, the people ask the prophet Zechariah whether they should still fast to commemorate the destruction of the Temple now that it was being rebuilt. Zechariah, in a long collection of oracles, explains that the fasts will eventually be cancelled, once the people (7:9–10) “Execute true justice; deal loyally and compassionately with one another; do not defraud the widow, the orphan, the stranger, and the poor; and do not plot evil against one another.” So, did they ever cancel the fasts?

The Temple That Survived Its Destruction (Prof.Joshua Schwartz).

Josephus, an eyewitness to the Temple, defends its splendor and its laws to the Greco-Roman world. He takes the reader on a tour of the building in its heyday, explaining details such as how far Non-Jews and women were permitted to proceed and what lay inside, while also countering Apion’s slanderous depictions of donkey worship and human sacrifice within its walls. By opening the Mosaic constitution with the Temple and grounding its rituals in Torah law, Josephus presents it as an enduring foundation of Jewish tradition, whose significance outlives the building itself.

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Tyre added to list of world heritage sites in danger

PHOENICIAN WATCH: UNESCO adds war-hit Lebanese city of Tyre to list of world heritage sites in danger. The ancient coastal city has been caught up in fighting between Israel and Hezbollah, and one of two protected sites suffered a direct hit from an Israeli strike in June (AFP and Lazar Berman via ToI).

For more on the Israeli strike on Tyre in June, see here. I noted an earlier strike on the city in April here. For more on the history and archaeology of Tyre more generally, see the links collected there.

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Tisha B'Av 2026

TISHA B'AV (THE NINTH OF AV) begins this evening at sundown. An easy fast to all those observing it.

The Ninth of Av is not specifically a biblical holy day. Rather, it commemorates a number of disasters that happened to the Jewish people, traditionally all on that same day of the year. These include the destruction of the Jerusalem Temple by the Babylonians, the destruction of the Herodian Temple by the Romans, and the fall of Betar during the Bar Kokhba revolt.

Last year's Tisha B'Av post is here, with links.

More recent posts related to the day are here, here, and here.

UPDATE (23 July): More here and here.

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Did P know about the centralized sanctuary?

DR. HACHAM ISAAC S. D. SASSOON: Deuteronomy or the Priestly Text: Which Is the Later Torah Source? (TheTorah.com).

In the 1950s, Yehezkel Kaufmann challenged the regnant Graf-Wellhausen Hypothesis that the Priestly Text was the final Pentateuchal source to be written, and that it dates to the Post-Exilic Period. One pillar of his argument is that the Priestly Text seems wholly ignorant of Deuteronomy’s 7th century B.C.E. law of centralization of worship, and thus dates to earlier in the First Temple period. And yet, a closer look at P’s laws shows that it is simply taking centralization for granted.

I agree. Deuteronomy had to have Moses argue for one centralized sanctuary in Israel. P assumes a centralized sanctuary, in the guise of the Tabernacle in the time of Moses, but its nature makes best sense in a small community around Jerusalem. For example, in Leviticus 17:3-7 (contrast Deuteronomy 12:15) P requires all slaughtering of animals for meat to take place at the sanctuary. Practical for a local community, but not a national sanctuary.

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Amar, "Psalm 45 and the Achaemenid View of the Ideal King" (JANES 38, 2026)

BIBLIOGRAPHIA IRANICA: Psalm 45 and the Achaemenid View of the Ideal King. Notice of a New Article: Amar, Itzhak. 2026. Psalm 45 and the Achaemenid View of the Ideal King. Journal of the Ancient Near Eastern Society 38: 1-18.

There is a link to the JANES article, which is open access and downloadable as a pdf. It does not have an abstract, but its conclusion can serve as one:

Conclusions
In this article, I endeavored to elucidate the origins of the concepts and linguistic elements present in Psalm 45. I presented two potential scenarios. The first posits that the author was directly influenced by Achaemenid ideology, as evidenced in inscriptions and iconography from Persepolis, which presumably circulated throughout the empire. An alternative possibility is that the author was indirectly influenced through other biblical texts, such as the Books of Chronicles, whose authors had assimilated this ideology and disseminated it further, given the limited cultural environment of the scribes active in Yehud and Jerusalem. Examining the psalm within an Achaemenid context offers a more comprehensive understanding of the depiction of the king’s throne as God’s throne and of the two seemingly disparate sections of the psalm.

Incidentally, JANES is an fully open-access journal. See the AWOL Blog here.

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More on the Temple-era burned beams in Jerusalem

SCORCHED ANCIENT ARCHITECTURE: The burned beams found recently in the Givati Parking Lot which date to First and Second Temple times have been getting a lot of media attention. This article is notably informative:

Archaeologists Reveal More Massive, Charred Beams From Babylonian Attack on Ancient Jerusalem This is the second set of wooden roofing found in a mysterious building that burned down in 586 B.C.E., but when was it erected? (Ruth Schuster, Haaretz).

This has lots of new details about the artifacts and other objects found in the building, including wealthy material culture, administrative seals, Babylonian arrowheads, and even an unlucky 10th-century BCE bat🦇.

Background here. The article mentions 2020 discoveries published in 2024. I noted them here.

Also,the Givati Parking Lot excavation continues to provide fascinating discoveries. For more, see here and links.

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Thomas, ... Comparing Qumran Aramaic Job and Old Greek Job (SBL)

NEW BOOK FROM SBL PRESS;

Transformations in Translation: Comparing Qumran Aramaic Job and Old Greek Job

Alun Morton Thomas

ISBN 9781628378238
Volume SCS 81
Status Available
Publication Date June 2026

Paperback $80.00
Hardback $100.00
eBook $80.00

Using insights gleaned from translation studies, Alun Morton Thomas compares the earliest known Aramaic and Greek translations of the book of Job to explore how translators dealt with idiomatic and linguistic difficulties in translating the Hebrew text. Thomas demonstrates that many of the scribal techniques used in both the Qumran and Old Greek versions of Job resemble practices attested in other Second Temple Jewish texts. The scribal choices Thomas reveals provide insights into early interpretations of the book of Job which stem from the Second Temple period. The volume also delves into how earlier Aramaic and Greek translations relate to later translation attempts in these two languages. Transformations in Translation is a critical resource for scholars and students interested in some of the most difficult passages to translate from Hebrew.

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Four books from the Israel Numismatic Society

NEW(ISH) BOOKS FROM THE ISRAEL NUMISMATIC SOCIETY:

New Publication November 2025:

New Publication:
A Corpus of Samarian Coinage from the Persian Period, Volumes I & II
By Haim Gitler, Mati Johananoff, and Oren Tal
Numismatic Studies and Researches (NSR) XIII and XIV, Jerusalem 2025

A Comprehensive Re-evaluation of Ancient Levantine Coinage This two-volume monograph, A Corpus of Samarian Coinage, is the definitive culmination of a major research program focused on the Samarian minting authority during the Persian period. This coinage represents one of the earliest and most varied official coinages produced in the southern Levant, likely being issued from the late fifth century BCE until after the Greco-Macedonian conquest.
While building on earlier scholarship, this work offers a substantive re-evaluation of the field. It incorporates numerous newly identified coin types and establishes a robust, modern classification system essential for all future study. The data is based on an exhaustive, multi-year study of the entire corpus of known Samarian issues, involving the global examination of specimens in publications and in public and private collections. ...

Pricing (Two-Volume Set)

$200 or €175 (+ shipping and bank transfer charges) Note: All proceeds are dedicated to supporting future publications by the Israel Numismatic Society. ...

New Publication:
The City of Gaza in the Roman Period: The Numismatic Evidence (First Century BCE–Third Century CE)
Corpus Nummorum Palaestinensium VI
Yoav Farhi, Jerusalem 2025

This book is a comprehensive discussion examining the production and significance of the coinage struck by the city of Gaza under Roman rule from the conquest of this region by Pompey (64/3 BCE) to the end of the municipal minting in the second quarter of the third century (241/2 CE).
The data presented are based on the study of some 4494 bronze and silver coins minted in Gaza during the Roman period. As many specimens as possible were located during some 20 years of a through and wide search, at various publications and in public and private collections especially in the Middle East, Europe and the USA. The catalogue presents 318 types with hundreds of variants and the photographs of 833 coins.
This is the first time that such comprehensive research has been conducted regarding a polis in Roman Palestine with a vast volume of minting as in the case of Gaza. This research, which examines the coinage of the largest and most important city in southern Roman Palestine, contributes not only to a better understanding of the city itself, but also can offer new perspectives on the broad subject of city coins of the Roman period, and especially those of this region.

The book is hardcover, elegantly designed and includes 500 pages and 102 illustrations, plates and maps, most of them in color. It was published by the Israel Numismatic Society in a limited edition (see attached file).

Pricing

$175 or €155 (+ shipping)
Note: All proceeds are dedicated to supporting future publications by the Israel Numismatic Society. ...

The Yehud Coinage
A Study and Die Classification of the Provincial Silver Coinage of Judah

Haim Gitler, Catharine Lorber and Jean-Philippe Fontanille

This volume presents a die study of the provincial silver coinage of Judah in the late Persian, Macedonian, and early Hellenistic periods. It offers correct descriptions of the coins, their designs, and their inscriptions; enumerates the obverse and reverse dies identified for each of the 44 recorded types; and explains the probable sequence of the issues as deduced from iconographic associations and die links.

The iconography of the coin types is examined in depth, with comparisons to motifs in Greek, Persian, and ancient Near Eastern art, including other local coinages and sources in Judahite material culture. The monograph also analyzes data relating to the metrology, metal content, and circulation of the coinage. Overall, the study attempts to place the Yehud coinage in its historical context and to define its role in the economy of the ancient province of Judah.

Pricing

$150 or €125 (+ shipping and bank transfer charges)
Note: All proceeds are dedicated to supporting future publications by the Israel Numismatic Society.

Follow the link for further details and ordering information.

Via TAU Archaeology, HT the AWOL Blog.

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Temple-era burned beams in Jerusalem

SCORCHED ANCIENT ARCHITECTURE: Days before Tisha B'Av: Charred wooden beams from First Temple’s destruction unearthed in Jerusalem. The First Temple, built by the biblical King Solomon, was destroyed in 586 BCE at the hands of Nebuchadnezzar II, the second king of the Neo-Babylonian Empire (Miriam Sela-Eitam, Jerusalem Post).

Massive wooden beams charred by the fire that destroyed Jerusalem and the First Temple were unearthed during a recent dig at the Jerusalem Walls National Park in the City of David, the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA) announced on Monday morning. ...

IAA and Tel Aviv University archaeologists discovered the burnt beams inside a building that had collapsed in the fire.

"The beams appear to have served as the roof of an inner courtyard in a building from the First Temple period,” noted IAA Excavation Director Efrat Bocher.

The headline is technically correct, but a little misleading, since it could be read to say that the beams are from the First Temple complex. They are not. They are from a building in the City of David near the Temple Mount, but not part of it. The building was destroyed in, presumably, the same fire that destroyed the Temple.

There are also some unburnt cedar beams from the actual Temple Mount which may have part of the First and Second Temple complexes. Noted here and here and links. They have been known about for quite a while.

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An Aramaic ostracon from the Amman Citadel Excavation

NORTHWEST SEMITIC EPIGRAPHY: An Achaemenid-era administrative Aramaic ostracon has been belatedly recovered by the Amman Citadel Excavation. The ostracon has been published in Syria 102 (2025) and the French article is open access at the link. I give the English version of the abstract below.

Un ostracon araméen de la citadelle d’Amman : une lecture à la lumière du corpus iduméen
An Aramaic Ostracon from the Amman Citadel: An Interpretation in the Light of the Idumaea CorpusBR> أوستراكون آرامي من قلعة عمّان : قراءة في ضوء مدوّنة نصوص إدوم

Mitchka L. M. J. Shahryari
p. 69-80
https://doi.org/10.4000/16kx0

This article presents an unpublished Aramaic ostracon (AC-2568) discovered at the Amman Citadel during the 1989 French-Jordanian excavations and identified only in 2023 during pottery sorting. Though the stratigraphic context is mixed, the ostracon likely dates between the Iron Age and the Hellenistic period. The text, painted in ink on a small limestone fragment, is short and fragmentary. It seems to be a record of an economic transaction and displays strong paleographic and typological affinities with Achaemenid-period Aramaic texts from Idumea. As the first Aramaic inscription from the site, it seems to testify the administrative use of Aramaic in the region.

For more on the Amman Citadel Excavation, see here, with links on ancient Ammon and Ammonite.

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The Deists and the lost scriptures?

THE ANXIOUS BENCH: The Deists’ Revolution (Philip Jenkins).

I have been working on the discovery of alternative scriptures and ancient heretical movements during the Enlightenment, between about 1690 and 1740. Central to this phenomenon were a group of philosophers and thinkers generally called the Deists, who were a loose network rather than any kind of organized movement. For modern audiences, what is shocking about them is just how very daring and skeptical they were on their speculations about religion, and how very early historically. For present purposes, what matters is not that the Deists necessarily talked a lot about such “lost gospels,” but rather that they created the environment in which such ideas could flourish.

[...]

I think we can count this post as another turbo footnote to Prof. Jenkins's Lost and Found Scriptures series, for which see here and links.

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Recalcati, The Egyptian Background of the Septuagint (Brepols)

NEW BOOK FROM BREPOLS:

The Egyptian Background of the Septuagint
Lexical Items in Genesis, Exodus and Leviticus

Camilla Recalcati

Pages: 263 p.
Size: 156 x 234 mm
Illustrations: 6 tables b/w.
Language(s): English, Greek, Hebrew
Publication Year:2026

€ 80,00 EXCL. VAT
RETAIL PRICE
ISBN: 978-2-503-61800-5
Paperback
Available

€ 80,00 EXCL. VAT
RETAIL PRICE
ISBN: 978-2-503-61801-2
E-book
Forthcoming

A first systematic study of the Egyptian influences on the vocabulary of the Septuagint of Genesis, Exodus, and Leviticus

Summary

It is generally accepted that the Greek translation of the Pentateuch was undertaken in Egypt, in the 3rd century BCE. Then, it is only logical that the translators and the translation itself were influenced by the environment the translation took place in, by its languages, its usages and beliefs. Nevertheless, previous scholarly endeavours only partially address the issue of these contextual influences on the Greek translation. Although some valid attempts to uncover echoes of the Egyptian environment in the Septuagint translation have been made in the past century, no systematic study had been produced. In the wake of a renewed interest for Egyptian features in the Septuagint translation, the present volume aims at offering the first systematic study on Egyptian influences in the first three books of the Pentateuch: Genesis, Exodus, and Leviticus. An accurate analysis of various translational choices reflected in lexical elements which have been influenced by the Egyptian milieu such as proper names, toponyms, geographical images, job titles, weights and measures, animal names, realia, and theological accents demonstrates to what extent the translators were acquainted with the environment they lived in. Examining this phenomenon, which might initially appear marginal, reveals itself to be a pressing issue in the emerging trends of Septuagint studies.

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Litwa, HERMETICA I (Fount ULTD)

IN THE MAIL:

M. David Litwa, HERMETICA I: The Corpus Hermeticum, Asclepius, and Nag Hammadi Hermetica Ordered as a Path of Initiation (The Definitive Edition) (QC Canada: Fount ULTD; Rev. ed. 2026)

This new English translation of the philosophical Hermetica has been out for a while, but I've only recently ordered a copy. Copenhaver's translation, with notes, is unrivaled for use when you are working through the Greek and Latin Hermetica line by line. But the latter makes relatively little effort to evaluate each tractate as whole, asking what it says and what that means.

Litwa's approach is different. He orders the tractates, not in the traditional order as passed down in medieval manuscripts, but by sense, in what he reconstructs as their likely order when used as a path of initiation. His commentary at the end of each tractate takes into account the scholarly literature, but it focuses on what the text is saying and what it meant (and means) for practitioners. He also includes a Coptic text from the Nag Hammadi Library which was not covered by Copenhaver. Using both translations gives a nice rounded view of the surviving, more or less complete, classical philosophical Hermetica.

Litwa has also published a second volume of translated philosophical Hermetica, which I have already noted here. It collects the surviving fragments and quotations of and testimonies about the otherwise lost texts.

There was also a substantial corpus of "technical Hermetica," which dealt with astrology, alchemy, and magic. There are English translations of varying reliability of many of the major works, but they have to be tracked down individually.

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The Rabbinic texts on the fall of Betar

TISHA B'AV IS COMING: 135 CE Beitar in Memory: Rabbinic Lament and the Legacy of the Fall (Rabbi Shlomo Pereira, Times of Israel Blogs).

JEWISH MOMENTS IN THE LAND OF ISRAEL

135 CE

Beitar in Memory: Rabbinic Lament and the Legacy of the Fall

The fall of Beitar, the Mishnah states occurred on the 9th of Av, passed from history into memory. Rabbinic literature, above all Lamentations Rabbah and the Jerusalem Talmud, recast the catastrophe in theological language: rivers of blood, the unburied dead, the leader slain by a serpent. In doing so, the rabbis transformed defeat into lament, folded Beitar into the calendar of mourning, and read the disaster as both the wages of sin and the memory of a lost sovereignty.

For many PaleoJudaica posts on the Bar Kokhba Revolt and the fall of Betar (Beitar), see here, here, here, and here, and follow the links.

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Vendyl Jones's Qumran "incense" is lost

ANCIENT MATERIAL CULTURE? Inside the tragic, decades-long mystery of Qumran's lost Second Temple incense. The vast majority of material was lost after a 2025 murder. All that remains is a small amount of dust collected from the floor and a few samples preserved by the Jones family. (Josh Aronson, Jerusalem Post).

I'm very sorry to hear about the murder.

As for the "incense." I have a bit more on it here (cf. here, but link rotted). Mainstream views seem to be that the material is either just dirt or a local cleaning agent, and its status is, at best, unconfirmed.

The article reports that the Qumran Project is planning to conduct scientific tests on the surviving residue of the material. Given that, reportedly, much of is floor sweepings, I imagine modern contamination could be a concern. But let's see what they find.

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What would Thomas Aquinas say about the Book of Enoch?

OLD TESTAMENT PSEUDEPIGRAPHA WATCH: Reason, Revelation, and the Book of Enoch (Haile haile, Catholic Standard).

The Book of Enoch has long stirred debates among theologians, historians, and believers. Dismissed in most Western traditions as apocryphal and excluded from the canonical Bible, it has often been labelled a “false” book. Yet, when approached with reason, the very tool Aquinas urged Christians to employ in theological debate, one may arrive at a different conclusion. Instead of dismissing the book outright, it is worth re-examining its origins, significance, and theological contributions.
.
Applying the framework of asking the “5WH” questions: who, what, when, where, why, and how – we can reason through why the Book of Enoch should not be entirely discredited. However, this ancient book should be read with discernment and wisdom, not accepted with naive gullibility.

This essay is just one example of a current trend to reasses the theological and metaphysical (etc.!) relevance of 1 Enoch and related ancient works. As I've noted, some of this is fringe. But there is popular mainstream interest to, as illustrated by this article in a lay Catholic publication.

Likewise, this article in another well-established lay Catholic publication shows some cautiously sympathetic interest in 1 Enoch: 10 Fascinating Facts About the Mysterious Enoch. A closer look at the enigmatic Old Testament figure whose fidelity and fate have intrigued believers for centuries (Bradley Shumaker, National Catholic Register).

7. The Book of Enoch Is an Ancient Jewish Text, Not Included in the Biblical Canon
The Book of Enoch, which is also known as 1 Enoch (as there are two later books), is an ancient Jewish apocalyptic text. It is considered by the Church as apocryphal, in other words, not considered divinely inspired and therefore not included as part of the Bible’s canon of Scripture. Scholars estimate that it was written in the third century B.C., or perhaps even earlier, but do not regard Enoch as the author. Fragments of it in the Aramaic language (which is thought to be its original language) were found among the Dead Sea Scrolls, which were discovered in 1947. For centuries, it was lost in Europe, but in 1773, a Scotsman named James Bruce brought the book back from Ethiopia, which led to increased attention on its content.

As the next point notes, "8. The New Testament Letter of Jude Quotes the Book of Enoch." The direct quotation of 1 Enoch 1:9 in Jude 14-15, labeled as Enoch prophesying, makes it awkward for Christians to dismiss the book entirely.

I take no position on any such theological issues. But these articles are further illustrations of the current, I think increasing, interest in 1 Enoch, the story of the watchers, and noncanonical scriptures more generally. I noted another recent example here.

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MBA incised reed recovered from Wadi Murabbaʿat Cave 2

ORGANIC MATERIAL CULTURE: Mysterious 3,700-Year-Old Decorated Reed Revealed in Judaean Desert Cave First of its kind in the Southern Levant, the Middle Bronze Age object still keeps its purpose secret (oguz kayra, Arkeonews).

A slender reed fragment found deep inside a cave in the Judaean Desert has emerged as one of the most unusual objects known from the Middle Bronze Age Southern Levant. It is small, fragile, and incomplete, yet its incised surface carries a set of deliberate designs that have survived for nearly 3,700 years in the dry darkness of Wadi Murabbaʿat Cave 2.

A new study published in Tel Aviv identifies the object as the first known reed item from this period ever reported in the Southern Levant. Radiocarbon dating places it between 1743 and 1542 BCE, in the second half of the Middle Bronze Age. Its exact purpose remains unresolved, but the evidence points to an object that was handled, decorated, and possibly connected to a ritual or funerary setting.

[...]

The Tel Aviv article is open access:

A Decorated Middle Bronze Age Reed from Wadi Murabbaʿat

Matthew Susnow, Roi Porat & Uri Davidovich
Published online: 08 Jul 2026
Cite this article https://doi.org/10.1080/03344355.2026.2620264

Abstract

This paper presents a recently discovered incised reed object from Wadi Murabbaʿat Cave 2, in the northern Judaean Desert, that dates to the early second millennium BCE. This is the first reed object from this period to be discovered in the Southern Levant. The incised decorations recall decorative motifs known from a plethora of objects of different materials, functionality and contexts. The reed belongs to a small group of Middle Bronze Age objects found in the cave in the 1950s, many of which are found in contemporaneous burials, including at Jericho. The study argues that the object was likely produced on site, and not by a professional craftsperson. The precise meaning of the object remains unknown, but the pervasiveness of the reed’s decorations within the artistic traditions of the region suggests a widespread cultural template that was rooted in long-term regional symbolism.

And if an incised decorated reed could survive in this environment, why not an inscribed papyrus or parchment scroll? Such things existed in the Middle Bronze Age. Several complete literary compositions survive in scrolls from the Middle Kingdom in Egypt. Fragments too. And a scroll of the Egyptian Book of the Dead dating to the New Kingdom has turned up recently.

Comparably old (c. 1600 BCE) organic remains have been found at Megiddo. And quite early (tenth century BCE) remains in the Timna Valley. And more generally, see here and links.

I would like to think it's only a matter of time before scrolls from the Iron Age or even earlier turn up in Israel. We'll see.

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

Does 1 Enoch say that the watchers are buried in Antarctica? No.

OLD TESTAMENT PSEUDEPIGRAPHA WATCH: Ancient book banned from the Bible fuels theory of fallen angels imprisoned beneath Antarctica (Stacy Liberatore, Daily Mail).

That book is, of course, the Book of 1 Enoch, specifically the Book of Watchers (chapters 1-36).

Supporters of the theory cite passages describing imprisoned heavenly beings awaiting God's final judgment, along with references to the 'ends of the earth,' sealed 'chambers of cold' and burning mountains.

They claim the descriptions align with East Antarctica, its network of subglacial lakes and the buried Gamburtsev Subglacial Mountains, a vast range concealed beneath up to two miles of ice.

Between 2007 and 2009, an international research team used airborne radar and other geophysical instruments to map the Gamburtsev Mountains, revealing peaks hidden beneath the ice sheet.

While proponents say the similarities are too striking to dismiss, mainstream biblical scholars generally interpret the passages as symbolic descriptions of a supernatural realm rather than a literal location on Earth.

I think biblical scholars would say that the writer of the Book of Watchers likely believed that the watchers were buried in some specific, but perhaps undisclosed, literal location on earth. But, in reality, there was no such location. Certainly not Antarctica. The location was entirely imaginary.

The Mail article goes on to mention YouTube as the source of this daft Lovecraftian notion, but it does not give a link. Perhaps because there are quite a few videos advancing it, some going back as much as eight years, other much more recent.

I flag this story not because it has any scientific merit, but because it illustrates that there is considerable and, I think, increasing interest in the Book of 1 Enoch and the story of the rise and fall of the watchers. This Antarctica nonsense is well on the fringe end, but some of the interest comes from a more mainstream curiousity about surviving scriptures that Western Christians and interested secular people don't find in their own Bibles.

These matters are, as you know, near to my own heart. I have collected more stories on interest in 1 Enoch and will get to them when I can. I encourage specialists to keep up with these things. They can provide teaching moments when they come up.

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

Is Egypt dismantling the legal status of Saint Catherine's Monastery?

SAINT CATHERINE'S MONASTERY: New Report Warns St. Catherine’s Monastery Has Reached a Decisive Stage in the Dismantling of Its Fifteen-Century Legal Status (Standard Newswire).

WASHINGTON, July 13, 2026 /Standard Newswire/ — Coptic Solidarity today released a new report warning that the crisis surrounding St. Catherine’s Monastery in Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula is not an isolated property dispute but the culmination of a decade-long process through which the Egyptian state has progressively challenged the centuries-old legal and institutional status of one of the world’s oldest continuously functioning Christian monasteries and one of UNESCO’s most emblematic World Heritage Sites.

[..]

This press release summarizes the Coptic Solidarity report. It includes a link, so you can read the whole report if you like.

I have been following this controversy for the last year or so and have posted on it here and here. As before, I have no insider information and I don't know what is really going on. But, whatever is happening, it should happen in the full light of the world's scrutiny.

For many other PaleoJudaica posts on Saint Catherine's Monastery and its important collection of manuscripts, start here (cf. here, and here and links) and follow the links.

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

More on that solar calendar

CALENDAR MYSTERY CONTINUED: Prof. Eshbal Ratzon's Tarbiz article about the ancient Jewish 364-day solar calendar is getting lots of attention.

The original TAU press release is posted by Popular Archaeology (and elsewhere): Hasmonean history is combined with the enigma of the Qumran calendar – to solve an ancient mystery of the Dead Sea Scrolls. You can download the full text of the Hebrew Tarbiz article at her Academia.edu page here.

A couple of other articles cover the issues throughly. I think Prof. Ratzon is interviewed in both, although the Haaretz article doesn't specify this:

Did Breakoff Ancient Jews Really Use a 'Divine' 364-day Calendar? While grimly pitted against the Romans, the Jews hated each other too, which may have led some to adopt an alternative calendar handed down to Moses, according to the apocrypha (Ruth Schuster, Haaretz). This one also has some good photographs of manuscripts of 1 Enoch and Jubilees in various languages.

Power of 7: Could an ancient political feud explain Qumran sect’s faulty 364-day calendar?. New theory offers a solution to one of the Dead Sea Scrolls’ longest-running puzzles, arguing the out-of-sync calendar was used for ideological reasons — until it felt safe to abandon it (Zev Stub, Times of Israel).

I noted the 2014 Haaretz piece on the Hebrew calendar by Elon Gilad (mentioned in the current Haaretz article) here, with comments. Happily, it did not disappear behind the paywall!

Background and comments on Prof. Ratzon's Tarbiz article here.

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

The movement ecology of Hannibal's route across the Alps?

PUNIC WATCH: A Bioenergetic Study Places the Col de la Traversette as the Most Probable Route for Hannibal’s Crossing of the Alps. An international study applies African elephant energy expenditure models to resolve the historic debate over the Carthaginian army’s passage in 218 B.C. (Guillermo Carvajal, LBV).

For another analysis of Hannibal's route from a quite different evidence base (ancient poop), see here and links. It also argues for the Col de la Traversette as the likely pathway.

For many PaleoJudaica posts on Hannibal Barca, the Carthaginian general who fought and nearly won the Second Punic War, start here and (cinematically, but canceled) here and follow the links.

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

More on the British Museum's Palestine-labels controversy

ONOMASTIC POLITICS, CONTINUED: Row continues over removal of term ‘Palestine’ from British Museum displays. Campaigners claim internal emails show decision was driven by ‘undue political influence’ (Museums Journal Staff).

If I find a substantive response to these claims from the British Museum, I will let you know.

Background to the story is here and links. Follow-up related posts are here and links.

I discuss the Second Temple-era usage of the term "Palestine" here.

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

The Rephaim and the Greek Meropes?

PROF. AMAR ANNUS:The Rephaim—Biblical Memories of West Semitic Ancestral Giants and Shades (TheTorah.com).

Standing in the Transjordan, Moses describes how the previous inhabitants had been the frightening, gigantic Rephaim (lit. “healers”). Elsewhere in the Bible, rephaim are powerless shades, living in the underworld, Sheol. Greek epic also preserves a memory of Meropes as a population of giants living on the island of Cos, and the term meropes also refers to “healers” who serve as priests of the god Asklepius. In both cases, these memories derive from the West Semitic Rapi’ūma, deified royal ancestors invoked in Ugaritic rituals to bless king and land.

It's always fun to go back to the Rephaim again. I don't recall hearing about this proposed connection with the Meropes before. I did know that the late Prof. Astour proposed some creative West Semitic connections with Greek mythology.

I have discussed the Rephaim especially here and here (in connection with the giants). For many other posts, see the links collected here (cf. here).

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

On the 364-day solar calendar

CALENDAR MYSTERY: Dead Sea Scrolls mystery: Qumran’s 364-day calendar may have been real, until it failed. Tel Aviv University study argues the calendar was not only a religious ideal but was used by the sect in its early years, before seasonal drift and political changes made it impractical (YNet News).

The study suggests that the calendar was indeed used in practice during the sect’s early period and even stood at the heart of the dispute that led to its separation from the Jerusalem religious establishment. Over time, however, the calendar was abandoned because of a built-in flaw that made it impossible to maintain and because of political changes that brought the sect closer to the Hasmonean leadership under Alexander Jannaeus.

The study was conducted by Prof. Eshbal Ratzon of Tel Aviv University’s Department of Jewish Philosophy and its Cohn Institute for the History and Philosophy of Science and Ideas. It was published in the journal Tarbiz.

The article is publsihed in Tarbiz 91.1-2 (2026). Tarbiz is a Hebrew journal that seems to be available only in print form.

Whether anyone actually used the Jewish 364-day solar calendar is an old problem. I have touched on it occasionally over the years, notably here (especially), here, here, here, here, and here. I have not read this Tarbiz article, but Prof. Ratzon's case as summarized in the YNet article seems plausible. I doubt we will ever know for sure.

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

Hidden portal in the Giza Pyramid to be opened?

TECHNOLOGY WATCH: Hidden Passage In Great Pyramid Of Giza Could Unlock New Secrets, May Rewrite History In 2026. Egypt’s most prominent archaeologist has announced that an international team of scientists will unveil a major archaeological discovery inside the ancient wonder (Saurabh Verma, News18.com).

According to [Dr. Zahi] Hawass, advanced scanning technology and remote-controlled robotics have successfully mapped a massive, previously inaccessible 30-meter-long (98-foot) hidden corridor deep within the body of King Khufu’s pyramid. Even more tantalisingly, the passage terminates at a completely sealed, ancient stone door—a threshold Hawass promises will “rewrite a chapter in the history of the pharaohs," Futura-Sciences reported.

The full, official physical exploration and opening of what lies behind that door is slated to be broadcast globally.

Thanks to non-invasive and non-destructive technologies, we've know about this corridor and the chamber for some time. See the links collected here. But the news seems to be the corridor has been robotically mapped and that there is some kind of plan to open the mystery door. The Pulse has more on the robot's adventure, with an unlabeled photo, presumably taken by the robot, of what seems to be the corridor and door.

What is behind the portal? We'll see. 🚪🤖

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Second Temple-era discoveries at Shiloh

ARCHAEOLOGY: Archaeologists uncover Second Temple period treasures at Ancient Shiloh Heritage Site. Days before Tisha B’Av, archaeologists uncovered rare Second Temple-era treasures at ancient Shiloh, including a lavish ritual bath and a purple-dye snail shell once used for sacred garments, shedding new light on the site’s historic Jewish connection (Idan Bloemhof, YNet News).

For more on Tyrian purple dye and the Israelite telekhet dye, both made from the murex snail, see here and many links.

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

Review of Roller, Diodoros of Sicily: Bibliotheke Historike. Books 21-40

BRYN MAYR CLASSICAL REVIEW: Diodoros of Sicily: Bibliotheke Historike. Books 21-40: from the battle of Ipsos (301 BC) to the Catilinarian conspiracy (62 BC).

Duane W. Roller, Diodoros of Sicily: Bibliotheke Historike. Books 21-40: from the battle of Ipsos (301 BC) to the Catilinarian conspiracy (62 BC). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2025. Pp. 384. ISBN 9781009277495.

Review by
Charles E. Muntz, University of Arkansas. cmuntz@uark.edu>

The Bibliotheke, or Historical Library, of Diodorus Siculus, is the longest extant work of Greek history to survive from antiquity. Yet only 15 of the original 40 books survive complete. For the remaining 25 books we have an extensive number of fragments, and while obviously these are no substitute for the original books, they are still of vital importance to ancient historians, containing much information not available from other sources. For instance, it is largely from the fragments that we know about the massive slave revolts that rocked Roman Sicily. Now Duane Roller has provided a fine new translation with extensive notes of the fragments of books 21-40, which originally covered the years from 301 to approximately 60 BCE.

[...]

For more on Diodorus and why his work is of interest to PaleoJudaica, see here and links.

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Dr Albertina Oegema appointed to the Protestant Theological University

CONGRATULATIONS TO DR OEGEMA AND TO THE PTHU: Dr Albertina Oegema appointed Assistant Professor of New Testament (PThU press release).

9 July 2026 The Protestant Theological University (PThU) has appointed Dr Albertina Oegema as Assistant Professor of New Testament. On 8 July 2026, the Executive Committee (moderamen) of the General Synod of the Protestant Church in the Netherlands approved the appointment. This makes the appointment by the Executive Board final. Oegema will begin her new position on 1 August. ...

Dr Albertina Oegema is a postdoctoral researcher in New Testament at Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz. From 2020 to 2022 she was affiliated with the Protestant Theological University, among other roles as a postdoctoral researcher. She studied at the University of Groningen (Bachelor's degree and Research Master's degree cum laude) and obtained her PhD cum laude at Utrecht University with a dissertation on early rabbinic parables. Her work demonstrates her considerable philological expertise in the interpretation of rabbinic sources. Oegema uses interdisciplinary perspectives and methods from the humanities in the fields of gender studies, childhood and youth studies, agency, and emotion to open up new ways of interpreting ancient texts.

I first met Dr. Oegema at a postgraduate conference in St Andrews back in 2011, when she was still a doctoral student at Gronigen. It's been good to see her career progressing since then.

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

Anderson, Archaeology, Jesus, and the Gospel of John (Eerdmans)

NEW BOOK FROM EERDMANS:

Archaeology, Jesus, and the Gospel of John
What Recent Discoveries Show Us

by Paul N. Anderson

Imprint: Eerdmans

650 Pages, 6.00 × 9.00 in

Hardcover
9780802879899
Publication Date: May 26, 2026
$99.99
£73.99
Out of Stock

eBook
9781467463584
Publication Date: May 26, 2026
$99.99
£73.99

Description

Discover the Fourth Gospel’s significance for historical Jesus studies.

For years, the Gospel of John has been excluded from historical Jesus studies because of its distinctive theological and literary features. Yet, while John’s Gospel is often characterized as “the spiritual gospel,” it actually contains more archaeologically attested content and topographical details than all the other gospels combined. In this groundbreaking volume, renowned archaeologists discuss the Fourth Gospel’s material features and show how those features enrich our understanding of the historical Jesus.

More than two dozen contributors present evidence of the Fourth Gospel’s historical reliability. Some of the contributors focus on Johannine descriptions of Jesus’s ministry, using archaeological expertise to illuminate narrative details ranging from the stone jars in Cana to the fishing industry in Galilee. Other contributors focus on Johannine discussions of places and customs, bringing archaeological research to bear on narrative references to worship sites on Mt. Gerazim, the second pool of Siloam, crucifixion practices of imperial Rome, and more. Throughout the volume, research findings are documented with compelling images. Following discussions of specific archaeological data, the book concludes with a broad overview of the implications for historical Jesus studies. By challenging the longstanding critical bias against the Fourth Gospel’s historical content, Archaeology, Jesus, and the Gospel of John lays the groundwork for a new quest for the historical Jesus—an inclusive quest that fully engages the Johannine account.

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

Vayntrub, Body Language (Yale)

NEW BOOK FROM YALE UNIVERSITY PRESS:

Body Language

Voice, Embodiment, and Textuality in the Hebrew Bible

by Jacqueline Vayntrub

Series: The Anchor Yale Bible Reference Library

232 Pages, 6.12 × 9.25 in

Hardcover
9780300230901
Published: Tuesday, 23 Jun 2026
$50.00

eBook
9780300291575
Published: Tuesday, 23 Jun 2026
$50.00
Out of Stock

eBook
9780300291551
Published: Tuesday, 23 Jun 2026
$50.00

Description

A revelatory study of embodied voice and its function in biblical texts

Performance, transmission, and corporeality were essential to ancient understandings of textuality. Far more than an aide-mémoire, written text constituted a powerful mechanism for capturing and transmitting embodied vocal presence. In this bold and provocative book, Jacqueline Vayntrub demonstrates how embedded concepts of embodied speechmaking shaped a tradition of aesthetics and interpretation in the Hebrew Bible.

For authors and readers alike, biblical texts functioned as vessels containing voices for posterity, preserving otherwise fleeting moments of performance and transporting audiences into an idealized or stylized past. Through incisive readings of passages from diverse genres and examinations of the social and material dimensions of speech in the ancient Near East, Vayntrub offers a striking reconceptualization of the biblical authors’ understanding of literary craft.

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Noncanonical scriptures in the Enlightenment

THE ANXIOUS BENCH: How The Enlightenment Discovered The Alternative Scriptures (Philip Jenkins).

I have long worked on what we might call alternative Christianities and especially the scriptures they produced. In the modern world, we are well used to the idea of early systems that get labeled heresies, but which actually (many believe) conveyed many of the authentic teachings of the early church. As we known from the work of Elaine Pagels, Bart Ehrman, Karen King, and so many others, there were whole gospels that somehow got excluded from the emerging canon. Based on my own readings, I think that process of discovery started much earlier than we usually suppose, closer to 1900 than to 2000. But increasingly, I am finding much deeper roots, which are not well known or discussed. Today’s blog concerns what I find a startling wave of discoveries that happened still earlier, in the Enlightenment years around 1700, which look far more modern than we might ever have thought. Much of the main work came from clergy themselves, usually situated within the established churches. Even then, some people claimed to find whole new gospels.

[...]

Johann Albert Fabricius and I go way back. We dedicated the 2013 MOTP1 volume to him and tho R. H. Charles on the respective three hundredth and one hundredth anniversaries of the publication of their Old Testament Pseudepigrapha collections.

The post above is a continuation of Professor Jenkins's Lost and Found Scriptures series. For earlier posts, see here and links.

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The journey of the Great Isaiah Scroll

BECAUSE YOU SHOULD KNOW THESE THINGS: The remarkable 12,000 mile journey of the Isaiah scroll from Qumran to Jerusalem (Jo Elizabeth, Israel National News).

The Isaiah Scroll, the most complete and important of the Dead Sea Scrolls discovered in Qumran, is currently on display at the Israel Museum for the first time since 1968.

Although the distance from Qumran to Jerusalem is a mere 23 kilometers (14 miles), the manuscript has traveled thousands of miles on an epic journey since its discovery in 1947.

[...]

This is a great story that is worth retelling. This article is substantially accurate, although Kando was a Syrian Orthodox Christian, not a Bedouin. That's not an insignficant point, since it explains why he consulted with the Syriac Orthodox Church.

For more on the current exhibition of the Great Isaiah Scroll in the Israel Museum, see here and links.

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

Ritual boundaries in late-antique magic

THE BIBLE AND INTERPRETATION:

Shared Symbols and Religious Boundaries in Late Antiquity: A View from Personal Experience and Late Antique Magic

Shared religious symbols do not necessarily mean weak or blurred religious boundaries. Christian ritual texts that combine anti-Jewish rhetoric with names for God often labeled “Jewish” show that cultural sharing and sharp religious differentiation could coexist. This calls for more care in how scholars interpret religious identity, boundaries, and “mixing” in late antique lived religion.

See also Ritual Boundaries: Magic and Differentiation in Late Antique Christianity (University of California Press, 2024; open access).

By Joseph E. Sanzo
Ca’ Foscari University of Venice
Center for the Study of Lived Religion
July 2026

Ritual boundaries are complicated. Rituals mean something by their actions. They are often open to quite different interpretations depending on their framing. The meaning of ritual "magic" is especially elusive and provocative.

For more on the book and the author's work, see here and here.

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Assyrian religious-themed seal excavated at Yavneh

ANCIENT MATERIAL MULTI-CULTURE: Ancient Seal Found in Israel Reveals Moon and Star Worship 2,600 Years Ago (Abdul Moeed, Greek Reporter).

Archaeologists have found an ancient seal in Israel that shows a man worshipping the moon and stars, offering new evidence of religious practices from more than 2,600 years ago.

The small stone object turned up at a large pottery-making site near Tel Yavne, on Israel’s southern coastal plain, about 15 kilometers (9.3 miles) from Ashdod. Researchers date the find to the 7th century BC, a period when the Assyrian Empire controlled much of the region. ...

... Its flat base shows a bearded man facing left with one arm raised.

He appears to be gesturing toward a cult stand, a crescent moon, and an eight-pointed star, which researchers say represents the planet, Venus. A cypress-like tree stands behind him.

The moon and star symbols point to worship of a moon god and a major female deity, according to the study. ...

The study in the journal Tel Aviv is open access:

An ‘Assyro-Levantine’ Stamp Seal with a Worship Scene Found near Tel Yavne

Christoph Uehlinger, Pablo Betzer, Revital Golding-Meir, Daniel Varga & Gunnar Lehmann
Published online: 03 Jul 2026
Cite this article https://doi.org/10.1080/03344355.2026.2637186

Abstract

The city of Yavne is located in the southern Coastal Plain, ca. 15 km from Ashdod and ca. 40 km from Ashkelon. During an extensive archaeological excavation conducted approximately 200 m east of Tel Yavne, a large-scale pottery-production site was uncovered within layers dating to the Iron IIC (7th century BCE). A limestone seal depicting a human figure alongside symbols of worship was discovered on a working surface. This paper analyses the religio-historical significance of this finding while situating Yavne’s settlement within the geopolitical landscape of the Assyrian imperial period.

Now ask the next question. Why does someone living at Yavneh in the seventh century BCE own a seal depicting an Assyrian religious ritual? (Not just Yavneh. Lots of similar ones have been found in the Levant.) That leads to other questions. Who owned the seal? What did they seal with it? Using it was clearly a statement. What did it mean?

I can't see any of these questions addressed in the article. Of course we may not know the answers, but let's discuss the possibilities.

For many other archaeological discoveries from many periods at Yavneh (Yavhe), see here and links, here, and here.

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

Secrets of Huqoq at the Yigal Allon Center Museum

EXHIBITION: Secrets of Huqoq revealed: New exhibition provides first glimpse of ancient Jewish village. New artifact and photographic exhibition housed on the shores of the Sea of Galilee and overlooking the Horvat Huqoq site showcases site's original Samson floor mosaic, alongside a bronze coin cache’s premier public display (Israel National News).

Horvat Huqoq, visible from the museum’s windows, is best known for the impressive ancient synagogue uncovered by the Huqoq expedition excavations, led by Professor Jodi Magness of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Extraordinary in their beauty and narrative richness, including rare biblical and extra-biblical scenes, the range of the Huqoq mosaics are unequalled by any other synagogue in Israel.

For many posts on the remarkable discoveries at the site of Huqoq, see here and here and follow the links.

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SOTS Booklist 2026

IN THE MAIL:

Samuel Hildebrandt (ed.) with Kengoro Goto, Society for Old Testament Study Book List 2026 (= JSOT 50.5; London: Sage, 2026).

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Tervanotko & Stökl, Text as Revelation (T&T Clark)

RECENT BOOK FROM BLOOMSBURY/T&T CLARK:

Text as Revelation

Hanna Tervanotko (Anthology Editor) , Jonathan Stökl (Anthology Editor)

Paperback
$39.95 $35.95

Hardback
$120.00 $108.00

Ebook (PDF)
$35.95 $28.76

Ebook (Epub & Mobi)
$35.95 $28.76

Product details

Published Dec 28 2023
Format Ebook (PDF)
Edition 1st
Pages 168
ISBN 9780567689733
Imprint T&T Clark
Series The Library of Hebrew Bible/Old Testament Studies
Publisher Bloomsbury Publishing

Description

Text as Revelation analyses the shift of revelatory experiences from oral to written that is described in ancient Jewish literature, including rabbinic texts. The individual essays seek to understand how, why, and for whom texts became the locus of revelation.

While the majority of the contributors analyze ancient Jewish literature for depictions of oral and written revelation, such as the Hebrew Bible and the literature of the Second Temple era, a number of articles also investigate textualization of revelation in cognate cultures, analyzing Egyptian, Mesopotamian and Greek sources. With subjects ranging from Ancient Egyptian and Sibylline oracles to Hellenistic writings and the books of Isaiah, Deuteronomy and Jeremiah, the studies in this volume bring together established and new voices reflecting on the issues raised by the interplay between writing and (divinatory) revelation.

This came out a couple of years ago, but I missed it. Here it is now.

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Does the Bible say a husband inherits from his wife's estate? Should it?

PROF. RABBI MARTY LOCKSHIN: Husbands Inherit, Wives Do Not: A Legitimate Biblical Exegesis? (TheTorah.com).

Sons, and then daughters, brothers, and paternal uncles all inherit, but the Bible is silent about spouses. The Talmud, in a midrashic reading of the laws of inheritance (Numbers 27:8–11) that the sages themselves admit is not what the verses say, adds that husbands are first to inherit from wives, but wives do not inherit from their husbands. Rashi and Ibn Ezra differ on whether a biblical verse can support both midrashic and peshat interpretations.

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More on the Vitruvius basilica in Fano, Italy

ANCIENT ARCHITECTURE: New Details Emerge About the Basilica of Vitruvius: Initial Investigations in Fano Have Been Completed (Finestre sull'Arte).

The first phase of the archaeological excavations in Piazza Andrea Costa in Fano has come to a close, but the project to restore the Basilica of Vitruvius is entering a new phase. New funding and discoveries are giving new impetus to the study of the site.

... “Today is a great day for Fano,” said Mayor Serfilippi, “because we are finally beginning to see important findings. They are not yet conclusive, but they represent fundamental elements for defining with greater precision what we believe to be Vitruvius’s Basilica and for understanding the transformations this building has undergone over time, confirming its long history of continuous use. Archaeological investigations have made it possible to reconstruct shapes, dimensions, and structures, including those parts that Vitruvius does not explicitly describe in his text but which he clearly implies were present.”...

The article continues with additional details of the new findings. It also notes that the project has received new funding, but that additional funding wouldn't hurt any. There is a technical article forthcoming in the autumn.

In the first century BCE, Vitruvius wrote the only comprehensive treatise on architecture that survives from Classical antiquity. His On Architecture was rediscovered during the Renaissance and became massively influential well into the Enlightenment. The basilica at Fano (ancient Fanum Fortunae) is the only known remnant of a building that Vitruvius designed and built.

I noted the discovery of that basilica here. And yes, since then I have read that translation of On Architecture.

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Review of Dalton, How Rabbis Became Experts

BIBLE HISTORY DAILY: How Rabbis Became Experts. New book explores rise of the rabbinic movement.

How Rabbis Became Experts
Social Circles and Donor Networks in Jewish Late Antiquity
By Krista N. Dalton
(Princeton: Princeton Univ. Press, 2025), 264 pp.; $39.95 (hardback), $27.97 (eBook)

Reviewed by Elizabeth Shanks Alexander

... So, much like modern academics, ancient rabbis gained and maintained expertise not only by participating in intellectual exchange but also by embedding their intellectual prowess in a larger social performance supported by donor networks. That dependency brought its own set of complications. Though the precise content of rabbinic expertise (e.g., knowledge of Torah and halakhic rulings) may have remained inaccessible to the donor class, wealthy donors created the platform that produced rabbinic expertise. Ironically, the rabbis could not have achieved their authority without the support of wealthy, non-rabbinic donors who may have had little vested interest in the technical details of rabbinic teachings.

I noted the publication of the book and an essay on it by the author here.

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What does Jesus say in the Gospel of Thomas, and is it "gnostic?"

BIBLE HISTORY DAILY: The Sayings of Jesus in the Gospel of Thomas. Simon Gathercole examines the enigmatic Gospel of Thomas (Robin Ngo).

Is the Gospel of Thomas “Gnostic”? Were these sayings of Jesus attributed to a religious group—“the Gnostics”—who offered an alternate view of early Christianity?

This BHD essay summarizes and quotes from a 2015 article by Simon Gathercole, which remains behind the subscription wall.

As to the question "Is the Gospel of Thomas gnostic?"—It depends on what you mean by gnostic. As Prof. Gathercole points out, it does not promote the demiurgic myth—the idea that the God of the Bible is an imperfect emanation of the True God and that this imperfect god (the "demiurge" or "creator") made the imperfect world we live in. So in that sense, no.

At the same time, it does promote the idea that Jesus taught secret knowledge (gnosis—sayings 1-2, 49) reserved for his followers which gives them an already-realized immortality. In that sense it is gnostic, but a gnosticism closer to (for example) Hermetic gnosticism—with Jesus instead of Hermes as the teacher—than to the Christian demiurgic variety.

That's a broad generalization that specialists may want to pick apart, but I stand by it as a generalization.

This BHD essay has been around for a while, but it's just been reposted and this is my first link to it. Also reposted is a translation of the Gospel of Thomas, which I did link to already here.

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The first Hannibal movie

PUNIC WATCH MET CINEMA IN 1959: Hannibal (IMDB).

Denzel Washington's prospective Hannibal movie has been in the news for some time, but the project seems now to have been terminated. Too bad. But let's not forget that another Hannibal movie, with Victor Mature playing Hannibal, came out in 1959. You can watch the trailer at the link.

It was not a great hit. You can read more about it at the Wikipedia page. The full movie is available on YouTube, but I'm not sure of its copyright status.

Hannibal's romantic interest, Sylvia, is entirely fictional. Her supposed uncle, Quintus Fabius Maximus Verrucosus, was a real senator and general, who had significant involvement in the Second Punic War.

There are, of course, two other "Hannibal" films starring Anthony Hopkins. But they are about a different Hannibal.

Vin Diesel, looks like Hannibal Barca's cinematic fate is back in your hands.

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On John the Baptist and his priestly family

ALL ISRAEL NEWS has a new series on Real People of the New Covenant.

This article is part of Real People of the New Covenant: Lives Behind the Names, a new series by ALL ISRAEL NEWS contextualizing the historical figures of the biblical narrative. Exploring the history and archaeology of the Land offers an objective framework for reading the text, grounding distant figures within their concrete environment.

Two articles present a take on the historical and cultural background on John the Baptist and his family.

Zeḥaryah and Elisheva in the Book of Luke reveal Temple-era priestly life. Part One: The real people of the New Covenant: Lives behind the names (Anne Carter)

This installment focuses on Zeḥaryah and Elisheva (Zechariah and Elizabeth), a priestly couple introduced in the Gospel of Luke and positioned at the heart of Temple life in Jerusalem. Their story offers a window into the priestly order, daily Temple service, and the social and religious dynamics of Judea in the late Second Temple period, while also marking the opening moments of the New Testament narrative.

[...]

Yoḥanan the Baptist – the dissident of the priestly elite. Part Two: The real people of the New Covenant: Lives behind the names (Anne Carter)

Analyzing Yoḥanan within his authentic socio-cultural context shifts the understanding of his historical role. He was not a marginalized outsider with nothing to lose; he was an elite insider who voluntarily relinquished a life of physical comfort and institutional prestige in Jerusalem to operate on the geographic and political periphery.

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Byzantine-era city discovered in Egypt

EGYPTIAN ARCHAEOLOGY: Archaeologists uncover ancient Byzantine city in Egypt’s western desert. Well-preserved fourth-century quarters reveal details of daily life, urban development and economic activities (Nadeem Badshah, The Guardian).

Archaeologists in Egypt have uncovered a well-preserved Byzantine-era city in the western desert.

The fourth-century quarters had residential and religious structures, including a basilica-style church in the Dakhla oasis. Archaeologists also found coins, pottery fragments and tools.

Separately, 18 ancient tombs were discovered at Marina el-Alamein, near Alexandria, which includes rock-cut and limestone tombs, pottery and a granite sarcophagus.

[...]

The discoveries include Latin inscriptions and hundreds of inscribed ostraca, languague unspecified. This is the early Coptic period, but there is no specific mention of any Coptic writing. Several of the tombs contained mummies with golden tongues.

I look forward to hearing more about the findings.

Yet another lost city recovered in Egypt.

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Hannibal R.I.P.?

CINEMA AND PUNIC WATCH FAIL? Antoine Fuqua and Denzel Washington’s Netflix ‘Hannibal’ Epic Is “Dead” Due to $200M Budget Concerns (Jordan Ruimy, World of Reel).

Last month, Netflix had a change of heart when it came to Antoine Fuqua’s General Hannibal biopic starring Denzel Washington. Pre-production had been halted by the streamer. The film was scheduled to shoot this summer in Italy but was “put on pause” due to budget concerns—the rumored price tag for Fuqua’s film was over $200M.

Cinematographer Robert Richardson is telling The Playlist that the project is now “effectively dead.” ...

It's not a good sign when your cinematographer says that your film is "effectively dead." But did Richardson actually say that? If you click on the link in the quote above, you will see that the introduction to the Playlist interview says "Oh, and he also noted that the Antoine Fuqua “Hannibal” epic with Denzel Washington at Netflix he was meant to shoot is effectively dead ..." while linking to an earlier article on the film's pre-production being paused. However, the interview itself, which "has been edited for length and clarity," doesn't mention the Hannibal film, Washington, or Fuqua at all. Whatever he said or didn't say about wasn't important enough to keep in the final edit.

It doesn't look good for the film, but there is not yet a definitive announcement about its fate. We'll see.

Background here and links.

UPDATE (7 July): Deadline has published an interview with Mr. Richardson in which the subject of the Hannibal film comes up again:

DEADLINE: So, to bring us up to date, what are you working at the moment?

RICHARDSON: I just did Madden, with David O. Russell, and I was going to make Hannibal with Antoine and Denzel Washington for Netflix — Hannibal Barca being the general in Carthage — but it fell through just two weeks ago. I was on it for 10 or 12 weeks.

That sounds decisive. Hannibal R.I.P.

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Cover, Philo of Alexandria, On the Change of Names (SBL/Brill)

NEW PAPERBACK FROM SBL PRESS:

Philo of Alexandria, On the Change of Names: Introduction, Translation, and Commentary
Michael B. Cover

ISBN 9781628377972
Volume 8
Status Available
Publication Date February 2026

Paperback $95.00

In this eighth volume of the Philo of Alexandria Commentary Series, originally published by Brill in hardcover, Michael B. Cover translates and provides commentary on Philo of Alexandria’s treatise On the Change of Names. Taking a cue from Platonist interpreters of Homer’s Odyssey, Philo reads the story of Abraham as an account of the soul’s progress and perfection. Responding to contemporary critics who mocked Genesis 17 as uninspired, Philo finds instead a hidden philosophical reflection on the ineffability of the transcendent God, the transformation of souls that recognize their mortal nothingness, the possibility of human faith enabled by the peerless faithfulness of God, and the fruit of moral perfection: the joy divine, prefigured in the birth of Isaac.

As the blurb says, this volume was published by Brill (in 2024), but it looks like I missed it then.

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Independence Day 2026

HAPPY 250TH INDEPENDENCE DAY TO THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA!

I can remember the Bicentennial celebrations. Wow.

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Knight-Messenger, The Place of Court Tales in the Hebrew Bible and Early Jewish Literature (T&T Clark)

NEW BOOK FROM BLOOMSBURY/T&T CLARK:

The Place of Court Tales in the Hebrew Bible and Early Jewish Literature

Form, Development, and Function

Andrew Knight-Messenger (Author)

Hardback
$120.00 $108.00

Ebook (Epub & Mobi)
$108.00 $86.40

Ebook (PDF)
$108.00 $86.40

Product details

Published May 14 2026
Format Hardback
Edition 1st
Pages 240
ISBN 9781666980936 Imprint T&T Clark
Illustrations 12 tables
Dimensions 9 x 6 inches
Series The Library of Second Temple Studies
Publisher Bloomsbury Publishing

Description

A groundbreaking reassessment of the Jewish court tale, a genre that shaped Second Temple literature and theology. Andrew D. Knight-Messenger brings fresh insight to narratives featuring Jewish figures navigating foreign royal courts, from Daniel and Esther to lesser-known stories preserved in the Dead Sea Scrolls. Far from being historical curiosities, these tales emerge as literary and theological responses to exile, exploring themes of divine sovereignty, identity, and restoration.

Knight-Messenger demonstrates how court tales challenge traditional views of exile as punishment, reframing it as a setting for divine action and renewal. His analysis uncovers links to apocalyptic motifs and the development of Jewish eschatology, situating these narratives within broader currents of ancient Near Eastern and Mediterranean traditions.

Combining close literary reading with historical context, this volume traces the rise, evolution, and decline of the genre, offering comparative insights and revealing its enduring significance for understanding Jewish thought in the Second Temple period.

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Did Herod build a tomb in the Cave of Machpelah?

ARCHIVAL ARCHAEOLOGY: Herod built a secret tomb for himself inside the Cave of Machpelah, Israeli researchers reveal (Tamar Stein, Israel365 News).

The announcement came in a video interview posted to the C14 YouTube channel, featuring Chaim Shakolnik, district director of the COGAT Archaeology Unit, and Dr. Gershon Bar-Kochva, a researcher at Orot Israel College in Hebron. The two researchers said they came across previously unknown photographs — old images of sections of the underground system beneath the Machpelah structure — taken during the only scientific exploration of the caves to date, conducted in 1919. “We saw photographs that were not known until now,” Shakolnik said, “and we understood that they reveal part of the system that Herod planned and executed when he built this complex.”

The researchers drew on comparative architectual typology to conclude that the Machpelah structure is a burial complex. Reportedly, Carbon-14 tests have confirmed the Herodian date of the structure.

All very interesting, but let's see if it produces a peer-reviewed publication.

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Nora's western (Phoenician/Punic) necropolis reopens

PHOENICIAN AND PUNIC WATCH: Nora's western necropolis opens to the public after 90 years: "A historic day for the island, with centuries-old tombs discovered." Inside it are preserved fundamental testimonies for the reconstruction of the development of the ancient city (L'Unione Sarda.it).

An area previously inaccessible has been included in the Nora Archaeological Park 's visitor itineraries for the first time since 1936, or after 90 years, offering the public the opportunity to discover one of the most important Phoenician and Punic funerary contexts in the western Mediterranean.

[...]

I have said more about the Phoenicians at Nora, in Sardinia, here and links. The Phoenician Nora Stele inscription was also found at Nora, but in a secondary context, built into a later wall.

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