Another press release on the inscribed lead plates.

A NEW PRESS RELEASE on those inscribed lead plates has been posted by David Larsen. David reports that he got it from Rick Huchel, who got it in turn from Margaret Barker. It seems to be a different formulation of essentially the same information found in the other press release, noted here.

Ed Cook's dissertation on Targum Pseudo- Jonathan now online

ED COOK has posted his 1986 doctoral dissertation to Academia.edu: Rewriting the Bible: The Text and Language of the Pseudo-Jonathan Targum.

Bart Ehrman on biblical pseudepigraphy

BART D. EHRMAN takes biblical pseudepigraphy to task at the Huffington Post: Who Wrote The Bible and Why It Matters.

I don't dispute his take on the particular examples he advances, but the problem of ancient biblical and related pseudepigraphy is rather more complicated than it being "lies." And I prefer to translate "pseudepigrapha" as "fictional writings" rather than "writing that is inscribed with a lie." This is not to evade the issue of truth — some pseudepigraphy was lies — but to acknowledge that sometimes more was going on. See my 2006 SBL paper "'Scripture' as Prophetically Revealed Writings" for a more nuanced approach.

Childers and Childers at St. Catherine's Monastery

MORE ON THE VISIT TO ST. CATHERINE'S MONASTERY by Jeff Childers and his daughter Rebekah — he to work on Syriac manuscripts and she for honors research on the world's holy places.

Background here.

Volunteer reports on Ashkelon excavation in NYT

NYT: IN ISRAEL, TREASURES FOR THOSE WILLING TO DIG. Volunteer Sam Roberts reports on the excavation at Ashkelon. I dug at Ashkelon for two seasons in the 1980s.

Portier-Young, Apocalypse against Empire

IN THE MAIL:

Anathea E. Portier-Young (Foreward by John J. Collins), Apocalypse against Empire: Theologies of Resistance in Early Judaism (Grand Rapids, Mich.: Eerdmans, 2011)

BAR collection of forgery articles

BIBLICAL ARCHAEOLOGY REVIEW is highlighting a collection of articles on items thought to be forged antiquities and the associated forgery trial in Israel:

AT THE CENTER OF THE FORGERY DEBATE
Explore the remarkable and hotly debated antiquities in "the forgery trial of the century"

With a verdict soon expected in the "forgery trial of the century," this month the BAS Library features the remarkable antiquities that have been at the center of the forgery debate, including the now-famous first-century C.E. ossuary (or bone box) inscribed "James, son of Joseph, brother of Jesus," and the Yehoash tablet which, if authentic, would be the first royal inscription of an Israelite king ever found. Also featured is an overview of the trial's major players and key arguments, including the forgery charges leveled against the two remaining defendants, Oded Golan and Robert Deutsch.

The link to the articles is here (top item, labeled "Featured Articles").

This seems timely, given the significant concerns about forgery in the case of the recently publicized (publicized, not published) lead plates inscribed with Hebrew.

Follow the links for past PaleoJudaica coverage of the James Ossuary and the Jehoash inscription.

Khirbet Midras Mosaics Vandalized

TODD BOLEN: Khirbet Midras Mosaics Vandalized. This is tragic.

Background to the site (reputedly the tomb of a prophet Zechariah as well) here.

The Smithsonian: What is Beneath the Temple Mount?

TEMPLE MOUNT WATCH: The Smithsonian's Joshua Hammer asks What is Beneath the Temple Mount? A long and thorough article that covers the issues broadly and accurately. The focus is on the Temple Mount sifting project, although the Mughrabi (Mugrabi) Gate bridge receives attention as well. The conclusion:

Leading me outside the plastic-covered building, Barkay squints into the sunlight. We can see the Temple Mount in the distance, the sunlight glinting off the golden-topped Dome of the Rock. “We’ve been working for six years, and we’ve gone through 20 percent of the material,” he says, pointing to huge heaps of earth that fill an olive grove below the tent. “We have another 15 to 20 years to go.”

Read it all.

Review of Dura Europos exhibit at McMullen Museum

ANOTHER REVIEW of the Dura-Europos exhibition in Boston:

Ancient city’s diversity on display
‘Crossroads’ exhibit offers holistic look at military, religious, and other artifacts

By Sebastian Smee (Boston Globe)

[...]

It’s not hard to see, then, why scholars specializing in Jewish studies, early Christian studies, or ancient civilizations were agog, and why the scholarship sprouting from the discovery of Dura-Europos tended to divide and splinter into these specialist areas.

“Dura-Europos: Crossroads of Antiquity,’’ a fascinating exhibition at the McMullen Museum of Art at Boston College, is an attempt to glue all this scholarship together. The show, organized by Yale University’s Lisa Brody and Boston College’s Gail Hoffman, is an attempt to display the full spectrum of archeologists’ discoveries at Dura-Europos, from military shields to children’s shoes, and from engagement rings to divorce decrees.

[...]

Background here.

Happy 8th blogiversary to PaleoJudaica!

HAPPY 8TH BLOGIVERSARY TO PALEOJUDAICA!

UPDATE: Last year's anniversary post, with links to earlier ones, is here. The counter stands at 776,772 total individual hits (88,576 unique hits in the last year) and 1,141,800 total page views (we broke a million this year).

Thanks for coming, thanks to all those who send me items of interest, and all of you please keep coming back!

Here are some of my favorite posts from the last year. Follow background links as applicable.

Those lead plates inscribed with Hebrew
The Tomb of Zechariah?
Zodiac Mosaics in ancient synagogues in the Land of Israel
Did the Hekhalot Literature and Kabbalah involve meditation?
Sarah Palin and "blood libel"
The Raphael Golb Dead-Sea-Scrolls identity-theft case
"What Just Happened" (my SBL paper)
Review of Peter Schäfer, The Origins of Jewish Mysticism (my other SBL paper)
UNESCO on Rachel's Tomb and the Tomb of the Patriarchs
The Son of Man (interaction with Mark D. Roberts)
Search engine referrals for the past five years
Why we need Akkadian (and the humanities)
No, this computer didn't decipher Ugaritic
Robert McL. Wilson, R.I.P.
The Iraqi Jewish archive
Israel, Transhumanism, Science Fiction, the Book of Enoch, and Narnia
Pseudepigrapha terrorism

Tips on Reading the Oxyrhynchus Papyri

N.S. GILL: Typographical Tips on Reading the Oxyrhynchus Papyri, with an example here.

Secret Mark Conference: Preliminary Programme

A PRELIMINARY PROGRAMME for the Secret Mark day-conference at York University in April has been posted by Tony Burke at Apocryphicity.

Background here.

UNESCO asks Libya, allied forces to respect ancient cultural sites

PHOENICIAN/PUNIC WATCH: UNESCO asks Libya, allied forces to respect ancient cultural sites.

New excavation at Byblos

PHOENICIAN WATCH — a new excavation at Byblos is noted by the Lebanon Star: Ruins of Jbeil's Phoenician port to be uncovered.

PETA: Don't call animals 'it' in the Bible

CAN'T MAKE IT UP: PETA: Don't call animals 'it' in the Bible.

Aside from the grammatical problems, I don't see how anyone who has read the book of Leviticus can conclude that the biblical God has much concern for anti-speciesist inclusivity.

Petition: A Call to Protect Egyptian Antiquities

PETITION: A Call to Protect Egyptian Antiquities.

Conflict over Mount of Olives graves

CONFLICT IN JERUSALEM over the ancient and modern graves on the Mount of Olives: Desecration, attacks at ancient Jewish cemetery (AP).

Time Magazine on Asherah

TIME MAGAZINE takes note of Francesca Stravrakopoulou's BBC series: Fertility Goddess Asherah: Was 'God's Wife' Edited Out of the Bible? Fun stuff.

Background here.

Talmud Keys 1.1 released – Users can Add New Entries to Dictionary

TECHNOLOGY WATCH: Talmud Keys 1.1 released – Users can Add New Entries to Dictionary.