Nag Hammadi Seminar

ANDRÉ GAGNÉ: Activities of the NH Seminar for 2015-2016. At Concordia University.

Hebrew Manuscripts Digitisation Project

THE BRITISH LIBRARY: Hebrew Manuscripts Digitisation Project. The Hebrew Manuscripts Digitisation Project has been digitising items from the British Library's significant collection of Hebrew hand-written books, charters and scrolls, in order to make them available online.

Coming towards the end of this phase of our project, we have almost finalised the digitisation of 1,255 manuscripts selected for this phase, with the total of approximately 430,000 digitised images. These are mainly manuscripts catalogued and published by George Margoliouth at the end of the 19th century, but some of these have never been published. At this point, several manuscripts still await more thorough conservation treatments. In addition, four of our Torah scrolls included textile covers (mantles), made of silk brocade and linen. These are undergoing conservation treatment by a textile conservator prior to imaging.

So far, 748 digitised manuscripts have been uploaded and can be viewed on the Library’s Digitised Manuscripts site, and the remainder is expected to be fully accessible by the end of June 2016.

Background on the project, which is also associated with the Israel National Library, is here. For many other manuscript digitization projects, go here and just keep following the links.

The aftermath of 4 BCE

PHILIP JENKINS: After the Crisis (The Anxious Bench).

I have sketched the political and social meltdown that Palestine suffered in the terrible year of 4 BC. Wars and insurrections were by no means unusual anywhere in the ancient world, and Palestine was no exception. But this particular crisis was unusual in its severity, and several features make it worthy of special notice, especially for anyone interested in Christian origins.

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Background here.

Lied on Syriac and Coptic fragments of 4 Ezra

LIV INGEBORG LIED: Two forgotten sources to 4 Ezra.

In the last few years, I have mentioned on two occasions manuscript witnesses to 4 Ezra that have apparently been left out of scholarly discussions focusing on this writing. In this post, I propose two possible reasons for this omission, and discuss why these manuscript sources to 4 Ezra deserve our attention. My interest here is not the decisions made by individual scholars, but rather the assessment schemes embedded in philological paradigms and the structuring effects of disciplinary borders to research practices.

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Background here and links. Cross-file under "Old Testament Pseudepigrapha Watch."

Explorator

AWOL: Open Access Journal: Explorator. It's good to see this weekly column of news on archaeology and antiquity by David Meadows. And let me take this opportunity also to mention David's blog on Classical Studies, Rogue Classicism. Both are well worth reading and PaleoJudaica links to both from time to time.

A Coptic Christmas story

'TIS THE SEASON: Putting Together the Puzzle of a Christmas Story: A Coptic Document in Princeton and Its Related Fragments. Alin Suciu discusses a Coptic text about the birth of Jesus.

Goodacre on the Magi

'TIS THE SEASON: NT Pod 76: This year's Christmas episode (Mark Goodacre). The subject of Mark's Christmas podcast this year is "The Magi in Matthew's Gospel."

Past PaleoJudaica posts on the Magi are here, here, here (and links), here, and here. And past posts on the Star of Bethlehem story are here, here, and links.

Forensic reconstruction of Jesus' face? No.

'TIS THE SEASON: Jesus Christ’s ‘face’ recreated utilizing Semite skulls by Richard Neave.

Is this the REAL face of Jesus? Forensic experts use ancient Semite skulls to reveal what Christ may have looked like

He may be shown as a Caucasian man with long, flowing light brown hair in many religious artworks, but Jesus would have likely had a darker complexion and short, dark, curly hair, a forensic expert claims.

Retired medical artist Richard Neave has recreated the face of ‘Jesus’ by studying Semite skulls using modern-day forensic techniques.

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This is an old story that is obviously being recycled for Christmas, but I don't think I have noted it before. The actual story is this:

The team analysed skeletal remains of Semite men from the time of Jesus to come up with the average build of a Jewish man living in Galilee.

So this is an interesting project of forensic reconstruction that gives us a vaguely averaged idea of what an ancient Galilean man might have looked like (assuming the skulls were from the Galilee, which is implied but not stated). Only vaguely averaged, because any averaging of this type that would have statistical significance would need a lot more than three samples. There is no particular reason to think that their reconstruction looks very much like Jesus looked. We already knew he wasn't blond with blue eyes. Related thematic and seasonal post here.

And now after the above was composed, Professor Joan Taylor has published the following with the BBC: What did Jesus really look like? That forensic reconstruction comes up briefly, but she also discusses his likely hair and beard style and clothing style, as well as the origins of the idea of Jesus as the bearded longhair wearing a long robe.

Apocryphal Christmas revisited

BIBLE HISTORY DAILY: Christmas Stories in Christian Apocrypha. The birth of Jesus in the apocryphal gospels (Tony Burke). Also noted last year, but 'Tis the Season and it has been updated, so noted again.

Christmas 2015

MERRY CHRISTMAS to all those celebrating!

Posts of Christmas past are collected here and links. A couple of recent seasonal posts are here and here. And I have some more Christmas posts coming today.

Another review of "Egypt: Faith After the Pharaohs"

THE ART NEWSPAPER: One God to rule them all: Garry Shaw on Faith After the Pharaohs at the British Museum. The exhibition beautifully captures how religion shaped the region.

In the British Museum's latest exhibition, Egypt: Faith After the Pharaohs, there is a long fragment of papyrus, one of many on display, written in Greek and called the Gospel of Thomas. What is striking about this fragment is not its beauty or penmanship, but the era in which it was written. In Oxyrhynchus, an Egyptian city, the scroll’s Christian owner had copied the text less than 300 years after the death of Jesus, a time when the ancient Egyptian gods were still widely worshipped, before the acceptance of Christianity across the Roman Empire and before the appearance of Islam. To many of his contemporaries in Egypt, this ancient copyist—a man simply trying to preserve his messiah's sayings—would have been a rebel. He could not have predicted how Egypt, and the whole world, would change over the coming centuries, or that the church would forbid Christians fr om reading the very text he was copying once the contents of the New Testament had been agreed upon.

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Past posts on the Egypt: Faith After the Pharaohs Exhibition at the British Museum are collected here and links.

Books on the Persian Empire and Hebrew philology

AWOL: Two new volumes in the ANCIENT NEAR EAST MONOGRAPHS Series.

Political Memory in and after the Persian Empire
edited by Jason M. Silverman and Caroline Waerzeggers, ANEM 13, 2015

Epigraphy, Philology, and the Hebrew Bible: Methodological Perspectives on Philological and Comparative Study of the Hebrew Bible in Honor of Jo Ann Hackett
edited by Jeremy M. Hutton and Aaron D. Rubin, ANEM 12, 2015

Follow the link for downloading and ordering information. And congratulations to Professor Hackett on the Festschrift!

Sidnie White Crawford on canon

ANCIENT JEW REVIEW: Canon Forum: A Response. Sidnie White Crawford responds to the three essays in the recent AJR Forum on the biblical Canon, on which see here and links.

Mystery golden object identified

AN "ISIS BEAMER HARMONIZER": It Took Israeli Authorities Months to Identify This Strange, Gold Object (Danny Lewis, Smithsonian.com). Sorry, no Temple treasure this time.

Talmudic and Gnostic Star Wars?

IT'S COME TO THIS: How 'Star Wars' Became America's Talmud [SPOILER ALERT!] (Jay Michaelson, The Forward).

And if that weren't enough, there's this: The religious case for ignoring Star Wars Episodes I, II and III (Bob Smietana, WaPo).

There won’t be any “Attack of the Clones” at our house this Christmas.

No “Revenge of the Sith.”

And definitely no “Phantom Menace.”

Instead, we’ll sing carols, decorate the tree, exchange presents, all while watching the original three “Star Wars” movies.

Then we’ll head out for a late afternoon showing of “The Force Awakens” on Christmas Day.

At our house the prequels are like the gnostic Gospels of “Star Wars.” They exist, but we don’t watch them. Why?

Like the gnostic Gospels, the prequels aren’t true. Or to put it another way, they aren’t the same story as the originals. Something about the essential nature of “Star Wars” was lost along the way.

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Again, the first article above has SPOILERS, so don't click in the link if that matters to you.

Both articles have quite a few assumptions built in, but these are interesting to explore. For my part, I ignore the second-made trilogy because it was awful. I'll take the Gnostic gospels over them any time.

I saw The Force Awakens on Monday and, frankly, was not much impressed. But your mileage may vary.

More on the Israel Museum's Hadrian exhibition

ANOTHER REVIEW: Busting Out All Over: Hadrian 'Conquers' Jerusalem Once Again. A new Israel Museum show, centering around 3 bronze portraits, takes on yet another controversial figure in Jewish history, addressing the paradox between his image as a 'bone-grinder' and as enlightened Roman ruler (Nir Hasson, Haaretz).

In Jewish historiography, the Roman emperor Hadrian – or, "Hadrian the bone-grinder,” as traditional religious sources called him – has a “place of honor” on the list of those considered to be the most hated and bitter enemies of the Jewish people over the generations.

Publius Aelius Hadrianus Augustus, as he was known, was emperor from 117 to 138 C.E., and is best remembered in Israel for crushing the Bar Kochba revolt against the Romans and for the ensuing holocaust, including destruction of the Jewish community in Judea and the razing of Jerusalem, upon whose ruins he built a pagan city named Aelia Capitolina.

In world historiography, however, Hadrian has a completely different image: He is considered to be one of the most enlightened and important of Roman rulers, the man responsible for the golden age of the empire. He is said to have been a gifted general and politician, a patron of the arts and a man of letters, as well as a builder who left important monuments behind in his wake.

In a new exhibition opening on Tuesday, the Israel Museum is attempting to present – and possibly resolve – this paradox.

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Background here.

As the article and the one noted previously mention, this exhibition is the final one associated with the celebration of the Israel Museum's 50th anniversary, on which more here and links.

Inscribed silver amulet found in Jordan

EPIGRAPHY: Mysterious 'Jewish spell' found in ancient amulet: Scans reveal 'magical symbols' inscribed on 1,300-year-old silver scroll (SARAH GRIFFITHS, The Daily Mail).

• Lead amulet containing a silver scroll was found in Jerash, Jordan
  
• Scientists used CT scanning and computer models to reveal scroll's text
  
• Revealed it contains magical letters and a mixture of language
  
• It was likely written by a 'Jewish magician', around 1,300 years ago

A silver scroll discovered hidden in an ancient amulet has revealed what appears to be a magical spell that has remained a secret for 1,300 years.

The mysterious inscription is thought to have been made by a Jewish 'magician' living in the Muslim town of Jerash in Jordan in around 750AD.

Although the silver scroll is too delicate to unfurl, CT scans of the relic have revealed 17 lines of text in an unknown language, alongside what the researchers call 'magical symbols.'

The outside lead casing was cracked and corroded, but experts managed to extract the fragile rolled silver scroll from inside it.

[...]

Some details of the discovery are given:

The Jerash amulet was discovered in 2014 among the ruins of a house destroyed by an earthquake in 749AD.

Glass bottles, ceramics, jewellery and coins were also found along with the scroll inside a small metal cylinder measuring 2-inches (5cm) long.

So it is an excavated object and presumably it can be regarded as genuine.

A sidebar gives details on the inscription:

A total of 17 lines of text were revealed using CT scans. The first line is said to consist of magical spells written in a form of Greek, while the text is written in an indecipherable form of Arabic.

According to the researchers, ancient 'magicians' were known to have made up languages, and as many people couldn't read or write, they could get away with creating nonsensical messages.

The text also contains signs which clearly are not Arabic or imitate Arabic letters.

Most of these occur in line one, but a few further signs are found in the following lines.

Leading researcher Dr Rubina Raja explained: 'We've sent it out to the world's leading philologists, and all came to the conclusion they can't read it, it must be pseudo-Arabic.

'Collectively, it has not been possible to assign these signs to a known alphabet.

'Since we presume the artefact is an amulet, and since the main text seems to be in pseudo-script, it is reasonable to view the signs as "magical".'

That sounds reasonable, although I would like to compare the signs to magical signs in things like the Greek Magical Papyri and later Arabic magical documents. The headline and one of the bullet points quoted above suggest that the text is Jewish, but later the article more cautiously states "'Since it was not possible to read the 'text' we cannot identify the religious affiliation of the amulet's owner,' the researchers wrote." I would leave it there. Even if we could read the text, late antique magic was religiously eclectic and it is frequently difficult to be sure of the religious background of a specific text.

Inscribed metal amulets are well known from antiquity. The Ketef Hinnom silver amulets with a Hebrew text found also in the Bible have been come up many times in PaleoJudaica. See here and follow the links. Other Jewish amulets made of silver and other metals are noted here. Inscribed lead curse tablets are noted here and here.

The faux-Arabic writing has an analogy in magical texts from around the same period (in Iraq rather than Jordan). Some of the Babylonian incantation bowls have similar meaningless inscriptions/squiggles meant to look like Hebrew/Aramaic writing. These have been mentioned here and here.

The text of this new amulet was recovered with some of that promising non-destructive and non-invasive technology that I keep going on about. Related stories here, here, and here and links. Cross-file under "Technology Watch."

Nebuchadnezzar tablet on display

EXHIBITION: Artifact Of Nebuchadnezzar Displayed In J’slm On Tenth of Tevet (JONATHAN BENEDEK, The Jewish Voice).

A very unique and ancient artifact of the famous Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar II went on display on Tuesday, in the Bible Lands Museum in Jerusalem. The artifact, borrowed by the Museum from the David Sofer Collection, is a barrel-shaped cuneiform cylinder with an inscription from Nebuchadnezzar.

“It expresses a completely different perspective of Nebuchadnezzar than the way Jewish people have thought of him for the past 2,000 years,” said Dr. Filip Vukosavović, chief curator of the Bible Lands Museum, to Tazpit Press Service (TPS).

On the inscription, Nebuchadnezzar refers to himself as a leader who “likes truth and justice.”

“It is of interest to recognize how Nebuchadnezzar is depicted in the inscription,” Vukosavović said to TPS.

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The Tenth of Tevet marks the beginning of Nebuchadnezzar's siege of Jerusalem. More on it is here. Background on the By the Rivers of Babylon exhibition is here and links (cf. also here).

Review of three books on Herod

NOT SO MUCH, ALTHOUGH IT'S COMPLICATED: Herod the Hero? Three recent books portray Herod more positively than he is generally depicted. But Matthew 2 is still important (Alexander Stewart, Christianity Today).

In terms of wealth, power, and influence, Herod the Great rivaled King Solomon as the greatest king in the history of the Jews. Most Christians, however, know little more about Herod than what is reported in Matthew 2: his interaction with the Magi and the slaughter of Bethlehem’s infant boys. Far beyond the significance of those isolated incidents, Herod powerfully shaped the world in which Jesus and the earliest Christians lived.

The collective historical opinion—colored by Matthew’s account—has viewed Herod as a paranoid, cruel, and murderous tyrant. Several historians, however, have recently sought to rehabilitate Herod’s image. Norman Gelb’s Herod the Great: Statesman, Visionary, Tyrant (Rowman and Littlefield, 2013), Geza Vermes’s The True Herod (Bloomsbury, 2014), and Adam Kolman Marshak’s The Many Faces of Herod the Great (Eerdmans, 2015) all seek to positively reassess his reign. Gelb and Vermes provide accessible accounts of Herod’s life, while Marshak provides an academic appraisal of Herod’s rule in terms of the ancient political, cultural, and religious expectations of a good king.

It is too strong to claim that these recent books indicate a sweeping renaissance in the study of Herod’s life. Nevertheless, they represent a growing interest in the historical Herod fueled by a desire to look afresh at Herod’s life apart from Matthew’s Gospel.

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The book by Vermes was noted here (and note also here) and the book by Marshak was noted here. The one by Gelb is new to me. Past posts on Herod the Great and Herodium are collected here, and see also here.

Talmud sells for $9.3m

THE VALMADONNA LIBRARY: 16th-Century Talmud Sells for $9.3 Million at Sotheby’s.

JNi.media) Sotheby’s set a new world auction record for any piece of Judaica on Tuesday in New York, when one of the finest copies of Daniel Bomberg’s Babylonian Talmud sold for $9.3 million According to Tablet Magazine, the buyer is Leon Black, a New York businessman, founder of private equity firm Apollo Global Management.

The extraordinary volume was purchased by Stephan Loewentheil for the 19th Century Rare Book & Photograph Shop. The Bomberg Talmud led the sale of a selection of extraordinary items from The Valmadonna Trust, which totaled $14.9 million and became the most valuable auction of Judaica ever held. Together with the auctions of Important Judaica and Israeli & International Art, Sotheby’s annual December sales of Judaica and Israeli Art totaled $22.6 million.

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This is sad. Background on the breakup and auction of the Valmadonna Library is here and here and links. The Tablet article mentioned above is here.