Huqoq mosaic published

NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC: Explore This Mysterious Mosaic—It May Portray Alexander the Great. A decorated floor uncovered in the buried ruins of an ancient synagogue in Israel may depict a legendary meeting with the famous conqueror (A. R. Williams).

After several years of digging and study, archaeologists are revealing an extraordinary—and enigmatic—mosaic discovered among the ruins of a Roman-era synagogue at a site in Israel known as Huqoq. Nothing like it has come to light in any other building yet known from the ancient world, experts say.

The scene includes elephants outfitted for battle—a detail that immediately suggests the story of the Maccabees, Judean leaders who mounted a revolt against the Seleucid Empire in the mid-second century B.C. The Seleucids, who were descendants of one of Alexander the Great’s generals, are famed for including elephants in their armies.

But excavation director Jodi Magness, an archaeologist at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, has a different interpretation. She believes the leader of the army is none other than Alexander the Great himself. His meeting with the high priest of Jerusalem never happened, but it was a piece of historical fiction that would have been very familiar to the residents of ancient Huqoq. ...

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It's hard enough to interpret ancient inscriptions, but interpreting ancient uninscribed decorative art is a whole other level of challenge. In this case other specialists have a completely different interpretation of the mosaic:

[Karen] Britt, the art historian, agrees with Magness that the mosaic tells a story that would have held great meaning for ancient synagogue-goers. But she has come up with a different theory about what that story might be—a situation that’s not unusual as members of a research project consider the evidence from different points of view.

Britt and Ra’anan Boustan, a UCLA history of religion specialist who’s also [like Britt] a member of the excavation team, have spent the past two years consulting ancient literature, considering scenes of similar figures in ancient art, and visiting the ruins of synagogues around the Sea of Galilee.

They interpret the mosaic as the depiction of a Seleucid attack on Jerusalem led by King Antiochus VII (pronounced an-TIE-oh-cuss) in 132 B.C.

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I've heard that at least one peer-review publication on the mosaic is coming, and doubtless there will be more. Meanwhile, this article provides a good photo that specialists can start working on:

“I think you could make the case for a number of different interpretations,” says Magness. With the mosaic now revealed, and the likely possibilities outlined, she expects the debates to begin.

Background on this particular mosaic from Huqoq is here and here. Follow the background links for some of the other ancient mosaics that have been found at the same site. And for a more recently discovered mosaic, again at Huqoq, see here.

Gray on charity in the rabbinic texts

ANCIENT JEW REVIEW: Reading Charity Texts: On Intertextuality and Social History (Alyssa Gray).

In sum, the scholar of rabbinic charity requires ongoing methodological self-awareness. Care in gathering and systematizing texts, focused and detailed analyses of discrete topics, use of source-, form-, and redaction-criticism (especially of the Bavli), attention to intertextuality and the literary nature of rabbinic texts, and drawing meaningful and restrained conclusions, are all desiderata. The reward for these methodological pains will be a better and richer understanding of this fascinating topic.

Religion before "Religion"

CONFERENCE: Religion Before "Religion." October 14 and 15, 2016, Bowdoin College, Brunswick Maine.

The overarching aims of the symposium are twofold, and participants will be invited to address one or both of the following topics: First, we will discuss how to define religion practices and understandings involving gods and similar beings that were widespread in the Greco-Roman world, and with a view to pre-Christian writings that sought to impose normative schemes upon these practices. Then, we will consider why and how Christians and Jews gave rise to entities that resemble “religions” in a more modern sense, largely through efforts of mutual differentiation and institutionalization.

Follow the link for more details, a schedule, a list of participants, and abstracts of the papers.

Ancient tattoos

SKIN ART: Tattoo Taboo? Exploring The History Of Religious Ink And Facial Tattoos (Forbes). Dr. Sarah Bond of the University of Iowa gives a brief overview of the history of tattoos in Western antiquity. The following is of interest for PaleoJudaica:

Within ancient near eastern civilizations, the body had also long served as a surface for advertising mourning and religious affiliations. As Jordan Rosenblum, a professor of religious and Jewish studies at the University of Wisconsin at Madison, told me, this was true within Judaism as well. He notes that despite the oft-uttered belief that tattooed Jews cannot be buried in a Jewish cemetery, there is a long history of tattoos within the faith. Leviticus 19.28 indeed prohibits the “gashing of the flesh,” however, tattoos appear to have been used among some Jews in the ancient Near East as a symbol of mourning the passing of loved ones.

Relevant past PaleoJudaica posts have been mostly on modern tattoos involving ancient languages and themes. Often these do not turn out well. Background here and links.

What Larry Schiffman is reading

INTERVIEW: On the Bookshelf (Elliot Resnick, Jewish Press).

Lawrence Schiffman is a professor at New York University, an expert on the Dead Sea Scrolls and Second Temple era, and the author and editor of over a dozen works.

He gives us an impressive lineup of books in his reading list.

Professor Schiffman is lecturing at Missouri State University this weekend.

A Jewish epitaph from third-century CE Egypt

EPIGRAPHY: BYU professor works with University of Utah library to translate 1700-year-old obituary. Ancient epitaph memorializes Helene, a woman with unique Jewish and Christian titles who loved orphans (Jon McBride, BYU News).

“I’ve looked at hundreds of ancient Jewish epitaphs,” [Professor Lincoln H.] Blumell said, “and there is nothing quite like this. This is a beautiful remembrance and tribute to this woman.”

While Helene is identified as Ἰουδαία (a Jew), she is also referred to as Ἄμα (Ama), a title that is used only for nuns and other certain Christian women in late antique Egypt.

This inscription also helps to identify the Jewish community in Egypt in the period after the deadly Jewish revolt of A.D. 115–117 when the Jewish community was decimated. It is estimated that this was written some time in the A.D. 200s.

Seen on Facebook. The provenance doesn't look very clear to me, so I would like to know more about the authentication of the object. But that doubtless is covered in the formal peer-review publication in the Journal for the Study of Judaism, which is not yet available to me. But this looks to be an important discovery that gives us some intriguing information about religious identity in Egypt after the Jewish revolt.

Review of Cronin, "Raymond Brown, ‘The Jews’ and the Gospel of John"

READING ACTS: Book Review: Sonya Shetty Cronin, Raymond Brown, ‘The Jews’ and the Gospel of John: From Apologia to Apology; LNTS 504 (Phil Long).

Cronin, Sonya Shetty. Raymond Brown, ‘The Jews’ and the Gospel of John: From Apologia to Apology. LNTS 504; London: T&T Clark, 2015. 232pp. Hb; $112.00; Pb. $39.95 (2013); PDF eBook $27.95.

Excerpt:

In the end, Cronin shows how Brown was able to move from only the most cursory interest in anti-Judaism in the Gospel of John to a defense of John’s gospel against the charge of anti-Judaism, and ultimately to an apology for the way John’s gospel has been used against the Jewish people in both scholarship and society. Brown did this, Cronin argues, first as a Catholic and secondly as a biblical scholar. Brown was, she suggests, a leader in the Church against anti-Judaism and a “significant voice in leadership” forming official Catholic documents and statements on the Jewish people.

Video of 17th Annual Megalim Archaeology Conference

ARCHAEOLOGY: Watch: 17th Annual Archaeological conference.Leading archaeologists speak about recent findings, with special focus on attempts by various entities to erase Jewish history. Note: Video part Hebrew part English (Arutz Sheva).

This year, in addition to highlighting the newest archaeological discoveries in the City of David and ancient Jerusalem, the conference will focus on the attempt of various entities to erase ancient Jerusalem from Jewish history.

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Follow the link for the video. Among the discoveries discussed are the floor-tiles attributed to the Herodian Temple courtyards which the Temple Mount Sifting Project has recently made public. Background here and links.

"The Inn at Lydda" opens

NEW TESTAMENT APOCRYPHA WATCH. The Inn At Lydda has opened at the Sam Wanamaker Playhouse, London, to unenthusiastic reviews:

The Telegraph: The Inn at Lydda's biblical drama collapses into Carry On comedy – review (Chris Bennion).

Now, how are you on your New Testament apocrypha? Ah, good. You’ll be aware then of the fleeting reference in one such pseudo-gospel to Tiberius Caesar seeking out the healing powers of Jesus of Nazareth. Sadly for the ailing Roman emperor, Pontius Pilate’s hands were squeaky clean by this point and the two men never met.

John Wolfson, playwright and, perhaps more importantly, the Curator of Rare Books at the Globe, has imagined that the meeting took place. It is a crackerjack set-up: Jesus, fresh from the cross, must decide whether to save the life of the Emperor under whose vicious tyranny he has just been executed. Would he “heal Caesar”?

While there is much invention, humour and good intention in Andy Jordan’s production, what we are served up is a haphazard mishmash of droll Bible history, quasi-Shakespearean high drama and Carry on Cleo.

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Plus the reviewer didn't like the hand puppet.

The Guardian: The Inn at Lydda review – Christ is risen for a showdown with Caesar (Michael Billington).

The play is deeply flawed but, at a time when drama is monotonously secular, it at least has the courage to remind us there is a world elsewhere.

The Financial Times: The Inn at Lydda, Sam Wanamaker Playhouse, London — review. An audacious, fitfully successful staging of a New Testament story (Sarah Hemming).

But, for all this, the play’s idiosyncratic approach doesn’t really gel and ultimately, frustratingly, undermines the potential scope of the subject.

The Arts Desk: The Inn At Lydda, Sam Wanamaker Playhouse. A clever concept loses its way in this uneven new play (Alexandra Coghlan).

Wolfson wants to use his material to discuss a number of big questions. The nature of history and history-writing, the Bible as literature, the corrupting influence of power and the philosophy of governance all come in for comment, and in the encounter between Caesar and Jesus we do start heading towards some interesting conclusions. But no sooner has the play chosen a compelling path than it abandons it, leaving us lost and languishing at a second-rate inn somewhere in the Judean desert.

Background here. Cross-file under Theatre.

The Shohet Scholars Program

INTERNATIONAL CATACOMB SOCIETY: Research Fellowship Opportunity: 2017-2018 Shohet Scholars (Deadline 15 January 2017).

The Shohet Scholars Program desires to support scholars of demonstrated promise and ability who are judged capable of producing significant, original research in the fields of archeology, art history, classical studies, history, comparative religions, or related subjects. The work need not focus explicitly on the Roman catacombs, but it should be within the sphere of the Mediterranean world from the late Hellenistic Period to the end of the Roman Empire. Of special interest are interdisciplinary projects that approach traditional topics from new perspectives.

Seen on Facebook. Follow the link for further particulars.

Pehlivanian et al. (eds.), Orientalische Bibelhandschriften aus der Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin

BIBLIOGRAPHIA IRANICA: Pahlavi and Judeo-Persian Bible Manuscripts. Notice of a new book: Pehlivanian, Meliné, Christoph Rauch & Ronny Vollandt (eds.). 2016. Orientalische Bibelhandschriften aus der Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin – PK. Eine illustrierte Geschichte. Wiesbaden: Reichert Verlag.

For past PaleoJudaica posts on Judeo-Persian, see here and links. The scope of this volume seems to be considerably wider, though. See the description at the link.

On linguistic dating of biblical Hebrew

THE BIBLE AND INTERPRETATION:

Biblical Hebrew Changed, but How?

In a hot-off-the-press popular article in Biblical Archaeology Review (September/October 2016), Avi Hurvitz discusses “How Biblical Hebrew Changed.” It is certainly true that Biblical Hebrew evolved over time, but the particulars of how that happened are more complex and debated than Hurvitz acknowledges. The example that he discusses, ʾiggeret and sēfer for “letter,” is a case in point.

See Also: Linguistic Dating of Biblical Texts

A Very Tall “Cautionary Tale”: A Response to Ron Hendel

An Unsettling Divide in Linguistic Dating and Historical Linguistics

By Robert Rezetko
Research Associate
Radboud University Nijmegen & University of Sydney
September 2016

The BAR article by Hurvitz, which is behind a subscription wall, was noted here last week.

CFP: 17th World Congress of Jewish Studies

H-JUDAIC: CFP: The Seventeenth World Congress of Jewish Studies.

Call for Papers

The Seventeenth World Congress of Jewish Studies

We are happy to announce that the SeventeenthWorld Congress of Jewish Studies will take place at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, August 6 - 10, 2017. The Congress will mark 70 years since the First World Congress of Jewish Studies. Scholars from all fields of Jewish Studies are invited to submit proposals for papers and sessions to be presented at the Congress. We particularly encourage proposals for complete sessions.

The Congress program has six divisions:

The Bible and Its World; History of the Jewish People; Rabbinic Literature, Jewish Law and Jewish Thought; Languages, Literatures, and the Arts; Contemporary Jewish Society; Research Projects and Technology.

The Academic Committees of the Congress divisions are responsible for accepting or rejecting the proposed lectures and sessions.

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The deadlines are in November of 2016. Follow the link for further particulars.

Anton event in Santa Monica

FIFTY SHADES OF TALMUD: Iconic L.A. Author to Discuss Sex and the Talmud at Jewish Women's Theatre on September 25 (BroadwayWorld.com).

Maggie Anton, author of the popular Rashi's Daughter series, will discuss her latest book, 50 Shades of Talmud: What the First Rabbis Had to Say about You Know What, at Jewish Women's Theatre's popular Bagels & Bestsellers author-brunch series on Sunday, September 25 at 10:30 a.m. @ The Braid, 2912 Colorado Avenue #102 in Santa Monica.

Maggie Anton's latest book mixes Talmudic discussions with cartoons and observations by both serious and comedic thinkers, to provide audiences with a new and rather shocking perspective on what the Talmudic sages have to say about the most intimate of human experiences.

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There's lots more on Maggie Anton and her books here and links.

Ancient stable excavated at Ovdat

ARCHAEOLOGY: 1500 year old stables discovered at Ovdat National Park. In archaological excavations at Ovdat National Park an ancient animal stable has been uncovered (Yoel Domb, Arutz Sheva).

In archaeological excavations at Ovdat conducted by the Antiquities authority and DePaul University and funded by a Fulbright scholarship, members of the Negev Mountain Field School discovered a meter-thick layer in a structure which confirmed unequivocally that sheep and donkeys had existed here in ancient periods.

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A layer of animal dung, that is. That's pretty unequivocal.

The site of Ovdat (Avdat) has been mentioned before at PaleoJudaica here and links.

More on those floor tiles

TEMPLE MOUNT WATCH: Yesterday the Temple Mount Sifting Project announced that they have recovered and reconstructed ancient tiles which they are confident paved the courtyards of the Herodian Temple. This story has received some attention from the media. Here are some of the articles:

Jerusalem Biblical Temple floor designs 'restored' (BBC)

Archaeologists Restore Second Temple Flooring From Waqf's Trash (Nir Hasson and Ruth Schuster, Haaretz)

Archaeologists restore ancient tiles from Second Temple in Jerusalem (Daniel K. Eisenbud, Jerusalem Post)

Reader Yoel also has pointed me to this video on the story (in Hebrew).

Also, the Temple Mount Sifting Project Blog notes the following: The Sifting Project and the Temple Denial at Megalim Conference.

On Thursday, September 8th, our project is making a splash at this year’s Megalim Conference focusing on Temple Denial. This is followed by a sifting demonstration and the opportunity for conference participants to sift buckets of earth from the Temple Mount. Afterward, Zachi Dvira will lecture about the archaeological evidence from the Temple Mount from the First and Second Temples and Frankie will speak about her research about the Herodian Temple Mount floors.

The conference will be live-streamed with English translation. Follow the link for details.

Background to the story is here. There are many, many past posts on the Temple Mount Sifting Project. Start here and just keep following those links, or run the phrase through the blog search engine.

Coptic post

ALIN SUCIU: Job Opening for the Project Katalogisierung der Orientalischen Handschriften in Deutschland/Cataloguing of Oriental Manuscripts in Germany. The fixed-term job involves: "Catalogisation of Coptic manuscripts, ostraca and papyri from German collections, chiefly from the Egyptian Museum and Papyrus Collection Berlin, in an online database." The application closing date is 30 September 2016 and they aim to have someone in the post by 15 October 2016 or as soon as possible thereafter. Follow the link for further particulars. Don't dawdle!

2 Baruch 52-73, 73-76 (77-87)

READING ACTS continues its series on 2 Baruch, with two more posts:

A Vision of Many Waters – 2 Baruch 52-73
Eternal Peace – 2 Baruch 73-76
Despite it's title, the latter post also summarizes most of the rest of the book (chapters 77-87, the Epistle of Baruch). I do not know whether that is the final post in the series on 2 Baruch.

Past posts in the series are noted here and links.

Cross-file under Old Testament Pseudepigrapha Watch.

Schiffman lecturing at Missouri State

MISSOURI STATE NEWS: Prominent Jewish studies professor to deliver free public lecture. Plenary speech to discuss the Bible, Dead Sea Scrolls.

Missouri State University will get a glimpse into the world of Biblical archaeology with an “Indiana Jones flair” when Jewish studies scholar Dr. Lawrence H. Schiffman visits campus later this month.

Schiffman, one of the most prominent and influential experts on the Dead Sea Scrolls, will give a free public lecture as part of the Midwest Jewish Studies Association Conference on Sept. 11.

Schiffman is currently the Judge Abraham Lieberman Professor of Hebrew and Judaic Studies at New York University and serves as the director of the Global Institute for Advanced Research in Jewish Studies. He has previously served as the vice provost for undergraduate education at Yeshiva University and has been featured in multiple PBS, BBC and Discovery documentaries.

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The article includes an audio interview with Dr. Vadim Putzu, assistant professor of religious studies at Missouri State University. PaleoJudaica frequently links to posts at Professor Schiffman's blog.

qayits

YONA SABAR: Hebrew word of the week: qayits.

The Hebrew names of the seasons are associated with farming life, as aviv “spring” originally meant “green ears of corn” (Leviticus 2:14) and qayits “summer” meant “cutting, harvesting ripe fruits,” especially figs (Jeremiah 40:10, 12; Isaiah 28:4).

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