More on the Nabateans

NABATEAN (NABATAEAN) WATCH: Saeb Rawashdeh continues a series on the Nabateans at the Jordan Times:

Lasting Legacy of Nabataean Dushara: From Petra’s temples to all corners of Roman Empire

Assimilated with Zeus, Dushara was considered the supreme god of the Nabataeans.

From Madaba map to Saint Lot Monastery: Tracing Byzantine heritage, Nabataean influences. The vibrant Christian community continued to thrive during Umayyad dynasty

During an archaeological survey in 1986, the research team found remains of an ancient site near the spring Ain Abata, located in Ghor Safi. Very soon it was established that these ruins belonged to the Saint Lot monastery, near the biblical city of Zoara/Ghor Safi, since it shared the same geographic location as the church depicted on the 6th century AD mosaic floor map at Saint George Church of Madaba.

For PaleoJudaica posts on the Madaba Map see here and links plus here and links.

Epigraphic journey: Unveiling the enigmatic society of Ancient Nabataeans

I noted earlier articles in the series here and here.

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Evidence for a Byzantine church on the Temple Mount?

THE TEMPLE MOUNT SIFTING PROJECT BLOG: UNIQUE WEIGHTS DISCOVERED IN TEMPLE MOUNT SOIL SUGGEST PRESENCE OF BYZANTINE CHURCH.

... Consequently, these weights add credence to the growing body of evidence showing that activity upon the Temple Mount during the Byzantine period was greater than previously assumed. The TMSP has unearthed a multitude of artifacts dating to the Byzantine era, such as pieces of Corinthian capitals, chancel screens, patterned floor (opus sectile) tiles, around half a million tesserae from mosaic floors and thousands of roof tile fragments, as well as numerous Byzantine pottery shards and coins. This abundance of Byzantine-period artifacts stands in contrast to a commonly held view that in the Byzantine era the Temple Mount was desolate and undeveloped, and together with the recently discovered weights suggest that there might even have been a Byzantine church upon the Temple Mount. ...

UPDATE (29 January): The story is now covered in the Times of Israel in an article by Gavriel Fiske: Tiny weights hint at pre-Muslim Christian presence on Temple Mount – archaeologists. Byzantine-era coin weights, newly discovered in debris from the Jerusalem holy site, are of a type used in 6th century church settings.

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Abracadabra again

ARAMAIC WATCH? Is Abracadabra a Jewish word? Widely believed to derive from Aramaic, the phrase appears nowhere in classical Jewish sources (unattributed, My Jewish Learning).

I agree that the case is circumstantial, but I think it is strong. Abracadabra looks like it is a mixed Aramaic and Aramaicized Hebrew phrase אברא כדברא, which would mean something like "I create according to the word" (perhaps meaning "I create as I speak"). The translation offered in the article looks a bit off.

For the philological specifics, see here. And for more posts on Abracadabra, follow the links from there and from here.

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Tu B'Shevat 2024

TU B'SHEVAT, the "New Year for Trees," begins this evening at sundown. Best wishes to all those celebrating.

Last year's Tu B'Shevat post is here, with links to earlier posts.

For biblical background, see here. The name "New Year for Trees" comes from Mishnah Rosh HaShanah 1.1. That passage gives two alternative dates for the celebration, one from Shammai and one from Hillel. Hillel's date (15 Shevat) is the one celebrated at present.

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BHD on Beth Shean

BIBLE HISTORY DAILY: OnSite: Beth Shean. Exploring one of the best-preserved Roman cities in Israel (Nathan Steinmeyer).

Some PaleoJudiaca posts on Beth Shean are here, here, here and links, and here. Also, as Beit She'an/Scythopolis, here, here, and here.

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Review of Kugler, Resolving disputes in second century BCE Herakleopolis

BRYN MAYR CLASSICAL REVIEW: Resolving disputes in second century BCE Herakleopolis: a study in Jewish legal reasoning in Hellenistic Egypt.

Robert A. Kugler, Resolving disputes in second century BCE Herakleopolis: a study in Jewish legal reasoning in Hellenistic Egypt. Supplements to the Journal for the Study of Judaism, 201. Leiden: Brill, 2022. Pp. xii, 274. ISBN 9789004505636

Review by
Patrick Sänger, University of Münster. saengerp@uni-muenster.de

... Kugler has undeniably achieved the goal he set out to accomplish with his study. He has unequivocally demonstrated that the petitions of P.Polit.Iud. suggest an awareness of Jewish legal thinking based on the Torah, that corresponding elements were utilized within the underlying argumentative strategy, that the legal reality reflected in the petitions was characterized by legal pluralism, and that the recourse to Jewish legal principles can be attributed to a certain pragmatism serving the purpose of substantiating and ultimately enforcing the petitioner’s position (p. 255). ...

I noted the publication of the book here.

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Serach the centenarian?

PROF. RABBI RACHEL ADELMAN: Serach, Jacob’s Immortal Granddaughter (TheTorah.com).

Serach, daughter of Asher, is mentioned by name twice in the Torah—in the list of Jacob’s descendants who go down to Egypt and in the census in Numbers—without any details about her life. As a reward for breaking the news to Jacob that Joseph is still alive, the Midrash grants her immortality, gives her a key role during the exodus, and identifies her as the wise woman during King David’s reign.

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Zoom event: What to Expect When You’re Expecting (in Ancient Judaism)

UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHAMPTON: What to Expect When You’re Expecting (in Ancient Judaism) Seminar (Professor Laura Quick).

Date: 20 February 2024
Venue: Online via Zoom

Event details

In this talk, we will explore ancient Jewish ideas about childbirth and childrearing, including sex, conception, and lactation. Using comparative evidence from the ancient eastern Mediterranean alongside close readings of biblical and ancient Jewish texts, we will consider what it meant to conceive, birth, and look after a baby, and in particular how gender figured into the embodied practices of childbirth and childrearing.

The event is free, but requires pr-registration at the link.

PaleoJudaica has notes some of Professor Quick's wide-ranging work here, here, here, and here.

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Review of Strong, The fables of Jesus in the Gospel of Luke

BRYN MAYR CLASSICAL REVIEW: The fables of Jesus in the Gospel of Luke: a new foundation for the study of parables.

Justin David Strong, The fables of Jesus in the Gospel of Luke: a new foundation for the study of parables. Studies in cultural contexts of the Bible, 5. Paderborn: Brill, 2021. Pp. xvii, 629. ISBN 9783506760654

Review by
Aaron T. Lockhart, Denver University, Iliff School of Theology. Aaron.Lockhart@du.edu

The fifth volume in Brill’s Studies in Cultural Contexts of the Bible series, Strong’s monograph on the fables of Jesus is a work whose value cannot be overstated. Adding to an already rich series, Strong’s volume engages in a literary and historical examination that bridges the chasm between parable and fable scholarship and brings the latter to the attention of those engaged in New Testament studies.

[...]

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'Atiqot 113 (2023) (open access)

A NEW ISSUE OF THE JOURNAL 'ATIQOT focuses on "the archaeology of purity." TOC:

• Front Matter & Editorial Atiqot 113
Keywords: Front Matter & Editorial

• A First-Century BCE Chalk-Vessel Assemblage from Har Ḥoma, Jerusalem, and the Beginning of the Chalk-Vessel Industry (pp. 1–27)
Dennis Mizzi, Ayala Zilberstein, Débora Sandhaus, Rina Avner and Shua Kisilevitz
Keywords: Chalk vessels, chalk-quarry workshops, Jewish ritual purity, late Second Temple period, Har Ḥoma, Jerusalem

• Ritual Purification and Bathing: The Location and Function of Siloam Pool and Solomon’s Pool in Second Temple Period Jerusalem (pp. 29–44)
Nahshon Szanton
Keywords: purification, bathing, First Wall, Silwan Pool, Siloam Pool, Birkat el-Ḥamra, Pool of Solomon, Tyropoeon Valley

• Jewish Pilgrimage, Temple Sacrifices and ‘Disposable’ Cooking Pots (pp. 45–58)
Omri Abadi
Keywords: Second Temple period, Jerusalem, pilgrimage, cooking-pot production, ritual purity, ceremonial feasting

• Late Roman–Byzantine-Period Ritual Baths at Ḥorbat Susya in Daroma (pp. 59–96)
Yuval Baruch and Ronny Reich
Keywords: purity, ritual bath, miqweh, Daroma, synagogue, Jewish village, Late Roman period, Byzantine period, priest, oil press, winepress

• Archaeology, Purity and Society: Some Methodological Reflections (pp. 97–113)
Eyal Regev
Keywords: Purity, ritual baths, stone vessels, social archaeology, ethnicity, individualism

• The Rise and Fall of ‘Purity Culture’ in the Land of Israel: A Historic Perspective (pp. 115–157)
Zeev Safrai
Keywords: Purity, social development, miqweh, priests, Rabbis, sages, sects

• Jewish Ritual Immersion in the Longue Durée: From Earliest Manifestations until Today (159–181)
Yonatan Adler
Keywords: Judaism, ritual purity, ritual immersion, ritual immersion pools, ritual baths

• A Second-Temple Period Chalk Quarry and Vessel- Production Cave Complex on Mount Scopus, Jerusalem (pp. 185–274)
Jon Seligman, David Amit and Irina Zilberbod
Keywords: Jewish, Halakha, purity, chalk vessel industry, workshop, quarry, technology, quantification

• The Pottery Assemblage from the Mount Scopus Chalk-Vessel Production Cave (pp. 275–286)
Débora Sandhaus
Keywords: Pottery, Roman period, Herodian period, between the Revolts

• Stratigraphic Setting and Lithology of Mount Scopus Chalk Quarry Cave (pp. 287–293)
Amos Frumkin and Ze’ev Lewy
Keywords: bedrock stratigraphy, lithology, depositional paleoenvironment

HT the Bible Places Blog.

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Judaism and the calendar

DR. SARIT KATTAN GRIBETZ: Whoever Controls the Calendar, Controls Judaism (TheTorah.com) [Link updated.].

Calendrical disputes, which recurred frequently in ancient and medieval Jewish communities, created alternative dates for festivals such as Yom Kippur and Passover. Here, we look at four disputes and the different ways that communities navigated them.

For more on the Jewish calendar and the Pesher to Habakkuk, see here.

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Ancient Jewish tunnel complexes in Israel

ARCHAEOLOGY: The True History of Ancient Jewish Underground Hiding Places in Israel. New finds show that the rock-cut shelters, once linked to the Bar Kochba Revolt, originated earlier as a Jewish strategy to resist all foreign encroachment (Ariel David, Haaretz).

Crucially, coins and other finds from the site [of Nesher-Ramla] date from the end of the Hasmonean period, in the first half of the first century B.C.E., to the first century C.E. The almost total lack of finds from the second century C.E. indicates the settlement had already been abandoned by then, possibly as a consequence of the devastation wrought during the First Revolt, Melamed says.

More broadly, only some two dozen coins from the Bar Kochba Revolt have been found in the hundreds of hiding complexes across Israel, [excavator Alexander] Melamed noted in a 2022 study.

This indicates that scholars may have been too quick to link them so closely to this revolt and interpret them as part of a centralized preparation plan ahead of the war, he says.

Not surprisingly, not all archaeologists agree with his conclusions.

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Archaeomagnetic dating of Babylon's Ishtar Gate

TECHNOLOGY WATCH: Babylon's Ishtar Gate may have a totally different purpose than we thought, magnetic field measurements suggest (Jennifer Nalewicki, Live Science).

Babylon's bright-blue Ishtar Gate was thought to have been built to celebrate the conquest of Jerusalem — but a new analysis finds that it may have been erected years later.

[...]

The Live Science article seems to assume, and the Plos One article to hint, that specialists thought that the Ishtar Gate was built to celebrate the destruction of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar II. I try to keep up with the archaeology of ancient Babylon, but this question is outside my expertise. Still, I have never seen anyone propose this before and Nebuchadnezzar's dedicatory inscription on the gate (which you can read in translation here) says nothing about the conquest of Jerusalem. But apparently the connection has been suggested.

Be that as it may, the key points of interest from this project are (1) the relatively precise dating this new technique provides and (2) that it can work on architectual elements such as mud brick (and, in the case of Jerusalem, floor tiles).

The conclusions are that the Ishtar Gate was built well after the destruction of Jerusalem and that the whole gate was built more or less at the same time, not in stages over a substantial length of time. These are more fine-grained results than we could get from C-14 dating.

There is a recent book on the Ishtar Gate of Babylon by Helen Gries.

For the use of archaeomagnetic dating to anchor the date of the Babylonian destruction of Jerusalem, see here, here, and here.

Many PaleoJudaica posts on ancient Babylon are collected here.

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C14 dating of a Bodmer Greek Psalms manuscript

VARIANT READINGS: Radiocarbon Analysis of Museum of the Bible Manuscripts: Bodmer Psalms (Brent Nongbri).

Neither radicarbon analysis nor paleography is a very precise tool for dating manuscripts. But its nice when they sort of agree.

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Very early coin and other goodies excavated in the Judean Hills

SALVAGE ARCHAEOLOGY: Extremely rare 2,550-year-old silver coin unearthed in Judean Hills . Stone shekel weight and ancient arrowhead also found during excavation of First Temple-era house uncovered during highway expansion (GAVRIEL FISKE, Times of Israel).

Cross-file under Numismatics.

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Bauckham, "Son of Man," volume 1

IN THE MAIL:

Richard Bauckham, "Son of Man" Early Jewish Literature (Eerdmans 2023)

A copy kindly sent to me by the author.

Noted earlier here and link.

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Revelation and Material Religion in the Roman East (Friesen Festschrift, Routledge)

NEW BOOK FROM ROUTLEDGE:

Revelation and Material Religion in the Roman East
Essays in Honor of Steven J. Friesen
Edited By Nathan Leach, Daniel Charles Smith, Tony Keddie
Copyright 2024

Hardback £104.00
eBook £31.19

ISBN 9781032382678
344 Pages 38 B/W Illustrations
Published November 30, 2023 by Routledge

Description

This collection of essays from a diverse group of internationally recognized scholars builds on the work of Steven J. Friesen to analyze the material and ideological dimensions of John’s Apocalypse and the religious landscape of the Roman East.

Readers will gain new perspectives on the interpretation of John’s Apocalypse, the religion of Hellenistic cities in the Roman Empire, and the political and economic forces that shaped life in the Eastern Mediterranean. The chapters in this volume examine texts and material culture through carefully localized analysis that attends to ideological and socioeconomic contexts, expanding upon aspects of Friesen’s research and methodology while also forging new directions. The book brings together a diverse and international set of experts including emerging voices in the fields of biblical studies, Roman social history, and classical archeology, and each essay presents fresh, critically informed analysis of key sites and texts from the periods of Christian origins and Roman imperial rule.

Revelation and Material Religion in the Roman East is of interest to students and scholars working on Christian origins, ancient Judaism, Roman religion, classical archeology, and the social history of the Roman Empire, as well as material religion in the ancient Mediterranean more broadly. It is also suitable for religious practitioners within Christian contexts.

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Review of Mitchell, Cyrus the Great

BRYN MAYR CLASSICAL REVIEW: Cyrus the Great: a biography of kingship.

Lynette Mitchell, Cyrus the Great: a biography of kingship. Routledge ancient biographies. New York: Routledge, 2023. Pp. 206. ISBN 9781138024106

Review by
Bodil Due, Aarhus University. bdue@au.dk

... A central merit of the book is the demonstration of the rich pool of storytelling that existed in the Near East. Its different patterns of narrative, which emerge in stories of the King as warrior, or as gardener, or as stranger king, destroyer of cities as well as builder, as elected and protected by the gods and maybe in Cyrus’ case their equal. The many different Cyruses incorporate almost all of these patterns, but differently in different works and authors. ...

I noted the publication of the book here. For many PaleoJudaica posts on Cyrus, follow the links from there, plus here.

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CFP (deadline soon): LXX colloquium at McGill University

WILLIAM A. ROSS: SEPTUAGINT COLLOQUIUM AT MCGILL UNIVERSITY (CALL FOR PAPERS).

This event colloquium is an initiative of the John William Wevers Institute for Septuagint Studies at Trinity Western University and the School of Religious Studies at McGill University. It’s being organized by my friend and colleague Jean Maurais, along with others from McGill University (Gerbern Oegema), McMaster Divinity College (Mark Boda), and Trinity Western University (Dirk Büchner). It will take place from 19-20 June 2024 at McGill University and the call for papers is now open and will remain so through 15 January.

Bold-font emphasis his. Follow the link for full details.

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Magic and Religion in the Ancient Mediterranean World (Faraone Festschrift, Routledge)

NEW BOOK FROM ROUTLEDGE:

Magic and Religion in the Ancient Mediterranean World
Studies in Honor of Christopher A. Faraone

Edited By Radcliffe G. Edmonds III, Carolina López-Ruiz, Sofía Torallas-Tovar
Copyright 2024

Hardback £104.00
eBook £31.19

ISBN 9781032341262
396 Pages 40 B/W Illustrations
Published November 17, 2023 by Routledge

Description

This volume explores aspects of ancient magic and religion in the ancient Mediterranean, specifically ways in which religious and mythical ideas, including the knowledge and practice of magic, were transmitted and adapted through time and across Greco-Roman, Near Eastern, and Egyptian cultures.

Offering an original and innovative combination of case studies on the material aspects and cross-cultural transfers of magic and religion, this book brings together a range of contributions that cross and connect sub-fields with a pan-Mediterranean, comparative scope. Section I investigates the material aspects of magical practices, including first editions and original studies on papyri, gems, lamellae containing binding curses and protective texts, and other textual media in ancient book culture. Several chapters feature the Greco-Egyptian Magical Papyri, the compilation of magical recipes in the formularies, and the role of physical book-forms in the transmission of magical knowledge. Section II explores magic and religion as nodes of cultural exchange in the ancient Mediterranean. Case studies range from Egypt to Anatolia and from Syria-Phoenicia to Sicily, with Greco-Roman religion and myth integrated in a diverse and interconnected Mediterranean landscape. Readers encounter studies featuring charismatic figures of Magi and itinerant begging priests, the multiple understandings of deities such as Hekate, Herakles, or Aphrodite, or the perceived exotic origin of cult statues, mummies, amulets, and cursing formulae, which bring to light the rich intercultural networks of the ancient Mediterranean, and the crucial role of magic and religion in the process of cross-cultural adaptation and innovation.

Magic and Religion in the Ancient Mediterranean World appeals to both specialized and non-specialized audiences, with expert contributions written in an accessible way. This is a fascinating resource for students and scholars working on magic, religion, and mythology in the ancient Mediterranean.

For more on Christopher A. Faraone's work, see here and here.

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