REPORTER OF THE LOST ARK? A journalist from The Smithsonian traveled to Ethiopia to try to get a glimpse of it.

Keepers of the Lost Ark?

Christians in Ethiopia have long claimed to have the ark of the covenant. Our reporter investigated

* By Paul Raffaele
* Photographs by Paul Raffaele
* Smithsonian magazine, December 2007

"They shall make an ark of acacia wood," God commanded Moses in the Book of Exodus, after delivering the Israelites from slavery in Egypt. And so the Israelites built an ark, or chest, gilding it inside and out. And into this chest Moses placed stone tablets inscribed with the Ten Commandments, as given to him on Mount Sinai.

Thus Jews came to revere the ark as an earthly manifestation of God. The Old Testament describes its enormous powers—blazing with fire and light, halting rivers, blasting away armies and bringing down the fabled walls of Jericho. (Steven Spielberg's 1981 film Raiders of the Lost Ark provides a special-effects approximation.) According to the First Book of Kings, King Solomon built the First Temple in Jerusalem to house the ark. It was venerated there during Solomon's reign (c. 970-930 B.C.) and beyond.

Then it vanished. Much of Jewish tradition holds that it disappeared before or while the Babylonians sacked the temple in Jerusalem in 586 b.c.

But through the centuries, Ethiopian Christians have claimed that the ark rests in a chapel in the small town of Aksum, in their country's northern highlands. It arrived nearly 3,000 years ago, they say, and has been guarded by a succession of virgin monks who, once anointed, are forbidden to set foot outside the chapel grounds until they die.

One of the first things that caught my eye in Addis Ababa, the country's capital, was an enormous concrete pillar topped by a giant red star—the sort of monument to communism still visible in Pyongyang. The North Koreans built this one as a gift for the Derg, the Marxist regime that ruled Ethiopia from 1974 to 1991 (the country is now governed by an elected parliament and prime minister). In a campaign that Derg officials named the Red Terror, they slaughtered their political enemies—estimates range from several thousand to more than a million people. The most prominent of their victims was Emperor Haile Selassie, whose death, under circumstances that remain contested, was announced in 1975.

He was the last emperor of Ethiopia—and, he claimed, the 225th monarch, descended from Menelik, the ruler believed responsible for Ethiopia's possession of the ark of the covenant in the tenth century b.c.

The story is told in the Kebra Negast (Glory of the Kings), Ethiopia's chronicle of its royal line: the Queen of Sheba, one of its first rulers, traveled to Jerusalem to partake of King Solomon's wisdom; on her way home, she bore Solomon's son, Menelik. Later Menelik went to visit his father, and on his return journey was accompanied by the firstborn sons of some Israelite nobles—who, unbeknown to Menelik, stole the ark and carried it with them to Ethiopia. When Menelik learned of the theft, he reasoned that since the ark's frightful powers hadn't destroyed his retinue, it must be God's will that it remain with him.

Many historians—including Richard Pankhurst, a British-born scholar who has lived in Ethiopia for almost 50 years—date the Kebra Negast manuscript to the 14th century a.d. It was written, they say, to validate the claim by Menelik's descendants that their right to rule was God-given, based on an unbroken succession from Solomon and the Queen of Sheba. But the Ethiopian faithful say the chronicles were copied from a fourth-century Coptic manuscript that was, in turn, based on a far earlier account. This lineage remained so important to them that it was written into Selassie's two imperial constitutions, in 1931 and 1955.

[...]

Whatever the merits of the claims about the Ark of the Covenant (and as you might guess, I am skeptical), this is cool:

By chance, in the lobby of my hotel I met Alem Abbay, an Aksum native who was on vacation from Frostburg State University in Maryland, where he teaches African history. Abbay took me to a stone tablet about eight feet high and covered in inscriptions in three languages—Greek; Geez, the ancient language of Ethiopia; and Sabaean, from across the Red Sea in southern Yemen, the true birthplace, some scholars believe, of the Queen of Sheba.

"King Ezana erected this stone tablet early in the fourth century, while still a pagan ruler," Abbay told me. His finger traced the strange-looking alphabets carved into the rock 16 centuries ago. "Here, the king praises the god of war after a victory over a rebel people." But sometime in the following decade Ezana was converted to Christianity.

Abbay led me to another stone tablet covered with inscriptions in the same three languages. "By now King Ezana is thanking 'the Lord of Heaven' for success in a military expedition into nearby Sudan," he said. "We know he meant Jesus because archaeological digs have turned up coins during Ezana's reign that feature the Cross of Christ around this time." Before that, they bore the pagan symbols of the sun and moon.

Raffaele didn't get to see the Ark, but he did meet its guardian.

The next day I tried again, led by a friendly priest to the gate of the ark chapel, which is about the size of a typical suburban house and surrounded by a high iron fence. "Wait here," he said, and he climbed the steps leading to the chapel entrance, where he called out softly to the guardian.

A few minutes later he scurried back, smiling. A few feet from where I stood, through the iron bars, a monk who looked to be in his late 50s peered around the chapel wall.

"It's the guardian," the priest whispered.

He wore an olive-colored robe, dark pillbox turban and sandals. He glanced warily at me with deep-set eyes. Through the bars he held out a wooden cross painted yellow, touching my forehead with it in a blessing and pausing as I kissed the top and bottom in the traditional way.

I asked his name.

"I'm the guardian of the ark," he said, with the priest translating. "I have no other name."

I told him I had come from the other side of the world to speak with him about the ark. "I can't tell you anything about it," he said. "No king or patriarch or bishop or ruler can ever see it, only me. This has been our tradition since Menelik brought the ark here more than 3,000 years ago."

We peered at each other for a few moments. I asked a few more questions, but to each he remained as silent as an apparition. Then he was gone.

It's a long article and well worth the read. It's of interest not for any historical information about the actual Ark, but for the fascinating parabiblical legends of the Ethiopians.

Earlier posts on the Kebra Negast are here, here, here, here, and here.

RICHARD BAUCKHAM'S BOOK, JESUS AND THE EYEWITNESSES, continues to generate lots of discussion post-SBL.

(The time stamp on this post is correct. Jet lag has caught up with me the second night home.)

NEW BIBLICAL STUDIES JOURNAL:

THE ORTHODOX CENTER FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF BIBLICAL STUDIES (OCABS) is pleased to announce the launching of its new, on-line academic journal, The Journal of the Orthodox Center for the Advancement of Biblical Studies (JOCABS).

The mission of JOCABS is to promote scholarship in biblical studies, homiletics, and religious education among Orthodox and Oriental Orthodox Christians around the world.

Although submissions in English are preferred thus ensuring greater accessibility, academic papers in other languages (especially Arabic, Armenian, Finnish, French, German, Greek, Romanian, Russian, Serbian, and Spanish) will be considered by our multi-lingual editorial board and its international associates.

Articles may be submitted in the following areas:

• Old Testament and Cognate Studies. Including (but not limited to) critical studies in Hebrew Bible; Septuagint; Pseudepigrapha; Ancient Near Eastern History and Culture; Syro-Palestinian Archaeology.
  
• New Testament and Cognate Studies. Including (but not limited to) critical studies in New Testament; Early Christian Literature; Apocryphal Literature and Traditions; Classical Studies; Archaeology of the Hellenistic and Roman periods.
  
• The Bible in Homiletics and Christian Education. Including theoretical and methodological studies dedicated to the practical applications of biblical scholarship to both preaching and pedagogy.
  
• Book Reviews. Submissions of critical reviews of books related to the field of biblical studies will be accepted and invited.

JOCABS is committed to promoting scholarship among scholars and graduate students and encourages them to submit papers to its peer-reviewed process. The first issue will appear in the Summer of 2008, and semiannually thereafter.

For additional information, please contact Dr. Nicolae Roddy, at nroddy@creighton.edu or Fr. Vahan Hovhanessian, at vartabed@stnersess.edu.

To submit an article online, please visit http://www.ocabs.org/journal.

CAN'T MAKE IT UP -- Movies on Jesus in India:

Hollywood takes action hero Jesus to India

Film based on Aquarian Gospel to cover years left out of New Testament

Randeep Ramesh in New Delhi
Monday November 19, 2007
The Guardian

Hollywood is to fill in the Bible's "missing years" with a story about Jesus as a wandering mystic who travelled across India, living in Buddhist monasteries and speaking out against the iniquities of the country's caste system.

Film producers have delved deep into revisionist scholarship to piece together what they say was Jesus's life between the ages of 13 and 30, a period untouched by the recognised gospels.

[...]

The Aquarian Gospel is a modern forgery, which doesn't exactly count as "revisionist scholarship" or, indeed, any kind of scholarship.

Jesus Christ gets an evil twin in fantasy film
Mon Nov 26, 2007 1:14pm IST

By Tony Tharakan

PANAJI, India (Reuters) - There's no mention of him in the Bible but the plot of a fantasy film set in India gives Jesus Christ a twin brother -- and an evil one at that.

German filmmaker Robert Sigl's "The 13th Disciple" is still in the planning stage but producer Mario Stefan is in Goa trying to attract an Indian co-producer for the project.

"It's a fantasy-adventure film and takes place completely in present-day India," Stefan said on the sidelines of the 38th International Film Festival of India, which opened over the weekend.

The story traces the journey of two German archaeologists looking for evidence that Jesus visited India.

The researchers, who are twins themselves, find that Jesus had an evil twin brother who is reincarnated in the present as the scheming head of a religious sect.

[...]

The third-century Acts of Thomas places the Apostle Thomas in India, but that's quite a late tradition and in any case is rather a different matter from putting Jesus there.

Also the wandering Greek philosopher Apollonius of Tyana, who lived at the same time as Jesus and is sometimes compared with him, reportedly (according to his third-century biographer Philostratus) traveled to India and hung out there with the gymnosophists for a while. But I'm not aware of any remotely ancient apocryphal traditions that put Jesus in India.

HERE'S MY REPORT ON THE SAN DIEGO DEAD SEA SCROLLS EXHIBITION, which I visited on Friday. (Click on the images below for larger versions.)


This is a view of the Natural History Museum from the outside.


The big tree (visible on the right in the previous picture) has been a prominent fixture of the Museum Plaza for a very long time. I remember climbing on it when I was five years old, after a weekly summer museum class for children. But the decades of climbers like me started to take a toll on the health of the tree, so now it is fenced in so it can get a little peace.


This is the security line, through which visitors have to pass before entering the museum.


Security was tight. I had to check in my Swiss army knife.


There were further lines in the Museum. I had already bought my ticket online, so strictly speaking I didn't need to go through any of them, although it did take some time to find the place on the second floor where I could pick the ticket up. Note, by the way, the Allosaurus skeleton visible in the background through that open door.


My book was indeed for sale in the gift shop.

No photos were allowed in the displays, but here are some impressions. The upper floor had a lot of photographs on the walls of various things pertaining to Qumran, the Dead Sea, and the Scrolls, but I was familiar with most of this and breezed through it quickly. The actual Scrolls were on the lower level. The first few displays were crowded, but the crowds thinned, evidently because for most people when you've seen a couple of Dead Sea Scrolls, you've seen them all. The lighting was low and not always well angled for reading, but I did give each Scroll a careful look and managed at least to pick out a word or two in each. I was especially interested in two of them. The first was a manuscript of the Songs of the Sabbath Sacrifice, on which I've done a lot of work -- including in the commentary for sale in the gift shop. I worked from photographs and this was the first time I've been in the same room with one of the manuscripts, so I spent some time puzzling out the opening lines of the work. The second was Bar Kokhba papyrus 46. It's a land contract and in itself is not very interesting, but the opening line dates it to "year three of Shimon bar Kosiba, Prince of Israel" (שמעון בר כסבא נשיא ישראל). Again, this is the first time I've been in the physical presence of a scroll contemporary with Bar Kokhba which actually contained his name. It's a little like reading a document from Camelot with King Arthur's name on it. I also was happy to locate the name of Šemihaza, one of the Watchers (fallen angels that consorted with human women and fathered giants), in the Aramaic manuscript of the Book of the Watchers (1 Enoch).

The introductory displays mostly seemed quite good to me. They concentrated on the Essene theory, but also repeatedly referred to Golb's theory (without mentioning him by name) that the Scrolls came from Jerusalem. They rightly made much of the ten years of effort invested by the original team in piecing together the thousands of fragments into scrolls, a huge accomplishment frequently glossed over by those who criticize them for taking so long to publish. There was mention of the criticisms of De Vaux's application of monastery-related terminology to describe the Qumran buildings. And there were salutary explicit corrections of errors in The Da Vinci Code, such as the fact that there are no books from the Christian New Testament among the Scrolls.

Naturally I found statements with which I disagreed or that I wanted to nuance, but I'll pass over those. But the timeline just before the Scrolls display did have a disturbing number of errors and infelicities. It said that Qumran was settled c. 250 BCE (actually generally thought to be c. 150 BCE, although the archaeological evidence would point to closer to 100 BCE). It dated the LXX translation c. 300-200 BCE, but I've never heard anyone argue that the Pentateuch was translated much before 250. Plato is correctly dated to about 385 BCE but he is placed under the third century BCE in the timeline. We are told that Jesus "teaches of the supreme power of love," which is not a very accurate sound bite of the scholarly view of the historical Jesus. It would have been more helpful to say that he taught about the Kingdom of God in parables. And, although I'm not a specialist in ancient China, I'm pretty sure that specialists regard the Tao Te Ching not as a fifth century BCE composition by someone named Lao Tzu, but a later pseudonymous work.

I wish they would correct these problems, but otherwise the exhibition was very good.


After the museum visit I had to run an errand Downtown and, this being Southern California and all, I was bemused but not surprised to happen upon this museum on Market Street. Unfortunately, it seems no longer to be in business, so I couldn't get in.

I'M BACK IN ST. ANDREWS. The trip was uneventful, apart from when my watch shorted out going through the security scanner at the San Diego Airport. All the security personnel I talked to swore that the scanners don't do such things, but it seems like a remarkable coincidence.

ARCHAEOLOGIST AREN MAEIR lectured recently at BYU on "biblical archaeology:

Scholar sees change in biblical archaeology

Caution replaces rash claims to prove Bible
By Carrie A. Moore
Deseret Morning News
Published: Saturday, Nov. 24, 2007 1:17 a.m. MST

Contrary to the quest of many biblical archaeologists in years past, today's "new image" of excavating ancient Near Eastern sites isn't focused on proving that the Bible is an ancient historical document.

Yet there's no reason to shy away from comparing scientific findings to biblical text, either, says a longtime archaeologist.

The challenge is to use caution, rather than leaping to what seem to be "logical conclusions" about findings that go well beyond the actual science involved with high-profile finds, some of which turn out to be forgeries.

That is according to Aren Maeir, chairman of the department of archaeology and Land of Israel Studies at Bar Ilan University in Tel Aviv. Rather than trying to "verify beliefs according to archaeological remains," Maeir said archaeologists driven by science are leaving those kinds of discussions to theologians. Archaeologists seek to provide information on what they find in the ground, when they believe it originated and how it may or may not play into theological discussions.

[...]

WHAT I BOUGHT ON E-BAY. Well, not me, but someone. A revelatory dream figures in the story.

Get in on eBay: Local man buys ancient Hebrew text online
By Rhys Saunders The Daily Times [Farmington, NM]
Article Launched: 11/24/2007 12:00:00 AM MST

FARMINGTON — One Farmington man was so overcome by divine inspiration that he recently bid on — and won — an eBay auction for an original 18th century Kabbalah book.

Thaddeus Beeley said he first became curious about the ancient text after talking to a friend studying Kabbalah at the time. Kabbalah refers to a set of beliefs and practices that supplement traditional Jewish interpretations of the Bible.

According to many who study the ancient texts, an intimate understanding and mastery of the Kabbalah brings one spiritually closer to God and enriches a person's experience of Jewish sacred texts and law.

"I was just getting curious and I wanted to get something that was an original, unchanged text," 23-year-old Beeley said. "I was browsing online and stumbled upon it."

[...]

That same night, something strange happened to Beeley. When he went to sleep inside his Farmington home, he dreamed of the book.

"I had this dream that someone bad got it, and they were trying to keep it covered up, and keep it for bad," he said.

When he awoke, Beeley decided he must have the Kabbalah text.

"I waited until the last minute," he said. "I think that's the best way with eBay, so you can get it the cheapest."

With 10 minutes left until the auction closed online, a second bidder vied for the ancient text, Beeley said.

"The bid went up, so I went up to $90," he said. "Then it went up to $110, then to $120, and I thought, I'm just going to put in $150.'"

Sixty seconds away from the close-out time on the item, Beeley won the bid.

"When I finally got it, it was even more incredible than I thought," he said. "It was printed around 1780, it smelled like an old library and it looked like an old treasure map. There's an inscription on the front of the book that is in Hebrew. I still don't know what to do with it yet, and I still haven't translated it."

[...]

I HEAD FOR ST. ANDREWS later today. Busy now, but I'll try to get in some blogging later, maybe at the airport.

FOR CHILDREN IN NYC:

‘ARCHAEOLOGY ZONE: DISCOVERING TREASURES FROM PLAYGROUNDS TO PALACES’ (Saturday through Thursday) Children will step into the shoes of an explorer like Indiana Jones in this new exhibition at the Jewish Museum, but the adventures will be purely scholarly. Still, there is plenty of excitement in analyzing artifacts like a jar handle, a clay jug and a bangle, and figuring out the purpose behind ancient pieces like a Greek helmet and a bull-shaped vessel. This interactive show also includes a recreated home from the Ottoman period (about 1900), where young archaeologists can dress in costume. (Through June 15, 2009.) Saturday through Wednesday, 11 a.m. to 5:45 p.m., and Thursday to 8 p.m., 1109 Fifth Avenue, at 92nd Street, (212) 423-3200, thejewishmuseum.org. Free with admission: $12; $10 for 65+; $7.50 for students; free for under 12, members and for all on Saturdays.

THE MOSAIC FLOOR of the Roman-era synagogue found recently in the Galilee is the subject of LiveScience's Image of the Day for today.

JAMES ROBINSON will be lecturing in Florida a week from tomorrow.

Biblical Scholar to Discuss Dead Sea Scrolls, Historical Jesus at UCF Seminars
Nov. 21, 2007

By Jessica Saggio (UCF News)

Biblical scholar James Robinson will discuss the Dead Sea Scrolls, the Christian Scriptures and the historical Jesus during a seminar Friday, Nov. 30, and Saturday, Dec. 1, at the University of Central Florida.

Robinson was part of a team of scholars that produced a translation of the Dead Sea Scrolls in 1992. He is a fellow at the Westar Institute, which has worked to uncover the “historical Jesus” from the Christian Scriptures. Robinson has most recently been involved in the work to reconstruct and translate the non-canonical gospels of Thomas and Judas discovered in Nag Hamadi, Egypt, during the 1940s.

[...]

Actually, he edited a translation of the Nag Hammadi Coptic Gnostic Library in the 1970s. But he was also involved with the production of the Facsimile Edition of the Dead Sea Scrolls in 1991. That was a collection of photographs, not a translation, but it's probably what the writer had in mind.

Also, the Gospel of Judas was not discovered at Nag Hammadi and I think it was found later than the 40s.

ARAMAIC WATCH: Yesterday Pope Benedict preached a homily "On the Teachings of Aphraates." Aphraates was a fourth-century Syriac-speaking church father who took some interest in Jewish traditions. Excerpt:

I would like to introduce this world through Aphraates, also known as "the wise one." He was one of the most important and enigmatic characters of fourth-century Syriac Christianity. He lived in the first half of the fourth century and was a native of the Nineveh-Mosul region -- today’s Iraq.

We have little information about his life; he had strong ties with the ascetic-monastic environment of the Syriac Church, on which he reflected a great deal in his work. According to some sources, he was the head of a monastery, and later ordained a bishop. He wrote 23 speeches known as Expositions or Demonstrations, in which he discusses different topics of Christian life, such as faith, love, fasting, humility, prayer, ascetic life, and also the relationship between Judaism and Christianity, and between the Old and New Testaments. He writes in a simple style, with short sentences and at times contrasting parallelisms; nevertheless he manages to make consistent speeches by developing articulated arguments.

Aphraates came from a clerical community halfway between Judaism and Christianity. The community was very closely linked to the Mother Church of Jerusalem, and its bishops were traditionally chosen among what were called James' "relatives," the "Lord’s brother" (cf. Mark 6:3): These people were connected to the Church of Jerusalem by blood and faith.

Aphraates spoke Syriac, a Semitic language like the Hebrew of the Old Testament and like the Aramaic spoken by Jesus himself. The ecclesial community in which Aphraates lived wanted to stay faithful to the Judeo-Christian tradition, of which it felt it was a daughter. Therefore it maintained a close relationship with the Jewish world and its sacred books.

Significantly Aphraates defines himself as a "disciple of sacred Scripture," of both the Old and New Testaments (Exposition 22,26), which he considered his sole source of inspiration, and so often mentioned it that it became the center of his reflections.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING! Very busy today with family and friends. I do intend to post some more SBL thoughts and photos, but it may be a while. I'm also planning to visit the Dead Sea Scrolls exhibition in Balboa Park tomorrow. I'll let you know what I think.

A BRIEF PROFILE OF THE MEGIDDO EXCAVATION:

Digging Biblical History At 'The End Of The World'
ScienceDaily (Nov. 21, 2007) — Tel Aviv University archaeologists are studying Tel Megiddo, the New Testament location of "Armageddon," and unearthing truths about King Solomon.

Some come to dig the archeological site at Tel Megiddo because they are enchanted by ancient stories of King Solomon. Others come because they believe in a New Testament prophecy that the mound of dirt will be the location of a future Judgment Day apocalyptic battle. Hence the second, rather more chilling name for the site: "Armageddon."

Tel Megiddo has been the subject of a number of decisive battles in ancient times (among the Egyptian, Hebrew and Assyrian peoples) and today it holds a venerated place in archaeology, explains site co-director and world-renowned archeologist Prof. Israel Finkelstein.

[...]

Looks accurate, although the author needs to learn how to spell "lightning."

A SYNAGOGUE FIND IN THE GALILEE:

Remains Of Ancient Synagogue With Unique Mosaic Floor Found In Galilee
ScienceDaily (Nov. 21, 2007) — Remains of an ancient synagogue from the Roman-Byzantine era have been revealed in excavations carried out in the Arbel National Park in the Galilee under the auspices of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

The excavations, in the Khirbet Wadi Hamam, were led by Dr. Uzi Leibner of the Hebrew University's Institute of Archaeology and Scholion -- Interdisciplinary Research Center in Jewish Studies.

[...]

The excavators were surprised to find in the eastern aisle of the synagogue a mosaic decoration which to date has no parallels -- not in other synagogues, nor in art in Israel in general from the Roman-Byzantine period. The mosaic is made of tiny stones (four mm. in size) in a variety of colors. The scene depicted is that of a series of woodworkers who are holding various tools of their trade.

Near these workers is seen a monumental structure which they are apparently building. According to Dr. Leibner, since Biblical scenes are commonly found in synagogue art, it is possible that what we see in this case is the building of the Temple, or Noah's ark, or the tower of Babel. The mosaic floor has been removed from the excavation site and its now in the process of restoration.

[...]

TEMPLE MOUNT WATCH: The San Francisco Chronicle has a summary of the current state of play regarding the Iron Age II artifacts found on the Temple Mount during the Waqf's latest digging project.

Temple Mount discovery leads to dispute in Jerusalem

Matthew Kalman, Chronicle Foreign Service

Sunday, November 18, 2007

(11-18) 04:00 PST Jerusalem --

Israeli archaeologists say that ancient remains from the era of Solomon's Temple were discovered last month for the first time on the holiest site for Judaism, reigniting a historical and political debate over an area that also is holy to Muslims.

[...]

Much of it is a rehash of old news, but the following is new:

However, Yusif Natsheh, a Waqf archaeologist, disputed the findings.

"I was present throughout this work and neither I, nor any Waqf official, recall seeing these items in the trench," said Natsheh. "I only heard about them in the press, weeks after the work was finished. If they were found, then why were they taken outside the compound?"

Natsheh said the trench was less than 3 feet deep and wondered how the Israeli archaeologists could hit a layer dating back to the First Temple without first slicing through the Byzantine and Roman periods, which logically would be above them.

"All of this archaeology and science in Jerusalem is manipulated for different political attitudes," said Natsheh. "It is not archaeology, it is not history, it is just spoiled politics."

Seligman dismissed Natsheh's accusation as "outrageous. Categorically, 100 percent of these findings came from the Temple Mount, and we stake our reputation on that."

I simply do not believe that the Israeli archaeologists are salting the site. As for the stratification, the Herodian architects presumably used a lot of fill from the demolition of the previous site when they built the Temple Platform, and it's not surprising to find pockets of earlier material in the mix. Or at least that's one possible guess at what's going on. When people take it upon themselves to carry out construction without controlled scientific excavation on an important site like this one, this is what you get.

CONSTRUCTION HAS BEEN HALTED at a Tel Aviv building site due to the discovery of ancient material remains:

Ancient artifacts found at Tel Aviv building site

Construction of luxurious skyscraper in city's north halted after Israel Antiquities Authority finds Byzantine relics on site, launches exploratory dig

Ofer Petersburg
Published: 11.20.07, 11:01 / Israel Money (Ynetnews.com)

Gazit-Globe's latest real estate venture in northern Tel Aviv came to a surprising halt recently, after an initial land survey discovered an archeological site on the premises, Yedioth Ahronoth reported Tuesday.

The land survey, preformed by the Israel Antiquities Authority, discovered traces of antique pottery, presumed to be from the Byzantine era (4th to 15th centuries A.D), as well as evidence of an ancient wine-press.

Archeologists believe the area use to be a Philistine settlement. The first archeological findings in the area were made in the late 1940s, when pottery scribes discovered there were identified as ancient shipment logs dating back to the days of the First Temple.

[...]

LANE'S ARABIC-ENGLISH LEXICON IS ONLINE in a very convenient format, courtesy of David Instone-Brewer.

(Via Peter Williams at Evangelical Textual Criticism.)

THE ISRAELI FOREIGN MINISTRY responds to the claims of the Turkish report on the Mughrabi Gate excavations:

Responding to the Turkish paper's report, The Israeli Foreign Ministry said: "Israel is cooperating fully with UNESCO, which had sent a professional team to the site of the dig and published a report refuting all the allegations against Israel.

"UNESCO has established a process that involves international institutions in the Israeli operations near the Mugrabi Gate, including Jordan and the Waqf. The archeological findings uncovered in the area are known to all, and work to disprove the claims against Israel."

Background here.

For the UNESCO report, see here.

ARAMAIC WATCH: A Palmyrene necropolis with inscriptions has been found in Syria.

Syria finds second century skeletons, statues

Archaeologists uncover 2nd century necropolis, statues in Syiran town of Palmyra. (Middle East Online)

DAMASCUS - Syrian archaeologists have uncovered a 2nd century necropolis and statues in the central town of Palmyra, along with several skeletons, museum director Walid Assaad said on Thursday.

According to inscriptions on a 75 centimetre (30 inch) by 60 centimetre (24 inch) sculptured panel found there, the cemetery belonged to a pagan family. The tablet showed two people of Palmyra.

"The first, named Mallay, is wearing a military uniform and has a sword in his belt which he is holding by the hilt. The second, called Yadeh Bel, is wearing traditional Palmyran clothes," Assaad quoted archaeologist mission leader Khalil Hariri as saying.

[...]

Besides the necropolis and panel, the researchers found the bust of a Palmyran man, 60 cms high and 55 cms wide, and bearing the name: Zubeiba, son of Shamune."

The Yadeh Bel panel is pictured. The inscriptions seem to run across the top, but the lighting makes the letters unreadable, at least for me.

(Via the Agade list.)

FROM THE BOOK DISPLAY:

Marvin Meyer (ed.), The Nag Hammadi Scriptures: The International Edition (New York: HarperCollins, 2007)

A new translation of the Nag Hammadi Library, along with The Gospel of Mary and The Act of Peter from the Berlin Codex (plus Greek fragments of the former from Oxyrhynchus) and The Gospel of Judas (Meyer's translation) and The Book of Allogenes (just a couple of small fragments) from the Tchacos Codex. The title of the volume is a little inaccurate on two counts: the book contains more than the Nag Hammadi Library and that library itself contains more than Gnostic scriptures (such as a fragment of a translation of Plato's Republic). But that's a very small point and I can see why they didn't produce a title with endless qualifications. The editors have sensibly chosen to translate the titles of the individual works in ways that are more informative than in the older Robinson edition, but less cool. For example the The Hypostasis of the Archons becomes The Nature of the Rulers and Trimorphic Protennoia becomes Three Forms of First Thought. I've only had the chance to page through the volume a little, but it has Robinson's imprimatur (he was on the advisory board and wrote the preface) and contributions from highly respected specialists (e.g., Elaine Pagels and Karen King) and it looks to be an important contribution to the field.

THE VIEW FROM MY HOTEL WINDOW:


San Diego Harbor. The peninsula in the far background is Point Loma, from where the fire picture was taken a few weeks ago. Coronado Island lies in between.

Another view from the same floor:


The San Diego Convention Center is on the left. The Coronado Bridge is in the background.

The book display in the Convention Center:



Click on the images for enlargements.

UPDATE: Same view as first photo in the late afternoon fog:

THE DEAD SEA SCROLLS are to be digitized by Kings College London's Centre for Computing in the Humanities according to Computer Weekly.

Background here.

SILOAM TUNNEL INSCRIPTION UPDATE:

Peres seeks to borrow Siloam Inscription for Israel’s anniversary
Israeli President Shimon Peres has asked President Abdullah Gül to send the Siloam Inscription, a 2,700-year-old tablet exhibited at İstanbul’s Archaeology Museum, to Jerusalem for Israel’s 60th anniversary.

At their meeting in Ankara on Tuesday Peres repeated Israel’s request to receive the biblical tablet. Gül said, “We will do what we can.”

A Turkish official said if conditions are met for the international transfer of archeological artifacts, the government is warm to the idea of displaying the tablet in Jerusalem.

Once again, the seemingly obligatory howler is included:

The Siloam Inscription was found in 1880, when Jerusalem was under Ottoman rule, in what is known today as Hezekiah’s Tunnel. Engraved on the stone is a description of the meeting in A.D. 703 of two groups of hewers who were digging from opposite ends as they sought to provide a reliable water source for Jerusalem’s residents in biblical times.

That should be (more or less) 703 B.C.E., not A.D.

Background here.

TEMPLE MOUNT WATCH: The Turkish report on the Mughrabi Gate excavation has reportedly been leaked to a Turkish publication and is highly critical.

Turkish archaeologists harshly criticised Israeli excavation: report

ANKARA (AFP) — A team of Turkish experts harshly criticised a controversial archaeological dig in Jerusalem undertaken by Israel, according to a report published Friday in the Turkish daily Today's Zaman.

Turkish experts visited the site because the Ayyubid, Mameluke and Ottoman dynasties ruled in the area successively between the 12th century and the beginning of the 20th century.

According to the Turkish team, "the ongoing activities give the impression that they are a planned and systematically implemented effort which aims to destroy the values associated with cultural assets and the sources of information of these cultures," the English-language daily said, citing the actual report.

[...]

Background here.

UPDATE: Here's the Today's Zaman article, which is long and detailed:

Report: Israeli work risks destroying Jerusalem’s Islamic assets
A Turkish technical mission sent to Jerusalem to inspect Israeli archaeological work near the holy Al-Aqsa Mosque has criticized the excavations and called on Israel to consult with Palestinian and international authorities on a final plan, the mission's report, obtained by Today's Zaman, revealed.

The Turkish mission visited Jerusalem in March to inspect the archeological work being carried out by the Israeli authorities at the Mughrabi ramp, which climbs to the southwestern gate of the Haram al-Sharif complex, amid international concerns over the excavations. Its report, which was completed in the summer but not released to the public, observed that the excavations are unacceptable by legal and scientific standards and suggested that the excavation goes beyond scientific purposes. It said even if there is no actual excavation at Haram Al-Sharif, there are enough indications to give the impression that it is only a matter of time.

"The archaeological excavation at the Mughrabi pathway, which involves various traces of the Umayyad, Ayyubid, Mameluke and Ottoman periods, must be discontinued immediately," the report said, echoing an earlier report by UNESCO in March. For future reconstruction efforts in the area, the report recommended a competition open to Israeli, Palestinian and Jordanian architects and the joint work of Israeli and Palestinian experts supervised by organizations such as UNESCO and the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC).

[...]

"The tunneling and excavation work and the large amount of soil extraction shown to our mission along the Wailing Wall give the impression that this is an intervention of great scale and depth and that this intervention goes beyond scientific purpose, even if there is no excavation toward Haram al-Sharif," it said.

While not openly adopting the Palestinian position labeling Israeli archeology as a mode of the "Judaization" or "Israelization" of Jerusalem, the report observed that the ongoing activities are a part of a planned and systematically implemented effort to destroy values associated with cultural assets of the Ayyubid, Mameluke and Ottoman periods.

[...]

It identified "distortion of Jerusalem's history by means of highlighting the Judaic aspect or identifying with being of Arab origin" as the source of current problems and emphasized Jerusalem was a city where Muslim, Jewish, Christian and Armenian communities constituted a "heterogeneous population" living in peace.

[...]

Then there's this:

A special section in the report was dedicated to the Wailing Wall. It claimed that the importance of the area for the Jews is a fairly new phenomenon as it had no religious connotations in the period of King Herod (first century B.C.), when the courtyard was a market, and that it had no religious importance until the end of the Mameluke period (early 16th century). ...

If this is what the report actually says, and not some misunderstanding, it is disturbingly tendentious. The Wailing Wall or Western Wall is part of the Platform of the Temple Mount. Although it was not part of the Temple itself, the Temple stood on the Platform and the whole area was considered sacred. It is simply not true that "it had no religious connotations in the period of King Herod." I have discussed the Herodian Temple Mount Platform in greater detail here.

DEAD SEA SCROLLS REPLICAS FOR SOUTH KOREA:

The Dead Sea Scrolls...made in St John’s Wood
16/11/2007 (Jewish Chronicle, UK)
By Simon Rocker
The thrill of recognition is instant. You need not be a Hebrew scholar to make out a few familiar words among the clear black letters first formed by a scribe more than 2,000 years ago.

Unwound before me is a 23ft-long scroll of the Book of Isaiah. It could be the one that was found 60 years ago in a cave in Qumran by the Dead Sea.

But this scroll is different: it originates in St John’s Wood, North-West London, is bound for Korea and was conceived by a man who runs a salmon-fishing business in Alaska.

Enter Weston Fields, executive director of the Dead Sea Scrolls Foundation. His organisation funds publication of the 900 or so documents and fragments that comprise the Dead Sea Scrolls and also helps with preservation and exhibitions.

[...]

“I had the idea of making facsimiles of the three scrolls that were originally found — they are the best preserved,” he said. “The Koreans were willing to underwrite the cost — it’s terribly expensive.”

To help, he turned to some old friends, Linda and Michael Falter of St John’s Wood. As Facsimile Editions, the couple have a worldwide reputation for producing high-class replicas of illustrated religious manuscripts, so meticulously executed that they are hard to tell from the original. “When Weston rang and said could you advise me how to make a copy of the Dead Sea Scrolls,” Michael Falter said, “I replied, ‘I’d rather not advise you, I’d rather do it’.”

[...]

Three copies each have been created of the original three scrolls: Isaiah, a commentary on the Book of Habakkuk, and the Manual of Discipline. “We wanted to produce them exactly as they are, we didn’t want to enhance or prettify them,” Michael said. “When we showed them to Weston, he said they were as legible as the original. The only thing we haven’t got is the clay pots in which they were found.”

[...]

Cool.

TEMPLE MOUNT WATCH:

Roman street uncovered in Western Wall tunnels
By ETGAR LEFKOVITS (Jerusalem Post)

The remains of an ancient terraced street that dates back to the Roman period have been uncovered in the Western Wall tunnels, the Israel Antiquities Authority announced Wednesday.
[The remains of a Roman road...]

The remains of a Roman road discovered in the Western Wall tunnels.
Photo: Western Wall Heritage Fund

The street, which likely led to the nearby Temple Mount itself, dates back nearly 2,000 years when the city was called Aelia Capitolina during the second-fourth centuries.

[...]

Aelia Capitolina was a pagan city built over the site of Jerusalem by the Emperor Hadrian after the Bar Kokhba revolt of 132-135 CE.

UPDATE: There's a longer Reuters article that covers the same ground and also mentions the discovery of a Roman bath house.

Roman road, bath unearthed near Jewish temple site
Thu Nov 15, 2007 3:22pm GMT

By Rebecca Harrison

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israeli archaeologists have unearthed the remains of a second century terraced street and bath house which provide vital clues about the layout of Roman Jerusalem.

The Israel Antiquities Authority said the 30-metre (90-foot) alley was used by the Romans to link the central Cardo thoroughfare with a bath house and with a bridge to the Temple Mount, once the site of Jerusalem's ancient Jewish temple.

"We find bits of Roman road all the time but this discovery helped us piece together a picture of Roman Jerusalem," Jon Seligman, Jerusalem regional archaeologist, told Reuters at the site. "It was a real Eureka moment."

[...]

I'M AT THE HOTEL and, as you can see from the timestamp, am still on Mid-Atlantic time. I spent yesterday catching up with family and friends. The gym doesn't open until 6:00 am, so here's my chance to catch up on blogging.

I'M HERE and waiting for my luggage at the San Diego Airport, which has free Wi-Fi. Most civilized.

I'M OFF TO SAN DIEGO first thing tomorrow morning for the annual Society of Biblical Literature conference. I'm presenting a paper on "Counterfactual History and Other New Methodologies." I'm not going to post a copy, since much of it recycles material that is about to be published. But you can get the idea of the issues I will be covering by reading this paper from a few years ago (yes, I know I'm getting a lot of mileage out of it) and this review of Maxine Grossman's monograph Reading for History in the Damascus Document. (The latter requires a paid personal or institutional subscription to Dead Sea Discoveries. Sorry.)

I expect to arrive in San Diego late on Thursday evening and will be staying at my mother's house until Friday afternoon and after the conference through Thanksgiving. I have to set up her new computer once I get there, and may not have the time or energy on Friday, so blogging may not resume until Friday evening or Saturday morning at the hotel (where I'll be staying through Tuesday morning).

Safe travel to all those heading out for the conference in the next couple of days.

ARAMAIC WATCH: Good news for Aramaic, slightly bad news for biblical Hebrew.

Against the backdrop of increasing government support for language programs post-September 11, the MLA, which has conducted its survey periodically (every four years, of late) since 1958, found gains in all of the 15 most widely taught languages save Biblical Hebrew, down 0.3 percent from 2002 to 2006. Enrollments in the less commonly taught languages also increased by 31.2 percent from 2002, fueled largely by a 55.9 percent growth in Middle Eastern and African languages (the most popular being Aramaic, Swahili and Persian). In all, 204 of the less commonly taught languages were in fact taught in 2006, an increase of 42 languages over 2002.

Modern Hebrew, ancient Greek, and Latin are doing well too, and Arabic is doing very well indeed.

IN THE MAIL:

April D. DeConick, The Thirteenth Apostle: What the Gospel of Judas Really Says (New York/London: Continuum, 2007)

A copy from the publisher for review on PaleoJudaica. Watch this space.

LOGOS TOO! The Accordance module of biblical Dead Sea Scrolls for the Mac has its parallel in the Qumran Biblical Dead Sea Scrolls Database for the PC by Logos Bible Software.

Logos is pleased to announce another first in the history of scholarly databases for biblical studies: the development of a database for the biblical Dead Sea Scrolls. This new database marks the first time that the Dead Sea Scroll manuscripts of the Hebrew Bible have been made available to the public in electronic form for the PC.

The achievement of this database is the result of years of painstaking work on the part of Dr. Stephen Pfann. Dr. Pfann is President of the Board of Directors of the University of the Holy Land, as well as Chair of the University’s Department of Qumran Studies. Pfann holds an M.A. from the Graduate Theological Union and a Ph.D. from the Department of Ancient Semitic Languages at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem. Dr. Pfann’s dissertation was supervised by Prof. Michael Stone. His areas of academic expertise are Qumran studies, ancient languages, paleography, and cultural geography. Dr. Pfann is the author of many scholarly articles related to his research, and has contributed to or co-edited several important works on the Dead Sea Scrolls, including: The Dead Sea Scrolls on Microfiche (with Emanuel Tov); and several volumes in the Discoveries in the Judaean Desert (DJD) series, the official publication series of the Dead Sea Scrolls (vol. XXV, Qumran Cave 4: Sapiential Texts, Pt. 1; vol. XXVI, Qumran Cave 4: Miscellaneous Texts from Qumran, Cryptic Texts and Miscellanea, Pt. 1; vol. XXXV, Qumran Cave 4: Halakhic Texts). Dr. Pfann lives in Jerusalem. His direct access to both the original scrolls and state-of-the-art imaging and viewing technology allowed him to review and revise the transcriptions of each biblical scroll.

The Logos Qumran Biblical Dead Sea Scrolls Database includes morphological tagging, prepared by Dr. Michael S. Heiser, Academic Editor at Logos.

THE TOMB OF EZEKIEL in Kifl, Iraq, was mentioned on PaleoJudaica here several years ago. I doubt that it's Ezekiel's actual tomb, but it is a real building (unlike Lara Croft's Tomb of Ezekiel -- see here). Anyhow, my former student Sam Giere has e-mailed to point out that a couple of photographs of the Tomb of Ezekiel in Iraq are posted on a website belonging to the Oberlin Art Department. This one shows the building from the outside. Cool, eh? And this one shows part of a Hebrew inscription on the inside. The first part of the inscription is outside the frame, but the rest reads הנביא בן בוזי הכהן זכותו ינן עלינו ועל כל ישראל אמן, "... the prophet, son of Buzi, the priest. May his merit increase upon us and upon all Israel. Amen." The prophet in question is, of course, Ezekiel, who was a priest and whose father's name was indeed Buzi (Ezekiel 1:3).

THE CONTROVERSY OVER NADIA ABU-EL HAJ'S TENURING AT BARNARD contines to generate discussion. Here are some online pieces going back to late October:

Larry Cohler-Esses, "The New McCarthyism" (The Nation)

Martin Solomon, "The New 'New McCarthyism': Are Left-Wing Academics Being Persecuted?" (Pajamas Media)

Ralph Harrington, "Was Nadia Abu El Haj Treated Fairly?" (History News Network)

Background here.

UPDATE (1 December): More here.

THE LIFE OF BRIAN is being re-released as a DVD, with a deleted scene re-inserted:

Monty Python's Life of Brian continues to inspire an almost religious devotion among fans: at least three times this century it has been voted the funniest film ever made. But the controversy refuses to go away, and earlier this year - three decades after the film's release - there were headlines when a vicar in Newcastle screened it in his church.

In an age when the Hammer horror Dracula is downgraded from its original, blood-curdling X certificate to an anaemic, kid-friendly 12A, it is extraordinary how Life of Brian - the first and only Biblical comedy - retains its power to shock. Yet it came perilously close to being much more offensive to many more people.

A new DVD edition of the film includes the deleted "Otto" scene, which features a radical, first-century Jewish revolutionary who has the same dreams as the young Adolf Hitler. Otto sports a toothbrush moustache, and, in case we still haven't got the message, his disciples all wear a symbol that combines the Star of David with a swastika. These are "Nazi Jews".

Jones insists he didn't make the cut to avoid giving offence.

"It was a very funny scene," he says, "but it wasn't relevant; it wasn't part of the story. When I took it out, the film just flowed so much better."

He regretted having to cut the scene at the time and regrets it even more so now.

"I think what it addressed is extremely relevant today," he says, "with what's going on in Israel. Eric [who wrote the scene] put his finger on something; it was quite prophetic."

This Telegraph article also reports a lot of background to the making of the film, and is worth a read.

THE DEAD SEA SCROLLS BIBLICAL MANUSCRIPTS is a new Accordance Bible Software module that will be available at the SBL meetings in San Diego next week.

OakTree Software is pleased to announce the release of the Dead Sea Scrolls Biblical Manuscripts for use with Accordance Bible Software

These important new Accordance modules (DSSB-C and DSSB-M) represent the entire Hebrew and Aramaic corpus of the biblical scrolls found in the Judean Desert between 1947 and today. They include not only Qumran, but also Masada, Nahal Hever, Murabba’at, etc. The transcription and format faithfully follow the text of the official publication series, The Discoveries in the Judaean Desert (Oxford, 1955—) and other related publications.

Over three years in preparation, the DSSB-C presents every manuscript in canonical order, so that every witness to each verse can be compared at once and with any other version such as the Masoretic or Samaritan text, or the English translation of the Dead Sea Scrolls Bible. The DSSB-M presents the texts in manuscript order and can be used in parallel with the Qumran Index module. Both modules include complete lexical and morphological analysis, and English glosses, facilitating searches for different forms of words, and for grammatical constructions. They are completely integrated into Accordance and hypertext to the Hebrew and Aramaic lexicons, and to any other available Accordance resources. Advanced search and analysis capabilities allow the user to create and customize graphic and textual presentations of the search results.

My work on Genesis and Exodus from DJD 12 is included.

UPDATE (13 November): Accordance does software for Apple systems. There is a parallel database of biblical Dead Sea Scrolls for PCs from Logos Bible Software.

THE SAN DIEGO DEAD SEA SCROLLS EXHIBITION is reviewed yet again:

Dead Sea Scrolls
View them and other texts at a one-of-a-kind exhibit in San Diego
By Krista Neis
Special to the Arizona Daily Star
Tucson, Arizona | Published: 11.11.2007

There's a world-class, thought-provoking, sensory-stimulating exhibit available to you through December, and the best part is that you don't have to travel across the globe to experience it.
It is an exhibit of the Dead Sea Scrolls, and it's just a short trip away in San Diego. The exhibit ends its six-month run at the Museum of Natural History in Balboa Park on Dec. 31.
Part breathtaking visual tour, part balanced geopolitical review, part mystery, and steeped in religious, scientific and historic nuance, it's an exhibit that appeals to all ages — a moving experience well worth the hour plane ride from Tucson.

[...]

AD INFINITUM: A Biography of Latin, by Nicholas Ostler, is reviewed in the Philadelphia Inquirer by John Timpane. Excerpt:

Today, we speak of Latin as a "dead" language. If it is dead, Ostler argues, the seeds of its demise may have lain within what gave it life: the very institutions (Rome, Christianity, scholastic learning, humanism) that disseminated it so wide and fierce.

But Ostler wonders aloud: Is it really dead? True, only one country (the Vatican) lists it as an official language, and no babies grow up speaking it as their first language at home. Latin, though, is everywhere: in scientific nomenclature, in 60 percent of the vocabulary of English - arguably the Latin of our time - and in the words we use to describe and manipulate the primary engine of our age, technology.

Literature in Latin is hardly dead. Catullus, Cicero, Horace and Virgil still are read and enjoyed in the original by hundreds of thousands. Translation is nice, but it's no substitute. Latin, as written by the best, is still vibrant in the minds and hearts of many who speak many languages. Ostler reports millions of Web pages in Latin (there's even a Latin version of Wikipedia). Can a language enjoying such an afterlife really be dead?

Before reading this book, I would have said yes. I dearly love Latin and still open Horace and Virgil with pleasure (I was never very good at it, let it be said) - but I do so as a self-conscious scholar. After reading Ad Infinitum, I have to say Ostler has persuaded me. A language is alive if it lives. And Latin lives. So do Greek, Hebrew, Sanskrit, classical Arabic, in much the same role, as the mothers and fathers of our minds. Once a language of farmers and soldiers, Latin now is a language for readers and thinkers. That's life.

ZOMBIE ATTACKS: An occupational hazard for archaeologists.

(Via the Agade list etc.)

NEHEMIAH'S WALL FOUND IN JERUSALEM? Maybe. Todd Bolen has comments on a report in an odd place.

TEMPLE MOUNT WATCH -- only not. Yasser Arafat's tomb is getting a more permanent-sounding renovation in Ramallah:

The new tomb features a hall, a mosque with marble flooring, and a small pool network and landscaped garden.

Arafat had wanted to be buried in the Muslim cemetery next to the Al-Aksa Mosque on Jerusalem's Temple Mount but Israel, shunning the Palestinian leader for orchestrating an eruption of violence in 2000, denied permission.

The third anniversary of his death is tomorrow.

Background here, here, here, here, here and here.

SOMEONE NAMED GABRIEL KHANO, writing an autobiographical piece in Uruknet.info, claims in a brief aside to have been involved in the early events surrounding the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls. He's currently a tour operator in Jerusalem.

My family and I were driven out of Jerusalem and went first to Madaba, a village in Jordan where almost every house has a patterned mosaic. We had relatives there. Then we moved back to Palestine - to Bethlehem - and settled because there were a good number of Syrianis there who, like my parents, had been in a forced migration from Turkey years before.

One of these was Kando the Shoemaker, whose shop was next-door to our house; it was there, in 1946, that he received what became known as the Dead Sea Scrolls. When we arrived in Bethlehem, my Bishop and I tried to get recognition for these scrolls, some of which were in Syriac, which I speak and read; but they were not recognized until a young American scholar met the Bishop by chance in New York and took them to be tested using carbon 14. I had no work at the time, but my dreams of making money from the Scrolls came to nothing.

Presumably the reference to "Syriac" scrolls has something to do with the Aramaic Genesis Apocryphon from Cave One. The "Bishop" would have been Metropolitan Mar Athanasius Yeshue Samuel. I've not heard of Gabriel Khano before this. But there's another account of the events he describes, with additionals details, here, picked up by someone named Wong Chun Wai during a tour of Jerusalem:

In Bethlehem, the place where Jesus was born, the Khanos lived next door to Khalil Iskander Shahin. Khalil became famous and rich after he bought the Dead Sea Scrolls, the oldest and largest collection of Bible manuscripts.

Gabriel might have been in a similar situation but he was not so lucky. He too went to search for the scrolls in one of the caves but gave up after seeing thousands of bats. He also could not stand the stench of guano. Unfortunately for him, a search party later found more scrolls in the cave that he had turned his back on.

Also, a book by Mr. Khano's wife is reviewed here. Does anyone know or know of him?

For a brief but accurate account of the discovery and early history of the Scrolls, see here.

FOR MY SINS, I'm leaving for our annual heads-of-school away day, which goes until late tomorrow afternoon. As far as I know, the Prime Minister will not be present this year. In any case, no more blogging before late Friday at the earliest.

MORE ON THE 400-YEAR-OLD TORAH SCROLL recovered from the ruins of a synagogue near Mosul and shipped to the Washington D.C. area:

From battle zone to bimaArea shul embraces centuries-old Iraqi Torah
by Richard Greenberg

Associate Editor (Washington Jewish Week)

A battle-scarred slice of the Middle East has disgorged what is now one of the most coveted objects in Temple Isaiah's possession - a 400-year-old Torah scroll that endured an Indiana-Jones-like odyssey before arriving safely at the Fulton synagogue.

[...]

Here's a fuller version of the story of the recovery:

The find was made by a U.S. special-forces soldier who had relieved himself at the site moments earlier. While he was cleaning up after himself, the soldier recognized Hebrew writing underfoot and on the wall of the structure. He knew it was Hebrew because he's Jewish.

"In the middle of all the craziness that's going on in Iraq, it's God's will that someone should find his Torah; and that person is Jewish," said Youlus. "It's an incredible irony."

The Torah, which was hidden beneath the floor of the structure, was soon unearthed by the soldier, whose identity has not been released by the military precisely because he is a member of the special forces. He was redeployed to Iraq about two weeks ago.

How did Youlus get involved? "That's the difficult part," he said, explaining that the soldier told his superior officer about his discovery. The superior officer then somehow got in touch with "someone in the government who knows what I do," and that person contacted Youlus, who declined to name the government official.

[...]

Enter Panoff, who had once informed Youlus that he was on the lookout for an especially distinctive Torah. He eventually determined that an ideal Torah "would speak to the experience of Mizrachi Jews," or those of Middle Eastern descent. "This would show how diverse and varied the Jewish experience has been."

When Youlus told him about the discovery in Mosul, Panoff immediately relayed the information to the synagogue's board members who promptly contributed $20,000 of their own money to cover the entire cost of the Torah rescue project.

Some of that money was used to pay what Youlus euphemistically called "fees" for "members of the Iraqi establishment" to allow the Torah to be removed from their country. However, possible exit routes through Turkey and Syria were barred because of fighting and other insurmountable geopolitical barriers. Israel was no option, as well, because Israeli law would have permitted the government to seize the Torah on behalf of Iraqi Jewry, according to Youlus.

The only way out was through Jordan, and that prodigious trek was made by a contingent of seven designated Torah-schleppers consisting of Iraqis, Jordanians and Youlus himself. The trip took six weeks. Torah in hand, they made their way via various conveyances - "some mechanized and some that I wished were mechanized," said Youlus, whose small band traveled by truck, on foot and by mule. "Have you ever ridden a mule?" Youlus asked. "My tuches won't forget it for a long time."

[...]

I would still like to have a clearer idea of what the antiquities laws say about a situation like this.

THE THIRTEENTH APOSTLE, by April DeConick, is reviewed in BP News:

Prof: Gnostics called Judas demon, not hero

Posted on Nov 6, 2007 | by Gregory Tomlin

HOUSTON (BP)--A new book by a biblical scholar at Rice University refutes the claims of the National Geographic Society in 2006 that a third- or fourth-century fragment of the Gospel of Judas depicted "the son of perdition" as a hero.

In fact, April DeConick, a professor of biblical studies at Rice and author of "The Thirteenth Apostle: What the Gospel of Judas Really Says," notes that the document actually calls Judas a "thirteenth demon." That translation of the ancient Coptic text conforms fairly well to what biblical scholars have said of Judas for centuries as well as ancient commentaries from the church fathers who regarded Gnosticism as heresy.

[...]

When National Geographic magazine publicized the discovery of the Gospel of Judas early in 2006, the magazine claimed that the document presented a loyal, sensitive and, perhaps, misunderstood Judas. Christ's betrayer, the magazine's experts said, actually may have been a close friend of the Messiah and a man who had been asked to "accept perpetual disgrace" in order to free Jesus' spirit from his body. Judas, too, was described in the text as a "spirit," the magazine's experts said.

But DeConick contends that translators were mistaken. The Coptic word "daimon" is not "spirit," she said.

"Plato used this word to refer to higher powers, divine powers, that controlled human fate," DeConick said. "This is the basis for the National Geographic translation 'spirit.' The problem with this interpretation is that Plato wrote almost 500 years before the Gospel of Judas and within a completely different conceptual environment. In Christian and Gnostic literature, 'daimones' are demons. They are malicious powers or angels who influence human destinies. They are associated with the stars. There are 52 instances of the use of 'daimon' in Gnostic literature, and all of them refer to demonic forces that control the cosmos and human destiny."

[...]

"All we have is the National Geographic Society's transcription of the Coptic, and its translation of that. We can't check the transcription. The situation is comparable to the deadlock that held scholarship back on the Dead Sea Scrolls 15 or 20 years ago. When manuscripts are hoarded by a few, it results in errors and monopoly interpretations. This is not the best way to do scholarship," DeConick said.

[...]

This article also sums up a number of themes that April has been pursuing for some time at her Forbidden Gospels blog.

FOR YOU, SPECIAL DEAL: Eisenbrauns has a sale on books by bibliobloggers. Three of my books are included.

UPDATE (10 November): Dead link fixed.

SMOKE ON THE WATER, FIRE IN THE SKY


This is a picture of Downtown San Diego during the recent fires, taken from Point Loma. (Click on the image for an enlargement.) Among those skyscrapers are the ones we all will be staying in during the SBL convention, which starts at the end of next week. The Governator did a fine job on the crisis (see below) and the fires are almost entirely contained or out. Still, I'm glad I didn't see this picture at the time. That fire is not nearly as close as it looks, but my mother's house is to the left of the hill and some miles back, too close for comfort. She wasn't evacuated and the fire never really got very near, but one of my friends farther north did have to be evacuated and they thought at the time they were going to lose their house. Luckily, the fire was contained in time.

The photo has been making the rounds via e-mail and it was sent to me by a relative in San Diego. Their source thought it came from the Union-Tribune, but I can't find an online source to link to.




See you soon in San Diego!

A NEW FRAGMENT OF THE ALEPPO CODEX has been recovered:

Fragment of ancient parchment from Bible given to Jerusalem scholars
By Anshel Pfeffer (Haaretz)
tags: Aleppo Codex

An eight-centimeter-square piece of the 1087-year-old Aleppo Codex will be given to a representative of the Ben Zvi Institute in Jerusalem on Thursday, following 18 years during which Israeli scholars tried to retrieve it from businessman Sam Sabbagh.

Sabbagh salvaged the fragment from a burning synagogue in Aleppo in 1947.

Inscribed on both sides, it is one of the lost fragments of the codex, a copy of the Bible written in 920 C.E. in Tiberias by the scribe Shlomo Ben Buya'a. The fragment Sabbagh had bears verses of Exodus chapter 8, including the words of Moses to Pharaoh: "Let my people go, that they may serve me..."
Advertisement
Sabbagh believed the small piece of parchment was his good luck charm for six decades. He was convinced that thanks to the parchment, which he kept with him always in a transparent plastic container, he had been saved from riots in his hometown of Aleppo during Israel's War of Independence, and he had managed to immigrate from Syria to the United States in 1968 and start a new life in Brooklyn and make a living. The charm was with him when he underwent complicated surgery.

Just two years ago, it completed its task, when Sabbagh passed away.

[...]

In 1987 Professor Menahem Ben-Sasson, then head of the Ben Zvi Institute and now chairman of the Knesset Constitution, Law and Justice Committee, went to the U.S. to obtain funding from a wealthy member of the Aleppo community, Steve Shalom, for an urgent restoration of the codex.

"While I was meeting with him, another member of the community came in and said that the codex had burned but that his brother Sam had a page. I asked for the brother's phone number and called him right away. He told me 'I won't give it to you under any circumstances. It has saved me from disaster.' I asked if at least I could photograph it, and he agreed."

Michael Glatzer, the academic secretary of the Ben Zvi Institute confirmed that the shape of the letters the vowels and the cantillation marks left no room for doubt: it was part of the codex.

Glatzer documented Sabbagh's testimony about finding the page on the day of the fire. "I saw the pages scattered on the floor and damaged by the fire. I could have taken the whole remaining part but my hands shook with fear and the horror of what I had seen. I thought they were going to butcher us all like the Turks massacred the Armenians. I only took the little piece that was separate."

It is now believed that other Jews came in and took pieces of the legendary codex and subsequently refused to part with them. Although Sabbagh agreed to bestow the fragment posthumously, Ben Zvi Institute Director Dr. Zvi Zameret says negotiations with the family took time. "In the end we paid the small sum of a few thousand shekels so they would feel good and we had a little ceremony in New York with Sabbagh's widow."

[...]

Ben-Sasson says that since he found the fragment Sabbagh had, whenever he would give a lecture to Jews of the Aleppo community, he would ask them to find the missing pieces of the codex. "They bring me all kinds of manuscripts and charms but it was never that. I've even asked the community's rabbis to place a ban on anyone holding parts of the codex, but they told me it wouldn't help. The connection between the Aleppo Jews and the codex is just too strong."

[...]

More please.

IT HAD TO HAPPEN: ARAMAIC SUDOKU.

(From Steve Caruso via the Hugoye list.

TEMPLE MOUNT WATCH: A terrorist attack at the Mughrabi Gate may have been thwarted.

Lupolianski assassination plot foiled
By ETGAR LEFKOVITS (Jerusalem Post)

Three Jerusalem Arabs have been charged with planning a series of terrorist attacks in the city, including the assassination of Jerusalem Mayor Uri Lupolianski, a suicide bombing and a shooting attack near the Western Wall, security officials said Sunday.

The suspects, who were arrested two weeks ago, were charged Friday in a Jerusalem court with establishing contacts with a foreign agent, conspiring to assist an enemy in time of war, and aiding a terrorist group.

A gag order imposed on the case was lifted on Sunday evening.

According to the indictment, late last year Mamoun Abu Tir and Atallah Abu Tir, both 19 and from the east Jerusalem neighborhood of Umm Tuba, decided to set up a terrorist cell.

[...]

Mamoun Abu Tir allegedly discussed attacks on various individuals, including the mayor of Jerusalem, and plans for a shooting attack at the Mughrabi Gate leading to the Temple Mount.

[...]

If there was a plot, it doesn't seem likely to be a coincidence that the attack was to take place at this spot, whose excavation by Israeli archaeologists has already generated lots of controversy, including protests in the Islamic world and violent protest in Jerusalem.

A ROUNDUP of the controvery over the tenuring of Nadia Abu El-Haj appears in Inside Higher Ed:

Barnard Tenures Scholar Opposed by Massive Campaign

In one of the most publicly contested tenure cases of the year, Barnard College announced Friday that it would promote Nadia Abu El-Haj, an anthropologist whose work on archaeology in Israel led to a major campaign against her.

A statement released by the college did not directly speak to the controversy that has raged around Abu El-Haj. “Like all tenured members of the Barnard faculty, Professor Abu El-Haj has successfully passed a highly rigorous review that involves both Barnard’s own independent process and a university-wide review [at Columbia University] that reflects Barnard’s partnership with Columbia and the participation of Barnard faculty in Columbia’s graduate programs,” the statement said.

“The tenure process includes extensive, confidential peer review by leading scholars in the candidate’s field; clear documentation of teaching effectiveness; and a candidate’s record of service to the institution and her profession. Tenure, together with the norms of academic freedom that pertain to all faculty, gives scholars the liberty to advance ideas, regardless of their political impact, so that their work may be openly debated and play a critical role in shaping knowledge in the scholar’s academic field.” (A Barnard spokeswoman said that college officials would not discuss the tenure decision beyond the statement.)

[...]

Background here.

MARY MAGDALENE is the subject of a long article (dated June 2006) in Smithsonian Magazine. I confess I haven't had time to read all of it, but here it is:

Who Was Mary Magdalene?

From the writing of the New Testament to the filming of The Da Vinci Code, her image has been repeatedly conscripted, contorted and contradicted. But through it all, one question has gone largely unanswered

* By James Carroll
* Smithsonian magazine, June 2006

The whole history of western civilization is epitomized in the cult of Mary Magdalene. For many centuries the most obsessively revered of saints, this woman became the embodiment of Christian devotion, which was defined as repentance. Yet she was only elusively identified in Scripture, and has thus served as a scrim onto which a succession of fantasies has been projected. In one age after another her image was reinvented, from prostitute to sibyl to mystic to celibate nun to passive helpmeet to feminist icon to the matriarch of divinity’s secret dynasty. How the past is remembered, how sexual desire is domesticated, how men and women negotiate their separate impulses; how power inevitably seeks sanctification, how tradition becomes authoritative, how revolutions are co-opted; how fallibility is reckoned with, and how sweet devotion can be made to serve violent domination—all these cultural questions helped shape the story of the woman who befriended Jesus of Nazareth.

[...]

THE UNION OF ARAB ARCHAEOLOGISTS is meeting to discuss a number of archaeological issues, including Jerusalem:

Kuwait keen on active role with Union of Arab Archaeologists

Published Date: November 05, 2007 (Kuwait Times)
CAIRO: Kuwait is keen on playing an active role in archaeological events that bring together experts and enthusiasts in the field in the Arab region, a specialist told KUNA yesterday.

Kuwait University Professor Faysal Al-Kanderi said Kuwait is taking part in the current conference of the Union of Arab Archaeologists which discusses the remains and relics associated with a renowned Ottoman navigator and other figures deemed controversial at one time or another among Arab intelligentsia and culture enthusiasts.

Al-Kanderi said Al-Quds (Jerusalem) and attempts to juadize the holy city feature high on discussion items and the media's blind eye to escalations and violations on the part of Israel are also to be discussed.

[...]

Should be interesting.

DIGITIZING THE DEAD SEA SCROLLS:

International panel discusses digitization of Dead Sea Scrolls
By ETGAR LEFKOVITS (Jerusalem Post)

An international committee of 10 experts is meeting in Jerusalem this week to discuss the future digitization of the Dead Sea Scrolls, the Israel Antiquities Authority said Sunday.

The scrolls, which are the oldest surviving biblical texts, were discovered 60 years ago by a Beduin shepherd in what is regarded as one of the most significant archeological finds of the 20th century.

The four-day meet, which began on Sunday, will deliberate on the best methods and techniques to digitize the scrolls for publication, research and conservation purposes, said Pnina Tur of the state-run archeological body's conservation department.

[...]

Bring it on!

THE POST ON RICHARD BAUCKHAM'S RETIREMENT has been updated with additional photos and commentary.

(Bumped to the top for today.)

THE SITUATION FOR THE MANDEANS (MANDAEANS) IN IRAQ remains very grim:

Religious sect fears extinction in Iraq

By Betsy Hiel
[PITTSBURGH] TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Sunday, November 4, 2007

ERBIL, Iraq -- Humam Abdel Jabar sits on a bench in a friend's jewelry shop. Shoulders hunched, head down, he nervously plays with his fingers while recounting a tale of kidnapping and torture that is familiar to many Iraqis.

In April, "four armed men wearing face masks came at 8 o'clock at night and broke down the door of my house," the tall, dark-eyed man with a full moustache wearily recounts.

They shoved him into a car trunk and drove to a nearby house, then blindfolded and bound him.

Jabar stares at the floor. "They beat me and terrorized me. They used a water hose ... punched and pushed me."

He points to scars on his face and shoulders.

"They said, 'You are an infidel, and this is an Islamic state. Either you pay the jiziyah (a tax that Islamic governments once levied on non-Muslims) or it is hallal (religiously sanctioned) to kill you.' "

The kidnappers demanded that the goldsmith pay a $100,000 ransom.

"If you do not give us this, how would you like to be killed -- by shooting or beheading?" they asked him. "We will send your head back to your family in a bag."

Jabar, 42, belongs to the Mandaeans, a tiny religious sect that survived for 2,000 years in Iraq and Iran. Now scattered by Iraq's bloodshed, its leaders fear the sect will disappear.

Not Jews, Christians or Muslims, Mandaeans venerate John the Baptist in rituals revolving around water. Their religious leaders still speak a dialect of Aramaic that is closest to that of the Babylonian Talmud.

"They are one of a variety of groups that appeared around the same time as Christianity ... offering alternative interpretations -- in the case of the Mandaeans, one that scholars have identified as Gnostic," explains Nathaniel Deutsch, a Mandaean expert at Swarthmore College. "The Mandaeans are the one community ... that still survives from this period, and that is extraordinary."

[...]

Background here, here, here, and here.

GOSPEL OF JUDAS WATCH: Articles on two recent books on the Gospel of Judas.

New translation sparks debate

Newly translated Gospel offers twist to old story of betrayal

BY AMY FLOWERS UMBLE (Fredericksburg.com)

Date published: 11/3/2007

BY AMY FLOWERS UMBLE

Judas Iscariot is one of the most infamous traitors.

But was he?

Or was he just an early victim of bad press?

Marvin Meyer, a biblical scholar who translated the recently published Gospel of Judas, thinks it was the latter. Meyer spoke last week at the University of Mary Washington.

[...]

But is it possible Judas didn't betray Jesus but helped him? Instead of being the traitor, could he have been the only disciple to truly understand Jesus' mission?

The Gospel of Judas, a text discovered more than 30 years ago and translated in 2006, suggests that very scenario.

The new look at Judas has been so compelling that the translated Gospel became a best-seller.

Meyer's recent lecture at UMW was well-attended. He travels the world speaking about the Gospel of Judas.

"The response has been just incredible to this text," Meyer said in an interview.

The text has its supporters but some consider it heretical and others are now questioning the translation. Nevertheless, it's opening up discussions, Meyer said.

[...]

As for those questioning the translation, note, for example, this press release:

Rice University professor debunks National Geographic translation of Gospel of Judas

A new book by Rice University professor April DeConick debunks a stunning claim by National Geographic's translation of the Gospel of Judas. According to that translation, Judas was a hero, not a villain, who acted on Jesus' request to betray him. DeConick disagrees.

Before releasing her book "The Thirteenth Apostle: What the Gospel of Judas Really Says," DeConick was intrigued by the original release of the Coptic Gospel of Judas and as a scholar wanted to read it for herself. While researching and translating it, she discovered that National Geographic's translators had made some serious errors.

"Once I started translating the Gospel of Judas and began to see the types of translation choices that the National Geographic team had made I was startled and concerned," DeConick said. "The text very clearly called Judas a 'demon.'"

[...]

For much more, see DeConick'sThe Forbidden Gospels blog.