HEROD'S TOMB (if that's what it is) has been getting a lot of attention again in the last couple of days. This National Geographic piece covers the essentials and has a nice photo and a video:

New Finds at King Herod's Tomb: 2,000-Year-Old Frescoes
Mati Milstein in Herodium, West Bank
for National Geographic News
November 19, 2008

ON TV Herod's Lost Tomb airs Sunday, November 23, at 9 p.m. ET on the National Geographic Channel. Details >>

Archaeologists exploring King Herod's tomb complex near Jerusalem have uncovered rare Roman paintings as well as two sarcophagi, or stone coffins, that could have contained the remains of Herod's sons.

[...]

New Findings

Netzer revealed new discoveries at a Wednesday press conference in Jerusalem.

Recent excavations uncovered an elaborate theater dating slightly earlier than Herod's burial complex that had been demolished to enable construction of the artificial mountain that served as his tomb.

The walls of the theater's loggia—a balcony that served as a VIP room and viewing box—are decorated with well-preserved Roman paintings of windows and outdoor scenes.

[...]

Note also this LA Times photo of the sarcophagus.

Background here, here, and here.

THE MUSEUM OF TOLERANCE CONTROVERSY has been getting a lot of press. Much of it has been negative and I have not found a single article that actively defends the Museum's position. Here's one piece from The Forward:

An Intolerable Spot for a Museum
Opinion
By Buzzy Gordon
Thu. Nov 20, 2008

In the Jewish community, the name Simon Wiesenthal is sacrosanct — which is why Rabbi Marvin Hier chose to establish his West Coast empire on the bedrock of the Nazi hunter’s reputation when Hier entered the institutional Judaism vacuum of Los Angeles 30 years ago. Over the course of the past three decades, the Simon Wiesenthal Center brand has been enhanced by its Museum of Tolerance in Los Angeles, but recent developments in Israel have begun to tarnish the institution’s reputation.

[...]

Jerusalem is too fragile a place for a flamboyant building, however well-intentioned, that creates ill will among a significant sector of the population that shows no signs of accepting it. As one call to action put it: “The legal battle has been lost… we must move on to the political battle.” Is a so-called Museum of Tolerance worth turning the Holy City into a battleground once again, in the 21st century?

Instead of such a grandiose scheme, let the center invite Arab architects to collaborate in designing a tasteful Garden of Tolerance on the disputed site, as an extension of the existing belt of green that is Independence Park.

At the same time, let the ambitious Gehry museum be built in an area where the most benefit can be derived, such as near the Jerusalem Forest’s Kennedy Memorial, or where Jews and Arabs can welcome it equally, such as on the road to Bethlehem or in the Galilee.

If the media coverage is any indication, the Museum may have won the legal battle, but it has already lost the political one.

Background here.

I'M IN BOSTON, writing from my hotel room. More tomorrow.

I'M OFF TO BOSTON for the annual meeting of the Society of Biblical Literature. I expect blogging to continue through it more or less as normally. As usual, I will be presenting a paper and, as usual, I am posting it here in advance for those who can't make it to the conference or the session.

The Book of Revelation and the Hekhalot Literature (PDF file)
SBL23-65, Early Jewish and Christian Mysticism
11/23/2008, 1:00 PM to 3:30 PM, Room: Beacon H - SH

A handout containing passages from my (hopefully soon to be published) translation of the Hekhalot literature is here (PDF file).

Also, Douglas Mangum has posted a list of Bibliobloggers Presenting at SBL at the Biblia Hebraica blog.

I'm preposting this note on Wednesday. I'll be traveling all day Thursday and expect to arrive on Thursday evening. Look for me again by Friday.

THE JESUS PROJECT - a new Jesus Seminar, sort of:

Scholars will investigate the Sources of the Gospel

Amherst, New York (November 17, 2008)--Following in the footsteps of the famed Jesus Seminar, scholars representing the cream of the crop in the field of Biblical studies are set to gather December 5-7 at the Center for Inquiry campus in Amherst, New York for a conference devoted to exploring the historical Jesus. The sessions will mark the inaugural meeting of the new "Jesus Project," first announced to the world at the University of California at Davis in January of 2007. "The Jesus Project" is an initiative of the Committee for the Scientific Examination of Religion (CSER), housed at Center for Inquiry/Transnational, a secularist think tank.

"The conference in Amherst will answer the challenge laid down by CSER Fellow and Jesus Seminar cofounder John Dominic Crossan, namely, how one goes about deciding what counts for evidence of the Jesus tradition," said R. Joseph Hoffmann, chair of the Committee for the Scientific Examination of Religion. "I suspect we will witness a lively discussion on the question of sources and methods. How can we know what constituted the earliest phase of the Jesus-tradition? Is it possible to reconstruct the earliest form of the gospel, using the advanced techniques of biblical and historical criticism?"

"The Jesus Project" is devoted to examining the case for the historical existence of Jesus based on a rigorous application of historical critical methods to the gospels and related literature. Unlike the "Jesus Seminar," founded in 1985 by the late Professor Robert Funk of the University of Montana, the new Seminar regards the claim that Jesus of Nazareth was an historical figure as a "testable hypothesis." Hoffmann said that the project has been called for by a number of scholars who felt that the first Jesus Seminar may have been--for political reasons--too reluctant to follow where the evidence led.

[...]

THE BIBLE'S BURIED SECRETS from PBS is reviewed by Alan Boyle on the Cosmic Log.

"The Bible's Buried Secrets," premiering tonight on PBS, presents archaeological findings that will annoy believers as well as skeptics - which suggests the TV documentary just might be on the right track.

BOOK REVIEW (one of Reform Judaism's great gifts for Chanukah):

Tree of Souls: The Mythology of Judaism by Howard Schwartz, illustratedby Caren Loebel-Fried
(Oxford University Press, 618 pp., paperback $29.95)

Is there a Jewish mythology? If myth refers to “a people’s sacred stories about origins, deities, ancestors, and heroes,” the answer is yes—and now we have access to it, thanks to Judaism’s own answer to Joseph Campbell. With this unique anthology, Howard Schwartz, the preeminent reteller of Jewish stories, has created a genre.

[...]

WEST BANK LOOTING continues relentlessly:

Since the start of the second intifada, looters have overrun not just Khirbet Tawas but countless other archaeological sites that crowd the West Bank (map, opposite). Few jobs, inadequate law enforcement by both Palestinian and Israeli authorities, and demand for artifacts just across the border in Israel have created the perfect setting for looting, says Morag Kersel, an expert at the University of Toronto on the illegal antiquities trade.

This from National Geographic. I have noted the problem before, for example, here and here,

MORE ON THE NEW ZINCIRLI INSCRIPTION - a press release from EukeraAlert:

Funerary monument reveals Iron Age belief that the soul lived in the stone
Discovery in Turkey comes from major Iron Age site

Archaeologists in southeastern Turkey have discovered an Iron Age chiseled stone slab that provides the first written evidence in the region that people believed the soul was separate from the body.

University of Chicago researchers will describe the discovery, a testimony created by an Iron Age official that includes an incised image of the man, on Nov. 22-23 at conferences of biblical and Middle Eastern archaeological scholars in Boston.

The Neubauer Expedition of the Oriental Institute at the University of Chicago found the 800-pound basalt stele, 3 feet tall and 2 feet wide, at Zincirli (pronounced "Zin-jeer-lee"), the site of the ancient city of Sam'al. Once the capital of a prosperous kingdom, it is now one of the most important Iron Age sites under excavation.

[...]

"The stele is in almost pristine condition. It is unique in its combination of pictorial and textual features and thus provides an important addition to our knowledge of ancient language and culture," said David Schloen, Associate Professor at the Oriental Institute and Director of the University's Neubauer Expedition to Zincirli.

Schloen will present the Kuttamuwa stele to a scholarly audience at the meeting of the American Schools of Oriental Research on Nov. 22 in Boston, the major annual conference for Middle Eastern archaeology. Dennis Pardee, Professor of Near Eastern Languages and Civilization at the University of Chicago, will present his translation of the stele's 13-line inscription the following day at the annual meeting of the Society of Biblical Literature, also in Boston, in a session on "Paleographical Studies in the Near East."

[...]

German archaeologists first excavated the 100-acre site in the 1890s and unearthed massive city walls, gates and palaces. A number of royal inscriptions and other finds are now on display in museums in Istanbul and Berlin. Schloen and his team from the University of Chicago have excavated Zincirli for two months annually since 2006.

"Zincirli is a remarkable site," said Gil Stein, Director of the Oriental Institute. "Because no other cities were built on top of it, we have excellent Iron Age materials right under the surface. It is rare also in having written evidence together with artistic and archaeological evidence from the Iron Age. Having all of that information helps an archaeologist study the ethnicity of the inhabitants, trade and migration, as well as the relationships of the groups who lived there."

The stele was discovered last summer in a small room that had been converted into a mortuary shrine for the royal official Kuttamuwa, self-described in the inscription as a "servant" of King Panamuwa of the eighth century B.C. It was found in the outer part of the walled city in a domestic area—most likely the house of Kuttamuwa himself—far from the royal palaces, where inscriptions had previously been found.

The inscription reads in part: "I, Kuttamuwa, servant of Panamuwa, am the one who oversaw the production of this stele for myself while still living. I placed it in an eternal chamber(?) and established a feast at this chamber(?): a bull for [the storm-god] Hadad, ... a ram for [the sun-god] Shamash, ... and a ram for my soul that is in this stele. …" It was written in a script derived from the Phoenician alphabet and in a local West Semitic dialect similar to Aramaic and Hebrew. It is of keen interest to linguists as well as biblical scholars and religious historians because it comes from a kingdom contemporary with ancient Israel that shared a similar language and cultural features.

The finding sheds a striking new light on Iron Age beliefs about the afterlife. In this case, it was the belief that the enduring identity or "soul" of the deceased inhabited the monument on which his image was carved and on which his final words were recorded.

[...]

Background here. This sounds like a remarkable discovery. 2008 has certainly been a good year for Northwest Semitic Epigraphy.

The paper by Professors Schloen and Pardee is a late addition and is not in the paper program, but here's the information on it from the SBL website:

SBL23-84Paleographical Studies in the Ancient Near East
11/23/2008
1:00 PM to 3:30 PM
Room: Meeting Room 304 - CC

Christopher Rollston, Emmanuel School of Religion, Presiding (10 min)
Jason Bembry, Emmanuel School of Religion
Multiple Vocalizations in the Cairo Genizah Fragment TS A 39.3 (20 min)
Kent Clarke, Trinity Western University
The Trinity Western University-Wikene Papyri “Rediscovery” (20 min)
Joe Zias, Science and Archaeology-Jerusalem
Ancient Graffiti within the Alleged Judean (Tzuba) Cave of John the Baptist: John, or Lazarus, the Crusader Patron Saint of Leprosy? (20 min)
Christopher A. Rollston, Emmanuel School of Religion
Horvat Uza Epigraphs: New Collations of the Entire Corpus (20 min)
Philip C. Schmitz, Eastern Michigan University
Interpreting the “Separate Inscriptions” from Karatepe-Aslantas (20 min)
Robert Deutsch, Tel Aviv University
The Hebrew Fiscal Bullae from the Time of Hezekiah King of Judah (20 min)
Dennis Pardee, University of Chicago and David Schloen, University of Chicago
A New Alphabetic Inscription from Zincirli (20 min)

Unfortunately my paper is at about the same time, so I won't be able to make it to Pardee's and Schloen's. But I trust that there will be some bibliobloggers there to give us all a full report.

UPDATE: I see that the NYT also has a long article that I initially missed. It has quite a bit to say about the term "soul" in the text, which is used in a way not found for the cognate word nefesh in the Hebrew Bible:

The discovery and its implications were described last week in interviews with archaeologists and a linguist at the University of Chicago, who excavated and translated the inscription.

“Normally, in the Semitic cultures, the soul of a person, their vital essence, adheres to the bones of the deceased,” said David Schloen, an archaeologist at the university’s Oriental Institute and director of the excavations. “But here we have a culture that believed the soul is not in the corpse but has been transferred to the mortuary stone.”

A translation of the inscription by Dennis Pardee, a professor of Near Eastern languages and civilization at Chicago, reads in part: “I, Kuttamuwa, servant of [the king] Panamuwa, am the one who oversaw the production of this stele for myself while still living. I placed it in an eternal chamber [?] and established a feast at this chamber: a bull for [the god] Hadad, a ram for [the god] Shamash and a ram for my soul that is in this stele.”

Dr. Pardee said the word used for soul, nabsh, was Aramaic, a language spoken throughout northern Syria and parts of Mesopotamia in the eighth century. But the inscription seemed to be a previously unrecognized dialect. In Hebrew, a related language, the word for soul is nefesh.

In addition to the writing, a pictorial scene chiseled into the well-preserved stele depicts the culture’s view of the afterlife. A bearded man wearing a tasseled cap, presumably Kuttamuwa, raises a cup of wine and sits before a table laden with food, bread and roast duck in a stone bowl.

In other societies of the region, scholars say, this was an invitation to bring customary offerings of food and drink to the tomb of the deceased. Here family and descendants supposedly feasted before a stone slab in a kind of chapel. Archaeologists have found no traces there of a tomb or bodily remains.

Joseph Wegner, an Egyptologist at the University of Pennsylvania, who was not involved in the research, said cult offerings to the dead were common in the Middle East, but not the idea of a soul separate from the body — except in Egypt.

In ancient Egypt, Dr. Wegner noted, the human entity has separate components. The body is important, and the elite went to great expense to mummify and entomb it for eternity. In death, though, a life force or spirit known as ka was immortal, and a soul known as ba, which was linked to personal attributes, fled the body after death.

Dr. Wegner said the concept of a soul held by the people at Sam’al “sounds vaguely Egyptian in its nature.” But there was nothing in history or archaeology, he added, to suggest that the Egyptian civilization had a direct influence on this border kingdom.

UPDATE: Chuck Jones has posted a high-resolution photograph of the inscription here at The Oriental Institute: Fragments for a History of an Institution blog.

TEMPLE MOUNT WATCH, sort of: There's a new SBL group being formed which focuses on the study of the Jerusalem Temple. From William J. Hamblin (via David Seeley via the Agade list):

A few years ago we noted that there was no SBL group dedicated to the study of the temple in biblical and related traditions. So we plunged in where angels fear to tread and have set about trying to organize a new consultation we are calling, prosaically enough, "Temple Studies."

We've initiated the authorization process, but have not yet been given final approval to form an official consultation. The SBL organizers want us to have an initial "business" meeting to gauge interest and get feedback before we receive final approval for the consultation.

A Temple Studies "new program unit formation meeting" has therefore been scheduled on Monday afternoon from 1:00-3:30 pm in the Jefferson Room in the Sheraton Hotel (we anticipate that the meeting will last roughly an hour). In this meeting we will discuss the details of how to go about organizing our consultation, form a steering committee, and discuss what we hope to accomplish with our group. Our plan is to get final SBL approval in the next few months, and have a formal Temple Studies sponsored session at SBL in 2009. We invite all who are interested in seeing a Temple Studies consultation established at SBL to attend.

We've also created a Google Group for SBL Temple Studies:
http://groups.google.com/group/sbl-temple-studies

We can have a "list-serv" style email exchanges on this group, and use it as a place to archive bibliographies, reviews, images, papers, etc.

If you'd like to join this email group, go to the above link, then click on "join this group" on the right side of the page. If you have trouble joining, send an email to hamblinwj@me.com, and I'll try to add you.

If you are interested in participating, but are unable to attend this meeting, please join the "SBL Temple Studies" Google group, where we will be posting the minutes of our business meeting, regular announcements, etc.

Please forward this message to any colleagues you know who might be interested in attending. We look forward to seeing you next Monday.

I've joined the Google group. It's high time for such an SBL group to be formed.

MORE ON KHIRBET QEIYAFA:

New evidence surfaces of David's kingdom

Matthew Kalman, [San Francisco] Chronicle Foreign Service

(11-17) 04:00 PST Khirbet Qeiyafa, Israel -- For 3,000 years, the 12-foot high walls of an ancient city have been clearly visible on a hill towering above the Valley of Elah where the Bible says David slew Goliath.

But no one has ever linked the ruins to the city mentioned in the First Book of Samuel's famous account of the legendary duel and the victory of the Israelites - until now. On Tuesday, Hebrew University archaeology Professor Yosef Garfinkel will present compelling evidence to scholars at Harvard University that he has found the 10th century biblical city of Sha'arayim, Hebrew for "Two Gates." Garfinkel, who made his startling discovery at the beginning of this month, will also discuss his findings at the American Schools of Oriental Research conference hosted by Boston University on Thursday.

[...]

The revelation comes only weeks after Garfinkel's team discovered the oldest Hebrew inscription ever found at the same five-acre site - a 3,000-year-old pottery fragment bearing five lines of text in proto-Canaanite script, a precursor of Hebrew. It was found in a house next to a massive gate on the western side of Khirbet Qeiyafa hill, which Garfinkel believed was the city's only entrance - until finding a second gate last week.

[...]

Garfinkel, who has excavated numerous sites in Israel, says he discovered the second gate after noticing an apparent break in the massive stone wall as he walked along the 2,100-foot long structure that faced the road to Jerusalem. After two days of digging, his hunch paid off. A second entrance constructed from massive stones lay just a few feet beneath the topsoil.

"This is the only city from the Iron Age in this region ever found with two gates," said Garfinkel as he clambered over the huge structure. "It was probably a mistake. It made the city more vulnerable. It might explain why it appears to have been settled only twice, for very short periods."

[...]

It has also recently been argued by Nadav Na'aman that Kirbet Qeiyafa was the biblical city of Gob.

TEMPLE MOUNT WATCH:

Was the Aksa Mosque built over the remains of a Byzantine church?
By ETGAR LEFKOVITS (Jerusalem Post)

The photo archives of a British archeologist who carried out the only archeological excavation ever undertaken at the Temple Mount's Aksa Mosque show a Byzantine mosaic floor underneath the mosque that was likely the remains of a church or a monastery, an Israeli archeologist said on Sunday.

The excavation was carried out in the 1930s by R.W. Hamilton, director of the British Mandate Antiquities Department, in coordination with the Wakf Islamic Trust that administers the compound, following earthquakes that badly damaged the mosque in 1927 and 1937.

In conjunction with the Wakf's construction and repair work carried out between 1938 and 1942, Hamilton excavated under the mosque's piers, and documented all his work related to the mosque in The Structural History of the Aqsa Mosque.

Hamilton also uncovered the Byzantine mosaic floor and beneath it a mikva (ritual bath) from the Second Temple period, which he pointedly did not include in the publication about the mosque, but instead photographed and labeled in a file about the mosque, archeologist Zachi Zweig said on Sunday.

[...]

This is an unexpected twist to the convoluted history of the Temple Mount.

ANCIENT PHOENICIANS AND JEWS IN CYPRUS - Judie Fine tells Chabad.org what she found:

Suddenly, a light went on in our guide's eyes. "I just thought of something," she said. "About two months ago I went to a lecture by one of our top archeologists about the ancient site of Kition, which isn't far from here. He said that the Phoenicians came to Kition in the ninth century B.C.E, and found an old temple there. They rebuilt it and dedicated it to their goddess Astarte. From the ruins, we learn about the architecture of the Temple of Solomon in Jerusalem, because it was built on the same model. Do you want to go there?"

I hopped into the van with Zeev and soon we were standing at the Kition archeological site. Among other ruins, from other periods, was the outline of a stone temple with an area for the Holy of Holies and the bases of two columns in the main room. "Like the Temple of Solomon," our guide said, and an explanatory plaque reinforced what she was saying. The Phoenicians had left behind the architectural outline of a temple that was contemporaneous to the Temple of Solomon. Zeev stared. I stared.

"Where are the entrances?" Zeev asked the guide. "The Temple of Solomon had more than one entrance." We scrutinized the ruin, trying to discern where the entrances may have been.

"Oh, one other thing," said Zeev. "I have this book to show you. I haven't read it, because I can't read English very well. It's about the history of Jews in Cyprus."

Excited, I borrowed the book from Zeev when we dropped him off at his house. Written two years ago by a very knowledgeable Cypriot historian and archeologist named Stavros Panteli, it contained everything I had been searching for. My feelings had been right. Of course there was a long-standing Jewish presence in Cyprus. "Cyprus has had a role in Jewish history unparalleled by any country other than Israel itself," the introduction read. I read--no-- I devoured the book.

The first Hebrew settlements in Cyprus may have been as early as the Assyrian conquest of Israel, but they most certainly were established after the Babylonian conquest of Judea. By the 2nd century BCE, Jews flourished as craftsmen, garment-makers, financiers and merchants. There is literary evidence as well as Hasmonean coins that have been found on the island.

A very cosmopolitan city, Salamis, housed a great number of Jews, especially following the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem in 70 C.E.

In the first and second centuries, there were Jewish rebellions in the Diaspora throughout the Roman-dominated world. There was also friction between Jews and their non-Jewish neighbors and restrictions placed upon the Jews. In a violent uprising, Jews clashed with the Gentiles of Cyprus. A Roman edict was passed that no Jew, upon pain of death, should ever set foot again on the island. But this seemed not to have deterred some Jews from staying, and others from arriving there during the succeeding centuries.

More on the Phoenicians of Kition here. More on Jews in ancient Cyprus here.

THE FIRE GOSPEL by Michel Faber is reviewed by Adrian Michael Kelly in the Canadian Globe and Mail. Excerpt:

Less commonly, the fallible apostle achieves in spite of himself a kind of poetry. The Fire Gospel should succeed in transporting even hardened unbelievers to Golgotha and to the foot of a cross on which a man, hanging by his pinioned wrists, does not draw his last breath to say, "Into thy hands I commend myself," but rather, "Please, somebody, please finish me."

That moving moment in Malchus's testament may, for less venturesome readers, be undone by the scene that follows. The rapture of Malchus blends pornography, poetry and black humour, and I think it the novel's best moment. Faber can write with economy and grace.

Too often, however, he writes almost glibly. At its worst, The Fire Gospel is itself symptomatic of the desacralized, irony-laden age it sets out to lampoon. Most of the novel follows Theo through his harrowing promotional tour after he publishes the Gospel of Malchus, and most of the targets of Faber's satire - mass-market publishing, for example - are as easy and as tired as most of his jokes.

Background here.

THE BABYLON EXHIBITION at the British Museum is reviewed again in the London Times. Excerpt:

There can be few more daunting artefacts to include successfully in a show than a cuneiform tablet. Who among us can stare at one of these jumbles of incisions and see meaning in it? Certainly not me. So considerable acclaim should be heaped on the heads of these particular exhibition-makers for daring to include so many writing tablets and for making them so damn interesting. To see names and situations made familiar by the Bible being described so vividly from another angle is such an eye-opener.

I was particularly intrigued by a religious tablet in which an attempt is made to explain how the many Babylonian gods are actually different manifestations of Marduk, the supreme god. A nascent monotheism is clearly emerging. And a brave man even might argue that, on this evidence, the Jewish belief in a single supreme being must originally have been influenced by Babylonian thinking.

Well maybe. But the Judean exiles took the idea and ran with it while the Babylonians only played with it a little.

Background here.

MORE ON THE TROGODYTES (and Troglodytes and Horites) from N. T. Wrong.

Background here.

MORE ON KHIRBET QEIYAFA: reader Jerry Rosenberg forwards the following:

From: Ehud Ben Zvi
Date: Thu, Nov 13, 2008 at 4:56 PM
Subject: [Jhs-list] Nadav Na'aman, In Search of the Ancient Name of Khirbet Qeiyafa
To: jhs-list@mailman.srv.ualberta.ca


Dear all,

I am glad to announce that the Journal of Hebrew Scriptures
(http://www.jhsonline.org) has recently published the following article:

Journal of Hebrew Scriptures - Volume 8: Article 21 (2008)

Nadav Na'aman, In Search of the Ancient Name of Khirbet Qeiyafa

Abstract

This article discusses the identity of the recently excavated stronghold of Khirbet Qeiyafa, a tenth century BCE site located near the Valley of Elah, in the area where the story of the battle between David and Goliath takes place. There is also the story of a battle between Elhanan the Bethlehemite and Goliath of Gath that takes place at Gob (2 Sam 21:19). In light of a comparison of the two episodes I suggest identifying Khirbet Qeiyafa with biblical Gob. A close reading of the four anecdotes related in 2 Sam 21:15-22 clarifies the message of the early biblical tradition of four battles fought between Israelite and Philistine elite warriors that culminated in the advance of the Israelite troops to the gates of Philistine Gath.

Those who wish to access this article directly may go to
http://www.arts.ualberta.ca/JHS/Articles/article_98.pdf

I hope to be able to send very soon an announcement concerning an
hypertext version of the journal covering volumes 1-7.

Regards,

Ehud

Khirbet Qeiyafa is, of course, the site where the early and still unpublished Hebrew/Canaanite inscription was recently discovered. Background here (and follow the links back), here, and here.

A CALL FOR PAPERS for the Dorushe Annual Graduate Student Conference on Syriac Studies at Yale University on 29 March 2009:

We welcome graduate student proposals for papers in all areas related to Syriac studies.Abstracts should be a maximum of 400 words. The abstracts should emphasize the main contribution of the author to the topic he/she wishes to discuss and his/her supportive evidence. Papers may be given on any topic related to Syriac studies. Please be advised that the submission of an abstract and its acceptance represent a commitment from the contributor to present it in person at the conference. ...

THE JOASH/JEHOASH INSCRIPTION'S AUTHENTICITY is being defended on geological grounds over at the recently revived Bible and Interpretation website:

Archaeometric evidence for the authenticity of the Jehoash Inscription Tablet

A gray, fine-grained arkosic sandstone tablet bearing an inscription in ancient Hebrew from the First Temple Period contains a rich assemblage of particles accumulated in the covering patina. Two types of patina cover the tablet: a thin layer of black to orange iron-oxide-rich layer, a product of micro-biogenic processes, and a light beige patina that contains feldspars, carbonate, iron oxide, subangular quartz grains, carbon ash particles and gold globules (1 to 4 micrometers [1 micrometer = 0.001 millimeter] in diameter). The patina covers the rock surface as well as the engraved lettering grooves and blankets and thus post-dates the incised inscription as well as a crack that runs across the stone and several of the engraved letters. Radiocarbon analyses of the carbon particles in the patina yield a calibrated radiocarbon age of 2340 to 2150 Cal BP. The presence of microcolonial fungi and associated pitting in the patina indicates slow growth over many years. The occurrence of pure gold globules is evidence of a thermal event in close proximity to the tablet (above 1000 degrees Celsius). This study supports the antiquity of the patina, which in turn, strengthens the contention that the inscription is authentic.





By A. Rosenfeld and S. Ilani

Geological Survey of Israel,

H. R. Feldman

The Anna Ruth and Mark Hasten School, A Division of Touro College

Division of Paleontology (Invertebrates), American Museum of Natural History,

W. E. Krumbein

Department of Geomicrobiology, ICBM, Carl von Ossietzky Universitaet,

Oldenburg, Germany

J. Kronfeld

Department of Geophysics and Planetary Sciences, Tel-Aviv University,

The arguments sound persuasive, but the area is entirely outside my field of expertise and I have no way of evaluating them. The authors look distinguished and some of them have been making related arguments for years. I note that they also have journal publications on the subject, although I know nothing about the journals. More interesting (to me), is the article by C. Cohen, which I have not yet seen but must get a copy of. My skeptical take on the philological aspects of the inscription, posted several years ago, is here and I haven't followed the discussion much since then, but it clearly has continued.

THE JEWISH PUBLICATION SOCIETY is celebrating its one hundred and twentieth anniversary:

As It Celebrates, JPS Steps Into the Future
November 13, 2008 - Aaron Passman (Jewish Exponent)

It's an old saying in Judaism: "May you live as long as Moses." Now that the Jewish Publication Society has reached the age of the great Jewish sage and leader, 120 years, it's setting out to do something he was unable to do -- ensure its survival well beyond that.

This august occasion serves as what CEO and Editor in Chief Ellen Frankel called "a culmination and a new beginning" for the organization, as it reflects upon its accomplishments thus far and prepares for the numerous challenges that lie ahead in the world of publishing.

"Our core mission remains the same -- to provide Jewish books in English, but we're moving into the digital age," said Frankel.

One person who certainly recognizes the significance of the milestone is Philadelphia native and Brandeis University professor Jonathan Sarna, who literally wrote the book on JPS -- the historian penned the group's history 20 years ago when it celebrated its centenary. He noted that the organization's longevity was particularly notable, since two early incarnations (in the 1840s and 1870s, respectively) had failed. He said that, among other accomplishments, JPS had helped to create a market for Jewish books in America and helped shape the country as a major center for Jewish culture and learning away from Europe.

[...]

Among their current projects is this particularly interesting one,:

Another major project on the horizon is The Lost Bible, planned for publication shortly after the turn of the decade. Comprised of translations left out of the Jewish Bible, including texts in Latin, Slavonic and Aramaic, Frankel called it "the lost library of second-temple Judaism."

More commonly known as the Apocrypha, the texts that will be included in The Lost Bible will be some of those which were left out of the Five Books of Moses -- known to Christians as The Old Testament -- when it was codified.

Frankel said the trio of editors behind the project has assembled 75 scholars on six continents, who are "either translating or modernizing translations of about 100 texts, and providing a commentary that restores these ancient Jewish texts to their Jewish setting."

The description is a little garbled: the Apocrypha are included but the corpus as a whole is not the Apocrypha. This project has some overlap with the More Old Testament Pseudepigrapha Project, but less than you might think. MOTP does not include things like the Old Testament Apocrypha, the works of Philo of Alexandria, and most of the pseudepigrapha in the Charlesworth edition, while it does include quite a few Christian and pagan texts. I don't know for sure how many Jewish texts will overlap.

RECONSTRUCTING the facial appearance of Second Temple Jews:

How white were the Israelites? Facial reconstruction may be surprising
By Ofri Ilani, Haaretz Correspondent
Tags: Jewish World, Bible

No one knows how the Israelites and the Judeans looked or which people they would most closely resemble today. Bible stories and historical essays from the Second Temple Period offer a relatively few descriptions of the Israelites' physical appearance. Whatever descriptions do exist can be interpreted in countless ways. The skeletons uncovered at archaeological digs throughout Israel provide only partial information regarding the appearance of early Land of Israel residents.

The accepted assumption has been that early Hebrews resembled the people now living in the Middle East or the Mediterranean Basin. However, an Israeli anthropologist researching the question has now made a surprising claim: the subjects of the Kingdom of Judea in the Second Temple Period looked more like black Africans. This theory arose after Prof. Yair Ben David of Tel-Aviv University conducted the first-ever facial reconstruction of its kind.

[...]

UPDATE (18 January 2009): More here.

HEBREW STUDIES are in decline at Israeli universities according to Haaretz:

At all the country's universities, Hebrew studies are in decline. "The humanities are in a bad way," says Prof. Chaim Cohen, head of the Hebrew Language Department at Ben-Gurion University, "and the departments of Bible studies and Hebrew language are at the top of the list." But it's the same at all the country's universities. These departments are rapidly shrinking, with enrollment standing at less than 1 percent of all humanities students, at most, as in Haifa. They are surviving as best they can.

Tel Aviv University, for example, rescued the Hebrew Language Department from its death throes by making it into a section within the Department of Hebrew Culture Studies, together with Bible, Semitic linguistics, Talmud and ancient literature - all former departments from which students had been staying away in droves. At first, the university's senior faculty objected to the forced merger. But four years later, some faculty members are beginning to see the light.

"Even if it comes out of necessity, the result is better," says Dr. Tamar Sovran, the head of the Hebrew language section. "It led to interdisciplinary enrichment for both students and faculty."

The situation in Jerusalem is equally gloomy. In recent years, enrollment in the Hebrew Language Department has been 12 to 20 students. This year, just before studies began, the university announced cuts in the humanities, "and our department was hurt," says Prof. Steven (Shmuel) Fassberg, the head of the department. "We had to cut back on electives." The reason for this development, Prof. Fassberg says, is the mushrooming of colleges and the general disdain for humanities in Israeli society. "People who once took humanities because they were not admitted to law or business administration are now taking those subjects in the colleges and forsaking humanities completely," he says. It's a process that occurred in the United States and reached us late. The difference is that medicine or law are graduate studies there, and people have to take something to get an undergraduate degree, so quite a few take English literature, for example, in order to improve their ability to express themselves verbally and in writing."

A society without humanities is a society void of content, Prof. Ben-Artzi says. "Every civilized society has grasped that. Germany prepared special task forces and opened hundreds of new units in the humanities. New York University established a whole organization to engage in brainstorming and reached the conclusion that a society loses its essence without the humanities, so they created hundreds of new positions."

Ben-Gurion University this year recorded a slight increase in undergraduate enrollment in Hebrew-language studies. Of the 30 new students, half are Bedouin. Prof. Cohen is aware that no insurance company will sell him a policy against closure of the department. "For the time being, I have an explicit promise from the dean, Prof. Moshe Justman - we pray together every Shabbat in the same synagogue - that closure is not in the offing. But if things get worse, there is no knowing what will happen."

But the number of Arab and Druze students studying Hebrew has been going up for purely practical reasons.

THE FIRE GOSPEL, by Michel Faber, is reviewed by Kath Lockett in the Australian Independent Weekly. Her verdict: "This book is like a mini-me home porn video – an interesting idea, but too short and it fails to deliver."

Can't wait to see what search engine referrals that brings in.

Background here and here.

THE DEAD SEA SCROLLS EXHIBITION at the Royal Ontario Museum is getting some Golb-related flack:

ROM's Dead Sea Scrolls: 2,000 years old, always controversial
Posted: November 12, 2008, 4:20 PM by Adam McDowell
Art and Culture (National Post)


The Royal Ontario Museum could find itself unearthing old controversies when it opens its $3-million, would-be blockbuster Dead Sea Scrolls exhibition next June. A U.S. history professor has accused an earlier, related project in San Diego of deliberate bias, scholarly incompetence and suggestions that its curator, who is also assembling the ROM exhibition, was unqualified for the job.

Last October, University of Chicago Jewish history Norman Golb attacked the San Diego show by circulating a 24-page critique of the exhibition catalogue highlighting what he called “a great many factual errors and unprovable assertions presented as truths.

Though the upcoming Toronto exhibition will showcase a different set of 16 partially decayed fragments of paper, it will be curated by the same person, Risa Levitt Kohn, who organized a Dead Sea Scrolls exhibition at the San Diego Natural History Museum from June, 2007, until last January.

[...]

Background here and here.

Be that as it may, this is interesting:

There is already one firm indication that Kohn and the ROM intend to present multiple points of view. Steve Mason, a professor at Toronto’s York University and an expert on first-century AD Jewish historian Flavius Josephus, said Kohn approached him to give a talk during the Toronto Scrolls project despite his doubts about the Qumran-Essene theory.

“My response was one of surprise, and I cautioned that I might speak on the problems of the Dead Sea Scrolls-Essene hypothesis,” Mason wrote in an email to the Post. “She [Kohn] seemed to think that was fine, though she also welcomed a talk on other issues, such as the Judaean War.

“I didn’t notice the narrowness of vision that others have charged the [San Diego] exhibit with,” he continued, “I only know that she has invited me, and I’ve happily accepted.”

Steve Mason's work is superb and I'm sure he will give an excellent lecture.

JUDAH THE MACCABEE meets shadow puppetry:

Playing Dreidel with Judah Maccabee at The Looking Glass Theatre NY
(All About Jewish Theatre)

Playing Dreidel with Judah Maccabee, an original Hannukah play in which a contemporary boy meets the historical Judah Maccabee, will have its world premiere on December 7. The play features shadow puppets and live cello music among its storytelling techniques.

The play is told in eight scenes, corresponding to the eight days of Hannukah. Judah and the boy find each other in an abandoned room that exists in both the ancient temple in Jerusalem and the boy’s modern day temple, and the boy explains to Judah the odd modern practices that commemorate the ancient battles. At first Judah is horrified, but then he comes to learn why the boy needs those traditions.

[...]

THE CHURCH OF THE HOLY SEPULCHRE may be safe after all:

Dispute over risk to Christian shrine

Mediators dismiss reports that crumbling Ethiopian monastery is a threat

Lauren Gelfond Feldinger | 12.11.08 | Issue 196 (The Art Newspaper)

JERUSALEM. Officials are disputing recent reports that the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, one of Christianity’s holiest shrines, is at risk because of a crumbling Ethiopian Orthodox monastery on its roof.

Franciscan monk Father Athanasius Macora of the Custody of the Holy Land told The Art Newspaper that headlines across Israel and Europe in recent weeks making these charges were “erroneous” and “exaggerated”.

“The huts on Deir el-Sultan where the Ethiopian monks live are in very bad shape,” Father Athanasius said. “But the idea that the huts could knock down the Church of the Holy Sepulchre is absurd.”

[...]

Background here.

It would be a relief to know that none of those monastic brawls will bring the place down.

A SHORT BIBLICAL HISTORY from school pupils:

God asked Abraham to sacrifice Isaac on Mount Montezuma. Jacob, son of Isaac, stole his brother's birthmark. One of Jacob's sons gave refuse to the Israelites.

"Moses went up on Mount Cyanide to get the Ten Commandments.

"David was a Hebrew king skilled at playing the liar. Solomon, one of David's sons, had 500 wives and 500 porcupines.

From "Richard Lederer's (condensed) 'history' of the world. Lederer used to teach English at St. Paul's School in Concord, N.H., and derived the history from certifiably genuine student bloopers" via Edward M. Gilbreth at charleston.net.

HEBREW SEAL: the recent discovery in Jerusalem of a seal bearing a Hebrew name has been making the rounds. Here's the IAA press release:

A Rare Hebrew Seal from the First Temple Period was Discovered in Archaeological Excavations in the Western Wall Plaza (10/30/08)

In archaeological excavations the Israel Antiquities Authority is carrying out at the behest of the Western Wall Heritage Foundation, in the northwestern part of the Western Wall plaza in Jerusalem, a rare and impressive Hebrew seal was discovered that dates to the latter part of the First Temple period. The seal was found in a building that is currently being uncovered, which dates to the seventh century BCE – to the time when the kings Manasseh and Josiah reigned.

[...]

According to the excavation director, archaeologist Shlomit Wexler-Bdolah of the IAA, “The seal, which apparently belonged to a private individual, is made of black stone, is elliptical in shape and measures 1.2 x 1.4 cm. It is adorned with an engraved decoration of an archer shooting a bow and arrow. The name of the archer is engraved in ancient Hebrew script next to him and reads LHGB (meaning: for Hagab). The name Hagab is mentioned in the Bible in Ezra 2:46, as well as in the Lachish Letters, which also date to the time of the First Temple”.

[...]

PH.D. STUDENTSHIP, OT IN THE NEW:

PhD Studentship in Biblical Studies: the Use of the Old Testament in the New

Newman University College is offering a fully-funded PhD studentship in Biblical Studies, available from January 2009 for three years. The successful candidate will be required to study on a full-time basis and preferably to be willing to live within reasonable travelling distance of the College.

Applicants must have a good first degree (1st or 2i), preferably in Biblical Studies. Those with a good first degree in Theology will also be considered, if they can demonstrate that their undergraduate course included a substantial element of Biblical Studies. It is desirable that applicants also have an MA or MTh in Biblical Studies, or a closely related area, and a working knowledge of New Testament Greek. It is important to demonstrate in the application evidence of the skills necessary to undertake independent research (e.g. details of research methods modules undertaken and/or successful dissertations completed.)

The studentship will require exploration of some area within the general field of the Use of the Old Testament in the New. Candidates will be free to choose which book(s) of the New Testament to study in depth, and which aspect of the field to focus on (e.g. direct OT citations; OT allusions; the exegetical techniques of a NT author; the representation in a NT book of an OT narrative or characters; Septuagintal text-form; parallels in the Qumran texts, other ancient Jewish commentaries or Hellenistic literature; the contribution to this field of rhetorical or narrative criticism; theological intentions of a NT author). Candidates will be invited to state on their application form the aspect(s) of New Testament study in which they are particularly interested, and to outline a draft research topic/proposal. Those called for interview will also be asked to supply samples of their previous work.

The Supervisory team will be:
Dr. Martin O’Kane, Visiting Professor of Biblical Studies at Newman University College and Senior Lecturer in Biblical Studies at the University of Wales, Lampeter (areas of expertise: Hebrew Bible, literary and inter-disciplinary approaches to the text); and Dr. Susan Docherty (areas of expertise: Use of the OT in the NT, Septuagint, Second Temple Judaism).
For further information please contact:
Dr. Susan Docherty; S.E.Docherty@newman.ac.uk; 0121 476 1181 ext. 2231. Informal enquires/discussions from interested candidates are welcome.

From the BNTS list.

DARRELL L. BOCK replies in the SBL Forum to Tony Burke's charges about the use of the Christian Apocrypha by conservative scholars: Vetting the Claims about Heresy Hunting. Excerpt:

This is a conversation I would love to continue, as I am sure others who hold my view also would. And, in fact, I have had direct discussions with some on the other side, even fascinating ones. I have learned much from these interactions, although it has not significantly impacted my views on the relationships of these materials for reasons I argued a text and a theme at a time. I think my bibliography did reflect the state of current discussion on multiple continents. So I reject the suggestion that the field was not adequately surveyed. However, in a similar spirit to his closing, I thank Tony for raising the topic and for the opportunity to continue the discussion. I close with a summary point. There was no heresy hunting in my book (or in that of many others he has surveyed). I do not recall ever using that word as a charge. There was only a historical quest to trace the contentious relationship between these two important sets of texts. I argued there were good historical reasons for this contention, reasons that are obscured by the current presentation of some. This debate and the recent finds that have legitimately invigorated the recent discussion continue to fascinate scholars. The texts and the issues they raise about the history of religious ideas have been the subject of much lively discussion over about the last sixty years. I suspect that discussion will continue, but let us not confuse historical work with heresy hunting, just because someone comes to a different conclusion about the origins of and relationships between these materials.

Via Michael Bird at Euangelion. Michael has his own reply to Tony's article here.

Background here.

MORE ON THE ANCIENT EARRING from the AP:

Archaeologist Shimon Gibson, who was not involved in the dig, said the find was truly amazing, less because of its Roman origins than for its precious nature.

"Jewelry is hardly preserved in archaeological context in Jerusalem," he said, because precious metals were often sold or melted down during the many historic takeovers of the city.

"It adds to the visual history of Jerusalem," Gibson added, saying it brings attention to the life of women in antiquity.

[...]

Though Gibson dates the piece slightly later than the antiquities authority, to sometime between the second and fourth centuries A.D., he said its quality and beauty were impressive.

The article also has more details on its discovery, including a shout of "Eureka!"

Meanwhile, the London Times asks, now where's the other one?

The lady who lost that earring must have been upset.

Background here.

UPDATE (heads up, Joe Lauer): Adrian Murdoch replies, Have you tried looking behind the sofa?

Better feel behind the cushions too.

THE BABYLON EXHIBITION at the British Museum is reviewed in the Telegraph. Excerpt:

Babylon, subject of a new exhibition at the British Museum, was then capital of an empire that stretched from Gaza in the west to the Persian Gulf in the east, from Armenia in the north to the Arabian desert in the south. Variously known as Babel, Babil and Babilu, to its inhabitants it was the "Sacred City" - site of dozens of shrines and temples, and location of the great ziggurat of Etemenanki - "the foundation platform of heaven and earth". The latter, rebuilt and beatified by Nebuchadnezzar, climbed 70 metres above the flat plain of the lower Euphrates, its top decorated with glazed blue bricks, flashing in the sun.

Babylon's misfortune was that its historical reputation was largely created by the captive labour force who constructed that great ziggurat and the other monuments of Nebuchadnezzar's city: the Jewish craftsmen and workers taken captive from Jerusalem in 587BC and 598BC. For them, Babylon was a place of imprisonment. "By the waters of Babylon we sat down and wept, when we remembered thee, O Zion." In the Bible, Babylon became the emblematic location of vainglory and injustice: the archetypal sinful city. The sacred ziggurat of Etemenanki was transformed into the Tower of Babel. Babylon was where Daniel was thrust into the lion's den, and Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego into Fiery Furnace. Babylon was where Belshazzar - like Nebuchadnezzar, a historical person - saw the writing on the wall. As a punishment for his pride, Nebuchadnezzar was sent mad and ate grass like a cow, his hair grown like the "feathers of an eagle and his nails like the claws of a bird".

Background here.

BRAWLING MONKS in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre are getting lots of media attention. From the AP:

The brawling began during a procession of Armenian clergymen commemorating the 4th-century discovery of the cross believed to have been used to crucify Jesus.

The Greeks objected to the march without one of their monks present, fearing that otherwise, the procession would subvert their own claim to the Edicule — the ancient structure built on what is believed to be the tomb of Jesus — and give the Armenians a claim to the site.

The Armenians refused, and when they tried to march the Greek Orthodox monks blocked their way, sparking the brawl.

Police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said police were forced to intervene after fighting was reported. They arrested two monks, one from each side, he said.

Sigh.

Related stories here (and follow the links back) .

ANCIENT BLING WATCH:

Ancient Chic Uncovered in Jerusalem's City of David

by Hana Levi Julian

(IsraelNN.com) A stunningly beautiful 2,000-year-old gold earring inlaid with pearls and precious gems is the latest discovery in Jerusalem's archaeological treasure trove, the City of David.

[...]

The stylish earring itself meets top fashion standards, ancient or otherwise.

The main part of the earring is made of a coiled gold hoop encircling a large inlaid pearl nestled in its center. Dangling from the bottom of the hoop are two identical gold pendants, each of which is adorned with a small chain whose links are comprised of one emerald and pearl, held in place by golden fastenings.

It is true that the emeralds' sparkle is dulled by having been buried in centuries of rubble, but their fine color shines through nonetheless. And nothing has managed to diminish the breathtaking glow of the pearls, which truly are fit for the collection of any princess.

[...]

They date it between the first century BCE and fourth century CE. There's a photo too. Nice piece.

More ancient bling here.

A SEMITIC PHILOLOGIST of the eighteenth century:

Kennett resident publishes book
Sunday, November 9, 2008
Joshua Payne

Daily Dunklin Democrat

A local man has written a historical book about a very influential individual of the 18th century, Dr. David Caldwell.

[...]

Dr. David Caldwell was born in 1725 in Lancaster County, according to Finis. The parents of David Caldwell were Andrew and Martha Caldwell a couple of swine farmers. Until the age of 25, Caldwell's father apprenticed him to be a carpenter. Turning 25, Caldwell determined that he was called to become a gospel preacher and made arrangements with his three younger brothers to obtain money for college. To receive the money, Caldwell gave away all rights to his parents inheritance money, said Finis.

Dr. David Caldwell attended the college of New Jersey, which later became Princeton, in 1761. At the age of 27, Princeton called Caldwell to teach in the classical language department. Caldwell taught the languages of Latin, Greek, Hebrew, Aramaic, and Arabic, along with possibly teaching Sanskrit and Arcadian, according to Finis. The teaching lasted for about a year, and as payment for services, the university awarded Dr. Caldwell with a Master of Arts Degree.

[...]

I don't know what "Arcadian" is. True, it was an ancient Greek dialect, but that doesn't quite fit here. Perhaps it is intended to be Akkadian, but Akkadian was not deciphered until well into the nineteenth century.

CLEOPATRA knew Hebrew and Aramaic? So Dr. Binoy Barman in a book review in the Lebanon Daily Star:

Cleopatra was accomplished and had an attractive personality. She had command over several languages, including Egyptian, Hebrew, Aramaic, Parthian, Median, Syriac, Theopian and Trogodite (many of them are extinct now), besides Latin and Greek. ...

Aramaic, quite possibly. Hebrew, I doubt very much. Syriac, certainly not: it was the Aramaic dialect of Edessa long after Cleopatra's lifetime. I've never heard of "Trogodite" or "Theopian."

UPDATE: reader William J. Hamblin e-mails:

Barman's "Trogodite" may be a garbling of Troglodyte, Greek "cave-dwellers" sometimes used with reference to the nomadic Berber peoples of North Africa, probably meaning in an Egyptian context, the language of the inhabitants of the Western Desert.

That seems to be right. See below.

Reader Carla Sulzbach e-mails:

As to Cleopatra being a polyglot (including "Trogodite" and "Theopian" the latter no doubt being a typo for "Ethiopian"), see:

Trogodytica: The Red Sea Littoral in Ptolemaic Times Author(s): G. W. Murray and E. H. Warmington Source: The Geographical Journal, Vol. 133, No. 1 (Mar., 1967), pp. 24-33 Published by: Blackwell Publishing on behalf of The Royal Geographical Society (with the Institute of British Geographers)

(It's online but requires a paid or institutional subscription though)

P. 32 gives the specific info. Apparently this info comes from Plutarch, who is quoted: "to most [of her subjects] she conversed herself; to Ethiopians, Trogodytes, Hebrews, Arabs and many more, whose languages she had learned. This was the more surprising in that most of the Kings, her predecessors, hardly gave themselves the trouble to master the Egyptian tongue" (Plutarch, 'Antony', xxvii, 3-4).

How interesting! I stand corrected.

Incidentally, the Penguin translation by Ian Scott-Kilvert of Plutarch's Life of Antony refers to "Troglodytes" and it also mentions "Syrians," which would account for the Aramaic and presumably the erroneous Syriac mentioned above.

UPDATE (15 November): More on the Trogodytes etc. here.

ANOTHER "ARCHAEOLOGICAL PARK" CONTROVERSY:

Israel demolishes homes for 'City of David' heritage site

By Donald Macintyre in Jerusalem (The Independent)
Friday, 7 November 2008

Israel has been accused of demolishing Palestinian houses in Arab East Jerusalem while international attention was focused on the election of Barack Obama.

Palestinian leaders and Israeli human rights organisations have said Israeli authorities displaced more than 20 people – mostly children – by demolishing three homes in the Silwan district of Jerusalem to make way for an archaeological park. ...

Israeli authorities say the houses earmarked for demolition did not have the required permits, and the area was zoned as national park in 1974. Residents however say the deeds of many of the houses pre-date that decision, and some date from the British Mandate.

[...]

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

APOCRYPHA WATCH - More on the Croatian Judith performance in Kansas City:

'Judith' features strong lead, exotic accompaniment
TIMOTHY McDONALD
Special to The Star

Let's hear it for strong women: Hillary, Sarah, Nancy, and oh yes, don't forget Judith, who seduced and beheaded a general who threatened her people.

Part of the Early Music Series presented by the Friends of Chamber Music, "Judith" fused early music and literature with modern creativity. The result was a gripping musical epic about the biblical character on Saturday at Grace and Holy Trinity Cathedral.

At the center of the production was Katarina Livljanic, an admirably strong woman herself. A musicologist and performer, Livljanic combined centuries old texts from her native Croatia with ancient liturgical chants to create a modern monodrama with the flavor of a medieval epic.

[...]

Background here.

PSEUDEPIGRAPHA WATCH: Erich von Däniken, bless his muddled heart, is still giving lectures and has recently abused some Old Testament Pseudepigrapha. Florian Freistetter reports in a guest post at the Aardvarchaeology blog:

The next topic in Dänikens chain of "evidence" is an analysis of the biblical apocrypha. These are Christian texts that were not included in the final version of the Bible. The Book of Enoch tells how Enoch was taken to Heaven by angels and brought before the throne of God. For Däniken of course, the angels were aliens and Heaven was the interior of a space ship.

Another example that Däniken discussed at some length was the "Apocrypha of Abraham". Here Abraham apparently tells the tale of how he was abducted by aliens and brought to their space ship. Re-telling the story, by his way of speaking Däniken often suggests that he is quoting directly from the text. And those quotations really sound impressive! Abraham saw beings "who did not have the breath of a man": they were wearing spacesuits with helmets, as Däniken explains. Abraham wished "to fall back down to the Earth": so if he wants to fall "back down" he has to be in space! And there were many more of those quotations that really sounded strange and did not fit into an old Christian text. What does this mean? Even Däniken couldn't be so bold and just invent such a story?

Of course, he again stated that he is not inventing anything. He told the audience, that everybody can just get a copy of the text and read the story for itself. So of course I tried to do that!

And, of course, the text turns out to be the Slavonic Apocalypse of Abraham and the interpretation turns out to be, well, creative.

Naturally, Ezekiel gets the treatment too:

In a talk by Däniken, the famous story of the space ship of Ezekiel cannot be missed. Däniken talks for almost half an hour about this particular piece of exegesis. Again, a biblical prophet is taken away in an alien space ship. This time he is brought to a space port which he is supposed to measure, then to report the results to later generations. At least, that is Däniken's opinion.

He tells the audience that 30 years ago he gave a "secret talk" to NASA and there meet an engineer named Joseph Blumrich. Blumrich, impressed by Däniken's tale of the biblical space ship, tried to "reconstruct" the ship, based on the text of the Book of Ezekiel. Däniken stresses, that "not a centimeter was omitted or added" - everything is based strictly on the Bible.

Oh goody. Solomon's Temple turns out to be a space port for the ship too.

Earlier post on Erich von Däniken here. I wonder how his theme park is doing.

THE FIRE GOSPEL, by Michel Faber, is reviewed by Hephzibah Anderson in The National Newspaper (UAE). Excerpt:

Faber is best known for his novel The Crimson Petal and the White, a hefty slab of candied Victoriana, but his slimmer works are unified by a corrosive misanthropy that runs rampant here. In the farce that ensues, the classical parallels get lost. Ultimately, the novel is a bleak satire on the publishing industry and a world in which the intellectual advancement that Prometheus stood for has been cheapened to who-cares-what, so long as it captures a share of the Da Vinci Code’s market.

THE MUSEUM OF TOLERANCE CONTROVERSY is taken up by the BBC:

Row over Jerusalem Muslim cemetery

By Wyre Davies
BBC News, Jerusalem

Religious leaders in Jerusalem are warning of dangerous consequences after a decision by Israel's Supreme Court to allow the destruction of part of an ancient Muslim cemetery.

The graveyard has not been used for more than 50 years, but contains the bodies of some important Islamic figures.

Many of those bodies will now be disturbed to make way for a new Jewish "Museum of Tolerance".

Earlier this week hundreds of Muslims - young and old - marched through the centre of Jerusalem towards the city's Mamilla cemetery.

[...]

Background here.

KINKY DREAMS in the Talmud:

The contrast is of course startling: Every possible crime is attributed to the apparently innocuous dreams of the heretic, while the inappropriate dreams of the student of Torah are understood to herald an increase in knowledge, wisdom and understanding. Is the Talmud merely providing excuses for inappropriate dreams of our rabbinic heroes?

Perhaps the central message of the Talmud is that each dream is taken from the content world of the dreamer: If your world is a world of Torah, even dreams that appear erotic are a reflection of your content world.

MUSEUM OF TOLERANCE PROTEST:

Palestinians protest planned Jerusalem Tolerance Museum

20 hours ago

JERUSALEM (AFP) — Hundreds of Palestinians and Arab-Israelis demonstrated on Thursday in Jerusalem against the planned construction of a Museum of Tolerance on the site of an ancient Muslim graveyard.

[...]

Background here.

THREE ANCIENT-JUDAISM-RELATED JOBS:

Columbia University:

Jewish Studies: Columbia University Department of Religion seeks to appoint a senior professor of Classical Jewish Civilization with a specialization in rabbinical and/or early medieval texts and cultures, with the ability to teach broadly both undergraduate and graduate courses in the study of religion.

Further information here. You need to enable cookies to access the site.

Leo Baeck College:

Leo Baeck College, founded in 1956, is seeking a full-time Lecturer in Rabbinic Literature, beginning 1 September 2009. Initial appointment 3 years with possibility of continuation.

The successful candidate will teach courses in the joint MA Programme in Jewish Studies of LBC and Kings College London as well as courses at the BA level. Most students will be pursuing the MA in the context of the programme leading to ordination as rabbis for the Reform, Liberal and Masorti Movements in the UK, Europe and the FSU.

Candidates should have a PhD (or completed all requirements by 1 September 2009) in an area of Rabbinic literature (Talmud, Midrash, Jewish law). Experience teaching rabbinic texts at the intermediate and advanced level is desirable.

Salary and benefits will be comparable to appointments at this level at London Universities.

Applicants should send a full CV, a letter explaining their background and interest in the lectureship, examples of writing, and the names of three referees (at least two of them academic) to Rhona Lesner, Head of HR & Support Services, Leo Baeck College, 80 East End Road, London N3 2SY, UK; email: rhona.lesner@lbc.ac.ukThis e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it . The Search Committee plans to begin reviewing applications by 15 January 2009, and will continue the process until an appointment has been made.

The full advert, with more information, is here.

The University of Pittsburg:

THE UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH, DEPARMENT OF RELIGIOUS STUDIES invites applications for a Lecturer in Classical Judaism supported by the Perlow Fund. This position is outside the tenure stream and would begin with the Fall Term 2009, pending budgetary approval. The initial appointment will be made for a term of three years, and will be renewable. We are searching for someone whose range of research and teaching interests will enable them to explore the development of Jewish life and thought from the Biblical period through the Ninth Century C.E. Preference will be given to those candidates who have completed all requirements for the Ph.D. and have already had experience teaching in an American university setting. The incumbent will be called on to teach six courses over a two-semester period commencing September 1, 2009. Applicants should submit a letter of interest, curriculum vitae, the names of three scholarly references, and copies of syllabi for courses that the applicant is prepared to teach in the 2009-10 academic year. These materials should be sent to Professor Alexander Orbach, Jewish Studies Program, 2604 Cathedral of Learning, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA 15260. Review of applications will begin November 15, 2008 and will continue until the position is filled. The University of Pittsburgh is an Affirmative Action, Equal Opportunity Employer. Women and member of minority groups under-represented in academia are especially encouraged to apply.

(All three via the H-Judaic list - here, here, and here.)

AT CAMBRIDGE, a job in Hebrew, OT, and Second Temple Studies:

Advertisement
University Lecturer in Hebrew, Old Testament and Second Temple Studies
Faculty of Divinity
Applications are invited for a University Lectureship (Grade 9, £36,532-£46,278) in Hebrew, Old Testament and Second Temple Studies in the Faculty of Divinity. The successful candidate should have expertise in the field of Hebrew, Old Testament and Second Temple Studies and be able to deliver high quality lectures. He/she will be expected to produce high quality research and contribute to the teaching of Hebrew, Old Testament and Second Temple Studies at undergraduate and postgraduate level.

Candidates should be able to take up the post on 1 October 2009 or as soon as possible thereafter. The appointment will be subject to five years’ probation.
Further particulars and an application form (PD 18) are available from the Administrative Officer in the Faculty of Divinity, tel: (01223) 763002; e-mail: faculty-office@divinity.cam.ac.uk to whom applications should be sent by 5 December 2008. Additional information on the Faculty is available at: http://www.divinity.cam.ac.uk/

From the SOTS list.

UNHAPPY ARCHAEOLOGISTS in Tiberias (from Haaretz):

The park, called "The Tiberias Archaeological Park" and named for deceased Tiberias community leader Ozer "Berko" Berkowitz, is also raising the ire of archaeologists. They say that the park was established in order to make the town's archaeological antiquities accessible to the public, but it has been built over the remains of the very archaeological findings that have yet to be excavated. "They have buried national assets here," said Aharon Amitai, the archaeologist who headed the last season of excavations at the site. "Tiberias was the capital of Jewish culture, and the Mishnah and Talmud were written there. Tiberias was also the last seat of the Sanhedrin, and during the period of the sages the Tiberias Hebrew vowel marks were decided upon," he added.

Amitai added that Prof. Yizhar Hirschfeld of the Hebrew University, who was in charge of the dig at the site until his death two years ago, called the park project "a cultural crime." Hirschfeld's name was not mentioned yesterday at the ceremony, to the displeasure of his archaeological colleagues. "They spoke about archaeology but they forgot the archaeologists," one of them said angrily.

The Israel Antiquities Authority, which supported the project, responded: "Prof Hirschfeld did indeed express opposition to developing the area in the beginning. However, as time went on, he saw the contribution that would be made following the development [of the park] to archaeology and tourism in Tiberias."

A PRESS RELEASE on the Khirbet Qeiyafa inscription from the Hebrew University:

Earliest Known Hebrew Text in Proto-Canaanite Script Discovered November 02 2008

The earliest known Hebrew text written in a Proto-Canaanite script has been discovered by Hebrew University archaeologists in an ancient city in the area where David slew Goliath – the earliest Judean city found to date. The 3,000 year old finding is thought to be the most significant archaeological discovery in Israel since the Dead Sea Scrolls – predating them by 1,000 years.

[...]

As Iron Age epigraphic finds go, it is certainly quite important because of its date. The content sounds somewhat important too, although to evaluate that it would be helpful to know exactly what the content is!

The most signficant discovery in Israel since the Dead Sea Scrolls? Maybe. Do we include the Bar Kokhba-era papyri and scrolls and the Masada scrolls as Dead Sea Scrolls? Are we talking only about scientifically excavated finds (which would rule out many of the DSS)?

If the Vision of Gabriel inscription is genuine, it would be at least as significant as the Khirbet Qeiyafa inscription, if not more so.

(Via Joseph I. Lauer's list.)

UNHOLY BUSINESS, by Nina Burleigh, is reviewed by Stuart Laidlaw in the Toronto Star. Excerpt:

Often, genuinely old objects are given new inscriptions, with the fake patina put into the inscriptions to make it seem that the wording also dates to ancient times. Sophisticated forgers, Burleigh says, might even incorporate old scratches into the new inscriptions, since the scratches would already contain old patina.

The next stage is to get experts to authenticate it, a process Burleigh says requires as much skill and art as the patina. Here, the trick is to find experts on whose emotions the forger can play, perhaps a Biblical scholar keen to prove its stories true, or a patriotic Israeli excited to find proof of a fabled Jewish temple.

"They get so excited, they can't resist," Burleigh says.

Later, when doubts are raised, the fight becomes one of conflicting science, with experts on both sides lined up to argue for or against an object's authenticity.

Add in the egos of those involved and the often subjective nature of the science itself, Burleigh says, and a conclusive decision as to whether something's a fraud seems almost impossible.

And that, she says, is where the Golan trial over the alleged forgery of the tablet and ossuary sits today. Burleigh leaves little doubt she believes he is guilty, but says Golan might still elude conviction amid confusion over the conflicting scientific testimony at his trial.

"They are putting the science (of archeology) on trial, and the subjective underbelly of the science is being exposed here, big time."

Background here.

THE BIBLE AND INTERPRETATION WEBSITE is back after a hiatus of nearly three years. Good to see them up and running again.

HERSHEL SHANKS comes down hard on the IAA in a press release:

The Reputation of the Israel Antiquities Authority is in Shambles

NewswireToday - /newswire/ - Washington, DC, United States, 11/03/2008 - The Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA) has charged the owner of the James Ossuary, Oded Golan, with forging the inscription that reads "James, son of Joseph, brother of Jesus" on the ancient bone box.

The reputation of the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA) is in shambles. After a nearly four-year trial (and still counting), 75 witnesses and more than 5,000 pages of testimony, what has been billed as the "forgery trial of the century" is about to collapse. The Israeli judge who will decide the case has advised the prosecution in open court to consider dropping the case. The evidence isn't there.

[...]

Background here.

JERUSALEM AND JEWS according to ancient pagan authors:

"Jerusalem: Capital of the Jews":
The Jewish Identity of Jerusalem in Greek and Roman Sources*
Rivkah Fishman-Duker
Jewish Political Studies Review 20:1-2 (Spring 2008)
For ancient Greek and Roman pagan authors, Jerusalem definitely was a Jewish city. This article draws on references to Jerusalem from nearly twenty different sources, dating from the third century BCE to the third century CE, which are included in the late Professor Menahem Stern's comprehensive anthology, Greek and Latin Authors on Jews and Judaism. An examination of these texts indicates the unanimous agreement that Jerusalem was Jewish by virtue of the fact that its inhabitants were Jews, it was founded by Jews and the Temple, located in Jerusalem, was the center of the Jewish religion. In these sources, Jerusalem appears in several contexts: foundation narratives, descriptions of and links to the Temple, historical events, usually relating to invasions and captures of the city, physical descriptions, and the derogatory use of the term "Solyma" by Roman writers after its destruction by Titus in 70 CE. It is noteworthy that despite the negative views of Jews and Judaism expressed by authors such as Manetho, Apion, Tacitus and Juvenal, the Jewish identity of Jerusalem is always clear and never a subject of dispute. These ancient texts, therefore, disprove recent attempts by Muslims and others to deny the historic connection of the Jewish people to Jerusalem and the location of the Temple in Jerusalem through fabrications and lies.

THE FIRE GOSPEL, by Michel Faber, gets a brief review from Publisher's Weekly (scroll about a quarter of the way down the page). It concludes: "The end product is less than the sum of its could-be interesting parts."

Background here.

THE FORGERY TRIAL is being reevaluated by the Israeli Justice Ministry:

Justice Ministry to decide on 'Jesus ossuary'
By ETGAR LEFKOVITS (Jerusalem Post)

The Justice Ministry has been given six months to decide how to proceed in the trial of an antiquities dealer suspected of forging a purported reference to Jesus on an ancient burial box and a stone tablet with biblical passages.

[...]

Background here.

THE INK AND BLOOD EXHIBITION may be coming to the Hardin Center in Gadsden, Alabama - if they can raise the money in time:

Center needs funds to land Dead Sea Scrolls exhibit

By Cyndi Nelson
[Gadsden] Times Assistant Managing Editor

Published: Monday, November 3, 2008 at 6:01 a.m.
Last Modified: Sunday, November 2, 2008 at 9:34 p.m.

With the Big Read, a tribute to air conditioning, a Faberge and Vivian Alexander exhibit and the annual Festival of Trees already scheduled for 2009, the Hardin Center's cup runneth over.

Now, the center's board is faced with a unique opportunity, a challenging funding issue and a short deadline. The opportunity is to bring portions of the Dead Sea Scrolls to Gadsden. The funding issue is a $50,000 price tag. And the deadline is $30,000 of that in hand in just more than two weeks.

According to its Web site, "`Ink & Blood: Dead Sea Scrolls to Gutenburg' is the largest collection ever assembled chronicling Western civilization as seen through one of its most prominent and carefully preserved objets d'art - the Hebrew, Latin and English Bible. The collection includes authentic Dead Sea Scrolls, 5,000-year-old clay tablets, Hebrew Torahs, ancient Greek texts, Medieval Latin manuscripts, pages from Gutenberg's Bible and rare English printed Bibles. In addition to the more than 100 authentic artifacts, the exhibition includes a working replica of Gutenberg's printing press featuring live demonstrations of incunabular printing."

[...]

If they want the exhibition because of the promised Dead Sea Scrolls, they should have a look at them before they commit themselves: the scroll fragments reportedly look like burnt cornflakes. Plus the Marzeah papyrus may be a forgery (see same link).

AN ONLINE ARAMAIC CURRICULUM is being developed by Steve Caruso at the Aramaic Designs website.

A GIRL IN EVERY PORT? It seems that those Phoenician sailors got around:

Phoenicians Left Deep Genetic Mark, Study Shows

By JOHN NOBLE WILFORD (NYT)
Published: October 30, 2008

The Phoenicians, enigmatic people from the eastern shores of the Mediterranean, stamped their mark on maritime history, and now research has revealed that they also left a lasting genetic imprint.

Scientists reported Thursday that as many as 1 in 17 men living today on the coasts of North Africa and southern Europe may have a Phoenician direct male-line ancestor.

[...]

I've noted this story before here, but this much-reported recycling focuses more on how widespread the "Phoenician gene" is. Another report (see bottom of post linked in this paragraph) claimed that Jews share the gene, but this NYT article seems to say otherwise:

From the research emerged a distinctive Phoenician genetic signature, in contrast to genetic traces spread by other migrations, like those of late Stone-Age farmers, Greek colonists and the Jewish Diaspora. The scientists thus concluded that, for example, one boy in each school class from Cyprus to Tunis may be a descendant of Phoenician traders.

THE FIRE GOSPEL, by Michel Faber, is reviewed in the Scotsman. Excerpt:

Although there is much to admire in The Fire Gospel, as a whole it doesn't quite ignite. Faber makes some of the Malchus material appropriately shocking (such as Jesus's last words actually being "please finish me"). The level of hysteria around the book seems a little overdone – theologians have wrestled with the lack of any mention of the resurrection in Josephus, or the meaning of the Alexamenos Graffito, or the Dead Sea Scrolls for decades, and come up with surprisingly inventive explanations without a pandemic of atheism shaking the world.

If Faber had chosen to make Theo a fraudulent memoirist, an evangelical atheist à la Dawkins, or even the author of a popular series of conservative stories about wizards, then the hype would be comprehensible. Likewise, if he'd really gone into the mental acrobatics of Christian apologists, the weirdness of Gospel narratives or the challenges of literalism, this jeu d'esprit might have been equal to his merits as a writer.

As it is, the elements of satire and provocation, superficiality and profundity pull in oddly differing directions. One minute the text is similar to Mel Gibson's The Passion, all gruesome precision of torture; then it's more akin to Life Of Brian, with Jesus loosing control of his bladder over the new disciple's face. As for Theo, who has sought popular recognition over peer-reviewed respect – by the end, his vanity is so overweening that even a comeuppance can't redeem him.

Background here.

HEZBOLLAH is not happy with recent developments concerning the Jerusalem Museum of Tolerance:

BEIRUT (AFP) — Lebanon's Hezbollah militant group slammed Israel for allowing the construction of a Museum of Tolerance on the site of a Muslim cemetery in Jerusalem, in a statement received by AFP on Sunday.

[...]

Background here.

THE EPHIPHANY PROJECT - a fusion of music and ancient philology:

The Sounds of Scripture
by Sharon Nichols, October 28, 2008 (Chronogram Magazine)

The Epiphany Project is back, both physically and musically. John Hodian and Bet Williams moved from their Woodstock home a few years ago to live in New York City, before hopping on over to Europe to expand their work even more. What better for these masters of world music than to spend a few years tooling around Poland, France, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, and Armenia? It was in the latter country where their newest masterpiece was born, the haunting, breathtaking Hin Dagh (Epiphany Records, 2008). On November 19, Williams and Hodian, who haven’t played in the US in five years, will have a homecoming of sorts at the Colony Café in Woodstock.

Hodian is Armenian-American and had been working with struggling Armenian composers while living there. Yet he didn’t set out to consciously record an Armenian album. “We were traveling with a filmmaker friend who was doing documentaries on dying cultures in the area,” he says. “There are still tiny pockets of Zoroastrians and Avestans who have ancient practices and pre-Christian belief systems. Coming in contact with some of their customs, languages, and rituals was really inspiring.”

The album title itself means “old words,” and many of the songs are in dead languages, orchestrated with indigenous instruments from Armenia and the surrounding areas. Vocalist Williams, who has always been fascinated with language, started experimenting with new sounds on the group’s 2000 self-titled debut CD, using ancient Aramaic on one track. But this time Williams delves into Avestan, Armenian, Aramaic, Hindustani, ancient Welsh, Sanskrit, Swahili, and Coptic Greek. ...

Not sure what "Coptic Greek" is. Coptic and Greek?