Eilat Mazar on temple architecture surviving on Temple Mount

TEMPLE MOUNT WATCH: Israeli archaeologist Eilat Mazar has a radio interview with Aaron Klein in which she discusses the archaeology of the Temple Mount at some length. The interview is linked to and excerpted by WorldNetDaily.

2nd Jewish Temple just 'waiting to be unearthed'
Archaeologist 'absolutely sure' structure beneath Jerusalem's holy mount

Posted: June 05, 2011
6:11 pm Eastern

© 2011 WND

One of the most prominent Israeli archaeologists declared today that remains from the First and Second Jewish Temple period – including the Second Temple itself – lie underneath the Temple Mount surface, just waiting to be excavated.

Dr. Eilat Mazar of Hebrew University accused the site's Islamic custodians of destroying Jewish artifacts while attempting to turn the Temple Mount into a "giant mosque."

"I think we will find all the remains starting from the First Temple period and remains of the Temple itself," said Mazar, a third-generation archeologist. "I mean, no one took it out, it's there."

Mazar said she is "absolutely sure" remains from the First and Second Temple periods, including "the Second Temple itself," as well as later remains from the Byzentine and early Islamic periods, are just under the surface of the Temple Mount.

Continued Mazar: "I am absolutely sure, in light of my very rich experience excavating Jerusalem for 30 years now, all these remains are waiting to be revealed. And if it can't be done nowadays because of all kinds of sensitivities, at least we should take care that it won't be ruined for future excavations when time comes."

Mazar was speaking in an interview with "Aaron Klein Investigative Radio" on New York's WABC Radio.

[...]

How much of the earlier temple architecture remains in the Herodian Temple Platform depends very much on how thoroughgoing Herod's renovation of the Second Temple was. If it amounted to clearing the site and putting up a third, much grander temple, then there may not be much architecture in the fill. There's no way to tell at present. That said, I completely agree that "at least we should take care that it won't be ruined for future excavations when time comes" and have frequently said the same thing, adding that future non-invasive and non-destructive technologies may allow us to scan and explore what's there without damaging it.

More on the State Comptroller's partially suppressed report here.

For the Temple Mount Sifting Project go here and follow the links at the bottom of the post.

That 2007 Waqf excavation was noted here, here, and here.

The Gedaliah bulla is discussed here. As Joe Lauer noted, the WND article above mistranslates Jeremiah 38:6: the reference should be to "Malchiah the son of the king."

(HT Gerald Rosenberg and Joseph I. Lauer.)

Qanawat in Syria

ANOTHER SYRIAN ARCHAEOLOGICAL SITE is profiled by SANA:

Qanawat Archeological Area Narrates Stories of Successive Civilizations

Jun 05, 2011

SWEIDA, (SANA) - Qanawat archeological area in Sweida Province is distinguished by its Roman, Greek, Nabataean and Islamic monuments and its important tourist location as it is considered one of the Decapolis which were situated to the West of Jordan River.

The archeological surveys discovered that the ancient man lived in Qanawat since the Middle and New Stone Ages during the period between 1,200 to 4,000 BC, and people coming from the Arabian Peninsula started to inhabit the area since the 3rd millennium BC while the Arab Islamic invasions reached it in 653 AD.

[...]

The Decapolis cities are also mentioned in Mark 5:20 and parallels.

I appreciate the effort being made by SANA to publicize these sites, but the releases seem to be translated hurriedly and carelessly from another language (Arabic?). Aside from the atrocious English, there are one or two obvious errors in this one (e.g., Athena was not a "sea goddess" plus see below).

The following is interesting:

[The Director of the Sweida Antiquities Department, Wasim ] Al-Sha'arani indicated that the inscription which was unearthed near the French city of Lyon represents important evidence on the role the city played as the citizens of Qanawat (Qanatha) were part of the Syrian merchants who were well known in France as the discovered inscription mentions the name of a merchant called Taim bin Sa'ad.

I didn't know there was an inscription excavated in France that talked about Syrian merchants (assuming this paragraph was understood and translated correctly). The name looks Arabic, so perhaps the inscription is from the Islamic period.

An inscription written in the Greek and Aramaic languages dating back to the 2nd millennium BC was also unearthed in the town.

This, however, is definitely wrong. There were no Aramaic/Greek bilingual inscriptions in the second millennium BCE. Perhaps the original read "second century."

Review of Landau, "Revelation of the Magi"

THE REVELATION OF THE MAGI, by Brent Landau, is reviewed briefly in the Daily Herald (Utah) (scroll down to second review). Unfortunately, the reviewer gives the impression that this text actually tells us something about the (legendary) story of the Magi in Matthew instead of it telling much later legends about the Magi story.

Background here and links.

More on Magdala Center Gala

MORE ON THE MAGDALA CENTER GALA being held next week in the United States:

Treasure at the Center of the World

* June 3rd, 2011 3:55 pm MT

Kurt Matthies

* Denver Spiritual Perspectives Examiner

An Event in Support of the Magdala Center Being Held in Denver, June 8, 2011

[...]

The Center’s Archaeological Zone grew out of an exciting archaeological find on the site. In 2009, construction workers discovered a 2000 year-old synagogue in the exact location planned for a Christian ecumenical chapel. This discovery caused great excitement among the archaeological community, and was made by a female Jewish archaeologist, assisted by a Muslim man, with a third archaeologist who is a Christian -- a true interfaith effort! Currently, Mexican archaeologists, with a group of volunteers are now excavating a 12-acre site adjacent to the Magdala Center, which is producing further artifacts from this period of history.
Advertisement

One of the artifacts from the original ecumenical site is a beautifully carved stone table (see figure), of which the Israeli Antiquities Authority has called “the most important archaeological discovery ever related to the 2nd Temple.”

In the adjacent 12-acre site a floor has been recently discovered that is, according to archaeologists, the most perfectly built and conserved first century floor found to date.

The Magdala Center is a project of the New Gate for Peace Foundation, an independent organization adjacent to the Notre Dame of Jerusalem Institute. The $100 million dollar project is to date, already 30% funded. Father Eamon Kelly, LC of the Notre Dame of Jerusalem Institute, is here in the US on an awareness and fundraising tour, which is beginning here in Denver next week.

Wednesday, June 8th at 6pm, the Denver Museum of Nature and Science will host the Galilee Gala, the first benefit for the Magdala Center being held in the US.

Details follow.

Background here.

"The Phoenicians" wins Golden Palm Award

PHOENICIAN WATCH: That documentary on the Phoenicians has won another award:

The Phoenicians win the Golden Palm Award

Article published on 30 May 2011 (Malta Independent)

The Phoenicians produced by Chris & Maurice Micallef was awarded the Golden Palm Award for documentary in ‘The Mexico International Film Festival’ held last May. The detailed documentary focuses on this sea-faring nation that established trading and commercial routes across the Mediterranean and which eventually challenged the Roman Empire. It then delves into the Phoenicians’ influence on the Maltese Islands. Partly shot in Lebanon, the documentary also includes the re-enactment of the third Punic war, in which the Carthaginians were crushed by the Roman soldiers.

[...]

It recently also won the Silver Remi Award as well as other awards that are noted in the article above.

Funding to preserve Israel's coastline

FUNDING to preserve Israel's coastline:

Shoring up Israel’s treasure-rich coastline

By Karin Kloosterman (ISRAEL21c)
June 05, 2011

An infusion of governmental funds aims to keep natural and human occurrences from washing ancient artifacts out to sea.

No one knows when she lost her head or arm, but the 1,500-year-old sculpture believed to depict the Roman goddess Aphrodite rolled out into the Mediterranean Sea last December, looking as fresh as the day she was made. Her discovery after falling out from an escarpment onto the coast of Ashkelon, a southern Israeli city near the Gaza Strip, highlights Israel's growing need to protect its eroding coastline.

A new government initiative worth $135 million will turn about 10 miles of stretches of the Israeli coast into a series of reinforcements and public parks to be enjoyed by locals and tourists. Some of the parks will run through archeological sites of interest.

Geological archeologist Dr. Beverly Goodman, from the University of Haifa's Leon Charney School of Marine Sciences, stands to receive some of the much-needed funds for her research on coastal tsunamis and underwater geo-archeological surveying.

She tells ISRAEL21c that coastal protection is a social, cultural, economic and environmental imperative. "The coastal area is extremely important because so many infrastructure facilities lie on the world's coastlines," she says, "whether it's a power station; a cosmopolitan area like Tel Aviv, which includes hotels and tourist sites; and, of course, nature areas. These are all things that rely on the coastline being protected, and kept stable and somewhat reliable."

[...]

The story of the statue discovered on the coast of Ashkelon last year was noted here.

Seth Sanders: Scribal Culture's Shadow Tradition

SETH SANDERS gives us some early thoughts on his upcoming SBL and ASOR papers: Scribal Culture's Shadow Tradition.

The AP on the CAD

THE COMPLETION OF THE CHICAGO ASSYRIAN DICTIONARY has come to the attention of the Associated Press: Ancient world dictionary finished _ after 90 years.

Background here.

Deir Turmanin

ARAMAIC WATCH and another ancient Syrian town profiled:

Deir Turmanin… a Longstanding Example of Architectural Art in Idleb

Jun 04, 2011

IDLEB, (SANA) – The Deir Turmanin site, located 40 kilometers northeast of Idleb city at what is known as "the old town," represents a unique example of ancient architectural arts.

The name Turmanin is believed to be Aramaic in origin, derived from "Kafr Rumanin" meaning "pomegranate farm." In Syriac, it was called Deir al-Sheikh, a name partially inspired from the nearby monastery known as Deir Saban.

The remaining landmarks in the site consist of an ancient ruin consisting of a church, an inn, a small house, a burial chamber and water reservoirs. One of the inscriptions in the site includes the date 592 AD.

[...]

"Deir al-Sheikh" is Arabic, not Syriac. I would think SANA should be able to tell the difference.

JP on Titus breaching wall of Jerusalem

JERUSALEM POST: This Week in History: Titus breaks through the J'lem wall.

More on the Chinese chef and Jewish coins

THE CHINESE CHEF who recently published a massive volume on Jewish coins is the subject of an article in the LA Times: Chinese cook obsessed with Jewish coins.

Oddly, the article never gets around to mentioning that the book is in Mandarin, which puts a certain limit on its readership.

Background here.

An Egyptian magic exhibition in Heidelberg

AN EGYPTIAN MAGIC EXHIBITION IN HEIDELBERG:

Egyptian magic shines in Germany

By Doaa Soliman - The Egyptian Gazette
Thursday, June 2, 2011 06:51:01 PM

HEIDELBERG - With a collection of ancient Egyptian amulets, ancient texts in various languages and magical imagery and objects, 2,000 years of Egyptian magic are being on show now in the Museum of Heidelberg University.

[...]

The idea of ‘Egyptian Magic through the Ages’ started in a class last summer about magic in ancient cultures. It took almost a year to prepare for the exhibition in which preparation eight students took part for the first time.
A decade-long-lost book of spells from ancient Egypt is the focus of the joint exhibition that’s organised by both the Institute of Papyrology and the Institute of Egyptology at the University of Heidelberg.
The valuable book that is called ‘The Magical Book of Michael’ was lost after the end of Second World War and was only returned last year, triggering the idea of this exhibition, according to Ast.

[...]

“Love and healing, protection and loss have been for thousands of years the recurring themes,” explained the director of the Institute of Papyrology, Prof. Andrea Joerdens, adding that the exhibition gathered ancient Egyptian magical symbols with ancient Near Eastern, Jewish and Christian symbols.

[...]

Maaloula in the news

MAALOULA (MA'ALOULA, MALULA) IN THE NEWS:

Hanging out in Mountains, Ma'lula Speaks Deep History

Jun 02, 2011

DAMASCUS, (SANA)- The isolated position of Ma'lula in the mountains played a notable role in preserving the Aramaic Language and its Syriac dialect, the language of the Christ.

This immunity, however, was not that invulnerable since other languages found access to Ma'lula, being a first class tourist town known for a deep defile which is believed to have split apart making a way for St. Takla (Thecla) when she fled her powerful pagan father in 68 A.D.

[...]

In realization of the dream of Ma'lula inhabitants and that of their ancestors of keeping their language from extinction, a center for teaching the Aramaic language and the Syriac dialect was opened to be the first of its kind in the world.

[...]

Yes, "Ma'lula" is a new spelling. I hope that last paragraph means that the language center at Maaloula, which was closed awhile ago on ridiculous anti-Semitic grounds, has been reopened. The Syrian Government certainly has other battles to concern itself with right now.

Background here.

Cross-file under "Aramaic Watch."

Another review of "Sacred Trash"

ANOTHER REVIEW OF SACRED TRASH:

The Cairo Geniza’s sacred Hebrew texts

By Elaine Margolin (JewsihJournal.com)

Husband and wife team Adina Hoffman and Peter Cole, authors of “Sacred Trash: The Lost and Found World of the Cairo Geniza” (Schocken/Nextbook: $26.95), share far more than a marriage—they enjoy a similar sensibility, one that is delightfully romantic and utopian, but also serious and intellectual and intuitive. It feels as if they both carry a heavy burden upon their shoulders, a wounded empathy of sorts for all those who suffer needlessly. Reading their work sometimes feels like entering a paradise where deeper truths about our common humanity are slowly revealed while the drumbeat of tribal loyalties grows dimmer.

[...]

This one has some interesting information about the two authors.

Earlier reviews and related works are noted here and follow the links back.

Rachel Hallote on repatriation of antiquities

THE REPATRIATION-OF-ANTIQUITIES DEBATE CONTINUES:

Archaeological Views: A Case Against the Repatriation of Archaeological Artifacts

By Rachel Hallote (BAR)

When I proposed a column to BAR editor Hershel Shanks on the issue of repatriation of artifacts to the country of origin, he said it was not something that engaged him. It didn’t matter to him, he said, where an artifact was located as long as it was available to scholars to examine and study, and was available to the public to see and appreciate. But Hershel is wrong. There is more to it than this. The real problem with repatriating artifacts is the sacrifice of one country’s history for the sake of another.

[...]

I maintain my default position that ancient artifacts are the treasures of humanity and should be kept where they are safest and best cared for. Nationalist considerations are secondary, but at that secondary level Dr. Hallote raises some interesting points.

Related (evidently in more ways than one) post here.

Ben Witherington: How Long Were Ancient Manuscripts Used?

BEN WITHERINGTON: How Long Were Ancient Manuscripts Used?

Philologos on Sabbath and Shavuot

PHILOLOGOS, true to name, provides a good dose of philology for Sabbath and impending Shavuot:

Shabbat by Way of Babylon
On Language

By Philologos (The Forward)
Published June 01, 2011, issue of June 10, 2011.

The holiday of Shavuot has arrived — and with it, a d’var Torah, a commentary on a biblical passage, customarily delivered by a rabbi or member of a congregation, from Edward Reingold of Michiana, Mich. For his subject, Mr. Reingold has chosen the verses in Leviticus 23 that tell us when Shavuot is to be celebrated — that is, seven weeks plus a day, or 50 days, from the commencement of the Omer, the “sheaf-offering” of the barley harvest that begins during the week of Passover. (This is why the holiday is called ḥag ha-shavu’ot, “the feast of weeks,” in Hebrew, and Pentecost, from Greek pentekoste, “fiftieth,” in English.) Leviticus 23:10-11 reads, in the Jewish Publication Society translation: “When you enter the land that I am giving you and you reap its [barley] harvest, you shall bring the first sheaf of your harvest to the priest. He shall elevate the sheaf before the Lord for acceptance in your behalf; the priest shall elevate it on the day after the Sabbath.”

“The day after the Sabbath” is a straightforward translation of biblical Hebrew’s mi-moḥarat ha-shabbat — and yet, as Mr. Reingold observes in his d’var Torah, the meaning of these words is anything but straightforward. Within the context of the week of Passover, what “Sabbath” is the Bible talking about? And how, unless we know, can we start counting the 50 days that determine the date of Shavuot?

[...]

It's complicated.

May Biblioblogging Carnival

THE BIBLIOBLOGGING CARNIVAL for May is now posted by Joel Watts at his Unsettled Christianity.

Golem and Dybbuk in Pittsburgh

THE GOLEM is playing in Pittsburgh:

The Golem' adds black magic to Jewish music festival
Thursday, June 02, 2011
By Andrew Druckenbrod, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Pittsburgh has a thing for zombies, but the living dead might be spooked by the Pittsburgh Jewish Music Festival's offering this summer. The annual concert series will open with a screening of "The Golem," the 1920 silent film about how a rabbi invokes black magic to create a fearsome creature out of clay to defend the Jews of Prague in the Middle Ages. It's part of three concerts for the festival that seeks to both celebrate Jewish culture and connect it to the greater Pittsburgh community.

[...]

And there's more:

Festival turns to non-corporeal horror in "Jacob and Rachel" and "The Dybbuk."

The former is a suite for instruments and actors from a seminal production of "Jacob and Rachael" that the "Ohel Theater" premiered in Tel Aviv in 1928. This company was founded by Russian Jew Moshe Halevi "determined to prove, through theater, the right of the Jews to live in their Holy Land," says Sam Zerin, who has translated the Hebrew play archived at the Jewish Theological Seminary. The Jewish biblical drama is a re-enactment of God's promise to Jacob that his descendants would receive Israel. The composer, Solomon Rosowsky, arranged the texts to weave in and out of the movements in an artistic fashion, using the actors as an extension of the musicians," says Mr. Zelkowicz.

"The Dybbuk" is also presented as a suite, with music from the original musical by composer Joel Engel from 1922. Russian-Jewish playwright An-ski adapted his play from the Hassidic fable of a bride who becomes possessed on her wedding night by the tortured soul, or dybbuk, of another man.

For numerous past Golem posts, see here and links. And there's more on the dybbuk legend here.

Zombies in Matthew?

MATTHEAN ZOMBIES? (Brought to you by the braaiiins of Ashleigh and Jeremiah.) It would be interesting to see the case made, but unfortunately the post does not follow up the title.

Matthew 27:52-53 also makes me think of H. P. Lovecraft's The Case of Charles Dexter Ward.

The essential Saltes of Animals may be so prepared and preserved, that an ingenious Man may have the whole Ark of Noah in his own Studie, and raise the fine Shape of an Animal out of its Ashes at his Pleasure; and by the lyke Method from the essential Saltes of humane Dust, a Philosopher may, without any criminal Necromancy, call up the Shape of any dead Ancestour from the Dust whereinto his Bodie has been incinerated.' - Borellus

Jerusalem excavations and politics.

THE SUBTERRANEAN EXCAVATIONS IN JERUSALEM receive coverage by the AP: Beneath Jerusalem, an undergound city takes shape.

Background here and here and links.

And to makes sure things stay interesting, there's this: Israeli PM: Jerusalem will never be divided (also AP). In his comments Mr. Netanyahu invokes the archaeological evidence for an ancient Jewish presence in Jerusalem.

BMCR review of "The Landmark Arrian"

BMCR REVIEW:

James Romm, Pamela Mensch (ed.), The Landmark Arrian: The Campaigns of Alexander (a new translation by Pamela Mensch). New York: Pantheon Books, 2010. Pp. l, 503. ISBN 9780375423468. $40.00.

Reviewed by Bogdan Burliga, Gdańsk University (filbb@ug.edu.pl)

Table of Contents

[The reviewer apologizes for lateness of this review.]

Waiting for the final volume of A. B. Bosworth’s A Historical Commentary on Arrian’s History of Alexander,1 scholars interested in Alexander the Great and his best (as it is commonly assumed) historian, have been given a new publication which certainly will win the favor of the experts and obtain the status of a ‘classic’.

It is the fourth volume published by Pantheon Books in the Landmark series. It was preceded by the editions of Thucydides in 1996, Herodotus (2007), and Xenophon’s Hellenika in 2009. The idea initiated by the Series Editor, Robert B. Strassler, has proved to be a great success. The same can be said of this edition – the new translation by Pamela Mensch deserves high praise and there is no doubt that for students interested in Alexander’s expedition, The Landmark Arrian will become an indispensable tool. The great merit of the book lies in a successful reconciling of two goals: while addressed to the general reader, it remains simultaneously interesting for specialists, as it touches upon several detailed topics (e.g. the mystery of Alexander’ death – Appendices O, pp. 404-406; and P, pp. 407-410).

[...]

An earlier review of this book is noted here.

Reminder: Sixth North American Syriac Symposium

REMINDER: The Sixth North American Syriac Symposium happens at Duke University in June.

The Sixth North American Syriac Symposium will be held at Duke University on June 26-29, 2011.

Held every four years since 1991, the North American Syriac Symposium brings together university professors, graduate students, and scholars from the United States and Canada as well as from Europe, the Middle East, and India, in particular from the State of Kerala. The Symposium offers a unique opportunity for exchange and discussion on a wide variety of topics related to the language, literature, and cultural history of Syriac Christianity -- which chronologically spans from the first centuries CE to the present day and geographically extends from Syriac Christianity's homeland in the Middle East to South India, China, and the worldwide Diaspora.

While adopting the general template of previous symposia, the Duke Symposium will at the same time be organized in such a way that it aptly reflects current trends in Syriac studies. A special feature of the North American Syriac Symposium has always been the significant contribution of graduate students. It is to be expected that a large proportion of the papers will be by graduate students. Graduate students will also play an important role in the organization of the Symposium.

The papers are all set, but you can still register to attend.

Select Syriac eResources

SELECT SYRIAC eRESOURCES have been collected by Kristian Heal.

Via AWOL.

Zahi Hawass corrects BBC report on new pyramids

ZAHI HAWASS corrects that earlier BBC story about the discovery of seventeen new pyramids etc. via satellite imagery:

Although satellite imaging is useful for discovering new sites and monuments, interpretation of the images is not straightforward. No one can say with certainty that the features displayed under the sand are actually pyramids. Such anomalies could be houses, tombs, temples, pyramids, buried cities or even geological features. The only way we can definitely identify what is there is by excavating it - by investigating it physically. This was not made clear in the article.

Zenobia on chemical warfare at Dura Europos.

THE DEATH OF DURA EUROPOS is discussed by Judith Weingarten over at Zenobia. She is skeptical of the theory that chemical warfare was involved.

For much more on Dura Europos, see here. For the chemical warfare theory, see here.

More reviews of Sacred Trash, plus a video

SACRED TRASH: The Lost and Found World of the Cairo Geniza, by Adina Hoffman and Peter Cole, is getting lots of attention.

First, a review in Tablet Magazine:

Pieced Together

The Cairo Geniza did more than cast light on Judaism’s literary heritage; it helped us recognize that history’s raw materials can be anything from illuminated manuscripts to bits of junk

By Jenna Weissman Joselit | May 27, 2011 7:00 AM | Print | Email | tweetShare17

Chance encounters on street corners. Secret trips abroad. Whispered hints of buried treasure. To those of us steeped in the writings of John le Carré and Alan Furst, all this smacks of business as usual within the world of espionage. But, as Adina Hoffman and Peter Cole’s new book, Sacred Trash: The Lost and Found World of the Cairo Geniza, reveals, such goings-on were once as much the province of scholars as spies. In the telling of how, against all odds, a “pestiferous wrack” of papers, as one Cambridge professor put it, became one of the most important finds of the late 19th- and early 20th century, Sacred Trash transforms life within the dusty, dry, and often desiccated groves of academe into something akin to a giant romp, a thrilling adventure yarn—hijinks among the highbrow.

[...]

Nah, that's how it is all the time for philologists.

Second, a review by Anthony Julius in the NYT. Excerpt:

It is perhaps the chief appeal of Hoffman and Cole’s book that it restores to life the mostly obscure and unnoticed scholars whose careers were touched by the geniza or who committed themselves to its study. Chief in interest among them must be the extraordinary Solomon Schechter (circa 1847-1915). Romanian and Hasidic by origin, Yeshiva- and then university-trained, a vigorous critic of what he regarded as the anti-Jewish bias of the German Protestant higher criticism (which questioned the dating of several books in the Hebrew Bible), he was a Cambridge don before leaving for the United States, but throughout his life, a charismatic, brilliant man of wide culture and eccentric manner. He became the president of the Jewish Theological Seminary, and is best known today as the man after whom the Conservative movement’s network of day schools is named. He immediately grasped the significance of the geniza materials, which had been shown to him in 1896 by Cambridge acquaintances — two elderly widows of scholarly bent, also wonderfully revived by Hoffman and Cole. Schechter alone was responsible for rescuing some 190,000 fragments. The collection came to dominate his life, taking him away from other scholarly projects. One of his colleagues remarked, “It makes me unutterably sad when I see your unique powers not turned to noble account.”

Third, a nice video interview of the two authors, also from Tablet:

Adina Hoffman and Peter Cole on Sacred Trash from Tablet Magazine on Vimeo.

For earlier reviews, go here. Note also, the other, similarly titled, recent popular book on the same subject: Sacred Treasure: The Cairo Genizah, by Mark Glickman.

Those "Syriac-wielding" "elderly widows of scholarly bent," Agnes Lewis and Margaret Gibson, were recently the subject of their own biography, The Sisters of Sinai by Janet Soskice, noted here and follow the links. They were the discoverers of the Gospels manuscript Codex Syriacus at St. Catherine's Monastery in the Sinai.

James McGrath: An Introduction to Biblioblogs

HANDY: James McGrath has posted An Introduction to Biblioblogs in honor of his new digs at Patheos.

Temple Mount Faithful step in

TEMPLE MOUNT WATCH:

Temple Mount Faithful petitions for excavation report

By RON FRIEDMAN (Jerusalem Post)
05/26/2011 22:40

MKs claim full publication of secret State Comptroller’s Report will harm Israel, ask public to trust decision-makers.

Fearing mass-scale destruction of holy artifacts under the Temple Mount, the Temple Mount Faithful, a group that calls for the Jewish takeover of the site, petitioned the High Court on Thursday to order the full publication of the secret State Comptroller’s Report on excavation works being conducted at one of the holiest places in the world.

Last week, State Comptroller Micha Lindenstrauss submitted his biannual report, which included a special, secret report on state supervision of the works being conducted by the Jerusalem Islamic Wakf at the site.

The majority of the special report was not published, with the reasons cited being harm to Israel’s national security and possible harm to its foreign relations, but the small portion of it that was made public spoke of severe deficiencies in the oversight of the appropriate bodies over the works.

[...]

For that State Comptroller’s Report, see here.

The world's oldest museum

THE WORLD'S OLDEST MUSEUM, founded by the daughter of the Neo-Babylonian King Nabonidus in the city of Ur and excavated by Leonard Woolley in the 1920s, is profiled in io9. No particular connection to ancient Judaism, but too cool not to link to.

What were we to think? Here were half a dozen diverse objects found lying on an unbroken brick pavement of the sixth century BC, yet the newest of them was seven hundred years older than the pavement and the earliest perhaps sixteen hundred.

(HT Christopher Rollston.)

ETC: What To Do with SBL Bags?

ASKING THE IMPORTANT QUESTIONS: What To Do with SBL Bags?

Targuman: SBL Scholarship and Technology Advisory Board formed

AND I'M ON IT: SBL Scholarship and Technology Advisory Board formed. I'm pleased to be part of such an impressive lineup of Bible and ANE tech geeks.

Ancient Egypt in the news

ANCIENT EGYPT has been getting some attention lately.

First:

Egyptian pyramids found by infra-red satellite images

By Frances Cronin BBC News

Seventeen lost pyramids are among the buildings identified in a new satellite survey of Egypt.

More than 1,000 tombs and 3,000 ancient settlements were also revealed by looking at infra-red images which show up underground buildings.

Initial excavations have already confirmed some of the findings, including two suspected pyramids.

The work has been pioneered at the University of Alabama at Birmingham by US Egyptologist Dr Sarah Parcak.

[...]

Keep 'em coming. Cross-file under "technology watch."

UPDATE: "space archaeologists?"

UPDATE (29 May): Zahi Hawass corrects the BBC story.

Second, a BMCR review:

Bojana Mojsov, Alexandria Lost: From the Advent of Christianity to the Arab Conquest. London: Duckworth, 2010. Pp. 155. ISBN 9780715638651. $29.95 (pb).

Reviewed by Christopher Haas, Villanova University (christopher.haas@villanova.edu)

Nearly two decades ago, Peter Fraser observed that classical Alexandria, like Antioch and other cities of the Middle East, did not ultimately die of “a slow cancer, but two massive heart attacks following upon a chronic illness.”1 He identified these coronary catastrophes as the Sassanian capture of the city in 619 and `Amr ibn al-As’s conquest in September of 641. This is the principal theme of Bojana Mojsov’s Alexandria Lost. Mojsov, an Egyptologist with long experience in the field of Pharaonic religion, exhibits from the first page a passion for the city known by the ancients as “most glorious Alexandria.” She sets out to discover “What happened to ancient Alexandria and to the Great Library? Alexander’s city was the shining star of the Mediterranean Sea, the museum the pride of the classical world, the library the greatest collection of antiquity. How could they disappear so thoroughly, without a trace?” (6).

Mojsov's answer is that the Alexandrian cultural heritage was destroyed deliberately by the forces of religious intolerance, and inadvertently by armies contending for possession of the city. Mojsov cites the murder of Hypatia in 415 as the precipitating event that “sparked the drawn-out but violent destruction of the entire legacy of the classical city” (19). She later identifies the episcopate of Cyril as having “all but annihilated its long intellectual tradition,” and goes so far as to assert that after Cyril, “academic life became extinct” (53). Though the city limped along intellectually until the Arab conquest with the meager remnants of the Great Library distributed into private hands, she concludes that after the second and more violent Arab conquest of the city in 646, “the power of ignorance driven by faith ushered in 1,000 years of silence” (116)

[...]

The reviewer is skeptical about these conclusions.

Some past posts on the Library of Alexandria are here, here, here, and here.

Third, still on the theme of ancient Alexandria, a review of Agora in nzherald.co.nz:

Movie Review: Agora

By Francesca Rudkin
7:00 AM Thursday May 26, 2011

Alexandria in the 4th century is the setting for Oscar-winning director Alejandro Amenabar's latest drama. A sweeping historical story taking in the science, politics, philosophy and religion of the time, Agora tells the story of Hypatia (Weisz), a feminist, Ancient Egyptian-style.

It's as ambitious as it sounds and is a fascinating introduction to Alexandria during this turbulent period. Throw in a melodramatic love triangle involving our heroine, her slave Davus (Minghella) and Orestes (Issac), the Prefect of Alexandria, and a generous two hours to give us Alexandria 101, and Agora has all the elements for compelling drama. Yet it fails to excite.

[...]

She gives it 3/5 stars. I have not yet seen Agora, but I want to, because of Rachel Weisz my professional interest in ancient religion in modern popular culture.

Justin Bieber's Jesus tattoo in Hebrew

TATTOO WATCH: Justin Bieber has acquired a "Yeshua" tattoo in Hebrew script (ישוע). It's even spelled correctly.

More ancient-language tattoos here.

Eric M. Meyers on the earliest synagogues

ERIC M. MEYERS on the earliest synagogues:

Unearthing the First Shuls

Excavations from Israel over the past 50 years suggest that synagogues may be older than we initially thought.

This is not an area I know a lot about, but on his e-mail list Joseph Lauer comments, "With specific regard to the following article by Prof. Meyers [i.e., the one above - JRD], the dating of synagogue structures is still a matter of some controversy and it is hoped that further excavations, including at Huqoq by Prof. Jodi Magness and the IAA's David Amit beginning this summer, will shed more light on ancient synagogues."

Tear dow the Mughrabi Gate bridge

TEMPLE MOUNT WATCH: More controversy over the Mughrabi (Mugrabi) Gate bridge.

City: Destroy Mughrabi Gate within two weeks

By MELANIE LIDMAN (Jerusalem Post)
05/24/2011 07:51

Engineer says it was never meant for permanent use; lawyer insists no reason to hurry before court date.

The Jerusalem City Engineer sent a strongly worded letter to the Western Wall Heritage Fund on Sunday, stating that the temporary bridge to the Mughrabi Gate must be destroyed within two weeks, or the city will tear it down.

Since 2004, the covered ramp has been used as the main entry point for non-Muslim tourists to enter the Temple Mount from the Western Wall plaza, as well as for security forces entering the area in times of unrest.

[...]

Background here and follow the links.

KJB@400: Exploring The Genesis Of The KJV

KJB@400 WATCH:

Exploring The Genesis Of The KJV
King James Bible

First Posted: 05/23/11 08:04 PM ET Updated: 05/23/11 08:04 PM ET

By Peggy Fletcher Stack
Salt Lake Tribune (re-posted in the Huffington Post)

(RNS) The King James Bible, translated from ancient Greek and Hebrew in 1611, is, by virtually all accounts, the most awe-inspiring work of English prose ever written.

Over the past four centuries, the KJV has sold more than 5 billion copies. Its exquisite English text has circulated the globe in the hands of missionaries and graced the homes of kings, pastors and peasants. Its lofty language has been repeated over pulpits and podiums, in prayers and poetry, by teachers and travelers.

The words are so familiar that some believers may think that's how God actually talks. Here, then, is an overview of how this world-changing work came to be.

[...]

Sergila, a late-antique Syriac-speaking village

SERGILA, a late-antique Syriac-speaking village in Syria is profiled by SANA:

Sergila ..A Distinguished Ancient Syrian Village Sample

May 24, 2011

IDLEB, North Syria, (SANA)- Sergila archeological village lies next to al-Bara village on al-Zawia Mountain in Idleb Province, about 330 km from Damascus. It is one of a group of archaeological nearby villages that are preserved in a good state. These villages give a true image of the countryside in the Northern part of Syria between the Byzantine and the Roman periods. Sergila has got various buildings, houses, churches, bathrooms and olive squeezers.

[...]

Historian Fayez Qweasrah said the importance of studying Sergila village is that it highlights the status of the Syrian countryside during the Roman and Byzantine periods, as the studies showed that the Syrian countryside was inhabited by active farmers who speak Syriac language and know Greek language.

[...]

More reviews of "Footnote"

MORE REVIEWS OF FOOTNOTE:

In The Forward: More Than a 'Footnote' From Cannes. Excerpt:

“Footnote” was well received by critics at Cannes, who acknowledged Cedar’s shift of focus from the tense war terrain of the 2000 South Lebanon conflict in “Beaufort” to the academic skirmishes of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. “This film does not deal with conflict at the national level, but rather within the context of a personal story,” the director said at Cannes. “It reflects the desire to live peacefully in Israel. In the Talmud, it says that you should not do unto others as you would not like them to do unto you. In a word, compassion.” Talmudic texts were edited and conveyed orally, written down and copied in manuscripts over hundreds of years, and finally printed in the 15th and 16th centuries. Today the study of traditional sacred texts is controversial because the analytical approach questions the reliability of the manuscript. Uriel is a proponent of this “big picture” approach, while traditionalist Eliezer calls himself a philologist.

From the Village Voice:

7. Footnote, Joseph Cedar’s Talmudic tale of Talmud scholars, father and son, competing for the Israel Prize, is another sort of parable—a Kafka story that could have been played out in 18th-century Vilna or 1930s Hollywood. If immersing oneself in the history of the Jews is the essence of Jewish religion, this profoundly ironic, dryly absurdist burlesque is the most Jewish movie I’ve ever seen in Cannes. Fittingly, it won the prize for best screenplay.

More reviews here (first part of post) and follow the links.

Hackett and Huehnergard in defense of the humanities

JO ANN HACKETT AND JOHN HUEHNERGARD have published an editorial in the American-Statesman in defense of the humanities in the era of the bursting higher education bubble:

Two Texas professors on why academic research matters

By Jo Ann Hackett and John Huehnergard

SPECIAL TO THE AMERICAN-STATESMAN

It was spring break 2009, and we were spending it in Florida, watching our beloved Red Sox play spring training games. We had a glorious week, seeing our baseball heroes a few feet from where we sat in the stands. Our time in Florida was cut short by a couple of days, though, so that we could fly to Austin to give a paper and to meet with members of the University of Texas' Department of Middle Eastern Studies, the Department of Religious Studies, and Deans Randy Diehl and Richard Flores of the College of Liberal Arts. When our two days were over, and we got situated in the plane for Boston, we each asked the other, "What do you think?" And we had the same answer: "We've got to make this work. I really want to come here."

Each of us had taught at Harvard University for more than two decades. But although Harvard had recently selected a historian as its president, a series of deans had made it clear that, as Harvard faced a financial meltdown, the humanities were expendable. If anywhere, Harvard should be the depository of, as well as the cutting edge of research in, what we know about our world and how we know it; instead, attrition was reducing our top-ranked program in ancient languages and cultures to a shadow of its former self. We felt it was time for a change.

[...]

Barely a month later we "retired" from Harvard and became members of the UT faculty. By August , we were ensconced in a new home and new offices, the whole process dizzyingly quick. But all for the best possible reason: We are happy here.

We are also now, suddenly, wondering whether we made a mistake.

The ideas we hear floated by some "experts" in higher education — that research and teaching should be separated and that some research isn't useful to the university, isn't cost-effective — are the exact opposite of what led us to move to Texas. They are also ideas that will ensure that UT will no longer be the great university we thought we were coming to.

The "professors who do not bring in as much money as they cost" is often code for the humanities. ...

Read it all. I am sorry to hear about such developments at Harvard. I got my Ph.D. there in the department of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations in the 1980s (and studied comparative Semitics and historical grammar of Hebrew with John while I was there).

For related thoughts on the importance of the humanities, see here and here.

(HT the Agade list.)

Meanwhile, Semitic philology still has a presence in Texas for now, as shown not only by John's and Jo Ann's work at UT, but also by Jeff Childers's work on an edition of the Syriac version of the writings of John Chrysostom at Abilene Christian University. (Background here.)

Book reviews in Tablet Magazine

TABLET MAGAZINE has brief reviews of numerous books relating to medieval and late-antique Judaism in its current On the Bookshelf column. Most of them look interesting, although the one on Hebrew numerology by Stan Tenen sounds goofy. As the reviewer says, "one hopes that he’s a conceptual artist lampooning new agey Kabbalists, in which case he’s hilarious." But the rest seem worthwhile.

Happy Saints Cyril and Methodius Day!

SAINTS CYRIL AND METHODIUS DAY is being celebrated today by Orthodox Christians in Russia and Bulgaria. It commemorates the invention of the Slavonic alphabet and the translation of biblical and related literature from Greek into Old Church Slavonic. For background on relevance to the Old Testament Pseudepigrapha etc., see here and follow the links.

Popular culture, Metatron, Talmud, science fiction, Gnosticism ...

POPULAR CULTURE IN THE MEDIA is taking an unusual interest in some of PaleoJudaica's favorite themes today.

The new film Footnote continues to get attention after its Cannes screening, for which it has won an award:

Israel's Cedar wins award at Cannes

By Viva Sarah Press (Israel21c)
May 23, 2011

Israeli film director Joseph Cedar clinched the best screenplay award at the Cannes Film Festival for his film, Footnote.

Footnote is a drama-comedy about the rivalry between a father and son who are competing Talmud scholars at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem

[...]

Jason Solomons gives it a brief review in his Guardian Cannes roundup:

Contrasting with Malick's new agey, Romantic reverie was the old age study of the holy word contained in Joseph Cedar's Talmud tragicomedy Footnote, probably my favourite film of the festival. It's about a father and son who are both respected but very different Talmud scholars and the Shkolnik family "broigus" that ensues when father is finally awarded the prestigious recognition of the Israel prize.

The film was partly inspired by Cedar's own experience as an Oscar nominee for his last feature, war film Beaufort, but this is closer to something like the Coen brothers' A Serious Man or a David Lodge campus comedy. The performances from Lior Ashkenazi as the son and Shlomo Bar Aba are outstanding in this very smart, very Jewish film. What's not to like?

More reviews of Footnote here.

[UPDATE (24 May): Praise for the Hebrew University's Talmud Department from Manuscript Boy at Hagahot.]

From Talmud to mysticism: the Archangel Metatron make an appearance as a character (sort of) in a play currently running in Santa Monica. Reviewlet by Steven Leigh Morris in LAWeekly:

NEW REVIEW DEUX EX MACHINA AND THE HANDS OF THE BEHOLDER
​
Minutes into writer-director R.S. Bailey's "dark Vaudevillian farce," one gets a sinking feeling. The play (which really feels like two discreet works), takes place in a semi-apocalyptic setting in which God's wrath is at hand and religious zealots have taken over the world. In the prologue, we meet a character named The Historian (Jezter Detroit), who rambles on about history, politics, cause and effect, great events, historical relativism, and more. Prompted by the wail of police sirens, he quickly exits, after which the "meat" of the play begins. Bailey assumes the role of Old Testament Patriarch -- with a dash of mad scientist and Sorcerer's Apprentice tossed in -- who is searching for God before the Day of Judgment. Assisting him are his wife Majda (Mary Dryden), and son Jesse (Jonathan Brett), who is working on a contraption called a Metatron where God is located, or as it turns out, the dwelling place of his voice. The inspiration for this is purportedly the story of Abraham and Isaac, but if it is, it doesn't come across as such, notwithstanding the bizarre sacrifice near the play's end. Theatre Z Productions at The Complex, Dorie Theatre, 6476 Santa Monica Blvd., Hlwd.; Thurs-Sat., 8 p.m.; Sun. 3 p.m.; thru June 5. (323) 960-7788. plays411.com (Lovell Estell III)

All of the other stories today are connected in one way or another with ancient Gnosticism.

On recent and classic films with a Gnostic connection:

Knowing Is Half The Battle: Dark City, The Matrix, And Inception As Gnostic Manuals

Added by Keoni Chavez on May 15, 2011 (Screened)

When hearing the word "religion", it's a safe assumption that most people will think of the more commonly referenced faiths, like Islam, Catholicism, declaring for Ba'al, what have you. However, I'd like to talk about an often-overlooked sect of Christianity (though even that stipulation is arguable) called Gnosticism.

Essentially -- and know that this is a gross oversimplification, but for the purposes of this article, it'll do -- the Gnostics believed that the material world was an imperfect reflection of a higher, truer reality. This imperfection was created, not by God, but by a lesser being known as a 'demiurge'. While the purpose for this creation isn't always clear, it was said that only by adherence to esoteric knowledge -- or "gnosis" -- can one transcend the trap of the material world and ascend to the higher plane.

Now, run that notion through Hollywood's lens, and what do you get? At least the three movies mentioned in the title: Alex Proyas' Dark City, The Wachowski Brothers' The Matrix, and Christopher Nolan's Inception.

[...]

Exegesis follows. The Truman Show also rightly gets a mention. Earlier thoughts on The Matrix and Gnosticism are here.

Also at Screened, more Matrix-as-Platonism/Gnosticism exegesis by Andrew Godoski in Under The Influence: The Matrix:

Moving on, the philosophy at play in The Matrix is simply mind-boggling. They actually devoted an entire disc to it in The Ultimate Matrix Collection box set. I’m not even going to try to delve too deep into any of it, because if I did this article would quickly turn into a 300 page thesis. But, I’ll touch on one idea really quickly. The premise of The Matrix can be tied into Plato’s “Allegory of the Cave.” Keeping this extremely basic, Plato likened people who were uneducated in his Theory of Forms (which is in very, very simplistic terms, the idea that the true essence or definition of an object isn’t what we perceive with our eyes, but rather the quality that makes it that object, i.e. what makes a table a table... that is its true form) to being chained in a cave. A fire glows behind them and they see the shadows of objects passing along the wall, but not the actual objects themselves. These people perceive the shadows as reality and thus do not know the true form of the objects. They are prisoners to this false perception of reality. Sound strikingly familiar? Again, this barely scratches the surface, but it goes to show just how complex the storytelling in The Matrix really is.

I’ll finish by making a quick stop on religion to tie it all back to this week's theme. Just naming a few, this film touches on the ideas of Hinduism, Buddhism, Gnosticism, Judaism, and Christianity. And like philosophy, religion is so tightly woven into the script that discussing all of what you see here would take hours and hours. Obviously, I can’t go through all of it, but I will touch on perhaps the most blatantly apparent idea in the series... Neo as a Christ figure. To start, Neo has a “virgin” birth of sorts since he’s created by the machines and brought into the real world after spending his entire life in an incubator pod, which, of course, is symbolic of a womb. You also can’t ignore the prophecies of his coming and the fact that he is the one chosen to free humanity from their bondage. Then, there's his name, Thomas Anderson. Thomas refers to Doubting Thomas, as Neo never believed he was The One at first. Anderson can literally mean “son of man” when broken up into its roots. Anyone familiar with the teachings of Christianity knows Jesus is often referred to by that name. And if you couple that name with Neo meaning new, you get “new son of man.” You also can’t ignore the Judas/Cypher and Morpheus/John the Baptist metaphors and the fact that Neo gets a very Christ-like death at the end of the series.

Plus you can watch a video excerpt of the lobby scene.

Regular PaleoJudaica readers will be reminded of earlier discussions of Gnosticism and the Simulation Argument here, here, and here. I'll take the red pill.

Then we have Lady Gaga and the Gospel of Judas, offered by Rev. Patrick S. Cheng at the Huffington Post:

Lady Gaga -- the queer icon and pop sensation -- is setting off the Christian right again. In her new song and video, "Judas," Lady Gaga sings over and over, "I'm in love with Judas," referring to the reviled disciple who betrays Jesus Christ for 30 pieces of silver. Is there anything redemptive, theologically speaking, about this song and video?

For me, the answer is a definite "yes." As a queer theologian and professor of early church history, this song and video brings to mind the little-known second century gnostic Christian text The Gospel of Judas. In that text, Judas is actually the disciple who is the most loyal to Jesus and does the will of Jesus by setting into motion the events that ultimately lead to human salvation.

[...]

Unfortunately, this interpretation of the Gospel of Judas is widely disputed.

[UPDATE: Rock diva Helen Ingram does Judas in her church organ series. Why no video, Helen? We expect the highest production standards.]

Then there's Coptic, Platonism, Gnosticism, Satanism, and black metal: Ipsissimus Discusses "The Way of Descent" (by Disc0rdant at metal underground.com):

Haimatokharmes: With the Coptic bridge in the middle of the song, I simply wanted to express black piety with the brutal and pithy character of Coptic. I arranged the riffs and the lyrics in a chiastic structure (a-b-c-b-a) to lend the section a particularly liturgical cohesion.

Finally, the Gnostic gospels Off-Broadway:

Musical Based on Gnostic Gospels, The Magdalene, to Bow Off-Broadway

By Adam Hetrick (Playbill.com)
20 May 2011

The new musical The Magdalene, inspired by the Gnostic gospels that portray Mary Magdalene in a new light, will begin previews Off-Broadway June 14 at the Theatre at St. Clement's. The production will officially open June 27 for a run through Sept. 4.

[...]

According to producers, "In this musical, Mary and Yeshua are destined to become husband and wife, and face together the dangerous and corrupt powers of the time—the Roman Empire and the church—not only battling the new religious ideas, but also the resistance to empowering women."

[...]

[UPDATE: on a related note, James McGrath has a post up on The LOST Series Finale: One Year Later. I liked the ending and could never quite figure out why some people were so unhappy with it.]

Review of Juifs et chrétiens en Arabie aux Ve et VIe siècles

BMCR REVIEW:

Joëlle Beaucamp, Françoise Briquel-Chatonnet, Christian Julien Robin (ed.), Juifs et chrétiens en Arabie aux Ve et VIe siècles: regards croisés sur les sources: [actes du colloque de novembre 2008]. Monographies, 32. Paris: Association des amis du Centre d'histoire et civilisation de Byzance, 2010. Pp. 302. ISBN 9782916716237. €30.00 (pb).

Reviewed by Hagith Sivan, The University of Kansas (dinah01@ku.edu)

Far away from the centers of Roman and Sasanid power and from the raging doctrinal debates of early sixth century, the historian of late antiquity runs into an astonishing phenomenon. In a bizarre twist of Byzantine-Persian rivalry and of post-Chalcedonian controversies, an unforeseen light is shed on the emergence of southern Arabia as contested political, commercial and theological arena. The region, Himyar (roughly present day Yemen), was strategically critical to the trading interests of both empires. The major local players were the rulers of Himyar and their neighbors across the Red Sea, the rulers of Axum (present day Ethiopia). In the late fourth century the Himyarite ruling house apparently converted to Judaism. A century later the Axumites annexed Himyar to their kingdom. In 522, when the chronology of Himyarite events suddenly acquires precision, prince Yusuf revolted again the Axumite overlords of Himyar. His first priority was to secure the coastal region. In the course of his operations he besieged the town of Najran, setting on fire its church and its clergy (523). The Axumite king, Caleb, invading Himyar, defeated Yusuf and executed the Jewish inhabitants of the kingdom.

The events of 522-523 received extraordinary coverage. We have sources in Syriac, Greek, Geez, Sabean, Arabic, Armenian, Georgian, Hebrew, Aramaic, some with Chalcedonian bias, others reflecting the views of miaphysites, yet more with a Nestorian twist. Virtually all the sources display one striking feature in common, namely anti-Judaism.

English readers have had opportunities for familiarizing themselves with Himyarite events largely through the efforts of Irfan Shahîd. In addition, K. A. Kitchen has published a Bibliographical Catalogue of Texts in the series Documents for Ancient Arabia.

In the last two decades French scholarship on the south Arabian peninsula in general and on Yemen in particular has undergone a veritable renaissance. A scholarly team headed by the editors of the volume under review created a series devoted to the editing, commentary, and analysis of major sources relating to the Najran episode. The first volume dealt with the text known as “The Martyrdom of Saint Arethas and his Companions,” and appeared in 2007. The second, based on a 2008 conference, is a collection of articles, under review here, designed to highlight further research on the sources. Two more are in preparation. Both Beaucamp and Robin have already published important studies elsewhere. In 2009 alone two other related books appeared, one by Iwona Gajda on the kingdom of Himyar in its monotheistic phase, the other a volume of essays edited by Robin and Jeremie Schiettecatte on the historicity of the narrative sources in light of Axumite and Himyarite inscriptions.

[...]

Review of "Footnote" in Salon

FOOTNOTE is a success at Cannes and gets a good review in Salon, even though the reviewer is under the erroneous impression that philology is "unsexy," apparently due to issues with his father. Go figure.

Cannes: The Talmud scholarship comedy of the year!

A deadpan Israeli comedy about dueling father-son professors, "Footnote" is an unexpected hit at Cannes

Another review is noted here.

Lag B'Omer

LAG B'OMER (the Counting of the Omer) is celebrated beginning this evening at sundown (unless pre-empted by the Rapture, which doesn't look likely now). Best wishes to all those celebrating.

Review of Ulmer, Egyptian Cultural Icons in Midrash

BOOK REVIEW:

Rivka Ulmer. Egyptian Cultural Icons in Midrash. Berlin: Walter De Gruyter, 2009. Illustrations. vi + 404 pp. $155.00 (cloth), ISBN 978-3-11-022392-7.

Reviewed by Marc Bregman (University of North Carolina at Greensboro)
Published on H-Judaic (May, 2011)
Commissioned by Jason Kalman

Egypt through Rabbinic Eyes

This book is a collection of ten interrelated essays, with numerous figures, color plates, and tables of motifs, by the prolific scholar of rabbinic literature, Rivka Ulmer, utilizing her additional expertise in Egyptology, art history, and cultural theory. A number of the essays that have been published previously are here revised, updated, and integrated into a monograph on the significance of Egypt, as a cultural icon, in rabbinic texts. The concept of “cultural icon” is best explained in the introduction to chapter 7, “Cleopatra, Isis and Serapis”: “For the purpose of this chapter a cultural icon is understood to be a representative of a particular culture or a famous individual that emerged to signify this culture to a sizable segment of the known world of antiquity, the Roman provinces and even Non-Roman territories” (p. 215).

[...]

Adin Steinsaltz interviewed in Tablet

ADIN STEINSALTZ is interviewed in Tablet Magazine:

Found in Translation

Scholar Adin Steinsaltz discusses his recently completed edition of the Talmud, why the Internet is better than TV, and the prospect of the Lubavitcher Rebbe and Elvis playing cards together

Background on his Talmud translation is here and follow the links.

Cargill on the latest on the fake metal codices

FAKE METAL CODICES WATCH: Speaking of Media Fails, I didn't have the heart to discuss this latest nonsense puff-piece on the Elkingtons, but Robert Cargill has it covered: i just threw up in my mouth: on david elkington and the lead codices.

Media Fail: "Egyptologist" accused of antiquities smuggling

"EGYPTOLOGIST" ACCUSED OF ANTIQUITIES SMUGGLING:

Retired U.S. Academic Is Arrested in Israel on Suspicion of Antiquities Trafficking

By Matthew Kalman (Chronicle of Higher Education)

Jerusalem

A retired American college lecturer has been arrested in Israel on suspicion of trafficking in stolen antiquities and attempting to smuggle them out of the country.

John L. Lund, 70, a motivational speaker, author, and tour guide, was detained late Monday by Israeli customs and antiquities agents as he prepared to board a plane at Ben Gurion Airport. Mr. Lund is an expert on Egyptian history, is the author of How to Hug a Porcupine: Dealing With Toxic and Difficult to Love Personalities, and, according to his Web site, has lectured in history as an adjunct faculty member at universities in California, Idaho, Utah, and Washington.

A search of his belongings revealed a stash of ancient silver and bronze coins that he was attempting to take out of Israel without a permit, as well as $20,000 and other evidence from the illegal sales of ancient coins, clay oil lamps, and glass and pottery vessels, said a statement from the Israel Antiquities Authority. Mr. Lund had been acting as a guide to two groups touring Israel.

One of the items retrieved by officials was a rare Roman lamp bearing an incised decoration of a seven-branched menorah. Such items are not permitted to be taken abroad without an export license from the antiquities agency.

Mr. Lund was allowed to leave Israel after posting a bond of $7,500. Israeli police expect to file charges in the near future.

[...]

Dr. Lund claims to be innocent, and the courts will have to sort this one out. But I find the case itself less interesting than the press reports about Dr. Lund's credentials. Here's what I could find with a little Googling.

Here is his profile at the Book of Mormon Archaeological Forum. Credentials:

... He is a popular speaker and author of many books, cd's and dvd's. His most recent book is, Mesoamerica and the Book of Mormon, Is This the Place?.

He holds Bachelor's degrees in sociology and education from Brigham Young University, a Master's Degree in Educational Psychology from the University of Washington in Seattle and a Doctor of Education from Brigham Young University. Because of his emphasis in research, he also completed the equivalent of a Doctoral Minor in Statistics.

His own personal description is here and goes into somewhat more detail but adds nothing relevant.

The Deseret Book website has a list of 15 of his books for sale. They are all popular works, mostly in the self-help category. None of them has anything to do with Egyptology.

He is a motivational speaker, tour guide, and author of self-help and religious books. There's nothing wrong with any of those things, but an Egyptologist they do not make. If he has a doctorate in history, he's keeping it well hidden. Apparently he has taught at adjunct level somewhere and so counts as a retired "academic" or "professor," but if some institution let him teach ancient history, I'm not impressed with their recruiting standards.

I am no Egyptologist, but I'm more of one than he is. At least I have actually studied an ancient Egyptian language (Coptic) and have taught ancient Near Eastern history and mythology at the tertiary level.

The Chronicle of Higher Education report above details his background pretty well, but then spoils it with the howler "Mr. Lund is an expert on Egyptian history." Many of the media reports do no better and some are worse.

JTA: U.S. professor arrested for trafficking stolen antiquities. The article refers to him as "[a] retired history professor."

The Media Line: American Professor Caught Trafficking Antiquities in Israel; "[a]n American history professor."

Art Daily has an innocuous headline (An Attempt to Smuggle Hundreds of Stolen Antiquities from Israel was Thwarted) but describes Mr. Lund as "a retired university lecturer with a Ph. D in history from the United States."

Ynet News: US professor suspected of selling stolen artifacts; "[a] history professor from the US."

Then it gets even better:

Jerusalem Post: Egyptologist suspected of smuggling artifacts from Israel; " a former history lecturer specializing in Ancient Egypt."

Likewise Arutz Sheva: US Egyptologist's Attempt to Smuggle Stolen Antiquities Thwarted; "an American tour guide, a retired American university lecturer and expert on Egyptian history and culture."

To be fair, we don't find this nonsense this time with some media, including the major outlets:

Haaretz gets credit for getting it about right: U.S. tour guide arrested for antiquities trafficking.

CNN does all right as well: American arrested over alleged antiquities smuggling in Israel. Description: "a retired American university lecturer." Note that Mr. Lund had not been identified by name at this point.

The AP (Fox News, CBS, WaPo) likewise: Israel accuses US man of antiquities trafficking; "a retired U.S. lecturer."

I am not picking on Dr. Lund, nor am I pre-judging the outcome of this case. He is what he is and, as far as I can tell, he himself doesn't claim otherwise. My problem is with the media, much of which is simply incapable of judging academic credentials. Even Haaretz and the major media did not express themselves clearly by saying that he is a retired adjunct lecturer in areas that have nothing to do with ancient history. (The adjunct status is relevant: although many adjuncts are fully credentialed, publishing scholars, many are also non-academics teaching a course here and there. Dr. Lund clearly falls in the latter category.)

With Dr. Lund and, recently, with Mr. Elkington, it has become obvious that the media could not identify an Egyptologist if one rose up from an alabaster coffin in front of them. Once again, Media Fail.

UPDATE: At Rogue Classicism, David Meadows reaches the same conclusion about this story: Journalists Just Aren’t Trying Any More.

VMBA: Virtual Magic Bowl Archive

ARAMAIC INCANTATION BOWLS ONLINE: VMBA: Virtual Magic Bowl Archive.

The aim of VMBA is to provide an environment that will allow collaborative work on material that is otherwise difficult to access or unavailable. The material within this archive consists, at this stage, of parts of three collections: The Moussaieff Collection, The Dehays Collection and The Barakat Collection. By providing access to this material to a number of scholars and their students we aim to encourage the production of critical editions of these texts and their publication. A single portal providing access to a shared virtual environment where this can occur provides a convenient forum for collaboration between a small group of scholars from different institutions spread in a number of countries.

(Via AWOL.)

Updates on the Valmadonna and Schneerson Judaica collections

THE SALE OF THE VALMADONNA LIBRARY of Judaica has fallen through:

Treasured Judaica Library, Feared Lost, Is Back On the Market

By Paul Berger (The Forward)
Published May 04, 2011, issue of May 20, 2011.

One of the world’s largest and most valuable private Judaica libraries is up for sale, again.

To the consternation of Judaeophiles and scholarly libraries around the world, public access to the Valmadonna Trust Library — or even knowledge of its whereabouts — was feared to have been lost last December, with the selection of an anonymous buyer in a sealed bid auction conducted by Sotheby’s. Scholars braced for the potential breakup or disappearance of an unparalleled assemblage of rare and historic Jewish books and an incalculable loss to Western culture. Libraries rued its loss, perhaps forever, as a potential acquisition.

But the sale of the collection, the Forward has learned, never went through.

“It’s sitting a few feet from me right now,” said David Redden, a Sotheby’s vice-chairman, in an April 29 interview. Redden, who led the sale in New York, said that an anonymous bidder had met or exceeded the $25 million minimum set by the library’s trustees. But Jack Lunzer, who amassed the collection, told the Forward that the trustees had aborted the sale because the buyer failed to meet two stipulations for purchase: that the library be kept whole and be made available to scholars.

The library has been sitting in Sotheby’s New York offices ever since.

[...]

The centerpiece of his library is a 16th-century Babylonian Talmud that was coaxed out of the collection of Westminster Abbey, where it had lain for about 400 years. The Talmud was published by Daniel Bomberg, a Christian printer who was the first to publish a complete edition. The Abbey refused repeated attempts by Lunzer over a period of 25 years to buy the books. In 1980, Lunzer spotted an opening: A New York collector needed to unload the original charter of Westminster Abbey. Lunzer bought the charter and used it as a bargaining chip to persuade, some might say blackmail, the Abbey into letting the Talmud go.

[...]

(HT Gerald Rosenberg.)

Previous posts on the Valmadonna Library sale are here, here, here, and here.

Tangentially related topic: U.S. looking at Chabad-Russia feud over texts (JTA). The dispute between Chabad and Russia over the Schneerson Collection has now led to US exhibition cancellations and is attracting the interest of the State Department. Background on that is here.

Part of State Comptroller's report on Temple Mount released

TEMPLE MOUNT WATCH: Part of that suppressed State Comptroller's report on the Waqf and the Temple Mount has been released. From Haaretz:

'Waqf Temple Mount excavation damaged archaeological relics'

State Comptroller's report finds that the Muslim religious trust carried out works without permits and used heavy equipment damaging the Jerusalem holy site.

By Nir Hasson

Tags: Israel news Temple Mount Jerusalem Israel archeology Jerusalem Old City

* Published 18:52 17.05.11
* Latest update 18:52 17.05.11

In his annual report, State Comptroller Micha Lindenstrauss found many shortcomings in the supervision of works carried out by the Waqf Muslim religious trust at the Temple Mount in Jerusalem, saying that as a result, important archaeological artifacts had been damaged.

The majority of the State Comptrollers opinion is being kept confidential, as per the decision of the State Control Committee. According to the State Comptroller's report, this is "In order to guarantee state security and to prevent damaging Israel's international relations, in accordance with article 17 of the state comptroller's law."

The only section of the opinion that was made public was the conclusion, which says that supervision of the works that the Waqf carried out at the Temple Mount, particularly in the structure known as Solomon's Stables, was problematic. ...

The released text of the report follows.

Background here.

iGematria App

GEMATRIA — There's an app for that: iGematria App Unlocks Ancient Hebrew Numerology System.

Lecture on Qur'anic apocalyptic and the Aramaic Gospels tradition

LECTURE at the Middle East History and Theory Workshop at the University of Chicago:

Dr. Emran El Badawi

Thursday, May 19, 12:00–1:30, Pick 218
Stages of the Apocalypse in the Qur’ān and the Aramaic Gospels Traditions

(HT Abu 'l-Rayhan Al-Biruni.)

New book: Steven D. Fraade, Legal Fictions

NEW BOOK:

Steven D. Fraade, Legal Fictions: Studies of Law and Narrative in the Discursive Worlds of Ancient Jewish Sectarians and Sages (Brill)

Ancient Jewish writings combine interpretive narratives of Israel’s sacred history with legal prescriptions for a divinely ordered way of life. Two ancient Jewish societies have left us extensive textual corpora preserving interpenetrating legal and narrative interpretive teachings: the sectarian community of the Dead Sea Scrolls and the sage-disciple circles of the early Rabbis. This book comprises studies that explore specific aspects of the interplay of interpretative, narrative, and legal rhetoric with an eye to pedagogic function and social formation for each of these communities … read moreand for both of them in comparison. It addresses questions of how best to approach these writings for purposes of historical retrieval and reconstruction by recognizing the inseparability of literary-rhetorical textual analysis and a non-reductive historiography.

Aramaic DNA Project

ARAMAIC WATCH: There's an Aramaic DNA Project:

A. INTRODUCTION The Aramaic DNA Project hopes to bring together all Aramaic (also known as Modern or Neo-Aramaic) speaking people and people of Aramaic-speaking heritage of the world. For 3000 years, and despite unrelenting strife of every conceivable sort, the Aramaic language has steadfastly retained a continuous presence in the region known as the Fertile Crescent.

The people who retained a form of the Aramaic language as their mother tongue offer a tremendous opportunity to catch a glimpse many centuries, and perhaps even millennia, into the past. The testing of DNA, specifically one's mtDNA and Y-DNA, is ideally suited for discovering one’s deep ancestral roots. This is because mtDNA and Y-DNA remain more or less unchanged for thousands of years. If we wish to understand the origins of the Aramaic-speaking people, it is imperative to undertake this task now. The growing diasporic aspect of many, if not all, Aramaic-speaking communities is at the root of this urgency. If this project were not undertaken, or pursued with sufficient zeal, we may forever squander our ability to peer, with least obstruction, back to the dawn of our civilization.

The Aramaic DNA Project aims to answer questions of interest to Aramaic-speakers regarding their recent and distant origins. It will also delve into the relationships between the different Aramaic-speaking groups with ancestral origins from different geographical regions including, but by no means limited to: Diyarbakir, Hakkari, Harput, Mardin, Mosul, Salamas, Seert, Urfa, Urmia, Tur Abdin, and Zakho.

The Project, in remaining true to standard scientific practices, as well as FTDNA’s terms of agreement, will remain objective and has no affiliations whatsoever. We encourage all Aramaic-speaking people and people of Aramaic-speaking heritage to join our Project regardless of self-designation including, but not limited to: Aramaeans, Assyrians, Chaldeans, Syrians, Ancient Syrians, and Syriacs. People of Aramaic-speaking heritage who have lost usage of the language due to assimilation are encouraged to join. All participants will be offered the option to identify by their preferred self-designation.

The Project is open to all religious affiliations and not limited to Christian communities. We welcome, with open hearts, Aramaic-speakers among the Jewish and Mandaean communities, and Aramaic-speakers from other religious affiliations. All Aramaic-speakers will be classified according to their self-designation into the appropriate haplogroup categories. We sincerely hope all Aramaic-speaking people tested at Family Tree DNA will consider participating in this very special endeavor. The administrators are more than happy to discuss any questions pertaining to the project. Please refer to our contact details above. Yours truly, Paul Givargidze Jean Fathi Nenos Birko

Thomas Verenna on the fake metal codices

FAKE METAL CODICES WATCH: Thomas Verenna has published an excellent article over at Bible and Interpretation about the metal codices and how they have been handled by the media and bibliobloggers:

Artifacts and the Media: Lead Codices and the Public Portrayal of History

More scandalous is the complete lack of journalistic integrity, honest research, and thorough fact-checking. These codices might never have been heard of if the authors of the reports for BBC and Fox News (among others) had just checked with the academic community before publishing the “find”. At the very least, the journalists might have used less authoritative language, expressed more caution, and exposed the controversy rather than simply stating, as if doing so made it fact, that these codices were “the earliest Christian texts” and that they held “early images of Jesus.”

As Tom concludes, "Perhaps blogging isn’t enough; but it is something."

Background here and just keep following those links.

BMCR reviews

BMCR REVIEWS:

Jordan D. Rosenblum, Food and Identity in Early Rabbinic Judaism. Cambridge/New York: Cambridge University Press, 2010. Pp. xiv, 223. ISBN 9780521195980. $85.00.

Reviewed by Matthew Kraus, University of Cincinnati (tthew.kraus@uc.edu)

Preview

Planning a dinner party for scholars of food, Classics and rabbinics would present a formidable challenge for any chef. Jordan Rosenblum assumes this task in Food and Identity in Rabbinic Judaism, a respectable attempt to serve fare both edible and satisfying to all. By examining the Tannaim's innovative adaptation of Jewish and non-Jewish customs, Rosenblum claims to develop a methodology for cross-cultural and trans-historical food studies. Rosenblum demonstrates how tannaitic texts establish a discrete rabbinic identity through the discursive construction of culinary and commensal practices. This essential thesis is not difficult to swallow, but it should be noted that the size of the portions vary. The rabbinics scholar has the most to digest, albeit abundantly seasoned with contemporary food theory. Classicists might enjoy the tastes, but will depart still hungry.

[...]


Anders-Christian Jacobsen, Jörg Ulrich, David Brakke (ed.), Critique and Apologetics: Jews, Christians, and Pagans in Antiquity. Early Christianity in the Context of Antiquity 4. Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang, 2009. Pp. 327. ISBN 9783631580110. $64.95.

Reviewed by Danielle Slootjes, Radboud University Nijmegen (d.slootjes@let.ru.nl)

The volume under review presents the results of a conference, held in 2007, which marked the final stages of a larger research project at the University of Aarhus in Denmark that had started in 2000, called ‘Jews, Christians and Pagans in Antiquity – Critique and Apologetics’. This project examined the dialogues and conflicts between religious groups in the period between circa 100 B.C. and A.D. 500 in order to acquire a deeper understanding of apologetic literature (whereby they also included those texts that traditionally might not have been regarded as apologetic). The project has taken three phases into account: the pre-Constantine epoch, the Constantinian revolution, and the post-Constantinian era. The thirteen contributions in the volume focus for the most part on issues that deal with the concept and genre of the apologetics, as well as the writings that can be connected to these three phases.

[...]

Lexicon news

LEXICON NEWS:

• First, Lane's multi-volume Arabic-English Lexicon is now available online at the Perseus Digital Library. I have the set of bound volumes on my bookshelf, but it will be handy to have this for reference when I'm away from my office. (Via Abu 'l-Rayhan Al-Biruni.)
  
  
• Second, a massive new dictionary of medieval Latin is being completed at Oxford University and is slated to be published online in 2014. Press release:

  Unique dictionary nears completion
  
  12 May 11
  
  A huge number of students ranging from linguists to those studying coins and family ancestry are benefiting from a 100 year project to compile the world’s most comprehensive dictionary of Medieval Latin.
  
  Work started on the unique Dictionary of Medieval Latin from British Sources 50 years ago but experts began collecting material early in the 20th century.
  
  Now the initiative is nearing completion and Professor Tobias Reinhardt, Corpus Christi Professor of the Latin Language and Literature at Oxford University is responsible for seeing it through.
  
  “It will be an achievement of international importance, serving as a primary and essential reference volume to a very wide range of scholars, students, and interested members of the public,” Professor Reinhardt, who is based in the Faculty of Classics says. “Bringing it to completion in the current difficult funding environment will be a symbol of the resilience of the humanities in Britain.”
  
  The dictionary has drawn on the largest collection of literary and epigraphic sources of any similar project. Words used in Classical Latin and Late Latin – up to AD 600 – and the Middle Ages – from the sixth century to the 16th - are included. It details headwords – under which related entries appear – definitions, quotations and each word’s history. It follows the style of the Oxford English Dictionary.
  
  It is being used by students of philosophy, music, those studying names and even topography as well as language and literature students
  
  Entries range from words used in high literature to those common in day to day speech, many of which did not appear in text for hundreds of years.
  
  The dictionary also incorporates words from Greek, Celtic, Semitic, Germanic and Romance languages. “It is being used by students of philosophy, music, those studying names and even topography as well as language and literature students,” Professor Reinhardt adds.
  
  The dictionary is due be published fully online in 2014, a target he is confident will be met. The dictionary, which is a British Academy research project as well as a research project in the Faculty of Classics at Oxford, has recently won $800,000 from the Packard Humanities Institute enabling its completion.
  
  “People will be able to search for words online when they have an internet connection, using their iPhones and of course laptops. As a medieval Latin dictionary it is the leading publication in its field.”

Footnote

PROFESSORS OF TALMUD are the central characters in the indie film Footnote:

CANNES REVIEW | “Footnote” Finds the Comedy in a Talmudic Feud

by Eric Kohn (Updated 23 hours, 31 minutes ago) [indiewire.com]

Israeli writer-director Joseph Cedar’s last feature, the Oscar-nominated “Beaufort,” was a tense war movie about the 2000 South Lebanon conflict. His latest effort, “Footnote,” involves a much more personal war, in which the opposing sides are a father and his grown son. In Cedar’s dark comic fable, bookish eccentrics pit their egos against each other on a shrewdly composed battlefield where the only potential casualty is self-esteem.

Cedar’s screenplay follows a tale two of Shkolniks: The aging Eliezer (Israeli comic Shlomo Bar Aba), a veteran Talmud professor at Hebrew University, and his middle-aged son Uriel (Lior Ashkenazi), a more established researcher in the same field. From the first scene, Eliezer sulks in his son’s shadow, as the younger Skolnick accepts an award while his father watches from the audience. Cedar quickly explains the context with an introductory bit that surveys both of their backgrounds, aided by words on the screen and a deadpan voiceover seemingly imported from Woody Allenville. Like Allen’s best creations, Eliezer and Uriel harbor neuroses that run deep.

[...]