A call for Hebrew and Aramaic translators

PUBLICATION OPPORTUNITY:

*The Hackmey Hebrew Classical Library ***
*Call for Translators - an update*

Harvard University Press and Tel Aviv University Press is about to launch a new series of bilingual editions of classical Hebrew and Aramaic texts in facing English translation (on the model of Loeb and I Tatti). The new series, made possible by a donation of Mr. Joseph Hackmey, will be named *The Hackmey Hebrew Classical Library*. The project is under the direction of Prof. Aviad Kleinberg, director of Tel Aviv University Press.

We are currently looking for high-quality translations of Hebrew and Aramaic texts in all genres - from poetry to halachic discussions and from philosophy to chronicles -from the post-biblical period to the *haskalah*. We invite scholars working in these fields to submit proposals for English translations from Hebrew and Aramaic. The translations will be accompanied by an introduction, short explanatory notes and a bibliography.*

From the H-Judaic list. Follow the link for a list of texts of particular interest to the project. Lots of halakhic and mystical texts are on the list.

The heading says "an update," but this is the first I've heard of the project. It sounds exciting.

The use of the Bible in ancient Greek inscriptions

BIBLICAL EXEGESIS AND ANCIENT EPIGRAPHY—a good combination as far as I'm concerned.

Biblical Citations in Greek, Jewish, and Christian Inscriptions of the Graeco-Roman World*

By Ekaterini G. Tsalampouni (Bible and Interpretation)
Lecturer on the New Testament
Faculty of Theology
Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, GR
etsala@past.auth.gr
March 2012

Excerpt:

Although the biblical citations in Greek, Jewish, and Christian inscriptions are a rather marginal practice within the Jewish and Christian epigraphy, they offer valuable insights into the “Sitz im Leben” of Jewish and Christian communities and their interaction in Graeco-Roman and Late Antiquity. They remain expressions of personal piety and community self-affirmation, monuments of the way ancient Jewish and Christian communities understood and adapted their scriptures in their personal and communal lives.

Ancient Greek helmet found in Haifa Bay

LOST AND FOUND, but a little late:

Found: Ancient Warrior's Helmet, Owner Unknown

Owen Jarus, LiveScience Contributor

Date: 28 February 2012 Time: 11:27 AM ET

A Greek bronze helmet, covered with gold leaf and decorated with snakes, lions and a peacock's tail (or palmette), has been discovered in the waters of Haifa Bay in Israel. But how this helmet ended up at the bottom of the bay is a mystery.

The helmet dates back around 2,600 years and likely belonged to a wealthy Greek mercenary who took part in a series of wars, immortalized in the Bible, which ravaged the region at that time. Archaeologists believe that he likely fought for an Egyptian pharaoh named Necho II.

[...]

It's something of a mystery how it was lost. Losing a gold earring is bad but, for a warrior, this would be worse.

Professor Tabor replies

ASOR BLOG: A Reply from Prof. Tabor—A Jonah Fish Image or a Tower Tomb Monument?

UPDATE: James McGrath: Today’s Round-Up of Talpiot Tomb Posts (for yesterday, 1 March).

Jesus Discovery latest at ASOR blog

THE ASOR BLOG: Comments from Prof. Steven Fine on the “Jesus Discovery”. In short, the Jonah "icon" is a drawing of a tomb.

Professor Fine concludes:

I, for one, am wearied by the almost yearly “teaching moment” presented by these types of “discoveries.” I am hopeful, however, that—this time—a forceful and quick display of unanimous dissent by the leading members of the academic community will be taken seriously by the media and the public at large.

There are signs that that may happen this time.

Background here and links.

The million dollar shekel

A SLIVER SHEKEL FROM THE GREAT REVOLT OF 66 CE is profiled in a press release taken up by Art Daily, along with a nice close-up photo:

Million dollar ancient silver shekel highlights world's greatest private Jewish coin collection

NEW YORK, NY.- The first silver shekel struck in Jerusalem by Jewish forces rebelling against Roman oppression in the first century CE, one of only two specimens known, will be auctioned as part of The Shoshana Collection of Ancient Coins of Judea, March 8-9, at the Fletcher-Sinclair Mansion (Ukrainian Institute of America) at 2 East 79th St (at 5th Ave.). The auction begins on March 8 at 6 p.m. ET.

The Shoshana Collection, assembled over the course of four decades by an American collector of Judaean coins, is perhaps the greatest assembly of ancient coins related to the foundation of ancient Israel ever offered, with more than 700 coins spanning more than 11 centuries. Auction estimates on the coins range from $200 to $950,000.

“This Year 1 silver shekel, struck shortly after the Jewish War began in May of 66 CE, is the prototype for all subsequent shekels,” said Cris Bierrenbach, Executive Vice President of Heritage Auctions. “Only a handful of coins were struck from this first set of dies before the design was radically changed. Only two ‘prototypes’ have survived to the present day, with the only other known specimen in the Israel Museum’s collection.”

In fact, the Israel Museum has stated that it would like to acquire many of the coins from The Shoshana Collection and has a “wish list” available to potential bidders interested in purchasing coins from the auction and donating them to the museum’s collection, or in making them available on long-term loan. This can be done through the American Friends of the Israel Museum, a tax-exempt organization.

[...]

Philanthropists take note! And if you know of buyers who do buy some or all of these coins and donate them to the Israel Museum, please let me know so I can praise them here, either by name or anonymously, as they wish.

Background here and links.

UPDATE: Dead link fixed. Sorry!

More on that Turkish Aramaic "Bible"

THE STORY OF THE ANCIENT ARAMAIC APOCRYPHAL GOSPEL supposedly recovered from smugglers in Turkey is taken up and taken apart by Peter BetBasoo and Ashur Giwargis in AINA, based on their knowledge of Modern Assyrian (Syriac):

The 1,500 Year Old 'Bible' and Muslim Propaganda

Posted GMT 2-29-2012 22:56:9

(AINA) -- Much has been made of the recent discovery in Turkey of a Bible purported to be written in the Aramaic language, 1,500 years ago. The Muslim media, as well as Western media outlets, quickly pounced on this, claiming this Bible contains verses attributed to Jesus Christ, in which Christ predicts the coming of Muhammad. No media outlet has published a facsimile of these verses.

This "Bible" is written on leather in gold letters. The picture of the front cover show inscriptions in Aramaic and a picture of a cross.

For any native speaker of Modern Assyrian (also known as neo-Aramaic), and that would be your average Assyrian today, the inscription is easily read. The bottom inscription, which is the most clearly visible from the published photos, says the following:

Transliteration: b-shimmit maran paish kteewa aha ktawa al idateh d-rabbaneh d-dera illaya b-ninweh b'sheeta d-alpa w-khamshamma d-maran

Translation: In the name of our Lord, this book is written on the hands of the monks of the high monastery in Nineveh, in the 1,500th year of our Lord.

Nineveh is the ancient Assyrian capital and is located in present-day north Iraq, near Mosul.

There are spelling errors that are immediately noticeable.

Specific follow.

Most significantly, this writing is in Modern Assyrian, which was standardized in the 1840s. The first bible in Modern Assyrian was produced in 1848. If this book were written in 1500 A.D. it should have been written in Classical Assyrian.

It is highly unlikely for monks to make such elementary mistakes. It remains to be seen whether this book is a forgery, or even what kind of book it is.

[...]

As noted earlier, Peter Williams says the final page contains the end of the Peshitta of the Gospel of Matthew.

So instead of being a pre-Islamic copy of The Gospel of Barnabas with predictions of Muhammad in the mouth of Jesus, the manuscript dates itself to 1500; it appears to contain a canonical Gospel; it is suspiciously poorly copied; and paleographic concerns indicate it may be much later than even 1500.

The weird thing is that the manuscript itself does not seem to be promoting the narrative being circulated about it. If it is a forgery, it's a forgery of a 600-year-old manuscript of a canonical book, not of an an ancient copy of an apocryphal one. What is going on?

I look forward to all the updates and corrections that I'm sure the mainstream (and other) media who have been spreading this story will publish.

Background here and links.

The Afghan manuscripts again

THE AFGHAN MANUSCRIPTS are covered in an article in Tablet Magazine:

War Papers

A trove of medieval scrolls, smuggled out of Afghanistan into the hands of London art dealers, could shed new light on a once-vibrant Jewish heritage

By Jonathan Lee|February 29, 2012 7:00 AM|6comments

Afghanistan for many people is synonymous with the War on Terror, radical Islamic movements such as the Taliban and al-Qaida, and a state of almost perpetual instability. However, recent reports of the discovery of some 150 medieval Judaeo-Persian manuscripts purporting to be from Afghanistan, possibly worth several million dollars on the open market, open a window to a very different place. At the same time, they offer scholars a chance to learn more about a little-known Jewish heritage. Though they cannot compare to the thousands of works of the Cairo Geniza or the Dead Sea Scrolls, these manuscripts are the most important cache of Jewish documents ever to have been found in Afghanistan.

[...]

There's nothing much new about the manuscripts themselves, but the article has a lot of background on Jews in Afghanistan at the time the manuscripts were produced, as well as later.

Background here and links.

More on Jacobovici, Tabor, and that Talpiot tomb

THE ASOR BLOG has three new posts on Jacobovici's and Tabor's book, The New Jesus Discovery, and their theories about Talpiot Tomb B:

Reflections of an Epigrapher on Talpiyot Tombs A and B: A Detailed Response to the Claims of Professor James Tabor and Filmmaker Simcha Jacobovici (Christopher A. Rollston);

Jodi Magness responds to the “New Jesus Discovery”;

On ‘Absalom’s Tomb’ in Jerusalem and Nephesh Monument Iconography: A Response to Jacobovici and Tabor by Robert Cargill.

Bottom line: the specialists find their theories sensationalist and unpersuasive.

Happily, the mainstream media is taking some notice of the specialist response:

Alan Boyle, Cosmic Log (MSNBC): Doubts about 'the Jesus Discovery'.

Michael Gordon, Professor's discovery resurrects debate over 'Jesus tomb' (Kansas City Star/McClatchy Newspapers):

Most of Tabor's peers dismissed his "Jesus Tomb" hypothesis, saying it lacked proof.

That said, John Dominic Crossan, an expert in first century Christianity and professor emeritus at DePaul University in Chicago, called Tabor's latest find "a stunning discovery," which he hopes doesn't get diminished by renewed debate over the "Jesus Tomb."

"As a scholar, I really don't want to get lost in saying, 'Oh come on, it's off the wall,'" Crossan told MSNBC. "Yeah, it's off the wall, but look at the wall!"

The research, and the stories behind it, are included in Tabor's and Jacobovici's new book, "The Jesus Discovery." A documentary will follow this spring.

Duke University archaeologist Eric Meyers lacerated Tabor's claims Tuesday on a blog for the American Schools of Oriental Research. He called Tabor's book sensationalistic, predicting it may end up "on a long list of presentations that misuse not only the Bible but also archaeology."

He even questioned Tabor's central image, the whale, saying it may instead be a nephesh, a common symbol found on first century tombs.

Tabor's response: "Ridiculous."

Adrian Blomfield in the Telegraph also sounds a note of skepticism: Christ's disciples' remains 'discovered':

But the Israeli archaeologists who discovered the ossuaries dismissed Mr Jacobovic's conclusions as nonsense, saying such names were common at the time.

Biblical scholars have also pointed out that, as a Galilean, Christ would not have been buried in Jerusalem, particularly not in a tomb that suggested considerable wealth given His humble origins.

Israeli archaeologists, who jokingly refer to Mr Jacobovic as "Indiana Jones", point out that he is a film maker with no academic qualifications beyond a bachelor's degree and say he has "cherry-picked" findings from experts on his team to create the flimsiest of cases.

"His Jesus theory is conjecture built upon deception built upon wilful misinterpretation in order to spin a moneymaking yarn and garner publicity," said one archaeologist who asked not to be identified in order not to link his name to the claims

But many other mainstream media articles just report the story without taking note of the critical evaluation by scholars.

Also, Tom Verenna has a Roundup of Biblioblogger Comments on the New Jacobovici Claims as of yesterday. I'm sure there will be more coming.

Two observations. First, as the scholarly commentators have already said, the technology used to get at Tomb B is really cool and the tomb itself is not unimportant. No one has been convinced that it contains earthshattering discoveries, but there are new data that will contribute a little to our knowledge of first-century Judea and that is all to the good. There is a real story here and it's too bad that it is being overshadowed by sensationalist claims that specialists find unconvincing.

Second, for a change the scholarly response has been swift and well organized, and the media seem to be taking some notice of it. Earlier stories such as the fake metal codices seem to have helped us set up lines of communication among ourselves and with the media, and this is also all to the good. Well done!

It will be interesting to see if other major media take any notice of the ASOR blog.

UPDATE: Another post on the ASOR blog: Prof. Robin Jensen Refutes Any Claim that She Concurs with the Interpretation in “The Jesus Discovery.”

UPDATE: James McGrath: Is the New Testament Evidence Compatible with Jesus having been Buried in Talpiot?. He thinks not. The post also has a list of the latest blog posts on The Jesus Discovery-related matters.

Jacobovici and Tabor and a burial cave

AND THE BURIAL CAVE had Jesus in it, of course. This sounds kind of interesting, but I don't have time to think about it right now. Mark Goodacre has a summary post on the current state of play: Jacobovici and Tabor link burial cave to Jesus' disciples. James McGrath also notes their forthcoming book and seizes the opportunity to plug his own book as well: The Jesus Discovery and The Burial of Jesus. Mark and James have put much more effort into following such things than I have, so I will just echo their very sensible wait-and-see attitude, and keep an eye on how the story develops.

UPDATE: That was quick: Eric Meyers’ review of “The New Jesus Discovery” (ASOR blog). Excerpt:

The book is truly much ado about nothing and is a sensationalist presentation of data that are familiar to anyone with knowledge of first-century Jerusalem. Nothing in the book “revolutionizes our understanding of Jesus or early Christianity” as the authors and publisher claim, and we may regard this book as yet another in a long list of presentations that misuse not only the Bible but also archaeology.

(HT Robert Cargill on FB.)

Also, James Tabor has posted a related essay at the Bible and Interpretation website: A Preliminary Report of a Robotic Camera: Exploration of a Sealed 1st Century Tomb in East Talpiot, Jerusalem.

It seems very likely that followers of Jesus were moved to do what other Jews eschewed—in testimony to their faith in Jesus’ resurrection. Clearly the Jonah image and the Greek inscription, in such close proximity to a tomb with names corresponding to Jesus and his family, should cause us to reexamine some of the other ossuary inscriptions that Eliezar Sukenik, Bellarmino Bagatti, and others have identified as Christian—some of which are in the close geographical proximity to the Talpiot tombs.

I'm too busy to do more that sit back and watch this one.

UPDATE: Keep an eye on the ASOR blog, which seems to have become the informal central clearinghouse for scholarly responses to The New Jesus Discovery and related matters.

New Survey of ancient tabulae

A NEW ONLINE PUBLICATION noted by G.W. Schwendner at the What's New in Papyrology blog: K.A. Worp, A New Survey of Greek, Coptic, Demotic and Latin Tabulae preserved from Classical Antiquity.

The publication, which has brief descriptions of a long list of tabulae (inscribed wooden boards), is downloadable for free as a pdf file. Many of these texts include quotations from the Old Testament, New Testament, and other early Christian and Manichean (Manichaean) documents. The editor does not include Hebrew, Aramaic, or Arabic texts, but some of the Demotic ones have an Aramaic component.

Looters using the Copper Scroll?

BUSTED! Antiquities officials catch thieves in ancient cave: Five would-be tomb robbers apprehended at a 2,000-year-old site near the city of Modi’in. I'm glad they were caught, but this is disquieting:

The men, West Bank Palestinians, were apprehended after a scuffle with antiquities inspectors early Saturday, according to the statement. They had been spotted scouring the site with a metal detector, and are suspected of looting other sites in the same area near the city of Modi’in.

Among those sites was one given a cryptic mention in the Copper Scroll, one of the Dead Sea Scrolls, as a possible location for the burial of the treasures of the Jewish Temple. According to the Antiquities Authority, that mention has made the site a popular target for thieves.

I don't know why I'm surprised that looters would try using the Copper Scroll to locate treasure, but I am. It's not going to help them any, but the problem is the damage they do to sites while trying.

Another dubious use of the Copper Scroll was noted here last year. And for more serious discussion of the Scroll and some related material, see here and here.

Galatians conference in St Andrews

AN INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON PAUL'S LETTER TO THE GALATIANS & CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY is being held at the University of St. Andrews on 10-13 July 2012. Follow the link for details and registration information.

Footnote lost

CLOSE, BUT NO OSCAR: Iranian film beats Israel's 'Footnote' at Academy Awards (Reuter/AP).

More on the Turkish Aramaic "Bible"

THAT ARAMAIC "BIBLE" that is causing so much fuss in Turkey is analyzed by Peter Williams at ETC: The antique Syriac Bible. Guess what? The text is of Matthew, the colophon does date it to 1500, the gold ink has been seen before in suspicious circumstances, and Peter suspects a forgery. No Gospel of Barnabas after all.

And if it's from Matthew, it doesn't even get to be an apocryphon. Oh well.

Background here and here.

Display of Judean coins to be auctioned

THE ANCIENT JUDEAN COINS coming up for auction were on display in Los Angeles on Friday and Saturday: Ancient coins from 66 AD displayed in LA before auction. The article has photos of some of the more valuable ones.

The auction is in New York on 8-9 March (details here. If there are any philanthropists out there who would like to invest a few million on them to make sure they are not lost for scholarly study, now's your chance.

Background here.

More on the Temple Mount

TEMPLE MOUNT WATCH: Archaeology Holocaust on Temple Mount: The Unpublicized Report: Unsurprisingly, the UN has not said a thing. But why is the Israeli ombudsman's report on the Temple Mount still hidden from the public? (Guilio Meotti, Arutz Sheva).

I would save the term "holocaust" for other things (but note that the author is probably not responsible for the headline). And bad as it is, I would not say that the archaeological desecration of the Waqf on the Temple Mount is "the greatest crime of all." But it's bad enough.

Lots more on that suppressed Comptroller's report on the Temple Mount here and links.

New book: Wright, How God Became King

IN THE MAIL: Well, in my mailbox, from the author:

N. T. Wright, How God Became King: The Forgotten Story of the Gospels (HarperOne, 2012)

More on Footnote

FOOTNOTE continues to get renewed attention with its Academy Award nomination.

Will Cedar’s ‘Footnote’ take home an Oscar?

By HANNAH BROWN 02/26/2012 01:06 (Jerusalem Post

It’s the tenth nomination for an Israeli film in this category, and the fourth in five years. But no Israeli film has ever won the award.

Interesting analysis of the film's chances. Excerpt:

At the symposium for the directors of the movies nominated for Best Foreign Language Film in Los Angeles on Saturday morning, Cedar was asked about how he got the idea for Footnote. Reminded that he had been nominated for an Oscar before, he smiled and said, “I want to say that it originated here.”

But, he explained that although “it’s about recognition and awards and all the conflicting emotions that go along with needing to stand up on the podium,” the idea came to him when he was at a low point in his career. He was notified that he had won an unexpected honor, and assumed that it was intended for his father, Howard Cedar, an Israel Prize-winning scientist. As he waited to hear whether it was him or his father who was getting the honor, the idea for the film was born.

Also, Jonathan Poritsky interviews Cedar in Heeb Magazine: Filmmaker Joseph Cedar Talks Movies, Talmud and Committees. Excerpt:

The opening of the film is very fast. A lot of quick cuts, a lot of jumping through time and a lot of neat uses of editing and graphics.

I wanted to feel free to tell the story in the most entertaining style. I’ve always been aggravated by the formalism of this profession that I have. In each of my previous films I would come out with a bunch of ideas that I just didn’t know how to put in that I’m sure would have helped the viewer become more involved in the story.

While I was writing this film I was looking at some Talmudic textbooks. The way these philologists write, they are extremely economic in how they phrase a sentence. You have very short sentences and then a whole page of footnotes. Because their writing is so sparse, all the things they want to put in but are afraid to put in the primary text they just throw in the footnotes. Suddenly they really go wild. They feel loose to use any style and gossip and things that aren’t necessarily true.

I like that as an idea, that a footnote is a place that can allow you to be a little less responsible and less consistent. So we’ve created footnotes in the film. Stylistic footnotes, content footnotes, informative footnotes. It was really liberating for me. Anything I wanted to say I just did as a footnote.

Background here and links.

Is Israel losing Temple Mount war?

TEMPLE MOUNT WATCH: Is Israel losing Temple Mount war? Ynetnews special: Why is Israeli government covering up Muslim effort to erase any trace of Jewish history on Temple Mount? Archeology expert: Excavations barbaric, a crime (Amir Shoan).

Regular readers of PaleoJudaica will be familiar with many of the events and problems recounted in the article.

UPDATE: Related: Expert Warns of Waqf's Dangerous Plans for Temple Mount. Archaeologist Dr. Eilat Mazar warns: The Waqf is planning to unite all the mosques on the Temple Mount into one. (Elad Benari, Arutz Sheva)

Schiffman on Boteach, Kosher Jesus

LARRY SCHIFFMAN has a review of Shmuley Boteach, Kosher Jesus in JewishJournal.com: Is Jesus really Kosher? Excerpt:

From the beginning, Boteach wants us to see his book as totally revolutionary. Yet parts of it are, in fact, totally unoriginal, and that those parts that are most original put forward rather questionable suggestions. One of the supposedly original theses of this volume is that Jesus can only be understood by Jews and Christians if placed in the context of Second Temple Judaism. But actually, this is an axiom of all contemporary New Testament scholarship and nothing that Boteach has just discovered.

What is unfortunate is that an entire world of scholarship on Second Temple Judaism, much of it the result of the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls, makes absolutely no appearance. This research has shown us the background of the apocalyptic messianism of Jesus and his disciples, and has revealed that the movement he created cannot simply be seen as a Pharisaic, proto-rabbinic movement in spite of some similarities in interpersonal ethics. The messianic teachings and numerous terms and symbols of early Christianity are derived from a world of Second Temple Judaism that included sects that followed an alternative system of Jewish law and extremely apocalyptic messianic teachings that do not accord with later rabbinic teaching.

Boteach argues that the descriptions of Jesus in the Gospels do not represent in any way an accurate picture of him. In his view Jesus was a rabbi who did not deviate from the observance of Jewish law, and was a heroic revolutionary opponent of Roman rule. This view has been suggested before, but it has failed to be accepted, precisely because there is absolutely no real evidence for it in the New Testament. Such claims represent speculation devoid of any kind of historical basis, driven by Boteach’s attempt to reconstruct history in the image of his own beliefs.

One clarification:

Boteach’s also asserts that Jesus did not consider himself divine. This is probably correct, specifically because the Gospel accounts do not in any way impute this point of view to him. However, shortly thereafter in the Pauline Epistles (c. 50-60 CE) and the Gospel of John (c. 90-100 CE), this identification is made explicitly.

The Synoptic Gospels were written some time after Paul's death, so the letters of Paul are our earliest source for information on Jesus and what the earliest Jesus community believed about him. Whether or not Jesus considered himself "divine" is a very difficult question, as is what it meant for a human being to be "divine" in first-century Judaism. I think it is likely that Jesus thought of himself as the glorified or angelic "one like a son of man" of the book of Daniel, but many New Testament scholars would disagree with me. He may have applied the angelic theology of Melchizedek to himself as well, although this too is quite open to debate. Both possibilities are compatible with the theology of the Synoptic Gospels. Schiffman's position is one that is widely accepted, although many New Testament specialists would also disagree.

Professor Schiffman is a Vice Provost at Yeshiva University and one of the premier authorities on Second Temple Judaism. His review deals both with the scholarly issues and the implications of Rabbi Boteach's book for Jewish-Christian dialogue. Read it all.

Another review is here.

A real ancient Aramaic Bible manuscript

TIMOTHY MICHAEL LAW has noted and posted (The Apostle Paul in Cairo!) a photo of a palimpsest manuscript from the Cairo Geniza whose upper layer is Mishnah Berakhot, but whose lower layer is, of all things, the New Testament Pastoral Epistles in Christian Palestinian Aramaic.

He put up the post several days ago and I have been meaning to get to it. But now go and have a look to clear your palate of yesterday's ridiculously over-hyped, at best early-modern, and possibly very recent Syriac manuscript supposedly containing The Gospel of Barnabas. (To be fair, as I said on Facebook, if it really is an apocryphal gospel, at least it still gets to count as an apocryphon whatever its date. That's the nice thing about apocrypha.)

If you need more, go look again at Codex Ambrosianus B.21, another genuine Aramaic Bible manuscript. It too even has some cool colored ink.

UPDATE: Okay, the Cairo Geniza manuscript is presumably medieval rather than ancient, but it contains two genuinely ancient texts and no one is trying to kid us about its date or content.

Also, if you can bear it, the Daily Mail has more—presumably priceless—photos of the Turkish manuscript, along with some new article content and even a passing note of skepticism: Secret £14million Bible in which 'Jesus predicts coming of Prophet Muhammad' unearthed in Turkey.

A Syriac apocryphal gospel manuscript in Turkey?

ARAMAIC WATCH:

1,500-year-old handwritten Bible kept in Ankara, ministry confirms



23 February 2012, Thursday / FATMA DİŞLİ ZIBAK, İSTANBUL (Today's Zaman)

The minister of culture and tourism on Thursday confirmed media reports suggesting that a 1,500-year-old Bible that was discovered by Turkish police during an anti-smuggling operation in 2000 is being kept in Ankara today.

According to media reports on Thursday, the Bible was seized from a gang smuggling artifacts during a police operation in southern Turkey in 2010 and reportedly preserves its originality and many traces of the period in which it originated.

The manuscript in the picture (click on the image to enlarge) is too small to be anything like a complete Bible, so this is misleading terminology, although the article does clarify that it seems to be a single text, perhaps an apocryphal gospel. For an actual complete Syriac Bible from about the period indicated, see here.

The gang was reportedly convicted of smuggling various items seized during the operation, including the Bible, and all the artifacts were kept in a safe at an Ankara courthouse. The Bible, which was reportedly kept at the courthouse for years, was only recently handed over to the care of the Ankara Ethnography Museum.

Culture and Tourism Minister Ertuğrul Günay said on Thursday that the ministry has received a copy of Bible from the Ankara courthouse which dates back to 1,500 years ago and is thought to have been written in Aramaic, the language of Jesus. He said the Bible needs restoration and it will be opened to public display after this.

The Turkish media reports also said on Thursday that the Vatican has requested that Turkey allow it to examine the 1,500-year-old Bible; however, the Vatican Embassy in Ankara denied the reports on Thursday suggesting that the Vatican had asked Turkey to examine the copy of Bible in Ankara.

This contradicts the report relayed in another Today's Zaman article: 1500-year-old gospel kept in Ankara excites Vatican, report claims. The report does sound fishy. I see no reason why the Vatican should have any special interest in a particular Syriac apocryphal gospel manuscript.

The leather-bound Bible, which is said to be worth TL 40 million, was written on leather sheets and is now under protection as it is regarded as a valuable cultural asset. Even a Xerox copy of pages from the book is reported to be worth as much as TL 3-4 million.

Yeah, right. Someone is getting a little carried away. At today's exchange rate, 40 million TL is about $22.7 million dollars, which is vastly more than any 1500-year-old Syriac manuscript of an obscure apocryphal gospel is going to be worth. And $1.7 to 2.3 million for a photocopy? They print this, with no questioning or hint of irony, with an actual photograph of a page at the top? By this calculation that photo has to be worth a few tens of thousands of dollars, right? Are journalists born without any sense, or do they have to study?

It appears to be a very old (centuries? more?) Syriac manuscript. I can't say any more without taking more time to look at it than I can afford, but at least some of the page looks readable. It appears to be the final page of the manuscript and the bottom paragraph looks like a colophon. I think I can see the word "world" on the third line of the page. If any Syriacologist readers would like to have a closer look and send me what they find, that would be interesting.

Back to the article:

Some media reports also said the copy of Bible in Ankara may be a copy of the much-debated Gospel of Barnabas, which Muslims claim is an original gospel that was later suppressed; the oldest copies of this gospel date back to the 16th century and are written in Italian and Spanish. However, the Gospel of Barnabas is not included in the four gospels that currently comprise the canonical New Testament -- Matthew, Mark, Luke and John.

The Gospel of Barnabas contradicts the canonical New Testament account of Jesus and his ministry but has strong parallels with the Islamic view of Jesus. Much of its content and themes parallel Islamic ideas, and it includes a prediction by Jesus of the Prophet Muhammad coming to earth.

The Arabic Gospel of Barnabas is an early modern apocryphal gospel (uniquely?) of Muslim origin. The Wikipedia article (insert usual Wikipedia caveats here) is here. You can read the whole thing (it's long) in translation here. I haven't read it and knew nothing much beyond the name before this report, but it sounds as though it can't be entirely excluded that it contains material from earlier apocryphal traditions, suitably worked over from a Muslim perspective.

Ömer Faruk Harman, a theology professor, said scientific examinations may reveal whether the Bible in Ankara is the Gospel of Barnabas, which he said complies with the messages in Muslim holy book of Quran and is believed by Muslims to be the most original copy of Bible.

He said in line with Islamic belief, the Gospel of Barnabas treats Jesus as a human being and prophet not a God, rejects trinity and crucifixion of Jesus and includes a prediction about Prophet Muhammad’s coming to Earth. About the prospects of whether the Bible could be the Gospel of Barnabas, İhsan Özbek, a Protestant pastor, said this is unlikely because St. Barnabas lived in the first century and was one of the Apostles of Jesus, but the Bible in Ankara is said to be from the fifth or the sixth century.

“The copy in Ankara might have been written by one of the followers of St. Barbanas and since there is around 500 years in between St. Barnabas and the writing of the Bible copy [in Ankara], Muslims may be disappointed to see that this copy does not include things they would like to see and it might have no relation with the content of the Gospel of Barnabas,” said Özbek.

If the date of the manuscript is correct, I would say that is likely.

Aydoğan Vatandaş, a Today’s Zaman journalist and author who has written two books on the Gospel of Barnabas, said there is no clue that the Bible mentioned in the Turkish press dates back to 1,500 years ago, but he said it is sure that the Gospel of Barnabas had been written in the Aramaic language and Syriac alphabet.

This manuscript is in Syriac at any rate. The Gospel of Baranabas was presumably composed in Arabic, although, as above, it is perhaps possible it drew on Syriac apocryphal traditions.

“There is only one Gospel that exactly matches this definition: the ‘Gospel of Barnabas’ that was found in a cave in Uludere in Hakkari [now of Şırnak] in the early 1980s by villagers, which I told the story of first as a screenplay in 2005 for a film project, then in my novel in 2007, ‘The Secret of Gospel of Barnabas’ and my investigative journalism book, ‘Apokrifal’ in 2008.”

Oh goody, another manuscript found in a cave.

As a result of his research, Vatandaş said he found that this Gospel was actually preserved by the Special Armed Forces intelligence unit in the 1990s and that some parts of this Gospel were translated by an Aramaic language expert Dr. Hamza Hocagil under the control of the intelligence unit. He said Dr. Hocagil was asked to stop translating it by the Special Armed Forces when it turned out that he had shared sensitive information with journalists at the time.

“Since then we did not know where this Gospel was. After my book about the entire story of this Gospel and the criminal incidents surrounding it, the public’s interest and curiosity has increased and the Turkish military has been the target of several questions about the case. Therefore, I believe that the emergence of this Gospel again is very timely,” he said. Vatandaş also claimed that three other copies of this Gospel written by St. Barnabas are hidden in different locations in the region, so the Gospel in Ankara might be one of these as well.

I am inclined to doubt that the the Turkish intelligence unit of the Special Armed Forces is taking such an interest in this other manuscript, if it exists at all.

This article is so full of nonsense that it is difficult to get much useful out of it. In order of likelihood: The Turish Government has seized an old Syriac manuscript from some smugglers (well done!). This much seems clear. The manuscript may be of late antique date. (Syriac paleographers should be able to comment on the basis of the available photo.) It may be of an apocryphal gospel. (Possible, but no evidence has been produced.) This apocryphal gospel may have some relationship with the much later Muslim Gospel of Barnabas. (Conceivable, but pretty unlikely.) Anything beyond this consists of wild rumors that can be ignored until some verification is produced.

The discovery of an old—perhaps very old—Syriac manuscript is exciting. It's a pity that the story has to presented with such meretricious trimmings.

UPDATE: Maybe it's not even that exciting. Timothy Michael Law reads the date in the colophon as "1500 of our Lord" and suggests that it may be a modern forgery.

UPDATE (25 February): More and related here.

UPDATE (27 February: The text is from the Gospel of Matthew. Peter Williams's analysis is noted here.

Tom Verenna on the photo of the Mark fragment

TOM VERENNA: More Thoughts on the Markan Manuscript Fragment. "All that said, I have to say it looks fake." I certainly haven't seen anyone rushing to declare it authentic. Tom has links to additional biblioblogger reactions.

Note, of course, that the question of whether this fragment is fake is entirely separate from the question of whether a first-century fragment of Mark has been discovered.

Background here and links.

Book note: Hanegraaff, Esotericism and the Academy

APRIL DECONICK: Book Note: Esotericism and the Academy (Wouter J. Hanegraaff) .

Syriac in Turkey for International Mother Language Day

ARAMAIC WATCH: International Mother Language Day in Turkey (AINA):

Yuhanna Aktaş for instance recalled how he learned the Syriac alphabet unofficially and secretly at church and in a monastery. "The spoken language, I learned at home from my father. Teaching this ancient language is forbidden, hence it is at risk of disappearing completely. Saint Afrem says 'You don't know where you come from, when you don't know your mother language'. According to Afrem, language is the most important tool for the continuation of a people. Abdüldmeseli Karabaş, another Syriac writer, said 'every oppressed people trying to protect their mother language resemble a captive with the prison keys in his hand who expects to be freed any moment'.

International Mother Language Day was on 21 February. I'm sorry to have missed it.

Some recent posts on Syriac in Turkey are here, here, here, and here with many links.

Jerusalem in the time of Jesus

ANOTHER PIECE ON ANCIENT JERUSALEM is posted at Crosswalk.com:

Discovering the Jerusalem From the Time of Jesus

Ariel Ben Ami, Travelujah
Tuesday, February 21, 2012

What did Jerusalem look like in Jesus' days? For most of Christian history, this question remained shrouded in mystery.

When the Temple and city were destroyed by the Romans in 70 A.D., the ruins remained buried for nearly two millennia -- even after the Jewish people began to return to the Land of Israel at the end of the nineteenth century. During the War of Independence (1948), the Jewish Quarter of the Old City was largely destroyed by the Jordanians and it remained off limits to Jews for 19 years, until Israel retook the Old City during the Six Day War (1967).

After the Six Day War, during the renovation of the Jewish Quarter (1967-82), the ancient site was uncovered, revealing spectacular finds: a luxurious Second Temple-period residential quarter in the Upper City of Jerusalem. Because of its grandeur and opulence, it was renamed the Herodian Quarter, also known today as the Wohl Museum of Archeology.

In the days when Jesus came up to Jerusalem every year to celebrate the Jewish festivals, the wealthy aristocratic and priestly families lived in the magnificent houses of the Herodian Quarter. It is easy to see why this area, built on a hillside overlooking the nearby Temple Mount, would have been particularly attractive to priests who ministered in the Temple every day.

Today, this is the largest and most important site from Second Temple times that can still be seen in Jerusalem's Jewish Quarter. Perhaps even some of the priests and Sadducees whom the Gospels recall as disputing with Jesus, lived in these houses.

[...]

Also published in the Jerusalem Post, but the Crosswalk version has an additional photo. A nice companion to the Haaretz piece on Aelia Capitolina.

Human sons of God in Ben Sira 16:7?

REMNANT OF GIANTS: The Earliest Non-Angelic Interpretation of Genesis 6.1-4.

Tyrone Slothrop thinks it's as early as Ben Sira. His interpretation of Sir 16:7 sounds possible, but I think one could also read the verse to say that God did not forgive the giants (who were superhuman but still mortal, and thus not inappropriate for this list) when they revolted in their might and filled the earth with wickedness before the Flood (Gen 6:11). As Tyrone observes, Ben Sira's phrase "in their might" alludes to Gen 6:4, which calls the Nephilim/giants, not the angelic Watchers, "mighty men." So I don't see anything in the verse that need be taken to say that the Watchers themselves (the sons of God) were human.

UPDATE (23 February): Have a look at Tyrone's post again. He has appended a response to my comments above.

Speaking of the Cairo Geniza ...

GILUY MILTA B'ALMA: A new Midrash (to Jeremiah 23-24)? It is from the Cambridge Cairo Geniza collection, possibly donated by Rabbi Solomon Aaron Wertheimer; it consists of five leaves written in an Oriental script; its beginning is lost but it relates to these chapters of Jeremiah; and it has linguistic similarities to the classical Midrashim and the Jerusalem Talmud.

Bodleian Cairo Geniza online catalogue

AWOL: Genizah: Cairo Genizah Collection of the Bodleian libraries.

The collection of Cairo Genizah fragments held at the Bodleian Libraries is one of the major collections of its kind. Acquired over the years since 1890 it consists of about 4,000 fragments. The collection, skilfully selected and featuring Bible, Early Rabbinic literature, liturgical fragments, legal documents and letters, both personal and commercial, is particularly remarkable for the size of many of the documents. The 4,000 fragments comprise about 25,000 pages, amounting to over six pages per fragment, an average unparalleled elsewhere.

The online catalogue is based upon the printed catalogue of the Hebrew manuscripts in the Bodleian Library (second volume) by Adolf Neubauer and Arthur Ernest Cowley (1906) [link] and the typewritten catalogue of additional Genizah fragments by Arthur Ernest Cowley (ca 1929).

Much more on the Cairo Geniza here and here, and follow the endless links back.

More on the GEDSH

AT THE BETH MARDUTHO WEBSITE: List of Entries in the Gorgias Encyclopedic Dictionary of the Syriac Heritage. Many are relevant to ancient Judaism and other matters that come up often at PaleoJudaica.

Background here.

Metal Dead Sea Scrolls

THE METAL in the title doesn't refer to another goofy set of fake metal plates. Rather:

Angel Witch Streams New Song "Dead Sea Scrolls"

posted Feb 20 2012 at 12:01 PM by CROMCarl. (0 Comments)

U.K. NWoBHM band Angel Witch, who was activated again in 2008, is streaming the new song "Dead Sea Scrolls." The song appears on the band's first full length LP since the 1986 release "Frontal Assault" entitled "As Above, So Below", which is scheduled for release on March 12, 2012 through Rise Above Records (Europe) and on March 27, 2012 through Metal Blade Records (North America).

If you go to the link you can hear the song streamed there. It's pretty good.

Aelia Capitolina rediviva

AELIA CAPITOLINA has been receiving some well-deserved attention from archaeologists in recent years:

Archaeologists bringing Jerusalem's ancient Roman city back to life

Excavations of the Roman city Aelia Capitolina, built on the ruins of Second Temple-period Jerusalem, have unearthed a few surprises.

By Nir Hasson (Haaretz)

[...]

In the history of Jewish Jerusalem, Aelia Capitolina is the very embodiment of defeat and destruction - a reminder of the humiliation of the Second Temple's destruction, which erected a pagan temple in its place. This image has distanced Aelia Capitolina from the fathers of Israeli archaeology, who were naturally drawn to the ornate, Jewish city that preceded it. "No one concealed Aelia Capitolina, but we wanted to talk about the Second Temple," says Dr. Ofer Sion, of the Antiquities Authority. "Aelia Capitolina was an accursed city, a city from which we were banished. It was more idealistic to excavate the Second Temple."

Almost all of the archaeologists who study Aelia Capitolina call it "an elusive city." As opposed to the Jerusalem of Second Temple times that preceded it, Aelia Capitolina has not been entirely unearthed during the many excavations that have been performed in the city since 1967. The residents of Aelia Capitolina did not leave written texts like the works of Flavius Josephus during the Second Temple era or of Christian travelers in the following period.

[...]

Following the latest wave of excavations, which began in the mid-1990s, more and more archaeologists have become convinced that Aelia Capitolina was a much larger and more important city than was once thought, and its influence on the later development of modern Jerusalem was dramatic.

Aelia Capitolina has sprung to life in a significant way through no less than four extensive excavations that have taken place in the Old City area, and in a number of other digs in other parts of Jerusalem. Most of these digs have been rescue excavations by the Antiquities Authority, salvage digs carried out before new construction and development goes ahead. In a few more years, Aelia Capitolina could again be covered over by new buildings.

[...]

The latest excavations give archaeologists much greater insight into Aelia Capitolina than was possible even a decade earlier. Experts agree the city was planned extraordinarily well, based as it was on designs of other cities in the empire and according to orders that came directly from the emperor. It included broad streets, numerous and magnificent entrance gates, temples and infrastructure, and it even housed a new elite of army officers and free soldiers who turned Aelia Capitolina into a thriving city.

"When I began to study the history of the Roman city, it was a barren field," says Prof. Yoram Zafrir, one of Israel's most veteran archaeologists. "Today, it is clear that the basic structure of Jerusalem is that of Aelia Capitolina." Zafrir describes the process by which, after the Roman period, beasts of burden replaced wagons, the central government became weak and streets became "privatized." This process led to the city that we know today.

[...]

The article has many interesting details. Read it all.

UPDATE (23 February): And here's an article on Jerusalem in the time of Jesus.

UPDATE: Bad link now fixed. Sorry!

Talmud Kindle items and free book

FOR YOU, SPECIAL DEAL: Tzvee Zahavy e-mails about some Talmud and related Kindle items and, today only, a free Kindle copy of his book. The Talmud texts are mostly from the English Soncino Talmud, although a couple seem to consist of his own translations.

Many new Kindle book projects have come to fruition.

Here are some links for you to circulate and promote as you see fit

Titles From Our Kindle Talmudic Books
Kindle Talmud Temurah
Kindle Talmud Kerithoth
Kindle Talmud Meilah, Tamid, Middoth and Kinnim
Kindle Talmud Niddah
Kindle Mishnah Seder Tohoroth
Kindle Rashi: the Greatest Exegete

By Tzvee:
Kindle Kosher Talmud (Bavli Hullin)
Kindle Kosher Prayers: selected from Yerushalmi Berakhot

Free Kindle Book, one day only, Monday, February 20: God's Favorite Prayers

More on the early Mark fragment

JAMES MCGRATH: Earliest Manuscript of Mark’s Gospel Found…on Facebook?! I commend James for his very sensible skepticism. I'm not a Greek paleographer, so I'm not qualified to comment further, but I hope we hear something from the Evangelical Textual Criticism bloggers about it soon.

Background here and links.

Doctor Who, the giants, and the demons

JAMES MCGRATH has a post over at Exploring Our Matrix on the early Doctor Who multi-episode The Faceless Ones in which James compares the episode to the ancient Jewish story of the giants who were killed in the Flood, but whose spirits survived to become the demons that, er, bedevil human beings thereafter.

Here are some of the specific Second-Temple-era Jewish texts that narrate the story. In the book of 1 Enoch, the Book of the Watchers tells the story in chapters 15 and 16. And the Book of Jubilees chapter 10 gives a slightly different version in which, first, only one tenth of the giant spirits are let loose upon humanity and, second, a special book of incantations is given to Noah to protect his descendants from the demons.

Incidentally, the Talmudic-era compendium of incantations known as Sefer Ha-Razim or The Book of the Mysteries purports to be this lost book of Noah (or something similar). I am translating it for volume two of The More Old Testament Pseudepigrapha Project. (Details about volume one, which is in press, are here. And more on Sefer Ha-Razim here and links.)

I am not suggesting—nor, I believe, is James—that these ancient traditions influenced the Doctor Who episode. Rather, I would say this is an example of what we might call the convergence of independent nightmare traditions.

A final thought: another somewhat tangential parallel to the Doctor's faceless ones and to the giant-demons is the story of Sauron in the Tolkien mythos. After Sauron's body was destroyed in the (n.b.!) Flood of Numenor, he was able to rebuild a new hideous body, but when Isildur cut the One Ring from the finger of that body after the Battle of Dagorlad, Sauron was reduced to a powerful but malevolent spirit not unlike the giant-demons, although vastly more dangerous than they. Finally, after the One Ring was destroyed, he was further reduced to a still malevolent, but now entirely impotent disembodied spirit.

UPDATE (3 March): More here.

Review of Schipper & Moss, eds. Disability Studies and Biblical Literature

H-JUDAIC BOOK REVIEW:

Jeremy Schipper and Candida R. Moss, eds. Disability Studies andBiblical Literature. New York Macmillan, 2011. 248 pp. $90.00
(cloth), ISBN 978-0-230-33829-6.

Reviewed by Amos Yong (Regent University)
Published on H-Disability (February, 2012)
Commissioned by Iain C. Hutchison

Disability Studies and Biblical Interpretation: Toward Emancipation?

The establishment of the Biblical Scholarship and Disabilities program unit within the Society of Biblical Literature in 2004 (since renamed at least twice, now going under the title Healthcare and Disability in the Ancient World) has begun to generate a steady stream of scholarship, both monographs and edited volumes, at the interface of these two disciplines. The goal of _Disability Studies and Biblical Literature_, edited by Candida R. Moss (University of Notre Dame) and Jeremy Schipper (Temple University), is "to familiarize the reader with research on disability and the Bible done by scholars who specialize in biblical studies" (p. 2). Besides the editors' introduction, which surveys and situates this volume within the state of the discussion at this intersection, there are twelve chapters by biblical scholars who each draw innovatively from the discipline of disability studies in order to illuminate the scriptural material. In particular, social and cultural models of disability prevalent in the field of disability studies provide alternative perspectives that, on the one hand, distinguish between bodily impairments and the social experiences of prejudice and discrimination, and on the other hand, show how disability is "a product of the ways that cultures use physical and cognitive differences to narrate, organize, and interpret their world" (p. 4). When deployed as lenses through which to revisit the biblical material, new light is shed on impairing conditions and disabling realities in the ancient world.

[...]

Why was Moses beautiful?

ASKING THE IMPORTANT QUESTIONS: Or at least an interesting one. Jared Calaway: Why is Moses beautiful in Acts and Hebrews?

Aramaic dictionary on sale

FOR YOU, SPECIAL DEAL: Three-day sale on Michael Sokoloff's A Dictionary of Jewish Babylonian Aramaic of the Talmudic and Geonic Periods at Bar Ilan University Press.

(Via the Agade list.)

Ancient Judaism reviews in JSJ

THE TALMUD BLOG: Reviews Galore in the Journal for the Study of Judaism.

Job in Classic and Biblical Hebrew

JOB: At Rogue Classicism, David Meadows notes a fixed-term post in Classics and Biblical Hebrew at the University of British Columbia.

Another review of Footnote

FOOTNOTE is reviewed by Harvey Karten at shockya.com. He gives it an overall mark of B+. Excerpt:

With Amit Poznansky’s soundtrack alternating between Hitchcockian music and frothy beats, the two themes seeming to change suddenly, the stage is set for suspense with a satirical dimension aimed at showing academic infighting that is as much a factor in Israel as it is in America. Will Uriel risk enraging his dad by telling him the bad news? Strange to say, this conflict over a remote scholarly endeavor provides as much tension in the audience as would a thriller with Uzis and exploding cars.

Since its recent Academy Award nomination, it has been getting some attention again.

Background here and links.

New on Torleif Elgvin's website

TORLEIF ELGVIN has made some additions to his website: torleifelgvin.no. These include the full text of his just-published article "Notes on the Gabriel Inscription" from Semitica 54 (2012). In his e-mail he adds:

There are also news of (sponsoring of) a new Nowegian-based network in Qumran studies entitled 'Biblical’ Texts Older than the Bible: New Texts, New Publications, New Approaches. We will soon announce a post-doc position in this network, which is centred at University of Agder in Kristiansand (southern Norway).

I have also updated the presentation of the texts we are working on in The Schøyen Collection.

I link to the English version of his site.

UPDATE: THE 'Biblical’ Texts Older than the Bible network has a Facebook page. (HT Liv Ingeborg Lied.)

UPDATE (18 February): And there is more information on the project here (again courtesy of Dr. Lied).

Shabbetai Zvi

MICHAL SCHWARTZ has posted a capsule history of the life of Shabbetai Zvi, with more promised on his later reception: Kabbalah: Sabbatai Zevi - Messiah ben David or Messiah ben Joseph?

I know of no persuasive evidence that the concept of the suffering Messiah ben Joseph was around as early as the first century BCE.

For more on Shabbetai Zvi (Sabbetai Sevi), go here, here, and here, and follow the many links.

Baram's ancient synagogue

A JERUSALEM POST TRAVEL PIECE by Joe Yudin:

Off The Beaten Track: Baram's ancient synagogue

By JOE YUDIN 02/16/2012 16:14

Remains of synagogues throughout the Galilee tell the history of the continuous Jewish presence in Israel.

"Peace be upon this place, and upon all the places in Israel." This Inscription was found in the 19th century on the lintel of the smaller of two synagogues, now destroyed, in Baram.

The Galilee holds some wonderful treasures for any traveler looking for some off the beaten path sites. One of my favorite pastimes is to make my way to the over fifty ruins of ancient synagogues in Israel's northern regions. These synagogues range in age from the first century BCE through the eighth century CE. Some of the synagogues are in the middle of overgrown fields and only accessible by hiking trail or off road vehicle. Others, albeit not many, have been incorporated into national parks that are easily accessible. The best way to see these synagogues is to check out one of the better preserved ones, like at Baram, Capernaum or Khorazin and then seek out the harder to find ones using a trail map.

When I first visited the Baram synagogue, I was simply shocked. Here we have a synagogue, one of at least two that existed in the village, serving a large Jewish community maybe as early as the second century CE through the Middle Ages, and whose façade has remained intact to this day. ...

Codex Climaci Rescriptus update

ETC: Codex Climaci Rescriptus Collaboration. Regular readers will recall that the Codex Climaci Rescriptus is an important Syriac/Aramaic biblical manuscript that went up for auction by Sotheby's in 2009, where it was acquired by the Green collection. It is very good news to hear that it is now being made available for study by eminent specialists.

Background here and links. We've also been hearing recently (here and links) about reported very early Greek New Testament manuscripts that may be part of the Green collection (although as far as I know this has not been officially confirmed).

Temple Mount model back from Switzerland

TEMPLE MOUNT WATCH (sort of):

Tiny model of Temple Mount returns to Jerusalem

140-year-old model on display near Jerusalem's Jaffa Gate, after spending 138 in Basel, Switzerland.

By Nir Hasson (Haaretz)
Tags: Jerusalem East Jerusalem Middle East peace

In one of the rounds of talks between Israel and the Palestinians, the idea came up of dividing the Temple Mount vertically: The Palestinians would get everything aboveground and Israel everything below.

Archaeologist and Jerusalem scholar Shimon Gibson says the next time the subject comes up, the parties should discuss it in Christ Church near Jerusalem's Jaffa Gate, rather than in Oslo or Washington.

That's because since Sunday, Christ Church has been displaying a model of the contentious sacred mount. The work has returned home after nearly a century and a half in Switzerland.

The model was made 140 years ago by the architect and archaeologist Conrad Schick, whose work in Jerusalem was supported by the London Society for Promoting Christianity Amongst the Jews. Its details reveal that its creator had access to places where no Western scholar of his day was allowed.

[...]

Interesting photo. I would like to see one with more detail.

Interview with James Kugel

THE JEWISH LEDGER: Q & A with… Prof. James Kugel. Excerpt:

Q: How did you develop an interest in the Dead Sea Scrolls and their link to Torah?
A: Actually, my first interest wasn’t in the Scrolls, but in what’s called in Hebrew “the outside books” – Jewish writings from the end of the biblical period that, for one reason or another, ended up being excluded from the biblical canon. Most Jews don’t hear much about these books: the book of Ben Sira, Maccabees, Judith, the book of Jubilees, and so forth. But early on, it struck me that if you read a bit between the lines of these books, you can learn a lot about how the Torah was being interpreted in the third or second centuries BCE. This is important for us today, because so many of those interpretations became a fundamental part of how we think about the Bible, and about Judaism, in our own day. So, I started working on these.
At that time, only part of the Dead Sea Scrolls had been published. But as more and more of the Scrolls began to appear, I gravitated to concentrating on them, because there was so much new material there.

Read it all.

More from Professor Kugel, e.g., here, here, and here.

Isaac Newton and ancient Judaism

ISAAC NEWTON had other interests besides calculus and gravity: Israeli library uploads Newton's theological texts (AP).

Some of this material sounds like it would be useful for the history-of-interpretation unit of my honours course on the Book of Daniel

UPDATE: Reader Leor Jacobi sends links to two relevant articles by José Faur in pdf format: Newton, Maimonidean and Esoteric Knowledge and the Vulgar: Parallels between Newton and Maimonides.

New book: Obbink & Rutherford, Culture in Pieces

NEW BOOK: I Rutherford, D. Obbink, Culture In Pieces: Essays on Ancient Texts in Honour of Peter Parsons. Not directly relevant to ancient Judaism, but treats some of the philological and historical issues that come up often at PaleoJudaica, such as the recovery of lost books.

Wikipedia photographs and the Israel Museum

A TWENTY-FIRST-CENTURY PROBLEM:

Wikipedia's archaeology editor slams Israel Museum for prohibiting photography

The Israel Museum objects to giving Wikipedia unfettered access to the ivories, even though by law the artifacts actually belong to the Israel Antiquities Authority.

By Nir Hasson (Haaretz)

Go to the Hebrew-language Wikipedia page on the Megiddo ivories and you'll see a single image of one of hundreds of 12th-century ivory carvings excavated from Tel Megiddo. Below it, a caption reads: "Megiddo ivory, exhibited in the Israel Museum, which won't grant permission to photograph the archaeology wing."

That caption is indicative of the struggle that Hana Yariv, the archaeology editor for the Israeli version of Wikipedia, has been waging against the Israel Museum, in an effort to secure permission to photograph the ivories and post the pictures on the free encyclopedia website.

"These pictures are in the interest of all of us," said Yariv. "Don't they realize they're living in the past?"

The Israel Museum objects to giving Yariv unfettered access to the ivories, even though by law the artifacts actually belong to the Israel Antiquities Authority rather than the museum.

Uzi Dahari, deputy director of the authority, says his institution does not oppose the photography, as long as it doesn't damage the objects - and is not used for commercial purposes.

But that's precisely what the Israel Museum, which the antiquities authority says does have the right to limit access, fears will happen.

[...]

I understand that the Israel Museum has to follow its own regulations, but I hope some kind of accommodation can be made here. I can see why they not would want a professional photographer to come in, photograph all the artifacts in the museum, and then make a mint selling them in a coffee table book that competes with the museum's own publications. But electronic photography and the internet have massively lowered the commercial value of photographs (ask any professional photographer about this—it's a real problem). In this case Wikipedia would be providing a valuable, free service that would, as the article observes, only increase attendance at the museum. It would probably also help sell the museum's own publications. Maybe both the Israel Museum and Wikipedia should reexamine their policies and formulate something that works better in the conditions of 2012.

UPDATE: I have inserted the missing "not" into the second sentence of my comments and it should now make sense in context. Sorry about that.

DSS and Hubble nuttiness

ROBERT CARGILL: no, no the dead sea scrolls do not ‘confirm’ the discoveries of the hubble telescope. Indeed.

Personally, when I look up into the night sky without a telescope, I am filled with wonder at the awesome power behind the universe. But maybe that's just me.

A jewish kingdom in late-antique Arabia

THIS IS NEW TO ME:

The Rise and Fall of a Jewish Kingdom in Arabia

By Glen W. Bowersock (Institute for Advanced Study)

In these turbulent times in the Middle East, I have found myself working on the rise and fall of a late antique Jewish kingdom along the Red Sea in the Arabian peninsula. Friends and colleagues alike have reacted with amazement and disbelief when I have told them about the history I have been looking at. In the southwestern part of Arabia, known in antiquity as Himyar and corresponding today approximately with Yemen, the local population converted to Judaism at some point in the late fourth century, and by about 425 a Jewish kingdom had already taken shape. For just over a century after that, its kings ruled, with one brief interruption, over a religious state that was explicitly dedicated to the observance of Judaism and the persecu­tion of its Christ­ian population. The record sur­vived over many centuries in Arabic historical writings, as well as in Greek and Syriac accounts of martyred Christians, but incredulous scholars had long been inclined to see little more than a local monotheism overlaid with language and features borrowed from Jews who had settled in the area. It is only within recent decades that enough inscribed stones have turned up to prove definitively the veracity of these surprising accounts. We can now say that an entire nation of ethnic Arabs in southwestern Arabia had converted to Judaism and imposed it as the state religion.

This bizarre but militant kingdom in Himyar was eventually overthrown by an invasion of forces from Christian Ethiopia, across the Red Sea. They set sail from East Africa, where they were joined by reinforcements from the Christian emperor in Constantinople. In the territory of Himyar, they engaged and destroyed the armies of the Jewish king and finally brought an end to what was arguably the most improbable, yet portentous, upheaval in the history of pre-Islamic Arabia. Few scholars, apart from specialists in ancient South Arabia or early Christian Ethiopia, have been aware of these events. A vigorous team led by Christian Julien Robin in Paris has pioneered research on the Jewish kingdom in Himyar, and one of the Institute’s former Members, Andrei Korotayev, a Russian scholar who has worked in Yemen and was at the Institute in 2003–04, has also contributed to recovering this lost chapter of late antique Middle Eastern history.

[...]

How interesting. I look forward to seeing Professor Bowersock's forthcoming book.


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

A hard story to swallow

TODD BOLEN takes the IAA to task for its sensationalist coverage of the recent Ashdod discoveries: Iron Age Fortress Excavated in Ashdod.

Historical geography is not my specialty and I haven't looked into the details of the press release. But I was pretty irritated by the playing up of the idea "that life did in fact exist there at the time of Jonah the prophet." Did anybody deny that? And so what? It doesn't tell us anything very interesting about the prophet Jonah, assuming there was such a person. (I think that likely enough [2 Kings 14:25 ], without feeling the need to take the tall tale of the big fish seriously.) If they find an Iron-Age II tomb in Ashdod with an inscription about the prophet Jonah son of Amittai, then call me. Special points if it mentions a big fish.

Meanwhile, Todd is spot on in saying "Attempts to sensationalize this story by connecting it to the prophet Jonah should not be allowed to obscure the significance of a fortress recently uncovered in Ashdod."

City-of-David-excavation visitors' center approved and work begun

THAT TOURIST CENTER near the Old City of Jerusalem is going forward apace:

Israel approves new East Jerusalem visitors' compound, razes Palestinian community center

Jerusalem planning and committee approves construction of new visitors’ center at City of David National Park in Silwan.

By Nir Hasson (Haaretz)

The Jerusalem District Planning and Construction Committee approved on Monday the construction of a new visitors’ center at the City of David National Park in Silwan.

As part of this decision, Israel Nature and Parks Authority representatives this morning razed a complex built by Silwan residents that included a playground, community center and cafe.

The new visitors’ center is to be built above the Givati parking lot and will be called the Mercaz Kedem (Kedem Center). The building will be built on stilts and beneath it there will be an area where visitors can view recently discovered archeological findings. The Elad organization promoted the plan and it obtained the support of Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat, who appeared before the district committee earlier today to voice his support.

The Israel Antiquities Authority’s Jerusalem District director, Dr. Yuval Baruch, also expressed support for the plan, despite the presence of archeological findings under the building. “This is one of the most important projects in Jerusalem in recent generations. It would be impossible to find a serious archeologist with a bad word to say about the conduct of the excavations,” said Baruch. “The building as it stands is approved by the Israel Antiquities Authority and was presented to the authority in dozens of meetings.

[...]

Background here. I am surprised at the rapidity of these developments. The Arutz Sheva article cited in the Background link said at the end of December that "[t]he planned center and parking lot over the excavations is years away from construction."

Interview of authors of Jewish Annotated New Testament

MARC BRETTLER AND AMY-JILL LEVINE, the authors of The Jewish Annotated New Testament, are interviewed by Jay Michaelson in The Forward: Jewish Roots of the New Testament: New Book Says Much of the Scripture is Jewish Literature. First question:

The JANT strikes me as a tour de force, and it fills much-needed gaps in our knowledge. But why is it important for Jews to read the New Testament?

First, much, if not all, of the New Testament is Jewish literature, and all of it is relevant for understanding Jewish history. The New Testament sheds important light on early Jewish life and literature, from the practice of Halacha relations with Rome to women’s social roles to the meaning of apocalyptic texts. Another rationale for Jews reading the N.T. is respect: If we Jews want Christians to respect Judaism, we owe the church the same respect, and that respect includes knowing what is in the Christian canon.

More on the book here and links.

Back to Oxyrhynchus

EXCAVATIONS AT OXYRHYNCHUS are resuming:

Spain: Catalan archaeological mission returns to Egypt

06 February, 18:36

(ANSAmed) - MADRID, FEBRUARY 6 - One year after the uprising in Egypt, the mission of archaeologists and Egyptologists of the University of Barcelona, working in collaboration with the Catalan Egyptology Society, returns to Cairo to resume its excavation work in Oxirrinco. The news is reported by mission director and Egyptology professor Josep Padro, quoted by La Vanguardia.

The goal of the Spanish mission, entering its 20th year, is to ''continue excavating the remains of a large Greek-Roman temple which, because of its position and texts found on papyrus scrolls, could be the Serapeum, dedicated to the god Serapis'', Pardo explains.


[...]

Contra the next paragraph in the article, the most famous find at Oxyrhynchus is the massive cache of papyri, of which only about one percent have been deciphered and published in the last century or so (background here and here, and here with many links). I hope the Spanish expedition stays safe. I also hope they find more papyri.

(Via the Agade list.)

UPDATE: I see that the article covered in the first background link says that 1% of the fragments have been edited and published, whereas the one at the third link says 15%. Also, Larry Hurtado quoted the first figure in a 2007 address at the BNTC. In any case, a lot of work remains to be done.

The Queen of Sheba's mines?

THE QUEEN OF SHEBA is back in archaeological news:

Archaeologists strike gold in quest to find Queen of Sheba's wealth

A British excavation has struck archaeological gold with a discovery that may solve the mystery of where the Queen of Sheba derived her fabled treasures

Dalya Alberge
The Observer, Sunday 12 February 2012
Article history

A British excavation has struck archaeological gold with a discovery that may solve the mystery of where the Queen of Sheba of biblical legend derived her fabled treasures.

Almost 3,000 years ago, the ruler of Sheba, which spanned modern-day Ethiopia and Yemen, arrived in Jerusalem with vast quantities of gold to give to King Solomon. Now an enormous ancient goldmine, together with the ruins of a temple and the site of a battlefield, have been discovered in her former territory.

Louise Schofield, an archaeologist and former British Museum curator, who headed the excavation on the high Gheralta plateau in northern Ethiopia, said: "One of the things I've always loved about archaeology is the way it can tie up with legends and myths. The fact that we might have the Queen of Sheba's mines is extraordinary."

An initial clue lay in a 20ft stone stele (or slab) carved with a sun and crescent moon, the "calling card of the land of Sheba", Schofield said. "I crawled beneath the stone – wary of a 9ft cobra I was warned lives here – and came face to face with an inscription in Sabaean, the language that the Queen of Sheba would have spoken."

On a mound nearby she found parts of columns and finely carved stone channels from a buried temple that appears to be dedicated to the moon god, the main deity of Sheba, an 8th century BC civilisation that lasted 1,000 years. It revealed a victory in a battle nearby, where Schofield excavated ancient bones.

Although local people still pan for gold in the river, they were unaware of the ancient mine. Its shaft is buried some 4ft down, in a hill above which vultures swoop. An ancient human skull is embedded in the entrance shaft, which bears Sabaean chiselling.

[...]

Other archaeologists have been searching for evidence of the Queen of Sheba in Yemen. For much more on archaeology and legend relevant to the Queen of Sheba, go here and follow the many links. See also this more recent link, this notice of a novel involving the Queen, and, finally, the forthcoming translation of the legendary "The Questions of the Queen of Sheba" in the first volume of texts edited for the More Old Testament Pseudepigrapha Project (scroll down to the table of contents).

Back to the Observer article:

Sean Kingsley, archaeologist and author of God's Gold, said: "Where Sheba dug her golden riches is one of the great stories of the Old Testament. Timna in the Negev desert is falsely known as 'King Solomon's Mines', but anything shinier has eluded us.

"The idea that the ruins of Sheba's empire will once more bring life to the villages around Maikado is truly poetic and appropriate. Making the past relevant to the present is exactly what archaeologists should be doing. "

For more on Sean Kingsley and his book, which claims to have deduced where the treasures of Herod's Temple were hidden after the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans, go here and follow the links.

(Observer story via Joseph I. Lauer.)

Footnote director interviewed

JOSEPH CEDAR is interviewed by Daphne Merkin in The Tablet: Writing Footnote: Director Joseph Cedar on Orthodox Judaism, The Social Network, and the nightmare scenario behind his latest Academy Award-nominated film. Excerpt:

Did you have any model for the kind of film you were trying to make?

It’s a film that can’t be compared to anything. While we were preparing the shoot, we decided that the way the father character sees the world—in extreme detail, the way a philologist looks at a text—was the way we were going to look at the story. Extremely subjectively and not considering the larger context. My previous films had left me with a lot of ideas that I didn’t know how to fit into the story; that’s the way narrative films are. Because of the style of this film, its flexibility, anything that was important to the story found its way onto the screen.

Background on the film and its reception here and links.

Gorgias Encyclopedic Dictionary of the Syriac Heritage

THE GORGIAS ENCYCLOPEDIC DICTIONARY OF THE SYRIAC HERITAGE is now in print:

Brock, Sebastian, Aaron Butts, George Kiraz, and Lucas Van Rompay. Gorgias Encyclopedic Dictionary of the Syriac Heritage

Title: Gorgias Encyclopedic Dictionary of the Syriac Heritage
Availability: In Print
Publisher: Gorgias Press
Edited by Sebastian Brock
Edited by Aaron Butts
Edited by George Kiraz
Edited by Lucas Van Rompay
ISBN: 978-1-59333-714-8
Availability: In Print
Publication Date: 9/2011
Language: English
Format: Hardback, Black_ColorInsert, 8.25 x 10.75 in
Pages: 612


The Gorgias Encyclopedic Dictionary of the Syriac Heritage (GEDSH) is the first major encyclopedia-type reference work devoted exclusively to Syriac Christianity, both as a field of scholarly inquiry and as the inheritance of Syriac Christians today. In more than 600 entries it covers the Syriac heritage from its beginnings in the first centuries of the Common Era up to the present day. Special attention is given to authors, literary works, scholars, and locations that are associated with the Classical Syriac tradition. Within this tradition, the diversity of Syriac Christianity is highlighted as well as Syriac Christianity’s broader literary and historical contexts, with major entries devoted to Greek and Arabic authors and more general themes, such as Syriac Christianity’s contacts with Judaism and Islam, and with Armenian, Coptic, Ethiopian, and Georgian Christianities. In addition to the literary tradition, inscriptions and objects of art are given due consideration. The entries are accompanied by 131 illustrations, twenty of which are in color. The volume closes with maps, lists of patriarchs of the main Syriac Churches of the Middle East, and elaborate indices.

GEDSH is a collaborative project that involves seventy-six scholars from across the globe. Three of the four editors are associated with major universities in Europe and the United States: Oxford University, Yale University, and Duke University. The fourth editor is the founding director of Beth Mardutho: The Syriac Institute. GEDSH was carried out under the auspices of Beth Mardutho.

Pricing for scholars and students: $98.00
Pricing for institutions: $160

Noted here in December when it was still in press.

More on the early Mark manuscript

DR. DANIEL B. WALLACE has posted more information on the (reportedly) first-century manuscript of the Gospel of Mark at the Dallas Theological Seminary website: Dr. Wallace: Earliest Manuscript of the New Testament Discovered?. The relevant section of the post is:

On 1 February 2012, I debated Bart Ehrman at UNC Chapel Hill on whether we have the wording of the original New Testament today. This was our third such debate, and it was before a crowd of more than 1000 people. I mentioned that seven New Testament papyri had recently been discovered—six of them probably from the second century and one of them probably from the first. These fragments will be published in about a year.

These fragments now increase our holdings as follows: we have as many as eighteen New Testament manuscripts from the second century and one from the first. Altogether, more than 43% of all New Testament verses are found in these manuscripts. But the most interesting thing is the first-century fragment.

It was dated by one of the world’s leading paleographers. He said he was ‘certain’ that it was from the first century. If this is true, it would be the oldest fragment of the New Testament known to exist. Up until now, no one has discovered any first-century manuscripts of the New Testament. The oldest manuscript of the New Testament has been P52, a small fragment from John’s Gospel, dated to the first half of the second century. It was discovered in 1934.

Not only this, but the first-century fragment is from Mark’s Gospel. Before the discovery of this fragment, the oldest manuscript that had Mark in it was P45, from the early third century (c. AD 200–250). This new fragment would predate that by 100 to 150 years.

Very interesting, although as others have already pointed out, paleographic analysis generally can't pinpoint a date more precisely than about a fifty-year range at best. That means that if we start with the generally accepted date of composition for Mark of 70 CE, we would be hard-pressed to distinguish a late first century script from one from the early second century, especially if the sample is small. Which, of course, would be impressive enough.

But I maintain an open mind about the precision of the dating until the manuscript is published and numerous Greek paleographers have been able to evaluate it. Meanwhile, I am still baffled as to why "one of the world’s leading paleographers" would be happy to have his "certain" paleographic judgment made public, but would be unwilling to attach his name to it. Come on, who is he? I double dare him to come forward.

(Via John Byron's The Biblical World blog.)

Background here and links.

UPDATE (13 February): Peter Williams has a post on this new information at ETC: First century Mark fragment and extensive papyrus And a number of textual critics weigh in with comments.

Visiting PT post in Second Temple & Rabbinic Judaism

JOB at Brown University:

From: "Jacobson, David"
List Editor: "Mendelsohn, Adam D"
Editor's Subject: JOB: part-time visiting position in the area of Jews and Judaism in the Second Temple and Rabbinic periods, Brown University
Author's Subject: Employment notice--please post
Date Written: Thu, 9 Feb 2012 16:25:57 -0500
Date Posted: Fri, 09 Feb 2012 22:04:34 -0500

The Program in Judaic Studies and the Department of Religious Studies at Brown University in Providence, RI seek to fill a part-time visiting position during the academic year 2012-2013 in the area of Jews and Judaism in the Second Temple and Rabbinic periods. The successful applicant will teach one course each semester and will serve both undergraduate and graduate students. S/he will also be invited to participate fully in the intellectual communities of both units. Questions for further information and CVs of applicants should be sent to < Tracy_Miller@Brown.edu >.

(From the H-Judaic list.)