Ramat Gan, Israel, November 2, 2015: The Harry Oppenheimer Diamond Museum in Ramat Gan will open a new exhibition of rare Egyptian scarabs made from gemstones on November 23, 2015. The exhibition, entitled Protective Force: Egyptian Scarabs from Gemstones, will explore the significant role of gemstones in ancient Egyptian culture as well as the fascination with scarabs throughout history.
The scarabs featured in the exhibition are from the collections of the Israel Museum, but have not been displayed. They include scarabs made from various gemstones, some bearing special inscriptions, as well as other amulets. In addition, the exhibition features Victorian jewelry set with ancient scarabs, which shows the fascination in these amulets even in modern cultures.
Scarabs were the most popular amulets in ancient Egypt, from the time of the Middle Kingdom until the Ptolemaic Period. Based on the image of the dung beetle, they were seen to represent the heavenly cycle of rebirth and therefore signified renewed growth. Primarily used as amulets for protection or good luck, scarabs were often used in ceremonies and were buried with the dead. In addition scarabs were used as personal or administrative seals or were incorporated into jewelry.
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Saturday, November 07, 2015
Gemstone scarabs from the Israel Museum
EXHIBITION: HARRY OPPENHEIMER DIAMOND MUSEUM EXHIBITS RARE EGYPTIAN SCARABS.
A Roman shield from Dura-Europos
CONSERVATION: An ancient Roman shield gets a makeover thanks to a Yale team (Bess Connolly Martell, YaleNews).
A Roman shield — painted with scenes from the Trojan War and possibly used in parades during ancient times — is being brought to light in a whole new way by a Yale team over 2,000 years after it was created and 80 years after it was excavated.Dura-Europos is an important source of information about late-antique Judaism in Syria. It has not fared well during the recent war. Background here and here with many links.
The shield — which dates back to the mid-third century A.D. — was discovered in 1935 by Yale archaeologists at the site of Dura-Europos, in present-day Syria. The site was first excavated by a French team in 1922; Yale joined the excavation in 1929. The shield is one of three that were found stacked together at the excavation site, all of which are in the collection of the Yale University Art Gallery (YUAG).
The three oval painted shields “are extraordinarily rare examples of ancient painting techniques on wood,” says Anne Gunnison, assistant conservator of objects at YUAG.
[...]
Dura-Europos was founded by Macedonian Greek settlers around 300 B.C. Several different groups inhabited the region over the centuries, including Greeks, Parthians, and Romans; soldiers and civilians; and early Christian, Jewish, and pagan communities. Located on the Euphrates River, Dura-Europos was situated at the crossroads of several major trade routes. In its last historical phase, the city was a Roman military garrison, which was sacked by the Sasanians in 256 A.D. After that event, Dura-Europos was not re-inhabited.
Gunnison explains that in order to fortify the city, the Romans built up their walls, and in doing so, intentionally buried a lot of material. When the site was excavated beginning in the 1920s and 1930s, archaeologists found the shields and other material under those ramparts.
[...]
Friday, November 06, 2015
Ben Carson and the pyramids
POLITICS MEETS JUNK HISTORY: Israeli Experts: No, Ben Carson, the Pyramids Were Tombs, Not Grain Silos. Archaeologists counter GOP hopeful’s view that Egyptian pyramids were built by Joseph to store grain with the known facts.
Two other thoughts. First, who are these "scientists" who say, "Well, you know there were alien beings that came down and they have special knowledge and that’s how they were"—? Second, it must have taken the media an extraordinary amount of rooting around in Mr. Carson's past to come up with this one. If this is the worst scandal they can find, he's doing pretty well. It bothers us historians, but most people won't care.
UPDATE (8 November): More here.
Israeli Egyptologists are snorting at Republican hopeful Ben Carson’s latest bombshell – that the ancient pyramids of Egypt weren’t built as tombs for pharaohs, but as grain silos.No, Joseph did not build the Egyptian pyramids as grain silos. They are tombs of Pharaohs from long before any viable time frame for Joseph, if there was a historical Joseph, which seems doubtful. Mr. Carson's "theory" is a new one as far as I know, but it reminds me of the notion, still sometimes circulating in Egypt, that the Israelites built the pyramids. That one seems to have been started by Josephus, with the later help of a Scotsman names Smyth and then Menachem Begin. So there is precedent for a politician advancing goofy notions about the pyramids. On that see here, here, here, and here.
Admittedly, said bombshell was dropped in 1998, while Carson was speaking at Andrews University, a school associated with the Seventh-day Adventist Church, to which he belongs. It’s low to trash people for things they did as kids. But Ben Carson is now 64, so he must have been about 47 then, which is old enough to know better.
Moreover, according to the Telegraph, he told CBS News last week that he still holds that opinion, based on ... well, nothing.
[...]
Two other thoughts. First, who are these "scientists" who say, "Well, you know there were alien beings that came down and they have special knowledge and that’s how they were"—? Second, it must have taken the media an extraordinary amount of rooting around in Mr. Carson's past to come up with this one. If this is the worst scandal they can find, he's doing pretty well. It bothers us historians, but most people won't care.
UPDATE (8 November): More here.
Egyptian monasteries deluged
COPTIC (ETC.) WATCH: Antiquities ministry protects monasteries of Wadi El-Natroun from rain storms. The monasteries of Saint Macarius and Saint Pishoy are still in a well-preserved condition and are safe after the rain (Nevine El-Aref, Ahram Online).
On Wednesday Mohamed Abdel Latif, head of the Islamic and Coptic Antiquities Department, told Ahram Online that the heavy rain that hit the country yesterday had a negative impact on Coptic Monasteries in the Wadi El-Natroun area.More on the monasteries of Wadi Natrun is here. More on the architecture of the Deir Al-Surian Monastery is here. The latter has come up often on PaleoJudaica with reference to its precious repository of manuscripts in Coptic, Syriac, Ethiopic, and Arabic. Follow the link at the end of the latter post for many past posts.
He continued to say that the dome that covered the ceiling on the side chamber neighbouring the Virgin Church at Deir Al-Surian fell down. This dome, Abdel Latif asserted, does not have any decoration, adding that the rest of the monastery and its side buildings, such as churches, the tours, and the monks’ cells are in a well-preserved condition and were not affected by the rain.
Metatron Due Diligence Report
ARCHANGEL METATRON WATCH: ATTENTION SHAREHOLDER: Metatron Due Diligence Report - Broad Street Alerts.
Metatron, Inc. is a corporate network of highly-related fast growing multi-sector businesses that transact through the Internet and mobile devices. Metatron companies operate in several business sectors including online dating, credit card processing, next-gen relational database development, search engine advertising optimization, and mobile device applications.Unsurprisingly, Metatron's portfolio seems to be doing well.
Palmyra and Russian airstrikes again
PALMYRA WATCH: Russia again carries out airstrikes near ancient Syrian city. Russia's air force says it carried out strikes near the ISIS-held city of Palmyra for the second time this week (Arutz Sheva and AFP). This article confirms that there were Russian airstrikes in the area on Monday, as well as Thursday, but a Russian statement claimed that they only hit targets at considerable distance from the ancient architecture, which contradicts the earlier report.
Background here and links.
Background here and links.
VanVeller, “Paul’s Therapy of the Soul"
ANCIENT JEW REVIEW: Dissertation Spotlight: Courtney Wilson VanVeller.
Courtney Wilson VanVeller “Paul’s Therapy of the Soul: A New Approach to John Chrysostom and Anti-Judaism” Boston University, 2015
Thursday, November 05, 2015
The Ethiopic Bible online
AWOL: התנ"ך בגעזה – Ethiopic Bible. Old editions, but apparently (not my field!) still of some use. Plus Dillman's 1865 Ethiopic-Latin lexicon.
More Acra skepticism
BIBLE PLACES BLOG: Is This Really the Akra? Todd Bolen too has his doubts.
Has the Akra been discovered? On Monday the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA) circulated a press invitation to “A Solution to One of the Greatest Questions in the History of Jerusalem.” The location of the Hasmonean fortress of the Akra has long eluded archaeologists, but recent work in the Givati parking lot in the Central Valley below Dung Gate has uncovered a massive structure from this period.Background here.
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The archaeologists have found important remains that will fill in significant details in Jerusalem’s history. For that they are to be commended. But they must know that they will not be able to get away in making sensational claims that are not supported by the evidence.
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On Slavonic pseudepigrapha
OLD CHURCH SLAVONIC WATCH: The “Other” Lost Scriptures: Beyond the Dead Sea Scrolls, Slavonic texts break all the rules (Philip Jenkins, Aleteia).
A new edition of the Slavonic text of 2 Enoch was published by Grant Macaskill in 2013. And follow the links there for additions background on 2 Enoch, plus see here. Professor Macaskill also wrote a few relevant online essays for our class on the Old Testament Pseudepigrapha some years ago: The Slavonic Pseudepigraph: An Introduction, An Introduction to 2 Enoch, and Enoch and Salvation. And more on Old Church Slavonic and other Slavonic pseudepigrapha is here with many links.
Cross-file under Old Testament Pseudepigrapha Watch.
The story begins in the 19th century, when scholars across Europe were rummaging through medieval manuscripts in old libraries and religious houses. Russian scholars were researching a medieval judicial codex called the Just Balance (Merilo Pravednoe), a collection of historical laws and commentaries. It was not surprising that a legal work compiled in the 14th century should include abundant religious and biblical-sounding material, but much of it sounded bizarre. The manuscript proved to contain an otherwise unknown pseudo-biblical book, 2 (Slavonic) Enoch, or the Book of the Secrets of Enoch. The second book of Enoch tells how the ancient patriarch traveled through the heavens, guided by angels, and witnessed the fate of spiritual beings, good and evil. It clearly stems from a world in which Enoch was seen as the source of vast bodies of esoteric wisdom. 2 Enoch foreshadows dozens of other apocalyptic works and tales of heavenly journeys, up to and including the works of Dante himself.Slavonic literature is not my specialty, but I know enough to want to nuance the claim in the last quoted sentence. Some material in the shorter version of 2 Enoch may well go back to as early as first-century C.E. Judaism, but the Greek text went through a long period of transmission in the Byzantine period, then it was translated into Old Church Slavonic and again underwent a long period of transmission before the surviving late medieval manuscripts were produced. There is reason to doubt that what we have now, even in the linguistically older short version, is a pristine exemplar of any putative first-century text. It should also be noted that fragments of the short version in Coptic have also been discovered (see here).
2 Enoch was probably written in Greek and was then translated into other languages, but the vast majority of what we know comes from these Slavonic texts. It survives in both longer and shorter versions, and the longer has clearly been adapted for Christian purposes. The shorter, older version takes us back to a work written by an Alexandrian Jew somewhere around the 1st century AD—roughly the time of the Dead Sea Scrolls.
The similarity between the ancient apocrypha and much later Dualist ideas could be a coincidence, but it is far more likely that those Slavonic writings themselves helped Eastern European thinkers move in Dualist directions during the tenth century. If that idea is correct, we would be looking at a direct influence from the long-extinct fringes of Second Temple Judaism through the heresies of medieval Europe.Maybe. That's an interesting possibility.
A new edition of the Slavonic text of 2 Enoch was published by Grant Macaskill in 2013. And follow the links there for additions background on 2 Enoch, plus see here. Professor Macaskill also wrote a few relevant online essays for our class on the Old Testament Pseudepigrapha some years ago: The Slavonic Pseudepigraph: An Introduction, An Introduction to 2 Enoch, and Enoch and Salvation. And more on Old Church Slavonic and other Slavonic pseudepigrapha is here with many links.
Cross-file under Old Testament Pseudepigrapha Watch.
Musical War Scroll
CONCERT: From Sorrowing Earth. A landmark celebration of the music of Nigel Butterley who celebrates his 80th birthday this year (DAVID BARMBY, PerformingArtsHub).
The Arcko Symphonic Ensemble comprised upwards of 60 musicians for this long-planned celebration of Nigel Butterley’s music and his 80th birthday. Conducted by the ensemble’s founder Timothy Phillips, this co-operative of formidable skill performed Butterley’s From Sorrowing Earth (1991) and Elliott Gyger’s From Joyous Leaves (2015), on this occasion receiving its first hearing. Pianist Zubin Kanga contributed the exquisite Butterley miniature Uttering Joyous Leaves (1981) before the featured composer’s large-scale radiophonic work, In the Head the Fire (1966). Throughout this celebration there was a palpable sense of esteem, indeed affection, from the performers, composers present and members of the audience alike towards Nigel Butterley, also present in the Auditorium, who has held his own unique and important voice in Australian contemporary music – as a composer, educator and performer – for nearly six decades.It was news to me that Butterley's In the Head the Fire was inspired by the Qumran War Scroll:
[...]
Sitting as we did through this nearly half-century-old composition based on the then recently discovered War Scroll (one of the Dead Sea Scrolls), we were reminded of Butterley’s early vivid originality, confidence and virtuosity in writing for voice and orchestra. Butterley had attended the first performance of Britten’s War Requiem in Coventry Cathedral in 1962 and composed the exquisitely beautiful Laudes celebrating four sacred buildings in 1963. He returned from Europe deeply inspired by the numinous. Although it was very good to hear this important composition again, In the Head the Fire is, without doubt, a work of unrestrained, apocalyptic religious fervour. Particularly, much babelesque shouting and commotion accompanied by blaring shofar made for a cerebrally draining first half; without an apparent shared context, the concert would perhaps not have suffered from its excision.Cross-file under Popular Culture Watch (Dead Sea Scrolls).
(Traditional) Tomb of Joseph's Tomb repaired
PICKING UP THE PIECES: Joseph’s Tomb restored after October arson attack by Palestinian rioters. A team of 50 workers went to the holy site during the night to repair the damages caused by Palestinian rioters (JEREMY SHARON, Jerusalem Post).
The Jewish holy site of Joseph’s Tomb in the Palestinian city of Nablus was restored and repaired Tuesday by the Shomron Regional Council after it was set ablaze and severely damaged by Palestinian rioters last month.Background here and here and links.
A team of 50 workers, including stone masons, painters, welders and electricians arrived at the site at 1:00 a.m. on Tuesday with an IDF escort to carry out the necessary repairs and worked through the night until approximately 6:00 a.m. to complete the restoration.
The most serious damage was done to the stone tomb itself inside the external structure as the rioters smashed and broke several marble panels overlaid on the tomb with hammers, iron bars and other instruments.
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Wednesday, November 04, 2015
Aramaic at ed-Dur (UAE)
ARAMAIC WATCH: A rich history uncovered: Sharjah exhibition showcases unearthed UAQ artefacts (Rym Ghazal, The National).
Ed Dur is on the coast of UAQ [Umm Al Quwain], overlooking the shallow lagoon of Al Bayadha creek.The exhibition includes a couple of ancient artifacts inscribed in Aramaic. First, in a Temple of the sun god Shamash:
It flourished from the late first century BC to the first century AD. Archaeological evidence shows similarities between relics found at Ed Dur and those in Mleiha, Sharjah that lies inland to the south-east of the port.
Understanding how people lived then and exploring the close relationship between the port and the internal trade centre that reached an apex of prosperity, is part of latest Sharjah exhibition Ed Dur: Glimpse into Civilisation. It is a collaboration between Sharjah Museums Department and the Department of Archaeology and Heritage in UAQ.
With the exhibition going on at the Sharjah Archaeology Museum until March, 26, it features 79 artefacts – 69 from the UAQ museum and 10 from Sharjah Archaeology Museum.
The exhibition traces the historic relationship between the major inland settlement of Mleiha and the coastal port of Ed Dur, and how it contributed to the way the region evolved as a centre of transport and commerce, linking East and West.
Stories of Shamash in pre-Islamic Arabia have been passed down the ages through poetry and oral history, but with no physical evidence of worship.Second, on coins:
Then a rectangular stone basin was discovered in Umm Al Quwain. It had nine lines of Aramaic inscription, mostly damaged, but with one clear word: “Shamash”.
“It is the only temple discovered in Arabia dedicated to the sun god,” says Alyaa Al Ghufly, director of archaeology and heritage in UAQ.
Discovered in the late 1980s and built from mud and beach rocks, the temple is only part of the story of the Ed Dur civilisation of UAQ, where an archaeological excavation of about four kilometres makes it one of the UAE’s largest.
A name inscribed on the coins in Aramaic, Abi-el, has left experts wondering. It is unknown who the name refers to – a regional ruler or perhaps a deity?More on Aramaic at ancient ed-Dur is here. And past posts on Aramaic in ancient Arabia are collected here.
Dr Ernie Haerinck, an archaeologist who worked on the site, earlier speculated that perhaps Ed Dur was a kingdom run by a woman.
“The coins minted locally have a name added to them in Aramaic. It is ‘Abi-el’, the daughter of so and so,” says the Belgian.
Has the Acra been found?
ISRAEL ANTIQUTIES AUTHORITY PRESS RELEASE: Has the Acra from 2,000 years ago been found? Researchers with the Israel Antiquities Authority believe they have found the remains of the stronghold - the Acra - which the Greeks used to control the Temple more than 2,000 years ago - and evidence of the Hasmonean attempts to conquer the stronghold.
Both links above HT Joseph Lauer.
UPDATE (5 November): More here.
In recent months, excavators believe that they have exposed evidence of the Acra citadel on the City of David hill: a section of a massive wall, a base of a tower of impressive dimensions (width c. 4 m, length c. 20 m) and a glacis. The glacis, which was built next to the wall, is a defensive sloping embankment composed of layers of soil, stone and plaster, designed to keep attackers away from the base of the wall. This embankment extended as far down as the bottom of the Tyropoeon - the valley that bisected the city in antiquity and constituted an additional obstacle in the citadel's defenses. Lead sling shots, bronze arrowheads and ballista stones that were discovered at the site and stamped with a trident, which symbolized the reign of Antiochus Epiphanes, are the silent remains of battles that were waged there at the time of the Hasmoneans, in their attempt to conquer the citadel which was viewed as a ‘thorn in the flesh' of the city.Whatever this is, it is an important discovery. But Leen Ritmeyer, who is an archaeologist with expertise in ancient Jerusalem, isn't buying the identification with the Acra (Akra): Was One of Jerusalem’s Greatest Archaeological Mysteries solved?
The Seleucid Akra therefore stood on a hill very close to the Temple Mount. What hill is there to be seen in the Givati parking lot? It appears therefore that the Israel Antiquities Authority once again tries to make sensational headlines with an unworkable theory in order to get some publicity.I don't have an opinion on this one. It will be interesting to see how the discussion develops.
Both links above HT Joseph Lauer.
UPDATE (5 November): More here.
C-14 dating for that Turkish Syriac manuscript
SYRIAC WATCH: Bible to undergo carbon test (Hurriyet Daily News).
1. I'm glad the manuscript is now in a museum.
2. It's not exactly a Bible. It contains excerpts from the Gospel of Matthew, presented out of order.
3. I'm skeptical about the use of carbon-14 dating in this case. This method of dating works best on object older than 1,000 years. This manuscript has been held by smugglers under who-knows-what conditions and it can hardly be assumed to be in a pristine state. The degree of contamination with more recent materials could badly throw off the C-14 dating. This is all the more of a concern in that the manuscript as it stands now may be cut-and-pasted from a genuinely old manuscript and doctored up with new drawings.
4. Most importantly, the Turkish authorities should make the manuscript available immediately to specialists in Syriac language, paleography, and codicology. They could tell pretty quickly if it is genuine and how much it may have been altered from its original condition.
Background here.
A carbon test will be applied to a gilded Bible that was seized last week in Turkey’s northern province of Tokat.Thoughts:
The bible, thought to date back around 1,000 years, was found in a police operation targeting a group in Tokat that was illegally selling historical artifacts.
During the operation, a 21x16-centimeter, 10-page gilded Bible was found, written in Syriac and including religious pictures.
The ancient Bible has been delivered to a local museum.
[...]
1. I'm glad the manuscript is now in a museum.
2. It's not exactly a Bible. It contains excerpts from the Gospel of Matthew, presented out of order.
3. I'm skeptical about the use of carbon-14 dating in this case. This method of dating works best on object older than 1,000 years. This manuscript has been held by smugglers under who-knows-what conditions and it can hardly be assumed to be in a pristine state. The degree of contamination with more recent materials could badly throw off the C-14 dating. This is all the more of a concern in that the manuscript as it stands now may be cut-and-pasted from a genuinely old manuscript and doctored up with new drawings.
4. Most importantly, the Turkish authorities should make the manuscript available immediately to specialists in Syriac language, paleography, and codicology. They could tell pretty quickly if it is genuine and how much it may have been altered from its original condition.
Background here.
Palmyra hit by Russian airstrikes?
PALMYRA WATCH: Suspected Russian jets hit Syria’s ancient IS-held Palmyra. At least eight airstrikes reported in city renowned for its Roman-era ruins; 10 said killed in nearby assault (SARAH EL DEEB, AP). However this develops, it isn't likely to be good for civilians or for the ruins, both caught in the middle of the conflict.
Many more posts on Palmyra, its history, the ancient Aramaic dialect spoken there (Palmyrene), and the city's tragic recent fate in the hands of ISIS are here and links.
Many more posts on Palmyra, its history, the ancient Aramaic dialect spoken there (Palmyrene), and the city's tragic recent fate in the hands of ISIS are here and links.
The test of the suspected adulteress in the Talmud
THIS WEEK'S DAF YOMI COLUMN BY ADAM KIRSCH IN TABLET: A MAGICAL POTION REVEALS AND HUMILIATES SEXUALLY UNFAITHFUL WOMEN—AND SHOWS TALMUDIC RABBIS DECLARING ONE OF THEIR OWN RITUALS OBSOLETE. Also in discussion during this week’s ‘Daf Yomi’: How long does the sex act take? As long as it takes to eat an egg, or to reach for a loaf of bread?
Background on Tractate Sotah (Sota) is here and here.
Earlier Daf Yomi columns are noted here and links.
This is the kind of biblical passage that tends to make modern readers uncomfortable—not just for its supernaturalism, but for its sexism (no similar ordeal is prescribed for adulterous men) and for its harshness. However, if there is one thing I’ve learned over the last three-plus years of reading Daf Yomi, it is that if something in the Bible troubles us, it usually troubled the rabbis as well. The rabbis were very pious men, but they were also practical-minded, and they could not have been happy with a legal procedure that rested on something as illogical and unreliable as magic. Nor did they like the idea of men forcing their wives to undergo a public and humiliating ordeal that might end in their bursting like an overfilled balloon. From the very beginning of Tractate Sota, then, we see the rabbis doing what they often do when confronted with a difficult biblical law: They hedge it around with restrictions and conditions, so as to make it virtually impossible to enforce.Matters actually were more complicated than this. There survives among the Cairo Geniza manuscripts a magical incantation in Hebrew (JTSL ENA 3635.17 and T.-S. K 1.56), copied somewhere in the Middle East in the 11th-12th centuries C.E., which adapts the sotah rite for use without the Temple. How and even whether it was actually used is unknown, but someone seems to have thought that they could revive the practice. For more see Peter Schäfer, "Jewish Liturgy and Magic," in Geschichte—Tradition—Reflexion (Hengel Festschrift), vol. 1, Judentum (ed. Hubert Cancik, Hermann Lichtenberger, Peter Schäfer; Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 1996), 542-56.
Indeed, one key thing about the sota ritual is that, by the rabbis’ time, it was completely defunct. Like all rituals that had to take place in the Temple, it could not be performed after the destruction of the Second Temple in 70 C.E. ...
Background on Tractate Sotah (Sota) is here and here.
Earlier Daf Yomi columns are noted here and links.
Tuesday, November 03, 2015
On female beauty in ANE antiquity
ASOR BLOG: Who’s the Fairest of them all? Feminine Beauty in the Hebrew Bible and Iron Age Ivory Sculpture (Amy Rebecca Gansell).
Beauty is a beast. It is a powerful phenomenon that inspires and challenges us yet today. In the era of the Hebrew Bible, ivory sculptures of women presented visual and tactile models of female attractiveness, while the scripture demonstrated beauty’s positive and negative potential. In biblical culture the ideal concurrence of inner and outer beauty seems to have ultimately supported social and cultural values rooted in spousal fidelity and childbearing. Thus, women of all classes could aspire to and be celebrated for their beauty, inside and out.This recent post pertaining to female beauty in the Talmud makes for an interesting comparison.
On cuneiform
ASKING THE IMPORTANT QUESTIONS: What the Heck is Cuneiform, Anyway? (Anne Trubek, The Smithsonian). Inspired by the recent recovery of additional lines from the Gilgamesh Epic (on which more here), this article is not without merit, but it has a number of errors and misunderstandings. My understanding (which may now be out of date) is that the invention of cuneiform seems to go back before the Sumerians, because its applicability to the Sumerian language is imperfect, as thought it had been invented for a language with a somewhat different phonology.
Be that as it may, on the term cuneiform:
Then there's this howler:
On the decipherment of Akkadian:
The final paragraph is also a little confusing when it talks about "cuneiform" (meaning "Sumerian") being "taught as a classical or dead language for generations after it ceased to be a living language." Again, Sumerian is a language, cuneiform is a writing system.
The article could also have said a little about the syllabic nature of the cuneiform writing system.
There may be more problems, but I don't have any more time to comb through the article. Caveat lector!
Some additional reflections on the importance of cuneiform literature are here. More on Henry Rawlinson's work is here. (There are other past posts on him, but the links have rotted.)
UPDATE: More on the Elamite version of the Behistun inscription is here.
Be that as it may, on the term cuneiform:
Cuneiform means "wedge-shaped," a term the Greeks used to describe the look of the signs.I know of no record of ancient Greeks discussing this writing system. If they had, it would have been remarkable if they had used the Latin term "cuneiform." I think the word was coined by modern scholars. Google says it originated in the 17th century (C.E.!).
Then there's this howler:
By the 4th century B.C., the Sumerians had taken this system to another level of abstraction and efficiency, moving it from proto-writing to writing.That should be the fourth millennium B.C.
On the decipherment of Akkadian:
As with the Rosetta Stone, on which the same text is written in hieroglyphics, demotic, and Greek, Rawlinson discovered the cliffs of Behistun also contained the same words written three times in three different languages: Old Persian, Elamite, and Babylonian. Since the other languages had been translated, he could thus translate cuneiform.Almost. Old Persian was already know through Avestan and its script was easier to decipher. Rawlinson and others used it to decipher the Babylonian (Akkadian). Elamite is still imperfectly understood. The issue was transliterating cuneiform; it can't be translated. It's a writing system, not a language. It was the Babylonian (Akkadian) that required translating once the cuneiform was transliterated. Naturally the process of transliteration and translation overlapped to some degree.
The final paragraph is also a little confusing when it talks about "cuneiform" (meaning "Sumerian") being "taught as a classical or dead language for generations after it ceased to be a living language." Again, Sumerian is a language, cuneiform is a writing system.
The article could also have said a little about the syllabic nature of the cuneiform writing system.
There may be more problems, but I don't have any more time to comb through the article. Caveat lector!
Some additional reflections on the importance of cuneiform literature are here. More on Henry Rawlinson's work is here. (There are other past posts on him, but the links have rotted.)
UPDATE: More on the Elamite version of the Behistun inscription is here.
Oxford's Da Vinci Code unit?
THE TRUTH IS OUT THERE: Da Vinci Code crew's leap of faith. From Chaucer's Canterbury Tales to the Indiana Jones films, the age-old fascination with holy relics has inspired pilgrims, crusaders and writers alike (The Times New Zealand).
Now Oxford University is dispatching some of its most distinguished academics on the quest, setting up a new research unit - with expertise ranging from genetics to theology and much in between - dedicated to studying Christian relics.I grant you that any connection with ancient Judaism is tenuous and will probably consist mostly or entirely of debunking legendary links to traditional relics. But that's progress too.
The group, which looks destined to be nicknamed the "Da Vinci Code Department", will attempt to separate the myth from the reality of venerated items across Europe and beyond that have inspired devotion and macabre fascination in equal measure.
In what is thought to be the first research body of its type, the unit, based in Keble College, will bring together experts in radiocarbon dating, genetics, osteology - the study of bones - chemistry, geography and archaeology with leading authorities in ancient Greek and Hebrew, Byzantine studies, ecclesiastical history and theology.
[...]
Professor Tom Higham, deputy director of the Oxford radiocarbon accelerator unit and founder of the new relics research "cluster", previously worked in teams that established that a collection of bones found in Wales could not be those of St David, and that a fragment of wood venerated for centuries in Ireland as a piece of the "true cross" was about 1000 years too young to fit the bill.I bet.
The team has a waiting list of relics across Europe to be investigated.
On the Ashkar-Gilson Exodus fragment
BIBLE HISTORY DAILY: What Is the Oldest Hebrew Bible? The formation of the Hebrew Bible from the Dead Sea Scrolls to the Aleppo Codex (Jennifer Drummond). This is a summary of a current-issue BAR article by Paul Sanders which is behind the subscription wall.
More on the Ashkar-Gilson Manuscript is here, here, here, and here.
More on the Ashkar-Gilson Manuscript is here, here, here, and here.
Luz’s Hermeneia Matthew Commentary for free
FOR YOU, SPECIAL DEAL: Get Luz’s Hermeneia Matthew Commentary FREE This Month from Logos (Nijay Gupta). That's for volume 1. And you can get volume 2 for $2.00.
Monday, November 02, 2015
More on that Syriac manuscript in Turkey
THE SYRIAC MANUSCRIPT recovered recently from smugglers by the Turkish police has been the subject of some discussion on Facebook and on the Hugoye list. Briefly, the video of the manuscript gives a pretty good look at all the text. It contains material from the Gospel of Matthew, but out of order. The general view seems to be that the manuscript in the form presented now looks fake, although it is perhaps possible that a genuinely old manuscript has been used and doctored with modern drawings to make it look more interesting. All of this is just informed speculation at this stage, and we won't know anything definitively unless and until the Turkish authorities make the manuscript available for specialists to study properly. Meanwhile, have a look at the discussion at the Hugoye list, which is devoted to Syriac matters. So far there are posts on the manuscript here, here, here, here, and here.
Enoch Seminar website renovated, with new reviews
THE ENOCH SEMINAR ONLINE WEBSITE has been relaunched in new and improved form. Coinciding with the relaunch, three new book reviews have been published, including one of mine:
- Ariel Feldman’s review of Joan Taylor, The Essenes, the Scrolls, and the Dead Sea.
- James Davila’s review of Vicente Dobroruka, Second Temple Pseudepigraphy. A Cross-cultural Comparison of Apocalyptic Texts and Related Jewish Literature.
- Patrick Pouchelle’s review of David Hamidović, ed., Aux origins des messianismes juifs. Actes du colloque international tenue n Sorbonne à Paris, les 8 et 9 juin 2010.
Joosten lecture online
JAN JOOSTEN'S INAGURAL LECTURE AT OXFORD has been posted online by Marieke Dhont as an audio file: Inaugural Lecture Jan Joosten Oxford, 27 October 2015.
Background here.
Background here.
Journal of Ancient Judaism 6.1
THE JOURNAL OF ANCIENT JUDAISM has a new issue out (6:1, October 2015). I have already noted the article by Eva Mroczek, but there's more. Follow the link for the full TOC. You need a paid personal or institutional subscription to read the articles, but the abstracts can be viewed for free.
Sunday, November 01, 2015
Grabbe on the Alamo and Masada
THE BIBLE AND INTERPRETATION:
History and the Nature of Cultural Memory: The Alamo and the “Masada Complex”
This article has been published in History, Memory, Hebrew Scriptures A Festschrift for Ehud Ben Zvi ( Eisenbrauns, 2015).
By Lester L. Grabbe
University of Hull
England
October 2015
Studia Palmyreńskie
PALMYRA WATCH: Studia Palmyreńskie. AWOL flags the online version of a Polish journal on Palmyra which ran from the 1960s to the 1990s. The articles are in English, French, German, and Polish.
Many more posts on Palmyra, its history, the ancient Aramaic dialect spoken there (Palmyrene), and the city's tragic recent fate in the hands of ISIS are here and links.
Many more posts on Palmyra, its history, the ancient Aramaic dialect spoken there (Palmyrene), and the city's tragic recent fate in the hands of ISIS are here and links.
Jacobus on Zodiac Calendars and Angels in the Dead Sea Scrolls
EVENT: Zodiac Calendars and Angels in the Dead Sea Scrolls
Institute of Jewish Studies UCLThe event is free, but you should register in advance at the link (and you can make a donation if you want to). Dr. Jacobus's book on Zodiac calendars in the DSS was noted here. See also her related online essays here and here.
Wednesday, 4 November 2015 from 18:30 to 20:00 (GMT)
London, United Kingdom
Helen R. Jacobus argues that biblical stories involving encounters between angels and humans before the Flood were used to teach algebra, astronomy and astrology in Jewish circles more than 2,000 years ago. She discusses the previously unknown ancient scientific texts discovered at Qumran.
Dr Jacobus (PhD Manchester) is an honorary research associate at UCL. Her book Zodiac Calendars in the Dead Sea Scrolls: Ancient Astronomy and Astrology in Early Judaism, is published by the Institute of Jewish Studies, UCL (Brill).
Some Greek OT
THE REST OF CODEX SINATICUS: Isaiah 66 and Jeremiah 1 in Sinaiticus, on Display at the British Library (Peter M. Head, ETC). As Peter notes, the New Testament of Sinaiticus is now on loan to the British Museum for the Egypt: Faith After the Pharaohs exhibition.
Saturday, October 31, 2015
Teaching Jesus in the context of Judaic Studies
THE BIBLE AND INTERPRETATION:
Jesus “in the Trenches”Excerpt:
Pedagogical Challenges Posed by Teaching the Nazarene in the Context of Judaic Studies
Article from Teaching the Historical Jesus (Routledge, 2015).
By Ken Hanson
Interdisciplinary Program in Judaic Studies
University of Central Florida
October 2015
A case will have to be made that Jesus of Nazareth, or at least the “myth” of Jesus, is particularly important in understanding the Jewish people, and of singular importance in appreciating the course and development of Jewish life, thought, and culture across history. It will, moreover, be argued that failing to approach the Jesus of history and/or myth amounts to a serious deficit in what has classically been termed Wissenschaft des Judentums—the “science of Judaism.”
Mroczek, "The Hegemony of the Biblical in the Study of Second Temple Literature"
ARTICLE: The Hegemony of the Biblical in the Study of Second Temple Literature Eva Mroczek (Journal of Ancient Judaism 6.1 (2015), pp. 2-35.).
AbstractThis link is behind a subscription wall, but Dr. Mroczek has also posted it here at Academia.edu. Access to the latter is free with free registration.
Despite growing recognition that early Jewish culture was far broader than the Bible, the biblical retains its hegemony in the study of early Jewish literature. Often, non-biblical materials are read either as proto-biblical, para-biblical, or biblical interpretation, assimilated into an evolutionary narrative with Bible as the telos. But ancient Jewish literature and culture are far more than proto-biblical. Through a case study of psalmic texts and Davidic traditions, this article illustrates how removing biblical lenses reveals a more vibrant picture of the resources and interests of early Jews. First, it discusses evidence showing that despite a common perception about its popularity, the “Book of Psalms” was not a concrete entity or well-defined concept in Second Temple times. Instead, we find different genres of psalm collection with widely varied purposes and contents, and a cultural consciousness of psalms as an amorphous tradition. Second, it demonstrates how David was remembered as an instructor and founder of temple and liturgy, rather than a biblical author, a notion that, despite common assumptions, is not actually attested in Hellenistic and early Roman sources. Third, it reconsiders two Hellenistic texts, 4QMMT and 2 Maccabees, key sources in the study of the canonical process that both mention writings linked with David. While their value to the study of the canon has been challenged, the assumption that they use “David” to mean “the Psalms” has remained largely unquestioned. But when we read without assuming a biblical reference, we see a new David, and the possibility that the ancient writers were alluding to other discourses associated with him - namely, his exemplary, liturgical, and calendrical legacy - that better fit their purposes. Early Jews were not marching toward the biblical finish line, but lived in a culture with diverse other traditions and concerns that cannot always be assimilated into the story of scripture. Recognizing this fact allow us to see Second Temple literature more clearly on its own terms.
Nanos and Zetterholm (eds.), Paul Within Judaism
NEW BOOK FROM FORTRESS PRESS:
Mark D. Nanos and Magnus Zetterholm (eds.) Paul Within Judaism: Restoring the First-Century Context to the Apostle (2015)Dr. Nanos (who, incidentally, is one of our St. Andrews PhDs) also wrote to ask that I mention the SBL session on the book coming in November in Atlanta:
In these chapters, a group of renowned international scholars seek to describe Paul and his work from "within Judaism," rather than on the assumption, still current after thirty years of the "New Perspective," that in practice Paul left behind aspects of Jewish living after his discovery of Jesus as Christ (Messiah). After an introduction that surveys recent study of Paul and highlights the centrality of questions about Paul's Judaism, chapters explore the implications of reading Paul's instructions as aimed at Christ-following non-Jews, teaching them how to live in ways consistent with Judaism while remaining non-Jews. The contributors take different methodological points of departure: historical, ideological-critical, gender-critical, and empire-critical, and examine issues of terminology and of interfaith relations. Surprising common ground among the contributors presents a coherent alternative to the "New Perspective." The volume concludes with a critical evaluation of the Paul within Judaism perspective by Terence L. Donaldson, a well-known voice representative of the best insights of the New Perspective.
S21-118
Early Jewish Christian Relations; Paul Within Judaism
Joint Session With: Early Jewish Christian Relations, Paul Within Judaism
11/21/2015
9:00 AM to 11:30 AM
Room: Baker (Atlanta Conference Level) - Hyatt
Theme: Review of Paul within Judaism: Restoring the First-Century Context to the Apostle, Fortress 2015, ed. by Mark Nanos and Magnus Zetterholm
Pamela Eisenbaum, Iliff School of Theology, Presiding (5 min)
James Crossley, University of Sheffield, Panelist (15 min)
Christine Hayes, Yale University, Panelist (15 min)
Amy-Jill Levine, Vanderbilt University, Panelist (15 min)
Shelly Matthews, Brite Divinity School (TCU), Panelist (15 min)
Emma Wasserman, Rutgers University, Panelist (15 min)
Break (5 min)
Discussion (65 min)
Oriental Institute Annual Report online
AWOL: Open Access Journal: Oriental Institute Annual Report. The most recent one is the report for 2014-15.
Lautenschlaeger Awards 2017
LARRY HURTADO: Lautenschlaeger Awards Notice for 2017. If you are a scholar aged 35 or under and you finished a doctoral dissertation or have published a first book after the dissertation (on a topic with some connection to "God and Spirituality"), you should read this.
Friday, October 30, 2015
Was Jesus Black?
(MODERN) NEW TESTAMENT APOCRYPHA WATCH: “Jesus Was Black” Reveals Newly Found Manuscript. This ridiculous story has been kicking around for a while (WorldNet Daily picked it up during the summer). I had hoped it would fizzle out, but it is still getting attention, so I suppose I should comment on it. I'm pretty sure I have also seen it refuted on Facebook somewhere, but another time won't hurt.
There is no "Hebrew scholar" named "Moshe Zuckenschtein." The name "Zuckenschtein" does not even look like a real name, it looks like a misremembering of "Zuckerstein."
As for the thesis of the article, although Jesus wasn't the lily-white, blue-eyed blond of many devotional pictures, he wasn't of African descent either. He was a Galilean Jew and his skin color would presumably have been darker than European Caucasians but lighter than black Africans.
The most interesting thing about this bogus story is that it shows that New Testament apocrypha are still being produced and avidly consumed even in the twenty-first century.
Archeologists from the University of Tel Aviv have found several ancient scrolls in the West Bank, close to the Qumran Caves. The caves are located 2 kilometers inland from the northwest shore of the Dead Sea. Interestingly, this is the same region where the Dead Sea Scrolls were discovered in 1947.There has been no recent report of new manuscript discoveries anywhere in the vicinity of the Qumran caves, and I certainly would have heard if there had been. None of the Dead Sea Scrolls mention early Christianity or Jesus. It has been argued that a few very fragmentary Greek manuscripts found at Qumran contained New Testament texts, but the manuscripts are so very fragmentary that one could find just about what one wanted in them with judicious reconstruction and these arguments have never found any significant support among scholars.
The newly discovered scrolls have revealed tantalizing information on the physical appearance and life of Jesus Christ.
It’s believed that these documents were written by the Essenes, a small Jewish sectarian group. Many elements of the Old and New Testaments have been retraced here, similar to the Dead Sea Scrolls. However, what have interested the scholars particularly are some fragments where the birth of Jesus has been described.
Professor Hans Schummer reveals that the manuscripts describe Jesus as having a darker color of skin than her parents. One part of the scripture reads, “The infant was the color of the night”. Another section reads, “In the dark of the night, nothing could be seen of the infant except the white of his eyes”. The professor says that this is certainly “revealing” information. If the information is true, then Jesus could be of African descent.I can find no mention of a scholar named Hans Schummer at Tel Aviv University or anywhere else. The name comes up in Google only in connection with this story. The accompanying photo of a scholarly-looking man looking in a scholarly manner at a glass-enclosed manuscript is taken from a New York Times article from October 2014: Where Mud Is Archaeological Gold, Russian History Grew on Trees. The original caption to the photo reads "Pyotr G. Gaidukov, the deputy director of the Russian Academy of Sciences Institute of Archaeology, with newly found birch scripts."
There is also reference to a servant of African origin named Melcha.The name "Melcha" is apparently found in the New Testament apocryphal tradition as one version of the name of Joseph's first wife. I have checked around a little but so far have not found any further specifics.
Hebrew scholar Moshe Zuckenschtein says Joseph had 4 sisters and 5 brothers. It is also said that a child was born of the union of Jacob and his servant after his second wife had died.
There is no "Hebrew scholar" named "Moshe Zuckenschtein." The name "Zuckenschtein" does not even look like a real name, it looks like a misremembering of "Zuckerstein."
As for the thesis of the article, although Jesus wasn't the lily-white, blue-eyed blond of many devotional pictures, he wasn't of African descent either. He was a Galilean Jew and his skin color would presumably have been darker than European Caucasians but lighter than black Africans.
The most interesting thing about this bogus story is that it shows that New Testament apocrypha are still being produced and avidly consumed even in the twenty-first century.
Sotah
ANCIENT JEW REVIEW: Daf Yomi: Sotah. Some bibliography for tractate b. Sotah, which began this week in the Daf Yomi reading cycle.
More here.
More here.
On Solomon Schechter and post-Pharaonic Egypt
REVIEW OF THE EGYPT: FAITH AFTER THE PHARAOHS EXHIBITION: Solomon Schechter and the lost years of Egypt (Jonathan Gornall, The National). A thoughtful and well-informed review that sets the exhibition in historical context from the Victorian era to the present. Excerpt:
Painstakingly, [Solomon] Schechter set about extracting and saving what he could [from the Cairo Geniza]. In the end, he shipped back to Britain 193,000 fragments of documents written in Hebrew, Judaeo-Arabic, Aramaic and Arabic. What became known as the Taylor-Schechter Genizah Collection found a home at Cambridge University Library where work began on it in earnest in the 1970s. The collection contains sacred scriptures and a vast array of personal letters, legal documents and other everyday material that sheds light on an underappreciated era of Egyptian and Islamic history.Background on the exhibition is here and links. And PaleoJudaica has a great many past posts on the Cairo Geniza. Start here and follow the links.
A handful of these documents forms the grand finale of a new exhibition at the British Museum in London. Egypt: Faith After the Pharaohs is the first major international show to tell the story of the 1,200 years of Egyptian history from the death of Cleopatra and Mark Antony in 30BC through the transition first to majority Christian and then to Muslim identity, culminating in the end of the Fatimid dynasty in 1171AD.
This period of the country’s history has been neglected, by academics and the public imagination alike, says exhibition curator Elisabeth O’Connell, assistant keeper in the British Museum’s Department of Ancient Egypt and Sudan.
“Egypt’s pharaonic past has certainly captured the imagination, and rightly so, of generations of people,” she says. In short, what came next was overshadowed by the sheer physical presence left on the landscape by the pharaohs.
“The focus has very much been on that stone monumental building phase of Egypt’s history, and later subsequent mud brick remains and things that are not monumental are much more easily disregarded and, in fact, on the ground swept away.
“In the past few decades Egypt in particular has begun to prioritise Christian and Islamic material culture on the same level as pharaonic and that’s been a very welcome development.”
Textual criticism on sale
FOR YOU, SPECIAL DEAL: Eisenbrauns Sale on Textual Criticism (Tommy Wasserman, ETC).
"Palestinians"
WHAT'S IN A NAME? Why Are Palestinians Called Palestinians? The Palestinians don't see themselves as descendants of the Biblical invaders, but they are named for the Philistines just the same (Elon Gilad, Haaretz).
The word "Palestinian" derives from the Philistines, a people who were not indigenous to Canaan but who had gained control of the coastal plains of what are now Israel and Gaza for a time. According to ancient Egyptian records of the period, which is the first written mention of them, the Philistines reached the region in around the 12 century BCE, which the archaeological record seems to confirm.And so he does, taking the development of the name up to the present. Good discussion. The origin of the name is a less complicated question than that of the genetic origin of the people who now call themselves "Palestinians." Genetic testing is probably advanced enough these days to make some progress toward answering the latter question. Meanwhile, some years ago I posted some thoughts on the subject here (point 2).
Although it is likely that some Philistine blood runs through the veins of modern-day Palestinians (and through the Jews'), they are a different people with a different culture.
Where the Philistines originated is a matter of debate, as they left no written records, but there are two main theories, based mainly on signature pottery shards. The original theory was that the Philistines originated in the Aegean basin and belonged to the Mycenaean culture. A newer hypothesis is that they were members of the Hurrian culture and came from what is today southern Turkey and Syria.
In any case, given the current state of knowledge, it is impossible to determine the etymology of the Philistines’ name in their own language.
What we can discuss is how this word morphed into the name of an altogether different people thousands of years later.
[...]
Thursday, October 29, 2015
Haaretz notices that Russian seal
SPECTACULAR INDEED: Ancient Judean Seal Found in 2,000-year-old Russian Warrior Woman’s Grave. At first the amazed Russian archaeologists thought the seal was Philistine or Aramaic. It's ancient Hebrew, and says 'Elyashib,' like seals found at fortress Arad. (Julia Fridman, Haaretz).
A couple of other points. First, when the article says this ...
Second, contra the headline (but correctly in the article), the archaeologists thought it might be Phoenician, not Philistine.
Also, a reminder: you can view a limited number of Haaretz premium articles monthly without charge if you sign up with a free registration.
UPDATE: I have been in touch with Julia Fridman and have learned that she credited both me and Aviv Benedix in her original article, but the credits were removed through an editorial error. She has instructed the editor to add the credits again. Unfortunately, I have now used up my free premium-article allowance for Haaretz and can't view the article again, but I assume the credits have been or imminently will be restored. Thanks to her and Haaretz for correcting the error.
A spectacular find was made near the Black Sea this summer: Excavating the 2,000-year-old grave of a Sarmatian noblewoman, which miraculously hadn't been looted, the archeologists found a wealth of artifacts – including a carnelian seal with ancient Hebrew letters, centuries older than the tomb.Well done, Ms. Fridman, for publicizing this important discovery. However, let it be noted — since this article doesn't — that back in August (here, here, here, and here) I broke this story based on the Daily Mail article that publicized the seal. I deciphered the seal, gave a correct date range for it, and recognized that it was probably in Hebrew. Aviv Benedix also followed the story up at his Times of Israel Blog (see here and here) and many of the points raised in the Haaretz article were already raised in the discussion in his posts and in my blog comments on them.
[...]
A couple of other points. First, when the article says this ...
What the writing says is simply the name "Elyashib," son of Oshiyahu, whom we know as the commander of an isolated Judean fortress, Arad.... the natural implication of this sentence, although this may just be due to unclear phrasing, is that the Elyashib (= Elyashiv) of the Russian seal is the same Elyashib as the commander of the fortress at Arad. As I have already said, there is no reason to think they are the same person. As the article goes on to note, the name is found in a number of unrelated inscriptions. It does not note, although I did, that the name also appears in the Bible. Also, I would vocalize the name of the Arad Elyashiv's father as something more like 'Ishyahu (אשיהו), "Man of YHWH."
Second, contra the headline (but correctly in the article), the archaeologists thought it might be Phoenician, not Philistine.
Also, a reminder: you can view a limited number of Haaretz premium articles monthly without charge if you sign up with a free registration.
UPDATE: I have been in touch with Julia Fridman and have learned that she credited both me and Aviv Benedix in her original article, but the credits were removed through an editorial error. She has instructed the editor to add the credits again. Unfortunately, I have now used up my free premium-article allowance for Haaretz and can't view the article again, but I assume the credits have been or imminently will be restored. Thanks to her and Haaretz for correcting the error.
Another "priceless" Syriac manuscript seized in Turkey
SYRIAC WATCH: Thou shalt not sell priceless artefacts: Thousand-year-old Bible found in Turkey after bungling smugglers try to sell it to undercover police
- Turkish police caught smugglers with priceless 1000-year-old Bible
- Written in old Assyriac, it is illustrated with motifs made of gold leafs
- Three men arrested in Tokat, central Turkey, truing to sell the Bible
A 1,000-year-old Bible has been uncovered by police in Turkey after smugglers tried to sell the priceless book to undercover officers.Police in the central Turkish city of Tokat confiscated the ancient Bible together with other priceless artefacts after catching the smugglers red-handed.
Three men have who were attempting to sell the Bible, written in the old Assyriac language, to undercover police officers have been arrested.
[...]
We have been down this route before. First there was the bogus Gospel of Barnabas manuscript that turned out to be, at best, an early modern manuscript of the Gospel of Matthew, and this possibly even a forgery. That story still keeps surfacing. Then there was the "priceless 300-year-old religious manuscript in Syriac" recovered from smugglers in 2013, on which see here and here. Plus earlier that year the Turkish authorities recovered a Hebrew Torah scroll from smugglers and then promptly announced that it was 1,900 years old. No. (See here and here).
All that, of course, does not make this story erroneous, but I see some warning flags. The Mail reporter obviously did not run the story by any specialists or they would have told her that there is no "Assyriac" language. This is a non-word, an amalgamation of "Syriac" and "Assyrian," both of which actually are Aramaic dialects. No reason is given for regarding the manuscript to be 1,000 years old. And I have noted before that a number of fake manuscripts with gold lettering have turned up in recent years. That so-called Gospel of Barnabas manuscript also has gold lettering. That's not exactly the same as gold decoration, but it is worrisome. I know of a few real Syriac manuscripts that have gold lettering, but none earlier than the thirteenth century.
This particular manuscript is in poor condition, either because it is old, or because it is young but has been stored poorly (e.g., in a damp environment), or because a forger has treated it to make it look old. The script seems to be Syriac, but the photo is too poor to make much out. There are plenty of illuminated (i.e., with pictures) Syriac manuscripts from antiquity up to the present, so it's hard to say anything about the picture. I am skeptical about the supposed great age and value of the manuscript, but I'll reserve judgment until I hear definitively from Syriac paleographers and art historians.
Meanwhile, even if the Turkish authorities sometimes get a little carried away about the value and importance of the manuscripts they recover, they deserve praise for keeping up the pressure on smugglers.
UPDATE: Seen on Facebook: 1000 year old Bible found in Turkey's Tokat. A video that gives a reasonably good view of each page of the manuscript.
Aramaic Texts etc. from Egypt
AWOL: Aramaic Texts from Egypt (also including Phoenician and Hebrew).
An online metadata database project by A. SchützeCross-file under "Aramaic Watch."
(Institut für Ägyptologie, Universität München)
Talking mummies
TECHNOLOGY WATCH: Making the Mummies Talk (without Palmolive soap!) (Roberta Mazza, Faces and Voices Blog). Excerpt:
Non-invasive and non-destructive technologies are the way of the future. For non-invasive scanning of manuscripts, see here and links.
As it often happens in research, some good came as a result of what happened. Public concern raised by the Palmolive Indiana Jones YouTube exploits has pulled together a multidisciplinary team of specialists lead by Melissa Terrace (UCL) and Mike Toth (R.B. Toth Associates), including myself among others, that has received funds from Arcadia Foundation to investigate how special imaging techniques, such as multispectral technology, can lead to the establishment of non invasive methods for reading papyri encapsulated in mummy masks and other cartonnage objects. We named the project Making the Mummies Talk.More on the Palmolive soap story is here (second link). Some related posts are collected here.
Non-invasive and non-destructive technologies are the way of the future. For non-invasive scanning of manuscripts, see here and links.
Wednesday, October 28, 2015
Metatron, climate change, and lizards
ARCHANGEL METATRON WATCH: Climate Change and Lizards: Reproduction Strategy May Need to Change, Researchers Say (Samantha Mathewson,Nature World News).
For their study, researchers used a Metatron, which is a system of semi-natural enclosures that allowed them to manipulate temperatures.Well, Metatron has been interested in ecology for some time.
Review of "Egypt: Faith After the Pharaohs"
MUSEUM EXHIBITION: Egypt: Faith After the Pharaohs review – a magical dig into the past. 5 / 5 stars British Museum, London With its miraculously preserved ancient objects – precious texts, gleeful art, children’s toys – Neil MacGregor’s last hurrah gets close to solving the mystery of religion itself (Jonathan Jones, The Guardian). A positive review of what sounds like an excellent exhibition. The review itself is generally informative but has a couple of errors.
More on the exhibition is here and links. The Elephantine papyri are the earliest Egyptian papyri dealing with Jews, on which more here, here, and links.
Trying to understand North Africa or the Middle East without somehow going to the heart of faith is like trying to read a book in a language you don’t understand. This exhibition begins with books that are indeed written in languages I don’t understand: Hebrew, Greek and Arabic. They are some of the most precious religious manuscripts on Earth, laid side by side here,just as the communities they speak to have lived side by side in Egypt for millennia. A ninth/10th-century Jewish Bible, with bright abstract illuminations among the handwritten Hebrew letters, sits near the Codex Sinaiticus – the oldest complete Christian New Testament in the world, made at the Monastery of St Catherine in Sinai in the mid-fourth century AD (that is, under the Roman empire). Nearby is a gorgeous page from an eighth-century copy of the Qur’an, created a century after Egypt was conquered by Islam.The Codex Sinaticus was not "made" at St Catherine's Monastery, although it was housed there for a long time. The manuscript was written at an unknown location in the fourth century, while the monastery was not founded until the sixth century (although there was a chapel there as early as the fourth century).
Among these strange gods there was also one god – Jehovah. Jews had a long history in Egypt, according to the Bible, but as Simon Schama points out in his book The Story of the Jews their real, tangible history is first documented by those magically preserved Egyptian papyri – such as a letter exhibited here from the Roman emperor Claudius, in which he tells locals not to worship him as a god and instructs them to tolerate the Jews.The name "Jehovah" is an error promulgated by Renaissance Christian Hebraists who misunderstood that the consonantal Hebrew text of the the name of God, YHWH, was written with the vowels for the Hebrew word "My Lord" ('Adonay) in the Masoretic Text of the Hebrew Bible. This was to indicate to the reader that the name should be pronounced 'Adonay. Move the misunderstanding into Latin and you get "Jehovah." Ancient Egyptian Jews and those they influenced generally referred to this God as Yahu or Yaho (in Aramaic) or IAO (in Greek).
More on the exhibition is here and links. The Elephantine papyri are the earliest Egyptian papyri dealing with Jews, on which more here, here, and links.
The WSJ, the AP, and the Temple Mount
TEMPLE MOUNT WATCH: Wall Street Journal Misidentifies Judaism's Holiest Site (CAMERA). The Western Wall is a holy site to Judaism, but Judaism's holiest site is the Temple Mount.
I watched the video, which is here. It is on the WSJ website, but it credits itself to the AP. The video now clearly says "Judaism's holy site," which is an odd expression. I would expect something like "one of Judaisms holiest sites" or "a holy site for Judaism" or the like. Has the video been redubbed to say "holy" rather than the original "holiest?"
I watched the video, which is here. It is on the WSJ website, but it credits itself to the AP. The video now clearly says "Judaism's holy site," which is an odd expression. I would expect something like "one of Judaisms holiest sites" or "a holy site for Judaism" or the like. Has the video been redubbed to say "holy" rather than the original "holiest?"
Machaerus
EXCAVATION: Archaeologists breathing life into 2,000-year-old Citadel of Machaerus (Dana Al Emam, The Jordan Times).
MUKAWIR — Pilgrims and visitors to the 2,000-year-old Citadel of Machaerus will be able to authentically envision the point in history when Salome danced and when St John the Baptist was beheaded, thanks to an archaeological project currently under way.Machaerus is not actually mentioned in the New Testament, but we learn from Josephus that John the Baptist was executed there and that Herodias's daughter (unnamed in the NT) was named Salome, and so we place the story about her and John the Baptist there (Mark 6:14-29 par.). More on that here. More on the current excavation at this Bible History Daily post: Machaerus: Beyond the Beheading of John the Baptist.
The project at the Herodian royal castle, carried out since 2009 by the Hungarian Academy of Arts (MMA), is being done in collaboration with the Department of Antiquities, represented by Director General Monther Jamhawi.
The site, sitting atop a hill some 800 metres above sea level and overlooking the Dead Sea, some 32km southwest of Madaba city, was the fortress of Herod the Great and a centre of power in the ancient world.
[...]
Sotah
TRACTATE SOTAH STARTS TODAY IN DAF YOMI: The Sotah Spectacle: The Mishnah’s rewrite of the Biblical ritual (Prof. Ishay Rosen-Zvi, TheGemara.com).
Tuesday, October 27, 2015
Hobby Lobby under federal investigation
THE GREEN COLLECTION: Exclusive: Feds Investigate Hobby Lobby Boss for Illicit Artifacts. One of America’s most famously Christian businesses is amassing a vast collection of Biblical antiquities. The problem is some of them may have been looted from the Middle East (Candida Moss and Joel Baden).
Seen on Facebook. Background on the Green Collection is here and many links
In 2011, a shipment of somewhere between 200 to 300 small clay tablets on their way to Oklahoma City from Israel was seized by U.S. Customs agents in Memphis. The tablets were inscribed in cuneiform—the script of ancient Assyria and Babylonia, present-day Iraq—and were thousands of years old. Their destination was the compound of the Hobby Lobby corporation, which became famous last year for winning a landmark Supreme Court case on religious freedom and government mandates. A senior law enforcement source with extensive knowledge of antiquities smuggling confirmed that these ancient artifacts had been purchased and were being imported by the deeply-religious owners of the crafting giant, the Green family of Oklahoma City. For the last four years, law enforcement sources tell The Daily Beast, the Greens have been under federal investigation for the illicit importation of cultural heritage from Iraq.This is potentially quite significant and could be very damaging to the reputation of the Green Collection. But we should also keep in mind that no charges have been filed at this point and that the key specifics that follow in the article come from an anonymous "source familiar with the Hobby Lobby investigation" and we should hold out for some verification. That said, Moss and Baden are good at keeping their facts in order and would not have published the article if they didn't think they had good reason. Watch this space.
These tablets, like the other 40,000 or so ancient artifacts owned by the Green family, were destined for the Museum of the Bible, the giant new museum funded by the Greens, slated to open in Washington, D.C., in 2017. Both the seizure of the cuneiform tablets and the subsequent federal investigation were confirmed to us by Cary Summers, the president of the Museum of the Bible.
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If the investigation ends with a decision to prosecute, on either criminal or civil charges, the Greens may be forced to forfeit the tablets to the government. There may also be a fine involved. The Green family, who successfully forced the federal government to legally recognize their personal moral standards, now find themselves on the other side of the docket, under suspicion of having attempted to contravene U.S. laws.
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Seen on Facebook. Background on the Green Collection is here and many links
The Talmud on who can be a nazirite, shaving body hair, etc.
THIS WEEK'S DAF YOMI COLUMN BY ADAM KIRSCH IN TABLET: The Talmudury Tales. Women without underarm hair, transvestites seeking illicit sexual relations, lepers who can’t shave, nazirite gentiles, grape-eaters, and other Chauceresque characters, in this week’s ‘Daf Yomi.’
Throughout Tractate Nazir—whose end Daf Yomi readers approached this week—there has been a very natural assumption that the only people who can become nazirites are Jews. Indeed, it never occurred to me that it could be otherwise: Isn’t naziriteship a part of Jewish law, as laid down in the Torah? Yet in Nazir 61a, the rabbis point out that the textual basis for naziriteship, in the Book of Numbers, is not crystal clear on this point. The subject is introduced with the words, “Speak to the children of Israel and say to them: When a man or woman shall clearly utter a vow, the vow of a nazirite, to consecrate himself to the Lord.” The phrase “speak to the children of Israel” seems to imply that what is to follow—the rules and restrictions of naziriteship—is intended for Jews only.Earlier Daf Yomi columns are noted here and links.
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Archaeology by storm
DISCOVERY: Ancient winery discovered in central Israel region during storm. Large 1,500-year-old winepress unearthed in area once known for wine production (DANIEL K. EISENBUD, Jerusalem Post).
The northern part of the Sharon Plain is considered the most historical wine region in Israel, and is where the first roots of Israeli wine were planted in modern times.HT Joseph I. Lauer.
When water was pumped from the site, [IAA archeologist Alla] Nagorski said the well-preserved winery was found. She described it as impressive and rare.
“It is evident that great thought was invested in the engineering and construction,” she said. “The wine press is huge – 3 meters in diameter and 2 meters deep, and could accommodate 20 cubic meters of wine.”
Report: ISIS blew up pillars and people at Palmyra
PALMYRA WATCH: IS said to blow up Palmyra columns to execute 3. Monitor claims jihadist group tied prisoners to ancient pillars before exploding them at historic Syria site (AFP).
Background on the ancient Aramaic-speaking city of Palmyra and on the assault of ISIS on the past and its caretakers is here and links.
Background on the ancient Aramaic-speaking city of Palmyra and on the assault of ISIS on the past and its caretakers is here and links.
Tennessee lecture on Roman fort at Yotvata
TODAY AT THE UNIVERSITY OF TENNESSEE: Archaeology Lecture Series Explores Roman Fort in Israel October 27.
Gwyn Davies, an expert on Roman siege warfare, will discuss the Roman fort of Yotvata during a lecture on Tuesday, October 27.
Davies, an associate professor of history at Florida International University, will speak at 7:30 p.m. in the auditorium of the McClung Museum of Natural History and Culture, 1327 Circle Park Drive.
His lecture, which is free and open to the public, is titled “The Late Roman Fort at Yotvata, Israel.” It is the third lecture in the series organized by the East Tennessee Society of the Archaeological Institute of America and the McClung Museum.
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Monday, October 26, 2015
Jewish-Temple denial by the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem
TEMPLE MOUNT WATCH: Jerusalem mufti: Temple Mount never housed Jewish Temple. Sheikh Muhammad Ahmad Hussein says Al-Aqsa Mosque has been atop disputed holy site ‘since creation of the world’ (Ilan Ben Zion, Times of Israel).
Recent background on the ancient Jewish temples on the Temple Mount and denial of them in Palestinian propaganda, sometimes enabled by the Western media, is here and links.
The grand mufti of Jerusalem, the Muslim cleric in charge of the Al-Aqsa Mosque, said Sunday that there has never been a Jewish temple atop the Temple Mount, and that the site has been home to a mosque “since the creation of the world.”This latest, egregious example of Palestinian Jewish-Temple denial borders on Islamic-fundamentalist creationism. This is not the first time the current Grand Mufti of Jerusalem has indulged in Temple denial (see here). And his predecessor, Dr. Ekrima Sabri, has done likewise (see here). But it's certainly been a while, if ever, since I have seen it on this jaw-dropping scale. The closest I can find to it is here, where it was claimed that the Al-Aqsa Mosque was built more than a thousand years before Solomon.
Sheikh Muhammad Ahmad Hussein said in an Arabic interview with Israel’s Channel 2 that the site, considered the third holiest in Islam and the holiest to Jews, was a mosque “3,000 years ago, and 30,000 years ago” and has been “since the creation of the world.”
“This is the Al-Aqsa Mosque that Adam, peace be upon him, or during his time, the angels built,” the mufti said of the 8th-century structure commissioned by Caliph Abd al-Malik ibn Marwan.
[...]
Recent background on the ancient Jewish temples on the Temple Mount and denial of them in Palestinian propaganda, sometimes enabled by the Western media, is here and links.
Weitzman on the Copper Scroll
ARTICLE: Absent but Accounted for: A New Approach to the Copper Scroll
Steven Weitzman (Harvard Theological Review 108.3, July 2015, pp. 423-447).
Abstract
The article also deals with the legendary account of the Temple treasures called The Treatise of the Vessels (Maasekhet Kelim), on which I have published many posts and two articles. For past posts on both the Copper Scroll and The Treatise of the Vessels, start here and here and follow the many links.
The article seems to have gone to press before the publication of my translation of The Treatise of the Vessels: "The Treatise of the Vessels (Maasekhet Kelim)" in Old Testament Pseudepigrapha: More Noncanonical Scriptures, vol. 1 (ed. Bauckham, Davila, and Panayotov; Eerdmans, 2013), pp. 393-409. In that article I also discussed the Lindian Temple Chronicle, although in relation to the Treatise of the Vessels, not the Copper Scroll. Weitzman's comparison of the Chronicle to the Copper Scroll is an intriguing advance of the discussion.
Steven Weitzman (Harvard Theological Review 108.3, July 2015, pp. 423-447).
Abstract
Like so much of early Jewish literature, the strange Dead Sea scroll known as the Copper Scroll (3Q15) remains suspended somewhere between reality and fantasy. Even before scholars had fully unrolled its copper plates in 1956, they were able to discern that it recorded a list of treasures, but there soon broke out a dispute over whether this treasure was real or not. Some scholars felt that the treasure was too large to be real and that it was a figment of its author's imagination. They sought the origins of the scroll in ancient Jewish legend. Others believed the treasure to be quite plausible, probably connected to the Temple in some way. The scroll itself, however, revealed nothing that might settle the issue in one direction or the other. In what follows, I wish to explore a way beyond this impasse, not resolving whether the treasure was real or not, but suggesting how it could be both at the same time. Such a claim will seem contradictory, but it is my hope over the course of this essay not just to establish the possibility of such a position but to demonstrate that such a reading is actually more consistent with the evidence we have than any reading that imposes an either/or choice between reading the treasure as fictional or genuine.(Requires a paid personal or institutional subscription to read the whole article.)
The article also deals with the legendary account of the Temple treasures called The Treatise of the Vessels (Maasekhet Kelim), on which I have published many posts and two articles. For past posts on both the Copper Scroll and The Treatise of the Vessels, start here and here and follow the many links.
The article seems to have gone to press before the publication of my translation of The Treatise of the Vessels: "The Treatise of the Vessels (Maasekhet Kelim)" in Old Testament Pseudepigrapha: More Noncanonical Scriptures, vol. 1 (ed. Bauckham, Davila, and Panayotov; Eerdmans, 2013), pp. 393-409. In that article I also discussed the Lindian Temple Chronicle, although in relation to the Treatise of the Vessels, not the Copper Scroll. Weitzman's comparison of the Chronicle to the Copper Scroll is an intriguing advance of the discussion.
Review of Miller, At the Intersection of Texts and Material Finds
THE TALMUD BLOG: M. BLIDSTEIN ON S. MILLER, ‘AT THE INTERSECTION OF TEXTS AND MATERIAL FINDS.’
Notwithstanding these criticisms, I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book. The long and sometimes winding tour is full of insights and leads to follow; I felt part of a lively and thoughtful seminar, in which all participants are treated with respect and intellectual honesty. The careful assessment of the evidence, together with the hesitation to identify artifacts with social groups known from the texts, instills confidence in the conclusions. Miller provides a solid foundation on what is actually known about Jewish purity practices in this period, upon which the more speculatively inclined textual exegetes can build their edifices.I noted the publication of the book here.
Earliest abecedary ever?
SOMETHING LIKE THAT: The earliest known abecedary (PhysOrg). But this is not the abecedary known and used today in the English and other alphabers — the one that begins a-b-c:
A flake of limestone (ostracon) inscribed with an ancient Egyptian word list of the fifteenth century BC turns out to be the world's oldest known abecedary. The words have been arranged according to their initial sounds, and the order followed here is one that is still known today. This discovery by Ben Haring (Leiden University) with funding from Free Competition Humanities has been published in the October issue of the Journal of Near Eastern Studies.You can read the JNES article by Ben Haring at JSTOR: Halaḥam on an Ostracon of the Early New Kingdom? But notice that the article ends with a question mark, which is why my title above does likewise. Not mentioned in the PhyOrg article is that parts of the rest of the sequence of sounds are preserved on the ostracon and they correspond only in a vague way to the traditional Halaḥam alphabetic sequence. So the case is not airtight, although it does seem quite likely that this is an early and fluid example of what eventually would become a fixed sequence of sounds and letters.
The order is not the ABC of modern western alphabets, but Halaḥam (HLḤM), the order known from the Ancient Egyptian, Ancient Arabian and Classical Ethiopian scripts. ABC and HLḤM were both used in Syria in the thirteenth century BC: cuneiform tablets found at site of ancient Ugarit show both sequences. Back then, ABC was still '-b-g ('aleph-beth-gimel). This sequence was favored by the Phoenicians who passed it on to the Greeks, together with the alphabet itself. Thus a-b-g found its way to the later alphabets inspired by the Greek and Latin ones.
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Inaugural lecture by Jan Joosten at Oxford
TOMORROW:
The Faculty of Oriental Studies invites youWish I could go. If you happen to be in the vicinity and want to attend, you need to register for the event in advance. Follow the link for information.
to the inaugural lecture of
the Regius Professor of Hebrew
Jan Joosten
(Christ Church and OCHJS)
“Hebrew: A Holy Tongue?”
Tuesday 27 October 2015 at 5pm
in the Examination Schools, High Street, Oxford Oxford
Sunday, October 25, 2015
Updated posts
I HAVE JUST UPDATED THE FOLLOWING POSTS:
Nachman Avigad (first posted 15 October);
A Maccabean-era synagoge at Delos? (first posted 19 October).
I'm not quite caught up on updates, but I am getting there as time permits. Thanks to readers who have sent in new information and corrections. Please be patient as I get to them, and please keep them coming!
Nachman Avigad (first posted 15 October);
A Maccabean-era synagoge at Delos? (first posted 19 October).
I'm not quite caught up on updates, but I am getting there as time permits. Thanks to readers who have sent in new information and corrections. Please be patient as I get to them, and please keep them coming!
Review of Paul books
FOUR BOOKS ON THE APOSTLE PAUL REVIEWED: Who Was Saint Paul? (G.W. Bowersock, The New York Review of Books).
St. Paul: The Apostle We Love to HateHT Ancient Jew Review.
by Karen Armstrong
New Harvest, 143 pp., $20.00
Who Made Early Christianity?: The Jewish Lives of the Apostle Paul
by John G. Gager
Columbia University Press, 192 pp., $30.00
Paul’s Summons to Messianic Life: Political Theology and the Coming Awakening
by L.L. Welborn
Columbia University Press, 128 pp., $28.00 (paper)
Nietzsche Versus Paul
by Abed Azzam
Columbia University Press, 209 pp., $28.00 (paper)
Anglo-Saxon faux Hebrew
ANGLO-SAXON SCRIBES READ HEBREW, WROTE HEBREW (SOMETIMES BADLY), AND EVEN FAKED HEBREW: Fort Wayne English instructor turns medieval spy (Jamie Duffy, AP).
How interesting. You find something similar to the faked Hebrew in a good many Babylonian incantation bowls from around the seventh century C.E. Apparently some of the magicians who produced the bowls knew the Aramaic incantations verbally, but were themselves illiterate. Since their clients were also illiterate, this didn't really matter. They just produced bowls inscribed with realistic-looking squiggles that weren't even actual letters. Presumably they then performed the correct ritual and recited the correct incantation, buried the bowl under the client's threshold to drive away demons, and took payment. Everyone was happy.
I'm not suggesting that the Anglo-Saxon scribes wrote fake Hebrew for the same reasons. Read the article for more on what they many have been about.
How interesting. You find something similar to the faked Hebrew in a good many Babylonian incantation bowls from around the seventh century C.E. Apparently some of the magicians who produced the bowls knew the Aramaic incantations verbally, but were themselves illiterate. Since their clients were also illiterate, this didn't really matter. They just produced bowls inscribed with realistic-looking squiggles that weren't even actual letters. Presumably they then performed the correct ritual and recited the correct incantation, buried the bowl under the client's threshold to drive away demons, and took payment. Everyone was happy.
I'm not suggesting that the Anglo-Saxon scribes wrote fake Hebrew for the same reasons. Read the article for more on what they many have been about.
Ronis on Law and Demonic Discourse in the Babylonian Talmud
ANCIENT JEW REVIEW: Dissertation Spotlight: Sara Ronis.
Ronis, Sara. “Do Not Go Out Alone at Night”: Law and Demonic Discourse in the Babylonian Talmud. Ph.D. Dissertation. Yale University, 2015.
Spanish websites
MATTERS PALEOJUDAIC IN SPANISH: First, on Christian origins, Orígenes Del Cristianismo.
And it is worth mentioning again the interesting blog by Tomas Garcia-Huidobro: Experiencias Religiosas y Escrituras: temprano misticismo judío, cristiano, y gnóstico como medios para iluminar los orígenes del cristianismo, which I have already noted here.
The Group research on the origins of Christianity (GISOC) is formed by students and scholars from various Spanish universities that for years have been working together and developing joint projects.This English summary comes from reader "Manuel HG," who runs the new website Masora digital. estudios bíblicos en español.
Our goal as a group is to study from an interdisciplinary perspective the formative period of Christianity (approx. 30-180 AD), taking into account the various factors involved in this process, both historical and contextual, as the literary and theological.
The group's activities include seminars, symposia and joint publications and the organization of a university graduate.
And it is worth mentioning again the interesting blog by Tomas Garcia-Huidobro: Experiencias Religiosas y Escrituras: temprano misticismo judío, cristiano, y gnóstico como medios para iluminar los orígenes del cristianismo, which I have already noted here.
Saturday, October 24, 2015
Witherington interviews Barclay on Paul and the Gift
BEN WITHERNIGTON: John Barclay’s— Paul and the Gift– Part One. Continued in John Barclay’s Paul and the Gift– Part Two. Witherington records a dialogue with Barclay on Barclay's new book, Paul and the Gift (Eerdmans, 2015).
Barbati on Syriac into Middle Iranian
BIBLIOGRAPHIA IRANICA: Syriac into Middle Iranian. New article: Barbati, Chiara. 2015. Syriac into Middle Iranian: A Translation Studies Approach to Sogdian and Pahlavi Manuscripts within the Church of the East. Open Linguistics 1(1). 444–457.
Relevant, for example, for part of the manuscript tradition of the Book of Giants, although I don't know that this specific book is mentioned in the article. Cross-file under Syriac Watch.
Relevant, for example, for part of the manuscript tradition of the Book of Giants, although I don't know that this specific book is mentioned in the article. Cross-file under Syriac Watch.
Manuscript analysis conference at Hamburg
ANNOUNCEMENT: Second International Conference on Natural Sciences and Technology in Manuscript Analysis. Centre for the Study of Manuscript Cultures, Hamburg 29 February - 2 March 2016.
OutlineFollow the link for the CFP and registration information.
Our time witnesses increasing demand in application of modern technologies and material analysis in the manuscript studies. The second conference dedicated to natural sciences and technology in manuscript analysis continues the tradition of bringing together scholars and scientists from the fields of humanities, informatics, chemistry, physics and biology. Also this time the conference will provide a forum for discussions on various aspects of manuscripts and presentations of new results, technologies and approaches. Contributions are solicited for original research work stressing the role of natural sciences and technology in the following areas:The conference will be hosted by the Centre for the Study of Manuscript Cultures (CSMC) at the University of Hamburg, participation is free. Please register below.
- Image analysis of visual manuscript features
- Recovering lost writing
- Material analysis of writing material
- Cutting edge techniques
Anniversary of the downfall of Hannibal
PUNIC WATCH: This week in history: Scipio defeats Hannibal at Zama (Cody K. Carlson, The Deseret News).
On or around Oct. 19, 202 B.C., according to historians, (though some place the date in September), the Roman Gen. Scipio Africanus crushed the forces of Hannibal Barca of Carthage at the Battle of Zama. The defeat forced the Carthaginians to cede victory in the war to Rome.
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ThALES
LIV INGEBORG LIED: ThALES up and running.
ThALES is a new lectionary database giving scholars access to ancient and medieval Christian and Jewish lectionaries.Follow the link for details and a link to the site.
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