Beaulieu, A History of Babylon, 2200 BC - AD 75

NEW BOOK FROM WILEY:

A History of Babylon, 2200 BC - AD 75
Paul-Alain Beaulieu

ISBN: 978-1-405-18899-9

Feb 2018, Wiley-Blackwell

312 pages

Description

Provides a new narrative history of the ancient world, from the beginnings of civilization in the ancient Near East and Egypt to the fall of Constantinople

Written by an expert in the field, this book presents a narrative history of Babylon from the time of its First Dynasty (1880-1595) until the last centuries of the city’s existence during the Hellenistic and Parthian periods (ca. 331-75 AD). Unlike other texts on Ancient Near Eastern and Mesopotamian history, it offers a unique focus on Babylon and Babylonia, while still providing readers with an awareness of the interaction with other states and peoples. Organized chronologically, it places the various socio-economic and cultural developments and institutions in their historical context. The book also gives religious and intellectual developments more respectable coverage than books that have come before it.

A History of Babylon, 2200 BC – AD 75 teaches readers about the most important phase in the development of Mesopotamian culture. The book offers in-depth chapter coverage on the Sumero-Addadian Background, the rise of Babylon, the decline of the first dynasty, Kassite ascendancy, the second dynasty of Isin, Arameans and Chaldeans, the Assyrian century, the imperial heyday, and Babylon under foreign rule.

• Focuses on Babylon and Babylonia
• Written by a highly regarded Assyriologist
• Part of the very successful Histories of the Ancient World series
• An excellent resource for students, instructors, and scholars
A History of Babylon, 2200 BC - AD 75 is a profound text that will be ideal for upper-level undergraduate and graduate courses on Ancient Near Eastern and Mesopotamian history and scholars of the subject.

I confess myself baffled by the reference to the fall of Constantinople, which happened in 1453 (CE!). If that event is mentioned in the book, it can't be covered very thoroughly. But in any case, the volume looks like a useful resource. The history of Babylon is important for many periods in Jewish history.

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Verheyden et al. (eds.), Docetism in the Early Church

NEW BOOK FROM MOHR SIEBECK: Docetism in the Early Church.The Quest for an Elusive Phenomenon. Ed. by Joseph Verheyden, Reimund Bieringer, Jens Schröter, and Ines Jäger. [Doketismus in der frühen Kirche. Auf der Suche nach einem flüchtigen Phänomen.]
2018. XI, 289 pages. Wissenschaftliche Untersuchungen zum Neuen Testament 402. 134,00 €. cloth. ISBN 978-3-16-154084-4.

Published in English.
This volume studies the ways modern research has tried to detect traces of Docetism in ancient sources, including the gospels and the Johannine epistles and several second-century authors. As a concept, Docetism is often used in scholarly literature for denoting loosely connected or even quite different phenomena or doctrines that all have to do with defining the nature of Christ and the reality of the incarnation and passion of Jesus. The essays presented here approach the topic from a new angle by focusing on the ancient documents themselves instead of staying on a purely theoretical or dogmatic level, while at the same time critically re-examining the historical contexts in which these were produced and first circulated. In some cases, this serves to once more reveal the hidden agendas that have guided modern scholars in their discussion of these topics.

Cross-file under Gnosticism Watch.

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Review of Czajkowski, Localized Law

BRYN MAYR CLASSICAL REVIEW:

Kimberley Czajkowski, Localized Law: The Babatha and Salome Komaise Archives. Oxford studies in Roman society and law. Oxford; New York: Oxford University Press, 2017. Pp. xii, 240. ISBN 9780198777335. $105.00. Reviewed by Tristan Taylor, University of New England (tristan.taylor@une.edu.au)

Localized Law seeks to analyze the famous Babatha and Salome Komaise archives using a different approach than one centered on the oft-examined question of what legal systems are present in the documents. Rather, in a revised version of her doctoral thesis, Czajkowski builds on developments in the analysis of legal pluralism in the Roman empire to consider the ‘varying contributions, considerations and influences that led to the papyri being written the way that they were’ (p 23). As such, the work offers a stimulating study that embraces the legally heterogeneous nature of the documents and highlights the multiplicity of potential influences in their formation—both in terms of individuals and systems—even though the documents rarely provide straightforward answers to the questions asked of them.

[...]

Cross-file under New Book.

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Alkier and Leppin (eds.), Juden – Heiden – Christen?

NEW BOOK FROM MOHR SIEBECK: Juden – Heiden – Christen? Religiöse Inklusionen und Exklusionen im Römischen Kleinasien bis Decius. Hrsg. v. Stefan Alkier u. Hartmut Leppin. [Jews – Gentiles – Christians? Religious Inclusion and Exclusion in Roman Asia Minor up to Decius.] 2018. VI, 453 pages. Wissenschaftliche Untersuchungen zum Neuen Testament 400. 149,00 €. cloth. ISBN 978-3-16-153706-6.

Published in German.
The triad of Jews, gentiles and Christians seems clearly arranged in the religious world of the Roman Empire. However, a closer look shows that this is too simple a model in that it neither does justice to the diverse descriptions of these groups or those of others, nor to their respective concepts of identity or the varying mechanisms of inclusions and exclusions. This volume illustrates this by way of interdisciplinary individual studies on Asia Minor, but also through conceptional considerations. In summary, the editors offer new terminology suggestions.

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The color of the Capernaum synagogue

LEEN RITMEYER: The Synagogue of Capernaum in which Jesus taught. Was it white or black?. Follow the link to find out.

Visit PaleoJudaica daily for the latest news on ancient Judaism and the biblical world.

New book on Isaac of Nineveh's eschatology

SYRIAC WATCH: Core Fellow Jason Scully Publishes Book (Nancy Enright, Seton Hall University).

Core Fellow Jason Scully recently published a book entitled Isaac of Ninevah's [read "Nineveh's" - JRD] Eschatology (Oxford University Press, 2018) in Oxford's Early Christian Studies series.

Also, some advice for prospective PhD students:

Once I realized how wide open the field of Syriac studies was ("you can pluck a dissertation topic from the ether," my advisor told me), I decided to write on a seventh century Syriac author named Isaac of Nineveh, a figure whose historical importance far outweighs the relative dearth of modern scholarship devoted to his thought."

There is much work to be done in Syriac studies.

Visit PaleoJudaica daily for the latest news on ancient Judaism and the biblical world.

Unleavened bread and the Exodus story

PASSOVER IS COMING: How Eating Matzot became Part of the Exodus Story (Dr. Rabbi Zev Farber, TheTorah.com).

Originally the Festival of Matzot was an agricultural holiday but through its association with the Pesach sacrifice, it became historicized and connected to the exodus story. This shift prompted the redaction of several biblical passages and the question “how indeed does eating matzah commemorate the exodus?”

In case you didn't know, Matzot means "unleavened bread" and the biblical festival that goes by that name. That festival is associated with Passover, but is not identical to Passover.

Visit PaleoJudaica daily for the latest news on ancient Judaism and the biblical world.

Butticaz and Norelli (eds.), Memory and Memories in Early Christianity

NEW BOOK FROM MOHR SIEBECK: Memory and Memories in Early Christianity. Proceedings of the International Conference held at the Universities of Geneva and Lausanne (June 2–3, 2016). Ed. by Simon Butticaz and Enrico Norelli. [Gedächtnis und Erinnerungen im frühen Christentum. Tagungsband der internationalen Konferenz vom 2.-3. Juni 2016 an den Universitäten Genf und Lausanne.] 2018. X, 356 pages. Wissenschaftliche Untersuchungen zum Neuen Testament 398. 139,00 €. cloth. ISBN 978-3-16-155729-3.

Published in English.
Bringing together thirteen talks given at the international conference “Memory and Memories in Early Christianity”, held at the Universities of Lausanne and Geneva in June 2016, this interdisciplinary volume explores a fresh problem in the study of the origins of Christianity and of the New Testament, namely the “work of memory” undertaken in the discourses and practices of the believers in Jesus. The studies collected here not only apply a heuristic analytical tool – “social memory theory” – to the literature and history of Christian beginnings, but also endeavour to show the socio-religious resonance of this “work of memory” in the language and ideology of the early believers. The historical Jesus, the Pauline writings, the Gospel of John, the Acts of the Apostles, Marcion, ancient Christian epistolography, Hegesippus, Irenaeus, etc. are explored by some of the world's top specialists in “social memory studies” as applied to Christian origins.

Visit PaleoJudaica daily for the latest news on ancient Judaism and the biblical world.

van der Toorn, Papyrus Amherst 63

ARAMAIC STUDIES TODAY BLOG: Papyrus Amherst 63 — Where do we stand? Professor Steve Kaufmann gives us notice of a new book on this remarkable and remarkably difficult text, which is written in Aramaic and Canaanite, but in the Egyptian Demotic script. The book is Karel van der Toorn, Papyrus Amherst 63 (AOAT 448).

Ancient Palymra is involved, so cross-file under Aramaic Watch and Palmyra Watch.

Past posts on Papyrus Amherst 63 are here (cf. here) and links.

Visit PaleoJudaica daily for the latest news on ancient Judaism and the biblical world.

Ephraim Stern - 1934-2018

SAD NEWS: A report that the Israeli archaeologist Ephraim Stern passed away over the weekend has been posted by Jack Sasson on the Agade list. Professor Stern is best know as the chief excavator of the Tel Dor Excavation. He also published extensively on the archaeology of the Land of Israel. I got to know him in my postgraduate days when I served as an assistant square supervisor at Tel Dor in the mid 1980s. May his memory be for a blessing.

Professor Stern's Wikipedia entry is here.

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A busy week

I SHALL BE VERY BUSY MUCH OF THIS COMING WEEK. I have pre-posted plenty of interesting things, so do keep visiting daily as usual. But I may not get to current stories until the evenings, or even until late in the week.

If any news stories show up which are especially important, feel free to drop me a note to point them out. I will try to attend to such things in the evenings.

Have a good week!

Visit PaleoJudaica daily for the latest news on ancient Judaism and the biblical world.

Torah manuscripts taken from the Jobar Synagogue?

UPDATE: Syria accuses Israel of stealing artifacts from ancient synagogue. Damascus' ambassador to the UN alleges 'terrorist groups cooperated with the Turkish and Israeli intelligence services to loot artifacts and manuscripts from the ancient synagogue'; Israeli ambassador dismisses charges as 'another attempt by Syrian regime to draw attention away from the horrible atrocities it commits.' (Itamar Eichner, Ynet News).

Syria filed an official complaint to the United Nations this week accusing Israel of smuggling Torah books and precious artifacts from the Eliyahu Hanavi Synagogue in Damascus in a secret operation with Turkey.

[...]

This article basically covers the same ground as the Jerusalem Post article from last week, noted here. But it specifies that the manuscripts supposedly recovered from the Jobar Synagogue included Torahs. I would have guessed that, but this the first time I've seen it said. And there's also this:

Theft and shelling during the Syrian civil war have damaged the ancient synagogue, one of the oldest in the world. There are conflicting reports about the fate of the artifacts in the synagogue. One report claims the rare Torah books were smuggled out of the synagogue by rebels, but were seized by the Syrian army.

Who knows what the basis is for that report or whether it is credible. But there you have it.

Visit PaleoJudaica daily for the latest news on ancient Judaism and the biblical world.

Bricks and straw in ancient Egypt

PASSOVER IS COMING: What Kind of Construction Did the Israelites Do in Egypt? (Dr. David A. Falk, TheTorah.com).

Egyptian sources shed light on the nature of the work described in the Torah.

Visit PaleoJudaica daily for the latest news on ancient Judaism and the biblical world.

Yellowstone and angel sex

REMNANT OF GIANTS: How Yellowstone’s ‘Old Faithful’ became an Angel copulating with a woman. Trust Deane Galbraith to find these things. But, yes, I too can see the sculpture scene in the geyser photograph. Can you?

Hmmm ... The watchers myth says that the angelic watchers descended from heaven and mated with mortal women, producing giants. God disapproved. According to 1 Enoch 67, the burning abyss where the watchers were buried underground to await the Final Judgment became a hot springs. A coincidence? Do you really think so?

Cross-file under Watchers Watch.

Visit PaleoJudaica daily for the latest news on ancient Judaism and the biblical world.

Erskine et al. (eds.), The Hellenistic Court

BIBLIOGRAPHIA IRANICA: The Hellenistic Court. Notice of a new book: Erskine, Andrew, Lloyd Llewellyn-Jones & Shane Wallace (eds.). 2017. The Hellenistic court : Monarchic power and elite society from Alexander to Cleopatra. Classical Press of Wales.

Visit PaleoJudaica daily for the latest news on ancient Judaism and the biblical world.

Fifteen years of PaleoJudaica

HAPPY 15TH BLOGIVERSARY TO PALEOJUDAICA! I posted on this blog for the first time (here; first substantive post here) on 24 March 2003. Since then I have put up more than 16,000 posts.

On most anniversaries (but not last year) I have put up a retrospective anniversary post. The most recent one was for 2016 and you can follow the links from there to all earlier retrospective posts. This year you get a double-edition retrospective. I focus on posts in which I had more commentary than usual. I also include a few end-of-year roundup posts and posts on especially important stories, plus a few others I just liked.

2016-2017
• Rabbi Sacks at St. Andrews
• Latest on the Gospel of Jesus' Wife — a major breakthrough? (Yep. see here.)
• Report on the St. Andrews Symposium on Divine Sonship (6-8 June 2016)
• John the Jew (Camaldoli): my response to Williams (Enoch Seminar)
• "John the Jew" (Camaldoli): final comments (Ditto)
• Old editions of the Cave of Treasures
• Back from the BNTC (Photo essay on the Roman ruins at Chester.)
• Archaeology stories for Rosh HaShanah
• A Hebrew papyrus from the 8th century BCE? [Now updated] (There is debate on whether this is genuine or a forgery.)
• Billionaires are trying to escape the demiurgic world
• Review of DeConick, The Gnostic New Age, MEGA, SBL 2016
• Non-deceptive pseudepigraphy?
• Archaeology top 10, 2016
• Biggest 2016 archaeological discoveries
• Two Prophetesses for Burns Night
• Rabbinics and Second Temple Judaism
• Frescoes, not phalluses, are the stars - and no sex toys (The media certainly botched this story.)
• The Jordan Department of Antiquities disavows the lead codices (For much more on the metal codices, see below.)

2017-2018
• Bar Kokhba letters anniversary
• The Talmud on scriptural exegesis
• Josephus, Masada, and archaeology

A four-part review of an important new book:
• Review of Burke and Landau (eds.), New Testament Apocrypha, vol. 1 (part 1)
• Review of Burke and Landau (eds.), New Testament Apocrypha, vol. 1 (part 2)
• Review of Burke and Landau (eds.), New Testament Apocrypha (part 3)
• Review of Burke and Landau (eds.), New Testament Apocrypha (part 4)

• If you like OT Pseudepigrapha, please help! (bumped)
I promised an update on this one. Mainly I found that it's too early to get a sense of the impact of MOTP1. My article will be coming out in 2019 and it will have a little more to say about that then.

• Bible Cat revisited (Because cat!)
• Graduation 2017 (Because philologists!)
• Ezekiel's Merkavah anniversary is today (Because Merkavah!)
• Hurtado on representing the views of others (Good advice from Professor Hurtado and from me.)

Samuel Zinner's full publication on the Jordanian metal codices finally came out in 2017. Here is my four-part review of it:
• The Jordanian lead codices: (1) The materials tests
• The Jordanian lead codices: (2) The inscriptions
• The Jordanian lead codices: (3) The Abgar-Selaman epitaph
• The Jordanian lead codices: (4) Concluding observations

Then some new metal codices showed up:
• Metal codices seized in Turkey. This has been the most visited post since Blogger started keeping records in May of 2010. And on a related note, the Turkish authorities seized many smuggled antiquities in the last year, including a number of other dubious artifacts. See here, here, here, here, and here.

• Bauckham event in St. Andrews
• Judah the Hammer (On why scholars should try harder to think like regular people.)
• A bulla of Isaiah (the prophet?) (Maybe, but maybe not; cf. here.)
• A disquieting case of scholarly forgery?

On 1 March 2018 PaleoJudaica received its largest number of views ever in a single day: 18,630. I don't know what was special about that day, but I hope it keeps happening.

I am still enjoying blogging and my readers seem to enjoy it as well. Thanks for your support! Please do keep coming back and keeping bringing your friends.

Visit PaleoJudaica daily for the latest news on ancient Judaism and the biblical world.

A new blog for early career scholars in Second Temple Judaism

ASSIMILATED TO THE BLOGOSPHERE: Second Temple Early Career Academy (STECA). Founded and directed by Professor Charlotte Hempel of Birmingham University and with a team of early career scholars. Looks like this will a very useful resource for early career specialists in the field.

By the way, have you noticed that the Blogosphere is alive and well and stronger than ever?

Visit PaleoJudaica daily for the latest news on ancient Judaism and the biblical world.

T-a-l-m-u-d

AGAIN, YOU SHOULD KNOW THESE THINGS: Dozens of Tri-State students compete in WCPO 9 On Your Side/Scripps Regional Spelling Bee. Two winners advance to National Bee (WCPO Cininnati).

The two winners outlasted dozens of students from Ohio, Kentucky and Indiana:

Irene Calderon from Summit Country Day School won the Ohio event with the word "Talmud," a collection of writings on Jewish law and custom and religious practice.

Congratulations to both winners. In past PaleoJudaica-highlighted spelling bees the winning words have included m-a-m-m-o-n-i-s-t-i-c, p-s-e-u-d-e-p-i-g-r-a-p-h-a (twice!), and N-a-a-s-s-e-n-e.

Visit PaleoJudaica daily for the latest news on ancient Judaism and the biblical world.

Brill’s Companion to the Reception of Plato in Antiquity

NEW BOOK FROM BRILL:

Brill’s Companion to the Reception of Plato in Antiquity

Edited by Harold Tarrant, University of Newcastle Australia, Danielle A. Layne, Gonzaga University, Dirk Baltzly, University of Tasmania and Monash University, and François Renaud, Université de Moncton
Brill’s Companion to the Reception of Plato in Antiquity offers a comprehensive account of the ways in which ancient readers responded to Plato, as philosopher, as author, and more generally as a central figure in the intellectual heritage of Classical Greece, from his death in the fourth century BCE until the Platonist and Aristotelian commentators in the sixth century CE. The volume is divided into three sections: ‘Early Developments in Reception’ (four chapters); ‘Early Imperial Reception’ (nine chapters); and ‘Early Christianity and Late Antique Platonism’ (eighteen chapters). Sectional introductions cover matters of importance that could not easily be covered in dedicated chapters. The book demonstrates the great variety of approaches to and interpretations of Plato among even his most dedicated ancient readers, offering some salutary lessons for his modern readers too.

Phil of Alexandria is, of course, represented, as is Gnosticism and other matters of interest. HT the Newtwork for the Study of Esotericism in Antiquity.

Visit PaleoJudaica daily for the latest news on ancient Judaism and the biblical world.

Artifacts recovered from Jobar Synagogue ruins?

ARCHAEOLOGICAL SKULDUGGERY? SYRIA ACCUSES ISRAEL OF REMOVING JEWISH ARTIFACTS FROM DAMASCUS TEMPLE. “This is yet another attempt by the Syrian regime to distract attention from the atrocities it is inflicting on its own people,” said Israel's UN envoy (Daniel J. Roth, Jerusalem Post).

LOS ANGELES - The Syrian government on Thursday accused Israel of conducting a clandestine operation, together with Turkey, to remove ancient artifacts from a synagogue near Damascus.

In a formal complaint sent to the United Nations Security Council, Syria’s Ambassador to the UN Bashar Ja’afari accused the two countries of cooperating with “terrorist groups” to remove valuable items from the 2,000-year-old Jobar temple.


[...]

The artifacts reportedly include manuscripts. The claim is that they were smuggled to Istanbul and then New York.

The Jobar Synagogue was badly damaged in the Syrian fighting in 2013 and then substantially destroyed in 2014. I followed events as they were reported. See here and links.

Two thoughts on the current report. First, the Israeli Ambassador to the UN gave a good response to the Syrian accusation. But I don't see a denial of the accusation in it. Second, I do not condone such activities. But if there were any ancient artifacts in the ruins of the Jobar Synagogue, I hope they are safe.

Visit PaleoJudaica daily for the latest news on ancient Judaism and the biblical world.

Repairs begun on the (traditional) Tomb of Nahum

RENOVATIONS: Hebrew prophet's tomb in Iraq saved from collapse (Judit Neurink, Al-Monitor).

Al-Qosh, on the Ninevah Plains, is home to several historic monasteries and churches as well as the synagogue, which houses the tomb of Nahum, the prophet who in 615 B.C. correctly predicted the downfall of the Assyrian kingdom. While the town's churches have been well maintained due to the efforts of the Christian community, the synagogue — despite Nahum being regarded as a prophet by the three major monotheistic religions — was allowed to crumble after the last Jews left town for Israel in 1951.

The good news is that after years of aborted attempts to save the building, a US organization — ARCH, the Alliance for the Restoration of Cultural Heritage — was finally able to send a team of engineers to secure the building in January before it fully collapsed. Some of the walls and part of the roof had already collapsed, and columns with Hebrew inscriptions are barely standing, endangering the tomb, which lies beneath a green covering.

This is good news indeed. The poor condition of the synagogue has been a matter of concern for some time.

Background on the (traditional) Tomb of Nahum is here and links.

Visit PaleoJudaica daily for the latest news on ancient Judaism and the biblical world.

Review of The Brill Dictionary of Ancient Greek

BYRN MAYR CLASSICAL REVIEW: Franco Montanari, Madeleine Goh, Chad Schroeder, The Brill Dictionary of Ancient Greek. English Edition edited by Madeleine Goh and Chad Schroeder, under the auspices of the Center for Hellenic Studies, Harvard University. Leiden; Boston: Brill, 2015. Pp. lx, 2431. ISBN 9789004193185. $125.00. Reviewed by Panagiotis Filos, University of Ioannina (pfilos@cc.uoi.gr)>.

In conclusion, the new Brill Greek dictionary is a most welcome addition to the current lexicographic store for Ancient Greek and is set to become a primary resource for the study of Ancient Greek, especially as regards non-literary texts and post-classical authors. It goes without saying, though, that other dictionaries, especially LSJ will continue to be of importance, as far as words of literary origin are concerned in particular.9 In any case, the ultimate gamble is the future of bilingual Ancient Greek dictionaries as a whole in times of growing financial hardship for classical studies: ‘δεῖ δὲ χρημάτων’ obviously needs no dictionary aid to be promptly understood nowadays.

Indeed.

HT Larry Hurtado. Past PaleoJudaica posts (often leading to Hurtado posts) on The Brill Dictionary of Ancient Greek are here and links.

Visit PaleoJudaica daily for the latest news on ancient Judaism and the biblical world.

Pigeons in the Byzantine-era Negev

OSTEOLOGY AND COPROLOGY: Haifa U. Reveals Role of Pigeons in Turning the Negev Green 1,500 Years Ago (JNi Media, The Jewish Press).

Pigeons played a central role some 1,500 years ago in transforming the Byzantine Negev into a flourishing garden, according to a new study conducted at the Zinman Institute of Archeology at the University of Haifa and published Wednesday in the journal PlosOne.

The study, which focused on the ancient settlements of Shivta and Sa’adon, found archaeological evidence that the Byzantines in the Negev did not raise their pigeons for food, but to fertilize the dry loess soil and making it more suitable for intensive agriculture.

[...]

I noted another article that mentioned this research here. The same research group has been working on ancient gerbils in the Negev as well.

Visit PaleoJudaica daily for the latest news on ancient Judaism and the biblical world.

Lester on Sibylline Oracles 4 and 5

ANCIENT JEW REVIEW: Dissertation Spotlight | Olivia Stewart Lester.

Olivia Stewart Lester, “Prophets and Their Rivals: Interpretation, Gender, and Economics in Revelation and Sibylline Oracles 4–5,” PhD Dissertation, Yale University, 2017.

Excerpt:

The ongoing appeal of prophecy as a rhetorical strategy in Revelation and Sibylline Oracles 4–5, and the ongoing rivalries in which these texts engage, argue for prophecy’s continuing significance in a larger ancient Mediterranean religious context. In this way, my book adds to a growing body of scholarship challenging widespread narratives about prophecy’s decline in Second Temple Judaism and in early Christianity, as well as narratives about the decline of Greek oracles and divination, in the early Roman imperial period. Prophecy persists in tenuous political moments, reinforcing the authority of those who feel their power is under threat.

For more on Sibylline Oracles 4 and 5, see here, here, here, and here. Cross-file under Old Testament Pseudepigrapha Watch.

Visit PaleoJudaica daily for the latest news on ancient Judaism and the biblical world.

The New Moon Festival

PROF. MICHAEL L. SATLOW: What Does Rosh Hodesh Celebrate? (TheGemara.com).

Tracing the meaning and motifs of Rosh Hodesh (the new moon festival) from the biblical through the talmudic periods reveals a day of two different meanings.

Visit PaleoJudaica daily for the latest news on ancient Judaism and the biblical world.

Will Palestinians claim the DSS at UNESCO?

POLITICS: PALESTINIAN CLAIM TO DEAD SEA SCROLLS MAY BE NEXT UP AT UNESCO. Ex-agency head to ‘Post’: Mixing religion and politics is dangerous (Herb Keinon and Tovah Lazaroff, Jerusalem Post).

The next “prize” the Palestinians will likely claim as their own at UNESCO will probably be the archeological site of Qumran and its Dead Sea Scrolls, Shimon Samuels of the Simon Wiesenthal Center said on Wednesday.

He spoke at a panel on the denial of Jewish history in international organizations at the Foreign Ministry-sponsored sixth Global Forum for Combating Antisemitism in Jerusalem.

[...]

The claim was attempted back in 2009 and it has been rumored since 2016 that it will be tried again. See here and links. This is just a rumor so far, but it could happen. I don't think the claim will be any more successful than it was in 2009. UNESCO is already (see here and here and links) about to lose the support of the USA and Israel.

Visit PaleoJudaica daily for the latest news on ancient Judaism and the biblical world.

Williamson, Isaiah 6-16 (ICC)

NEW BOOK FROM BLOOMSBURY/T&T CLARK:

Isaiah 6-12
A Critical and Exegetical Commentary
By: H.G.M. Williamson

Published: 08-02-2018
Format: Hardback
Edition: 1st
Extent: 808
ISBN: 9780567030597
Imprint: T&T Clark
Series: International Critical Commentary
Dimensions: 216 x 138 mm
RRP: £75.00
Online price: £67.50
Save £7.50 (10%)

About Isaiah 6-12
This eagerly anticipated volume is the second installment in H.G.M. Williamson's International Critical Commentary on first Isaiah.

For over one hundred years International Critical Commentaries have had a special place among works on the Bible. They bring together all the relevant aids to exegesis - linguistic, textual, archaeological, historical, literary, and theological - to help the reader understand the meaning of the books of the Old and New Testaments.

Williamson continues in this tradition, adding to his already published volume on Isaiah 1-5. Covering the next seven chapters of Isaiah Williamson incorporates a range of secondary scholarly material with examination of all the key textual and critical issues surrounding the text.

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Genesis Apocryphon on display in Jerusalem

EXHIBITION: Enigmatic Dead Sea Scroll makes rare show in Jerusalem. Genesis Apocryphon, sole surviving copy of ancient text expounding on biblical tales of Noah, Abraham, to go up on display in Jerusalem's Israel Museum for first time since its discovery 70 years ago; scroll contains 'parallel stories we don't have in the Hebrew Bible,' says exhibit's curator (AP via Ynet News).

Cross-file under Aramaic Watch.

Visit PaleoJudaica daily for the latest news on ancient Judaism and the biblical world.

Review of Burke and Landau, MNTA1

READING ACTS BLOG: Book Review: Tony Burke and Brent Landau, New Testament Apocrypha, vol. 1 (Phil Long).

Burke, Tony and Brent Landau eds. New Testament Apocrypha, vol. 1: More Noncanonical Scriptures. Grand Rapids, Mich.: Eerdmans, 2016. 635 pp. Hb; $75. Link to Eerdmans

In his forward to this new collection of Christian apocrypha, J. K. Elliott asks “When is enough, enough?” Well he may ask, since he edited the seven hundred page The Apocryphal New Testament (Oxford, 1994). To quote Jordan Belfort from Martin Scorsese’s Wolf of Wall Street, “More is never enough.” This new collection edited by Burke and Landau is the first volume of a new series of non-canonical writings which promises to greatly expand the number of apocryphal texts available to students of the early church. Volume one collects thirty texts newly translated with introductions by experts in this literature. A second volume is planned and Burke hopes the project can be expanded to include a third and fourth volume.

[...]

"More is never enough." I like that. I haven't mentioned this before, but I recently began a year of research leave and I am hard at work on volume two of Old Testament Pseudepigrapha: More Noncanonical Scriptures (MOTP2). We're planning on stopping with the second volume. Future generations can take it from there. But meanwhile, I look forward to many other volumes of MNTA.

For my four-part review of MNTA1, start here and, as usual, follow the links. Cross-file under New Testament Apocrypha Watch.

Visit PaleoJudaica daily for the latest news on ancient Judaism and the biblical world.

The discoverers of that lost bit of Incense Route

NABATEAN (NABATAEAN) WATCH: 86-year-old guide helps discover section of Incense Route lost for millennia. Traversing 100 kilometers in five days, Shuka Ravek fulfills dream and walks from Petra to Avdat in the footsteps of Nabateans (Amanda Borschel Dan, Times of Israel).

At 86, the grandfather of Israeli hiking finally fulfilled a decades-long dream.

Over five days, trailblazing outdoorsman Yehoshua “Shuka” Ravek traversed some 100 kilometers (62 miles) by foot, walking from Petra, Jordan, to Avdat in the Israeli Negev. From February 18-23, Ravek walked along with a group of some 40 Israelis and, before crossing the border, a handful of Jordanians — and two camels.

Why the camels? The octogenarian’s goal was to accurately retrace the steps of the ancient Incense Route, laid down circa 3rd century BCE by Nabatean traders. He wanted to see if the path, first used by the mysterious desert dwellers and later by the Roman invaders, could really have supported this means of transportation.

And if fulfilling a dream wasn’t enough, on the final day, the group of hikers discovered and mapped out a “lost” 7.5 km (4.6 miles) section of the path that had eluded searching scholars for decades.

[...]

I noted the discovery of the lost stretch of the Incense Route here. The current article gives additional historical and human interest background.

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An Aramaic challenge

RELIGION AND LITERATURE OF ANCIENT PALESTINE BLOG: Uncertain reading in TAD B7.3/Cowley 44. Ryan Thomas offers a hard-core paleographic and philological problem for those who like such things. If you do, have a look and see if you can offer him a solution.

Cross-file under Aramaic Watch.

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Isaiah the prophet

THE ISAIAH BULLA AND THE BIBLE: Isaiah the Prophet, Man or Biblical Myth: The Archaeological Evidence. Finding seal marks ostensibly from Isaiah the Prophet and Hezekiah within mere feet of each other in Jerusalem is intriguing; so are other seals of other non-visionary Isaiahs found in Israel from that time (Phillipe Bohstrom, Haaretz).

A 2,700-year-old seal impression on clay unearthed in Jerusalem this February piqued enormous interest, after its finder, the leading Jerusalem archaeologist Dr. Eilat Mazar, said it may have been the personal seal of Isaiah the Prophet himself. Biblical scholars have been quarreling ever since.

[...]

In general this is a good article. It covers the issues surrounding the Isaiah bulla in some depth. It also addresses the larger questions concerning the prophet Isaiah and his book. Usually these are handled well. I will flag one glitch:

In Isaiah 20:1, the Assyrian king's name is spelled SRGN, which is the Aramaic version. The Assyrians spoke Aramaic (a language very like Hebrew, originally spoken by the Aramaeans that would eventually become the international language for trade in Assyria and Babylon too).

The phrase that I have highlighted in bold is not expressed very clearly. It may be a misunderstanding of Isaiah 36:11, in which the Judean leaders ask the representative of the King of Assyria to speak in Aramaic, which they knew, but the common Judean people who were listening did not understand. It is true that Assyrian (and Judean) diplomats would have spoken Aramaic. They would have needed it to interact with their Aramean neighbors in what is now Syria. But the Assyrians overall did not speak Aramaic. They spoke — wait for it — Assyrian, which was a dialect of Akkadian. Akkadian was a Semitic language that was written in cuneiform script.

Specialists agree that the Book of Isaiah was written by three or more people over period of centuries. The exceptions are those, such as Professor Millard. who believe in single authorship "on grounds of faith." The efforts toward the end of the article to undermine multiple authorship are not convincing. Both the Dead Sea Scrolls and the works of Josephus were written centuries after the events. They did not have any more information than we do, and we have better tools to analyze that information.

All that said, this is a good article and you should read it all.

Background on the recently discovered Isaiah bulla is here (cf. here) and links. For more on Herodotus and the destruction of Sennacherib's army, see here.

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The Talmud on why God permits idolatry

THIS WEEK'S DAF YOMI COLUMN BY ADAM KIRSCH IN TABLET: Truth or Coincidences. In this week’s ‘Daf Yomi’ Talmud study, the Rabbis offer desperate—or reassuring—explanations for why God does not interfere in the world in order to prevent sin.

One of the remarkable things about the Talmud is the way it can jump, without a pause, from the most technical, legalistic arguments to the largest philosophical questions. For the rabbis, the how of the law is not separate from the why; both are ways of asking about God’s will, and so both belong in the same discussion. A good example of this came in last week’s Daf Yomi reading, in chapter four of Tractate Avoda Zara. Most of the chapter has to do with whether Jews may drink (or derive other kinds of benefit from) wine that has been handled by gentiles. To answer this question, the rabbis spend many pages considering real and hypothetical cases and parsing the differences among different kinds of handling—stirring with the hand versus treading with the feet, for instance.

And then, in the Mishna in Avoda Zara 54b, we suddenly find ourselves confronted with the most basic questions about God and sin. ...

Earlier Daf Yomi columns are noted here and links.

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Review of Leuchter, The Levites and the Boundaries of Israelite Identity.

ANCIENT JEW REVIEW: Book Note | The Levites and the Boundaries of Israelite Identity (Ethan Schwartz).

Mark Leuchter. The Levites and the Boundaries of Israelite Identity. Oxford University Press. New York, 2017.

Excerpt:

It would be a mistake, however, to focus on the Levites in the first part of Leuchter’s title at the expense of the “boundaries” in the second. For Leuchter has written neither an encyclopedic catalogue of the Levites’ appearances nor a linear reconstruction of their history. Rather, the book is undergirded by a keen perception of the Levites’ penchant for appearing at the boundaries—whether spatial, temporal, ethnic, cultic, or literary.

Richard Elliott Friedman's recent book, The Exodus, has some similar interests.

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"Copy" or original?

THE ETC BLOG: ‘The copy is the original’ (Peter Gurry). An example of awkward cross-cultural miscommunication. Be sure and read the Aeon article to see the full scope of the problem. In the twenty-first century it's getting harder to tell what is real.

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Quick on Deuteronomy and Aramaic curses

THE BIBLE AND INTERPRETATION:

Curses in the Book of Deuteronomy and in Old Aramaic Inscriptions

The law code of the book of Deuteronomy is capped with a series of curses that threaten harm upon any individual that should fail to keep the Deuteronomic laws. While this method of divine encouragement to keep the commandments of God might seem surprising from a theological point of view, curses were an integral part of the legal, political and religious life of the ancient Near East, found in a variety of ancient texts including the Hebrew Bible, Neo-Assyrian treaties, and Northwest Semitic inscriptions. Placing the biblical curses within the larger context of this ancient Near Eastern material provides new insights into the background and function of the curses in the book of Deuteronomy.

See Also: Deuteronomy 28 and the Aramaic Curse Tradition (Oxford Theology and Religion Monographs; Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2017).

By Laura Quick
Assistant Professor of Religion and Judaic Studies
Princeton University
March 2018

It seems the Arameans were fond of "futility curses." Cross-file under Aramaic Watch and New Book.

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Mary Magdalene the "apostolesse?"

THE ANXIOUS BENCH: Mary Magdalene’s Myth: The Latest Chapter (Philip Jenkins). Professor Jenkins has not yet seen the new Mary Magdalene movie (nor have I), but it has inspired him to discuss some issues about the historical and traditional Mary Magdelene. It develops that she was referred to as an apostle ("apostolesse") in 15th century England.

Interesting discussion about which resurrection appearances of Jesus might be more historical. But that question raises metaphysical and psychological issues as well ...

Background on the new Mary Magdalene film is here.

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Priestly laws in the Torah

PROF. JEFFREY H. TIGAY: Why Are Laws for Priests Included in the Torah? (TheTorah.com).

The Torah’s program to democratize knowledge and create an educated laity.

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Koller, Elitzur and Bar-Asher Siegal (eds.), Studies in Mishnaic Hebrew and Related Fields

NEW BOOK FROM MAGNES PRESS:

Studies in Mishnaic Hebrew and Related Fields
Proceedings of the Yale Symposium on Mishnaic Hebrew, May 2014
Edited by: Aaron J. Koller, Elitzur A. Bar-Asher Siegal

Purchase options: Price Site price
Printed book $ 47.00 $ 42.30
Online book & Download $ 35.25
Publisher: The Program in Judaic Studies, Yale University, New Haven
In collaboration with: The Center for Jewish Languages and Literatures. The Hebrew University of Jerusalem
Categories: Hebrew and Jewish Languages, Linguistics and Language
Publish date: January 2018
Language: English
Danacode: 45-341040
ISBN: 978-965-481-067-8
Cover: Hardcover
Pages: 445
Weight: 985 gr.

The eighteen studies presented here originated in a symposium held at Yale in 2014, attended by scholars from Europe, Israel, and North America. The papers approach the subject of Mishnaic Hebrew from many different angles and directions, including grammar, from morphology to syntax to pragmatics; the relationship between the literary dialect and epigraphic evidence; manuscripts; questions of language contact, lexicography, social history, and medieval traditions; and the problem of translating Mishnaic Hebrew into modern languages. The contributors to this volume are among the leading scholars in the field and the collection represents both the current state of research and the cutting edge of future work.

Follow the link for the TOC and ordering information.

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Gnostic America Conference at Rice University

APRIL DECONICK: Gnostic America Conference, March 28-31, Rice University.

I am pleased to announce the Gnostic America Conference. We will convene at Rice University on March 28-31. The conference is free and open to the public. We are exploring the afterlives of Gnosticism in America.

[...]

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Shofar sheep

FOR TRUMPETING: ISRAELI SHEPHERDESS USES MODERN SHEEP BREED TO REVIVE ANCIENT SHOFAR SOUND. Turning her flock's horns into shofars is part of God's plan, says Lewinsky, who calls herself a "traditional and God-fearing Jew" (Reuters/Jerusalem Post).

Some background on the use of the shofar is here.

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Clandestine Aramaic

SO ANGELS AND THE IDF DON'T KNOW ARAMAIC? Incarcerated Peleg Protestor Asks Friends to Send Letter in Aramaic So IDF Won’t Understand (Yeshiva World).

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Neef, Arbeitsbuch Biblisch-Aramäisch

NEW BOOK FROM MOHR SIEBECK: HEINZ-DIETER NEEF. Arbeitsbuch Biblisch-Aramäisch. Materialien, Beispiele und Übungen zum Biblisch-Aramäisch. [A Guide to Biblical Aramaic. Materials, Examples and Exercises in Biblical Aramaic. 3 rd revised and expanded edition.] 3rd reviewed and revised edition 2018. XVIII, 208 pages. 29,00 €. sewn paper. ISBN 978-3-16-156012-5.

Published in German.
With its 16 lessons, this guide is an introduction to the biblical Aramaic language. A textbook with a didactic concept, it contains materials, examples and exercises as well as paradigm tables, a vocabulary list, the answers to the exercises, a subject index and an index of biblical passages. The exercises, i.e. the verb and nominal forms to be determined, as well as the texts to be translated, are all from the Aramaic part of the Old Testament. The book has been designed so that readers who have no knowledge of Hebrew or another Semitic language can also use it. Since the answers to the exercises are given, the book can also be used for autodidactic studies and the indexes make it a good reference work.

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Boccaccini is a Knight of the Order of the Star of Italy

CONGRATULATIONS TO GABRIELE BOCCACCINI, who has announced on Facebook:

Proud and happy. I was awarded the honor of "Cavaliere dell'Ordine della Stella d'Italia" (Knight of the Order of the Star of Italy) by Italy's President, Sergio Mattarella, for my contribution to the promotion of Italian culture abroad.

As he adds:

An important acknowledgment not for me only, but also for the entire work of the Enoch Seminar.

Well done, Professor Boccaccini!

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Free articles from Dead Sea Discoveries

FOR YOU, SPECIAL DEAL: Free articles from Dead Sea Discoveries.

To celebrate the 25th Volume of Dead Sea Discoveries, 25 articles from the past 25 Volumes will be available for free downloading during 2018.
The first 5 articles are now freely accessible until 15 April:

Follow the first link above for links to the articles. The list is as follows:

• Prayers From Qumran and Their Historical Implications - Esther Glickler Chazon (Volume 1, No. 3)
  
• Rabbinic Literature as a Source for the History of Jewish Sectarianism in the Second Temple Period - Albert I. Baumgarten (Volume 2, No. 1)
  
• On the Testimony of Women in 1QSa - Philip R. Davies and Joan E. Taylor (Volume 3, No. 3)
  
• "The Holy Angels Are in Their Council": the Exclusion of Deformed Persons From Holy Places in Qumranic and Rabbinic Literature - Aharon Shemesh (Volume 4, No. 2)
  
• Lady Wisdom and Dame Folly At Qumran - Sidnie White Crawford (Volume 5, No. 3)

And congratulations to DSD for a quarter century of excellent publications!

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Women, WIkipedia, and the ANE: International Women's Day 2018

THE CSTT.FI BLOG: CEL­EB­RAT­ING THE IN­TER­NA­TIONAL WO­MEN’S DAY 2018 WITH A WIKI­PE­DIA EDIT-A-THON (Katri Rostedt).

On the 8th of March, International Women’s Day, the Centres of Excellence ANEE and CSTT co-organized a Wikipedia edit-a-thon with the theme “Women and the Ancient Near East”. The aim was to improve both the Wikipedia pages on female scholars of the ancient Near East and on women in the ancient sources. The event took place in a casual but inspiring atmosphere, and the Wikimedia volunteers provided some editing training for the ones not so familiar with Wikipedia content creating. The event gathered 15 participants, who created in total 4 new Wikipedia articles, edited 9 existing ones, and added 2540 words to Wikipedia.

[...]

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Jack Miles at BC

ANNOUNCEMENT: Distinguished Professor emeritus Jack Miles to be Boston College visiting chair (UCI News).

John R. “Jack” Miles, UCI Distinguished Professor emeritus of English and religious studies, has been appointed the 2018-19 Corcoran Visiting Chair in Christian-Jewish Relations at the Center for Christian-Jewish Learning at Boston College.

[...]

Congratulations to Professor Miles and to Boston College. I note with particular interest his current project:

During his tenure as the Corcoran Chair, Miles will complete a book, The Greatest Translation of All Time, about the original translation of the Old Testament from Hebrew and Aramaic into Greek.

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The DSS exhibition in Denver

OPENS TODAY: Dead Sea Scrolls on Purity, Morals on Display for First Time, in Denver. Vast Israeli antiquities exhibit showcasing Temples era and the start of the great religions visiting Denver Museum of Science and Nature for six months (Ruth Schuster, Haaretz). PaleoJudaica readers are familiar with this story, but today there is some news on which specific scrolls will be on display:

For the sake of their preservation, the first 10 scrolls displayed in Denver will return to Israel after three months and will be replaced by 10 other scrolls, the IAA explains.

Also among the Dead Sea Scrolls on exhibit in Denver in the two rounds are biblical, extra-biblical and sectarian scrolls found in Qumran.

These are the two scrolls that will go on public display for the first time ever:

Infectious impurity

The scroll on rules of ritual purity and impurity, called Tohorot (Purities) A, dates from the late 1st century B.C.E., says the IAA.

Only the ritually purified were allowed to handle sacred matters. Purification included immersion in the ritual bath (mikveh) and in some cases, even isolation, if the spiritual blemish was caused by illness.

[...]


Secret of existence
The other scroll going on display for the first time in Denver is called Musar Le'Mevin – to "he who understands" lectures on morality for learned disciples. It is also known as the Sapiental Work Scroll.

The messages are presented as information coming directly from God, conveyed through sages to their followers. It too dates to the late 1st century B.C.E. and is rather like an apocalyptic book of Proverbs.

Read the article for more details about both and about the exhibition in general.

According to the Jerusalem Post (Sarah Levi), the Tohorot scroll is in the first round of scrolls and Musar Le'Mevin is in the second.

The first round of display will feature scrolls that deal with ritual purity and impurity. The second round will feature part of the scroll called Musar lemevin, “Instructions to those who understand,” which contains apocalyptic prophecies.

Background on the Denver exhibition is here and links. And there's more on the Dead Sea Scrolls in Denver here.

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That other DSS project in Denver

IT'S A GOOD JOB: That's a Job?: This Denver woman translates the Dead Sea Scrolls. A DU professions is one of three editors working on a new translation of the Dead Sea Scrolls - manuscripts dating back over 2,000 years, which include laws, poetry and some of the earliest biblical documents (Erin Powell, 9news.com).

For more on the work of Professor Alison Schofield, see here. And for the now-opening Dead Sea Scrolls exhibition in Denver, see the next post today and also here and links.

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The oldest Torah scrolls

THE ANCIENT NEAR EAST TODAY: The World’s Oldest Torah Scrolls (Gary A. Rendsburg).

A recent announcement by the Library of Congress regarding the purchase of a single Torah scroll sheet dating from approximately 1000 C.E. has generated great interest in the topic of old Torah scrolls. Just what are the world’s oldest Torah scrolls and where does the Library of Congress scroll fit in?

[...]

This announcement is news to me, but good news.

For more on the carbonized Leviticus scroll fragment, see here, here, and here and links. For more on the Ashkar and London fragments of Exodus, see here and links. For more on the first Cairo Geniza Genesis fragment (T-S NS 3.21), see here. And more on that Italian oldest complete Torah scroll is here and here.

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Josephus for Christians

JOSEPHUS HAS SOMETHING FOR EVERYONE: Why Should Christians Read Josephus? Josephus’ writings have unique value for Christians (Stephanie Hertzenberg, Beliefnet).

“Antiquities” contains two references to Jesus Christ, one in Book XX and one in Book XVIII. The latter is blatantly Christian and is believed by scholars to have been inserted into the work later. The reference in Book XX, however, is believed to have been written by Josephus himself. The mention is short, just one line, but it supports the historical existence of Jesus of Nazareth “who was called Christ.”

Josephus was not a Christian, yet he wrote about events that were incredibly important to Christians: the life and death of John the Baptist, the existence of Christ, the growth of early Christianity and the fate of some of the apostles. The descriptions of these events as written by an outsider show Christians a new perspective on familiar stories.

One of the apostles - James, Jesus' brother.

There is debate on whether Josephus' longer passage about Jesus (the "Testimonium Flavianum") is partly genuine and partly interpolated or entirely a later addition. See here and links.

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The Library of Alexandria

BIBLE HISTORY DAILY: The Ancient Library of Alexandria. The West’s most important repository of learning (J. Harold Ellens).

Such scientific and philosophical enterprises were not new or surprising in Hypatia’s Alexandria, which already boasted a 700-year-old, international reputation for sophisticated scholarship. Founded in 331 B.C.E.9 by command of Alexander the Great, the city contained almost from its beginnings an institution that would remain of immense importance to the world for the next 2,300 years. Originally called the Mouseion, or Shrine of the Muses, this research center and library grew into “an institution that may be conceived of as a library in the modern sense—an organization with a staff headed by a librarian that acquires and arranges bibliographic material for the use of qualified readers.”10

Indeed, the Alexandria Library was much more. It “stimulated an intensive editorial program that spawned the development of critical editions, textual exegesis and such basic research tools as dictionaries, concordances and encyclopedias.”11 The library in fact developed into a huge research institution comparable to a modern university—containing a center for the collection of books, a museum for the preservation of scientific artifacts, residences and workrooms for scholars, lecture halls and a refectory. In building this magnificent institution, one modern writer has noted, the Alexandrian scholars “started from scratch”; their gift to civilization is that we never had to start from scratch again.

This long essay is the most fulsome account I have seen, short of a monograph, of the ancient Library of Alexandria and its influence.

Some past PaleoJudaica posts on the Library of Alexandria (and other ancient libraries) are here and here and links. Past posts on Hypatia, about whom the movie Agora was made in 2011, are here and here. And more on the Neoplatonists and their libraries is here.

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AJR reviews Stang, Our Divine Double

ANCIENT JEW REVIEW: Book Note | Our Divine Double (Nathan Tilley).

Charles M. Stang. Our Divine Double. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2016. Pp. 309. ISBN 9780674287198. $49.95.

Excerpt:

Stang’s argument successfully and elegantly traces the motif of the divine double throughout these 2nd and 3rd century texts. He offers mostly close readings of these texts in ways that echo ancient Aristarchean criticism and “New Criticism,” and, as one can see in the introduction and the philosophical conclusion, he sees these texts in light of perennial questions of selfhood (77-78). The book, however, goes well beyond close reading, as Stang takes up numerous historical, cultural, and literary questions along the way, lightly wielding his masterful command of a formidable range of literature from Plato to contemporary continental philosophy.

Past PaleoJudaica notices of the book (with some comments of my own on the divine double tradition) are here and here.

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More on the Denver DSS exhibiton

VIDEO: Ancient Manuscripts, Artifacts On Display In Dead Sea Scrolls Exhibit (CBS4 Denver). The exhibition opens tomorrow. No word yet on which specific scrolls will be on display. You can see some of them in the video, but I wasn't able to identify any of them.

Background here and links.

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Hurtado on those dubious DSS fragments

LARRY HURTADO: Dead Sea Scrolls Fragments of Dubious Authenticity

In November last year, the popular press featured news of scholarly doubts about the authenticity of many of the numerous putative scroll fragments from the Dead Sea area that had come on the antiquities market in the last fifteen years or so: e.g., here, and here. Yesterday, I finally got around to perusing the published scholarly studies that generated these news stories. The key publications are two lengthy articles in the journal Dead Sea Discoveries, which I heartily recommend to anyone seriously interested in the topic: ...

Background here and follow the links

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Progress on the Galen Syriac palimpsest

SYRIAC WATCH: ANCIENT TRANSLATION OF HISTORIC GREEK MEDICAL TEXT REDISCOVERED USING X-RAY VISION (Meghan Bartels, Newsweek).

There are lost ancient texts hiding before our very eyes. Writers weren't always intending their words for long-term preservation, and the need to reuse precious resources, like animal hide, sometimes meant erasing an old text to make room for the new.

But modern technology can recover these secret texts, as research taking place this week at the Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Lightsource (SSRL), an instrument housed at a U.S. Department of Energy laboratory in California, shows. The payoffs are worth it: a team began their analysis on Friday and have already identified a previously unreadable page as part of a preface.

[...]

The process is explained most clearly in a Live Science article by Rafi Letzter: Blasting This Old Book with X-Rays Could Reveal Greek Physician Galen's Ancient Words.

That's according to a news release emailed to Live Science yesterday (March 12). The earlier, sixth-century ink reacts a bit differently to X-ray light than the later, 11th-century ink. Under the extreme energies of the lab's Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Lightsource (SSRL), those differences are significant enough that, according to the statement, the researchers hope to parse the remnants of the original text despite the scraping, the additional ink and the centuries of age.

They are currently working on 26 pages of the manuscript.

Background on the Galen Syriac palimpsest is here and links. And for many past PaleoJudaica posts on palimpsest manuscripts, start here and follow the links.

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AJR on PSCO: Belser, Snakes in the Garden

ANCIENT JEW REVIEW: PSCO 2017-18: Snakes in the Garden: Sexuality, Animality, and Disability in the Rabbinic Garden of Eden (Matthew Chalmers). A report on Philadelphia Seminar of Christian Origins 2017-18, Meeting #4, Julia Watts Belser (Katz Center/Georgetown): Snakes in the Garden: Sexuality, Animality, and Disability in the Rabbinic Garden of Eden.

Past posts on Rabbi Dr. Belser's work are here and links.

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Comparing the MT and the Jewish LXX revisions

ETC BLOG: Textual Examples Wherein MT and the Jewish Revisions Differ (John Meade).

In this post, I give a few examples wherein Theodotion, Aquila, or Symmachus reflect a different vocalization of the consonantal text than what the later Masoretes recorded as the traditional reading. The issue is this: how closely do the Three (1–2 century Jewish revisers of the Greek Jewish Scriptures) mirror the Masoretic Text (9–10 century)?

Dr. Meade continues his interesting series on Hexaplaric readings of the Septuagint.

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Park of Wonders theme park in Israel

PROPOSAL: Developers plan Jewish theme park in desert town of Dimona. Pla'im Park -- 'Park of Wonders' -- is conceived as Israel's first real theme park, with educational value to boot (Jessica Steinberg, Times of Israel).

Project CEO Lea Malul told Walla news the park was envisioned as a Jewish “Magic Kingdom” — a reference to one of the four Disney World parks outside Orlando, Florida.

It is set to include 16 major rides. Plans include a water ride touching on the days of the week (with the Sabbath an island of tranquility in the hectic affair), a Jacob’s Ladder attraction and a roller coaster passing through gigantic tomes — representing Jews as the people of the book.

My first thought was to check to see if the date of the article was April 1st. But no, this is a real project - although it doesn't seem to have any actual funding yet.

Perusing the PaleoJudaica archives, I see this is not the first Jewish-history theme park proposed or built in Israel. See here, here, here and here.

On related notes, there is the Holy Land Experience theme park in Orlando, Florida (see here and here). There are Phoenician theme parks in Lebanon and Tunisia. And how could I omit Erich von Däniken's Mysteries of the World theme park in Switzerland?

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A Festschrift for Hershel Shanks

BIBLE HISTORY DAILY: First Person: Festschrift: A Celebration of Hershel Shanks. From the March/April May/June 2018 Biblical Archaeology Review (Robert Cargill). The current double-issue of Biblical Archaeology Review is a festschrift for Mr. Shanks. (Congratulations, Hershel!) The links in Professor Cargill's essay give free access (unusually) to the full text of the articles. They look very interesting.

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A disquieting case of scholarly forgery?

POSTHUMOUSLY DETECTED: Famed Archaeologist 'Discovered' His Own Fakes at 9,000-Year-Old Settlement (Owen Jarus, Live Science).

A famed archaeologist well-known for discovering the sprawling 9,000-year-old settlement in Turkey called Çatalhöyük seems to have faked several of his ancient findings and may have run a "forger's workshop" of sorts, one researcher says.

James Mellaart, who died in 2012, created some of the "ancient" murals at Çatalhöyük that he supposedly discovered; he also forged documents recording inscriptions that were found at Beyköy, a village in Turkey, said geoarchaeologist Eberhard Zangger, president of the Luwian Studies Foundation. Zangger examined Mellaart's apartment in London between Feb. 24 and 27, finding "prototypes," as Zangger calls them, of murals and inscriptions that Mellaart had claimed were real.

[...]

If all this is true and is verified, it looks as though the field of Luwian studies had a very close call.

The 1995 letter to Zangger shows both the depth of Mellaart's historical knowledge and imagination. It provides a detailed description of what the Beyköy texts say, naming numerous ancient places, people and events. Mellaart created an elaborate backstory for the texts, getting around his false claim that he couldn't read Luwian by saying that the texts had been partially deciphered by other researchers who were all dead by 1995. "Fred Woudhuizen and I identified about 260 people and place names. It is much like a Harry Potter kind of world. The names are consistent and apparently make sense. Mellaart was evidently a genius in some ways. But he misused his talents, thereby causing tremendous damage to the field," Zangger said.

If I understand the article correctly, some of the iconographic material that Mellaart published over the decades may have been forged too.

This story, of course, is not about ancient Judaism. But it is an important cautionary tale. There is always the danger of unscrupulous scholars who go rogue and produce forgeries that are very difficult to detect. It sounds like this is one such case. The worst damage was averted this time. But how many cases have gone undetected?

Some relevant past posts are here, here, here, here, here, and here. The messy matter of the Israel Forgery Trial, which didn't really settle matters one way or the other, deserves a mention of its own. See here and here and follow the many links. And finally, there is the infamous case of the Gospel of Jesus' Wife. See here (cf. here) and many links.

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The Talmud on statues and related problems

THIS WEEK'S DAF YOMI COLUMN BY ADAM KIRSCH IN TABLET: Statue of Limitations. This week’s ‘Daf Yomi’ Talmud study considers how Jews can avoid idolatry and still live in a public space full of graven images.

Take statues, which today we tend to think of as merely art objects—the kind of thing you find in the Greek and Roman galleries of a museum. To the rabbis, however, these statues were not meant for aesthetic admiration; they were images of gods like Apollo or Jupiter, and so they were abominations. “All statues are forbidden,” says the Mishna in Avodah Zarah 40b, “because they are worshipped once a year”—presumably on the holy day of the god they represent. Still, the rabbis realized that many statues were meant for ornamental purposes, not religious ones, and so they try to find a rule of thumb to tell these categories apart. The Mishna goes on to say that, in fact, a statue is prohibited only if it “has in its hand a staff, a bird, or an orb.” The Gemara explains that these were typical attributes of gods, meant to express their power: “A bird represents dominion as the idol grasps … the entire world the way one grasps a bird.”

Actually, statues are controversial again these days, but for other reasons.

Earlier Daf Yomi columns are noted here and links.

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Berlejung and Filitz (eds.), The Physicality of the Other

NEW BOOK FROM MOHR SIEBECK: The Physicality of the Other. Masks from the Ancient Near East and the Eastern Mediterranean. Ed. by Angelika Berlejung and Judith E. Filitz. [Die Leibhaftigkeit des Anderen. Antike Masken aus dem Vorderen Orient und dem östlichen Mittelmeerraum.] 2018. X, 570 pages. Orientalische Religionen in der Antike 27. 149,00 €. cloth. ISBN 978-3-16-155513-8.

Published in English.
This volume comprises the conference proceedings of the international and interdisciplinary meeting held in Leipzig from November 9 to 11, 2015. Scholars from different research areas present masks from Egypt, Israel/Palestine, Syria, Mesopotamia, Phoenicia, Cyprus, and Greece, mainly from the third to the first millennium BCE. The masks are analyzed from archaeological, iconographical, anthropological, philological, and theological perspectives. In many cases, the masks refer to gods, ancestors, spirits, and are used as a means to communicate between human beings and supernatural powers. Masks belong to the human condition and seem to be the international and intercultural answer to one of the most existential questions of human life. In addition, the volume includes an archaeological catalogue of the masks from Israel/Palestine of the Neolithic Age until the Persian Period.

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On Schumer, "The Memory of the Temple in Palestinian Rabbinic Literature"

ANCIENT JEW REVIEW: Dissertation Spotlight | Nathan Schumer.

Schumer, Nathan Still. "The Memory of the Temple in Palestinian Rabbinic Literature." PhD diss., Columbia University, 2017.

Excerpt:

The main intervention of my dissertation is to attempt to account for what rabbinic literature gets right about the past. It is just as historiographically significant that the rabbis are right about the Temple some of the time as it is that they are wrong. We need models that are able to account for both aspects of rabbinic literature.

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Review of Zollschan, Rome and Judaea: International Law Relations, 162-100 BCE

BRYN MAYR CLASSICAL REVIEW: Linda Zollschan, Rome and Judaea: International Law Relations, 162-100 BCE. Routledge studies in ancient history. London; New York: Routledge, 2016. Pp. 350. ISBN 9781138932913. $149.95. Reviewed by Walter Ameling, Universität zu Köln (walter.ameling@uni-koeln.de).

The political relations between Rome and Judaea are frequently studied, especially the first ties between the Jews and Rome, documented in 1 Macc 8,23-32. Zollschan is the first to write an entire book on the subject (some of her findings were published in earlier articles), and she presents her results in a clear, succinct way, never leaving any doubt about the line of thought she is pursuing.

[...]

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The Tabernacle in ANE context

PROFESSOR MICHAEL M. HOMAN: The Tabernacle in Its Ancient Near Eastern Context (TheTorah.com).

The parallels between the Tabernacle and ANE structures such as Rameses II’s military tent shed light on what the meaning and function of this ancient structure might have been.

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JQR 108.1 (Winter 2018)

HERBERT D. KATZ CENTER BLOG: New Issue of the Jewish Quarterly Review: Winter 2018 // JQR Blog. The first article is relevant to ancient Judaism: "'The Daughters of Israel': An Analysis of the Term in Late Ancient Jewish Sources," by Mika Ahuvia) and Sarit Kattan Gribetz.

HT AJR.

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Netanyahu opens UN exhibition on Jewish history

ARCHAEOLOGY AND POLITICS: NETANYAHU OPENS U.N. EXHIBIT HONORING 3,000 YEARS OF JEWISH HISTORY. "There is a long history that is being cherished by us and by the friends of the Jewish people and the friends of truth and is being denied by those who seek to erase the history of our people" (Daniel J. Roth, Jerusalem Post).

NEW YORK – Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu opened an exhibit at the United Nations on Thursday that presents historical evidence of the Jewish people’s presence in Jerusalem centuries before the Christian era.

Titled “3,000 Years of History: Jews in Jerusalem,” the exhibit was initiated by Ambassador to the UN Danny Danon and Jerusalem Affairs Minister Ze’ev Elkin.

Among the archeological finds on display at UN headquarters are a 1,700-year-old seal “belonging to the governor of the city” found in the Western Wall Plaza, a seal bearing the name of King Hezekiah from the eighth century BCE, and a seventh century BCE seal with the inscription “the fifth to Netanyahu, his sons and his relatives.”

[...]

Dead Sea Scrolls too. And also the Tel Dan Stele.

For the Hezekiah seal, see here and links. For more on the Tel Dan Stele see here and here.

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Dunhuang manuscripts in France

DIGITIZATION: Dunhuang relics 'return' to China in digital form (China.org.cn).

More than 5,300 pieces of Dunhuang manuscripts have been "returned" from France in digital form and are available online, according to the National Library of China.

These digital resources are provided by France's national library, which holds more than 7,000 original copies of Dunhuang manuscripts.

The Dunhuang manuscripts are documents discovered in the Mogao Grottos in China's Gansu Province in the early 20th century. There are more than 50,000 of them, featuring history, linguistics, art and religious documents.

Dating from the 5th to 11th centuries, the majority are in Chinese, but some are represented in other languages such as Khotanese and Hebrew.

[...]

This manuscript hoard found near the Gobi Desert seems like an unlikely source for Jewish and Christian manuscripts, but some were found there. I hope some new and interesting things show up in these newly digitized fragments.

Background on the manuscripts recovered from Dunhuang and Turfan in the early twentieth century are here and here and links.

For many other manuscript digitization projects, see here and here and just follow those links.

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More debunking of that Voynich manuscript "translation"

STILL NOT CREDIBLE: Did Artificial Intelligence Really Decode the Voynich Manuscript? Some Leading Scholars Doubt It. Scholars questioned the methodology of the paper that sparked the reports (Henri Neuendorf, artnet News).

Speaking to The Verge, professor Shlomo Argamon, a computational linguist at the Illinois Institute of Technology, concluded that “their method… gives them huge latitude in doing this sort of impressionistic interpretation. They take this decoded sentence, squint at it through thick eyeglasses, and say that’s good enough for us.” Nick Pelling, a Voynich expert who’s written several books on the mysterious document goes even further, saying that the paper’s likelihood of being correct is “So close to 0% as makes no practical difference.”

Background here and here.

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Reading from Calderon, A Bride for One Night

PODCAST FOR PURIM: “A Bride for One Night”: A Talmudic Tale by Ruth Calderon (TLV 1).

In honor of the Purim custom of reading the Book of Esther, this episode features an excerpt from Ruth Calderon’s short story “A Bride for One Night”. It is the title story in her collection of Talmudic tales, published in Ilana Kushan’s English translation in 2014. Calderon has a doctorate in Talmud from Hebrew University and was elected to the Israeli Knesset in January 2013. She is founder and former director of Elul Beit Midrash in Jerusalem and founder and chair of Alma: Home for Hebrew Culture in Tel Aviv.

More on MK Calderon and her book is here and links. Cross-file under Talmud Watch.

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