Persepolis

ANCIENT URBAN GEOGRAPHY: Persepolis: Symbol of Ancient Iran. TEHRAN (Tasnim) - Persepolis, the ceremonial capital of the Persian Empire, was once known as the richest city under the sun. A nice little photo essay.

Persepolis does not appear in the Hebrew Bible. But it is mentioned in 2 Maccabees 6:2 as the site of the downfall of Antiochus IV Epiphanes.

It was an important Achaemenid Persian site and also is of interest for that reason. And the Persepolis Fortification Archive has produced an important corpus of Persian-era Aramaic and other texts. See here (related post here) and follow the many links.

Bible Places also has lots of good material and links on Persepolis.

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

Vashti wasn't summoned to appear naked

THAT'S NOT IN THE BIBLE: The Bible Says What? Did Vashti appear naked before her husband? Rabbi Debbie Young-Somers takes a controversial topic from Jewish texts and looks at a progressive response (Jewish News).

The Book of Esther 1:10-11 says that Vashti was summoned to appear "with her royal crown" to display her beauty in public. Apparently the Midrash inferred that the crown was all she was supposed to wear.

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Temple Mount closing(s)

TEMPLE MOUNT WATCH: Al-Aqsa mosque shut amid coronavirus outbreak. Prayers suspended after Wakf holds emergency meeting in Jerusalem (Aness Suheil Barghoti, Anadolu Agency). Effective this morning.

Sadly, even this notice could not resist insinuating some political fake news:

Al-Aqsa Mosque is the world's third holiest site for Muslims. Jews refer to the area as the "Temple Mount," claiming it was the site of two Jewish temples in ancient times.

"claiming"

Also note this: Israel, Jordan said discussing possibility of closing Temple Mount (Times of Israel).

UPDATE: See also here from last week.

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Zeini, Zoroastrian scholasticism in late antiquity

BIBLIOGRAPHIA IRANICA: Zoroastrian Scholasticism in Late Antiquity. Notice of a New Book: Zeini, Arash. 2020. Zoroastrian scholasticism in late antiquity. The Pahlavi version of the Yasna Haptaŋhāiti. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.

The Zoroastrian texts in Pahlavi often contain much earlier material and are of some interest as background for Second Temple Judaism.

Arash Zeini is founder of and contributor to the Bibliographia Iranica Blog. Some years ago he was at the University of St. Andrews on a fellowship. For more about him, see here and here and links.

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Schott, Zechariah 9:14

NEW BOOK FROM DE GRUYTER: Schott, Martin. Sacharja 9–14
Eine kompositionsgeschichtliche Analyse. [Zechariah 9:14: A Composition Historical Analysis] Series: Beihefte zur Zeitschrift für die alttestamentliche Wissenschaft 521.

99,95 € / $114.99 / £91.00*
Hardcover
Publication Date: December 2019
ISBN 978-3-11-066584-0

Aims and Scope
The final chapter of the Book of Zechariah (Zech 9:14) has long been marginalized as an originally separate appendage to the Book of Zechariah. This study subjects the text for the first time to a detailed examination from the perspective of editorial history, considering its place as a composition between Zechariah 1:8 and the Book of Malachi at the end of the Books of Twelve.

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Hoffmann, Exodus

NEW BOOK FROM DE GRUYTER:

Exodus
Border Crossings in Jewish, Christian and Islamic Texts and Images

Ed. by Hoffmann, Annette

Series: Judaism, Christianity, and Islam – Tension, Transmission, Transformation 11

86,95 € / $99.99 / £79.00*

eBook (PDF)
Publication Date: January 2020
Copyright year: 2020
ISBN 978-3-11-061854-9

Aims and Scope
The scientific debates on border crossings and cultural exchange between Judaism, Christianity, and Islam have much increased over the last decades. Within this context, however, little attention has been given to the biblical Exodus, which not only plays a pivotal role in the Abrahamic religions, but also is a master narrative of a border crossing in itself. Sea and desert are spaces of liminality and transit in more than just a geographical sense. Their passage includes a transition to freedom and initiation into a new divine community, an encounter with God and an entry into the Age of law. The volume gathers twelve articles written by leading specialists in Jewish and Islamic Studies, Theology and Literature, Art and Film history, dedicated to the transitional aspects within the Exodus narrative. Bringing these studies together, the volume takes a double approach, one that is both comparative and intercultural. How do Jewish, Christian and Islamic texts and images read and retell the various border crossings in the Exodus story, and on what levels do they interrelate? By raising these questions the volume aims to contribute to a deeper understanding of contact points between the various traditions.

Hi everyone! I have been really busy with essay marking. But I hope to pick up the blogging pace soon.

Be well!

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van Oort, Mani and Augustine

NEW BOOK FROM BRILL:

Mani and Augustine

Collected Essays on Mani, Manichaeism and Augustine

Series: Nag Hammadi and Manichaean Studies, Volume: 97

Author: Johannes van Oort

Mani and Augustine: collected essays on Mani, Manichaeism and Augustine gathers in one volume contributions on Manichaean scholarship made by the internationally renowned scholar Johannes van Oort. The first part of the book focuses on the Babylonian prophet Mani (216-277) who styled himself an ‘apostle of Jesus Christ’, on Jewish elements in Manichaeism and on ‘human semen eucharist’, eschatology and imagery of Christ as ‘God’s Right Hand’. The second part of the book concentrates on the question to what extent the former ‘auditor’ Augustine became acquainted with Mani’s gnostic world religion and his canonical writings, and explores to what extent Manichaeism had a lasting impact on the most influential church father of the West.

Prices from (excl. VAT): €149.00 / $179.00

E-Book
Availability: Published
ISBN: 978-90-04-41759-5
Publication Date: 10 Feb 2020

Hardback
Availability: Published
ISBN: 978-90-04-41695-6
Publication Date: 06 Feb 2020

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Diesel still hopes to direct Hannibal trilogy

PUNIC WATCH: Vin Diesel Says Spielberg Told Him It’s a ‘Crime of Cinema’ If He Doesn’t Direct More (Zack Sharf, Yahoo Indiewire).

One directorial passion project for Diesel over the years has been to helm a film about Hannibal Barca, the military general from Carthage who fought the Romans during the Second Punic War around 200 BC.

Diesel says of never directing the epic, “I haven’t done it yet. As much as I am grateful for the accomplishments, there are moments when I go ‘God, you promised the universe, very specifically, the Hannibal Barca trilogy, and you haven’t delivered it. You travelled all over the world.'”

It looks as though the project will remain on hold for now, but I hope he does complete it someday.

Background here and links.

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Israel's museums going virtual

EXHIBITIONS: Israel’s museums go online for immersive experience amid pandemic. Virtual guided tours of new exhibits and fun activities for visitors of all ages to be available (Jessica Steinberg, Times of Israel).

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Review of Joel Marcus Festschrift

ANCIENT JEW REVIEW: Book Note | The Ways That Often Parted (Laura Robinson).

Lori Baron, Jill Hicks-Keeton, and Matthew Thiessen, eds. The Ways That Often Parted: Essays in Honor of Joel Marcus. Atlanta, GA: SBL Press, 2018.

Excerpt:

This collection of essays reflects a core assumption that Marcus shares with his scholarly contemporaries: the parting between Christianity and Judaism did not happen at one definite moment, but occurred in different places and at different times in different communities. While The Ways that Often Parted contains diverse and varied contributions, the authors’ sustained engagement with Marcus’s scholarship lends the work a distinct coherence.

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Duggan et al. (eds.), Cosmos and Creation

NEW BOOK FROM DE GRUYTER:

Cosmos and Creation
Second Temple Perspectives.

Deuterocanonical and Cognate Literature Yearbook 2019.

Ed. by Duggan, Michael W. / Egger-Wenzel, Renate / Reif, Stefan C.

99,95 € / $114.99 / £91.00*
Hardcover
Publication Date: February 2020
ISBN 978-3-11-067696-9.

Aims and Scope
This volume contains essays by some of the leading scholars in the study of the Jewish religious ideas in the Second Temple period, that led up to the development of early forms of Rabbinic Judaism and Christianity. Close attention is paid to the cosmological ideas to be found in the Ancient Near East and in the Hebrew Bible and to the manner in which the translators of the Hebrew Bible into Greek reflected the creativity with which Judaism engaged Hellenistic ideas about the cosmos and the creation. The concepts of heaven and divine power, human mortality, the forces of nature, combat myths, and the philosophy of wisdom, as they occur in 2 Maccabees, Ben Sira, Wisdom of Solomon and Tobit, are carefully analysed and compared with Greek and Roman world-views. There are also critical examinations of Dead Sea scroll texts, early Jewish prayers and Hebrew liturgical poetry and how they these adopt, adapt and alter earlier ideas. The editors have included appreciations of two major figures who played important roles in the study of the Second Temple period and in the history and development of the ISDCL, namely, Otto Kaiser and Alexander Di Lella, who died recently and are greatly missed by those in the field.

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Resources for remote teaching and conference presentation

H-NET: Two New Resources for Scholars Affected by the Coronavirus (Jesse Draper).

If you work for an academic institution, you no doubt have access to resources for online teaching and remote conference presentations. But it can't hurt to note the aggregate posts at this link too.

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

Chief Rabbis declare Western Wall closed

TEMPLE MOUNT WATCH: Israel’s chief rabbis call on Jews to avoid visiting the Western Wall. As virus spreads, Jewish law requires total adherence to all instructions of health officials, Rabbis Lau and Yosef declare in edicts to the faithful (Times of Israel). HT Todd Bolen at the Bible Places Blog.

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Liebermann on Collective Identity and the Body in the Book of Ezekiel

ANCIENT JEW REVIEW: Dissertation Spotlight | On Bread, Books, and Bodies in Ezekiel.

Rosanne R. Liebermann, “Hearts of Flesh: Collective Identity and the Body in the Book of Ezekiel” (Ph.D. Dissertation, Johns Hopkins University, 2019).

Excerpt:

My dissertation shows how Ezekiel’s references to body modifications and practices reflect the author’s ideology of collective identity for the Judeans in Babylonia. More importantly, these references reveal how he expected his group to embody that identity in material and practical ways.

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Detecting refugees from the Great Revolt of 70 CE.

BIBLE HISTORY DAILY: Judean Refugees in Galilee? Oil Lamps Shedding Light on an Ancient Migration (Jonathan Laden). This essay summarizes an article by James Riley Strange in the current issue of Biblical Archaeology Review. The article itself is behind the subscription wall.

For a research project on tracing the survivors of the eruption of Vesuvius a few years later, see here and here.

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

All of the MOTB's DSS fragments are fake

ALL 16 OF THEM: 'Dead Sea Scrolls' at the Museum of the Bible are all forgeries. Months of testing confirm earlier suspicions that the fragments were made in modern times. What happens next? (National Geographic). They are written on ancient (sandal??) leather, but the writing was added in modern times.

This is a long and wide-ranging article, with lots of background information on the story. Worth reading in full.

For PaleoJudaica posts on the discovery that five of the Dead Sea Scroll fragments belonging to the Museum of the Bible were fake, start here and follow the links. And for the "post-2002 Dead Sea Scroll-like fragments" in general, see here and here and links.

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

Apocalyptic archaeological repentence

ANCIENT ARTIFACT: Inspired by Coronavirus Doom, Repentant Thief Returns Ancient Missile to State Agency (David Israel, The Jewish Press).

15 years after he had taken a ballista stone without permission from the archaeological site of the Jerusalem Walls National Park in the City of David, an anonymous man decided last weekend to return the 2,000-year old find to the Israel Antiquities Authority.

He did it, he said, in light of the coronavirus crisis, and his feeling that “the end of the world is nigh.”

[...]

Hopefully that was hyperbole, but I'm glad he did the right thing.

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Geiger, Die Handschriften aus der Judäischen Wüste

NEW BOOK FROM DE GRUYTER: Geiger, Gregor. Die Handschriften aus der Judäischen Wüste Die Texte außerhalb Qumrans Einführung und deutsche Übersetzung. [The Manuscripts from the Judaean Desert – The Texts from Outside Qumran: An Introduction and German Translation]. Series: Fontes et Subsidia ad Bibliam pertinentes 9. 139,95 € / $160.99 / £127.00*. Hardcover Publication Date: January 2020. ISBN 978-3-11-063612-3

Aims and Scope
The manuscripts from the Judaean desert are an important source for understanding the late Biblical period. This volume includes for the first time a German translation of all of the non-Biblical texts not originating from Qumran. Unlike the Qumran texts, they were not written by a religious sect, but are by and large texts about everyday life. The texts are accompanied by a detailed introduction.

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Bowen and Rochberg (eds.), Hellenistic Astronomy

NEW BOOK FROM BRILL:

Hellenistic Astronomy

The Science in Its Contexts

Series:Brill's Companions to Classical Studies

Editors: Alan C. Bowen and Francesca Rochberg

In Hellenistic Astronomy: The Science in Its Contexts, new essays by renowned scholars address questions about what the ancient science of the heavens was in the ancient Near East and Mediterranean worlds, and the numerous contexts in which it was pursued. Together, these essays will enable readers not only to understand the technical accomplishments of this ancient science but also to appreciate their historical significance by locating the questions, challenges, and issues inspiring them in their political, medical, philosophical, literary, and religious contexts.

Prices from (excl. VAT): €197.00 / $236.00

E-Book
Availability: Published
ISBN: 978-90-04-40056-6
Publication Date: 17 Feb 2020

Hardback
Availability: Published
ISBN: 978-90-04-24336-1
Publication Date: 20 Feb 2020

Not surprisingly, this quite comprehensive volume includes essays on astronomical matters in ancient Jewish literature, early Christian literature, Mandean (Mandaean) literature, and Hermetic literature.

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More on the Nazareth inscription

COUNTERPOINTS: Nazareth Inscription study questions link to Jesus’ tomb; not everyone agrees (Anugrah Kumar, The Christian Post). This article raises some points in favor of the inscription being produced in Nazareth rather than Kos, where the marble originated. I have no opinion on the question, but I will keep track of any interesting discussion.

In any case, the inscription does not prove the resurrection of Jesus. If the inscription does come from Nazareth, it is conceivable that it shows some awareness of the report that Jesus' body went missing from the tomb. But even this connection is very speculative.

Background here.

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Weisberg, Massekhet Menahot

NEW BOOK FROM MOHR SIEBECK: Dvora Weisberg. Massekhet Menahot. Volume V/2. Text, Translation, and Commentary. 2020. XII, 316 pages. 109,00 € including VAT. cloth ISBN 978-3-16-158332-2.

Published in English.
Tractate Menahkot in the Babylonian Talmud considers the proper composition, formation, and presentation of offerings of grain and flour brought to the Jerusalem Temple. Redacted centuries after the destruction of the Temple and the cessation of the sacrificial cult, the tractate focuses on the work of the priests and the centrality of intent in validating or invalidating offerings. There is minimal consideration of the role or experience of the men and women who brought offerings. The tractate also contains a detailed discussion of major ritual objects: Torah scrolls, mezuzah, tsitsit, and tefillin. Dvora Weisberg's commentary focuses attention on the tractate's treatment of women and gender issues, considering the ways that the Talmud presents women's engagement with the sacrificial system and with key religious symbols.

Cross-file under Talmud Watch.

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

Hadrian's travel coinage

NUMISMATICS: CoinWeek Ancient Coin Series: Travels With Hadrian (Mike Markowitz). Hadrian sure did a lot of traveling, as this coin series illustrates. The section on "Judaea" is of most interest for PaleoJudaica.

Hadrian is known for his role in the Bar Kokbha Revolt and the events leading up to it. Also, past posts on Hadrian's Wall are here and links. There have been museum exhibitions on Hadrian at the British Museum and the Israel Museum. And for various other relevant posts, run "Hadrian" through the PaleoJudaica search engine.

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

Did Iranian Jews buy the Tomb of Esther and Mordechai?

BELATEDLY FOR PURIM: The tomb of Esther and Mordechai (Chen Malul, National Library of Israel, via Intermountain Jewish News).

The archives, however, do include evidence that the purchase of the grounds of the tomb was completed, with final approval arriving on January 18, 1970. It appears that the land was transferred into the hands of the community — though it is difficult to say for certain as the documentation ceases at this stage.

The honeymoon period between the Jews of Iran and the state authorities would come to a quick, cruel end with the Islamic Revolution of 1979 and the rise to power of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini.

Since then, the tomb of Esther and Mordechai has been the focus of bitter dispute.

Past PaleoJudaica posts on the (traditional) tomb of Esther and Mordechai in Iran are here and links.

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Israel's museums adjust

EXHIBITIONS: Israel’s museums stay open, but with limits; special events canceled. Local cultural institutions restrict number of visitors to 100 per gallery at any time, set up hygiene stands (Jessica Steinberg, Times of Israel).

As you might imagine, the media are not brimming with news about ancient Judaism right now. But I will continue to share with you what I find.

Courage, my friends. Take care and be well!

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

Types of Coptic magic

THE COPTIC MAGICAL PAPYRI BLOG: Looking at the Coptic Magical Papyri XIII: Types of Magic.

This week our project has hit another milestone – we now have all published Coptic magical texts (and a few unpublished ones) entered into our database. This is quite exciting for us, as it will make the process of editing and re-editing texts much faster, and we hope to make them available to the general public in the near future. Full information on the database will appear below, but in this post we’ll use the data we now have to explore the types of magic found in Coptic texts.

[...]

Cross-file under Coptic Watch. And congratulation to the Coptic Magical Papyri Project on achieving this milestone!

The genres and interests of ancient Coptic magic are quite similar to the genres and interests of both the somewhat earlier Greco-Roman magic corpus and the roughly contemporary ancient Jewish magic literature. I will have more to say about this soon.

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Welton, ‘He is a Glutton and a Drunkard’

NEW BOOK FROM BRILL:

‘He is a Glutton and a Drunkard’. Deviant Consumption in the Hebrew Bible

Series: Biblical Interpretation Series, Volume: 183

Author: Rebekah Welton

In ‘He is a Glutton and a Drunkard’: Deviant Consumption in the Hebrew Bible Rebekah Welton uses interdisciplinary approaches to explore the social and ritual roles of food and alcohol in Late Bronze Age to Persian-period Syro-Palestine (1550 BCE–400 BCE). This contextual backdrop throws into relief episodes of consumption deemed to be excessive or deviant by biblical writers. Welton emphasises the social networks of the household in which food was entangled, arguing that household animals and ritual foodstuffs were social agents, challenging traditional understandings of sacrifice. For the first time, the accusation of being a ‘glutton and a drunkard’ (Deut 21:18-21) is convincingly re-interpreted in its alimentary and socio-ritual contexts.

Prices from (excl. VAT): €121.00 / $146.00

E-Book
Availability: Published
ISBN: 978-90-04-42349-7
Publication Date: 17 Feb 2020

Hardback
Availability: Published
ISBN: 978-90-04-42348-0
Publication Date: 20 Feb 2020

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Review of Frankfurter, Christianizing Egypt

ANCIENT JEW REVIEW: Book Note | Christianizing Egypt: Syncretism and Local Worlds in Late Antiquity (Candace Buckner).

David Frankfurter. Christianizing Egypt: Syncretism and Local Worlds in Late Antiquity. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2018.

Cross-file under Coptic Watch.

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BMCR’s New Site

BRYN MAYR CLASSICAL REVIEW: BMCR’s New Site. FYI. I have updated the link in the PaleoJudaica blogroll. Links to earlier BMCR reviews seem to remain valid.

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Restitution for the death of a pregnant woman

DR. SANDRA JACOBS: Deathblows to a Pregnant Woman – What Restitution Was Required? (TheTorah.com).

The requirement of a “life for a life,” recalling the lex talionis, is provided when a man accidentally kills a pregnant woman in a brawl. While this consequence is generally explained as capital punishment or monetary repayment, its legal formulation in the Covenant Collection is suggestive of live, human, substitution.

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Review of Schniedewind, The Finger of the Scribe

H-JUDAIC REVIEW:

van der Toorn on Schniedewind, 'The Finger of the Scribe: The Beginnings of Scribal Education and How It Shaped the Hebrew Bible'

Author: William M. Schniedewind
Reviewer: Karel van der Toorn

William M. Schniedewind. The Finger of the Scribe: The Beginnings of Scribal Education and How It Shaped the Hebrew Bible. New York: Oxford University Press, 2019. 248 pp. $34.95 (cloth), ISBN 978-0-19-005246-1.

Reviewed by Karel van der Toorn (University of Amsterdam) Published on H-Judaic (March, 2020) Commissioned by Barbara Krawcowicz (Norwegian University of Science and Technology)

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Kim, Multiple Authorship of the Septuagint Pentateuch

NEW BOOK FROM BRILL:

Multiple Authorship of the Septuagint Pentateuch

The origin of the Septuagint

Series: Supplements to the Textual History of the Bible, Volume: 4
Author: Hayeon Kim

For hundreds of years, disputes on the origin of the Septuagint, a biblical text that was translated from Hebrew into Greek in the third century BCE, and the number of its translators have been ongoing. In Multiple Authorship of the Septuagint Pentateuch, Hayeon Kim provides a clear solution to the unsolved questions, using an objective and consistent set of translation-technique criteria, and traditional and computerized tools of analysis. According to the author, the translation of the Septuagint Pentateuch has two facets: homogeneity and heterogeneity. The common socio-religious milieu of the translators is apparent in the similar translation techniques, however, the individual characters of the five translators are also evident in their distinct translation styles.

Prices from (excl. VAT): €94.00 / $113.00

E-Book
Availability: Published
ISBN: 978-90-04-42112-7
Publication Date: 17 Feb 2020

Hardback
Availability: Not Yet Published
ISBN: 978-90-04-42051-9
Publication Date: 27 Feb 2020

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Samuel Rolles Driver

PROF. MARC ZVI BRETTLER: S. R. Driver “Taught the Faithful Criticism, and the Critics Faith.” A reflection on the 106th yahrzeit of Samuel Rolles Driver (TheTorah.com).

Driver was the greatest British biblical scholar of the late nineteenth and early twentieth century—one of the few scholars of that era whose work has endured. He is the “D” of the famed BDB Lexicon—the Brown, Driver, Briggs A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament—which is still widely-used more than a century after it was published, largely because of Driver’s role in the project. His 1892 book on the Hebrew tenses remains a classic.[6] But he was much more than a lexicographer and a grammarian.

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Purim 2020

HAPPY Purim to all those celebrating! The festival begins tonight at sundown.

Last year's Purim post is here, with links. Posts on Purim since then are here, here, here, here, here, and here.

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"Yemen — from Sheba to Jerusalem"

EXHIBITION: Prophets, priests, Jewish kings: Ancient Yemen made vivid in Jerusalem exhibit. Bible Lands Museum tells the story of Jews in south Arabia, where they once ruled, made war, traded spice with Rome and longed for the Holy Land (AVIVA AND SHMUEL BAR-AM, Times of Israel).

For many PaleoJudaica posts on the Queen of Sheba, who may (or may not) have come from ancient Yemen, start here and follow those links. Other posts on Jews in ancient Yemen are here and here and links.

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

Trinity Western's Aramaic DSS conference is canceled

PRUDENT: Canadian universities plan for video lectures, remote exams if coronavirus epidemic worsens (Joe Friesen, Globe and Mail). So far these are just contingency plans. But buried in the article is this, which I had not heard before:

Trinity Western University in Langley, B.C., announced Thursday that it’s cancelling a planned conference on the Dead Sea scrolls, scheduled for late March.

I noted the conference as upcoming here.

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Völkening, Imago Dei versus Kultbild

NEW BOOK FROM DE GRUYTER:

Völkening, Helga

Imago Dei versus Kultbild
Die Sapientia Salomonis als jüdisch-hellenistischer Beitrag zur antiken Bilderdebatte
[Imago Dei versus Cultural Icon: The Wisdom of Solomon as a Jewish-Hellenistic Contribution to the Ancient Debate on Images]

Series: Beihefte zur Zeitschrift für die alttestamentliche Wissenschaft 508

99,95 € / $114.99 / £91.00*
Hardcover
Publication Date: January 2020
ISBN 978-3-11-055315-4

Aims and Scope
The study spotlights the importance of ethical discourse on icons in the Book of Wisdom. Using structural, semantic, and topological analyses, it shows that parenesis about false and true images of God is an overarching theme, and contextualizes it in terms of tradition and cultural history. The text makes a unique contribution to the ancient debate on images by positing that they fulfill the imago dei invested in human beings.

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The cosmic menorah

PROF. STEVEN FINE: Menorah, Its “Branches” and Their Cosmic Significance (TheTorah.com)

Midrash Tanchuma relates how Moses didn’t understand God's instructions for how to construct the menorah. This highlights the complexity of the Torah’s instructions, which commentators from antiquity until today struggled to visualize. One approach, taken by Philo and Josephus, was to interpret the menorah symbolically.

For many past PaleoJudaica posts on ancient menorahs and representations of menorahs, with considerable attention to Professor Fine's work, see here and links (cf. here, here, here, here, here and links).

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

Mount Athos manuscripts digitized

THE ETC BLOG: Mount Athos Repository On-line (Tommy Wasserman). This is exciting news. Tommy is thinking about all the New testament manuscripts this project will make available. For my part, I am hoping for some interesting new Old Testament pseudepigrapha manuscripts.

Cross-file under Digitization.

And for a PaleoJudaica post on Mount Athos and its ... cats, see here.

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

Trouble with that adultery commandment

GENIZA FRAGMENT OF THE MONTH (FEBRUARY 2020): Trouble with Adultery in the Cairo Genizah Biblical Manuscripts: T-S NS 67.34, T-S A40.77 et al. (Gary Martin). Presumably all these problems with the transmission of the adultery commandment are accidental.

Earlier references to the awkward omission in the infamous "Wicked Bible" are here, here, and here.

Past posts noting Cairo Geniza Fragments of the Month in the Cambridge University Library's Taylor-Schechter Genizah Research Unit are here and links.

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The Nazareth inscription isn't from Nazareth?

TECHNOLOGY WATCH: NAZARETH TABLET HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH JESUS, BELONGED TO GREEK TYRANT, SCIENTISTS SAY. (Hannah Osborne, Newsweek).

The Nazareth Tablet, long thought to have been created after the disappearance of Jesus' body, has nothing to do with him or Christianity, scientists have said. Instead, the mystery marble tablet more likely belonged to a Greek tyrant called Nikias, whose grave was desecrated after his death, around 30 to 20 B.C.

[...]

For background on this artifact, see here.

The Newsweek article is based on a scholarly article published in Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports 30 (2020) 10228: Establishing the provenance of the Nazareth Inscription: Using stable isotopes to resolve a historic controversy and trace ancient marble production (Kyle Harper, Michael McCormick, Matthew Hamilton, Chantal Peiffert, Raymond Michels, Michael Engel). I have linked to the pdf. It looks as though the article is open access.

As the Newsweek article indicates, this new research, although valuable in itself, does not prove that the tablet was not displayed in Nazareth. The marble could, for example, have been imported from Kos. But it does raise significant doubt about the Nazareth connection and, therefore, any connection with the burial of Jesus.

This is another example of why we should be cautious about drawing conclusions from unprovenanced artifacts.

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Hiding places for the Great Revolt

THE ANCIENT NEAR EAST TODAY VIII.2: Jewish Cliff Shelters and Hiding Complexes in the Roman Period Galilee (Yinon Shivtiel).

Dr. Shivtiel has been at this project for many years. Past posts on his work are here, here, and here. And see also this recent article in the Jerusalem Post by Rossella Tercatin: Researcher identifies Galilee caves where Jews fought Romans. Hundreds of caves in the Galilee have been identified as those described by Josephus almost 2,000 years ago.

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Purim and Aelia Capitolina?

PURIM IS COMING: Walled Cities “from the Time of Joshua” Celebrate Shushan Purim – Why? (Prof.Eyal Ben-Eliyahu, TheTorah.com).

Hidden behind the strange rabbinic definition of walled cities is a polemical response to the notorious claim of Emperor Hadrian, who rebuilt Jerusalem as the pagan city Aelia Capitolina.

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Harvard's Stager Memorial Minute

THE HARVARD GAZETTE: Lawrence Elwood Stager, 74. Memorial Minute — Faculty of Arts and Sciences.

At a Meeting of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences on March 3, 2020, the following tribute to the life and service of the late Lawrence Elwood Stager was placed upon the permanent records of the Faculty.

Professor Stager, who was one of my teachers in my doctoral program in the 1980s, died in December 2017. I noted his passing, with some of my own memories, here. Other posts on him are here and here. I am pleased to see Harvard's recognition of him in this minute.

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Lost stories of Daniel recovered in the Aramaic DSS

AT BIBLE HISTORY DAILY, Dr. Andrew Perrin introduces another of his videos on the Aramaic Dead Sea Scrolls:

Aramaic Memories of Daniel Recovered from the Dead Sea Scrolls

The Qumran Aramaic collection, however, revealed a yet unknown and broader profile of the figure of Daniel in several works. While we were familiar with other Daniel traditions from the so-called “Additions” in the Septuagint, Cave Four included at least two new works that cast a Daniel in new settings and associate him with fresh revelations.

For notice of past episodes in the series, as well as earlier links to Dr. Perrin's work, see here.

This episode is timely, as we follow Phil Long's blog series on the Book of Daniel.

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Daniel and the end of Antiochus IV

READING ACTS: Daniel 11:36-12:3 – The Willful King. Another installment in Phil Long's blog series on the Book of Daniel.

In my view, Daniel 11:36-39 are so vaguely polemical that it is difficult to be sure whether they apply to specific things that Antiochus Epiphanes did. But vv. 40-45 make quite specific predictions which Antiochus did not fulfill, except that he did die not long after the profanation of the Jerusalem Temple. More on that here and links. For three (!) conflicting accounts of how Antiochus died, see 1 Maccabees 3:31-37; 6:1-17 and 2 Maccabees 1:12-16; 9:1-29. But all three place his death in the vicinity of Persia, not the land of Israel. The other events in Daniel 11:40-45 didn't happen.

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How are Esther and Jesus alike?

PURIM IS COMING: “My God, My God, Why Have You Forsaken Me?” — Jesus or Esther? (Dr.Abraham J. Berkovitz, TheTorah.com).

A midrash imagines Queen Esther reciting Psalm 22 the moment she was about to enter Ahasuerus' inner court. Are the rabbis responding to the Passion Narrative, in which Jesus, in his final moments, recites this lament on the cross?

A related post is here.

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Israel's universities make good showing in 2020 top 100

LEAGUE TABLES: Seven Israeli university programs named among top 100 worldwide. Israel’s leading university is the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, the research showed, with four programs ranked among the top 100 in their field. (Eytan Halon, Jerusalem Post). Congratulations to all seven, with special mention for the Hebrew University:

Israel’s leading university is the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, the research showed, with four programs ranked among the top 100 in their field. The Hebrew University’s Theology, Divinity and Religious Studies Department was named 11th best in the world – Israel’s only top-20 department. The university’s Classics and Ancient History Department was ranked 34th worldwide.

I am pleased that the School of Divinity of the University of St. Andrews is also in the top 20 in the worldwide top 100 for Theology, Divinity & Religious Studies. We are tied for 17th place, up one from 2019.

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Daniel 11: Antiochus Epiphanes

READING ACTS has two more posts in Phil Long's blog series on the Book of Daniel:

Daniel 11:21-35 – Concerning Antiochus IV Epiphanes

Daniel 11:29-35 – The Fall of Antiochus IV Epiphanes

According to 1-2 Maccabees, the Maccabean war was a a rebellion against an oppressive outsider, Antiochus IV. But a lateral reading of the evidence indicates that it was also a civil was between Jewish traditionalists and innovators.

There are also brief accounts of the war from outsiders who see it more from the Seleucid side.

For more on these issues, see the links collected here. And for a highly revisionist view of the revolt, see here.

I noted earlier posts in Phil's Daniel series, often with my own commentary, here and links.

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AJR reviews Shoemaker, The Apocalypse of Empire

ANCIENT JEW REVIEW: Book Note | The Apocalypse of Empire: Imperial Eschatology in Late Antiquity and Early Islam (Abby Kulisz).

I noted the publication of the book here and another review of it here.

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On Sabbath law in the Mishnah

PROF. RABBI JUDITH HAUPTMAN: 39 Melachot of Shabbat: What Is the Function of This List? (TheTorah.com).

In halakha, the 39 melachot of Mishnah Shabbat 7:2 functions as a comprehensive list of primary categories of forbidden labor. A closer look at the list in context, however, reveals that it was composed and added as a supplement, to clarify a detail in the previous mishnah.

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Biblical Studies Carnival 169

THE DUST BLOG: Biblical Studies Carnival for February 2020. As Phil Long notes, this is a Mardi Gras themed carnival.

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

Curtis (ed.), Studies in Ancient Persia and the Achaemenid Period

BIBLIOGRAPHIA IRANICA: Studies in Ancient Persia and the Achaemenid Period. Notice of a New Book: Curtis, John (ed.). 2020. Studies in Ancient Persia and the Achaemenid Period. A collection of essays in memory of the curator and scholar Terence Mitchell, exploring the history and archaeology of Ancient Persia. Cambridge: James Clarke & Co. Ltd.

Follow the link for a description and the TOC. A number of the articles involve biblical studies and Second Temple Judaism.

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Women's History Month: Babatha

THE FORWARD: Unsung Women | Babatha: The real housewife of ancient Judea (Irene Connelly).

For past PaleoJudaica posts on Babatha and her archive of personal papers from the second century CE, see here and links and here.

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New biblical Hebrew program at GWU

GEORGE WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY: Classics department faculty look to add biblical Hebrew option for students.

Members of the Department of Classical and Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations plan to debut a Biblical Hebrew program next semester.

Students majoring or minoring in Classical and Ancient Near Eastern studies could previously fulfill their history, culture and language requirements only by taking two years of ancient Greek or classical Latin. Faculty said the new program will allow students to explore a different classical language to fulfill their language requirement and help the department meet a growing interest in Ancient Near Eastern studies.

[...]

This is good news. This program has been in the planning since 2014.

Two members of the GWU Classics faculty make appearances on PaleoJudaica from time to time. Christopher Rollston is associate professor of Northwest Semitic languages and literature. Some posts on his work from the last few years are here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, and links. Eric Cline is professor of classics, anthropology and history. Some posts on his work are here, here, here, and links.

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Review of Huebner, Papyri and the Social World of the New Testament.

BRYN MAYR CLASSICAL REVIEW: Sabine R. Huebner, Papyri and the Social World of the New Testament. Cambridge; New York: Cambridge University Press, 2019. Pp. xv, 192. ISBN 9781108455701. $24.99 (pb). Reviewed by Brent Nongbri, MF Norwegian School of Theology, Religion, and Society (brent.nongbri@mf.no)

Enter Sabine Huebner’s Papyri and the Social World of the New Testament. This engaging book offers a series of case studies showing what can be gained when a specialist in the field of ancient history, particularly in papyrology, turns to texts and questions that are typically examined within the framework of New Testament studies.

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Kraemer on "The Mediterranean Diaspora in Late Antiquity"

ANCIENT JEW REVIEW: Publications | The Mediterranean Diaspora in Late Antiquity. (Ross Kraemer).

Ross Shepard Kraemer, The Mediterranean Diaspora in Late Antiquity: What Christianity Cost the Jews: OUP 2020.

The central question I wanted to answer when I began work on MDLA was seemingly straightforward: what happened to the Jews of the Mediterranean diaspora in late antiquity? This phrasing carries several implications: that something happened to Jews in the Mediterranean diaspora, and that whatever this was didn’t happen to Jews elsewhere (whether in the homeland, or in the neo-Babylonian diaspora).

[...]

Cross-file under New Book.

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Frese, The City Gate in Ancient Israel and Her Neighbors

NEW BOOK FROM BRILL:

The City Gate in Ancient Israel and Her Neighbors

The Form, Function, and Symbolism of the Civic Forum in the Southern Levant

Series: Culture and History of the Ancient Near East, Volume: 108

Author: Daniel A. Frese

In The City Gate in Ancient Israel and Her Neighbors, Daniel A. Frese provides a wide-ranging portrayal of one of the most prominent social institutions in the kingdoms of the southern Levant during the Iron II period: the use of the city gate as a hub for numerous and diverse civic functions. The book provides an up-to-date description of the architecture of gate complexes based on archaeological evidence, and a systematic description of the many functions of the gate seen in hundreds of texts from the Hebrew Bible and the broader ancient Near East. The final chapters of the book discuss the conceptual significance of gates in Israelite culture, based on idiomatic and symbolic gate terminology in the Hebrew Bible.

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DSS postdoc in Norway

THE ETC BLOG: Lying Pen of Scribes Postdoc: POST-DOCTORAL RESEARCH FELLOW IN DIGITAL HUMANITIES AND THE DEAD SEA SCROLLS (Christian Askeland). Follow the link for a link to the full advert. The application deadline is 1 April 2020.

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Das Buch Ezechiel (ed. Gertz, Körting, & Witte)

NEW BOOK FROM DE GRUYTER: Das Buch Ezechiel. Komposition, Redaktion und Rezeption. [The Book of Ezekiel – Composition, Redaction and Reception]. Ed. by Gertz, Jan Christian / Körting, Corinna / Witte, Markus. Series:Beihefte zur Zeitschrift für die alttestamentliche Wissenschaft 516.

99,95 € / $114.99 / £91.00*
Hardcover
Publication Date: December 2019
ISBN 978-3-11-061819-8

Aims and Scope
The volume gives an overview of current research on the Book of Ezekiel with historical-editorial commentary about key texts in this prophetic book. In addition to questions about its textual, traditional, and reception history, the authors also examine central theological themes in the Book of Ezekiel in the context of Jewish-Hebraic and early Christian literary and religious history.

One essay is in English. The others are in German.

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de Waard, Jeremiah 52 in the Context of the Book of Jeremiah

NEW BOOK FROM BRILL:

Jeremiah 52 in the Context of the Book of Jeremiah

Series: Vetus Testamentum, Supplements, Volume: 183

Author: Henk de Waard

In Jeremiah 52 in the Context of the Book of Jeremiah, Henk de Waard offers a thorough examination of the final chapter of the book of Jeremiah. Particular attention is paid to the chapter’s relationship with the parallel text in 2 Kings 24:18–25:30, to the differences between the Masoretic text and the Old Greek translation, to the literary function of Jeremiah 52 within the book of Jeremiah, and to the chapter’s historical context.
De Waard shows that, especially in the early text form represented by the Old Greek, Jeremiah 52 is not a mere appendix to the book, but a golah-oriented epilogue, indicating the contrasting destinies of pre-exilic Judah and the exilic community in Babylon.

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Publication Date: 03 Feb 2020

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Availability: Not Yet Published
ISBN: 978-90-04-42354-1
Publication Date: 18 Mar 2020

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BAR Spring 2020

BIBLE HISTORY DAILY has some posts on the just-released current issue of Biblical Archaeology Review (background here):

First Person: Where Is the Real Biblical Bethsaida? (Robert R. Cargill)

Excavating El-Araj—a Candidate for Biblical Bethsaida (Megan Sauter)
For some time I have been following the archaeological debate over whether et-Tell or el-Araj is the site of biblical Bethsaida. For past posts on the question, start here and follow the links.

The IAA’s Pnina Shor Retires.
An interview with BAR editor Robert Cargill. Some PaleoJudaica posts on Pnina Shor's work are here, here, and here. I wish her a happy retirement.

More Queries & Comments, Spring 2020. Readers respond to their favorite Biblical Archaeology Review articles

Spring 2020 Caption Contest

January/February 2020 Cartoon Caption Winners

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Daniel 11: those kings of the north and the south

READING ACTS: Daniel 11:2-20 – Who are the Kings of the North and South? (Phil Long).

For more on the historical details behind the kings of the north and the kings of the south in Daniel 11 (with some cool coin images), see the links here.

For notice of other posts in Phil's blog series on the Book of Daniel, often with my own comments, see here and links.

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Review of Flynn, Children in Ancient Israel

ANCIENT JEW REVIEW: Book Note | Children in Ancient Israel (Kerry Sonia).

Shawn W. Flynn. Children in Ancient Israel: The Hebrew Bible and Mesopotamia in Comparative Perspective. Oxford University Press, 2018.

For related posts, see here and links.

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On the ink of the DSS

MATERIAL CULTURE: Could studying ancient ink help shed new light on the Dead Sea Scrolls? The study of manuscripts offers scholars a treasure trove of information hidden in plain sight, complementing those presented by the texts themselves (Rossella Tercatin, Jerusalem Post).

Could studying the ink used to pen the Dead Sea Scrolls help scholars shed light on the many mysteries still surrounding them?

According to Ira Rabin, senior scientist at the Federal Institute of Material Research and Testing (BAM) in Berlin and the Center for the Studies of Manuscript Cultures (CSMC) in Hamburg the answer is a resounding yes.

[...]

Some past PaleoJudaica posts on Dr. Rabin's work on ancient ink, especially of the Dead Sea Scrolls, are here, here, here, here and here. As usual, follow the links too. And this post, and links, is also relevant

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Daniel 10: the Prince of Persia and the sons of God

READING ACTS: Daniel 10 – Who is the Prince of Persia? (Phil Long)
A correction to the following:

In addition, the Masoretic text of Deuteronomy 32:8 says God has fixed the borders of peoples “according to the number of the sons of God.” The Septuagint has “according to the angels of God” (κατὰ ἀριθμὸν ἀγγέλων θεοῦ).

The Masoretic Text of Deuteronomy 32:8 says that God "fixed the borders of peoples according to the number of the sons of Israel (למספר בני ישראל)," which hardly makes sense in context. But among the Dead Sea Scrolls, 4QDeuteronomy^j (which was probably a collection of excerpts from Exodus and Deuteronomy) contains a fragment of Deuteronomy 32:8 that reads "the sons of God" (בני אלוהים).

The latter is probably the original reading. It was translated into Greek interpretively by the Septuagint. The manuscript tradition followed by the Masoretic Text did not like the reference to other divine beings. It changed the text to refer to Israel.

For notice of past posts in Phil Long's blog series on the Book of Daniel, often with my own comments included, see here and links.

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Clive Cussler (1931-2020)

SAD NEWS: Clive Cussler, million-selling adventure writer, dies at 88. (HILLEL ITALIE, AP). I have enjoyed some of Cussler's novels and movies about his intrepid marine-archaeologist hero, Dirk Pitt. I briefly reviewed one of each here. And Cussler's real life included not a little intrepid adventure. I am sad to hear of his passing.

Rest in peace, Clive.

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Review of Bull, The Tradition of Hermes Trismegistus

BRYN MAYR CLASSICAL REVIEW Christian H. Bull, The Tradition of Hermes Trismegistus: The Egyptian Priestly Figure as a Teacher of Hellenized Wisdom. Religions in the Graeco-Roman World, 186. Leiden: Brill, 2018. Pp. xvi, 532. ISBN 9789004370814. €164,00. Reviewed by Korshi Dosoo, Würzburg​ (korshi.dosoo@gmail.com).

Bull’s work represents an accessible yet profound and thoughtful introduction and handbook to the Hermetica, providing both a fair and thorough summary of previous work and a lucid approach to understanding them, and it is likely to become an invaluable reference work and source of further ideas in years to come.

I noted the publication of the book here.

The Hermetic tradition is of interest for ancient Judaism in a number of ways. Notably, the Poimandres, the opening tractate in the philosophical Hermetic corpus, was written by someone who had been reading the Greek translation of the Book of Genesis.

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Burrell, Cushites in the Hebrew Bible

NEW BOOK FROM BRILL:

Cushites in the Hebrew Bible

Negotiating Ethnic Identity in the Past and Present

Series: Biblical Interpretation Series, Volume: 181

Author: Kevin Burrell

Cushites in the Hebrew Bible offers a reassessment of Cushite ethnographic representations in the biblical literature as a counterpoint to misconceptions about Africa and people of African descent which are largely a feature of the modern age.
Whereas current interpretations have tended to emphasize unfavourable portraits of the people biblical writers called Cushites, Kevin Burrell illuminates the biblical perspective through a comparative assessment of ancient and modern forms of identity construction. Past and present modes of defining difference betray both similarities and differences to ethnic representations in the Hebrew Bible, providing important contexts for understanding the biblical view. This book contributes to a clearer understanding of the theological, historical, and ethnic dynamics underpinning representations of Cushites in the Hebrew Bible.

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Publication Date: 30 Jan 2020

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Conference on Magic in Late Antiquity in Jerusalem

THE NSEA BLOG: CONFERENCE: MAGIC IN LATE ANTIQUITY. OBJECTS, TEXTS AND CONTEXTS JERUSALEM, MOUNT SCOPUS, MARCH 1-3, 2020. If you are in Jerusalem at the beginning of March, this looks like an excellent conference to attend.

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New BAR issue imminent

BIBLE HISTORY DAILY: Spring 2020 Issue Is Coming Soon! Available on Thursday (2/27) online for digital and all access subscribers. The new issue is, of course, of Biblical Archaeology Review. This note gives you a foretaste of the contents.

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1000-year-old biblical manuscript recovered in Egypt

MANUSCRIPT: Lost 1,000-year-old Hebrew Bible found on dusty Cairo synagogue shelf. While attempting to document Egyptian synagogues, an Israeli historian stumbles upon a massive, well-preserved 616-page codex that was written in 1028 (Amanda Borschel-Dan, Times of Israel).

In July 2017, Israeli historian Yoram Meital stumbled upon a handwritten 1028 CE biblical codex that was lying abandoned on a dusty shelf in a Cairo synagogue. Wrapped in simple white paper of the sort one finds on tables in cheap eateries, at 616 pages, the Zechariah Ben ‘Anan Manuscript is one of the era’s most complete and preserved examples of the “Writings,” the third and concluding section of the Hebrew Bible. It had been lost to scholars for almost 40 years.

[...]

This article also links to the recent Jewish Quarterly Review article that announces the find formally. Happily, the full text is available for free: A Thousand-Year-Old Biblical Manuscript Rediscovered in Cairo: The Future of the Egyptian Jewish Past (Yoram Meital; JQR 110.1 [2020]: 194-219).

Cross-file under Karaite Watch.

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Linguistic dating of biblical Hebrew?

BIBLE HISTORY DAILY: Linguistic Hints to the Age of the Hebrew Bible Can language analysis determine the initial date of the ancient Hebrew manuscripts? (Jonathan Laden ). This essay introduces an article in the current issue of Biblical Archaeology Review by Ron Hendel and Jan Joosten. The article itself is behind the subscription wall, but the essay gives you a taste of it.

For their book on the same subject, see here. And follow the links from there for other relevant posts. And I have some comments on the issue here.

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Ancient Sicilian Judaism

EXHIBITION: Little-known Jewish history of Sicily on display centuries after expulsion. “After 1492, Jews had to leave the island and their possessions were sold, destroyed or reused for other purposes, as it happened to many of the Jewish sites" (Rossella Tercatin, Jerusalem Post).

Though little survives, the Jewish presence in Sicily dates back to the Roman era and represents an important page of the island’s history, as explained in the temporary exhibit “Documenti di storia ebraica dalle collezioni del Museo Salinas,” (Documents of Jewish history from the collections of Salinas Museum) at Palermo’s Regional Archaeological Museum Antonio Salinas.

Some of what survives from antiquity:

Among the artifacts on display are several coins from the series of the so-called Iudae Capta coins minted by Titus and his father Vespasian after they conquered and destroyed Jerusalem to celebrate their victory. One of them features a woman crying and kneeling under a palm tree as a personification of the Jewish nation and the Emperor Vespasian in a triumphant attitude.
Another artifact on display is a burial inscription in Greek dating back to the 4th or 5th century CE remembering a man named Zosimiano and carrying a stylized menorah.

The article has a nice photo of the burial inscription.

For a photo of this style of Judaea Capta coin, follow the link to the BHD essay here.

For more on Jewish Palermo, see here.

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Daniel 10-11: angels and a vision of history

AT READING ACTS, Phil Long continues his blog series on the Book of Daniel.

Daniel 10 – Daniel’s Vision of a Great Angelic Being
I have some comments on chapter 10 here.

Daniel 11 and History
As Phil notes, chapter 11 is difficult to follow. It briefly deals with the Persian empire, mentioning only four of the eleven kings (v. 2). Then it refers obliquely to Alexander the Great (vv. 2-3) and the Diadochoi (v. 4). The rest of the chapter covers a span of Ptolemaic and Seleucid history without giving any actual names of the people. Indeed it gives them code names, some of which are repeated for different individuals.

In a number of PaleoJudaica posts on numismatic articles etc., I have gone through Daniel 11 and explained who many of the characters are.

For the figures in the Ptolemaic dynasty, see here, here, and here.

For the figures in the Seleucid dynasty, see here, here and here.

Phil notes correctly that the events in 11:40-45 are actual predictions, not predictions after the fact. We know that because the events in the reign of Antiochus Epiphanes turned out differently. More on that here and here.

For notice of previous posts in Phil's series on Daniel, sometimes with my own comments, see here and follow the links.

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Bonner, The Last Empire of Iran

BIBLIOGRAPHIA IRANICA: The Last Empire of Iran. Notice of a New Book: Bonner, Michael Richard Jackson. 2020.The Last Empire of Iran (Gorgias Handbooks). Piscataway, NJ: Gorgias Press LLC. On the Sassanian Empire. Follow the link for description and ordering information.

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Sifting a new Temple Mount heap

THE TEMPLE MOUNT SIFTING PROJECT BLOG: KI10 HERE WE COME! KI10 is a new heap of Temple Mount dirt which the project has begun sifting. It already shows a promising profile of artifacts. If you have been thinking about volunteering for the Temple Mount Sifting Project, now would be a good time.

Some background on the project is here. And for many other posts, start here and follow the links.

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Parables in Changing Contexts (ed. Poorthuis & Ottenheijm)

NEW BOOK FROM BRILL:

Parables in Changing Contexts

Essays on the Study of Parables in Christianity, Judaism, Islam, and Buddhism

Series:Jewish and Christian Perspectives Series, Volume: 35

Editors: Marcel Poorthuis and Eric Ottenheijm

In Parables in Changing Contexts, new venues in the comparative study of parables are addressed by scholars of Judaism, New Testament, Buddhism and Islam. Essays cover parables in the synoptic Gospels, Rabbinic midrash, and parabolic tales and fables in the Babylonian Talmud. Three essays address parables in Islam and Buddhism. The volume shows how parables are suitably adapted in terms of form and rhetoric to enhance religious identity formation. Parables serve as media, as sensational forms making the sacred present, albeit encoded or riddled, in all cases invoking the listener’s active interpretative participation and cultural imagination. Adapting a multidisciplinary approach to these gems of storytelling, parables in a particular way provide new insights in the cultures that produced them.

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Publication Date: 30 Dec 2019

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Publication Date: 19 Dec 2019

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Were Miriam, Aaron, and Moses originally siblings?

PROF. MARK LEUCHTER & DR. RABBI ZEV FARBER: Pre-Biblical Aaron, Miriam, and Moses (TheTorah.com).

In the Torah, Aaron, Miriam, and Moses are siblings; Aaron is the biological ancestor of all priests, Moses is the redeemer of Israel from Egypt, and Miriam, their sister, leads the Israelite women in song. But what can we reconstruct about who these ancient figures may have been?

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The Song of Moses or the Song of Miriam?

PROF. CAROL MEYERS: Miriam’s Song of the Sea: A Women’s Victory Performance (TheTorah.com).

Miriam and the Israelite women echo briefly the famous Song of the Sea sung earlier in Exodus 15… or do they? A closer examination reveals a more prominent role for Miriam and provides information about women as musical performers using song, dance, and drums in ancient Israel.

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Review of Mylona & Nicholson (eds.), The Bountiful Sea

BRYN MAYR CLASSICAL REVIEW: D. Mylona, R. Nicholson (ed.), The Bountiful Sea: Fish Processing and Consumption in Mediterranean Antiquity. Proceedings of the International Conference Held at Oxford, 6-8 September 2017. Journal of Maritime Archaeology Special Issue, 13.3. New York: Springer, 2018. Pp. 290. ISBN 1557-2293. Reviewed by Christy Constantakopoulou, Birkbeck College, London (c.constantakopoulou@bbk.ac.uk).

Recent years have shown that fish and fishing in the ancient Mediterranean are an exciting new research field,1 to which the present volume is a splendid contribution. Originating from a conference in Oxford in September 2017, the volume brings together a diverse range of scholars, ancient historians and archaeologists, including ichthyoarchaeologists, but also marine biologists and historians of food, to address a number of important questions. It is impossible in a short review to discuss each contribution individually, so I shall focus on themes and approaches.

The editors identify three themes in their introduction (p. 210): fish and fish products in their cultural context; archaeological evidence in the western and eastern Mediterranean; and the logistical and social organization of production of processed fish and associated materials, particularly salt. Most contributions address one or more of these themes, although other threads also run throughout the volume.

[...]

The article by Susan Weingarten deals with fish and fish products in the Talmudic literature.

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Review of Sherwood (ed.), with Fisk, The Bible and Feminism

ANCIENT JEW REVIEW: Book Note | The Bible and Feminism: Remapping the Field (Kathleen Gallagher Elkins).

Yvonne Sherwood, editor, with Anna Fisk. The Bible and Feminism: Remapping the Field. New York: Oxford, 2017.

Excerpt:

Overall, this book combines tightly focused contributions with essays that apply a wide-angle lens to the field. By offering readers insights from multiple perspectives, this volume gestures toward under-explored territory in biblical studies. It is a relatively expensive and expansive work, however, so will likely be encountered in a piecemeal way by most readers. For those with the time, energy, and access, I recommend engaging with the whole work. ...

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Videos on the Aramaic DSS

AT BIBLE HISTORY DAILY, Dr. Andrew Perrin introduces two of his videos on the Aramaic Dead Sea Scrolls:

Lost Books, Scribal Authority, and Abraham against the Egyptians in Genesis Apocryphon. Dead Sea Scrolls Digital Shorts, Episode 4

The Timely and Timeless Message of Hope. Four Kingdoms Motifs in Ancient Jewish Apocalypses. Dead Sea Scrolls Digital Shorts, Episode 5

At both, scroll down for links to earlier episodes.

For some past posts on Dr. Perrin's research, see here and links.

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Schiffman lecture series on DSS in Baltimore in March

PROF. LAWRENCE H. SCHIFFMAN: LECTURE SERIES: THE DEAD SEA SCROLLS AND SECOND TEMPLE HISTORY.

Beth Tfiloh Congregation in Baltimore is hosting a three-part lecture series with Prof. Lawrence Schiffman on the Dead Sea Scrolls and Second Temple History:

Follow the link for details. The first lecture is on 4 March. If you are in Baltimore, these are well worth attending.

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Ancient mikvehs still filling

DURABLE ANCIENT ARCHITECTURE: Ancient Judean ritual baths fill with water following intense winter rains. The baths are located south of Jerusalem in the West Bank, near the settlement of Neveh Daniel (Rossella Tercatin, Jerusalem Post).

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Review of Ulrike Steinert (ed.), Assyrian and Babylonian Scholarly Text Catalogues: Medicine, Magic and Divination

BRYN MAYR CLASSICAL REVIEW: Ulrike Steinert (ed.), Assyrian and Babylonian Scholarly Text Catalogues: Medicine, Magic and Divination. Die babylonisch- assyrische Medizin in Texten und Untersuchungen, Band 9. Berlin; Boston: De Gruyter, 2018. Pp. 384. ISBN 9781501513633. $183.99. Reviewed by Elyze Zomer, Philipps-Universität Marburg (elyze.zomer@staff.uni-marburg.de).

The present volume is the result of the collaborative and individual efforts of the BabMed Project in Berlin.1 It comprises two parts: the first “Studies on Mesopotamian Text Catalogues” (pp. 8–200) contains seven contributions (discussed below) providing a valuable analysis of Mesopotamian text catalogues and tablet inventories of first millennium BCE focusing on medicine (asūtu), exorcism (āšipūtu), and divination; whereas the second “Text Sources” (pp. 203–333) presents critical philological editions of three distinctive corresponding text catalogues being the so-called Assur Medical Catalogue (AMC), the Exorcist’s Manual, and the joint catalogue of the diagnostic and physiognomic omen series Sakikkûand Alamdimmû.

[...]

This is a very technical volume. But its subject matter is of some interest for Second Temple Judaism. The area of āšipūtu, "exorcism," was the specialty of the (Assyro-)Babylonian medico-religious practitioner called the āshipu. These practitioners appear in the Book of Daniel as opponents of Daniel and his three friends. More on them here and here. Daniel's version of them is another feature of Aramaic Fantasy Babylon. The book under review tells us more about the work of the actual practitioners as well as about the work of their counterpart, the asū or "physician."

For earlier posts about religious and cultural aspects of late ancient Babylonia, see here and links.

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ANE beers meet certified standards

RESURRECTING ANCIENT BEER: Beer in Israel, old and new. “This is the first time we succeeded in producing ancient alcohol from ancient yeast. In other words, from the original substances from which alcohol was produced. This has never been done before” (DOUG GREENER, Jerusalem Post).

At that event [at the Bible Lands Museum in Jerusalem], [Dr. Michael] Klutstein revealed that his laboratory, along with Hebrew University’s Yissum Research Development Co., plan to bring three of these ancient beverages to the commercial market: The Egyptian beer (tentatively to be called “Narmer,” the first pharaoh), the Philistine beer (“Goliath”) and the Persian mead (“Ishtar”). Yissum is now seeking investors for this project.

The beers have been approved by "a panel of certified Israeli beer judges."

I noted the original story of the resurrected beers here. This effort is not the first. Follow the links from there for others. A tangentially related post is here. Cross-file under Technology Watch.

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Syriac cataloging job at HMML

THE NSEA BLOG: JOB: SYRIAC CATALOGUING AT THE HILL MUSEUM & MANUSCRIPT LIBRARY. I don't see a deadline in the announcement. But if you want to apply, I wouldn't dawdle.

There are many PaleoJudaica posts on the Hill Museum & Manuscript Library. Just run "HMML" through the search engine to find them.

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A sifted Byzantine bulla?

THE TEMPLE MOUNT SIFTING PROJECT BLOG: FIND & FINDER OF THE MONTH: A BULLA OF AN UNKNOWN TYPE, DISCOVERED BY THE SCHWARTZES.

UPDATE: for many other posts on the project, start here and here and follow the links.

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Bronze coinage of the Ptolemaic kings

NUMISMATICS: NGC Ancients – Bronze Coinage of the Greek Kings of Ptolemaic Egypt (CoinWeek).

There are lots of biblical and related links, especially in the Book of Daniel, to the kings who produced the coins covered in this article. The title "the king of the south" is used, confusingly, for several of them.

Alexander the Great is the he-goat from the west who strikes down the ram with two horns (the Medo-Persian Empire) in Daniel 8:5-8, 21. He is also the mighty king of 11:3-4.

Ptolemy I is one of Alexander's generals who vied for his kingdom after the death of the latter (Daniel 8:8, 22; 11:4). He is also the king of the south in 11:5.

Ptolemy II Philadephus is the king of the south whose daughter (Berenice Syra) is mentioned in Daniel 11:6. And according to the legend in the Letter of Aristeas, he commissioned the Greek translation of the Pentateuch.

Ptolemy III is the branch from the roots of the daughter of the king of the south mentioned in Daniel 11:7-9.

Ptolemy IV Philopater is the king of the south mentioned in Daniel 11:11.

CoinWeek had an earlier three-part series on the Ptolemaic coins, which I noted here, here, and here. I discussed their biblical and ancient Jewish connections in those posts. And for still more on the Ptolemaic coinage, see here.

NOTE: I have updated this post in May of 2024 to correct some information about Berenice Syra.

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Empirical models for the Song of Deborah?

PROF. AARON KOLLER: Composing the Song of Deborah: Empirical Models (TheTorah.com).

The Song of Deborah in Judges 5 is similar to both Arabic qaṣīdā poetry and ancient Egyptian epic poetry. How should we categorize it? Is it like the former, and composed orally by a bard, or like the latter, and composed by a royal scribe?

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