A woman on the road to Emmaus?

THE ANXIOUS BENCH: The Missing Woman of Emmaus [Link now fixed!] (Philip Jenkins).

Various moments of the Emmaus story are very frequently represented in art, and most follow this general theme. But here is the thing. The story tells of two people walking along, and then inviting a stranger to come back to the house where they live, and giving him a meal. In the context of the time, is it not very, very likely, to the point of certainty, that such a pair would in fact be a man and a woman, a married couple, who live in their house at Emmaus? Yet in the whole history of art, I know of vanishingly few depictions that actually show such a couple, as opposed to two men.

I looked up the passage in Luke 24 just now in the Revised Standard Version. It translate's Jesus' rebuke to the couple as "O foolish men ..." But the word "men" is not present in the Greek, and the grammar of the verse could refer to two men or to a man and a woman.

I first assumed that this was a holdover from the KJV, but in fact it translates the verse with the same ambiguity as the Greek. So do the NIV and the NRSV.

Belatedly for Easter.

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Disinfecting Egypt's ancient religious sites

PANDEMIC PURGING: Egypt concludes sterilisation of major ancient religious sites. Egypt concluded the sterilisation of historical Islamic, Christian and Jewish religious sites nationwide under its campaign to disinfect all its museums and ancient sites (Ahram online).

But don't visit them yet! For now, stay home and visit the online tours mentioned in the final paragraph. More on those soon.

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

Easter 2020

HAPPY EASTER to all those celebrating. My 2016 Easter post contains links leading to biblical and related passages concerning Easter and to correct information on the origin of the word. And this post gives biblical references for the Passion narrative.

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The Nazareth inscription again

EPIGRAPHY AND MATERIAL CULTURE: Hi-tech test shatters claim ancient inscription is 1st proof of Christianity. Study indicates the marble bearing the ‘Nazareth Inscription,’ a mysterious 1st century text linked by some to Jesus’s resurrection, was quarried in Greece, not the Holy Land (Amanda Borschel-Dan, Times of Israel).

The headline, which I do not blame on the article's author, overstates the case.

The tests establish that the marble of the inscription came from the Greek island of Kos, not from Nazareth. This fails to support the claim that the inscription was produced (on imported stone) and displayed in Nazareth.

But that claim itself is tenuous. It is based on a brief provenance note left by a collector in 1925. In fact it's possible that the inscription is a nineteenth-century forgery. And even if it is genuine and it came from Nazareth, the idea that it reflects a knowledge of Jesus' empty tomb is speculative.

This is a very good article that sums up the latest on the Nazareth Inscription. Background here and links (cf. here).

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Mine blowing!

I WAS EXPECTING AN EARTH-SHATTERING KABOOM. AND I GOT ONE!

A few days ago I noted a report that Qasr al-Yahud, one of the possible sites for the baptism of Jesus, had been fully cleared of landmines. Nearly 500 of them were detonated at once. The mines were placed at the site just after the Six-Day War.

I inquired about video of the detonation event, and alert reader Yehoshua Rabinowitz has supplied me with a link. The Hebrew caption says, "IDF engineering forces detonated no less than 446 mines in the northern Dead Sea."

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Saving the Jewish Chronicle?

APPEAL: Will someone please save the Jewish Chronicle? - opinion. According to its statement, the weekly newspaper ‘will not be able to survive the impact of the current coronavirus epidemic in its current form’. In truth, its problems predate the pandemic (DAVID ISAACSON, Jerusalem Post).

Background here.

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Western Wall priestly blessing downsized

TEMPLE MOUNT WATCH, FOR PASSOVER: Passover blessing at Western Wall downsized due to coronavirus (Reuters). From 100,000 worshippers last year to 10 this year.

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Jesus and Nazareth

NEW BOOK FROM ROUTLEDGE: Biblical story of Jesus possibly explained by excavations in his hometown of Nazareth (Owen Jarus, Live Science).

Nazareth's opposition to Roman cultural practices and objects would have stood in stark contrast to its neighbor, a city called Sepphoris, which embraced Roman culture, including imported objects. "Cultural separation may have created what was, in effect, an invisible barrier between Nazareth and Sepphoris," wrote study author Ken Dark, director of the Nazareth Archaeological Project, in his recently published book "Roman-Period and Byzantine Nazareth and Its Hinterland" (Routledge, 2020).

The book is not about Jesus and Nazareth, it's about the archaeology of Nazareth. But possible (somewhat speculative) connections with Jesus are the hook for this article. And it has some interesting information about Nazareth in general.

I don't see a lot on the archaeology of Nazareth in the PaleoJudaica archives, but here is one post. And, of course, there's the Nazareth inscription, which quite possibly is not from Nazareth. By contrast, the archaeology of Sepphoris ( Tzipori/Tzippori/Zippori) is well represented. Start here and follow the links.

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Overtoom, Reign of Arrows

BIBLIOGRAPHIA IRANICA: Reign of Arrows. Notice of a New Book: Overtoom, Nikolaus Leo. 2020. Reign of Arrows: The Rise of the Parthian Empire in the Hellenistic Middle East. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Follow the link for description and ordering information.

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Wuppertal LXX conference postponed

WILLIAM ROSS: UPDATE: POSTPONEMENT OF 8TH INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE FOR SEPTUAGINT STUDIES (WUPPERTAL 2020). I noted his announcement of the conference in January here. It has tentatively been rescheduled for 2021.

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

AAR/SBL program book archive

THE AWOL BLOG: Society of Biblical Literature and American Academy of Religion Program Books 1938-2019.

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Cook on resurrection in the Mediterranean world

THE ANCIENT NEAR EAST TODAY: Resurrection in the Mediterranean World (John Granger Cook).

The Christian belief in the resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth, following his crucifixion at the hands of the prefect of Judaea, Pontius Pilate, gradually made its way through the ancient Mediterranean world. But it fell on fertile ground. One of the primary contentions in my recent book on the topic (Empty Tomb, Resurrection, Apotheosis) is that the Christians’ proclamation of a crucified Lord found fertile ground among Mediterranean people who had long been familiar with some form of the concept of the resurrection of a body.

[...]

For more on Professor Cook's recent book, see here. And for more on his other work, see here, here, and here.

For a couple of books by Jan A. Sigvartsen on related matters, see here.

And for a related essay by Devorah Dimant, along with some of my own — I think original — thoughts on the early history of the idea of resurrection, see my post Resurrection in the Book of Ezekiel (and in Ugaritic) from a couple of years ago.

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

Shankbone and egg

FOR PASSOVER: Shankbone and Egg: How They Became Symbols on the Seder Plate (Dr.Joshua Kulp, TheTorah.com).

The Talmud requires having two unspecified cooked dishes to be eaten as part of the Passover meal. How did this requirement develop into the custom of placing two particular symbolic foods, the shankbone and the egg, on the seder plate?

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The first trumpet

READING ACTS: The First Trumpet: Fire Mixed with Blood – Revelation 8:7. Phil Long continues his blog series on the seven angels of the Book of Revelation and their trumpets. This post is on the trumpet of the first angel.

Background here and links.

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

Jewish Chronicle and Jewish News going into liquidation

THE BBC: The Jewish Chronicle and Jewish News to go into liquidation. I am sad to hear this. PaleoJudaica has linked to both, especially The Jewish Chronicle, from time to time. I wish everyone involved all the best.

In addition to the pandemic's toll on health and lives, it is causing immense harm to the economy. Let's hope for better news soon.

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

An ancient echo of a "virtual" seder?

FOR PASSOVER: This year’s ‘virtual’ seders have an ancient echo, says Haggadah historian. Through prosperity and darkness — and now again in modernity — the retelling of the Exodus story has evolved alongside the Jewish people. Prof. Vanessa Ochs traces the journey (RICH TENORIO, Times of Israel).

Just in time for one of the most unusual Passover seder nights in recent memory, acclaimed scholar Vanessa Ochs has come out with a new book on the history of the haggadah.

“The Passover Haggadah: A Biography” is Ochs’s contribution to the Princeton University Press Lives of Great Religious Books series, which includes explorations of the Book of Genesis and the letters of Dietrich Bonhoeffer. Yet the haggadah brings some unique challenges.

[...]

Regarding that ancient echo:

Ochs writes that the first haggadot were oral instructions mentioned in the Mishnah and its supplement, the Tosefta. In the Tosefta, she finds “an ad hoc Passover home ceremony taking place between 70 and 200 CE and beyond.” Citing Prof. Judith Hauptman, Ochs writes that compared with the Mishnah, the Tosefta’s haggadah “was briefer and less elaborate,” and it “may even have come first.”

Ironically for those planning virtual seders today, the original seders had their own virtual quality for Jews who could not worship at the Second Temple following its destruction in 70 CE.

“Certainly, the seder in the Mishnah grafts ancient practices of the Passover pilgrimage holiday in Jerusalem involving the sacrifice of lambs at the ancient temple,” Ochs said. “In its place, it became itself the first virtual Passover.”

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DeMille's, "Ten Commandments" (both of them)

PASSOVER RELATED: How DeMille made his ‘Ten Commandments’ Jewish again. (PJ Grisar, The Forward). I had forgotten that DeMille had done an earlier Ten Commandments movie in the 1920s, although PaleoJudaica's archive tells me that I once knew. From the description here, the first film does sound cloyingly moralizing.

For past posts on both movies, alas with some rotted links, see here and links (cf. here).

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Wolters, Proverbs (LXX commentary)

NEW BOOK FROM BRILL:

Proverbs

A Commentary based on Paroimiai in Codex Vaticanus

Series: Septuagint Commentary Series

Author: Al Wolters

In the Proverbs volume in the Septuagint Commentary Series Al Wolters gives a meticulous philological commentary on the text of Proverbs as found in the important fourth-century Codex Vaticanus, together with a careful transcription of the Vaticanus Greek text and a fresh English translation thereof. The focus of the commentary is on the semantic and grammatical aspects of the Greek, relying primarily on general Greek usage rather than on the underlying Hebrew, and drawing on a broad array of lexicographical and grammatical resources, as well as a detailed examination of twelve previous translations of LXX Proverbs. In the process, many new interpretations of the often difficult Greek are proposed.

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

E-Book
Availability: Published
ISBN: 978-90-04-42559-0
Publication Date: 17 Mar 2020

Hardback
Availability: Published
ISBN: 978-90-04-42558-3
Publication Date: 19 Mar 2020

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Qasr al-Yahud is de-mined

PILGRIMAGE MINEFIELD CLEARED: Last landmine cleared from biblical Jordan Valley site. Holy site to be restored after 53 years as landmines finally cleared (Nicky Harley, The National). I have been following this story about Qasr Al-Yahud, which is a possible site for the baptism of Jesus, since the de-mining project was announced in 2016. This article reports the good news that the site is now fully de-mined.

The Halo Trust told The National restoration work can finally begin on the buildings to enable them to be reopened to pilgrims and visitors in the near future.

Apparently the charity blew up 500 mines in a "daisy chain explosion." I hope there's video of that.

Alas, the site will still be short of pilgrims and visitors for some time, but the Halo Trust is clearly working to make sure that it is ready when they come back.

UPDATE: Excuse me for forgetting the background link. It's here and links.

UPDATE: For the video of the detonation, see here.

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Passover 2020

HAPPY PASSOVER (PESACH) TO ALL THOSE CELEBRATING! The festival begins this evening at sundown. Stay safe and be well!

Last year's Passover post is here and it has many Passover links. Relevant biblical texts are collected here. Passover-related posts for 2020's pandemic Passover are here, here, here, here, here, and here.

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Are the SWBTS DSS fragments fakes?

MORE PROBLEMS WITH POST-2002 DEAD SEA SCROLL-LIKE FRAGMENTS: Southwestern Seminary’s Dead Sea Scrolls ‘likely fraudulent’ (Baptist Press).

FORT WORTH (BP)—Pieces of papyrus sold as rare fragments of Dead Sea Scrolls to Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary a decade ago are “likely fraudulent” and the seminary might seek financial restitution, the school announced in a statement April 6.

[...]

Background on the question of the post-2002 Dead SeaScroll-like fragments is here and many links. Another recent post on SWBST is here.

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

The angel of the censer

READING ACTS: Who is the Angel with the Incense from the Altar of God? – Revelation 8:3-5. Phil Long continues his series on the seven angels of the Book of Revelation. This post is on the first angel.

Background here.

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Solace from ancient apocalyptic texts?

WHATEVER WORKS FOR YOU: Why religious apocalyptic texts can offer us solace during the coronavirus crisis (Siobhan Hegarty, ABC News [Australia]). By the way, 4 Ezra was written around 100 C.E., not the later date given in this article.

Cross-file under Old Testament Pseudepigrapha Watch.

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Review of Krag & Raja (eds.), Women, children and the family in Palmyra

BRYN MAYR CLASSICAL REVIEW: Women, children and the family in Palmyra.

Signe Krag, Rubina Raja, Women, children and the family in Palmyra. Palmyrene studies, 3. Copenhagen: The Royal Danish Academy of Sciences and Letters, 2019. 228 p.. ISBN 9788773044193 DKK 250 (pb).

Review by
Leonardo Gregoratti, Durham University. DerGrego@gmail.com

Cross-file under Palmyra Watch. For more on the Palmyra Portrait Project, see here and here. Past posts on the Empress Zenobia are here and links.

Many other posts on Palmyra, its history, the ancient Aramaic dialect spoken there (Palmyrene), and the city's tragic reversals of fortune, which more recently were trending for the better, are here and links.

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

The beauty of the beloved

DR. ELAINE T. JAMES: The Poetry of Beauty: What Does it Mean to See the Beloved? (TheTorah.com).

Three descriptive poems in the Song of Songs wrestle with the experience of being in the beloved’s presence. In each case, the woman’s body is described using layered landscape imagery and complex, overlapping angles of vision. These poems ask us to consider what it means to see.

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The seven angels of Revelation

READING ACTS: Who Are the Seven Angels in Revelation 8:2? Looks like Phil Long's series in the Book of Revelation is continuing.

Background here and here.

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SWBTS discontinues its archaeology program

ANOTHER CANCELLATION: Southwestern Ends Largest Evangelical Archaeology Program. Coronavirus interrupts excavation projects across Israel (Gordon Govier, Christianity Today).

The nation’s leading evangelical archaeology program is closing, partly in response to COVID-19. Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary (SWBTS) will shut down its archaeology program in May, terminating five professors and discontinuing its degree program, which currently has more than 25 graduate students.

The decision came as “part of campus-wide budgetary reductions necessitated by the financial challenges associated with COVID-19,” according to a statement SWBTS sent to Christianity Today.

[...]

That's a pity. The publication prospects for the SWBTS Gezer excavation are also now up in the air.

As the subheading indicates, excavations are halting all over Israel:

The end of SWBTS’s program will not be the only setback for biblical archaeology this year. Across Israel, excavation plans are being canceled or postponed in response to the spread of coronavirus.

The article goes on to discuss the situation of a number of prominent digs in Israel.

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

Gnosticism and those other Judean temples?

RELIGION PROF: Elephantine, Leontopolis, and Gnosticism. James McGrath provides some interesting links and comments.

For more on the Aramaic Elephantine papyri, written by Judeans in Egypt in the fifth century BCE, see here and many links. For more on the Temple of Onias at Leontopolis, Egypt, see here and links. For more on the recently discovered temple at Tel Moza (Tel Motza, Tel Moẓa, Tel Moẓah), see here and for the Canaanite temple at Lachish, see here. And for more on the question of ancient Jewish priestesses, see here.

I look forward to hearing more from Professor McGrath about his ideas connecting the Judean temples above with the origins of Gnosticism.

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

MOTB seeks to repair its reputation

TRANSPARENCY: Bible Museum, Admitting Mistakes, Tries to Convert Its Critics. In acknowledging that many of its artifacts had tainted histories and that others were fake, the institution hopes candor will build trust (Tom Mashberg, NYT).

“The museum did come clean here,” said Christopher A. Rollston, an associate professor of Near Eastern languages and civilizations at George Washington University who reviewed the findings about the scrolls. “But the museum will need to continue to engage in this sort of openness if they are to demonstrate that they are fair brokers of the public trust.”

That about sums it up.

By the way, there is some confusion in the article about the cuneiform Gilgamesh fragment. It reports that it is a fragment of the Epic of Gilgamesh written in Sumerian.

The Gilgamesh Epic is in Akkadian (a Semitic language) not Sumerian. (Both languages were written cuneiform script on clay tablets.) Some Gilgamesh legends were written in Sumerian, but the Epic was not.

This is a fragment of the Gilgamesh Epic and it is written in Middle Babylonian (Akkadian). Details are here. The statement in the Times is a rather careless error.

According to the Times, this is one of the artifacts being returned because its provenance is "tainted." But this 2017 Science Magazine article reports the claim by a Museum representative that it was obtained from a private collector and that it had "clear provenance." I don't know what happened in the interim.

Background on the Museum of the Bible and the Green Collection is here and many links.

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Conference on Faith, Heresy, Magic

THE NSEA BLOG: CONFERENCE: FAITH – HERESY – MAGIC. This conference is scheduled to take place at Christian-Albrechts-Universität of Kiel in Germany in September. (Or October? Both are mentioned). In any case, hopefully things will settle down enough by then that it can proceed.

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The Assyrian New Year has been canceled in Syria.

CHALDO-ASSYRIAN WATCH: Assyrian new year canceled in Syria amid fear of coronavirus outbreak (Rana al-Ahmde, Al-Monitor). HT AINA.

The Akito (or Kha b-Nisan) normally occurs on 1 April and the celebrations last for some days. I noted it once some years ago here.

I only just found out that this holiday is a modern revival of the ancient Mesopotamian spring New Year, the Akitu Festival, on which more here and links.

Cross-file under Syriac Watch. For more holy days affected by the pandemic (pretty much all of them in April), see here.

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McGrath minute on Mandaeism and more!

RELIGION PROF.: Guest Lecture and Academic Minute on Mandaeism (James McGrath). Actually, Professor McGrath gives us more than an hour on the Mandeans in this blog post.

Cross-file under Mandean Watch (Mandaean Watch).

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The world's holy days in April are upended.

ADAPTATIONS: Coronavirus Is Upending Many Of The World's Biggest Religious Holidays. Nearly every major religion has an important holiday in April — which means it will be a month of surreal new changes for American believers (Carol Kuruvilla, HuffPost).

As Americans enter another month of fighting COVID-19, the country’s major religious groups are heading into one of the holiest seasons on their calendars. Nearly ever major American religious group has a holiday in April. Christians, Jews and Muslims, will observe Easter, Passover and Ramadan. Hindus honor the birth of the Lord Rama on Rama Navami this month. Buddhists who belong to the Jodo Shinshu tradition are preparing for Hanamatsuri, which celebrates the birth of the Buddha. Sikhs will commemorate Vaisakhi in recognition of the moment Sikhism was born as a collective faith. And at the end of April, Bahá’ís will celebrate Ridvan, to honor when their faith’s founder declared himself to be a manifestation of God.

In normal circumstances, these holidays would be occasions for large gatherings ― parades, concerts, packed houses of worship, living rooms full of visiting extended family and friends. But this year, the parades are canceled, pews will lie empty, and many people of faith are counting on watching livestreamed services while staying at home.

The article is about the major religions in American, but the points apply internationally. I was surprised to see how many of the world's religions have a significant celebration in April.

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"Three Ways to Look at the Ten Plagues"

PASSOVER IS COMING: Exodus in the Bible and the Egyptian Plagues. Can we make sense of the Biblical plagues? (Bible History Daily). Includes the complete 1990 BAR article "Three Ways to Look at the Ten Plagues" by Ziony Zevit.

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

Biblical epic films for the holidays

NEWS YOU CAN USE: 6 biblical epics to stream for Easter and Passover (Dann Gire, Daily Herald).

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

A Passover furlough at Elephantine?

PASSOVER IS COMING: The Passover Papyrus Orders a Religious Furlough for Judean Soldiers (Prof. RabbiTamara Cohn Eskenazi, TheTorah.com).

The real reason Persia’s King Darius II sent a letter to the governor of Egypt that Judean soldiers in Elephantine should keep the festival of Matzot.

Past Paleojudaica posts involving the Elephantine Passover Papyrus are here, here, and here. And for many other posts on Elephantine Island in Egypt and on the Elephantine Aramaic papyri, start here and follow the links.

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

New German translation of Philo of Alexandria, De Abrahamo

NEW BOOK FROM MOHR SIEBECK: Das Leben des Weisen. Philon v. Alexandria, De Abrahamo. Eingel., übers. u. m. interpretierenden Essays vers. v. Matthias Adrian, Maximilian Forschner, Daniel Lanzinger, Heinz-Günther Nesselrath, Maren R. Niehoff, Friederike Oertelt, Simone Seibert u. Nicolai Sinai. Hrsg. v. Daniel Lanzinger. 2020. XIII, 334 pages. Scripta Antiquitatis Posterioris ad Ethicam REligionemque pertinentia XXXVI. 84,00 € including VAT. cloth ISBN 978-3-16-157537-2. Published in German. Description not yet available.

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Review of Baird, Dura-Europos

BRYN MAYR CLASSICAL REVIEW: Dura-Europos..

Jennifer A. Baird, Dura-Europos. Archaeological histories. New York: Bloomsbury Academic, 2018. xvi, 221 p.. ISBN 9781472530875 $26.95 (pb).

Review by
Ted Kaizer, Durham University. ted.kaizer@durham.ac.uk

This book provides an overview of the archaeological history of Dura-Europos, the small town situated on the Middle Euphrates that lived through Hellenistic, Parthian and Roman periods until its capture by the Sasanians. As an overview, this outstanding book has no equal. Baird, who in 2014 published an important monograph on the houses of Dura-Europos,[1] brings to her scholarship experience in both fieldwork at the site itself and in extensive ‘digging’ through the rich archives of the Yale University Art Gallery.

[...]

For many past posts on Dura Europos, start here and follow the links. Posts on Dr. Baird's work on Dura Europos are here and here.

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

Jesus and the Unworthy Shepherd?

THE ANXIOUS BENCH: Jesus, Robert Graves, and the Mount of Olives (Philip Jenkins). Some fun speculation involving a novel by Robert Graves, some passages in Second Zechariah, and the ministry of Jesus.

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

The Seventh Seal

READING ACTS: The Seventh Seal – Silence in Heaven – Revelation 8:1. Phil Long continues his blog series on the seven seals of the Book of Revelation.

I noted the earlier posts in the series here.

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Review of Trebilco, Outsider Designations and Boundary Construction in the New Testament

ANCIENT JEW REVIEW: Book Note | Outsider Designations and Boundary Construction in the New Testament (Peter Z. Fraser-Morris).

Paul Trebilco. Outsider Designations and Boundary Construction in the New Testament. Cambridge University Press, 2017

Excerpt:

The bulk of the study is a consideration of five common words for outsiders in the New Testament. Trebilco chooses “unbelievers,” “outsiders,” “sinners,” “gentiles,” and “Ioudaioi” (44-207). The author selected these terms partly because of their importance, or for how they differ in meaning and use from common Jewish, Greco-Roman, or LXX outsider designations (27-43). I found this part of Trebilco’s book to contain some of the most useful and helpful content, often beyond the scope of the book’s stated purpose. ...

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Cyrus and silver and gold

PROF. HAVA SHALOM-GUY: Giving Israel Gold and Silver, Cyrus Improves on a Biblical Motif (TheTorah.com).

Abraham, Jacob, and the Israelites in Egypt acquire wealth from foreign peoples in morally ambiguous ways. In contrast, the Judeans' return from exile, depicted as a second exodus, is accomplished with the blessing of the gentile king, and the wealth obtained in exile is entirely untainted.

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"Passover in the Time of Pandemic"

THE ANCIENT NEAR EAST TODAY: Passover in the Time of Pandemic (Alex Joffe).

At the Passover Seder Jews recount the story of the Exodus. The dramatic core is the Ten Plagues sent by God to afflict the Egyptians and that motivate Pharaoh to free the Israelite slaves who then begin their journey to Canaan. The plagues are a dividing line between two epochs.

But the literal meaning of the Hebrew word for plagues, מכות, blows or lashes, captures more viscerally the effect of these divinely created phenomena. Though from a pre-scientific world, the word מכות–blows– has considerable relevance for today. So, too, does an examination of pandemics in the past, including in the ancient Near East.

[...]

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

Biblical Studies Carnival 169 (or thereabouts)

BRENT NIEDERGALL: Biblical Studies Carnival 169 for March 2020.

Observant readers may wonder if "169" is a typo. It is not. Phil Long explains. And Phil is still looking for a carnival host for next month. If you have extra time on your hands, think about volunteering.

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

Easter in Jerusalem in the pandemic

NEGOTIATIONS CONTINUE: Holy Land custodian urges Israel to let clerics celebrate Easter in Holy Sepulchre (Stephen Farrell, Reuters).

Who knows what the situation will be in ten days' time?

Background here. Cross file under the Church of the Holy Sepulcher

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

More Waqf excavations on the Temple Mount?

TEMPLE MOUNT WATCH: Islamic Waqf Takes Advantage of Temple Mount Closure to Conduct Illegal Digs (David Israel, JNS).

In the past the Waqf has undertaken substantial illicit excavations on the Temple Mount. The Temple Mount Sifting Project (also here and many links) is devoted to undoing what damage can be done.

Still, I am not inclined to make a lot out of this current report.

The two photos look like the could involve just replacing a pipe, which could be necessary maintenance. In the absence of more evidence, I am not drawing any conclusions from them.

I note the story for information. I blog, you decide.

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

They were still excavating Oxyrhynchus in 2020.

OXYRHYNCHUS WATCH: New findings in Oxyrhynchus archaeological site (University of Barcelona press release).

The archaeological mission returned this March to the ancient city of Oxyrhynchus in Egypt. The work had to finish early due to the COVID-19 epidemics, although the campaign could focus on the study of architectonic structures and funerary rituals from the Saite Period (corresponding to the Late Period of Egypt, which started in the 7th century BC) until the Christian-Byzantine period.

[...]

And they are still finding inscribed materials:

They highlighted the remains of a papyrus with a Greek carved text, which is under study, and a gravestone with an engraved text in Coptic.

The phrase "Greek carved text" is "una inscripció en grec" in the Catalan release: "a Greek inscription."

For earlier substantive PaleoJudaica posts on the Oxyrhynchus papyri, see here links, and also the blog archive. For the recent scandal of the missing Oxyrhynchus papyri, see here and links.

UPDATE: I have adjusted my title to make clear that the excavation has been suspended due to the coronavirus crisis.

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

Series on the Seven Seals

AT READING ACTS, Phil Long is posting an ongoing series on the Seven Seals in the Book of Revelation:

A Rider on a White Horse – Revelation 6:1*

A Rider on a Red Horse – Revelation 6:3-4

A Rider on a Black Horse – Revelation 6:5-6

A Rider on a Pale Horse – Revelation 6:7-8

The Fifth Seal: Martyrs in Heaven – Revelation 6:9-11

The Sixth Seal – Revelation 6:12-17

Who Are The 144,000 in Revelation 7?

*Pardon me - I missed the link to this post from two years ago, which was in the post on Rev 6:3-4 linked to above. Thanks to reader Robert Schwartz for pointing it out.

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

Holy Fire ceremony in Jerusalem is still on

IN THE CHURCH OF THE HOLY SEPULCHER (HOLY SEPULCHRE): Holy Week ceremonies in Jerusalem to proceed in limited format. Eastern Orthodox churches will still receive Holy Fire from Jerusalem (Lahav Harkov, Jerusalem Post).

One of the most complex ceremonies in Holy Week is the Holy Fire, to take place on the night of April 18 this year.

Orthodox Christians describe Holy Fire as a miracle, which happens the day before Easter each year. Before heading into Jesus’ tomb in the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, the Greet Orthodox Patriarch is checked that he does not have any way to produce fire. Then, he goes into the tomb by himself and comes out with fire. Normally, the fire is distributed among the thousands of people people gathered at the church.

This ceremony has taken place since the year 867, with evidence that it has happened annually, uninterrupted for six to seven centuries.

Then, some of the fire is put into special containers and brought to Ben-Gurion Airport to planes waiting to distributed it to Eastern Christendom via churches in Greece, Russia, Ukraine, Serbia, Bulgaria, Georgia, Romania and other countries.

The flights are arranged, although the other details are not yet set. We'll see what happens.

The article is not clear whether the Palm Sunday parade in Jerusalem will happen this year, but it won't include the normal large crowd of people.

Ramadan begins this year on 23 April. Whether the Temple Mount will be open that soon remains to be seen.

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

Passover in a pandemic: the latest

PASSOVER IS COMING, a week from tomorrow evening. Here are a couple more updates on how world Jewry is making adjustments.

Israel’s chief rabbis say Passover Seder can’t be held via videoconference. David Lau and Yitzhak Yosef dismiss previous ruling that green-lighted tech option, while two rabbis behind it stick to their guns (MICHAEL BACHNER, Times of Israel). To be quite clear, no one involved in this halakhic dispute advocates any relaxation of the rules for quarantine or social distancing.

Jews allowed relax Passover rules in unprecedented intervention by Chief Rabbi. The Chief Rabbi has issued new guidance for Jewish families to celebrate Passover by gathering virtually on social media (Gabriella Swerling, The Telegraph). This refers to Rabbi Pinchas Goldschmidt, " the Chief Rabbi of Moscow and President of the Conference of European Rabbis." The article also mentions the guidance from the British Chief Rabbi, Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis.

The Telegraphic article requires either free registration or a paid subscription for full access. But the visible excerpt gives you the key information.

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

de Ward on Jeremiah 52

THE BIBLE AND INTERPRETATION:

Jeremiah 52 in the Context of the Book of Jeremiah

Jeremiah 52, the final chapter of the Book of Jeremiah, is very similar to the end of the Book of Kings. The first part of the chapter gives an extensive account of the 587 BC fall of Jerusalem (52:1–30; cf. 2 Kgs 24:18–25:21), while the second part briefly narrates the release of King Jehoiachin from a prison in Babylon some decades later (52:31–34; cf. 2 Kgs 25:27–30). The style and contents of the text indicate that, in the first instance, it was written as the conclusion of Kings. At a later moment, an editor of the Book of Jeremiah considered it appropriate to reuse the material at the end of his own work. Why would he have done so? What could have been his purpose with this final chapter in which the prophet Jeremiah and his words are left unmentioned?

See Also: Jeremiah 52 in the Context of the Book of Jeremiah (VTSup 183. Leiden: Brill, 2020)

By Henk de Waard
Theologische Universiteit Apeldoorn
The Netherlands
April 2020

I noted the publication of the book here.

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JNES 79.1 (2020)

BIBLIOGRAPHIA IRANICA: Journal of Near Eastern Studies. There is an article in the current issue on Daniel chapter 5. There are also book reviews dealing with Aramaic studies and with the Seleucid empire.

Requires a personal or institutional subscription for full access.

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Passover during a pandemic

PASSOVER IS COMING in just over a week. Special preparations are underway across the world. Here are some of the many articles.

Western Wall stones disinfected, prayer notes removed in advance of Passover holiday. Operation carried out by workers in protective gloves and using disposable implements (Arutz Sheva; cross-file under Temple Mount Watch.)

The Power of Passover During a Plague. Most Jews in history have not been free, whether from murderous regimes, famines or pandemics like this one. What we have been is devoted to the idea that we deserve to be. (Alana Newhouse, New York Times)

‘Everyone’s talking about the plagues:’ Making haggadahs for a Passover unlike any before (Irene Connelly, The Forward)

Passover in a Pandemic (Ben Sales, JTA).

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Current BAR issue now available online for free

BIBLE HISTORY DAILY: We Have Opened the Current Issue to Read Online. Explore Biblical Archaeology Review's content while you are practicing social distancing. For you, special deal!

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Steve Green is returning 11,500 artifacts

UNPROVENANCED ARTIFACTS: Amid Scrutiny, the Museum of the Bible’s Founder Will Return a Staggering 11,500 Artifacts of Dubious Origin to the Middle East. Hobby Lobby tycoon Steve Green founded the museum (Sarah Cascone, artnet news).

Green is now returning an additional 5,000 ancient papyrus scraps and 6,500 ancient clay pieces because their provenance cannot be verified, prompting concerns that they could be looted or stolen.

The museum is hoping that its curators will continue to have scholarly access to the works—only one of which, a clay tablet imprinted with the Babylonian epic of Gilgamesh, was ever displayed at the institution—upon their return.

For more on the fake Dead Sea Scroll-like fragments owned by the Museum of the Bible, see here and links. I see that I mentioned the Gilgamesh fragment here, but I don't know anything more about it. For more on the scandal of the missing Oxyrhynchus papyri, see here and links. Many other PaleoJudaica posts on the Museum of the Bible and the Green Collection are here and here and links.

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

Upcoming online lecture by Lawrence Schiffman

PROFESSOR LAWRENCE H. SCHIFFMAN: OLD LEATHER, NEW INK: FORGERY AND THE DEAD SEA SCROLLS.

Online lecture, Wednesday, April 1, 2020, 9:00 PM EDT
Old Leather, New Ink: Forgery and the Dead Sea Scrolls
with Professor Lawrence Schiffman

The lecture will be on Zoom. Follow the link for the access link. (HT Joseph Lauer.)

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

Timely Talmudic reflections

TALMUD WATCH: In quarantine, daily Talmud study is keeping me afloat (Ilana Kurshan, The Forward).

Cross-file under Daf Yomi. For more on Ilana Kurshan and her book, If All the Seas Were Ink, start here and follow the links.

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Review of Alstola, Judeans in Babylonia

THE CSST BLOG: DID THEY WEEP? A NEW BOOK ON JUDEANS IN BABYLONIA (Rick Bonnie).

This is a review of the open-access book: Alstola, Tero. 2020. Judeans in Babylonia: A Study of Deportees in the Sixth and Fifth Centuries BCE. Culture and History of the Ancient Near East 109. Leiden: Brill.

Cross-file under New Book.

For many PaleoJudaica posts on the (unprovenanced) Babylonian-Jewish cuneiform archive of Al-Yahudu, see here and links.

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

On the true cost of museum fakes

HYPERALLERGIC: The True Cost of Museum Fakes. The Museum of the Bible recently admitted all of its Dead Sea Scroll fragments are forgeries. But when fake antiquities are donated to museums, taxpayers lose (Erin L. Thompson).

Background here and links.

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Coptic dialects

THE COPTIC MAGICAL PAPYRI BLOG: Looking at the Coptic Magical Papyri XII: Coptic Dialects. Because you should know these things.

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Estes, The Tree of Life

NEW BOOK FROM BRILL:

The Tree of Life

Series: Themes in Biblical Narrative, Volume: 27

Editor: Douglas Estes

The tree of life is an iconic visual symbol at the edge of religious thought over the last several millennia. As a show of its significance, the tree bookends the Christian canon; yet scholarship has paid it minimal attention in the modern era. In The Tree of Life a team of scholars explore the origin, development, meaning, reception, and theology of this consequential yet obscure symbol. The fourteen essays trek from the origins of the tree in the texts and material culture of the ancient Near East, to its notable roles in biblical literature, to its expansion by early church fathers and Gnostics, to its rebirth in medieval art and culture, and to its place in modern theological thought.

Prices from (excl. VAT): €248.00 / $298.00

E-Book
Availability: Published
ISBN: 978-90-04-42375-6
Publication Date: 17 Mar 2020

Hardback
Availability: Published
ISBN: 978-90-04-42373-2
Publication Date: 19 Mar 2020

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Interview with John Meade on Hexaplaric Job

WILLIAM ROSS: JOHN MEADE’S NEW EDITION OF THE HEXAPLARIC EVIDENCE FOR JOB.

I noted a publication announcement for the book here and two related ETC blog posts by Dr. Meade on the subject here and here.

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Botched bookroll bureaucracy

PAPYRUS STORIES: Law and the Art of Bookroll Maintenance (guest post by Mark De Kreij).

What a mess! More than a half century of rotting scrolls and bureaucratic incompetence. HT Roger Pearse, who offers a summary: How papyrus rolls lost their tops and bottoms – from Oxyrhynchus.

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The Temple Mount Sifting Project and the Coronavirus

THE TEMPLE MOUNT SIFTING PROJECT: SPECIAL UPDATE FOLLOWING THE CORONAVIRUS PANDEMIC CRISIS.

UPDATE: For many, many past posts on the project, start here and follow those links.

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

The Coronavirus, the Bible, and the ANE

DR. YITZHAQ FEDER: Coronavirus: What We Can Learn from the Bible and the ANE. An expert in ancient Near Eastern contagious diseases reflects on living through a modern one (TheTorah.com).

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

Happy Spring Jewish New Year!

THAT'S TONIGHT AT SUNDOWN: “May this coming year come upon us in peace”; The Ancient 1st of Nisan Celebration (Joel Davidi Weisberger, Times of Israel Blog).

The celebration of the first of Nisan as the beginning of the new year is rooted both in Biblical, extra-Biblical and Talmudic sources. Exodus 12:1-2 states that Nisan is the first month in the setting of the new year. The book of Ezekiel (45:18-19) says: “Thus saith the Lord God: In the first month, in the first day of the month, thou shalt take a young bullock without blemish; and thou shalt purify the sanctuary.”

Ezekiel contains many laws and festivals that are not found in the Pentateuch. Many interpret these as being meant for a future (third) Temple. Ezekiel does not explicitly describe the first of Nissan as a celebration of the new year per se but this description is nonetheless the earliest evidence of the day having special significance.

We find a similar reference in the Temple Scroll (11Q19) of the Dead Sea Scrolls. The Temple Scroll describes the ideal Temple of the Qumran sectarians. The Festival of the first day of the first month (Nissan) is one of three additional extra-biblical festivals that are mentioned in the Dead Sea Scrolls: ...

If the first of Nisan is such an important date to both the Bible and Talmud then, why is the day celebrated today only by this small Jewish community? To answer this question we must look to the Geonic period of Jewish history, corresponding roughly to the second half of the first millennium. ...

The celebration began on the Sabbath last week in that Egyptian-Jewish rite.

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The Church of the Holy Sepulcher is closed.

ANOTHER CLOSURE: Jerusalem's Church of the Holy Sepulchre closes amid coronavirus fears (Reuters/Yahoo). Initially for a week, starting yesterday.

For many past PaleoJudaica posts on the Church of the Holy Sepulcher (Holy Sepulchre), see here, here, and here, and follow the links.

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

Another fake Torah in Turkey

APPREHENDED: Turkish police nab 3 suspects trying to sell ancient Torah for $1.25M (Daily Sabah). These forgers don't give up, even during a pandemic.

If they were really trying to sell this thing for $1.25 million, they are epic optimists. It isn't a Torah scroll. The writing isn't Hebrew. It might be bad Syriac, or Syriac-inspired squiggles.

For many past reports of apprehensions of manuscripts etc. in Turkey, start here and follow the links. I was getting bored with these stories and was going to stop noting them. But the news is pretty quiet right now for some reason, so here you are.

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

A digitized national emergency library

THE AWOL BLOG: Announcing a National Emergency Library to Provide Digitized Books to Students and the Public.

[Though not specifically antiquity facing, I include this new tool from the Internet Archive because it will be useful to the many teachers and students who use AWOL]

Thanks Chuck.

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Geography and Religion - and three mysterious holy men

THE BIBLE AND INTERPRETATION:

Geography and Religion

Geography, and the geological formations and climatological effects derived thereby, have a distinct shaping influence on the everyday lives of people who live in particular areas. This shaping influence extends naturally to the religious traditions that develop in certain places, affecting the figures, metaphors, motifs, and physical structures that are relevant in certain areas of the world. To be meaningful, of course, something must be relevant. The Eastern Mediterranean was shaped by certain geographical and climatological forces that enabled life, through rainfall agriculture, but that also limited life, due to a lack of largescale irrigative rivers, constant aridity, and the blight of frequent drought. Geographical and agricultural motifs developed in the region that both were relevant and meaningful in such a setting. Such agricultural motifs earliest were associated with the figure of the ancient storm-god, and then became associated with his subsequent regional manifestations and alternatives, in the figures of Jewish Elijah, Christian St. George, and Muslim al-Khiḍr. Investigating this particular example offers a good case study for the usefulness of geography of religion as both a theory (geography shapes religions) and as a method (geographical contextualization allows us to see that religious traditions always are a product of both place and time).

See Also: Geography, Religion, Gods, and Saints in the Eastern Mediterranean (Routledge, 2020).

By Erica Ferg
Assistant Professor, Religious Studies
Regis University
March 2020

Cross-file under New Book.

There are too many past PaleoJudaica posts on Elijah to link to here. If you are interested, run "Elijah" through the blog's search engine. Past posts on St. George (the patron saint of England and late-antique Palestinian reputed dragon-slayer) are here and links. Past posts involving the Qur'anic figure Al-Khidr are here and here.

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

Traditions of Eastern Late Antiquity at AAR/SBL 2019

RELIGION PROF: TELA at #AARSBL19. James McGrath gives us a belated, but welcome report on a session of the Traditions of Eastern Late Antiquity Group at the AAR/SBL meeting in San Diego in November of 2019. As James notes, I presented a paper at a joint session of TELA and MEGA. My paper was presented in absentia, for reasons having nothing to do with the current concerns.

At present, the AAR/SBL meeting is still scheduled to occur in Boston in November of 2020. But the International Meeting of the SBL, scheduled for July at the University of Adelaide in Australia, has been canceled. We will just have to see how things look as November approaches. If we don't meet in Boston, I agree with James that we should aim for remote delivery.

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TWU LXX Summer School to go online

WILLIAM ROSS: UPDATED INFORMATION: 2020 TWU SEPTUAGINT SUMMER SCHOOL. I saw his earlier posting on the Summer School, but I held off on linking to it, since the information was likely to change. I'm glad the event is proceeding by remote delivery.

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

More on those fake DSS fragments

THAT'S A REASONABLE QUESTION: After Dead Sea Forgeries Exposed, How Do We Know the Scrolls in Israel Are Authentic? All scroll fragments at the Museum of the Bible in Washington turn out to be fakes: Experts explain how we know the massive trove of scrolls held in Jerusalem is genuine (Ariel David, Haaretz premium; HT Joseph Lauer). Yes, we do know that with a high degree of confidence.

Also have a look at Drew Longacre's post at the OTTC Blog: Loll et al. 2019 - Museum of the Bible Dead Sea Scroll Collection Scientific Research and Analysis: Final Report. This discusses and has a link to the publication that debunked the Museum of the Bible's Dead Sea Scroll-like fragments. And see also the links to essays by Rollston (who offers an FBI-style profile of the forger), White Crawford, and Langlois.

Background here and follow the many links.

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BMCR reviews of two books on ancient magic

BRYN MAYR CLASSICAL REVIEW: Guide to the study of ancient magic.

David Frankfurter, Guide to the study of ancient magic. Religions in the Graeco-Roman world, volume 189. Leiden: Brill, 2019. xx, 797 p.. ISBN 9789004171572 €249,00.
Review by
Markham J. Geller. m.geller@ucl.ac.uk

This volume gives plenty of attention to ancient Jewish magic, among many other magical traditions. For more on the Mesopotamian āshipu practitioner (also mentioned in the biblical book of Daniel as "enchanter") see here and here.

Magic in ancient Greece and Rome

Lindsay Watson, Magic in ancient Greece and Rome. London; New York: Bloomsbury Academic, 2019. x, 248 p.. ISBN 9781788312981 £21.59 (pb).
Review by
Adam Parker, Open University. adam.parker@open.ac.uk

Excerpt:

The main strength of this book lies in its concise introduction of different facets of ancient magical practices, drawing on a broad (although exclusively textual) evidence base, predominantly informed by the PGM, the corpus of curse tablets, and the writings of Pliny the Elder, Dioscorides, Theophrastus, and Ovid. This focus is surprising when the recent ‘material turn’ in ancient magical studies has helped to develop a deeper understanding of the nature and scale of such practices.

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Activities for the Apocalypse

IF YOU ARE CONFINED TO QUARTERS and seeking diversion, here are a couple of activities that (resources/expertise permitting) you can do at home.

First, from the Archaeological Institute of America: 2020 AIA Photo Contest. The deadline for submission is 29 March 2020.


Second, the Hugoye list (devoted to Syriac studies) has remained active through all the excitement this month. I can't figure out how to link to this recent post, but I will copy it here in case any Syriac scholars haven't seen it.

([hugoye-list] Sheltering at Home & Deduping SEDRA - Monday, 23 March 2020 at 9:48 pm)

Dear Friends of Beth Mardutho,

We hope that you are keeping safe during this difficult time. As many of you are likely sheltering at home, you may find yourselves with extra time on your hands. Therefore, we at Beth Mardutho have decided to put out a call to those of you who know Syriac and are interested in volunteering some of your free time. As most of you are aware, SEDRA is a database of the Syriac language. Currently, it contains 4,264 duplicated lexemes. We would like to merge these duplicates. If you are interested in helping dedupe SEDRA and you know Syriac (2 years University level experience), please contact Shelby Loster at shelby@bethmardutho.org for more information.

Thank you. We look forward to hearing from you.

Best wishes,
The Beth Mardutho Team

Cross-file under Syriac Watch.

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Review of Schniedewind, The Finger of the Scribe

THE BIBLICAL REVIEW BLOG: Review: “The Finger of the Scribe: How Scribes Learned to Write the Bible” by William M. Schniedewind (William Brown).

William M. Schniedewind. 2019. The Finger of the Scribe: How Scribes Learned to Write the Bible. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Excerpt:

Schniedewind’s The Finger of the Scribe provides an insightful and unique approach the Kuntillet ‘Ajrud inscriptions. By drawing from Near Eastern scribal curriculum, he effectively demonstrates that the early Israelite scribal curriculum—as evidenced at Kuntillet ‘Ajrud—may have been heavily influenced by the Mesopotamian scribal curriculum. Surely, scholars exploring literacy and scribal practices in the Levant should engage with this volume. That said, as Schniedewind occasionally suggests, many of his arguments rely on conjecture and extrapolative thinking.

I noted another review of the book here.

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Nabatean travel and trade

NABATEAN (NABATAEAN) WATCH: The Ancient Nabataeans of Jordan Travelled All The Way to Yemen and Oman. Inscriptions found in Yemen and Oman dating back to the Nabataean period point to the prevalence of frankincense trade between southern Arabian centres and the Levant, according to a Greek archaeologist. (Jordan Times/albawaba). The lecture was by Konstantinos Politis at the American Centre of Oriental Research earlier this month. Back when there were still public lectures.

For many past posts on the Nabateans and their language, see here and follow the links. For still more, search the PaleoJudaica archive.

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

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.

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

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).

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

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.

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

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.

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

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.

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

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.

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

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.

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

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.

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

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.

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