Sigvartsen, Afterlife and Resurrection Beliefs in the Apocrypha and Apocalyptic Literature (T&T Clark)

NEW BOOK FROM BLOOMSBURY (T&T CLARK):

Afterlife and Resurrection Beliefs in the Apocrypha and Apocalyptic Literature

By: Jan Age Sigvartsen

Published: 05-20-2021
Format: Paperback
Edition: 1st
Extent: 328
ISBN: 9780567700636
Imprint: T&T Clark
Series: Jewish and Christian Texts
Dimensions: 6 1/8" x 9 1/4"
List price: $39.95
Online price: $35.96
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$35.96 Hardback
$121.50
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About Afterlife and Resurrection Beliefs in the Apocrypha and Apocalyptic Literature

Jan A. Sigvartsen seeks to examine the immense interest in life after death, and speculation about the fates awaiting both the righteous and the wicked, that proliferated in the Second Temple period. In this volume Sigvartsen explores the Apocrypha and the apocalyptic writings in the Pseudepigrapha. He identifies the numerous afterlife and resurrection beliefs and presents an analysis that enables readers to easily understand and compare the wide-ranging beliefs regarding the afterlife that these texts hold.

A careful reading of these resurrection passages, including passages appearing in Sirach, Maccabees, the Sibylline Oracles and the Ezra texts, reveals that most of the distinct views on life-after-death, regardless of their complexity, show little evidence of systematic development relational to one another, and are often supported by several key passages or shared motifs from texts that later became a part of the TaNaKh. Sigvartsen also highlights the factors that may have influenced the development of so many different resurrection beliefs; including anthropology, the nature of the soul, the scope of the resurrection, the number and function of judgments, and the final destination of the righteous and the wicked. Sigvartsen's study provides a deeper understanding of how the “TaNaKh” was read by different communities during this important period, and the role it played in the development of the resurrection belief – a central article of faith in both Christianity and Rabbinic Judaism.

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Rabin, The Biblical Hero (JPS)

RECENT BOOK FROM THE JEWISH PUBLICATION SOCIETY:

The Biblical Hero
Portraits in Nobility and Fallibility

Elliott Rabin

336 pages
2 Indexes

Paperback
March 2020
978-0-8276-1324-9
$29.95

eBook (EPUB)
(Requires Adobe Digital Editions)
March 2020
978-0-8276-1834-3
$29.95

eBook (PDF)
(Requires Adobe Digital Editions)
March 2020
978-0-8276-1836-7
$29.95

About the Book

Approaching the Bible in an original way—comparing biblical heroes to heroes in world literature—Elliott Rabin addresses a core biblical question: What is the Bible telling us about what it means to be a hero?

Focusing on the lives of six major biblical characters—Moses, Samson, David, Esther, Abraham, and Jacob—Rabin examines their resemblance to hero types found in (and perhaps drawn from) other literatures and analyzes why the Bible depicts its heroes less gloriously than do the texts of other cultures:

• Moses founds the nation of Israel—and is short-tempered and weak-armed.
• Samson, arrogant and unhinged, can kill a thousand enemies with his bare hands.
• David establishes a centralized, unified, triumphal government—through pretense and self-deception.
• Esther saves her people but marries a murderous, misogynist king.
• Abraham's relationships are wracked with tension.
• Jacob fathers twelve tribes—and wins his inheritance through deceit.

In the end, is God the real hero? Or is God too removed from human constraints to even be called a “hero”?

Ultimately, Rabin excavates how the Bible’s unique perspective on heroism can address our own deep-seated need for human-scale heroes.

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St. Plato's palimpsest

ANTIGONE: PALIMPSESTS: HOW RECYCLED BOOKS PRESERVE LOST TREASURES. HT Rogue Classicism.

Alexandra Trachsel introduces reader to palimpsests – manuscripts that have been erased and reused for a new text. Scholars are naturally interested in getting at the erased text as well as the overlaid one.

She uses as an example Taylor-Schechter Genizah Ms. 17. The overlying text consists of Hebrew liturgical poems (piyyuṭim). The erased underlying text comes from the Passion of St Plato of Ancyra. (No relation to the philosopher Plato of Athens.)

If the paleographic dating of the underlying text to the late fifth or early sixth century is correct, this is the earliest manuscript from the Cairo Geniza that I have encountered. The oldest I knew of before was the Askhar/London fragments of Exodus, from about 700 CE.

For many PaleoJudaica posts on palimpsests, see here, here, here, here, here, here, here, and follow the links. For posts on the Cairo Geniza and its manuscripts, see here, here, here, here, here, and follow the many links.

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Cataldo (ed.), Imagined Worlds and Constructed Differences in the Hebrew Bible (T&T Clark)

NEW BOOK FROM BLOOMSBURY/T&T CLARK:

Imagined Worlds and Constructed Differences in the Hebrew Bible

Editor(s): Jeremiah W. Cataldo

Published: 04-22-2021
Format: Paperback
Edition: 1st
Extent: 200
ISBN: 9780567700377
Imprint: T&T Clark
Series: The Library of Hebrew Bible/Old Testament Studies
Dimensions: 6 1/8" x 9 1/4"
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About Imagined Worlds and Constructed Differences in the Hebrew Bible

The purpose of this volume is twofold: to introduce readers to the study of cultural memory and identity in relation to the Hebrew Bible, and to set up strategies for connecting studies of the historical contexts and literature of the Bible to parallel issues in the present day.

The volume questions how we can better understand the divide between insider and outsider and the powerful impact of prejudice as a basis for preserving differences between "us" and "them"? In turn the contributors question how such frameworks shape a community's self-perception, its economics and politics. Guided by the general framework of Anderson's theory of nationalism and the outsider, such issues are explored in related ways throughout each of the contributions. Each contribution focuses on social, economic, or political issues that have significantly shaped or influenced dominant elements of cultural memory and the construction of identity in the biblical texts. Together the contributions present a larger proposal: the broad contours of memory and identity in the Bible are the products of a collective desire to reshape the social-political world.

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Olyan Festscrift (SBL Press)

NEW BOOK FROM SBL PRESS:

With the Loyal You Show Yourself Loyal: Essays on Relationships in the Hebrew Bible in Honor of Saul M. Olyan

T. M. Lemos, Jordan D. Rosenblum, Karen B. Stern, Debra Scoggins Ballentine, editors

ISBN 9781628374018
Volume AIL 42
Status Available
Publication Date March 2021

Paperback
$75.00

eBook
$75.00

Hardbackv $95.00

Contributors to this volume come together to honor the lifetime of work of Saul M. Olyan, Samuel Ungerleider Jr. Professor of Judaic Studies and Professor of Religious Studies at Brown University. Essays by his students, colleagues, and friends focus on and engage with his work on relationships in the Hebrew Bible, from the marking of status in relationships of inequality, to human family, friend, and sexual relationships, to relationships between divine beings. Contributors include Susan Ackerman, Klaus-Peter Adam, Rainer Albertz, Andrea Allgood, Debra Scoggins Ballentine, Bob Becking, John J. Collins, Stephen L. Cook, Ronald Hendel, T. M. Lemos, Nathaniel B. Levtow, Carol Meyers, Susan Niditch, Brian Rainey, Thomas Römer, Jordan D. Rosenblum, Rudiger Schmitt, Jennifer Elizabeth Singletary, Kerry M. Sonia, Karen B. Stern, Stanley Stowers, Andrew Tobolowsky, Karel van der Toorn, Emma Wasserman, and Steven Weitzman.

Congratulations to Professor Olyan!

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Stokes, The Satan (Eerdmans)

RECENT BOOK FROM EERDMANS:

The Satan
How God's Executioner Became the Enemy
Ryan E. Stokes
Foreword by John J. Collins

PAPERBACK; Published: 7/9/2019
ISBN: 978-0-8028-7250-0
Price: $ 40.00
304 Pages
Trim Size, in inches: 6 x 9

DESCRIPTION

Many people today think of Satan as a little red demon with a pointy tail and a pitchfork—but this vision of the devil developed over many centuries and would be foreign to the writers of the Old Testament, where this figure makes his first appearances. The earliest texts that mention the Satan—it is always “the Satan” in the Old Testament—portray him as an agent of Yahweh, serving as an executioner of evildoers. But over the course of time, the Satan came to be regarded more as God’s enemy than God’s agent and was blamed for a host of problems.

Biblical scholar Ryan E. Stokes explains the development of the Satan tradition in the Hebrew scriptures and the writings of early Judaism, describing the interpretive and creative processes that transformed an agent of Yahweh into the archenemy of good. He explores how the idea of a heavenly Satan figure factored into the problem of evil and received the blame for all that is wrong in the world.

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More on Psalm 116

THE DUST BLOG: The cost of kindness. Bob MacDonald responds to Marc Zvi Brettler's recent essay on Psalm 116 in TheTorah.com, noted here.

Bob appeals to the musical notation of the Masoretic accents. This is a technical subject outside my expertise. I agree that v. 15 is not a question, for reasons I have already explained. That said, Bob's argument – assuming it is correct – may tell us something about the early medieval interpretation of the psalm. But it does not necessarily illuminate the psalm's original intent.

The root חסד (ḥsd) is often translated as "kindness" or "lovingkindness" or the like, but its root meaning is "covenant loyalty." The two concepts have some overlap. The translation "lovingkindness" usually works, although not always. For example, in Psalm 136:10, God smote the firstborn of Egypt out of ’covenant loyalty’ to Israel. But "lovingkindness" doesn't fit. Similarly in verses 15, 17-20.

The meaning of (חסידיו) ḥsydyw in this verse would be an interesting topic for discussion.

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Zornberg, Moses: A Human Life (Yale)

RECENT BOOK FROM YALE UNIVERSITY PRESS:

Moses
A Human Life

Avivah Gottlieb Zornberg

An unprecedented portrait of Moses's inner world and perplexing character, by a distinguished biblical scholar

No figure looms larger in Jewish culture than Moses, and few have stories more enigmatic. Avivah Gottlieb Zornberg, acclaimed for her many books on Jewish thought, turns her attention to Moses in this remarkably rich, evocative book.

Drawing on a broad range of sources—literary as well as psychoanalytic, a wealth of classical Jewish texts alongside George Eliot, W. G. Sebald, and Werner Herzog—Zornberg offers a vivid and original portrait of the biblical Moses. Moses's vexing personality, his uncertain origins, and his turbulent relations with his own people are acutely explored by Zornberg, who sees this story, told and retold, as crucial not only to the biblical past but also to the future of Jewish history.

Format: Paper
Price: $15.00

ISBN: 9780300251883
Publication Date: March 17, 2020
240 pages, 5 1/2 x 8 1/4
1 b/w illus.

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Stepped pools, chalk vessels, and ritual purity

BIBLE HISTORY DAILY: Archaeology and Jewish Purity Practices. Testimony of Stepped Pools and Chalk Vessels (Marek Dospěl). This essay summarizes two BAR articles, one by Cecilia Wassén in 2019 and the other by Yonatan Adler in the current issue. Both articles are behind the subscription wall.

I have noted another essay by Dr. Adler on the same subject here.

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Vatican issues archaeology awards

RECOGNITION: The Vatican has recognized three archaeologists for their contributions (Aleteia). Congratulations to all three, but notably to the gold-medal winner, Győző Vörös, chief excavator of Machaerus, the site of the execution of John the Baptist.

HT Rogue Classicism.

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Rom-shiloni, Voices from the Ruins (Eerdmans)

NEW BOOK FROM EERDMANS:

Voices from the Ruins
Theodicy and the Fall of Jerusalem in the Hebrew Bible Dalit Rom-shiloni

HARDCOVER; Published: 5/13/2021
ISBN: 978-0-8028-7860-1
Price: $ 70.00
580 Pages
Trim Size, in inches: 6 x 9

DESCRIPTION

Where was God in the sixth-century destruction of Jerusalem?

The Hebrew Bible compositions written during and around the sixth century BCE provide an illuminating glimpse into how ancient Judeans reconciled the major qualities of God—as Lord, fierce warrior, and often harsh rather than compassionate judge—with the suffering they were experiencing at the hands of the Neo-Babylonian empire, which had brutally destroyed Judah and deported its people. Voices from the Ruins examines the biblical texts “explicitly and directly contextualized by those catastrophic events”—Kings, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Lamentations, and selected Psalms—to trace the rich, diverse, and often-polemicized discourse over theodicy unfolding therein. Dalit Rom-Shiloni shows how the “voices from the ruins” in these texts variously justified God in the face of the rampant destruction, expressed doubt, and protested God’s action (and inaction).

Rather than trying to paper over the stark theological differences between the writings of these sixth-century historiographers, prophets, and poets, Rom-Shiloni emphasizes the dynamic of theological pluralism as a genuine characteristic of the Hebrew Bible. Through these avenues, and with her careful, discerning textual analysis, she provides readers with insight into how the sufferers of an ancient national catastrophe wrestled with the difficult question that has accompanied tragedies throughout history: Where was God?

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Precious or costly?

PROF. MARC ZVI BRETTLER: Psalm 116 – Is the Death of the Righteous Precious in the Eyes of YHWH? (TheTorah.com).

Psalm 116:15 declares the death of the righteous to be yaqar, often translated as “precious,” to God. To avoid this message some scholars reinterpret the word yaqar to mean “difficult” or “grievous,” but a better solution is available.

I have always taken this verse to mean that the death of the pious is "costly" or "expensive" in God's eyes. In other words, God recognizes the value of their lives and presumably would make some effort to prevent their loss. That understanding still works for me. But read the essay and see what you think.

UPDATE (18 May): More here.

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Review of Chapot (Ed.), Les récits de la destruction de Jérusalem

BRYN MAYR CLASSICAL REVIEW: Les récits de la destruction de Jérusalem (70 ap. J.-C.): Contextes, représentations et enjeux, entre Antiquité et Moyen Âge.

Frédéric Chapot, Les récits de la destruction de Jérusalem (70 ap. J.-C.): Contextes, représentations et enjeux, entre Antiquité et Moyen Âge. Judaïsme ancien et origines du christianisme, 19. Turnhout: Brepols, 2020. Pp. 408. ISBN 9782503588308 €85,00.

Review by
Duncan MacRae, University of California, Berkeley. duncanmacrae@berkeley.edu

[...]

In sum, the reader of this book is presented with an album of destructions of Jerusalem, moving from Roman military practice and rhetorics to late imperial construction projects and early medieval apocrypha, with the essays, for the most part, both introducing their subjects well and guiding readers towards the bigger picture. ...

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Jerusalem in the time of Nehemiah (new presentation)

LEEN RITMEYER: Jerusalem in the time of Nehemiah A new presentation by Ritmeyer Archaeological Design.

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Shavuot 2021

THE FESTIVAL OF SHAVUOT (Weeks, Pentecost) begins tonight at sundown. Best wishes to all those celebrating.

Last year's Shavuot post, with links, is here. Subsequent Shavuot-related posts are here, here, here, here, here, and here.

Enjoy the celebrations, but stay safe, especially if you are in Israel right now.

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On Phoenician burial practices in the Persian Period

PHOENICIAN WATCH: Phoenician mortuary practices of the Achaemenid Period (Roman Times). Mary Harrsch gives an illustrated report on a recent PhD dissertation by Helen Dixon: "Phoenician Mortuary Practice in the Iron Age I – III (ca. 1200 – ca. 300 BCE) Levantine “Homeland” (University of Michigan). One takeaway is that Phoenician funerary customs arguably were influenced by Zoroastrianism.

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Colorizing ancient Mesopotamia

THE ANCIENT NEAR EAST TODAY: Mesopotamian Sculpture in Color (Astrid Nunn).

Visitors to museums have long been accustomed to seeing ancient sculpture literally in black and white. The fact that Greek sculpture was painted continues to surprise some people. This is also true for Mesopotamian stone sculpture, although few traces of color have always been visible to the naked eye. This is changing as in the 21st century new ways of retrieving and interpreting those traces are now available.

[...]

For the similar problem of recovering the colors of the Arch of Titus, see here and links. For a recent book on color in ancient Mesopotamia, see here. For posts on language and ancient color perception, see here and links.

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Did the Land have to repay lost sabbatical years?

PROF. JOSEPH LAM: Sin Is a Debt that Must Be Repaid (TheTorah.com).

What do the curses in Leviticus 26 mean by saying that Israel will רצה ratzah their sins and the land will רצה ratzah its Sabbatical years?

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Syriac Apocryphal Acts

THE APOCRYPHYCITY BLOG: Apocryphal Acts in Syriac Manuscripts (Tony Burke). This post is a "detour" on the way to Professor Burke's promised follow-up post to last year's post on The “Egyptian” Collection of Apocryphal Acts.

Cross-file under New Testament Apocrypha Watch and Syriac Watch.

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Josephus in Ethiopic

ROGER PEARSE: Josephus in Ethiopian – a dissertation. HT Rogue Classicism.

I didn't know that there was an Ethiopic translation of Josephus (well, of Sefer Jossipon/Sefer Yossipon). But there is.

For more on (Pseudo-)Hegesippus, a Latin translation (sort of) of some the work of Josephus, see here.

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Too much flouride at Palmyra and Herculaneum?

ROMAN TIMES: Fluorosis a problem in ancient Palmyra and Herculaneum (Mary Harrsch). It seems that too much flouride can damage your teeth and your bones. Who knew? And sometimes ground water can have too much flouride.

For many other posts on the ancient cities of Palmyra and Herculaneum, follow the links.

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Excavating in the plague year: Hazor

BIBLE HISTORY DAILY: New Horizons at Hazor. Four questions for Shlomit Bechar & Amnon Ben-Tor (Michele Barasso). Once again, 2020's main excavation was suspended, but they did conduct "a short trial excavation near the site."

When they start excavating again, I hope they finally find Hazor's cuneiform royal archives that they have been looking for since 1990. For more on Hazor and its excavation, follow the links from there and cf. also here and here.

I have also noted the BHD interviews with the excavators of Abel Beth Maacah, ‘Auja el-Foqa, and Tel Burna.

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Layered theatre and death depository at Hippos-Sussita

ARCHAEOLOGY: Excavating Hippos and the Last Roman Theater in the World. The only Roman city-state on the eastern side of the Sea of Galilee, Hippos has been revealing its treasures in recent decades, including a recently identified Roman theater. But many mysteries still remain unanswered about this magnificent site (Ruth Schuster, Haaretz).

Everything you wanted to know about the site of Hippos-Sussita, from its pre-Maccabean founding to its downfall by earthquake in 363 CE to its decline and its end by another earthquake in 749.

For PaleoJudaica posts on Hippos-Sussita and the many remarkable discoveries there, start here and follow the links. For its Roman Theatre, see here and for that Pan mask, see here.

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Zoom celebration of Schiffman Festschrift

H-JUDAIC: EVENT: Presentation of Lawrence Schiffman Festschrift.

A Celebration of Professor Lawrence H. Schiffman on the Occasion of the Publication of From Scrolls to Traditions (Brill, 2021), A Festschrift Prepared by his Students

A Zoom meeting

When: Jun 3, 2021 01:00 PM Eastern Time (US and Canada)

Registration information is at the link. I noted the publication of the book here. Once again, Larry, congratulations!

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Orpah - defamed mother of giants?

DR. BARRY DOV WALFISH: The Defamation of Orpah (TheTorah.com).

Chesed, lovingkindness, is a major theme in the book of Ruth. And yet, the rabbis have little sympathy for Orpah. To the contrary!

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Excavating in the plague year: Tel Burna

BIBLE HISTORY DAILY: Publication Push at Tel Burna. 4 Questions for the Dig Directors of Tel Burna (Megan Sauter). In this case they did not excavate in 2020. But they aim to in 2021.

I have also noted the BHD interviews with the excavators of Abel Beth Maacah and ‘Auja el-Foqa.

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New JSIJ articles

JEWISH STUDIES AN INTERNET JOURNAL 20 (2021) has published several new articles of interest. There are English abstracts, but the articles are in Hebrew.

Yosef Marcus, “The High Priest’s Sanctification of Hands and Feet for the Yom Kippur Ritual: Between Palestinian and Babylonian Traditions of the Mishnah”

This article discusses the multiple sanctifications of hands and feet throughout the Yom Kippur ritual as detailed in Talmudic traditions. The ritual performed by the High Priest was comprised of five parts, each one requiring a changing of clothing, and demarcated by the ritual washing of hands and feet, both before and after. A close examination of the variants in Mishnah manuscripts shows a significant difference between the Palestinian text and the Mishnah cited by Babylonian Amoraim. The primary distinction discussed is whether the High Priest was required to wash his hands and feet after removing his simple clothing at the beginning of the Yom Kippur ritual. The article concludes that the Babylonian variant taken up by early Palestinian liturgical poets, which omits this initial immersion, is the early and authentic reading, which, in fact, originated in Palestine.

Harry S. Paris, “Taxonomic Identity of the Edible Cucurbits of the Mishna, Tosefta, and Talmud”

The Cucurbitaceae have provided food for people for thousands of years. Two of them, the qishu’im and the avattiẖim (Numbers 11:5), were familiar crops in ancient Egypt. These two, as well as the delu‘in and the melafefonot, were referred to in the Mishnah. All four, as well as the qirmulim, were referred to in the Tosefta and Palestinian Talmud. A sixth edible cucurbit, the boẕin, was alluded to in the Babylonian Talmud. The young fruits of the qishu’im, delu‘in, qirmulim, and boẕin, and the ripe fruits of the avattiẖim and melafefonot, were consumed. The qishu’im are identified as Cucumis melo L. Flexuosus Group (snake melons, faqqous) and Adzhur Group (adzhur melons, ‘ajjour). These were the most widely grown and appreciated of the cucurbit crops from biblical through talmudic times. The avattiẖim are watermelons, Citrullus lanatus (Thunb.) Matsum. & Nakai. The delu‘in are bottle gourds, Lagenaria siceraria (Mol.) Standl., and the melafefonot slightly sweet melons, Cucumis melo Adana Group. The qirmulim are identified as sponge gourds, Luffa aegyptiaca Mill. and the boẕin are cucumbers, Cucumis sativus L. This rabbinic literature contains the first account of sweet watermelons, the first evidence for the arrival of sponge gourds in the Middle East, and early evidence of the arrival of cucumbers in Mesopotamia.

Adiel Schremer and Binyamin Katzoff, “On the Difficulties in Editing the Tosefta: The Fine Line Between Text, Interpretation and the Transformations of Tradition”

This paper addresses fundamental questions pertaining to the editing of classical rabbinic texts, particularly: How should the critical editor of a Talmudic text present this text where the textual evidence leads in one direction, while the context leads in another direction? This paper argues that the editor’s preference for a specific reading might be influenced not just by the existence of alternative interpretative possibilities, but by the editor’s views about the text’s development. This claim is illustrated through a careful analysis of one passage in Tosefta Avodah Zarah, in which different aspects of the text, its interpretation, and development, are interwoven and contribute to its final formation.

Avishalom Westreich, “"'Ox' Covers All Kinds of Damage Done by Ox" (BT Bava Kamma 3b)? On Mishnah Bava Kamma, Its Redaction and Versions, and Their Relation to the Concepts of Tort Law”

This article seeks to uncover the intimate and bidirectional connections between the literary structure of M. Bava Kamma and the versions and legal conceptions on which it is based. It focuses on the monetary damages unit in the first six chapters of the tractate, in general, and, specifically, on one of the unit's central axes: the “Pit” mishnayot in chapter five. The article examines the sources of the Mishnah in the earlier tannaitic literature, and analyzes its literary redaction. My analysis demonstrates the presence of the thread that runs between the legal assumptions that pertain to the definition of the archetypes of damage (arba’ah avot nezikin) and the redaction of the first six chapters of the tractate. At the same time, I show that the tension between these conceptions, along with the redactor's impartiality, led to the splitting of the textual traditions of the “Pit” mishnayot in the fifth chapter into Babylonian and Land of Israel traditions, leaving their mark on the extant textual witnesses.

This article details the disputatious approaches of the schools of R. Ishmael and R. Akiva as the possible source of tannaitic traditions incorporated in the monetary damages unit of the tractate. Traces of these conceptions are also found in the disagreement between the Amoraim Rav and Samuel on the categories of damages in the Mishnah. I argue that this tension is the driving force behind the textual variations in those “Pit” mishnayot between the Babylonian and Palestinian traditions. The division, I argue, preceded the amoraic traditions, and reflects the lack of decision on the part of the redactor of the Mishnah.

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Sinai and the deadly intertext?

PROF. RABBI HERBERT BASSER: If You Don't Accept the Torah, Mount Sinai Will Be Your Grave (The Torah.com).

In several midrashim, God lovingly lifts Mount Sinai over the Israelites to protect them from the dangers of the revelation. One midrash, however, has God threatening to bury the Israelites with the mountain if they don’t accept the Torah. The difference is the intertext.

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Aus (ed.), Haggadah in Early Judaism and the New Testament (Mohr Siebeck

NEW BOOK FROM MOHR SIEBECK: Haggadah in Early Judaism and the New Testament. Edited by Roger David Aus. 2021. XIII, 431 pages. Wissenschaftliche Untersuchungen zum Neuen Testament 461. 149,00 € including VAT. cloth ISBN 978-3-16-160090-6.

Published in English.
Although it is difficult to define Haggadah exactly, this topic, thus far neglected in New Testament studies, can comprise among other things hyperbole; the addition of names, dates and numbers to an earlier text; glorification of a biblical character; parables to illustrate a statement or principle; and the creation of speeches, even of entire scenes. In addition, it is important in resolving the centuries-old inaccurate alternative of true or false, historical or fictional. The nineteen essays collected in this volume, by leading scholars in their own fields, illustrate in an exemplary way how Jews in Antiquity and Jewish Christians creatively employed haggadic elements in their writings.

The essays are in English and German, with one in French.

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Stern (ed.), Calendars in the Making (Brill)

NEW BOOK FROM BRILL:

Calendars in the Making: The Origins of Calendars from the Roman Empire to the Later Middle Ages

Series: Time, Astronomy, and Calendars, Volume: 10

Editor: Sacha Stern

Calendars in the Making investigates the origins of calendars we are most familiar with today, yet whose early histories, in the Roman and medieval periods, are still shrouded in obscurity. It examines when the seven-day week was standardized and first used for dating and time reckoning, in Jewish and other constituencies of the Roman Empire; how the Christian liturgical calendar was constructed in early medieval Europe; and how and when the Islamic calendar was instituted. The volume includes studies of Roman provincial calendars, medieval Persian calendar reforms, and medieval Jewish calendar cycles. Edited by Sacha Stern, it presents the original research of a team of leading experts in the field.

Contributors are: François de Blois, Ilaria Bultrighini, Sacha Stern, Johannes Thomann, Nadia Vidro, Immo Warntjes.

Prices from (excl. VAT): €134.00 / $161.00

E-Book (PDF)
Availability: Published
ISBN: 978-90-04-45969-4
Publication Date: 26 Apr 2021
Copyright Date: 01 Jan 2021

Hardback
Availability: Not Yet Published
ISBN: 978-90-04-45963-2
Publication Date: 29 Apr 2021
Copyright Date: 01 Jan 2021

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Symposium on belief in the ancient world/Bible

CALL FOR PAPERS: 2021 University of St Andrews Biblical Studies Symposium - July 7-9, 2021 - Online only.

About

The St Mary’s School of Divinity at the University of St Andrews is hosting this interdisciplinary conference dealing with questions of belief in the ancient world and in the biblical texts. The conference will consist of both plenary sessions and breakout sessions in which both postgraduate students and professional scholars will have the chance to present and discuss their research. Plenary speakers include: Dr. Brent Strawn (Duke University), Dr. Erin Darby (University of Tennessee), Professor Thomas Harrison (University of St Andrews), Dr. Madhavi Nevader (University of St Andrews), Dr. Matthew Novenson (University of Edinburgh), and Dr. Theodore Lewis (Johns Hopkins University).

Follow the link for further particulars, registration information, and the call for paper proposals (deadline 17 May 2021).

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Workshop on Greco-Roman Jewish authors & power

H-JUDAIC: WORKSHOP: Jewish Authors & Power in the Graeco-Roman Period (June 3rd-4th).

On Zoom, of course. Appears to be free, but requires advance registration. Details are at the link.

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More on the Herculaneum skeleton

VESVUIUS WATCH: The Daily Mail has an article on that skeleton found at Herculaneum, the one which could be of a Roman officer from Pliny's Vesuvius rescue mission. The Mail has decent coverage of the story and good new photos. It also touchs on some other Vesuvius-related matters.

Skeleton found in ruins of Herculaneum is identified as Roman officer who was killed while helping to rescue others during the Mount Vesuvius eruption 2,000 years ago (Stacy Liberatore)

Also, Mary Beard has a blog post that registers a healthy note of skepticism. Part of the post is behind the TLS subscription wall, but you can see some of it for free. (HT Rogue Classicism).

Putting a name on a Roman skeleton

You know what I am about to say. There is no reason whatsoever to tie in this skeleton with the report about Pliny. We could not prove that it wasn’t connected. But the number of middle-ranking military types in the disaster zone must have been large, and he could have been any one of them.

Background here.

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Review of Vayntrub, Beyond Orality

ANCIENT JEW REVIEW: Book Note | Beyond Orality: Biblical Poetry on its Own Terms ( Andrew Tobolowsky).

Jacqueline Vayntrub, Beyond Orality: Biblical Poetry on its Own Terms (London: Routledge, 2019).

I noted the publication of the book here.

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On the coinage of the Bar Kokhba era

NUMISMATICS: What do ancient coins tell us about Bar Kochba and the Omer period? The symbolism behind the coins is clearly stated in the ornaments they feature (Rossella Tercatin, Jerusalem Post). In anticipation of Shavuot, which is coming soon.

Some PaleoJudaica posts on discoveries (etc.) of Bar Kokhba-era coins are here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, and here. Posts noting articles on the Bar Kokhba coinage are here and here. For many posts on the Bar Kokhba Revolt, start here and follow the links.

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One of Pliny's officers found at Herculaneum?

VESUVIUS WATCH: Herculaneum dig sees Pliny's officer who died trying to help. Director Sirano shows novelties of ancient finds before new digs (ANSA).

"He may be," [dig director Francesco] Sirano explained, "an officer of the fleet that took part in the rescue mission launched by Pliny the Elder to help the people in the towns and villas nestled on this part of the Bay of Naples". A navy soldier who came to rescue the desperate people of Herculaneum, crammed in their hundreds for hours on the beach and inside the 'fornixes' or storing containers which were normally used for stowing nets and fishing equipment. A man who didn't make it, he too was killed in a few devastating instants by the pyroclastic surges that swept down from Vesuvius and here engulfed houses, people and things at a speed of 80-100 kilometres per hour, also pushing dozens and dozens of bodies into the sea.

The evidence for this sounds pretty good.

The story is also covered in two articles that are behind subscription walls:

Hero of Herculaneum: skeleton may be saviour sent to defy the volcano. (Nick Squires, The Telegraph)

Clue that ancient Romans were close to being saved from Vesuvius (Tom Kington, London Times).

Both the Telegraph and the Times allow you to read a limited number of articles with free registration.

For many PaleoJudaica posts on the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 CE and its destruction of Pompeii and Herculaneum, start here and follow the links. For more on Pliny the Elder's daring naval rescue mission follow the links there. Pliny himself perished while undertaking scientific observations during the mission, but the mission itself may have saved as many as a couple of thousand people. Pliny's body may (or may not) have been recovered in a mass grave on the shores of the town of Stabiae. For more on the pyroclastic surge during the eruption, see here and follow the links. For many posts on Herculaneum and its famous library carbonized during the eruption, see here and links.

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What was "Torah" in antiquity?

FOR SHAVUOT: What Is “Torah” in Second Temple Texts? (Prof.Molly M. Zahn, TheTorah.com).

In the Second Temple Period, “Torah” was not limited to the Five Books of Moses. The book of Jubilees and the Temple Scroll saw themselves as "Torah," while Qumran's Community Rule and Damascus Document claim that their own sectarian rules likewise constituted Torah.

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Review of J. Rendel Harris biography

THE ETC BLOG: Review of Falcetta’s Bio of J. Rendel Harris (Peter Gurry). The review is in the current issue of the Bullettin for Biblical Research. You can read it at Peter's Academia.edu page (see link). I noted the publication of the book in 2017.

J. Rendel Harris (1852-1941) was a biblical scholar, manuscript collector, and a curator at the John Rylands Library in Manchester. For more on him, see here.

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They excavated the other half of that lamp in ... Hungary?

WAIT, WHAT? Matching half of 2,000-year-old lamp found in Jerusalem said located in Budapest. Hungarian archeologist reaches out to Israelis to say he may have found a match for the rare face-shaped piece discovered on road used by Jewish pilgrims on way to 2nd Temple (Raoul Wootliff, Times of Israel).

This story just gets wilder. It looks as though this bronze lamp was made in two halves, each a complete lamp in itself and each representing half a face. When interlocked, they would constitute a double-wicked lamp bearing a whole grotesque face.

Best of all, one half was just excavated in Jerusalem this year. The other was excavated in Budapest in 2012. How is that for a lucky find?

It remains to be demonstrated conclusively that they are parts of the same lamp. But that is how it looks now.

HT reader Chedva Perr. The Jerusalem Post article by Rossella Tercatin includes a video of the lamp in Hungary: Does Hungary have the missing piece of 2,000-year-old luck lamp? Because of its unique shape – a half face with grotesque features, similar to a theater mask – the artifact was described by the archaeologists as very unique.

Background here and here. I wonder if the funny-face bronze lamp found at the Um el-Kanatir synagogue also came in two interlocking parts. Does anyone know anything more about it? I can find lots of photos of the synagogue, but none of the lamp.

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On the Biblioteca Ambrosiana and its manuscripts

A LANDMARK OF SCHOLARSHIP: WKND Travel: Inside The Ambrosiana, Milan's historic library (Mariella Radaelli, The Khaleej Times via MSN.com).

The Veneranda Biblioteca Ambrosiana is the third-oldest public library in Europe, after the Bodleian Library (1603) at Oxford and the Angelica Library (1604) in Rome.

Within a five-minute-walk from the Milan Cathedral, it remains an important site for scholars and students, providing a model of intercultural dialogue and education.

It sits timelessly in the heart of the city. Its spacious rooms are filled with 35,000 manuscripts of great artistic and codicological value, 2,500 incunabula, and one million books. These precious library materials allow the researchers' minds to expand infinitely. Here, they can see the whole universe within themselves.

A fascinating account of the founding and early history of the Biblioteca Ambrosiana in Milan. The focus is on its collection of Arabic manuscripts, but it also has manuscripts important for biblical and ancient Jewish studies.

Codex Ambrosianus B.21 is a manuscript a Syriac translation of the whole Bible – construed broadly to include the Old Testament, the New Testament, the Apocrypha, and some books that didn't make it into any of the official biblical canons. I have blogged on the manuscript here, based on a photolithographic reproduction in the special collections of the University of St. Andrews Library. In 2011 I visited the Biblioteca Ambrosiana, where I saw and photographed the actual manuscript. For more on it see here, here, and here. And for posts on another manuscript from this library, see here and here.

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Essays: On Becoming a Jewish Bible Scholar

FOR SHAVUOT: On Becoming a Jewish Bible Scholar (TheTorah.com).

For Shavuot 5781, the 8th anniversary of TheTorah.com, we invited scholars to answer the following questions:

• What were the circumstances—familial, social, intellectual, religious—that influenced your choice to pursue biblical studies?
• Has your involvement in the field affected the nature of your religious beliefs and behavior, and if so, how?

This is a developing series: New reflections will be added over time.

So far there are essays by Prof. Nili Wazana, Prof. Marvin A. Sweeney, Prof. Jon D. Levenson, Prof. Carl S. Ehrlich, Prof. Adele Berlin, Prof. Baruch J. Schwartz, Prof. Marc Zvi Brettler, and Prof. Yairah Amit.

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Review of The Wandering Holy Man: The Life of Barsauma (ed. Hahn & Menze)

ANCIENT JEW REVIEW: Book Note | The Wandering Holy Man: The Life of Barsauma, Christian Asceticism, and Religious Conflict in Late Antique PalestineNatalie Reynoso (Natalie Reynoso).

Hahn, Johannes and Volker Menze. Eds. 2020. The Wandering Holy Man: The Life of Barsauma, Christian Asceticism, and Religious Conflict in Late Antique Palestine. Oakland: University of California Press.

Composed in Syriac, the Life of Barsauma offers new resources for understanding the construction of holiness in late antiquity. This edited volume provides an essential guide to this lengthy composition within its literary, social, and religious contexts. Several of the authors present nuanced analyses of the particularities of ascetic practice among Syrian holy men, especially wanderers and mourners; others examine Christian relations with Jews, pagans, and Samaritans in Palestine and the Near East; and still others turn their attention to the historical figures mentioned in the Life and to the relations between Christianity and empire in the late Roman world. ...

Cross-file under Syriac Watch.

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Review of Egri, The archaeology of Mithraism

BRYN MAYR CLASSICAL REVIEW: The archaeology of Mithraism.

Matthew McCarty, Mariana Egri, The archaeology of Mithraism. Babesch supplements, 39. Leuven: Peeters, 2020. Pp. 226. ISBN 9789042943520 €78,00.

Review by
Alison Griffith, University of Canterbury. alison.griffith@canterbury.ac.nz

I noted the publication of the book here. For more posts on the Mithras cult (Mithraism), see the links collected there, plus here and here.

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The Domitian persecution – fake news?

BIBLE HISTORY DAILY: Alternative Facts: Domitian’s Persecution of Christians. Was Roman emperor Domitian really the great persecutor of Christians? (Mark Wilson).

Over two decades since two Roman historians and a Revelation scholar have pronounced a Domitianic persecution moribund, such claims continue to circulate in articles, books and sermons. This shows how long it takes to repudiate “alternative facts” that have circulated for over 1,500 years in Christendom.

Nero is uncanceled and Domitian is rehabilitated. I wonder what John of Patmos would make of all this?

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The Oxford Handbook of the Pentateuch

NEW BOOK FROM OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS:

The Oxford Handbook of the Pentateuch

Edited by Joel S. Baden and Jeffrey Stackert

Oxford Handbooks

• Features contributions from leading scholars to provide students and scholars with a comprehensive survey of the field
• Considers key topics and issues in contemporary pentateuchal scholarship, and examines the Pentateuch in its social world
• Investigates the history and formation of the text and its early reception

Description

Featuring contributions from internationally-recognized scholars in the study of the Pentateuch, this volume provides a comprehensive survey of key topics and issues in contemporary pentateuchal scholarship. The Oxford Handbook of the Pentateuch considers recent debates about the formation of the Pentateuch and their implications for biblical scholarship. At the same time, it addresses a number of issues that relate more broadly to the social and intellectual worlds of the Pentateuch. This includes engagements with questions of archaeology and history, the Pentateuch and the Samaritans, the relation between the Pentateuch and other Moses traditions in the Second Temple period, the Pentateuch and social memory, and more. Crucially, the Handbook situates its discussions of current developments in pentateuchal studies in relation to the field's long history, one that in its modern, critical phase is now more than two centuries old. By showcasing both this rich history and the leading edges of the field, this collection provides a clear account of pentateuchal studies and a fresh sense of its vitality and relevance within biblical studies, religious studies, and the broader humanities.

£110.00
Hardback
Published: 29 April 2021
592 Pages
246x171mm
ISBN: 9780198726302
Also Available As: Ebook

Not to be confused with The Oxford Handbook of Biblical Law, which came out last year.

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Holt, Narrative and Other Readings in the Book of Esther (T&T Clark)

NEW BOOK FROM BLOOMSBURY/T&T CLARK:

Narrative and Other Readings in the Book of Esther

By: Else K. Holt

Published: 04-08-2021
Format: Hardback
Edition: 1st
Extent: 184
ISBN: 9780567697615
Imprint: T&T Clark
Series: The Library of Hebrew Bible/Old Testament Studies
Volume: 712
Illustrations: 4 bw illus
Dimensions: 6 1/8" x 9 1/4"
List price: $115.00
Online price: $103.50
Save $11.50 (10%)

Hardback $103.50
PDF eBook (Watermarked) $82.80

About Narrative and Other Readings in the Book of Esther

This collection of essays considers the Book of Esther from a literary and sociological perspective. In part one, Else Holt outlines the main questions of historical-critical research in the Book of Esther. She also discusses the theological meaning of a biblical book without God, and examines how the book was transmitted through the last centuries BCE. She also explores how the Hebrew and Greek variants of the Book of Esther picture its main character, Esther, the Jewish queen of Persia.

In part two, Holt offers deconstructive reading of themes hidden under the surface-levels of the book. Chapters include discussions of Esther's initiation into her role as Persian queen; the inter-textual conversation with two much later texts, The Arabian Nights and The Story of O; and the relationship between Mordecai, the Jew, and his opponent Haman, the Agagite, as a matter of mimetic doublings. The last part of the book introduces the sociological concept of ethnicity-construction as the backdrop for perceiving the instigation of the Jewish festival Purim and the violence connected to it, and looks at the Book of Esther as an example of trauma literature. The concluding chapter analyses the moral quality of the book of Esther, asking the question: Is it a bedtime story?

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Saltow lecture on the Inscriptions in Israel/Palestine Project

VIDEO: Inscriptions of Israel/Palestine: Presentation (Michael Satlow). For more on this project, see here and links.

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Tunisian synagogue mosaics

DECORATIVE ART: Jewish mosaics from Roman Tunisia at the Brooklyn Museum (Mary Harrsch, Roman Times Blog). Nice photos. The synagogue was in Naro (present-day Hammam Lif).

I note an exhibition of these mosaics back in 2008. See here and links. For more on Tunisian Jewish antiquities, see here and links.

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Reviewlet of Steinsaltz, Reference Guide to the Talmud

TIMES OF ISRAEL BLOGS: An indispensable guide to the Talmud (Israel Drazin).

The recently deceased scholar Rabbi Adin Even-Israel Steinsaltz who authored sixty books and hundreds of articles is the author of the 549 page book “Reference Guide to the Talmud: The Indispensable Talmud Study Aid.” It is one of five new books published by Maggid Books. ...

Cross-file under Talmud Watch and New Book.

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Gelardini, Deciphering the Worlds of Hebrews (Brill)

NEW BOOK FROM BRILL:

Deciphering the Worlds of Hebrews

Collected Essays

Series: Novum Testamentum, Supplements, Volume: 184

Author: Gabriella Gelardini

In the collection entitled Deciphering the Worlds of Hebrews Gabriella Gelardini gathers fifteen essays written in the last fifteen years, twelve of which are in English and three in German. Arranged in three parts (the world of, behind, and in front of Hebrews’s text), her articles deal with such topics as structure and intertext, sin and faith, atonement and cult, as well as space and resistance.

She reads Hebrews no longer as the enigmatic and homeless outsider within the New Testament corpus, as the “Melchizedekian being without genealogy”; rather, she reads Hebrews as one whose origin has finally been rediscovered, namely in Second Temple Judaism.

Prices from (excl. VAT): €99.00 / $119.00

E-Book (PDF)
Availability: Published
ISBN: 978-90-04-46017-1
Publication Date: 19 Apr 2021
Copyright Date: 01 Jan 2021

Hardback
Availability: Published
ISBN: 978-90-04-46016-4
Publication Date: 22 Apr 2021
Copyright Date: 01 Jan 2021

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Where is Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai really buried?

EVIDENCE LACKING: Is Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai really buried at Meron? It’s complicated. On one hand some rock cut burials dating back to the time of the Mishna are present in Meron. On the other, no archaeological evidence linking them to the Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai was ever found (Rossella Tercatin, Jerusalem Post).

Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai (Yohai), who flourished during the early second-century, is the traditional (but pseudepigraphic) author of the Zohar (cf. here, here, and here). For more on his traditional tomb in Meron, see here and links (cf. here). His Yahrzeit (death anniversary) is traditionally commemorated on Lag B'Omer. This year the festivities at Mount Meron were marred by a tragic accident.

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Review of Oetjen (ed.), New perspectives in Seleucid history, archaeology and numismatics

BRYN MAYR CLASSICAL REVIEW: New perspectives in Seleucid history, archaeology and numismatics.

Roland Oetjen, New perspectives in Seleucid history, archaeology and numismatics: studies in honor of Getzel M. Cohen. Beiträge zur Altertumskunde, Band 355. Berlin; Boston: De Gruyter, 2019. Pp. xvii, 814. ISBN 9783110283785 €129,95.

Review by
Rebecca Dodd, Glasgow. Rebecca.dodd@alexandria-research.org

Several of the articles in this large (40 article) collection pertain directly to ancient Judaism. Others are of background interest.

For more on the Seleucid era and its importance for biblical and ancient Jewish studies, start here and follow the many links.

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Solomon's story supplemented?

DR. GUY DARSHAN: As Solomon Builds the Temple, God Warns “Follow My Laws” in MT Not LXX (TheTorah.com).

The description of Solomon building and dedicating the Temple in the Masoretic Text (MT) of 1 Kings 6 and 8 differ from their parallels in the Septuagint (LXX). These expansions are written in Pentateuchal language, uncharacteristic of Kings, and reflect the attempt of a later scribe(s) to make these scenes cohere with Priestly theology and style, especially of Leviticus 26.

It's always nice when the Septuagint and redaction criticism agree.

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Israel Museum Studies in Archaeology

THE AWOL BLOG: Open Access Journal: The Israel Museum Studies in Archaeology. This journal has lots of articles of interest for ancient Judaism. These include articles on material culture and also on the Ashkar London fragment of Exodus.

However, at the moment, some of the PDF links in the AWOL post don't work. But if you go to the journal's website, you can download the articles from there.

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More on the half-face lamp

DEDICATORY METALWORK: 2,000-year-old oil lamp shaped like a grotesque face found in City of David. Archaeologists say the bronze item, unusual because it is only half of a lamp, was put in foundation of Roman-era building on Jerusalem’s famed Pilgrimage Road for good fortune (Michael Bachner, Times of Israel). This article has some new details not found in yesterday's article, including a date for the object (late first to early second century CE) and more information on its iconography. There are also new photos and a video.

The Daily Mail also has good coverage and more photos: That's one ugly genie! 2000-year-old oil lamp 'shaped like a grotesque face' and used as a ritual offering is discovered buried in the foundations of a building on Jerusalem's Pilgrimage Road (Stacy Liberatore).

Background here.

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Quantative-networking rabbinics?

TALMUD WATCH: The Rabbinic Network. (Michael Satlow, Tablet Magazine).

This is a lucid introduction to Professor Satlow's longstanding Rabbinic Citation Network Project, on which more here and here. But it also is an informative account of the current state of academic rabbinic studies and especially Babylonian Talmud studies overall. For another essay on the latter from a few years ago, see here.

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Alleged provenance of post-2002 Dead Sea Scrolls-like fragments

THE LYING PEN OF SCRIBES BLOG: “American Priest, later serving in Switzerland”: On Provenance (Årstein Justnes and Ludvik A. Kjeldsberg).

Most of the post-2002 Dead Sea Scrolls-like fragments come with stories. The following list presents information that we have been able to gather about their alleged provenance.

The list is organized chronologically, starting with the first frgs surfacing in 2002–3 and ending with frgs that have been “launched” recently.

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Review of Elitzur, Places in the Parasha – Biblical Geography

HISTORICAL GEOGRAPHY: Where did the Red Sea split? Diagnosing biblical geography’s meaning. The answer can be found in Places in the Parasha – Biblical Geography and its Meaning, a fascinating book by Prof. Yoel Elitzur (Alan Rosenbaum, Jerusalem Post). I haven't seen the book. My comments are based on what this article reports.

On the headline question:

In a section titled “The Sea of Suf,” Elitzur writes about the Israelites’ crossing of the Red Sea after leaving Egypt. He takes issue with those who claim that the term “Red Sea” is a misspelling of the English translation of Yam Suf ­­– “Reed Sea.” While most modern scholars identify its location as one of the two Bitter Lakes, which are today part of the Suez Canal, Elitzur writes that the entire Gulf of Suez, which encompasses the Red Sea, is the correct location of the “Sea of Suf,” as it is termed in the text.

No one thinks that "Red Sea" is a misspelling of "Reed Sea." Red Sea comes from the Greek translation of the phrase yam suf in the Septuagint. The literal meaning of yam suf is "Reed Sea."

I don't know the latest on this question, but the Oxford Bible Atlas (mine is an old 1974 edition) suggests that in the Exodus story yam suf may have been "the southern extension of Lake Menzaleh" (p. 58) which is on the northern coast of Egypt. The "bitter lakes" are further south, north of the Gulf of Suez.

The OBA also says that in later biblical usage (e.g. 1 Kings 9:26) yam suf referred to the Gulf of Aqabah (the extension of the Red Sea on the other side of the Sinai).

Linguistically, writes Elitzur, the Hebrew word “suf” refers to the sedge or papyrus. This freshwater plant grows on the banks of the Nile and is also found on the shores of the Bitter Lakes and in the Northern Sinai Peninsula. By contrast, the Red Sea is a salty sea that does not have such vegetation. Nevertheless, he writes, “In every place where the information found in the Tanach is clear, the biblical Sea of Suf is the Red Sea. Etymological speculations in scientific reconstructions of miraculous events cannot simply brush away hard data.”

The "Sea of Reeds" was the name of body of water where reeds didn't grow? Maybe. I would have to see the argument in greater detail.

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Fortunate funny face found in a foundation

HALF A FACE, ACTUALLY: ‘Lucky’ Bronze Oil Lamp Uncovered in City of David’s Pilgrimage Road Excavations (Jewish Press).

A rare bronze oil lamp, in the shape of a grotesque face cut in half, was recently discovered in excavations conducted by the Israel Antiquities Authority in the City of David National Park.

IAA archaeologists Ari Levy and Dr. Yuval Baruch believe that the lamp, which was discovered in the foundations of a building built on the pilgrimage road, was intentionally deposited to bring good fortune to the building’s residents.

[...]

To be clear, they found the complete lamp. It was intentionally fabricated as half a face.

Ancient bronze lamps are rare. I have blogged about only one other. It was excavated at the late-antique Um el-Kanatir synagogue in the Golan. Coincidentally (or not, I don't know), it too was in the shape of a funny face.

The synagogue was a basilica, the standard Roman-influenced design for public buildings at that time. There were balconies, supported by pillars, around three sides of the inner space, and a central nave some 40 feet high. The diggers found Byzantine coins under the floor, left there when the building was constructed, perhaps for good luck. They found household implements, agricultural tools, and a bizarre, beautiful Aladdin-style bronze lamp shaped like the head of a satyr; the flame would have flickered from the tip of his beard.

My emphasis.

Also worth mentioning: the funny-faced faucet at Sepphoris.

For more on the Jerusalem Pilgrimage Road / Pilgrims' Path, see here and links.

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Dissertation on ancient Jewish domestic labor & marital obligation

ANCIENT JEW REVIEW: Dissertation Spotlight | Domestic Labor and Marital Obligations in the Ancient Jewish Household (Pratima Gopalakrishnan).

How does a household function? Who owes what to whom, and how did people conceive of their relationships to one another? How did the realities of work in an agricultural society shape these relationships? My dissertation, “Domestic Labor and Marital Obligations in the Ancient Jewish Household,” asks these questions of rabbinic texts. It argues that rabbinic texts view domestic labor arrangements as inherently subject to variation rather than as static obligations.

[...]

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Solomon's shipping empire disputed

NOT A SHIPPING MAGNATE AFTER ALL? King Solomon's mines in Spain? Not likely, experts say (Owen Jarus, Live Science).

A maritime archaeologist has put forward a bold theory — that King Solomon, a king of Israel who controlled a vast amount of wealth according to the Hebrew Bible, financed Phoenician mining expeditions to Spain. However, archaeologists and historians not involved with the researcher's work are skeptical.

Sean Kingsley, director of the Wreck Watch consultancy company, published his theory recently in Wreckwatch Magazine, a publication that he edits, putting forward several arguments to support this idea. His arguments range from Phoenician mining operations along rivers, to biblical names at areas associated with mining, to passages in the Hebrew Bible that seem to link Solomon to both the seafaring Phoenicians and a potential Spanish city known for its mineral wealth in the Hebrew Bible.

[...]

It seems the first round goes to the skeptics. But Dr. Kingsley is still planning to publish an article and a book on his hypothesis. Well see. The subject is outside my expertise and I have no opinion one way or the other.

Background here. Cross-file under marine (maritime, underwater) archaeology.

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Petrantoni, Corpus of Nabataean Aramaic-Greek Inscriptions (open access)

THE AWOL BLOG: Corpus of Nabataean Aramaic-Greek Inscriptions

Giuseppe Petrantoni Università degli Studi di Enna “Kore”, Italia

A new open-access book. Cross-file under Nabatean (Nabataean) Watch.

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A prolific scribe at Qumran?

SCRIBE OR STYLE? Dead Sea Scrolls: Mysterious scribe wrote eight diverse scrolls, scholars find (Rossella Tercatin, Jerusalem Post).

“The main purpose of my work has been using artificial intelligence, an extraction algorithm and statistical analyses to test 51 manuscripts which share a particular handwriting style.”

The article is based on an interview with Gronigen PhD student Gemma Hayes. The algorithms she uses reportedly can distinguish individual scribes who use the same scribal style. Her research also adds support to the dating of "scribe G-QS001" to the late first century BCE or ealy first century CE by paleography and carbon dating. The scribe consistently used the Qumran Scribal Practice, which is a spelling style somewhat different from that of Masoretic Hebrew. And she says that the appearance of the scribe's work in two different caves at Qumran may suggest that the scribe was resident at Qumran.

In an e-mail, Joseph Lauer provided links to videos of Ms. Hayes's presentation last month, mentioned in the article, as well as another presentation by her and Maruf A. Dhali in 2020.

For more on the The Hands that Wrote the Bible Project at Groningen University, see here. Follow the links there for more algorithm news. Cross-file unde Algorithm Watch.

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Methuselah and Resurrection Genomics

NYU PRESS RELEASE: Scientists Successfully Sequenced the Genome of Previously Extinct Date Palms. This study marks the first time researchers have sequenced the genomes of plants from ancient germinated seeds. (SciTechDaily). This release gives a good overview of the study.

You can read the open-access underlying article at the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA website:

The genomes of ancient date palms germinated from 2,000 y old seeds

Muriel Gros-Balthazard, Jonathan M. Flowers, Khaled M. Hazzouri, Sylvie Ferrand, Frédérique Aberlenc, Sarah Sallon, and Michael D. Purugganan

PNAS May 11, 2021 118 (19) e2025337118; https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2025337118
Edited by Douglas E. Soltis, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, and approved March 17, 2021 (received for review December 11, 2020)

Significance

Resurrection genomics is an alternative to ancient DNA approaches in studying the genetics and evolution of past and possibly extinct populations. By reviving biological material such as germinating ancient seeds from archaeological and paleontological sites, or historical collections, one can study genomes of lost populations. We applied this approach by sequencing the genomes of seven Judean date palms (Phoenix dactylifera) that were germinated from ∼2,000 y old seeds recovered in the Southern Levant. Using this genomic data, we were able to document that introgressive hybridization of the wild Cretan palm Phoenix theophrasti into date palms had occurred in the Eastern Mediterranean by ∼2,200 y ago and examine the evolution of date palm populations in this pivotal region two millennia ago.

For more on Methuselah (the famous resurrected date palm from Masada), his siblings, and another recent study on them by some of the same researchers, see here and links.

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A Holy Fire crowd this year

IN THE CHURCH OF THE HOLY SEPULCHER (HOLY SEPULCHRE): Vaccinated faithful throng Jerusalem church for Holy Fire (AP/SF Gate). The Holy Fire ceremony happens on the night before Orthodox Easter. This year that was last Saturday. (Happy Easter to all who celebrated!)

For more on the ceremony, see here and links. As this article notes, last year the church was nearly empty due to pandemic restrictions.

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Review of Cobb, Slavery, Gender, Truth, and Power in Luke-Acts ...

ANCIENT JEW REVIEW: Book Note I Slavery, Gender, Truth, and Power in Luke-Acts and Other Ancient Narratives (Kelsi Morrison-Atkins).

Christy Cobb, Slavery, Gender, Truth, and Power in Luke-Acts and Other Ancient Narratives (Cham, Switzerland: Palgrave MacMillan, 2019)

The other narratives are Chariton's Greek novel Callirhoe and the apocryphal Acts of Andrew.

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

Biblical Studies Carnival 182

RUBÉN DE RUS: Biblical Studies Carnival 182-April 2021.

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

Geniza Greek glosses on the Talmud

GENIZA FRAGMENT OF THE MONTH (APRIL 2021): Five Greek Glosses to Bava Metzia 93b: T-S F2(1).164 (Julia Krivoruchko).

Medieval Greek-speaking scholars are mostly known as those who obliged R. Sherira and R. Hay, the Pumbedita Gaons, with translations of unfamiliar Greek loanwords. Yet beyond and behind this semi-anecdotal evidence there existed a culture of Talmud study, of which the glosses of T-S F2(1).164 are first-hand evidence.

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 Good Samaritan Parable

BIBLE HISTORY DAILY: Understanding the Good Samaritan Parable. Who were the Samaritans? This brief essay summarizes a 2015 BAR article by Amy-Jill Levine. The article itself is behind the subscription wall.

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

Joffe on the Mellaart forgery accusations

THE ANCIENT NEAR EAST TODAY: My Meeting with Mellaart or, Dutch Cigars and the Case of the Missing Wall Paintings. Alex Joffe has a characteristically original take on the late James Mellaart and the accusations of academic fraud associated with him. Excerpt:

But as far as the long Beyköy inscription goes, Zangger and Woudhizen cautiously believed it to be real, but were crestfallen to find no evidence for the inscription’s existence outside of the wildly shifting accounts in Mellaart’s own files. It was, in the words of a former Mellaart student, a specialist in Luwian, “a gigantic fantasy.” At the same time, however, the text itself (known only from Mellaart’s drawings) appears to be so correct linguistically and historically that it might actually be real.

Here the questions are compounded geometrically. How could someone master an especially difficult and obscure extinct language to fake an especially long inscription using correct as well as idiosyncratic grammar, data such as place names, and even phrases that were not yet known to scholars? Did Mellaart take something ‘real’ and then inexplicably fake a backstory? How do we separate the inscription from the man? And if two of the world’s leading specialists think that it might be ‘real’ how are the rest of us to judge? There is no object to verify for market and only the tiniest cadre of specialists who can even evaluate the data. What is real anyway?

"What is real anyway?" may turn out to be the key question of the twenty-first century.

PaleoJudaica posts on the controversy over Mellaart's work are here and here. For more on the Oxford missing-papyri scandal, the Gospel of Jesus' Wife, and the (probably mostly fake) post-2002 Dead Sea Scroll-like fragments (all three alluded to in passing in the essay), follow the links.

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Online Enoch Seminar on Apocalypticism (23-27 May, 2021)

ZOOM CONFERENCE:

11th Enoch Seminar Meeting – Apocalypticism: History, Method, and Reception

Online – 23-27 May, 2021

Chairs: Loren Stuckenbruck, Kelley Coblentz Bautch, Gabriele Boccaccini

Secretary: Joshua Scott

To mark the 200th anniversary of the first “full” English translation of the “book of Enoch” by Richard Laurence (1821), the 20th anniversary of the Enoch Seminar, the LMU Munich Congress on Apocalypticism in Antiquity has assembled 120 scholars and colleagues from around the world to address a much debated question that remains relevant for today. Since the famous 1979 Uppsala Congress on Apocalypticism in the Mediterranean World and the Near East (ed. David Hellholm; Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 1983) and the publication of the Semeia volume 14 entitled Apocalypse: The Morphology of a Genre (ed. John J. Collins; Missoula: Society of Biblical Literature, 1979), the scholarly world has undergone significant shifts in methods of approach, access to sources, and widening participation. These changes now offer the opportunity to assess whether terms such as “apocalyptic,” “apocalypticism,” and “apocalypse” can be meaningfully applied to multiple ideologies and writings preserved through sources from the ancient world. The lectures, presentations, and responses each fall into one or more of the following seven areas (with the number of talks, including responses, within each in parentheses):

(1) Apocalypses, Method, and Reception (21)
(2) Apocalypses in the Ancient Mediterranean Context (9)
(3) Hebrew Bible and Near Eastern Context (9)
(4) Second Temple Judaism and Christian Origins (25)
(5) Christianity in Late Antiquity (17)
(6) Judaism in Late Antiquity (9)
(7) Islam in Late Antiquity (9)

In addition, in several panel sessions, both junior and senior scholars shall reflect on the legacies left by past scholarship, discuss recent developments, and suggest paths that may be taken by future research.

Registration

The Enoch Seminar is proud to host this unprecedented event and welcomes the interested public to seven keynote lectures, while inviting registering academics to join the conversations opened up in the conference sessions.

Follow the link above for the (very) full conference program. The registration link is here. The event is free, but the organizers encourage a $20 donation.

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Numhauser, Hispanojewish Archaeology (2 vols.) (Brill)

NEW BOOK FROM BRILL:

Hispanojewish Archaeology (2 vols.)

The Jews of Hispania in Late Antiquity and the Early Middle Ages through Their Material Remains

Series: The Brill Reference Library of Judaism, Volume: 66

Author: Alexander Bar-Magen Numhauser

In Hispanojewish Archaeology, Alexander Bar-Magen Numhauser provides the first book-length archaeological exploration of the Jewish presence in late antique and early medieval Hispania. Using epigraphic, numismatic, architectural, and other archaeological remains, this volume describes the multiple cultural expressions of a vibrant Jewish community that emerged as part of the Mediterranean Diaspora, becoming part of the wider Hispanian society. Part of this review includes a detailed examination of the Ilici (Elche, Spain) basilical building, interpreted by previous scholars as both a church and a synagogue, using published and hitherto unpublished material of its decades-long excavation. From the archaeological remains of this Hispanojewish presence a new picture emerges, challenging the traditional premises of the archaeological research on the late antique western Mediterranean.

Prices from (excl. VAT): €367.00 / $441.00

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ISBN: 978-90-04-41992-6
Publication Date: 22 Apr 2021

Copyright Date: 01 Jan 2021
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Availability: Published
ISBN: 978-90-04-41991-9
Publication Date: 22 Apr 2021
Copyright Date: 01 Jan 2021

For more on the Elche building, see here.

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Backfish, Hebrew Wordplay and Septuagint Translation Technique in the Fourth Book of the Psalter (T&T Clark)

NEW BOOK FROM BLOOMSBURY/T&T CLARK:

Hebrew Wordplay and Septuagint Translation Technique in the Fourth Book of the Psalter

By: Elizabeth H. P. Backfish

Published: 03-25-2021
Format: Paperback
Edition: 1st
Extent: 200
ISBN: 9780567700353
Imprint: T&T Clark
Series: Texts and Versions of the Hebrew Bible, The Library of Hebrew Bible/Old Testament Studies
Dimensions: 6 1/8" x 9 1/4"
List price: $39.95
Online price: $35.96
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About Hebrew Wordplay and Septuagint Translation Technique in the Fourth Book of the Psalter

This volume examines numerous Hebrew wordplays not identified and discussed in previous research, and the technique of the Septuagint translators, by offering another criterion of evaluation – essentially, their concern about the style of translating Hebrew into Greek. Elizabeth Backfish's study analyzes seventy-four wordplays employed by the Hebrew poets of Psalms 90-106, and how the Septuagint renders Hebrew wordplay in Greek.

Backfish estimates that the Septuagint translators were able to render 31% of the Hebrew semantic and phonetic wordplays (twenty-four total), most of which required some sort of transformation, or change, to the text in order to function in Greek. After providing a thorough summary of research methods on wordplay, definitions and research methodology, Backfish summarizes all examples of wordplay within the Fourth Psalter, and concludes with examples of the wordplay's replication, similar rendition or textual variation in the Septuagint. Emphasising the creativity and ingenuity of the Septuagint translators' work in passages that commentators often too quickly identify as the results of scribal error or a variant Vorlage from the Masoretic text, Backfish shows how the aptitude and flexibility displayed in the translation technique also contributes to conversations in modern translation studies.

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