Berthelot, Jews and Their Roman Rivals (Princeton)

NEW BOOK FROM PRINCETON UNIVERSITY PRESS:

Jews and Their Roman Rivals: Pagan Rome's Challenge to Israel

Katell Berthelot

How encounters with the Roman Empire compelled the Jews of antiquity to rethink their conceptions of Israel and the Torah

Hardcover
Price: $45.00 / £35.00
ISBN: 9780691199290
Published (US): Oct 26, 2021

Published (UK):Dec 21, 2021
Copyright: 2021
Pages: 552
Size: 6.13 x 9.25 in.
22 b/w illus. 2 maps.

Overview

Throughout their history, Jews have lived under a succession of imperial powers, from Assyria and Babylonia to Persia and the Hellenistic kingdoms. Jews and Their Roman Rivals shows how the Roman Empire posed a unique challenge to Jewish thinkers such as Philo, Josephus, and the Palestinian rabbis, who both resisted and internalized Roman standards and imperial ideology.

Katell Berthelot traces how, long before the empire became Christian, Jews came to perceive Israel and Rome as rivals competing for supremacy. Both considered their laws to be the most perfect ever written, and both believed they were a most pious people who had been entrusted with a divine mission to bring order and peace to the world. Berthelot argues that the rabbinic identification of Rome with Esau, Israel’s twin brother, reflected this sense of rivalry. She discusses how this challenge transformed ancient Jewish ideas about military power and the use of force, law and jurisdiction, and membership in the people of Israel. Berthelot argues that Jewish thinkers imitated the Romans in some cases and proposed competing models in others.

Shedding new light on Jewish thought in antiquity, Jews and Their Roman Rivals reveals how Jewish encounters with pagan Rome gave rise to crucial evolutions in the ways Jews conceptualized the Torah and conversion to Judaism.

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

Introduction to late Egyptian history

THE WORLD IS FULL OF HISTORY: Late Period and the Ptolemaic and Roman Periods, an introduction (Dr. Amy Calvert, Smarthistory). An illustrated capsule history of Egypt from the 25th dynasty to the end of the Roman period. It only mentions Judaism in passing, but much of the article provides useful background for ancient Jewish history.

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

Geniza Fragments 80 - final issue

GENIZA FRAGMENTS, the Newsletter of the Taylor-Schechter Genizah Research Unit, Cambridge University Library, has published its final issue, Issue 80. It has been out since October, but I just noticed it. The Newsletter was on hold during the pandemic. The newsletter page explains the reasons for the discontinuation:

Due to difficulties accessing printing and mailing resources during the pandemic, we have decided to retire the ‘Genizah Fragments’ newsletter with a final edition this autumn (2021). However, you will still be able to keep up with Genizah news through our blog page which went live this summer.

The final issue highlights some recent discoveries, looks at geniza studies in the time of Covid, and has a retrospective on the Newsletter.

I read the Geniza Fragments blog and link to it from time to time.

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

Zhakevich, A Targumist Interprets the Torah (Brill)

NEW BOOK FROM BRILL:

A Targumist Interprets the Torah: Contradictions and Coherence in Targum Pseudo-Jonathan

Series: Supplement to Aramaic Studies, Volume: 17

Author: Iosif J Zhakevich

This book conducts a focused study of contradictions and coherence in Targum Pseudo-Jonathan. The first section of this study examines the apparent disruption of congruity with regard to the vertical dimension of the Targum, that is, between the Torah (the Hebrew Vorlage) and the Targum (the Aramaic translation). The second section addresses the apparent disruption of congruity with regard to the horizontal dimension of the Targum, that is, within the boundaries of the TgPsJ corpus. Ultimately, this work suggests that the contradictions are given to resolution, once the greater context of biblical and Jewish tradition is taken into consideration.

Prices from (excl. VAT): €129.00 / $155.00

Copyright Year: 2022

E-Book (PDF)
Availability: Published
ISBN: 978-90-04-50383-0
Publication Date: 17 Jan 2022

Hardback
Availability: Published
ISBN: 978-90-04-50384-7
Publication Date: 20 Jan 2022

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

An archaeological park in Beit Shemesh

COMMUNITY-FRIENDLY ARCHAEOLOGY: Beit Shemesh Tel Yarmuth urban archaeology park test case for new cooperation. Archaeologists have been working for a decade to integrate a park located in the middle of a new religious neighborhood into the community (JUDITH SUDILOVSKY, Jerusalem Post). This article rambles, but some key points are here:

BECAUSE OF previous excavations at Tel Yarmuth almost 20 years ago by Pierre de Miroschedji, archaeologists already knew there were ancient ruins at the site, said [IAA Judea region archaeologist Anna] Eirikh-Rose. And they also knew that in order for the community to embrace the planned archaeological park as its own, they would need to reach out to the residents to become a part of the project of restoration and preservation.

It is a project that has occupied them for nearly 10 years, hosting holiday events and workshops, educational programs for schools, and opportunities for families to take part in the excavations, getting a largely religious population involved in something very new for them. Since the area is to be an unstaffed park, it was important to get the population involved already at the ground level so they can see importance in preserving it and taking care of it, noted Wolicki.

For many posts on Beth Shemesh (Beit Shemesh) and its archaeology, see here and here and links.

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

Nongbri on the DSS attributed to Cave One (HTR article)

VARIANT READINGS: New Article on the Dead Sea Scrolls said to come from Cave 1Q. Brent Nongbri has just published this article in the Harvard Theological Review. It is behind a subscription wall, but you can read the abstract here.

It is the final product of themes he explored in a series of blog posts, to which he links. I followed and noted many of them here and links.

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

Review of McDowell et al. (eds.), Diversity and Rabbinization

GENIZA FRAGMENTS BLOG: Book: Diversity and Rabbinization, edited by Gavin McDowell, Ron Naiweld and Daniel Stökl Ben Ezra (Nadia Vidro).

... Recent research suggests that the majority of post-70 CE Jews in Palestine and in the Diaspora may have been non-rabbinic and understood in many different ways what it meant to be Jewish. How then did it happen that by the second millennium CE most Jews became rabbinic?

This question takes centre stage in a new Open Access book Diversity and Rabbinization: Jewish Texts and Societies between 400 and 1000 CE, edited by Gavin McDowell, Ron Naiweld and Daniel Stökl Ben Ezra. This collection of articles surveys the cultural and religious diversity in Near Eastern and European Jewish communities from Late Antiquity to the Early Middle Ages and tackles the difficult question of the rabbinization of Jewish society.

I noted the publication of the book here.

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

Timothy Lim reflects on his career

ANCIENT JEW REVIEW: Retrospective | Timothy Lim.

The invitation is to reflect on my contribution to the Dead Sea Scrolls and Early Judaism, so I will leave out other fields to which I have also contributed, including the study of the Hebrew Bible, Septuagint, Hellenistic Judaism, New Testament, and Rabbinics. I will reflect on my contribution to the study of the Dead Sea Scrolls and research on the canon.

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

Stoneman, A History of Alexander the Great in World Culture (CUP)

BIBLIOGRAPHIA IRANICA: . Notice of a New Book: Stoneman, Richard (ed.). 2022. A History of Alexander the Great in World Culture. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

I note the article "Alexander in Ancient Jewish Literature" by Ory Amitay as of special interest.

For many PaleoJudaica posts on Alexander and his connection with ancient Jewish traditions, see here and links and here.

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

30 externally verified people in the NT

BIBLE HISTORY DAILY: 30 People in the New Testament Confirmed. A web-exclusive supplement to Lawrence Mykytiuk's BAR articles identifying real New Testament political and religious figures.

That's seven more than in his previous list. Both lists include two "almost real" people and some unverified (allegedly prominent) ones.

For more on Lawrence Mykytiuk's work on external verification of the existence of persons mentioned in the Bible (both Hebrew Bible and New Testament), start here and follow the links.

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

How much medieval (and ancient) literature is lost?

STATISTICAL RECOVERY OF GHOST MANUSCRIPTS: Study finds 90 percent of medieval chivalric and heroic manuscripts have been lost. Researchers used ecological "unseen species" model to estimate size of medieval European lit (Jennifer Ouellette, Ars Technica).

But can an ecological model really be applied so readily to such a markedly different scholarly domain? "Intuitively, it's a weird thing to say that a literary work behaves like a species," Kestemont acknowledged. "In fact, this method isn't even specific to ecology." Chao1 is so general that it's been used in lots of other fields, with "species" standing in for classes of stone tools (archaeology); types of die for ancient coins (numismatics); different causes for a given disease (epidemiology); genes or alleles (genetics); and distinct vocabulary words (linguistics), to name a few.

"It's even been used to estimate the number of stars in a galaxy or the number of bugs in a piece of software that haven't been discovered yet," said Kestemont. "The real question is 'in which conditions wouldn't we be able to apply it?'" As long as you can distinguish something akin to "species," the model works very well.

In adapting the model, Kestemont and his co-authors treated literary works as species and manuscript copies as sightings of a species. They counted works that only appeared sparsely in the historical record and then used those counts to calculate F0—in this case, the number of works that once existed but scholars have never observed. A work was considered "lost" when none of the documents that once preserved it still survived.

I would say that is a fair standard for "lost."

Seriously, this looks like a useful statistical method. I don't know how well it would work for manuscripts of ancient literature. The sample is smaller and the chronological gap between many of our surviving manuscripts and the originals is much wider. But it might be worth trying.

Intuitively, I would guess that the survival rate for ancient (i.e., let's say, pre-Islamic) literary manuscripts from the Middle East and the Mediterranean regions would be on the order of 1% or less, and shrinking the farther back you go.

By "manuscripts" I mean works written on papyrus and parchment. Mesopotamian literature inscribed in cuneiform on clay tablets is a different problem.

The underlying article in Science is behind a subscription wall. Cross-file under Lost Books.

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

A "docu-series" on the biblical giants and the nephilim

TELEVISION: Evidence of ‘biblical giants’ found in northern Israe.l New docu-series to present rare, researched look at the Nephilim (ADAM ELIYAHU BERKOWITZ, Jerusalem Post).

The article evidences no scholarly or academic connections to this documentary series. The series looks to be pretty well informed on ancient legends about the nephilim and the giants, notably Og. Apparently it tries to connect Og to a cool fourth-millennium BCE archaeological site.

I suppose it is plausible that the biblical legends about the giants, including Og and his iron bed, were influenced by the local already-ancient ruins of megascale architecture. Whether the site of Gilgal Refaim was among them I don't know.

I'm not expecting to see the notions presented in the series in any peer-review publications. But it might be fun to watch as a modern continuation of the midrashic legends about the giants.

If, that is, they find a distributor.

For PaleoJudaica posts on the Nephilim, start here and follow the links. For posts on Og the giant, see here and links. Oddly, the article makes no mention of the ancient Book of Giants. There are also many other posts on the biblical giants, Goliath, the Rephaim, etc. in the PaleoJudaica archives.

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

Online lecture on the Mount Zion cryptic stone cup inscription

H-JUDAIC: EVENT: The Cryptic Inscription of Mount Zion, Jerusalem: Ritual and Theonyms (February 23). Tonight at 7:00 pm GMT, a lecture by Professor David Hamidovic at the University of Lausanne (Switzerland). Follow the link for (free) registration information.

A unique ten-line Aramaic inscription on the side of a stone cup commonly used for ritual purity during Second Temple times was uncovered during archaeological excavations on Jerusalem’s Mount Zion in June 2002. Inscriptions of this kind are extremely rare and only a handful have been found in scientific excavations made within the city. The new inscription, from the first century CE was deciphered by a team of epigraphic experts in an effort to determine the meaning of the text, which is clear but cryptic. David Hamidovic proposes a new attempt at deciphering by studying the so-called "cryptic" script. The preserved text and the archaeological context give a better understanding of the function of the artefact. A ritual containing the name of the deity (theonym) is one possibility.

PaleoJudaica posts pertaining to the Mount Zion cryptic stone cup inscription are here and links, here, here, and here. It's been a long time since I have heard anything about it.

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

Byzantine-era marble pillar found in Ashdod

ANCIENT ARCHITECTURE: Byzantine marble pillar discovered in Ashdod sand dunes during police patrol. The pillar may have belonged to a church that was located in the area (JUDITH SUDILOVSKY, Jerusalem Post).

Two policemen from the city of Ashdod on their routine patrol in the dunes of the city last week uncovered a piece of history: an impressive 1,500-year-old marble pillar was uncovered on the beach.

The Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA) estimates that the pillar is part of the remains of the Byzantine Church which was located in the area some 1,500 years ago.

[...]

For more on the graves at Ashdod's basilica of the deaconesses, see here. For the Georgian church at Ashdod-Yam, whose date is similar to that of the pillar, see here. For more on the famous late-antique Madaba Map mosaic of the Holy Land, see here and links.

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

Lions in Israel and the Bible

VIDEO: Wildlife of the Holy Land: Lions in ancient Jerusalem (i24news).

For more on Daniel in the Lions' den (Daniel 6), see here and links. Do not try this at home!

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

Hixton on no-longer-first-century Mark

THE ETC BLOG: Hixson on Lesson from P137 or “First-Century Mark” (Peter Gurry).

Dr. Hixton's essay on the no-longer-first-century Mark manuscript draws some valuable conclusions from the whole sad affair and is well worth reading.

I underline his first lesson: "If something sounds too good to be true, it might be. Assume it is until there is an informed scholarly consensus." I have made the same point: "... if it's too good to be true, it probably isn't." I call this the "lottery rule." If someone reports a new discovery that is the scholarly equivalent to our having won the lottery, we should assume it is fake news unless we have strong evidence otherwise.

I have applied his second lesson as well: "Overhyped expectations can result in undervaluing the actual evidence." A genuinely important discovery can be overshadowed by overdone claims, especially of some direct biblical connection, to try to get media attention. This is the principle of contrast at work. The discovery itself could be quite interesting on its own terms, but the dubious overhyped claim makes it seem less so. An example is the supposed house of Jesus in Nazareth.

Hixton's third lesson: "Don’t cite unpublished research," parallels the point I often make that the scholarly discussion of a supposed discovery does not even begin until it passes the (rather low) bar of peer-review publication. I raised the issue recently, for example, regarding the Newark Stones and some new (reportedly) late-antique Mandean amulets. I raised it regarding the ink of the Gospel of Jesus' Wife papyrus, which papyrus has since been debunked as a modern hoax. And I have raised it repeatedly about the Jordanian Lead Codices, on which, to my knowledge, no peer-reviewed publication has yet appeared nearly eleven years after the announcement of their discovery. I have collected additional thoughts on peer review here.

As for Hixton's final lesson, "Show integrity at earliest possible opportunity," when you make an error (you will!), make sure to correct it as soon as you become aware of it. Cf., in the last several years, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, and here.

For many PaleoJudaica posts on the no-longer-first-century Mark fragment saga, see here, here, here, here, and here, and follow all the links.

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

How did Aramaic extinguish Akkadian?

THE ANCIENT NEAR EAST TODAY: Language Death—The Case of Akkadian (Johannes Hackl).

The most prominent Western example of a dead language is Latin, which eventually developed into the Romance languages. Akkadian, the earliest attested Semitic language, on the other hand, is an extinct language—from which it follows that there are no known languages that descended from it. The most common explanation for the absence of daughter languages is that Akkadian, the language of the Assyrians and Babylonians, was eclipsed by Aramaic (i.e., Old and Official Aramaic) rather early during the first millennium BCE.

For more on the scribal relationship between Akkadian and Aramaic, see here, here, here, and here.

Akkadian may be extinct, but it is not forgotten. Nor should it be! See my long post from 2010, Why we need Akkadian (and the humanities!). And a related post is here.

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

Orion Center Zoom Symposium

ORION CENTER UPCOMING SYMPOSIUM: The Seventeenth International Orion Symposium “(Con)textual Perspectives on the Dead Sea Scrolls.” ZOOM WEBINAR, FEBRUARY 28 TO MARCH 3, 2022.

The Seventeenth International Orion Symposium, “(Con)textualPerspectives on the Dead Sea Scrolls,” will take place from February 28 to March 3, 2022, online. Scholars from Israel, North America, and Europe will share aspects of their current research, relating their topic to broader contexts (literary, cultural, social, and/or historical). Papers will examine a diverse group of texts and writing practices from an equally diverse range of perspectives, using a variety of traditional and innovative methodological frameworks.

For the program and registration information, follow the link. Attendance is free, but requires preregistration.

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

How did Israelites care for their dead?

BIBLE HISTORY DAILY: The Cult of the Dead in the Bible. How Israelites cared for their dead kin (Marek Dospěl). This essay is a summary introduction to an article by Kerry M. Sonia in the current issue of BAR.

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

TikTok Talmud controversy

TALMUD WATCH: Meet the TikTok star making Daf Yomi relatable for millennials, Gen Z. Miriam Anzovin is the millennial TikToker making Gemara more accessible on one of today's leading social media platforms (Aaron Reich, Jerusalem Post).

Ms. Anzovin's videos are generating some controversy. Have a look and see what you think. I blog, you decide.

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

Review of Berardi et al., On the track of the books

BRYN MAYR CLASSICAL REVIEW: On the track of the books: scribes, libraries and textual transmission.

Roberta Berardi, Nicoletta Bruno, Luisa Fizzarotti, On the track of the books: scribes, libraries and textual transmission. Beiträge Zur Altertumskunde, 375. Berlin; Boston: De Gruyter, 2019. Pp. viii, 359. ISBN 9783110622881 $114.99.

Review by
Alison John, All Souls College, Oxford. alison.john@all-souls.ox.ac.uk

For PaleoJudaica posts on ancient libraries, start here and follow the links.

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

Review of Goldingay, The Book of Lamentations

READING ACTS: John Goldingay, The Book of Lamentations (NICOT) (Phil Long).

Goldingay, John. The Book of Lamentations. New International Commentary on the Old Testament. Grand Rapids, Mich.: Eerdmans, 2022. 228 pp. Hb; $40.00 Link to Eerdmans

I found this intriguing:

Following the commentary on each poem, he offers a brief “Readers Response.” What would someone worshiping in Bethel or Mizpah think about the poem? These are short imaginary responses are creative and moving. They are not the sort of thing one usually finds an accidental commentary. This is not a basic pastoral application, nor is it an attempt to create canonical connections with the New Testament is is all the rage in some commentary series. Goldingay invites us into the post-exilic world and asks us to think and feel along with the original worshipers who used these poems to cope with the catastrophe in which they were currently living.

I'm not sure what "an accidental commentary" is. Perhaps a a derailed autocorrect for "in a critical commentary?" But in any case, I like the idea of the imaginary ancient reader's response.

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

Roman graves excavated in Gaza

ARCHAEOLOGY: Builders find 2,000-year-old Roman cemetery in Gaza (Nidal Al-Mughrabi, Reuters).

Twenty Roman graves have been located so far and the team expect to unearth 80 in total within the 50-square-meter cemetery. Only two graves have been opened, one contained skeletal remains and some clay jars.

Because of the shape of the graves and the relatively ornate decorations, they likely belonged to "senior ranking people" in the Roman empire during the first century, said Jamal Abu Rida, director-general of Gaza's Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities.

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

The Golden Calf and Bull-El?

PROF. RAMI ARAV: The Golden Calf: Bull-El Worship. (TheTorah.com).

Northern Israel worshipped El/YHWH in the form of a golden bull. The Bible mocks this graven representation of the divinity by describing it as a calf.

It's clear that the Northern Israelites used the Bull as some kind of divine symbol. What the symbol represented is less clear. Frank Cross thought that it was iconographic. I don't have an opinion myself.

For more on the Bull hymn in Papyrus Amherst 63, see here. And for other posts on that remarkable papyrus, see here and links. It is written in Aramaic and Canaanite, but in Demotic script.

For other PaleoJudaica posts on the Golden Calf tradition, its reception, and other metal bulls/calves in antiquity and more recently, see here and here and follow the links.

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

On ancient Lebanese cedar

BIBLE HISTORY DAILY: Lebanese Cedar—The Prized Tree of Ancient Woodworking. From Solomon’s Temple to the Jesus Boat, the Biblical world was built of cedar. This essay is a summary of a 2013 BAR article by Nili Liphschitz which remains behind the subscription wall.

Some PaleoJudaica posts on cedar of Lebanon are here, here, here, and here.

Cross-file under Material Culture.

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

Still more on Leviticus 10

ANCIENT JEW REVIEW: Leviticus 10, Numbers, and “Theocracy”: A Response to Meike Röhrig (Christophe L. Nihan).

... To describe the process that takes place in the late priestly texts of the Pentateuch, other concepts than the concept of “theocracy” may be more accurate and may therefore serve us better. Borrowing a concept already used in other areas of religious studies, one could speak here of a process of “priestification,” in which the priestly revisions of the Pentateuch—and possibly of other collections of scriptures as well—somehow go hand in hand with a conception conferring increased agency to the priests. ...

Background here and links.

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

More on Leviticus 10

ANCIENT JEW REVIEW has two more essays from the SBL panel on Leviticus 10:

Adaptation to the Story World: a Response to Nathan MacDonald (Liane Feldman)

... In the end it makes little difference to me if Leviticus 8, 9, and 10 were written by one or ten authors, as long as we recognize the interdependence of ritual and narrative in these texts and take seriously the idea that textualized ritual must react to its narrative environment.

A Pair of Pyromaniacs (Meike J. Röhrig)

The first invitation for this workshop settled both the topic: “theocracy”, and the text under discussion: Lev 10 with an emphasis on the first part of the chapter, the death of Nadab and Abihu. This suggests that there is a connection between Nadab’s and Abihu’s mishap with the incense offering and a concept or concepts of theocracy.

Background here.

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

Happy belated 14 February!

OLD CHURCH SLAVONIC WATCH: Saints of the day: Cyril and Methodius (Angelus). I was busy on the day and didn't have a chance to write this up. But here it is belatedly.

Cyril and Methodius invented the Slavonic alphabet in the ninth century, thus not only converting the Slavs, but also preserving much ancient literature that otherwise would have been lost. That literature includes some intriguing Old Testament Pseudepigrapha.

Today the Roman Catholic Church, the Anglican Communion, and (sometimes) the Lutheran Church commemorate them. Other traditions do so on 24 May or 5 July. Follow the links for details.

Oh yes, and happy belated Valentine's Day. Some relevant PaleoJudaica posts are here, here, here, here, and here.

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

Review of Holt, When money talks: a history of coins and numismatics

BRYN MAYR CLASSICAL REVIEW: When money talks: a history of coins and numismatics.

Frank L. Holt, When money talks: a history of coins and numismatics. Oxford; New York: Oxford University Press, 2021. Pp. 272. ISBN 9780197517659 £25.99.

Review by
David Hendin, American Numismatic Society. dhendin@numismatics.org

... Some readers will say that Holt’s tour de force is his anecdotal history of coins and money. However, this reader sees his most valuable contribution to be his discussion of the evolution of “Renaissance antiquarianism” (which was generally recognized as a symbol of connoisseurs and culture) to the coin collector/dealer of today, who has been portrayed by some as a pillager of cultural heritage. ...

Also, I like the sound of "cognitive numismatics," even though I'm not sure what it means.

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

Weeks, Ecclesiastes 5-12 (T&T Clark)

NEW BOOK FROM BLOOMSBURY/T&T CLARK:

Ecclesiastes 5-12

A Critical and Exegetical Commentary

Stuart Weeks (Author)

Hardback
$100.00 $90.00

Ebook (PDF)
$90.00 $72.00

Product details

Published Dec 16 2021
Format Hardback
Edition 1st
Extent 752
ISBN 9780567666543
Imprint T&T Clarkv Dimensions 9 x 5 inches
Series International Critical Commentary
Publisher Bloomsbury Publishing

Description

This volume completes Stuart Weeks' commentary on the book of Ecclesiastes, also known as Qoheleth. Weeks draws together all the relevant tools for understanding this complex wisdom book in the Old Testament. As is the hallmark of the ICC no stone is left unturned as Weeks considers the full range of linguistic, textual, archaeological, literary and theological interpretations of the text.

Week incorporates recent interpretation alongside the history of research to examine the text of Ecclesiastes 6-12 in the closest possible, offering a reading of what may have be the original writer's linguistic and theological intent.

The volume is a companion to Weeks' previous commentary on chapters 1-5 of Ecclesiastes, which also contains his exhaustive bibliography of works relevant to the study of the text.

The entry for his commentary on Ecclessiastes 1-5 is here.

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

Lindstedt et al. (eds.), Religious Identities in Antiquity and the Early Middle Ages (Brill)

NEW BOOK FROM BRILL:

Religious Identities in Antiquity and the Early Middle Ages

Walking Together & Parting Ways

Series: Studies on the Children of Abraham, Volume: 9

Volume Editors: Ilkka Lindstedt, Nina Nikki, and Riikka Tuori

Religious Identities in Antiquity and the Early Middle Ages contains eight thought-provoking articles that discuss the formation of antique and early medieval religious identities and ideas in rabbinic Judaism, early Christianity, Islam, and Greco-Roman culture. The articles question the artificial disciplinary and conceptual boundaries between traditions. Instead, they stress their shared nature. The collection is a result of discussions at the international symposium “Ideas and Identities in Late Antiquity: Jews, Christians, and Muslims” at the Helsinki Collegium for Advanced Studies on March 12–13, 2018.

Copyright Year: 2022

Prices from (excl. VAT): €145.00 / $175.00

E-Book (PDF)
Availability: Published
ISBN: 978-90-04-47116-0
Publication Date: 08 Nov 2021

Hardback
Availability: Published
ISBN: 978-90-04-47115-3
Publication Date: 11 Nov 2021

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Ran Zadok Festschrift (De Gruyter)

BIBLIOGRAPHIA IRANICA: Individuals and Institutions in the Ancient Near East. Notice of a New Book: Gabbay, Uri & Shai Gordin (eds.). 2021. Individuals and Institutions in the Ancient Near East: A Tribute to Ran Zadok (Studies in Ancient Near Eastern Records 27). Berlin: De Gruyter.

The volume inculdes text-related articles on Persepolis, late Babylonia, and Idumea.

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Lehmhaus (ed.), Defining Jewish Medicine (Harrassowitz, open access)

THE AWOL BLOG: Defining Jewish Medicine. Transfer of Medical Knowledge in Jewish Cultures and Traditions. An open-access volume edited by Lennart Lehmhaus and published by Harrassowitz (2021). Many of the articles are Talmud related.

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AJR reviews Schniedewind, The Finger of the Scribe

ANCIENT JEW REVIEW: Book Note | The Finger of the Scribe: How Scribes Learned to Write the Bible (Ki-Eun Jang).

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

... Through his new interpretation of the Kuntillet ‘Ajrud inscriptions, Schniedewind argues that ancient scribes who wrote the Hebrew Bible were trained according to an Israelite alphabetic scribal education, which emerged out of an earlier cuneiform scribal curriculum during a transitional period between the Late Bronze Age and the Iron Age. ...

I have noted other reviews of the book here and here.

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PhD diss on Ancient Synagogue Coins

THE AWOL BLOG: Ancient Synagogue Coins: A Digital Dissertation Project.

ABSTRACT

Tine Rassalle: Coin Deposits from Ancient Synagogues in Late Antique Palestine
(Under the Direction of Dr. Jodi Magness)

During archaeological excavations over the last century, fifty-seven separate coin deposits have been found in ancient synagogues from Late Antique Palestine and the Diaspora. This project provides an overview of these deposits, the buildings they were discovered in, and the specific coins they contained. Based on their archaeological contexts and an analysis of the Jewish religious and socio-economic circumstances of Late Antiquity, I argue that there are seven possible reasons for why these deposits were placed inside a synagogue building. This dissertation project gives an overview of these categories and explores the different economic and symbolic functions coins in sacred spaces could have had in ancient Jewish society.

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

Review of Adams, Greek genres and Jewish authors

BRYN MAYR CLASSICAL REVIEW: Greek genres and Jewish authors: negotiating literary culture in the Greco-Roman era.

Sean A. Adams, Greek genres and Jewish authors: negotiating literary culture in the Greco-Roman era. Waco: Baylor University Press, 2020. Pp. xi, 430. ISBN 9781481312912 $79.99.

Review by
Robert Kugler, Lewis and Clark University. kugler@lclark.edu

I noted the book and a related essay by the author here.

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

Hobbyist recovers lost secret of Tyrian purple?

PHOENICIAN WATCH: Biblical royal purple dye from snails recreated by Tunisian enthusiast. So expensive was the color even in ancient times that the Romans restricted its use to the elite, whose purple fringed robes became the mark of the Mediterranean's most powerful dynasty (Reuters via the Jerusalem Post).

Mouhamad Ghassen Nouira works from a hut in his garden to process murex snails using techniques first developed by the Phoenicians to produce a dye known as Tyrian purple that sells online for about $2,500 a gram.

Everyone needs a hobby. This one sounds lucrative. But also work intensive:

Nouira spent 14 years working out how to produce the dye from nets of murex he buys from a local fisherman, extracting the glands, crushing the shells, fermenting and cooking them and eventually producing tiny amounts of purple powder.

It takes 54 kilograms (119 lb) of murex shells to produce a single gram of Tyrian purple, making it hard to be economically viable. Huge mounds of broken shells from the dye industry of centuries past are still found near great Phoenician centers.

For PaleoJudaica posts involving Tyrian purple dye and the Israelite telekhet dye, both made from the murex snail, start here and follow the links.

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

International LXX Day 2022 (belatedly)

INTERNATIONAL SEPTUAGINT DAY WAS ON 8 FEBRUARY. I missed it again. Fortunately, William Ross was on the case: INTERNATIONAL SEPTUAGINT DAY 2022: A ROUNDUP.

Previous posts on the day are collected here.

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

Looting arrest near Nablus

APPREHENDED: Man suspected of selling antiquities is arrested. Man suspected of stealing thousands of archaeological artifacts from various periods is arrested near Shechem. 'An important and significant operation (Arutz Sheva/Israel National News).

The individual is suspected of stealing and selling thousands of rare antiquities, worth hundreds of thousands of shekels.

[...]

Among the findings confiscated were archaeological items from the Persian period, the Hellenistic period, and coins from the period of the Great Jewish Revolt, along with equipment which the suspect [allegedly] used to steal the antiquities.

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

Is Jesus, Hermes, or Orpheus on that ring?

ICONOGRAPHY: Does an Ancient Ring Found in a Shipwreck Depict Jesus Christ? The “Good Shepherd” ring caused a stir when it was unveiled last month, but things may not be so clear-cut (Candida Moss, Daily Beast).

The similarities between the bucolic images and the fact that the shepherd was a pagan motif meant that the ring’s interpretation was very much in the eye of the beholder. One person could look at it and see the Jesus of the Gospels, another might see Hermes. It’s a flexible and multivalent image. What this means of course, is that we cannot be certain that the ring’s owner was Christian we can only be sure that they were wealthy enough to purchase such an expensive luxury item.

For more on the Caesarea shipwrecks and the "Good Shepherd" ring, see here and here.

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

SBL Panel on Leviticus 10

ANCIENT JEW REVIEW: Leviticus 10: an SBL 2021 Panel (Angela Roskop Erisman).

The papers that constitute this forum first appeared as a conference panel at the 2021 meeting of the Society of Biblical Literature. They discuss several different issues that are relevant to questions of the relationship between ritual and narrative, ritual innovation in both practice and ideal, and the historical development of the priesthood in ancient Israel, including its intersection with political power. The place of Leviticus 10 in the development of priestly literature in the Torah bears at every turn on how these issues are understood. ...

The first essay in the series is now posted: Error and Response in Leviticus 10 (Nathan MacDonald).

The main problems that the text of Lev 10 confronts the modern interpreter with are not primarily compositional, but exegetical. There are two intractable problems. First, what precisely was the error in vv. 1–2 that led to Nadav and Avihu being consumed by divine fire? Edward Greenstein memorably described this incident as ‘a punishment in search of a crime’.[1] Secondly, why does Aaron’s enigmatic response in v. 19 mollify Moses and allow an irregular practice to be permitted? I don’t think I misrepresent scholarship when I say that we have not find a compelling solution to either problem. ...

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Midrash Volume 9 (2021)

H-JUDAIC: TOC: Midrash Volume 9 (2021). The link to the volume at Gorgias Press is here.

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

Tekoniemi, The Textual History of 2 Kings 17 (De Gruyter)

NEW BOOK FROMDE GRUYTER:

The Textual History of 2 Kings 17

Timo Tapani Tekoniemi

Volume 536 in the series Beihefte zur Zeitschrift für die alttestamentliche Wissenschaft
https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110720792

PDF & EPUB £79.00
Hardcover £79.00

eBook
Published: September 7, 2021
ISBN: 9783110720792

Hardcover
Published: September 7, 2021
ISBN: 9783110720761

About this book

The textual history of the Books of Kings forms one of the most complex and debated issues in the modern text-historical scholarship. This book examines and reconstructs the textual history of 2 Kings 17 in light of the preserved textual evidence. The analysis of textual differences between the LXX, the Old Latin, and the MT allows the reconstruction of the oldest text attainable. The Old Latin version appears to have in many cases best preserved the Old Greek edition of the chapter, now lost in the Greek witnesses due to Hebraizing revisions. The Old Greek version of 2 Kings 17 evidences a Hebrew Vorlage often radically differing from the MT. In most cases the MT exhibits signs of later editing. The LXX can thus help the scholars reconstruct multiple text-historical layers previously out of our reach, as well as shed new light on certain historiographical details recounted in 2 Kings 17. As supposed by the literary critics for well over a century, the textual data shows beyond doubt that there happened vast editing and rewriting of the Books of Kings even at very late date. Text-critical considerations are therefore not only useful, but invaluable to all scholarly work on 2 Kings 17, and the Books of Kings as a whole.

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Becking, Israel's Past (De Gruyter)

NEW BOOK FROM DE GRUYTER:

Israel's Past
Studies on History and Religion in Ancient Israel and Judah

Bob Becking

Volume 535 in the series Beihefte zur Zeitschrift für die alttestamentliche Wissenschaft https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110717266

PDF & EPUB £79.00
Hardcover £79.00

eBook
Published: October 4, 2021
ISBN: 9783110717266

Hardcover
Published: October 4, 2021
ISBN: 9783110717143

About this book

This collection of essays gives an insight into the problems that we encounter when we try to (re)construct events from Israel's past. On the one hand, the Hebrew Bible is a biased source, on the other hand, the data provided by archaeology and extra-biblical texts are constrained and sometimes contradictory. Discussing a set of examples, the author applies fundamental insight from the philosophy of history to clarify Israel's past.

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Evans et al. (eds.), Visions and Violence in the Pseudepigrapha (T&T Clark)

NEW BOOK FROM BLOOMSBURY/T&T CLARK:

Visions and Violence in the Pseudepigrapha

Craig A. Evans (Anthology Editor), Brian Leport (Anthology Editor), Paul T. Sloan (Anthology Editor)

Hardback
$115.00 $103.50

Ebook (PDF)
$103.50 $82.80

Ebook (Epub & Mobi)
$103.50 $82.80

Product details

Published Dec 16 2021
Format Hardback
Edition 1st
Extent 280
ISBN 9780567703217
Imprint T&T Clark
Dimensions 9 x 6 inches
Series Jewish and Christian Texts
Publisher Bloomsbury Publishing

Description

The nine essays that make up this volume provide cutting-edge studies of how sacred tradition is given new expression through vision and interpretation. The first four essays focus on the expansion of the sacred tradition primarily through vision. The evolution of the Solomon legacy, from wise king to healer and exorcist, is explored, as well as its contribution to the demonology of the desert fathers, especially as it concerns eroticism and sexual temptation. The varied receptions of the Revelation of the Magi and Shepherd of Hermas are also considered.

The remaining five essays address important questions relating to polemic and violence in the Pseudepigrapha. How does the author of the Liber Antiquitatum Biblicarum justify God's alternating judgment and favor? How does Enoch's Animal Apocalypse make use of the Exodus tradition in its expression of deliverance? On what basis can the author of Qumran's War Scroll confidently predict Israel's vindication? And finally, what accounts for the appearance of the tradition of Gehenna, in which the wicked will meet their fiery end?

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The Books of Haggai and Zechariah in their Persian Context

THE ANCIENT NEAR EAST TODAY: Visions from the Middle Territory: The Books of Haggai and Zechariah in their Persian Context (Robert L. Foster).

For the author's recent book, The Theology of the Books of Haggai and Zechariah (CUP), see here

For some thoughts on the Book of Zechariah, see here. And there are many other posts on the prophets Haggai and Zechariah and their books in the PaleoJudaica archives.

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

Review of Ramos, Ritual in Deuteronomy

BRYN MAYR CLASSICAL REVIEW: Ritual in Deuteronomy: the performance of doom.

Melissa D. Ramos, Ritual in Deuteronomy: the performance of doom. The ancient word. Abingdon; New York: Routledge, 2021. Pp. xiv, 170. ISBN 9781138570986 $160.00.

Review by
Lindy Williams, Fuller Seminary. lindy@fuller.edu

... In chapter four she brings her points together, arguing that the connections between the incantation texts, STE, and other evidence makes the late Iron Age the likely date of the background setting of Deut 27–30. While many view the ritual material in Deuteronomy as a late addition that disrupts the narrative, Ramos’ study shows Deut 27 as an integral part of the surrounding legal material. ...

I noted the publication of the book here.

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

Biblical Studies Carnival 191

ZWINGLIUS REDIVIVUS: The January Carnival of the Biblical Studies Carnivals: The Most Glorious Carnival from 2022 So Far (Jim West).

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

Coin of Emperor Valentinian found in Israel

NUMISMATICS: Israel discovers 1,650-year-old Roman coin with emperor's portrait (Xinua via MSN). The brief article reports that the coin was discovered by school children in the Besor Stream region in Southern Israel.

I am curious why only Xinua seems to have noticed the IAA announcement.

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

Is that Mount Ebal amulet inscribed?

NORTHWEST SEMITIC EPIGRAPHY AND ICONOGRAPHY? Last week I noted the report on the late second-millennium lead amulet recently recovered from the stored dust of the Mount Ebal altar excavation. The article claims that grooves inscribed on the amulet resembled the Hebrew letter "alef" (aleph) in roughly the shape of a bull's head (which sounded right for the period) and also a lotus flower.

I lamented the poor quality of the photo and asked for clarification.

Since then, Joseph Lauer has drawn my attention to a blog post by Bryan Windle which includes much better photos of the object. Bryan also links to an article by Zvi Koenigberg in the Jerusalem Report (Jerusalem Post) which gives a more detailed account of the amulet.

If am reading Koenigberg correctly, the inscription on the amulet is on the inside and is only visible on the computer 3-D model which reconstructs the view of the outside and inside. Until we see that reconstruction, it is difficult to evaluate the claim.

I see no clear indication of deliberate markings on the new photo of the still unopened amulet. But they would be visible, if at all, only as an external indentation of marks that are on the inside. So for now I withhold judgment on the claim.

If you want to know what to look for, look at the drawing of the Izbet Sarta abecedary by Frank Moore Cross in this Bible History Daily post. You may need to expand the drawing for a clear view. The Izbet Sarta inscription contains multiple copies of the Canaanite alphabet from around the same time period as the altar on Mount Ebal.

Look on the far left side of the first and last lines. That letter is an aleph. It was originally a drawing of an "ox" head (aleph means "ox" in Canaanite/Hebrew). The stance of the letter varies, but it looks a bit like a rounded capital letter "A" lying on its side. Turn the "A" until it is upside down and you can see the stylized head with the two horns sticking out.

That is what I would expect to see on the inside of the Mount Ebal amulet if there is a letter aleph there. Again, I await more information.

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

A Roman-era (?) site uncovered in Gaza

CHANCE DISCOVERY: Gaza bulldozers uncover ancient Roman-era burial site; some antiquities carted off. Reports say locals have been plundering site in recent weeks; archeologists say find likely points to a nearby Roman temple or a Byzantine church (AP and Times of Israel).

For the reopening of that late-antique church in Gaza as a museum by Hamas, see here.

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

More on the 13K 18K ostraca from Athribis, Egypt

EGYTPTIAN EPIGRAPHY: More than 18,000 pot sherds document life in ancient Egypt (University of Tübingen/PhysOrg).

Egyptologists have recovered more than 18,000 inscribed sherds in ancient Athribis—the remains of vessels and jars that served as writing material some 2,000 years ago. The sherds, known as ostraca, document lists of names, purchases of food and everyday objects, and even writing from a school, including lines written by pupils as a punishment. It is very rare to find such a large volume of ostraca. They were recovered during excavations led by Professor Christian Leitz of the Institute for Ancient Near Eastern Studies (IANES) at the University of Tübingen in cooperation with Mohamed Abdelbadia and his team from the Egyptian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities.

[...]

I noted an early report of the discovery here. At that point there were only (!) 13,000 inscribed ostraca. This article has a lot of new information on their contents.

For more on the site of Athribis (Atribis), see here.

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

Ganzel, Ezekiel's Visionary Temple in Babylonian Context (De Gruyter)

NEW BOOK FROM DE GRUYTER:

Ezekiel's Visionary Temple in Babylonian Context

Tova Ganzel

Volume 539 in the series Beihefte zur Zeitschrift für die alttestamentliche Wissenschaft
https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110740844

PDF & EPUB £79.00
Hardcover £79.00

eBook
Published: September 7, 2021
ISBN: 9783110740844

Hardcover
Published: September 7, 2021
ISBN: 9783110740677

About this book

Ezekiel's Visionary Temple in Babylonian Context examines evidence from Babylonian sources to better understand Ezekiel's vision of the future temple as it appears in chapters 40–48. Tova Ganzel argues that Neo-Babylonian temples provide a meaningful backdrop against which many unique features of Ezekiel's vision can and should be interpreted. In pointing to the similarities between Neo-Babylonian temples and the description in the book of Ezekiel, Ganzel demonstrates how these temples served as a context for the prophet's visions and describes the extent to which these similarities provide a further basis for broader research of the connections between Babylonia and the Bible. Ultimately, she argues the extent to which the book of Ezekiel models its temple on those of the Babylonians. Thus, this book suggests a comprehensive picture of the book of Ezekiel’s worldview and to contextualize its visionary temple by comparing its vision to the actual temples surrounding the Judeans in exile.

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Leipziger, Lesepraktiken im antiken Judentum (De Gruyter, open access)

NEW OPEN-ACCESS BOOK IN GERMAN FROM DE GRUYTER:

Lesepraktiken im antiken Judentum
Rezeptionsakte, Materialität und Schriftgebrauch
Reading Practices in Ancient Judaism. Acts of reception, materiality and use of writing

Jonas Leipziger

Funded by: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft

Volume 34 in the series Materiale Textkulturen
https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110732764

Hardcover £91.00

eBook
Published: September 20, 2021
ISBN: 9783110732764

Hardcover
Published: September 20, 2021
ISBN: 9783110737622

About this book

Open Access

Practices of reading form an important center of synagogal worship as well as Jewish scholarship. The monograph reconstructs the development of ritual reading practices in ancient Judaism based on the triad of acts of reception, materiality, and scriptural use. In this context, Greek-speaking Judaism and its reception of the Greek Bible are given greater attention than before.

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H-Judaic on Magness, Masada

H-JUDAIC REVIEW: Yigal Levin. Review of Magness, Jodi, Masada: From Jewish Revolt to Modern Myth. H-Judaic, H-Net Reviews. January, 2022. URL: https://www.h-net.org/reviews/showrev.php?id=57139.

This present volume is intended for a nonprofessional readership, particularly an American one, as can be seen by both the units of measurement and the many references to the New Testament, even where they do not add to the reader’s understanding of the Masada story.[1] Despite the subtitle, “From Jewish Revolt to Modern Myth,” it is not an in-depth study of the Masada myth, nor is it a detailed description of the archaeological finds. It is also not a guidebook, despite the short epilogue in which Magness shares her insights as a former tour guide. The title for chapter 3, “Masada in Context,” may serve as a more accurate title for the book as a whole, which geographically, archaeologically, and historically contextualizes the Masada site, story, and myth.

For other PaleoJudaica posts on the book, start here and follow the links. For more on the archaeology of Masada and the question of the reliability of Josephus' account of its fall to the Romans, start here and follow the links.

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

More on the Victorian archaeology of Jerusalem

HISTORY OF ARCHAEOLOGY: How Bible Scholars and Treasure Hunters Unearthed Modern Jerusalem. They were looking for the past. They created the present (Andrew Lawler, Christianity Today).

For more on the work of Andrew Lawler, including his recent book on the same subject as this article, see here and links.

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

An inscribed amulet from the Mount Ebal altar excavation

NORTHWEST SEMITIC EPIGRAPHY AND ICONOGRAPHY: Ancient Hebrew Amulet Discovered at Joshua’s Altar in Samaria (Aryeh Savir, Tazpit News Agency, trans. the Jewish Press).

An ancient amulet made of lead and written in ancient Hebrew was found among the remains of the excavation carried out at the archeological site on Mount Ebal in Samaria, where the biblical-era altar of Joshua bin Nun is located.

The amulet is inscribed with the letter Alef and a mark reminiscent of a lotus flower.

[...]

The amulet was recently sifted out of stored dirt that was excavated in the 1980s at the Mount Ebal site. It sounds as though the dirt was associated with the altar, and so presumably came from the closing centuries of the second millennium BCE. That fits with the description of the alef later in the article:

The results showed many grooves in the amulet, one of them resembling a bull’s head, known in ancient times as an “Alef,” the first letter in the Hebrew alphabet.

But the account is not very clear. The photo is terrible. I await clarification.

For PaleoJudaica posts on the Iron Age I altar on Mount Ebal, start here and follow the links. The altar is often, as in this article, called "Joshua's altar." That is a possible interpretation. But absent an an inscription saying "Joshua built this," it remains speculative.

UPDATE: Incorrect link now corrected!

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

Phoenician inscriptions excavated in Cyprus

PHOENICIAN WATCH: Phoenician Plaque Unearthed in Cyprus Archaeological Excavation (Patricia Claus, Greek Reporter).

The site is at Kition-Pampoula. There is a good photo of the plaque. Three lines have readable letters. The article does not attempt a translation. I've had a pile-on of work lately (hence the light blogging) and don't have time to hazard a dating or transcription.

Beyond the headline lapidary inscription, the article reports that the site included a pit containing Phoenician administrative ostraca, arguably from a royal administrative facility. If I am reading it correctly, the pit is in a stratum dating to 510-323 BCE. I think of that as the Persian Period. There is also a lot of information on the archaeology of the site.

I look forward to further news. Cross-file under Northwest Semitic Epigraphy.

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

Jeon & Jonker (eds.), Chronicles and the Priestly Literature of the Hebrew Bible (De Gruyter open access)

NEW BOOK FROM DE GRUYTER:

Chronicles and the Priestly Literature of the Hebrew Bible

Funded by: Schweizerischer Nationalfonds (SNF)
Edited by: Jaeyoung Jeon and Louis C. Jonker

Volume 528 in the series Beihefte zur Zeitschrift für die alttestamentliche Wissenschaft
https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110707014

Hardcover £79.00

eBook
Published: November 8, 2021
ISBN: 9783110707014

Hardcover
Published: November 8, 2021
ISBN: 9783110706598

About this book

Open Access

The study of the Books of Chronicles has focused in the past mainly on its literary relationship to Historical Books such as Samuel and Kings. Less attention was payed to its possible relationships to the priestly literature. Against this backdrop, this volume aims to examine the literary and socio-historical relationship between the Books of Chronicles and the priestly literature (in the Pentateuch and in Ezekiel).

Since Chronicles and Pentateuch (and also Ezekiel) studies have been regarded as separate fields of study, we invited experts from both fields in order to open a space for fruitful discussions with each other. The contributions deal with connections and interactions between specific texts, ideas, and socio-historical contexts of the literary works, as well as with broad observations of the relationship between them.

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Bledsoe, The Wisdom of the Aramaic Book of Ahiqar (Brill)

NEW BOOK FROM BRILL:

The Wisdom of the Aramaic Book of Ahiqar

Unravelling a Discourse of Uncertainty and Distress

Series: Supplements to the Journal for the Study of Judaism, Volume: 199

Author: Seth Bledsoe

This book offers fresh readings of the Aramaic book of Ahiqar, an oft underappreciated ancient wisdom text. In undertaking a comprehensive literary analysis, incorporating both the drama and the sayings together, Bledsoe shows that Ahiqar’s didactic impulse is founded on a sense of uncertainty about life, offering advice for those in times of distress, much like the titular character himself. While Ahiqar shares many features with instructional literature like Proverbs, the ambiguous cosmic and social order imagined in the text resonate more strongly with the likes of Qoheleth or Job. Bledsoe also takes seriously the Elephantine context, suggesting that the social and political ethic evinced by the work would have resonated strongly with the Judean community in Achaemenid Egypt.

Copyright Year: 2022

Prices from (excl. VAT): €138.00 / $166.00

E-Book (PDF)
Availability: Published
ISBN: 978-90-04-47312-6
Publication Date: 25 Oct 2021

Hardback
Availability: Published
ISBN: 978-90-04-47311-9v Publication Date: 08 Dec 2021

The Wisdom of the Aramaic Book of Ahiqar. Unravelling a Discourse of Uncertainty and Distress.

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Moore, Literary Depictions of the Scribal Profession in the Story of Ahiqar and Jeremiah 36 (De Gruyter)

NEW BOOK FROM DE GRUYTER:

Literary Depictions of the Scribal Profession in the Story of Ahiqar and Jeremiah 36

James D. Moore

Volume 541 in the series Beihefte zur Zeitschrift für die alttestamentliche Wissenschaft
https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110753042

PDF & EPUB £79.00
Hardcover £79.00

eBook
Published: December 6, 2021
ISBN: 9783110753042

Hardcover
Published: December 20, 2021
ISBN: 9783110752540

About this book

This is the first study to compare the allusions to scribal culture found in the Aramaic Story of Ahiqar and the Hebrew Tale of Jeremiah and Baruch’s Scroll in Jeremiah 36. It is shown that disguised in the royal propagandistic message of Ahiqar is a sophisticated Aramaic critique on the social practices of Akkadian scribal culture. Jeremiah 36, however, uses loci of scribal activity as well as allusions to scribal interactions and the techniques of the scribal craft to construct a subversive tale. When studied from a comparative perspective it is argued that the Story of Ahiqar, which has long been associated with the well-known court tale genre, is an example of a subgenre which is here called the scribal conflict narrative, and Jeremiah 36 is found to be a second example of or a response to it. This observation is arrived at by means of rigorous manuscript examination combined with narrative analysis, which identified, among other things, the development of autobiographical and biographical styles of the same ancient narrative. This study not only provides new perspectives on scribal culture, Ahiqar studies, and Jeremiah studies, but it may have far reaching implications for other ancient sources.

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The first University of Chicago PhD

HISTORY OF SCHOLARSHIP: How the University’s first Ph.D. graduate strengthened ties between Chicago and Japan. Eiji Asada, who earned his doctorate in 1893, helped bring English education to his native country (Max Witynski, uchicago news).

In the late 1880s, a young Japanese scholar named Eiji Asada came to the Chicago area to pursue a bachelor’s degree in theology. He took a summer course from William Rainey Harper, and the two developed a friendship based on their shared interest in Semitic studies and linguistics.

[...]

That's right. He was a Hebraist and a Semitist.

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Grappe, La Maison de Dieu / Das Haus Gottes/ The House of God (Mohr Siebeck)

NEW BOOK FROM MOHR SIEBECK: La Maison de Dieu / Das Haus Gottes. Edité par / Herausgegeben von Christian Grappe. [The House of God.] 2021. IX, 425 pages. Wissenschaftliche Untersuchungen zum Neuen Testament 471. 149,00 € including VAT. cloth ISBN 978-3-16-161008-0.

Published in German.
The present volume seeks to shed light on various facets of the theme of the House of God, primarily in biblical and parabiblical writings, but also in the writings of Jewish and Christian authors of antiquity and, beyond that, in the Qur'an, the Reformers, and up to the present day.

The essays are in German, French, and English.

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Feder, Purity and Pollution in the Hebrew Bible (CUP)

NEW BOOK FROM CAMBRIDGE UNIVERISTY PRESS:

Purity and Pollution in the Hebrew Bible
From Embodied Experience to Moral Metaphor

AUTHOR: Yitzhaq Feder, University of Haifa, Israel
DATE PUBLISHED: November 2021
AVAILABILITY: Available
FORMAT: Hardback
ISBN: 9781316517574

Description

In this book, Yitzhaq Feder presents a novel and compelling account of pollution in ancient Israel, from its emergence as an embodied concept, rooted in physiological experience, to its expression as a pervasive metaphor in social-moral discourse. Feder aims to bring the biblical and ancient Near Eastern evidence into a sustained conversation with anthropological and psychological research through comparison with notions of contagion in other ancient and modern cultural contexts. Showing how numerous interpretive difficulties are the result of imposing modern concepts on the ancient texts, he guides readers through wide-ranging parallels to biblical attitudes in ancient Near Eastern, ethnographic, and modern cultures. Feder demonstrates how contemporary evolutionary and psychological research can be applied to ancient textual evidence. He also suggests a path of synthesis that can move beyond the polarized positions which currently characterize modern academic and popular debates bearing on the roles of biology and culture in shaping human behavior.

• Offers a thoroughly interdisciplinary account of pollution, incorporating theoretical and empirical developments in psychology and anthropology
• Demonstrates the role of pollution as an ancient concept of infectious disease
• Contextualizes the attitudes regarding pollution in Israel through comparison with comparable phenomena cross-culturally

I have noted essays by Yitzhaq Feder on related matters here, here, here, here, here, and here.

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

Gawlikowski, Tadmor – Palmyra (Open Access)

THE AWOL BLOG: Tadmor – Palmyra. A Caravan City between East and West.

“Tadmor – Palmyra. A Caravan City between East and West” is a new book by Prof. Michał Gawlikowski, the long-time director of PCMA UW expedition in this city. It has been published by IRSA Foundation for the Promotion of Culture and is available in Open Access.

For many posts on the ancient metropolis of Palmyra, its history and archaeology, the Aramaic dialect once spoken there (Palmyrene), and the city's tragic reversals of fortune, now trending for the better, start here and follow the links. Cross-file under Palmyra Watch.

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Herms et al. (eds.), The Spirit Says (De Gruyter)

NEW BOOK FROM DE GRUYTER:

The Spirit Says
Inspiration and Interpretation in Israelite, Jewish, and Early Christian Texts

Edited by: Ronald Herms, John R. Levison and Archie T. Wright

Volume 8 in the series Ekstasis: Religious Experience from Antiquity to the Middle Ages
https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110689297

PDF & EPUB £100.00

Hardcover £100.00

eBook
Published: October 25, 2021
ISBN: 9783110689297

Hardcover
Published: October 25, 2021
ISBN: 9783110688214 About this book

The Spirit Says offers a stunning collection of articles by an influential assemblage of scholars, all of whom lend considerable insight to the relationship between inspiration and interpretation. They address this otherwise intractable question with deft and occasionally daring readings of a variety of texts from the ancient world, including—but not limited to—the scriptures of early Judaism and Christianity.

The thrust of this book can be summed up not so much in one question as in four:

• What is the role of revelation in the interpretation of Scripture?
• What might it look like for an author to be inspired?
• What motivates a claim to the inspired interpretation of Scripture?
• Who is inspired to interpret Scripture?

More often than not, these questions are submerged in this volume under the tame rubrics of exegesis and hermeneutics, but they rise in swells and surges too to the surface, not just occasionally but often. Combining an assortment of prominent voices, this book does not merely offer signposts along the way. It charts a pioneering path toward a model of interpretation that is at once intellectually robust and unmistakably inspired.

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

Mendels, Hellenistic Inter-state Political Ethics and the Emergence of the Jewish State (T&T Clark)

NEW BOOK FROM BLOOMSBURY/T&T CLARK:

Hellenistic Inter-state Political Ethics and the Emergence of the Jewish State

Doron Mendels (Author)

Hardback
$115.00 $103.50

Ebook (PDF)
$103.50 $82.80

Ebook (Epub & Mobi)
$103.50 $82.80

Product details

Published Dec 16 2021
Format Hardback
Edition 1st
Extent 192
ISBN 9780567701398
Imprint T&T Clark
Dimensions 9 x 6 inches
Series Jewish and Christian Texts
Publisher Bloomsbury Publishing

Description

Against the background of a reconstructed inter-state ethical code, the rise of the Hasmoneans,Judea's ruling dynasty, is given a new perspective. Doron Mendels explores how concepts such as liberty, justice, fairness, loyalty, reciprocity, adherence to ancestral laws, compassion, accountability and love of fatherland became meaningful in the relations between nations in the Hellenistic Mediterranean sphere, as well as between ruling empires and their subject states. The emerging Jewish state echoed this ethical system.

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

Lod Mosaic website

THE AWOL BLOG: The Lod Mosaic: A Spectacular Late Third Century C.E. Mosaic Floor from Lod, Israel. It looks like this website went with the traveling Lod Mosaic exhibition, which started in 2010. It gives updated travel information through 2016. The website is devoted to the original Lod Mosaic. Two other ancient mosaics has also been found at Lod in Israel. PaleoJudaica followed the exhibition and also noted the discoveries of the other two mosaics in 2015 and 2018. For posts, start here and follow the many links.

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

Suzanne Singer z'l'

BIBLE HISTORY DAILY: Suzanne Singer. (1935–2022) (Susan Laden and Rob Sugar).

Even though it has been more than two decades since Suzanne Singer left her daily role as Managing Editor of BAR, her influence on the magazine still reverberates in every issue. Her death on January 2 at the age of 86 marked a significant loss for the magazine but also an opportunity to remember her critical role in its founding and success.

[...]

May her memory be for a blessing.

Ms. Singer wrote a memorial for Hershel Shanks last year, noted here.

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

Review of Erickson, The early Seleukids, their gods and their coins

BRYN MAYR CLASSICAL REVIEW: The early Seleukids, their gods and their coins

Kyle Erickson, The early Seleukids, their gods and their coins. London; New York: Routledge, 2018. Pp. 190. ISBN 9780415793766 $49.95.

Review by
Oliver Hoover, American Numismatic Society. ohoover@numismatics.org

... Kyle Erickson’s The Early Seleukids, their Gods, and their Coins represents a recent addition to the rapidly expanding secondary literature on the iconography (by necessity heavily based on coins) and ideology of the dynasty. It is a revised version of the author’s 2010 University of Exeter PhD dissertation that, over the course of four chapters framed by an introduction and conclusion, aims to delineate the process by which a Seleukid dynastic identity—in contrast with a purely personal charismatic kingship—was created through multivalent religious images disseminated primarily by coins. ...

For many PaleoJudaica posts on the Seleucid era and its importance for biblical and ancient Jewish studies, start here and follow the links. For posts on Seleucid coinage, see here and links. Cross-file under Numismatics.

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

More on The Eternals and "chatty" Babylonian

CINEMATIC PHILOLOGY: The Eternals – Marvel consulted me to help superheroes chit chat in Babylonian (Martin Worthington, The Conversation).

The difficulty in translating colloquial speech is that Ancient Mesopotamia was a world in which writing was a specific tool, used for specific things. Though we are lucky to have a huge mass of (wonderfully informative) documentation, most things went unwritten, and the tone of what did get written was rarely colloquial. This comes across very clearly in Babylonian private letters: they have a business-like, “transactional” character, with little or no chatty or gossipy messages to family and friends, such as we enjoy reading and writing today. For Babylonians, informal and chatty conversation happened only in speech, not in writing.

So, to come up with “chatty” Babylonian, I had to reassemble what we find in written documents, and generate expressions for which I had no exact models or parallels.

See also here.

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Tu B'Shevat 2022

TU B'SHEVAT, the "New Year for Trees," began last night at sundown. Best wishes to all those celebrating.

Last year's Tu B'Shevat post is here, with links to earlier posts.

For biblical background, see here. The name "New Year for Trees" comes from Mishnah Rosh HaShanah 1.1. That passage gives two alternative dates for the celebration, one from Shammai and one from Hillel. Hillel's date (15 Shevat) is the one celebrated at present.

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

Galoppin & Bonnet (eds.), Divine Names on the Spot (Peeters, open access)

NEW OPEN-ACCESS BOOK FROM PEETERS:

Divine Names on the Spot
Towards a Dynamic Approach of Divine Denominations in Greek and Semitic Contexts

SERIES:
Orbis Biblicus et Orientalis, 293

EDITORS:
Galoppin T., Bonnet C.

YEAR: 2021
ISBN: 9789042947269
E-ISBN: 9789042947276
PAGES: VIII-256 p.
PRICE: 65 euro

SUMMARY:
Ancient Greek and Semitic languages resorted to a large range of words to name the divine. Gods and goddesses were called by a variety of names and combinations of onomastic attributes. This broad lexicon of names is characterised by plurality and a tendency to build on different sequences of names; therefore, the Mapping Ancient Polytheisms project focuses on the process of naming the divine in order to better understand the ancient divine in terms of a plurality in the making. A fundamental rule for reading ancient divine names is to grasp them in their context ? time and place, a ritual, the form of the discourse, a cultural milieu?: a deity is usually named according to a specific situation. From Artemis Eulochia to al-Lat, al-'Uzza and Manat, from Melqart to "my rock" in the biblical book of Psalms, this volume journeys between the sanctuary on Mount Gerizim and late antique magical practices, revisiting rituals, hymnic poetry, oaths of orators and philosophical prayers. While targeting different names in different contexts, the contributors draft theoretical propositions towards a dynamic approach of naming the divine in antiquity.

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

Ghormley, Scribes Writing Scripture (Brill)

NEW BOOK FROM BRILL:

Scribes Writing Scripture

Doublets, Textual Divination, and the Formation of the Book of Jeremiah

Series: Vetus Testamentum, Supplements, Volume: 189

Author: Justus Theodore Ghormley

The biblical book of Jeremiah was frequently expanded and revised through duplication by anonymous scribes in ancient Judea. Who were these scribes? What gave them the authority to revise divinatory texts like Jeremiah? And when creating duplicates, what did they think they were doing? In Scribes Writing Scripture: Doublets, Textual Divination, and the Formation of Jeremiah, Justus Theodore Ghormley explores possible answers to these questions. The scribes who revised Jeremiah are textual diviners akin to divining scribal scholars of ancient Near Eastern royal courts; and their practice of expanding Jeremiah through duplication involves techniques of textual divination comparable the practice of textual divination utilized in the formation of ancient Near Eastern divinatory texts.

Copyright Year: 2022

Prices from (excl. VAT): €109.00 / $131.00

E-Book (PDF)
Availability: Published
ISBN: 978-90-04-47256-3
Publication Date: 29 Nov 2021

Hardback
Availability: Published
ISBN: 978-90-04-47247-1
Publication Date: 02 Dec 2021

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

Flynn, Children in the Bible and the Ancient World (Routledge)

NEW BOOK FROM ROUTLEDGE:

Children in the Bible and the Ancient World
Comparative and Historical Methods in Reading Ancient Children

Edited By Shawn W. Flynn
Copyright Year 2019
ISBN 9781032178301
Paperback
Published September 30, 2021 by Routledge
240 Pages

Book Description

The topic of children in the Bible has long been under-represented, but this has recently changed with the development of childhood studies in broader fields, and the work of several dedicated scholars. While many reading methods are employed in this emerging field, comparative work with children in the ancient world has been an important tool to understand the function of children in biblical texts.

Children in the Bible and the Ancient World broadly introduces children in the ancient world, and specifically children in the Bible. It brings together an international group of experts who help readers understand how children are constructed in biblical literature across three broad areas: children in the Hebrew Bible and the Ancient Near East, children in Christian writings and the Greco-Roman world, and children and materiality. The diverse essays cover topics such as: vows in Ugarit and the Hebrew Bible, obstetric knowledge, infant abandonment, the role of marriage, Greek abandonment texts, ritual entry for children into Christian communities, education, sexual abuse, and the role of archeological figurines in children’s lives. The volume also includes expertise in biological anthropology to study the skeletal remains of ancient children, as well as how ancient texts illuminate Mary’s female maturity. The volume is written in an accessible style suitable for non-specialists, and it is equipped with a helpful resource bibliography that organizes select secondary sources from these essays into meaningful categories for further study.

Children in the Bible and the Ancient World is a helpful introduction to any who study children and childhood in the ancient world. In addition, the volume will be of interest to experts who are engaged in historical approaches to biblical studies, while appreciating how the ancient world continues to illuminate select topics in biblical texts.

This book is a couple of years old and is just out in paperback. I have not noted it before.

For related work by Shawn W. Flynn, see here and here.

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