Laato, Message and Composition of the Book of Isaiah (De Gruyter)

NEW BOOK FROM DE GRUYTER:

Message and Composition of the Book of Isaiah

An Interpretation in the Light of Jewish Reception History

Antti Laato

Volume 46 in the series Deuterocanonical and Cognate Literature Studies
https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110761818

eBook
Published: January 19, 2022
ISBN: 9783110761818

Hardcover
Published: January 31, 2022
ISBN: 9783110761634

About this book

The study deals with the theological message and composition of the Book of Isaiah and promotes a thesis that an early Jewish reception history helps us to find perspectives to understand them. This study treats the following themes among others:
1 Hezekiah as Immanuel was an important theme in the reception as can be seen in Chronicles and Ben Sira as well as in rabbinical writings. The central event which makes Hezekiah such an important figure, was the annihilation of the Assyrian army as recounted in Isaiah 36-37.
2 The Book of Isaiah was interpreted in apocalyptic milieu as the Animal Apocalypse and Daniel show. Even though the Qumran writings do not provide any coherent way to interpret Isaianic passages its textual evidence shows how the community has found from the Book of Isaiah different concepts to characterize the division of the Jewish community to the righteous and sinful ones (cf. Isa 65-66).
3 Ezra and Nehemiah received inspiration from the theological themes of Isaianic texts of Levitical singers which were later edited in the Book of Isaiah by scribes. The formation of the Book of Isaiah then went in its own way and its theology became different from that in the Book of Ezra–Nehemiah.

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Another English translation of the Talmud Yerushalmi

(JERUSALEM) TALMUD WATCH: From Teverya to Today: The Journey of Talmud Yerushalmi. Brand-new exclusive presentation celebrates completion of the Schottenstein Edition of the Talmud Yerushalmi in English (JLNJ).

(Artscroll) The Mesorah Heritage Foundation is celebrating the completion of the Schottenstein Edition of the Talmud Yerushalmi in English, a truly historic accomplishment in the Jewish world.

[...]

The Talmud Yerushalmi (Palestinian Talmud) was comparatively neglected until well into the twentieth century. Jacob Neusner produced a multivolume English translation of it in 1982-1994. Now two new English translations of it have just been completed, the Schottenstein edition above and the Sefaria translation.

For more posts on the Talmud Yerushalmi, start at the link just above and keep going from there.

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Review of Arcari, Vedere Dio

BRYN MAYR CLASSICAL REVIEW: Vedere Dio: le apocalissi giudaiche e protocristiane (IV sec. a.C.-II sec. d.C.).

Luca Arcari, Vedere Dio: le apocalissi giudaiche e protocristiane (IV sec. a.C.-II sec. d.C.). Frecce, 291. Roma: Carocci Editore, 2020. Pp. 442. ISBN 9788843098507 €39,00.

Review by
Luigi Walt, Universität Regensburg. luigi.walt@ur.de

... In other words, what Arcari wants to underline is the cognitive, emotional, and social value of these ancient visionary accounts, namely the fact that such texts could function as formidable tools for organizing the world as well as instruments for propaganda, aimed at constructing religious identities which were in competition but also in dialogue with each other.

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

Carlson, Unfamiliar Selves in the Hebrew Bible (De Gruyter)

NEW BOOK FROM DE GRUYTER:

Unfamiliar Selves in the Hebrew Bible

Possession and Other Spirit Phenomena

Reed Carlson

Volume 9 in the series Ekstasis: Religious Experience from Antiquity to the Middle Ages
https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110670035

eBook
Published: January 19, 2022
ISBN: 9783110670035

Hardcover
Published: January 31, 2022
ISBN: 9783110669343 v PDF & EPUB £73.50
Hardcover £73.50

About this book

Lautenschlaeger Award 2021

Spirit possession is more commonly associated with late Second Temple Jewish literature and the New Testament than it is with the Hebrew Bible. In Unfamiliar Selves in the Hebrew Bible, however, Reed Carlson argues that possession is also depicted in this earlier literature, though rarely according to the typical western paradigm. This new approach utilizes theoretical models developed by cultural anthropologists and ethnographers of contemporary possession-practicing communities in the global south and its diasporas. Carlson demonstrates how possession in the Bible is a corporate and cultivated practice that can function as social commentary and as a means to model the moral self.
The author treats a variety of spirit phenomena in the Hebrew Bible, including spirit language in the Psalms and Job, spirit empowerment in Judges and Samuel, and communal possession in the prophets. Carlson also surveys apotropaic texts and spirit myths in early Jewish literature—including the Dead Sea Scrolls. In this volume, two recent scholarly trends in biblical studies converge: investigations into notions of evil and of the self. The result is a synthesizing project, useful to biblical scholars and those of early Judaism and Christianity alike.

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Review of McNamara et al. (eds.), Apocrypha Hiberniae II, Apocalyptica 2

BRYN MAYR CLASSICAL REVIEW: Apocrypha Hiberniae II, Apocalyptica 2.

Martin McNamara, Caoimnín Breatnach, John Carey, Joseph Flahive, Charles D. Wright, Apocrypha Hiberniae II, Apocalyptica 2. Corpus Christianorum. Series Apocryphorum, 21. Turnhout: Brepols, 2019. Pp. xxiv, 589. ISBN 9782503585352 €355,00.

Review by
Thomas Kraus, University of Zürich. t.j.kraus@web.de

Conclusion:

This volume is a masterpiece of editorial technique and methodology; and it is an invaluable foundation of further studies of Irish apocrypha. At the same time it provides essential insights into the ongoing processing of biblical or non-biblical material, its transmission and reception, and its regional adaptation. It comprises the most distinguished scholars working in the field, who must be thanked for their meticulous and scrupulous work.

Some PaleoJudaica posts involving Irish apocrypha (linking to essays by Philip Jenkins) are here, here, and here. See also Grant Macaskill's essay on The Pseudepigrapha in the Irish Church for a class we co-taught on the Old Testament Pseudepigrapha.

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Beyerle & Goff (eds.), Notions of Time in Deuterocanonical and Cognate Literature (De Gruyter)

NEW BOOK FROM DE GRUYTER:

Notions of Time in Deuterocanonical and Cognate Literature

Edited by: Stefan Beyerle and Matthew Goff

Volume 2020/2021 in the series Deuterocanonical and Cognate Literature Yearbook
https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110705454

eBook
Published: December 20, 2021
ISBN: 9783110705454

Hardcover
Published: December 31, 2021
ISBN: 9783110702194

About this book

A comprehensive investigation of notions of "time" in deuterocanonical and cognate literature, from the ancient Jewish up to the early Christian eras, requires further scholarship. The aim of this collection of articles is to contribute to a better understanding of "time" in deuterocanonical literature and pseudepigrapha, especially in Second Temple Judaism, and to provide criteria for concepts of time in wisdom literature, apocalypticism, Jewish and early Christian historiography and in Rabbinic religiosity.
Essays in this volume, representing the proceedings of a conference of the "International Society for the Study of Deuterocanonical and Cognate Literature" in July 2019 at Greifswald, discuss concepts and terminologies of "time", stemming from novellas like the book of Tobit, from exhortations for the wise like Ben Sira, from an apocalyptic time table in 4 Ezra, the book of Giants or Daniel, and early Christian and Rabbinic compositions. The volume consists of four chapters that represent different approaches or hermeneutics of "time:" I. Axial Ages: The Construction of Time as "History", II. The Construction of Time: Particular Reifications, III. Terms of Time and Space, IV. The Construction of Apocalyptic Time. Scholars and students of ancient Jewish and Christian religious history will find in this volume orientation with regard to an important but multifaceted and sometimes disparate topic.

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Finale: Lied's Invisible Manuscripts

ANCIENT JEW REVIEW: The final essays on Liv Ingeborg Lied's book, Invisible Manuscripts:

Celebrating the Remedy of Neglect: a review of Liv Ingeborg Lied, Invisible Manuscripts: Textual Scholarship and the Survival of 2 Baruch (Jeff Childers).

With 2 Baruch, we have so little to hand, we are quick to welcome the expansion of sources that Lied’s approach affords us. But if we were to amend our ways and quit neglecting the artifacts and their readers generally, how might that transform our approach to works for which the embodiments are exponentially more numerous than for 2 Baruch? ...

Response to the Respondents (Liv Ingeborg Lied).

For previous essays in the AJR forum (SBL 2021 panel) on Professor Lied's book, see here and links.

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The Cologne Mani Codex has been C-14 dated

VARIANT READINGS: Radiocarbon Dating of the Cologne Mani Codex (Brent Nongbri).

Finally, what is the best way to describe the date of the codex in light of all the data (palaeographic and radiocarbon)? We can now say with a high degree of confidence: “fourth century to mid-sixth century.”

That's good, and that's what we expected. But the intrusive conservation process does still leave some doubt about the C-14 result.

For more on the Cologne Mani Codex, including online photos and background information, see here and links.

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Purim 2022

HAPPY PURIM to all those celebrating! The festival began last night at sundown.

Last year's Purim post is here, with links. Purim-related posts since then are here, here, here, here, here, and here.

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

The (traditional) Tomb of Esther and Mordechai was bought by Iranian Jews in 1971.

FOR PURIM: Iranian Jews acquired tomb of Queen Esther and Mordechai, Israel's National Library reveals. The government of Iran's shah facilitated the purchase of the land in 1971 to mark 2,500 years to Cyrus the Great's edict allowing Babylonians to worship the god of their choic (Hanan Greenwood, Yisrael HaYom).

Ahead of the Purim holiday, Israel's National Library has revealed the exchange of historical letters proving Iranian Jews purchased the Tomb of Esther and Mordechai in the Iranian city of Hamadan. The purchase of the land in 1971 marked 2,500 years to Persian King Cyrus the Great's edict allowing Babylonians to worship the god of their choice.

[...]

I noted this story a couple of years ago, so it is not exactly a revelation. But this year's story includes scans of a couple of the letters, which I have not seen before.

Again, this is the traditional tomb of Esther and Mordechai. They are characters in the Book of Esther, an ancient novel. But apparently there is some reason to believe that the tomb goes back to late antiquity and has a Jewish connection.

For that and for more on this tomb, which was in the news a good bit in 2020, start here and follow the links.

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

Xerxes I and Ahasuerus

FOR PURIM: Persian King Xerxes thought to be Biblical Ahasuerus ‘famous example of arrogance.’ The story of Esther would have taken place in the third year of Xerxes’ reign in 483 BCE, noted Dr. Yigal Bloch, curator of the Bible Lands Museum Jerusalem (JUDITH SUDILOVSKY, Jerusalem Post).

“This doesn’t mean the story is real, but it gives a chronological anchor for when it should have taken place,” he said.

For more on the historical Xerxes I, see here. A couple of posts on legends about Ahasuerus inspired by the Book of Esther are here and here.

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

Esther in Hebrew and Greek

PURIM IS COMING: The Other Side of Esther. The Hebrew version we read doesn’t mention God, and avoids theology. But the ancient Greek versions of the story took a very different approach (A.J. Berkovitz, Tablet Magazine).

As in modern times, many diasporic Jews in the ancient world could barely read, let alone understand, Hebrew. Those living in places dominated by Hellenism—such as Alexandria in Egypt and the Greek isles—would gather in synagogues to read from sacred scripture translated into their Greek vernacular. The story of Esther that these communities heard on Purim vastly differs from the tale as told by our familiar Hebrew text.

Cross-file under Septuagint.

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On Mordechai

PURIM IS COMING: Mordechai the Spy-Master. (Rabbi Eric Grossman, TheTorah.com).

Mordechai learns of a secret plot to assassinate King Ahasuerus. He also knows that in a private meeting, Haman tried to bribe the king to kill the Jews. At the same time, Mordechai is able to keep his relationship with Esther a secret.

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

Esther scrolls in the Israel National Library

PURIM IS COMING: National Library unveils largest collection of Esther scrolls in the world. As the nation marks Purim, the National Library provides a rare glimpse into part of its collection of Esther scrolls (Jerusalem Post).

For more on the Valmadonna Library, its acquisition by the INL, etc., see here and links and here.

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

Turkey denies there is a deal to return the Siloam Inscription.

SO MUCH FOR RUMORS: Not So Fast: Turkey Denies Deal to Return Siloam Inscription to Israel (Hana Levi Julian, The Jewish Press).

Of course its always possible that the denial is just part of the negotiation and that matters will turn around. But the history of the discussion does not encourage optimism.

For the earlier report on the supposed deal, see here. Follow the links from there for more posts on previous negotiations that also fell through and other posts on the Siloam Inscription.

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

Dugan on Lied’s Invisible Manuscripts

ANCIENT JEW REVIEW: Is That All There Is?: On Limits in the Study of Second Temple Literature (Elena Dugan).

So, these are three ways in which Lied’s book has fundamentally reoriented my view of antiquity and Second Temple literature in particular. I am no longer so sure that we have any stable cases of late-Second Temple voices mourning the loss of the Temple. I am galvanized to check and see just how much of the material reception-history of the pseudepigrapha is in service of Christian supersession, and anti-Judaism, and suspicious that it may be more than we might have imagined. And I am worried about the extent to which the textual stability on which scholars of the ancient world tacitly rely to build our archive is built on particularly vile early-modern attitudes towards our manuscripts’ careful and tireless guardians. In short, I am rethinking much thanks to Lied’s groundbreaking work, and it remains only for me to thank her greatly for it.

For previous essays in the AJR forum (SBL 2021 panel) on Liv Ingeborg Lied's book, Invisible Manuscripts, see here and here.

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

JQR 111.1 (2022)

H-JUDAIC: ToC: The Jewish Quarterly Review 112.1 (2022). One article of particular interest:

Babylonian Jewish Society: The Evidence of the Incantation Bowls
Simcha Gross, Avigail Manekin-Bamberger

Since their discovery, the Jewish Babylonian Aramaic incantation bowls have typically been understood to represent “popular” Jewish religious practice that stood in marked contrast with the scholastic rabbinic elite. As a result of this characterization, the usefulness of the bowls for understanding Babylonian Jewish society and the position of the rabbis within it has remained largely unexplored. With the continued publication and study of the bowls, however, the dichotomy between the world of the learned elites and the masses allegedly responsible for the bowls has become increasingly difficult to maintain. This article argues that the Jewish Babylonian Aramaic incantation bowls do not constitute a single corpus; rather, they were produced by different groups of scribes, some of whom consistently employed recognizable Jewish literature from a variety of genres and eschewed non-Jewish invocations. Moreover, we demonstrate how some bowl scribes invoke in an unprecedented manner not only rabbis of the distant past but also local rabbis, the rabbinic class, and even rabbinic academy heads. This evidence suggests that some bowls scribes had greater intellectual and social proximity to the rabbis, rendering a more complicated depiction of Babylonian Jewish society.

The article and this JQR issue are behind a subscription wall.

For many PaleoJudaica posts on the ancient Babylonian Aramaic incantation bowls, see the links collected here.

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

Jews or Judeans in the Book of Esther?

OPHIR YARDEN: Jewish Not Judean: The Diaspora in the Book of Esther (TheTorah.com).

Although Judea is one of the provinces of the multicultural empire of Persia, the book of Esther never mentions it. Rather, it grapples with the precarious position of Jews scattered throughout Persia, outside their ancestral homeland, and who stand out among the non-Jews in their insistence on keeping to their cultural rules and norms.

For some thoughts (including mine) on the debate on whether the ancient terms ioudaios/yehudi are best understood as "Jew" or "Judean," see here and links.

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

Zoom event on the Aramaic incantation bowls

YALE UNIVERSITY JUDAIC STUDIES PROGRAM: The Aramaic Incantation Bowls in Their Late Antique Jewish Contexts, virtual event. Takes place on Monday, April 4, 2022 - 7:00am to Tuesday, April 5, 2022 - 12:30pm. Follow the link for the registration link.

For many PaleoJudaica posts on the Babylonian Aramaic incantation bowls, see the links collected here and follow them back from there.

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

Leviathan in the Bible and the ANE

BIBLE ODYSSEY: Leviathan (Alessandro Rivera & Dexter Callender). An excellent overview of the biblical traditions about this sea monster and its ancient Near Eastern background.

For more on the Leviathan myth, including reception history to the present, see here and links, plus here, here, here, here, here, here, and here.

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

Review of Fischer-Bovet & von Reden, Comparing the Ptolemaic and Seleucid empires

BRYN MAYR CLASSICAL REVIEW: Comparing the Ptolemaic and Seleucid empires: integration, communication, and resistance.

Christelle Fischer-Bovet, Sitta von Reden, Comparing the Ptolemaic and Seleucid empires: integration, communication, and resistance. Cambridge, United Kingdom; New York: Cambridge University Press, 2021. Pp. 400. ISBN 9781108479257 £90.00.

Review by
Benedikt Eckhardt, University of Edinburgh. B.Eckhardt@ed.ac.uk

Ancient Judaism comes up a couple of times in the review, but the book is also of great interest for background information on the Ptolemaic and Seleucid empires.

For many PaleoJudaica posts on both empires, including their coins, and their importance for biblical and ancient Jewish studies, start here (plus here and here) and follow the links.

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

Tübingen University's ancient Jewish coins online

NUMISMATICS: University Of Tübingen: Ancient Jewish Coins: Germany’s Outstanding Collection Is Presented (Iednewsdesk).

Ancient Jewish coins are a rarity in German museums and have hardly been published to date. The Institute for Classical Archeology at the University of Tübingen is now presenting a collection that is exceptional in Germany in terms of its scope and historical breadth. It includes 394 coins covering all eras of ancient Judaism. The coins were scientifically examined and historically classified by a team led by Professor Stefan Krmnicek. The photos and descriptions are now available in the Digital Coin Cabinet of the University of Tübingen ( https://www.ikmk.uni-tuebingen.de/) as public domain content. The scientific processing and digital documentation of the collection was made possible by the financial support of the Jewish religious community of Württemberg (IRGW).

[...]

I'm not sure how you get at all 394 coins. If you enter "Jewish" into the search engine at the url, it gives 191 results. The entry "Judaea" gives 362 results.

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

The Tabernacle, the priesthood, and the cloud problem

PROF. GARY A. ANDERSON: The Date of the Tabernacle’s Completion and Consecration (TheTorah.com).

The Tabernacle is completed on the first of Nisan (Exodus 40) and is consecrated eight days later (Leviticus 9). And yet, the Book of Chronicles, Biblical Antiquities, and the Rabbis read these accounts as describing the same event. Indeed, the Torah’s final editor may have understood the texts as a continuous narrative, but chose to emphasize different themes of the Tabernacle by separating them.

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

Is Turkey returning the Siloam Inscription to Israel?

POLITICS MEETS NORTHWEST SEMITIC EPIGRAPHY: Israeli official: Turkey agrees to return ancient Hebrew inscription to Jerusalem. The 2,700-year-old Siloam inscription, taken by the Ottomans and still held in Istanbul, marks direct evidence of Bible’s account of King Hezekiah’s tunnel-building in Jerusalem (Shalom Yerushalmi, Times of Israel).

Turkey has agreed to return to Israel an ancient inscription from Jerusalem, currently housed in the Istanbul Archaeology Museum, an Israeli official told Zman Yisrael, The Times of Israel’s Hebrew sister site. It is considered one of the most important ancient Hebrew inscriptions in existence.

The gesture comes amid warming ties between Israel and Turkey and was discussed during the landmark visit of President Isaac Herzog to Ankara earlier this week, said a senior official in the Israeli entourage.

[...]

Still a rumor at this stage, but I hope it happens. For background information on the inscription, see the article at the link above and this post.

The discussions between Israel and Turkey about the Siloam Inscription have been going on for a long time. For the unsuccessful effort to arrange a loan of it in 2007, see the links collected here. For the unsuccessful offer to exchange it for two elephants (yes, really) in 2017, see here. The current negotiations reportedly involve an exchange for a Turkish artifact now in Israel.

Watch this space.

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

Who killed Goliath?

TEXT AND CANON INSTITUTE: Who Really Killed Goliath? Knowledge of scribal mistakes may provide a better solution to the historical puzzle of who killed Goliath in 2 Samuel 21:19 (Kaspars Ozoliņš). HT the ETC Blog.

Did you know that the Bible is inconsistent about who killed Goliath? But I think Kaspars Ozoliņš is correct about the solution to the problem.

For many PaleoJudaica posts on Goliath the giant, see the links collected here (cf. here).

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

Where, if anywhere, was Tarshish?

DR. TZILLA ESHEL: Tarshish: The Origins of Solomon’s Silver (TheTorah.com).

In a joint venture, the Phoenician King Hiram and King Solomon go to Tarshish to bring back silver—the Levant has no silver deposits of its own. Where is Tarshish? Archaeological science, specifically, the ability to trace the chemical fingerprint of silver, and Phoenician inscriptions such as the Nora Stone, point us to the answer(s).

For more on the use of lead isotopes to track the movements of Phoencian silver, see here. For more on the possible whereabouts of Tarshish, if it was a place, see here.

The word Tarshish can also mean a type of precious stone in Hebrew (chrysolite or topaz? Cf., e.g., Ezekiel 28:13). And, as Philologos noted, it nearly became the Modern Hebrew name of the planet Neptune.

Cross-file under Phoenician Watch and Ancient Material Culture.

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

Mroczek on Lied’s Invisible Manuscripts

ANCIENT JEW REVIEW: Other People’s Hands: A Response to Lied’s Invisible Manuscripts (Eva Mroczek).

My remarks on Liv Lied’s trailblazing new book will focus on its philosophical orientation and approach. I will consider the book as a humanistic work, an invitation to a kind of scholarship normally curtailed by the traditional orientations of our field—its theological roots, its focus on origins, its privileging of certain time periods as more significant than others, its logocentrism—and its implicit or explicit perspectives on who owns the right to claim a past and to determine its meaning.

I will do this in two related parts. First, I place the book in conversation with another work that gets us in touch with the concrete traces of human presence, Karen Stern’s Writing on the Wall: Graffiti and the Forgotten Jews of Antiquity (Princeton UP, 2018). Second, I theorize Lied’s idea of “someone else’s manuscripts” more broadly as a pattern in our access to the past—the idea that we always owe it to “others” who have carried the texts through history, and that we have inherited certain patterns in how these “others” are identified and valued.

[...]

For previous essays in the AJR forum (SBL 2021 panel) on Liv Ingeborg Lied's book, Invisible Manuscripts, see here. For more on Karen Stern's book and her research, see here and links.

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

Zoom Event: Annette Yoshiko Reed, "Forgetting Second Temple Judaism"

H-JUDAIC: EVENT: Annette Yoshiko Reed, "Forgetting Second Temple Judaism: History, Memory, and the Dead Sea Scrolls" -- Streaming live on Zoom (April 7 at 7:30pm Eastern). The event is free, but requires pre-registration.

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

Hybrid Conference: Dura-Europos: Past, Present, Future

SOCIETY FOR CLASSICAL STUDIES: Dura-Europos: Past, Present, Future - Celebrating the Centennial of Excavations at Dura-Europos.

Yale University’s interdisciplinary ARCHAIA program is pleased to share news of its upcoming hybrid conference: Dura-Europos: Past, Present, Future. This three-day event (March 31-April 2, 2022) is arranged to celebrate the centennial of excavations on-site at Dura-Europos (Syria). Papers and discussion will explore the town’s regional and long-distance ties in antiquity, 21st-century geopolitical entanglements, and avenues for future research. Registration is free, and online attendance is open to all.

For many PaleoJudaica posts on the site of Dura-Europos, its late antique synagogue, and that synogogue's remarkable murals, start here (cf. here) and follow the links.

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

AJR on Lied, Invisible Manuscripts (of 2 Baruch)

ANCIENT JEW REVIEW: Lied's Invisible Manuscripts: a Review Forum.

The book that serves as the point of departure for our discussion today is my recently published book, Invisible Manuscripts: Textual Scholarship and the Survival of 2 Baruch (2021), which is available open access via the publisher, Mohr Siebeck.

In Invisible Manuscripts, I explore an omission in scholarship on early Jewish writings in Christian transmission: the general inattention paid to the manuscripts that preserve these writings as cultural artefacts. ...

AJR has also posted the first essay responding to the book:

What Can Manuscripts Tell Us about the Texts They Preserve? A Response to Liv Ingeborg Lied’s Invisible Manuscripts (Matthias Henze).

I consider the scholarly turn to the reception histories of the ancient texts, and especially the new interest in the lives of the manuscripts, the single most significant development in recent decades in the study of the texts that are traditionally called the Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha. I have learned a great deal from you, Liv, and from many of our colleagues. Thank you. But I also appreciate where my own thinking and vocabulary have yet to change and evolve further (here I think in particular of New Philology).

My work receives favorable mention in the second essay.

For more on the Syriac manuscript Codex Ambrosianus B.21, which contains the only complete manuscript of 2 Baruch, see here (with photos of a facsimile of the first page of 2 Baruch) and here (with photos of the original manuscript in Milan and of Professor Lied and others, including me), and here.

For some other PaleoJudaica posts on 2 Baruch, notably links to Phil Long's blog series on the book at Reading Acts, see here and here and links, plus here.

I have linked to Liv's blog posts on 2 Baruch here and here, and on Codex Ambrosianus B.21 here, here, and here.

I have presented the case for the Jewish provenance of 2 Baruch in my book, The Provenance of the Pseudepigrapha (Brill, 2005), pp. 126-131. I argue that 2 Baruch promotes Torah observance, a Jewish ethnic identity, and a Jewish (and distinctly not Christian) concept of the Messiah. I have not yet seen Liv's book, so I don't know if she has replied to my arguments.

Cross-file under Old Testament Pseudepigrapha Watch.

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

"Feminine Power" at the British Museum

EXHIBITION: British Museum Announces FEMININE POWER: THE DIVINE TO THE DEMONIC. British Museum announces first ever exhibition on female spiritual beings through the ages (A.A. Cristi, Broadway World). The exhibition opens on 22 May this year. It is quite cross-cultural. Notable for PaleoJudaica:

Since the late first millennium AD, Lilith has been known within Jewish demonology as the first wife of Adam and the consort of Satan. Her origins are thought to lie in Mesopotamian demons. The exhibition will include a ceramic incantation bowl from 500-800 AD Iraq, featuring a rare early image of Lilith in female form. Buried upside down under the thresholds of houses these bowls were inscribed with charms to protect the named patrons from demonic forces and regularly name Lilith; sometimes as grammatically singular and feminine, but also masculine or plural.

Lilith as "consort to Satan" presumably refers to her cohabitation with Sama'el, notably in the Kabbalistic Treatise on the Left Emanation.

For past posts on Lilith, start here and follow the links. For posts on the Babylonian Aramaic incantation bowls, see here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, and links.

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

More on the incantation bowls seized in Jerusalem

APPREHENSION UPDATE: ‘Magic’ bowls among trove of ancient artifacts seized in raid on Jerusalem home. Ramat Shlomo resident suspected of illegal antiquities trade had three 1,500-year-old incantation bowls from Iraq, hundreds of other rare treasures (Amanda Borschel-Dan, Times of Israel).

This article has new information about the inscriptions on the three seized bowls. Background here.

One of my first posts on PaleoJudaica included a translation of an Aramaic incantation bowl. That bowl also involved R. Joshua bar Perahya ("Joshua ben (son of) Perachiah") and had a divorce procedure against the demons.

The post had many useful links. Almost all of them have evaporated in less than twenty years. Maybe we should have stuck with clay tablets.

UPDATE (9 March): I have collected links to many of my posts on the Babylonian Aramaic incantation bowls here.

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

Thomas & Melton (eds.), Reading Lamentations Intertextually (T&T Clark)

NEW BOOK FROM BLOOMSBURY/T&T CLARK:

Reading Lamentations Intertextually

Heath A. Thomas (Anthology Editor), Brittany N. Melton (Anthology Editor)

Hardback
$120.00 $84.00

Ebook (PDF)
$108.00 $75.60

Product details

Published Nov 04 2021
Format Hardback
Edition 1st
Extent 352
ISBN 9780567699589
Imprint T&T Clark
Dimensions 9 x 6 inches
Series The Library of Hebrew Bible/Old Testament Studies
Publisher Bloomsbury Publishing

Description

This book addresses intertextual connections between Lamentations and texts in each division of the Hebrew Bible, along with texts throughout history. Sources examined range from the Dead Sea Scrolls to modern Shoah literature, allowing the volume's impact to reach beyond Lamentations to each of the 'intertexts' the chapters address.

By bringing together scholars with expertise on this diverse array of texts, the volume offers a wide range of exegetical insight. It also enables the reader to appreciate the varying intertextual approaches currently employed in Biblical Studies, ranging from abstract theory to rigid method. By applying these to a focused analysis of Lamentations, this book will facilitate greater insight on both Lamentations and current methodological research.

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Magic bowls and ivory plaques seized in Jerusalem

APPREHENDED: IAA uncovers ancient magical bowls in home of Jerusalem resident. 1,500-year-old "incantation bowls" were among hundreds of antiquities found, believed to be intended for the illegal antiquities trade (JUDITH SUDILOVSKY, Jerusalem Post).

The incantation bowls will have come from Iraq. If you want to see some more of them, go here. And for many PaleoJudaica posts on such bowls, run "Aramaic incantation bowls" through the blog search engine.

Reportedly the IAA thinks that the decorated ivory objects come from the north, perhaps Samaria. Other similar object have been found there. The IAA would know better than I. Decorated ivory plaques have been found in Samaria, Syria, and Iraq.

UPDATE (9 March): More here, and note the update.

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

TC 26 (2021)

TC: A JOURNAL OF BIBLICAL TEXTUAL CRITICISM has published a new volume: 26 (2021). All articles are about the New Testament, but some touch on matters relevant to first-century Judaism. The reviews are of books on the New Testament and early Christianity, the Septuagint, and Psalms in Syriac and Hebrew. TC is an open-access journal.

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

Ritmeyer reconstructs the Magdala synagogue

LEEN RITMEYER: A reconstruction of the Magdala Synagogue. Did Jesus preach in this synagogue?

For many posts on the ancient city of Magdala (Migdal today), the two first-century synagogues excavated there, and the Magdala Stone found in the first synagogue, start here and follow the links.

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

Christian, Zu Entstehung und Theologie von 1/4QInstruction und der ‚Zwei-Geister-Lehre‘ (1QS III,13–IV,26) (Brill)

NEW BOOK FROM BRILL:

Zu Entstehung und Theologie von 1/4QInstruction und der ‚Zwei-Geister-Lehre‘ (1QS III,13–IV,26)

Geheimwissen, Erwählung und Prädestination

Series:
Studies on the Texts of the Desert of Judah, Volume: 135

Author: Meike Christian

This study challenges the common classification of 1/4QInstruction and the Treatise of the Two Spirits (1QS III,13–IV,26) as “pre-sectarian”. The analysis refrains from the distinction between “sectarian-” and “non-sectarian-texts” and supplies detailed comparisons as well as a redaction-critical investigation without any presuppositions about the historical setting of 1/4QInstruction and the Treatise. This way it re-evaluates the formation of the two compositions and brings to light connections and developments that have been concealed so far.

Die vorliegende Studie stellt die verbreitete Klassifizierung von 1/4QInstruction und der Zwei-Geister-Lehre als „pre-sectarian-texts“ in Frage. Anstatt von übergeordneten Kategorien auszugehen, vermeidet diese Untersuchung historische Vorannahmen und richtet den Blick aufs Detail, indem sie anhand von Textvergleichen sowie einer redaktionskritischen Analyse eine Neueinordnung der beiden Werke vornimmt. Auf diese Weise werden bisher verborgende gedankliche Entwicklungen und literarische Abhängigkeitsverhältnisse aufgedeckt, sodass die beiden Werke in einem neuen Licht erscheinen.

Prices from (excl. VAT): €139.00 / $167.00

Copyright Year: 2022

E-Book (PDF)
Availability: Published
ISBN: 978-90-04-47307-2
Publication Date: 25 Oct 2021

Hardback
Availability: Published
ISBN: 978-90-04-47306-5
Publication Date: 28 Jan 2022

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Conserving a Maltese Phoenician sarcophagus

PHOENICIAN WATCH: Rare Phoenician sarcophagus covered by Rabat trenching works excavated. 600BC Phoenician stone sarcophagus discovered 21 years ago being examined by University and heritage experts over fears of damage from increased roadworks (Matthew Vella, Malta Today).

See also: Phoenician sarcophagus discovered in Rabat being conserved, will go up on permanent display (Malta Independent).

The sarcophagus, alas, appears to be uninscribed.

Cross-file under Punic Watch, if you define Punic broadly as Mediterranian colonial Phoenician, rather than narrowly as Carthaginian.

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

Hilpert, Die Komposition der Chronikbücher (De Gruyter)

NEW BOOK FROM DE GRUYTER:

Die Komposition der Chronikbücher

Redaktionsgeschichtliche Studien zu 2 Chr 10-36

The Composition of the Books of Chronicles: Editorial Historical Studies of 2 Chr 10–36

Andreas Hilpert

Volume 526 in the series Beihefte zur Zeitschrift für die alttestamentliche Wissenschaft
https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110698534

eBook
Published: January 19, 2022
ISBN: 9783110698534

Hardcover
Published: January 31, 2022
ISBN: 9783110698435

About this book

The Books of Chronicles are generally considered the works of a single author, who attempts a canonical synthesis of the Hebrew Bible. This study examines the history of King Judas (2 Chr 10–36) to reach a different conclusion. The Chronicles were revised across the books. The texts of the Chronicles should now be understood as historically evolved documents, which document a historical transformation of theology.

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Preview of Tobolowsky, The Myth of the Twelve Tribes of Israel

ANCIENT JEW REVIEW: Publication Preview | The Myth of the Twelve Tribes of Israel (Andrew Tobolowsky).

... Basically, we now realize that there would have been multiple different versions of Israelite identity over time, regardless of the origins of the ethnic concept, and that it, like all identity concepts, would respond constantly and dynamically to changing circumstances and, for that matter, the changing needs of the authors of any given vision. ...

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Review of Dershowitz, The Dismembered Bible

IS THAT IN THE BIBLE? Did Biblical Authors Literally Cut and Paste? A Review of The Dismembered Bible by Idan Dershowitz (Paul D.).

In a new monograph titled The Dismembered Bible, up-and-coming scholar Idan Dershowitz (University of Potsdam) takes a crack at explaining the physical methods that were used by Hebrew scribes in the process of editing and redacting the Old Testament. In particular, he argues that mechanical cutting and pasting — a phrase that has become mere metaphor in the digital age — was the actual method used by some biblical authors to compose their texts. He also argues that this technique has left detectable fingerprints in the text — out-of-place or “jumbled” snippets that cannot be explained by conventional scribal errors.

I noted the publication of the book here. Prof. Dershowitz has also been in the news recently for his book defending the authenticity of the Shapira Scroll fragments.

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

Looted Steinhardt artifacts returned to Jordan

REPATRIATION: US returns Michael Steinhardt’s looted antiquities to Jordan. American and Jordanian authorities’ press statements about ceremony in Amman make no mention of billionaire, who agreed to surrender trafficked artifacts to avoid prosecution (Agencies via Times of Israel).

The article refers to two ancient Jewish tombstones among the nine artifacts, but they are not pictured with the other seven. The writer of the article would like to know more about them. So would I.

For more on the Steinhardt case, see here.

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Antiochus Epiphanes in Illinois?

THE POCKET CHANGE BLOG: Antiochus IV in Illinois.

Coins in strange places are great things. Nevertheless, it has always been of some personal disappointment to me that there never seemed to be many examples of Seleucid coins in odd places, excluding those that survived the centuries to be restruck as Jewish coins of the Bar Kokhba War (AD 132–135). This all changed a few months ago when I discovered the June 17, 1882, issue of Scientific American.

The coin seems now to be lost. How it ended up in a field in Illinois remains a mystery.

For more on the coins of Antiochus IV Epiphanes, see here. He was, of course, the chief bad guy of the Maccabean Revolt, as recorded in the Book of Daniel and the books of 1-2 Maccabees. Cross-file under Numismatics.

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

Biblical Studies Carnival 192

THE LIBRARY MUSINGS: Biblical Studies Carnival 192 (Bobby Howell).

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

Nati, Textual Criticism and the Ontology of Literature in Early Judaism (Brill)

NEW BOOK FROM BRILL:

Textual Criticism and the Ontology of Literature in Early Judaism

An Analysis of the Serekh ha-Yaḥad

Series:
Supplements to the Journal for the Study of Judaism, Volume: 198

Author: James Nati

The Dead Sea Scrolls have demonstrated the fluidity of biblical and early Jewish texts in antiquity. How did early Jewish scribes understand the nature of their pluriform literature? How should modern textual critics deal with these fluid texts?
Centered on the Serekh ha-Yaḥad – or Community Rule – from Qumran as a test case, this volume tracks the development of its textual tradition in multiple trajectories, and suggests that it was not understood as a single, unified composition even in antiquity. Attending to material, textual, and literary factors, the book argues that ancient claims for textual identity ought to be given priority in discussions among textual critics about the ontology of biblical books.

Copyright Year: 2022

Prices from (excl. VAT): €119.00 / $144.00

E-Book (PDF)
Availability: Published
ISBN: 978-90-04-47218-1
Publication Date: 01 Nov 2021

Hardback
Availability: Published
ISBN: 978-90-04-47194-8
Publication Date: 04 Nov 2021

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Where did Peter really live?

APOSTOLIC HISTORICAL GEOGRAPHY: Where Did Peter the Apostle, Disciple of Christ, Really Live? Scripture is conflicting about the hometown of Peter the Apostle, but historian R. Steven Notley believes he has uncovered key clues that point in only one direction (Ruth Schuster, Haaretz). HT Rogue Classicism.

The debate over which site was the ancient city of Bethsaida (El-Araj or et-Tell/e-Tell) continues. But, thanks to the recent discovery of a Byzantine-era church building at El-Araj, the question of Peter's residence has become part of the discussion. I have commented at length on the current state of the question here. I have nothing to add at present.

I have following the debate over the site of Bethsaida for a long time. For posts, start at the last link above (plus here) and follow the links.

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

An Elamite royal inscription fragment from Persepolis

PERSEPOLIS WATCH: Elamite inscription attributed to Xerxes the Great found in Persepolis (Tehran Times). HT Rogue Classicism.

For the Neo-Elamite kingdom and its capital, Susa, see here. I have mentioned other Neo-Elamite inscriptions here, here and here.

The article also has a discussion of the inscriptions found at the Persepolis Fortification and the Persepolis Treasury, although it does not mention the Aramaic material. (Persepolis was the ceremonial royal capital of the Achemenid Empire.) For more on the Persepolis Fortification Archives, see here and many links. And for many PaleoJudaica posts on Persepolis, start here and follow the links.

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

BMCR reviews The Cambridge Greek Lexicon

BRYN MAYR CLASSICAL REVIEW: The Cambridge Greek lexicon.

James Diggle, Bruce Fraser, Patrick James, Oliver Simkin, Anne Thompson, Simon Westripp, The Cambridge Greek lexicon. Cambridge; New York: Cambridge University Press, 2021. Pp. 1529 in 2 volumes. ISBN 9780521826808 $84.99.

Review by
Luuk Huitink, University of Amsterdam. l.huitink@uva.nl
Arjan Nijk, University of Leiden. arjannijk@hotmail.com

A long and detailed review. It concludes:

All in all, CGL is a pleasure to use due to its attractive presentation (both on the outside and on the inside), its contemporary translations, the wealth of information it provides concerning usage, and the fresh insight it provides in the semantic structure of certain key concepts in Greek culture. It will no doubt become a standard work of reference for students throughout the world and it will save scholars a trip to the fuller LSJ or Montanari for most quotidian purposes. However, some unfortunate decisions in coverage, together with its somewhat experimental approach to lexicography, make it a flawed colossus.

For previous PaleoJudaica posts on the Cambridge Greek lexicon, see the links collected here.

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

Ein Gedi's ancient synagogue

ANCIENT ARCHITECTURE: Unique Sites of Israel: A Mosaic Treasure at Ein Gedi! (Nosson Shulman, The Jewish Press Blogs).

The article discusses the late-antique synagogue at Ein Gedi, its decorative mosaics, and their Aramaic inscriptions. Surprisingly, it does not mention the main thing for which the synagogue has been in the news in recent years: the charred Leviticus scroll found there in 1970, which was deciphered in 2015 with the help of new, non-intrusive scanning technology. For that scroll see here, here, here, here, here, and here.

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Review of Fee, Bodmer Papyri, scribal culture, and textual transmission

BRYN MAYR CLASSICAL REVIEW: Bodmer Papyri, scribal culture, and textual transmission: collected works on New Testament textual criticism.

Gordon D. Fee, Bodmer Papyri, scribal culture, and textual transmission: collected works on New Testament textual criticism. New Testament tools, studies and documents. Leiden; Boston: Brill, 2021. Pp. 382, xviii. ISBN 9789004311411 €154,00.

Review by
Brent Nongbri, MF Norwegian School of Theology, Religion, and Society. brent.nongbri@mf.no

Regular PaleoJudaica readers will recognize the reviewer from his blog, Variant Readings, to which I link sometimes.

I have collected PaleoJudaica posts on the Bodmer Papyri here.

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BAR, Spring 2022

BIBLICAL ARCHAEOLOGY SOCIETY: Biblical Archaeology Review, Spring 2022. Including articles (behind the subscription wall) on the origins of the Philistines, early worship of Jesus in the Arabian Peninsula, a palace of Herod at Banias, storage jars in ancient Israel, and more.

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

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.

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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.

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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.

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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

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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!

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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.