Shaked et al., Aramaic Bowl Spells (vol. 2; Brill)

NEW BOOK FROM BRILL:

Aramaic Bowl Spells

Jewish Babylonian Aramaic Bowls Volume Two

Series: Magical and Religious Literature of Late Antiquity, Volume: 10

Authors: Shaul Shaked, James Nathan Ford, and Siam Bhayro

The corpus of Aramaic magic bowls from Sasanian Mesopotamia is perhaps the most important source we have for studying the everyday beliefs and practices of the Jewish, Christian, Mandaean, Manichaean, Zoroastrian and Pagan communities on the eve of the Islamic conquests. The bowls published in this volume are from the Schøyen Collection, which has over 650 texts in Jewish Babylonian Aramaic, Mandaic and Syriac, and forms the largest collection of its kind in the world. This volume presents editions of fifty-five Jewish Babylonian Aramaic texts, with accompanying introductions, translations, philological notes, photographs and indices. The themes covered are magical seals and signet-rings. It is the second in a multi-volume project that aims to publish the Schøyen Collection of magic bowls.

Copyright Year: 2022

Prices from (excl. VAT): €127.00 / $153.00

E-Book (PDF)
Availability: Published
ISBN: 978-90-04-47171-9
Publication Date: 28 Mar 2022

Hardback
Availability: Published
ISBN: 978-90-04-47170-2
Publication Date: 23 Mar 2022

For many PaleoJudaica posts on the ancient Babylonian Aramaic incantation bowls, start here and follow the links.

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

Tibetan bowl: a circumcised Alexander at the Tree of Life?

ICONOGRAPHY: Ancient Bowl From Tibet Shows Alexander the Great – the Jewish Version. That’s not Homer: Jews on the Silk Road came up with their own ‘Alexander Romance’ in which the boy king reached Paradise, which required a certain surgical procedure (Ruth Schuster, Haaretz).

And there you have it. A beautiful young man with classic artistic hallmarks of the young conqueror plus a very clearly circumcised penis, among incense trees, attended by servants. If Dan and Grenet are right about the identification of the iconic man on the bowl and about its origin, then this bowl – a “unique visual representation” of Alexander’s legend in the Jewish context – is also the earliest attestation of the Alexander Romance in the Indo-Iranian world, Grenet says.

The bowl was manufactured at the time of the Sassanian (aka Neo-Persian) Empire, which ruled from the year 224 to 651 C.E, in its eastern regions, which were already dominated by the Huns called “Hephtalites” who occupied Central Asia between 457 and 565 C.E.

The earliest manuscript of the Alexander Romance does date to the third century CE, but its composition may have been much earlier. Richard Stoneman, the foremost expert on the work, thinks the original, rather pedestrian, historical version was composed before 300 BCE, within a few decades of Alexander's death. The second and then third recensions evolved over many centuries and are progressively more entertaining and outlandish.

PaleoJudaica has many posts on the Alexander Romance. Start here and follow the links. If you like entertaining ancient literature, it is worth a read:

Richard Stoneman, The Greek Alexander Romance (Penguin, 1991)

For additional PaleoJudaica posts on the historical and legendary Alexander the Great, see here and many links.

The connections between the Tibetan bowl and the Alexander Romance are indirect. The direct connections appear in the Babylonian Talmud and in the Sefer Toldot Alexandros ha-Makdoni (according to the Haaretz article - I haven't checked them). But in the Alexander Romance you can read the accounts of his visit to the Land of the Blessed, where he found the spring of immortality but failed to drink from it, in II.39, and of his visit to the oracle in the Indian city of the Sun in II.44.

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

The medieval history of the Shroud of Turin

BIBLE HISTORY DAILY: The Shroud of Turin: Anything Left to Say? The history of Christianity’s most controversial relic (Andrea Nicolotti). This essay deals with the early medieval history of the Shroud.

Note 1 warns: "This article discusses how the Shroud of Turin has been viewed, studied, and interpreted throughout history and does not present arguments for or against its authenticity."

For many PaleoJudaica posts on the Shroud of Turin, some of which do deal with "arguments for or against its authenticity," start here and follow the links. The vast majority of scholarship views it as a medieval forgery.

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

The Sifting Project is seeking donations

THE TEMPLE MOUNT SIFTING PROJECT BLOG: GIVING OUR HALF-SHEKEL.

It's that time of year for giving the traditional charity reminiscent of the half-shekel donation to the Temple. Here's a little calculation of how serious that seemingly simple donation actually was! And some ideas for how to make your own half-shekel donation meaningful.

For many posts on the valuable work of the project, run "Temple Mount Sifting Project" through the PaleoJudaica search engine. And for background on the project, see, for example, here and here.

For more on the half-shekel Temple tax, see here and links.

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

Late-antique mosaic restored in Nahariya

DECORATIVE ART: Impressive Byzantine mosaic restored 30 years after its discovery, made available for the public. Mosaic part of church complex destroyed and burned in the Persian-Sassanid invasion of 614 CE (Judith Sudilovsky, Jerusalem Post).

Restoration of a spectacular mosaic floor from a Byzantine-period Christian basilica was recently completed in a residential neighborhood of Nahariya, and the site will now be open to the public some 30 years after it was first uncovered in a salvage excavation by the Israel Antiquities Authority.

[...]

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

Attia & Perrot (eds.), The Hebrew Bible Manuscripts: A Millennium (Brill)

NEW BOOK FROM BRILL:

The Hebrew Bible Manuscripts: A Millennium

Series: Supplements to the Textual History of the Bible, Volume: 6

Volume Editors: Élodie Attia and Antony Perrot

In The Hebrew Bible: A Millennium, scholars from different fields and dealing with different material sources are trying to consider the Hebrew Bible as a whole. The development of new databases and other technological tools have an increasing impact on research practices. By inviting doctoral students, young researchers, and established scholars to contribute, this interdisciplinary book showcases methods and perspectives which can support future scientific collaborations in the field of the Hebrew Bible. This edited volume gathers relevant research from Dead Sea Scrolls Studies, Cairo Genizah Studies, European Genizah Studies, and from Late Medieval Biblical Manuscript Studies.

Copyright Year: 2022

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

E-Book (PDF)
Availability: Published
ISBN: 978-90-04-49933-1
Publication Date: 22 Feb 2022

Hardback
Availability: Published
ISBN: 978-90-04-49872-3
Publication Date: 15 Mar 2022

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

Review of Eisenberg & Ovadiah (eds.), Cornucopia (Segal Festschrift)

BRYN MAYR CLASSICAL REVIEW: Cornucopia: studies in honor of Arthur Segal.

Michael Eisenberg, Asher Ovadiah, Cornucopia: studies in honor of Arthur Segal. Archaeologica, 180. Roma: Editore G. Bretschneider, 2019. Pp. xviii, 326. ISBN 9788876893155 €80,00.

Review by
Leonardo Gregoratti, Durham University/Università di Udine. DerGrego@googlemail.com

[Authors and titles are listed below.]

The volume gathers a series of contributions to honour Arthur Segal, who spent most of his career at Haifa University teaching classical archaeology and working on Roman Judea and the Decapolis, focusing his field activity on the city of Hippos-Sussita. As often happens in this genre of publications, the eighteen contributions offered by friends and colleagues deal with different topics, from those directly continuing Segal’s research to those not related at all with his research interests.

[...]

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

Wiesehöfer, ... Studien zur Geschichte der Achaimeniden (Harrassowitz)

BIBLIOGRAPHIA IRANICA: Studies on the History of the Achaimenids. Notice of a New Book: Wiesehöfer, Josef. 2022. Iran – Zentralasien – Mittelmeer Gesammelte Schriften, Teil I: Studien zur Geschichte der Achaimeniden. (Philippika – Altertumswissenschaftliche Abhandlungen). (Ed.) Robert Rollinger & Kai Ruffing. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz Verlag.

Follow the link for description and TOC. The articles are in English and German. The volume includes articles of direct and indirect interest for matters PaleoJudaic.

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

Hagemeyer (ed.), Jerusalem and the Coastal Plain in the Iron Age and Persian Periods (Mohr Siebeck)

NEW BOOK FROM MOHR SIEBECK: Jerusalem and the Coastal Plain in the Iron Age and Persian Periods. New Studies on Jerusalem's Relations with the Southern Coastal Plain of Israel/Palestine (c. 1200–300 BCE). Research on Israel and Aram in Biblical Times IV. Edited by Felix Hagemeyer. 2022. XII, 247 pages. Orientalische Religionen in der Antike 46. 119,00 € including VAT. cloth ISBN 978-3-16-160692-2.

Published in English.
This volume contains the proceedings of an international interdisciplinary workshop held in December 2019 by the Minerva Center for the Relations between Israel and Aram in Biblical Times at Leipzig University. The authors present a variety of studies from the fields of archaeology, history, and biblical studies that focus on the multifaceted relations between Jerusalem and the Mediterranean coast of Israel/Palestine in the period from c. 1200 to 300 BCE. It becomes clear that both regions were connected by a constantly changing economic, cultural, and social exchange.

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Who was Pharaoh's daughter?

DR. MALKA Z. SIMKOVICH: Pharaoh’s Daughter: A Woman Worthy of Raising Moses (TheTorah.com).

In Exodus, the daughter of Pharaoh is presented as an empathetic princess who saves the infant Moses after discovering him in the Nile and raises him as one of her own. Late Second Temple and rabbinic writers reimagine her based on their own values, and even give her a name.

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

Nikolsky & Atzmon (eds.), Studies in the Tanhuma-Yelammedenu Literature (Brill)

NEW BOOK FROM BRILL:

Studies in the Tanhuma-Yelammedenu Literature

Series: The Brill Reference Library of Judaism, Volume: 70

Editors: Ronit Nikolsky and Arnon Atzmon

Tanhuma-Yelammedenu Literature enables a rare and unique look into the Jewish society of late antiquity and the early Byzantine period, especially the interaction between the beit-midrash and the synagogue cultures. This little-studied corpus is the focus of the present volume, in which various authors study historical, philological, cultural or linguistic aspects of this literature. The result is a body of work dedicated to this important corpus, and is a first step into giving it its proper place in Jewish Studies.

Copyright Year: 2022

Prices from (excl. VAT): €124.00 / $149.00

E-Book (PDF)
Availability: Published
ISBN: 978-90-04-46919-8
Publication Date: 15 Nov 2021

Hardback
Availability: Published
ISBN: 978-90-04-46918-1
Publication Date: 11 Nov 2021

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

The Mount Ebal amulet and late defixiones

A QUESTION OF SCRIPT: Joseph I. Lauer has posted a long list of links about the Mount Ebal amulet on his e-mail list. (And if you aren't a subscriber, you should be!) He notes a post by Todd Bolen at the Bible Places Blog which includes some comments on the amulet. This is an interesting idea:

I will be curious to see how they argue that this was not a Hellenistic-era amulet written in old script; its discovery alongside Late Bronze and Iron Age pottery in a dump is not conclusive, especially at a site likely frequented by pilgrims.

Could the Mount Ebal amulet be a Hellenistic-era (or Roman-era or late antique) defixio amulet written in paleo-Hebrew script? Or, for that matter, could it be a Hebrew or Phoenician amulet from any time between the sixth century BCE and late antiquity?

We know there were amulets written in paleo-Hebrew script (rather than the modern square script). The Ketef Hinnom silver amulets from around the sixth century BCE quote passages also found in the Hebrew Bible. They are written in paleo-Hebrew script. And there are reports of Phoenician and Punic amulets from around the same time period. Phoenician and Punic also used the paleo-Hebrew script.

That said, none of the ones I know of are defixiones or curse tablets. The are protective amulets.

All of the later (late-antique) Hebrew and Aramaic amulets I know of are written in the square Hebrew script and are protective (from demons mostly) or coercive (mostly love charms), but do not involve curses.

That means we do not have any metal-inscribed curse amulets in paleo-Hebrew script which would be directly comparable to what we are told about the Mount Ebal amulet.

In addition, we are told that the Mount Ebal amulet is written in "Proto-Alphabetic" (early alphabetic or early Canaanite) script, which is earlier than paleo-Hebrew. The circulated drawing by Gershon Galil of the name of God in the amulet is in early alphabetic script. (That said, Christopher Rollston wrote that the drawing is "particularly schematic in nature," so I don't know how much weight to put on it.)

There are no other Hebrew or Phoenician/Punic metal amulets written in early alphabetic script. It was no longer used in the time of these amulets. If the description is accurate, the Mount Ebal amulet could not be a defixio amulet from the sixth century or later.

That said, the scans of the inscription remain unpublished. Until epigraphers who specilize in this area have been able to evaluate it, we don't know what we have.

In sum: if the current claims are accurate, the Mount Ebal amulet does not seem to be a defixio from the Persian Period or later written in paleo-Hebrew script. But, until the discoverers produce their evidence, I am ruling nothing out.

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

Ritymeyer on Capernaum and its house church

LEEN RITMEYER has new blog posts on the archaeology of ancient Capernaum:

Capernaum The town where Jesus chose to live

Capernaum’s House Church the domus ecclesia from the first to the fourth century

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

The new Cairo Geniza: Holding Egyptian authorities accountable

WELL GOOD! Senator presses for answers after Egypt seizes buried trove of Jewish documents. Gary Peters wants the Biden administration to pressure Cairo after government reportedly confiscates uncovered genizah of discarded papers before Jewish scholars can review them (RON KAMPEAS, JTA via Times of Israel).

For background on the recent discovery of what appears to be a second Cairo Geniza, and the reported confiscation of its manuscripts by Egyptian authorities, see here.

And note that the world is watching.

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

Ilan, Queen Berenice (Brill)

NEW BOOK FROM BRILL:

Queen Berenice

A Jewish Female Icon of the First Century CE

Series: Studies in Theology and Religion, Volume: 29

Author: Tal Ilan

This is a biography of Queen Berenice, the daughter of King Agrippa I, sister of King Agrippa II, wife of two kings and lover of the emperor designate Flavius Titus. A Jew of the 1st century, she witnessed some of the foundational events of her time like the emergence of Christianity and the destruction of the Second Temple in Jerusalem, is. She met and socialized with the most important people of her day - Philo the Philosopher (who was at one time her brother-in-law), Paul the Apostle (whose trial she witnessed) and Josephus the Historian who told part of her story.

Copyright Year: 2022

Prices from (excl. VAT): €110.00 / $132.00

E-Book (PDF)
Availability: Published
ISBN: 978-90-04-51103-3
Publication Date: 16 Mar 2022

Hardback
Availability: Published
ISBN: 978-90-04-51090-6
Publication Date: 22 Feb 2022

For PaleoJudaica posts involving Julia Berenice (Berenike), see here and links and here.

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

How many Arks of the Covenant were there?

PROF. YIGAL LEVIN: The Precursors of the Ark (TheTorah.com).

At the battle against the Philistines at Michmas, Saul asks Ahiah the priest to bring forward the ark, so that he can consult YHWH. He is not referring to the ark of Shiloh, which was safeguarded in Kiryat-yearim at the time; in the early monarchic period, each worship site had its own priestly family with its own ark.

Could be. Any attempt to harmonize the texts has to read a lot into them. This suggestion also reads a good bit into the archaeology.

For many, many PaleoJudaica posts on the Ark of the Covenant, start here (cf. here) and follow the links.

For the model shrines excavated at Khirbet Qeiyafa, see here and links.

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

The stylus that wrote the Mount Ebal amulet?

ANNOUNCEMENT: New details emerge about Katy archaeologist's ‘curse tablet’ that could shake up Biblical timeline (Claire Goodman, Houston Chronicle).

More news relating to the Mount Ebal amulet. The most important new detail:

Stripling last week revealed that his team has just recovered an iron stylus at the dig site, which they believe to be the writing instrument used to scratch the text into the lead.

The article does not include a photograph of the iron stylus. Presumably it was found during the wet-sifting of the dirt gathered from the site in 2019. If so, there is no stratigraphic context. Maybe it was the writing instrument used to inscribe the amulet. I would like to see the reasoning.

Reportedly Craig Evans (a Professor of Christian Origins) has seen the scans of the amulet and agrees with Professor Stripling's claims. Okay, but they should show it to a professional epigrapher who specializes in such inscriptions.

The article says that the amulet dates to c. 1400 BCE, which is the earliest date I have seen mentioned yet.

I don't know any biblical scholars who think the Book of Job is the earliest book in the Bible. Maybe some do. I don't think many.

All the metal "defixios" (i.e., defixiones) or curse tablets I know of come from the sixth century BCE and later, many centuries after the supposed date of this amulet. Is this the earliest one ever discovered? I have commented on this point earlier.

Both Stripling and Evans imply that other scholars think that writing didn't exist in the time of Moses. No one thinks that. The Ugaritic texts and Proto-Sinaitic inscriptions show that Northwest Semitic was already being written in alphabetic scripts in that time frame. Even if all the claims about the amulet turn out to be true, it has no bearing on the Documentary Hypothesis. (Christopher Rollston has already made this point, but it bears repeating.)

Background here and links.

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

Restoration of the Ashkelon basilica

RE-EXCAVATED AND REBUILT: Ashkelon restoration project puts Roman basilica columns back in place. The massive marble columns weigh over seven tons. The fourth column will be placed next week (Judith Sudilovsky, Jerusalem Post).

For more on the recently re-excavated basilica, see here and here.

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

Review of Alesse & de Luca (eds.), Philo of Alexandria and Greek myth

BRYN MAYR CLASSICAL REVIEW: Philo of Alexandria and Greek myth: narratives, allegories, and arguments.

Francesca Alesse, Ludovica de Luca, Philo of Alexandria and Greek myth: narratives, allegories, and arguments. Studies in Philo of Alexandria, 10. Leiden: Brill, 2019. Pp. xvi, 291. ISBN 9789004411609 €116,00.

Review by
Maren Niehoff, Hebrew University. maren.niehoff@mail.huji.ac.il

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More questions about the Mount Ebal amulet

PROVENANCE: From West Bank Debris to Evangelical Hands: The Shady Journey of a Bible-era Curse. Researchers recently claimed a groundbreaking find in biblical archaeology: the oldest Israelite inscription, dating from the 13th century B.C.E. In addition to doubts about whether it’s ‘kosher,’ the manner in which it was obtained in the West Bank is also arousing suspicion (Nir Hasson, Haaretz).

I said that I wanted to know more about the provenance trail of the object. This article has more information. And it asks more questions.

Unrelated to this article, but another question has been bothering me. I have not seen it mentioned elsewhere. Is there any other example of an inscribed lead amulet in a Northwest Semitic language from as early as the twelfth or thirteenth century BCE?

I am aware of inscribed metal amulets (gold, silver, bronze, lead) in Phoenician, Punic, and Hebrew, as well as Egyptian, from the seventh to fifth centuries BCE through late antiquity. And many in Greek and Latin during much of that period. But none earlier. For details, see Roy D. Kontansky, "Textual Amulets and Writing Traditions in the Ancient World," pp. 507-54 in Guide to the Study of Ancient Magic, ed. David Frankfurter (Brill, 2019).

Unless I have missed something, which is possible, the Mount Ebal amulet would be the earliest inscribed metal amulet discovered in the ANE and Mediterranean region by a good five centuries. That is possible, of course, but it is yet another remarkable feature. It makes the lottery we won even bigger.

Again, we should proceed cautiously. So far we have spectacular claims and almost no verification. I look forward to more information.

Background here and links.

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

Glenny, Amos (Baylor LXX handbook)

NEW BOOK FROM BAYLOR UNIVERSITY PRESS:

Amos

A Handbook on the Greek Text

Baylor Handbook on the Septuagint

by W. Edward Glenny

Imprint: Baylor University Press

336 Pages, 5.25 x 8.00 in

PAPERBACK
9781481316705 $49.99
PUBLISHED: MARCH 2022

DESCRIPTION

In Amos, W. Edward Glenny provides a foundational analysis of the Greek text of the Septuagint version of Amos. The analysis is distinguished by the detailed yet comprehensive attention paid to the text. Glenny's analysis is a convenient pedagogical and reference tool that explains the form and syntax of the biblical text, offers guidance for deciding between competing semantic analyses, engages important text-critical debates, and addresses questions relating to the Greek text that are frequently overlooked by standard commentaries. Beyond serving as a succinct and accessible analytic key, Amos also reflects recent advances in scholarship on Greek grammar and linguistics and is informed by current discussions within Septuagint studies. These handbooks prove themselves indispensable tools for anyone committed to a deep reading of the Greek text of the Septuagint.

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Witherington on Isaiah in the New Testament

ANCIENT EXEGESIS: How New Testament writers viewed Old Testament prophecy. Spring Bible & Archaeology Fest 2022 (JEFFREY STEVENS, Jerusalem Post).

Witherington said that most of the citations are from Isaiah chapters 40 through 66, emphasizing judgment and restoration. He said that the themes used from Isaiah in the New Testament are reflective of the fact that the New Testament writers believed they were living in the eschatological age, the age of prophecy fulfillment.

In general, the writers of the New Testament used the same exegetical rules as the writers of Second Temple Jewish literature, except that the NT writers also assumed that difficult passages in scripture really were saying something about Jesus. Modern historical biblical exegesis is very different from either type of ancient exegesis.

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McKenzie, History as Harlotry in the Book of Ezekiel (Mohr Siebeck)

NEW BOOK FROM MOHR SIEBECK: Tracy J. McKenzie. History as Harlotry in the Book of Ezekiel. Textual Expansion in Ezekiel 16. 2022. XIII, 269 pages. Forschungen zum Alten Testament 2. Reihe 131. 79,00 € including VAT. sewn paper ISBN 978-3-16-160873-5.

Published in English.
Ezekiel 16 conveys a well-known portrayal of Israel's checkered history. Its borrowed metaphors, textual reuse, and developing content defy a transparent explanation of its origins. In this monograph, Tracy J. McKenzie explores the methods and motivations for textual expansions. After surveying how secondary literature has addressed the interpretive nature of additions, traditions, redactions, and Fortschreibungen in prophetic texts, he provides a new translation and text-critical judgment of Ezekiel 16. He then analyzes how linguistic elements diachronically achieve a composite unity in the passage. This composite unity sets up the analysis that explores the ways in which the expansions have built on pre-existing texts, rewritten them, and developed their content. The author's conclusion focuses on how the interpretive moves in the expansions disclose possible motives and social settings in Yehud.

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How old are the Books of (1) Enoch?

SETH SANDERS: How Old Are the Books of Enoch? Professor Sanders is asking the right questions and pointing out that we really don't know the answers.

A lot of advances in biblical studies and related areas are coming from re-examining the things we know and confidently repeat and discovering that we don't know them after all.

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Centennial exhibition of Dura-Europos photos

THE AWOL BLOG: Exhibition: Photographs of Dura-Europos: 1922 – 2022 and Onward.

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

Oh, and by the way, congratulations to AWOL: AWOL won the 2021 Digital Humanities Award.

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Podwal, A Jewish Bestiary (rev. ed., Penn State)

NEW (REVISED) BOOK FROM PENN STATE UNIVERSITY PRESS:

A Jewish Bestiary

Fabulous Creatures from Hebraic Legend and Lore

Mark Podwal

“A children's book for grown-ups, A Jewish Bestiary is modest in appearance, broad in learning and deep in subtle humor.
The New York Times

$14.95 | Hardcover Edition
ISBN: 978-0-271-09173-0

Available as an e-book

88 pages
7.125" × 9"
35 color illustrations
2021

Description

“Ask the beast and it will teach thee, and the birds of heaven and they will tell thee.” —Job 12:7

In the Middle Ages, the bestiary achieved a popularity second only to that of the Bible. In addition to being a kind of encyclopedia of the animal kingdom, the bestiary also served as a book of moral and religious instruction, teaching human virtues through a portrayal of an animal’s true or imagined behavior. In A Jewish Bestiary, Mark Podwal revisits animals, both real and mythical, that have captured the Jewish imagination through the centuries.

Originally published in 1984 and called “broad in learning and deep in subtle humor” by the New York Times, this updated edition of A Jewish Bestiary features new full-color renderings of thirty-five creatures from Hebraic legend and lore. The illustrations are accompanied by entertaining and instructive tales drawn from biblical, talmudic, midrashic, and kabbalistic sources. Throughout, Podwal combines traditional Jewish themes with his own distinctive style. The resulting juxtaposition of art with history results in a delightful and enlightening bestiary for the twenty-first century.

From the ant to the ziz, herein are the creatures that exert a special force on the Jewish fancy.

Fred Reiss has a review of the new edition at San Diego Jewish World

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More on Nabonidus the royal archaeologist

ANCIENT SCHOLARS AND SCOUNDRELS: Royal Antiquarians (Archaeology Magazine).

I have already noted the archaeological interests of the Neo-Babylonian king Nabonidus and his daughter. But it's news to me that the priests of Shamash fooled him with a forged ancient inscription that favored them. It seems antiquities forgers have been around for as long as archaeology has.

For King Nabonidus as portrayed in the Aramaic Prayer of Nabonidus, with connections to Nebuchadnezzar's madness in Daniel chapter 4, see here (cf. here) and links.

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Hawass on the world of Cleopatra

AHRAM ONLINE is publishing a four-part series on the world of Cleopatra by Zahi Hawass, whom we haven't heard from in a while. The first in the series is out:

The world of Cleopatra — I.

This essay gives an overview of Egypt under Persian rule, the conquest of Alexander the Great, the rise of Ptolemy I, and politics and culture during the Ptolemaic period.

For PaleoJudaica posts on the Ptolemaic empire, including its coins and its importance for biblical and ancient Jewish studies, start here and follow the links.

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

Fishbane, Biblical Text and Exegetical Culture (Mohr Siebeck)

NEW BOOK FROM MOHR SIEBECK: Michael Fishbane. Biblical Text and Exegetical Culture. Collected Essays. 2022. XI, 620 pages. Forschungen zum Alten Testament 154. 184,00 € including VAT. cloth ISBN 978-3-16-152049-5.

Published in English.
In this wide-ranging collection, Michael Fishbane investigates the complex and diverse relationships between the 'biblical text' and 'exegetical culture.' The author demonstrates the multiple literary dimensions and interpretative strategies that came to form the Hebrew Bible in the context of the ancient Near East, the Dead Sea Scrolls in the context of an emergent biblical-Jewish culture, and the classical rabbinic Midrash in the context of an emergent rabbinic civilization in late antiquity. Within each study, and in the collection as a whole, the author shows a broad range of creative methods, always with a scholarly concern to illuminate the religious ideas of Scripture as it was perceived through diverse hermeneutical lenses and exegetical methodologies. The studies range from the purely literary to the highly analytic, from myth to law, and from studies of symbols to the study of exegetical methods.

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Assyrian New Year 2022

THE ASSYRIAN NEW YEAR 6772 is celebrated today: Masoud Barzani congratulates Assyrian and Chaldean Christians on Akitu (Mustafa Shilani, Kurdistan24).

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – President of the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) Masoud Barzani congratulated Assyrian and Chaldean Christians on the holiday of Akitu on Thursday.

The Assyrian New Year, known as Akitu, marks the beginning of the year 6772 for both denominations. The event is celebrated annually by members of the Christian community across the Kurdistan Region and Iraq.

[...]

The festival is also known as Kha b-Nisan, the First of Nisan. It is today connected with the ancient Mesopotamian New Year Akitu Festival. Memory of the latter was lost until the decipherment of cuneiform in the modern period, so I am not sure when the connection was made or reaffirmed. For more on the modern festival, see here. Follow the links from there for more on the ancient Akitu festival.

Best wishes to all those celebrating either one!

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Biblical Studies Carnival 193

THE AMATEUR EXEGETE: BIBLICAL STUDIES CARNIVAL #193 (MARCH 2022) (Ben).

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The earliest Jesus inscription in Arabia?

BIBLE HISTORY DAILY: The Earliest Evidence of Christianity in Arabia? A rock inscription from the Jordanian desert invokes Jesus (Marek Dospěl).

This BHD essay summarizes an article by Professor Ahmad Al-Jallad in the current issue of BAR. The article itself is behind the subscription wall.

The inscription is written in the Safaitic dialect of pre-Islamic Arabic. The editor dates it to the fourth century CE. It was found in the Wadi al-Khudari in northeastern Jordan.

For more on Safaitic Arabic, see here and here.

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Another Judeo-Syriac fragment from the Cairo Geniza

GENIZA FRAGMENT OF THE MONTH (FEBRUARY 2022): A New Judaeo-Syriac Fragment from the Genizah: ENA 3846.2 (Alan Elbaum).

Judaeo-Syriac was a significant albeit never widespread phenomenon. We have long known of medieval Jewish scholars from Baghdad to Aleppo to Girona who made use of the Peshitta for exegetical purposes. But until now, we have not had direct evidence of how Jews would have learned Syriac from Christians nor any extant specimens of Peshitta manuscripts in Hebrew characters like those that Masnūt and potentially Naḥmanides would have consulted. Despite its modest dimensions, ENA 3846.2 provides crucial evidence for a previously unattested stage of Jewish engagement with Syriac and hopefully heralds further discoveries and publications of Genizah fragments in Judaeo-Syriac. I conclude with an edition and commentary.

The Cario Geniza produced another Judeo-Syriac fragment back in 2013.

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McKnight on the Pharisees and Evangelical Preaching

ANCIENT JEW REVIEW: Pharisees and Evangelical Preaching (Scot McKnight).

AJR continues its series of papers from a 2021 SBL session on the Pharisees. Earlier posts in the series are noted here and here.

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Vanilla-flavored wine in ancient Jerusalem?

ANCIENT VANILLA VINTAGE? 6th century BCE Jerusalemite oenophiles had a taste for exotic vanilla-spice wine. New research based on First Temple City of David pottery sherds dating to the Babylonian destruction shores up theories of international trade with Kingdom of Judah (Amanda Borschel-Dan, Times of Israel).

Judahite Elite in Jerusalem Drank Wine Flavored With Vanilla 2,600 Years Ago. Analysis of smashed wine jars in Jerusalem houses destroyed by the Babylonians in 586 B.C.E. finds unexpected flavor in jars that the rich reused (Ruth Schuster, Haaretz).

The underlying article at PLOS ONE:

Residue analysis evidence for wine enriched with vanilla consumed in Jerusalem on the eve of the Babylonian destruction in 586 BCE
Ayala Amir , Israel Finkelstein, Yiftah Shalev, Joe Uziel, Ortal Chalaf, Liora Freud, Ronny Neumann, Yuval Gadot Published: March 29, 2022
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0266085

Abstract

The article presents results of residue analysis, based on Gas Chromatograph Mass Spectrometer (GC-MS) measurements, conducted on 13 ceramic storage jars unearthed in the Babylonian destruction layer (586 BCE) in Jerusalem. Five of the jars bear rosette stamp impressions on their handles, indicating that their content was related to the kingdom of Judah’s royal economy. The identification of the original contents remains is significant for the understanding of many aspects related to the nutrition, economy and international trade in the ancient Levant. The study shed light on the contents of the jars and the destruction process of the buildings in which they were found. The jars were used alternatively for storing wine and olive oil. The wine was flavored with vanilla. These results attest to the wine consumption habits of the Judahite elite and echo Jerusalem’s involvement in the trans-regional South Arabian trade of spices and other lucrative commodities on the eve of its destruction by Nebuchadnezzar.

Last I heard, there was some skepticism about whether traces of vanilla were really found at c. 1600 BCE Megiddo. That was a few years ago. I see that there has been a formal publication of the evidence since them. I don't know what, if any, response there has been to it.

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Reception history of the Pharisees

ANCIENT JEW REVIEW continues its series of papers from a 2021 SBL session on the Pharisees:

Pharisees Part Two: Reception History (Elena G. Procario-Foley).

Earlier essays in the series are noted here.

Incidentally, PaleoJudaica has a number of posts on the Pharisees and stereotyping of them. Start here (cf. here) and follow the links.

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Rollston on the Mount Ebal amulet

ROLLSTON EPIGRAPHY: The Mount Ebal Lead ‘Curse’ Inscription in Late Bronze Age Hebrew: Some Methodological Caveats. A good, cautious analysis of the evidence, such as it is, by a specialist in this area of epigraphy.

For my own comments on the claims about this object, see here. For earlier posts, see the links there.

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Springing the Megiddo Jesus mosaic?

ARCHAEOLOGY, EPIGRAPHY, DECORATIVE ART: Earliest mosaic in Israel dedicated to Jesus may soon be sprung from prison. 3rd-century Christian structure and 3 mosaics with inscriptions – including ‘to the God Jesus Christ’ – were uncovered at Meggido jail in 2004-08; it may now become a tourist site (Amanda Borschel-Dan, Times of Israel).

I have been following the story of the Megiddo prison excavation and mosaics since the first announcements in 2005. For posts, start here and follow the links. As you will see, there is debate about whether the "God Jesus Christ" mosaic is as early as the third century.

The proposal to make the site an archaeological park has been around for years. See here.

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Discovering Isaiah

THE ANCIENT NEAR EAST TODAY: Isaiah-Prophet, Book, and Message (Andrew T. Abernethy).

The book of Isaiah is a wonderful mixture of ethics, judgment and hope, and divine grandeur and nearness. Although we are 2800 years removed from the prophet, these messages and countless others appeal to people in all generations and draw us in for a closer look at the book of Isaiah.

The author has a new book out on Isaiah with Eerdmans: Discovering Isaiah: Content, Interpretation, Reception (Discovering Biblical Texts (DBT)).

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Big claims for the Mount Ebal amulet

I COUNSEL CAUTION: Archaeologist claims to find oldest Hebrew text in Israel, including the name of God. Scholars date tiny ‘curse tablet,’ found at Mt. Ebal, to 1200 BCE – which would prove Israelites were literate when they entered Holy Land; but findings have not been peer-reviewed (Amanda Borschel-Dan). The podcast interview with Scott Stripling has additional details.

Potentially, this amulet is an extraordinarily important discovery. It reportedly bears an inscription written in something like Hebrew, possibly the earliest recovered Hebrew inscription. This inscription reportedly places YHWH worshippers at the site of the altar on Mount Ebal c. the twelfth century BCE, not far from the date of the Merneptah Stele. The text reportedly invokes some kind of curse, which immediately brings to mind the curses uttered by the Israelites on Ebal according to Deuteronomy 27. If all this is accurate, the discovery is on the lottery-winning level.

But the reports offer us almost no data to evaluate.

The object is folded over and the inscription is not readable (or, at least to me, visible) on the outside. All the claims are based on an unpublished scan of its interior. Only a drawing of three letters (reportedly the divine name) has been released. There is no paleographic analysis. There is not even a transcription of the Hebrew. The editors have only released an English translation. No peer review of these claims has been completed.

I would also like to know more about the provenance trail of the object.

I am going to invoke my Lottery Rule here. If a reported new discovery is the scholarly equivalent of our having won the lottery, we should be skeptical of it unless and until we have strong evidence that it is real.

People sometimes win do the lottery. Scholarship sometimes wins the lottery (e.g., the Dead Sea Scrolls). But the bigger the claim, the more we should expect solid evidence and the more carefully we should probe that evidence.

I await more information.

Earlier posts on the discovery are here and here.

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Baal's sacred astronomical pool in Sicily

PHOENICIAN WATCH: Monumental Structure in Sicily Isn’t a Phoenician Harbor – It’s a Huge Sacred Pool of Baal. The kothon of Motya in southern Sicily had first been assumed to be an artificial harbor. It wasn’t, archaeologist Lorenzo Nigro of Sapienza proves (Ruth Schuster, Haaretz).

For more on the Phoenician remains at Motya, see here, here, here, and here.

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Ross & Runge (eds.), Postclassical Greek Prepositions and Conceptual Metaphor (De Gruyter)

WILLIAM ROSS: BOOK ANNOUNCEMENT: POSTCLASSICAL GREEK PREPOSITIONS AND CONCEPTUAL METAPHOR.

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Frohlich, The Relationship between MT and LXX in Jeremiah 39(46):1–41(48):3 and 52 (Mohr Siebeck)

NEW BOOK FROM MOHR SIEBECK: James Frohlich. The Relationship between MT and LXX in Jeremiah 39(46):1–41(48):3 and 52. 2022. XVII, 239 pages. Forschungen zum Alten Testament 2. Reihe 133. 79,00 € including VAT. sewn paper ISBN 978-3-16-160739-4.

Published in English.
In this work, James Frohlich analyzes the Septuagint translation technique in Jeremiah 39(46)-41(48):3 and 52 in order to determine if the large-scale differences between MT and LXX in these chapters were caused by the LXX translator. Since the Hebrew text of Jeremiah 52 largely parallels that of 2 Kings 24:18–25:30, and Jeremiah 39(46)-41(48):3 has various parallels with 2 Kgs 25:22–26, the author also focuses on the differences between the Septuagint translations in these parallel texts. Along with a study of translation technique, he also considers the nature of the MT pluses and analyzes the agreements and disagreements between Jeremiah 39(46)-41(48):3 and 52 MT/LXX with the parallel text in 2 Kings 24:18–25:30 MT/LXX. James Frohlich concludes that the large-scale differences between MT and LXX in Jeremiah 39–41:3 and 52 are due to a divergent Hebrew Vorlage used by the Septuagint translator.

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Still no Gospel of Mark in the DSS

VARIANT READINGS: The Strange “nu” Story of 7Q5 (Brent Nongbri).

The correct reading of a single letter – even a blank space – in an ancient manuscript can sometimes make a big difference. For more examples, see here and here.

Bit by bit, a letter at a time, whatever it takes. Until we're done.

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Rogers, For the Freedom of Zion (Yale)

NEW BOOK FROM YALE UNIVERSITY PRESS:

For the Freedom of Zion
The Great Revolt of Jews against Romans, 66–74 CE

Guy MacLean Rogers

Format: Hardcover
Price: $37.50

A definitive account of the great revolt of Jews against Rome and the destruction of the Jerusalem Temple

“A lucid yet terrifying account of the 'Jewish War'—the uprising of the Jews in 66 CE, and the Roman empire’s savage response, in a story that stretches from Rome to Jerusalem.”—John Ma, Columbia University

This deeply researched and insightful book examines the causes, course, and historical significance of the Jews’ failed revolt against Rome from 66 to 74 CE, including the destruction of the Jerusalem Temple. Based on a comprehensive study of all the evidence and new statistical data, Guy Rogers argues that the Jewish rebels fought for their religious and political freedom and lost due to military mistakes.

Rogers contends that while the Romans won the war, they lost the peace. When the Romans destroyed the Jerusalem Temple, they thought that they had defeated the God of Israel and eliminated Jews as a strategic threat to their rule. Instead, they ensured the Jews’ ultimate victory. After their defeat Jews turned to the written words of their God, and following those words led the Jews to recover their freedom in the promised land. The war's tragic outcome still shapes the worldview of billions of people today.

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AJR reviews The Pharisees

ANCIENT JEW REVIEW is publishing another series of papers from a 2021 SBL session, this one on the Pharisees. Thus far:

The Pharisees: a SBL 2021 Review Forum (Kelley Coblentz Bautch and Joshua Scott)

The Pharisees (Eerdmans, 2021), edited by Joseph Sievers and Amy-Jill Levine, is an important recent publication for readers of AJR and indeed all readers interested in Jewish history and Jewish/Christian relations.[1] This volume, with contributions from twenty-seven scholars of an international scope, is significant for numerous reasons, as the reviews in this AJR Forum make clear. ...

I noted the 2019 conference here from which the essays in the book come. I knew the book was coming out, but its publication appears to have slipped by me in December.

Pharisees Part One: Historical Reconstruction (Kathy Ehrensperger)

By way of some concluding remarks, in terms of the historicity of the Pharisees, as we have seen especially in the first portion of the volume (chapters 1-5), it is difficult to find more than a few details, like relation and knowledge of the Law, political presence, some popularity. This should already lead us to caution.

Who Needs the Pharisees? New Testament and Beyond (Anders Runesson)

Summing up – and answering our initial question, “Who needs the Pharisees?” – it seems that, on the whole, we today, both Jews and Christians, need them more than anyone has ever done before, but for very different reasons. And we need them in academic historical, non-polemical form.

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A new Cairo Geniza?

REPORT: Egyptian Antiquities Authorities Confiscates New Genizah Found In Cairo Jewish Cemetery (VIN News).

JERUSALEM (VINnews) — A new genizah (archive) with rare ancient Jewish documents was discovered in the Cairo Jewish cemetery last month, but a report by Israeli Arab affairs correspondent Roi Kais reveals that employees from the Egyptian Antiquities Authority arrived at the cemetery this week and began emptying the genizah, despite the vehement opposition of the local Jewish community.

[...]

I can't find any reference to this discovery elsewhere, although I feel like I vaguely remember seeing one. No word here on the contents of the geniza or the dates of the manuscripts.

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Handprints at Hippos

HUMAN TRACES: Israel archaeologists discover 2,000-year-old handprints in ancient Roman cistern (huaxia, Xinhua).

I am suprised that Xinhua seems to be the only media outlet covering this story.

For many PaleoJudaic posts on the ancient site of Hippos-Sussita, start here (cf. here) and follow the links. Some years ago, archaeologist also discovered footprints of Roman soliders embedded in mortar at Hippos-Sussista.

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AI and ancient Hebrew

THE BIBLE AND INTERPRETATION:

New Technology in an Ancient World: Using Artificial Intelligence to Study Ancient Hebrew Texts

The overall aim of the project is to develop a method to integrate these fields, using cutting edge machine learning techniques, with the goal of getting a much more complete picture of the development of the text and language of the Hebrew Bible than is currently possible.

By Martijn Naaijer
Faculty of Theology
University of Copenhagen

By Anders Søgaard
Department of Computer Science
University of Copenhagen

By Martin Ehrensvärd
Faculty of Theology
University of Copenhagen
March 2022

Cross-file under Algorithm Watch.

It's good to hear from The Bible and Interpretation again.

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NEH Fellowship for Shai Secunda

TALMUD WATCH: Professor Shai Secunda Awarded $40,000 National Endowment of the Humanities Fellowship for his Monograph on the Formation of the Talmud (Bard College News). Congratulations to Professor Secunda!

For more on his work on the Babylonian Talmud, see here and here and links.

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More on the resurrected ancient Judean date palms

PALEOBOTANY AND RESURRECTION GENOMICS: How King Solomon and the Romans Shaped the Judean Date Palm. The famed Judean dates began as one variant 2,400 years ago, by the Common Era had become something else and today, are different again (Ruth Schuster, Haaretz).

In the last decade, [Sarah] Sallon and Elaine Solowey of the Arava Institute for Environmental Studies at Kibbutz Ketura germinated date seeds that were radiocarbon-dated to between 1,800 and 2,400 years old. The seeds had been discovered by archaeologists at sites in the Judean Desert, including Masada. Seven trees grew.

The seven trees were named, from the oldest seed to the youngest: Methuselah, Hannah, Adam, Judith, Boaz, Jonah and Uriel. And lo, genetic analyses Sallon and international teams published in Science Advances in 2020, and in a 2021 paper in the journal PNAS by Muriel Gros-Balthazard and colleagues, show that these seven trees aren’t all the same type.

For PaleoJudaica posts on the work of this team on resurrecting the ancient Judean date palm, start here and follow the links. Related post here.

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Exhibition: The Samaritans: A Biblical People (YU)

SAMARITAN WATCH: First-of-its-kind Samaritans showcase to be unveiled in New York on March 27. (Yeshiva University/JNS).

“This initiative is an opportunity on the largest possible stage for us all—Jews, Christians, Muslims and Samaritans—to reflect about otherness and complexity, about core issues of who each of us is, and about what we hope to be,” said Professor Steven Fine.

For some background on the exhibition, and on the Samaritans, see: Encountering Samaritans. YU project explores our distant, oft-estranged cousins (LARRY YUDELSON, The Jewish Standard).

For the documentary film associated with the exhibition, see the H-Judaic notice: EVENT: The YU Israelite Samaritans Project: First Public Viewing of "The Samaritans: A Biblical People," NYC (March 27),

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Kratz & Schipper (eds.), Elephantine in Context (Mohr Siebeck)

NEW BOOK FROM MOHR SIEBECK: Elephantine in Context. Studies on the History, Religion and Literature of the Judeans in Persian Period Egypt. Edited by Reinhard G. Kratz and Bernd U. Schipper. 2022. XII, 385 pages. Forschungen zum Alten Testament 155. 144,00 € including VAT. cloth ISBN 978-3-16-160996-1.

Published in English.
The Persian period has long been considered a »dark era« in Israel's history. For this reason, research has mainly focused on how it is depicted in the Hebrew Bible. A spectacular discovery of archaeological relics and epigraphic sources was hence hardly noticed: the military colony located on the island of Elephantine in the Nile, on the border between Egypt and present-day Sudan. The basic approach of this volume, which documents a three-year Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft project, is to break with a research tradition focusing on the Judeans (Jews) mentioned in the Aramaic papyri from Elephantine and instead investigate the military colony in a broader historical context also documented by Demotic and Egyptian-hieratic evidence found at Elephantine. The studies presented focus on three main subject areas: society and administration, religion, and literature. They show that historically the island of Elephantine hosted a multicultural society with several interactions between the Egyptians and the other inhabitants, and that it was also an important administrative centre for the Persian authorities.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.