Review of Augé, Field Manual for the Archaeology of Ritual, Religion, and Magic

AMERICAN JOURNAL OF ARCHAEOLOGY BOOK REVIEW: Field Manual for the Archaeology of Ritual, Religion, and Magic, by C. Riley Augé (Thomas E. Emerson). HT Rogue Classicism.

Field Manual for the Archaeology of Ritual, Religion, and Magic
C. Riley Augé. New York: Berghahn 2022. Pp. 188. ISBN 978-1-80073-504-0 (ebook) $27.95.

... While Augé addresses her volume to archaeologists, it seems to me that it has value also for those involved more tangentially, such as researchers in material culture studies, epigraphers, historic site inter-preters, and members of the general public with interests in the spiritual side of the material world.

The review is open access.

This book would be of interest for a number of ancient sites in Israel, including Arad and, recently, the Te’omim Cave.

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

The Jerusalem Pilgrimage Road excavation

ARCHAEOLOGY: A new excavation of an ancient Jerusalem road expected to draw modern-day pilgrims. Inside City of David’s excavation of the ancient Pilgrimage Road, which once led directly to the Second Temple (Gabby Deutch, JewishInsider).

Known as the “stepped street,” or the “Pilgrimage Road,” the wide stone slabs that make up this pedestrian street were believed to be built by the Romans. The road was rediscovered by the Israel Antiquities Authority in 2004, after a sewage pipe burst. Archaeologists expect visitors to be able to walk the length of the road in two years, following the completion of an intricate excavation process.

For more than a decade now, archaeologists have overseen an underground excavation of the road, using heavy iron beams to prop up the above-ground infrastructure while they hollow out everything that has accumulated on top of the road over the past two millennia. Historians and archaeologists assert that the road connected the Pool of Siloam, a Roman-era pool used by Jewish pilgrims as a ritual bath, to the Second Temple.

PaleoJudaica posts on the Pilgrimage Road excavation and its discoveries are here (and links), here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here and links.

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

On the influence of Indy

BIBLE HISTORY DAILY: Indiana Jones and Archaeology. The good and bad of the Indiana Jones franchise (Nathan Steinmeyer). A timely and thoughtful essay.

No, digging up a 4,000-year-old lamp is not the same as finding the Holy Grail, but at that moment, you would not be able to tell the difference. The rush of your trowel hitting the earth, knowing that soon you will be uncovering clues to the daily life and activities of ancient people, is very much the same emotion of watching Indy unravel one of his ancient mysteries, discovering the lost object, and thwarting the villain.

Indy was a career inspiration for many of this generation's archaeologists and even biblical scholars. For me, somewhat earlier, it was Erich Von Däniken, for similar reasons.

Related recent post here.

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Why so many stories in the Talmud?

TALMUD WATCH: Why Does the Talmud Include So Many Stories? The stories in the Talmud demonstrate the important difference between the law and the application of the law (Paul Socken, Jewish Journal).

The subtitle answers the question in the headline. But the article illustrates the point with — of course! — a story.

Why would volumes of intricate discussions of law include stories that are anything but legal? Stories that tell of demons, recount interpersonal relations, and often delve into the realm of the mystical are seemingly out of place in such a context. A fascinating example is found in Kiddushin 29b. The rabbis are discussing who should be sent to study at the yeshiva, the father or the son. The rabbis decide, surprisingly to the modern mind, that it should be the father unless the son is unusually gifted.

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Be careful with fasting!

PROF. RABBI HERBERT BASSER: Ascetic Fasting and the Dangers of Piety (TheTorah.com).

To meet Yofiel, the angel of Torah, to ward off the devil, or to pronounce God's name are some reasons for ascetic fasting. But beware: Publicizing your fast not only negates your act of piety but can bring down divine wrath. Just ask Miriam daughter of Onion Leaf.

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Donor list and more Samson mosaic excavated at Huqoq

NORTHWEST SEMITIC EPIGRAPHY AND DECORATIVE ART: UNC-Chapel Hill-led archaeological dig in Galilee uncovers mosaics of Samson and commemorative inscription. The 11th season of excavations in the 1,600-year-old synagogue at Huqoq reveals a panel with an inscription commemorating the donors who funded the mosaic or the artists who made it (UNC-CH press release).

The newly discovered mosaic consists of a large panel, in the center of which is an enigmatic Hebrew inscription framed within a wreath. To the sides and below the wreath, an Aramaic inscription lists the names either of the donors who provided funding for the synagogue’s mosaics or the artists who made them, asking that they be remembered for good. The wreath is flanked on either side by lions resting their forepaws on bulls’ heads. The entire panel is surrounded by a decorated border showing animals of prey pursuing other animals.

This summer’s excavations also exposed additional sections of mosaic panels that were discovered in 2012 and 2013, which depict the episodes of Samson and the foxes as mentioned in Judges 15:4 and Samson carrying the gate of Gaza on his shoulders referenced in Judges 16:3.

For many PaleoJudaica posts on the archaeological discoveries at Huqoq, including the synagogue and the mosaics, see here and links plus here and here. For the Samson mosaic, see here and links.

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Late-antique underworld portal excavated near Jerusalem?

SPELUNCIC, CHTHONIC, NECROMANTIC ARCHAEOLOGY? ‘Oracle of the dead’ cave was used for rituals in Israel — likely by witches, study says (Irene Wright, Miami Herald).

The combination of the deep pit in the cave, the skulls for necromancy, the lamps for divination and the weapons for protection suggest to the researchers that the Te’omim Cave was used as a portal to the underworld.

The underlying article in the Harvard Theological Review is open access:

Oil Lamps, Spearheads and Skulls: Possible Evidence of Necromancy during Late Antiquity in the Te’omim Cave, Judean Hills

Published online by Cambridge University Press: 04 July 2023

Eitan Klein andBoaz Zissu

Abstract

The Te’omim Cave is a large karst cave located in the Jerusalem Hills. Since 2009, the cave has been explored by our team as a joint project of the Martin (Szusz) Department of Land of Israel Studies and Archaeology at Bar-Ilan University and the Cave Research Center at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Over 120 intact oil lamps were collected in the 2010–2016 survey seasons from all sections of the cave; most of them were dated to the second to fourth centuries CE. All of these lamps had been deliberately inserted in narrow, deep crevices in the main chamber walls or beneath the rubble. Some crevices contained groups of oil lamps mixed with weapons and pottery vessels from earlier periods or placed with human skulls. This article discusses the possibility that the oil lamps, weapons, human skulls, and other artifacts were used as part of necromancy ceremonies that took place in the cave during the Late Roman period, and that the cave may have served as a local oracle (nekyomanteion).

For another ancient underworld portal active at the same time (the Plutonium at Hierapolis in Turkey), see Carl Rasmussen's recent post at the Holy Land Photos' Blog: The Gate to Hades is Now Open!

Yet another underworld portal — a Zapotec one now under a church in Mitla, Oxaxa, Mexico — appears to have been rediscovered recently using non-invasive ground-penetrating technology: Archaeologists may have found ruins of fabled entrance to Zapotec underworld. Spanish missionaries deemed Lyobaa to be a "back door to hell" and sealed all entrances (JENNIFER OUELLETTE, Ars Technica).

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Moses' broken tables and the Temple Mount potsherds

THE TEMPLE MOUNT SIFTING PROJECT BLOG: EVEN THE SHATTERED FRAGMENTS OF THE TABLETS CONTAIN MEANING. With reference to the minor fast of 17 Tammuz, which took place on 6 July this year.

Usually, the emphasis on this day is on the breaching of the walls of Jerusalem, an event that ultimately led to the destruction of the Temple. But the words of the Sages, who attribute this day to breaking of the Tablets of the Ten Commandments imply a substantial connection between them. ...

For years now we too have been engaged on a daily basis in collecting fragments from the site of the holy Temple. Dr. Gabriel Barkay likens the soil that was removed from the Temple Mount to a corpse. That is, even though it no longer has the value it had when it was alive (and life is sacred), it must still be treated with the proper respect and dignity.

For this reason, we not only collect the pottery shards and various other artifacts that come up in the sifting, but also meticulously sort, document and conduct in-depth research on them. This, despite the fact that they were found out of their stratified context and exact location. If found in any other location, they would have likely be considered as having little archaeological significance and no efforts would have been put forward to salvage them. In our case however, since these are fragments of artifacts originating from the Temple Mount, they indeed have meaning. And moreover, with the proper effort, these small fragments we uncover can reveal a more comprehensive archaeological and historical meaning that wouldn’t have been revealed had we conducted a traditional archeological excavation upon the Mount.

The essay also reports a new discovery about the Temple Mount in the First Temple Period. A scientific article is in preparation.

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How did we get variant David and Goliath stories?

PROF. JEREMY M. HUTTON: Why Is David and Goliath’s Story 40% Longer in the MT Than in the LXX? (TheTorah.com).

The version of the story of David’s triumph over Goliath (1 Samuel 17–18) in the Septuagint (LXX) is missing many details present in the Masoretic Text (MT). The explanations provided by the Addition and Omission Hypotheses do not fully account for the differences. Taking into account how ancient scrolls were written and repaired offers a new approach.

For PaleoJudaica posts on this fascinating textual problem, see here and here.

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Review of Tourraix, L'empire perse, les Grecs et le politique

BRYN MAYR CLASSICAL REVIEW: L’empire perse, les Grecs et le politique.

Alexandre Tourraix, L'empire perse, les Grecs et le politique. Institut des sciences et techniques de l'Antiquité, 1544. Besançon: Presses universitaires de Franche-Comté, 2021. Pp. 436. ISBN 9782848678610

Review by
Steven W. Hirsch, Tufts University. steven.hirsch@tufts.edu

... In the end, this is a book for those who already have considerable background regarding Persians, Greeks, and other peoples of the Near East. Whether looking at Tourraix’s treatment of a specific problem or evaluating his more general theses, they will find his discussions stimulating and, at times, provocative.

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War in Yemen and (maybe) the Queen of Sheba's capital

BIBLE HISTORY DAILY: Sheba on the Front Lines. Protecting Yemen's Ancient Capital (Glenn J. Corbett).

Marib, the capital of the ancient South Arabian kingdom of Saba and home to the legendary Queen of Sheba, now finds itself on the front lines of one of today’s most protracted and devastating conflicts, the Yemeni civil war. ...

Marib is one possible site for the kingdom of the Queen of Sheba. The other main possibility is Axum/Aksum in Ethiopia. In any case, Marib is an important ancient South Arabian site.

For many PaleoJudaica posts on the Queen of Sheba and the possible sites of her kingdom, start here and follow the links. A couple of posts on Marib are here and here.

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Interview: Aren Maier on Indiana Jones and everything else

CINEMA AND ARCHAEOLOGY: What Matters Now to archaeologist Aren Maeir: Indiana Jones’s new adventure. Working as a real archaeologist under the shadow of a Hollywood icon has been a mixed blessing for this actual prof, who explains how the field has evolved over the past 4 decades (Amanda Borschel-Dan, Times of Israel).

“I think this has nothing to do with archaeology, and if anything, I would say it’s almost anti-archaeology in many ways, but it has brought archaeology to the public’s interest in a very, very significant manner and numerous archaeologists in the field for the last several decades have come to the field of archaeology because of the Indiana Jones movies,” said Maeir, the head of Bar-Ilan University’s Institute of Archaeology and the longtime director of The Tell es-Safi/Gath Archaeological Project.

After watching the new Indiana Jones film, “Dial of Destiny,” we ask Prof. Aren Maier, what matters now.

You can listen to this interview as a podcast or read the full transcription. Prof. Maier discusses Indiana Jones, but also many important current issues in Israeli archaeology and more broadly. A long read, but well worth your time.

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The case for a Davidic bureaucratic state?

ARCHAEOLOGY: Israeli Archaeologist Claims He Has Found David’s Kingdom, but Fellow Researchers Cry Foul. Prof. Yossi Garfinkel thinks a ring of fortified towns around Jerusalem proves David ruled over a substantial kingdom, but colleagues say those settlements may have nothing to do with ancient Judah (Ariel David, Haaretz).

Garfinkel’s study, published in June in the Jerusalem Journal of Archaeology, was greeted with reams of skepticism by many fellow archaeologists, who claim that his conclusions are based on assumptions and poorly interpreted data.

He does not aspire to fully validate the biblical account, which describes the United Monarchy of the Israelites as ranging from Egypt to the Euphrates River (2 Samuel 8). Garfinkel maintains that the territory David and Solomon ruled over was small, with borders lying maximum a day’s walk from Jerusalem. But a kingdom it was nonetheless, marked by a bureaucracy and standardized urban planning, the archaeologist concludes.

[...]

I have been watching this story for a while. This article has a good presentation of the thesis, the implications, and reactions by other archaeologists.

It would be nice to find some informative lapidary royal inscriptions of David or Solomon to go with the archaeology. One can hope. But in any case, as the article points out, the range of possibilities being discussed by archaeologists for the reality of the United Monarch has narrowed considerably.

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Review of Teague, New Testament Greek

BRYN MAYR CLASSICAL REVIEW: New Testament Greek: a reading course, level 1.

Sally Teague, New Testament Greek: a reading course, level 1. Wauconda, Illinois: Bolchazy-Carducci, 2022. Pp. xvii, 347. ISBN 9780865168657

Review by
Jerry Green, University of Central Oklahoma. jgreen67@uco.edu

... What sets New Testament Greek apart from other comparable introductory Greek textbooks is its attention to the experience of learning Greek from the student’s perspective. One sometimes gets the impression that the true audience of many Greek textbooks are other Greek instructors and scholars. But it is clear from the first page that Teague has written a book with the needs of the learner first and foremost in her mind. ...

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New head of UC's Institute for the Study of Ancient Cultures

NEW APPOINTMENT: Timothy P. Harrison appointed director of the Institute for the Study of Ancient Cultures (uchicago news). (ISAC was formerly known as the Oriental Institute.)

Congratulations to Professor Harrison and to ISAC and the University of Chicago.

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On Paul, Plato, Philo, and the Talmud

PHILOLOGOS (at Mosaic Magazine) has two essays about the possible influence of Plato, via Philo of Alexandria, on Paul of Tarsus and perhaps even on the Talmud. He promises a third essay as well. He opens with a reader's question about a passage in the Babylonian Talmud that could be taken to allude to a phrase used by Paul.

Were the Rabbis Riffing on Corinthians? Why is a phrase from a tractate in the Talmud so similar to one in Paul’s First Epistle to the Corinthians?

How Much Plato Did Paul or the Rabbis Know? A reader’s question prompts Philologos to turn up a crucial link between the three.

Mosaic is behind a subscription wall, but with free registration you can read two essays per month.

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Were There Jewish Gladiators?

THOSE DEADLY GAMES: Evidence ancient Jews watched but didn’t participate in gladiatorial games. If a Jews did occasionally fight, they would’ve probably opted to take on animals rather than people, according to a new scholarly article (Menachem Wecker, JNS).

A new scholarly paper finds “inconclusive” evidence that Jews participated in the ancient Roman gladiatorial games. But it is clear that they defied rabbinic admonitions and attended the games as spectators, wrote Haggai Olshanetsky, a University of Basel postdoctoral fellow in ancient civilizations.

[...]

The underlying article is in the open-access journal ‛Atiqot, vol. 111 (2023):

Were There Jewish Gladiators? A Re-Evaluation of the Available Archaeological and Textual Evidence
(pp. 119-147)
Haggai Olshanetsky
Keywords: Jews, gladiators, Judaism, arena, Colosseum, Roman Games

The participation of Jews in the arena, especially as gladiators, has received relatively little attention. The few articles written on this matter suggest that Jews were both spectators and participants. The present paper relates to all previously suggested indications for the existence of Jewish gladiators and also introduces new ones. Although the possibility that Jewish gladiators were active in the first–fourth centuries CE cannot be ruled out entirely, the evidence remains inconclusive, suggesting that their number was very limited at best. It is also suggested that if Jews had participated in the games, they probably preferred to fight beasts rather than men.

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IAA antiquites amnesty exceeds expectations

UPDATE: Israel’s Amnesty for Antiquities Looters Produces Treasures. The sarcophagus on the porch, an anchor, the army officer with glue, heaps of coins and jewels, grandkids with no appreciation of the finer things in ancient life: Here are some of the things the Antiquities Authority found when people were given a chance to hand over illegally taken artifacts from archaeological sites in Israel (Ruth Schuster, Haaretz).

“We received hundreds of inquiries from citizens and thousands of items were returned to the authority – among them large collections of interesting and special antiquities,” [IAA Director Eli] Escozido says by text. “To be honest, even we were amazed by the intensity of the response and the items that people kept in their homes.

“No less gratifying is the widespread response and the understanding that they must be returned to their rightful place. With us, in the state treasures, the sensitive items will be documented and preserved against the ravages of time. Some of them will go to exhibitions, and probably some of them, after research, will add information about the country’s past,” he says.

The amnesty is now over, but it seems to have been wildly successful. Background here and here.

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The discoverer of that "oldest known book"

THE DISCOVERER TELLS HER STORY: She discovered part of the 'oldest-known book in the world'. What happens next? Theresa Zammit Lupi says she hopes even older discoveries will be made (Jessica Arena, Times of Malta).

Maltese conservator Theresa Zammit Lupi has made a tremendous discovery in mapping the history of the production of books after she came across what has since been dubbed The Graz Mummy Book, it was announced last week.

[...]

Background here, here, and here.

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Update on that Jerusalem cave with mikveh & inscriptions

SPLEUNIC ICONOGRAPHY AND ARAMAIC EPIGRAPHY: Random Graffiti or Encoded Messages? The Mysterious Message in A Second-Temple Period Mikvah (unattributed, crownheights.info).

This article is a summary of an article in Qadmoniot, a journal of the Israel Exploration Society which is in Hebrew and behind a subscription wall.

I noted the discovery of the cave in 2015 here and here. This is the first update I have seen. The most interesting new information concerns the drawings of ships. It mentions the Aramaic inscriptions, but does not discuss any decipherments. There are some good photos too.

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Three Aramaic/Syriac conferences

THE ARAM SOCIETY FOR SYRO-MESOPOTAMIAN STUDIES at Oxford University has three conferences running over the next two weeks. You can view the programs for them at the links below.

Fifty-Second International Conference: The Aramaeans B.C.: History, Literature, and Archaeology
5-7 July 2023
(Venue: The Institute for Asian & Middle Eastern Studies)

Fifty Third International Conference: Syriac Christianity (including Syriac Christianity in Kerala)
10th – 12th July 2023
(Venue: The Oriental Institute, Pusey Lane)

Fifty-Fourth International Conference:Melkite Christianity (The Patriarchates of Antioch, Alexandria, and Jerusalem)
13-15 July 2023
(Venue: The Oriental Institute, Pusey Lane)

Cross-file under Aramaic Watch and Syriac Watch.

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More codex discussion

VARIANT READINGS: What Do We Mean By “Codex”? (Brent Nongbri). Apparently it's complicated!

Further to posts on a new candidate for the earliest surviving codex here and here.

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For July 4th

THE HOLY LAND PHOTOS' BLOG: July 4 in USA — Lycian League — A Model for the Founding of the USA (Carl Rasmussen). Happy US Independence Day to all those celebrating!

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Muon imaging the Jerusalem tunnels

TECHNOLOGY WATCH: Israeli Archaeologists Enlist Cosmic Rays to Unveil Underground Secrets of Jerusalem. Using method pioneered in studying the pyramids, researchers hope subatomic particles from outer space can reveal unknown underground voids, including near the flashpoint Temple Mount (Ariel David, Haaretz).

A team of Israeli physicists and archaeologists is now attempting to track the movement of subatomic particles called muons to map a complex array of ancient tunnels, cisterns and other underground voids beneath Jerusalem.

The method recently proved its worth by revealing an unknown chamber in Egypt’s Great Pyramid of Giza. ...

I noted an earlier story about a "void" found by the ScanPyramids Project in the Great Pyramid here and here. The same project located the chamber mentioned in the above article this year. More on that here.

I have been saying for years that the way forward for studying the Temple Mount was non-invasive and non-destructive technologies.

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The MagEIA Center in Germany

NEW RESEARCH CENTER: ANCIENT MAGICAL TEXTS TO BE STUDIED IN UNPRECEDENTED DEPTH BY CADRE OF UNIVERSITY PROFESSORS (CHRISTOPHER PLAIN, The Debrief).

A team of German university professors has set up a specialized center dedicated to researching and understanding ancient magic and magical texts, with a focus on the spread of that knowledge across ancient Egypt, the ancient Near East, and surrounding regions.

Dubbed “Magic between Entanglement, Interaction, and Analogy,” or MagEIA, the new center will spend at least four years and 3.5 million euros analyzing ancient magic and magical tests to determine how the texts and the ancient knowledge they contain originated and how they could spread from the Eastern Mediterranean to Egypt and Central Asia several thousand years ago. ...

To undertake such a comprehensive and as yet elusive undertaking, the team says that along with their respective areas of expertise, they have also enlisted the assistance of experts in classical philology, ancient history, and biblical studies. ...

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Philo and the Rabbis on Moses' celibacy

PROF. KAREN STRAND WINSLOW: Moses Separated from His Wife: Between Greek Philosophy and Rabbinic Exegesis (TheTorah.com).

Both Philo of Alexandria (c. 25 B.C.E. – 50 C.E.) and some later rabbinic interpreters insist that Moses remained celibate so that he might always be pure and ready to hear YHWH, but each arrived at this conclusion through a different approach.

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Review of Girardin, L'offrande et le tribut

BRYN MAYR CLASSICAL REVIEW: L’offrande et le tribut: histoire politique de la fiscalité en Judée hellénistique et romaine (200 a.C.-135 p.C.).

Michaël Girardin, L'offrande et le tribut: histoire politique de la fiscalité en Judée hellénistique et romaine (200 a.C.-135 p.C.). Scripta antiqua, 152. Bordeaux: Ausonius Éditions, 2022. Pp. 541. ISBN 9782356134356

Review by
Noah Kaye, Michigan State University. kayenoah@msu.edu

... Should we understand from this that Roman, indeed all foreign taxes were especially hated in Judea? Was the theocracy of (ancient) Judaism, with its para-fiscal tithes and sacrifices and its elaborate system of finance for the maintenance of cult and priestly caste fundamentally anti-fiscal in its stance toward temporal power? Were Jews fiscally irreconcilable to the Roman ecumene, as in the vision of a second-century rabbi: “Everything that [the Romans] established, they established only for their purposes. They established marketplaces, to place prostitutes in them; bathhouses, to pamper themselves; and bridges, to collect taxes from all who pass over them” (b. Šabb. 33b)?

No, argues Michaël Girardin, in a daring and erudite cultural and psychological history of taxation in Judea between Cyrus and Hadrian. Judean subjects of the Hellenistic and early Roman empires, Girardin argues, only came to resist foreign taxation at moments of full-blown crisis, when charismatic leaders distorted fiscal reality in order to foment pious rebellions. ...

Cue a "What have the Romans ever done for us?" joke.

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Berkovitz, A Life of Psalms in Jewish Late Antiquity (Penn Press)

NEW BOOK: Ten Things You Thought You Knew About Sefer Tehillim (Dr. A.J. Berkovitz, Jewish Link).

Highlighting: “A Life of Psalms in Jewish Late Antiquity” by AJ Berkovitz. University of Pennsylvania Press. 2023.‎ English. Hardcover. 274 pages. ISBN-13:‎ 978-1512824186.

Sefer Tehillim, The Book of Psalms, incorporates prayer, healing, learning, piety. It permeates our prayers, encompassing emotions of loss and grief, shouts of joy and jubilation, and words of thanksgiving and praise—but the book and its history in Judaism is misunderstood. Below are 10 little-known truths about sefer Tehillim and its origins. In my recently published book, “A Life of Psalms in Jewish Late Antiquity,” I present one through five in greater detail; Numbers six through 10 is the subject of my current book-in-progress.

[...]

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The Paratexts Seeking Understanding Project

New University of Glasgow project to explore ancient religious manuscripts (Alexander Chisholm, Glasgow times via Yahoo).

A £2.4 million-pound project dedicated to studying ancient religious manuscripts has been announced, with Glasgow University professors taking part in the research.

The project, titled Paratexts Seeking Understanding is combining the talents of the university’s School of Critical Studies and the School of Psychology and Neuroscience, and is funded by the Templeton Religious Trust.

[...]

By the way, Dr Garrick Allen has a PhD from the Divinity School of the University of St. Andrews. Garrick's work has come up many times at PaleoJudaica over the last decade.

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

Caesarea's bird mosaic

DECORATIVE ART: Byzantine Time Travel: Ancient Bird Mosaic and Greek Sigma-Shaped Treasure Unearthed. (NATALIE MARTIN,Greek City Times).

Caesarea, a coastal city in Israel, is known for its rich historical and archaeological significance. In 1950, a remarkable discovery took place in a residential area of Caesarea, revealing a stunning mosaic depicting birds and animals. This archaeological treasure, referred to as the Bird Mosaic, belonged to a magnificent Byzantine-period palace or mansion. After being carefully excavated, protected, and re-uncovered several times, it continues to captivate visitors today. Additionally, the excavation unearthed a one-of-a-kind sigma-shaped glass-gold table, shedding light on the opulent lifestyle of Byzantine Caesarea.

[...]

I have posted on Caesarea's bird mosaic and the glass-gold table here and here, but the links have long since rotted. High time to mention them again.

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Dating the earliest known Mishnah manuscript

GENIZA FRAGMENT OF THE MONTH (JUNE 2023): The oldest Hebrew manuscript dated by its colophon: a leaf of a Mishna manuscript with Babylonian vocalization in Toronto (Judith Olszowy-Schlanger).

‘MS A’ is the best-preserved early exemplar of the Mishna without Talmud or commentaries known to us.13 No less than thirty-six folios, spanning over thirty-one shelfmarks, have been discovered in the Geniza collections, today in Cambridge, Oxford, St. Petersburg, Jerusalem, New York and Toronto. These fragments stem from various tractates belonging to the orders Nashim, Neziqin, Qodashim and Toharot ...

Thus there is a lot more to that MS A than the final leaf. But that leaf has been found and it does include a (damaged but reconstructable) dated colophon. You have to read to the end to learn that the colophon dates the manuscript to the mid-ninth century.

This essay discusses MS A in technical detail and in the context of the other earliest manuscripts of the Mishnah from the Cairo Geniza and elsewhere.

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CFP: International conference on Yehezkel Kaufmann

H-JUDAIC: CFP: International Conference: Yehezkel Kaufmann (1889-1963): His Life, Scholarship, and Legacy.

The Year 2023 will mark the sixtieth anniversary of the death of Prof. Yehezkel Kaufmann. His revolutionary thinking had a strong impact on biblical studies, Jewish thought, and beyond, especially through his two influential multi-volume works, Exile and the Alien Land (1929-1930) and The History of Israelite Religion (1937-1957). Sixty years after his death, we seek to examine critically the impact of his thought and his legacy.

The event takes place at Bar-Ilan University. Follow the link for information on how to propose a paper. The proposal deadline is 31 August 2023. The conference takes place on 26-27 December 2023.

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Review of Hacham & Ilan, Corpus papyrorum judaicarum, volume 5

BRYN MAYR CLASSICAL REVIEW: Corpus papyrorum judaicarum, volume 5: the early-Roman period (30 BCE–117 CE).

Noah Hacham, Tal Ilan, Corpus papyrorum judaicarum, volume 5: the early-Roman period (30 BCE–117 CE). Berlin; Jerusalem: De Gruyter and Magnes Press, 2022. Pp. xxvii, 217. ISBN 9783110785999

Review by
William Horbury, University of Cambridge. wh10000@cam.ac.uk

... The old and new volumes alike gather papyri, ostraca, and inscriptions associated with Jews and Judaism, giving literature, introduction, text, English translation, and commentary. The region in view continues to be Egypt; papyri found in the Judaean wilderness and nearby are not included. Volume 4 (2020), on the Ptolemaic period, and volume 5, now under review, on the early Roman period, supplement volumes 1 and 2, respectively. ...

I noted the publication of volume 4 here.

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

More on raising the Mazzarón II

PHOENICIAN WATCH: Expert divers say Mazarron Phoenician ship has a good chance of being rescued. The archaeologists believe that there are "guarantees of success" for the recovery of the Mazzarón II shipwreck (Murica Today).

For more on the Mazzarón I, which is already in Cartagena and which is already (being?) restored, and the Mazzarón II, see here and here and links.

Note the variable spellings Mazarrón and Mazzarón, both sometimes without the accent.

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

Mystery all(?)-women tomb in the Negev

SALVAGE ARCHAEOLOGY: Israeli Archaeologists Find Enigmatic 2,500-year-old Burials in the Desert. Dozens of people, possibly all female, were found in an elaborate tomb in the middle of the Negev desert, nowhere near any ancient settlements. Was the goddess of crossroads involved? (Ariel David, Haaretz).

The burials may be connected to Qedarite traders who operated in northern Arabia and the Negev in this period or to the Minaeans, a people who hailed from an ancient kingdom in modern-day Yemen, [IAA archaeologists] Pasternak and Erickson-Gini suggest.

Still, the Negev is a long way away from southern Arabia, so why were the bodies buried here? And why is it mostly (or all) women?

The location and the varied provenance of the artifacts found with the bodies suggests that the women were not from Arabia itself. But they may have been headed there, the archaeologists speculate.

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

100 years of Daf Yomi and 500 years of printed Talmud

TALMUD WATCH: Marking the printed Talmud at 500 - opinion. Steinsaltz describes the Talmud as the repository of thousands of years of Jewish wisdom. Why shouldn’t it attract wider interest now that it is much more accessible? (JACOB SIVAK, Jerusalem Post).

This year marks the 100th anniversary of the introduction of the worldwide Daf Yomi (“a page a day”) study of the Talmud, as well as the 500th anniversary of the first printing of the Talmud.

[...]

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

Nongbri on that "oldest book"

VARIANT READINGS: The Oldest Codex? Brent Nongbri has some commentary on the story about that papyrus in Egypt that may be the oldest known codex.

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

The Nabatean king Aretas IV

NABATEAN (NABATAEAN) WATCH: Aretas IV: An Archaeological Biography (Bryan Windle, Bible Archaeology Report). HT the Bible Places Blog.

In our next bioarchaeography, we’ll be archaeology [sic] to explore the life of the Nabataean king, Aretas IV. He is only mentioned once in the Bible in connection with the apostle Paul’s escape from Damascus. He is also indirectly involved in the drama surrounding John the Baptist’s death, as the prophet had publicly criticized Herod Antipas for divorcing his first wife, the daughter of Aretas, to marry Herodias (Lk 3:19).

[...]

That biblical mention is in 2 Corinthians 11:32.

PaleoJudaica posts involving King Aretas IV are here and here. One involving his coins is here.

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

Review of Coogan, Eusebius the evangelist

BRYN MAYR CLASSICAL REVIEW: Eusebius the evangelist: rewriting the fourfold gospel in late antiquity.

Jeremiah Coogan, Eusebius the evangelist: rewriting the fourfold gospel in late antiquity. Cultures of reading in the ancient Mediterranean. New York: Oxford University Press, 2022. Pp. xiv, 234. ISBN 9780197580042

Review by Anna Lefteratou, University of Cambridge. al2083@cam.ac.uk

... Overall, the monograph is an excellent in-depth study of the reading innovations effectuated by Eusebius’ Canons. This is a brilliant addition to the blossoming scholarship on Eusebius, the Canon Tables, and to the Reading and Writing Cultures in Antiquity that would be of interest to Classicists and early Christianity scholars alike.

For much more on this book, see yesterday's post here.

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

Review panel on Coogan, Eusebius the Evangelist

ANCIENT JEW REVIEW: Eusebius the Evangelist: Introduction (Robert Edwards).

AJR is pleased to host the #SBLAAR2022 review panel of Jeremiah Coogan's Eusebius the Evangelist: Rewriting the Fourfold Gospel in Late Antiquity (Oxford University Press, 2022). This book review panel took place at the annual meeting for the Society of Biblical Literature in Denver, Colorado, on November 19, 2022. ...

The first essay:

Five Initial Thoughts on Eusebius the Evangelist (Paul Dilley).

My subsequent comments, organized as five initial reflections, were prompted by Coogan’s many strong insights, and in response to the ongoing holes and ambiguities in our source material.

The second essay:

Echoes of Eusebius in Syriac (Marion Pragt)

Coogan presents his book as an “invitation to reexamine encounters between textual artifacts and their users” (p. 177). Inspired by Coogan’s work, I would like to explore some of the ways in which gospel authorship and the parallels and differences between individual gospels were imagined and encountered by Syriac-using Christians in late ancient and early medieval times.

The third:

Eusebius, the Evangelist, and the Rabbinic Mapping of Knowledge (Monika Amsler).

While Eusebius added a cosmic dimension to the four gospels by mapping them out based on an (astronomical) table, the Talmud seems to be the cosmos created by tables that linked the content of the Babylonian rabbinic library (as the sum of all books rather than one specific collection) associatively with each other and with the Mishnah.

The fourth:

Similar Things: Reflections On Eusebius The Evangelist (Jennifer Wright Knust)

Since I have no objections to Coogan’s analysis (everyone should just read this book already), I will structure my own response around two areas where I think Coogan and/or scholarship after Coogan could go next: (1) further analysis of what the “harmony of the Gospels” meant to the ancients who claimed it (or better, to follow Coogan: how a claim like “harmony of the Gospels” was used) and (2) a reconsideration of what an “evangelist” is or can be. ...

Jeremiah Coogan's response:

Poetic Geography: Reading Eusebius’ Fourfold Gospel

I am grateful to each of my interlocutors in this forum for their generous engagement with Eusebius the Evangelist.[3] In what follows, I structure my response around three themes: (1) technologies and practices, (2) readers, and (3) imagination. These three themes interweave with one another as we consider how Eusebius’s reconfigured Gospel “articulat[es] a second, poetic geography on top of the geography of the literal.”[4]

[...]

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

The oldest known codex?

CODICOLOGY: Papyrus fragment found in Egypt could be from ‘oldest book ever discovered,’ experts believe. Scribbled calculations for beer, oil taxes date back almost 2,300 years (Arab News).

This article summarizes an article in the Times of London that is behind the subscription wall.

By "oldest book," the article means the oldest "codex" that is, a book with pages bound inside a more durable cover (as opposed to a scroll).

For more on early history of the codex, see here and links and here.

UPDATE (28 June): More here.

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Talattof (ed.), Routledge handbook of ancient, classical and late classical Persian literature

BIBLIOGRAPHIA IRANICA: Ancient, classical & late classical Persian literature. Notice of a New Book: Talattof, Kamran (ed.). 2023. Routledge handbook of ancient, classical and late classical Persian literature. London: Routledge.

With chapters on Avestan literature and pre-Islamic official documents.

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

The Tree of Life

HISTORY OF INTERPRETATION: The tree of life has been a powerful image in Jewish tradition for thousands of years – signifying much more than immortality (Samuel L. Boyd, The Conversation).

In my research as a scholar of the Bible and ancient Judaism, I have been amazed at the potency of the symbol of the tree of life. Not only has the symbol itself transformed over time, but it has the power to transform communities along with it.

A brief survey of the Tree of Life theme in the Bible, the Ancient Near East, and the Kabbalah.

For a recent book on the Tree of Life tradition, see here and links.

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

Review of Gmirkin, Plato's Timaeus and the Biblical creation accounts

BRYN MAYR CLASSICAL REVIEW: Plato’s Timaeus and the Biblical creation accounts.

Russell E. Gmirkin, Plato's Timaeus and the Biblical creation accounts: cosmic monotheism and terrestrial polytheism in the primordial history. Copenhagen international seminar. Abingdon; New York: Routledge, 2022. Pp. xv, 344. ISBN 9781032020822

Review by
Nicholas Banner, Independent scholar. nicholasbanner@gmail.com

... Gmirkin’s arguments are welcome in that they remind the reader of this, and remind us of the shakiness of the edifice upon which the accepted scholarly certainties of the field are sometimes established. However, to this reviewer’s mind, Gmirkin’s take on his own Hellenistic composition hypothesis is itself rather too ‘maximalist’: much that is found in this book would be welcome as intriguing parallels suggesting the need for more research, but fails to convince as an open-and-shut case for widespread Platonic and other Greek borrowing in Genesis. ...

I noted the publication of the book here, with links to earlier posts on Gmirkin's work and some comments of my own.

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

More evidence for the site of Bethsaida?

HISTORICAL GEOGRAPHY: ‘The Real Bethsaida’: Scribal Mix-up Over Site of Jesus' Miracle May Help Identify Its Location. Our story starts with Jesus healing a lame man in a pool in Jerusalem, a journey to the Sea of Galilee and a missing segue. Prof. R. Steven Notley tracks down the strange etymology of el-Araj, putative site of the real Bethsaida (Ruth Schuster, Haaretz).

So what do we have, according to Notley? Around 2,000 years ago, Jesus healed a lame man in a pool in Jerusalem called Beth-zatha or Bethesda, and then went north to the Sea of Galilee, where there was a fishing village named Bethsaida. Both locations were lost to memory thanks to the violence of Man and Nature. Meanwhile, the New Testament was written in Greek, the name Bethesda in Jerusalem was “corrected” to read Bethsaida – and at some point in the Ottoman period, the fishing village of Bethsaida was mistakenly identified as the place where Jesus healed the lame man.

I can't say I find the argument compelling, at least as presented in this article. John 5:1-2 explicitly presents the healing at the pool as taking place in Jerusalem. Granted the phrase "to the other side of the sea of Galilee: in 6:1 is a bit confusing. It could seem to imply that Jerusalem was in Galilee on one side of the sea. But it would require some poor reader comprehension to mix up the site in Jerusalem with the site of Bethsaida in Galilee.

It's true that poor reader comprehension of the Bible is not unprecedented. But the argument is weakend by the need to assume it.

I don't have ready access to the IEJ article, which may present the case more persuasively.

I do think the current weight of evidence is in favor of el Araj as the site of New Testament Bethsaida rather than the rival site of et-Tell/e-Tell. But I am not an archaeologist. I have discussed the question here. Follow the links from there for many posts on both sides of the debate.

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

Esther as a Source for Achaemenian History?

THE ANCIENT NEAR EAST TODAY: The Book of Esther as a Source for Achaemenian History (Morteza Arabzadeh Sarbanani).

In a recent article, I argue that a significant part of the historical material of the Book of Esther is in line with evidence that most of the classical sources are unaware of. This independence from the Greek sources makes the Book of Esther more important as a historical source for Achaemenian history than has traditionally been assumed. What follows is a brief discussion of some verses that contain historically relevant information, much of which is not found in the Classical sources.

There is a link to the underlying article in Persica Antiqua, but it is behind the subscription wall.

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

Great Revolt coins found near Black Sea

NUMISMATICS: 1st-century coins from Jewish revolt against the Romans discovered near the Black Sea. Roman soldiers took coins minted by Jewish rebels in the Holy Land with them to a military camp in Georgia (Owen Jarus, Live Science).

Most of the coins used in the analysis were discovered between 2014 and 2022 by a Polish-Georgian team at the fort of Apsaros at Colchis, Piotr Jaworski, an archaeologist at the University of Warsaw who is a coin expert on the team, told Live Science in an email. The researchers found that a few of the coins were actually minted by Jewish rebels and that the Romans continued to use the currency. During the revolt, the Jewish rebels minted coins of their own that were inscribed with a variety of images, including pomegranates and chalices.

The legion would have brought the coins to the site around A.D. 115, when the Roman emperor Trajan (who reigned from 98 to 117) launched an initially successful invasion of the Parthian Empire — an action that pushed the Roman Empire's borders deep into the Middle East. Historical records and archaeological remains indicate that Legio X Fretensis was used in this invasion and spent time in Colchis. The site was "a good logistical base for military operations in the region," Jaworski said.

For more on the Legio X Fretensis, see here and links. It was involved in the suppression of both the Great Revolt in 66-70 CE and the Bar Kokhba Revolt in 132-135.

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

Who Is Balaam Son of Beor?

BIBLE HISTORY DAILY has re-posted a series of essays on Balaam Son of Beor by Nathan Steinmeyer. Somehow I missed them the first time around, so here they are:

Who Is Balaam Son of Beor? Part One. Examining the figure of Balaam in the Bible

Who Is Balaam Son of Beor? Part Two. Examining the figure of Balaam in later traditions

Who Is Balaam Son of Beor? Part Three. Examining the figure of Balaam in archaeology

For many PaleoJudaica posts on Balaam and on the Balaam inscription from Tel Deir 'Alla (Deir Alla), see here and links, plus here.

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

Gods at Dura-Europos

ANCIENT RELIGIOUS PLURALISM: The gods of Dura-Europos. From the worship of local Syrian protector gods to Christianity, many different religions flourished in the cosmopolitan crossroads city of Dura-Europos. Jen Baird brings us face to face with the diverse divine through the art of this ancient site (Minerva Magazine/The Past).

In the Roman period, the time that is best known from the archaeological evidence, we know of no fewer than 19 different religious buildings, many of which had been built under Arsacid (Parthian) rule in the centuries before. Some religious structures, like the Mithraeum, Synagogue, and Christian building, focused on single deities. Others were home to a range of gods. Together, the evidence for the many gods and goddesses of Dura-Europos, preserved through inscriptions, sculptures, and paintings, give us a sense of the complex cultural and religious interconnections of the Roman era in Syria.

PaleoJudaica has posted mostly, but not exculsively, on the synagogue. See here and many links. But many gods were worshipped at Dura-Europos.

Posts on Dr. Baird's book and her work on Dura-Europos are here and links. For Yale's Dura-Europos collection, see here and links.

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

Carthage: museum renovation and dye revival (with Shikmona bonus)

PUNIC WATCH: Tunisia's Carthage Museum Gives Preview Of Expanded Renovation (AFP via Barron's).

For more on the renovation of the site of ancient Carthage, including the Carthage Museum, see here and links.

Also from Carthage: Tunisian Man Revives Ancient Phoenician Craft. He takes on an incredible journey! (NATALIE KEBBE, About Her).

No, this is not another recreation of a Phoenician ship.

Mohamed Ghassen Nouira, a history-obsessed Tunisian, revives in his garden an antiquated craft that was once considered a sign of riches in the ancient world: making purple dye from sea snail shells.

A while back, while taking a leisurely walk along the beach in Carthage, a suburb of Tunis in northern Tunisia, Nouira stumbled upon a murex shell. This discovery evoked memories of his history classes and sparked a desire to recreate the ancient dye.

[...]

I have already mentioned Mr. Nouira's hobby here. But this is good excuse to mention it again. Follow the links from there for PaleoJudaica posts involving Tyrian purple dye and the Israelite telekhet dye, both made from the murex snail.

Coincidentally, here is newly announced research on the prodution of Tyrian purple dye in ancient Israel: Ancient Tel Shikmona factory probably supplied the First Temple with dye. A new study by the University of Haifa claims to completely change the story of the biblical Shikmona (Judy Siegel-Itzkovich, Jerusalem Post). Cross-file under Phoenician Watch.

I noted the discovery of the Phoenician dye factory at Shikmona here. The new research argues that the ancient Israelites took over the site and continued the dye production.

However, after several years of in-depth research into Elgavish’s findings and even after completing their new excavation in a limited area of the mound in recent weeks, Gilboa and Shalvi now present the full historical story of the mound during this period. The historical reconstruction suggests the Kingdom of Israel took over the Phoenician production site and turned it into the largest and most significant production site known in the Mediterranean basin.

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

On Philo of Alexandria

HISTORY OF PHILOSOPHY: The Strange Case of Philo of Alexandria. Rabbi [Richard] Baroff discusses the legacy of the first Jewish philosopher (Atlanta Jewish Times).

Students of Jewish philosophy tend to focus on the Middle Ages: Saadia Gaon, Judah HaLevi and Maimonides, among others. But the first Jewish philosopher, Philo of Alexandria, lived long before them. He was born perhaps 10 years or so after Antony and Cleopatra committed suicide and grew up during the time when Octavian became Caesar Augustus, and the Roman Republic became the Roman Empire. He was a contemporary with Hillel the Elder and with Jesus, living most of his life in the first century of the common era.

[...]

This is a nice, brief overview of the life and writings of Philo.

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

Drob, Kabbalistic Visions: C. G. Jung and Jewish Mysticism (Routledge)

NEW BOOK FROM ROUTLEDGE:

2nd Edition
Kabbalistic Visions
C. G. Jung and Jewish Mysticism

By Sanford L. Drob
Copyright 2023
Paperback £23.99
Hardback £96.00
eBook £20.99
ISBN 9780367461249
302 Pages
Published April 6, 2023 by Routledge

Description

In 1944, C. G. Jung experienced a series of visions which he later described as "the most tremendous things I have ever experienced." Central to these visions was the "mystic marriage as it appears in the Kabbalistic tradition", and Jung’s experience of himself as "Rabbi Simon ben Jochai," the presumed author of the sacred Kabbalistic text, the　Zohar. Kabbalistic Visions explores Jung’s 1944 Kabbalistic visions, the impact of Jewish mysticism on Jungian psychology, Jung’s archetypal interpretation of Kabbalistic symbolism, and his claim late in life that a Hasidic rabbi, the Maggid of Mezhirech, anticipated his entire psychology. This book places Jung’s encounter with the Kabbalah in the context of the earlier visions and meditations of his Red Book, his abiding interests in Gnosticism and alchemy, and what many regard to be his Anti-Semitism and flirtation with National Socialism. Kabbalistic Visions is the first full-length study of Jung and Jewish mysticism in any language and the first book to present a comprehensive Jungian/archetypal interpretation of Kabbalistic symbolism.

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

Reviews of Van De Mieroop, Before and after Babel

FIRST, BRYN MAYR CLASSICAL REVIEW: Before and after Babel: writing as resistance in ancient Near Eastern empires

Marc Van De Mieroop, Before and after Babel: writing as resistance in ancient Near Eastern empires. New York: Oxford University Press, 2022. Pp. 360. ISBN 9780197634660

Review by
Sophus Helle, Freie Universität Berlin. email@sophushelle.com

... The historical narrative of Before and After Babel is propelled by a simple claim: that the nature of writing in the ancient Near East changed radically during the “Dark Age” that separates the late second and the early first millennium BCE, yielding two epochs in the pre-Classical history of writing that are treated separately in each of the book’s two parts. The straightforwardness of this claim lends the book a clarity of structure and argument, but it is also balanced in each chapter by a wealth of details and nuance that prevent the claim from falling into oversimplicity. ...

Second, William Brown reviews the book at his Biblical Review Blog:

Review: “Before and after Babel: Writing as Resistance in Ancient Near Eastern Empires” by Marc Van De Mieroop

... Overall, Van De Mieroop synthesizes and compiles a range of topics, regions, and fields of study into a single, accessible monograph. In doing so, he has constructed a history of writing, scripts, vernaculars, and cosmopolitan languages in the ancient Near East. Undoubtedly, this volume can be a helpful starting point for a general audience and students. And, indeed, Assyriologists and biblical scholars may find small nuggets throughout his work. Even so, the monograph offer no particularly striking or ground-breaking analysis that will significantly impact Assyriology, biblical scholarship, or other adjacent fields. In fact, many will find themselves disagreeing with Van De Mieroop as they read this monograph. ...

NOTE: This book is not to be confused with the somewhat similarly-titled recent book by Steven Fraade: Multilingualism and Translation in Ancient Judaism. Before and After Babel.

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Williams, Early Classical Authors on Jesus (T&T Clark)

NEW BOOK FROM BLOOMSBURY/T&T CLARK:

Early Classical Authors on Jesus

Margaret H. Williams (Author)

Hardback
$120.00 $108.00

Ebook (PDF)
$108.00 $86.40

Ebook (Epub & Mobi)
$108.00 $86.40

Product details

Published Oct 20 2022
Format Hardback
Edition 1st
Extent 248
ISBN 9780567683151
Imprint T&T Clark
Dimensions 9 x 6 inches
Series The Reception of Jesus in the First Three Centuries
Publisher Bloomsbury Publishing

Description

Margaret H. Williams examines how classical writers saw and portrayed Jesus, engaging with the fact that as the originator of a new (and still existing) world religion, Jesus of Nazareth, otherwise known as Christus (Christ), is an individual of indisputable historical significance.

Williams shows how from the outset Jesus was a controversial figure. Contemporary Jews in the Roman province of Judaea tended either to adore or to abhor him. When indue course his fame spread throughout the wider Roman empire, reactions to him there among both Jews and non-Jews were no less divergent. Each of the early classical writers who makes mention of him, the historian Tacitus, the biographer Suetonius, the epistolographer Pliny and the satirist Lucian, takes a different view of him and presents him in a different way. Williams considers these different depictions and questions why these writers had such differing views of Jesus. To answer this question Williams examines not only to the different literary conventions by which each of these writers was bound but also to the social, cultural and religious contexts in which they operated.

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Ramazzotti (ed,) The Historical and Cultural Memory of the Babylonian World (Brepols)

RECENT BOOK FROM BREPOLS PUBLISHER:

The Historical and Cultural Memory of the Babylonian World
Collecting Fragments from the 'Centre of the World'

Marco Ramazzotti (ed)

Pages: viii + 193 p.
Size: 216 x 280 mm
Illustrations: 28 b/w, 5 col., 2 tables b/w., 2 maps b/w, 1 maps color
Language(s): English
Publication Year: 2022

Buy print version
€ 75,00 EXCL. VAT
RETAIL PRICE
ISBN: 978-2-503-59536-8
Paperback

SUMMARY

In the study of the ancient world, Babylon can be considered as the most impressive representation, historically, archaeologically, and in literature, of urbanism in the Near East. This first example of an urban centre and its cultural heritage — both tangible and intangible — provides a focal point for discussions of historical and cultural memory in the region. The eleven contributions gathered here draw together multidisciplinary research into Babylonian culture, exploring the epistemic foundations, contacts, resilience, and cultural transmission of the city and its milieu from ancient times up until the modern day. Through this approach, this volume is able to support conversations concerning the historical and cultural memory of Babylon and promote a dialogue that cuts across, and unites, both cultures and academic disciplines.

Note in particular the chapter: "Traces of Babylon in the Old Testament — ALESSANDRO CATASTINI."

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Ehrman, Journeys to Heaven and Hell (Yale)

NEW BOOK FROM YALE UNIVERSITY PRESS:

Journeys to Heaven and Hell
Tours of the Afterlife in the Early Christian Tradition

by Bart D. Ehrman
Course Book
344 Pages, 6.12 x 9.25 in

Paperback
9780300271041
Published: Tuesday, 7 Mar 2023
$23.00

Hardcover
9780300257007
Published: Tuesday, 5 Apr 2022
$32.50
Out of Stock (as of this posting)

A New York Times bestselling scholar’s illuminating exploration of the earliest Christian narrated journeys to heaven and hell

“[An] illuminating deep dive . . . An edifying origin story for contemporary Christian conceptions of the afterlife.”—Publishers Weekly

From classics such as the Odyssey and the Aeneid to fifth-century Christian apocrypha, narratives that described guided tours of the afterlife played a major role in shaping ancient notions of morality and ethics. In this new account, acclaimed author Bart Ehrman contextualizes early Christian narratives of heaven and hell within the broader intellectual and cultural worlds from which they emerged. He examines how fundamental social experiences of the early Christian communities molded the conceptions of the afterlife that eventuated into the accepted doctrines of heaven, hell, and purgatory.

Drawing on Greek and Roman epic poetry, early Jewish writings such as the Book of Watchers, and apocryphal Christian stories including the Acts of Thomas, the Gospel of Nicodemus, and the Apocalypse of Peter, Ehrman demonstrates that ancient tours of the afterlife promoted reflection on matters of ethics, faith, ambition, and life’s meaning, the fruit of which has been codified into Christian belief today.

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Codex Sassoon copycat in Turkey?

HERE WE GO AGAIN: Turkey recovers 1,100-year-old Hebrew Bible in smuggling raids. The 28-page leather-bound collection of papyrus scriptures was seized during Turkey's latest smuggling crackdown in Istanbul (Ezgi Akin, Al-Monitor).

Once again, a story about the recovery of an improbably old Hebrew manuscript in Turkey. Obsevations:

As always, I commend the Turkish police for going hard on antiquities smuggling.

But the authorities need to consult with some actual experts before making these extraordinary claims about seized manuscripts. Repeatedly we read reports of one-thousand- or two-thousand-year-old Hebrew or Aramaic manuscripts being recovered. These reports, dubious to start with, mostly sink into oblivion without followup. The photographs that sometimes emerge are generally of obviously modern fakes, which seem to abound in Turkey.

The photo in the article is of an actual 1,100-year-old manuscript, the Codex Sassoon. It was recently sold to a private buyer who has commendably donated it to a museum in Israel. But the photo has nothing to do with the 28-page book seized in Turkey. The latter seems likely to be another modern fake, although I would have to see photographs to be sure.

In recent years I usually have been ignoring such stories coming out of Turkey, but occasionally once comes up that I think calls for a response. I have collected many such stories here (cf. here).

Turkey produces many geninue, fascinating stories about archaeology, antiquities, and history. I have noted a few in the last year or so here, here, here, here, here, here, and here. It is a pity that someone feels the need to dilute them with stories like the current one.

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

IAA antiquities amnesty update

A SUCCESS: New campaign to anonymously return illegally held antiquities nets thousands of items. 15% of public estimated to be holding antiquities in their homes that by law belong to the state; Israel Antiquities Authority’s collection drive extended another week (MELANIE LIDMAN, Times of Israel).

Thousands who were illegally holding antiquities in their homes returned the items during a two-week campaign this month, the Israel Antiquities Authority and Ministry of Heritage reported on Thursday.

The campaign — “If it’s old – return it with a click!” — encourages private citizens who have artifacts to report them online and return them anonymously and without questions.

[...]

For the story of the returned late-antique anchor, see this Jerusalem Post article: Israeli returns 1,700-year-old anchor to Antiquities Authority after 26 years. This anchor, a rare find in the country, was recovered by a citizen named Moshe during a diving expedition off Palmahim Beach in 1996.

For background on the antiquities amnesty campaign, see here.

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

"First Fragments" at the Chester Beatty

EXHIBITION: First Fragments Biblical Papyrus from Roman Egypt.

Explore some of the world’s earliest surviving biblical papyrus books.

The surviving remains of early biblical papyrus books are amazing artefacts of the past. The Chester Beatty’s current exhibition First Fragments: Biblical Papyrus from Roman Egypt focuses on the internationally important collection of manuscripts known as the Chester Beatty Biblical Papyri. Dating from the 2nd to 4th century AD, these ancient pages reveal a world of book production and early Christian scholarship in Roman Egypt.

These papyrus fragments have much to tell us about the material histories of writing and bookbinding, textual histories of translation and transmission, and later object histories of ownership, publication and display. Explore their fragmented histories through the lens of scribes and bookbinders, authors and readers, scholars and collectors throughout the centuries. This exhibition offers a glimpse into the past through the histories of these ancient books.

Featuring some eighty objects from Roman Egypt, this exhibition includes pages from some of the earliest surviving biblical papyrus books alongside early Coptic bindings, ostraca (pieces of pottery used for writing), related papyrus fragments, illuminated Coptic manuscript pages and loans from the National Museum of Ireland.

The site has a 3D virtual exhibition page as well. It allows you to go through the exhibition and look at each of the scrolls.

Bible History Daily also has a notice of the exhibition, with some additional details: First Fragments: Biblical Papyrus from Roman Egypt.

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Hyrcania is being excavated

ARCHAEOLOGY: Hyrcania fortress site in Judean Desert excavated for the first time in Israel (All Israel News).

For the first time, archaeologists are excavating a Hasmonean fortress from the second century B.C.E., known as “Hyrcania" after John Hyrcanus, who was a Maccabean leader and a Jewish high priest during that time.

[...]

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Journal issue on the ending of Mark

THE ETC BLOG: Ending of Mark Papers Published (Peter Gurry).

The papers from the Mark 16 conference around this time last year have now been published in the latest issue of Comparative Oriental Manuscript Studies Bulletin. I haven't had a chance to read them yet myself but look forward to.

The ToC follows.

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Jerusalem's Tower of David reopens

RENOVATION: Iconic Tower of David Reopens: Jerusalem Like You’ve Never Seen It Before. After a $50 million renovation, the revamped, expanded museum in East Jerusalem reopens this month (Naama Riba, Haaretz).

Although the current Tower of David was built in the 17th century, its architectual origins go back to the Herodian period:

“Parts of the fortress were built during the Herodian period, over 2,000 years ago. Other major sections were built during the Crusader and Mamluk periods and it was finished in the early Ottoman period. In many respects the Tower of David constitutes a kind of miniature of the entire city,” [geographer Prof. Yehoshua] Ben Arieh wrote.

The soubriquet “Tower of David” was attached to the site by the Roman-Jewish historian Josephus about 1,000 years after the time of King David. In his book “Wars of the Jews,” Josephus wrote, “The city of Jerusalem was fortified with three walls, on such parts as were not encompassed with unpassable valleys; for in such places it had but one wall. The city was built upon two hills, which are opposite to one another, and have a valley to divide them asunder; at which valley the corresponding rows of houses on both hills end. Of these hills, that which contains the upper city is much higher, and in length more direct. Accordingly, it was called the ‘Citadel,’ by king David” – (Translated by William Whiston, A.M. Auburn and Buffalo, John E. Beardsley, 1895).

For PaleoJudaica posts on the renovation of the Tower of David, see here and here.

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Neis on Rabbis and the Reproduction of Species

ANCIENT JEW REVIEW: Rabbis and the Reproduction of Species (Rafael Rachel Neis).

Rafael Rachel Neis. When a Human Gives Birth to a Raven: Rabbis and the Reproduction of Species. University of California Press, 2023.

In my hot-off-the-press book, When a Human Gives Birth to a Raven: Rabbis and the Reproduction of Species, I start with the perhaps obvious, perhaps controversial, premise that we should take ancient worldmaking seriously and “literally.” ...

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IAA asks public to return antiquities

ANNOUNCEMENT: Antiquities Authority calls on Israeli public to return stolen artifacts Citizens can reach out to the IAA to determine if items are antiques and return items at one of four collection points throughout the country (Jerusalem Post).

The Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA) in May began a large-scale operation to encourage the public to return illegally acquired artifacts, to restore them to their original site where possible, gain historical knowledge and raise awareness around the issue.

[...]

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Weston Fields (1948-2023)

SAD NEWS:

Dr. Weston Fields, 1948 – 2023

On Thursday, May 25th, Dr. Weston Fields passed away on his beloved Bear Island in Alaska. ...

While working on his doctorate at Grace, Weston was increasingly drawn to the emerging scholarship on the Dead Sea Scrolls. Weston mastered speaking Hebrew and in 1985 he moved to Jerusalem, Israel, with his family in order to pursue a Ph.D. in Old Testament at Hebrew University. While in Jerusalem he studied with such internationally notable Old Testament scholars as Shemaryahu Talmon and Emanuel Tov. His thesis on biblical literary motifs was published under the name “Sodom and Gomorrah: History and Motif in Biblical Narrative.” While studying at the Hebrew University, Weston heard his professors decrying limited funding for Dead Sea Scrolls analysis and publication. In 1991, working with Emanuel Tov, Weston initiated and chartered the Dead Sea Scrolls Foundation. Weston served as the Managing Director of the foundation to jumpstart funding Dead Sea Scrolls research and publication for scholars around the world to use. This project became Weston’s life work and legacy. Weston brought a unique combination of practical business skills and a qualified scholarly appreciation for the finer details of the research. As a public speaker, Weston was riveting to listen to, and he had the ability to combine just the right number of facts with just the right amount of story-telling and charm to hold his listeners captive.

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Hutzli, The Origins of P (Mohr Siebeck)

NEW BOOK FROM MOHR SIEBECK: Jürg Hutzli. The Origins of P. Literary Profiles and Strata of the Priestly Texts in Genesis 1 – Exodus 40. 2023. XI, 447 pages. Forschungen zum Alten Testament 164. 154,00 € including VAT. cloth ISBN 978-3-16-161545-0.

Published in English. In this study, Jürg Hutzli analyses all Priestly texts in Genesis-Exodus. He evaluates crucial questions concerning P, namely inner stratification, literary profile, historical setting, and relationship to the non-P »environment« separately for each Priestly unit or section. An important result of the author's study is the conclusion that the Priestly texts form a stratum that is more composite and less homogeneous than previously thought. Single units like Gen. 1, the Priestly flood story, and the Priestly Abraham narrative have their own distinct theologies that do not fit that of the comprehensive Priestly composition in every respect. Furthermore, as recent studies point out, the literary profile of P is not the same in every section (either a source or a redaction). The author evaluates these observations diachronically for an inner differentiation of the Priestly strand.

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The Chester Beatty Biblical Papyri at Ninety (De Gruyter, open access)

NEW OPEN ACCESS BOOK FROM DE GRUYTER:

The Chester Beatty Biblical Papyri at Ninety
Literature, Papyrology, Ethics

Edited by: Garrick Vernon Allen , Usama Ali Mohamed Gad , Kelsie Gayle Rodenbiker , Anthony Philip Royle and Jill Unkel
Volume 10 in the series Manuscripta Biblica
https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110781304

About this book

Open Access

Despite the significant work carried out on the text, transmission, materiality, and scribal habits preserved in the Chester Beatty Biblical Papyri since their acquisition by Beatty ninety years ago in 1931, these early copies of Jewish scripture and the New Testament have, for the most part, belonged primarily to textual critics. The goal of this book is to resituate this important collection of manuscripts in broader contexts, examining their significance in conversation with papyrology as a discipline, in the context of other ancient literary traditions preserved on papyri, and in discussion with the intellectual and cultural history of collecting, colonialism, and scholarly rhetoric. The Chester Beatty Biblical Papyri, and other papyrological collection with which they are inextricably bound, remind us of the critical value of examining old manuscripts afresh in their historical, scholarly, and intellectual contexts. These studies are relevant for all scholars who work with manuscripts and ancient texts of any variety.

HT the AWOL Blog.

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Poirier (ed.), L’Hymne de la Perle des Actes de Thomas (Brepols)

NEW BOOK FROM BREPOLS:

L’Hymne de la Perle des Actes de Thomas
Introduction, texte, traduction, commentaire. Deuxième édition, revue et augmentée

Paul-Hubert Poirier (ed)

Pages: 471 p.
Size: 156 x 234 mm
Language(s): French
Publication Year: 2021

Buy print version
€ 140,00 EXCL. VAT
RETAIL PRICE
ISBN: 978-2-503-59121-6
Hardback

Le plus célèbre poème de la littérature syriaque, qui anticipe les récits de la quête du saint Graal.

SUMMARY v Les Actes apocryphes de Thomas, qui racontent l’activité missionnaire et le martyre de l’apôtre en Inde, figurent au nombre des cinq grands Actes apostoliques anciens, avec ceux de Jean, de Pierre, d’André et de Paul. Connus par une version syriaque et une version grecque, ainsi que par des formes dérivées en latin et dans plusieurs langues orientales, les Actes de Thomas sont les seuls à nous être parvenus en entier. Même s’ils appartiennent au genre du récit romanesque et se rapprochent à ce titre des romans de l’Antiquité gréco-latine, les Actes de Thomas intègrent des éléments que l’on ne retrouve guère dans cette littérature : des prières, des épiclèses ou invocations baptismales et eucharistiques, des discours où l’apôtre propose un message caractérisé par un idéal de renoncement sexuel, des descriptions de rites baptismaux et eucharistiques, et des hymnes, dont le plus fameux est sans contredit l’« Hymne de Judas Thomas l’apôtre, quand il était au pays des Indiens », mieux connu sous le titre d’« Hymne de la Perle » ou d’« Hymne de l’âme ». Transmis en syriaque et en grec, par un seul manuscrit dans chacun des cas, et par une paraphrase byzantine, l’Hymne de la Perle se présente sous la forme d’un récit qui raconte l’épopée d’un jeune prince oriental envoyé en Égypte pour en rapporter une perle, précieuse et unique, gardée par un serpent. On a volontiers vu dans ce poème, dont la composition est antérieure à celle des Actes de Thomas, une évocation de la destinée de l’âme, d’origine céleste, en exil dans le corps et la matière. Une lecture plus attentive de l’hymne permet cependant de le situer dans un contexte historique et doctrinal précis, celui de la réappropriation des Actes de Thomas par les manichéens, qui ont vu dans l’hymne une évocation poétique saisissante de la vocation et de la destinée de Mani. Cet ouvrage propose une édition, une traduction française et une synopse des trois versions de l’Hymne de la Perle, précédées d’une introduction et suivies d’un commentaire.

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Smith & Landau, The Secret Gospel of Mark (Yale)

NEW BOOK FROM YALE UNIVERSITY PRESS:

The Secret Gospel of Mark
A Controversial Scholar, a Scandalous Gospel of Jesus, and the Fierce Debate over Its Authenticity

by Geoffrey S. Smith and Brent C. Landau

240 Pages, 6.12 x 9.25 in, 8 b-w illus.
Hardcover
9780300254938
Published: Tuesday, 21 Mar 2023
$35.00

A groundbreaking account of the Secret Gospel of Mark, one of the most hotly debated documents in Christian history

In 1958, at the ancient Christian monastery of Mar Saba just outside Jerusalem, Columbia University scholar Morton Smith claimed to have unearthed a letter written by the Christian philosopher Clement of Alexandria and containing an excerpt from a previously unknown version of the canonical Gospel of Mark. This excerpt recounts a story of Jesus’s apparent sexual encounter with a young, resurrected disciple. In recent years, an influential group of researchers has alleged that no Secret Gospel or letter of Clement existed in antiquity, and that the manuscript that Morton Smith “found” was a modern forgery—created by none other than Smith himself.

In this book, Geoffrey S. Smith and Brent C. Landau enter into the controversy surrounding this document and argue that the Secret Gospel of Mark is neither a first-century alternative gospel nor a twentieth-century forgery by the scholar who announced its discovery. Instead, this account is intimately bound up with the history of Mar Saba, one of the oldest monasteries in the Christian world. In this fascinating work, Smith and Landau present the realities and misconceptions surrounding not only the now-lost manuscript but also its brilliant, enigmatic, and acerbic discoverer, Morton Smith.

For PaleoJudaica posts on the Secret Gospel of Mark, see here and links (cf. here).

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