Tu B'Av (which just means the 15th day of the month of Av) is an ancient matchmaking festival. Its first mention is in the Mishnah (Ta’anit 4). It has been revived in recent years as a kind of Jewish Valentine's Day. For past posts on it, see here and links.
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In a sense, Legio – home to the Ironclads in the Jezreel Valley – didn’t have one amphitheater, it had two. The archaeologists excavating amid the chickpea fields of Kibbutz Megiddo have identified two phases of this monumental structure: a smaller, earlier phase and a later, expanded one. Situated to one side of the camp, it was clearly a ludus: a training ground for soldiers and/or gladiators to practice the arts of weaponry and armor, explains excavation leader Dr. Yotam Tepper. Maybe the troops were also treated to the odd Greek tragedy but that wasn’t the purpose, and we just note that this edifice was conveniently close to the camp cemetery.I noted the excavation of this amphitheater here and here, labeling it "ghost architecture," because the stones used for it seemed mostly to have been looted. But it sounds as though they are recovering some of its architecture now. For more on the Legio VI Ferrata, see here.The locations of excavations at Legio this year were no coincidence. The team co-directed by Tepper and archaeologist Dr. Matthew Adams, on behalf of the JVRP and the Albright Institute in Jerusalem with the support of the Israel Antiquities Authority and funding of American Archaeology Abroad, knew where hidden sites of interest were thanks to charting part of the Legio using ground-penetrating radar, flown over from Sweden.
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Three Powers in Heaven
The Emergence of Theology and the Parting of the Waysby Emanuel Fiano
Series: Synkrisis
440 Pages, 6.12 x 9.25 in
Hardcover
9780300263329
Published: Thursday, 1 Jun 2023
$85.00eBook
9780300271393
Published: Tuesday, 20 Jun 2023
$85.00Description
A fresh look at how Christianity and Judaism became two distinct religions through the parting of their intellectual traditions
How, when, and why did Christianity and Judaism diverge into separate religions? Emanuel Fiano reinterprets the parting of the ways between Jews and Christians as a split between two intellectual traditions, a split that emerged within the context of ancient debates about Jesus’s relationship to God and the world.
Fiano explores how Christianity moved away from Judaism through the development of new practices for religious inquiry. By demonstrating that the constitution of communal borders coincided with the elaboration of different methods for producing religious knowledge, the author shows that Christian theological controversies, often thought to teach us nothing beyond the history of dogma, can cast light on the broader religious landscape of late antiquity. Three Powers in Heaven thus marks not only a historical but also a methodological intervention in the study of the parting of the ways and in scholarship on ancient religion.
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The Ties that BindBy the way, blogging may be light for a while. I'm fine, I'm just taking some time off. I'll try still to have something for you every day.Negotiating Relationships in Early Jewish and Christian Texts, Contexts, and Reception History
Esther Kobel (Anthology Editor), Meredith Warren (Anthology Editor), Jo-Ann A. Brant (Anthology Editor)
Hardback
$115.00$103.50Ebook (PDF)
$103.50$82.80Ebook (Epub & Mobi)
$103.50$82.80Product details
Published Jul 13 2023
Format Hardback
Edition 1st
Extent 262
ISBN 9780567702586
Imprint T&T Clark
Illustrations 9 bw illus
Dimensions 9 x 6 inches
Series The Library of New Testament Studies
Publisher Bloomsbury PublishingDescription
Friendship and other intimate (but not always amicable) relationships have received some attention in the greater field of research on early Judaism and Christianity, though not as much as deserved. This volume celebrates and builds upon the life-long work of Adele Reinhartz, covering the various permutations of relationships that can be found in the Gospel of John, the wider corpus of early Jewish and Christian literature, and cinematic re-imaginings thereof.
While the issue of whether one can 'befriend' the Fourth Gospel in light of the book's legacy of antisemitism is central to many of the essays in this volume, others address other more or less likely friendships: Pilate, Paul, Lazarus, Judas, or Mary Magdalene. Likewise, the bonds between ancient texts and contemporary retellings of their stories feature prominently, with contributors asking what kinds of relationships filmmakers encourage their audiences to have with their subjects. This volume explores some of the rich variety of relationships in the ancient world, and unpacks the intricate and dynamic processes and interactions by which human relationships and societies are generated, maintained, and dissolved.
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EzraA New Translation with Introduction and Commentary
by Tamara Cohn Eskenazi
Series: The Anchor Yale Bible Commentaries
504 Pages, 6.12 x 9.25 in, 2 b-w illus.
Hardcover
9780300149692
Published: Tuesday, 11 Jul 2023
$85.00eBook
9780300174625
Published: Tuesday, 11 Jul 2023
$85.00Description
A new translation and commentary on the biblical book of Ezra by the renowned author of two award-winning biblical commentaries
The book of Ezra is a remarkable testament to a nation’s ability to survive and develop a distinctive identity under imperial rule. But Ezra is far more than a simple chronicle; it constitutes a new biblical model for political, religious, and social order in the Persian Empire.
In this new volume, Tamara Cohn Eskenazi illustrates how the book of Ezra envisions the radical transformation that followed reconstruction after the fall of Jerusalem and Judah. The extensive introduction highlights the book’s innovations, including its textualization of the tradition, as well as the unprecedented role of the people as chief protagonists. The translation and commentary incorporate evidence from ancient and contemporaneous primary sources from Egypt, Babylonia, Greece, and Persia, along with new archaeological studies of Judah. With great care and detail, Eskenazi demonstrates how the book of Ezra creates a blueprint for survival after destruction, shaping a new kind of society and forging a new communal identity.
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The Scriptures in the Book of Revelation and Apocalyptic Literature
Essays in Honour of Steve MoyiseSusan Docherty (Anthology Editor), Steve Smith (Anthology Editor)
Hardback
$115.00$103.50Ebook (PDF)
$103.50$82.80Ebook (Epub & Mobi)
$103.50$82.80Product details
Published Jul 13 2023
Format Hardback
Edition 1st
Extent 272
ISBN 9780567695895
Imprint T&T Clark
Dimensions 9 x 6 inches
Series The Library of New Testament Studies
Publisher Bloomsbury PublishingDescription
This volume addresses one of the key issues in the study of the Book of Revelation and the apocalyptic genre more broadly – the re-use within these texts of the Jewish Scriptures. A range of expert contributors analyse specific themes and passages, and also explore wider methodological questions, aiming particularly to engage with the ground-breaking work in this field of Steve Moyise.
Divided into three sections, the book first focuses on hermeneutical questions, such as the role of 'typology' in interpretation, and the relationship between the 'original meaning' of a scriptural text and the sense it acquires in a new literary context. In the following section, a series of chapters offers detailed exegetical engagement with the Book of Revelation. These probe the scriptural background of some of its major theological themes (e.g. time, sounds and silence) and significant passages (e.g. the Song of the Lamb and other hymns), and highlight fresh aspects of its reception by both ancient and modern audiences. The final section considers the place of scripture and its interpretation in a selection of other early Jewish and early Christian apocalyptic writings (including 1 Enoch, Paul's Letters and the First Apocryphal Apocalypse of John).
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Visit PaleoJudaica daily for the latest news on ancient Judaism and the biblical world.
Archaeologists in Rome think they may have found the ruins of Nero's theater, a first-century imperial performance space that was widely described in ancient Roman texts but whose whereabouts had remained largely elusive.For past posts on Nero, whom PaleoJudaica finds interesting for a number of reasons, start here and follow the links.The theater is named after Nero Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus, who served as Roman emperor from A.D. 54 to his death in 68. Officials are calling the discovery of the theater, located just east of Vatican City, "exceptional." It was likely where Nero rehearsed poetry and put on musical performances, according to ABC News.
[...]
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The work involved analyzing shards of pottery collected from a dig site identified as the base of an ancient two-story building. Prior researchers had named it Building 100. The team followed procedures of modern fire marshals—they wanted to know where the fire started in the building and how it progressed. To find out, they studied magnetic signals hidden in the pottery shards.The underlying article in the Journal of Archaeological Science (Volume 157, September 2023) is behind a subscription wall, but you can read excerpts at the link:
Destruction by fire: Reconstructing the evidence of the 586 BCE Babylonian destruction in a monumental building in JerusalemUPDATE (28 July): Joseph Lauer points me to the full text of the article, posted at Academia.edu.N. Shalom, Y. Vaknin, R. Shaar, E. Ben-Yosef, O. Lipschits, Y. Shalev, Y. Gadot, E. Boaretto
Abstract
Evidence of fire is one of the most important features for identifying and characterizing destruction events. Analysis of microscopic remains of fire has developed exceedingly in recent years, enabling archaeologists to examine new questions relating to the intensity of destruction events and to the circumstances of the creation of destruction layers. One of the most crucial events in the history of the Southern Levant is the Babylonian destruction of Judah and its capital Jerusalem in 586 BCE, which shaped the biblical narrative and theology for generations to come. Building 100 was an extraordinarily large and rich elite building, thoroughly destroyed during the Babylonian campaign. This paper presents a study of the destruction layer excavated within the rooms of the building. FTIR spectrometry and archaeomagnetic analysis were combined in the micro-archaeological study of the remains in order to create a detailed reconstruction of the destruction event. This reconstruction sheds new light on how the Babylonian destruction was manifested in reality in the elite buildings of Jerusalem.
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Jews and Christians in the Roman World From Historical Method to CasesSeries: Ancient Judaism and Early Christianity, Volume: 116
Author: Steve N Mason
Roman Judaea, Christian origins, and Roman-Judaean-Christian relations are flourishing fields of endless fascination. Amid the flurry of new research, however, which uses ever new methods in the humanities and social sciences, basic questions about what happened and how people then understood events are easily obscured. This book argues that a simple but consistent historical method can throw new light – and challenge entrenched views – on such familiar topics as Roman provincial governance, the Jewish War, Flavian politics, Judaea after King Herod, Jewish and Christian historiography, Pharisees and Essenes, John the Baptist, the apostle Paul, and Luke-Acts.
Prices from (excl. shipping): €190.00
Copyright Year: 2023
E-Book (PDF)
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ISBN: 978-90-04-54596-0
Publication: 10 Jul 2023
EUR €190.00Hardback
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ISBN: 978-90-04-54387-4
Publication: 13 Jul 2023
EUR €190.00
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The Ninth of Av is not specifically a biblical holy day. Rather, it commemorates a number of disasters that happened to the Jewish people, traditionally all on that same day of the year. These include the destruction of the Jerusalem Temple by the Babylonians, the destruction of the Herodian Temple by the Romans, and the fall of Betar during the Bar Kokhba revolt.
Last year's Tisha B'Av post is here, with links. Another recent post is here.
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IAA inspectors discovered the coin in the area around the Ein Gedi oasis during an intensive survey of all of Israel’s caves in the Judean desert, in an attempt to discover and document archaeological finds before they are stolen by looters — especially additional Dead Sea Scrolls. Inspectors have spent the past six years canvassing the caves, both by foot and by rappelling down steep cliffs to reach caves tucked into the mountainside. The survey is a joint initiative from the Israel Antiquities Authority, the Ministry of Heritage, and the Civil Administration Archaeology Unit in Judea and Samaria.Just in time for Tisha B'Av.
For more on half-shekel coins and their use for the annual Temple tax, start here and follow the links.
For more on Operation Scroll, see here and links.
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Researchers at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem (HU) have developed new 3-D software, called ArchCUT3-D, that they have used to extract and analyze engravings from ancient Israel and that could lead to a better understanding of the engravers’ background and skills.The two engravings are from the late second millennium BCE at Timna Valley Park. The graffito, from the same area, is modern.[...]
For much more on the Timna Valley excavation, especially its important organic remains, start here and follow the links.
The underlying open-access article is available from the journal Nature Humanities and Social Sciences Communications:
Recognizing technique variation in rock engravings: ArchCUT3-D for micromorphological analysisLena Dubinsky, Marcelo David & Leore Grosman
Humanities and Social Sciences Communications volume 10, Article number: 316 (2023)Abstract
Ancient rock engravings evoke the interest of archeologists and art historians as an important remnant of human cultures. Traditionally, engraved images are studied based on iconography, iconology, and stylistic characteristics, with little emphasis on execution technology. In contrast, the research method presented in this study strives to characterize the techniques adopted for making rock engravings in ancient times, with technological variations considered as indicators of the engraver’s production process. 3-D scans of two ancient engravings and contemporary graffiti were obtained from Site 25 in Timna Park, Southern Israel. The models were analyzed with ArchCUT3-D, a software specifically developed to precisely evaluate the 3-D micromorphological characteristics of the incisions making up the engraving. The software analyzes the surface micromorphology by extracting 3-D slices of the incisions using an accurate and repeatable method. Our results indicate that different incisions were executed by remarkably distinct techniques of stroking the rock surface with a sharp tool. The identification of discriminant characteristics enabled us to demonstrate the particularities of the engraving operations, such as ergonomic conditions and the level of consistency of the engraving gesture. ArchCUT3-D thus provides a computational method for incision technique recognition through micromorphology specifications, and the reconstruction of engraving gestures and individual production procedures.
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Son of Man", vol. 1I noted the book as forthcoming here.
Early Jewish LiteratureRichard Bauckham
HARDCOVER; Published: 7/25/2023
ISBN: 978-0-8028-8326-1
Price: $ 44.99
447 Pages
Trim Size, in inches: 6 x 9DESCRIPTION
Who is the “Son of Man”?
In pre-Christian Jewish writings, “Son of Man” was not a title, and it certainly did not indicate divinity. It was simply an expression for a man. Yet the term has held considerable interest among scholars of Christology for its use in describing Jesus in the gospels. And among those studying messianism in Second Temple Judaism, consensus about the valences of “Son of Man” in Scripture remains elusive.
In the first volume of this landmark study, Richard Bauckham pushes the conversation forward, explicating the phrase “Son of Man” as it appears in Jewish interpretations of the book of Daniel and in the apocryphal book of 1 Enoch. With philological precision and sensitivity to his sources, Bauckham attunes us to the realities of early Jewish eschatology.
Thorough and comprehensive, “Son of Man,” vol. 1, offers scholars a solid basis for understanding the context of the messiah in the centuries leading up to Jesus. Along with the forthcoming second volume, which parses the meaning of “Son of Man” in the Gospels, Bauckham’s work is essential for understanding one of the most widely used yet misunderstood phrases in the Bible.
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Archaeologists working on a 2,000-year-old Roman cemetery discovered in Gaza last year have found at least 125 tombs, most with skeletons still largely intact, and two rare lead sarcophaguses, the Palestinian Ministry of Antiquities said.They keep finding more tombs.[...]
I noted the discovery and excavation of the cemetery here and here. For the two lead sarcophagi, see here and here.
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Royal Ideologies in the Book of RevelationAUTHOR: Justin P. Jeffcoat Schedtler, Wartburg College, Iowa
DATE PUBLISHED: July 2023
AVAILABILITY: Available
FORMAT: Hardback
ISBN: 9781009297400£ 85.00 Hardback
Description
Studies of the Apocalypse have long neglected the royal and messianic dimensions of its portrait of the Lamb. In this volume, Justin P. Jeffcoat Schedtler offers new insights on this topic, arguing that royal and messianic ideologies and discourses are not merely evident in the book of Revelation but also constitute one of its primary organizing principles. Moreover, they shape Revelation's Christology. Schedtler explores ideologies of kingship in the ancient Greek and Roman world, as well as Second Temple Judaism. Making previously unexplored connections in Revelations' ideological portrait of the Lamb, he shows that the portrayal of Jesus as God's chosen viceregent, offers new insights into several of the central Christological tenets in the text. They include the Lamb's reception of the scroll to rule on God's behalf, his place on a heavenly throne, the many benefactions he offers to those who remain faithful to him, and the hymnic praise he receives in response.
- Thoroughgoing exploration of kingship ideologies and discourses in the Greco-Roman (including Second Temple Jewish) world
- Provides a survey of Greco-Roman kingship ideologies and discourses as they relate to Revelation's narratives about Jesus
- Connects several elements of Revelation's Christology to the claim that Jesus was God's chosen king
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Linguistic and Philological Studies of the Hebrew Bible and its ManuscriptsCongratulations to Professor Rendsburg!Series: Studia Semitica Neerlandica, Volume: 75
Volume Editors: Vincent D. Beiler and Aaron D. Rubin
This volume honors the extraordinary scholarship of Prof. Gary A. Rendsburg, whose work and friendship have influenced so many in the last five decades. Twenty-five prominent scholars from the US, Europe, Israel, and Australia have contributed significant original studies in three of Rendsburg’s areas of interest and expertise: Hebrew language, Hebrew Bible, and Hebrew manuscripts. These linguistic, philological, literary, epigraphic, and historical approaches to the study of Hebrew and its textual traditions serve as a worthy tribute to such an accomplished scholar, and also as an illustration how all of these approaches can complement one another in the fields of Hebrew and Biblical Studies.
Prices from (excl. shipping): €159.00
Copyright Year: 2023
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ISBN: 978-90-04-54484-0
Publication: 10 Jul 2023
EUR €159.00Hardback
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ISBN: 978-90-04-54485-7
Publication: 06 Jul 2023
EUR €159.00
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Ancient Synagogues Revealed 1981-2022HT Todd Bolen at the Bible Places Blog300,00₪ Price
Author Lee I. Levine, Zeev Weiss, Uzi Leibner (eds.)
Year 2023
Publisher
Israel Exploration Society, The Institute of Archaeology- The Hebrew University of Jerusalem , Jeselsohn Epigraphic Center of Jewish HistoryThis companion volume to Ancient Synagogues Revealed, published in 1981, apprises the reader of the latest archaeological and historical data culled from the excavations of ancient synagogues since that date. The articles, written by the excavators of these sites, reveal a plethora of synagogue buildings, artistic remains, inscriptions, and small finds that shed light on many aspects of this ancient institution and increase the number and range of scholarly interpretations and theories regarding the synagogue in the first millennium of its existence. Diverse aspects of the ancient synagogue—archaeology, history, art, epigraphy, language, and literature—allow for new and creative interpretations of these intriguing archaeological finds.
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I'm not sure why we have a Halloween essay in July. But this is a good list, if incomplete.
I have collected many PaleoJudaica posts on biblical monsters here (and add here, here and here). For Beelzebul/Beelzebub and other manifestations of the diabolical one, see here and links, plus here.
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Published in English.
Is the Hebrew Bible purely a product of Jerusalem or were there various social groups who each played a role in its development during the Second Temple period? This is the guiding question of the present volume, which fills a crucial gap in recent research by combining current literary-historical, redactional and text-historical analysis of the Hebrew Bible with the latest results pertaining to the pluriform social and religious shape of early Judaism. For the first time, the thirteen articles in this volume address the phenomenon of religious plurality by bringing together archaeological, (religious-) historical, and literary-critical approaches. The articles by internationally renowned scholars cover the panorama of currently known social groups of Yahwistic character and the impact of this phenomenon on the making of the Hebrew Bible – from the Persian period to the time of Qumran.
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The Scribes of the Torah: The Formation of the Pentateuch in Its Literary and Historical ContextsKonrad Schmid
ISBN 9781628375237
Volume AIL 45
Status Available
Publication Date May 2023Paperback $110.00
Hardback $130.00
eBook $110.00A revised view of the Pentateuch with consequences for the broader literary history of the Bible
This collection of thirty-one studies on the Pentateuch represents more than twenty years of Konrad Schmid’s research and publications advocating for a new view of the Pentateuch’s formation. Schmid’s essays present the case for a Persian period Priestly document that provided a basic narrative thread to the Torah, which included separate, pre-Priestly components of narratives in Genesis and the Moses story. Schmid’s open discussion includes evidence from various fields, such as literary history, comparative cultural history, historical linguistics, epigraphy, and archaeology. The essays are divided into eight sections usefully structured around the themes of the Pentateuch in the Enneateuch, the history of scholarship, the formation of the Torah, Genesis, the Moses story, the Priestly document, legal texts, and the Pentateuch in the history of ancient Israel’s religion.
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King of the World: The Life of Cyrus the GreatPaleoJudaica posts on the book are here and here.
by Matt Waters.
Oxford, 255 pp., £21.99, September 2022, 978 0 19 092717 2... Why should we care? Cyrus has received almost universal praise since his own time, and in ancient traditions is famed as a just ruler. Plato presents him as a guardian of free speech and reasoned argument, Cicero as a model of righteous empire. According to Isaiah, he was destined to ‘make justice shine upon the nations’. In the 20th century, Iranian shahs put him at the centre of national ideology, as an emblem of the country’s pre-Islamic past. Cyrus has long held out an alluring prospect of benevolent tyranny, and of liberty through order and imperial subjection.
This is, of course, an illusion. The peaceful capture of Babylon is remembered over the brutal battle for Opis a few weeks earlier. The return of the exiled Israelites is commemorated, but not the plight of the Phokaians, who fled a Persian siege of their city. The evangelicals are closer to the mark: Cyrus didn’t do things because they were good, but because they worked. What we make of that tells us more about ourselves than it does about him.
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Zissu said one of the things that was so strange about excavating the archaeological discoveries from the cave was that there was so little digging. Instead, it was more like fishing the finds out of cracks in the rocks. The digging happened later, during the research phase, as the archaeologists sifted through research about ancient rituals and religions.I noted the announcement of the discovery of the cave, with link to the underlying HTR article, here. A potentially related post is here. This ToS article has some additional background information.“Only later we became aware of other possibilities, that these could be the remains of necromancy rituals,” said Zissu. “We put our finds together with archaeological data from other digs and made this suggestion.”
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In February I noted the excavation of a lead sarcophagus at the Roman-era cemetery in Gaza. According to this Xinua article, a second one was found there in March. This is the first I have heard of it.
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But for those still searching for the swashbuckling sense of adventure and discovery of uncovering ancient artifacts à la Indiana Jones, [Prof. Assaf] Yasur-Landau believes there’s no greater place to dig than underwater. There are hundreds of archaeologists in Israel, including more than 100 working at various academic institutions, and dozens working at the Israel Antiquities Authority. But only seven — five from universities and two at the IAA — are experts in underwater archaeology, he said. It’s one of the last unexplored frontiers in a country where archaeology regularly makes the news.For PaleoJudaica posts on ancient shipwrecks, see here, here, here, here, here, here, and follow the many links.
There are also many posts on Marine (Maritime, Underwater) Archaeology more generally. For some relatively recent ones, see here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, and here, with links. For many more, see the archive.
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The government approved an initial NIS 120 million to embark on a wide-ranging plan to preserve archaeological sites in Area C of the West Bank, including the remains of the Maccabean palaces on the outskirts of the Palestinian city of Jericho.[...]
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Published in English.
The topic of covenant is as important to the study of ancient Near Eastern religions, Second Temple Judaism, early Christian literature, and the early Christian Church and Rabbinic Judaism as it is complex and disputed among ancient and modern scholars. It permeates much of biblical and cognate literature throughout many centuries. The essays in this collection explore the diverse spectrum of covenant concepts that emerged during this time period in different parts of the ancient Near East and the Eastern Mediterranean. They also discuss theological implications and later applications in mostly religious texts from different scholarly perspectives. The result is a detailed, comprehensive, and thorough presentation of the tremendous range of covenantal concepts and their complexities in biblical and cognate literature throughout the ages, together with a keen look at the history of pertinent scholarly research.
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Cross-file under Phoenician Watch.
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For many posts on Professor McGrath's work on John the Baptist and on the Mandeans (Mandaeans), see here and links, here, here, here and here
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Priesthood, Cult, and Temple in the Aramaic Scrolls from QumranAnalyzing a Pre-Hasmonean Jewish Literary Tradition
Series: Studies on the Texts of the Desert of Judah, Volume: 145
Author: Robert E. Jones
The Hellenistic period was a pivotal moment in the history of the Jewish priesthood. The waning days of the Persian empire coincided with the continued ascendance of the high priest and Jerusalem temple as powerful political, cultural, and religious institutions in Judea. The Aramaic Scrolls from Qumran, only recently published in full, testify to the existence of a flourishing but previously unknown Jewish literary tradition dating from the end of Persian rule to the rise of the Hasmoneans. Throughout this book, Robert Jones analyzes how Israel’s priestly institutions are represented in these writings, and he demonstrates that they are essential for understanding the Jewish priesthood at this crucial stage in its history.
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Copyright Year: 2023
E-Book (PDF)
Availability: Published
ISBN: 978-90-04-54616-5
Released online: 05 Jun 2023Hardback
Availability: Published
ISBN: 978-90-04-54287-7
Publication date: 06 Jun 2023
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A good overview of the Akkadian Epic of Gilgamesh, its Sumerian antecedents and Mesopotamian transmission, its importance for biblical studies, and modern translations of it.
For more on the later survival of the figure Gilgamesh, notably in the Book of Giants, and also in modern popular culture, see here and links. And for many other PaleoJudaica posts on Gilgamesh and his epic, see here and links, plus here.
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In the Court of the Gentiles: Narrative, Exemplarity, and Scriptural Adaptation in the Court-Tales of Flavius JosephusSeries: Supplements to the Journal for the Study of Judaism, Volume: 209
Author: David Edwards
Edwards explores how Josephus in Antiquities adapts the scriptural stories of Joseph and Esther in unexpected ways as models for accounts of more recent Jewish figures. Terming this practice “subversive adaptation,” Edwards contextualizes it within Greco-Roman literary culture and employs the concept of “discourses of exemplarity” to show how Josephus used narratives about past figures to engage Roman elites in moral reflection and pragmatic decision-making. This book supplies analysis of frequently overlooked accounts as well as Josephus’ broader literary strategies, and shows how ancient Jews appropriated imperial historiographical conventions and forms of discourse while countering Greco-Roman claims of cultural superiority.
Prices from (excl. shipping): €110.00
Copyright Year: 2023
E-Book (PDF)
Availability: Published
ISBN: 978-90-04-54906-7
Released online: 05 Jun 2023Hardback
Availability: Published
ISBN: 978-90-04-54905-0
Publication date: 31 May 2023
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Field Manual for the Archaeology of Ritual, Religion, and MagicThe review is open access.
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.
This book would be of interest for a number of ancient sites in Israel, including Arad and, recently, the Te’omim Cave.
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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.PaleoJudaica posts on the Pilgrimage Road excavation and its discoveries are here (and links), here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here and links.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.
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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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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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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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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.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.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.
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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 HillsFor 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!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).
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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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. ...The essay also reports a new discovery about the Temple Mount in the First Temple Period. A scientific article is in preparation.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.
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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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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 9782848678610Review 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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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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“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.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.After watching the new Indiana Jones film, “Dial of Destiny,” we ask Prof. Aren Maier, what matters now.
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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.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.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.
[...]
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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Sally Teague, New Testament Greek: a reading course, level 1. Wauconda, Illinois: Bolchazy-Carducci, 2022. Pp. xvii, 347. ISBN 9780865168657Review 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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Congratulations to Professor Harrison and to ISAC and the University of Chicago.
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Mosaic is behind a subscription wall, but with free registration you can read two essays per month.
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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 GamesThe 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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“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.The amnesty is now over, but it seems to have been wildly successful. Background here and here.“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.
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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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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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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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Further to posts on a new candidate for the earliest surviving codex here and here.
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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.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.The method recently proved its worth by revealing an unknown chamber in Egypt’s Great Pyramid of Giza. ...
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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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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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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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 9782356134356Cue a "What have the Romans ever done for us?" joke.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. Å abb. 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. ...
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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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A £2.4 million-pound project dedicated to studying ancient religious manuscripts has been announced, with Glasgow University professors taking part in the research.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.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.
[...]
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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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‘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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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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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 9783110785999I noted the publication of volume 4 here.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. ...
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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.
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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.
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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.[...]
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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.
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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 9780197580042For much more on this book, see yesterday's post here.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.
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