Biblical Studies Carnival #210

READING ACTS: Biblical Studies Carnival #210 for September 2023 (Phil Long). With extensive coverage of blog posts etc. on P.Oxy. 5575.

Phil and Jim West are having difficulty finding anyone else to do a Biblical Studies Carnival. If you are interested, please do get in touch with Phil.

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

DiTommaso & Goff (eds.), Reimagining Apocalypticism (SBL)

NEW BOOK FROM SBL PRESS:

Reimagining Apocalypticism: Apocalyptic Literature in the Dead Sea Scrolls and Related Writings

Lorenzo DiTommaso, Matthew Goff, editors

ISBN 9781628375343
Volume EJL 57
Status Available
Publication Date July 2023
Hardback $99.00
Paperback $79.00
eBook $79.00

The Dead Sea Scrolls have expanded the corpus of early Jewish apocalyptic literature and tested scholars’ ideas of what apocalyptic means. With all the scrolls now available for study, contributors to this volume engage those texts and many more to reexplore not only definitions of the genre but also the influence of the Dead Sea Scrolls on the study of apocalyptic literature in the Second Temple period and beyond. Part 1 focuses on debates about categories and genre. Part 2 explores ancient Jewish texts from the Second Temple period to the early rabbinic era. Part 3 brings the results of scroll research into dialogue with the New Testament and early Christian writings. Contributors include Garrick V. Allen, Giovanni B. Bazzana, Stefan Beyerle, Dylan M. Burns, John J. Collins, Devorah Dimant, Lorenzo DiTommaso, Frances Flannery, Matthew J. Goff, Angela Kim Harkins, Martha Himmelfarb, G. Anthony Keddie, Armin Lange, Harry O. Maier, Andrew B. Perrin, Christopher Rowland, Alex Samely, Jason M. Silverman, and Rebecca Scharbach Wollenberg.

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Edwards, Crucified: The Christian Invention of the Jewish Executioners of Jesus

NEW BOOK FROM FORTRESS:

Crucified: The Christian Invention of the Jewish Executioners of Jesus

by J. Christopher Edwards

Publisher: Fortress Press (October 3, 2023)
Language: English
Hardcover: 237 pages
ISBN-10: 506490956
ISBN-13: 978-1506490953

Historians of early Christianity unanimously agree that Jesus was executed by Roman soldiers. This consensus extends to members of the general population who have seen a Jesus movie or an Easter play and remember Roman soldiers hammering the nails. However, for early Christians, the detail that Jesus was crucified by Roman soldiers under the direction of a Roman governor threatened their desire for a stable existence in the Roman world. Beginning with the writings found in the New Testament, early Christians sought to rewrite their history and shift the blame for Jesus's crucifixion away from Pilate and his soldiers and onto Jews. During the second century, a narrative of the crucifixion with Jewish executioners predominated. During the fourth century, this narrative functioned to encourage anti-Judaism within the newly established Christian empire. Yet, in the modern world, there exists a significant degree of ignorance regarding the pervasiveness--or sometimes even the existence!--of the claim among ancient Christians that Jesus was executed by Jews. This ignorance is deeply problematic, because it leaves a gaping hole in our understanding of what for so long was the direct underpinning of Christian persecution of Jews. Moreover, it excuses from blame the venerated ancient Christian authors who constructed and perpetuated the claim that the Jews executed Jesus. And on an unconscious level, it may still influence Christians' understanding of Jews and Judaism.

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Longenecker & Wilhite (eds.), The Cambridge History of Ancient Christianity

THE ANXIOUS BENCH: A Major New History of the Earliest Christianity (Philip Jenkins).

I want to announce and celebrate the publication of a really valuable new book, and I say from the outset that I had nothing whatever to do with writing it! My two Baylor colleagues Bruce Longenecker and David Wilhite are the editors of the newly available Cambridge History of Ancient Christianity, which is an indispensable contribution to the study of Christian life and thought in the first three centuries.

[...]

Cross-file under New Book.

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Friesen, Acting Gods, Playing Heroes, ... (Routledge)

NEW BOOK FROM ROUTLEDGE:

Acting Gods, Playing Heroes, and the Interaction between Judaism, Christianity, and Greek Drama in the Early Common Era

By Courtney J. P. Friesen

Copyright 2024
Hardback £130.00
eBook £35.09
ISBN 9781032491028
180 Pages 11 B/W Illustrations
Published July 7, 2023 by Routledge

Description

While many ancient Jewish and Christian leaders voiced opposition to Greek and Roman theater, this volume demonstrates that by the time the public performance of classical drama ceased at the end of antiquity the ideals of Jews and Christians had already been shaped by it in profound and lasting ways.

Readers are invited to explore how gods and heroes famous from Greek drama animated the imaginations of ancient individuals and communities as they articulated and reinvented their religious visions for a new era. In this study, Friesen demonstrates that Greek theater’s influence is evident within Jewish and Christian intellectual formulations, narrative constructions, and practices of ritual and liturgy. Through a series of interrelated case studies, the book examines how particular plays, through texts and performances, scenes, images, and heroic personae, retained appeal for Jewish and Christian communities across antiquity. The volume takes an interdisciplinary approach involving classical, Jewish, and Christian studies, and brings together these separate avenues of scholarship to produce fresh insights and a reevaluation of theatrical drama in relation to ancient Judaism and Christianity.

Acting Gods, Playing Heroes, and the Interaction between Judaism, Christianity, and Greek Drama in the Early Common Era allows students and scholars of the diverse and evolving religious landscapes of antiquity to gain fresh perspectives on the interplay between the gods and heroes—both human and divine—of Greeks and Romans, Jews and Christians as they were staged in drama and depicted in literature.

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The Anu Museum and the Codex Sassoon

IT BELONGS IN A MUSEUM AND THAT'S WHERE IT IS: Inside the new home of the Codex Sassoon - the world's oldest Hebrew bible. The Anu Museum acquired the bible after it was sold by Sotheby's for $38m (Jonathan Sacerdoti, The Jewish Chronicle).

When it opened in 2021 it was hard to know which audience Tel Aviv University’s Anu museum was aimed at. Anu means “we” and the museum, which replaced its 1978 predecessor, the Beit Hatfutsot Museum of the Jewish Diaspora, had undergone a $100 million revamp. After a decade of planning, it relaunched itself as “the Museum of the Jewish People”.

[...]

For the recent sale of the Codex Sassoon and it's acquisition by the Anu Museum, start here and follow the links.

CORRECTION (4 October). It seems the manuscript is still in New York, but is coming to Israel soon.

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Editionen und Studien zum Testamentum Salomonis (Mohr Siebeck)

NEW BOOK FROM MOHR SIEBECK: Editionen und Studien zum Testamentum Salomonis. Herausgegeben von Felix Albrecht unter Mitarbeit von Jan Dochhorn. [Editions of and Studies on the Testamentum Salomonis.] 2023. X, 289 pages. Parabiblica 1. 129,00 € including VAT. cloth ISBN 978-3-16-162443-8.

Published in German.
This volume offers ten contributions on the Testament of Solomon dealing with the Greek and Oriental tradition around King Solomon as exorcist and temple builder. It provides new and unstudied Greek, Arabic and Coptic material in critical editions and modern translations (English, German, and Italian).

The articles are in German and English.

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Sukkot 2023

THE SEVEN-DAY FESTIVAL OF SUKKOT (BOOTHS, TABERNACLES) begins tonight at sundown. Best wishes to all those observing it.

Last year's Sukkot post is here. More recent relevant posts are here, here, here, here, and here.

For the biblical background to Sukkot, see here and here.

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Did Eve give Adam an etrog?

FOR SUKKOT: The Etrog: Fruit of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil (Prof.Rachel Adelman, TheTorah.com).

The etrog tree, according to midrash, fulfilled God’s command in creation, such that the tree tasted like its fruit. It was also the tree of Knowledge from which Eve ate. By taking the etrog on Sukkot along with the other species, we atone for this primordial sin.

For PaleoJudaica posts on the etrog (citron) and its relation to Sukkot, see the links collected here.

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Sukkot sifting prize

THE TEMPLE MOUNT SIFTING PROJECT BLOG: SUKKOT AT THE TEMPLE MOUNT SIFTING PROJECT.

This Sukkot holiday we will be raffling off (at no extra charge) among all those who make sifting reservations and share this post, two professionally produced replicas of an ancient Jewish coin from the end of the Second Temple period. ...

Plus a birdwatching expedition!

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Hyrcania excavation yields a 6th-century Greek Psalms quote

GREEK EPIGRAPHY: Byzantine Greek Inscription Of Psalms 86 Found In Hyrcania: Unearthing Ancient Faith. A rare inscription paraphrasing part of Psalm 86 in the Greek used in the New Testament has been unearthed by a team of Hebrew University archaeologists working at the Hyrcania Fortress, a Second Temple-era structure situated atop a forbidding hilltop in the Judean Desert, about 17 kilometres southeast of Jerusalem. (Greek City Times).

A community of Byzantine Christian monks founded in the 5th century CE is likely responsible for the adapted Psalm 86 inscription. Dr. Avner Ecker of Bar-Ilan University, who helped decipher the inscription, noted that the writing contains small grammatical errors, indicating that “the priest was not a native Greek speaker, but likely someone from the region who was raised speaking a Semitic language.”

[...]

The article reports that an additional Psalms quote, also written on stone, has been discovered at the site. The latter "is still awaiting analysis."

Last June I noted that an excavation was beginning at Hyrcania.

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More on that courtesan's tomb

UPDATE: Israeli Archaeologists May Have Found First-ever Grave of Hetaira From Time of Alexander the Great. Buried 2,300 years ago on the road to Jerusalem, with grave goods consisting of nails and a mirror from the time of Alexander of Macedonia, archaeologists surmise this woman was a Greek courtesan (Ruth Schuster, Haaretz).

The highly specific interpretation of her manner of life is based on the convergence of several lines of evidence, explain Dr. Guy Stiebel of Tel Aviv University and Liat Oz of the Israel Antiquities Authority, in a joint paper to be published in the journal New Studies on Jerusalem (Hebrew).

In archaeology, the range of interpretative possibilities is generally wide, Stiebel tells Haaretz by phone. “But there are times the stars align and the anomalies ultimately converge to one scenario. There are rare cases where you have to say: that’s what it is.”

This article is a little more cautious, and it lays out in more detail the process of inference that led the archaeologists to conclude that this was a tomb of a hetaira courtesan.

Background here.

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On writing about demons

ANCIENT JEW REVIEW: AJR Conversations | Writing about Demons. by Sara Ronis and Travis Proctor in Articles.

S: Yeah. So, for the Rabbis, [they] really believe that demons are capricious, dangerous, but not ultimately malevolent, as part of a way of understanding the whole world as created by a God who is not malevolent, at the very least. But I was really struck, in reading your book, about how so many of the early Christian writers really think that the world is fundamentally dark or bad. And what does it mean that they think that? What does it mean for their understanding of God, each other, and the environment in which they live, to encounter the world as malevolent?

I have written about both demons and angels, mostly angels. The latter are at least as dangerous and frightening as the former.

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Boyes (ed.), ... The Social Context of Writing Practices in Late Bronze Age Ugarit (Oxbow, open access)

NEW FROM OXBOW BOOKS:

Script and Society
The Social Context of Writing Practices in Late Bronze Age Ugarit

Philip J. Boyes (Editor)

Description
By the 13th century BC, the Syrian city of Ugarit hosted an extremely diverse range of writing practices. As well as two main scripts – alphabetic and logographic cuneiform - the site has also produced inscriptions in a wide range of scripts and languages, including Hurrian, Sumerian, Hittite, Egyptian hieroglyphs, Luwian hieroglyphs and Cypro-Minoan. This variety in script and language is accompanied by writing practices that blend influences from Mesopotamian, Anatolian and Levantine traditions together with what seem to be distinctive local innovations. Script and Society: The Social Context of Writing Practices in Late Bronze Age Ugarit explores the social and cultural context of these complex writing traditions from the perspective of writing as a social practice. It combines archaeology, epigraphy, history and anthropology to present a highly interdisciplinary exploration of social questions relating to writing at the site, including matters of gender, ethnicity, status and other forms of identity, the relationship between writing and place, and the complex relationships between inscribed and uninscribed objects. This forms a case- study for a wider discussion of interdisciplinary approaches to the study of writing practices in the ancient world.

Language
English

License Type
Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY)

ISBN
9781789255867

Category
Social Science / Archaeology, Language Arts & Disciplines / Alphabets & Writing Systems

Publisher
Oxbow Books

Collection Information
KU Open Services

HT the AWOL Blog.

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Ancient courtesan's tomb excavated near Jerusalem

FUNERARY SPELUNIC ARCHAEOLOGY: Archeologists 'for first time' unearth tomb of Ancient Greek hetaira courtesan. Discovered alongside a perfectly preserved rare luxury mirror, the remains were also 'the earliest evidence in Israel of cremation in the Hellenistic period' (i24 News).

The Ancient Greek hetairas were courtesans that accompanied senior figures in the Hellenstic world, in this case the tomb was dated from the late 4th century to early 3rd century BC. It was discovered in excavations of the Israel Antiquities Authority on Via Habron in Jerusalem.

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Greek oracles and biblical prophets

SEERS, DIVINERS, AND PROPHETS: Ancient Greek Oracles vs Jewish Prophets (Philip Chrysopoulos, Greek Reporter). An interesting and fairly informative comparison of apples and oranges.

Not mentioned in the article, but the biblical figure of Daniel, who is not called a "prophet" in the Book of Daniel, operated more as a mantic sage than an Israelite prophet.

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A sorcerer's cache on the road to Mecca?

BIBLE HISTORY DAILY: Magic on the Road to Mecca. Cache of Ottoman period ritual objects discovered in Eilat (Nathan Steinmeyer).

Every religion has its unofficial folk magical traditions.

I have been following this story for a while. It involves Israel, but not antiquity or Judaism, so I haven't noted it until now. But I've decided to file it as "too interesting to ignore."

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An inscription fragment related to King Hezekiah? Caution urged.

NORTHWEST SEMITIC EPIGRAPHY: King Hezekiah's riddle: Has the ancient royal inscription finally been cracked? Using advanced tech, Israeli expert decodes stone inscription found in Jerusalem 40 years ago, linking it to Judean King's water project, highlighting his power; ‘After the king's death, his opponents deliberately damaged his inscriptions, in an attempt to tarnish his memory and erase his achievements’ (Yitzchak Tessler, Ynet News).

The technology sounds interesting, but there isn't much inscription to use it on. At best it may illuminate a couple of broken letters and show that another possible letter is not there. (The English version incorrectly says that the last letter of line 3 is an aleph. The Hebrew article correctly says it is a he.)

The rest of the new material is Professor Galil's conjectural restoration of completely lost text. As always, one should be cautious about such conjectures.

You can see the Hebrew text in question in the Hebrew version of the article here. (HT Joseph Lauer.)

For previous discussions of Professor Galil's readings of other ancient lapidary Hebrew inscriptions that have or may have some connection with King Hezekiah, start here and follow the links. The evidence for some of these inscriptions remains to be published.

Cross-file under Technology Watch.

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Review of Strange, Excavating the Land of Jesus

READING ACTS: James Riley Strange, Excavating the Land of Jesus (Phil Long).

Strange, James Riley. Excavating the Land of Jesus: How Archaeologists Study the People of the Gospels. Grand Rapids, Mich.: Eerdmans, 2023. xvi+192 pp. Hb; $29.99.

... Conclusion. Excavating the Land of Jesus is a fascinating look into the science of archaeology. Strange introduces readers to the technical aspects of archaeology without being overly technical. With clear prose and helpful illustrations, this book is enjoyable to read! Readers interested in how archaeology illuminates the New Testament will enjoy many of his conclusions, although that is not the book’s purpose. ...

I noted the publication of the volume here.

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Paul within Judaism (Mohr Siebeck; open access)

NEW BOOK FROM MOHR SIEBECK: Paul within Judaism. Perspectives on Paul and Jewish Identity. Edited by Michael Bird, Ruben A. Bühner, Jörg Frey, and Brian Rosner. 2023. VIII, 363 pages. Wissenschaftliche Untersuchungen zum Neuen Testament 507. 154,00 € including VAT. cloth ISBN 978-3-16-162325-7.

Published in English.

This conference volume features cutting edge research from an international cohort of scholars on the still-controversial debates regarding Paul's relationship with Judaism. Taken together, the contributions represent a sympathetic but critical assessment of the Paul within Judaism approach to Pauline interpretation. They take up many of the key questions germane to the debate, including different perspectives on Jewish identity, ethnicity, Torah-observance, halakha, the relationship between Jewish and non-Jewish followers of Christ, and the contested character of Jewish identity in antiquity. By combining a broad swath of both German- and English-language scholarship, the volume attempts to bring different perspectives into conversation with each other.

There is also an open-access PDF edition of the book.

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When did the Qumran sectarians observe the Day of Atonement?

FOR YOM KIPPUR: First recorded evidence of Yom Kippur depicts day of affliction as sectarian struggle. Prof. Yonatan Adler, author of ‘The Origins of Judaism,’ cites dramatic passage from the Dead Sea Scrolls that shows Hasmonean-era jostling for religious authority (GAVRIEL FISKE, Times of Israel).

“Imagine you have one people who have Yom Kippur on one day, and one on another,” Adler says. “There will be arguments and fights. It seems the High Priest understood that Yom Kippur was on Sunday, let’s say, and the Qumranites were on a Monday, so he came down there on their day, perhaps with troops… he wanted them to break their observance. It could have been in Qumran, but it could have been somewhere else.”

The interpretation of 1QPesher Habakkuk col. 11 to indicate that the Qumran sectarians observed Yom Kippur on a different day that the Temple priests is not new. It's been around as long as I can remember. But it is a plausible reading of the passage.

For more on the work of Yonatan Adler on the origins of Judaism, see here and links.

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Horvat Midras

THE ANCIENT NEAR EAST TODAY: Horvat Midras (Israel): A Window into Socio-Religious Change in Rural Roman Palestine (Orit Peleg-Barkat and Gregg E. Gardner).

... Horvat Midras was one of the largest rural settlements in the Judean foothills and was inhabited by several ethnic and religious groups from the fourth century BCE to the sixteenth century CE, including Idumeans in the Hellenistic period, Jews in the early Roman period, polytheists in the later Roman period, Christians in the Byzantine period, and Muslims under the Umayyads, Ayyubids, Mamluks, and Ottomans (Figures 1 and 2). As such, the site provides us with a window into social dynamics, interactions between and among ethnic-religious groups, and how rural life was impacted by military conflicts that prompted migration and abandonment, transforming the character of a rural village.

For more on the pyramid at Horvat Midras (Khirbet Midras), see here and links. For that ruin that was not a synagogue, see here. And for many posts on the nearby site of Maresha, see here and here and links.

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On Moses' and Pharaoh's horns

BIBLE HISTORY DAILY: Moses as Pharaoh’s Equal—Horns and All (Gary A. Rendsburg).

In these two passages, Moses, the prophet par excellence, is elevated to the level of deity, while Aaron, the first high priest, is elevated to the level of prophet. The exigencies of the moment, namely the impending summit with Pharaoh (Exodus 7:10‒12), require that Moses meet with his opposite as equal. And since the pharaoh in Egypt was considered divine, God promotes Moses to the level of deity, for this singular occasion. Indeed, these passages are remarkable, for they indicate the extent to which the biblical author was willing to reflect the Egyptian background of the story. Thus, literary flavor overrides biblical theology.

There are lots of proposals for how to interpret the biblical reference to Moses' horns. For many PaleoJudaica posts, start here and follow the links.

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

Yom Kippur 2023

YOM KIPPUR, the Day of Atonement, begins this evening at sundown. An easy and healthy fast to all those observing it.

Last year's post on Yom Kippur is here, with links. Biblical etc. background is here and links. For (another) recent post on the Akitu Festival, to which some have drawn parallels with Yom Kippur, see here. Additional recent Yom Kippur-related posts are here and here.

UPDATE: Another relevant post is here.

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Shifting sifting soil in Jerusalem

THE TEMPLE MOUNT SIFTING PROJECT BLOG: A GLIMPSE INTO THE DIFFICULTIES OF CONDUCTING ARCHAEOLOGY IN JERUSALEM.

Three weeks ago, we transferred more of the Temple Mount debris piles to our sifting site, which were buried in the upper terraces of Emek Tzurim. Unfortunately, we had to leave a lot of the soil behind to preserve the terraces and the trees.

Here’s the story up to now ...

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On Trauma Theory

ANCIENT JEW REVIEW: AJR Conversations | Trauma Theory, Trauma Story. by Sarah Emanuel and Meghan Henning in Articles.

Meghan Henning: Sarah, I have admired your work since your first book on comedy and resistance in Revelation appeared and so I was eager to read your second monograph, which focuses on trauma, with my graduate students this term.[1] This book engages so many important threads, bringing together trauma theory, queer theory, and trauma-informed eating to read Ezekiel alongside Passover and Eucharist rituals. How did you go from comedy to trauma?

[...]

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History of ancient Egypt

THE WORLD IS FULL OF HISTORY: Notes on the history of Egypt I (Zahi Hawass, Ahram Online).

In a two-part series, Zahi Hawass gives an outline history of ancient and modern Egypt similar to the one that can be seen at Cairo’s National Museum of Egyptian Civilisation.

Part one, linked to above, is a pretty good quick overview of ancient Egyptian history to the rise of Islam. It zips over the Post-Empire, Saite, and Persian Periods very rapidly. It could also say more about Jewish connections to Egyptian history, although it does at least touch on that once.

If you are interested, part two continues from the Islamic period up to the present: Notes on the history of Egypt — II.

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The Chaldean Dynasty

THE WORLD IS FULL OF HISTORY: The Chaldean Dynasty and the Rise of the Neo-Babylonian Empire (Aleksa Vučković, Ancient Origins).

Empires are formed and fall, dynasties rise to prominence and crumble in poverty and ruin, ethnicities disappear from the fate of the Earth - these are the inevitable aspects of the histories of ancient empires. Mesopotamia, rightfully called the cradle of civilization, was an area of the Middle East where many important kingdoms, empires, and cultures arose over many millennia. Amongst these was the Chaldean Empire, whose ruling Chaldean dynasty is the perfect example of how much uncertainty and unpredictability there was for the rulers of these ancient realms. Who were the Chaldeans? And how did they rise to such lofty prominence?

[...]

This essay gives a good account of the Chaldeans and their Neo-Babylonian dynasty, which included King Nebuchadnezzar II. He is famous from the Bible for his invasion of Judea and his destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple in 586/587 BCE.

There is a lot of confusion about the Chaldeans due to the Book of Daniel, which mostly treats them as a type of magico-religious practitioner. This meaning is the more common one in the Hellenistic period.

In modern times, one group of Aramaic-speaking Iraqi Christians calls themselves "Chaldeans." They are mostly expatriated to other places, including Southern California. See here and links and here.

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Lee, Reimagining Exile in Daniel (Mohr Siebeck)

NEW BOOK FROM MOHR SIEBECK: James Seung-Hyun Lee. Reimagining Exile in Daniel. A Literary-Historical Study. 2023. XIV, 192 pages. Forschungen zum Alten Testament 2. Reihe 143.79,00 € including VAT. paper ISBN 978-3-16-162337-0.

Published in English.
The widely accepted view of exile in the Book of Daniel is that it was an ongoing reality which went beyond the initial return of the Babylonian golah (based on Dan. 9). James Seung-Hyun Lee's study, however, reaches deeper to tread the insufficiently explored territory of how the book reconceptualizes exile and how this informs the self-identity of the Danielic group, the final editors of the book. Proposing that for the Danielic group, exile is a place of privilege and a locus of God's revelation and presence, the author shows how this creates a middle space for them that provides a unique historical perspective that both embraces and critiques Babylon and Jerusalem. By identifying themselves with those remaining in exile, the Danielic group claims the legitimacy of their prophetic identity and teaching during the Antiochene persecution.

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Sanders on philology and music

ANCIENT JEW REVIEW: Dead Words and Haunting Melody: Unexpected Influences with Seth Sanders.

What is missing is not the text or the “performativity” but imaginative curiosity about the event itself where people participated in the prayer, where it unfolded. As the musicologist Christopher Small writes, “Most of the world's musicians—[meaning] anyone who sings or plays or composes—have no use for musical scores and do not treasure musical works but simply play and sing, drawing on remembered melodies and rhythms and on their own powers of invention… For performance does not exist in order to present musical works, but rather, musical works exist in order to give performers something to perform.”(Musicking: The Meanings of Performing and Listening, 7-8) If, as Small argues, “Music is not a thing at all but an activity, something that people do,” (p. 2) this suggests that like music, religion cannot be contained in a written text (or score) or a single individual (an isolated listener or performer). Instead, like music, these prayers and blessings only enter the world when they are done by people and become events. But what does that tell me about my dried-up ancient texts—what kind of event is a prayer; what does it sound like?

A long essay with a great deal happening in it.

Cross-file under Yom Kippur.

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How many crimson threads?

YOM KIPPUR IS COMING: Crimson to White: Yom Kippur’s Miraculous Thread (Dr. Rabbi Joshua Kulp, TheTorah.com).

In the Second Temple period, a crimson thread was placed on the horn of the Yom Kippur scapegoat and tied to a stone in the desert before the goat was pushed off the cliff. After the verse “If your sins be as scarlet they shall be as white as snow” (Isaiah 1:18) was used as a prooftext for this non-biblical practice, the Talmud envisaged a magical ritual in which a second crimson thread would turn white on Yom Kippur to signal God’s acceptance of the people’s repentance.

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Kalimi, The Book of Esther between Judaism and Christianity (CUP)

NEW BOOK FROM CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS:

The Book of Esther between Judaism and Christianity

AUTHOR: Isaac Kalimi, Johannes Gutenberg Universität Mainz, Germany
DATE PUBLISHED: July 2023
AVAILABILITY: Available
FORMAT: Hardback
ISBN: 9781009266123

£ 100.00
Hardback

Description

The book of Esther is one of the most challenging books in the Hebrew Bible/Old Testament, not only because of the difficulty of understanding the book itself in its time, place, and literary contexts, but also for the long and tortuous history of interpretation it has generated in both Jewish and Christian traditions. In this volume, Isaac Kalimi addresses both issues. He situates 'traditional' literary, textual, theological, and historical-critical discussion of Esther alongside comparative Jewish and Christian interpretive histories, showing how the former serves the latter. Kalimi also demonstrates how the various interpretations of the Book of Esther have had an impact on its reception history, as well as on Jewish-Christian relations. Based on meticulous and comprehensive analysis of all available sources, Kalimi's volume fills a gap in biblical, Jewish, and Christian studies and also shows how and why the Book of Esther became one of the central books of Judaism and one of the most neglected books in Christianity.

• Includes inter-disciplinary and multi-disciplinary perspectives, showing how different disciplines can interact
• Presents a meticulous and comprehensive analysis of the available sources concerning the book of Esther within their biblical, historical, and ancient Near Eastern contexts
• Describes the neglect of Esther in Christianity, and how the biblical text is used and abused to advance Judeophobic and anti-Semitic agenda of some theologians and scholars

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Review of Moore, New Aramaic papyri from Elephantine in Berlin

BRYN MAYR CLASSICAL REVIEW: New Aramaic papyri from Elephantine in Berlin.

James D. Moore, New Aramaic papyri from Elephantine in Berlin. Studies on Elephantine, 1. Leiden; Boston: Brill, 2022. Pp. xiii, 261. ISBN 9789004505575

Review by
Amit Gvaryahu, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem. amit.gvaryahu@mail.huji.ac.il

... The present volume is a contribution to the study of these documents: a trove of very small fragments, not published by the editors of the previously published collections, and overlooked for nearly 80 years, found in the Berlin Museum. ...

I noted the publication of this open-access volume here. For more on the Aramaic Elephantine papyri, follow the links from there, plus see here, here, here, here, and links.

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Porten & Yardeni, Textbook of Aramaic Ostraca from Idumea, volume 5 (Eisenbrauns)

NEW BOOK FROM EISENBRAUNS:

Textbook of Aramaic Ostraca from Idumea, volume 5

Dossiers H–K: 485 Ostraca

Bezalel Porten and Ada Yardeni

Since the early 1990s, about two thousand Idumean Aramaic ostraca have found their way onto the antiquities market and are now scattered across a number of museums, libraries, and private collections. This fifth and final volume of the Textbook of Aramaic Ostraca from Idumea completes the work of bringing these ostraca together in a single publication.

Description

Since the early 1990s, about two thousand Idumean Aramaic ostraca have found their way onto the antiquities market and are now scattered across a number of museums, libraries, and private collections. This fifth and final volume of the Textbook of Aramaic Ostraca from Idumea completes the work of bringing these ostraca together in a single publication. Volumes 1–4 published some 1,600 ostraca that gave us insight into agriculture, economics, politics, onomastics, and scribal practices from fourth/third-century BCE Idumea and Judah. The ostraca in volume 5 come from the same milieu, but the information they provide is entirely new and different. This volume presents 485 ostraca, including 99 land descriptions, 168 uncertain texts, and 218 assorted remains, scribal exercises, and forgeries, along with useful indexes and tables and a comparative list of entries. The land descriptions—which record local landmarks, ownership boundaries, and land registration—provide rich complementary material to the rest of the Idumean ostraca. The “uncertain texts” are fragmentary, in poor condition, or contain other abnormalities. As the TAO corpus becomes better understood and as imaging techniques improve, these texts will help to fill gaps in knowledge. The final section includes the remains of scribal practices and forgeries, important because they help to show the authenticity of the other two thousand pieces.

A unique collection of documentary sources for fourth/third-century BCE Idumea—and, by extension, Judah—this multivolume work will be a powerful resource for those interested in onomastics and social and economic history.

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

The Hall of Shofars

EXHIBITION: At biblical fauna museum, a blow-by-blow of all things shofar, and more horns to toot. Beit Shemesh Biblical Museum of Natural History director Natan Slifkin’s collection features everything from rams to kudus to African buffalo and even a unicorn (Jessica Steinberg).

Spoiler alert: Neither the unicorn horn nor the horns of the mythical jackalope can be used as a shofar.

For more on Rabbi Natan Slifkin, the "Zoo Rabbi," and his Biblical Museum of Natural History, see here and follow the links. For more on his book, The Torah Encyclopedia of the Animal Kingdom, see here (cf. here).

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Runia, Philo of Alexandria. Collected Studies 1997–2021 (Mohr Siebeck)

NEW BOOK FROM MOHR SIEBECK: David T. Runia. Philo of Alexandria. Collected Studies 1997–2021. 2023. XIII, 555 pages. Texts and Studies in Ancient Judaism 187. 169,00 € including VAT. cloth ISBN 978-3-16-161876-5.

Published in English.
The Jewish exegete and philosopher Philo of Alexandria (ca. 15 BCE – ca. 50 CE) has left behind by far the largest surviving body of writings of Greek speaking Judaism. Deeply loyal to his own Jewish community, Philo nevertheless has an open stance towards Greek philosophy and uses its ideas to develop his own thought as he expounds the scriptural text. The present volume brings together a collection of essays by David T. Runia on Philonic thought published between 1997 to 2021. In the first section, two introductory studies show the breadth of relevant understanding that Philo has for seven sub-disciplines of ancient and patristic studies. The essays in the second section examine Philo's knowledge of and use of Greek philosophy. One of these, Philo's reception of Plato's Phaedo, has not yet been published in English. Further studies focus on biblical interpretation in an Alexandrian context and explore theological themes relating to theodicy, divine power, and human hope. Finally, another seven studies give close readings of key Philonic texts.

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Review of Allen & Doedens (eds.), Turmoil, trauma and tenacity in early Jewish literature

BRYN MAYR CLASSICAL REVIEW: Turmoil, trauma and tenacity in early Jewish literature.

Nicholas P. L. Allen, Jacob J. T. Doedens, Turmoil, trauma and tenacity in early Jewish literature. Berlin; Boston: De Gruyter, 2022. Pp. 285. ISBN 9783110784893

Review by
Matthew Kraus, University of Cincinnati. matthew.kraus@uc.edu

... The authors are to be commended for acknowledging that the depiction of trauma can be used as a literary strategy, may evoke or re-evoke trauma in the reader, and may influence the author who experienced trauma. Nevertheless, the reader will be left frustrated and unconvinced by how these topics are to be understood in Hellenistic Jewish texts. The authors raise insightful questions, while the answers remain obscured in the analyses of specific texts.

I noted the publication of the book here.

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Ancient stone workshop found in the West Bank

ARCHAEOLOGY: Israel uncovers Second Temple-era stone workshop in West Bank. During the Second Temple period, it was customary to use tools made of stone and indeed stone tools are being discovered at almost every site in the region (Jerusalem Post).

Remains of a Second Temple-era quarry and an early stone tool factory site were uncovered during road works on Route 437 in the West Bank, according to a Monday statement from the Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT).

[...]

For two other Second Temple-era stone workshops, both in the Galilee, see here and links.

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Rosh HaShanah and the heritage of the Temple Mount

THE TEMPLE MOUNT SIFTING PROJECT BLOG: UNITY AROUND THE REALLY IMPORTANT THINGS – THE HERITAGE OF THE TEMPLE MOUNT. Some Rosh HaShanah-related ancient and modern history.

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A new translation of P

ANCIENT JEW REVIEW: Displaying The Literary Artistry of P (Liane Feldman).

The Consuming Fire: The Complete Priestly Source, from Creation to the Promised Land. UC Press, 2023.

... Lest this project begin to sound like a gathering of esoteric academic arguments (which in a way it is), I should say that I had a strong secondary agenda in creating this translation. I wanted to make this text accessible to a broad audience. Put simply: I wanted the language and the ideas to work for an undergraduate classroom or make sense to a non-academic audience. After all, to my mind P is first and foremost a story. It should be able to be read as such. ...

An ambitious and interesting attempt to reconstruct and translate the full surviving text of the Pentateuchal Priestly source (P).

Cross-file under New Book.

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Robert A. Kraft, 1934-2023

SAD NEWS: This weekend the news came in that Professor Robert A. Kraft passed away on Friday after a long illness.

Bob was American Berg Professor of Religious Studies Emeritus at the University of Pennsylvania. He was a major figure in biblical and early Jewish studies in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. He made massive advances in applying computer technology to these fields.

Bob's Wikipedia entry is here. An e-mail message from the Philadelphia Seminar on Christian Origins notes that he was a founding member of the Seminar and and links to a history of the Seminar by him and Annette Yoshiko Reed. His page of collected online work is here. I wrote briefly about his influence on the field in my 2010 SBL paper What Just Happened and PaleoJudaica has referred often to his work. Septuagint scholar William A. Ross interviewed him in 2017.

Bob was a great scholar and a kind and good man, alway supportive of his younger colleagues. We will miss him.

Reqiescat in pace.

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Magnetometry in Archaeology

BIBLE HISTORY DAILY: Magnetometry in Archaeology. A new method for seeing buried buildings (Marek Dospěl).

In the Summer 2023 issue of Biblical Archaeology Review, Andrew Creekmore introduces the use of magnetometry in archaeology. His article, “Seeing into the Ground,” explains how magnetometry works and demonstrates what results this novel method has brought so far at Tell es-Safi, the site of the biblical Gath in southern Israel. ...

The BAR article is behind the subscription wall, but this brief essay summarizes some main points.

A couple of PaleoJudaica posts dealing with magnetometry in archaeology are here and here.

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Rosh HaShanah 2023

HAPPY NEW YEAR (ROSH HASHANAH - Jewish New Year 5784) to all those celebrating. The New Year begins tonight at sundown.

Last year's Rosh HaShanah post, with links, is here. A more recent related post is here. For biblical background, see here.

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

Is that new Oxyrhynchus fragment Q?

SPOLIER: NOPE. NT Pod 102: Has Q Been Discovered? Mark Goodacre has an excellect podcast on the new Jesus sayings fragment P.Oxy. 5575.

Background here.

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The Horvat Ethri synagogue

ANCIENT ARCHITECTURE: Ancient synagogue at Horvat Ethri reveals Jewish village and hidden caves on Judean coastal plain. Historic structure features impressive Second Temple period remnants of Jewish settlement (All Israel News).

Israel's National Jewish Fund (KKL-JNF) recently welcomed Israeli guests to visit recently updated sites of two ancient Jewish synagogues, one in Ma'on – located in Israel's southern Negev desert – and the other, Horvat Ethri in Adullam-France Park, located in the Judean coastal plains.

[...]

For the synagogue and mosaic at Ma'on, see here and links.

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

The Enuma Elish and the Akitu Festival

WITH REFERENCE TO ROSH HASHANAH: Enuma Elish: Babylonia’s Creation Myth and the Enthronement of Marduk (Prof. Wayne Horowitz, TheTorah.com).

The new year and Akitu festivals in Babylonia were celebrated in the spring, during which the high priest of Marduk’s Esagil temple would read the Babylonian creation story, Enuma Elish. This narrative tells how the young god Marduk became king of the gods by saving them from Tiamat and her army of monsters.

A good overview of the Akitu Festival and the Enuma Elish.

For more on the Enuma Elish, see here. For more on the ancient Akitu Festival, which has been connected with both Rosh HaShanah and Yom Kippur, see here and links. As that post notes, the ancient Babylonian festival has been revived and is celebrated annually in the spring by Assyrian Christians.

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

Another review of Wilson, Ancient Wisdom

BRYN MAYR CLASSICAL REVIEW: Ancient wisdom: an introduction to sayings collections.

Walter T. Wilson, Ancient wisdom: an introduction to sayings collections. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2022. Pp. 335. ISBN 9780802875433

Review by
Craig Davis, Smith College. cradavis@smith.edu

... Expansive in its inclusiveness and meticulous in its scholarship, this user-friendly volume will be an invaluable resource to all students of archaic proverbial traditions in world literature, both for quick reference and deeper study.

I noted another review of the volume here.

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Persepolis tablets to be returned to Iran

PERSEPOLIS WATCH: Iran says U.S. will return thousands of ancient tablets after nine decades (Tehran Times).

So far, hundreds of those tablets (and fragments), which were on loan from Iran to the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago since 1935, have been returned home. For example, in 2019, Iran received 1,783 of those important objects being kept at Chicago’s Field Museum of Natural History and the University of Chicago’s Oriental Institute.

In February 2018, and following years of ups and downs, the fate of those ancient Persian artifacts was left in the hands of a U.S. Supreme Court, which ruled in favor of Iran.

Archaeologists affiliated with the University of Chicago discovered the tablets in the 1930s while excavating in Persepolis, the ceremonial capital of the Persian Empire. However, the institute has resumed work in collaboration with colleagues in Iran, and the return of the tablets is part of a broadening of contacts between scholars in the two countries, said Gil Stein, director of the Oriental Institute at the University of Chicago.

For many PaleoJudaica posts on Persepolis, the ancient Achemenid ceremonial capital city, start here and follow the links. For some introductory material, see here and links.

And for that U.S. Supreme Court ruling on the Persepolis archives, see here and links. The archives are not directly relevant to ancient Judaism, but they provides us with background information on scribal practice and Aramaic in Iran in the Persian Period.

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

Schiffman on the Legio X Fretensis

PROF. LAWRENCE H. SCHIFFMAN: LEGION OF DESTRUCTION. THE DISCOVERY OF AN ILLEGAL CACHE OF ANCIENT TILES AND BRICKS SHEDS LIGHT ON A SAD CHAPTER IN OUR HISTORY.

A PDF offprint of an article in Ami Magazine. The article surveys the history of the Legio X Fretensis, notably its role in the suppression of the two Jewish revolts against Rome.

I noted the seizing of the looted bricks here. For the Great Revolt coins found recently near the Black Sea, see here.

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Biblical Studies Carnival 209

ZWINGLIUS REDIVIVUS: The ‘Why is it so Hot?’ August Carnival of Biblical Studies Hotness: The Climate Change Catastrophe (Jim West). Noted belatedly.

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Fragment of an early collection of Jesus sayings?

(NEW) NEW TESTAMENT APOCRYPHA WATCH? Over at the ETC Blog, Peter Gurry notes a newly published fragment of a manuscript from Oxyrhynchus which contains Jesus sayings known from Matthew, the Gospel of Thomas, and maybe Luke. The editors date it to the second century CE, which is quite early for any kind of gospel manuscript.

New 2nd-Century ‘Sayings of Jesus’ Oxyrhynchus Papyrus

Synopsis of P.Oxy. 5575, Matt, Luke, and Thomas

Brent Nongbri has an evaluation of the paleographic case for a second-century date over at Variant Readings: The Date of the New Oxyrhynchus Sayings of Jesus P.Oxy. 87.5575.

I tend to agree with the editors about the similarity of the scripts of 5575 and 4009, but in my first look at the proposals for dated parallels (for both the pieces), I cannot say that I find any of them especially compelling. This is not to criticize the work of the editors. It is very difficult to find good, securely dated comparanda for scripts like these. A more detailed evaluation will have to wait for another occasion.

A lot of questions remain about this new text. Is it a sayings gospel based on oral traditions? Is it a compilation of sayings extracted from earlier gospels? Is it some other kind of work that just happens to cite some Jesus sayings in what survives? And how secure is that second century date?

I imagine all of these questions will be debated for a long time to come. In any case, P.Oxy. 5575 is an important discovery.

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Teenager finds ancient ring at Sussita National Park

ANCIENT ARTIFACT: Treasure hunt: Israeli youth finds Roman-era ring in national park. While visiting Sussita National Park, 13-year-old Itamar Grossman found an 'ancient-looking' ring lying on the ground and insisted that it be examined (Yair Kraus, Ynet News). Well spotted!

Sussita National Park opened this spring. For PaleoJudaica posts on the many archaeological discoveries at Hippos-Sussita, follow the links from there.

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Of swords, stalactites, and the Valley of Salt

WHAT'S BEEN HAPPENING. Yes, I know I said I was "on the mend" a week ago. That was a bit optimistic. But I'm back now and catching up on everything, including blogging.

The big story of the last week, of course, has been the discovery of those four swords in a cave:

Four 1,900-year-old Roman swords found in Judean Desert, likely from Bar Kochba revolt. Apparently stolen by Jewish rebels, the incredibly well-preserved weapons are ‘an extremely rare find, the likes of which have never been found in Israel’ (MELANIE LIDMAN, Times of Israel).

The four swords were discovered shoved into a small fissure in a cave near Ein Gedi National Park, near the Dead Sea. The cave is already well-known to archaeologists, as it contains a stalactite with a fragmentary ink inscription written in ancient Hebrew script characteristic of the First Temple period.

Recently, Dr. Asaf Gayer of Ariel University, geologist Boaz Langford of Hebrew University, and Israel Antiquities Authority photographer Shai Halevi returned to the cave to photograph the stalactite with multispectral photography, which can decipher additional parts of the inscription not visible to the naked eye. While inside the cave, Gayer spotted an extremely well-preserved Roman pilum — a shafted weapon — in a deep, narrow crack in the rock. He also found pieces of carved wood in an adjacent niche that turned out to be parts of the swords’ scabbards.

The researchers reported the find to the Israel Antiquities Authority and returned to the site with the Judean Desert Archaeological Survey Team, which is conducting a multi-year comprehensive survey of more than 800 caves in the Judean Desert to find and preserve archaeological remains before they are looted.

It was then that they discovered the four swords, three of which were found with the blades still inside their scabbards. Researchers also found ornate handles made of wood and metal with leather strips nearby. The arid climate in the Judean Desert helps preserve fragile artifacts that might otherwise be lost to the ravages of time, including materials such as leather and wood, which are rarely found in wetter parts of the country.

That fragmentary ink inscription that precipitated the discovery has received less attention. But it's important.

Redeciphered First Temple inscription may shed light on biblical ‘Valley of Salt.’ Quest to use multispectral imaging on an ancient inscription on stalactite in remote cave near Ein Gedi has surprising side effect: The discovery of four Roman soldiers’ swords (Amanda Borschel-Dan, Times of Israel).

The reconstructed inscription appears to read:

Blessed is YHWH
Blessed in the Valley of Salt(?)
Blessed is God.

The newly recovered letters are of the words "in the Valley of Salt(?)" in the second line. The article fills out the implications.

The Judean Desert Archaeological Survey Team appears to be the current title of what was once called Operation Scroll (see here and cf. here; subsequently, see here and links). Last week there was an update article tied to the discoveries above:

Crack unit of rock-climbing archaeologists claims success in curbing antiquities theft. Six years into wide-scale Judean Desert cave survey operation, few Dead Sea Scrolls fragments are found. But the Land of Israel’s historical picture is ever more in focus, says IAA (Amanda Borschel-Dan, Times of Israel).

Speaking with The Times of Israel at a celebratory unveiling of the team’s most recent discovery — four almost perfectly preserved Roman swords dating from the era of the Bar Kochba Revolt — Dr. Eitan Klein, the deputy head of the Theft Prevention Unit, said the Judean Desert operation marks the first time that the unit is playing offense versus defense with antiquities looters.

For the discovery of the Jerusalem Papyrus in 2016, see here. There has been a lot of debate on whether it is genuine or a forgery. For many posts, start here and follow the links.

For more on the escalating issue of looting, unprovenanced artifacts, and the antiquities market, see here, here, here and links. And for more on the messy situation involving the Heliodorus Stele, see here and links.

That's not all that's been happening, but it's enough for now. I am still catching up.

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

Ben Ezra synagogue reopened

CAIRO GENIZA WATCH: Egyptian synagogue once home to famed ‘Cairo Geniza’ completes extensive renovation. Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly attends ceremony reopening tourist site, following ‘careful architectural restoration work,’ according to Egyptian cabinet (Amy Spiro, Times of Israel).

The Ben Ezra Synagogue is believed to date back to 882 CE — making it by far the oldest synagogue in Cairo — and is named for the prominent scholar Abraham Ibn Ezra.

The building was ordered torn down around 1012 CE, but rebuilt a few decades later. Over the centuries, the synagogue suffered a number of fires and was restored several times.

For background on the Ben Ezra Synagogue and its restoration, see here and links. Follow the links from there (plus here) for much more on the Cairo Geniza.

Pardon my absence last week. I was unwell. Still a bit under the weather, but on the mend now.

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

British auctioneer pleads guilty to coin crimes

APPREHENDED AND ON TRIAL: British auctioneer faces jail for falsely selling rare coins from Palestine (Arab News).

• Richard Beale sold ancient Greek coins found by Gaza fishermen in 2017 despite knowing they were stolen
• Director of auction house Roma Numismatics became the subject of a BBC investigation in 2020

LONDON: A British auctioneer has pleaded guilty to numerous charges relating to the sale of rare ancient coins, including a hoard discovered by Palestinian fishermen, the BBC reported on Sunday.

[...]

Cross-file under Numismatics.

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More Jerusalem aqueduct uncovered. Lots more.

ANCIENT INFRASTRUCTURE: Israel uncovers massive section of Second Temple-era aqueduct in Jerusalem. The discovery “may also shed light on the question – who built the first aqueduct – whether it was the Hasmoneans or perhaps King Herod," the researchers noted (Jerusalem Post).

The longest continuous section of Jerusalem’s ancient aqueduct has been uncovered in Givat Hamatos, the Israel Antiquities Authority announced on Monday.

The stretch of the ancient aqueduct, which measures some 300 meters (roughly 1,000 feet) in length, was discovered during archaeological excavations of the area prior to the planned development of the settlement by the Municipality of Jerusalem. The municipality plans on building schools.

[...]

This appears to be a section of the upper aqueduct. See the caption to the first photo.

For more on the upper and lower Jerusalem aqueducts, see here and links.

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Another Ben-Tor memorial

OBITUARY: Leading archaeologist who dug with Yigael Yadin at Masada and Hazor dies at 88. Amnon Ben-Tor, who won the Israel Prize in 2019, spent decades on major biblical-era site, lectured in top universities around the world (Times of Israel).

Background here and here.

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Giffone, Storymaking, Textual Development, and Varying Cultic Centralizations (Mohr Siebeck)

NEW BOOK FROM MOHR SIEBECK: Benjamin D. Giffone. Storymaking, Textual Development, and Varying Cultic Centralizations. Gathering and Fitting Unhewn Stones. 2023. XVIII, 269 pages. Forschungen zum Alten Testament 2. Reihe 142. 94,00 € including VAT. sewn paper ISBN 978-3-16-156238-9.

Published in English.
In this volume, Benjamin D. Giffone shows that the coexistence of at least three cultic centralization models within the Pentateuch, including Northern, Benjaminite, and Southern traditions, helps to calibrate the level of theological consistency that may reasonably be expected of biblical texts. The scholarly tendency to view biblical narratives as late, tendentious fictions is not sufficient to explain the texts' final forms. The author explains how the use of earlier narrative and legal material within Chronicles and other Second Temple texts illumines instances of unevenness that later interpreters smoothed to a degree but retained in the text. Community memory existing outside the written texts provided limits on the changes that could be introduced by scribes but was sufficiently malleable to allow for changes. Narrativity as a key feature of the texts allowed certain memories to be retained, framed by various techniques to suit the storymakers' aims.

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Hapax legomena (unique words) in the Hebrew Bible

PROF. GARY RENDSBURG: Hapax Legomena: Ten Biblical Examples (TheTorah.com).

To enhance the sounds of the text for their audience, biblical authors plumbed the depths of the Hebrew lexis for alliterative rare words, some of which appear only once in the Bible.

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Strange, Excavating the Land of Jesus (Eerdmans)

NEW BOOK FROM EERDMANS:

Excavating the Land of Jesus
How Archaeologists Study the People of the Gospels

James Riley Strange
Foreword by Luke Timothy Johnson

HARDCOVER; Published: 6/20/2023
ISBN: 978-0-8028-6950-0
Price: $ 29.99
208 Pages
Trim Size, in inches: 6 x 9

DESCRIPTION

How do archaeologists unearth the daily life of people from Jesus’s time?

Contrary to popular belief, archaeology of first-century Roman Galilee is not about illustrating or proving the gospels, drawing timelines, or hunting treasure. Rather, it is about understanding the lives of people, just like us, who lived in the time of Jesus. How do we conceive of Jesus and his mission as part of a larger world? How did different groups in Roman Galilee understand their identities and values? How do we interpret material culture in conjunction with textual evidence from the gospels? On a more basic level, how do we know where and how to dig?

James Riley Strange teaches students how to address these problems in Excavating the Land of Jesus. Drawing on professional experience as a scientific archaeologist in Israel, Strange explains current methodology for ground surveying, excavating evidence, and interpreting data. Excavating the Land of Jesus is the ideal textbook for students seeking answers in the dirt of the Holy Land.

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On Herod the Great

IT'S COMPLICATED: Herod’s Complicated Relationship with Judaism. Herod was a controversial figure. As king of Judea he reconstructed the Second Temple, but as a puppet of Rome was distrusted by his people. (Mark Shiffer, Aish.com). This essay also links to an earlier, more detailed Aish.com essay by Rabbi Ken Spiro:

History Crash Course #31: Herod the Great. A madman who murdered his own family and many rabbis, Herod was also the greatest builder in Jewish history.

For many PaleoJudaica posts on Herod the Great (and the other Herods), see here and links.

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

On Josephus

THE FIRST-CENTURY JEWISH HISTORIAN, FLAVIUS JOSEPHUS, is the subject of a couple of popular articles by Mitchell First at the Jewish Link:

First Century CE: Biography of Josephus

The Last Work of Josephus: ‘Against Apion’

For a couple of recent overview essays on Josephus, see here and here. And for that dodgy-sounding suicide pact at Jotapata (Yodfat) (a.k.a. the "Josephus Problem"), see here and links.

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Sanders on who invented the alphabet

THE ANCIENT NEAR EAST TODAY: Who Really Invented the Alphabet? (Seth Sanders).

There are two parts to this. First is whether the early alphabet shows any evidence that its creators knew how Egyptian writing worked. ... Second is whether the early alphabet was systematized and taught carefully, or casually and chaotically transmitted—a script of scribes or of the people. ...

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In memory of Amnon Ben-Tor

OBITUARY: In Memoriam: Prof. Amnon Ben-Tor, King of Hazor (1935–2023). Israel loses another archaeology giant. (Armstrong Institute of Biblical Archaeology).

Professor Ben-Tor was a giant in his field and leaves behind a significant legacy—and now void—in the world of biblical archaeology. This modern-day king of Hazor will be missed.

PaleoJudaica also receives a mention. Background here.

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

LXX conference in honor of Jim Aitken

WILLIAM A. ROSS: THE SEPTUAGINT WITHIN THE HISTORY OF GREEK CONFERENCE (2023).

I am very pleased to draw attention to the upcoming Septuagint with the History of Greek Conference, which will take place this coming September 13th-15th at Jesus College at the University of Cambridge. As is fitting, this event is to be held in memory of Jim Aitken, who was very much a part of its planning and vision.

For more on the late Professor Jim Aitken, see here and links.

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

Cartagena Festival 2023 is coming

PUNIC WATCH: Visit Cartagena, Spain, in September for ancient battle reenactments and costumed revelry (Anna Kaminski, Lonely Planet).

The reenactment of the Battle for Qart-Hadasht from the Second Punic War (218–208 BCE) is one of the highlights of the Fiestas de Carthagineses y Romanos (Festival of Carthaginians and Romans) that take place in Cartagena, Murcia, in the second half of September. The festivities put the Spanish city in full party mode, as it celebrates its historic roots.

Cartagena, Spain, was a Punic town (Carthago Nova - New Carthage) founded in the third century B.C.E. The ten-day festival begins on the third Friday in September (this year the 15th).

For earlier posts on the festival, as well as on the history and archaeology of the city, see here and links. More recent posts on the archaeology of Cartagena are here and here.

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

Jerusalem: the upturned archaeological layer cake

ARCHAEOLOGY: Evidence of Jerusalem’s Destruction at the Hands of Babylonians, Then Romans Now Revealed on Mount Zion. Jerusalem was destroyed twice, in 586 B.C.E. and 70 C.E. New archaeological work at Mount Zion reveals evidence of both horrors, a new theory for Nehemiah's walls, rare weights from the First Temple period – and a magical rib bone (Ruth Schuster, Haaretz).

Mount Zion might be considered a stratigraphic nightmare studded as it is with enough pottery pieces and small finds to sink a trireme. “Reverse stratigraphy” with chronological layers out of order, is commonplace here. It’s enough to make any archaeologist shudder.

Pottery is usually useful for dating purposes. But here, for example, Iron Age pottery from the eighth to sixth centuries B.C.E. pops up in almost all the layers through to the Ottoman era, which is spectacularly unhelpful. A Roman layer emerges superimposed above a (later) Byzantine layer, which isn’t supposed to happen: they're supposed to be the other way around.

A long and informative article.

Another recent article on the Babylonian destruction of Jerusalem is noted here. For more on Nehemiah's wall, see here and links.

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Hadrianic aqueduct arch collapses at Caesarea

DETERIORATION: Ancient Aqueduct Arch Collapsed on Caesarea’s Beach (David Israel, Jewish Press).

“Luckily, no bathers were killed here,” said a frustrated Eli Escozido, the IAA director. “We have been warning, presented documents and plans, pointed out that the situation is catastrophic and there is a real fear of collapse, met repeatedly met with the owners of the land, even offered to finance some of the work with the understanding that it is simply a disaster waiting to happen. I believe that now we will finally find a listening ear.”

The IAA is warning that the aqueduct to Acco could be next.

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Amnon Ben-Tor, z'l'

SAD NEWS: Archaeologist and Israel Prize laureate Amnon Ben-Tor dies at 88 (Arutz Sheva).

I noted the awarding of the Israel Prize to Professor Ben-Tor in 2019. Not mentioned in the notice above, but he is also well known for taking over the efforts to recover the cuneiform archive at Hazor after the passing away of Yigael Yadin. See here and links for details. They are still looking for that archive.

On the Agade list, Jack Sasson has also noted his passing. Jack include a link to a long list of Professor Ben-Tor's publications and a link to a video interview about the Hazor excavation.

May his memory be for a blessing.

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Megiddo mosaic: the IAA responds

ARCHAEOLOGY, EPIGRAPHY, DECORATIVE ART, POLITICS: Integrity of Megiddo mosaic the priority, Israel Antiquities Authority says. The State Department has declined to address the controversy around possible loan to D.C.'s Museum of the Bible (Menachem Wecker, Jewish News Syndicate).

“Leaving it in place would be irresponsible due to the large-scale mechanical earthworks that will demolish extensive parts of the prison buildings,” [IAA spokesman Yoli] Schwartz said. “The Israel Antiquities Authority will continue to invest efforts to make archaeology accessible to the public, and we are excited to present the Megiddo mosaic to the public worldwide.”

Background here.

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Becking, Micah (AB Commentary)

NEW BOOK FROM YALE UNIVERSITY PRESS:

Micah
A New Translation with Introduction and Commentary

by Bob Becking

Series: The Anchor Yale Bible Commentaries

304 Pages, 6.12 x 9.25 in

Hardcover
9780300159950
Published: Tuesday, 27 Jun 2023
$65.00

eBook
9780300160192
Published: Tuesday, 27 Jun 2023
$65.00

Description

A new translation and commentary on the biblical book of Micah that proposes a convincing new theory of its composition history

While the biblical book of Micah is most famous for its images of peace—swords forged into to plowshares, spears turned into pruning hooks—and its passages of prophetic hope, the book is largely composed of prophecies of ruin. The historical Micah, who likely lived in the late eighth century BCE, is the first recorded prophet to predict the fateful fall of Jerusalem, and he also foretells the destruction of the regions of Samaria and Judah, in addition to the more well-known promises of Judah’s eventual restoration.

Bob Becking translates the Hebrew text anew and illuminates the book’s most important elements, including its literary features, political context, and composition history. Drawing on ancient Near Eastern comparative evidence, archaeological notes, and inscriptions, Becking surveys the debates surrounding the book’s interpretation and argues that it be regarded as three separate source texts: the early first chapter; a large middle section containing a proto-apocalyptic, alternating prophetic futurology collected and molded by a later redactor; and an added section advocating for legal reform under Josiah.

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

Where did forgers get their ancient blank papyus?

VARIANT READINGS: Notes on a Forger’s Methods (Brent Nongbri).

My attention was drawn especially to his [John de Monins Johnson's] account of the discovery of large amounts of blank papyrus in the rubbish mounds of Antinoopolis: “[Mound] N was remarkable throughout for what is often a feature of late mounds, the quantity of blank papyrus it provided. In this case sacks might have been filled.”

This PaleoJudaica post from some years ago seems relevant.

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

Syriac PhD program at Turkish university

SYRIAC WATCH: Turkish uni to offer doctoral program in Syriac language (Daily Sabah).

Mardin Artuklu University (MAU) on Tuesday announced the launch of a doctoral program within the Syriac Language and Culture Department, part of the Institute of Living Languages.

[...]

This is good news! For more on the founding and development of the Syriac program at Mardin Artuklu University, see here, here, here, here, here, and here.

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Review of The Rediscovery of Shenoute

BRYN MAYR CLASSICAL REVIEW: The rediscovery of Shenoute: studies in honor of Stephen Emmel.

Anne Boud'hors, David Brakke, Andrew Crislip, Samuel Moawad, The rediscovery of Shenoute: studies in honor of Stephen Emmel. Orientalia Lovaniensia analecta, 310. Leuven; Paris; Bristol: Peeters, 2022. Pp. xxii, 546. ISBN 9789042948303

Review by
Ellen Muehlberger, University of Michigan. emuehlbe@umich.edu

[Authors and titles are listed at the end of the review.]

Shenoute of Atripe was many things: leader of the White Monastery in Upper Egypt from about 385 C.E. until his death some time in the first part of the fifth century; the organizer of an extended group of Christian monastic communities for both men and women; a defender of orthodoxy who was not afraid to break a window or throw a punch; a preacher who indicted everyone from liars, adulterers, and demon worshippers to wage thieves and the merely half-hearted. What Shenoute has not been, though, is well-known to most modern scholars of the ancient world. He wrote in Coptic, a language that has not benefitted from being labeled one of the “classics”; instead of being transmitted and studied in an established discipline, Shenoute’s works, collected and edited at his own monastery, remained there for the most part until the great extractive force of the colonial antiquities market gave those pages value, and thus wings. ...

Some PaleoJudaica posts on Shenoute and the White Monastery are here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, and here.

Cross-file under Coptic Watch.

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Review of Henze & Lincicum (eds.) Israel’s Scriptures in Early Christian Writings

READING ACTS: Matthias Henze and David Lincicum, eds. Israel’s Scriptures in Early Christian Writings (Phil Long).

Israel’s Scriptures in Early Christian Writings collects forty-two essays on topics related to how early Christian writers used the Jewish scripture they inherited. As Henze and Lincicum explain in their introduction, the Scriptures of Israel “forms the cultural encyclopedia necessary to understand what Jesus and his earliest followers did and thought” (1). Not only did the writers of the New Testament interact extensively with Israel Scriptures, they “inherited strategies of scriptural interpretation from their Jewish predecessors” (1). This volume, therefore, expresses the state of the question and presses the field forward into new avenues of scholarship. In doing so, they stand on the shoulders of Krister Stendahl (School of Matthew, 1968) and Richard Hays (Echoes of Scripture in Paul, 1989). However, even though the authors of the New Testament are either “Jews or Judaphiles,” not all New Testament scriptural interpretations are easily illustrated in Jewish literature, nor can all types of scriptural interpretation in contemporary Judaism be illustrated in the New Testament.

[...]

I noted the publication of the book here.

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Megiddo "Jesus" mosaic to be loaned to Museum of the Bible?

ARCHAEOLOGY, EPIGRAPHY, DECORATIVE ART, POLITICS: Israel may uproot ancient Christian mosaic, send it to US Evangelical museum. Megiddo Mosaic could be loaned to Museum of the Bible in Washington; some worry it will be used in ideological, rather than archaeological, context (Ilan Ben Zion, AP via Times of Israel).

For the Megiddo mosaics, including the one that refers to "the God Jesus Christ," see here and links. For more on the Museum of the Bible, follow the links from here, notably here.

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

Gold coins and baby sacrifices excavated at Carthage

PUNIC WATCH: Rare golden gifts — left at a sacrificial site 2,300 years ago — uncovered in Tunisia. (Aspen Pflughoeft; "Google Translate was used to translate the news release from Tunisia’s Ministry of Cultural Affairs and articles from RT and Shems FM").

Archaeologists excavating the tophet [at the site of Carthage] uncovered a collection of offerings, Tunisia’s Ministry of Cultural Affairs said in an Aug. 11 news release. They found five gold coins from 2,300 years ago, tombstones and several urns with the remains of animals, infants and premature babies.

The rare gold coins are about an inch in size and have a design showing the face of Tanit, an ancient goddess of fertility and motherhood, the Tunisian outlet Shems FM reported. Photos show a few of the still-shiny golden treasures.

For many PaleoJudaica posts on ancient Carthage, its history, and its archaeology, start here and follow the links. For a brief history, see here. Also see "Carthage" in the archive. For the gold coinage of Carthage, see here. For ancient Tunisian coinage more generally, see here and links. For the Punic (and Phoenician?) goddess Tanit (Tannit), the "Snake Lady," see here and links. For the issue of child sacrifice at Carthage, see here and links.

Cross-file unde Numismatics.

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