Two solar eclipses (yes, one today)

THE HOLY LAND PHOTOS' BLOG: A Solar Eclipse and Old Testament Chronology (Carl Rassmussen).

Here in the United States, there is much excitement about the total solar eclipse that will take place on April 8, 2024. But did you know that the solar eclipse of June 15, 763 B.C. holds the key to the chronology of the Old Testament (Hebrew Bible)?

[...]

This is a recycled post, but today is a good day to get it out again.

As always, if you are in a position to observe today's eclipse, please stay safe!

For PaleoJudaica posts dealing with (or debunking stories about) solar and lunar eclipses, start here and here and follow the links.

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

The Academic Work of Tal Ilan

ANCIENT JEW REVIEW: In Order to Arrive at Historically Correct Conclusions, One Needs Complete Databases: The Academic Work of Tal Ilan (Tal Ilan).

My work on the name-database has alerted me to the importance of corpora. I realize that most academics believe that their major contribution to world knowledge is their brilliant theses, in which they demolish the work of their predecessors and suggest new understandings of history and the sources that tell it. And indeed, theses are important and new thinking makes us think hard and keep history alive (albeit in a more “modern” or updated version). However, most theses, as brilliant as they may appear at the time they were composed, tend to have a short shelf-life. Soon new scholars, proliferating new theses, sometimes even based on new sources, will demolish our brilliant ideas. This is different with databases. They too will, eventually be replaced, but first of all not so soon, and secondly, actually when they are replaced, they still serve as the basis for the new database. The work done in creating a database is not so soon lost.

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

Carvalho (ed.), The Oxford Handbook of Ezekiel

NEW BOOK FROM OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS:

The Oxford Handbook of Ezekiel

Edited by Corrine Carvalho

Oxford Handbooks

£107.50
Hardback
Published: 05 March 2024
640 Pages | 4 b/w illustrations
248x171mm
ISBN: 9780190634513

Description

The current state of scholarship on the book of Ezekiel, one of the three Major Prophets, is robust. Ezekiel, unlike most pre-exilic prophetic collections, contains overt clues that its primary circulation was as a literary text and not a collection of oral speeches. The author was highly educated, the theology of the book is "dim," and its view of humanity is overwhelmingly negative. In The Oxford Handbook of Ezekiel, editor Corrine Carvalho brings together scholars from a diverse range of interpretive perspectives to explore one of the Bible's most debated books.

Consisting of twenty-seven essays, the Handbook provides introductions to the major trends in the scholarship of Ezekiel, covering its history, current state, and emerging directions. After an introductory overview of these trends, each essay discusses an important element in the scholarly engagement with the book. Several essays discuss the history of the text (its historical context, redactional layers, text criticism, and use of other Israelite and near eastern traditions). Others focus on key themes in the book (such as temple, priesthood, law, and politics), while still others look at the book's reception history and contextual interpretations (including art, Christian use, gender approaches, postcolonial approaches, and trauma theory). Taken together, these essays demonstrate the vibrancy of Ezekiel research in the twenty-first century.

I am pleased to note that three of my University of St. Andrews colleagues are contributors.

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Isaiah and Intertextuality (Mohr Siebeck)

NEW BOOK FROM MOHR SIEBECK: Isaiah and Intertextuality. Isaiah amid Israel's Scriptures. Edited by Wilson de Angelo Cunha and Andrew T. Abernethy. 2024. XIV, 284 pages.Forschungen zum Alten Testament 2. Reihe 148. 109,00 € including VAT. sewn paper ISBN 978-3-16-163233-4.

Published in English.
Intertextuality is a valuable interpretive tool that provides a rich understanding of Isaiah in its complex relationship with the larger witness of the Hebrew Bible/Old Testament. With essays by leading and upcoming scholars, this volume moves sequentially through the tri-partite Hebrew canon to showcase the interconnections between Isaiah and books within the Torah, Prophets, and Writings. It becomes evident that Isaiah is like a »prism« that refracts strands of tradition in ways that neither supersede nor exhaust the riches of the prior tradition and that are neither superseded by nor exhausted by the subsequent uses of Isaiah. The Book of Isaiah employs these traditions for its own rhetorical purposes, offering a message that is both unique in comparison with and interrelated to the wider web of biblical, textual traditions. Isaiah is to be read as a book amid Israel's Scriptures.

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Blau Festschrift (Brill)

NEW BOOK FROM BRILL:

“An Inspired Man”

Studies in Judeo-Arabic Culture Dedicated to the Memory of Joshua Blau

Series: Études sur le judaïsme médiéval, Volume: 97

Volume Editors: Miriam Frenkel and Phillip I. Lieberman

This volume is dedicated to Professor Joshua Blau, of blessed memory. The articles included therein, written by his students and fellows, all deal with the Judeo-Arabic language and its associated culture. Among them are articles dealing with language, lexicography, cross-cultural relations, biblical translation, prayer, law, and poetics. The wide scope of material in this volume attests to the richness and breadth of Judeo-Arabic as well as to the expansive range of fields studied by Professor Blau himself.

Copyright Year: 2024

E-Book (PDF)
Availability: Published
ISBN: 978-90-04-68657-1
Publication: 19 Feb 2024
EUR €149.00

The essays are in English and Hebrew. For more on the late Professor Blau, see here and here.

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Tomorrow is Assumption of Saint Methodius Day?

OLD CHURCH SLAVONIC WATCH: A Memorial to the Holy Brothers Cyril and Methodius will be a unifying international centre in the Spanish city of Malaga (Gergana Mancheva).

The first Bulgarian monument in the Kingdom of Spain will be inaugurated on 5 April, the eve of the Assumption of St Methodius for all Slavs and Bulgarians. It is dedicated to the holy brothers Cyril and Methodius and is located in a special place - in the park of the city of Málaga. It is located in a special place in Malaga.

The monument was erected in Malaga on the occasion of two anniversaries: the 1160th anniversary of the completion of the first Slavonic alphabet, the Glagolitic alphabet, and the 43rd anniversary of Pope John Paul II's declaration of Saints Cyril and Methodius as co-patrons of Europe (30 December 1980). In the words of the Pope, the two Slavic apostles are a bridge between East and West and have made an outstanding contribution to the cultural growth of the Old Continent and to the education of many generations of Europeans.

[...]

The monument is good news and I am always happy to see the two inventors of the Slavonic (Glagolitic) alphabet get some recognition. But what struck me in this article is that Saint Methodius had an assumption. Really? I didn't know that. Enoch would be proud!

The brothers Cyril and Methodius invented the Slavonic alphabet in the ninth century, thus not only converting the Slavs, but also preserving much ancient literature that otherwise would have been lost. That literature includes some intriguing Old Testament Pseudepigrapha. Not least among these is the book of 2 Enoch.

For more on the two saints and their feast days, and on Old Church Slavonic, see here and links.

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

Nongbri on the Crosby-Schøyen Codex

VARIANT READINGS: The Upcoming Sale of the Crosby-Schøyen Codex (Just How Old is this Book?).

In my recent post on the upcoming sale of the Coptic Crosby-Schøyen Codex, which contains 1 Peter and Jonah, I noted that it was "dated to 300 CE ±50 years (and such dating may still be overly precise)." In this post Brent Nongbri mentions that it has also be subjected to radiocarbon dating and that some evidence points to date being at the late end of that range. So this may be an unusual case when we can narrow the range of an undated ancient manuscript to within a couple of decades.

The articles on the sale claim that this codex contains the earliest copies of the two biblical books. Maybe so for Coptic translations. But I pointed out that there are earlier fragments of the original Hebrew of Jonah among the Dead Sea Scrolls (4QXII^a, 4QXII^f, and 4QXII^g).

Add to those Murabba‛at 88, which includes fragments of the Hebrew text of Jonah, and the Nahal Hever Scroll, which contains a Greek translation of the Minor Prophets, including part of Jonah. More of the latter scroll was found a few years ago in the Cave of Horror.

Now Brent notes that P.Bodmer 8 is arguably an older copy of 1 Peter in the original Greek.

He has many other observations about the codex, as well as photos, so do have a look at his post.

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

2024 LXX Summer Course at Trinity Western

WILLIAM A. ROSS: 2024 WEVERS INSTITUTE SEPTUAGINT SUMMER COURSE.

I’m very glad to post information today about the upcoming Septuagint Summer School that will be held at Trinity Western University in Langley, British Columbia, not too far away from Vancouver. As you can see if you scroll down to the very bottom of the Institute’s website here, it’s truly a beautiful place — and there’s good scholarship to boot!

This year, the course is from 24-28 June, just after the Montreal Septuagint Symposium, and focuses on translation and legal concepts in the Greek Pentateuch.

[...]

Follow the link for additional links and details.

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Review of Bird, Jesus among the gods

BRYN MAYR CLASSICAL REVIEW: Jesus among the gods: early Christology in the Greco-Roman world.

Michael F. Bird, Jesus among the gods: early Christology in the Greco-Roman world. Waco: Baylor University Press, 2022. Pp. xi, 480. ISBN 9781481316750.

Review by
Riemer Roukema, Protestant Theological University. rroukema@pthu.nl

... To Bird, the similarities between portrayals of Jesus and various intermediary figures are undeniable, as well as the differences. He notes that no single figure can be regarded as a progenitor of early christology or can be considered the hermeneutic key that explains its development. He sees early christology as innovative since it puts Jesus on the level of the god of Israel. Provocatively he calls Jesus “a Jewish deity of the Greco-Roman world,” or more precisely, “an embodiment and expression of the God of Israel’s person and power.” ...

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Another attack on the (traditional) Tomb of Esther and Mordechai

VIOLENT VANDALISM: Ancient Jewish Mausoleum In Iran Attacked With Molotov Cocktails (Iran International).

A newly released video depicts Molotov cocktails being thrown on the ancient mausoleum of Esther and Mordechai in Hamadan during the early hours of Tuesday, a key archaeological site in both Jewish and Christian history.

[...]

For more on the tomb, including a previous fire attack, see the Purim-related post here.

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

A mouse, a cat, and a chicken walked into a Neolithic farm ...

AVIAN (AND FAUNAL) ARCHAEOLOGY: Why Did the Chicken Cross the Silk Road? A few thousand years ago, somewhere in Southeast Asia, chickens moved in with us. And then we noticed that they were really good and so were their eggs (Ruth Schuster, Times of Israel). Good as in good to eat. And there's this:

How did we come to embrace the chicken? According to Spengler, Peters and the team, the chicken appeared in the central Thai archaeological record together with the appearance of rice and millet cultivation.

"The production and storage of these cereals may have acted as a magnet, thus initiating the chicken domestication process," they say.

What a coincidence. The house mouse also seems to have appeared in human habitats more or less simultaneously with the advent of agriculture about 10,000 years ago, closely followed by the cat. It's become fashionable to say cats "domesticated us" though they didn't selectively breed us, as far as we know. They moved in with us because they wanted to eat the rodents congregating to share our crops and crumbs, just like the chicken would several thousand years later – apparently.

De haan, de kat en het muisje

As for ancient Judaism:

The Israeli archaeological record also features the odd eggshell, including in Jerusalem from 2,600 years ago and a whole egg from 1,000 years ago, which survived the ages intact only to be broken by accident in the lab.

For those two eggshells, see here and here. For more on the domestication of chickens in ancient Israel (Idumea?), see here.

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

Ancient Coptic biblical codex up for auction

FOR SALE: One of the oldest books in existence expected to fetch over $2.6 million at auction (Christine Kiernan, Reuters).

The Coptic Crosby-Schoyen Codex, dated to 300 CE ±50 years (and such dating may still be overly precise):

The 104 pages (52 leaves) were written by one scribe over a period of 40 years at a monastery in upper Egypt and are preserved behind plexiglass. The codex contains the first epistle of Peter and the Book of Jonah.

This may be the earliest copy of Jonah in Coptic translation, but there are substantial earlier fragments of the Hebrew original among the Dead Sea Scrolls. See the three Minor Prophets scrolls 4QXII^a, 4QXII^f, and 4QXII^g, published by Russell Fuller in Discoveries in the Judaean Desert XV.

The earliest surviving codex (book with bound-together pages) may be the El-Hiba papyrus (Graz, UBG Ms 1946), perhaps dating as early as the mid-third century BCE. See here, here, and here, but with some cautionary comments by Brent Nongbri here.

These details aside, the Crosby-Schoyen Codex is quite important. If it must be put up for sale, I very much encourage the buyer to donate it to a museum, preferably one in Egypt. For precedent, see here.

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Herodium region declared "State Land"

POLITICS AND ARCHAEOLOGY: Israel appropriates 42 acres in West Bank’s Etzion Bloc, declaring it state land. Gush Etzion mayor hails move that will allow tourism development at Herodium site; Smotrich orders demolition of three illegal Palestinian buildings over terror shooting (JEREMY SHARONand SAM SOKOL, Times of Israel).

Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich announced Monday that the Civil Administration, an agency in the Defense Ministry, has declared 170 dunams (42 acres) of land surrounding the Herodium archaeological site in the West Bank region of the Etzion Bloc as “state land,” meaning land that is not privately owned and can be used for various purposes, including settlement development.

[...]

As you might imagine, reaction to this development is mixed.

For many PaleoJudaica posts on Herod the Great's palace-fortress, Herodium, and its excavation, start here and follow the links. For the archaeology of the Gush Etzion region more generally, see here and links, plus here and links, here, and here.

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

Cordoni, Reconfiguring the Land of Israel (Brill)

NEW BOOK FROM BRILL:

Reconfiguring the Land of Israel

A Rabbinic Project

Series:
The Brill Reference Library of Judaism, Volume: 76

Author: Constanza Cordoni

This book is about ways in which the land of Israel, the homeland of the most paradigmatic of all diasporas, was envisioned in late antiquity and the early Middle Ages in the literature of the sages. It is about the Land according to the redefined Judaism that emerged in the centuries following the destruction of the Jerusalem Temple in 70 CE. This Judaism replaced the temple cult with Torah study - a study that pertained in part to that very temple cult, that became a portable homeland, and that reconfigured the Land.

Copyright Year: 2024

E-Book (PDF)
Availability: Published
ISBN: 978-90-04-69676-1
Publication: 01 Mar 2024

Hardback
Availability: Published
ISBN: 978-90-04-69675-4
Publication: 01 Mar 2024
EUR €145.00

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Isaac Luria, businessman

GENIZA FRAGMENT OF THE MONTH (MARCH 2024): Lionising Luria: Mosseri III.232 (Ben Outhwaite).

In fact, it is only the professional, commercial activities with which Luria supported himself and his family that leave a few traces in the Genizah, wholly from the period of his life spent in Egypt. For now I’m focusing on the autograph letter by Luria preserved in the Mosseri Genizah Collection, which is the sole document written by Isaac Luria himself that we have identified among the Cambridge collections ...

For PaleoJudaica posts on the sixteenth-century mystic Isaac Luria (Ha'ARI) and on Lurianic Kabbalah, start here and follow the links.

Past posts noting Cairo Geniza Fragments of the Month in the Cambridge University Library's Taylor-Schechter Genizah Research Unit are here and links, plus here, here, here, here, and here.

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

Biblical Studies Carnival 215

ZWINGLIUS REDIVIVUS: The March Carnival Featuring The ‘Jewish Scriptures in Earliest Christianity’ Conference (Jim West).

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

Scratched Tsade for April 1st?

New Hebrew letter from Dead Sea Scrolls announced in Language Academy April Fool's joke. While assumed to be a light-hearted joke, the post provides a practical solution to a sound that the current Aleph Bet doesn't cover (Jerusalem Post).

The new letter, titled a "scratched tsade," appears as a mirror image of the Hebrew letter tsade (which makes the "ts" sound) and supposedly represents the "ch" sound, which, until now, was represented by a tsade followed by an apostrophe.

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

More on that Coptic Psalter

VARIANT READINGS: The Mudil Psalter. Brent Nongbri provides some background, including why the manuscript is nicknamed the Pillow Psalter.

My first post on the psalter is here.

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

Sara Japhet (1934-2024)

SAD NEWS: Passing of Prof. Sara Japhet (Shalom Berger, H-Judaic).

H-Judaic mourns the passing of Sara Japhet (1934-2024) , the Yehezkel Kaufmann Professor of Bible, emerita at the Hebrew University, an Israel Prize winner, former director of the National Library of Israel, head of the Institute of Jewish Studies at the Hebrew University and of the World Union of Jewish Studies -- one of Israel's leading Bible and Judaic Studies scholars, and one of the first women ever to hold many of the positions she attained.

[...]

May her memory be for a blessing.

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Did Nadav and Avihu die of an incense overdose?

DR. SHEILA TULLER KEITER: The Cause of Nadav and Avihu’s Death: Incense Smoke? (TheTorah.com).

Immediately after the death of two of Aaron’s sons, Nadav and Avihu, YHWH warns Moses that priests are prohibited from consuming wine before serving in the Tabernacle. Is their mysterious death the result of some form of intoxication?

I would file the story of Nadav and Avihu (Nadab and Abihu) in Leviticus 10 as fiction. But it's fair to ask how the author intended the readers to think that they died. An overdose? Maybe.

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Who was Saint Salome?

BIBLE HISTORY DAILY: Saint Salome’s Resting Place? A Converted Cave Chapel in the Judean Foothills.

At the site of Horvat Qasra in the Judean foothills, between the fifth and the eighth centuries, Byzantine Christians frequented a small tomb chapel cut into the limestone hillside. Repurposing what was originally a multi-chambered Judean burial complex, these visitors converted the space into a memorial shrine dedicated to Saint Salome, a figure mentioned in the Gospels as one of Jesus’ disciples. On the interior walls, they carved prayers to “Holy” or “Lady” Salome, titles that implied her saintly status. But who was Saint Salome, and how did this site come to be associated with her?

[...]

This is a rare case where the full Biblical Archaeology Review article (Spring 2024 issue) is also available for free online:

Joan E. Taylor and Boaz Zissu, The Cave of Salome—Tomb of Jesus’s Disciple?.

Unfortunately, we likely will never know the true identity of the first-century Jewish woman whose name and remains were commemorated at Horvat Qasra. She could possibly have been Salome, the disciple of Jesus, but it’s also possible she was another Salome who, like many wealthy Jewish women of her day, was buried in a monumental cave tomb on the grounds of her family estate. But whoever this Salome was, archaeology shows she certainly had a remarkable afterlife.

The article fully surveys who the candidates are for the cave-tomb's occupant.

I noted the excavation of the cave last year.

Cross-file unde Speluncic Archaeology.

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The mocking Of Carabas revisited

THE ANXIOUS BENCH: The Mocking Of Carabas, And Of Christ (Philip Jenkins). The story of the mocking of Carabas, from Philo of Alexandria, is strikingly parallel to the account of the mocking of Jesus by the Roman soldiers. I noted the post some years ago, but Professor Jenkins has expanded and reposted it this week.

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

High School student finds oil lamp at Late Roman fort

CERAMICS: Student discovers a unique 1,600-year-old oil lamp used by Roman soldiers. The lamp Yonatan found is identical to one discovered in the same place 90 years ago by the late Reform rabbi and archaeologist Dr. Nelson Gluec (Judy Siegel-Itzkovich, Jerusalem Post).

“We know that between the Nabataean-Roman town of Mamshit and the copper mines of Feinan (biblical Punon) in the Central Arava – not far from present-day Moshav ‘En Yahav, a trade route was in use in the 4th-6th centuries CE. In order to secure the shipments of copper and possibly even gold from the mines, a series of forts were built between the head of the Scorpions Ascent and Mezad Hazeva, and Mezad Tsafir [where the lamp was found] was one of these. Mounted patrols guarded the important road. It is easy to imagine the lamp lighting up the darkness in the lonely, isolated fort manned by Roman soldiers, said Erickson-Gini.

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The Online Corpus of the Inscriptions of Ancient North Arabia

DATABASE: OCIANA: ancient North Arabian inscriptions gathered in online corpus (Saeb Rawashdeh, Jordan Times).

The vast majority of the inscriptions in OCIANA are, and will continue to be, in the Ancient North Arabian [ANA] scripts, it will also contain the texts in Akkadian, Old Aramaic, Imperial Aramaic, local forms of the Aramaic script, Nabataean, Palmyrene, Greek and Latin that have been found in Arabia, north of Yemen, noted [Michael] Macdonald, adding that the ANA scripts are varieties of the “South Semitic script-family”, which is separated from the North-West Semitic (Phoenico-Aramaic) branch shortly after the invention of the alphabet, and developed in parallel to it.

I noted the database with reference to the Old North Arabian dialect called Safaitic. The link there is now dead, but you can find OCIANA here.

Cross-file under Aramaic Watch.

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Another $7M ruling for Hobby Lobby against Obbink

THE ETC BLOG: Court Rules that Obbink Owes Hobby Lobby $7m (Peter Gurry).

The news is out that the civil case between Hobby Lobby and Dirk Obbink has been decided. The ruling is a “default judgment” in favor of Hobby Lobby for an incredible $7,085,100 plus interest. (A default judgment means that the defendant never showed up to court.) Keep in mind, this is a civil case not a criminal case. ...

There was already a default judgment for $7 million against Obbink from a New York federal court back in 2021. I noted a Christianity Today article giving details here. This post also has links to earlier posts on the Oxford missing-papyri scandal.

For some reason I don't understand, the case was moved to an Oklahoma court. It just issued this ruling. Peter Gurry links to a post at the Art Crime Blog by Lynda Albertson which gives details on it, but does not refer, as far as I can tell, to the 2021 ruling.

I am not a lawyer and, as I said, I don't understand what is happening. But now you know as much as I do.

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

Review of MacDonald, The Making of the Tabernacle and the Construction of Priestly Hegemony

THE BIBLE REVIEW BLOG: Review: “The Making of the Tabernacle and the Construction of Priestly Hegemony” by Nathan MacDonald (William Brown).

Nathan MacDonald. The Making of the Tabernacle and the Construction of Priestly Hegemony. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2023.

In The Making of the Tabernacle and the Construction of Priestly Hegemony, Nathan MacDonald examines how the Pentateuch, especially the Priestly material, evinces a social hierarchy. In particular, he shows how different textual layers and connections evince that scribes carefully negotiated priestly power and authority through key Pentateuchal portions. ...

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

Jester Bes vessel recycled for Purim

YET ANOTHER PURIM-RELATED STORY: In honor of Purim, Israel Antiquities Authority unveils Persian-era find. The fragment bears a human face and was discovered in 2019 (Israel HaYom).

The artifact was unearthed during archaeological excavations carried out by the Israel Antiquities Authority in collaboration with Tel-Aviv University at the Givaty Parking Lot site, located in the historic City of David, Jerusalem. The jar, embellished with exaggerated facial features including two large, wide-open eyes, a nose, one ear, and a fragment of the mouth, presents a unique find from this era.

The discovery of the fragment, which bears the face of the Egyptian god Bes, was reported in 2019. I noted it here.

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

West Bank Second Temple Jewish site made into a parking lot

APPREHENDED: Palestinians demolish Jewish archaeological site in West Bank. Aerial footage shows how Palestinians turn remains of Second Temple Jewish settlement into a parking lot; Israeli authorities arrest perpetrators (Elisha Ben Kimon, Ynet News).

Dozens of Palestinians vandalized the archaeological site of Umm ar-Rihan, a historic site from the Second Temple period, located on state land in Area C of the West Bank. The Palestinians completely flattened the archaeological site and built a parking lot on top of it.

[...]

HT the Bible Places Blog.

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

New books on the Achaemenid Empire

INDIRECTLY PURIM-RELATED FROM BIBLIOGRAPHIA IRANICA:

The Old Persian Inscriptions. Notice of a New Book: Schmitt, Rüdiger. 2023. Die altpersischen Inschriften der Achaimeniden: Editio minor mit deutscher Übersetzung. Wiesbaden: Reichert Verlag.

Architecture and Archaeology of the Achaemenid Empire. Notice of a New Book: Dan, Roberto. 2024. Studies on the Architecture and Archaeology of the Achaemenid Empire. Dynamics of Interaction and Transmission Between Center and Periphery. Roma: ISMEO – The International Association for Mediterranean and Oriental Studies.

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

How many Achaemenid Persian kings according to the Bible?

BELATEDLY FOR PURIM: Persia’s Achaemenid Dynasty—If You Read the Bible Without History (Dr. Rabbi Zev Farber, TheTorah.com).

Ezra-Nehemiah mentions only four of the twelve kings who ruled the Persian empire: Cyrus, Darius, Xerxes, and Artaxerxes. The book of Daniel also speaks of four Persian kings, and adds a fictional Darius the Mede as their precursor. Historically, the Achaemenid period lasted 220 years, but using only the kings mentioned in the Bible, rabbinic texts reconstruct a 52-year Persian period.

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

Purim-related

BELATEDLY FOR PURIM:

How the Bible – and the Purim story – helped form a nation from an exiled people. In his bestseller ‘Why the Bible Began,’ theology Prof. Jacob L. Wright challenges conventional thought on the holy book’s history, positing that it was not all about religion (RICH TENORIO, Times of Israel).

This article is mostly a review of Prof. Wright's book (on which see further here and here). But it also does touch on the Esther story.

Israel or Iran? The quest after Esther and Mordechai's final resting place. The Bible doesn't specify the final resting places of the Purim Megillah's protagonists, but conflicting Jewish traditions emerge: one asserts that their tombs are located in Iran, while another steadfastly maintains they are in Israel (Yogev Israely, Ynet News). Perhaps the key point in the article:

"Since no documentation of the Purim story exists in other sources and the story resembles other regional myths, Mordecai and Esther aren’t considered historical figures, so this debate is entirely theoretical," she notes. "But assuming the event did take place, it’s more logical they died in the summer and were buried near Ecbatana."

For lots more on the traditional Tomb of Esther and Mordechai in Hamadan, Iran, start here and follow the links. The site has been subjected to vandalism and various kinds of protests. This year is no exception.

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

Harris, Holy War Discourses in 1QM and John's Apocalypse (Mohr Siebeck)

NEW BOOK FROM MOHR SIEBECK: David Chapman Harris. Holy War Discourses in 1QM and John's Apocalypse. A Comparative Study. 2024. XI, 248 pages. Wissenschaftliche Untersuchungen zum Neuen Testament 2. Reihe 604 94,00 € including VAT. sewn paper ISBN 978-3-16-162428-5.

Published in English.
In this study, David Chapman Harris compares the Qumran War Scroll with John's Apocalypse through the lens of the literary and ideological theme of Holy War. Using sound literary analysis, close exegetical readings and comparison, historical analysis, and hypothetical reconstruction, the author justifies reading Revelation as a War Scroll, providing grounding to an ongoing debate. He argues that Revelation's Christological dimension has a distinctive impact on Holy War discourse, inflicting the martyr theology of Revelation.

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Purim 2024

HAPPY PURIM to all those celebrating! The festival begins tonight night at sundown.

Last year's Purim post is here, with links.

UPDATE: Additional Purim-related posts this year are here, here, here, and here.

UPDATE: Sadly, also here.

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

Review of Levine, Ancient Synagogues Revealed 1981–2022

BIBLE HISTORY DAILY: Review: Ancient Synagogues Revealed 1981–2022 (Reviewed by James Riley Strange).

It turns out that more than archaeologists and scholars of early Judaism and Christianity care about these things. For this reason, in 1981 the Israel Exploration Society published Ancient Synagogues Revealed, edited by Lee I. Levine, a luminary in the field of synagogue origins. It has taken 42 years for the companion volume to arrive: Ancient Synagogues Revealed 1981–2022, edited by Levine and two other noted archaeologists, Zeev Weiss and Uzi Leibner.

I noted the publication of the book here.

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Shorthand Aramaic?

GENIZA FRAGMENT OF THE MONTH (JANUARY 2024): More about less: A New Shorthand Targum Manuscript: Oxford MS Heb. f.56/1-12 (Dr Kim Phillips).

Several years ago I stumbled across yet another ‘shorthand’ Targum fragment, raising the total number of currently known such manuscripts to five.5 This fragment is described and transcribed below, and its surprising relationship to one of the Taylor-Schechter shorthand Targum fragments is discussed.

The shorthand system is the "first-letter-Serugin method," in which only the first letter of each word is written.

Cross-file under Aramaic Watch.

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AJR (SBL) on E. P. Sanders

ANCIENT JEW REVIEW has published the papers from a 2023 SBL session in memory of E. P. Sanders.

E.P. Sanders In Memoriam (Adele Reinhartz)

Through his studies, he became convinced of four main points: (1) New Testament scholarship then (as now) paid too much attention to theology and not enough attention to religion. (2) To know one religion is to know none. The human brain comprehends by comparing and contrasting, and consequently comparison in the study of religion is essential, not optional. (3) New Testament scholars ought to study Judaism. (4) Scholarship on the New Testament, second temple, and rabbinic Judaism must be conducted on the first-hand study of the primary sources in their original languages.

E. P. Sanders and His Impact on the Study of Second Temple Judaism (Annette Yoshiko Reed)

Sanders did much to update the scholarly discourse to fit these shifts, recognizing that mere revision would not suffice. On the one hand, he criticized many of the common habits and assumptions in the practice of studying Judaism within the ostensibly academic but fundamentally Christian frame of New Testament Studies as embodied by Schürer. On the other hand, Sanders worked to construct an alternative, writing synthetically in a manner that was equally comprehensive but framed around a different set of questions.

Paul the Apostle and Sanders the Critic (Matthew V. Novenson)

For the purposes of this short essay, I would like to reflect on two words that sound like they should be synonyms, but are not, both of which figure prominently in Sanders’s argument in Paul and Palestinian Judaism, namely: legalism and nomism. ...

E. P. Sanders and the Historical Jesus (Helen Bond)

In contrast, Sanders shifted the focus from what Jesus said to what he did. He started with a list of eight “almost indisputable facts” about Jesus, and then - with impeccable and unrelenting logic – worked outwards from what was most secure in the tradition to what was more debateable. Sanders realised that where the investigation starts has a profound effect on where it ends up, and he chose to begin his analysis with one of the most secure of his “almost indisputable” facts, the Temple controversy. ...

E.P. Sanders: My Guide in the Field of Rabbinics (Yair Furstenberg)

Ultimately, I was captivated by Sanders’ original vision for advancing the study of early Jewish law, which challenged my own scholarly traditions. This included a novel approach to rabbinic source criticism; social contextualization of current legal discourse, and the consideration of the actual real-life experience of Jewish law. In what follows I will briefly relate to these three aspects, which amount to a new image of Jewish Law in practice, resonating with his concept of “common Judaism.”

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Yadin's birthday

WELL, YESTERDAY'S: Today’s Jewish Birthday: Yigael Yadin (San Diego Jewish World).

Thereafter, Yadin devoted himself to archaeology, winning the 1956 Israel Prize for his doctoral thesis on seven Dead Sea Scrolls, three of which his father had purchased in 1947 from a Bedouin goatherd and four that Yadin purchased in 1954 in New York. He excavated such sites as the Qumram Caves, Masada, Hazor, Tel Megiddo, and the Judean Desert caves where artifacts from the Bar Kokhba revolt were found.

For more on Yadin, and his father Eliezer Sukenik, see the links collected here, plus here.

(And, no, the Hazor archives have not yet been found. Amnon Ben-Tor, who took over the Hazor excavation after Yadin's passing, is also no longer with us.)

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Christians, Jews, and Biblical Archaeology

THE BIBLE AND INTERPRETATION:

Biblical Archaeology—Between Christians and Jews

There is a built-in tension between religious studies and academic ones in the humanities, including archaeology. The students in the yeshivas see themselves as protected within “the tent of the Torah” and any egress to the academic world opens one up to the dangers involved in exposure to opinions and worldviews that are contrary to the religious world.

See also, The Changing Landscape of Israeli Archaeology (Routledge, 2023).

By Hayah Katz
Kinneret College on the Sea of Galilee
March 2024

Cross-file under New Book.

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Review of Allen, Coptic: A Grammar of Its Six Major Dialects

ANCIENT JEW REVIEW: Coptic: A Grammar of Its Six Major Dialects (David Mihalyfy).

James P. Allen. Coptic: A Grammar of Its Six Major Dialects. Eisenbrauns imprint of The Pennsylvania State University Press: University Park, 2020.

... Egyptologist James P. Allen’s new Coptic dialect grammar is therefore useful for anyone beginning to grapple with language variation, with the proviso that the study of Coptic dialects is a relatively underdeveloped discipline whose present state and shape do not yet allow for the creation of the more effective tools that should one day become possible. There does remain a justifiable frustration to studying Coptic dialects, but this is often attributable to the nature of the texts and the underlying disciplinary research. ...

It is fascinating that, even in a relatively small geographic area like Egypt, isolating six dialects is not fine-grained enough to capture the linguistic diversity of an ancient language. "Dialects" are, of course, artificial slices of a continuous linguistic field that varied from village to village, from neighborhood to neighborhood, and ultimately from person to person.

Cross-file under Coptic Watch.

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Male hair from ancient Jerusalem

BIBLE HISTORY DAILY: The Only Ancient Jewish Male Hair Ever Found Biblical scholar James Tabor examines a rare ancient Jewish male hair specimen from the "Tomb of the Shroud."

The poor guy was a leper too! For more on the Tomb of the Shroud at Akeldama near Jerusalem, see here.

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Review of La Babylonie hellénistique

BRYN MAYR CLASSICAL REVIEW: La Babylonie hellénistique.

Laetitia Graslin-Thomé, Philippe Clancier, Julien Monerie, La Babylonie hellénistique. La roue à livres, 98. Paris: Les Belles Lettres, 2023. Pp. 336. ISBN 9782251454139. Review by
Gregory Crane, Tufts University. gregory.crane@tufts.edu

... Summing up, this is a wonderful collection that begins to make more accessible an extraordinarily rich and understudied world where Greek and Mesopotamian cultures interact.

For more on Babylonian scribes in the Second Temple era, see here.

This volume sounds like a treasure trove of information on Hellenistic-era Babylon, which is of no small interest for the study of Second Temple Judaism. See, e.g., here, here, and here.

And for more on Hellenistic-era Babylon, see here, here, here, here, and here.

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Ancient underground complex in the Galilee

SUBTERRANEAN ARCHAEOLOGY: Bar Kochba Revolt era hiding complex revealed near Sea of Galilee. The area is mentioned in the Book of Joshua (Joshua 19:34) and has been settled since ancient times (Judy Siegel-Itzkovich, Jerusalem Post).

The excavation also revealed that, as part of the preparations for the First Revolt in 66 CE and the Bar Kochba Revolt in 132 CE, the residents of Huqoq converted the water cistern that had been dug during the Second Temple period into a hiding complex. In addition, at the time of danger, they broke one of the walls of the mikveh and dug a tunnel into other cavities.

Several tunnels allowed maneuvering in narrow, low spaces underneath the houses. In this underground system, which was the largest and most impressive discovered at the Galilee, there are about eight hiding cavities. The connecting tunnels are dug at 90 degrees make is difficult for the heavily armed Roman soldiers to chase the rebels. The excavation also yielded hundreds of broken clay and glass dishes, an impressive ring for a precious stone (the stone itself was not found), and other fascinating finds.

Huqoq, the archaeological site that keeps on giving. Background on the ancient synagogue and mosaic is here and many links.

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The Mount Ebal curse tablet/fishing weight as "The First Ancient Postmodern Inscription?"

THE BIBLE AND INTERPRETATION: The Mt. Ebal Tablet: The First Ancient Postmodern Inscription?

This is not the decipherment of an ancient text written by a scribe, but the creation of a new, artificial text by Galil. It is a purely academic (though very imaginative) exercise. Galil and his coauthors believe in this experiment: they spent much time and resources, and the results confirm their underlying ideological convictions. But this does not change the conclusion that this experiment has no historical value for the ancient world.

By Raz Kletter
University of Helsinki
Faculty of Theology
Docent for Near Eastern Archaeology
February 2024

An interesting assessment of the supposed inscription, its announced discovery, and the response to it. Read it and see what you think. I too am not persuaded that there is any writing on this object.

For background, start here and follow the many links.

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Heal on Genesis 37 and 39 in the Early Syriac Tradition

ANCIENT JEW REVIEW: Pursuing Joseph in Early Syriac Literature (Kristian S. Heal).

Kristian S. Heal. Genesis 37 and 39 in the Early Syriac Tradition. Leiden: E.J. Brill, 2023.

... The Syriac Joseph texts include some of the finest works in the early Syriac tradition, but also produced some of the most derivative. I would suggest that only when we recognize both ends of the spectrum do we start to see the full scope and range of a literary culture. This is perhaps my way of confessing that the book presents as a contribution to the history of exegesis, and it certainly is that, but my highest hope is that I contributed to better understanding the Syriac literary tradition, especially the tradition’s creative, dynamic, and prolonged imaginative engagement with biblical stories.

This is the first of two volumes.

Dr. Heal contributed a translation of a Syriac Joseph text to MOTP volume one. See n. 7 of the current essay.

Cross-file under New Book.

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Levy, The Dawn of Agriculture and the Earliest States in Genesis 1-11 (Routledge)

NEW BOOK FROM ROUTLEDGE:

The Dawn of Agriculture and the Earliest States in Genesis 1-11

By Natan Levy
Copyright 2024

Hardback £104.00
eBook £31.19

ISBN 9781032446882
218 Pages 10 B/W Illustrations
Published November 29, 2023 by Routledge

Description

This book invites a close textual encounter with the first 11 chapters of Genesis as an intimate drama of marginalised peoples wrestling with the rise of the world’s first grain states in the Mesopotamian alluvium.

The initial 11 chapters of Genesis are often considered discordant and fragmentary, despite being a story of beginnings within the context of the Bible. Readers discover how these formative chapters cohere as a cross-generational account of peoples grappling with the hegemonic spread of domesticated grain production and the concomitant rise of the pristine states of Mesopotamia. The book reveals how key episodes from the Genesis narrative reflect major societal revolutions of the Neolithic period in Mesopotamia through a three-fold hermeneutical method: literary analysis of the Bible and contemporary cuneiform texts; modern scholarship from archaeological, anthropological, ecological, and historical sources; and relevant exegesis from the Second Temple and rabbinical era. These three strands entwine to recount a generally sequential story of the earliest archaic states as narrated by non-elites at the margins of these emerging state spaces.

The Dawn of Agriculture and the Earliest States in Genesis 1–11 provides a fascinating reading of the first 11 chapters of Genesis, appealing to students and scholars of the Hebrew Bible and the Near East, as well as those working on ecological injustice from a religious vantage point.

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Dead Sea Scrolls horoscopy

ANCIENT ASTROLOGY: Ancient 'horoscope' scroll unveiled: A glimpse into the mysterious sect of the Judean Desert. This ancient text unveils a worldview where an individual's birth date doesn't just hint at their zodiac but dictates their physical traits and the balance of light and darkness within their soul (Jerusalem Post).

The "Horoscope" scroll, distinguished by its reverse Hebrew writing and incorporation of Greek, Aramaic, ancient Hebrew, and cipher symbols, is believed to have been accessible only to those initiated into its mysteries. Dr. Oren Ableman, a researcher at the Israel Antiquities Authority's Dead Sea Scrolls Unit, emphasized the exclusivity of its content. "The writing style suggests the text was intended solely for those in the know," he stated. "It appears the writings were secret, understood only by the sect's leadership."

I'm not sure why this scroll is suddenly getting so much attention in the media and on Facebook (IAA page). It is 4Q186, a long-known Dead Sea Scroll, published by Allegro in the 1960s.

It does have astrological connections, but it is more of a physiognomic tractate, a work that claims to deduce what a person is like on the basis of their physical characteristics (length of fingers and toes, eye color, height, voice, etc.). 4Q561 and 4Q534 have related traditions in Aramaic. Such tractates also circulated in Hebrew in the Middle Ages.

For whatever reason, it's nice to see some notice taken of this remarkable text.

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Roman roads in Israel

ANCIENT INFRASTRUCTURE: Roman Roads Connected Gaza, Hebron, Jerusalem and Tiberias. What Is Left of Them Today? Israel used to build its main arteries on top of or parallel to the great roads of antiquity. New technology has changed this, but the Roman routes remain an unexploited tourist opportunity (Moshe Gilad, Haaretz).

In the 1970s, Tel Aviv University professors Israel Roll (archaeology) and Benjamin Isaac (ancient history) surveyed the Roman roads here and produced a map of their finds. The map bears a striking resemblance to the layout of roads we use today, but now a great change is taking place: Israel's new roads don't follow the network that crisscrossed the country for two millennia.

The most obvious reason, as Hebrew University geography professor Rehav Rubin says, is that until 50 years ago, when road-construction technology allowed for leveling, tunneling and excavating, natural topography dictated the route. Now that routes can be shortened by blasting and tunneling through mountains and/or leveling steep grades, the topography issue is almost a thing of the past.

For more on Roman roads and milestones, see here and links, plus here, here, here, and here.

For the obligatory Life of Brian reference, see here.

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CFP: Worlds Above and Below Conference

CALL FOR PAPERS:

Click on the image for a larger version. Note that the deadline for proposals is in a week.

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Coptic Museum exhibits restored oldest Coptic Psalter

COPTIC WATCH: Oldest complete Coptic Psalter re-exhibited at the Coptic Museum after restoration. After undergoing a meticulous five-year restoration, the Coptic Museum in Old Cairo has re-exhibited its most treasured artefact – the oldest complete Coptic Psalter ever discovered. (Nevine El-Aref, ahramonline).

“This is the first time we possess a complete book of Psalms dating to late fourth century AD, making it the oldest complete Psalms book unearthed to date. We've never encountered such an early book in Egypt, and I've found no evidence of an earlier genuine book anywhere else,” said the late director of the Coptic Museum and Coptic studies expert Gawdat Gabra when he first saw the book days after its discovery in 1984.

[...]

For more on the Mudil Coptic Psalter, see here.

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Review of Amsler, Babylonian Talmud and late antique book culture

BRYN MAYR CLASSICAL REVIEW: The Babylonian Talmud and late antique book culture.

Monika Amsler, The Babylonian Talmud and late antique book culture. Cambridge; New York: Cambridge University Press, 2023. Pp. 243. ISBN 9781009297332.

Review by
Noah Benjamin Bickart, John Carroll University. nbickart@jcu.edu

Open access

It is a distinct pleasure to recommend Monika Amsler’s well written and carefully argued new monograph, “The Babylonian Talmud and Late Antique Book Culture,” not despite this reviewer’s strong disagreement with many of the claims made in the book, but because of them. ...

I noted the publication of the book here.

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Biblical Studies Carnival 215

BELATEDLY: Biblical Studies Carnival #215 – February 2024 (Ben - The Amateur Exegete).

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Were Torah rituals meant to be performed?

PROF. WILLIAM MORROW: Are Torah Rituals Just Literary Compositions? A Comparison with Namburbis (TheTorah.com).

Both namburbi anti-omen rituals (1st millennium B.C.E.) and priestly Torah rituals were preserved in collections in multiple versions that show evidence of intertextuality and innovation. Were these rituals meant to be performed?

Spoiler: arguably, yes.

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Michael Knibb obituary

THE GUARDIAN: Michael Knibb obituary (Paul Joyce).

My former colleague Michael Knibb, who has died aged 84, was a professor of theology at King’s College London. His research focused on ancient texts that tell of heavenly journeys and visions of the end times associated with the mysterious patriarch Enoch, known from the Book of Genesis in the Bible.

[...]

Background here.

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The Ironclad Legion vs. the highway of blood

DIFFICULT DECISIONS: Israeli Archaeologists Beg State: Don't Build Road Over Only Roman Legion Camp Ever Found. The extant highway is deadly but new finds at Legio, the Roman Legion base at Armageddon, spur archaeologists to urge government: Consider other ways to save drivers from themselves (Ruth Schuster, Haaretz).

The Highway 66 expansion project is under the fief of Dima Pritsker, the manager of the northern district for Netivei Yisrael. "It's under execution by the Transport Ministry, for which Netivei Yisrael is the operational arm," he explains. "The project is in our 5-year plan." At this point they plan to begin the actual construction work in the third quarter of 2025, he adds.

The archaeologists, however, are horrified at the putative destruction of large swaths of the unmatched Roman camp, and the naturalists are no happier. The present road is no joy to behold, but in the parks authority's view, a four-lane, high-speed artery with drivers blaring their dissatisfaction at one another, right at the foot of the tell, would run counter to creating a park where nature, archaeology and religion meet, and where people could gather and experience the beauty of the landscape in quiet contemplation.

"But people keep getting killed there," sighs Dr. Kamil Sari, the archaeologist for the North (of Israel) with the IAA. Something had to be done.

The archaeologists hope the new finds will reopen the question of exactly what.

I have been following the excavation of the Legio VI Ferrata (6th Legion Ironclad) Roman camp near the site of Megiddo since it began in 2013. For the more recently discovered Megiddo Roman amphitheatre, see here and links. For more on the camp itself, start here and follow the links.

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Review of Smith & Landau, The Secret Gospel of Mark

ANCIENT JEW REVIEW: The Secret Gospel of Mark: A Controversial Scholar, a Scandalous Gospel of Jesus, and the Fierce Debate Over Its Authenticity (Andrew S. Jacobs).

Geoffrey S. Smith and Brent C. Landau. The Secret Gospel of Mark: A Controversial Scholar, a Scandalous Gospel of Jesus, and the Fierce Debate Over Its Authenticity. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2023.

... This is an excellent book, written with verve and wit, technical without being arcane, and accessible without shortcuts or shoddiness. Readers will learn a great deal from G. Smith and Landau about paleography, apocrypha, monasticism, the history of sexuality, and the strange academic environments in which all of these are explored: filled with curiosity, envy, ambition, and flashes of brilliance. It will find a place on professors’ library shelves, graduate student reading lists, undergraduate syllabi, and bedside tables of readers far outside our arcane scholarly worlds. ...

This review also amounts to a useful summary of the history of scholarship on the so-called Secret Mark manuscript since its publication.

One unspoken takeaway is that everyone now seems to have abandoned the possibility that the Secret Mark quotations could come from an actual first-century version of the Gospel of Mark. But perhaps that is what the review's hypothetical "ingenuous undergraduate right now encountering Secret Mark for the first time" will be arguing in thirty year's time.

Be that as it may, after this much discussion I don't think we are ever going to settle the vexed question of whether that odd manuscript is an excerpt from a genuine work of Clement, a late antique forgery, or a modern forgery. Unless Oxyrhynchus or some other manuscript cache produces some portion of an ancient copy of it.

UPDATE (AND NUANCE) (24 June 2026): It seems that the genuiness of Secret Mark may still be live option.

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Review of Runia, Philo of Alexandria: collected studies 1997-2021

BRYN MAYR CLASSICAL REVIEW: Philo of Alexandria: collected studies 1997-2021.

Philo of Alexandria: collected studies 1997-2021 David T. Runia, Philo of Alexandria: collected studies 1997-2021. Texts and studies in ancient Judaism, 187. Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2023. Pp. xiii, 555. ISBN 9783161618765.

Review by
John Dillon, Trinity College Dublin. dillonj@tcd.ie This mighty volume, covering just about a quarter-century of David Runia’s work on Philo, is a joy to have in hand, and a great resource for Philonists, adding up, as it does, to a fairly comprehensive discussion of all aspects of Philo’s work. ...

I noted the publication of the book here.

On a related note, the AWOL Blog notes that one of Runia's earlier bibliography volumes is available as an open access publication: Philo of Alexandria: An Annotated Bibliography 1987-1996, with Addenda for 1937-1986.

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A 10th-century-BCE electrum pendant from Jerusalem

PHOENICIAN WATCH (?): Tiny First Temple-era Phoenician pendant is ‘earliest gold artifact’ found in Jerusalem. Just 4 millimeters on a side, the item could provide evidence that Phoenicians were in Jerusalem 3,000 years ago, archaeologist says (Gavriel Fiske, Times of Israel).

The tiny pendant or earring was found a decade ago during excavations in the Ophel, a raised area south of Temple Mount in Jerusalem. But until last year, the item had been largely overlooked, according to archaeologist Brent Nagtegaal of the Armstrong Institute of Biblical Archaeology.

The finely crafted artifact is shaped like a basket with a solid base measuring just 4x4x2 millimeters. Two semicircular “handles” extend 6 millimeters above the base, overlapping each other to form a point where the pendant could be suspended, and narrow gold wire is wrapped around the top of the item.

[...]

The artifact is "'securely dated by archaeological context' to the 10th century BCE." If it is of Phoenician origin, it could be taken as indirect evidence for the claim of the Deuteronomistic History that Phoenicians were active in Jerusalem at that time building Solomon's Temple.

However, it seems that the case for its Phoenician origin has not yet been published. I would withhold judgment until we see how secure that case is.

Anyway, nice pendant. Someone was very upset when it was lost. Cross-file under Ancient Bling and Exhibition.

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Ancient multi-compartment stone box discovered in Jerusalem

ANICENT ARTIFACT: Rare Second Temple-era merchants box displayed at Israel Museum. 2,000-year old artifact likely used to display wares in ancient Jerusalem’s pilgrims’ market; burned sides might be from Jewish Revolt fires (xGavriel Fiske, Times of Israel).

An unusual, multi-chambered limestone box from the Second Temple period, now on display in the Israel Museum, was likely used to present small items for sale in the pilgrims’ market alongside the main road in ancient Jerusalem, the Israel Antiquities Authority said Tuesday.

[...]

The object was found (excavated, apparently) a couple of years ago. It is on display in the Israel Museum.

For more on ancient Jewish stone vessels and their purity implications, see here and links.

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Evacuated boy finds Alexander Janneus coin near Dead Sea

NUMISMATICS: 2,000-year-old Hasmonean coin discovered by child evacuated on Oct.7. While exploring the area around the hotel that he had been evacuated to along the Dead Sea, Nati Toyikar came across an ancient coin dating back to the Hasmonean period (Jerusalem Post).

According to Dr. Robert Cole, Head of the Coins Branch at the Antiquities Authority, "the coin that Nati found is a well-known coin of the Hasmonean king and high priest Alexander Janai (104-76 BCE). On the face of the coin appears an anchor, and around it appears an inscription in Greek - "Alexander Basileus," which translates to "(of) Alexander the King." On the back of the coin appears a star with eight rays, surrounded by a crown of kings. Between the rays, you can see an inscription, which appears in small letters. Only a part of it can be deciphered here. It recalls the name and title of the king in ancient Hebrew: [Yohan]n/he/mel/[cha]/."

All Israel News also reports the story and says that this coin is a "widow's mite," on which more here and links.

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Otto, Die Mose-Exodus-Tradition in den Korintherbriefen (Mohr Siebeck)

NEW BOOK FROM MOHR SIEBECK: Konrad Otto. Die Mose-Exodus-Tradition in den Korintherbriefen. Schriftrezeption und -verarbeitung 'zwischen den Welten'. [The Moses-Exodus Tradition in the Corinthian Correspondence. Scriptural Reception and Processing 'Between the Worlds'.] 2024. XV, 593 pages. Studies in Education and Religion in Ancient and Pre-Modern History in the Mediterranean and Its Environs 20. 94,00 € including VAT. hardcover ISBN 978-3-16-160065-4.

Published in German.
References to biblical traditions are an essential part of the Corinthian correspondence. By taking two extensive references to the Exodus tradition of Moses, Konrad Otto examines the extent to which scriptural references serve to mediate between Paul's intellectual world and that of his addressees.

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Hagler, Owning Disaster (Routledge)

NEW BOOK FROM ROUTLEDGE:

Owning Disaster
Coping with Catastrophe in Abrahamic Narrative Traditions

By Aaron M. Hagler
Copyright 2024

Hardback £104.00
eBook £31.19

ISBN 9781032454740
242 Pages 2 B/W Illustrations
Published December 18, 2023 by Routledge

Description

Delving into the intertwined tapestry of Jewish, Christian, and Muslim sacred texts, exegesis, philosophy, theology, and historiography, this book explores the similar coping mechanisms across Abrahamic communities in reconciling the implications of disasters without abandoning their faith.

Belief in a single, omnipotent God carries with it the challenge of explaining and contextualizing disasters that seem to contravene God’s supposed will. Through explorations of Jewish responses to the destruction of both the First and Second Temples, Christian responses to the Arab Muslim conquests, Muslim responses to the Crusades, and a variety of responses to the Mongol conquests, Aaron M. Hagler unveils the shared patterns and responses that emerge within these communities when confronted by calamity. Initial responses come in the forms of horrified lamentations, but as the initial shock dissipates, a complex dance of self-blame and collective introspection unfolds, as writers and theologians seek to contextualize the tragedy and guide their communities toward hope, resilience, and renewal.

Of interest to scholars, theologians, and individuals seeking to explore interconnected notions of resilience within Abrahamic communities, Owning Disaster will resonate with readers eager to contemplate the intricate relationship between religious dogma, human resilience, and the profound questions that emerge when confronted with calamity.

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Minets & Nowakowski (eds.), Shaping Letters, Shaping Communities (Brill)

NEW BOOK FROM BRILL:

Shaping Letters, Shaping Communities: Multilingualism and Linguistic Practice in the Late Antique Near East and Egypt

Series:
Texts and Studies in Eastern Christianity, Volume: 33

Volume Editors: Yuliya Minets and Paweł Nowakowski

The volume explores linguistic practices and choices in the late antique Eastern Mediterranean. It investigates how linguistic diversity and change influenced the social dimension of human interaction, affected group dynamics, the expression and negotiation of various communal identities, such as professional groups of mosaic-makers, stonecutters, or their supervisors in North Syria, bilingual monastic communities in Palestine, elusive producers of Coptic ritual texts in Egypt, or Jewish communities in Dura Europos and Palmyra. The key question is: what do we learn about social groups and human individuals by studying their multilingualism and language practices reflected in epigraphic and other written sources?

Copyright Year: 2024

E-Book (PDF)
Availability: Published
ISBN: 978-90-04-68233-7
Publication: 11 Dec 2023
EUR €149.00

Hardback
Availability: Published
ISBN: 978-90-04-68230-6
Publication: 20 Dec 2023
EUR €149.00

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Semi-hiatus

YES, I know I haven't been posting much. Bear with me. I will get back to regular posting as soon as I can. Soon, I hope.

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

Popa, The Making of Syriac Jerusalem (Routledge)

NEW BOOK FROM ROUTLEDGE:

The Making of Syriac Jerusalem
Representations of the Holy City in Syriac Literature of Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages

By Catalin-Stefan Popa
Copyright 2023

Hardback £96.00
eBook £31.19

ISBN 9781032470993
324 Pages
Published May 31, 2023 by Routledge

Description

This book discusses hagiographic, historiographical, hymnological, and theological sources that contributed to the formation of the sacred picture of the physical as well as metaphysical Jerusalem in the literature of two Eastern Christian denominations, East and West Syrians.

Popa analyses the question of Syrian beliefs about the Holy City, their interaction with holy places, and how they travelled in the Holy Land. He also explores how they imagined and reflected the theology of this itinerary through literature in Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, set alongside a well-defined local tradition that was at times at odds with Jerusalem. Even though the image of Jerusalem as a land of sacred spaces is unanimously accepted in the history of Christianity, there were also various competing positions and attitudes. This often promoted the attempt at mitigating and replacing Jerusalem’s sacred centrality to the Christian experience with local sacred heritage, which is also explored in this study. Popa argues that despite this rhetoric of artificial boundaries, the general picture epitomises a fluid and animated intersection of Syriac Christians with the Holy City especially in the medieval era and the subsequent period, through a standardised process of pilgrimage, well-integrated in the custom of advanced Christian life and monastic canon.

The Making of Syriac Jerusalem is suitable for students and scholars working on the history, literature, and theology of Syriac Christianity in the late antique and medieval periods.

HT Bibliographia Iranica. Cross-file under Syriac Watch.

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Bühner, Paulus im Kontext des Diasporajudentums (Mohr Siebeck)

NEW BOOK FROM MOHR SIEBECK: Ruben A. Bühner. Paulus im Kontext des Diasporajudentums. Judenchristliche Lebensweise nach den paulinischen Briefen und die Debatten um »Paul within Judaism.« [Paul in the Context of Diaspora Judaism. Jewish-Christian Life after the Pauline Epistles and the Debates about »Paul within Judaism.«] 2023. XIV, 435 pages. Wissenschaftliche Untersuchungen zum Neuen Testament 511. 159,00 € including VAT. cloth ISBN 978-3-16-162749-1.

Published in German.
Under the umbrella term »Paul within Judaism,« new interpretations of Paul's letters have recently emerged. In this context, Ruben A. Bühner examines the continuity of a Jewish way of life before and after Jews turned to Christ. By interpreting Paul in the context of a diverse Diaspora Judaism, he argues for a mediating position in an increasingly ideological debate. Thus Paul understands himself both as a Jew and as committed to a Jewish way of life, while at the same time seeing himself as »in Christ« also committed to community with non-Jews.

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Long, Dynamics of Charity and Reciprocity in the Book of Sirach (Mohr Siebeck)

NEW BOOK FROM MOHR SIEBECK: Stephen Arden Long. Dynamics of Charity and Reciprocity in the Book of Sirach. 2024. XV, 339 pages. Forschungen zum Alten Testament 2. Reihe 147. 99,00 € including VAT. sewn paper ISBN 978-3-16-162384-4 available.

Published in English.
In this study, Stephen Long explores the role of reciprocity and gift exchange in the wisdom-instruction of Ben Sira, contextualizing the sage's prescriptions in relation to comparative data from Greco-Roman antiquity and his own teaching on »charity«. While tangible human returns are the normal expectation in response to acts of generosity, Ben Sira is seen to have inflected this cultural expectation in a uniquely Jewish and theological manner. First, sacrifice is understood as a »gift« for the deity, a gift which the God of Israel will »repay«; second, acts of both ordinary, »self-interested« generosity as well as more »altruistic« acts are brought within the ambit of »sacrifice«. Ben Sira appears to think that he thereby followed the lead of prior, pentateuchal tradition, and drew out implications of a theology of creation whereby the cosmos is so ordered that every »need« is – or should be – met »at the right time«. Thus, Long elucidates a second century BCE sage's theological construal of the relation between charity and reciprocity.

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Kim, Hebrew Forms of Address (SBL)

NEW BOOK FROM SBL PRESS:

Hebrew Forms of Address: A Sociolinguistic Analysis
Young Bok Kim

ISBN 9781628373639
Volume ANEM 31
Status Available
Publication Date December 2023

Paperback
$40.00

Hardback
$60.00

Young Bok Kim investigates the patterns of nominal forms of address in Biblical and Epigraphic Hebrew, examining their role in expressing various social relationships between speakers and addressees. Drawing on modern sociolinguistic theories on address and politeness, as well as insights from Hebrew studies, Kim elucidates the underlying rules governing address usage. This essential resource, complete with data tables and illustrative figures, provides valuable insights into the social structure of ancient Israel and the exegetical significance of address variations, making it indispensable for scholars and students of Hebrew interested in its potential for biblical interpretation.

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A Grand Prize winner for the Vesuvius Challenge

TECHNOLOGY WATCH: An Ancient Roman Scroll on Pleasure Was Just Decoded Using AI (Will Henshall, Time Magazine).

Papyrologists working with the Vesuvius Challenge believe the scroll contains “never-before-seen text from antiquity,” and the text in question is a piece of Epicurean philosophy on the subject of pleasure. The winning submission shows ancient Greek letters on a large patch of scroll, and the author seems to be discussing the question: are things that are scarce more pleasurable as a result?

... In accordance with the criteria set in March 2023, the winning submission contains four passages of 140 characters each, with at least 85% of the characters in each of those passages recoverable by professional papyrologists. It also contains a further 11 columns of text.

This is an extraordinary achievement. All indications are that this new technology is opening the door to transcribing and deciphering the many hundreds of carbonized scrolls from Heculaneum. With the possibility of thousands more still unexcavated.

The contest was announced in March of last year. The current prizewinners have already won a couple of lesser prizes in the 2023 competition. See here and here. There is a new grand prize for 2024, so let's look forward to more good news this time next year.

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

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The latest on muon detection under Jerusalem

TECHNOLOGY WATCH: Unable to dig, researchers look to cosmic rays to unlock Jerusalem’s ancient underworld. A Tel Aviv University team is using muon detectors to track powerful particles, hoping to build a 3D map of undiscovered tunnels, chambers and fortifications under the hole-y city (DIANA BLETTER, Times of Israel).

The device, which had been built by the Tel Aviv University team, was designed to capture and register the angular distribution of muons, tiny but powerful particles created when cosmic rays smash into the earth’s atmosphere.

For archaeologists, using particle physics to peer into solid ground offers a tantalizing way to glimpse the history of a city densely packed with strata upon strata of ancient settlement, but just as chock full of religious sensitivities. This makes invasive digs under many of its most important sites — especially the Temple Mount — a fraught, if not impossible, endeavor.

Everything is proceeding as I have have foreseen.

For more on the use of muon detection technology at the Temple Mount and elsewhere, see here and links. And here is an old post that I missed.

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Singing grape pips from the Negev?

ARCHAEOBOTANY: The ancient history of Israeli grape pips and wine. Excavations have given proof of a flourishing wine industry in the Byzantine and early Arab period, especially at sites like Shivta, Halutza, Nitzana, and Avdat (Adam Montefiore, Jerusalem Post).

Prof. Guy Bar-Oz of the University of Haifa is the person responsible for the research. He is a bioarchaeologist at the School of Archaeology and Maritime Cultures. He has been involved in ongoing, groundbreaking research regarding the history of the wine industry in the Negev Desert.

I have posted on this project here and (appears to be the underlying technical article) here. For posts involving the Nabatean (Nabataean) site of Avdat (‘Avedat, Ovdat, Uvdat), see the links collected here.

Cross-file under Ancient Viticulture.

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News about the Coptic Magical Papyri Project

COPTIC WATCH: Love and hate in ancient times: New anthology on 'magical' texts published (Julius-Maximilians-Universität Würzburg press release at Phys.org).

"Magical" texts from Egypt in Coptic script and language are at the center of a research project at the University of Würzburg. They have now been collected and scientifically annotated for the first time in a 600-page book.

[...]

This is an announcement of the culminating work of the Coptic Magical Papyri Project, which PaleoJudaica has been following through its blog since its inception. The blog also announced this last autumn.

The new information in this article is the good news that the project has been funded for an additional three years, now under the rubric the Corpus of Coptic Magical Formularies. Congratulations to the project and its researchers. I look forward to following their future work.

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Trotter, Hellenistic Jews and Consolatory Rhetoric (Mohr Siebeck)

NEW BOOK FROM MOHR SIEBECK: Christine R. Trotter. Hellenistic Jews and Consolatory Rhetoric. 2 Maccabees, Wisdom of Solomon, 1 Thessalonians, and Hebrews. 2023. XII, 385 pages. Wissenschaftliche Untersuchungen zum Neuen Testament 2. Reihe 600. 99,00 € including VAT. sewn paper ISBN 978-3-16-162475-9.

Published in English.
Christine R. Trotter elucidates how Hellenistic Jewish writers attempted to comfort those living in the midst of and in the wake of persecution and violence. While past scholarship has explored this question primarily in terms of the development of Jewish apocalypticism and afterlife beliefs, Christine R. Trotter takes a comprehensive approach by investigating how Hellenistic Jewish authors engaged with ancient consolatory rhetoric, that is, the means of persuasion intended to move a suffering person out of grief and into joy. Through studies on 2 Maccabees, the Wisdom of Solomon, 1 Thessalonians, and Hebrews, the author explicates how Hellenistic Jewish authors navigated the diverse traditions of consolation within their biblical heritage and Greco-Roman culture. Her work has important implications for the genre of 1 Thessalonians and the dates of composition of the Wisdom of Solomon and Hebrews.

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