Fire at Tyre archaeological site

PHOENICIAN WATCH: Large fire engulfs archaeological site in Tyre (Lebanese Broadcasting Corporation International). HT Rogue Classicism.

Lots of wildfires this summer at archaeological sites. No word on what caused this one.

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

New edition of Jerome's commentary on Zechariah (Brepols)

NEW BOOK FROM BREPOLS PRESS:

Hieronymus

Commentarius in Zachariam

Roger Gryson (ed)

BOOK SERIES Corpus Christianorum Series Latina, vol. 76A bis 4

Pages: 316 p.
Size:155 x 245 mm
Language(s):Latin, French
Publication Year:2024

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€ 230,00 EXCL. VAT
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ISBN: 978-2-503-61464-9
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Cette nouvelle édition fait ressortir la profonde originalité de Jérôme et sa position unique dans l’histoire de l’exégèse patristique

SUMMARY

Le commentaire sur Zacharie est le seul, parmi ceux des Douze prophètes, pour lequel la principale source d’inspiration de Jérôme est conservée. Pour les autres, ce sont les commentaires d’Origène, aujourd’hui perdus. Comme ils ne couvraient pas l’ensemble des Douze, Jérôme, de passage à Alexandrie en 386, demanda à Didyme de commenter pour lui Osée et Zacharie.

Un exemplaire du commentaire de Zacharie figurait parmi les papyrus découverts à Toura en 1941. Son éditeur a présenté le commentaire de Jérôme comme une « copie conforme » de celui de Didyme. En réalité, la confrontation fait plutôt ressortir la profonde originalité de Jérôme et sa position unique dans l’histoire de l’exégèse patristique. Contrairement à son devancier, il se soucie d’abord d’établir exactement la lettre du texte et d’en préciser le sens, en le situant dans son contexte et en recourant, si nécessaire, aux exégètes hébreux. Alors que l’Alexandrin se complaît dans des allégories dont le rapport au texte est souvent lointain et cultive une exégèse en quelque sorte hors sol, Jérôme prend soin de poser solidement le fondement de l’histoire avant d’exposer le sens spirituel qui s’en dégage. Il n’hésite pas à critiquer Didyme et se montre réservé à l’égard de l’allégorie, qu’il juge superflue là où le sens de la prophétie est manifeste. Il constate que ceux qui donnent à croire ainsi qu’ils en savent plus que les autres en affaiblissent souvent la portée en compliquant inutilement les choses.

Quant à la tradition manuscrite, complexe et mouvante, elle est ici plus souvent en faute que dans les six commentaires précédemment édités. Cela tient sans doute pour une part à l’état précaire des exemplaires de l’antiquité tardive que les copistes carolingiens ont reproduit, et pour une part au fait que Jérôme a dû travailler vite pour remettre son ouvrage au messager chargé de le faire parvenir à son dédicataire.

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Syfox, Constructing Femininity in the Book of Jubilees (Brill)

NEW BOOK FROM BRILL:

Constructing Femininity in the Book of Jubilees

Series: Biblical Interpretation Series, Volume: 230

Author: Chontel Syfox

A striking feature of the book of Jubilees is the visibility it gives to women in comparison to Genesis, with the matriarchs especially seeming to play an outsized role in the rewriting. Utilising approaches drawn from the fields of gender and feminist studies, Constructing Femininity in the Book of Jubilees interrogates the motives and priorities that guided the rewriter in his re-presentation of the matriarchs, asking to what extent the treatment of these characters was unique to this text and its author’s attitude towards women or typical of the then literary Zeitgeist.

Copyright Year: 2025

E-Book (PDF)
Availability: Published
ISBN: 978-90-04-73483-8
Publication: 21 Jul 2025
EUR €109.00

Hardback
Availability: Not Yet Published
ISBN: 978-90-04-73482-1
Publication: 24 Jul 2025
EUR €109.00

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The history of Paradise

HORTICULTURAL PHILOLOGY: Almost unimaginable beauty and opulence: the paradise pleasure gardens of ancient Persia (Peter Edwell, The Conversation). HT Rogue Classicism

Some of the most enduring ancient myths in the Persian world were centred around gardens of almost unimaginable beauty and opulence.

The biblical Garden of Eden and the Epic of Gilgamesh’s Garden of the Gods are prominent examples. In these myths, paradise was an opulent garden of tranquillity and abundance.

But how did this concept of paradise originate? And what did these beautiful gardens look and feel like in antiquity?

[...]

The subject is near to my heart, so I will comment a bit.

The Garden of the Gods in the Epic of Gilgamesh doesn't have any direct linguistic connection to the much later Persian paradise gardens.

The Garden of Eden is called paradeisos in the ancient Greek translation of Genesis (the Septuagint). The Greek work is an attempt at transcribing the Persian word.

An Aramaic transcription of the word also appears in the Book of the Watchers (1 Enoch 28:3) referring to a place to the far east containing "the tree of wisdom," from which Adam and Eve ate. In other word, the Garden of Eden again.

In the Talmud there is a story, the story of the Four Who Entered Paradise, in which four Tannaitic rabbis enter the "pardes" (same Persian word in Hebrew transcription) and three of them come to a bad end. There is debate about whether the use of pardes is metaphorical or mystical, The Jewish Hekhalot mystical literature retells the story and elsewhere uses the word to refer unambiguously to the the celestial Garden of Eden.

Even as far back as the Second Temple period, the Garden of Eden sometimes received a mystical, celestial locus (notably 1QHodayot^a 16.4-26).

Some PaleoJudaica posts on the term paradise and its biblical and Jewish connections are here, here, here, and here. For posts on the story of the Four Who Entered Paradise, start here and links, notably here.

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

They thought the Shroud of Turin was fake in the Middle Ages too

CONTROVERSIAL MATERIAL CULTURE: Newly uncovered medieval document adds evidence that Shroud of Turin is fake. Medieval theologian Nicole Oresme claims Shroud is deception by ‘clergy men’ (Vishwam Sankaran, The Independent). HT Archaeologica News.

A newly uncovered medieval document is the earliest known to suggest that the Shroud of Turin, widely believed to have been used to wrap Jesus’ crucified body, is not authentic.

The findings, published in the Journal of Medieval History, add evidence that even in the Middle Ages, people knew that the Shroud was fake.

[...]

The underlying article is open-access:

A New Document on the Appearance of the Shroud of Turin from Nicole Oresme: Fighting False Relics and False Rumours in the Fourteenth Century
Nicolas Sarzeaud
Received 27 Nov 2024, Accepted 01 Feb 2025, Published online: 28 Aug 2025
https://doi.org/10.1080/03044181.2025.2546884

ABSTRACT

For over a century, the debate surrounding the appearance of the Shroud of Turin has revolved around documents produced in Champagne in 1389–1390, when this now-controversial relic was already caught up in a polemic between supporters and detractors of its cult. This article is the result of the discovery of a new, older source: in a treatise on unexplained phenomena (mirabilia) dated between 1355–82, the Norman scholar Nicole Oresme (d. 1382) refers to the Shroud as a ‘patent’ example of clerical fraud, prompting him to be more broadly suspicious of the word of ecclesiastics. After showing how this new document sheds light on the case for the Shroud’s appearance in Lirey in Champagne, and confirming the thesis corroborated by other fourteenth-century sources that the Shroud is a medieval artifact, the article uses the example of the Shroud to interrogate the role assumed by scholars of the period as verifiers of dubious opinions, and the methods they used.

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

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

Forgetting about the rediscovered lost gospels

THE ANXIOUS BENCH: The Rediscovery, And Re-Forgetting, Of The Lost Gospels (Philip Jenkins).

To return to a question I have raised here before. Given this profusion of sources and speculation that was already circulating by 1910 or so, it really is amazing that later generations were so amazed and entranced by the new outpouring of Gnostic- and heresy-related material (and new gospels) from the 1970s onward. It was almost as if the Lost Gospels were lost and forgotten once again. What on earth was happening?

Perhaps amnesia really is an integral part of the popularization of scholarship.

There is nothing new under the sun. That's in the Bible.

For lots more on those increasingly not-so-lost gospels, see here and links.

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

Chilton on Aramaic Jesus

THE BIBLE AND INTERPRETATION:

Aramaic and the Making of the Gospels

Recent discoveries of first-century Aramaic texts and advances in linguistic analysis have revolutionized the study of the New Testament. By tracing transliterations, reconstructing possible Aramaic antecedents, and comparing themes with contemporary Jewish Aramaic literature, we see that the Gospels reflect diverse oral traditions shaped by both Aramaic and Greek cultural contexts. Rather than pointing to a single “Aramaic Jesus,” the evidence reveals multiple streams of memory and identity that influenced how Jesus was remembered and written into history.

See also Aramaic Jesus: Tradition, Identity, and Christianity’s Mother Tongue (Baylor University Press, 2025; use promo code 17PROMO for a discount).

See also Writings of Bruce Chilton.

By Bruce Chilton
Bernard Iddings Bell Professor of Religion
Bard College
August 2025

The elusive Aramaic Jesus remains an object of fascination.

Cross-file under Forthcoming Book and Aramaic Watch.

There are many relevant PaleoJudaica posts. Some highlights are here, here (and links), here, here, here, and here. Some of the embedded links have evaporated, but there are lots of others to follow.

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

Carvalho on Portier-Young, The Prophetic Body

ANCIENT JEW REVIEW continues its review series on Anathea Portier-Young’s The Prophetic Body: Embodiment and Mediation in Biblical Prophetic Literature with an essay by Corrine Carvalho:

Whose Body Is It Anyway: A Response to The Prophetic Body

As I have written these descriptions, however, I remain conflicted about whose embodiment we are talking about with prophetic collections. I do not accept that we are describing the embodiment of historical people identified as prophets. These figures function as characters in their texts. So, if they are characters who may or may not replicate the experiences of a tangible historical person, then do they have a body? Are their imagined or projected bodies actual bodies that can be psychoanalyzed or engaged as if they were human? Is a character’s fictional embodiment part of its function as avatar for the audience? ...

Previous posts on the series are here and here.

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

The first archaeologist?

HISTORY: The World’s First Archaeologist Was a Babylonian King (Philip Chrysopoulos, Greek Reporter). HT Rogue Classicism.

Honorable mention should also go to the Neo-Assyrian King Ashurbanipal (ruled 669-631 BCE), who was not exactly an archaeologist, but he was an enthusiastic antiquarian. He collected a vast library of texts, some already ancient in his time, in his capital city Nineveh. He proudly proclaimed, "I read the inscriptions from before the Flood."

We should also mention Nabonidus's daughter, Ennigaldi-Nanna, who herself was a keen archaeologist.

For more on all that, see here.

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

Sasson, Judges 13-21 (Yale ABC)

NEW BOOK FROM YALE UNIVERSITY PRESS:

Judges 13-21
A New Translation with Commentary

by Jack M. Sasson

Series: The Anchor Yale Bible Commentaries

480 Pages, 6.12 x 9.25 in

Hardcover
9780300278132
Published: Wednesday, 27 Aug 2025
$85.00

eBook
9780300283723
Published: Wednesday, 27 Aug 2025
$85.00

Description

The second volume of Jack M. Sasson’s authoritative commentary on the book of Judges

The second half of Judges is set when “there was no king in Israel; anyone could do whatever felt right.” It narrates the tale of Samson, the would-be liberator of Israel who comes to a violent end; the conquest of the land of Laish; and a vicious rape that, when followed by a shocking dismemberment, ignites a war among the tribes. In the second installment of his authoritative two-volume commentary, Jack M. Sasson invites his readers to ponder the many levels of meaning in the Hebrew text through a careful survey of its contents, evolution, and reception.

By situating the text alongside its earliest translations into Greek, Aramaic, and Latin, Sasson offers compelling observations on the characters, action, pacing, and style of the narrative, focusing on the characterization of Samson as a resourceful avenger of Philistine cruelties and as an instrument of God intended to humiliate false divinities. Sasson draws widely on comparative literature from Egypt, Greece, and Mesopotamia to enrich our understanding of how biblical writers adapted older regional sagas; and he derives insights from Hellenistic and rabbinic sources to re-create how Judges was understood by its earliest readers. Comprehensive and engagingly written, Judges 13–21 is an invitation to readers to rediscover these ancient stories and, in so doing, gain a greater appreciation for the art of Hebrew storytelling.

Still advertised for preorder, but I have it on good authority that some copies are already shipping.

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

Siloam dam dated to reign of Jehoash?

MONUMENTAL ARCHITECTURE: Biblical Kings in Jerusalem May Have Built Monumental Dam to Deal With Climate Change. A controversial dig in the City of David uncovers a First Temple Period dam. Researchers link the 2,800-year-old structure to efforts to face increased drought and flash floods (Ariel David, Haaretz).

The dam is only the latest in a slew of recent discoveries in Jerusalem that can be linked to this part of the First Temple Period, and attest to a time of early expansion of the city at the turn of the 9th-8th century B.C.E., possibly under the rule of King Jehoash. Specifically, the construction of the dam may have been triggered by a greater need to store and control Jerusalem's key water supply in a time of climate change that brought longer dry periods, the researchers speculate.

The article links to the underlying open-access artice just published in PNAS:

Radiocarbon dating of Jerusalem’s Siloam Dam links climate data and major waterworks

Johanna Regev https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2171-7452 johanna.regev@gmail.com, Nahshon Szanton, Filip Vukosavović, Itamar Berko, Yiftah Shalev https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4969-531X, Joe Uziel https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9795-3980, Eugenia Mintz, Lior Regev https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5558-4117, and Elisabetta Boaretto https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8320-6228 elisabetta.boaretto@weizmann.ac.il
Edited by Melinda Zeder, Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History, Washington, DC; received April 29, 2025; accepted July 9, 2025
August 25, 2025 122 (35) e2510396122 https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2510396122

Abstract

Using well-established microarchaeological sampling methods, we reached a precise radiocarbon date of 800 BC for the Siloam Pool’s monumental water dam in Jerusalem. This date is a critical link connecting several imposing waterworks constructed at that time. Climate data pointing to droughts and flash floods during the last decades of the 9th century BC provide a logical framework for the reasons behind such endeavors. These included the fortification of the city’s primary water source, the Gihon Spring, and the redirection of the water into the city through a channel to an artificial reservoir created by building the Siloam Dam at the end of the Tyropoeon Valley, which blocked the drainage of rain and redirected spring waters.

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

BHD on pilgrimage to the Jerusalem Temple

BIBLE HISTORY DAILY: Pilgrimage to the Jerusalem Temple. (BAS Staff).

In the Fall 2025 issue of Biblical Archaeology Review, archaeologists Uzi Leibner and Orit Peleg-Barkat examine the latest finds from the Ophel excavations in Jerusalem and what they reveal about pilgrimage to the Holy City during the late Second Temple period. Here, we highlight Bible History Daily articles that report on recent discoveries in Jerusalem and beyond that further inform our understanding of how early Jewish pilgrims experienced the journey to Jerusalem and Temple-related rituals during the first centuries BCE and CE. In addition, we list recent academic articles and book publications that present detailed discussions of the latest scholarly findings concerning Jerusalem pilgrimage.

One of the linked-to BHD essays is new:

Pilgrimage Pit Stop. Who used the ritual baths at Jerusalem’s Tomb of the Kings? (Omri Abadi and Boaz Zissu )

The others have been published before. I have linked to some of them.

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

Flannery on Portier-Young, The Prophetic Body

ANCIENT JEW REVIEW continues its review series on Anathea Portier-Young’s The Prophetic Body: Embodiment and Mediation in Biblical Prophetic Literature with an essay by Frances Flannery:

Towards Divine Embodiment and Biblical Animism: A Review and Suggestion for Anathea Portier-Young’s The Prophetic Body

... Reading an embodied and animistic divine in biblical prophetic texts challenges the very foundations of religious studies, which were long predicated on making “animism” a dirty word. ...

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

Review panel on Portier-Young, The Prophetic Body

ANCIENT JEW REVIEW: The Prophetic Body: A 2024 SBL Review Panel.

SBL Review Panel for Anathea Portier-Young’s The Prophetic Body: Emodiment and Mediation in Biblical Prophetic Literature
Co-Sponsored by the Religious Experience in Antiquity and Senses, Cultures, and Biblical Worlds Program Units of the Society of Biblical Literature November 23, 2024

The initial book summary at the link is by Reed Carlson.

I noted the publication of the book here.

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

IAA not keen on expanding its authority into West Bank

ARCHAEOLOGY AND POLITICS: Archaeologists dig in against antiquities bill aiming to deepen Israel’s hold on West Bank. A push to shift oversight of excavations in the territory to a civilian authority sparks worries of creeping annexation, with researchers fearing they’ll bear brunt of any backlash (Rossella Tercatin, Times of Israel).

A long and detailed article on a very complicated situation.

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

Forthcoming: The Authority of the Septuagint

WILLIAM A. ROSS: BOOK ANNOUNCEMENT: THE AUTHORITY OF THE SEPTUAGINT.

I’m excited to announce a new book coming out this October with IVP Academic, entitled The Authority of the Septuagint: Biblical, Historical, and Theological Approaches. This is a project that I have been working on with my friend and colleague, Gregory R. Lanier, who is a professor of New Testament at Reformed Theological Seminary in Orlando. Greg and I have worked on a number of projects together by now, all of them related to the Septuagint in some way or another.

[...]

The post includes a preview. And Peter Gurry posts the TOC over at the ETC Blog.

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

Is It Good to Be Rich? (Mohr Siebeck)

NEW BOOK FROM MOHR SIEBECK:

Is It Good to Be Rich?
Answers from the Bible and Antiquity
Edited by Peter Altmann, Nadine Ueberschaer and Frank Ueberschaer

[Ist es gut, reich zu sein? . Antworten aus Bibel und Antike]
2025. IX, 583 pages.
Wissenschaftliche Untersuchungen zum Neuen Testament (WUNT I) 532

€169.00
including VAT

cloth
available
978-3-16-160849-0

Also Available As:
eBook PDF €169.00

Summary

Biblical and extra-biblical sources provide a variety of insights into human approaches to the acquisition of and relation to riches in antiquity. For, while every person and society require certain provisions for survival, humans mostly desire to have more. In this volume, the contributors unpack the ambiguous approaches to wealth and riches in texts from the Hebrew Bible, Greco-Roman Jewish texts, Greek philosophical discourses and poetry, the New Testament, and the Early Church.

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Nelson & Ulmer (eds), ... Proceedings of the Midrash Section, Society of Biblical Literature (Gorgias)

NEW BOOK FROM GORGIAS PRESS:

TEN MEASURES OF BEAUTY
Proceedings of the Midrash Section, Society of Biblical Literature

Edited by W. David Nelson & Rivka Ulmer

Publisher: Gorgias Press LLC
Availability: In stock
SKU (ISBN): 978-1-4632-4800-0

The contributions that comprise Ten Measures of Beauty, the 10th volume published by the Society of Biblical Literature’s Midrash Section, pertain to Sifra, Midrash Tadshe and Masora, Rabbi Meyuḥas ben Elijah (a biblical commentator), food and meals in midrash, and peace studies.

Formats *
Hardback (In Print) ISBN 978-1-4632-4800-0
eBook PDF (In Print) ISBN 978-1-4632-4801-7 on Gorgias Mobile App (Glassboxx)

Publication Status: In Print
Series: Judaism in Context34
Publication Date: Mar 28,2025
Interior Color: Black
Trim Size: 6 x 9
Page Count: 146
Languages: English
ISBN: 978-1-4632-4800-0
Price: $114.95 (USD)
Your price: $91.96 (USD)

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On the Oxyrhynchus Papyri

OXYRHYNCHUS WATCH: The Oxyrhynchus Papyri: From ancient trash to historical treasure. What can the famous papyrus corpus tell us about the ordinary people of late-ancient Egypt? Richard J Britton investigate (The Past).

Imagine that, 1,500 years from today, an archaeologist finds the remnants of your garbage in a dump. They might find your shopping lists, receipts, insurance contracts, bank statements, your will, personal letters to family and friends, and maybe even pages from a journal therapy course. Perhaps they might find religious or spiritual writings, a few old newspapers, and a few torn pages from your favourite thriller or romance novels.

Such a scenario should give you a flavour of what Bernard Grenfell and Arthur Hunt found in their excavation of a site at Oxyrhynchus in Egypt between 1896 and 1907. Here, within a city rubbish dump, the archaeologists found a seemingly inexhaustible trove of papyrus documents dating to the Ptolemaic and Roman Periods that have revolutionised our understanding of late-ancient Hellenic Egyptian society and culture.

[...]

It's always good to come back to the story of the Oxyrhynchus Papyri. This article focuses on some of the quite interesting non-literary texts.

For a great many PaleoJudaica posts on the Oxyrhynchus Papyri, run "Oxyrhynchus" through the search engine.

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

Franek, Solomonica Magica (Brill)

NEW BOOK FROM BRILL:

Solomonica Magica: Solomon, Sisinnius, and the Holy Rider on Greek-Inscribed Amulets from Late Antiquity and Early Byzantium

Series:
Religions in the Graeco-Roman World, Volume: 201

Author: Juraj Franek

Solomonica Magica is the first comprehensive survey of ‘Solomonic’ or ‘Holy Rider’ amulets from the Mediterranean of Late Antiquity and Early Byzantium. Hundreds of magical gems, leaf-shaped pendants, circular medallions, and other apotropaic objects—many of which were previously unpublished—are presented against the backdrop of a parabiblical tradition involving Solomon the Magician and Sisinnius the Demon-Hunter. All Greek texts have received fresh critical editions and English translations. The text of the monograph is richly illustrated with over 700 images, many newly commissioned specifically for this volume.

Copyright Year: 2025

E-Book (PDF)
Availability: Published
ISBN: 978-90-04-73528-6
Publication: 21 Jul 2025
EUR €189.00

Hardback
Availability: Published
ISBN: 978-90-04-73526-2
Publication: 24 Jul 2025
EUR €189.00

For a recently discovered amulet of this type, see here.

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Towers, Manichaeism: Encounters with death (Brepols)

BIBLIOGRAPHIA IRANICA: Manichaeism: Encounters with Death.

Notice of a New Book: Towers, Susanna. 2025. Manichaeism: Encounters with death. Studies in the material, spiritual and parabolic body (Studia Traditionis Theologiae 61). Turnhout: Brepols Publishers.

Follow the link for description and ordering information.

Cross-file under Manichean (Manichaean) Watch.

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

"Two astonishing years" for lost scriptures

THE ANXIOUS BENCH: Rediscovering Lost Scriptures: Two Astonishing Years (Philip Jenkins).

Those years were 1896-1897. Not as impressive as 1945-1947 for rediscovery of lost scriptures, but probably a good strong second.

Background here.

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

Swinney, Reforging History in the Persian Era Editing of the Twelve (Mohr Siebeck)

NEW BOOK FROM MOHR SIEBECK:

Kipp Swinney
Reforging History in the Persian Era Editing of the Twelve
The Significance of the Motifs of the Divine Warrior, Chaoskampf, and Theophany for Shaping the Book of the Twelve

[Geschichtsschreibung in der persischen Redaktionszeit des Zwölfprophetenbuchs. Die Bedeutung der Motive des göttlichen Kriegers, des Chaoskampfes und der Theophanie für die Gestaltung des Zwölfprophetenbuchs.]
2024. XVII, 200 pages.
Forschungen zum Alten Testament 2. Reihe (FAT II) 159

€79.00
including VAT

sewn paper
available
978-3-16-163400-0

Also Available As:
eBook PDF €79.00

Summary

In the Persian era, Judean editors of the Book of the Twelve incorporated new material and revised existing content in ways that reflected on the history from Assyria's fall to Persia's rise. Kipp Swinney argues that the Persian era editors of the Twelve embed a historiography that centralizes Yahweh's role in Judah's history by using the motifs of the divine warrior, Chaoskampf, and theophany. These motifs depict Yahweh's acting in history without human assistance, which enhanced Yahweh's legitimacy as king despite Babylon's destruction of Judah and Persia's ascendancy. Amos, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, and Zephaniah contain this embedded historiography and legitimizing agenda. Synthesizing developmental models of the Twelve with the tradition history of the motifs used, Swinney illuminates the Persian era shaping of the Book of the Twelve.

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On ancient wilderness narratives

THE BIBLE AND INTERPRETATION:

How Did Ancient Wilderness Narratives Form Identities and Relationships with Nature? And Do They Still?

Ancient wilderness narratives from Mesopotamian, Jewish, and Christian traditions shaped religious identity by portraying wilderness not merely as chaotic or dangerous, but as a space for personal transformation, divine encounter, and critique of societal order. Rather than reinforcing dominion over nature, these stories often highlighted awe, humility, and kinship with the wild, forming a legacy of spiritual introspection that resonates with modern wilderness experiences and ecological reflection. In both past and present, such narratives foster what scholars now call “resonant self-world relations,” emphasizing nature’s uncontrollability as essential to human thriving.

See also Ancient Mythologies of the Wilderness: Narrative, Nature, and Religious Identity Formation from the Babylonians to the Late Antique Christians (Cambridge University Press, 2025).

By Laura Feldt
Associate Professor
Department of Archaeology, History, Cultural Studies and Religion
University of Bergen
August 2025

I noted the publication of the book here.

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

Coin of Berenice II excavated in Givati Parking Lot

NUMISMATICS: Rare gold coin of Queen Berenice II unearthed in Jerusalem. Dating to 246-221 BCE, it is the first of its kind found outside Egypt, offering new insight into Jerusalem’s revival under Ptolemaic rule (Yaron Drukman, Ynet News).

A rare gold coin bearing the portrait of Egyptian Queen Berenice II was discovered during an Israel Antiquities Authority excavation at the Givati parking lot in the City of David archaeological excavation site, within Jerusalem Walls National Park.

The tiny coin, valued at a quarter drachma and crafted from 99.3% pure gold, dates to 246-221 BCE during the reign of her husband, Ptolemy III. The Israel Antiquities Authority and City of David hailed it as the first of its kind found in a clear archaeological context, one of only about 20 known worldwide.

[...]

For more on the Ptolemaic Queen Benenice (Berenike) II and her coins, see here.

For PaleoJudaica posts on the Givati Parking Lot excavation and the many discoveries there, start here and follow the links.

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

Looted inscribed dolphin weight recovered in Jerusalem

APPREHENDED: 2150 years old: Jerusalem dolphin artifact found. Greek inscription notes the name of a market oversight official from the Hellenistic period. Researchers aim to identify the weight's origin city based on the mammal's illustration (Lidor Sultan, Israel HaYom).

A rare lead weight in excellent condition, bearing an ancient Greek inscription from the Hellenistic period, was seized this week in Jerusalem during an operation by the Israel Antiquities Authority's Unit for the Prevention of Antiquities Theft. The weight, dated to 147–148 BCE, was uncovered in an antiquities shop following intelligence information.

The fascinating archaeological find is inscribed with the text "Heliodorus son of Apollonius, agoranomos" – the name and title of a government official responsible for overseeing the accuracy of measurements and weights in markets to prevent commercial fraud. The date indicated on the weight – year 165 of the Seleucid era – corresponds to the Hellenistic period in the Land of Israel, when the Seleucid Empire controlled vast regions of the Middle East.

[...]

Cross-file under Theriomorphic Iconography and Greek Epigraphy.

I note that the object is unprovenanced, which raises the possibility it could be a forgery. Not saying it is, but I want to hear how we know it isn't.

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

Strauss, Jews vs. Rome (Simon & Schuster)

INTERVIEW: Book details Jews’ two-century fight against Roman Empire (Linda B. Glaser, Cornell Chronicle).

For two centuries, the Jews of Judea – ancient Israel – waged rebellion against the power of the Roman Empire. Although they never succeeded in throwing off the Roman yoke, the tales of their resilience form a stirring narrative described in the new book “Jews vs. Rome: Two Centuries of Rebellion Against the World’s Mightiest Empire,” by Barry Strauss ’74, the Bryce and Edith M. Bowmar Professor in Humanistic Studies Emeritus in the College of Arts and Sciences. ...

The Chronicle spoke with Strauss about the book.

Cross-file under New Book. It is being published by Simon & Schuster in September 2025.

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

A late-antique senior care home in Sussita (Hippos) National Park?

GERIATRIC ARCHAEOLOGY: 1,600 years of care: Archaeologists in northern Israel uncover world’s earliest home for elderly. University of Haifa researchers discover mosaic medallion bearing inscription ‘Peace be with the elders’ in Byzantine city of Hippos (Times of Israel Staff).

Designated institutions for the elderly have been referenced in texts from the fifth and sixth centuries, but this was the first physical evidence of such a practice, the researchers said.

The find was uncovered near the intersection of two major streets in the residential area of the ancient Byzantine city of Hippos in the Galilee. The Christian city was the seat of the bishop, where archaeologists have also discovered seven churches, a temple, a basilica, a theater, and at least two theaters.

The underlying article in Zeitschrift für Papyrologie und Epigraphik does not seem to be available online at all.

For many PaleoJudaica posts on artifacts and architecture recovered in Sussita (Hippos) National Park, start here and follow the links

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

Cartagena Festival 2025 is coming

PUNIC WATCH: The Carthaginians and Romans fiestas, a legacy of the rich past of Cartagena. Few cities can match the heady mix of history, culture and tradition in the September fiestas of Cartagena! (Murcia Today). HT Rogue Classicism.

Every year in September, when the heat of summer is beginning to die down, the city of Cartagena goes back to a time more than 200 years before the birth of Christ when in the space of a few years it was known first as Qart-Hadast and then as Carthago Nova, as it celebrates the annual fiestas of the Carthagineses y Romanos.

[...]

Cartagena, Spain, was a Punic town (Carthago Nova - New Carthage) founded in the third century B.C.E. by Hasdrubal the Fair, Hannibal's brother-in law.* The ten-day festival begins on the third Friday in September (this year the 19th).

I will have more for you on the 2025 festival later on. Watch this space.

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

The Phoenician ship, the Mazzarón II (with various spellings), was raised last year and is currently being reassembled and restored in Cartagena.

*I know that the article says that the founder was Hannibal's brother, Hasdrubal Barca. Confusingly, there were lots of Hasdrubals. But Hasdrubal the Fair founded New Carthage. (I can't believe the rabbit holes this blog takes me down every day.)

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

Review of Hendel, Genesis 1–11

BOOK REVIEW: Genesis 1–11: A New Translation with Introduction and Commentary. WRITTEN BY RONALD HENDEL (REVIEWED BY DUSTIN BURLET, Themelios 50.2).

To conclude, Ronald Hendel’s Genesis 1–11 in the Anchor Yale Bible commentary series was worth the wait. With over thirty years of research, his analysis deepened my understanding of Biblical Hebrew and offers fresh perspectives on much “established” scholarship. It is a valuable resource for anyone engaging Genesis on a serious level. Highly recommended!

I noted the publication of the book here (cf. here).

Ron Hendel and I overlapped as doctoral students in the Harvard NELC program in the 1980s. He was hard at work on the Book of Genesis even back then. It great to see this fruit of a career's worth of labor now published.

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

Papyri at the University of Oslo

PAPYROLOGY: In a small room in Oslo lie hundreds of pieces of 2,000-year-old papyrus. Researchers are working on publishing two new volumes from the papyrus collection in Oslo (Elise Kjørstad, Sciencenorway.no). HT Rogue Classicism.

On the fourth floor of the HumSam Library at the University of Oslo, a small room holds hundreds of ancient Egyptian texts.

These texts, written in ink some 2,000 years ago, are preserved on fragments of papyrus. The pieces are mounted behind glass, lined up neatly in display cases.

[...]

This collection has lots of interesting fragments—many, but by no means all, already published—including of Homer, Herodotus, Plato, Daniel, Matthew, a magical papyrus, and even the Egyptian Book of the Dead. Most are in Greek, but also some are in Coptic and even Egyptian hieratic and hierogyphics. Naturally most are documentary texts such as sales documents and personal letters.

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

Rowlands, The Metaphysics of Historical Jesus Research (Routledge)

THE BIBLE AND INTERPRETATION:

Theology, Philosophy, and the Historical Figure of Jesus

The study of the historical Jesus involves an interplay between theology, philosophy, and historiography, with our understanding shaped by pre-existing worldviews as much as it shapes them. While absolute certainty about Jesus’ life is unattainable, historians assess plausibility through their philosophical and theological assumptions, making “what we can know” dependent on who “we” are. Embracing diverse perspectives, rather than enforcing a single framework, offers the best path toward meaningful research.

See also The Metaphysics of Historical Jesus Research: A Prolegomenon to a Future Quest for the Historical Jesus (London, 2023).

By Jonathan Rowlands
Graduate Tutor, Lecturer in Theology, and Lead Tutor for Assessment
St. Mellitus College, East Midlands
August 2025

Cross-file under New(ish) Book, which I missed when it came out.

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

Harrison, Kingship and Empire under the Achaemenids (Edinburgh University Press)

BIBLIOGRAPHIA IRANICA: Kingship and Empire under the Achaemenids, Alexander the Great and the Early Seleucids.

Notice of a new book: Harrison, Stephen. 2025. Kingship and Empire under the Achaemenids, Alexander the Great and the Early Seleucids. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.

Follow the link for additional details.

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Kendall, Seeing the Messiah (Wipf & Stock)

NEW BOOK FROM WIPF AND STOCK:

Seeing the Messiah
An Analysis of the Postmortem Appearances of Jesus Christ and the Lubavitcher Rebbe Against the Backdrop of Apparitional Phenomena/BIG>

by Jonathan Kendall
Foreword by Michael Licona
Imprint: Resource Publications
276 Pages, 6.00 x 9.00 x 0.55 in

Paperback
9798385248995
Published: July 2025
$33.00 / £25.00 / AU$51.00

eBook
9798385249015
Published: July 2025
$33.00 / £25.00 / AU$51.00

DESCRIPTION

Apparitions are real. The evidence for their objective nature is immense, and they are frequently not the transparent, non-physical manifestations depicted by Hollywood and popular culture. Moreover, some apparitions demonstrate blatantly physical characteristics to the point that they may be initially mistaken for real people. Seeing the Messiah takes readers on a tour of case studies from eight well-evidenced categories of apparitions that occur in nature. These categories include visions of the bereaved, those that linger in haunted houses, figures that materialize during seances, and apparitions that represent religious icons such as the Blessed Virgin Mary. What exactly are apparitions? Visitations from the supernatural realm? Dramas created through telepathy? Dr. Kendall speculates on how these strange intrusions into our reality might best be interpreted and the implications this has for the nature of reality itself. Having established the characteristics of this phenomenon, Dr. Kendall examines claims that Menachem Mendel Schneerson (i.e., the Lubavitcher Rebbe) was raised from the dead, with special scrutiny of the post-mortem encounters of the Rebbe to his followers. He then evaluates the historical data used to support Jesus' resurrection in light of the same apparitional data. Do those who "see the Messiah" merely experience apparitions?

For another recent book on the Lubavitcher Rebbe, see here. And follow the links from there for many more posts on him and the messianic tradition around him.

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Peterson, Qoheleth and the Philosophy of Value (CUP)

NEW BOOK FROM CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS:

Qoheleth and the Philosophy of Value

Author: Jesse M. Peterson , George Fox University
Published: July 2025
Availability: Available
Format: Hardback
ISBN: 9781009513258

£85.00 GBP
Hardback

£85.00 USD
Adobe eBook Reader

Description

The book of Ecclesiastes is the Bible's problem child. Its probing doubts, dark ruminations, self- reflexive dialogues, and unflinching observations have simultaneously puzzled and fascinated readers for over two millennia. Some read the book's message as hopelessly pessimistic, while others regard the text as too contradictory to bear any consistent message at all. In this study, Jesse Peterson offers a coherent portrait of the book and its author-the early Jewish sage known as Qoheleth-by examining both through a philosophical lens. Drawing from relevant contemporary philosophical literature on meaning in life, death, well-being, and enjoyment, Peterson outlines a clear and compelling portrait of Qoheleth and his philosophical assumptions about what is good and bad in the human experience. As Peterson argues, Qoheleth's grievances concerning the pursuit of meaning in life are paired with a genuine affirmation of life's value and the possibility of a joy-filled existence.

• Provides original translation and interpretation for many of the book's most central passages
• Sets the book of Ecclesiastes in dialogue with contemporary philosophies of value
• Presents a comprehensive understanding of Qoheleth's system of values

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A wildfire at Tel Araj (Bethsaida?)

BLAZING ARCHAEOLOGY: Wildfire Unveils Lost Biblical Village of Bethsaida. The fire that scorched the Betiha nature reserve exposed mounds all over el-Araj: These were the homes of Bethsaida, archaeologists say. And there was a public building too (Ruth Schuster, Haaretz).

A wildfire along the northern shore of the Sea of Galilee in late July endangered bathers, shut down Highway 87 in both directions, and as the lakeside vegetation burned to a crisp, unveiled the missing town of Bethsaida.

It isn't that the ancient homes had been covered with foliage, only to be suddenly revealed as 2,000-year-old stone walls when the flames engulfed them. The village from the time of Jesus was – and remains – buried in the sands of time, and now ash as well.

But bared by the conflagration that consumed the Betiha Nature Reserve, small mounds are now exposed, scattered all over the archaeological site of el-Araj, sprawling over hundreds of meters.

[...]

It sounds like no one was injured by this fire, which is good.

I have been following the debate over the original site of New Testament Bethsaida for some years. The other contender is nearby et-Tell/e-Tel. So far, the evidence seems to me to be weighing in favor of el-Araj. But I am not an archaeologist, and I haven't seen a defense recently from the et-Tell proponents. For past posts on the two sites and the debate, start here and follow the links.

Once again, a fire spared church ruins. The current article attributes the el-Araj fire to careless cigarette disposal. It's worth noting that wildfires are not always caused by deliberate arson. As I've said before, I don't know what caused the Tabyeh fire. I haven't seen any updates on the question.

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

Hugoye 28.1 (2025)

A NEW ISSUE: Hugoye: Journal of Syriac Studies 28.1 (2025).

Note in particular:

More Readings from 4 Ezra and 2 Baruch in the Konat Collection
By Florian Neitmann and Liv Ingeborg Lied
Source: Hugoye: Journal of Syriac Studies 28.1 (2025): 155-180.
URI: https://hugoye.bethmardutho.org/article/hv28n1neitmann-lied

ABSTRACT

This article presents three liturgical manuscripts containing passages from 4 Ezra and 2 Baruch which have thus far been overlooked in the scholarship on these two books. The study begins with a summary of the previous history of scholarship on Syriac lectionaries containing readings from 4 Ezra and 2 Baruch. This is followed by a description of the three manuscripts, all three of which are preserved in the Konat Collection in Pampakuda, Kerala (India). One of them, Ms. 208, is a lectionary, while the two others, Mss. 91 and 354, are lectionary indices. They were produced in the years 1892– 94, which shows that the reception of readings from 4 Ezra and 2 Baruch in Syriac liturgical manuscripts continued for much longer than previously thought. This continued reception was enabled by the faithful preservation of— and engagement with—the lectionary Ms. 77 in the Konat Collection, which, as argued in this article, is the source of the three nineteenth-century manuscripts preserved in the same collection.

This brings the liturgical citation of 4 Ezra and 2 Baruch as scripture up to the end of the nineteenth century, adding another 500 years to their Syriac reception history. That is not to say that the scribes had access to the full books in Syriac. One of the manuscripts notes that the Ezra quote is not in the current printed Syriac Old Testament.

Hugoye is a high-quality, peer-review, open-access journal, which I should keep better track of. I last noted volume 25 (2022) (2021) here. And for more, follow the links from there. Cross-file under Syriac Watch.

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Sexy kissing in the Bible

OSCULAR HISTORY: When did lovers start kissing in ancient Israel? A new study looks to the Bible for clues. Research based on textual analysis traces the rise of ancient Israelites’ snogging to post-exilic times, likely influenced by Babylonian culture (Rossella Tercatin, Times of Israel).

Intimate kissing only became prevalent in Ancient Israel after the Babylonian exile, or in the 6th century BCE, a recent study based on biblical textual analysis has suggested.

[...]

The underlying article is published in JBL, behind a subscription wall:

A History of Kissing in Ancient Israel: Evidence from the Hebrew Bible

Rachelle Gilmour

Journal of Biblical Literature (2025) 144 (1): 21–41.
https://doi.org/10.15699/jbl.1441.2025.2

Abstract

In this article I investigate when sexual mouth-to-mouth kissing was introduced and rose in prevalence in ancient Israel. Anthropological research shows that the practice of kissing is not universal across cultures, and it is thought to be transmitted to social groups through cultural contact. The presence of kissing in a culture often correlates with social stratification and political centralization. In conversation with these broader findings, and with a focus on textual evidence, I will examine sexual kissing in ancient Israel to evaluate whether there is diachronic change in the absence and presence of sexual kissing in biblical texts. In light of the limited evidence, and difficulties in textual dating, I will consider a range of factors, including texts where sexual kissing is expected but not present, and linguistic phenomena related to the formulations of non-sexual kissing. I will conclude that mouth-to-mouth sexual kissing is evidenced in the postexilic period, with a further argument that the practice was introduced to ancient Israel or rose in prevalence around the sixth century BCE.

As both articles note, the evidence is very limited and some of the argument is inevitably from silence. But this sounds like a good effort to collect all the evidence and draw what conclusions can reasonably be drawn from it.

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Jenkins on The First Discovery Of The Lost Scriptures

THE ANXIOUS BENCH: The First Discovery Of The Lost Scriptures (Philip Jenkins).

Some years back, I published a lot at this site on the general subject of Alternative Scriptures, and their rediscovery in modern times. I found a lot to say that was new and counter-intuitive, and the whole subject really cried out to be a book. At the time, I was focused on other topics, but my recent work on the 1890s really makes me think that the time has come to develop that. I will use my next couple of posts to expand on those ideas, but at every point, I will be harking back to those original posts with their extensive quotations, bibliographies and so on, and it would be helpful to follow those links as you go What follows here will be a bare bones summary.

[...]

This bare bones summary is a long and salutary reminder that a number of formerly lost apocryphal scriptures had come to the attention of scholars and the public even back in the nineteenth century and certainly by the early twentieth. Long before the discovery of the Nag Hammadi Coptic Gnostic Library and the Dead Sea Scrolls. For early Christianity, notably the Pistis Sophia and the Greek fragments of the at-the-time unidentified Gospel of Thomas. For the Old Testament, notably the texts collected by Charles in his Pseudepigrapha volume.

Such collections go back much earlier, of course. Johann Albert Fabricius published the foundational volumes of apocryphal scriptures in the early 1700s. But either side of the turn of the twentieth century was another period of considerable activity.

I look forward to hearing more about Professor Jenkins's work on this new book.

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

On those ten not-so-lost tribes

PROF. MARY-JOAN LEITH: The Ten Lost Tribes: A Myth to Delegitimize the Samarians (TheTorah.com).

The book of Kings recounts how all Ten Tribes were exiled by the Assyrians and replaced by foreigners, and Ezra–Nehemiah rejects them as non-Israelites. Yet other biblical and Second Temple texts, along with the archaeological record, show that northern Israelites continued to live in Samaria well into the Second Temple period. Far from vanishing, the northern tribes maintained a temple and priesthood that cooperated with their southern neighbors and played a role in shaping the Pentateuch.

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

Operation "Rising Lion" and Balaam's oracle

THAT'S IN THE BIBLE: 'Rising Lion': How an Ancient Blessing Became Modern Israel's Battle Cry. The 12-day war between Iran and Israel was dubbed Am KeLavi in Hebrew, an example of linguistic archaeology in action (Ariel David, Haaretz).

The name Am KeLavi derives from Numbers 23:24, where the prophet Balaam declares: "הן עם כלביא יקום ומצא כליש ישתה" ("Behold, a people rises like a lion, and lifts itself up like a young lion"). ...

The operation's name illustrates Hebrew's unique capacity to collapse temporal boundaries. Languages typically evolve through gradual change, with ancient vocabulary becoming archaic and eventually unintelligible. Hebrew's peculiar history – its suspension as a spoken language for nearly 17 centuries followed by systematic revival – created different possibilities. Contemporary Hebrew speakers can employ biblical vocabulary with the same immediacy their ancestors used, creating what linguists call "synchronic archaism" – the use of genuinely ancient language in thoroughly modern contexts.

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

Balaam's biblical oracles have been influential. For use in the Dead Sea Scrolls, see here. For Balaam's influence generally in antiquity, see here. And the star that the magi followed to Bethlehem in the Gospel of Matthew arguably arose (so to speak) from a midrashic intepretation of Balaam's oracle in Numbers 24:17, "A star shall come forth (or *"rise") out of Jacob." See here and links, plus here, and here.

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

200K visitors to Reagan Library's DSS exhibit

EXHIBITION: Dead Sea Scrolls exhibition in Ventura County welcomes 200,000th visitor (Lance Orozco, KCLU).

The Dead Sea Scrolls exhibition opened at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley last November and will close on September 2. It’s the first time the scrolls have been in the U.S. in more than a decade.

The Dead Sea Scrolls always draw a lot of visitors.

For PaleoJudaica posts on this exibition, start here and follow the links.

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

Candido, Studies on the Old Latin of the Book of Esther (Peeters)

NEW BOOK FROM PEETERS PRESS:

Studies on the Old Latin of the Book of Esther

SERIES:
Contributions to Biblical Exegesis & Theology, 102.2

AUTHOR:
Candido D.

PRICE: 65 euro

YEAR: 2025
ISBN: 9789042955233
PAGES: VI-170 p.

SUMMARY:

The book of Esther is a kind of ‘laboratory’ for the study of the Textual Criticism of the Old Testament because of the diversity and complexity of its ancient textual witnesses. This volume complements the Synopsis of the Book of Esther (CBET 102.1), which presents a parallel comparison between the Masoretic Text, the Old Greek, the Alpha Text, the Old Latin, the Vulgate and Josephus’ Jewish Antiquities. Referring to the readings highlighted in the synopsis, the essays in this volume focus on the Old Latin in order to show its distinctive features and its role in the history of the transmission of the book of Esther.

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"What is a god ..." series

THE ANCIENT NEAR EAST TODAY has been running an informative series by Michael B. Hundley on what a god is in the ancient Near East. I noted the first essay here, then lost track of the series. The remaining essays are as follows:

What is a God in the Hebrew Bible? Part I: The Divine Cast of Characters

What is a God in the Hebrew Bible? Part 2: Characteristics and Hierarchy

From Monolatry to Monotheism: The Changing Face of the Biblical Pantheon

This series is a thoughtful and wide-ranging account of divinities in the ancient Near East and in the Hebrew Bible. Well worth the read.

The series ends with the New Testament period. There's more to say about the development of divinities in the Second Temple era. Notably, there is the origin of demons as the disembodied spirits of the giants killed in Noah's Flood. These giants in turn were the hybrid divine-human offspring of the mating of the angelic Watchers with human women (cf. Genesis 6:1-4 and the story in the Book of Watchers in 1 Enoch 1-36).

The category of fallen angels, such as the Watchers (also cf., e.g., Matthew 25:41, Revelation 12:4, 7), is a different one from the demons.

I discuss the Watchers-giants-demons tradition in detail in my article introducing the ancient Book of Giants, published in MOTP2 and reprinted online here. And for some addition informed speculation about the use of ancient Near Eastern divinity traditions (about Baal) in this late period, see here.

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

People re-inhabited post-eruption Vesuvius

VESUVIUS WATCH: Life After Vesuvius: Archaeologists Uncover Post-eruption Return to Pompeii. The ancient Romans attempted to rebuild after the disaster of 79 C.E., and continued to eke out a post-apocalyptic living among the ruins of Pompeii for centuries, archaeological finds show (Ariel David, Times of Israel).

In the aftermath of the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 C.E., the once-bustling city of Pompeii was a smoldering landscape of ash covering wrecked buildings and decomposing corpses. But life, as the saying goes, found a way.

Either by choice or because they had nowhere else to go, people returned and continued to live for at least four centuries among the ruins of Pompeii, Italian archaeologists say. A new dig at the magnificently preserved Roman site has uncovered evidence of this post-eruption existence, showing that Pompeii never went near its former grandeur, but also didn't completely disappear.

[...]

For many PaleoJudaica posts on the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 CE and its destruction of Pompeii and Herculaneum, and, notably, on the efforts to reconstruct and decipher the carbonized library at Herculaneum, start here and follow the links. For posts that are more archaeology and history related, see here and links.

For more research on the survivors of the eruption, see here and here.

The 1946th anniversary of the eruption of Vesuvius will be on 26th August 2025. For more on Pliny the Elder's daring rescue mission, which may have cut the death toll at Pompeii by as much as half, see there and here and links.

For evidence for a Jewish presence at ancient Pompeii, see here and follow the links.

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

Deuteronomy's antecedents and influences

PROF. TAMAR KAMIONKOWSKI: Deuteronomy: Canonizing Interpretation (TheTorah.com).

Deuteronomy describes itself as the words of Moses expounding upon revelation. At the same time, it commands that all Israelites—including the king—learn Moses’ words exactly and never add to or subtract from them, even though Deuteronomy itself reworks earlier texts such as the Covenant Collection in Exodus. Despite this attempt to establish final authority, Deuteronomy undergoes the same process it models: it is combined with other texts and reinterpreted by later works such as Ezra–Nehemiah.

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

Zoom course: The Land of Israel in the Religious Imagination

MICHAEL L. SATLOW: The Land of Israel in the Religious Imagination.

This fall I will be teaching the course “The Land of Israel in the Religious Imagination: From Antiquity to the Present” as a continuing education course. It is open to all and will have a hybrid format. You can attend in person in Providence or over Zoom from elsewhere. It is open to all. To register, follow the instructions on the flyer.

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

Tu B'Av 2025, belatedly

THE FESTIVAL OF TU B'AV was on the 8th-9th of August this year. Best wishes to all those who celebrated.

Tu B'Av (which just means the 15th day of the month of Av) is an ancient matchmaking festival. Its first mention is in the Mishnah (Ta’anit 4). It has been revived in recent years as a kind of Jewish Valentine's Day.

For past posts on it, see here and links.

Excuse my tardiness. The holiday overlapped with birthday celebrations and I was distracted.

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Leung Lai, Ecclesiastes (SBL)

NEW BOOK FROM SBL PRESS:

Ecclesiastes
Barbara M. Leung Lai

ISBN 9781914490484
Status Available
Publication Date October 2024
Hardback $70.00

For readers of Ecclesiastes, the first impressions of the book can be perplexing, paradoxical, elusive and pessimistic. First-time readers may be discouraged to engage in understanding this difficult and strange book. Yet, against our collective lived experience under the sun, there are others who find this book ‘on the meaning of life’ exceptionally intriguing and inviting. The ‘search’ for a fitting reading strategy to unpack the complexity of the book; and a logical structure amidst the fragmented, thinking-out-loud mode of expressions presents a great challenge to all commentators.

To address these challenges, this commentary distinguishes itself on three grounds. First, Barbara Leung Lai intentionally hammers out a five-fold interconnected perspectival reading strategy toward interpretation: as a ‘Grand Narrative’ of all humanity; as a multi-voiced book; as a dialectic composition; as an enriched whole through reading ‘cross the grains’; and as a ‘memoir’. This approach to reading Ecclesiastes opens an expanded window of perception toward interpretation.

Second, she foregrounds the five identifiable voices embedded in this polyphony: i.e. the voice of the narrator, the ‘I’-voice of the Preacher/Qohelet, Qohelet’s ‘inner voice’, the collective voice of wisdom, and the voice of the epilogist. The result of this innovative task provides for us a comprehensive, sensible, and cohesive analytical outline demonstrating the trajectory of the flow of thought within the twelve chapters.

Third, in keeping with the objective of the Readings series (for first-time commentary readers of Ecclesiastes), Leung Lai invites all readers to read and practise hearing this polyphonic text self-engagingly. Be encouraged and empowered to develop our own readerly interpretive voice.

In terms of the originality of its five-fold approach to reading and its structural outline based on multi-voice analysis, this commentary is a groundbreaking endeavour—a fresh and invigorating read for all readers.

SBL Press is the North American distributor for Sheffield Phoenix Press. Customers outside of North America can purchase this book directly from Sheffield Phoenix by clicking here.

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Schiffman, Sources and Interpretations (Brill)

NEW BOOK FROM BRILL:

Sources and Interpretations

Studies in Ancient Jewish History, Literature, and Religion.

Series: The Brill Reference Library of Judaism, Volume: 78

Author: Lawrence H. Schiffman

This volume brings together over fifty of Schiffman’s Studies on Ancient Judaism that have helped to shape this emerging field. Throughout, these studies display a wide-ranging perspective, bringing together all kinds of sources, written or archaeological, to illuminate ancient Judaism and its complex history. Topics explored include the history of the Jews and Judaism in Late Antiquity, the Bible in Jewish tradition, ancient Jewish thought, law, and liturgy, magic and mysticism, relation of the Dead Sea Scrolls to Rabbinic Literature, Judean Desert texts, and Judaism and Christianity. The volume concludes with studies of the work of several modern rabbis and academic scholars.

Copyright Year: 2025

E-Book (PDF)
Availability: Published
ISBN: 978-90-04-71572-1
Publication: 16 Jun 2025
EUR €183.00

Hardback
Availability: Published
ISBN: 978-90-04-71571-4
Publication: 26 Jun 2025
EUR €183.00

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A rediscovered Coptic-era city in Egypt

COPTIC ARCHAEOLOGY WATCH: From Pagan Temples to Coptic Prayers: New Discovery Sheds Light on Early Christianity in Egypt (Jerusalem Post Staff).

Archaeologists working in the Bagawat necropolis, which contains 263 standing structures behind the Hibis Temple, uncovered mud-brick houses, tombs, two churches, wall paintings, large pottery jars for grain, cooking ovens, pottery and glass fragments, stone pieces, and burial spaces—evidence of a self-sustaining desert community.

The larger church followed a basilica plan with a central nave, side aisles, square columns, and a hall that suggested the community’s status. The second, smaller and rectangular, bears Coptic texts on its interior walls. A mural shows Jesus healing a sick person, while other chapel domes display Torah scenes. Thousands of inscriptions in Greek, Latin, Coptic, and Arabic span several centuries.

Another lost city in Egypt?

It sounds like this site at the Kharga Oasis is important for the study of the rise of late-antique Coptic Christianity.

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

Update on the Critical Edition of the Hebrew Psalter Project

THE OTTC BLOG: CEHP Transcription Update (Drew Longacre).

For more on the Critical Edition of the Hebrew Psalter Project, see here, here, and here. It is good to hear that it has received new funding and it can continue.

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

Bruce Chilton's Bible and Interpretation essays

THE BIBLE AND INTERPRETATION: Writings of Bruce Chilton.

Since the launch of The Bible and Interpretation in 2000, Bruce Chilton has been a leading contributor to the site. In recognition of his outstanding scholarship and his invaluable contributions over the past 25 years, we are pleased to honor him with a curated list of his articles.

That is, his articles at The Bible and Interpretation.

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

Aramaic epitaph discovered in the sword cave

ARAMAIC WATCH: ‘Abba of Naburya has perished’: Unique 1,900-year-old inscription found in Dead Sea cave. Four-line Aramaic text, one of the few legible inscriptions from the era, may be tied to the Bar Kochba Revolt. The words were spotted only inches away from hidden Roman swords (Rossella Tercatin, Times of Israel).

“Abba of Naburya has perished,” the first line reads. Only isolated words or letters in the additional three lines have been deciphered, including the words “on us,” “he took,” and “the.”

The inscription was discovered in a cave near the Ein Gedi National Park in the Dead Sea region. The cave was already known to archaeologists as it contains a stalactite with a fragmentary ink inscription written in ancient Hebrew script characteristic of the First Temple period.

The inscription sounds poignant. During the Bar Kokhba Revolt, the Romans sometimes besieged groups of rebels in caves until they starved. The Cave of Horror contained what appear to be similar epitaphs on ostraca and parchment associated with graves there. If the inscription dates to this revolt, it may have a like context.

For more on that Hebrew inscription in this cave and the four swords found near the two inscriptions, see here.

Cross-file under Northwest Semitic Epigraphy and Technology Watch..

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The Talmudic sages and late-antique viticulture

TALMUD WATCH MEETS ARCHAEOBOTANY: Talmudic sages were active participants in ancient Mediterranean wine culture. According to a new study, the sages "sought ways to allow Jewish farmers to remain part of the wine industry without compromising Halacha” (Joanie Margulies, Jerusalem Post).

The researchers used an interdisciplinary approach, combining textual analysis of rabbinic literature like the Mishna, the Tosefta, and the Jerusalem Talmud with archaeological evidence and Classical Greek and Latin agricultural treatises. This integration of evidence demonstrated the sages’ deep familiarity with vineyard planning and growing techniques.

A key finding of the study was that the distances mandated by the sages between vine rows to prevent crossbreeding were “nearly identical” to those found in Classical-era vineyards in Italy and France.

The underlying article is published in the Journal of Interdisciplinary History. It is behind the subscription wall.

Mediterranean Viticulture in Late Antique Palestine

Shulamit Miller, Guy Bar-Oz, Eyal Ben-Eliyahu, Gil Gambash The Journal of Interdisciplinary History (2025) 56 (1): 43–79. https://doi.org/10.1162/jinh.a.3

Abstract

Viticulture in Late Antiquity was a widespread, economically vital, and regionally diverse form of horticulture in the Mediterranean world, and archaeological and textual sources such as rabbinical literature shed light on viticulture, particularly in Palestine. Vineyard cultivation was shaped by local geography, climate, and religious norms, with techniques ranging from dryland farming to terracing, and from small plots to industrial-scale wine production. Rabbinical texts highlight Jewish legal and theological concerns—such as prohibitions on mixed planting and non-kosher wine—yet also show that rabbis operated within a shared Mediterranean viticultural koiné. Despite religious distinctions, vintners engaged in trade, adapted common practices, and contributed to a vibrant, interconnected viticultural economy. This article’s multidisciplinary perspective positions Palestine as a fully integrated participant in Late Antique Mediterranean wine culture, with its own regional adaptations shaped by religious, economic, and environmental factors.

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The fate of the Crosby-Schøyen Codex

IT BELONGS IN A MUSEUM. AND THAT'S WHERE IT IS: The Anonymous Buyer of One of World’s Oldest Books? The Green Collection. Scholars worried that the text had disappeared from the public, but the Crosby-Schøyen Codex is now on display at the Museum of the Bible (Emily Belz, Christianity Today).

The buyer of one of the oldest books in existence is no longer anonymous, and the book is viewable by the public after scholars fretted that it had disappeared into unknown private hands.

The Green Collection, connected to the Museum of the Bible, revealed that it purchased the Crosby-Schøyen Codex, which contains what is perhaps the earliest complete versions of Jonah and 1 Peter, at an auction last year.

[...]

HT Brent Nongbri at Variant Readings.

This is very good news!

We last saw the Coptic Crosby-Schøyen Codex when it was sold at a Christie's auction in June of 2024. For many PaleoJudaica posts, follow the links from there. Two substantive posts are here and here.

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

Greek Matthew and 6 Ezra fragments from Oxyrhynchus

VARIANT READINGS: New Article on P.Oxy. 1 2 and P.Oxy. 7 1010 (Brent Nongbri).

Behind the bland title of Brent's post lies a very interesting article on two long-known manuscripts that deserve more attention:

AnneMarie [Luijendijk] and I gave a general overview of Christian codices among the Oxyrhynchus papyri and then focused on two pieces, P.Oxy. 1 2, a papyrus bifolium containing the beginning of the Gospel According to Matthew in Greek and P.Oxy. 7 1010, a parchment leaf from a codex containing 6 Ezra.

The Matthew papyrus is dated to the third century and is of interest to New Testament scholars.

The second manuscript is of particular interest to PaleoJudaica. The full text of 6 Ezra is known only in a Latin translation appended to the Latin version of 4 Ezra. This Latin combination of 4-5-6 Ezra is known as 2 Esdras. This small, late-antique parchment fragment preserves the little that we have of the Greek original of 6 Ezra.

This open-access article gives background on Christian papyri from Oxyrhynchus. It discusses the details of this manuscript and explores the question of its provenance (Jewish or Christian). The authors also argue that the manuscript was a stand-alone one containing only 6 Ezra. This is an important datum for questions about the text's origin, transmission, and attachment to 4-5 Ezra. The article also points to an intriguing reference to a copy of an Ezra book–conceivably this very manuscript—in a fourth-century personal letter, also discovered at Oxyrhynchus.

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Conference: Multidisciplinary Perspectives on Apocalypticism in the 7th-9th Centuries

H-JUDAIC: EVENT: Multidisciplinary Perspectives on Apocalypticism in the 7th-9th Centuries (September 1-3).

Conference
Date September 1, 2025 - September 3, 2025
Location United Kingdom
Subject Fields Jewish History / Studies

Multidisciplinary Perspectives on Apocalypticism in the 7th-9th Centuries
Parkes Institute for the Study of Jewish/non-Jewish Relations, University of Southampton
1-3 September 2025
All times are British Summer Time or UTC+1

The conference marks the final event of a funded project examining apocalyptic literature of Jews, Christians, and Muslims in this formative period of contact and conflict. The aim is to bring together scholars from different disciplines to inspire innovative discussion about the nature of apocalypticism and Jewish-Christian-Muslim relations at the emergence of Islam.

Follow the link for the conference schedule and free online-attendance registration information. It's not clear to me whether registration for in-person attendance is still possible.

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More on the possible synagogue in Castulo

ARCHAEOLOGY UPDATED: Study suggests 4th-century prayer site may be one of Spain’s earliest synagogues. Oil lamps decorated with menorahs and architectural evidence uncovered in the Roman city of Castulo suggest that the building was not a church, but served as Jews’ place of worship (Rossella Tercatin, Times of Israel).

A 4th-century building in the Ibero-Roman city of Cástulo in south-central Spain, traditionally interpreted by experts as an early Christian church, might have instead been a synagogue, a group of Spanish archaeologists has argued.

[...]

I've covered this story and the underlying technical article already here. But this article includes some new details from an email interview with an excavator.

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Ezra and Nehemiah pseudepigrapha?

AN EXPERIMENT:

There are a number of Old Testament pseudepigrapha associated with the name of Ezra: 4 (5-6) Ezra, Greek/Latin Apocalypse of Ezra, Apocalypse of Sedrach(?), Vision of Ezra, Questions of Ezra, Revelation of Ezra. Yet no pseudepigrapha survive which are attributed to his contemporary Nehemiah. Not one.

Why?

What do you think? Comments enabled.

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Judicial neutrality and the Bible

THE BIBLE AND INTERPRETATION:

The Bible and the Myth of Judicial Impartiality

Judicial neutrality is critiqued through an exploration of ancient legal traditions that both uphold and challenge the ideal of rule-bound justice. Narratives such as those of Daniel, Susanna, Herod, and Jesus reveal how rigid legalism can lead to injustice, while empathy and contextual judgment often result in fairer, more humane outcomes.

See also Trial Stories in Jewish Antiquity: Counternarratives of Justice (Oxford, 2024).

By Chaya Halberstam
Professor and Chair, Department of Religious Studies
King’s University College at Western University
July 2025

I noted the publication of the book here.

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Tony Burke's Regensburg Year: July 2025

THE APOCRYPHICITY BLOG: My Regensburg Year Part 12: July 2025.

Tony Burke was on research sabbatical for the 2024-25 academic year at the University of Regensburg in Germany. The year is now done and this is his final report:

This was it. Our last month. The plan was to spend one week in Poland and in the other three I would finish my book. Only one of those things was going to happen.

[...]

Never mind about the book. It will get done. Meanwhile Tony reports that during the year they visited fifty cities in fifteen countries and he presented six academic papers.

Back to work for Tony at York University. I have enjoyed following his Regensburg year.

For earlier posts in the series and more on Tony's work, see here and links.

Cross-file under New Testament Apocrypha Watch.

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Ancient Star of David with a cross in it? Nope.

DECORATIVE ART: Grave Dig Uncovers 1,500-Year-Old Mosaic with Star of David and Cryptic Greek Petition in Türkiye (Leman Altuntaş, Arkeonews).

A routine burial in southeastern Türkiye has led to an extraordinary archaeological discovery. While digging a grave in the rural Özbilek neighborhood of Ergani district, local residents uncovered a stunning 35-square-meter mosaic floor believed to date back to the late Roman or early Byzantine period.

What makes the find even more fascinating is the presence of a six-line inscription in ancient Greek, resembling a formal petition or plea, along with a unique Star of David containing a Christian cross motif — a symbol rarely seen in combination. The mosaic was unearthed on March 8 during preparations for a burial, but the find has only recently been detailed by local museum authorities.

The article above has the best photo of the "Star of David" that I could find. As you can see, it is an eight-pointed star, two overlapping squares. It is not a Star of David. The Star of David is a six-pointed star, two overlapping equilateral triangles.

There is a + design in the center of the star. I don't know if it is a Christian cross. It's not obvious to me that it is. The mosaic has lots of geometric designs in it. You can see a better overall photo of it here. There is another + shape in the center of the big main design. The star containing the + is in the lower right.

It gets stranger. The Jerusalem Post reports: Mosaic with Star of David and Hidden Messages in Ancient Greek Found in Turkey. It too claims "The most striking feature of the mosaic is its incorporation of a Star of David with a cross motif and six lines of text written in Ancient Greek." There is a photo at the top which does depict a hexagram in a mosaic. There is a greenish blob in the center which has no resemblance to a cross. The article doesn't quite say that this is the mosaic being covered, but it certainly permits the reader to assume that.

I spent too much of my morning going down a rabbit hole to work out that the pictured mosaic is a fourth-century BCE one at Neo Paphos in Cyprus. It contains various geometric and other shapes, including, strikingly, a swastika next to the star. Both are just geometric designs in this period.

I was not surprised to see this notice at the bottom of the JP article: "Written with the help of a news-analysis system." In other words, it is AI generated.

In short, the mosaic discovered recently in Türkiye is of interest in itself, but it doesn't contain a Star of David. I suspect the "cross" is just a geometric decoration as well, but I don't know.

It is disappointing that the various journalists who transmitted this story didn't read it carefully enough to see the obvious problem with it. And doubly disappointing that the "Jerusalem Post Staff" let their article go through with that confusing and misleading photo. Why not use a photo of the actual Türkiye mosaic?

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Lundbom, Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi (Cascade)

NEW BOOK FROM WIPF AND STOCK (CASCADE):

Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi Hebrew Prophets of the Sixth and Fifth Centuries

by Jack R. Lundbom
Series: Cascade Companions

Imprint: Cascade Books
212 Pages, 5.00 x 8.00 x 0.42 in

Paperback
9798385237388
Published: June 2025
$28.00 / £21.00 / AU$43.00

eBook
9798385237401
Published: June 2025
$28.00 / £21.00 / AU$43.00

DESCRIPTION

This book introduces readers to Hebrew prophets of the sixth and fifth centuries BC, providing detailed discussion of Haggai's prophecy, of selected prophecies from I and II Zechariah, and of Malachi's prophecy. After a survey of the historical background of the period and brief introductions to each prophet, prophecies are translated; their rhetorical and compositional nature is noted, then discussed in detail. Questions for reflection are provided, making the book suitable for Bible study and small group discussions.

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