ERC awards "Tracing Scribes and Scrolls" project €2.5M

RESEARCH FUNDING: Mladen Popović awarded ERC Advanced Grant to trace the origins of the Dead Sea Scrolls. Professor Mladen Popović has been awarded an ERC Advanced Grant of €2.5 million. Under the project title ‘Tracing Tribes and Scrolls’, he and his team will spend the next five years working in the laboratory and using AI to trace the origins of the Dead Sea Scrolls. ... (University of Groningen). HT the Bible Places Blog.

About Popović’s project
In the ‘Tracing Scribes and Scrolls’ project, Popović (Faculty of Religion, Culture and Society and interim dean of the Faculty of Arts) and his colleagues aim to trace the origins and creation of the Dead Sea Scrolls by adopting an interdisciplinary approach to the issue: using analytical chemistry, AI and palaeography (the study of handwriting), they aim to determine where the scrolls were made and written. This could shed new light on the historical and cultural context of the scrolls.

[...]

Congratulations to Professor Popović and his team!

Cross-file under Material Culture, Paleography, and Algorithm Watch.

UPDATE (1 July): More here.

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Barer, Going Off Script (OUP)

NEW BOOK FROM OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS:

Going Off Script

Improvisational Judgment in the Talmud

Deborah Barer

£68.00
Hardback
Published: 13 May 2026
152 Pages
235x156mm
ISBN: 9780197807859

Also Available As:

E-book

• Situates the contested phrase lifnim mi-shurat ha-din with a novel conceptual framework
• Uses concepts from behavioral economics to analyze rabbinic action
• Uses case studies to articulate the broader legal and hermeneutic assumptions of the Talmudic editors

Description

Going Off Script offers a novel explanation of what it means to act lifnim mi-shurat ha-din (within the line of the law). Tracing the development of this phrase within classical rabbinic literature, the book intervenes in longstanding debates over what this phrase signals about the relationship between Jewish ethics and Jewish law. Deborah Barer breaks with previous scholarship to argue that lifnim mi-shurat ha-din does not represent a particular type of moral or legal action, but rather a way of making decisions. When rabbis act lifnim mi-shurat ha-din, they improvise, deviating from established norms of behavior in order to pursue a specific, case-based outcome.

The creation of this category helps the Talmudic editors make sense of otherwise confusing accounts of rabbinic conduct. It also enables them to solve apparent conflicts between their inherited sources, thus resolving a specific set of legal and hermeneutic challenges that arise in the process of producing the Talmud. Once created, however, this category takes on a life of its own. Later generations of Talmudic readers and interpreters develop lifnim mi-shurat ha-din as a particular type of moral action, rather than as a way of making decisions, and they import those assumptions back onto their reading of the Talmudic text.

By identifying lifnim mi-shurat ha-din as a mode of decision-making, Going Off Script disentangles these later assumptions from the textual record, clarifying the extent to which, at the level of the Talmud itself, lifnim mi-shurat ha-din is a morally evaluative term. It identifies improvisation as a type of decision-making that introduces new moral possibilities, and traces how the Talmudic editors contend both with the destabilization that improvisation introduces as well as the beneficial outcomes it makes possible.

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

(Con)textual Perspectives on the Dead Sea Scrolls (Chazon Festschrift, Brill)

NEW BOOK FROM BRILL:

(Con)textual Perspectives on the Dead Sea Scrolls

Proceedings of the Seventeenth International Orion Symposium, February 28–March 3, 2022. Published in Honor of Esther G. Chazon

Series:
Studies on the Texts of the Desert of Judah, Volume: 157

Volume Editors: Ruth A. Clements, Michael B. Johnson, Noam Mizrahi, and Michael Segal

The Seventeenth Orion Symposium, held online, invited scholars to present research-in-progress, and to relate their texts to diverse literary, cultural, historical, and methodological contexts, including social sciences and manuscript studies. In some cases, authors reexamined published texts with the help of digital technologies and computational approaches, and suggested new contexts for understanding the significance of minute details. The volume is dedicated to Esther Chazon, who conceived of the symposium, in recognition of her many contributions to the Orion Center and to the field of Scrolls studies.

Copyright Year: 2026

E-Book (PDF)
Availability: Published
ISBN: 978-90-04-75514-7
Publication: 04 May 2026
EUR €146.00

Hardback
Availability: Published
ISBN: 978-90-04-75477-5
Publication: 05 Jun 2026
EUR €146.00

Congrautions to Professor Chazon!

I noted that 2022 Orion Symposium here.

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Ancient Anatolian Mithraeum was closed by Syriac Christians

ARAMAIC WATCH: Ancient Aramaic inscription reveals early Christians sealed Türkiye's Mithras Temple (Türkiye Today).

{The decipherer, Professor Mehmet Sait] Toprak said the inscription refers symbolically to the "Invincible Sun God Mithras" and to Jesus, showing how the sanctuary was sealed in a Christian context.

He said the text includes expressions referring to the holy cross in the name of God, described as the one who orders, reforms and spreads love.

He described the inscription as the first known Old Aramaic written example showing the closure of a Mithras Temple. "This is an extremely important archaeological discovery," Toprak said, adding that both the writing and the cross at the entrance represented the symbolic closure of the temple.

I noted the 2017 discovery of this 1700-year-old Mithras sanctuary at the Zerzevan Castle in the Diyarbakır province in southeast Turkey here and here. Aramaic writing in a chapel in the same vicinity was discovered in 2015. I don't know if the latter is related to the newly deciphered inscription announced in this latest article.

Cross-file under Syriac Watch.

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The recovery of a lost Gnostic poem

THE ANXIOUS BENCH: How We Accidentally Found A Great Gnostic Poem (Philip Jenkins).

Hippolytus offers elaborate retellings of Gnostic celestial mythologies, with the goal of showing how thoroughly plagiarized they were from the famous philosophers of pagan Greek antiquity, especially Plato and Pythagoras. But that habit of copious quotation is fatally counter-productive for his cause. He wants to uproot heresy and destroy their memory. What he does is to preserve massive details that otherwise would have been eradicated, and some of what he quotes is really attractive and even inspiring.

There are other cases where quotations by ancient zealous debunkers preserved the only substantial portions of works the debunkers opposed. Works that, without their interference, would have been lost and forgotten. Origen's Contra Celsum comes to mind.

By the way, the surviving manuscript of The Refutation of All Heresies is anonymous. Its attribution to Hyppolytus has been challenged as tenuous in recent years. For details, see David Litwa's recent edition, a review of which is noted here.

This post is a continuation of Professor Jenkins's Lost and Found Scriptures series. For earlier posts, see here and links.

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Nomination for IAA head rejected by vetting committee

POLITICS AND ARCHAEOLOGY: Vetting panel disqualifies heritage minister’s nominee for Antiquities Authority chief. Esther Schreiber blocked after panel finds that the tender that led to her selection illegally lowered criteria; Ben Gvir says 'deep state' can't handle religiously observant women (Times of Israel).

Background here (cf. here) and links.

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Stoic (?) scroll recovered from Herculaneum

HERCULANEUM WATCH: AI helps read papyrus scroll burnt to crisp during Vesuvius eruption. Previously hidden text revealed without unrolling scroll discusses stoic philosophy on ethics, art and human behaviour (Ian Sample, The Guardian).

The Vesuvius Challenge has yielded up twenty readable columns of a carbonized Herculaneum scroll:

Much of the Herculaneum library was dominated by Philodemus of Gadara, a Epicurean philosopher and poet in the first century BC. But while the title and author of PHerc 1667 remain unknown, its older age and contents point to another author.

Analysis by Nicolardi and her colleagues suggests the text is a stoic treatise, perhaps authored by the Greek philosopher Chrysippus. He was the third head of the stoic school and has other works in the collection. The text refers to his nephew and pupil, Aristocreon.

“At first, we were saying this could be an Epicurean talking about stoic doctrine,” said Nicolardi. “But then I stopped and said, you know, if this was found outside of Herculaneum, we would categorise it as a stoic work.”

Prof. Brent Seales has been working on recovering the Herculaneum scrolls for a long time.

Seales said the challenge had now shifted from the techniques needed to read the burned scrolls to the scholarly work to understand them. “People now know that this can be done and now we’re exploring what [the texts] actually mean,” he said. “For me that’s the World Cup. I just won the World Cup: that’s my victory.”

Amen to that.

For many PaleoJudaica posts on the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 CE and its destruction of Pompeii and Herculaneum, and on the efforts to reconstruct and decipher the carbonized library at Herculaneum, start here and follow the links. Cross-file under Technology Watch.

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

Was Jesus, Son of Panthera, a Christian invention?

THE BIBLE AND INTERPRETATION:

Jesus, the Son of Panthera: The Christian Invention of a “Jewish” Slander

The Panthera legend is often treated as an early Jewish slander against Jesus and Mary, but the evidence points instead to a Christian anti-Jewish construction. Early Christian writers placed the accusation in the mouths of fictional or stylized Jewish opponents to defend the virginal conception, police Christian belief, and portray Jews as hostile outsiders. Rabbinic references to the “son of Panthera” are late, fragmentary, and too ambiguous to support the idea of an organized Jewish anti-Christian polemic.

See also The Panthera Legend and the Conception of Jesus: Rape, Consent and Anti-Judaism (Routledge, 2026).

By Christopher B. Zeichmann
Toronto Metropolitan University
Religious Studies
June 2026

Cross-file under New Book.

I have posts on the Panthera (Pantera, Pandera) legend, and on Jesus in the Talmud, here, here, and here, with links and comments.

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

Review of the reopened Bardo Museum

PUNIC WATCH: The Reopened Bardo National Museum in Tunis, Tunisia (Helen Dixon, American Journal of Archaeology 130.3, open access).

Abstract

This review addresses the reopened (in 2023) Bardo National Museum in Tunis, a government-funded archaeological museum in Tunisia’s capital city. As of June 2025, several galleries had been reorganized or completely redone, but a few rooms remained closed as the renovations continued. Key collections—like one of the world’s largest assemblages of mosaics—are stunning, if perhaps under-interpreted. The updated presentation offers unique insight into the Late Classical and Late Antique Mediterranean worlds, as well as the early history of Islam in the Maghreb. Although labels throughout the museum currently provide uneven guidance for non-specialist visitors, the renovations have established a strong foundation for further improvements in accessibility and interpretive depth, particularly in areas such as women’s history, African history, and the contemporary reception of the past. The complex legacies of Carthage and Rome, as well as Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, are presented as a pluralist cultural vision, in powerful conversation with grand Western narratives about the ancient Mediterranean and the spread of monotheism. The museum’s dominant metaphor can be said to be the mosaic, an assemblage of meaningful stories, each presented as a medallion in the larger pattern of Tunisian identity.

As I noted in 2023, the museum suffered a terrorist attack in 2015, but it reopened that same year. It was closed during the Covid lockdowns and then again for complicated political reasons. It underwent continued restoration during that closure and reopened in 2023.

This review includes coverage of the museum's substantial Punic collection.

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

Archaeomagnetometry, geomagnetic fluctuations, and the Acra Fortress

TECHNOLOGY WATCH: Hellenistic Wine Jars from Rhodes Reveal the Secrets of Earth’s Magnetic Field and the Jerusalem of the Maccabees. An international study uses Hellenistic ceramics with Rhodes stamps to track abrupt changes in the magnetic field and shed light on the Seleucid fortress of Acra in Jerusalem ( Guillermo Carvajal, LBV).

A team of researchers from Tel Aviv University, Ariel University, and the University of California San Diego has managed to extract high-resolution geomagnetic information from 24 ceramic pieces found in three Jerusalem sites: the City of David, the Jewish Quarter, and the Givati parking lot.

The result, published in Archaeometry, confirms that the magnetic field suffered a dramatic collapse in the first half of the 2nd century BCE and, moreover, offers an unexpected tool to precisely date the most controversial archaeological contexts of Hellenistic Jerusalem.

[...]

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

For more archaeomagnetic (geomagnetic, paleomagnetic, etc.) dating stories, see here and links.

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

Secret Mark—Three times bogus?

THE ANXIOUS BENCH: A Third Novel That Proves “Secret Mark” Is A Forgery.And Another Good Reason Why “Secret Mark” is Bogus (Philip Jenkins).

I must ask for help on one question. Can anyone think of where Graves was getting his idea of a secret gospel transmission, presumably channeled through bishops? Is there any ancient warrant for that at all? Or did he make it up entirely himself? Because if there is no ancient source, I think we have another powerful piece of evidence confirming that Morton Smith forged the letter of Clement of Alexandria in which he describes The Secret Gospel of Mark.

As I've noted before, Professor Jenkins thinks the idea of Secret Mark being genuinely ancient anything is laughable. The possibility that it is a late-antique forgery is still being defended. And I see that, perhaps contrary to my earlier comment, New Testament Apocrypha expert Tony Burke still (as of 2024) thinks that the Secret Gospel of Mark "might be authentic" and "is probably not a forgery," although I'm not sure exactly what that means. I'm also not sure what other positions specialists are still prepared to defend. This is not my area of expertise. I'm just watching. 🍿

For many PaleoJudaica posts on the Secret Gospel of Mark debate, follow the links from the link above.

I think this AB post is a continuation of Professor Jenkins's Lost and Found Scriptures series. For earlier posts, see here and links.

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

King Tarhaqa and Sennacherib's siege of Jerusalem

BIBLE HISTORY DAILY: King Taharqa of the Kingdom of Cush. Did Nubian kings save Judah? (Marek Dospěl).

This essay summarizes a BAR article (behind the subscription wall) by James K. Hoffmeier.

I'm always interested in adding another piece to the puzzle of the events around Sennacherib's siege of Jerusalem in the time of Hezekiah. I have mentioned King Tarhaqa (Tarhaqo, Tirhakah) here and links, with some comments about 2 Kings 19:9 (//Isaiah 37:9) in the context of the siege here. For many other posts, start here and follow the links.

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

On writing The Magi

ANCIENT JEW REVIEW: Lessons Learned from the Magi (Eric Vanden Eykel).

If writing about the Magi taught me anything, it is that interpretive certainty is often unfounded. The twelve verses about the Magi in Matthew do not invite final answers; they invite attention, patience, and the persistence to keep digging. In this way, the Magi become less a prooftext about Gentiles and Jews and more a pressure test for our reading and interpretive habits. The history of interpretation for the story of the Magi exposes how easily Christian interpretation drifts into anti-Judaism when “outsider versus insider” dynamics are allowed to stand in for more careful and intentional study.

A very personal account of the writing of the author's book, The Magi: Who They Were, How They’ve Been Remembered, and Why They Still Fascinate (Fortress, 2022), on which more here.

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

Obeid, Le langage métaphorique dans le texte hébreu de Ben Sira (Mohr Siebeck)

NEW BOOK FROM MOHR SIEBECK:

Charlotte Obeid

Le langage métaphorique dans le texte hébreu de Ben Sira

[Metaphorical Language in the Hebrew Text of Ben Sira.]
2025. 404 pages.
Forschungen zum Alten Testament 2. Reihe (FAT II) 171

€109.00
including VAT

sewn paper
available
978-3-16-164680-5

Also Available As:
eBook PDF

Summary

Charlotte Obeid analyzes the use of metaphorical language for educational purposes in the Hebrew text of Ben Sira, providing interpretative tools that not only contribute to a better understanding of Ben Sira's message but can be applied to the interpretation of metaphors in other writings as well.

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Porter & Laird (eds.), The New Testament Canon in Contemporary Research (Brill)

NEW BOOK FROM BRILL:

The New Testament Canon in Contemporary Research

Series:
Texts and Editions for New Testament Study, Volume: 21

Volume Editors: Stanley E. Porter and Benjamin P. Laird

The New Testament canon remains a major topic in scholarly research. This comprehensive volume provides a forum for scholars from varied backgrounds and perspectives to present major essays on the various dimensions of the topic. The essays are organized around three major foci: the formation of the canon, the components of the canon, and the witnesses of the canon, within which are several sub-sections. Following a treatment of various factors that prompted the formation of the New Testament canon, the subsequent sections include essays that present opposing views on specific questions of current debate.

Copyright Year: 2026

E-Book (PDF)
Availability: Published
ISBN: 978-90-04-75107-1
Publication: 17 Mar 2026
EUR €170.00

Hardback
Availability: Published
ISBN: 978-90-04-75106-4
Publication: 16 Apr 2026
EUR €170.00

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Fraenkel on ... Confrontation Stories among Rabbis in the Babylonian Talmud

ANCIENT JEW REVIEW: Reading Conflict in the Babylonian Talmud: Behind The Fragility of the Mind (Yuval Fraenkel).

A Publication Preview of Yuval Fraenkel, The Fragility of the Mind: Confrontation Stories among Rabbis in the Babylonian Talmud (Magness Press, 2026), [Hebrew].

... Even if these events did in fact occur, this alone cannot explain the immense cultural energy invested in their telling, nor the central place they occupy within the Babylonian Talmud, the canonical collection of Jewish culture. The fact that interpersonal conflict so intensely preoccupied the rabbis compels us to ask: Why did the storytellers of the Talmud choose to depict their heroes precisely in these moments? Why devote so much literary energy to sages who hurt one another, become angry with one another, or suffer humiliation at one another’s hands?

This question ultimately became the foundation of the book.

It says "Publication Preview" above, but Magness Press already has the book available for sale. I noted it recently here.

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Hendel, Cultural Memory in the Hebrew Bible (CUP, temporarily open access)

NEW (BRIEF) BOOK FROM CAMBRIDGE ELEMENTS:

Cultural Memory in the Hebrew Bible

Genesis to Kings

Published online by Cambridge University Press: 12 June 2026

Ronald Hendel

Summary

The relationship between the biblical representations of the past and the history of the second and early first millennia BCE is best comprehended by the concept of cultural memory. This volume investigates the dynamics of cultural memory in the Hebrew Bible, with case studies on the ancestors, the Exodus, the conquest, and Solomon and the Queen of Sheba. The texts create a monumental past by a mixture of memory, forgetting, revision, and re-actualization, motivated in various measures by religion, politics, the landscape, ethnic relationships, and cultural self-fashioning. The archaeology of the Levant illuminates the complicated pathways between history and biblical memory.

The whole book is available for free until 1 July. For you, special deal!

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A first-century synagogue at Tel Rekhesh

BIBLE HISTORY DAILY: Synagogues Jesus and Mary Magdalene Knew. Observing early Judaism at Tel Rekhesh (Lauren K. McCormick).

To date, about ten first-century synagogues have been confirmed across the southern Levant. One of them, located about 10 miles from Magdala on a rural mound called Tel Rekhesh, seems to tell a different version of the same story. As opposed to a bustling lakeside town like Magdala, Tel Rekhesh is a small, rural settlement. Its synagogue is smaller, more plain, and tucked into the edge of a modest farmstead. Yet both buildings come from the decades and region where Jesus of Nazareth—itself a small town in the Galilee—was said to preach in “synagogues throughout all Galilee” (Mark 1:39).

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

A contentious West Bank archaeology conference in Jerusalem

POLITICS AND ARCHAEOLOGY: West Bank archaeology conference unearths controversy as politics takes center stage. Jerusalem event attracts hundreds, including dozens of scholars, but many in the field stay away and international participation is down; attendee calls event ‘highly politicized’ (Rossella Tercatin, Times of Israel).

Hundreds of people, including dozens of archaeology scholars affiliated with Israeli universities, on Wednesday attended the first day of a controversial academic conference devoted to antiquities in the West Bank.

Like its first edition, the second international “Archaeology and Site Conservation in Judea and Samaria” — the biblical name for the West Bank — is centered around presenting research and findings of archaeological work across the region, with sessions devoted to excavations in the Hebron area, the Judean Desert, Tel Shiloh and elsewhere. However, political controversies also took center stage at the conference, held at the Orient Hotel in Jerusalem.

[...]

For more on that West Bank and Gaza antiquities bill, see here and links. The article notes the report that work on the bill has been paused by the Prime Minister. For more on the controversial nomination for the head of the IAA, see here and links. Archaeologist Aren Maier has appeared in many PaleoJudaica posts.

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

A mother-of-pearl, Indo-Pacific, Assyrian amulet-seal, oh my!

ANCIENT MATERIAL (MULTI-)CULTURE: Rare mother-of-pearl seal highlights movement of goods and ideas across Assyrian empire. The 2,600-year-old shell used for a tiny seal stamped with an Assyrian-era religious symbol originated in the Indo-Pacific. How did it reach the Holy Land? (Zev Stub, Times of Israel).

A tiny, iridescent stamp seal found at the Tel Hadid archaeological site in central Israel gives some clues into far-flung trade networks and offers a unique glimpse into life in the years after the ancient Kingdom of Israel was overtaken by the Assyrian Empire 2,600 years ago, according to a study published last month in the journal Levant.

Cool.

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The glorious imaginary Temple(s) in the Dead Sea Scrolls

BIBLE HISTORY DAILY: Teasing the Temple in the Dead Sea Scrolls. Thinking through the dimensions with Lawrence Schiffman (Clinton J. Moyer).

Given this background, it is unsurprising that the authors of the Dead Sea Scrolls—some of whom wrote as early as the third century BCE—were intensely interested in this topic. Schiffman examines two detailed plans for the Temple and its environs found in the Dead Sea Scrolls, in his article “Sublime Sanctuary: The Jerusalem Temple in the Dead Sea Scrolls,” published in the Summer 2026 issue of Biblical Archaeology Review.

The BAR article is behind the subscription wall, but this essay gives an informative summary of it.

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

On AI, golems, and the Pope

ALGORITHM WATCH MEETS GOLEM WATCH: AI, Magnifica Humanitas, and the Law of the Golem (Seth C. Oranburg, Public Discourse).

The Talmudic and rabbinic tradition diverges from the latest encyclical, and the divergence highlights a paradox in the papal logic. Leo XIV’s strongest move, his categorical prohibition against the use of AI to make “lethal or otherwise irreversible decisions,” demands a more principled distinction between the Switchblade and the CyberKnife

A thoughtful examination of the moral agency of Artificial Intelligence, interacting with the Talmud, the golem legend, and Catholic theology.

For many PaleoJudaica posts on the golem tradition, start here and follow the links.

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

Ḥadashot Arkheologiyot Volume 138 (2026)

HADASHOT ARKHEOLOGIYOT–Excavations and Surveys in Israel has a new volume out with articles in English and Hebrew.

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

How the Hebrew Bible became Christian Scripture

THE BIBLE AND INTERPRETATION:

How the Hebrew Bible Became a Christian Book

Medieval and early Christian biblical traditions developed through centuries of copying, translation, correction, and interpretation. The Bible’s history is less like one tree branching outward and more like rivers flowing together, as Hebrew, Greek, and Latin textual streams shaped Christian Scripture through the Septuagint, Jerome’s Vulgate, Hebraica Veritas, canon debates, and Jewish, Catholic, Protestant, and Eastern Orthodox traditions.

See also Shared Scripture – Divided Faiths: The Medieval Jewish-Christian Encounter over the Hebrew Bible / Old Testament (Brill, 2026).

By Frans van Liere
Calvin University
Professor of History
June 2026

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

Scrolls or unidentified rectangular objects?

VARIANT READINGS: The Iconography of Jewish Scrolls in the Roman Era (Brent Nongbri).

As far as I know, that is about the extent of the visual range of depictions of scrolls in Jewish sources: a spiral showing the frons or end, the closed roll showing the height of the scroll and perhaps some perspective with one or both of the ends depicted as well, and the partly open scroll shown in the Dura Europos image and the Salutia inscription.

What about other images in Jewish inscriptions that may more closely resemble the Castricius rectangle?

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

The first (bad) book on an apocryphal gospel?

THE ANXIOUS BENCH: Finding The First Book Ever Written On A Hidden Gospel (Philip Jenkins).

The Gospel of the Hebrews thus mattered greatly in the scriptural tradition, and in 1866, Hilgenfeld had collected the 33 surviving fragments in his survey of all available extra-canonical New Testament texts. The work also earned the attention of the versatile scholar Nicholson, the long-serving head of Oxford’s Bodleian Library. Amply acknowledging his debt to Hilgenfeld, Nicholson surveyed all the available fragments of Hebrews as well as Patristic references and likely parallels, and hypothesized that the work had the same author as Matthew’s canonical gospel. That argument is almost certainly incorrect, and in modern times it has been dismantled by such scholars as Bart Ehrman.

Professor Jenkins is trying to determine whether Nicholson's 1879 book is the first published monograph on a non-canonical gospel. If you know of an earlier one, drop a comment to his post.

For earlier posts in his Lost and Found Scriptures series, see here and links. Cross-file under New Testament Apocrypha and Lost Books.

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

Was there a real Tower of Babel?

MYTHOLOGICAL MONUMENTAL ARCHITECTURE? Was there a real Tower of Babel? This temple is the leading contender. Many archaeologists believe the famed tower from the Book of Genesis may have had a real historical counterpart in ancient Mesopotamia (National Geographic).

The answer could be yes—both archaeologists and historians believe the Tower of Babel from the Book of Genesis actually had a historical counterpart in ancient Mesopotamia: Etemenanki.

But though modern research has revealed plenty of potential evidence that such a structure not only existed but was known throughout the ancient world, the case for a real-life Tower of Babel is far from closed.

No historian thinks that a Tower of Babel as told in Genesis 11 ever existed. But the legend of the Tower many have been based on an actual very ancient temple-tower (a "ziqqurat") in ancient Babylon.

It seems likely enough that Judean exiles who saw the ruins of Etemenanki in Babylon inferred the Tower of Babel story from it. There was also a Sumerian version of the story of the confusion of tongues. It is possible that some version of it was still in circulation during the Exile. See also here and here.

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

Busts of "Lycurgus" and his shaggy friend found in salvage excavation

ANCIENT STATUARY: 'Once-in-a-lifetime Discovery': Intact 1,700-year-old Roman Busts Found in Israel. Buried in a disused Roman-Byzantine winepress near Binyamina, one of the marble busts may depict Sparta's legendary founder, Lycurgus. 'There was a feeling we were about to discover something that was not supposed to be there,' an archaeologist said (Nir Hasson, Haaretz).

The statues were carefully concealed inside a wine-collection pit of a Roman-Byzantine winepress long after it had gone out of use, where they remained buried for nearly 1,700 years. "They were buried when the winepress went out of use. At this stage, it is not known why the statues were hidden here, perhaps to protect them," the Israel Antiquities Authority, which carried out the excavation, said in a statement.

Cross-file under Salvage Archaeology.

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

Sifting Project lectures at the 50th Archaeological Congress

THE TEMPLE MOUNT SIFTING PROJECT: THE SIFTING PROJECT AT THE 50TH ARCHAEOLOGICAL CONGRESS: A SEAL IMPRESSION FROM THE DAYS OF JOSIAH AND THE EVOLUTION OF THE EASTERN TEMPLE MOUNT.

Last Thursday, the 50th Archaeological Congress was held in Israel, featuring two important presentations by the Temple Mount Sifting Project.

Both presentations are avaiable on YouTube. The post above has the link.

I noted the Sifting Project's discovery of the Asayah bulla last year here.

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

Online Oxford LXX Seminar: Synagogues and the Septuagint in the Late Second Temple Period

WILLIAM A. ROSS: (VIRTUAL) OXFORD SEPTUAGINT SEMINAR, 17 JUNE.

Details for the next seminar, available virtually, are as follows:

Oxford Septuagint Seminar

17 June | 2:00 PM (BST)

“Translating the Word of God: Synagogues and the Septuagint in the Late Second Temple Period”

Prof. William Schniedewind is Distinguished Professor of Biblical Studies & Northwest Semitic Languages and Sady and Ludwig Kahn Director of the Alan D. Leve Center for Jewish Studies at UCLA.

Follow the link for a description and the Zoom link.

As I have noted, Dr. Ross has been announcing these seminars, but usually too late for me to flag them in advance. I appreciate the early notice for this one.

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

Di Vito Festschrift (Gorgias)

NEW BOOK FROM GORGIAS PRESS:

“Where Were You When I Founded the Earth?”
Essays on Primeval and Deuteronomistic History and their Reception in Honor of Robert A. Di Vito

Edited by Dr Olegs Andrejevs, Najeeb T. Haddad & Mark Lester

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Publication Status: In Print
Series: Biblical Intersections 21
Publication Date: Mar 5,2026
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Page Count: 439
Languages: English
ISBN: 978-1-4632-4979-3
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OVERVIEW

This collection of essays is dedicated to Robert A. Di Vito, a veteran member of the Department of Theology at Loyola University Chicago, where he has taught courses on the Pentateuch, the Prophets, classical Hebrew, and Dead Sea Scrolls. In addition to academic publications, Di Vito’s contributions to the guild include service as an associate editor of the Catholic Biblical Quarterly, along with long-term involvement in the complete translation of the New American Bible Old Testament, as one of its Editors-in-Chief. At Loyola University (which does not offer a PhD in Hebrew Bible/Old Testament), Di Vito has served on numerous dissertation committees of students who have received degrees in New Testament and Early Christianity.

The eleven contributors (a mix of colleagues and students from Loyola University Chicago and beyond) are delighted to present this volume to Professor Di Vito on the occasion of his 75th birthday. The collection reflects some of Di Vito’s principal interests, a number of areas in which he has made contributions to scholarship, and – perhaps above all – his career-defining commitment to keeping Loyola’s New Testament and Early Christianity program in conversation with biblical and second temple Judaism.

The authors focus on translation (Deirdre Dempsey); Deuteronomistic History (Mark Lester); and reception of Genesis 1–11 in the Sibylline Oracles (Olivia Stewart-Lester), the canonical gospels (Christopher W. Skinner; Olegs Andrejevs; Jeffrey M. Tripp), Paul’s letter to the Romans (Hans Svebakken), the Pseudo-Clementine Homilies (Joshua T. King), and contemporary contexts (Hille Haker; John McCarthy; Steven L. McKenzie). As this overview shows, reception of Genesis 1–11, in the New Testament and beyond, emerges as the central theme of the volume and is the focus of most essays here. To that end, the authors engage with: Genesis 1 (Stewart-Lester; Skinner); the LXX translator’s formula βίβλος γενέσεως (Andrejevs); Genesis 3 (Stewart-Lester; Svebakken); Cain and Abel (Haker; Tripp); the Nephilim story (Stewart-Lester; King); the measurement of Noah’s Ark (McCarthy); violence against animals in Gen 9:2–3 (King); the so-called “curse of Ham” (McKenzie); and the tower of Babel (Stewart-Lester).

The volume is primarily intended for an academic audience.

Congratulations to Professor Di Vito.

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Van Henten Feschrift (Brill)

NEW BOOK FROM BRILL:

Tyrants, Heroes, Prophets, and Martyrs

Shifting Images from the Past to the Present

Series: Studies in Theology and Religion, Volume: 39

Volume Editors: Caroline Vander Stichele and Jacqueline Borsje

This interdisciplinary Festschrift for Jan Willem van Henten contains nineteen essays that deal with literature from antiquity to the present, covering Second Temple Judaism, Early Christianity, Hellenism as well as the reception of the Bible in medieval and modern culture. The contributions to this volume address the rich imagery present in tales and texts that feature tyrants, heroes, prophets, and/or martyrs (male, female, or other), including the, often violent, interaction between them. Tyrants have enormous political power. Heroes are characterized by immense courage. Prophets stand out because of their remarkable insight into hidden things. Martyrs have an extraordinary capacity for self-sacrifice and their lives often culminate in violent endings. In discussing, investigating, and questioning these types, this book contributes to a better understanding of premodern texts, their modern cultural impact, and intellectual history.

Copyright Year: 2026

E-Book (PDF)
Availability: Published
ISBN: 978-90-04-75486-7
Publication: 08 Apr 2026
EUR €125.00

Hardback
Availability: Published
ISBN: 978-90-04-75485-0
Publication: 07 May 2026
EUR €125.00

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That British Museum lecture was a success

UPDATE: British Museum event on Ancient Israel and Judah draws largest audience of Jewish Culture Month (Board of Deputies of British Jews).

A British Museum talk exploring the ancient kingdoms of Israel and Judah drew the largest audience of Jewish Culture Month, with around 4000 people joining in person and online.

The lecture, delivered by Dr Paul Collins, Keeper of the Department of the Middle East at the British Museum, explored how objects in the Museum’s collection illuminate the history of ancient Israel and Judah, offering insights into its cultures and societies. Artefacts from across the region bring to life the daily lives and political struggles described in the Book of Kings of the Hebrew Bible as well Assyrian and Babylonian chronicles. The ancient historical events illustrated through the artefacts shape Jewish culture and practice through to the present day.

[...]

British Museum defies intimidation to host ancient Israel lecture. Rescheduled Jewish Culture Month lecture proceeds without interruption (Jenni Frazer, Jewish News).

This time, the museum was taking no chances and had layers of security which ensured that only ticket-holders to the lecture were able to get into the building.

Everyone was then funnelled through a security tent for a first bag search, before being asked to go through a second bag search, immediately outside the lecture theatre.

Before people were allowed inside, about 15 museum staff were given a briefing as to what actions to take if anyone in the 100-strong audience tried to disrupt Dr Collins.

Well done.

Background here and links.

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The rest of the review series on Vidas, The Rise of Talmud

ANCIENT JEW REVIEW has continued its review series on Moulie Vidas's book, The Rise of Talmud. I was away for a bit and got behind on noting the rest of the essays. Here they are:

Intellectual Profiles in both Talmud and Midrash (Maren Niehoff)

To conclude, I have greatly benefited from Vidas’ book and am sure that it will inspire further research. The area where my own views differ most distinctly from his pertain to the impact of redaction. Both the individual profile of rabbis and the image of geographical centers of learning seem to me to be more complicated and filtered through cultural and political agendas.

Vidas’ Yerushalmi and the Reputation of the Tannaim (Ishay Rosen-Zvi)

Moulie uncovers a new world of distinctions between the Yerushalmi and the Tannaitic literature. We’ve missed these distinctions because the Yerushalmi is usually studied as a supplement—either as a continuation of the tannaitic literature (revising traditions) or as a precursor to the Bavli (proto-sugyot).

Author Response: Moulie Vidas on the Rise of Talmud (Moulie Vidas)

The Rise of Talmud concludes with the argument that Talmud was distinctive because it centered humans reading other humans, as opposed to humans reading God; let this piece conclude with an argument for humans reading other humans as opposed to machines.

Yes.

I noted the first essay in the series here.

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The Ketef Hinnom silver amulets as ritual texts

DR JEREMY D. SMOAK: The Ketef Hinnom Amulets: Wearing the Priestly Blessing for Protection (TheTorah.com).

Inscribed in silver and rolled into scrolls, the Ketef Hinnom amulets, ca. 6th century B.C.E., contain an early version of the Priestly Blessing (Numbers 6:24–26). More than an important textual witness, they reveal that protective ritual practices were an integral part of Judahite religion, and show how divine blessing could be worn on the body, transforming sacred words into a tangible safeguard against danger, illness, and misfortune.

For more on the Ketef Hinnom inscribed silver amulets and their relation to the priestly blessing in Numbers, start here (cf. here and links) and follow the links. For more on Jeremy Smoak's work on the amulets, see here and links.

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That British Museum lecture on ancient Israel is this afternoon

RESCHEDULED: New date confirmed for postponed British Museum ancient Israel lecture. Jewish Culture Month event will now take place on 11 June after organisers delayed original take over security concerns (Annabel Sinclair, Jewish News).

The British Museum has now confirmed that ‘Ancient Israel and Judah in the British Museum’ will be held on Thursday, 11 June, from 3.30 pm to 4.30 pm.

The event will also be live-streamed for those unable to attend in person.

Further details are here.

Background here and links.

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Proverbs used Egyptian scribal techniques?

PROF. BERND U. SCHIPPER: Proverbs in Egyptian Scribal Style (TheTorah.com).

The parallels between Proverbs 22:17–23:11 and the Egyptian Instruction of Amenemope are well established. But how can their specific similarities—and differences—be explained? Rather than simply borrowing Egyptian wisdom traditions, the Hebrew author adopted the very scribal techniques used in Egyptian schools to study and transmit such texts, composing a wisdom teaching in Egyptian style that became part of the Book of Proverbs.

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Are the Nag Hammadi codices a "library?"

NAG HAMMADI WATCH: The hunt for the Gnostics, Christianity’s bogeyman. For decades, the Gnostic Gospels were widely believed to have been a library of ancient texts hidden away to protect their secrets. But what if the evidence for that is thinner than the papyrus the books were written on? (Candida Moss, National Geographic).

In sum, we do not know where the books were found, by how many people, or in what circumstances. And, because ‘Ali no longer remembered where he had found them, we cannot look for corroborating evidence.

The lack of archaeological context matters. The traditional story is that codices were buried for safekeeping and protection. But if they were found in a grave, then they look more like grave goods owned by a single individual. If they weren’t found together in a single jar or a single grave, then we don’t know how, or if, they are connected to one another. At that point, we can’t really claim they are a library.

In late antiquity, Gnosticism, like Neoplatonism. and Hermeticism, seems often (mostly?) to have been practiced by small groups around a teacher or by independents rather than by some extended "community." It would not be surprising if a collection of their books turned out to be a personal library, perhaps even owned by someone with traditional ecclesiastical or nondescript social connections.

For many posts on the Coptic Gnostic "library" (collection?) from Nag Hammadi, start here and follow the links. Othe relevant posts on Gnostic and similar movements are here, here, and here.

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Hannibal movie paused

CINEMA AND PUNIC WATCH: Netflix Pauses Denzel Washington and Antoine Fuqua’s Hannibal War Movie Over Budget Concerns (Angelique Jackson, Nick Vivarelli; Variety).

Variety previously reported that the historical epic was planning a summer shoot in Italy, with Fuqua directing and Washington starring as the Carthaginian general, who, as the official logline explains, “is widely regarded as one of the greatest military commanders in history.” However, the war movie — which was in early pre-production — has been put on pause while the producers, including Fuqua and Washington, and the studio hammer out budgetary concerns. The hope is for the project to move forward at Netflix once the concerns are addressed.

I hope Washington's Hannibal movie doesn't get stuck in "development hell" like Diesel's.

Background here and many links.

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Fraenkel ... Confrontation Stories among Rabbis in the Babylonian Talmud (Magnes, Hebrew)

NEW BOOK (IN HEBREW) FROM MAGNES PRESS:

The Fragility of the Mind
Confrontation Stories among Rabbis in the Babylonian Talmud
By: Yuval Fraenkel

Print $43 $30 (Launch Price)

More details

Publisher:Magnes Press
Year: 2026
Catalog number : 45-131185
ISBN: 978-965-7854-97-6
Pages: 380
Language: Hebrew
Weight: 760 gr.
Cover: Hardcover

Synopsis

Within the Babylonian Talmud are dozens of stories depicting sharp confrontations between the Amoraim, the Talmudic sages. These narratives portray the charged relationships among the sages, the emergence of conflict, and the profound emotional harm that results from it. Why do conflicts among the creators of Talmudic literature occupy such a central literary place? This book examines these stories as a distinct literary corpus. The analysis shows that the conflicts consistently center on one domain: injury to personal honor. They are also marked by a characteristic plot structure, in which conflict develops unintentionally and escalates uncontrollably, leading to a rupture between the characters. Using tools from narrative theory and comparative poetics, the book explores how these stories operate. They draw the reader into a web of misunderstandings and communicative failures, making simple moral judgment difficult. Instead, they direct attention to the inner and interpersonal worlds of the characters, and to the literary construction of the Talmudic study house as a space of mutual dependence and identity formation.

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What do the Phoenician inscriptions say?

BIBLE HISTORY DAILY: The Phoenician Alphabet in Archaeology. What did the Phoenicians record with their innovative script? (Josephine Quinn).

What did Phoenicians use this new technology to record? The truth is that we don’t really know. We have more that 10,000 inscriptions in Phoenician, from all over the Mediterranean, but almost all are short and formulaic, recording dedications to the gods, the deaths of friends and family members, or occasional brief magical texts. ...

This is a good overview of what we find in the sparse textual remains in ancient Phoenician. I already noted this essay when it came out in 2017. But BAS has just posted it again, so here are some more thoughts.

I can't imagine that the Phoenicians didn't write down their myths and legends, but it's likely that all the papyri and parchments they were written on have perished.

The surviving Greek quotations of the Phoenician History by the Roman-era writer Philo of Byblos do preserve some knowledge of Canaanite/Phoenician religion. Arguably his work is based on Phoenician sources, although it's difficult to say more than that.

The essay mentions the Phoenician administrative archive recently excavated at Idalion, Cyprus. Since it was published, another Phoenician archive has been excavated at nearby Kition-Pampoula (Kition-Bampoula) in Cyprus. More on it here and here. Alas, still no reports of any literary texts.

Cross-file under Phoenician Watch and Northwest Semitic Epigraphy.

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Did the Phoenicians give us democracy?

THE ANCIENT NEAR EAST TODAY: Did the Phoenicians Bring Democracy to Greece? (Brett Kaufman).

Democracy therefore evolved as a form of political competition. The idea of a government designed for the people and not just for the elite was not something that the Greeks gave to the Phoenicians. Instead, it was already being mandated at least politically if not legally by Phoenician kings and settlers before the Phoenicians ever taught the Greeks how to write; or in any case, right around that time. Leaders must compete with each other for followers, and the same held true in the free market of governmental forms, as we see between various city-states in the 1st millennium BC, both within and without Greece.

The author argues that the Minoans gave the concept to the Canaanites, who passed it on to the Tyrians. The Carthaginians got in on it too.

I noted the publication of Prof. Kaufman's book here. Cross-file under Phoenician Watch and Punic Watch.

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Aberbach, Ancient Bible Interpretation and its Legacies (Routledge)

NEW BOOK FROM ROUTLEDGE:

Ancient Bible Interpretation and its Legacies
Politics, Literature, and Heresy

By David Aberbach

Copyright 2026
Hardback
£124.00
eBook
£36.79
ISBN 9781041051435
300 Pages 4 B/W Illustrations
Published December 29, 2025 by Routledge

Description

Ancient Bible Interpretation and its Legacies: Politics, Literature, and Heresy offers a sweeping exploration of the evolving role of Bible interpretation from ancient to modern times, revealing its profound impact on religious, political, literary, and secular culture.

Tracing the origins of Midrash in post-Temple Judaism and its transmission across Christian and Islamic traditions, this book examines how scriptural exegesis has shaped – and been shaped by – historical trauma, national identity, and cultural transformation. It explores the central role of Midrash in Jewish survival and education, its responses to persecution and polemic, and its influence on mystical traditions, Zionism, and modern literary movements. Moving beyond religious contexts, the volume investigates how biblical interpretation has informed dissenting voices in English literature, the formation of modern nationalism, responses to anti-Semitism, and contemporary concerns from environmental ethics to the search for justice in postcolonial and global literatures. Through a rich tapestry of case studies – from ancient rabbis to Bunyan, Blake, Bialik, Orwell, and Achebe – it reveals the enduring power of homiletic traditions in shaping moral and political imagination across ages and cultures.

This book is essential reading for scholars of Jewish studies, religious studies, comparative literature, intellectual history, and cultural studies, offering a vital perspective on the complex legacies of ancient Bible interpretation in the modern world.

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The silver trumpets of Numbers 10, with pictures and sound!

THE BIBLE AND INTERPRETATION:

The Silver Trumpets of Numbers 10

The silver trumpet from Tutankhamun’s tomb offers a striking material parallel to the two silver trumpets described in Numbers 10:1–10. Egyptian artifacts, biblical texts, later commentary, and the 1939 BBC recording of King Tut’s trumpets illuminate the passage’s royal, cultic, and military dimensions.

By Gary A. Rendsburg
Rutgers University
Department of Jewish Studies
May 2026

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A Turoyo version of the Syriac Bible?

(NEO-)ARAMAIC WATCH: Syriac Peshitta Bible now available in Turoyo (Surayt) in the Qadishapp (Syriac Press).

TUR ABDIN — To strengthen the presence of the spoken language Turoyo (Surayt) dialect in ecclesiastical and spiritual life, and facilitating easy access to the Syriac Bible, scholars of Syriac language and heritage continue have made a notable technological step in their efforts to provide religious and educational resources that help preserve cultural identity for future generations. They have now made the Syriac Bible available in Turoyo and in a mobile application. ...

This Turoyo (Surayt) edition is based on the Syriac Bible translation called the Peshitta (ܦܫܺܝܛܬܳܐ), the authoritative biblical text for churches of the Syriac Rite tradition.

For more on the modern Aramaic dialect of Turoyo spoken in the Tur Abdin region of Turkey, see here. The translation project was undertaken at the Mor Gabriel Monastery in Tur Abdin (Mardin), on which more here and many links.

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Is the Siloam Tunnel Inscription an accident memorial?

BIBLE HISTORY DAILY: Was the Siloam Inscription a Message for the Dead? Rethinking the Siloam Tunnel with Ariel Cohen (Lauren K. McCormick ).

In the Spring 2026 issue of Biblical Archaeology Review, Ariel Cohen, Professor of Linguistics at Ben-Gurion University, has a new and highly original interpretation of the Siloam inscription. He calls much into question with a simple flip of the audience: He asks whether the Siloam inscription was written for the living, as has always been assumed, or if it was written for the dead.

That does explain some problems. But if it is a memorial inscription, it seems oddly allusive to me. It just describes the accident. No naming of those killed in it or any expression of mourning. But this interpretation is thought provoking. It could be right.

Unusually, the full BAR article is available at the link above. So read it and see what you think.

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Recovering biometric data from ancient bullae?

HEBREW EPIGRAPHY AND ANCIENT MATERIAL CULTURE: Fingerprints of Artisans and Officials Discovered on the Backs of Clay Seals from Ancient Jerusalem (Guillermo Carvajal, LBV).

Among the most personal findings revealed by this approach are fingerprints. The clay, while still wet and malleable, retained the ridges of the person who pressed the bulla against the cord that sealed the package. Uziel and Shalev’s team has managed to recover and individualize these impressions using photogrammetry and transformed reflectance techniques.

Although the age of the remains prevents matching them to specific identities, their morphology makes it possible to estimate the age and sex of the artisan or official who handled each piece, as well as the force applied in sealing. These traces, which no written record could have preserved, turn the bullae into somatic testimonies of the past.

I have already noted this new Israel Science Foundation project here. But this article has accessible coverage of the story, with emphasis on how the project is recovering the abovementioned biometric data, along with information about the material the bullae were attached to and what that might tell us about their function.

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Digitizing ancient inscriptions.

MICHAEL L. SATLOW: How Do You Teach a Computer to Read a Broken Ancient Inscription? It's complicated.

Digitizing an inscription into EpiDoc is not a trivial task. Information about an inscription, such as its context, size, find location, current location, language, place, etc., all must be entered into special fields in some database system (or directly given strict, uniform tags). This takes time and expertise. Even more laborious, though, is the digitization of the inscription’s text, even at its most simple level. Epigraphers typically (and ideally) transcribe an inscription in two formats. The first is called a diplomatic transcription, and seeks to record the inscription as it appears, with all the gaps, misspellings, etc. The second is sometimes called a normalized transcription. Both employ a specialized set of typographical markers.

Cross-file under Algorithm Watch and Epigraphy.

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Klein, Between the Lines (Gorgias)

NEW BOOK FROM GORGIAS PRESS:

Between the Lines
The Literary and Ideological Shaping of Judah’s Genealogies in the Book of Chronicles

By Neriah Klein

Publisher: Gorgias Press LLC
Availability: In stock
SKU (ISBN): 978-1-4632-4813-0
Formats *
Hardback (In Print) ISBN 978-1-4632-4813-0
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Publication Status: In Print
Series: Perspectives on Hebrew Scriptures and its Contexts 38
Publication Date: Feb 19,2026
Interior Color: Black
Trim Size: 6 x 9
Page Count: 507
Languages: English
ISBN: 978-1-4632-4813-0
Price: $114.95 (USD)
Your price: $68.97 (USD)

The book of Chronicles has received a revival in recent scholarship, making it one of the most studied books, and this is especially true from 1 Chronicles 10 onwards—often ignoring the genealogies of 1 Chronicles 1–9. The Chronicler’s genealogies contain seemingly endless lists of names, with neither intriguing plot nor sublime poetry, and thus hardly generate interest in the reader. Yet this was not the Chronicler’s intention. When he incorporated these lists into his book, he shaped them with a deliberate and sophisticated literary design, serving distinct ideological and narrative purposes.

In Between the Lines, Klein takes the reader deep into the genealogies of the tribe of Judah (1 Chr 2:3–4:23) to expose these designs in all their glory and show the great richness inherent in seemingly boring texts. Through close literary analysis, the book uncovers structural patterns, thematic messages, and theological ideas embedded within the lists—revealing unexpected insights about identity, kingship, intermarriage, and the future envisioned by the Chronicler.

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JiSeong James Kwon, Wisdom Discourse and Torah in Second Temple Judaism (SBL)

NEW BOOK FROM SBL PRESS:

Wisdom Discourse and Torah in Second Temple Judaism: Challenging the Integration Paradigm
JiSeong James Kwon

ISBN 9781628377781
Volume AIL 52
Status Available
Publication Date November 2025
Hardback $105.00
Paperback $85.00
eBook $85.00

Did wisdom literature in the Hebrew Bible develop over time from secular to religious, as many early modern scholars believed? Did it develop in reaction to historical events or out of conflict with other traditions, including Torah? In Wisdom Discourse and Torah in Second Temple Judaism, JiSeong James Kwon moves beyond this impasse by applying a discourse-critical method to intertextual readings of Proverbs, Ben Sira, the Wisdom of Solomon, Baruch, the Dead Sea Scrolls, and Deuteronomy. Kwon’s study reveals that wisdom literature maintained an independent identity and theological orientation distinct from the legal traditions of the Torah. Rather than wisdom being subsumed into legal material, Jewish intellectual production remained pluralistic in form, genre, and theological orientation throughout the Persian and Hellenistic periods.

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Reconstructing a very old Torah scroll

THE GENIZA FRAGMENTS BLOG: What’s My Line? Reconstructing CUL T-S NS 3.21+ (Marc Michaels).

Likely the oldest Torah in the Cairo Genizah, CUL T-S NS 3.21+ is also one of the oldest manuscripts in the whole collection. This blog details a reconstruction for part of this scroll, involving three adjacent fragments.

This essay is technical, especially in the first part, but keep reading (or skip) to the part dealing with the compute reconstruction of the manuscript. Fascinating.

I noted a of Genesis fragment of T-S NS 3.21 back in 2015, referring to a 2010 Geniza Fragment of the Month post. That post is gone now, but it seems that another fragment, T-S NS 4.3, came from the same scroll. And other fragments of it have been located since, so that its siglum is now T-S NS 3.21+.

For more on the oldest Torah scroll fragments apart from the Dead Sea Scrolls, see here (alas, the main link is gone) and here and links. Also here, although I have heard no more about the Bologna scroll.

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AI translations of the letters of Procopius of Gaza

ROGER PEARSE: Procopius of Gaza, Letters – machine translation now online with notes..

When I started to work on Procopius, the first thing I did was to make a working tool to orient myself, to find my way around the text before I started into the Greek, but using an existing translation. The one chosen was the 2010 Italian translation by Federica Ciccolella, which I ran through Google Translate, and came to think was rather impressive. I don’t suppose the result of the machine translation is very accurate. But skimming through it does give a very nice idea of the size and shape of the letters, and allows you to find your way around the Italian.

Procopius of Gaza "was a sophist living in the early 6th century, after the end of the Origenist disputes, and before the rise of Islam. Only three of the letters are addressed to priests, and the tone is secular. But he lived in a period when the traditional Roman upper class was starting to be replaced by the ecclesiastical dignitaries, themselves rich and powerful and full of patronage. In other words, he lived at the changeover period between the Roman and Byzantine periods." He is not to be confused with the better-known Procopius of Caesarea, his later contemporary. His letters have been an area of longstanding interest for Roger. PaleoJudaica has mentioned him here.

In some of his letters, Procopius of Gaza refers to the late-antique city of Elusa (Halutza) in the Negev, where a correspondent named Jerome resided before moving to Egypt (not Jerome of the Latin Vulgate). PaleoJudaica has posted on Elusa here, here, here, and here.

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Bohak, The Sentencing of Jesus (Gzar-dina de-Yeshu) (OpenBook, open access)

NEW BOOK FROM OPENBOOK PUBLISHERS:

The Sentencing of Jesus (Gzar-dina de-Yeshu)
The 'Authentic' Jewish Protocols of the Trial of Jesus

Gideon Bohak (author)

This monograph offers a rich and insightful study of The Sentencing of Jesus, an ancient Jewish polemical narrative describing the trial and execution of Jesus, which is the earliest of all the Toledot Yeshu texts. The volume includes a substantial historical introduction, carefully edited synopses of the Aramaic, Judaeo-Arabic and Hebrew versions, detailed philological and exegetical notes on the text and its transmission history, and an English translation. In his comments, Bohak explores recurring themes in Late Antique literature—such as the apologetic and polemical uses of authentic or forged protocols of trials and executions, envisioning an enemy hanged on an unexpected tree, the humiliation of dragging a corpse through the streets for all to see, and the use of magical handbooks and of spells to heal or harm—shedding new light on the cultural and literary resonances of these motifs. Detailed linguistic analyses trace translations and mistranslations across Aramaic, Hebrew, and Judaeo-Arabic traditions.

By reconstructing an ancient polemical text that has previously been known only in a fragmentary manner, and by situating it both within its Late Antique context and in the context of previous scholarship, this book makes a significant contribution to the study of Judaism, and of Jewish-Christian relations, in Late Antiquity and the early Middle Ages.

The PDF version is open access and downloadable for free.

For PaleoJudaica posts on the Toledot Yeshu (Toledoth Yeshu), start here and follow the links. The earliest (Aramaic) version is arguably as old as the third or fourth century.

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The 24 angelic elders in the Coptic magical papyri (Angels, part 2)

THE COPTIC MAGICAL PAPYRI BLOG: Angels in Coptic Magic II: The Twenty-Four Presbyters.

In sum, whether they were invoked for healing and protection, as prescribed in the homily attributed to Cyril of Jerusalem, or for more aggressive purposes, it seems that the most important thing was to know the names of the Twenty-Four Presbyters. Due to their holy origin, and for increased magical efficacy, it was also better to write them down, rather than speak them aloud. And while there was variety in the names used in Coptic magical texts, some lists and naming conventions, as well as the physical descriptions of the angels with their thrones and crowns, were shared across literary genres and iconography, showing that magical practices were not isolated from wider traditions about the Twenty-Four Presbyters.

I noted the first post in the series here. Cross-file under Coptic Watch.

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The mythological background of Revelation 13

THE "IS THAT IN THE BIBLE?" BLOG: The Jewish and Pagan Mythological Origins of Revelation 13: The Beasts from the Sea and the Earth and the Fear of Nero’s Return (Paul D.).

John may claim to have been shown these things in divine visions, but the data shows otherwise. John’s real skill was not that of a seer, but that of a writer who was able to mix and match bits of Jewish and Greco-Roman mythology to promote his own political and theological viewpoints. In this article, I examine some of the most famous elements of Revelation to see what they mean and where John really got them from. I also look at the ancient conspiracy theories about Nero’s death and expectations of his future return — a social phenomenon that explains some of the stranger passages in Revelation associated with the Antichrist.

Presumably divine visions would make use of contemporary imagery. But a theological defense of John's visions is outside my remit. This essay has a thorough review of the mythological background of this chapter.

For PaleoJudaica posts on Leviathan and Behemoth, see here and links. For more on the Number of the Beast, see here and links, notably here. For more on the Nero-Rediturus and Nero Redivivus myths, see here.

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Review of Bonura, A Prophecy of Empire

ANCIENT JEW REVIEW: A Prophecy of Empire: The Apocalypse of Pseudo-Methodius from Late Antique Mesopotamia to the Global Medieval Imagination (Evan Bradley Schafer).

Christopher Bonura’s new monograph, A Prophecy of Empire, offers a comprehensive study of the Apocalypse of Pseudo-Methodius within its Syriac literary, theological, and political context. On this foundation, Bonura traces the trajectory of its reception from its original Mesopotamian milieu and its gradual transmission and translation westward.

The Apocalypse of Pseudo-Methodius is on the borderline of PaleoJudaica's period of interest, but it's high time it got a mention here.

This "Methodius" is not to be confused with Methodius the brother of Cyril. These two brothers invented the Glagolitic alphabet

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Taxation and evasion in the Roman empire

ANCIENT ECONOMICS: The Art of the Unpaid Denarius: Tax Evasion in Ancient Rome (Terry Madenholm, Haaretz).

The cat-and-mouse game intensified as the centuries wore on. The Roman government constantly tried to fight back, introducing a more professional bureaucracy and implementing fixed tax quotas for provinces to reduce the systemic abuse by tax farmers. In certain periods, they even resorted to harsh penalties, including the outright confiscation of property. However, enforcement remained uneven, especially in distant provinces where central oversight was weak.

This long article gives a fascinating account of ancient Roman taxation, and efforts to evade it, until the imperial bureacracy "collapsed under it's own weight." It includes an account of the recently published papyrus covering a pre-Bar Kokhba Revolt tax-fraud and forgery case, on which more here.

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Forthcoming Diodorus Siculus volume

BIBLIOGRAPHIA IRANICA: Diodoros of Sicily: Bibliotheke Historike. Notice of a Forthcoming Book: Harding, Phillip (ed.). 2026. Diodoros of Sicily: Bibliotheke Historike: Translation, with Introduction and Notes. Vol. 2. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Follow the link for description and publisher link. The volume covers books 16-17 of the Bibliotheke.

Diodorus preserves an alternative account of the Maccabean Revolt, some Greek Fantasy Babylon stories, and other material of interest. For more PaleoJudaica posts on his work, start here and follow the links.

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Review series on Vidas, The Rise of Talmud

ANCIENT JEW REVIEW has a new review series: The Rise of Talmud Review Forum. It is devoted to Moulie Vidas's book, The Rise of Talmud (OUP, 2025), which I noted here. The first review is posted:

Talmud as a New Intellectual Project (Sarit Kattan Gribetz)

What Vidas suggests in his book is that the ancient rabbis were philologists, and among the earliest philologists and critical scholars at that, who sought to mine earlier rabbinic traditions in order to construct the best versions of them, clarify attributions, draw connections between individuals and texts, discuss textual differences, figure out methods of emendation, and so on. Vidas argues, then, that philology is not (exclusively) a modern, critical, etic tool that we can apply to the study of the Talmud, but rather that it is also an emic approach – and a thoroughly Jewish one – developed as part and parcel of the Talmudic enterprise itself.

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The latest on that British Museum lecture

THE BRITISH MUSEUM has announced that the canceled lecture on ancient Israel and Judah is rescheduled to some time early in June. But I cannot find a specific date given anywhere.

The director of the British Museum has also posted a defense of the decision to postpone the lecture:

Sunday Times – Dr Nicholas Cullinan OBE

Critics have framed the postponement, as a retreat from free speech. That misunderstands both the decision and the principle at stake. Freedom of expression does not require institutions to provide a platform for disruption. Nor does it require organisers to knowingly place speakers, audiences or visitors in circumstances where a legitimate event cannot proceed safely and respectfully.

The Armstrong Institute of Biblical Archaeology has posted an essay on the situation and collects other responses:

The Attack on the British Museum and Biblical Archaeology. Ancient Israel and Judah—too controversial for modern-day London (Richard Palmer and Christopher Eames)

A postponed lunchtime lecture at the British Museum on the history of ancient Israel and Judah might seem like a minor episode. But it is only the latest incident among many in the ongoing war for history and truth. And for a renowned establishment such as the British Museum—“the world’s greatest temple of history,” in the words of Montefiore—“this matters.”

Then there was this disturbing incident on Saturday 30 November:

British Museum evacuated after ‘suspicious device’ found days after Jewish event postponed. Police were called to the museum at around 2.50pm and between 12,000 and 16,000 visitors were evacuated as a precaution (ADAM DECKER, Jewish News).

The British Museum was evacuated on Saturday after staff discovered a suspicious device in a visitor toilet and received what it described as “malicious communications”, just days after the institution faced criticism for postponing a Jewish Culture Month lecture on ancient Israel over security concerns.

Whatever was in the toilet turned out to be "non-suspicious." It may be tempting to connect this incident with the canceled lecture, but we really don't know what was going on and we shouldn't jump to conclusions. The museum has declined to comment on the nature of the "malicious communications." I cannot find any indication that the police have released any information about them.

Background here.

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Was Moses the author or the writer of the Torah?

TZIPPORAH MACHLAH KLAPPER: Moses the Lawgiver? Not For the Rabbis (TheTorah.com).

Writers in the Second Temple period portray Moses as the Torah’s author and master lawgiver, attributing commandments directly to him. The rabbis, by contrast, repeatedly depict Moses as forgetful, confused, and sometimes mistaken—downplaying his authority to emphasize the Torah’s divine authorship and elevate the rabbis’ own role as its interpreters.

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Cursed Chorazin produces precious gem

ANCIENT BLING WATCH? 12-year-old finds ancient gemstone in Galilean Jewish village cursed by Jesus. Sixth-grader Alon Horowitz finds rare ‘Nicolo’ stone, likely dating back at least 1,500 years, during community excavation at Korazim National Park (Rossella Tercatin, Times of Israel).

A 12-year-old schoolboy recently discovered a precious gemstone dating back at least 1,500 years in the Korazim National Park in the Upper Galilee, the Israel Nature and Parks Authority said Monday. Korazim was an ancient Jewish village that, according to the New Testament, was cursed by Jesus for rejecting his teachings.

The stone, a prestigious variety of agate known as “Nicolo,” which was probably set in a piece of jewelry from Roman or Byzantine times (1st – 6th centuries CE), was found by Alon Horowitz during a community excavation carried out by the Parks Authority in cooperation with Ariel University in the West Bank.

[...]

Maybe it fell out of a ring or an earring?

For more on the archaeology of the site of Chorazin, start here and follow the links.

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Reminder: Byblos, the Eternal City (Paris)

BIBLE HISTORY DAILY: Byblos, the Eternal City. Paris exhibit showcases Lebanon's oldest city.

Now open until 23 August. Noted as forthcoming here. Cross-file under Exhibition and Phoenician Watch.

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"From Trash to Treasure" at the Silk Road Virtual Museum

EXHIBITION: Silk Road Virtual Museum opens first Israel exhibit, displays ancient textiles found in Arava. The exhibit, curated by academics from the University of Haifa, features textiles from India, Central Asia, and China (Miriam Sela-Eitam, Jerusalem Post).

The University of Haifa’s exhibit, titled “From Trash to Treasure - Nahal Omer,” displays a collection of rare, well-preserved textiles and seeds discovered at the Nahal Omer archaeological site in the Arava in southern Israel, situated along the route of the ancient Spice Road.

Nahal Omer is a small agricultural village dating back to the Early Islamic period (mid-7th to 9th century CE) which was first surveyed in 1932. The most recent excavations began in 2020, when archaeologists excavated nearby middens (ancient trash heaps) and discovered the site’s remarkable connection to the trade route.

This story is right on the edge of PaleoJudaica's range of interest, but I note it because it underlines a point I like to keep making. The more arid regions in Israel, such as the Arava, have the potential to preserve very old scroll fragments. The Dead Sea region, of course has amply demonstrated that. This area, however, has been very thoroughly explored. But textile and organic remains recovered elsewhere, such as in the Timna Valley and even at Megiddo, provide more evidence. And ancient scroll fragments continue to turn up here and there. It is entirely possible that some substantial, very old, scroll remains are buried in one or more of these places. So keep looking!

I noted the discovery of these textile fragments in the Arava in 2023 here, with commentary.

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Rutledge, ... The Ecclesiastical Hierarchy of Pseudo-Denys: An Introduction (Routledge reprint)

A REPRINT FROM ROUTLEDGE:

Cosmic Theology
The Ecclesiastical Hierarchy of Pseudo-Denys: An Introduction

By Dom Denys Rutledge

Copyright 1964
Paperback
£25.59
Hardback
£84.00
eBook
£25.59
ISBN 9781032670072
226 Pages
Published January 19, 2026 by Routledge

Description

First published in 1964, Cosmic Theology introduces a work, little known to English readers, which has influenced theological and mystical writing for at least fourteen hundred years. It is, in effect, a synthesis of Christian teaching, particularly on the nature of the Church, in which science and religion, the other world and the values of the present world may be seen in their source and original harmony. Written before the division between Greek and Latin Churches, and later between Catholic and Protestant, it affords a convenient point from which to view later speculation and controversy in its true perspectives. Apart from helping those interested in the ecumenical movement and in the current liturgical revival, this work will serve as a bridge to the understanding of Eastern, and particularly Hindu, religion.

The works of Pseudo-Dionysius the Aeropagite come up occassionally on PaleoJudaica, recently here. It's a valuable corpus for late-antique mystical Christian theology and, as such, it was tremendously influential.

In addition, it did much to tame Ezekiel's bizarre angelology and make it palatable to the Scholastic theologians. Jewish merkavah mysticism had no such taming influence.

Some other PaleoJudaica posts involving Pseudo-Dionysius and such matters are here, here, here, and links.

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