THIS CHRISTIAN VILLA from late antiquity, found in Netanyahu, has been in the news lately. It has some nice mosaics, but unfortunately this article in News 24 South Africa, doesn't have photographs. Excerpt:

The villa, dated to between the 5th or 6th centuries AD, is the first to be found in the area, said archaeologist Marwan Massarwa of the Israel Antiquities Authority. Remains of other Byzantine settlements dot the Mediterranean coast.

The site, discovered by road workers building a highway off-ramp, includes two rooms with well preserved mosaic floors. The foundations of walls of adjoining buildings were also discovered.

The first room, apparently a central courtyard, has a mosaic with faded black and red leaves coming off a wavy branch and surrounding a black, red and yellow geometric design on a white background.

In a second room - which is still being excavated - the archaeologists found a mosaic made of small stones depicting red flowers surrounded by grey, red, white and yellow parallel lines.

NAZARETH VILLAGE, a living-history recreation of life in first-century Nazareth, is discussed in this article, "A Window to Jesus' World," in the South Bend Tribune. Excerpts:

In Nazareth Village, the sheep stray in the streets, weeds grow among the wheat in the donkey-plowed furrows, and you can see the lights from a city on a hill four miles away.

A synagogue, a wine press and some houses are already built with scrupulous faithfulness to first-century materials and methods. A watch tower for the fields is under construction.

People from all over the world are coming to visit the real-world reproduction of life in Jesus' Nazareth, about 500 yards from the traditional site of his boyhood home.

"Up to now, there has never been an authentic setting you could step into of the world Jesus knew," said Michael Hostetler, executive director of the project, in a telephone interview from Nazareth. "What we have now is a living laboratory of what Jesus saw and knew."

[...]

"In the daytime, our staff will cook and weave and do carpentry work," Hostetler said. "They will be out plowing with donkeys.

"Last year we added the olive press building," Hostetler said. "There's none other in the world like it. This year we hope to build a watchtower, which is part of the agricultural way of life. Around harvest time, the people would come to the watchtower and sleep over. They wanted to protect the harvest from animals and from possible theft."

"There's sheep and mules roaming around," Troyer added. "We follow the harvest season. It makes the Bible come alive."

The setting provides, among other things, real-life experience of sowing seed, seeking sheep, and keeping oil lamps burning, images Jesus used in his parables.

"This is, as close as we know, an exact replica of housing in Nazareth in the Galilee area in the time of Jesus," Troyer said. "We worked with the top archaeologists on this.

The project has a website at www.nazarethvillage.com.

"THE WORD TO WATCH." CBC News reports:

According to its website, the Global Language Monitor "analyses and catalogues the latest trends in word usage and word choices." It bills itself as "a worldwide assemblage of linguists, professional wordsmiths, and bibliophiles."

The group named "Aramaic" as its "word to watch." Aramaic is the nearly-dead language used in Mel Gibson's The Passion of the Christ.

Some of us have been watching it. It's good to see that others are catching up.

A CAPSULE HISTORY OF ARAMAIC: Christianity Today has one in "Christian History Corner: Rediscovering the Language Jesus Spoke".

NOT A DEAD LANGUAGE: Chaldean Christians hope Mel Gibson's The Passion of the Christ will help efforts to preserve Aramaic as a living language. I think I may have linked to a version of this Knight Ridder article earlier, but this version includes a few everyday phrases in spoken Aramaic:

A FEW COMMON PHRASES TRANSLATED

I love you (said to a woman). - K-haibinnakh.

What's for dinner? - Ma ittan ta ashaya?

Where's the bathroom? - Aika iyle betha d-maya?

Do you come here often (said to a woman)? - Kul gaha k-athyat akha?

Happy Birthday (said to a woman)! - Brykha aidha d-hwaithakh!

Source: Suad Gorial, who teaches a modern Aramaic dialect at St. Joseph Chaldean Catholic Church in Troy, Mich.

TERRORISM IN MADRID: Let me join with Mark Goodacre in extending sympathy, prayers, and shared outrage for our Spanish friends, including blogger Rub�n G�mez, concerning the cowardly terrorist attacks in Madrid. It still seems to be up in the air whether the perpetrators were ETA or Al Qaeda, but, whoever they are, we must hunt them down, bring them to justice, and smash their organization without mercy.

UPDATE: I've just e-mailed a note of sympathy to the Spanish Embassy in London. If you are in Britain and would like to do the same, follow the link for contact information. If you're in the United States, Glenn Reynolds has links to contact information there.

UPDATE: The Spanish Embassy replies:

Muy agradecido por sus palabras de p�same en estos tr�gicos momentos.

Se convoca a las personas interesadas a un minuto de silencio el viernes 12 de marzo de 2004, a las 13.00 horas delante de la puerta de esta Embajada (24 Belgrave Square; London SW1X 8QA)

La misa en memoria de las victimas del atentado terrorista se celebrar� en la Catedral (no la Abad�a) de Westminster (Victoria Street, Londres SW1) hoy 12 de marzo, a las 20.00 horas, habi�ndose cancelado la misa prevista en la Capellan�a Espa�ola.

El Embajador de Espa�a


We are most grateful for your sincere condolences during these tragic moments.

For anyone who wishes to express their condolences there will be a minute's silence at 13.hrs on Friday 12th March outside the main entrance of the Spanish Embassy at 24 Belgrave Square; London SW1X 8QA

The Westminster cathedral (Victoria Street, London SW1) will conduct a service in memory of the victims of this terrorist attack on the 12th March at 20.00 hrs.

The Spanish Ambassador

ARAMAIC WATCH. An article on Lasagna in Tandem says the following (my emphasis):

No one is absolutely certain where and when pasta came to be. But there are certainly a slew of theories. There are some highlights throughout history. Etruscan archaeological findings, (found mainly in near present-day Rome) display stucco relieves of several tools used for home pasta-making.
The first certain record of noodles cooked by boiling is in the Jerusalem Talmud, written in Aramaic in the 5th century AD.
Naples became Italy's pasta centre in the 1500s. The King of Naples, Ferdinand II hired an engineer who devised a system where a machine took over the job of kneading and cutting.
It's considered common knowledge that lasagna is an Italian invention and probably got its start during the Ancient Roman era.
That claim went undisputed for centuries until last year, when the BBC reported news that stunned the culinary world: lasagna is British.

Is the bit about the Talmud true? Typically, the article does not give a reference. Does anyone have it?

I had heard years ago that pasta was brought to Italy from the Far East by Marco Polo, but this article says nothing about it and I have no idea if it's really so.

UPDATE: A reader who doesn't give a name points me to messages 441, 448, and 462 on the Apicius (ancient Roman cookery) list. According to the last of these, noodles are mentioned in the Jerusalem Talmud in Betza i, 60d; Nedarim vi,39c; and Hallah i, 59d.

UPDATE (13 March): The reader was Justin, The Mad Latinist.

THIS IS A PARODY:

Mattel Toys is currently negotiating with Mel Gibson and his production company to put out a set of toy dolls of Jesus Chris, Mary, Mary Magdalena, Caiphas and Pontius Pilate.

"The toys will be very tasteful," stated a VP of Mattel who wished to remain anonymous, "Kids will be able to play out at home the final hours of Jesus' death. It is very educational and entertaining. We think kids, regardless of their religion, are going to love these toys. For example, you can actually pull a string behind Jesus' back and he speaks to you in Aramaic."

But, sad to say, so is this:

Merriam-Webster, Incorporated, the company which makes Webster's dictionary, is publishing a new "Aramaic Dictionary" for those with the interest in learning how to speak Aramaic.

"We are seeing a renewed interest in Aramaic," stated Bill Spelitrite, "People really want to either learn the language or understand what Jesus was saying in Mel Gibson's movie. Therefore, in response to market demand, we are publishing a new set of Aramaic dictionaries and translators to help people. We are already sold out of the translators. We are working on new versions that cover not only English, but also Spanish, French, Italian and German."

WAQF WALL TAKEN DOWN, but not the concrete structure behind it. So Arutz Sheva reports:

[...]

Today's incident concerns a concrete structure and a wall around it that the Moslem Waqf constructed illegally just to the south of the Temple Mount. [Archaeologist] Dr. [Eilat] Mazar says that the Waqf is continuing its program of "turning the entire Temple Mount compound into a large mosque, with absolutely no Jewish, Christian or other presence there. The archaeology there absolutely does not interest them; they merely want to cover up all signs of Jewish history there. The wall they built there in just a few hours this week was designed to hide the beautiful Herodian walls at the majestic south-east corner of the Temple Mount, and erase all vestiges of Jewish presence."

Waqf workers in fact removed the wall this morning - but Dr. Mazar says that the struggle is not over: "Behind the wall stands a concrete structure, which they have not removed, but which is equally illegal - and it also must be taken down."

ARSON IN BEIT SHE'AN:

Fire destroys antiquities warehouse in Beit Shean (Jerusalem Post)
By DAVID RUDGE

A treasure trove of artifacts excavated from the ancient site of Beit She'an has been destroyed in a blaze � apparently started deliberately � at an old building on the edge of the national park that had been used to store secondary finds.

The fire in the building, itself dating back to the eighth century CE, began on Wednesday and caused parts of the roof and walls to collapse, crushing many shards of pottery, marble, glassware, ceramics and other remains from various periods of history.

[...]

"What we had stored in the building were all the other finds excavated over the years since the project began in 1986. These were primarily from the Hellenistic period [circa 250 BCE] until the ancient city of Beit She'an was destroyed in an earthquake in 749 CE," said [excavations director Gaby] Mazor.

"These thousands upon thousands of finds formed the basis for our scientific research � everything we have written and are writing about the site since excavations began. Now all these discoveries are gone.

"The building has been gutted by fire and all the finds are destroyed. To stand there and see all this cultural destruction is just heartbreaking.

[...]

Indeed.

THE MICHIGAN RELICS: The Michigan Historical Museum has a very full online exhibit, "Digging up Controversy: The Michigan Relics," with lots of photographs. (Via Anita Cohen-Williams's Museum Guru blog.) These are nineteen-century, quasi-biblical/ANE forged artifacts which were recently donated to the museum by the Mormon Church. I noted articles on the relics here and here, but both links have rotted away. This is why I try to excerpt articles whenever I have the time.

UPDATE: Cached versions of the articles mentioned above can be found here and here.

PHYSICAL ANTHROPOLOGIST JOE ZIAS now has a web page that includes some of his published articles. (Heads-up, Mark Goodacre.)

MORE ILLICIT TEMPLE MOUNT CONSTRUCTION according to Arutz Sheva:

Wakf Temple Mount Devastation Continues Unimpeded

[...]

The current project began this morning, in the southeastern end of the Mount. Wakf officials report the new wall is intended to strengthen the ancient Herodian stones and nothing more. The new wall is two meters high and about 20 meters in length and creates a division between the Muslim cemetery and the eastern wall.

Dr. Eilat Mazar, an archeologist and member of the Committee Against Temple Mount Destruction rejects the explanation of the so-called strengthening wall, explaining the new wall totally blocks the Herodian and Byzantine period stones behind it, as well as antiquities dating back to the First and Second Temples.

Jerusalem City Hall stated it is unaware of any building request or permit being issued for the wall. Antiquities officials are referring inquiries to Israel Police. Jerusalem district police stated there is no new construction, but just scaffolding and a structure intended to fortify the ancient wall.

[...]

THOMAS THOMPSON ONLINE. Jim West e-mails:

Beginning on March 24th (two weeks from today) there will be a colloquium with Professor Thomas L. Thompson concerning his book, "The Mythic Past" on the Biblical Studies discussion list. If you would like to participate, just sign up at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/biblical-studies.

THE JOURNAL BIBLICA has a new issue (85.1, 2004) online (noted by Mark Goodacre). You can access the articles on the web page in either HTML or PDF formats. Here's an article of interest:

Rick STRELAN, �Who Was Bar Jesus (Acts 13,6-12)? � , Vol. 85(2004) 65-81.
In Acts 13, Bar Jesus is confronted by Paul and cursed by him. This false prophet is generally thought to have been syncretistic and virtually pagan in his magical practices. This article argues that he was in fact very much within the synagogue and that he had been teaching the ways of the Lord. He was also a threat to the Christian community of Paphos and may even have belonged inside of it. Luke regards him as a serious threat to the faith because of his false teaching about righteousness and the ways of the Lord.

Note also the following "Animadversiones" (critical notes):

Elie ASSIS, �The Choice to Serve God and Assist His People: Rahab and Yael� , Vol. 85(2004) 82-90.
This paper presents a series of analogies between Rahab and Yael, both gentiles, who unexpectedly choose to assist Israel against the Canaanites. The analogies are designed to illustrate the surprising and unanticipated means through which divine providence operates. Noteworthy differences between the two heroines indicate the specific significance of each story. Rahab�s conduct is motivated by her recognition of God�s absolute power. Yael�s motives, however, are unclear. Their concealment is meant to detract attention from Yael�s appealing character and focus on the prophetic role played by Deborah who had predicted Yael�s behaviour.

Paul SANDERS, �So May God Do To Me!� , Vol. 85(2004) 91-98.
In the Hebrew Bible we find the self-imprecation "So may God do to me and more also!" (2 Sam 3,35, 1 Kgs 2,23, etc.). In many cases, the phrase is immediately conditioned: "So may God do to me and more also, if you will not be the commander of the army" (2 Sam 19,14). God may punish the speaker, if the latter fails his promise. Ancient Mesopotamian sources suggest that the word "So" in the Hebrew expression originally referred to a gesture in use when taking an oath: the touching of the throat. The biblical passages where the expression occurs do not display any resistance to the use of the formula as such, even though it was often pronounced inconsiderately. However, the textual alteration in 1 Sam 25,22 shows that there was opposition to the idea that the pious king David failed a promise that he had reinforced using the self-imprecatory phrase.

Dominik MARKL, �Hab 3 in intertextueller und kontextueller Sicht� , Vol. 85(2004) 99-108.
The investigation of intentional intertextual references carried out in this article is based on the criteria introduced by the Anglicist Manfred Pfister. I arrive at the conclusion that Hab 3 refers to preceding biblical texts: In vv. 3.19 the prophetic prayer alludes to Deut 33 and 2 Sam 22 in order to assume the function of authoritative vicarious prayer, while avoiding martial ideology. If one approaches the book as a whole, Hab 3 stands in antithetical relationship to Hab 1, especially due to the fact that the theophany constitutes a counterattack against the Chaldean offensive described in Hab 1,5-11. This latter text seems to be given the form of a bitter ironical parody of Jer 5,15-17.

Simone PAGANINI , �'Ich bin ein Knecht des Herrn'.Bemerkungen zur LXX- �bersetzung des Wortes (BRY in Jon 1,9� , Vol. 85(2004) 109-114.
La frase pronunciata da Giona alla domanda dei marinai in 1,9 sembra voler rispondere all�ultimo quesito da loro posto: a quale popolo lui appartenga. Giona risponde con (BRY )NKY e usa la designazione tipica per un israelita che si trova a discutere con persone non appartenenti al suo popolo. La traduzione della LXX, DOULOS KURIO EGO EIMI, fa per� nascere un problema che non � risolvibile unicamente con il presupporre uno scambio tra R e D. (BRY viene tradotto altre volte con termini diversi da HEBRAIOS ma in Gio 1,9 il traduttore aggiunge di suo il termine KURIOU. Ci troviamo di fronte ad una traduzione interpretativa, fondata su un�idea teologica del libro di Giona secondo la quale, sin dall�inizio gli � chiara la sua missione, il suo esito e anche la sua realt�: lui � un servo di JHWH. [I have reformatted the Hebrew and Greek in this abstract � JRD.]

Michael L. BARR�, �'Tarshish Has Perished': The Crux of Isaiah 23,10� , Vol. 85(2004) 115-119.
Isa 23,10 is a long recognized crux interpretum within what is a difficult passage in its own right, Isaiah�s oracle against Tyre (23,1-14). The MT makes no sense. The restoration of the LXX Vorlage reconstructed by P. W. Flint brings us closer to the "original text", to the extent that only several minor errors separate us from what may be the original form of this verse. Once these are corrected the restored bicolon I propose not only makes good sense as a sentence but reads as good Biblical Hebrew poetry and fits the overall context very well.

CONFERENCE ANNOUNCEMENT:

Anthropology and the Old Testament
Research Symposium

CALL FOR PAPERS

Following on from the success of last year�s conference on Anthropology and Biblical Studies [the fruits of which are to be published in Aguilar, M. and Lawrence, L., (eds) Anthropology and Biblical Studies: Avenues of Research, Deo/SCM Press, 2004] another research symposium on Anthropology and the Old Testament has been planned for Friday 27th August, 2004. This will be held in the Department of Theology and Religious Studies, University of Glasgow. It is anticipated that papers delivered at this event will also be published in an edited volume.

Offers of papers are welcome from both anthropologists and biblical scholars on any aspect of reading or interpreting the Old Testament in light of anthropological and cross-cultural perspectives. Please send provisional titles and a short abstract to Dr Louise Lawrence (L.Lawrence@arts.gla.ac.uk) by the end of May. Any other queries please do not hesitate to contact Louise or Dr Mario Aguilar (mia2@st-andrews.ac.uk).

We look forward to hearing from you.

Last year's symposium was a rousing success, so do come to this one if you can.

NO ARAMAIC OSCAR:

Passion' Can't Win a Foreign Language Oscar
Tue, Mar 09, 2004, 01:03 PM PT
By Mike Szymanski

LOS ANGELES (Zap2it.com) - Mel Gibson's box office blockbuster, "The Passion of the Christ" won't be eligible for a foreign language Oscar nomination, according to the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences.

Although the whole movie is spoken in Aramaic and a form of street Latin, Gibson's company that produced the movie is American.

"It won't be eligible for the foreign language award because it was produced by an American company so it's considered an American film," explains Academy publicist Dawn Newell to Zap2it.com. "Although the film is in Aramaic, it wouldn't be submitted by a foreign country so it wouldn't qualify for the foreign language category."

[...]

THE JOURNAL OF THEOLOGICAL STUDIES has a new issue (55.1, April 2004) online. Some articles of interest include:

"On the alleged Aramaic idiom behind the synoptic HLQON-sayings"
Simon Gathercole
pp. 84-91
Full-Text PDF (79 KB)

The Aramaic background of Mark 9:11: A response to J. K. Aitken
Maurice Casey
pp. 92-102
Full-Text PDF (94 KB)

Resurrecting a calf. The origin of Testament of Abraham 6:5
D. C. Allison Jr
pp. 103-116
Full-Text PDF (112 KB)


St Aldhelm on Apocrypha
A. M. C. Casiday
pp. 147-157
Full-Text PDF (80 KB)

There are also a great many relevant book reviews.

Requires paid personal or institutional subscription to access.

IMPORTANT US LEGISLATION ALERT (from the IraqCrisis list):

From: "Patty Gerstenblith" (by way of Charles E. Jones)
Date: Tue, 9 Mar 2004 12:30:53 -0600
To: Iraqcrisis@listhost.uchicago.edu, ane@listhost.uchicago.edu, anenews@listhost.uchicago.edu
Subject: [Iraqcrisis] Iraq Legislation
Reply-To: iraqcrisis@listhost.uchicago.edu

On March 4, the Senate passed legislation (S. 671) that gives the President the authority to impose restrictions to prevent the import into the United States of cultural materials that have been illegally removed from Iraq since August 1990. Enactment of this legislation is crucial to prevent cultural materials looted from Iraq's cultural institutions from entering the United States and to help combat the looting of archaeological sites.

Lobbyists on behalf of coin collectors and dealers are working to defeat this legislation in the House unless it exempts coins from any import restrictions. Please give your strong support to the Iraq provisions of S. 671 by contacting the following Senators, Representatives, and Congressional staffpersons:

Senator Charles Grassley: fax: 202-224-6020; website email form: grassley.senate.gov/webform.htm
Senator Max Baucus: fax: 202-228-3687; website email form: baucus.senate.gov/emailmax.html
Representative William Thomas: email: bill.Thomas@mail.house.gov; fax: 202-225-8798
Representative Charles Rangel: fax: 202-225-0816; website: www.house.gov/rangel
Representative Phil English: fax: 202-225-3103; website: www.house.gov/english
Representative Phil Crane: fax: 202-225-7830; website: www.house.gov/crane
Representative Sander Levin: email: slevin@mail.house.gov
Representative Jim Leach: email: talk2jim@mail.house.gov; fax: 202-226-1278
Stephen Schaeffer, Senate Finance Committee: fax: 202-228-0554
David Kavanaugh, House Ways and Means Committee: fax: 202-226-0158

You should also urge these Representatives and Senators to include equivalent provisions for the protection of Afghanistan's cultural heritage, which is subject to massive looting and for which the United States also bears a special responsibility.

Please re-post this message where ever it might be of interest

My understanding is that Congressional Representatives and Senators take snail-mail letters and faxes more seriously than e-mails, so if you write, consider faxing rather than e-mailing.

UPDATE (10 March): Jim West e-mails:

You stated-
"My understanding is that Congressional Representatives and Senators take snail-mail letters and faxes more seriously than e-mails, so if you write, consider faxing rather than e-mailing."

My Senator makes clear that because of the slowdown in mail due to anthrax and other threats it is, in fact, best to contact directly through his website. My Senators (and I assume all) have a website which includes a "contact us" page where you simply fill out your information and submit your request/comment. I have used this method a number of times and always receive a snail mail reply to my web posted mail.

The Senate web address is www.senate.gov

ARAMAIC WATCH: Iraq now has a transitional constitution. I haven't had time to read it all yet, but the following bit (my emphasis) caught my attention:

Article 9.

The Arabic language and the Kurdish language are the two official languages of Iraq. The right of Iraqis to educate their children in their mother tongue, such as Turcoman, Syriac, or Armenian, in government educational institutions in accordance with educational guidelines, or in any other language in private educational institutions, shall be guaranteed.

Islam is the state religion, but the constitution also (Article 7) "guarantees the full religious rights of all individuals to freedom of religious belief and practice." Cf. Article 12 and 13 (F).