COPTIC WATCH: An essay in Égypt monde arabe by Samuel Rubenson on "The Transition from Coptic to Arabic." Excerpt:

4 It is thus significant, that although Egyptian in the form represented by the various Coptic dialects had been the spoken language of the population at large for many centuries, as a literary language it was a fairly recent innovation.It was only in the fourth century that translations of Greek texts became widely diffused and only in the fifth century that literary texts began to be written in Coptic 2. The emergence of Coptic as a language of literature was, moreover, to a large extent linked to the emergence of a new religions and social culture manifested in the Manichaean, Gnostic and Christian movements and crystallized in the rise of monasticism. Although originating in the Greek-speaking society, they soon began to use Coptic. The success of these new movements and their associated shift to Coptic greatly contributed to the decline of Greek. Coptic literature was thus originally and primarily a vehicle for new ideas born in late Hellenistic times, and to a great extent either based on Greek (or in a few cases, Syriac) texts, or more or less modeled upon these. Not only were content and form borrowed, but as muchas 25% of the vocabulary was Greek. Not only technical terms but also particles and common verbs were borrowed 3. As a literary language therefore, Copticis as much part of the Greek Hellenistic legacy as of the ancient Egyptian.

5 After the Arab conquest of Egypt, Coptic continued to be used by the Christian population and remained the sole language of the Church for at least three centuries. During the first century of Arab rule,it seems as if the use of Arabic was mainly limited to the immigrants, and the internal affaire of the military ruling elite. It was only with the large-scale immigration of Arabs, the defeat of Coptic peasant résistance to the new rulers and the repressive taxation of the Copts with the subsequent conversion oflarge parts of the population to Islam in the later eighth and in the ninth century, that Arabic became the main spoken language. By the early ninth century, the use of Arabic among Christians had become widespread but was still regarded as contrary to their fidelity to the Christian heritage 4. But during the tenth and eleventh centuries, this changed rapidly. Within a few generations Coptic died out as a spoken language, and by the end of the twelfth century, Arabic had become the main written languageof the Church. As is evident from the linguistic works of the great Coptic scholars of the thirteenth century, Copticwas already a classical language known only by those who studied it from preserved texts 5.

6 Compared with the transition from Syriac and Greek to Arabic among the Christians of Mesopotamia, Syria and Palestine, the developments in Egypt are strange. While the Christians in these other areas started to translate their heritage into Arabic within a century after the Arab conquest and soon even to write theological treatises in Arabic, the Copts seem to have resisted any use of Arabic for almost two hundred years 6. But when the Copts gave in to Arabic, they did so much more thoroughly than any other Christians in the Middle East. Whereas Syriac, and to some extent Greek, at least as the spiritual language of the monasteries and the language of the liturgy, has continued to be widely used even till the present, Coptic died out almost completety. While there is a great literature in Syriac from the Middle Ages and while Syriac continues to be spoken today, there areno important Coptic authors after the tenth century and evidence that Coptic was no longer understood by the majority of Christians, by the end of the eleventh century. The two problems that arise from this comparison are : why there was initially a much greater reluctance, on the part of the Copts, to accept Arabic; and why Coptic was then so rapidly forsaken.

(Via Explorator.)

THE ROM DEAD SEA SCROLLS EXHIBIT is criticized from the perspective of the Palestinian protesters in the Bullet (Socialist Project). It opens:

Even before the highly anticipated six-month, $3-million collaboration between the Royal Ontario Museum (ROM) and the Israeli Antiquities Authority (IAA) showcasing the Dead Sea Scrolls was officially launched in late June, the exhibit was already the subject of growing controversy. “Dead Sea Scrolls: Words that Changed the World,” as the exhibit is entitled, first attracted international attention in April when Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper and executives at the ROM were each sent letters of protest from senior officials of the Palestinian Authority (PA) – signed by Prime Minister Salam Fayyad and Minister of Tourism and Antiquities Khouloud Diabes, respectively – declaring that the scrolls were in fact illegally seized by Israel following its occupation and subsequent annexation of the West Bank in 1967.[1] The PA not only called for the repatriation of the scrolls but further argued that they merely represent one example of possibly millions of other artifacts that have been systematically looted by Israel from occupied Palestinian territory over several decades, a message that has since been echoed by a chorus of supportive community groups who continue to organize weekly pickets outside of the ROM in protest.
Demonstration at the ROM

The majority of the Dead Sea Scrolls were excavated in eleven caves near the site of Qumran, one kilometer along the northwest shore of the Dead Sea, by the Palestine Archaeological Museum (also referred to as the Rockefeller Museum) in a joint expedition with the Department of Antiquities of Jordan and the Ecole Biblique Française between 1947-1956. Originally found quite by chance by an Arab Bedouin named Mohammed Ahmed el-Hamed in 1947, the scrolls are by now widely regarded as one of the greatest archaeological discoveries of the twentieth century. Consisting of approximately 900 documents in various states of completeness, the scrolls are said to represent the oldest known version of the Old Testament Bible (approximately 150BC-70CE) and are considered sacred to Judaism, Christianity, and Islam alike; they are written largely in Hebrew, but many can be found in Aramaic and Greek script as well.

The scrolls were displayed at the Palestine Archaeological Museum in east Jerusalem until 1967, whereupon after the Six-Day War they were seized and relocated to the Shrine of the Book at the Israel Museum in western Jerusalem. Several additional excavations have since occurred in the West Bank and east Jerusalem whose artifacts continue to be illegally appropriated by Israel, under the auspices of the IAA, from what is internationally recognized as occupied Palestinian territory. Israel unilaterally declared Jerusalem its “...complete and united capital” following the Jerusalem Law of 1980; however, the decision was immediately deemed null and void under UN Security Resolution 479 and later reinforced by successive UN Resolutions, 242 and 338, that together call on Israel to withdraw completely from all territories occupied in 1967.

[...]

As I've mentioned before, most of the Scrolls (which are highly fragmentary) remained in the Rockefeller Museum (PAM) in a carefully controlled environment (and were not on display) at least until about 1990. I know a lot of sources online say otherwise, but I was there. I know these Scrolls have undergone a lot of conservation since and it's possible they may have been moved, although I haven't heard about it. But the Israel Museum website only mentions having the well-preserved Cave One Scrolls and Temple Scroll at the Shrine of the Book.

For background to the dispute and to the exhibition, go here and follow the links.

PHOENICIAN/PUNIC WATCH:

Metro station in Algeria's capital: link to the past

By Pierre-Yves Julien (AFP) – 3 days ago

ALGIERS — Workmen digging the foundations of a new metro station in Algeria's capital stumbled on an archaeological goldmine that gives new meaning to "time travel" -- opening a window on 2,300 years of history.

Relics from the French colonial era lie on top of those from the Ottoman period, in turn covering those from the Middle Ages and early Roman Empire.

Then comes what archaeologists hope will be ruins from the Punic period -- when Phoenician traders established north African outposts in the first millennium BC.

[...]

Beneath that came the remains of a Paleo-Christian church dating from the 4th or 5th century AD, said Francois Souq, director for the Mediterranean region at the National Institute for Preventive Research (INRAP) in the southern French city of Nimes.

The bases of columns are still visible, surrounding a nave around 20 metres (65 feet) wide, with the floor covered in mosaics.

The archaeologists hope that by digging a bit deeper they will uncover remains dating from the Punic era, when the Phoenicians built trading posts along a 1,200-kilometre (745-mile) stretch of the Algerian coastline.

One of the ports was Icosium, the ancient city on which Algiers now stands.

Archaeologists believe Icosium would have been founded in the 3rd century BC although they admit their knowledge is limited.

Among the few clues so far was a pot of money discovered during the building of a road near the Casbah.

It contained coins with the Punic inscription for Icosium and the effigy of a man who could have been Melqart, a Phoenician god.

[...]

(Via the Agade list)

MORE ON PROFESSOR DONALD W. PARRY and his work on the Biblia Hebraica Quinta:

Utahn's work with Dead Sea Scrolls adds insights for Bible translation

By Scott Taylor

Deseret News
Published: Friday, Aug. 14, 2009 7:52 p.m. MDT

PROVO — With its scriptural texts coming from the Holy Land's Old Testament era and its publication pedigree traced back to Germany at the turn of the 1900s, Biblia Hebraica Quinta will be a global product with worldwide benefits — and a Utah connection.

That Utah tie comes through Donald W. Parry, a Brigham Young University professor of Hebrew Bible. Parry is one of two dozen editors selected from across the world — and one of only a couple from the United States — for the current Biblia Hebraica Quinta project.

It's the fifth edition of Biblia Hebraica — the version of the Hebrew Bible published under the auspices of the Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft (German Bible Society), which oversees 141 global Bible societies. Biblia Hebraica Quinta in turn will be used for future translations of the Old Testament into almost as many languages.

[...]

Background here.

THE LAST EMBER is a new, Second-Temple-Judaism-themed thriller that has just come out. There are a number of reviews etc. online. Here's one:

Book review: ‘The Last Ember’ aglow with plot energy

By Alex Jurek
alex.jurek@indenvertimes.com

9781405039062The Last Ember
by Daniel Levin
Riverhead Hardcover
432 Pages

Archeology as arena of struggle for the past and the future is brought alive as it hasn’t been in a long time in this smart thriller that takes on Biblical holy objects, secret plots of the prisoners of ancient Rome, and those who would today contemplate acts of archaeological terrorism, fashioning these elements into an engrossing and highly readable read filled with mystery, suspense and thrills.

Fans of Dan Brown’s last religious-themed mega-thriller will find plenty of goodies in the pages of this book, brimming with not just action and ancient mysteries but complex modern day politics surrounding archeology of the Temple Mount.

[...]

TIME TO PARTY! Biblical-themed, ancient-style costumed toga parties, grand openings & weddings serving vegan dips.

A SECOND TEMPLE/HELLENISTIC JUDAISM JOB is being advertised for Northwestern University.

(Via the Agade list.)

BOOK REVIEW: Elie Wiesel, Rashi, by Eric Lidji in the Jewish Chronicle. Excerpt:

“Rashi,” a new book by Elie Wiesel, sketches a portrait of the master that is neither definitive nor exhaustive, but that introduces him and his work to those who don’t know him, and offers some context to those steeped in his work, but not in his world.

The slim volume — less than 100 pages — is part of Nextbook’s Jewish Encounters series, which tasks contemporary Jewish authors with writing about iconic Jewish figures or overarching Jewish themes. Wiesel and Rashi fit: both are prolific French Jews of traditional background who embrace the entire Jewish community through their words.

Because few biographical details exist about Rashi, Wiesel instead relies on Rashi’s enormous body of work — which covers the entirety of the Tanakh and almost all of the Talmud — to show a leader seeking to reassure his community and future communities of Jews that the promises heralded in the Torah still held true, despite trying times.

TATTOO WATCH: Victoria Beckham reportedly has a new Hebrew tattoo, which says "together forever, eternally." The photo shows most of it: ביחד לעולמי עד. The first two letters aren't visible, although the second is certain from context. The next two are very blurred. There are also vowel points, but I've left them out. The translation seems accurate. Ms. Beckham already has another Hebrew tattoo; a quotation from the Song of Songs.

Heads-up, reader Yoel Heltai. For another accurate ancient-language tattoo, see here.

CONFERENCE CONTROVERSY:

Israel protests exclusion from int'l archeological conference in Ramallah
By GIL HOFFMAN AND JOSIAH DANIEL RYAN (Jerusalem Post)

The Israel Antiquities Authority condemned the World Archeological Congress on Wednesday for holding an international conference in Ramallah dedicated to "overcoming structural violence" and the negative impact of politics on archeology.

In a fiercely worded letter to the congress's president, IAA deputy director Dr. Uzi Dahari accused the organization of excluding Israelis, not informing the IAA of the event in advance, and allowing an academic forum to be used for political propaganda against Israel.

[...]

WAC president Claire Smith responded that Israeli archeologists had not been intentionally excluded from the conference and that it had been widely advertised. She said there had been a misperception that Israeli archeologists would not be permitted to go to Ramallah to attend the event, and that a videoconference to allow Israeli participation had been attempted, but had not succeeded.

[...]

UPDATE (14 August): The IAA letter and press release have been published at the Independent Media Review Analysis website. Information on the Ramallah Congress can be found on the WAC Congresses website.

UPDATE (19 August): More here from the WAC.

TECHNOLOGY WATCH:

Algorithms help unravel the secrets of ancient documents

By HANNAH FISHER (Jerusalem Post)

Computer science and humanities departments have joined forces at Ben-Gurion University in Beersheba to decipher historical Hebrew documents, a large number of which have been overwritten with Arabic stories.

The texts include fragments of Jewish prayer books from the Land of Israel.

The unique algorithm being used to determine the wording was developed by BGU computer scientists. The documents are searched electronically, letter by letter, for similarities in handwriting which help determine the date and author of the texts.

The documents being deciphered at BGU are degraded texts from sources such as the Cairo Geniza, the Al-Aksa manuscript library in Jerusalem, and the Al-Azar manuscript library in Cairo.

All together, the base consists of "100,000 medieval Hebrew codices and their fragments [that] represent the book production output of only the last six centuries of the Middle Ages," BGU computer science professor Klara Kedem said this week.

[...]

The article is not entirely clear, but it sounds as though the algorithm is being used as an epigraphic tool to establish readings; some form of computer enhancement to remove the top layer of writing on a palimpsest and highlight the lower layer.

For other manuscript imaging and conservation projects see here.

AN ANCIENT JEWISH "TEMPLE" (SYNAGOGUE?) has been found in southern Turkey:

Jewish temple found in ancient port city at Lycian site

(Today's Zaman)

Ongoing excavations at the ancient port city of Andriake in Lycia -- located in Antalya's Demre district -- have uncovered a centuries-old Jewish temple.

Site chief Dr. Nevzat Çevik, an archaeology professor at Akdeniz University, told the Anatolia news agency that his team believes the temple is from around the third century. Located on a choice spot facing the sea, the temple was likely built following a law instituted in 212 that allowed Jews the right to become Roman citizens, Çevik said.

The find is important as it is the first archaeological trace of Jewish culture found in Lycia. ...

PHILIP DAVIES has an essay at the Bible and Interpretation website in which he calls for a Dictionary of Biblical Studies:

Watch Your Language!

By Emeritus Professor Philip Davies
University of Sheffield, England
August 2009

About twenty years ago, I gave a conference paper called “Do Old Testament Studies Need a Dictionary?”1 In those days, “Old Testament” was unselfconsciously used—but so were biblical categories of description. I was railing against “Academic Bibspeak,” in which key terms were not translated into meaningful modern equivalents but remained fossilized within biblical scholarship. My argument was that to be “critical” we had to analyze one kind of vocabulary by using another, and not in its own—and thus be able to offer a “judgment” by translating the vocabulary.

Rereading this old piece recently—for the first time since its publication, I think—I expected symptoms of youthful brashness and was not disappointed. Did I also recognize how far the discipline had progressed since? Just a bit.

[...]

I do take his points, but personally I think Ark of the Covenant has a much better ring to it than Treaty Box. But maybe that's just me.

I'M VERY BEHIND on noting TOCs of online journals (i.e., most of them, these days). I'll try to get started catching up. Here are some recent TOCs for the Journal for the Study of the Pseudepigrapha. A paid personal or institutional subscription is required to download the whole articles, although the abstracts are free.

September 2007, Volume 17, No. 1

J. Allen
Ezekiel the Tragedian on the Despoliation of Egypt
Journal for the Study of the Pseudepigrapha 2007 17: 3-19.

J.R. Dodson
Locked-Out Lovers: Wisdom of Solomon 1.16 in Light of the Paraclausithyron Motif
Journal for the Study of the Pseudepigrapha 2007 17: 21-35.

Brent A. Strawn
Why Does the Lion Disappear in Revelation 5? Leonine Imagery in Early Jewish and Christian Literatures
Journal for the Study of the Pseudepigrapha 2007 17: 37-74.

Sarah L. Schwarz
Book Review: KLUTZ, TODD E. Rewriting the Testament of Solomon: Tradition, Conflict and Identity in a Late Antique Pseudepigraphon. London: T&T Clark, 2005. Cloth. Pp. 176. USD 130.00. ISBN 0567043924. Paper. Pp. 192. USD 55.00. ISBN 0567081877
Journal for the Study of the Pseudepigrapha 2007 17: 75-78.

January 2008, Volume 17, No. 2

Micah D. Kiel
Tobit and Moses Redux
Journal for the Study of the Pseudepigrapha 2008 17: 83-98.

Bradley C. Gregory
The Death and Legacy of Leah in Jubilees
Journal for the Study of the Pseudepigrapha 2008 17: 99-120.

Kristine J. Ruffatto
Raguel as Interpreter of Moses' Throne Vision: The Transcendent Identity of Raguel in the Exagoge of Ezekiel the Tragedian
Journal for the Study of the Pseudepigrapha 2008 17: 121-139.

Dries De Crom
The Letter of Aristeas and the Authority of the Septuagint
Journal for the Study of the Pseudepigrapha 2008 17: 141-160.

May 2008, Volume 17, No. 3

Arye Edrei and Doron Mendels
A Split Jewish Diaspora: Its Dramatic Consequences II
Journal for the Study of the Pseudepigrapha 2008 17: 163-187.

David Shepherd
What's in a Name? Targum and Taxonomy in Cave 4 at Qumran
Journal for the Study of the Pseudepigrapha 2008 17: 189-206.

Marcus P. Adams
The Alexandrinus Text of 4 Maccabees
Journal for the Study of the Pseudepigrapha 2008 17: 207-231.

Carla Sulzbach
Book Review: FRANCES FLANNERY-DAILEY. Dreamers, Scribes, and Priests: Jewish Dreams in the Hellenistic and Roman Eras. SJSJ 90. Boston/Leiden: Brill, 2004. 327 pp. ISBN 9004123679
Journal for the Study of the Pseudepigrapha 2008 17: 233-236.

June 2008, Volume 17, No. 4

David Rothstein
Text and Context: Domestic Harmony and the Depiction of Hagar in Jubilees
Journal for the Study of the Pseudepigrapha 2008 17: 243-264.

Fiona Grierson
The Testament of Moses
Journal for the Study of the Pseudepigrapha 2008 17: 265-280.

[Grierson's article started its life as a seminar paper in my and Grant Macaskill's Old Testament Pseudepigrapha course.]

Erkki Koskenniemi
Moses—A Well-Educated Man: A Look at the Educational Idea in Early Judaism
Journal for the Study of the Pseudepigrapha 2008 17: 281-296.

James F. McGrath
History and Fiction in the Acts of Thomas: The State of the Question
Journal for the Study of the Pseudepigrapha 2008 17: 297-311.

Jan Dochhorn
Book Review: J. TROMP, The Life of Adam and Eve in Greek: A Critical Edition. Pseudepigrapha Veteris Testamenti Graece, 6. Leiden/Boston: Brill, 2005. Cloth, viii + 208 pp. Euros 77.00, $104.00 USD. ISBN: 9004143173
Journal for the Study of the Pseudepigrapha 2008 17: 313-319.

September 2008, Volume 18, No. 1

John Byron
Cain's Rejected Offering: Interpretive Approaches to a Theological Problem
Journal for the Study of the Pseudepigrapha 2008 18: 3-22.

Daniel M. Gurtner
The `Twenty-Fifth Year of Jeconiah' and the Date of 2 Baruch
Journal for the Study of the Pseudepigrapha 2008 18: 23-32.

Andrei A. Orlov
`The Gods of My Father Terah': Abraham the Iconoclast and the Polemics with the Divine Body Traditions in the Apocalypse of Abraham
Journal for the Study of the Pseudepigrapha 2008 18: 33-53.

Steven Richard Scott
The Binitarian Nature of the Book of Similitudes
Journal for the Study of the Pseudepigrapha 2008 18: 55-78.

December 2008, Volume 18, No. 2

Lorenzo Ditommaso
Pseudepigrapha Notes II: 3. The Contribution of the Manuscript Catalogues of M.R. James
Journal for the Study of the Pseudepigrapha 2008 18: 83-160.

March 2009, Volume 18, No. 3

William `CHIP' Gruen, III
Seeking a Context for the Testament of Job
Journal for the Study of the Pseudepigrapha 2009 18: 163-179.

David C. Mitchell
A Dying and Rising Josephite Messiah in 4Q372
Journal for the Study of the Pseudepigrapha 2009 18: 181-205.

Helen R. Jacobus
The Curse of Cainan (Jub. 8.1-5): Genealogies in Genesis 5 and Genesis 11 and a Mathematical Pattern
Journal for the Study of the Pseudepigrapha 2009 18: 207-232.

Daniel C. Olson
'Enoch and the Son of Man' Revisited: Further Reflections on the Text and Translation of 1 Enoch 70.1-2
Journal for the Study of the Pseudepigrapha 2009 18: 233-240.

June 2009, Volume 18, No. 4

Benedikt Eckhardt
Reclaiming Tradition: The Book of Judith and Hasmonean Politics
Journal for the Study of the Pseudepigrapha 2009 18: 243-263.

Ronald Charles
A Postcolonial Reading of Joseph and Aseneth
Journal for the Study of the Pseudepigrapha 2009 18: 265-283.

Michael Avioz
The Incineration of Saul's and His Sons' Corpses according to Josephus
Journal for the Study of the Pseudepigrapha 2009 18: 285-292.

Michael E. Stone
Two Unpublished Eschatological Texts
Journal for the Study of the Pseudepigrapha 2009 18: 293-302.

Robert Phenix
Book Review: DEBIÉ, MURIEL, ALAIN DESREUMAUX, CHRISTELLE JULLIEN, and FLORENCE JULLIEN, eds. Les apocryphes syriaques. Études syriaques 2. Paris: S. N. Librairie Orientaliste Paul Geuthner S. A., 2005. ISBN 2-7053-3771-7. 231 + 2 pp. Paperback. 40 Euros
Journal for the Study of the Pseudepigrapha 2009 18: 303-310. [PDF] [Request Permission]

Noah Hacham
Book Review: JOHNSON, SARA RAUP. Historical Fictions and Hellenistic Jewish Identity: Third Maccabees in Its Cultural Context. Hellenistic Culture and Society, 43; Berkeley, Los Angeles & London: University of California Press, 2004. Pp. xix + 253. ISBN 0-520-233070-7
Journal for the Study of the Pseudepigrapha 2009 18: 310-315. [PDF] [Request Permission]

Matthew J. Goff
Book Review: COLLINS, JOHN J., GREGORY E. STERLING and RUTH A. CLEMENTS (eds.). Sapiential Perspectives: Wisdom Literature in Light of the Dead Sea Scrolls. STDJ 51. Brill, 2004. ISBN: 9004136703
Journal for the Study of the Pseudepigrapha 2009 18: 315-319.

AN OBITUARY FOR GRAHAM STANTON has been published in the Telegraph.

(Via Mark Goodacre.)

ARCHANGEL METATRON WATCH: The angelic Enoch as cosmic eschatological scribe? According to TradingMarkets.com:

Metatron to acquire 100% of Just Data

Compare Jubilees 4:19-20:

And what was and what will be he saw in a vision of his sleep, as it will happen to the children of men throughout their generations until the day of judgment; he saw and understood everything, and wrote his testimony, and placed the testimony on earth for all the children of men and for their generations.

(I love this new company. They give me lots of material.)

THE RAMAT RACHEL EXCAVATION is getting some attention from Arutz Sheva:

Remains from Period of King Hezekiah Discovered

by Hillel Fendel

(IsraelNN.com) The most recent dramatic archaeological find in Israel is that of a luxurious administrative center from the period of King Hezekiah, over 2,700 years ago. The center was discovered in Kibbutz Ramat Rachel, just south of Jerusalem

Over 100 students and volunteers from Israel and abroad are taking part in the dig, which is a joint project of Tel Aviv University’s Archaeological Institute and Heidelberg University in Germany.

[...]

Apparently the dig has started a 2009 season, although so far there's no activity on its blog. Background here.

ARTIFACTS GALORE! One Million Archaeological Artifacts on Display in Israel.

BLOGGERS AT SBL are listed at the Hebrew and Greek Reader blog.

BREAKING NEWS: Barack Obama is not the Antichrist.