Oxonian library cuts

THE OXFORD STUDENT: Our libraries are being treated as an economic luxury. Peter Hill writes that the cuts on library provision in Oxford are having detrimental effects on students

The other week, nine Oxford academics submitted a ‘Question in Congregation’ on the cuts to the University’s libraries budget. The immediate cause of this was the recent proposal to close the Oriental Institute Library, currently in the Oriental Institute, and transfer its holdings to the Sackler Library, already under considerable pressure. This move has been criticised by both students and staff in the Oriental Institute and the Classics Faculty, and has been covered in the Oxford Student and Cherwell.

But this proposal for the Oriental Institute Library is only one part of a wider restructuring of the University’s Humanities libraries. In 2012 the History Faculty Library was closed (despite opposition by academics and students) and its contents moved to the Gladstone Link. The Taylorian’s Slavonic and Greek Library is in the process of being wound up, and its books moved into the Taylorian. What future centralisations, rationalisations and downsizings the University management may have in mind have not been disclosed. What is certain, however, is that the root cause of the closures is budgetary.

[...]

This sounds like a setback for both the study of ancient Semitic languages (in the Oriental Institute Library) and Slavonic. I hope they manage to keep afloat in these tough economic times.

Ethiopian Sleeping Beauty

I GUESS PRINCE CHARMING WAS LATE: The grave of Sleeping Beauty: 2,000-year-old Ethiopian site reveals 'beautiful and adored' woman seemingly asleep on her side - and staring into a mirror

• She was found curled up on her side, with her chin resting on her hand
  
• Next to her was a bronze cosmetics spoon with a lump of kohl eyeliner
  
• Excavation also uncovered Roman vessels and pieces of ornate jewellery
  
• It provides evidence that the Romans traded with the Aksumite kingdom hundreds of years earlier than thought

( Ellie Zolfagharifard, Daily Mail)

"Sleeping Beauty" would have been buried not long after the time of the Ethiopian eunuch who appears in Acts 8:26-40 (although he was from the Kingdom of Kush, which was later annexed by the Kingdom of Aksum [Axum]). Aksum is also associated with legends about the Ark of the Covenant (here, here, here, here, and here; additional background here and links) and has recently been connected (controversially) with the Queen of Sheba (here, here, and here; additional background here and links). A tradition associates the early Ge'ez Garima Gospels with Aksum. Also, more on Jews and Christians in late-antique Aksum here.

Iraqi Jewish archive update

ONE YEAR LATER: Senators Attempt to Protect Stolen Jewish Artifacts in Iraq From ISIS (Suzanne Vega, JPUpdates).

Sens. Pat Toomey, D-Pa.; Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn; and Charles Schumer, D-N.Y. stepped in last year to protect Torah parchments, ancient prayer books and other Jewish artifacts that American soldiers confiscated in Iraq in 2003 , according to the Post-Gazette.

The senators said the artifacts should not be returned to a government who stole them. The items are now at the National Archives and Records Administration in Washington, where scholars may access them.

The U.S. and Iraq came to an agreement to keep the 2,300 artifacts for an additional two years, but the senators are looking for more permanent solution. Nearly $3 million has been spent to protect and preserve the artifacts from Iraq, and many hope this same effort will go towards the most recent ISIS acquisition.

“The ISIS terrorists have only contempt for things that civilized society holds dear: life, education, history and culture,” Sen. Toomey said.

The recent rise of ISIS in Iraq does tend to focus the mind when considering whether these Jewish artifacts should go back to that region.

Background here and links.

Jordan's Tourism

JERASH JOURNAL: Conflicts in Syria and Region Take Toll on Jordan’s Tourism (RANA F. SWEIS, NYT). The article has a lot about the site of Gerasa/Jerash, on which some past posts are here, here, and here. You can see from the first that this is not a new problem for Jordan's tourism. The article also discusses some other Jordanian historical sites:

The intrepid tourists who do come to Jordan’s archaeological sites often have other parts of the region on their itinerary as well, including Israel, the West Bank and Egypt. Jack Spears, an American from Phoenix, flew to Jerusalem first before making his way to Jerash, 30 miles north of Amman, the Jordanian capital. As he completed his tour of the ruins here, he stopped to look at the monumental Arch of Hadrian at the entrance, erected to honor the emperor’s visit to the city in A.D. 129.

“When you start off, it looks small, and like there’s not much to see,” he said of the sprawling site. “But the more you go in, the bigger and better it becomes.”

In calmer times a few years ago, it was easy for visitors to book a tour with stops at three spectacular ancient sites — starting at Petra, the famous city carved from rose-colored stone cliffs in southern Jordan, then Jerash, and on to Palmyra in Syria.

Palmyra has much in common with Jerash: Both were crossroads of cultures in the ancient world, and both feature well-preserved colonnades and majestic Roman amphitheaters. But Palmyra recently fell under the control of the Islamic State extremist group, which has been known to loot or smash many cultural artifacts. According to the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, the Islamic State used the amphitheater in Palmyra to kill nearly two dozen prisoners.

Lots more on Petra here and links and on Palmyra here and links.

And tangentially related: ‘Massacre’ averted in Luxor, Egyptian police say after bombing. Security measures ramped up at tourist sites in wake of foiled attack on famed Karnak temple, as crucial industry struggles to survive (AFP). That was a close call. Although no one but the terrorists were hurt, this incident is not likely to do the Egyptian tourism industry any good.

Professor Helen Bond

LET ME ADD MINE TO LARRY HURTADO'S: Professor Helen Bond: Congratulations! Well done, Professor Bond! And also, belatedly, congratulations to Professor Paul Foster.

Byzantine-era church excavated

DISCOVERY: Near Jerusalem, 1500-year-old Byzantine-era road station and church uncovered. Archaeologists say structures were built in the Byzantine period beside the ancient road leading between Jerusalem and the coastal plain (DANIEL K. EISENBUD, Jerusalem Post).

Archaeological excavations near Highway 1 – at the entrance to Abu Gosh, west of Jerusalem – uncovered a large Byzantine-era road station that included a church, the Israel Antiquities Authority announced on Wednesday.

The excavations were conducted while upgrading and widening the highway between Jerusalem and Tel Aviv in a project initiated and funded by the National Roads Company, said IAA spokeswoman Yoli Shwartz.

The road station and church were found adjacent to a seep spring known as Ein Naqa'a, located on the outskirts of Moshav Bet Neqofa, said Shwartz.

[...]

The Queen of Sheba's hairy legs

DEPILATION: Nathalie Atkinson: Hairy legs, the final frontier of feminism (Globe and Mail).

When historians write about the roots of hair removal, they usually describe an enjoyable bathing ritual in which luxurious unguents are languidly applied to the skin. Wine is often involved, as are solicitous and comely attendants.

The modern reality bears no resemblance to such romantic myths. ...

But she goes on to discuss a less romantic myth, or at least legend:

... In Plucked: A Social History of Hair Removal by Rebecca Herzig, the gender studies professor looks at Western leg-shaving habits across racial, ethnic and regional lines. The book explores the extremes women go to in pursuit of smooth skin, recounting how a popular 19th-century depilatory powder, Dr. Felix Gouraud’s Poudres Subtile for Uprooting Hair, marketed itself as being based on a formula used by the Queen of Sheba. Herzig reminds readers that in some ancient versions of the Quran and the Hebrew Bible, King Solomon summons demons to make núra, an arsenic-laced quick lime depilatory to apply to the queen’s hairy legs (other versions of the story suggest the substance was made of boiled honey and turpentine and rolled onto the skin).

The story of the Queen of Sheba's hairy legs may be hinted at in the Qur'an, but it does not appear in the Hebrew Bible. Rather, we know it from later Muslim and Jewish legends. I have collected some background here (final paragraph of post).

UPDATE: Also, lots more on the (perhaps) historical and the legendary Queen of Sheba here, here, here, and links

Cave looters sentenced

Gang Sentenced for Plundering Rare Judean Archaeological Site (The Jewish Voice).

Prison terms, 12,000 NIS fine for Arabs who caused irreparable damage to one of the most important sites ever found in Judean Desert.

Be'er Sheva Magistrate's court sentenced six Arab antiquities thieves to 18 months in jail each, along with a fine totaling 12,000 NIS, for plundering one of the most important archaeological sites ever discovered in the Judean Desert.

The robbers, all from the village of Seir near Hevron, were caught in the act last November by inspectors from the Israel Antiquities Authority’s Unit for the Prevention of Antiquities Robbery while plundering an ancient cave in the cliffs above Nahal Ze’elim in the Judean Desert.

Israel Antiquities Authority inspectors believe the accused were looking for ancient scrolls hidden during the Bar Kokhba period.

[...]

The story of their arrest was noted here in December of 2014.

Palmyra exhibition

PALMYRA WATCH: Key Artifacts from ISIS-endangered Palmyra, Syria on View at the Freer and Sackler Galleries (Popular Archaeology).

An exquisitely sculpted ancient bust of a woman from Palmyra, Syria, is returned to view for the first time since 2006 at the Smithsonian's Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery. Named "Haliphat," it will be accompanied by images of 18th-century engravings and 19th-century photographs of ancient Palmyra selected from the Freer|Sackler Libraries and Archives. ...

Background on Palmyra, its ancient history, and its current fate is here and links.

Dig canceled

TELEVISION: Undug ‘Dig’ nixed after one season. Poor ratings force conspiracy-thriller TV show about American FBI agent stationed in Israel off the air (JTA). Probably not a great loss, but I hope the Old Testament Pseudepigrapha continue to get attention in other shows.

Background here and links.

Piovanelli and Burke (eds.), Rediscovering the Apocryphal Continent

IN THE MAIL FROM MOHR SIEBECK:

Rediscovering the Apocryphal Continent
New Perspectives on Early Christian and Late Antique Apocryphal Texts and Traditions
Ed. by Pierluigi Piovanelli and Tony Burke with the collaboration of Timothy Pettipiece

This volume collects the contributions of a group of North American scholars who started rethinking, in 2004, the traditional category of New Testament Apocrypha, largely dominated by theological concerns, according to the new perspectives of a greater continuity not only between Second Temple Jewish and early Christian scriptural productions, but also between early Christian and late antique apocryphal literatures. This is the result of the confluence of two, so far, alternative approaches: on the one hand, the deconstruction of the customary categories, inherited from ancient heresiology, of "Jewish Christianity" and "Gnosticism," and on the other hand, the new awareness that the production of new apocryphal texts did not cease at the end of the third century but continued well into late antiquity and beyond. These papers bring together for the first time the typically North American need to reconsider "The Ways That Never Parted" and other artificially drawn "Border Lines" with the more European attention paid to the phenomenon of apocryphicity in the long term. In the twenty essays published here, different facets of this apocryphal continent are newly explored, from the Christian appropriation of Jewish stories and literary genres, with a special emphasis on the case of the late antique Pseudo-Clementines and their hypothetical Jewish Christian source, to the complex and controversial situation of the narrative roles attributed to such figures as Judas Iscariot, Mary of Magdala, Mary the mother of Jesus, or Peter. These new insights are particularly relevant not only for the history of the first Jesus movement but also, and especially, for gaining a better understanding of the ways Judaism and Christianity evolved initially together, then side by side, according to a process of differentiation that took more time than previously thought.

Follow the link for TOC and ordering information. Tony Burke has a book note with more information over at Apocryphicity.

The volume includes my article, "Did Christians Write Old Testament Pseudepigrapha That Appear to Be Jewish?" the conference version of which you can read here. A revised and expanded form of the paper later became chapter two of my book The Provenance of the Pseudepigrapha (Brill, 2005).

Saint Martin's summer institute on scriptural manuscripts

IN JULY AT SAINT MARTIN'S UNIVERSITY: Written Word Comes Alive at the 2015 Saint Martin’s Spiritual Life Institute (Thurston Talk).

Founded in 1982 by beloved Saint Martin’s Professor Fr. Kilian Malvey, O.S.B., the series is now facilitated by Associate Prof. Ian Werrett, Ph.D., a member of the university’s religious studies faculty. The Institute is offered as an undergraduate course in religious studies, for continuing education credit and for members of the community. The 2015 Institute will be July 6-10 on the Saint Martin’s University campus.

This year, the speakers showcase ‘Illustrated Manuscripts, Scribal Practices and the Transmission of Scripture.’ Guest speakers Stephen Delamarter, Ph.D., Hanna Tervanotko, Ph.D., and Katie Bugyis, P.D., will spotlight many diverse global and historical traditions of written scripture.

They will delve into the roles people have played in producing Scripture — its writing, editing and copying – and the various ways in which their activity is reflected in scribal practices, as well as the material evidence that remains. “Each of our speakers approach the daily subtopics from a slightly different angle, and the result is often quite dynamic and powerful,” Werrett says of the Institute’s format. “This year, we have speakers who are experts in Ethiopic scribal practices, medieval Catholicism and ancient Judaism. A program like the Spiritual Life Institute provides residents with a rare opportunity to be exposed to a variety of ideas and concepts that they wouldn’t ordinarily encounter; whether a person of faith or not, attendees will find the discussions to be enlightening, challenging and relevant.”

Sounds worthwhile if you are in the area. As I have noted before (most recently here), Professor Werrett was one of my doctorals students.

The Nahal Mishmar hoard

FROM THE CHALCOLITHIC ERA: The 6,000-Year-Old Crown Found in a Dead Sea Cave (April Holloway, Ancient Origins/Epoch Times).

The oldest known crown in the world, which was famously discovered in 1961 as part of the Nahal Mishmar Hoard, along with numerous other treasured artifacts, dates back to the Copper Age between 4000–3500 B.C.

It was revealed in New York University’s Institute for the Study of the Ancient World as part of the “Masters of Fire: Copper Age Art from Israel” exhibit earlier this year.

The ancient crown is just one out of more than 400 artifacts that were recovered in a cave in the Judean Desert near the Dead Sea more than half a century ago. The crown is shaped like a thick ring and features vultures and doors protruding from the top. It is believed that it played a part in burial ceremonies for people of importance at the time.

New York University wrote: “An object of enormous power and prestige, the blackened, raggedly cast copper crown from the Nahal Mishmar Hoard greets the visitor to Masters of Fire. The enigmatic protuberances along its rim of vultures and building façades with squarish apertures, and its cylindrical shape, suggest links to the burial practices of the time.”

[...]

The crown looks like a more modest version of Sauron's crown, which makes me want to search more carefully among the hoard for any rings.

Seriously, the Nahal Mishmar hoard is outside the normal time frame of PaleoJudaica, but the artifacts are so cool and are mentioned so infrequently that I can't help noting the stories when I find one. The last time was back in 2007.

Smaller City of David Visitors' Center approved

Government approves, but orders scaled-down version of, contested Jerusalem Kedem Center. The Elad foundation contends that the compound would be instrumental in drawing tourists while the opposing NGOs denounced the center as destructive (Daniel K. Eisenbud, Jerusalem Post).

The National Planning and Building Appeals Committee approved, but ordered a scaled-down version of, the proposed Kedem Center – a highly contested visitors compound to be operated by a right-wing NGO over an active excavation site in east Jerusalem’s Silwan, opposite the Old City’s walls.

The Sunday night ruling was followed Monday morning by dueling statements claiming victory from the Ir David Foundation (Elad), which initiated the project, and the left-wing NGOs Ir Amim and Emek Shaveh, which jointly filed a petition to block it.

[...]

There always seems to be just one more committee that needs to approve these building projects. The last report I noted seemed to imply that construction on the Center was about to begin. Well see ...

Zias found guilty of defamation

THE JERUSALEM POST: Court rules that film on Jesus tomb, marriage to Mary Magdalene was not a fraud. Court Grants massive defamation award to filmmaker Jacobovici against critic; Judge leaves question of truth to academia.

A film with the jaw-dropping conclusions that Jesus was buried, his lost tomb was found in Jerusalem and that he had married Mary Magdalene and had children with her has been declared clear of being a fraud by the Lod District Court.

Judge Jacob Sheinman also granted the filmmaker, in a decision handed down late Sunday, but not announced until Monday, Simcha Jacobovici, NIS 800,000 in damages for having been defamed by his critic, Joe Zias.

This would be one of the largest defamation awards in years, with Jacobovici’s lawyer, Yossi Abadi, estimating the average defamation award in 2014 at the much lower mark of around NIS 37,000.

Sheinman did not fully resolve the underlying controversy about whether Jacobovici’s eye-popping conclusions in his various films, which strike at the heart of Christian theology, are true, ruling only that there was no proof that they were fraudulent and leaving the final question of truth to theologians and academics.

Rather, Sheinman said that Zias, a former Antiquities Authority official, had gone beyond the bounds of academic criticism by undermining Jacobovici’s films on a commercial level with claims that were themselves not properly grounded, causing him serious financial harm.

[...]

Background here and links.

Shivta video

ISRAEL TODAY: VIDEO: Ancient Village of Shivta.

The following video offers stunning aerial footage of the ruins of Shivta, a Nabatean farming village situated along the portion of the ancient Spice Route that passes through Israel’s southern Negev region.

Another cool, unnarrated flyover video by Amir Aloni.

Masada opera correction

THE JEWISH STANDARD: ‘Tosca,’ ‘Carmina Burana’ take Masada. Fifth opera festival presents two masterpieces in the desert. Last week I incorrectly stated that this was the sixth opera festival at Masada. The first was in 2010. I was going on the basis of this Times of Israel article, which said that the 2014 season was the fifth, but I should have checked it for myself. In fact the 2013 season was canceled, so 2015 is the fifth season. Apologies for the error.

Visiting the (traditional) Tomb of Nahum in Al Qosh

PILGRIMAGE: Praying at A Jewish Tomb in Shadow of ISIS (Benjamin Kweskin, The Forward).

On this most recent pilgrimage to the synagogue, a small part of me was nervous, but not due to fear; I felt that something was pulling me to go to the synagogue on Shavuot and reaffirm some semblance of a Jewish presence in a very Jewish place, 30 miles from the Islamic State — a symbolic act of spiritual resistance.

This 2,500-year-old synagogue is the only Jewish structure still standing in northern Iraq. It is the most prominent and visible reminder still standing of Kurdistan’s 3,000-year-old Jewish history. Yet it is not well known to the Iraqi public. It was a good friend — an expat who had been living in Kurdistan for several years — who first told me about the synagogue’s existence. I went, and was entranced.

Though the synagogue is half rubble and long emptied of its most important articles and artifacts, it is still easy to imagine the site in its original splendor; the building is quite large and once included a second floor, as well as a large courtyard. In the center of the worship area stands an ornate, four-sided gate that is easily opened. Inside the gate is a wooden box covered with multiple layers of green cloth. It is in this place that, according to tradition, the remains of Nahum lie — or used to. Over the centuries, successive attacks on the synagogue led the Jewish communities’ Assyrian Christian neighbors to remove the site’s remains for safekeeping in a nearby church. In any event, what actually lies in the resting place at either site is, at the least, a matter of legitimate historical debate. While there were initial attempts to renovate the synagogue several years ago, nothing substantial has materialized. The structure remains as precarious as ever.

Related (Jack Crone, Daily Mail): Christian family in ancient Iraqi city of Nineveh prepare to defend 2,700 year-old tomb of Jewish prophet, as ISIS armies advance to just 10 miles away

• Asir Salaam Shajaa says grandfather was tasked with defending monument
  
• The duty has passed down through generations but now looks perilous
  
• Ancient Nineveh stood in what is now the northern Iraqi town of Al Qosh
  
• ISIS recently captured nearby Ramadi in hugely significant territorial battle

Background here.

Laut and Röhrborn (eds.), Vom Aramäischen zum Alttürkischen

BIBLIOGRAPHIA IRANICA: Vom Aramäischen zum Alttürkischen. A new book (2014) from De Gruyter.

Hurtado again on the Son of Man in 1 Enoch

LARRY HURTADO: “The Chosen One” of 1 Enoch: On Facts and Inferences. Larry's pasts posts on the topic are noted here, here, here, here, here, and here. And some other past PaleoJudaica posts are here, here, here, and here.