Syriac Symposium at the Catholic University

SYRIAC WATCH: Catholic University exhibit highlights Syriac Christian traditions (ABBEY JAROMA, Catholic News Service).

WASHINGTON (CNS) — Sitting in the May Gallery in the John K. Mullen of Denver Memorial Library at The Catholic University of America in Washington, one can feel immersed in 19th-century Syriac Christian life.

Held every four years since 1991, the North American Syriac Symposium brings together university professors, graduate students and scholars from around the country and abroad to discuss topics related to the language, literature and cultural history of Syriac Christianity. Catholic University is the only university to host the symposium twice.

Aaron Butts, an assistant professor in the Department of Semitic and Egyptian Languages and Literatures, told Catholic News Service the university “has a huge collection” of artifacts from Msgr. Henri Hyvernat that makes it “a great place to have the conference. You have all these original artifacts that just add an element that if you had the conference at another university, you wouldn’t have.”

Those artifacts include manuscripts, photographs and an incantation bowl.

[...]

Sounds like a good symposium.

One item is an incantation bowl, which 19th-century Syriac Christians would use by writing a magic spell on the inside and then placing it in their doorway, believing that it would keep the evil spirits out. Such bowls were used in the same way in the Jewish tradition during the same time period.

I think there is an error here. Incantation bowls were produced and used in Babylonia in the fifth to seventh centuries CE. Although in recent years there has been some retro production of such bowls, I've never heard of one from the nineteenth century. Also, James A. Montgomery published an 11-line Syriac incantation bowl in 1918 which belonged to Hyvernat, and this appears to be it. Perhaps the mixup occurred because Hyvernat also has nineteenth-century Syriac manuscripts in his possession and all these artifacts are now in the Catholic University's collection. In any case, you can see a photo of the bowl at the first link above.

CORRECTION: There was a typo in the date given for Montgomery's publication. It is now corrected.

Reception of Zenobia in Islam

PALMYRA WATCH: Homage to Zenobia (Lawrence Wright, The New Yorker).

She was probably in her twenties when she took the throne, upon the death of her husband, King Odenathus, in 267 or 268. Acting as regent for her young son, she then led the army in a revolt against the Romans, conquering Egypt and parts of Asia Minor. By 271, she had gained control of a third of the Roman Empire. Gibbon sometimes portrays the warrior queen as a kind of well-schooled Roman society matron. “She was not ignorant of the Latin tongue,” he writes, “but possessed in equal perfection the Greek, the Syriac, and the Egyptian languages.” Palmyra’s abundant wall inscriptions are in Latin, Greek, and an Aramaic dialect, not Arabic. But to Arab historians, such as the ninth-century al-Tabari, Zenobia was a tribal queen of Arab, rather than Greek, descent, whose original name was Zaynab, or al-Zabba. Among Muslims, she is seen as a herald of the Islamic conquests that came four centuries later.

This view, popular within the current Syrian regime, which boasts Zenobia on its currency, also resonates within radical Islamic circles. Glen Bowersock, a professor emeritus at the Institute for Advanced Study, says, “I suspect ISIS believes Palmyra to be somehow a distinctively Arab place, where Zenobia stood up to the Roman emperor.” Indeed, ISIS fighters, after seizing Palmyra, released a video showing the temples and colonnades at the ruins, a UNESCO World Heritage site, intact. “Concerning the historical city, we will preserve it,” an ISIS commander, Abu Laith al-Saudi, told a Syrian radio station. “What we will do is pulverize the statues the miscreants used to pray to.” Fighters then set about sledgehammering statues and shrines.

Perhaps this is why ISIS has not (yet) destroyed the ruins of the ancient city.

Background on the history of Palmyra and its current situation is here and links. Past posts on Zenobia are here and links (although I've heard some skepticism on whether the destroyed statue was really of Zenobia).

Timuş, Cosmogonie et eschatologie

BIBLIOGRAPHIA IRANICA: Zoroastrian Cosmogony and Eschatology. New book: Timuş, Mihaela. 2015. Cosmogonie et eschatologie: articulations conceptuelles du système religieux zoroastrien. (Cahiers de Studia Iranica 54). Paris: Peeters Press. Follow the link for a description and ordering information.

Nabataean script

AHRAM ONLINE: Calligraphy tales at Art Corner in Zamalek. New exhibition featuring 14 artists brings a modern twist to the traditional art form of Arabic calligraphy (Hala Safwat).

During the last days of Ramadan, Zamalek's Art Corner Gallery is hosting a new exhibition that celebrates the rich history of Arabic calligraphy – with a modern twist.

'The Story of Arabic Calligraphy' features the work of fourteen artists who have been inspired by the Islamic and Arab heritage of calligraphic art. Their works draw on the elegant curves of the Arabic text in order to create new artistic pieces with a modern flavour.

[...]

This is a fascinating exhibition, but it is really outside the scope of PaleoJudaica. I mention it because the following in it caught my eye and may be of interest to readers:

A history of Arabic calligraphy

Arabic text developed from Nabataean script – a form of writing used by the Nabataeans, who lived in territory located in modern-day Jordan, north-western Saudi Arabia and the Sinai Peninsula, and centred on Petra.

Historians have demonstrated the connection between Nabataean script and Arabic, using archaeological evidence such as the Namara inscription from Syria in 328AD, which uses Nabataean script to write Arabic, and the Zabad inscription from Syria in 512AD which is in three languages, Greek, Syriac, and Arabic. In this inscription, the Arabic text is recognisable but shows Nabataean influence.

"Researchers have argued that Arabic text originated between the era of the Namara inscription and and Zabad inscription, and the Harran inscription (of 568 AD) is considered the era of Nabataean transition to the Arabic script," calligrapher Mounir El-Shaarani told Ahram Online.

If you are interested in the further history of Arabic calligraphy, keep reading. But Nabataean (Nabatean) epigraphy and Arabic calligraphy are not my areas, so I can't vouch for the specifics.

A couple of related recent posts are here and here. Cross-file under Aramaic Watch.

Samiei, Ancient Persia in Western History

BIBLIOGRAPHIA IRANICA: Hellenism and the Achaemenid Empire. On a new book from I. B. Tauris.

Boyarin, A Traveling Homeland

NEW BOOK FROM THE UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA PRESS:

A Traveling Homeland
The Babylonian Talmud as Diaspora
Daniel Boyarin

192 pages | 6 x 9
Cloth Jun 2015 | ISBN 978-0-8122-4724-4 | $24.95s | £16.50
Ebook Jun 2015 | ISBN 978-0-8122-9139-1 | $24.95s | £16.50
A volume in the Divinations: Rereading Late Ancient Religion series
View table of contents and excerpt

"After two decades of exciting debate, the theory of diaspora studies is now in gridlock and in need of new interventions. This is such an intervention—a strong and exhilarating book."—Khachig Tölölyan, Wesleyan University

"Daniel Boyarin demolishes the long-standing notion that diaspora was born out of despair and sorrow. A Traveling Homeland is a highly erudite, suggestive, and provocative study on the concept of diaspora, and the Jewish diaspora in particular."—Oded Irshai, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem

A word conventionally imbued with melancholy meanings, "diaspora" has been used variously to describe the cataclysmic historical event of displacement, the subsequent geographical scattering of peoples, or the conditions of alienation abroad and yearning for an ancestral home. But as Daniel Boyarin writes, diaspora may be more constructively construed as a form of cultural hybridity or a mode of analysis. In A Traveling Homeland, he makes the case that a shared homeland or past and traumatic dissociation are not necessary conditions for diaspora and that Jews carry their homeland with them in diaspora, in the form of textual, interpretive communities built around talmudic study.

For Boyarin, the Babylonian Talmud is a diasporist manifesto, a text that produces and defines the practices that constitute Jewish diasporic identity. Boyarin examines the ways the Babylonian Talmud imagines its own community and sense of homeland, and he shows how talmudic commentaries from the medieval and early modern periods also produce a doubled cultural identity. He links the ongoing productivity of this bifocal cultural vision to the nature of the book: as the physical text moved between different times and places, the methods of its study developed through contact with surrounding cultures. Ultimately, A Traveling Homeland envisions talmudic study as the center of a shared Jewish identity and a distinctive feature of the Jewish diaspora that defines it as a thing apart from other cultural migrations.

Jewish Palermo

A CAPSULE HISTORY: Rediscovering Jewish Palermo (by Irene Shaland and Bianca Del Bello, Special to The [Jewish] Chronicle).

Contrary to popular opinion, Sicily’s Jewish culture was not imported from Spain but came from Judea in antiquity as part of the Diaspora. Some sources date the arrival of the first Jewish settlers in Sicily to the destruction of Jerusalem’s Second Temple in 70 A.D. when Titus brought over 30,000 Jewish slaves to Rome, some of whom were later sent to the island of Sicily. Academics generally agree though that the Jewish presence in Italy began long before that. A sizable Jewish community was likely established in the southeastern part of Sicily in Siracusa during the Hellenistic Greek period. Encyclopedia Judaica quotes the record of the first known European Jewish poet Caecilius of Calacte moving to Rome from Sicily in 50 A.D., 20 years prior to Titus’ slaves. These records prove that the Sicilian Jewish community is the oldest in Europe.

The Phoenicians, a Semitic people, were the first to colonize Sicily in 800 B.C. They established a city-port they called Zis, now known as Palermo. They spoke a language similar to Hebrew and developed the first alphabet that was written like Hebrew. The Greeks came 100 years later, and 500 years later, the Romans. The Vandals came 500 years after the Romans, then the Arabs, the Normans, the Schwabians, the French and the Spanish. The last wave of invaders came after the unification of Italy in 1861. These were the “northern Italians,” as the locals call them.

I don't know anything about the history of Judaism in Sicily, so I'm just passing the article on to you. If a reader has any comments about its accuracy, just drop me a note. Cross-file under Phoenician Watch.

Lectures in Jerusalem

ABR LECTURE SERIES: Lee University Professors Present At Lecture Series In Israel (, The Chattanoogan).

Lee University’s Dr. Brian Peterson and Dr. William Simmons presented at the annual Associates for Biblical Research (ABR) lecture series in Jerusalem, Israel. This lecture series, focused on biblical archaeology, is associated with ABR’s ongoing work at Khirbet el-Maqatir, an archaeological dig where both Dr. Peterson and Simmons have worked.

Dr. Peterson presented a paper discussing first-century home construction techniques. The paper is due to be published this year in ABR’s quarterly journal, Bible and Spade.

“This presentation was rooted in my excavations at Khirbet el-Maqatir, which have given me insight into how houses in the central highlands of Israel were constructed during the time of Jesus,” said Dr. Peterson. “This work in turn may help us understand Jesus’ role as a ‘carpenter’ (Mark 6:3) living in the hills of the Galilee. Jesus may not have been a “woodworker” per se but rather a stone mason/craftsman.”

He also delivered a second paper on the ritual desecration of figurines at Hazor and Maqatir.

[...]

Dr. Simmons presented a paper titled “Jewish Conflict and the Roman Conquest of Israel” that examined the detrimental effects of internal Jewish factions on Israel’s security compared to the external threat of the Romans.

[...]

More on Susa

ANCIENT ORIGINS: The ancient city of Susa in Iran is a worldwide treasure (ROBIN WHITLOCK). This article, inspired by the recent naming of Susa as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, is not a bad overview of the history of the city. But it could nuance its discussion to clarify the legendary nature of the book of Daniel and of the tomb attributed to him in Susa.

More on that (traditional) Tomb of Daniel is here and here. And more on Susa (in relation to the book of Esther) is here.

Tefillin

YONA SABAR: Hebrew word of the week: Tefillin (Jewish Journal).

Eastman, The Ancient Martyrdom Accounts of Peter and Paul

NEW BOOK FROM THE SBL PRESS: Ohio Wesleyan professor’s book explores deaths of apostles Peter, Paul.

In a new book, an Ohio Wesleyan University professor, David L. Eastman, explores accounts of the deaths of the apostles Peter and Paul, including tales of attack dogs, a severed head lost and a showdown with a sorcerer.

The Ancient Martyrdom Accounts of Peter and Paul (Writings from the Greco-Roman World) has been published by Atlanta-based SBL Press.

[...]

British archaeologists to the rescue

THAT'S THE SPIRIT: Indiana Jones-style defenders to protect antiquities from ISIS (Eli Leon and News Agencies, Israel HaYom).

Footage of Islamic State group destroying ancient statues at the ruins of Palmyra sets the cultural preservation community into motion to protect historic sites throughout Syria and Iraq • Britain funds mission of archeologists to the region.

More details in the cited Daily Beast article by Nico Hines: Real-Life Indiana Jones Vs. ISIS.

More on ISIS's assault on the past is here and links.

Palmyra on the verge of being retaken?

PALMYRA WATCH: Syrian Regime Poised to Retake Ancient Palmyra. Syrian soldiers wage pitched battle against ISIS just kilometers from ancient city that was seized in May, can enter city 'at any moment.' (Arutz Sheva). We'll see. If this does happen, I hope it does not result in the ruins being blown to smithereens. And it sounds as though whatever happens, it isn't going to be easy for civilians in the city.

Background here and links.

More on that Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities report

POLITICS: National Academy of Sciences criticizes politicization of Israeli archaeology. State’s links with right-wing Elad NGO come under fire in report; Elad: Report is biased against us (Nir Hasson, Haaretz).

In a comprehensive report on Israeli archaeology, the National Academy of Sciences criticizes the political use of archeology, the far-reaching cooperation between the right-wing Elad association and the Nature and Parks Authority, the prohibition on researching skeletons and the transformation of Israel into a center for illegal trade in antiquities.

The report, published last week and written by a committee headed by eminent archaeologist Prof. Yoram Tsafrir, is based on meetings with many office-holders who work in aspects of the field, including the curriculum in archeology departments, the state of research, Antiquities Authority digs, site preservation, looting, trade in antiquities and more. The reported lauded the high quality of Israeli archeological research and of teaching at the universities.

The only individual who refused to appear before the committee was the head of the right-wing Elad association, David Be’eri. Elad is involved in Jewish settlement in the Silwan neighborhood in East Jerusalem and operates the City of David National Park there, under an agreement it has with the Nature and Parks Authority. Under that agreement, for several years now a number of the most important and extensive archeological digs in the country have been carried out. The organization is also funding most of the excavations in the area of the park.

According to Elad offcials, Prof. Tsafrir – a Hebrew University professor emeritus who in the past petitioned the court against Elad because of its intention to build a residential neighborhood on top of the antiquities, is tainted with politicization. In light of Be’eri’s refusal to appear before the committee, representatives from organizations on the left that are attacking Elad and its connections with the state were not invited to appear before the committee either.

[...]

This story was mentioned in a post on another topic yesterday, but this article has much more information. Background on Elad is there and links. Professor Tsafrir has been mentioned before in PaleoJudaica posts here and here.

Israel and West-Bank archaeology

POLITCS AND LAW: Israel cites boycotts, foreign relations in refusal to divulge West Bank archaeology info. Publishing archaeologists' names could endanger their professional future, says state to justify ignoring Freedom of Information Law. (Nir Hasson, Haaretz).

The State of Israel has argued in court in cannot comply with the Freedom of Information Law regarding the identities of archaeologists who excavate in the West Bank because doing so could endanger their professional future.

It also refused to give any information about what has become of artifacts excavated in the territories, for fear of “undermining the state’s foreign relations,” according to a brief filed with the Jerusalem District Court earlier this year.

The case began two years ago, when two left-wing organizations, Yesh Din and Emek Shaveh, filed a freedom of information request seeking data about digs in the West Bank.

For digs in Israel, the information they sought would be readily available through the Israel Antiquities Authority. But digs in the West Bank are under the authority of the Civil Administration, which refused to divulge most of the requested information. The organizations consequently petitioned the court against this refusal a year ago.

[...]

Meanwhile, the Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities on Tuesday released a report on the state of Israeli archaeology that criticized the political use made of archeology, the close cooperation between the right-wing organization Elad and the Israel Nature and Parks Authority, and the ban on excavating human remains, imposed at the demand of the ultra-Orthodox. It also charged that Israel has become a center for illegal trade in antiquities.

[...]

More on Elad and Emek Shaveh here and here and links.

UPDATE (10 July): More on the abovementioned Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities report here.

Digging at Huqoq

INTERVIEW: Archaeology student digs deeper (Melonie McLaurin, Your Daily Journal). With Austin Glock Andrews, a UNC Chapel Hill student-volunteer at the site.

Background on Huqoq, best known for its remarkably ancient mosaics, is here and links.

Pe-‛Ayin or ’Ayin-Pe? Details matter!

THE HEBREW ALPHABET: The Unusual Pe Preceding Ayin Order in the Acrostics of the Book of Eikhah (Mitchell First, Jewish Link of New Jersey). An interesting application of evidence from the Dead Sea Scrolls and ancient Hebrew/Canaanite inscriptions to an old crux interpretum in one of the Psalms.

There is more on the Tel Zayit abecedary inscription and related finds here and links.

Who reads the Bible in Israel?

BUT THAT MEANS 70% HAVE: Poll: 30% of Secular Israelis Have Never Read Tanach (Eliyahu Berkowitz, JPUpdates). I bet the percentage who have for religiously non-observant Britons and North Americans is lower.

The article has many additional interesting statistics about biblical literacy in Israel.

Demons, treasure, and tomb violaters in Jerusalem

FROM THE DEPARTMENT OF CREATIVE EXCUSES: Man Caught in Attempted Tomb Robbing: ‘I Wanted to Banish the Demon that Guards the Cave’ (Tazpit News Agency/The Jewish Press)

According to IAA spokesperson, during his preliminary investigation the family’s patriarch told investigators at the scene that he was in fact an exorcist by profession and a remover of curses. He explained that his sons alerted him to a presence of a demon guarding the cave.

“The man, claiming to be an exorcist admitted to his investigators that his purpose was to rob the burial cave of its potential treasure.” Rotstein told Tazpit. “However, he stated that he was so convinced that there would be a great treasure in the cave because a demon was guarding it and he came to banish the demon from the cave.”

The unit chief explained that it is a well-known phenomenon in the Arab population, even when discovering natural caves, to send in a “specialist” to clear it from evil spirits and demons.

He fought the book burners and won

JOHANNES REUCHLIN: The Renaissance Scholar Who Rescued The Talmud, Zohar and Other Books of Jewish Learning (Howard Zik, The Jewish Press).

It may, therefore, be said that in addition to saving the sacred books for Jews for future generations, Reuchlin opened the door to a revolution in the world of science by establishing a vital connection with productive ideas in Kabbalistic thought.

More on Isaac Newton's writings in relation to Judaism is here and links. Sadly, as we saw very recently, there are still people who want to burn the Talmud.