PSCO 53 (2015-16)

THE PHILADELPHIA SEMINAR ON CHRISTIAN ORIGINS: 2015–2016 Topic: Beyond “Greco-Roman Context”: Persian & Other Perspectives on Judaism & Christianity. Sounds like an excellent area to explore. Follow the link for details.

Canepa, "Text, image, memory, and performance"

BIBLIOGRAPHIA IRANICA: Epigraphic practices in Persia and the ancient Iranian world. Notice of a new article in a new book: Canepa, Matthew P. 2015. "Text, image, memory, and performance: epigraphic practices in Persia and the ancient Iranian world." In Antony Eastmond, Viewing Inscriptions in the Late Antique and Medieval World, 10-35. Cambridge University Press

Dennert, John the Baptist and the Jewish Setting of Matthew

NEW BOOK FROM MOHR SIEBECK:

John the Baptist and the Jewish Setting of Matthew

How does the Jewish figure of John the Baptist function within the Jewish setting of Matthew? Brian C. Dennert analyzes the Baptist's role in Matthew and draws upon his portrait in other texts, noting how Matthew's portrait and use of John strengthens the claims of Matthew's Jewish group over against other Jewish groups.

Aramaic and the Cellist

ARAMAIC WATCH: Cellist Maya Beiser takes cutting-edge approach to music (Colin Eatock, Chron).

For this kind of unorthodox programming, the Washington Post dubbed her "the reigning queen of the avant-garde cello."

Beiser was raised on a kibbutz and came to the U.S. in 1987. She soon made a name for herself as the cellist in the New York ensemble Bang on a Can All-Stars, which is known for cutting-edge repertoire.

Her newest production, brought to the Wortham Theater Center by the Society for the Performing Arts, is called "All Vows." She says the title is inspired by the "Kol Nidre," a Jewish prayer written more than 1,000 years ago in the Aramaic language.

"I'm starting the second part of the show with 'Kol Nidre,' " she says. "I'll be playing the cello and singing in Aramaic. I'll perform a setting that was written for me by Mohammed Fairouz. It's a beautiful gift that he has created."

Fairouz is an American composer of Palestinian origin who is much feted in the classical music world.

Aramaic and music seem to go well together.

Sukkot priestly blessing at Western Wall

TEMPLE MOUNT WATCH: IN PICTURES: Thousands flock to Western Wall for traditional priestly blessing. The traditional priestly blessing is held anually in honor of Succot, Passover and Shavuot (Jerusalem Post).

Background on the Festival of Sukkot is here (cf. here) and links.

AJR interviews CBR editor

ANCIENT JEW REVIEW: Currents in Biblical Research: Interview with Editor Jordan Rosenblum.

“The Ancient Jew Review sat down with Jordan Rosenblum, editor of Ancient Judaism at Currents in Biblical Research. We discuss the scope of the journal, the peer review process, as well as Rosenblum’s advice for journal submissions.”

Egyptian street-map mosaic excavated in Israel

ISRAEL ANTIQUITIES AUTHORITY PRESS RELEASE:

A Rare 1,500 Year Old Mosaic was Discovered that Depicts Ancient Streets and Buildings in Egypt

A 1,500 year old mosaic, depicting a map with streets and buildings, was exposed about two years ago in archaeological excavations the Israel Antiquities Authority conducted together with school children and employees from the Qiryat Gat Industrial Park. The excavation of the mosaic was generously underwritten by the Y.S. Gat Company–Qiryat Gat Industrial Park Management Company. This extraordinary mosaic served as the floor of a church dating to the Byzantine period. It was removed from the site for the purpose of conservation and was recently returned to its permanent location in the industrial park. The mosaic will be revealed to the public for the first time at the “Factories from Within” festival to be held October 1, during the Sukkot holiday.

According to archaeologists Sa‘ar Ganor and Dr. Rina Avner of the Israel Antiquities Authority, “The appearance of buildings on mosaic floors is a rare phenomenon in Israel. The buildings are arranged along a main colonnaded street of a city, in a sort of ancient map. A Greek inscription preserved alongside one of the buildings exposed in the mosaic indicates that the place which is depicted is the settlement חורטסו, in Egypt. According to Christian tradition, the prophet Habakkuk was buried in חורטסו. The appearance of this Egyptian city on the floor of the public building in Qiryat Gat might allude to the origin of the church’s congregation”.

The mosaic pavement was part of the floor of a church that did not survive. Two sections of the mosaic were preserved; animals such as a rooster, deer and birds and a special goblet with red fruits are portrayed on one part of the pavement. According to Ganor, “The artist utilized tesserae of seventeen different colors in preparing the mosaic. The investment in the raw materials and their quality are the best ever discovered in Israel”. A Nile River landscape in Egypt consisting of a boat with a rolled-up sail, streets and buildings is depicted on the second carpet. The buildings are portrayed in detail and in three dimensions, and they have two–three stories, balconies and galleries, roofs, roof tiles and windows.

The “Factories from Within” festival will be held this year for the first time in the Qiryat Gat Industrial Park during the Sukkot holiday, in what will become an annual tradition. On October 1 the Qiryat Gat Industrial Park will be turned into an event-filled arena of one-time performances in unconventional locations, with rare visits inside some of the best known factories in Israel. The children will enjoy performances of Adon Shoko with songs by Arik Einstein, “Shukhnat Hop” and a variety of creative activities. A unique offering of events awaits adults with appearances by Shalom Hanoch and Moshe Levi in a performance of “Exit” that will be held in a printer factory, the singer Dikla will appear in the park, and Hemi Rudner will hold a fascinating master’s class in the Negev Beer brewery.

The project will give the general public a rare opportunity to peek into the hidden world of the factories in one of the country’s most modern industrial areas. The “Factories from Within” festival is the inaugural event slated to launch the 60th anniversary of Qiryat Gat, and the public is invited to enjoy the unique musical and visual experience.

The announcement has already received considerable media attention, for example, these LiveScience articles by Stephanie Pappas: 1,500-Year-Old Mosaic Shows Map of Ancient Egyptian Settlement and In Photos: Elaborate Mosaic Adorned Floor of Ancient Church.

Scanning the bodies from Pompeii

TECHNOLOGY WATCH: Revealed - what's inside the Pompeii mummies: Incredible CT scans show bodies in unprecedented detail laying bare their bones, delicate facial features and even dental cavities (Victoria Woollaston, Daily Mail)

• Restorers are working on 86 preserved plaster casts of Romans who died when Mt Vesuvius erupted in 79AD
  
• Each of the victims have been entombed in ash and now plaster for more than 1,900 years
  
• Experts have spent the summer scanning these bodies using CT scanners at the Pompeii Archaeological Site
  
• They have now released the first results of these scans to show what lies beneath the plaster of the victims

Remarkable, if macabre, technological progress. Pompeii has featured from time to time on PaleoJudaica, notably here, here, here, and here and links. It has even occasionally come up in connection with ancient Judaism, such as here, here and here and links.

Cairo Geniza scholar receives MacArthur Fellowship

CONGRATULATIONS! Rustow receives MacArthur Fellowship (Daily Princetonian).

Marina Rustow, the Khedouri A. Zilkha Professor of Jewish Civilization in the Near East at the University, is among the 24 scientists, artists, scholars and activists who received this year’s MacArthur Fellowship.

The distinction, sponsored by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, comes with $625,000 grants distributed in quarterly installments over a five-year period. ...

Rustow joined the University faculty this past July and specializes in Jewish studies of the medieval Middle East. Rustow has analyzed Cairo Geniza, a collection of more than 300,000 folio pages of legal documents, letters and literary materials once preserved in an Egyptian synagogue. These documents now reside in about 200 libraries and private collections.

Rustow explained that because of the complexity of their language, the Cairo Geniza texts are often difficult to understand and only a limited number of scholars have received sufficient training. The texts mostly include legal transactions and other day-to-day records preserved in a range of languages, particularly Judeo-Arabic ones.

Studying those texts, she said, provides a more insightful understanding of the Medieval Islamic state, especially the lifestyle of Jews, a minority in the empire that stretched from Egypt to Palestine.

“I am interested in the internal history of Jewish communities between the 11th and 13th centuries, a period that they documented so well,” she said. “Reading these accounts allow me to get a sense about the lives of Jews living under Islamic rule on every level from breakfast to poetry to marriage choices.”

[...]

This is later than PaleoJudaica's normal range of interest, but I always like to keep track of what is happening in Cairo Geniza studies. On which, more here with many, many links.

Christ Among the Messiahs in paperback

MATTHEW NOVENSON'S RECENT BOOK CHRIST AMONG THE MESSIAHS is now out in paperback with OUP.

A review of the book was noted here.

NaBuCCo

AWOL: Neo-Babylonian Cuneiform Corpus (NaBuCCo). Get it, get it, Nabucco?!

Review of Hoyos, Mastering the West

BRYN MAYR CLASSICAL REVIEW:

Dexter Hoyos, Mastering the West: Rome and Carthage at War. Ancient warfare and civilization. Oxford; New York: Oxford University Press, 2015. Pp. xxi, 337. ISBN 9780199860104. $29.95.

Reviewed by Fred K. Drogula, Providence College (fdrogula@providence.edu)

Preview

Dexter Hoyos is a leading authority on ancient Carthage and its wars with Rome, and his numerous works have advanced our understanding of these subjects.1 In Mastering the West: Rome and Carthage at War, Hoyos takes up the daunting tasks of giving a detailed narrative of the three Punic Wars and their intervening periods, of analyzing the catalysts and motives driving critical events in these wars, of drawing attention to problems in our evidence, and of working through those problems to present the best reconstruction possible. Hoyos also asks several larger questions in his work, such as why the three Punic Wars (and related Macedonian Wars) began, how Carthage and Rome were able to sustain the immense costs of the wars, and why winning the wars did not leave Rome enfeebled. In all of these areas he has succeeded admirably, and has produced an engaging and highly readable work that will attract a wide readership.

[...]

Cross-file under Punic Watch.

More on the renovation of the JTS Library

MARC GARY: The JTS Library for the 21st Century (Times of Israel blog).

Although nostalgia for a golden-hued past is a common emotional reaction to change, it cannot be a substitute for meeting the evolving needs of the future. The present JTS Library was built in the 1980s, which may seem not so long ago until you realize that 30 years ago the Internet revolution had not transformed the way we receive and disseminate information, digitization was not yet available, eBooks did not exist, and the numerous technological developments that allow rare books to be showcased and studied without harm to their fragile condition were not even considered. Perhaps even more importantly, 30 years ago libraries were mainly used as spaces for silent, individual scholarship, which is at odds with the advanced thinking of today that emphasizes the value of collaborative learning.

Had JTS merely decided to preserve the present Library and ignore these seismic changes—as some have suggested—we would have done a major disservice to the remarkable collection and the history it represents. Instead, the leadership of JTS—the Board of Trustees, the administration, and the leadership of the Library—embarked on one of the most exciting ventures in JTS history to ensure that the treasures of the Jewish people are better conserved, more widely disseminated, and more accessible to the world of scholars, students, and lay people with the purpose of enriching and inspiring new generations.

The author "is executive vice chancellor and chief operating officer of The Jewish Theological Seminary (JTS)."

Background here.

Was Tischendorf a goodie or a baddie?

BIBLE HISTORY DAILY: Tischendorf on Trial for Removing Codex Sinaiticus, the Oldest New Testament. Is Constantine Tischendorf a hero or thief? (Ellen White). The BAR article by Stanley Porter is summarized in this post, but its full text is behind a subscription wall.

Stanley Porter, the Dean of McMaster Divinity College, argues that many salient details are omitted from this all too common telling of the events. At the time of Tischendorf, there was nothing uncommon about removing, buying or gifting ancient manuscripts in this manner. He also demonstrates that from the beginning, there were discussions about donating the manuscript to the Russian Czar, as would be appropriate for an Eastern Orthodox monastery, but that the succession problems within the church leadership lead to a more complicated than normal process, which allowed allegations against Tischendorf to linger. Stanley Porter explains how newly revealed documents from the Russian archives exonerate Tischendorf and provide the rest of the story of Codex Sinaiticus’s long journey west.

More on Tischendorf is here and link. More on Codex Sinaiticus is here and links.

Regarding Codex Siniaticus, I can only repeat my view that antiquities are the heritage of humanity, not just treasures of particular nations or institutions, and they should be kept where they are safest. I realize that raises many moral and practical issues and, yes, let's talk about them. Meanwhile, I can't say I'm sorry that this manuscript is not at Saint Catherine's Monastery at present.

Kish

LET IT STAY BURIED FOR NOW: Iraq’s Ancient Kish City Lies Buried in Sand. Iraq’s Kish City has overcome natural disasters and neglect over the years, but it has now been turned into a desolate site covered in sand (Adnan Abu Zeed, Al-Monitor).

KISH CITY, Iraq — A British archaeological team from the Field Museum and Oxford University conducted excavations between 1923 and 1929 in Kish City, 80 kilometers (50 miles) south of Baghdad. Since then, no other excavations have been made in the city, which dates back 5,000 years. The visible ruins of the ancient site have been covered by sand dunes and mounds. According to archaeological records, Kish City survived the Great Flood that happened some 7,600 years ago and was mentioned in Jewish, Christian and Muslim scriptures.

Kish City is also well known because this is the site where the famous King Sargon of Akkad, with whom the Akkadian state was raised to the level of an empire, appeared. This brave king annexed the cities neighboring Kish to his kingdom and invaded the lands neighboring Iraq, such as Anatolia, Syria, Palestine, the coasts of the Mediterranean Sea and the Arab Gulf region.

Whoever visits Kish City, 12 kilometers (7.5 miles) east of Babil, will not find, for the time being, more than ruins buried underneath the sand.

[...]

Kish is not mentioned in the Hebrew Bible (Saul's father's names is coincidentally similar) or the New Testament or, as far as I can recall, in the Qur'an. I don't know where the author got the idea that the name is mentioned in these scriptures. The Hebrew Bible does mention a number of very ancient Mesopotamian cities such as Babylon, Uruk ("Erech"), and Agade ("Akkad") in Genesis 10.

The Sumerian King list is the "archaeological records" that say that that the city-state of Kish survived the Great Flood.

There is already some local looting of the site, but I hope it remains relatively ignored until the political situation becomes more stable in Iraq.

Super blood moon photos

SUKKOT SUPER-BLOOD-MOON-TETRAD FINALE: Blood moon: Your stunning photographs of the lunar eclipse over the North East. People across the region were tempted from their beds by a rare celestial event combining a lunar eclipse and a supermoon in early hours of Monday (BARBARA HODGSON, Chronicle Live). Lots of good photos. Also in The Guardian: Super moon and lunar eclipse combine for 'blood moon' – pictures from around the world (Jonny Weeks).

As the latter headline hints, a "super moon" is a full moon while at the moon's closest point to the earth and a "blood moon" happens during a lunar eclipse. Both happened together last night, which coincided with the beginning of Sukkot. This is a fairly rare coincidence, but not so rare as to be an apocalyptic one.

I last saw the full moon last night at about 11:00, when it was just starting to go bloody. And I woke up and went out again at 4:45 am in time to see a remaining crescent from the eclipse. None of my photos came out as well as the ones linked to above, so I won't post any here.

Background here and links.

NASSCAL

TONY BURKE: NEW ACADEMIC ASSOCIATION DEVOTED TO THE STUDY OF CHRISTIAN APOCRYPHA.

At the conclusion of the 2013 York Christian Apocrypha Symposium there was discussion of creating a North American academic association for the study of Christian Apocrypha, a counterpart of sorts to l’AELAC (the French/Swiss group of scholars responsible for the Corpus Christianorum Series Apocryphorum and other publishing endeavours). We soon established a founding board and met at SBL in November 2014 to consider the group’s mandate, possible collaborative projects, and the very important decision of what do we call the thing? After a few false starts we came up with the North American Society for the Study of Christian Apocryphal Literature (NASSCAL). Since November we have elected an executive and created a web site to promote the group and to build a membership. The existence of the group was formally announced at this past weekend’s 2015 York Christian Apocrypha Symposium.

[...]

Background here. The website of the new society is here: NASSCAL: The North American Society for the Study of Christian Apocryphal Literature.

Review of Ziedan, Azazeel

BOOK REVIEW IN THE JORDAN TIMES: ‘Storms we have stifled’ (Sally Bland).

Azazeel
Youssef Ziedan

Translated by Jonathan Wright

London: Atlantic Books, 2013

Pp. 312

Youssef Ziedan’s novel, “Azazeel”, has many layers, each of them fascinating in its own right. At the narrative level, it is the diary of a 5th century monk named Hypa, who undertakes a number of significant journeys, spiritual and temporal. Born in Upper Egypt along the Nile, the disintegration of his family leads him to migrate to Alexandria, then Jerusalem, Syria, north of Aleppo, and Antioch. Other layers of the story involve history, culture, philosophy, psychology, love, religion and spirituality.

Hypa’s descriptions of the people, landscapes, cities and customs he encounters weave a fascinating tapestry of life in a time which is largely forgotten. It is a multilingual and multicultural world peopled by Greeks, Arabs, Kurds and Turks, speaking Syriac (Aramaic), Greek, Arabic, Coptic, etc. It is also a world in transition and turmoil as Christianity advances at the expense of paganism, only to be embroiled in internal doctrinal squabbles.

[...]

This novel was first released in Egypt in Arabic in 2010 and was controversial. It was published in the English translation in 2012.

The title refers to a name of the devil, who is also a character in the story. His name comes from the Hebrew name Azazel, on which more here. I don't know where the extra "e" comes from, but perhaps this is just an Arabic form of the name?

A seal, not a coin

CONFUSION: 10 Year Old Volunteer Discovers Ancient Coin in Israel (David DeMar, The New Historian).

An ancient coin dating back to the tenth century BCE – roughly the time of the reign of King David – was recently discovered by a 10 year old volunteer from Russia who had been participating in the Temple Mount Sifting Project in Jerusalem.

[...]

No, this was not a coin. Coins were not invented until some centuries after the time of this artifact. It is a seal — a stone object carved with an image (not writing in this case, alas) which is pressed into clay (or later wax). The clay impression is called a "bulla" (plural "bullae) and was used to seal documents shut. You can read about the story here.

This doesn't seem complicated to me, but this is the second time I've seen this sort of confusion recently. Back in June someone was confusing a Canaanite-era Egyptian scarab seal with a coin. Story here.

The Temple Mount Sifting Project

TEMPLE MOUNT WATCH: Jewish history’s greatest archaeological crime. The Temple Mount Sifting Project, now in its 10th year, has uncovered hundreds of thousands of invaluable antiquities from tons of ancient debris discarded like trash from Judaism’s holiest site (DANIEL K. EISENBUD, Jerusalem Post).

In 1999, thousands of years’ worth of fragile and irreplaceable Jewish archaeological antiquities were surreptitiously and violently dug up by Arab bulldozers at Judaism’s holiest site, Jerusalem’s Temple Mount, to build an entrance to a subterranean mosque.

The resulting thousands of tons of invaluable debris – believed to contain over 1 million artifacts dating back to the First Temple period – were then carted off in dump trunks and discarded like garbage to a nearby landfill in Jerusalem’s Kidron Valley.

According to internationally recognized archaeologist Gabriel Barkay, PhD, who is the co-director of the Temple Mount Sifting Project, located near Mount Scopus, the removal represents perhaps the greatest archaeological crime in history.

[...]

However, only slightly more than 50 percent of the reclaimed earth has been sifted, and a massive shortfall in the project’s funding now seriously endangers the possibility of continuing the work. In an effort to ensure that the project continues, Barkay and Dvira launched a crowdfunding campaign earlier this month.

[...]

In the meantime, despite a growing Arab campaign to rewrite Jewish history at the contested holy site, Barkay notes the sifting project has been instrumental in irrefutably proving the inexorable link between Jews and the Temple Mount.

“Even now we have new information that may well change the written history of some of the periods of the Temple Mount,” he says.

“The sifting project has proven itself to be an inexhaustible source of knowledge for the research and study of the archaeology and history of the Temple Mount, and the project is continuing full steam with many more finds waiting to be discovered by professionals and visitors who come to work at the site.”

[...]

I have been blogging on this story ever since the Temple Mount Sifting Project's inception, but a reminder never hurts. Background here with many, many links.