Ben Tor awarded Israel Prize

CONGRATULATIONS! BENNETT AWARDS ISRAEL PRIZE IN ARCHAEOLOGY TO PROF. AMNON BEN TOR. Professor Amnon Ben tor is famous in his field for his strict scientific rigor and humor as a lecturer (Hagay Hacohen, Jerusalem Post). A well-deserved honor.

Incidentally, according to this article, Professor Ben Tor does believe in the biblical United Monarchy.

Now all he needs is to find the Hazor royal archives for the capstone of his career.

For notices of some past winners of the Israel Prize, see here and links.

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Was Jeroboam II the real King David?

TURNING ARCHAEOLOGY INTO HISTORY? MAYBE. THAT'S HARD. Meet the Real King David, the One the Bible Didn’t Want You to Know About. Apparently there was a United Monarchy after all, posits biblical archaeologist Israel Finkelstein – just not under the kings Saul, David or Solomon, but centuries later under Jeroboam II (Ariel David, Haaretz premium). The case sounds impressive to me, but I am not an archaeologist. I would like to hear what other archaelogists think. Notably, Eilat Mazar.

For more on Professor Finkelstein's reconstruction of the history of Israel in the Iron Age II, with particular reference to Kiryat Yearim (Kiriath Jearim), see here.

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What became of the Temple treasures?

THE HOLY LAND PHOTOS' BLOG: A.D. 70 The Destruction of the Temple — Where did the Temple Treasure Go? Final Part. Carl Rasmussen concludes the story. Up to the return of the treasures to unnamed Christian sanctuaries (note the plural) in Jerusalem in the early sixth century we are following Procopius's account, which in general seems credible. But the trail dies there. We don't know which sanctuaries they were put in and we don't know what happened to them after the Persian invasion in the early seventh century.

Possibly they were put the Nea Church. Then we don't know what happened to them.

Possibly they were put into the Church of the Holy Sepulcher (Holy Sepulchre). Then, again, we lose track of them. Sean Kingsley thinks they were moved from there to the Greek Orthodox Monastery of Theodosius at Deir Dosi on the West Bank by the locum tenens Patriarch Modestus, just before the Persian invasion. There are a lot of caves in that vicinity, so our imaginations are free to run wild from there.

But Carl mentions a third possibility that I don't remember hearing before. Steven Fine has found a (granted, very late) tradition that the treasures were never taken from Rome!

I would be inclined to follow Procopius, who wrote much closer to the events he recounts. That would get the treasures back to Jerusalem and then who knows where.

The earlier posts in Carl's series on the Temple treasures are here and links. And for other PaleoJudaica links on the subject, start here.

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More on the Tomb of Ezekiel

MIDDLE EAST EYE: Babylon's forgotten tomb, a symbol of Iraq's ancient Jewish heritage. Prophet Ezekiel’s burial place demonstrates religious diversity and promotes the coexistence of faiths (Lizzie Porter).

Today, managers at Ezekiel’s tomb say visitors of all faiths are welcome and that they do not ask visitors about their sect or religion.

“Those who come to us are of different nationalities. We do not care about their religion,” said [assistant shrine keeper Haytham] Alkhafaji.

“The site is a fascinating place as well as essentially the most important Jewish pilgrimage site in modern-day Iraq,” said Alex Shams, who is researching shrines for his PhD in anthropology at the University of Chicago.

He visited Ezekiel’s tomb last November during Arba’een, the most significant annual Shia Muslim pilgrimage that sees millions of the faithful walk from Najaf to Karbala

The (traditional) Tomb of Ezekiel in Kifl, Iraq, has been renovated and has been receiving some media attention. This article covers the basic facts well and tries to be evenhanded about the politics. I suspect everyone will find something to disagree with on that subject.

I hope the renovators find the millions in funding that they still need. It will probably have to come from private philanthropy, if it comes. Iraq is not a recommended tourist destination yet. Not by any means. I hope it gets there someday.

Background here and many links.

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"Examining the authenticity of the Gospel of Jesus' Wife"

I'M GOING WITH FORGERY: Forgery or a Lost Account? Examining the Authenticity of the Gospel of Jesus’ Wife (Jack Wilkin, Ancient Origins). As I have noted before, the quality of the essays in Ancient Origins is variable. This one looks like a pretty good brief account of the scholarly issues that led to the debunking of the Gospel of Jesus' Wife as a modern forgery.

The article does not go into the strange story of its modern chain of ownership, perhaps wisely, given space constrains. More on that here.

And for many other posts on the Gospel of Jesus' Wife, see here and here and just keep following those links.

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Still following those Temple treasures

THE HOLY LAND PHOTOS' BLOG: A.D. 70 The Destruction of the Temple — Where did the Temple Treasure Go? Part 3. Carl Rasmussen (with his sources, Brandfon and Billington) follows Procopius's account that the treasures were carried from Rome to Carthage by the Vandals, then to Constantinople. they were finally sent by Justinian back to unidentified Christian sanctuaries in Jerusalem.

Carl's sources hold the view that the treasures were put in the Nea Church (on which more, recently, here). Well, it does have a lot of vaults. But unless there is new information that I don't know about, placing them there is speculation.

Some years ago, Sean Kingsley wrote a book about the fate of the Temple treasures, God's Gold. Kingsley too follows Procopius and has the treasures returned to Jerusalem by Justinian, but he infers (guesses) that they were kept in the Church of the Holy Sepulcher (Holy Sepulchre). I blogged on the book (and yes, I did finish it) here and links.

Past posts in Carl's series on the Temple treasures are here and links. One more to go.

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Satlow reports on The Benefit of the Doubt

MICHAEL SATLOW: The Benefit of the The Doubt: Workshop Reflections.

Before this workshop, even after reading Whitmarsh’s book, I never thought much about atheism in antiquity. If it existed at all, it was, I thought, a fringe phenomenon; after all, wasn’t atheism really a modern phenomenon? ... Now, though, I see doubt everywhere. ...

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Garbage disposal fail in Byzantine-era Elusa

MATERIAL CULTURE: Ancient Garbage Heaps Show Fading Byzantine Empire Was 'Plagued' By Disease and Climate Change (Mindy Weisberger, Live Science).

The researchers discovered that trash disposal — once a well-organized and reliable service in outpost cities like Elusa — ceased around the middle of the sixth century, about 100 years prior to the empire's collapse. At that time, a climate event known as the Late Antique Little Ice Age was taking hold in the Northern Hemisphere, and an epidemic known as the Justinian plague raged through the Roman Empire, eventually killing over 100 million people.

If your trash-disposal system collapses, you know your civilization is in trouble.

The research was just published yesterday. Follow the link for a link to the technical article in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

The Eluza (Halutza) excavation was also in the news recently with the discovery of a Greek inscription that confirmed the identification of the site.

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New series on the life of Jesus

REVIEW: ‘Jesus: His Life’: a fresh take on the world’s most studied character (John Anderson, America Magazine).

Much about this ambitious series, produced by the U.K.-based Nutopia studio (“Finding Jesus,” “Civilisations”), hews to the established History aesthetic: Dramatic re-enactments that no one will ever confuse with the work of Cecil B. DeMille and background music that roils and swells like an angry Red Sea. But there is also an intellectual integrity at work, and a structure that provides a fresh way of looking at the world’s already most studied life.

The review is based on the first two of eight total episodes.

Also, the University of Iowa has a press release on the series and the contribution to it of Professor Robert Cargill (who is also the chief editor of Biblical Archaeology Review): UI religious-studies professor assists in History Channel docu-series ‘Jesus: His Life.’ (Annie Fitzpatrick, The Daily Iowan).

Professor Mark Goodacre, of Duke University, was also involved.

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Nawotka et al. (eds), The Historiography of Alexander the Great

BIBLIOGRAPHIA IRANICA: The Historiography of Alexander the Great. Notice of a New Book: Nawotka, Krzysztof, Robert Rollinger, Josef Wiesehöfer & Agnieszka Wojciechowska (eds.). 2019. The Historiography of Alexander the Great (Classica et Orientalia 20). Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz.

This book deals with the vexed problem of isolating early sources for the life of Alexander, important because our main sources for his life come from centuries after his time, but used material written by his contemporaries. The book also has essays dealing with ancient Jewish traditions about Alexander.

For more on Alexander the Great and on his reception in Judaism, see here and links.

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Review of Parthika (ed. Wiesehöfer​ and Müller​)

BRYN MAYR CLASSICAL REVIEW: Josef Wiesehöfer​, Sabine Müller​ (ed.), Parthika: Greek and Roman Authors' Views of the Arsacid Empire = Griechisch-römische Bilder des Arsakidenreiches. Classica et Orientalia, 15​. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz Verlag, 2017. Pp. xiii, 312. ISBN 9783447107648. €78,00. Reviewed by Leonardo Gregoratti, Durham University (DerGrego@gmail.com).

The volume includes a chapter by E.S. Gruen on Josephus and the Parthians.

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Lecture on the archaeology of Israelite women

UPCOMING: Faith & science lecture in April on archaeology of Israelite women (Oak Ridge Today). The lecture by Prof. Erin Darby of the University of Tennessee takes place on 2 April in Oak Ridge, Tennessee.

In her presentation in Oak Ridge, she said she “will summarize what archaeology tells us about the lives of Israelite women and will compare and contrast that picture with the descriptions of women in the Old Testament/Hebrew Bible and in other ancient Near Eastern documents.”

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Why was the Golden Gate sealed, and who built it?

TEMPLE MOUNT WATCH: The Most Mysterious Gate in Jerusalem's Old City Is Still Puzzling Researchers. Why was the Golden Gate sealed, and who built it? (Nir Hasson, Haaretz Premium).

This is not the first crisis around this gate. Scholars cannot agree on any of the important questions around this structure: Who built it? When? Why was it sealed? What purpose did it serve over the years? In fact, the ambiguity surrounding the Golden Gate is linked to its eschatological role in all three monotheistic religions, but particularly in Judaism and Islam.

Another recent post on the Golden Gate is here.

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Ghost Hebrew in the earliest Hexapla fragment?

GENIZA FRAGMENT OF THE MONTH (MARCH 2019): The Oldest Fragment of Origen's Hexapla: T-S 12.182 (Benjamin Kantor).

In the middle of the third century CE in Caesarea, the church father and biblical scholar Origen compiled the Hexapla (ἑξαπλᾶ ‘six-fold’), so named for its format of six parallel columns. It may in fact be the world’s first parallel Bible. The first column contained Hebrew in Hebrew letters, the second column contained Hebrew in Greek letters (i.e., transcription), the third column contained the Greek translation of Aquila, the fourth column contained the Greek translation of Symmachus, the fifth column contained a version of the Septuagint (LXX), and the sixth column contained the Greek translation of Theodotion. The original probably looked something like this (see further below for the relation of this format to T-S 12.182):

There has been scholarly debate about whether or not there really was a first column (Hebrew in Hebrew letters) as part of the Hexapla, since there are no remains of the first column in any of the extant witnesses. It is only attested in ancient authors’ descriptions of the Hexapla. On the basis of the precise measurements and proportions of this Genizah fragment (T-S 12.182), however, it has been persuasively argued that this palimpsest originally did contain a Hebrew column (see further below).

[...]

The Hexapla was flagged in my original Wish List of Lost Books post back in 2005. Let's hope we find more of it, whether in the Geniza or elsewhere. As we like to say, bit by bit, a letter at at time, whatever it takes. Until we're done.

Past posts noting Cairo Geniza Fragments of the Month in the Cambridge University Library's Taylor-Schechter Genizah Research Unit are here and links.

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Exodus, Moses, and plagues, oh my!

PASSOVER IS COMING and Bible History Daily is getting ready, with three relevant essays:

Exodus in the Bible and the Egyptian Plagues. Can we make sense of the Biblical plagues? This includes a 1990 essay by Ziony Zevitt from Bible Review.

Who Was Moses? Was He More than an Exodus Hero? Discovering the Biblical Moses. Includes a 2000 essay by Peter Machinist, also from Bible Review. It has been published a couple of times by BHD since. I noted it in 2016.

The Exodus: Fact or Fiction? Evidence of Israel’s Exodus from Egypt. Previously published in 2016 in connection with a pay-only BAR article by Manfred Bietak, but I missed it then.

Some other posts on the question of the historicity of the Exodus are here, here and link, and (sort of) here.

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A new god from Yemen?

CANDIDA MOSS: Was This Just Discovered God Worshipped by the Queen of Sheba? A tablet from Yemen is remarkable because of its inscription: it is the first and only reference to a previously unknown ancient deity named Athtar Harmān (The Daily Beast).

This story was broken by Owen Jarus at Live Science: Ancient Inscription Points to Lost Temple of Unknown God in Yemen. But Professor Moss suggested the connection with the Queen of Sheba. That depends in part on whether the Queen came from Yemen or Ethiopia. Both are possible.

One complication is that the tablet was sold by auction and there is some concern that it may have been looted. So far no one has mentioned an additional concern: if it is unprovenanced, it could be a forgery. Perhaps specialists have good reason to believe it is a real ancient artifact. That question is outside my expertise, but I would like to see an expert address it.

For many past posts on the Queen of Sheba which explore both geographical possibilities, start here and follow the links.

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Gabriel Barkai and Susa

BELATEDLY, PURIM RELATED: DIGGING UP QUEEN ESTHER: THE ISRAELI ARCHAEOLOGIST WHO EXCAVATED IN IRAN. Under the rule of the Shah, Dr. Gabriel Barkai was able to take part in the excavations that took place in Susa, the same city mentioned in the book of Esther (Jerusalem Post). Just to be clear, they did not dig up Queen Esther. But they did find some interesting things, such as the following:

"One of the things I still remember is how they built a small garage near the site which was composed entirely of mud bricks brought in from the dig," he said. "One would believe these were plain bricks but once inside I saw they all had inscriptions from different times," Barkai added.

"The 'garage' was simply a trick," he said, "to prevent them from being stolen! As an Israeli scholar not used to such a great wealth of texts I was stunned, some of the inscriptions were in Aramaic."

For more on Susa, see here.

The Persepolis fortification archives also give us lots of ancient epigraphic material, some in Aramaic, from another ancient capital of Persia. Follow the links back for many posts on the subject.

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Ten biblical(ish) sites

PHOTO ESSAY: Explore 10 Biblical Sites: Photos. These tantalizing archaeological finds may—or may not—offer material evidence of ancient locations, characters and stories written about in the Bible (Sarah Pruitt, History.com). A nice selection and nice photos.

Run the site names through the PaleoJudaica search engine for more on most of them.

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NGSBA Excavation Preliminary Reports

THE AWOL BLOG: Open Access Journal: NGSBA Excavation Preliminary Reports. Containing reports on salvage excavations etc. in Israel. Despite the title, lots of them are labeled as "final reports."

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Why is there no archaeological record of Jesus?

RELIGION PROF: Archaeology and Jesus. James McGrath collects many good links.

As James and Bart Ehrman note, the vast majority (99.99%) of people who lived in Jesus' time and place left no archaeological imprint. Nothing.

A few political figures did. There is the tomb of Queen Helena in Jerusalem, although the sarcophagus inscription may be for another woman in the royal family. And there is also material evidence (coins and inscriptions) for some members of the Herodian family. Also for Pontius Pilate (here, here, and probably here). I'm sure there are others, but I don't have time to be comprehensive.

But most people from Jesus' place and time who left such an imprint were unimportant regular people. It just happens that the epitaphs on their gravestones or ossuaries survived to the present.

How much of an archaeological imprint will you have left two thousand years from now? Humbling thought.

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