Berkowitz on "Execution and Invention"

ANCIENT JEW REVIEW: Execution and Irony (Beth Berkowitz). AN AJR RETROSPECTIVE ON EXECUTION AND INVENTION: DEATH PENALTY DISCOURSE IN EARLY RABBINIC AND CHRISTIAN CULTURES (OXFORD UP, 2006). Excerpt:

The ironies of criminal execution were my interest in Execution and Invention: Death Penalty Discourse in Early Rabbinic and Christian Cultures, my 2006 study of the early rabbinic laws of capital punishment. One chapter deals with the apologetics of past scholarship on the subject, another with the Mishnah’s ritual of execution, a third and fourth with the key players in that ritual, the next with how the Rabbis subvert Roman forms of punishment, and a final chapter with how the Rabbis’ representation of execution compares with that in early Christian martyrdom narratives. My concern throughout was the criss-crossing between criminal execution and other cultural currents such as can be found in Nebraska’s recent execution, where one of the most pressing crises facing the country – the opioid epidemic – meets one of its most contentious moral questions, capital punishment.

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Another review of Balberg, Blood for Thought

H-JUDAIC BOOK REVIEW:

Sanders on Balberg, 'Blood for Thought: The Reinvention of Sacrifice in Early Rabbinic Literature'

Author: S. Mira Balberg
Reviewer: Seth Sanders

S. Mira Balberg. Blood for Thought: The Reinvention of Sacrifice in Early Rabbinic Literature. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2017. xi + 287 pp. $95.00 (cloth), ISBN 978-0-520-29592-6.

Reviewed by Seth Sanders (University of California, Davis) Published on H-Judaic (September, 2019) Commissioned by Barbara Krawcowicz (Norwegian University of Science and Technology)

Read literally, the Torah looks as much like a cookbook as an origin story: much of Leviticus consists of God's commandments on how to prepare and offer animals to him, and the right and wrong way to sacrifice is a key theme from Cain and Abel through Deuteronomy. Yet Jewish animal sacrifice ended almost two thousand years ago, long before the Talmud was written. How did Judaism, a religion founded on performing God's commandments, abandon these religiously central commandments? Balberg's provocative but well-supported answer is: It didn't.

[...]

Past posts on the book are here and here.

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Rabbinics job(s) at University of Chicago Divinity School

H-JUDAIC: Job: Rabbinic Judaism (open rank), University of Chicago, Divinity School. Review of applications began on 15 September, so if you want to apply, don't dawdle.

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Happy centennial to the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago!

A CENTURY OF THE ANCIENT NEAR EAST: U. of C.’s Oriental Institute celebrates centennial (AARON GETTINGER, Hyde Park Herald).

The Oriental Institute celebrated its centennial with a black-tie anniversary gala on Saturday, giving guests a chance to view galleries renovated with a greater emphasis on accessibility.

It has been an eventful 100 years. In 1919, archaeology was overwhelmingly focused on ancient Greece and Rome. Professor James Henry Breasted founded the OI with a then-groundbreaking emphasis on the Near East, or Orient.

[...]

Read on for a brief history of the OI. There will be a public celebration on Saturday, 28 September.

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A royal steward's seal from ancient Jerusalem

NORTHWEST SEMITIC EPIGRAPHY: Tiny First Temple seal impression found with name of Bible-era royal steward. Inscribed with ‘Belonging to Adoniyahu, Royal Steward,’ a clay sealing from the 7th century BCE uncovered from earth excavated at the foundations of the Western Wall (Amanda Borcschel-Dan, Times of Israel).

The article mentions the royal steward's tomb at Silwan. The name there is damaged, but could be restored as Adoniyahu. In other words, it could be the tomb of the owner of this seal. At least that is chronologically possible. A past post on the royal steward's tomb is here.

And for many, many past posts on the Temple Mount Sifting Project, which discovered this seal, start here and follow the links.

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Review of Frankfurter (ed.), Guide to the Study of Ancient Magic

THE BIBLICAL REVIEW BLOG: Review: “Guide to the Study of Ancient Magic” edited by David Frankfurter (William Brown).

Overall, the volume is an excellent introduction to the theory of magic and ways that magic is practiced through time and space. Notable contributions include each introduction to regional forms of magic (illegitimate ritual) in chapters 4-11, David Frankfurter’s discussion of “magic” as a form of local ritual drawing from an authoritative tradition, and Sarah Iles Johnston’s discussion of the relationship between theurgy and magic. Though readers may have minor quibbles concerning points by authors, by and large Guide to the Study of Ancient Magic is an excellent volume for a detailed overview of studies of magic in the ancient world. Therefore, I will focus my criticisms on points of possible improvement evident throughout the entire volume. Additionally, below the body of this review is a summary of each chapter and occasional comment about contributions.

I noted the publication of the book here.

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On Taylor on the Copper Scroll

BIBLE HISTORY DAILY: Dating the Copper Scroll. Ancient Jewish scroll -- and treasure map (Megan Sauter). As usual, this is a summary of an article in Biblical Archaeology Review. It is in the current issue and is by Professor Joan E. Taylor: "Secrets of the Copper Scroll." The article itself is behind the subscription wall, but the summary is worth reading.

For a great many PaleoJudaica posts on the Copper Scroll, start here and just follow those links.

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Surprising salts on the Temple Scroll

TECHNOLOGY WATCH: Unique Salt Coating Helped Preserve 25-Foot-Long Dead Sea Scroll. Analysis shows that the unique processing of the Temple Scroll’s parchment kept it intact (Jason Daley, The Smithsonian).

To understand how the Temple Scroll survived all those years, a research team was given access to a 1-inch fragment of the parchment—itself just 1/250th of an inch thick—from The Shrine of the Book, a museum in Jerusalem that holds the scroll. Besides being super long, the scroll is unusual in several ways, Nicola Davis at The Guardian reports: The text is written on the flesh side of the skin, which is uncommon. The thin parchment may be an animal skin that has been split in two. And the text is written on a thick layer containing lots of inorganic minerals pressed into the collagen.

It seems that the results were unexpected. But the implications are unclear. Does this mean that the Temple Scroll was produced somewhere at a distance from the Dead Sea area? Maybe. The article at The Guardian collects a range of views from scholars.

The Smithsonian article covers the somewhat technical story in detail and it also links to the MIT press release and to the specialist article in Science Advances.

One point to underline is that this analysis used non-invasive and non-destructive technologies. As I have said many times, this is the way of the future.

Cross-file under Material Culture.

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CFP: World in Crisis: Reflections and Responses from Antiquity to the Present (BAJS)

H-JUDAIC: CFP: World in Crisis: Reflections and Responses from Antiquity to the Present - British Association for Jewish Studies Annual Conference. Follow the link for further particulars. The conferences takes place at the University of Southampton and the Parkes Institute for the Study of Jewish/non-Jewish Relations on 13-15 July 2020. The deadline for paper proposals is Wednesday 15th January 2020.

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David Stacey (1943-2019)

SAD NEWS: The Agade list has shared the sad news that archaeologist David Stacey has passed away. I quote from Jack Sasson's e-mail:

Dr David Stacey passed away on 20 July 2019 in Cambridge, UK. David worked in Israel for many years, having first arrived for the Masada excavations as a volunteer. He worked under Ehud Netzer in Jericho, Herodium, and Masada, and also excavated in Tiberias, Ashkelon, and many other sites. Recently, he wrote extensively about Qumran.

David and I were both staff (he senior and I very junior) at the Asheklon excavation in the late 1980s. We roomed together with another archaeology student for one season during that time. David had endless entertaining stories about the inside world of archaeology and his own adventures in that world over many years.

He and I got back in touch in the early 2000s and we continued to correspond, mostly about the archaeology of Qumran. You can find some relevant posts in the PaleoJudaica archives.

May his memory be for a blessing.

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On ancient cosmology and theology

IS THAT IN THE BIBLE? The Structure of Heaven and Earth: How Ancient Cosmology Shaped Everyone’s Theology (Paul Davidson).

The Bible is often difficult to make sense of without the proper conceptual framework. Why is Paul concerned about mysterious angels, principles, powers, forces, and archons in his epistles? Why are interactions with demons at the forefront of Jesus’ ministry in Mark? Why is heaven sometimes described as having different levels? Why does Paul describe people under the law as being enslaved to the elements? What motivated early Christians to worship a heavenly saviour? It’s hard to answer these questions without a detailed understanding of ancient Jewish and Greek cosmology, so I’ve spent a great deal of time reading the best books I can find on the subject. Much of what I learned surprised me; perhaps it will surprise you too.

[...]

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The Talmud on being "cut off"

LAST WEEK'S DAF YOMI COLUMN BY ADAM KIRSCH IN TABLET: Captive Among the Gentiles. This week’s ‘Daf Yomi’ Talmud study suggests contemporary secular Jews have a lot to atone for.

... Last week, Daf Yomi readers began Tractate Karetot, the section of the Talmud dealing with the laws of karet, and it opens with a catalogue of 36 sins that are punished by karet, including Shabbat violation, various types of incest, breaking the Yom Kippur fast, eating bread on Passover, and profanation of the Temple sacrifices.

In characteristic fashion, however, the rabbis don’t begin at what might seem like the logical beginning, by defining exactly what karet consists of. ...

Earlier Daf Yomi columns are noted here and links.

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Tamber-Rosenau on Women-Turned-Warriors and Queer Theory

ANCIENT JEW REVIEW: How to Get a Head in Ancient Israel: Women-Turned-Warriors and Queer Theory (Caryn Tamber-Rosenau).

Caryn Tamber-Rosenau provides an overview of her recent publication, Women in Drag: Gender and Performance in the Hebrew Bible and Early Jewish Literature (Gorgias, 2018).

Excerpt:

I argue that the women in these tales perform femininity—seductiveness, motherliness, or a mixture of the two, depending on what the circumstances called for—as a deliberate battle strategy. Their chief weapons are not tent pegs and swords but feminine performance, and their ability to engage in this performance is intimately tied to their childlessness.

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Smash Mouth's "All Star" in Aramaic and back

ARAMAIC WATCH? Smash Mouth's 'All Star' translated to Aramaic and back becomes 'beautiful poetry' (Daniel Rutledge, Newshub).

Behold currently! You are entirely a star child! Begin your power! Go! Laugh!

The retranslated lyrics are kind of cool. For the full text of the Aramaic version, see this blog post by the translator, Isaac Mayer.

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Review of King (ed.), The Syriac World

BRYN MAYR CLASSICAL REVIEW: Daniel King (ed.), The Syriac World. Routledge worlds. London; New York: Routledge, 2018. Pp. 842. ISBN 9781138899018. $176.00. Reviewed by Yulia Furman, Institute for Oriental and Classical Studies, National Research University Higher School of Economics (yfurman@hse.ru)

The present volume ‘The Syriac World’ has been published in the series of the Routledge publishing house ‘Routledge Worlds’, which offers comprehensive and magisterial overviews of principal historical epochs written by established experts. ‘The Syriac World’, edited by Daniel King, is dedicated to various aspects of Syriac culture, including history, literature, language and arts. It is intended primarily for scholars and students of Syriac studies and related fields. The book covers a vast variety of topics ranging from the birth of Syriac Christian culture and its pagan past to the modern descendants of the ancient Syriac churches spread all over the world. Thirty-nine contributions are divided between five major parts.

[...]

Cross-file, of course, under Syriac Watch.

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On the places that YHWH chose

ZVI KOENIGSBERG: The Place(s) that YHWH will Choose: Ebal, Shiloh, and Jerusalem (TheTorah.com).

Jews have long understood “the place that YHWH will chose” to mean Mount Zion in Jerusalem, while Samaritans have interpreted it as Mount Gerizim near Shechem. Archaeology and redaction criticism converge on a compromise solution: it refers to a series of places, one place at a time.

For more on Mt. Ebal, see here and links, and on Mt. Gerizim, see here and here and links.

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Bortolani et al. (eds), Cultural Plurality in Ancient Magical Texts and Practices

NEW BOOK FROM MOHR SIEBECK: Cultural Plurality in Ancient Magical Texts and Practices. Graeco-Egyptian Handbooks and Related Traditions. Ed. by Ljuba Merlina Bortolani, William Furley, Svenja Nagel, and Joachim Friedrich Quack. 2019. IX, 374 pages. Orientalische Religionen in der Antike 32. 129,00 € including VAT. cloth ISBN 978-3-16-156478-9.

Published in English.
A conference held in Heidelberg in 2014 resulted in this collection of essays, which explore the multifaceted aspects of magical texts and practices in antiquity, focusing especially on the Graeco-Egyptian magical papyri. The volume concentrates on questions of cultural plurality and fusion, ranging from earlier Egyptian, Mesopotamian and Greek magico-religious traditions, through the original developments of Graeco-Roman Egypt, up to and including their integration into Jewish and Byzantine magical lore. In particular, phenomena such as simple borrowing, advanced adaptation, complete assimilation or even distortion of origin and meaning stress the importance of disentangling different cultural elements and understanding their interaction. Going beyond the borders of academic fields, this book aims at giving to the transcultural perspective the importance it deserves in the study of ancient magic.

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Review of Krag, Funerary Representations of Palmyrene Women

BRYN MAYR CLASSICAL REVIEW: Signe Krag, Funerary Representations of Palmyrene Women: From the First Century BC to the Third Century AD. Studies in classical archaeology, 3. Turnhout: Brepols, 2018. Pp. xii, 422. ISBN 9782503569659. €100,00 (pb). Reviewed by Anja Slawisch, University of Cambridge (as2653@cam.ac.uk)

In this book, Krag aims to offer new insights into a selected corpus of Palmyrene sculptures, dating from the 1st century BC to the 3rd century AD and composed mostly of female funerary representations. The book contains exhaustive and careful commentary on the pieces and categories under study, but gleaning wider insights is hampered by the verbose writing style and lack of clarity over research agenda.

[...]

Cross-file unde Palmyra Watch, Aramaic Watch, Northwest Semitic Epigraphy, and Sculpture.

Many other past posts on Palmyra, its history, the ancient Aramaic dialect spoken there (Palmyrene), and the city's tragic reversals of fortune, now trending for the better, are here and links.

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One Year of the Coptic Magical Papyri Project

COPTIC WATCH: 2019 Review: One Year of the Coptic Magical Papyri Project.

It’s hard to believe it, but a whole year has now passed since the three members of our project first sat around a table in Würzburg and began to talk about our new project on Coptic magic. In this post, we’ll discuss some of our achievements so far, and what we have coming up in the next year.

This excellent blog continues to be active. I have not kept up with it well for a while. Besides the retrospective post above, here are a couple of notable recent posts:

Anthropology of Magic IV: Lévi-Strauss on Magic. I noted the first three posts in this series here and here.

Religion in the Coptic Magical Papyri. I noted nine of the ten posts in this series here, here, and here. The tenth is Religion in the Coptic Magical Papyri X: Islam and Coptic Magic. It mentions a magical text from the Cairo Geniza which is written in part in Copto-Arabic (a term I just made up), that is, in Arabic written in Coptic script. I did not know that was a thing.

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Role-playing exorcisms?

ANCIENT JEW REVIEW: Performing Exercises, Performing Exorcisms (Sara Ronis).

According to the angel Raphael, the secret to exorcising the demon Asmodeus is to burn a particular fish’s heart and liver in the presence of the malevolent Asmodeus. The foul smell apparently repels this finicky demon. At least, that’s what the author of the Book of Tobit believed. Demons are weird. Demonic exorcisms are weirder still. And yet to dismiss them as simply weird is to miss out on the important social and theological work that demons do in both ancient and modern societies. Thus, I decided to devote a day to demonic possession and exorcism in a new course I was teaching on Second Temple Judaism. But how to teach this subject?

[...]

Cross-file under Pedagogy.

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