Rabbi Steinsaltz hospitalized

SENDING ALL GOOD WISHES AND STRENGTH: Talmudic scholar Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz hospitalized, in critical condition. The 83-year-old scholar, most famous for his translation of the Talmud, is battling a severe lung infection unrelated to the coronavirus (Aaron Reich, Jerusalem Post).

For background on Rabbi Steinsaltz, his health difficulties in recent years, and his work, especially his Hebrew and English translations of the Talmud, start here and follow the many links.

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Tu B'Av 2020

THE FESTIVAL OF TU B'AV began yesterday evening at sundown. Best wishes to all those celebrating.

Tu B'Av (which just means the 15th day of the month of Av) is an ancient matchmaking festival. Its first mention is in the Mishnah (Ta’anit 4). It has been revived in recent years as a kind of Jewish Valentine's Day. For past posts on it, see here and links.

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Video reconstruction of the fall of Jerusalem in 70 CE

RITMEYER ARCHAEOLOGICAL DESIGN: The Roman destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple in 70 AD.

Belatedly for Tisha B'Av: Leen Ritmeyer notes a video produced by Megalim, The City of David Institute for Jerusalem Studies in 2019. The graphics and production are pretty good. The YouTube link is here:

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Outdoor exhibit on ancient Ashkelon

EXHIBITION: New outdoor exhibit showcases rich history of ancient Ashkelon. Ashkelon has over 3,800 years of history (Rossella Tercatin, Jerusalem Post).

Outdoor museum exhibitions are a good idea in the era of coronavirus. I noted another one recently here. Of course it helps if you have a warm, dry climate.

Some PaleoJudaica posts on ancient Askhelon and the Ashkelon excavation are here, here, here, here, here, here, and links. I was a staff member at the excavation in the mid-1980s.

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Enoch Seminar on John the Baptist

RELIGION PROF: Enoch Seminar Nangeroni Meeting on John the Baptist. James McGrath highlights another upcoming online Enoch Seminar event. It takes place in January of 2021. The last one was a success.

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Israelite and Persian Perspectives on Babylon’s Great Monuments (BASONOVA lecture)

BIBLE HISTORY DAILY: Israelite and Persian Perspectives on Babylon’s Great Monuments: The Tower of Babel and the Ishtar Gate. Notice of an online BASONOVA Lecture on the Ancient World by David Vanderhooft taking place on 5 August 2020. Follow the link for information on payment and reservations.

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4QGenk

THE ETC BLOG: 4QGenk: A Normalized Manuscript. Anthony Ferguson discusses a manuscript that I published many years ago in DJD 12. It's good to see it getting some attention.

I interpret the variant in verse 9 rather differently than he does. He thinks it a scribal grammatical correction. I think it is part of a longer reading also found in Greek in the Septuagint, a reading that may well be more original than that of the Masoretic Text.

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7th century CE shipwreck recovered near Haifa

MARINE ARCHAEOLOGY: Christian, Muslim symbols found in 7th century shipwreck in Israel. Moreover, the ship also offers important insights in terms of ship construction techniques (Rossella Tercatin, Jerusalem Post).

Past PaleoJudaica posts on marine (maritime, underwater) archaeology are here and links and here. And for some posts on the archaeology of shipwrecks specifically, see here and here and links.

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The Underwater Malta project

VIRTUAL MARINE ARCHAEOLOGY MEETS PHOENICIAN WATCH: Underwater Malta – The First Virtual Museum in the Mediterranean Showcasing 10 Underwater Archaeological Sites and Sunken Aircraft and Submarines Usually Seen Only by Divers (Press Release). The article highlights the aircraft and submarines, but also mentions something important in passing. One of the displays is the Phoenician shipwreck from near Gozo, on which more here and links.

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Flee Babylon!

READING ACTS: Come Out of Babylon! Revelation 18:4-8. Phil Long continues his blog series on the Book of Revelation, now on the final seven visions. We continue with the second vision in chapter 18. [Oops! Pardon me. Various errors in the above now corrected.]

For notice of previous posts in Phil's series on Revelation, see here and links.

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Book note: Orlov (ed.), Jewish Roots of Eastern Christian Mysticism

FORBIDDEN GOSPELS BLOG: BOOK NOTE: JEWISH ROOTS OF EASTERN CHRISTIAN MYSTICISM (April DeConick). With some background to the book.

I noted the publication of the volume here.

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God and his horse?

ICONOGRAPHY: Face of God? Archaeologist claims to find 10th cent. BCE graven images of Yahweh. Hebrew U Prof. Yosef Garfinkel asserts small male figurines discovered at digs near Jerusalem are an image of the biblical God; other experts angrily dismiss theory (Amanda Borschel-Dan, Times of Israel).

This discussion is outside PaleoJudaica's usual range, but I thought it good to mention it. It is also outside my range of expertise. I have no opinion on it. If you read to the end of the article, you can see some of the arguments pro and con for what might show the figurines to be images of a god.

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Free ASOR books

THE AWOL BLOG: Some More ASOR Books Available Open Access. The list includes some older classic volumes, some more recent ones, and many of interest for study of ancient Judaism. For you, special deal!

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Biblical Studies Carnival 173

THE DUST BLOG: Biblical Studies Carnival for July 2020. Biblical Studies Carnival # 173, An odd, deficient, odious, but balanced prime.* July 2020. (Bob Macdonald).

Also, over at Reading Acts, Phil Long has some additional news items from the Biblioblogosphere.

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Dark on the archaeology of Nazareth

THE BIBLE AND INTERPRETATION:

The Archaeology of Nazareth in the Early First Century

The combined evidence of these three sites indicates that Nazareth was inhabited from at least the early first century, and probably the Late Hellenistic period onward, as a Jewish community, including family groups, judging from the finds and house plans.

See Also: Roman-Period and Byzantine Nazareth and its Hinterland (Routledge, 2020).

By Ken Dark
Professor, University of Reading
July 2020

The article has a particular interest in first-century Nazareth for obvious reasons.

Past PaleoJudaica posts on the archaeology, topography, and epigraphy of Nazareth are here (on Ken Dark's book) and links, here, here, here, here, here, and here.

For the archaeology of nearby Sepphoris (Zipori//Tzipori/Tzippori/Zippori), generally mentioned alongside Nazareth, see here and links.

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Coins of Herod the Great

NUMISMATICS: Coins of Herod the Great – CoinWeek Ancient Coin Series (Mike Markowitz). These are all small denomination coins.

I have mentioned an Herodian prutah here (bottom of post). That one is not featured in this article.

For more on the half-prutah, see here.

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Review of More New Testament Apocrypha 2

READING ACTS: Tony Burke, ed. New Testament Apocrypha, Vol. 2: More Noncanonical Scriptures (Phil Long).

Conclusion. As Burke observes in his introduction to the volume, Christian apocrypha provides an insight into the diversity of early Christian beliefs. Some of this literature is Christian interpretation of canonical documents, some seek to associate current practice with the earliest apostolic community. This second volume of “More Noncanonical Scriptures” is a window into how the early church developed both in practice and in theology. New Testament Apocrypha series will continue to serve scholarship for years to come. I look forward to volume 3!

I noted the publication of the book here.

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Seth Ehorn - Baylor LXX Handbook interview

WILLIAM A. ROSS: THE NEW BAYLOR HANDBOOK ON THE SEPTUAGINT SERIES: AN INTERVIEW WITH SETH EHORN.

For notice of Dr. Ross's previous interviews with Septuagint scholars, see here and links, here, and here.

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The two destructions of Jerusalem

ONE MORE FOR TISHA B'AV: WATCH: Physical proof of twice razed and rebuilt ancient Jerusalem explained. For Tisha B’av, Israel Antiquities Authority archaeologist Joe Uziel presents how new scientific techniques are changing what we know today about the two major destructions (Times of Israel). There is a long, well-illustrated article to go with the video.

PaleoJudaica's Tisha B'Av 2020 posts are collected here.

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Fire at Susya

SUSPECTED ARSON: Major fire breaks out at Susya archaeological site in Hebron hills. The site features a unique 1,700 year-old synagogue. In the past decades, the area has been a focal point of tensions between the Palestinian and the Israeli population in the West Bank (Rossella Tercatin, Jerusalem Post).

Based on a first survey of the site, the fire seems to have caused no significant damage.

Good.

Past PaleoJudaica posts on Susya are here and links. The site was embroiled in a political controversy five years ago and it suffered vandalism a few years ago.

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