The rabbi's tomb, the court case, and the children's book

ANCIENT ARCHITECTURE AND CHILDREN'S LITERATURE: A missing rabbi, an empty tomb and a caper with the Angel of Death, now for kids. The mysterious tale of 3rd century rabbi Yehoshua Ben Levi is recounted in a new book from illustrator Avi Katz, with help from an American poet and a rogue dig in the Galilee (Jessica Steinberg, Times of Israel).

I followed the controvery and court case over R. Yehoshua Ben Levi's tomb at the time. See here, here, here, and here. I never heard the outcome of the case. I'm glad that it seems to have been resolved amicably.

For notice of a scholarly article on R. Yehoshua, see here. For commentary on some of the Talmudic stories about him, see here, here, and here. As noted in that last post, you can read a couple of versions of a story about him in Helen Spurling's excellent translation of "Hebrew Visions of Hell and Paradise" in Old Testament Pseudepigrapha: More Noncanonical Scriptures volume 1 (MOTP1).

Cross-file under Epigraphy and Aramaic Watch.

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AI Nero Redivivus?

DIGITAL RECONSTRUCTION: AI 'resurrects' 54 Roman emperors, in stunningly lifelike images (Mindy Weisberger, Live Science/MSN).

Ancient Roman emperors' faces have been brought to life in digital reconstructions; the unnervingly realistic image project includes the Emperors Caligula, Nero and Hadrian, among others.

The only images I looked at closely on Mr. Voshart's website were those of the Principate Emperors. I have to say they each look uncannily like what I would have expected.

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Bond on Mark's Gospel as a biography of Jesus

THE BIBLE AND INTERPRETATION:

Mark’s Gospel as the First Biography of Jesus – and 10 reasons why it matters

Although our author may have drawn on a variety of sources of varying historical accuracy, he would doubtless have been selective in what he included and would not have been slow to embellish an augment or an anecdote in the interests of his broader narrative and theological interests. The so-called “nature miracles” in particular – walking on water, stilling the storm, and feeding the multitudes – may well have been embellished and enhanced, not in the interests of historical reporting, but to say something profoundly “true” about Jesus’ identity as Son of God.

See Also: The First Biography of Jesus: Genre and Meaning in Mark's Gospel (Eerdmans, 2020).

By Helen K Bond
Professor of Christian Origins
Head of the School of Divinity
University of Edinburgh
September 2020

Cross-file under New Book.

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Marek, A Star from Jacob, a Sceptre from Israel

NEW BOOK FROM SHEFFIELD PHOENIX PRESS:

A Star from Jacob, a Sceptre from Israel
Balaam's Oracle as Rewritten Scripture in the Dead Sea Scrolls
Libor Marek

xii + 290 pp.

£35 / $48.75 / €40
Scholar's Price

£70 / $97.50 / €80
List Price
Hardback

The fourth Balaam oracle (Numbers 24.17-19) appears in four separate Dead Sea Scrolls. But how it is used and understood remains puzzling and challenging.

All four scrolls agree that the biblical text is a living artifact and endorse its authority. But they disagree on what it may mean to the audience of their own day. They adjust, rephrase and rework the biblical text according to their own needs and for the benefit of their audience.

Following the twists and turns in this process of interpretation and rewriting has two benefits: first, we become more sensitized to the complexity of the processes by which the scriptural text came into being and to the fact that this process did not have a clear-cut end in mind. Rather, it is thanks to a constant reworking of the scriptural text that it remains alive for its readers.

Second, in following closely the process of reinterpretation of this particular text we gain a better understanding of the world of Qumran, of the communication strategy of the Scrolls, and of some of their key theological concepts. In particular, Qumran beliefs about a messiah become more vividly tangible.

Series: Hebrew Bible Monographs, 88
978-1-910928-74-5 hardback
Publication September 2020

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Ancient mikveh removal service

ANCIENT ARCHITECTURE RELOCATED: 2,000-Year-Old Mikvah in Jezreel Valley Hoisted to Safe Location (David Israel, The Jewish Press).

According to the two Israeli Arab scientists [Abd Elghani Ibrahim and Dr. Walid Atrash], “the discovery of the mikvah in the farmstead changes what we knew about the lifestyle of the Jews in the Second Temple period. Until now, we hadn’t discovered Jewish farms in the Galilee. It was considered that the Jews in the Roman period didn’t live in farms outside the villages or towns. The discovery of the farmstead at some distance from the village of the Shikhin and the large Jewish town of Sepphoris (Zippori), shows that Jews also settled in farmsteads that perhaps functioned as the rural hinterland of Sepphoris.”

With video. It is good news that the IAA and Kibbutz Hannaton were able to raise the funding for the transport. Background here and here.

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How wide was an ancient jar opening?

MATERIAL CULTURE: Hebrew U: Modern Scans of Archaeological Finds May Show Traces of Original Dimensions of Biblical ‘Tefach’ (David Israel, The Jewish Press).

It makes sense that jar openings should have a standard size of one handbreadth. Who wants a jar your hand can't fit into?

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Sponsor a sifted coin

THE TEMPLE MOUNT SIFTING PROJECT BLOG: ADOPT A COIN!

In response, we have inaugurated a special “Adopt a Coin” campaign on our website. The donor can choose to adopt either one or more coins, and will cover the cost of the cleaning, the restoration and the analysis of the coin/s by a specialist in numismatics (the study of ancient coins). The donor will be recognized as the sponsor of the coin/s and receive ongoing updates regarding the status of his coin/s cleaning, restoration and research.

Sounds like a good cause.

For many past posts on the Sifting Project, start here and follow the links.

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Allen, Coptic: A Grammar of Its Six Major Dialects

NEW BOOK FROM EISENBRAUNS:

Coptic

A Grammar of Its Six Major Dialects

James P. Allen

Was: $59.95 Now: $35.97 | Hardcover Edition
ISBN: 978-1-64602-064-5

144 pages
7" × 10"
1 map
2020

Description
Coptic is the final stage of the ancient Egyptian language, written in an alphabet derived primarily from Greek instead of hieroglyphs. It borrows some vocabulary from ancient Greek, and it was used primarily for writing Christian scriptures and treatises. There is no uniform Coptic language, but rather six major dialects.

Unlike previous grammars that focus on just two of the Coptic dialects, this volume, written by senior Egyptologist James P. Allen, describes the grammar of the language in each of the six major dialects. It also includes exercises with an answer key, a chrestomathy, and an accompanying dictionary, making it suitable for teaching or self-guided learning as well as general reference.

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New article on the Rylands fragment of John (P52)

VARIANT READINGS: A New Article on P52 in New Testament Studies. P52 is that famous fragment of the Gospel of John that traditionally (and perhaps wrongly) has been dated to as early as the first half of the second century. Brent Nongbri has shown that there is still something left to say about the fragment by publishing an article on it in New Testament Studies.

Incidentally, I was there at that conference on the John Rylands Library collection in Manchester in 2014. I blogged on Dr Nongbri's paper.

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On Michael the Archangel

IS THAT IN THE BIBLE? Michael the Great Prince and Saviour of Israel (Paul Davidson).

In the New Testament, Christ is mankind’s divine mediator and intercessor, their high priest in the heavenly temple, the Holy One who sits at God’s right hand, and the saviour who descends to earth at the end of the age to vanquish Satan. But this multifaceted, cosmic identity wasn’t introduced by an itinerant Galilean preacher, nor did it originate with the teachings of the early apostles, for the notion of a divine saviour described in these terms was already widespread in Judaism before Christianity was born. He went by many names, but the one he was known by most often was Michael. In this article, I want to explore his development and his importance to both Judaism and Christianity.

Today, incidentally, is the feast day of St. Michael the Archangel.

Cupar War Memorial by Henry Snell Gamley
By Stephencdickson - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=41392963

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The Aqedah as hieros logos

PROF. RAMI ARAV: The Binding of Isaac, a Sacred Legend for the Jerusalem Temple. (TheTorah.com).

The Akedah (binding of Isaac) takes place on a mountain in the obscure land of Moriah. When a Judahite scribe later revised the story to have the angel of YHWH stop Abraham from killing his son, he connected Moriah with the Jerusalem Temple, thereby giving it a new hieros logos—a sacred founding legend, to compete with the northern worship site Beth-El.

For more PaleoJudaica posts on the Aqedah, see here and here and follow the links. For additional evidence, not mentioned in the current essay, that the Aqedah was originally part of the Elohistic source, see here.

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Conference on ancient Israel

PROF. LAWRENCE H. SCHIFFMAN: “THE LAND THAT I WILL SHOW YOU”: RECENT ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL STUDIES OF ANCIENT ISRAEL. An online public conference coming in late October. Details to follow, but follow the link for the current conference poster.

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A Yom Kippur poem by Yannai

PROF. RABBI LAURA LIEBER: Yom Kippur: Afflicted but Angelic (TheTorah.com).

Self-affliction and fasting heightens awareness of our bodies; at the same time, it helps us to transcend our immanent selves. This tension was embraced by the 6th century poet Yannai in his qerova, who beseaches God to forgive Israel both out of pity for their wretchedness and on account of their resemblance to angels.

Yom Kippur 2020 is today.

A qerova is a genre of piyyut poetry. For more on the poetry of Yannai, see here and here (also a brief mention here).

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Phoenician passion for purple

PHOENICIAN WATCH: Purple Reign: A passion for purple built the Phoenicians' vast trading empire. The seafaring Phoenicians controlled the Mediterranean market for a vibrant purple dye crafted from humble sea snails and craved by powerful kings (MARK WOOLMER, National Geographic).

A long, informative article. Murex shell dye was also used by the Israelites for the tekhelet dye. For more on the Phoenician and the Israelite uses of the dye, see here and links.

As I have noted in more detail here, I like to keep track of developments in Phoenician and Punic studies because the Phoenicians and Carthaginians shared a substrate of Canaanite language and culture with the Israelites. There shared use of the murex shell for cloth dye is one example of shared material culture.

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Upcoming Virtual Annual Bible and Archaeology Fest

BIBLE HISTORY DAILY: 23rd Annual Bible and Archaeology Fest: Virtual for 2020. October 24 - 25, 2020 on zoom.

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More on those Syriac mosaics

EPIGRAPHY AND DECORATIVE ART: Archaeologists unearth stunning mosaics in ancient church in Turkey. Excavation begins for mosaics belonging to 1600-year-old church located in southeastern Mardin province (YeniṢafak). I noted the announcement of this discovery here. I don't see any new information in this article, but it does have a photo of a different mosaic at the site. I have not yet seen photos of the inscriptions.

Cross-file under Syriac Watch.

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Yom Kippur 2020

YOM KIPPUR, the Day of Atonement, begins this evening at sundown. An easy and healthy fast to all those observing it.

Last year's post on Yom Kippur is here. For background and previous posts, follow the links from there. More recent posts are here, here, here, and here. Biblical etc. background is here.

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Review of Papantoniou et al. (eds.), Unlocking sacred landscapes

BRYN MAYR CLASSICAL REVIEW: Unlocking sacred landscapes: spatial analysis of ritual and cult in the Mediterranean.

Giorgos Papantoniou, Christine Morris, Athanasios Vionis, Unlocking sacred landscapes: spatial analysis of ritual and cult in the Mediterranean. Studies in Mediterranean archaeology, 151. Nicosia: Astrom Editions, 2019. xviii, 279 p.. ISBN9789925745548 €68,00.

Review by
Jeremy McInerney, University of Pennsylvania. jmcinern@sas.upenn.edu

The experience of reading the volume edited by Papantoniou, Morris and Vionis is a little like being a carnivore at a vegan smorgasbord: the offerings are often excellent yet still leave one feeling vaguely unsatisfied. ...

This is a thoughful review, but the extended culinary metaphor is overdone.

There is a chapter on Idumean terracotta figurines and another on Phoenician and Punic funerary practices. Both receive detailed attention in the review.

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BRANE Collective PhD Showcase

THE AWOL BLOG: Bible and Religions of the Ancient Near East Collective: PhD Showcase.

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Spielman, Jews and Entertainment in the Ancient World

NEW BOOK FROM MOHR SIEBECK: Loren R. Spielman. Jews and Entertainment in the Ancient World. 2020. IX, 311 pages. Texts and Studies in Ancient Judaism 181. 134,00 € including VAT. cloth ISBN 978-3-16-155000-3.

Published in English.
Countering the traditional belief that Jews in antiquity were predominantly disinterested in the popular entertainments of the Greek and Roman world, Loren R. Spielman maps the varieties of Jewish engagement with theater, athletics, horse racing, gladiatorial, and beast shows in antiquity. The author argues that Jews from Hellenistic Alexandria to late antique Sepphoris enjoyed and exploited, or alternatively resisted and scorned, popular forms of public entertainment as they adapted to the political, social, and religious realities of imperial rule. Including references to ancient Jewish actors, athletes, promoters, and plays alongside analysis of rabbinic and other early Jewish critique of sport and spectacle, Loren R. Spielman describes the different ways that attitudes towards entertainment might have played a role in shaping ancient Jewish identity.

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