Neil, Dreams and Divination from Byzantium to Baghdad, 400-1000 CE (OUP)

NEW BOOK FROM OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS:

Dreams and Divination from Byzantium to Baghdad, 400-1000 CE

Bronwen Neil

Oxford Studies in the Abrahamic Religions

• Increases understanding of the continuities across the major religious traditions of Late Antiquity by comparing pagan, early Christian, Byzantine, Talmudic, and Islamic sources up to 1000 CE, with a focus on the prophetic role of women
• Traverses traditionally separate disciplines—Classical studies, biblical studies, Late Antiquity, Byzantine studies, and gender studies
• Cites examples from the major sources in translation and tackles complex philosophical and theological differences in an accessible style

Description

Why did dreams matter to Jews, Byzantine Christians, and Muslims in the first millennium? Dreams and Divination from Byzantium to Baghdad, 400 - 1000 CE shows how the ability to interpret dreams universally attracted power and influence in the first millennium. In a time when prophetic dreams were viewed as God's intervention in human history, male and female prophets wielded was unparalleled power in imperial courts, military camps, and religious gatherings. The three faiths drew on the ancient Near Eastern tradition of dream key manuals, which offer an insight into the hopes and fears of ordinary people. They melded pagan dream divination with their own scriptural traditions to produce a novel and rich culture of dream interpretation. Prophetic dreams enabled communities to understand their past and present circumstances as divinely ordained and helped to bolster the spiritual authority of dreamers and those who had the gift of interpreting their dreams. Bronwen Neil takes a gendered approach to the analysis of the common culture of dream interpretation across late antique Jewish, Byzantine, and Islamic sources to 1000 CE, in order to expose the ways in which dreams offered women a unique opportunity to exercise influence. The epilogue to the volume reveals why dreams still matter today to many men and women of the monotheist traditions.

£65.00

Hardback
Published: 14 January 2021
256 Pages
216x135mm
ISBN: 9780198871149

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Bible Lands E-Review (BLER)

THE AWOL BLOG: Open Access Journal: Bible Lands E-Review (BLER). The complete archive includes articles on Biblical Studies, the ancient Near East, and ancient Judaism.

Visit PaleoJudaica daily for the latest news on ancient Judaism and the biblical world.

Roman-era sarcophagi found in Ramat Gan's Safari Park

FUNERARY ARCHITECTURE: Two 1,800-Year-Old Sarcophagi Discovered in Ramat Gan Zoo (David Israel, The Jewish Press). They were actually rediscovered and re-excavated at the Zoo. Read the story for details.

Visit PaleoJudaica daily for the latest news on ancient Judaism and the biblical world.

Review of Kaufmann, 'Rebel Daughter'

BOOK REVIEW: Inspired by an ancient tomb, a Jewish love story puts the Roman in bildungsroman. Lori Kaufmann’s debut ‘Rebel Daughter’ brings serious research to a tale of family and survival, from Jerusalem to southern Italy (Jessica Steinberg, Times of Israel). Ancient inscription leads to a novel.

Visit PaleoJudaica daily for the latest news on ancient Judaism and the biblical world.

The Archangel Gabriel

ARCHANGEL WATCH: A Look at the Figure of Gabriel the Archangel. Gabriel, the archangel in charge of Heaven's heavy lifting (Chen Malul, The Librarians). Looks like a good review of the evidence.

For more on Gabriel and the other archangels, see here, here, here, here, here, here, and links.

Visit PaleoJudaica daily for the latest news on ancient Judaism and the biblical world.

Where is Bethsaida?

BIBLE HISTORY DAILY: Where Is Biblical Bethsaida? Recent discovery reopens the debate about its location (Samuel DeWitt Pfister).

The ancient village of Bethsaida is believed to be located on the northern shore of the Sea of Galilee, but where precisely the abandoned city lies remains a fiercely-debated question among scholars. Recent discoveries at the site of el-Araj have called into question the decades-old claim that et-Tell on the eastern shore of the Jordan River is this lost Biblical city.

[...]

PaleoJudaica has been following the debate for some years. Start here and follow the links. I take no position on the matter. To resolve it conclusively, we might need to dig up a first-century "Welcome to Bethsaida" sign at one of the sites.

Visit PaleoJudaica daily for the latest news on ancient Judaism and the biblical world.

On Herod Antipas

BIBLE HISTORY DAILY: Herod Antipas in the Bible and Beyond. The ruler of Galilee in Jesus’ time. A summary of a 2012 BAR article by Morten Hørning Jensen.

For PaleoJudaica posts involving Herod Antipas, see here and here and links.

Visit PaleoJudaica daily for the latest news on ancient Judaism and the biblical world.

"Disentangling Moses from Hammurabi"

DR. FELIX WIEDEMANN: Did the Discovery of Hammurabi’s Laws Undermine the Torah? (TheTorah.com).

In 1902, Friedrich Delitzsch argued in his Babel und Bibel (Babylon and the Bible) lecture series that the biblical texts are dependent upon and inferior to those of Babylonia. A key piece of evidence was the Hammurabi Stele, discovered only months before, but traditional scholars responded by maintaining the ethical superiority of Mosaic law.

Technically it's the Hammurapi Stele. Related post here.

Visit PaleoJudaica daily for the latest news on ancient Judaism and the biblical world.

Schiffman on the Timna Valley textiles

LAWRENCE H. SCHIFFMAN: THE PURPLE OF ROYALTY. Professor Schiffman shares his recent article in Ami Magazine.

For more on the recent discovery of "royal purple" textile fragments at the Timna Valley excavation and the implications of the discovery, see here. For background, follow the links there.

Visit PaleoJudaica daily for the latest news on ancient Judaism and the biblical world.

Dura-Europos dodgy dealings detected

NUMISMATICS: CNG Returns Ancient Coins From Upcoming Keystone 3 Auction to Yale University (CoinWeek).

Classical Numismatic Group (CNG) is canceling our feature auction Keystone 3, which was to take place this Wednesday, February 17. During the past week we have been in conversations with Yale University about select coins in this sale. It appears that six coins in Keystone 3 came from an excavation sponsored by Yale University at Dura-Europos between 1928 and 1937. We believe these coins are the property of Yale University.

[...]

The statement is by Mike Gasvoda, Managing Director of CGN. I'm glad somebody caught this problem before the coins went to auction. And I commend CGN for dealing with it promptly and properly. But how did coins in Yale's collection end up in an auction? There must be a story to this. I hope we get to hear it.

For many PaleoJudaica posts on the site of Dura-Europos, its late antique synagogue, and that synogogue's remarkable murals, start here and follow the links.

Visit PaleoJudaica daily for the latest news on ancient Judaism and the biblical world.

The latest on Babylon

CONSERVATION: Beleagured Babylon: The battle to save a wonder of the ancient world. The ancient city of Babylon in modern-day Iraq is fighting for its survival, under siege from time, water and the perils of modern civilisation. Jane Arraf hears from the archaeologists trying to preserve it. I found this article in the Independent (HT Archaeologica News). But there is a credit to the New York Times, where it apparently appeared first.

Some PaleoJudaica posts on the current state of the site of Babylon are collected here (cf. here).

Visit PaleoJudaica daily for the latest news on ancient Judaism and the biblical world.

Welhausen, the Documentary Hypothesis, and antisemitism

PROF. ALAN T. LEVENSON: Was the Documentary Hypothesis Tainted by Wellhausen’s Antisemitism? (TheTorah.com).

Julius Wellhausen’s analysis of the Torah is perfused with the anti-Jewish sentiment prevalent in Bismarck’s Second German Reich. This adversely affected the use of the Documentary Hypothesis among Jewish scholars until Yehezkel’s Kaufmann’s introduction of a Jewish variation on the theory.

Visit PaleoJudaica daily for the latest news on ancient Judaism and the biblical world.

Encyclopedia Iranica Online (Brill)

THE AWOL BLOG: Encyclopædia Iranica Online Now Freely Accessible at Brill. For you, special deal!

The last time I noted the Encyclopedia Iranica was in 2007. It was up to the letter "G." The Encyclopedia has come a long way.

Visit PaleoJudaica daily for the latest news on ancient Judaism and the biblical world.

Another Golb memorial

OBITUARY: Norman Golb, Dead Sea Scrolls Contrarian, Is Dead at 92. He challenged the conventional wisdom about a major archaeological discovery. He also led a successful effort to open it for study by a wide range of researchers (Joseph Berger, New York Times).

Background here and links.

Visit PaleoJudaica daily for the latest news on ancient Judaism and the biblical world.

Salvesen & Law (eds.), The Oxford Handbook of the Septuagint

NEW BOOK FROM OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS:

The Oxford Handbook of the Septuagint

Edited by Alison G. Salvesen and Timothy Michael Law

Oxford Handbooks

• This volume is a response to the growing recognition of the phenomenon of the Septuagint
• It considers the history and manuscript transmission of the version, and the study of translation technique and textual criticism
• Features 50 contributions offering in-depth surveys of previous and current research on individual books of the Septuagint corpus

Description

The Septuagint is the term commonly used to refer to the corpus of early Greek versions of Hebrew Scriptures. The collection is of immense importance in the history of both Judaism and Christianity. The renderings of individual books attest to the religious interests of the substantial Jewish population of Egypt during the Hellenistic and Roman periods, and to the development of the Greek language in its Koine phase. The narrative ascribing the Septuagint's origins to the work of seventy translators in Alexandria attained legendary status among both Jews and Christians. The Septuagint was the version of Scripture most familiar to the writers of the New Testament, and became the authoritative Old Testament of the Greek and Latin Churches. In the early centuries of Christianity it was itself translated into several other languages, and it has had a continuing influence on the style and content of biblical translations.

The Oxford Handbook of the Septuagint features contributions from leading experts in the field considering the history and manuscript transmission of the version, and the study of translation technique and textual criticism. The collection provides surveys of previous and current research on individual books of the Septuagint corpus, on alternative Jewish Greek versions, the Christian 'daughter' translations, and reception in early Jewish and Christian writers. The Handbook also includes several conversations with related fields of interest such as New Testament studies, liturgy, and art history.

£110.00

Hardback
Published: 28 January 2021
816 Pages
246x171mm
ISBN: 9780199665716

Visit PaleoJudaica daily for the latest news on ancient Judaism and the biblical world.

Nine facts about Darius I

HSTORY LISTICLE: Darius the Great: 9 Facts About The King Of Kings. Darius the Great is one of the most famous kings of the Achaemenid Empire. He conquered new lands and overhauled Persia’s infrastructure and economy, ushering in a golden age (Edd Hodsdon, The Collector).

There were three Dariuses in the Achemenid (Achaemenid) dynasty. Darius I is the one known as Darius the Great. Some PaleoJudica posts involving him are here (alas, all links are rotted), here, here, here, here, and here.

Visit PaleoJudaica daily for the latest news on ancient Judaism and the biblical world.

More on the altar on Mount Ebal

FOLLOW-UP: Is the site damaged by Palestinian road works Joshua's Altar? "Even for those who do not believe that the altar was built by Joshua, in my opinion the site remains one of the most important in Israel from the period of the Iron Age I." (Rossella Tercatin, Jerusalem Post). The quotation is from Dr. Shay Bar, who also averred:

However, a few days after damage was reported in the area caused by construction works carried out on behalf of the Palestinian Authority, Dr. Shay Bar from Haifa University, who took over the work of publishing the site’s findings after Zertal’s death in 2015, stressed that several factors support his thesis, even if much more work is needed before he can give a definitive answer.

Regarding the reported damage to the site:

The damage was caused by workers who were building a road connecting the town of Asira ash-Shamaliya with the nearby Palestinian city of Nablus.

The municipality has apologized for the damage which it said was accidental.

Good. President Rivlin has also asked the IDF to investigate.

It could be that the Book of Joshua remembered the building of an altar (if that's what it is) on this spot many centuries before. Such things happen.

In perhaps thematically related news, over at the Anxious Bench, Philip Jenkins notes new discoveries that seem to vindicate Geoffrey of Monmouth's claim that Stonehenge was originally built in Wales and was later moved to its current location in England. Did Geoffrey, the famous fake news historian, have a genuine tradition going back to 3000 BCE? Maybe.

Background on the altar on Mount Ebal is here and links.

Visit PaleoJudaica daily for the latest news on ancient Judaism and the biblical world.

Another Shanks memorial

OBITUARY: Editor, Author and Attorney Turned Archaeology Expert Hershel Shanks Dies at 90 (JNS News Service/Jewish Press).

Background here and links.

Visit PaleoJudaica daily for the latest news on ancient Judaism and the biblical world.

Mind the gap? Margins of error in scroll reconstruction.

THE OTTC BLOG: Haaretz on Scroll Reconstruction. Drew Longacre highlights a recent Haaretz article by Ruth Schuster on work by Eshbal Ratzon and Nachum Dershowitz on reevaluating the precision of scroll reconstruction.

PaleoJudaica posts on the research are here, here, and possibly here.

Visit PaleoJudaica daily for the latest news on ancient Judaism and the biblical world.

Carr, The Formation of Genesis 1-11 (OUP)

NEW BOOK FROM OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS:

The Formation of Genesis 1-11

Biblical and Other Precursors

David M. Carr

• Synthesizes and contributes to scholarship on the most important texts in the Hebrew Bible
• Draws on Genesis 1-11 to offer models for the formation of the Pentateuch
• Provides new support for the theory that the bulk of Genesis 1-11 was created out of a combination of a Priestly source and an earlier non-Priestly source

Description

There is general agreement in the field of Biblical studies that study of the formation of the Pentateuch is in disarray. David M. Carr turns to the Genesis Primeval History, Genesis 1-11, to offer models for the formation of Pentateuchal texts that may have traction within this fractious context. Building on two centuries of historical study of Genesis 1-11, this book provides new support for the older theory that the bulk of Genesis 1-11 was created out of a combination of two originally separate source strata: a Priestly source and an earlier non-Priestly source that was used to supplement the Priestly framework. Though this overall approach contradicts some recent attempts to replace such source models with theories of post-Priestly scribal expansion, Carr does find evidence of multiple layers of scribal revision in the non-P and P sources, from the expansion of an early independent non-Priestly primeval history with a flood narrative and related materials to a limited set of identifiable layers of Priestly material that culminate in the P-like redaction of the whole. This book synthesizes prior scholarship to show how both the P and non-Priestly strata of Genesis also emerged out of a complex interaction by Judean scribes with non-biblical literary traditions, particularly with Mesopotamian textual traditions about primeval origins. The Formation of Genesis 1-11 makes a significant contribution to scholarship on one of the most important texts in the Hebrew Bible and will influence models for the formation of the Hebrew Bible as a whole.

£64.00

Hardback
Published: 24 July 2020
312 Pages
235x156mm
ISBN: 9780190062545

Visit PaleoJudaica daily for the latest news on ancient Judaism and the biblical world.