Carbon-dating the Dead Sea Scrolls

TECHNOLOGY WATCH: How old are the Dead Sea Scrolls? Carbon-dating project to offer answers. The project and some preliminary results were presented at a conference at the university last week: while in many instances, some scrolls might be more ancient than previously thought (Rossella Tercatin). Project leader Prof. Mladen Popović:

“Our paleographers will say that they can date Dead Sea Scrolls with a precision of 25 to 50 years’ date range, and [the research] is yet to substantiate their model,” he said. “Pending new data in the future, we dare say that we have a model that works consistently and is able to date manuscripts with an empirically based precision that was not possible before. This is a huge advance for the field.”

That is phrased carefully, but does it impy that carbon dating can (or soon may be able to) yield dates more precise than ±25-50 years from two thousand years ago? If so, that sounds like an important advance.

Back in the early 90s, after the first round of C-14 dating of the Scrolls, I mentioned to Frank Cross that the results seemed to confirm the paleographic dates. He answered that he thought that the paleography confirmed the carbon dating.

For PaleoJudaica posts on radiocarbon dating, start here and follow the links.

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Damage to West Bank sites reported

WEST BANK WOES: 80% of archaeological sites in W. Bank damaged – report. "Four out of five sites have been harmed in one way or another," said an expert, adding that the main issues are vandalism, theft, unsupervised construction and agriculture (Tovah Lazaroff, Jerusalem Post).

“Four out of five sites have been harmed in one way or another,” archeologist Shay Bar of Haifa University said at a Jordan Valley Regional Council virtual conference in which he presented a synopsis of the report by IHPC, also known as Preserving the Eternal.

As usual, I am not on site and have no way of verifying the report. I pass it on to you for information.

Related PaleoJudaica posts are here, here, here, and links.

UPDATE: I see from Joseph Lauer's e-mail list that you can view the presentation of the evidence (in Hebrew) here. The conference program is posted here.

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Did Peter give investment advice?

ANCIENT JEW REVIEW: The Exhortation of Peter: Interpreting Peter with Late Ancient Monastic Communities (James Walters).

This is the fifth installment of a series on volume 2 of New Testament Apocrypha: More Noncanonical Scriptures (MNTA 2), ed. Tony Burke. I noted the first essay here, the second here, the third here, and the fourth here.

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Rescheduled Wuppertal LXX conference now going online

WILLIAM ROSS: ONLINE: 8TH INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE FOR SEPTUAGINT STUDIES. The conference was originally scheduled for August 2020. It was rescheduled to 2021 due to the pandemic. This time it is running, but online instead of at Wuppertal. Not the first or, I dare say, the last conference to go this route.

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Sources for the Bar Kokhba Revolt

HISTORY: Who were the historians who documented the Jewish revolts? Writing almost a century after the Bar Kochba revolt, Cassius Dio’s account of the revolt indicates that the Jewish forces arrayed against Rome were formidable (Eli Kavon, Jerusalem Post).

Despite the title, the article is more concerned with the second Jewish Revolt (the Bar Kokhba Revolt) against Rome than the first (the Great Revolt). It has a good summary of the evidence found in the archaeologically recovered Bar Kokhba letters.

For many PaleoJudaica posts on the Bar Kokhba Revolt of 132-135 CE, see the posts collected here, plus here, here, and here.

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Pederson, Babylon. The Great City (open access)

THE AWOL BLOG: Babylon. The Great City. Open-access book by Olaf Pederson. This looks great. Last summer I spent probably too much time poring over the English translation of the century-old German report on the excavation of Babylon. That was preparation for my honours course on the Book of Daniel. I wish I'd had access to this book then.

I noted another recent book dealing with the archaeology of the city of Babylon here.

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4th century mosaic excavated at Yavne

DECORATIVE ART: 4th Century Mosaic Uncovered in Yavne Excavations (David Israel, The Jewish Press).

A mosaic floor from about 1,600 years ago that was discovered in archaeological excavations in the city of Yavne, 15 miles south of Tel Aviv, will be put on public display at the city’s cultural center, in a joint initiative launched by Yavne municipality, the Israel Antiquities Authority, and the Israel Land Authority.

[...]

PaleoJudaica has posted on many, many ancient mosaics found in Israel. Some key posts are collected here (cf. here).

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Apostles and Apocrypha from Scorsese and Schrader?

CINEMA? Martin Scorsese, Paul Schrader working on series about origins of Christianity (panorama.am).

“Yeah. Well, Scorsese and I are planning something,” the First Reformed director said. “And it is… it would be a three-year series about the origins of Christianity,” he said.

Schrader teased that the series is based on the Apostles and on the Apocrypha.

The concept has potential. And risks. Cross-file unde New Testament Apocrypha Watch?

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Leneman, The Voice of Judith in 300 Years of Oratorio and Opera (T&T Clark)

NEW BOOK FROM BLOOMSBURY/T&T CLARK:

The Voice of Judith in 300 Years of Oratorio and Opera

By: Helen Leneman

Published: 04-22-2021
Format: Hardback
Edition: 1st
Extent: 280
ISBN: 9780567687302
Imprint: T&T Clark
Illustrations: 6 bw illus
Dimensions: 6 1/8" x 9 1/4"
List price: $120.00
Online price: $108.00
Save $12.00 (10%)

Hardback $108.00
PDF eBook (Watermarked) $86.40

About The Voice of Judith in 300 Years of Oratorio and Opera

This volume focuses on the story of Judith as presented by composers, librettists and playwrights over four centuries. Helen Leneman analyzes numerous examples of music, librettos and the librettists' views of Judith – strongly influenced by societal attitudes of their time – and how these works in turn suggest unexpected ways of understanding biblical women and their stories. Music adds nuances, colors and emotions, becoming a subtext that suggests character and emotions.

Leneman presents in-depth analyses of the librettos and music of 16 operas and oratorios based on the book of Judith that span 300 years (1694-1984), in addition to two influential plays that inspired several librettos in the nineteenth century. Exploring works by such varied composers as Vivaldi, Mozart, Parry, Honegger, Serov, Chadwick and von Reznicek, Leneman reveals the ways in which each adaptation expands, distils or reinterprets Judith's character and story. In this first ever extensive study of musical settings of the Book of Judith, Leneman enables the biblical heroine to transcend her source.

PaleoJudaica posts on Judith in the arts, including opera, are collected here. For the historical and literary background of the Book of Judith, start here (cf. here) and follow the links. Cross-file under Old Testament Apocrypha Watch.

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The Oxford Handbook of the Minor Prophets

NEW BOOK FROM OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS:

The Oxford Handbook of the Minor Prophets

Edited by Julia M. O'Brien

Oxford Handbooks

• Focuses solely on the Minor Prophets of the Hebrew Bible
• Offers voices from a wide range of scholars including established and emerging scholars and those speaking from within and beyond faith communities
• Different methodological approaches allows students and researchers to appreciate the riches of contemporary interpretation of the Minor Prophets

Description

The Oxford Handbook of the Minor Prophets provides a clear and engaging one-volume guide to the major interpretative questions currently engaging scholars of the twelve Minor Prophets by collecting 40 essays by both established and emerging scholars who explore a wide range of methodological perspectives. Divided into four sections, the first group of essays is devoted to historical studies which consider the manuscript evidence for these books and overview debates about how, when, and by whom they were composed. Essays dealing with literary explorations consider the genres and rhetorical style of the material, key themes, and intertextual connections with other sections of the Jewish and Christian canons. A large section on the history of interpretation traces the ways in which past and present confessional communities, scholars, and artists have understood the Minor Prophets. In the final section, essays on individual books of the twelve Minor Prophets explore the structure, themes, and contested issues of each book.

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Ramos, Ritual in Deuteronomy (Routledge)

NEW BOOK FROM ROUTLEDGE:

Ritual in Deuteronomy
The Performance of Doom

By Melissa D. Ramos

Copyright Year 2021

Hardback
£96.00

eBook
£29.59

ISBN 9781138570986
Published April 20, 2021 by Routledge
184 Pages

Book Description

Ritual in Deuteronomy explores the symbolic world of Deuteronomy’s ritual covenant and curses through a lens of religious studies and anthropology, drawing on previously unexamined Mesopotamian material.

This book focuses on the ritual material in Deuteronomy including commands regarding sacrifice, prayer objects, and especially the dramatic ritual enactment of the covenant including curses. The book’s most unique feature is an entirely new comparative study of Deut 27–30 with two ritual texts from Mesopotamia. No studies to date have undertaken a comparison of Deut 27–30 with ancient Near Eastern ritual texts outside of the treaty oath tradition. This fresh comparison illuminates how the ritual life of ancient Israel shaped the literary form of Deuteronomy and concludes that the performance of oaths was a social strategy, addressing contemporary anxieties and reinforcing systems of cultural power.

This book offers a fascinating comparative study which will be of interest to undergraduate and graduate students in biblical studies, classical Hebrew, theology, and ancient Near Eastern studies. The book’s more technical aspects will also appeal to scholars of the Pentateuch, Deuteronomy, Biblical Law, Ancient Near Eastern History, Mesopotamian Studies, and Classics.

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On YouTube: Groningen's Hebrew/Aramaic paleography symposium

THE AWOL BLOG: Digital Palaeography and Hebrew/Aramaic Scribal Culture - 2021 International Online Groningen Symposium. I noted this conference as upcoming here. YouTube now has 36 videos of the proceedings.

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Pruszinski, An Ecology of Scriptures (T&T Clark)

NEW BOOK FROM BLOOMSBURY/T&T CLARK:

An Ecology of Scriptures
Experiences of Dwelling Behind Early Jewish and Christian Texts

By: Jolyon G. R. Pruszinski

Published: 04-22-2021
Format: Hardback
Edition: 1st
Extent: 224
ISBN: 9780567694942
Imprint: T&T Clark
Series: Jewish and Christian Texts
Volume: 33
Illustrations: 14 bw illus
Dimensions: 6 1/8" x 9 1/4"
List price: $115.00
Online price: $103.50
Save $11.50 (10%)

Hardback $103.50
EPUB/MOBI eBook (Watermarked) $82.80
PDF eBook (Watermarked) $82.80

About An Ecology of Scriptures

In this volume, Jolyon G. R. Pruszinski examines the experiences of domestic and quotidian space that contributed to the extant form of many foundational early Jewish and Christian scriptures. His analytical approaches are derived from diverse sources including modern psychological science, Gaston Bachelard's critical theories of domestic space, and Henri Lefebvre's observations regarding “spatial practice.”

The result of this attention to textual “ecology” or “home-logic” is an innovative exploration of classic texts yielding exciting new interpretive possibilities for the Gospel of John, the undisputed Pauline letters, the Parables of Enoch, the Book of Revelation, the History of the Rechabites, and Augustine's De Trinitate. Experiences of loss, homelessness, imprisonment, and marginal dwelling lie behind these texts and contributed to their authors' re-imagination and re-establishment of home. Pruszinski proves inescapably that while the most familiar of experiences are often overlooked, they are also among the most important of formative influences on the early Jewish and Christian literary imagination.

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Raggetti (ed.) Traces of Ink (Brill, Open Access)

NEW BOOK FROM BRILL:

Traces of Ink

Experiences of Philology and Replication

Series: Nuncius Series, Volume: 7

Volume Editor: Lucia Raggetti

Traces of Ink. Experiences of Philology and Replication is a collection of original papers exploring the textual and material aspects of inks and ink-making in a number of premodern cultures (Babylonia, the Graeco-Roman world, the Syriac milieu and the Arabo-Islamic tradition). The volume proposes a fresh and interdisciplinary approach to the study of technical traditions, in which new results can be achieved thanks to the close collaboration between philologists and scientists. Replication represents a crucial meeting point between these two parties: a properly edited text informs the experts in the laboratory who, in turn, may shed light on many aspects of the text by recreating the material reality behind it.

Contributors are: Miriam Blanco Cesteros, Michele Cammarosano, Claudia Colini, Vincenzo Damiani, Sara Fani, Matteo Martelli, Ira Rabin, Lucia Raggetti, and Katja Weirauch.

Prices from (excl. VAT): €99.00 / $119.00 Hardback

E-Book (PDF)
Availability: Published
ISBN: 978-90-04-44480-5
Publication Date: 22 Feb 2021

Hardback
Availability: Published
ISBN: 978-90-04-42111-0
Publication Date: 25 Feb 2021

Again, the E-Book (PDF) is Open Access. HT the AWOL Blog. For some PaleoJudaica posts on the study of ancient ink, see here and links, here, and (on inkwells) here and links.

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On the Urfa Citadel

NEW BOOK FROM ARCHAEOPRESS:

From Edessa to Urfa: The Fortification of the Citadel

Author: Cristina Tonghini. Paperback; 205x290mm; 270 pages; 190 figures, 6 tables, 39 plates (colour throughout). 725 2021. Available both in printed and e-versions. Printed ISBN 9781789697568. Epublication ISBN 9781789697575.

From Edessa to Urfa: the Fortification of the Citadel is the outcome of an archaeological research project focused on a specific monumental area in the city of Urfa: its citadel. Urfa is better known to the general reader by its ancient name, Edessa. Three seasons of fieldwork were carried out (2014-2016), concentrating on the study of the evidence preserved above ground and employing the methods of stratigraphic analysis to identify the building sequence of the citadel and to characterise the various building phases. Transformation of the relative sequence into absolute chronology depended primarily on inscriptions in situ, but also on typological elements (masonry type, decorative elements, specific architectural forms). Data from the written sources also contributed relevant information regarding the development of the fortification works and the establishment of an absolute sequence.

In late antiquity the Aramaiac dialect (Syriac) spoken in Edessa (modern Urfa) spread across the Middle East and became the language of the Eastern Church for many centuries. Some PaleoJudaica posts on other discoveries at Edessa are here, here, here, here, and here.

Ephrem the Syrian (cf. here, here, and here) spent the last ten years of his life in Edessa. His vast corpus of Syriac hymns, poems, and biblical commentaries contributed to the importance of the language in the Eastern Church. Cross-file under Syriac Watch.

The citadel excavated by this team existed from as early as the third century CE.

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Alphabetic inscriptions from the third millennium BCE?

ROLLSTON EPIGRAPHY: Tell Umm el-Marra (Syria) and Early Alphabetic in the Third Millennium: Four Inscribed Clay Cylinders as a Potential Game Changer. This essay by Christopher Rollston is technical. But its point is that these inscribed cylinders may indicate that the Canaanite alphabet was invented 500 years earlier than anyone thought.

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British Museum uncancels Nero

EXHIBITION: British Museum to restore Nero’s reputation after it was destroyed by Rome’s cancel culture (Robert Dex, Yahoo!Sport).

The ultimate victim of Ancient Rome’s “cancel culture” will be rehabilitated in a blockbuster show at the British Museum next month.

Nero: The Man Behind the Myth will examine how Rome’s fifth emperor had his reputation destroyed after his death with all mention of him deleted from official records and statues bearing his likeness torn down.

[...]

The British Museum Blog has a nicely illustrated post on Nero as introduction to the exhibition: Who was Nero?

Nero is one of Rome’s most infamous rulers, notorious for his cruelty, debauchery and eccentricity. But was he really the tyrant that history has painted him to be? Nero exhibition curator Francesca Bologna goes in search of the real Nero.

For PaleoJudaica posts on Nero as the Beast in the Book of Revelation, with ancient Jewish background and Antichrist-related history of interpretation, start here and follow the links. Other posts on Nero are here, here, here, here, here, here, and here.

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

Review of Friedeman (ed.) A Scripture Index to Rabbinic Literature

READING ACTS: Book Review: Caleb T. Friedeman, ed. A Scripture Index to Rabbinic Literature (Phil Long). I noted the publication of the book here.

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Seleznev et al. (eds.), The Gospel of Matthew in its Historical and Theological Context (Mohr Siebeck)

NEW BOOK FROM MOHR SIEBECK: The Gospel of Matthew in its Historical and Theological Context. Papers from the International Conference in Moscow, September 24 to 28, 2018. Edited by Mikhail Seleznev, William R. G. Loader, and Karl-Wilhelm Niebuhr. 2021. IX, 470 pages. Wissenschaftliche Untersuchungen zum Neuen Testament 459. 154,00 € including VAT. cloth ISBN 978-3-16-160104-0.

Published in English.
This volume includes eighteen essays on the Gospel of Matthew from historical and theological perspectives. They center around three topics: Matthew in Reception and Research; Matthew in Context; and Themes and Motifs in Matthew. The volume includes studies of both the Gospel in its context and its reception history in ancient Christianity and in churches today. All contributors are leading authorities in biblical studies on different continents, in a variety of countries, and of different confessions. The book therefore showcases the present state of inter-confessional and international biblical studies on Matthew.

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Another Avalos obituary

DES MOINES REGISTER: ISU professor Hector Avalos, renowned in Latino/a/x, atheist/agnostic communities, dies at 62 (PHILLIP SITTER).

Background here and links.

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