Review of Vayntrub, Beyond Orality

ANCIENT JEW REVIEW: Book Note | Beyond Orality: Biblical Poetry on its Own Terms ( Andrew Tobolowsky).

Jacqueline Vayntrub, Beyond Orality: Biblical Poetry on its Own Terms (London: Routledge, 2019).

I noted the publication of the book here.

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On the coinage of the Bar Kokhba era

NUMISMATICS: What do ancient coins tell us about Bar Kochba and the Omer period? The symbolism behind the coins is clearly stated in the ornaments they feature (Rossella Tercatin, Jerusalem Post). In anticipation of Shavuot, which is coming soon.

Some PaleoJudaica posts on discoveries (etc.) of Bar Kokhba-era coins are here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, and here. Posts noting articles on the Bar Kokhba coinage are here and here. For many posts on the Bar Kokhba Revolt, start here and follow the links.

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One of Pliny's officers found at Herculaneum?

VESUVIUS WATCH: Herculaneum dig sees Pliny's officer who died trying to help. Director Sirano shows novelties of ancient finds before new digs (ANSA).

"He may be," [dig director Francesco] Sirano explained, "an officer of the fleet that took part in the rescue mission launched by Pliny the Elder to help the people in the towns and villas nestled on this part of the Bay of Naples". A navy soldier who came to rescue the desperate people of Herculaneum, crammed in their hundreds for hours on the beach and inside the 'fornixes' or storing containers which were normally used for stowing nets and fishing equipment. A man who didn't make it, he too was killed in a few devastating instants by the pyroclastic surges that swept down from Vesuvius and here engulfed houses, people and things at a speed of 80-100 kilometres per hour, also pushing dozens and dozens of bodies into the sea.

The evidence for this sounds pretty good.

The story is also covered in two articles that are behind subscription walls:

Hero of Herculaneum: skeleton may be saviour sent to defy the volcano. (Nick Squires, The Telegraph)

Clue that ancient Romans were close to being saved from Vesuvius (Tom Kington, London Times).

Both the Telegraph and the Times allow you to read a limited number of articles with free registration.

For many PaleoJudaica posts on the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 CE and its destruction of Pompeii and Herculaneum, start here and follow the links. For more on Pliny the Elder's daring naval rescue mission follow the links there. Pliny himself perished while undertaking scientific observations during the mission, but the mission itself may have saved as many as a couple of thousand people. Pliny's body may (or may not) have been recovered in a mass grave on the shores of the town of Stabiae. For more on the pyroclastic surge during the eruption, see here and follow the links. For many posts on Herculaneum and its famous library carbonized during the eruption, see here and links.

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What was "Torah" in antiquity?

FOR SHAVUOT: What Is “Torah” in Second Temple Texts? (Prof.Molly M. Zahn, TheTorah.com).

In the Second Temple Period, “Torah” was not limited to the Five Books of Moses. The book of Jubilees and the Temple Scroll saw themselves as "Torah," while Qumran's Community Rule and Damascus Document claim that their own sectarian rules likewise constituted Torah.

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Review of J. Rendel Harris biography

THE ETC BLOG: Review of Falcetta’s Bio of J. Rendel Harris (Peter Gurry). The review is in the current issue of the Bullettin for Biblical Research. You can read it at Peter's Academia.edu page (see link). I noted the publication of the book in 2017.

J. Rendel Harris (1852-1941) was a biblical scholar, manuscript collector, and a curator at the John Rylands Library in Manchester. For more on him, see here.

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They excavated the other half of that lamp in ... Hungary?

WAIT, WHAT? Matching half of 2,000-year-old lamp found in Jerusalem said located in Budapest. Hungarian archeologist reaches out to Israelis to say he may have found a match for the rare face-shaped piece discovered on road used by Jewish pilgrims on way to 2nd Temple (Raoul Wootliff, Times of Israel).

This story just gets wilder. It looks as though this bronze lamp was made in two halves, each a complete lamp in itself and each representing half a face. When interlocked, they would constitute a double-wicked lamp bearing a whole grotesque face.

Best of all, one half was just excavated in Jerusalem this year. The other was excavated in Budapest in 2012. How is that for a lucky find?

It remains to be demonstrated conclusively that they are parts of the same lamp. But that is how it looks now.

HT reader Chedva Perr. The Jerusalem Post article by Rossella Tercatin includes a video of the lamp in Hungary: Does Hungary have the missing piece of 2,000-year-old luck lamp? Because of its unique shape – a half face with grotesque features, similar to a theater mask – the artifact was described by the archaeologists as very unique.

Background here and here. I wonder if the funny-face bronze lamp found at the Um el-Kanatir synagogue also came in two interlocking parts. Does anyone know anything more about it? I can find lots of photos of the synagogue, but none of the lamp.

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On the Biblioteca Ambrosiana and its manuscripts

A LANDMARK OF SCHOLARSHIP: WKND Travel: Inside The Ambrosiana, Milan's historic library (Mariella Radaelli, The Khaleej Times via MSN.com).

The Veneranda Biblioteca Ambrosiana is the third-oldest public library in Europe, after the Bodleian Library (1603) at Oxford and the Angelica Library (1604) in Rome.

Within a five-minute-walk from the Milan Cathedral, it remains an important site for scholars and students, providing a model of intercultural dialogue and education.

It sits timelessly in the heart of the city. Its spacious rooms are filled with 35,000 manuscripts of great artistic and codicological value, 2,500 incunabula, and one million books. These precious library materials allow the researchers' minds to expand infinitely. Here, they can see the whole universe within themselves.

A fascinating account of the founding and early history of the Biblioteca Ambrosiana in Milan. The focus is on its collection of Arabic manuscripts, but it also has manuscripts important for biblical and ancient Jewish studies.

Codex Ambrosianus B.21 is a manuscript a Syriac translation of the whole Bible – construed broadly to include the Old Testament, the New Testament, the Apocrypha, and some books that didn't make it into any of the official biblical canons. I have blogged on the manuscript here, based on a photolithographic reproduction in the special collections of the University of St. Andrews Library. In 2011 I visited the Biblioteca Ambrosiana, where I saw and photographed the actual manuscript. For more on it see here, here, and here. And for posts on another manuscript from this library, see here and here.

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Essays: On Becoming a Jewish Bible Scholar

FOR SHAVUOT: On Becoming a Jewish Bible Scholar (TheTorah.com).

For Shavuot 5781, the 8th anniversary of TheTorah.com, we invited scholars to answer the following questions:

• What were the circumstances—familial, social, intellectual, religious—that influenced your choice to pursue biblical studies?
• Has your involvement in the field affected the nature of your religious beliefs and behavior, and if so, how?

This is a developing series: New reflections will be added over time.

So far there are essays by Prof. Nili Wazana, Prof. Marvin A. Sweeney, Prof. Jon D. Levenson, Prof. Carl S. Ehrlich, Prof. Adele Berlin, Prof. Baruch J. Schwartz, Prof. Marc Zvi Brettler, and Prof. Yairah Amit.

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Review of The Wandering Holy Man: The Life of Barsauma (ed. Hahn & Menze)

ANCIENT JEW REVIEW: Book Note | The Wandering Holy Man: The Life of Barsauma, Christian Asceticism, and Religious Conflict in Late Antique PalestineNatalie Reynoso (Natalie Reynoso).

Hahn, Johannes and Volker Menze. Eds. 2020. The Wandering Holy Man: The Life of Barsauma, Christian Asceticism, and Religious Conflict in Late Antique Palestine. Oakland: University of California Press.

Composed in Syriac, the Life of Barsauma offers new resources for understanding the construction of holiness in late antiquity. This edited volume provides an essential guide to this lengthy composition within its literary, social, and religious contexts. Several of the authors present nuanced analyses of the particularities of ascetic practice among Syrian holy men, especially wanderers and mourners; others examine Christian relations with Jews, pagans, and Samaritans in Palestine and the Near East; and still others turn their attention to the historical figures mentioned in the Life and to the relations between Christianity and empire in the late Roman world. ...

Cross-file under Syriac Watch.

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Review of Egri, The archaeology of Mithraism

BRYN MAYR CLASSICAL REVIEW: The archaeology of Mithraism.

Matthew McCarty, Mariana Egri, The archaeology of Mithraism. Babesch supplements, 39. Leuven: Peeters, 2020. Pp. 226. ISBN 9789042943520 €78,00.

Review by
Alison Griffith, University of Canterbury. alison.griffith@canterbury.ac.nz

I noted the publication of the book here. For more posts on the Mithras cult (Mithraism), see the links collected there, plus here and here.

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The Domitian persecution – fake news?

BIBLE HISTORY DAILY: Alternative Facts: Domitian’s Persecution of Christians. Was Roman emperor Domitian really the great persecutor of Christians? (Mark Wilson).

Over two decades since two Roman historians and a Revelation scholar have pronounced a Domitianic persecution moribund, such claims continue to circulate in articles, books and sermons. This shows how long it takes to repudiate “alternative facts” that have circulated for over 1,500 years in Christendom.

Nero is uncanceled and Domitian is rehabilitated. I wonder what John of Patmos would make of all this?

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The Oxford Handbook of the Pentateuch

NEW BOOK FROM OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS:

The Oxford Handbook of the Pentateuch

Edited by Joel S. Baden and Jeffrey Stackert

Oxford Handbooks

• Features contributions from leading scholars to provide students and scholars with a comprehensive survey of the field
• Considers key topics and issues in contemporary pentateuchal scholarship, and examines the Pentateuch in its social world
• Investigates the history and formation of the text and its early reception

Description

Featuring contributions from internationally-recognized scholars in the study of the Pentateuch, this volume provides a comprehensive survey of key topics and issues in contemporary pentateuchal scholarship. The Oxford Handbook of the Pentateuch considers recent debates about the formation of the Pentateuch and their implications for biblical scholarship. At the same time, it addresses a number of issues that relate more broadly to the social and intellectual worlds of the Pentateuch. This includes engagements with questions of archaeology and history, the Pentateuch and the Samaritans, the relation between the Pentateuch and other Moses traditions in the Second Temple period, the Pentateuch and social memory, and more. Crucially, the Handbook situates its discussions of current developments in pentateuchal studies in relation to the field's long history, one that in its modern, critical phase is now more than two centuries old. By showcasing both this rich history and the leading edges of the field, this collection provides a clear account of pentateuchal studies and a fresh sense of its vitality and relevance within biblical studies, religious studies, and the broader humanities.

£110.00
Hardback
Published: 29 April 2021
592 Pages
246x171mm
ISBN: 9780198726302
Also Available As: Ebook

Not to be confused with The Oxford Handbook of Biblical Law, which came out last year.

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Holt, Narrative and Other Readings in the Book of Esther (T&T Clark)

NEW BOOK FROM BLOOMSBURY/T&T CLARK:

Narrative and Other Readings in the Book of Esther

By: Else K. Holt

Published: 04-08-2021
Format: Hardback
Edition: 1st
Extent: 184
ISBN: 9780567697615
Imprint: T&T Clark
Series: The Library of Hebrew Bible/Old Testament Studies
Volume: 712
Illustrations: 4 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
PDF eBook (Watermarked) $82.80

About Narrative and Other Readings in the Book of Esther

This collection of essays considers the Book of Esther from a literary and sociological perspective. In part one, Else Holt outlines the main questions of historical-critical research in the Book of Esther. She also discusses the theological meaning of a biblical book without God, and examines how the book was transmitted through the last centuries BCE. She also explores how the Hebrew and Greek variants of the Book of Esther picture its main character, Esther, the Jewish queen of Persia.

In part two, Holt offers deconstructive reading of themes hidden under the surface-levels of the book. Chapters include discussions of Esther's initiation into her role as Persian queen; the inter-textual conversation with two much later texts, The Arabian Nights and The Story of O; and the relationship between Mordecai, the Jew, and his opponent Haman, the Agagite, as a matter of mimetic doublings. The last part of the book introduces the sociological concept of ethnicity-construction as the backdrop for perceiving the instigation of the Jewish festival Purim and the violence connected to it, and looks at the Book of Esther as an example of trauma literature. The concluding chapter analyses the moral quality of the book of Esther, asking the question: Is it a bedtime story?

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Saltow lecture on the Inscriptions in Israel/Palestine Project

VIDEO: Inscriptions of Israel/Palestine: Presentation (Michael Satlow). For more on this project, see here and links.

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Tunisian synagogue mosaics

DECORATIVE ART: Jewish mosaics from Roman Tunisia at the Brooklyn Museum (Mary Harrsch, Roman Times Blog). Nice photos. The synagogue was in Naro (present-day Hammam Lif).

I note an exhibition of these mosaics back in 2008. See here and links. For more on Tunisian Jewish antiquities, see here and links.

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Reviewlet of Steinsaltz, Reference Guide to the Talmud

TIMES OF ISRAEL BLOGS: An indispensable guide to the Talmud (Israel Drazin).

The recently deceased scholar Rabbi Adin Even-Israel Steinsaltz who authored sixty books and hundreds of articles is the author of the 549 page book “Reference Guide to the Talmud: The Indispensable Talmud Study Aid.” It is one of five new books published by Maggid Books. ...

Cross-file under Talmud Watch and New Book.

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Gelardini, Deciphering the Worlds of Hebrews (Brill)

NEW BOOK FROM BRILL:

Deciphering the Worlds of Hebrews

Collected Essays

Series: Novum Testamentum, Supplements, Volume: 184

Author: Gabriella Gelardini

In the collection entitled Deciphering the Worlds of Hebrews Gabriella Gelardini gathers fifteen essays written in the last fifteen years, twelve of which are in English and three in German. Arranged in three parts (the world of, behind, and in front of Hebrews’s text), her articles deal with such topics as structure and intertext, sin and faith, atonement and cult, as well as space and resistance.

She reads Hebrews no longer as the enigmatic and homeless outsider within the New Testament corpus, as the “Melchizedekian being without genealogy”; rather, she reads Hebrews as one whose origin has finally been rediscovered, namely in Second Temple Judaism.

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

E-Book (PDF)
Availability: Published
ISBN: 978-90-04-46017-1
Publication Date: 19 Apr 2021
Copyright Date: 01 Jan 2021

Hardback
Availability: Published
ISBN: 978-90-04-46016-4
Publication Date: 22 Apr 2021
Copyright Date: 01 Jan 2021

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Where is Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai really buried?

EVIDENCE LACKING: Is Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai really buried at Meron? It’s complicated. On one hand some rock cut burials dating back to the time of the Mishna are present in Meron. On the other, no archaeological evidence linking them to the Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai was ever found (Rossella Tercatin, Jerusalem Post).

Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai (Yohai), who flourished during the early second-century, is the traditional (but pseudepigraphic) author of the Zohar (cf. here, here, and here). For more on his traditional tomb in Meron, see here and links (cf. here). His Yahrzeit (death anniversary) is traditionally commemorated on Lag B'Omer. This year the festivities at Mount Meron were marred by a tragic accident.

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Review of Oetjen (ed.), New perspectives in Seleucid history, archaeology and numismatics

BRYN MAYR CLASSICAL REVIEW: New perspectives in Seleucid history, archaeology and numismatics.

Roland Oetjen, New perspectives in Seleucid history, archaeology and numismatics: studies in honor of Getzel M. Cohen. Beiträge zur Altertumskunde, Band 355. Berlin; Boston: De Gruyter, 2019. Pp. xvii, 814. ISBN 9783110283785 €129,95.

Review by
Rebecca Dodd, Glasgow. Rebecca.dodd@alexandria-research.org

Several of the articles in this large (40 article) collection pertain directly to ancient Judaism. Others are of background interest.

For more on the Seleucid era and its importance for biblical and ancient Jewish studies, start here and follow the many links.

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Solomon's story supplemented?

DR. GUY DARSHAN: As Solomon Builds the Temple, God Warns “Follow My Laws” in MT Not LXX (TheTorah.com).

The description of Solomon building and dedicating the Temple in the Masoretic Text (MT) of 1 Kings 6 and 8 differ from their parallels in the Septuagint (LXX). These expansions are written in Pentateuchal language, uncharacteristic of Kings, and reflect the attempt of a later scribe(s) to make these scenes cohere with Priestly theology and style, especially of Leviticus 26.

It's always nice when the Septuagint and redaction criticism agree.

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