Bible & Archaeology

NEW PUBLICATION: "BIBLE & ARCHAEOLOGY is a new digital publication covering knowledge, discoveries, and opportunities in biblical archaeology."

About Bible & Archaeology

Bible & Archaeology was founded in 2021 at the University of Iowa by professor Robert R. Cargill and former University President Bruce Harreld. It is a not-for-profit 501(c)3 nonsectarian, nondenominational, educational organization promoting biblical studies, archaeology, and the intersection of the two disciplines in the Mediterranean and Southwest Asia—the areas traditionally called the “lands of the Bible.”

Bible & Archaeology is a popular online website and resource offering visitors an array of news, information, tools, and resources related to the study of the Bible and archaeology. These include original articles written by the very scholars making the discoveries, breaking news stories, articles, videos, and online courses taught by the world’s best scholars, study tours, lexicons, maps, puzzles, games, and trivia.

I noted this site as upcoming earlier this year. You can sign up for updates at the link.

Regular readers will be aware that Robert Cargill is the former editor of Biblical Archaeology Review.

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

PEF funding 2022

THE PALESTINE EXPLORATION FUND: Annual Research Grants 2022. HT Rogue Classicism>

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

More on those apprehended Bar Kokhba-era artifacts

DOUBLY LOOTED? Stopping a suspect car, police find ancient items Bar Kochba rebels took from Romans. Detectives searching a vehicle in Jerusalem find box with rare bronze antiquities believed seized by Jewish rebels 2,000 years ago as spoils of war (Luke Tress, Times of Israel).

Israeli archaeologists believe ancient artifacts recently seized by police were spoils of war taken by Jewish rebels from their Roman enemies nearly 2,000 years ago.

Israel’s Antiquities Authority said Wednesday that the artifacts, including ornamental incense burners and a wine jug, may be battle loot dating back to the Bar Kochba revolt in 132-136 CE.

[...]

I noted the report of the apprehension last week here. Information in the current article seems to indicate that there is a good case for the artifacts being genuinely ancient.

The site has been under recent surveillance after authorities found unauthorized excavations at the site, and launched an operation to capture suspects, but “unfortunately the robbers managed to escape,” said Amir Ganor, director of the Robbery Prevention Unit.

“When they fled, they left behind ancient finds that are similar to those now recovered in the suspects’ possession. We believe that the finds that were recently recovered in Jerusalem were taken from this site,” he said.

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Egyptian ostraca galore!

EGYTPTIAN EPIGRAPHY: Cache of 13,000 ostraca unearthed in Upper Egypt's Sohag (Nevine El-Aref, Ahram).

A German-Egyptian mission at Al-Sheikh Hamad archaeological site in Tel Atribis in Sohag has unearthed a collection of 13,000 ostraca (clay vessel fragments) which bear engraved text in demotic, hieratic, Coptic, Greek and Arabic, the Egyptian Ministry of Antiquities and Tourism said on Wednesday.

Further:

Christian Latis, head of the German mission ... suggests that the text written on the ostraca indicates that the area may have housed a school for teaching demotic, hieratic, hieroglyphic and Greek writing.

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New English translation of the Talmud Yerushalmi online

(JERUSALEM) TALMUD WATCH: Intimidated by the Jerusalem Talmud? This publisher is offering a more ‘accessible’ translation (Rudy Malcom, The Forward).

Most people who study Talmud go with the Babylonian one, and pay scant attention to its older, more difficult cousin — the Jerusalem Talmud.

But the nonprofit publisher Sefaria released a new, online English translation of it this week in hopes that more people will delve into the challenging compendium of Jewish law.

[...]

For more on the Sefaria website and its Talmud-related publication see here and links.

Some PaleoJudaica posts on the Talmud Yerushalmi (Palestinian Talmud) are here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, and here.

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Brock, The Bible in the Syriac Tradition (3rd ed.) (Gorgias)

NEW BOOK (3RD ED.) FROM GORGIAS PRESS:

THE BIBLE IN THE SYRIAC TRADITION (THIRD EDITION)
By Sebastian P. Brock

This is a basic introduction to the various Syriac translations of the Bible and the ways in which they were used in the Syriac tradition. After an initial discussion of the general problems of biblical translation, the different surviving Syriac translations are outlined, as well as biblical manuscripts, lectionaires, printed editions, and translations. A reception history of the Syriac Bible covers the ways in which it has been interpreted, the commentary tradition, its use in preaching, in liturgy, and in spirituality. An appendix offers some comparative samples (in translation) to illustrate some of the differences between the different Syriac translations.

Publisher: Gorgias Press LLC
SKU (ISBN): 978-1-4632-4233-6

Formats Paperback

Publication Status: In Print
Series: Gorgias Handbooks 52
Publication Date: Jan 27,2021
Interior Color: Black
Trim Size: 6 x 9
Page Count: 199
Language: English
ISBN: 978-1-4632-4233-6

Price: $53.00
Your price: $31.80

Cross-file under Syriac Watch.

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Tenth of Tevet 2021

THE TENTH OF TEVET (today) is a fast day commemorating the beginning of the siege of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar (2 Kings 25:1; Ezekiel 241:1-2). It is also mentioned in Zechariah 8:19.

The fast also commemorates the death of biblical Ezra the Scribe, traditionally on the 9th of Tevet, and (cf. b. Megillah 9a-b) the Septuagint translation of the Torah into Greek.

Previous PaleoJudaica posts on the Tenth of Tevet are here and here. For still more, see the Chabad article here and the one by Aish.com here.

The fast runs today from dawn to sundown. A safe and healthy one to all those observing.

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Cirafesi, John within Judaism (Brill)

NEW BOOK FROM BRILL:

John within Judaism

Religion, Ethnicity, and the Shaping of Jesus-Oriented Jewishness in the Fourth Gospel

Series: Ancient Judaism and Early Christianity, Volume: 112

Author: Wally V. Cirafesi

In John within Judaism, Wally V. Cirafesi offers a reading of the Gospel of John as an expression of the fluid and flexible nature of Jewish identity in Greco-Roman antiquity. While many have noted John’s general Jewishness, few have given it a seat at the ideologically congested table of ancient Jewish practice and belief. By interrogating the concept of “Judaism” in relation to the complex categories of “religion” and “ethnicity,” Cirafesi argues that John negotiates Jewishness using strategies of ethnic identity formation paralleled in other Jewish sources from the Second Temple and early rabbinic periods. In this process of negotiation, including its use of “high christology” and critique of Ioudaioi, John coalesces with other expressions of ancient Jewish identity and, thus, can be read “within Judaism.”

Copyright Year: 2022

Prices from (excl. VAT): €116.00 / $140.00

E-Book (PDF)
Availability: Published
ISBN: 978-90-04-46294-6
Publication Date: 11 Oct 2021

Hardback
Availability: Published
ISBN: 978-90-04-46293-9
Publication Date: 14 Oct 2021

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

Kiperwasser, Going West (Rabbinic Culture) (SBL Press)

NEW BOOK FROM SBL PRESS:

Going West : Migrating Personae and Construction of the Self in Rabbinic Culture

Reuven Kiperwasser

Volume BJS 369
Status Available

Publication Date November 2021

Paperback $29.00
Hardback $82.00
eBook $23.00

This new book by Reuven Kiperwasser examines the social, cultural, and religious aspects of third- to sixth-century narratives involving rabbinic figures migrating between Babylonia and Palestine. Kiperwasser draws on migration and mobility studies, comparative literature, humor and satire studies, as well as social history to reveal how border-crossing rabbis were seen as exporting features of their previous eastern context into their new western homes and vice versa. Through their writing, rabbinic authors articulated the nature and legitimacy of their own scholastic practices, knowledge, and authority in relationship to their internal others.

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A second synagogue in Magdala

ANCIENT ARCHITECTURE: 2nd-Temple-period synagogue found where Gospel’s Mary Magdalene was born. The building is the second synagogue from the time uncovered in Migdal, a prominent Jewish settlement that was also the main base of Flavius Josephus, historian and anti-Roman rebel commander (Rossella Tercatin, Jerusalem Post).

“The fact that we have found two synagogues shows that the Jews of the Second Temple period were looking for a place for religious, and perhaps also social, gatherings,” said Zinman Institute head Prof. Adi Erlich. “The stone bearing a relief of the Menorah from the other synagogue at Migdal, suggests that the local Jews saw Jerusalem as their religious center, and their local activities took place under this centrality.”

For many PaleoJudaica posts on the ancient city of Magdala (Migdal today), the other first-century synagogue excavated there, and the Magdala Stone found in the latter synagogue, see here and links, plus here.

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

Aramaic at Adıyaman

MODERN ARAMAIC WATCH: Aramaic as a spoken language! (Mendy Chitrik, Times of Israel Blogs).

During my trips across Turkey, I usually shared a day post, but meeting with Metropolitan Gregorios Melki ÜREK of Adıyaman and conversing with him in Aramaic, deserves a special post.

[...]

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Ancient Judaism job at Oxford

OXFORD UNIVERSITY:

Job Details

Associate Professor, Jewish History
Clarendon Institute, Walton Street, Oxford

Grade 36S: £48,835 - £65,574 p.a.

The Faculty of Oriental Studies and Wolfson College are recruiting an Associate Professor of Jewish History in the Second Temple and Late Antiquity periods from 1 October 2022 or as soon as possible thereafter. The post provides vital teaching for undergraduate and graduate degrees in Hebrew and Jewish Studies in the Faculty of Oriental Studies, and will be attached to Wolfson College. Primarily based in the Faculty of Oriental Studies and Wolfson College, the post offers the potential for teaching and research links with the Faculty of Theology & Religion and the Faculty of Classics (Ancient History). The research focus of the post is the historical study of Jews in Palestine and the Diaspora in the Second Temple and Late Antiquity periods, with a strong focus on textual sources in the original languages.

Follow the link for further particulars and application information. The application deadline is 12 noon on 28 January 2022.

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Review of Wiśniewski, Christian divination in late antiquity

BRYN MAYR CLASSICAL REVIEW: Christian divination in late antiquity.

Robert Wiśniewski, Christian divination in late antiquity. Social worlds of late antiquity and the early middle ages. Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press, 2020. Pp. 288. ISBN 9789462988705 €105,00.

Review by
Michael Hanaghan, Australian Catholic University. michael.hanaghan@acu.edu.au

The volume also gives some attention to ancient polytheistic and Jewish divination.

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Which one is Bethsaida?

THE DEBATE CONTINUES: Is this really the biblical city where Jesus walked on water? Archaeologists debate over the location of the biblical city of Bethsaida (Owen Jarus, Live Science). HT Rogue Classicism.

This is a good summary of the current state of the debate on whether et-Tell or El-Araj is the site of the city of Bethsaida in the time of Jesus. For many PaleoJudaica posts on the subject, start here and follow the links.

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

Jigoulov, The Phoenicians (Reaktion)

NEW BOOK FROM REAKTION BOOKS:

The Phoenicians
Lost Civilizations
Vadim S. Jigoulov

The Phoenicians is a fascinating exploration of this much-mythologized people: their history, artistic heritage and the scope of their maritime and colonizing activities in the Mediterranean.

Vadim S. Jigoulov describes and analyses various artefacts (epigraphic, numismatic and material remains) and considers how historians have derived information about a people with little surviving literature. This includes a critical look at classical, Near Eastern and biblical primary texts, the relationship between the Phoenician and Punic worlds, Phoenician interactions with the Greeks and others, and the repurposing of Phoenician heritage in modernity. Detailed and engrossing, The Phoenicians casts new light on this most enigmatic of civilizations.

25 × 145 × 20 mm
248 pages
Hardback
9781789144789
60 illustrations, 35 in colour
01 Nov 2021
Lost Civilizations

£15.00

Cross-file under Phoenician Watch.

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

On Pentateuchal Targumic poetry

THE GENIZA FRAGMENTS BLOG: Throwback Thursday: Targumic poems of the Pentateuch (reprint of a 1986 article by Michael Klein). Cross-file under Aramaic Watch and Cairo Geniza.

For more on late-antique Jewish Aramaic poetry, see here, here, here, here, and here.

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

On Joseph and Asenath (Aseneth)

PROF. PATRICIA D. AHEARNE-KROLL: Joseph and Asenath (TheTorah.com).

A text from Hellenistic Egypt (ca. 100 B.C.E. to 100 C.E.) tells a romantic story of Joseph and Asenath’s courtship. Initially, Asenath rejects Joseph, but then falls in love with him, only to have Joseph reject her because she is the daughter of an Egyptian priest. It’s only after she repents and changes her allegiance to Israel’s God that Joseph marries her.

I noted the author's book here.

I have commented on the question of the authorship of Joseph and Aseneth here.

For other posts on Joseph and Aseneth, see here and links, plus here and here.

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

Reburbishment of the Carthage National Museum

PUNIC WATCH: Tunisia: Focus On Carthage Museum and Its Surroundings Refurbishment Project in Partnership With EU in Tunisia (Tunis Afrique Presse (Tunis) via AllAfrica.com).

Tunis/Tunisia — The Ministry of Cultural Affairs and the European Union (EU) Delegation to Tunisia announced in detail the broad outlines of the refurbishment project of the Carthage National Museum and its surroundings, under the program "Tounes Wijhetouna, notably 3,000 Heritage and Culture Territory," which allocated an estimated funding of €10 million for studies and works in this regard.

During a press conference organised on Monday at the Cathedral of Saint Louis by the ministry and the EU delegation in Tunisia, the project and the restricted competition for the award of the contract for the refurbishment project were announced.

The of Carthage National Museum is one of the main Tunisian museums along with the Bardo Museum. It hosts the most important collection of archaeological objects from the site of Carthage since the Phoenician period and offering a synthesis of the prestigious history of Carthage (over 100,000 items). Since the end of the first quarter of 2018, the Carthage National Museum has been closed to visitors. Only the nearby archaeological remains can be visited.

I have mentioned the Carthage National Museum here.

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

Does Josephus matter? How much?

THE MARGINALIA REVIEW OF BOOKS: Why Josephus Matters. Steve Mason on Flavius Josephus. Again, HT Rogue Classicism.

If we leave biblical and New Testament authors out of the frame, Flavius Josephus (37–100+ CE) was the most consequential ancient writer in the West. This claim is not provable by statistics, but a process of elimination supports it. Plato was big, Aristotle too. Herodotus, Thucydides, Xenophon, and Polybius had their admirers, and every literate Roman knew Cicero and Livy. But Christian Crusaders did not take Plato into battle in the Holy Land. Thucydides was not rewritten in Latin and Hebrew versions, as Josephus was, amplifying his already huge impact. From the first to the twenty-first centuries, Josephus’ work has mattered to more people and more consistently than any other non-biblical text.

Does that mean that he should matter now? Nothing simply matters. Classical music, stock prices, and American politics matter to some but not others. Things that mattered to us when we were twenty might not at forty or sixty. To ask why Josephus matters is to ask, first, why he has mattered, and second, why he might matter from now on, which is not the same thing.

[...]

It is fair to say that Steve Mason owns Josephus studies. It is great to have an overview essay from him on the topic.

There are many, many PaleoJudaica posts on Flavius Josephus. For some of them, see here and follow the links. For many others, run the search term "Josephus" through the blog search engine.

For more on the siege of Jopata (Yodaft) and that rather complicated mass suicide pact, see my posts on The Josephus Problem. For pseudo-Hegisippus and other Latin translations of Josephus, see here and links. For the medieval compilation Sefer Yossipon (Jossipon), see here and links.

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

Restoration of the St. Hilarion Monastery in Gaza

ARCHAEOLOGY: Ancient Gaza monastery restored by unemployed young Palestinians. For the third year in a row, a Palestinian team under French supervision works on the restoration of St. Hilarion Monastery in Gaza's Nuseirat refugee camp (Mervat Ouf, Al-Monitor). HT Rogue Classicism.

For more on the St. Hilarion Monastery in Gaza, see here.

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