On the "Israel Forgery Scandal"

TIMES OF ISRAEL VIDEO: Into the Land: The Forgery Scandal. Two extraordinary archeological finds remain a great mystery.

Does a private individual hold two of the most important archaeological items ever discovered in Israel? In 2002, antiquities collector Oded Golan was accused of forging two items of the highest importance: the ossuary of James, brother of Jesus, and the Jehoash Inscription — the only physical proof of Solomon’s Temple. Twenty years later, after repeated expert examination, it’s still unclear if these items are authentic or at least partially falsified.

In this second episode of The Times of Israel’s new, original “Into the Land” docuseries, we explore the international controversy behind these alleged archaeological forgeries — and the uncertainty and interests that appear inherent to historical verification.

For PaleoJudaica posts on the Israel Forgery Trial, follow the links from here. For posts on the Jehoash (Joash) inscription and the James Ossuary inscription, start here and follow the respective links.

For the recently renewed debate over the authenticity of the Shapira Scroll fragments, start here and follow the links.

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Name that biblical character!

WHO COULD IT BE? The Most Important Biblical Character You’ve Probably Never Heard of. One of the most influential people in the Bible is only mentioned in four verses—and his story is more a missing person case than a biography (Candida Moss, The Daily Beast).

When Professor Moss says "you," she is not talking about you, my regular readers. From the headline hint, you have already figured out that she is talking about Enoch.

This is a very good article on the current state of research on the Enochic literature. But I have one point of disagreement.

The assumption in the article is that the stories about Enoch, the sons of God and the human women, and the Nephilim in Genesis 5-6 are primary and the stories in the book of 1 Enoch, especially the Book of the Watchers and The Parables (Similitudes) are secondary expansions of Genesis. That is possible. But I read the situation differently.

To me it looks as though Genesis knew the stories about Enoch, the mating of the fallen angels (Watchers) with mortal women, and the rise of the giants.

I assume the stories were in oral form at this point. Any early written versions are probably lost. That is, unless the Book of the Watchers and perhaps the Book of Giants are as early as Genesis or earlier. The Book of the Watchers is widely dated to the third century BCE, but that is really just a guess.

In any case, Genesis didn't like these stories. But the writer couldn't ignore them. They were too well known. So Genesis, holding its nose, told them briefly, obliquely, and allusively, then quickly moved onto other things.

Sometime after the writing of Genesis, other writers who liked the stories decided they merited longer treatment. That would be how we got the Book of the Watchers, the Book of Giants, and the Parables of Enoch.

I cannot prove any of this. But others who think that the Enochic literature is derivative of Genesis can't prove their position either. And I think my reading makes better sense of the oddly brief and oblique stories in Genesis.

There are many, many PaleoJudaica posts on the Enochic literature. Too many to try to link to. If you are interested, run the search term "Enoch" throught the blog search engine.

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Was Khirbet Qeiyafa a "cultic compound?"

INTERPRETING ARCHAEOLOGY: New Theory for Khirbet Qeiyafa: Not King David’s City but a Vast Cultic Compound. No consensus was ever reached about the fortified hilltop site of Qeiyafa in central Israel, but now we have a whole new theory for everybody to argue about (Ruth Schuster, Haaretz).

A 3,000-year-old walled hilltop city in central Israel is the archaeological gift that keeps on giving. Is that a palace archaeologists found there and, if so, was it King David’s? Was this an Iron Age stronghold manned by bristling warriors – and if it was, whose warriors? Judahite, Israelite, Canaanite, Philistine, perchance? And why did its story end after a mere 20 or 30 years?

This article will bring you no answers, but does present a startling new theory. Prof. Emeritus David Ussishkin of Tel Aviv University, publishing in the Israel Exploration Journal, postulates that Iron Age Qeiyafa was not a walled city. It was a vast walled cultic compound.

[...]

I am not an archaeologist, so you should probably ignore what I think about this. But my personal rule of thumb is, if archaeologists refer to a site or artifact as "cultic" or "ritual" it means they haven't a clue what the thing is.

I think that principle holds up well here. But read the article and see what you think.

For PaleoJudaica posts on the Khirbet Qeiyafa excavations and the inscriptions, Iron Age public buildings, and miniature shrines found there, see here, here and here and follow the many links.

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Richard A. Freund (1955-2022)

SAD NEWS: RICHARD FREUND OBITUARY (Legacy.com).

For nearly 40 years, Richard worked as a professor in Jewish history and archaeology, starting at Oberlin College and traveling to the University of Denver, the University of California-San Diego, the Seminario Rabinico Latinoamericano, the University of Nebraska at Omaha, the University of Hartford, and finally ended his career at Christopher Newport University in Virginia. Through his time in academia, he mentored thousands of students and collaborated with countless other faculty members from across the country in pursuit of answers to some of our history's greatest questions.

At San Diego Jewish World, Prof. Laurie Baron also has an obituary for Prof. Freund: Jewish Studies Scholar Richard Freund (1955-2022). His Directory page at Christopher Newport University is here.

Some PaleoJudaica posts on Prof. Freund's sometimes controversial work are here, here, here, here, and here.

May his memory be for a blessing.

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Balaam and the Calf in the Targums

DR. SHLOMI EFRATI: Balaam Sets His Face Towards the Calf—A Targum Tradition. (TheTorah.com).

Targum Onqelos usually offers a straightforward Aramaic rendering of the biblical verse. The Palestinian Targums (=Targum Yerushalmi), in contrast, offer more expansive, midrashic renderings of the verse. Numbers 24:1, in which Balaam looks to the wilderness, offers us a further glimpse into a world with multiple Targumic traditions.

The essay opens with a brief, useful introduction to the Targums in question.

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

McGrath in the footsteps of John the Baptist (2)

RELIGION PROF: In the Footsteps of John the Baptist Part 2: Yardenit, Tiberias, and Bet Alfa.

James McGrath continues his account of his travels to John the Baptist-related sites (etc.) on his visit to the Holy Land.

I noted part one here.

For more on the zodiac mosaics in those late-antique synagogues, see here and here and links.

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Llewellyn-Jones, Persians: The Age of the Great Kings (Basic Books)

BIBLIOGRAPHIA IRANICA: Persians: The Age of the Great Kings. Notice of a New Book: Llewellyn-Jones, Lloyd. 2022. Persians: The Age of the Great Kings. New York: Basic Books.

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

Another review of Keddie, Class and Power in Roman Palestine

THE CHURCH TIMES: Class and Power in Roman Palestine by Anthony Keddie. Henry Wansbrough reviews an economic study of Palestine.

A common picture is of vast estates in fertile Galilee, farmed by impoverished peasants to the huge profit of their absentee landlords. Is this really confirmed by archaeology?

I noted another review of the book here.

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

Brand, Religion and the Everyday Life of Manichaeans in Kellis (Brill open-access)

NEW BOOK FROM BRILL:

Religion and the Everyday Life of Manichaeans in Kellis

Beyond Light and Darkness

Series: Nag Hammadi and Manichaean Studies, Volume: 102

Author: Mattias Brand

Published in Open Access with the support of the Swiss National Science Foundation.

Religion is never simply there. In Religion and the Everyday Life of Manichaeans in Kellis, Mattias Brand shows where and when ordinary individuals and families in Egypt practiced a Manichaean way of life. Rather than portraying this ancient religion as a well-structured, totalizing community, the fourth-century papyri sketch a dynamic image of lived religious practice, with all the contradictions, fuzzy boundaries, and limitations of everyday life. Following these microhistorical insights, this book demonstrates how family life, gift-giving, death rituals, communal gatherings, and book writing are connected to our larger academic debates about religious change in late antiquity.

Copyright Year: 2022

Prices from (excl. VAT): €134.00 / $161.00 Hardback

E-Book (PDF)
Availability: Published
ISBN: 978-90-04-51029-6
Publication date: 20 May 2022

Hardback
Availability: Published
ISBN: 978-90-04-50822-4
Publication date: 25 May 2022

Cross-file under Manichean Watch (Manichaean Watch) and Coptic Watch. For additional publications on the Manichean texts from Kellis, see here and here and links.

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Mt. Arbel fortress opening to visitors

RESTORATION: Majestic Mt. Arbel fortress to open following 1.5 years of conservation work. Workers carried 20 to 40 kilos of steel supporting elements up 300 meters along the cliff to the Ottoman-period fortress (Judith Sudilovsky, Jerusalem Post).

Besides the restored Ottoman-era fortress, the site had ancient (and Crusader-era) occupation:

In a secluded plateau on the south and west of the impressive cliff, are the archaeological remains of a Jewish village from the Hellenistic period in the 2nd and 3rd century BC, which was in continued use until the Roman period; inside the cliff is a series of hidden cave dwellings which may have been an extension of the village and which were used as a refuge by Jewish rebels supporters of the last Hasmonean king of Judea, Antigonus II, as they battled, and lost, against the Roman legions of King Herod in 40 BC. ...

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Waters, .... The Life of Cyrus the Great (OUP)

BIBLIOGRAPHIA IRANICA: King of the World.

Notice of a New Book: Waters, Matt. 2022. King of the World: The Life of Cyrus the Great. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Available for pre-order.

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

McGrath on Pummer, The Samaritans. A Profile

RELIGION PROF: The Samaritans: A Profile. James McGrath gives a brief review of Reinhardt Pummer’s book The Samaritans: A Profile, with a focus on possible Mandaean connections.

For earlier reviews etc. of the book, see here and links. Cross-file under Samaritan Watch and Mandaean (Mandean) Watch.

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

Quarry layers excavated at Church of the Holy Sepulcher

ANCIENT ARCHITECTURE: Church of the Holy Sepulchre excavation unveils remains from Constantine's time. The researchers said the rock layers of the stone quarry used during the construction of the church during Constantine’s period had been uncovered (Judith Sudilovsky, Jerusalem Post).

Remains of construction dating back to the period of Roman Emperor Constantine at the Church of the Holy Sepulcher are among the discoveries uncovered during on-going excavations at the Christian holy site since March 2022 as part of a complex two-year project to repair and restore pavement stones of the ancient church.

[...]

For more on the strata with the quarry and the remains of the Hadrianic pagan temple, see here.

For many PaleoJudaica posts on the Church of the Holy Sepulcher (Holy Sepulchre), start here and follow the links.

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

Looting arrest in Afula

APPRENDED TOO: Busted: Thousands of ancient coins and arrowheads seized from northern Israel home. Israel Antiquities Authority theft prevention unit says Afula man illegally dug up and traded in ancient finds, likely also smuggled items abroad to public auctions (Amanda Borschel-Dan, Times of Israel).

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

Open-access volume on the Kingdom of Himyar

THE AWOL BLOG: Late Antique Arabia - Zafar, Capital of Himyar: Rehabilitation of a 'Decadent' Society: Excavations of the Ruprecht-Karls-Universität Heidelberg 1998-2010 in the Highlands of Yemen. Harrassowitz open-access volume, edited by Paul Yule and published in 2013.

For more on the late-antique Jewish kingdom of Himyar, see here and links.

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

The ancient usage of "Jews" and "Israelites"

THE ANCIENT NEAR EAST TODAY: The Relationship Between “Jews” and “Israelites” After the Babylonian Exile (Jason Staples).

... Far from an inductive proposal based on the nuances found in the ancient texts themselves, Kuhn’s paradigm therefore superimposes the perspective and terminological nuances of Nazi Germany onto antiquity. Remarkably, despite widespread recognition of numerous shortcomings in mapping onto the data, Kuhn’s paradigm has remained the default explanation for the ancient use of these terms well into the twenty-first century.

I noted the publication of the author's book, The Idea of Israel in Second Temple Judaism (CUP), here.

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Meiser, The Septuagint and Its Reception (Mohr Siebeck)

NEW BOOK FROM MOHR SIEBECK: Martin Meiser. The Septuagint and Its Reception. Collected Essays. 2022. IX, 603 pages. Wissenschaftliche Untersuchungen zum Neuen Testament 482. 174,00 € including VAT. cloth ISBN 978-3-16-154917-5.

Published in English.
The Septuagint is an important source for the study of ancient Judaism and, in terms of textual development and theology, is to be embedded in the literature of the last three centuries BCE. At the same time, the Septuagint often is the authoritative reference text of ancient Christian reception of the so-called Old Testament. The essays collected in this volume deal in their first part with the interpretation of the Septuagint, primarily the historical and the prophetic books. Questions of textual criticism and theology are addressed in the two sections on the New Testament (Gospel of Mark, Acts, and Paul) and Patristics (Justin and Jerome, for example). The final section is devoted to the patristic interpretation of Old Testament texts (Gen 2–3; Gen 28:10–22; Jer 10:1–16; Psalms), themes (notion of God; pseudo-prophecy), and figures (Adam, Abraham, Hannah).

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Dueling red heifer rites

PROF. VERED NOAM: Preparing the Red Heifer in Purity: The Rabbis’ Polemic against the Sadducees (TheTorah.com).

Several stories describe how the rabbis of the Second Temple period would force priests to prepare the ashes in the lower state of purity, tevul yom (immersed in water before sunset), and once even discarded ashes prepared in the stringent state of purity, meʿorav shemesh (after sunset), to demonstrate the law is not in accordance with the Sadducees. The Qumran halakhic text, 4QMMT, gives us the perspective of the other side of the debate.

For other PaleoJudaica posts on the red heifer ritual, see here and links.

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The Language of Colour in the Bible (De Gruyter)

NEW BOOK FROM DE GRUYTER:

The Language of Colour in the Bible
Embodied Colour Terms related to Green

Lourdes García Ureña, Emanuela Valeriani, Anna Angelini, Carlos Santos Carretero and Marina Salvador Gimeno Translated by: Donald Murphy
Volume 11 in the series Fontes et Subsidia ad Bibliam pertinentes
https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110767704

PDF & EPUB £94.00

Hardcover £94.00

eBook
Published: April 19, 2022
ISBN: 9783110767704

Hardcover
Published: May 3, 2022
ISBN: 9783110766394

About this book

The Bible is one of the books that has aroused the most interest throughout history to the present day. However, there is one topic that has mostly been neglected and which today constitutes one of the most emblematic elements of the visual culture in which we live immersed: the language of colour. Colour is present in the biblical text from its beginning to its end, but it has hardly been studied, and we appear to have forgotten that the detailed study of the colour terms in the Bible is essential to understanding the use and symbolism that the language of colour has acquired in the literature that has forged European culture and art.

The objective of the present study is to provide the modern reader with the meaning of colour terms of the lexical families related to the green tonality in order to determine whether they denote only color and, if so, what is the coloration expressed, or whether, together with the chromatic denotation, another reality inseparable from colour underlies/along with the chromatic denotation, there is another underlying reality that is inseparable from colour. We will study the symbolism that/which underpins some of these colour terms, and which European culture has inherited.　

This lexicographical study requires a methodology that allows us to approach colour not in accordance with our modern and abstract concept of colour, but with the concept of the ancient civilations. This is why the concept of colour that emerges from each of the versions of the Bible is studied and compared with that found in theoretical reflection in both Greek and Latin. Colour thus emerges as a concrete reality, visible on the surface of objects, reflecting in many cases, not an intrinsic quality, but their state. This concept has a reflection in the biblical languages, since the terms of colour always describe an entity (in this sense one can say that they are embodied) and include within them a wide chromatic spectrum, that is, they are mostly polysemic. Structuralism through the componential analysis, although providing interesting contributions, had at the same time serious shortcomings when it came to the study of colour. These were addressed through the theoretical framework provided by cognitive linguistics and some of its tools such as: cognitive domains, metonymy and metaphor. Our study, then, is one of the first to apply some of the contributions of cognitive linguistics to lexicography in general, and particularly with reference to the Hebrew, Greek and Latin versions of the Bible.

A further novel contribution of this research is that the meaning is expressed through a definition and not through a list of possible colour terms as happens in dictionaries or in studies referring to colour in antiquity. The definition allows us to delve deeper and discover new nuances that enrich the understanding of colour in the three great civilizations involved in our study: Israel, Greece and Rome.

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Dots are important too

THE CREWS PROJECT BLOG: Dots between words in Northwest Semitic inscriptions (Robert Crellin).

So much for the way of separating words on the page (or, as the case may be, stone or clay tablet), but what is a word anyway? It turns out that this question is harder to answer than it might first appear, and furthermore, that the ancients had a rather different view than we do.

The essay includes a link to the author's 2022 monograph, The Semantics of word division in Northwest Semitic writing systems: Ugaritic, Phoenician, Hebrew, Moabite and Greek (Oxbow). HT Rogue Classicism.

This is the first time I have run across Cambridge University's CREWS (Contexts of and Relations between Early Writing Systems) Project. Their website has lots of valuable material.

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