ORIENTAL INSTITUTE DEAD SEA SCROLL FRAGMENT UPDATE: Raymond D. Tindel, Registrar and Senior Curator, Oriental Institute Museum, writes on the ANE list that it's a fragment from "The Wiles of the Wicked Woman."

THE ST. ANDREWS DEAD SEA SCROLLS WEBSITE has been fully revised with a view toward the 2005 version of my Dead Sea Scrolls course, which begins a week from tomorrow. I've also finally made public the Qumranica blog, which will go with the course. I won't actually begin posting on the blog until next week, but if you have a look at the "About Qumranica" link on the right, under the scroll photo, you can read all about it.

If you're planning on following the course, you should go ahead and order any of the textbooks you don't have and also try to locate a copy of either The Dead Sea Scrolls Encyclopedia or the Anchor Bible Dictionary (or both) in your local library. That's a minimum list of resources you'll need to get the most out of the online component of the course.

I haven't yet finished this semester's bibliography, but I hope to have it up in a few days.

Enjoy.

UPDATE: Just to clarify, the course is available for credit only to registered St. Andrews students physically present in the classes. But anyone who wants to can follow the blog and the web pages; no need to register or sign up for anything. It's an honours-level course, which corresponds roughly to North American upper-division undergraduate courses. For more information, see the "About Qumranica" link on the Qumranica site.

RIGHT AROUND NOW, my hits counter should be registering its 100,000th visitor. With uncannily precise timing, the counter has gone dead and vanished from my Bravenet account. At first I thought it might be that Bravenet's free counters have a 100K-bug self-destruct mechanism, but it appears that I am not alone with the problem:

My counter stat in my site has changed to a picture that says, "Counter code has changed. Please update your code." But I come here to copy the code and my counter stat is MISSING!

I just checked yesterday and it was still working...

So it seems that this announcement on their support center page, posted today, is probably more relevant:

We are currently experiencing some technical difficulties which may result in your services not working. We are working to fix these issues and expect to have everything resolved shortly. Thanks for your patience and understanding with this matter.

I've registered a "service ticket" and we'll see what happens. Meanwhile, welcome to visitor #100,000, whoever you are and whenever you show up, and boo to Bravenet for their timing.

UPDATE: Well, now the counter is back, but it clearly wasn't counting hits since sometime early on Sunday. Based on past readings for Sunday and Monday, I would guess it lost about 250 hits, so it would have reached 100K later today. But whatever; the milestone should be reached in the next day or two by any reckoning. For what it's worth, PaleoJudaica took 13.5 months to get to 50K hits, but just under eight to get from there to nearly 100K. I've noticed a fairly sharp increase in hits since around the holidays. I thought at the time it was because many people had time off and were spending more of it websurfing. But the spike hasn't dropped off much, so it may be that the advent of new biblioblogs such as Ralph the Sacred River, Serving the Word, the Macintosh Biblioblog, as well as Zeth's Biblioblog aggregator, has increased our overall audience.

In any case, for whatever reasons, thanks for visiting both PaleoJudaica and Qumranica and do keep coming back to both.

THE TOMB OF GILGAMESH STORY has resurfaced and is causing a small stir in the Biblioblogosphere (see here and here and here). The same story was reported by the BBC in the spring of 2003, but then was promptly dismissed as "pure speculation" by German archaeologist Ricardo Eichmann. (Eichmann, incidentally, is also skeptical about the existence of the Queen of Sheba).

I wouldn't get too excited about this one. It looks to me as though AINA was just recycling an old story they ran across.

But, as an aside, current news in Iraq is more exciting. Congratulations to the Iraqi people on the successful carrying out yesterday of democratic elections. They have a long way to go, but this was a major step forward and, I hope, a harbinger of things to come in the Middle East.

SHALOM PAUL will lecture on the Dead Sea Scrolls in Columbus, Ga., next week"

Author, scholar speaks on scrolls (Columbus Ledger-Enquirer)

From staff reports

Shalom Paul, chairman of the Bible department of Hebrew University in Jerusalem, will give a free lecture about the Dead Sea Scrolls at 7:30 p.m. Feb. 7. The lecture will be at the Continuing Education Center at Columbus State University, 4025 University Ave.

[...]

WE'RE IN EDINBURGH visiting friends, and I'm working from a very unfamiliar system, so blogging is likely to be limited. There doesn't seem to be much happening of interest anyway, although I will note that the Bible and Interpretation News site is now promising to reopen in February. Strength to their arm.

I'd better post this before I accidentally shut IE down again. I expect to be home late this afternoon and may have more to say then.

EXPATRIATE IRAQI JEWS, many of whom evidently aren't going to vote this weekend, are discussed in the Washington Jewish Week:

Having forfeited his citizenship to leave Iraq in 1951, Iraqi-born Jew Nimrod Raphaeli still can't believe the opportunity he'll have this weekend.

"I never thought a day will come when I will register to vote in Iraqi elections," the 72-year-old Falls Church resident said last week after a trip to the New Carrollton Ramada Inn and Conference Center to make himself eligible to cast a ballot in a democratic election in Iraq.

A senior analyst with the Middle East Media Research Institute, Raphaeli was not sure he would actually put that right to vote into practice -- after all, he admits he has no intention of returning to his native country.

But, he said, since "they give me the right to vote, I wanted to register."

Raphaeli, though, is in the minority of the 15,000 Iraqi Jews in the United States. With only five polling centers in the entire United States available for Iraqi immigrants -- Los Angeles, Detroit, Chicago and Nashville are the others -- Raphaeli and others say most Iraqi Jews are unlikely to vote in large numbers because they have to make two trips to the election site, once last week to register and again sometime tomorrow through Sunday to vote.

In addition, some Iraqi Jews say that since they never plan to return to the country of their birth, they do not feel obligated to cast a ballot.

[...]

According to the article, the situation in Israel is even more complicated, with both registration and voting taking place only in Jordan.

PSEUDEPIGRAPHA WATCH: The Old Testament pseudepigrapha appear in the media very rarely. I only found the term mentioned once in 2004. But here's an article about an Iowa minister who is teaching a college course on them and writing a popular book on them with his wife:

Class looks at the writings of the ancient world (Quad-City Times)
By Mary Louise Speer

The Rev. Richard Sorrentino, an ordained minister and leader of New Hope in Christ Ministries, is leading a class beginning next month on the pseudepigrapha, a collection of ancient writings, during Comm-University at St. Ambrose University in February.

Sorrentino lives in Park View, Iowa, with his wife, Barbara, and the couple are working on a book about the pseudepigrapha.

[...]

The yet-to-be-published book is based on the pseudepigrapha writings highlighting ancient stories of events from the creation to the flood and other historic events.

[...]

Sorrentino and Barbara are writing a book based on the Book of Enoch and other texts. He is waiting with mixed emotions to see what kind of reception these findings trigger in readers.

[...]

It's always nice to see these texts getting some attention.

CHALDO-ASSYRIAN AND MANDEAN WATCH:

Coalition Asks Bush for Protection of ChaldoAssyrians in Iraq

---

Posted 01-28-2005 10:43:22 (GMT 1-28-2005 16:43:22)

---

(AINA) -- The Coalition for the Defense of Human Rights sent a letter to President Bush on January 25, asking for protection for ChaldoAssyrians, Mandeans, Yezidiiz and other non-Muslim minorities in Iraq. Here follows the letter.

---

Coalition for the Defense of Human Rights

President George W. Bush
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Ave. N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20500
25 January 2005

Mr. President:

We are writing to express our concern for the future of Christians, Mandaeans, Yazidies and other non-Muslim minorities in Iraq. There are three critical actions that you can take to help guarantee their survival.

* We would like you to instruct the United States Agency for International Development to insure that the ChaldoAssyrian community receive an equitable assignment of funds that have been committed for reconstruction;
* Urge the interim Iraqi government to implement Article 53 (d) of the Temporary Administrative Law creating an administrative district in the Ninevah Plains to serve as sanctuary and to secure the welfare of ChaldoAssyrian people; and,
* Strongly encourage the creation of alternative seats in the Iraqi Assembly constitutional drafting committee for non-Muslim minorities to enhance the inclusiveness of the constitutional process.

[...]

CHALDO-ASSYRIAN WATCH: An expatriate Assyrian Chaldean Catholic priest is interviewed in an L.A. Times article on southern Californian expatriate Iraqis who are voting in the current election. Oddly, the article seems no longer to be on the Times website, but the KTLA website still has it up. Here's the relevant passage:

Father Noel Gorgis, 38, is pastor of St. Paul Assyrian Chaldean Catholic Church in North Hollywood, an ivy-covered brick parish featuring inscriptions in Aramaic, the ancient language of Christ. A slim man with intense brown eyes, Gorgis was born in the northern Iraqi region of Zaho, the son of a farmer and brother to 10 siblings.

When Hussein began destroying neighborhoods in Zaho, the family left for another Christian village nearby. There, at age 12, Gorgis met the priest who would draw him into religious life. The next year, he began studying to be a monk.

But Gorgis was not able to practice his dream vocation. In 1987, he was drafted into the Iraqi army. As combat duty against Iran loomed, he deserted a year later and then was ordained. He was briefly jailed, rejoined the army, but deserted again for good in 1991. He fled on foot to Turkey.

In Hussein's Iraq, Gorgis said, he was unable to practice his faith, speak his language or honor his culture. The Baath Party tried to Arabize the nation, he said, a campaign that he fiercely resisted.

"You can't make me Arab. I may not have rights as a Chaldean in Iraq, but this is my identity," he said.

In December 1992, the United States admitted him as a refugee. He went to San Diego, where the Chaldean church took him under its wing. The church sent him to serve in Chicago for two years, then Arizona for seven years, and, in 2002, to Los Angeles. Today, Gorgis tends a congregation of 400 families.

He revels in the cultural diversity of Los Angeles. Thai food and sushi are among his favorite foods. Gorgis, who is a celibate monk, frets a bit that U.S. life seems to weaken family ties. But he pours out gratitude to his new country.

"To me, it was like I was a newborn," he said. "I couldn't live in my own country to be a Chaldean and speak my own language. For 20 years, I didn't find myself a free man to serve the church and the people of God. Thanks to this country, now I could see my future was more bright."

He plans to vote for the People's Unity Party because he supports one of its leaders, a Chaldean expert in international law, and the party platform calling for a secular constitution.

Asked if he supported the U.S. invasion of Iraq, he quickly corrected the questioner.

"I don't see it as an invasion; I look at it as liberation," he said.

THE REV. PROFESSOR PETER ACKROYD has died at age 87:

The Rev Professor Peter Ackroyd (the Telegraph)
(Filed: 29/01/2005)

The Reverend Professor Peter Ackroyd, who died on January 23 aged 87, was a distinguished scholar and taught at Leeds University and Cambridge before becoming the Samuel Davidson Professor of Old Testament Studies at London University, occupying the chair for more than 20 years.

He was also a visiting professor at many American universities, and his expertise in the archaeology of the Near East brought him chairmanships of the British School of Archaeology in Jerusalem and the Palestine Exploration fund.

[...]

Requiescat in pace.

I'VE ADDED A NUMBER OF UPDATES to some of the posts over the last three days. Have a look, if you haven't already.

FALSE PROPHECY ALERT: Seth Sanders writes:

[I]f anyone proclaims to you that you can't use Jonas Greenfield's "The Zakir Inscription and the Danklied" to help teach Pentecostals and Muslims about what Biblical and Near Eastern prophecy might have in common through a close look at the occasion, themes and poetics of prophecy in Hebrew and Aramaic, they are falsely prophesying and cannot be believed.

It's good to know these things.

Seth also gives a preview of some exciting Canaanite cuneiform inscriptions he's about to publish. (Given recent events, I trust these have a documented provenance or he would have said otherwise.)

MOBILE DEAD SEA SCROLLS EXIBIT UPDATE:

Dead Sea Scrolls attract record crowds (Sun Herald)

2,000-year-old fragments capture imaginations

By KAT BERGERON

THE SUN HERALD

Fragments of 12 Dead Sea Scrolls, part of the historic cache found in 1947 by a goat herder and now on exhibit at the Gulf Coast Exploreum, have lured a record-breaking first-week crowd of 9,200 to the Mobile museum.

[...]

I can't say I'm surprised. The Scrolls always generate a great deal of public interest.

MORE ON THE NEW ORIENTAL INSTITUTE EXHIBIT:

Museum's basement reveals hidden treasures (Chicago Sun-Times)

January 28, 2005

BY DAVE NEWBART Staff Reporter

In contrast to the many exotic spots where University of Chicago researchers have uncovered archeological treasures, this one was right under their noses.

In fact, some of the items soon to be on display in a new gallery at the university's Oriental Institute were found only recently -- in the institute's basement.

[...]

The exhibit also covers the history of early Israel, focusing on the town of Megiddo, the site of numerous battles and referred to in the Bible as Armageddon. It includes a small, intricately carved ivory griffin from the 13th century B.C. that has since become the city's symbol, Emberling said.

The exhibit includes a fragment of the Dead Sea Scrolls, one of a few in the United States, which the institute bought in Jordan in 1956.

Which fragment is it?

UPDATE: Stephen Goranson e-mails to point me to this image of the fragment, which gives some information it. The caption says "The text on this fragment comes from a non- biblical Essene psalter, similar to the Psalms of the Bible." It doesn't give a siglum, so I can't look the fragment up, but evidently it's something from a Hodayot-like collection of nonbiblical psalms. Does anyone have any more specific information?

Incidentally, I see that there is also an inscribed ossuary in the exhibit, bearing the Hebrew epitaph "Yo-ezer, son of Yehohanan, the scribe."

And, more generally, follow this link for a page of highlights of the collection.

UPDATE: Stephen Goranson e-mails: "Thanks to Stephen A. Reed et al., The Dead Sea Scrolls Catalog: Documents, Photographs... (1994) 467 it's correctly identified as from 4Q184, DJD V, plate XXVII, frag. 2."

UPDATE: Chuck Jones e-mails a link to a better photo of the fragment.



UPDATE (31 January): More on the identification of the fragment here.

TEMPLE MOUNT WATCH: There's another, more detailed account of the 11th "Temple Feast" in Ha'aretz. Also, the recent rabbinic ban on Jews going onto the Temple Mount is being disputed by Rabbi She'ar-Yashuv Cohen, a member of the Chief Rabbinate Council.

THE DEUTEROCANONICA/APOCRYPHA are now available in Greek online at zhubert's. Everything I mentioned earlier is included and the Psalms of Solomon are there as well. The additions to Daniel and Esther seem to be incorporated in those books. Should be a very useful resource.

REENTER THE SHROUD OF TURIN?

Turin shroud 'older than thought' (BBC)
The Shroud of Turin is much older than suggested by radiocarbon dating carried out in the 1980s, according to a new study in a peer-reviewed journal.

A research paper published in Thermochimica Acta suggests the shroud is between 1,300 and 3,000 years old.

The author dismisses 1988 carbon dating tests which concluded that the linen sheet was a medieval fake.

[...]

The author, Raymond Rogers, who has been working on the Shroud for years, claims that the 1988 tests accidentally included threads from a medieval patch used to repair it.

UPDATE (28 January): Over at Hypotyposeis, Stephen Carlson, a man of many talents, has a detailed discussion of the chemistry and methodologies behind these claims. Bottom line: he's skeptical.

UPDATE: On the ANE list, Joe Zias says that it is obvious to anyone who knows about first-century Jewish burial customs that the Shroud is a medieval relic.

JAMES CHARLESWORTH SPEAKS IN BILLINGS:

Lecturer brings biblical sect to 21st century

Associated Press

Princeton University professor James Charlesworth took an auditorium full of listeners on a rapid, sometimes dizzying trip to the world of a Jewish sect that flourished in the time of Jesus.

"I promised to be succinct and fast," he said at the conclusion of his lecture and a question-and-answer session Wednesday night. "I hope I was also clear."

He succeeded on all counts. Though his remarks were occasionally quite technical - he would lapse into Hebrew or Aramaic almost unconsciously in the course of explaining some obscure point - he delivered his main points with a thundering clarity.

Charlesworth was the third and final speaker in a three-day symposium at Rocky Mountain College that examined the "Historical Jesus in the 21st Century." Speaking to about 250 people in Rocky's Losekamp Hall, Charlesworth addressed the question of whether, and if so to what extent, Jesus was influenced by the Essenes, the sect whose teachings, beliefs and rules of living were contained in what are known as the Dead Sea Scrolls.

[...]

You can also watch a video of a bit of his lecture, if you don't mind watching an ad for a Billings health club first.

CAUGHT ONE!

Man sentenced for 2nd Temple artifacts theft (Jerusalem Post)
By ETGAR LEFKOVITS

The Jerusalem Magistrate's court has sentenced a Palestinian man caught stealing antiquities from a Second Temple Jewish burial cave located just outside of Jerusalem to five months in jail, Israel's Antiquities Authority said Wednesday.

[...]

But I fear he is just a drop in the bucket of antiquities looters.