HEROD'S TOMB: By now, everyone must have heard of the reported discovery of Herod's tomb at Herodium, confirming what Josephus said. But how could PaleoJudaica not cover it too? Here is the Hebrew University press release:

Tomb of King Herod discovered at Herodium by Hebrew University archaeologist

The long search for Herod the Great’s tomb has ended with the exposure of the remains of his grave, sarcophagus and mausoleum on Mount Herodium’s northeastern slope, Prof. Ehud Netzer of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem Institute of Archaeology announced today.

Herod was the Roman-appointed king of Judea from 37 to 4 BCE, who was renowned for his many monumental building projects, including the reconstruction of the Temple in Jerusalem, the palace at Masada, as well as the complex at Herodium, 15 kilometers south of Jerusalem. .

Herodium is the most outstanding among King Herod’s building projects. This is the only site that carries his name and the site where he chose to be buried and to memorialize himself -- all of this with the integration of a huge, unique palace at the fringe of the desert, said Prof. Netzer. Therefore, he said, the exposure of his tomb becomes the climax of this site’s research.

The approach to the burial site - which has been described by the archaeologists involved as one of the most striking finds in Israel in recent years - was via a monumental flight of stairs (6.5 meters wide) leading to the hillside that were especially constructed for the funeral procession.

The excavations on the slope of the mountain, at whose top is the famed structure comprised of a palace, a fortress and a monument, commenced in August 2006. The expedition, on behalf of the Institute of Archaeology of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, was conducted by Prof. Netzer, together with Yaakov Kalman and Roi Porath and with the participation of local Bedouins.

The location and unique nature of the findings, as well as the historical record, leave no doubt that this was Herod’s burial site, said Prof. Netzer.

[...]

The sarcophagus was smashed to bits, apparently by Jewish rebels during the Great Revolt of 66-72 C.E., which I guess shows that Herod wasn't any more popular in the first century than he is today.

This SBL Forum article ("Herod's Tomb Discovered at Herodium") doesn't have any new information, but it does have some good photographs of the site. And here's a slide show of the site from Der Spiegel. There has also been lots of discussion on the Ioudaios-L list. The recent archive of this thread is here.

SAMARITAN NEWS: Reader Sharon Dufour Sullivan e-mails the following:

I am writing to you because I have noticed through the years of following your blog that you have on occasion posted information about the Israelite Samaritans. I wanted to let you know about some exciting news. For the past five years I have been working with Israelite Samaritan Elder, Benyamim Tsedaka in the first English translation of the Samaritan Pentateuch. The project was completed one month ago, gracefully accepted by Logos to soon be published electronically. (I would be happy to send you a sample, if you are interested.) Along with the English translation of the Torah, Logos will be recording the oral chanting done by one of the leading Israelite Samaritan vocalists and choir member, Yefet Tsedaka (hopefully ready in one year from now). Mark Shoulson will also play a part in the Logos package, with the Hebrew parallel of the SP and the MT.

Benny and the choir are traveling to London, arriving Sunday, May 13. Benny will be staying an additional week after the choir performance.

I thought you might find both items of interest: The first ever English translation of the complete Samaritan Torah, and the soon arrival of the Samaritan Choir to perform in London.

Indeed.

Also, Benny Tsedaka e-mails with more information:

Following Sharon letter, yes, we are coming to perform
first time in the British Isle, four times in London.

I will bring with me the last draft of the Israelite
Samaritan Torah Translation, first time in English,
looking for high reputation publisher, as it ought to
be as an explosion in the field of Biblical research
to be in any place where it is studied, all over the
world.

[...]

... The Israelite
Samaritan Choir will perform next week as follows:

May 13, at 7:30 p.m in North Western Reform Synagogue,
Golders Green.

May 15, at 6:00pm in St. Ethelburga's Center for Peace
and Conciliation, Near Liverpool Tube station.

May 16. at 7:00PM at Spiro Ark Center for Jewish
Culture.

May 17, at 7:00pm at Spitz, London

Unfortunately, I won't be able to make it to London next week. But if you will be there, you may want to attend one of the performances. I wish I could.

I'M BACK, at least for the present. Sorry for the long hiatus, but I did need the break to take care of other things. I hope to continue blogging regularly now, but there may be other unscheduled breaks.

Sorry also about the missing archive. It's still in the system, but for some reason the new Blogger system doesn't show it on the blog page. I'll try to figure out how to get it back, time permitting.

Finally, let me just mention that St. Andrews did not fill the two positions for New Testament and Old Testament/Hebrew Bible chairs (i.e., full professorships). So we are about to relaunch the search for both at a more junior level, with a range from Lectureship to Senior Lectureship to Reader. British readers will understand these titles. North Americans and some others may not, but they should think of this as in the range of assistant professor to associate professor. The adverts are cycling through our system, but I will post them as soon as I can.

It's good to be back.

NO BLOGGING FOR A WHILE. I'll be back when I can.

TEMPLE MOUNT WATCH: The Turkish delegation's report on the Mughrabi Gate excavation should be out in a few days, according to Today's Zaman.

Al-Aqsa report to be presented to PM Erdoğan within days
A report that is being drawn up by a group of technical experts, following an April visit to Jerusalem where they surveyed archeological work near the revered al-Aqsa Mosque, is expected to be finished and introduced to Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in a few days, Foreign Ministry spokesman Levent Bilman said Wednesday.

The Israeli archeological dig near the Muslim holy site sparked widespread protests amid fears that the work could damage the site. The Turkish delegation’s visit to Jerusalem, inspection of the site and eventual preparation of a report are all the result of an agreement reached in early February between Erdoğan and his Israeli counterpart Ehud Olmert, during the latter’s visit to the Turkish capital.

[...]

ARCHAEOLOGIST JODI MAGNESS is profiled by UNC Chapel Hill's Daily Tar Heel:

Students enraptured by Magness' teaching style
By: Deborah Neffa, Staff Writer

While some people have a hard time memorizing a five-minute speech, professor Jodi Magness can talk passionately about religious studies for more than an hour - without using so much as a note card.

About 200 students, some of whom resorted to sitting on the floor of Murphey 116, listened intently Tuesday as Magness narrated a tale about the Roman siege of Masada, a site of ancient palaces in Israel.

And although many typically consider history lectures dry and trite, Magness' unique teaching style of using vivid anecdotes kept students on the edge of their seats.

[...]

TALPIOT TOMB WATCH: The Jerusalem Post notes changes on the Discovery Channel's website.

Jesus tomb film scholars backtrack
By ETGAR LEFKOVITS

Several prominent scholars who were interviewed in a bitterly contested documentary that suggests that Jesus and his family members were buried in a nondescript ancient Jerusalem burial cave have now revised their conclusions, including the statistician who claimed that the odds were 600:1 in favor of the tomb being the family burial cave of Jesus of Nazareth, a new study on the fallout from the popular documentary shows.

[...]

Pfann's paper reported that a statement on the Discovery Channel's Web site, which previously read "a statistical study commissioned by the broadcasters...concludes that the probability factor is 600 to 1 in favor of this being the tomb of Jesus of Nazareth and his family," in keeping with Feuerverger's statement, has been altered and now reads, "a statistical study commissioned by the broadcasters... concludes that the probability factor is in the order of 600 to 1 that an equally 'surprising' cluster of names would arise purely by chance under given assumptions."

Another sentence on the same Web site stating that Feuerverger had concluded it was highly probable that the tomb, located in the southeastern residential Jerusalem neighborhood of Talpiot, was the Jesus family tomb - the central point of the film - has also been changed. It now reads: "It is unlikely that an equally surprising cluster of names would have arisen by chance under purely random sampling."

[...]

Readers of Mark Goodacre's New Testament Gateway blog will have known about this since the middle of March. Once again the mainstream media comes trailing in behind the Blogosphere.

SAMSON AS SUICIDE BOMBER?

Samson, the Jewish suicide bomber
By israelinsider staff April 10, 2007

This April the Canadian Victoria Philharmonic Choir is performing Handel's Samson, but with a different spin, thanks to Artistic Director Simon Capet. The Irishman managed to transform the biblical story of the Samson into the story of a Jewish suicide bomber in pre-state Palestine.

According to the biblical story, Samson has superhuman strength, but fails to follow God's instructions. After being captured and blinded by his enemy, the Philistines, he prays and repents to God and is able to bring down a Philistine temple, thus killing everyone inside, including himself.

Musically, Capet left Handel's work unchanged. However, in the climactic scene in Capet's version, there is no trace of the Philistine temple. Instead, Samson's mother unbuttons her coat, removes the explosives belt she had concealed, and attaches it to Samson's beaten body. She then helps him put on a shirt and he is led offstage. Moments later there is the blast of an explosion and a burst of light offstage.

[...]

The Samson story is morally repugnant in any number of ways, but it's a big stretch to transform him into a suicide bomber. Besides the fact that, as the article notes, there have not been any Jewish suicide bombers. This sounds to me like one of those artsy modernizing adaptations that regularly ruin Shakespeare and the like.

MORE JEWISH-TEMPLE DENIAL, this time from the Chief Palestinian Justice, according to the Palestine News Network:

Dozens of settlers enter grounds of Al Aqsa Mosque
(Jerusalem) Palestine News Network
Sunday, 08 April 2007

After the Chief Palestinian Justice warned of an impending attempt by Jewish fundamentalists to storm Al Aqsa Mosque on Sunday, dozens did.

Sheikh Taysir Al Tamimi said that the support that the Israeli government gives not only to political, but religious extremists, is an illustration of its own fundamentalism. The military did not try to stop the settlers, but instead provided them protection.

“This provocation, for which the military provides full support and protection, directly wrongs the religious feelings of Muslims."

He continued, "It is sinful to desecrate the sanctity of the Mosque and is a flagrant abuse of the role of worship.”

The Sheikh pointed out the political folly of claims that an ancient Jewish temple exists in the area. He said, “The claims of the alleged temple are pure fabrications which fact, archaeologists and history prove wrong. The work of the extremists is contrary to heavenly and divine laws, and also to international law.”

[...]

My emphasis. I'm not sure what the "storming" of the site by religious extremists is about, but whatever happened seems not to have attracted any attention by the major media outlets.

RICHARD FREUND is lecturing on the Cave of the Letters at Washington University in St. Louis:

Dead Sea cave archaeology is focus of Richard Freund lecture, April 20

By Gerry Everding

April 9, 2007 -- Richard Freund, director of the Maurice Greenberg Center for Judaic Studies at the University of Hartford, will discuss "Temple Treasures in the Dead Sea Caves: New Insights from Archaeology" at 11 a.m. April 20 in Room 301, Lab Sciences Building, Danforth Campus.

[...]

TOO BUSY TO BLOG right now and the news seems to be quiet anyhow. But you might want to have a look at posts on blogging and tenure by Mark Goodacre and April DeConick. Also, happy second blogiversary to Tyler Williams's Codex blog. And Pete Williams is blogging on Sogdian and Middle Persian Psalters.

ST. VERONICA has been deleted from the Via Dolorosa by the Vatican because she comes from apocryphal traditions. Tony Chartand-Burke takes exception.

I have no theological stake in this issue, but, for what it's worth, the New Testament quotes from lost and not-so-lost apocrypha and pseudepigrapha from time to time (see, e.g., 2 Timothy 3:8 and Jude 9 and 14-15). So in purely historical terms the biblical corpus cannot be sharply separated from noncanonical texts.

ANNIE JAUBERT'S THEORY that Jesus celebrated the Last Supper according to the Qumran solar calendar seems to have been mentioned recently by the Pope. The theory, first published half a century ago in French, is being "hailed as radical" by the press.

ANOTHER 60TH-ANNIVERSARY ROUNDUP on the Dead Sea Scrolls. Looks like an accurate and well done summary of the mainstream scholarly views on the Scrolls.

Dead Sea Scrolls fuel imagination

Found 60 years ago, they remain iconic

By Craig Nelson
Cox News Service
April 8, 2007

KIBBUTZ KALIA, Israel -- Whenever fragments of the Dead Sea Scrolls are put on exhibition anywhere in the world, throngs of religious believers crowd in front of display cases.

The fragments are faded, some even black, with age and the effects of the amino acids in the animal skins on which they were written. Most are illegible.

Still, the ancient scrolls, discovered 60 years ago this year, have an enduring grip on the imagination and offer important insights of life in ancient Israel at the dawn of Christianity.

[...]

HAPPY EASTER to all those celebrating. More on Easter here.

ANNE WIDDECOMBE on Jeffrey Archer on Judas. Whew!

Excerpt:

Not even the severest critics of Jeffrey Archer can deny his style. Recognising the need for scholastic input to give some verisimilitude to his fiction, he doesn't bother with the local priest, but goes to the Vatican and one of the greatest living scriptural scholars, Professor Francis Moloney, whom he persuades to get heavily involved. If nothing else, it will ensure that The Gospel According to Judas will not endure the indignity, inflicted on The Da Vinci Code, of being greeted with a published rebuttal, whatever heresy it may contain (eg that Jesus was the actual son of Joseph).

Archer wrote this book knowing that everyone would draw parallels with his own life, although I defy anyone to imagine him going off to the obscurity of some latter-day Essenes. Can a reputation be rescued? Can the reviled man be reinvented as a hero? Can the man shunned become the man venerated?

Interesting. But please don't waste your time on Who Moved The Stone?

TWO NEW GUGGENHEIM FELLOWS at Brown University are worthy of note here:

* Susan Harvey, a professor of religious studies, who specializes in late antique and Byzantine Christianity, focusing on Syriac studies. She is widely published in the fields of asceticism, hagiography, women and gender, hymnography, homiletics, and piety in late antique Christianity. Harvey will work on her current book project, “Teaching Women: Biblical Women and Women’s Choirs in Syriac Tradition.”

* Michael L. Satlow, an associate professor of Judaic studies and religious studies, whose specialty is early Judiasm. A member of the board of the Journal of the American Academy of Religion and a co-editor of the Brown Judaic studies series, he earned his Ph.D. in ancient Judaism from the Jewish Theological Seminary of America. Satlow will investigate how the Jews of late antiquity understood their relationship with God, in a project titled “Jewish Piety in Late Antiquity.”

Congratulations to Professors Harvey and Satlow, and to the other Fellows listed as well.

THE DEAD SEA SCROLLS were discovered sixty years ago this month. More or less. Maybe.

60 years and still scrolls a mystery

Apr 07, 2007 04:30 AM
Stuart Laidlaw
Faith and Ethics Reporter (Toronto Star)

Sixty years ago this month, a poor Bedouin shepherd named Muhammed edh-Dhib cut down a series of parchments hanging in his tent and handed them to his older cousins, who had contacts in the shadowy world of antiquities in nearby Bethlehem.

Convinced they had nothing of real value on their hands, but needing money, Juma and Khalil walked into the shop of Khalil Eskander Shahin, better known by the nickname Kando, and sold the scrolls for £5, or about $10. Kando later resold them for five times that, a tidy profit.

Today, they are priceless and better known as the Dead Sea Scrolls.

Popular legend surrounding the scrolls says, several months earlier, 16-year-old edh-Dhib was looking for lost sheep and became convinced they were in a cave on the edge of the Dead Sea. Throwing a rock in the cave to scare the sheep out, he heard the sound of breaking pottery.

[...]

Looks like a pretty good article on the story of the discovery of the Scrolls.

A DIRECTOR has been chosen for NYU's Institute for the Study of the Ancient World:

NYU Antiquities Center Director Is Named
Institutions

By GARY SHAPIRO (New York Sun)
April 5, 2007

New York University's Institute for the Study of the Ancient World has named a classics professor and former Graduate School dean at Columbia University, Roger Bagnall, as its first director.

[...]

For more on the Institute, see here and follow the links back.

TODAY IS GOOD FRIDAY. More info here.