The CSULB Jewish Studies Program is deeply honored to welcome Professor Amy-Jill Levine back to Southern California. She will be discussing “Jesus’ Parables as Jewish Stories” via Zoom at 6 pm on Monday, April 7th. ...Follow the link for the Zoom link and more on the lecture and the lecturer.
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This post is aimed at providing a guide for reading through ethnographic passages on this website from Poseidonios’ lost works (first century BCE):Poseidinios passed on some dodgy ideas about ancient Judeans, and perhaps some comments on Dead Sea asphalt harvesting.
For more on this blog, see here and here and links.
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Follow the link for description and link to the publisher's page.
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SIMI VALLEY, CA. – The Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation and Institute will introduce the Ten Commandments Scroll from the Dead Sea Scrolls to its exhibit, “Dead Sea Scrolls: The Exhibition.” This new addition offers visitors a rare opportunity to explore one of the most significant texts in religious history. The Ten Commandments Scroll will be on display from April 11 to 24, 2025, with a media day to witness the installation on April 10.I noted in February that new scrolls were coming to the Reagan Library exhibition. But at the time I didn't know which ones they would be.Never before toured in California and not seen in the U.S. since 2013, the Ten Commandments Scroll will be on exclusive display at the Reagan Library, the only stop on this tour to feature them. The Scroll, known as 4Q41, was discovered in 1952 in Qumran Cave 4 and contains Deuteronomy 8:5–10 and Deuteronomy 5:1–6:1. It is believed to be the oldest existing copy of the Ten Commandments and is permitted for display only two weeks every two years.
[...]
4Q41 (also known as 4QDeutn or the "All Souls Deuteronomy" manuscript) was published by my good friend and fellow doctoral student Sidnie White Crawford in her Harvard PhD thesis and then in DJD 14 (1995). It contains selections from Deuteronomy, one of which is the Decalogue.
The last I heard of this scroll, it was on display in Israel in 2015. See my comments at the link qualifying the claim that it is the oldest copy of the Ten Commandments. For more on the 2011-13 exhibition in the USA, see here and links.
For more on the current Reagan Library exhibition, see here and links.
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Some of you are familiar with Jack Sasson’s brilliant email list called Agade. ...PaleoJudaica refers to the Agade List often. And Phil Long, the coordinator of the Biblical Studies Carnival, has more on it here.This month’s carnival is in honor of Jack’s astonishing work on his list, his lifetime of amazing scholarship, and his collegiality and friendship over many years. The carnival is organized according to Jack’s email list categories. He sent out a LOT more links and such but since they were not particularly related to biblical studies I didn’t include them.
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Bentley Layton, the pre-eminent scholar of his generation of the late ancient Egyptian language, Coptic, died on March 26 at his home in New Haven from complications of Parkinson’s disease. He was 83.Requiescat in pace.Layton, the Goff Professor Emeritus of Religious Studies and professor of Near Eastern languages and civilizations at Yale, made immeasurable contributions to the study of major textual corpora, including the gnostic texts found at Nag Hammadi, and the writings of the Egyptian monk Shenoute of Atripe.
[...]
Cross-file under Coptic Watch.
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One of the most treasured artifacts in the collections of the Coptic Museum in Cairo, the so-called Pillow Psalter, is back on display. Dating to about 400 CE, this oldest complete Coptic manuscript of the Book of Psalms returned to public view in February, following almost five years of restoration work. As reported by several Egyptian outlets, including the State Information Service, the ancient codex has been fully restored and documented and is now presented in a newly designed permanent exhibit, ready to awe and inspire many more generations of visitors to the Coptic Museum.This essay gives a good overview of the Coptic Mudil "Pillow Psalter" codex. But the above paragraph could use some editing. The essay was published a year ago, so the mentioned "February" is February of 2024. In other words, the psalter has been on display for the last year.[...]
Nevertheless, the essay is worth reading, BHD has re-posted it, and I missed it last year. So here it is. PaleoJudaica posts on the codex are here, here, and here.
Cross-file under Coptic Watch.
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The President of the Republic said in a tweet on the (X) platform, followed by the Iraqi News Agency (INA): "On the occasion of the Akitu holiday, the Babylonian-Assyrian New Year, we congratulate our Chaldean, Assyrian, and Syriac people, wishing them a happy holiday in which everyone enjoys goodness, prosperity, and blessings."The current Akitu Festival is a modern revival of the ancient Mesopotamian New Year festival with the same name. The Christian groups mentioned above still use Aramaic as their liturgical language.
For more on the modern festival, see here and links. And for the ancient one, here and links (cf. here).
Happy New Year to all those celebrating!
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In a study published in the Scandinavian Journal of the Old Testament, researcher Sabine Kleiman argues that the biblical Rephaim Valley, traditionally located near Jerusalem, may instead lie “east of the Elah Valley” — closer to Philistine Gath — and may derive its name from “the local Gittite elite” rather than legendary giants.I have no view on the geographical question. The biblical exegesis is more or less consistent with what I wrote here. But I think the two above possibilites are not mutually exclusive. That is, it could be that the Rephaim were ancient (to the Israelites) elite Canaanites, some of whom still may have been around in biblical times, and some of whom were remembered as legendary giants. Follow the latter link for my speculations.[...]
The underlying SJOT article is open access:
Identification of the Rephaim Valley
Sabine Kleiman
Published online: 18 Nov 2024
https://doi.org/10.1080/09018328.2024.2425081ABSTRACT
The Valley of Rephaim is usually located in the direct vicinity of Jerusalem. However, a fresh look at the history of research reveals the uncertainty surrounding this identification and shows that the displayed geography rather points to a setting east of the Elah Valley. At this location, the Rephaim Valley was of utmost interest to the communities of the lowlands, who were during the 10th and 9th centuries BCE under the control of Philistine Gath, which is significantly featured in the books of Samuel. This paper highlights the relationship between the city and the Rephaim Valley accounts and further suggests, that the place owes its name to the local Gittite elite and not to an association with past mythical giants.
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Identified in Trent four fragments of the Senemnetjer papyrus, an extremely rare Book of the Dead from Saqqara. The discovery, of exceptional importance for Egyptology, enriches the collection of the Buonconsiglio Castle, which will reopen its Egyptian section at the end of the year.2023 was a big year for the Egyptian Book of the Dead, with two new manuscripts discovered, a new edition of another manuscript published, and a museum exhibition on a fourth.
2024 was quiet on that front, but 2025 is starting out well with the discovery of new fragments from an important already-known manuscript. Another fragment is in the Archaeological Museum in Florence and another is apparently lost, but a drawing of it survives.
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The Scribes of Qumran (Part 1) With Emanuel Tov
... In the beginning, when the scrolls were found in 1947-1948, people thought that all these scrolls found at Qumran in a dry region at the shore of the Dead Sea were actually copied on the spot.Did Scribes Copy the Bible Correctly? (Part 2) With Emanuel TovNow we have become more wise, and according to my own theory, one-third of the scrolls that were found near the Dead Sea were copied on the spot, and two-thirds were imported by the people who lived in Qumran from outside Qumran. So, when we talk about the scribes of the Dead Sea Scrolls, it’s a little bit misleading, because these are really not the scribes of Qumran. These are the scribes of ancient Israel, of ancient Palestine that we get to know from this wonderful treasure of scrolls that were found at Qumran, it’s the whole world of ancient Israel that we learn from these scrolls that were found at one spot.
I think this is a wonderful new avenue of research about the identity of scribes. But at the same time, you should realize that we haven’t found answers to the main question. Namely of those 950 different papyri, in very few cases, were we able to find the identity of scribes that wrote more than one scroll. It’s too bad that all the scribes remain anonymous, because in ancient times, at least in this part of the world, unlike in Mesopotamia, these scribes are anonymous. They don’t say, I’m called Moshe, the son of Aaron who writes this scroll. They don’t say anything.
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The Method-Image (Roland Betancourt)
Beyond all its groundbreaking contributions to the secondary literature, this book also presents a model for how different rhetorical forms and artistic skills can be mobilized in academic communication to reformulate how we present our arguments to our audiences, what we are able to communicate, and what audiences we can create with more varied forms of storytelling and methodological play.Dynamism of a Dog on a Leash: A short response to Rafael Rachel Neis, When a Human Gives Birth to a Raven (Catherine Michael Chin)
It is energizing, if a little vertiginous, in the case of Neis’s work, to be drawn in as a participant in looking at likenesses in a book that is about the act of looking at likenesses, and about the act of deciding just how alike those likenesses are. What does it mean for the offspring of a human to look like a raven? Just how much like a raven do they actually look?I noted the earlier essays in the series here and here.
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Kenneth A. Kitchen was a giant in the field of Near Eastern studies. His academic interests spanned the languages and histories of the entire Near East, from Anatolia and South Arabia to Mesopotamia and across the Fertile Crescent, with Egyptology being his passion and primary focus. Throughout his career, he was also fascinated by how ancient texts, iconography, and archaeology could contribute to the study and interpretation of the Bible.Background here.[...]
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Mareike SchmiedAnklage Gottes im Midrasch zu den Klageliedern
Eine Studie zu den Transformationen der Gottesbilder im Midrasch Echa Rabbati
[Accusation of God in the Midrash on Lamentations. A Study on the Transformations of the Images of God in the Midrash Echa Rabbati.]
2024. XIII, 421 pages.
Texts and Studies in Ancient Judaism (TSAJ) 191Published in German.
€129.00
including VATcloth
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978-3-16-159325-3Also Available As:
eBook PDF
€129.00Summary
In this study on the history of reception, Mareike Schmied analyses the treatment of the problematic images of God in the Lamentations in rabbinic midrash. How do the rabbis deal with the renewed destruction of the temple and the resulting crises of faith and life and once again manage to hold on to their God, who could not or would not prevent their downfall?
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The Victorians and the Holy Land
Adventurers, Tourists, and Archaeologists in the Lands of the Bibleby Allan Chapman
Imprint: Eerdmans
280 Pages, 6.00 x 9.00 in
PAPERBACK
9780802884091
Publication Date: February 6, 2025
$34.99
£26.99EBOOK
9781467468206
$34.99
Publication Date: February 6, 2025DESCRIPTION
Why were people in the Victorian age fascinated with the archaeological mysteries of the Holy Land?
In this engaging study, Allan Chapman shows how the Holy Land took on new meaning for Europeans during the Victorian era. Previously, most Europeans had viewed the area between the Mediterranean Sea and the eastern bank of the Jordan River as a literary backdrop for biblical narratives. During the nineteenth century, however, they began to take interest in this region as a literal, physical place. Technological inventions such as steam-powered travel, telegraphy, and photography made the Holy Land more accessible. In public museums, ordinary people could view artifacts ranging from Egyptian mummies to statues from Nimrud and Nineveh. In linguistics, translations of Egyptian hieroglyphs and Assyrian cuneiform broadened Europeans’ awareness of myths, legends, and history. These discoveries in archaeology and linguistics brought new energy to nineteenth-century debates about whether the Scriptures were based on factual history.
In addition to explaining how Holy Land studies changed during the Victorian era, Allan Chapman identifies key people who facilitated those changes. He introduces readers to a diverse demographic that includes adventurers, astronomers, missionaries, ministers, learned women of independent means, and Queen Victoria’s eldest son. Driven by a wide range of professional and personal motives, these individuals had a powerful impact on the Victorian public’s understanding of the Holy Land.
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A 1,200-year-old clay jug painted in bright colors and ringed with camels and a mystery beast was unearthed by archaeologists at the Horvat Anim site in the Yakir Forest, the Israel Antiquities Authority announced Thursday.Cool jug. Notably also:[...]
The jug was unearthed during conservation and preparation efforts by IAA and KKL-JNF preceding the public opening of the Horvat Anim site.For more on the history and archaeology of the site of Anim, including that synagogue, see here.Once open, visitors will also be able to access the synagogue remains, originally discovered some 40 years ago.
“Around 1,500 years ago, the Yatir region was part of an area known as the ‘Daroma,’ where Jewish and Christian communities lived side by side,” Shmueli said. “There is no doubt that the synagogue discovered in Anim served as the religious center for the Jewish population living there.”
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I noted the dispute some time ago here. This article related some further developments:
Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi Kalman Ber echoed his sentiment [i.e., in Rabbi Rabinowitz's letter], stressing that such religiously significant stones should not be treated as museum artefacts. Both the chief rabbis are expected to issue a formal declaration in the coming days regarding their position on the matter.However, the IAA is standing firm in its decision to exhibit the stone, pointing out that it was previously displayed at the Knesset without objection.
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Recently declassified CIA documents reveal that in 1988, the CIA conducted an experiment as part of a secret project called Sun Streak, aiming to locate the lost artifact using remote viewing techniques.Is this real? If so, my psychic powers say that Remote Viewer No. 032 had seen Raiders of the Lost Ark.[...]
For many, many PaleoJudaica posts on the Ark of the Covenant, start with the links collected here and just keep going. I have seen many wacky Ark stories. This one is a contender for wackiest.
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Ancient manuscripts detailing the events during the Roman Empire are believed to contain 'first hand' evidence about the life and death of Jesus Christ.Aside from some pedantic details, this article gives a pretty good account of Tacitus's comments on "Christus" and the early Christians.The Annals, written by the Roman historian Tacitus only 91 years after Jesus's death, begins with the death of Emperor Augustus in 14AD and finishes with Nero's suicide 54 years later.
In Book 15, the historian discusses the Great Fire of Rome in 54AD, shortly before Nero's death, which the emperor blamed on a class 'called Christians.'
The second sentence reads: 'Christus, from whom the name had its origin, suffered the extreme penalty during the reign of Tiberius at the hands of one of our procurators, Pontius Pilatus.'
'Christus,' the Latin version of 'Christ,' means 'the Anointed One' or 'the Messiah,' and comes from the Hebrew word Mashiach (Messiah).
[...]
Tacitus's history is indeed ancient, from the early second century CE. But, alas, the earliest surviving manuscripts of his work date to the early Middle Ages. Roger Pearse has comprehesive details here.
I'm not sure why the Mail has noticed Tacitus's comments. The article says:
While the manuscripts have long been known, the details in them recently surfaced online and have been welcomed by those of Christian faith.No link, so I don't know where they surfaced. But it's nice to see the Mail drawing the attention of a wider audience to the passage. For more on the works of Cornelius Tacitus, see here.
The article also briefly covers the "Testimonium Flavianum" (the comments about Jesus in the surviving manuscripts of the Antiquities of Flavius Josephus. More on that here and links.
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