tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5184112Fri, 05 Jun 2026 14:41:36 +0000Ancient IsraelAncient Judaism; Early ChristianityDavila 666ScriptureTenured professor Hebrew Bibleias<p><big><b>Visit PaleoJudaica daily for the latest news on ancient Judaism and the biblical world.</b></big> <p> E-mail: paleojudaica-at-talktalk-dot-net ("-at-" = "@", "-dot-" = ".")</p></p>http://paleojudaica.blogspot.com/noreply@blogger.com (Jim Davila)Blogger24203125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5184112.post-9112099985039890814Fri, 05 Jun 2026 10:12:00 +00002026-06-05T11:12:00.111+01:00THE GENIZA FRAGMENTS BLOG: What’s My Line? Reconstructing CUL T-S NS 3.21+ (Marc Michaels).Likely the oldest Torah in the Cairo Genizah, CUL T-S NS 3.21+ is also one of the oldest manuscripts in the whole collection. This blog details a reconstruction for part of this scroll, involving three adjacent fragments.This essay is technical, especially in the first part, but keep reading (or skip) to http://paleojudaica.blogspot.com/2026/06/reconstructing-very-old-torah-scroll.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Jim Davila)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5184112.post-7167418078208938505Fri, 05 Jun 2026 09:56:00 +00002026-06-05T10:56:00.117+01:00ROGER PEARSE: Procopius of Gaza, Letters – machine translation now online with notes..When I started to work on Procopius, the first thing I did was to make a working tool to orient myself, to find my way around the text before I started into the Greek, but using an existing translation. The one chosen was the 2010 Italian translation by Federica Ciccolella, which I ran through Google Translate,http://paleojudaica.blogspot.com/2026/06/ai-translations-of-letters-of-procopius.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Jim Davila)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5184112.post-2985632579561614886Fri, 05 Jun 2026 09:47:00 +00002026-06-05T10:47:00.117+01:00NEW BOOK FROM OPENBOOK PUBLISHERS:The Sentencing of Jesus (Gzar-dina de-Yeshu) The 'Authentic' Jewish Protocols of the Trial of Jesus Gideon Bohak (author) This monograph offers a rich and insightful study of The Sentencing of Jesus, an ancient Jewish polemical narrative describing the trial and execution of Jesus, which is the earliest of all the Toledot Yeshu texts. The volume includes a http://paleojudaica.blogspot.com/2026/06/bohak-sentencing-of-jesus-gzar-dina-de.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Jim Davila)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5184112.post-8690929872297641765Thu, 04 Jun 2026 09:58:00 +00002026-06-04T10:58:00.108+01:00THE COPTIC MAGICAL PAPYRI BLOG: Angels in Coptic Magic II: The Twenty-Four Presbyters.In sum, whether they were invoked for healing and protection, as prescribed in the homily attributed to Cyril of Jerusalem, or for more aggressive purposes, it seems that the most important thing was to know the names of the Twenty-Four Presbyters. Due to their holy origin, and for increased magical efficacy, ithttp://paleojudaica.blogspot.com/2026/06/the-24-angelic-elders-in-coptic-magical.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Jim Davila)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5184112.post-8733354595318989532Thu, 04 Jun 2026 09:42:00 +00002026-06-04T10:42:00.114+01:00THE "IS THAT IN THE BIBLE?" BLOG: The Jewish and Pagan Mythological Origins of Revelation 13: The Beasts from the Sea and the Earth and the Fear of Nero’s Return (Paul D.).John may claim to have been shown these things in divine visions, but the data shows otherwise. John’s real skill was not that of a seer, but that of a writer who was able to mix and match bits of Jewish and Greco-Roman http://paleojudaica.blogspot.com/2026/06/the-mythological-background-of.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Jim Davila)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5184112.post-2795600143479069120Thu, 04 Jun 2026 09:23:00 +00002026-06-04T10:23:00.129+01:00ANCIENT JEW REVIEW: A Prophecy of Empire: The Apocalypse of Pseudo-Methodius from Late Antique Mesopotamia to the Global Medieval Imagination (Evan Bradley Schafer).Christopher Bonura’s new monograph, A Prophecy of Empire, offers a comprehensive study of the Apocalypse of Pseudo-Methodius within its Syriac literary, theological, and political context. On this foundation, Bonura traces the http://paleojudaica.blogspot.com/2026/06/review-of-bonura-prophecy-of-empire.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Jim Davila)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5184112.post-8625870860366162019Wed, 03 Jun 2026 09:44:00 +00002026-06-03T10:44:00.116+01:00ANCIENT ECONOMICS: The Art of the Unpaid Denarius: Tax Evasion in Ancient Rome (Terry Madenholm, Haaretz).The cat-and-mouse game intensified as the centuries wore on. The Roman government constantly tried to fight back, introducing a more professional bureaucracy and implementing fixed tax quotas for provinces to reduce the systemic abuse by tax farmers. In certain periods, they even resorted to http://paleojudaica.blogspot.com/2026/06/taxation-and-evasion-in-roman-empire.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Jim Davila)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5184112.post-5522635300444478468Wed, 03 Jun 2026 09:31:00 +00002026-06-03T10:31:00.111+01:00BIBLIOGRAPHIA IRANICA: Diodoros of Sicily: Bibliotheke Historike. Notice of a Forthcoming Book: Harding, Phillip (ed.). 2026. Diodoros of Sicily: Bibliotheke Historike: Translation, with Introduction and Notes. Vol. 2. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Follow the link for description and publisher link. The volume covers books 16-17 of the Bibliotheke. Diodorus preserves an http://paleojudaica.blogspot.com/2026/06/forthcoming-diodorus-siculus-volume.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Jim Davila)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5184112.post-3055139902740257822Tue, 02 Jun 2026 10:11:05 +00002026-06-02T11:11:05.933+01:00ANCIENT JEW REVIEW has a new review series: The Rise of Talmud Review Forum. It is devoted to Moulie Vidas's book, The Rise of Talmud (OUP, 2025), which I noted here. The first review is posted: Talmud as a New Intellectual Project (Sarit Kattan Gribetz)What Vidas suggests in his book is that the ancient rabbis were philologists, and among the earliest philologists and critical scholars at http://paleojudaica.blogspot.com/2026/06/review-series-on-vidas-rise-of-talmud.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Jim Davila)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5184112.post-4308485105292832372Tue, 02 Jun 2026 09:51:36 +00002026-06-02T11:09:45.793+01:00THE BRITISH MUSEUM has announced that the canceled lecture on ancient Israel and Judah is rescheduled to some time early in June. But I cannot find a specific date given anywhere. The director of the British Museum has also posted a defense of the decision to postpone the lecture: Sunday Times – Dr Nicholas Cullinan OBECritics have framed the postponement, as a retreat from free speech.http://paleojudaica.blogspot.com/2026/06/the-latest-on-that-british-museum.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Jim Davila)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5184112.post-7018229265217531799Tue, 02 Jun 2026 09:31:48 +00002026-06-02T10:31:48.433+01:00TZIPPORAH MACHLAH KLAPPER: Moses the Lawgiver? Not For the Rabbis (TheTorah.com).Writers in the Second Temple period portray Moses as the Torah’s author and master lawgiver, attributing commandments directly to him. The rabbis, by contrast, repeatedly depict Moses as forgetful, confused, and sometimes mistaken—downplaying his authority to emphasize the Torah’s divine authorship and elevate the http://paleojudaica.blogspot.com/2026/06/was-moses-author-or-writer-of-torah.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Jim Davila)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5184112.post-8877985644053340146Mon, 01 Jun 2026 10:18:22 +00002026-06-01T11:18:22.472+01:00ANCIENT BLING WATCH? 12-year-old finds ancient gemstone in Galilean Jewish village cursed by Jesus. Sixth-grader Alon Horowitz finds rare ‘Nicolo’ stone, likely dating back at least 1,500 years, during community excavation at Korazim National Park (Rossella Tercatin, Times of Israel).A 12-year-old schoolboy recently discovered a precious gemstone dating back at least 1,500 years in the Korazim http://paleojudaica.blogspot.com/2026/06/cursed-chorazin-produces-precious-gem.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Jim Davila)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5184112.post-7055130665839612607Mon, 01 Jun 2026 09:37:01 +00002026-06-01T10:37:02.056+01:00BIBLE HISTORY DAILY: Byblos, the Eternal City. Paris exhibit showcases Lebanon's oldest city. Now open until 23 August. Noted as forthcoming here. Cross-file under Exhibition and Phoenician Watch. Visit PaleoJudaica daily for the latest news on ancient Judaism and the biblical world.http://paleojudaica.blogspot.com/2026/06/reminder-byblos-eternal-city-paris.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Jim Davila)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5184112.post-3303427450979063072Mon, 01 Jun 2026 09:21:41 +00002026-06-01T10:21:41.856+01:00EXHIBITION: Silk Road Virtual Museum opens first Israel exhibit, displays ancient textiles found in Arava. The exhibit, curated by academics from the University of Haifa, features textiles from India, Central Asia, and China (Miriam Sela-Eitam, Jerusalem Post).The University of Haifa’s exhibit, titled “From Trash to Treasure - Nahal Omer,” displays a collection of rare, well-preserved textiles http://paleojudaica.blogspot.com/2026/06/from-trash-to-treasure-at-silk-road.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Jim Davila)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5184112.post-4208920477532518612Sun, 31 May 2026 09:16:00 +00002026-05-31T10:16:00.119+01:00A REPRINT FROM ROUTLEDGE:Cosmic Theology The Ecclesiastical Hierarchy of Pseudo-Denys: An Introduction By Dom Denys Rutledge Copyright 1964 Paperback £25.59 Hardback £84.00 eBook £25.59 ISBN 9781032670072 226 Pages Published January 19, 2026 by Routledge Description First published in 1964, Cosmic Theology introduces a work, little known to English readers, which has influenced http://paleojudaica.blogspot.com/2026/05/rutledge-ecclesiastical-hierarchy-of.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Jim Davila)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5184112.post-4977892483293408866Sat, 30 May 2026 09:58:00 +00002026-05-30T10:58:00.122+01:00NEW BOOK FROM OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS:The Oxford Handbook of Josephus Edited by Kenneth Atkinson Oxford Handbooks $208.00 Hardcover Published: 21 April 2026 462 Pages 6 3/4 x 9 3/4 inches ISBN: 9780197539071 Also Available As: E-book Examines Josephus' life, times, writings, and the influential figures and empires within them in the first volume to comprehensively cover this area of http://paleojudaica.blogspot.com/2026/05/atkinson-ed-oxford-handbook-of-josephus.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Jim Davila)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5184112.post-8694890406344115108Fri, 29 May 2026 09:51:16 +00002026-05-29T10:51:16.104+01:00ANCIENT JEW REVIEW: Working with Manuscripts: A Guide for Textual Scholars (Julia Hintlian).Liv Ingeborg Lied and Brent Nongbri. Working with Manuscripts: A Guide for Textual Scholars. Yale University Press, 2025. ... Working with Manuscripts is a fundamentally practical companion, in both form and content. The volume addresses a range of issues, including the basic terminology of manuscript http://paleojudaica.blogspot.com/2026/05/another-ajr-review-of-lied-and-nongbri.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Jim Davila)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5184112.post-5349668683759780489Fri, 29 May 2026 09:30:08 +00002026-05-29T10:30:08.529+01:00ARCHAEOLOGY AND POLITICS UPDATE: Archaeologists petition High Court to block appointment of new antiquities authority chief. Petition deepens rift between academics and Heritage Minister Amichay Eliyahu, who have been at loggerheads over a controversial West Bank and Gaza antiquities bill (Rossella Tercatin, Times of Israel).Earlier this month, Eliyahu tapped Esti Shreiber, the head of an NGO http://paleojudaica.blogspot.com/2026/05/israeli-high-court-petitioned-to-block.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Jim Davila)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5184112.post-8967515286351857107Fri, 29 May 2026 09:19:45 +00002026-05-29T10:19:45.409+01:00THE AWOL BLOG: Canaanite Scribal Creativity and the Making of Cuneiform Culture in the Amarna Age. Notice of an open-access New Book: Canaanite Scribal Creativity and the Making of Cuneiform Culture in the Amarna Age. Alice Mandell. Routledge, 2026. For more on Dr. Alice Mandell's work on the (Canaanite and other) Amarna Letters, see here and here. Visit PaleoJudaica daily for the http://paleojudaica.blogspot.com/2026/05/mandell-canaanite-scribal-creativity.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Jim Davila)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5184112.post-5251225880468871601Thu, 28 May 2026 09:49:09 +00002026-05-28T10:49:09.798+01:00THIS IS BAD: British Museum postpones Jewish Culture Month lecture on Ancient Israel and Judah due to security concerns (Rossella Tercatin, Times of Israel).“In recent days, we were informed that a significant proportion of registered attendees were individuals intending to deliberately disrupt the event, preventing others from participating in good faith and undermining the purpose of the http://paleojudaica.blogspot.com/2026/05/bm-lecture-on-ancient-israel-postponed.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Jim Davila)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5184112.post-7515264702866541176Thu, 28 May 2026 09:32:15 +00002026-05-28T10:32:15.507+01:00ANCIENT JEW REVIEW: Working with Manuscripts: A Guide for Textual Scholars (Carrie Schroeder).Liv Ingeborg Lied and Brent Nongbri. Working with Manuscripts : A Guide for Textual Scholars. Yale University Press, 2026. ... Working with Manuscripts is an extremely versatile and most welcome book. Independent scholars, students, and established researchers alike will find it a valuable resource. It http://paleojudaica.blogspot.com/2026/05/review-of-lied-and-nongbri-working-with.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Jim Davila)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5184112.post-1796114697170839690Thu, 28 May 2026 09:09:28 +00002026-05-28T10:09:28.999+01:00THE ANXIOUS BENCH: How Empires Made It Possible To Find Lost Scriptures (Philip Jenkins).It all seems to start in 1859, with Tischendorf and Sinaiticus, and then basically never ends. Why? Well, the land of Egypt did not suddenly decide to grow some new antiquities. Nor did Western European Christians suddenly snap their fingers and say, “Of course! Egypt! That’s where we will find all the http://paleojudaica.blogspot.com/2026/05/something-good-about-european-empires.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Jim Davila)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5184112.post-3620389170607230188Wed, 27 May 2026 09:27:00 +00002026-05-27T10:27:00.114+01:00TIMES OF ISRAEL BLOGS: Book review – How to Read the Mishnah and Midrash (Ben Rothke).Rosen-Tzvi has written a masterpiece of a book that uncovers the many layers of Mishnah and Midrash, revealing that these are sophisticated, deep texts, carefully constructed intellectual systems. One can’t understand rabbinic Judaism by reading these texts superficially; one needs to grasp the rules, http://paleojudaica.blogspot.com/2026/05/review-of-rosen-zvi-how-to-read-mishnah.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Jim Davila)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5184112.post-1342453900557682054Wed, 27 May 2026 09:13:00 +00002026-05-27T10:13:00.119+01:00BIBLIOGRAPHIA IRANICA: Coinages in the Achaemenid Empire. Notice of a New Book: Rutter, Keith. 2026. Coinages in the Achaemenid Empire. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press. Follow the link for a description and a link to the publisher's page. Cross-file under Numismatics. Visit PaleoJudaica daily for the latest news on ancient Judaism and the biblical world.http://paleojudaica.blogspot.com/2026/05/rutter-coinages-in-achaemenid-empire.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Jim Davila)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5184112.post-6312631608344323769Tue, 26 May 2026 09:32:02 +00002026-05-26T10:32:03.146+01:00OXYRHYNCHUS WATCH: The mummy, the Iliad, and a mysterious death ritual. Archaeologists in Egypt unearthed a sealed packet of the epic poem resting atop a Roman-era mummy, suggesting they may have been used as a magical ward for the afterlife (Taylor Mitchell Brown, National Geographic).[Professor Serena Perone] agrees that ritualistic use is one possible interpretation. “Several literary sourceshttp://paleojudaica.blogspot.com/2026/05/more-on-egyptian-mummys-iliad-excerpt.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Jim Davila)