David and Goliath, Silver Plate from the Karavas hoard (Constantinople, 629-30CE) | Currently held in the Met Museum, NY | http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/works-of-art/17.190.396/
David and Goliath, Silver Plate from the Karavas hoard (Constantinople, 629-30CE) | Currently held in the Met Museum, NY | http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/works-of-art/17.190.396/
AJR's Week in Review features Jerash, Genizah medicine, tasty Nabataean dates, Armenian, Silk Road studies, alchemy, rappers doing Deuteronomy, and more!
Read More"Of course, explaining the rise of an Islamic empire as a response to decline in the Roman and Sasanian empires is not a novel approach. Hoyland departs in analyzing the Arabs as a “peripheral people” that had specific political ties to both the Roman and Sasanian empire and thus gained a broader perspective for their own political ambitions."
Read MoreAJR and @TWUDSSI’s online celebration of the seventieth anniversary of the Dead Sea Scrolls continues with a second forum devoted to the Aramaic Texts at Qumran with Jonathan Ben-Dov, Daniel Machiela, Devorah Dimant, Andrew Perrin, Henryk Drawnel, and Liora Goldman.
Read MoreHerod the Great entering Jerusalem. Flavius Josephus, The Judaic Antiquities, Illumination by Jean Fouquet, circa 1470-1475. Paris, BnF, Department of Manuscripts, NAF 21013, fol. 1V. (Book XV)
Herod the Great entering Jerusalem. Flavius Josephus, The Judaic Antiquities, Illumination by Jean Fouquet, circa 1470-1475. Paris, BnF, Department of Manuscripts, NAF 21013, fol. 1V. (Book XV)
Dr. Liora Goldman on priestly tradition, wisdom, and apocalypticism in the Qumran Aramaic texts.
Read MoreAleksandar Makedonski (Alexander the Great), 12th-century mosaic in Otranto Cathedral (Otranto, Italy) | Wikimedia Commons
Aleksandar Makedonski (Alexander the Great), 12th-century mosaic in Otranto Cathedral (Otranto, Italy) | Wikimedia Commons
AJR's Week in Review features Epiphanius' afterlives, Enoch and Babylonian scribality, ancient whiteness, Syriac manuscripts, biblical chickens, and more!
Read MoreArmenian manuscript at Tübingen (Ma XIII 93) - ff. 283r begins Epiphanius’ On the Gems in Aaron’s Breastplate
Armenian manuscript at Tübingen (Ma XIII 93) - ff. 283r begins Epiphanius’ On the Gems in Aaron’s Breastplate
"These extra-Greek survivals of Epiphanian texts underscore the important place of, at a minimum, an awareness of these other languages and the activity of translators, and at best, facility in reading and understanding one or more of these languages. They remind us likewise of how far, linguistically speaking at least, the name and fame of Epiphanius had spread, and much the same might be found for many other writers included in the pages of CPG. "
Read MorePallas Athena and Aegis surrounded by the moon's cycle. Vatican Museum.
Pallas Athena and Aegis surrounded by the moon's cycle. Vatican Museum.
Dr. Henryk Drawnel on cultural competition and critique between Mesopotamia and Qumran.
Read More"Mosaïque des échansons", du IIe siècle ap. J.-C., provenant de Dougga, au Musée national du Bardo (Tunisie) - Pascal Radigue (2001) - Wikimedia Commons
"Mosaïque des échansons", du IIe siècle ap. J.-C., provenant de Dougga, au Musée national du Bardo (Tunisie) - Pascal Radigue (2001) - Wikimedia Commons
"Ultimately, while Pliny clearly had an eye for prices, the actual numbers he provides aren’t especially useful. His discussions of price formation, however, do give us considerable insight into the way the market functioned in Pliny’s time as well as into Pliny’s ‘economic thought’. In various places Pliny mentions the role of supply and demand, changes in fashion, lying salesmen and other forms of fraud, as well as labor costs."
Read More"The New Jerusalem" number 80 from 'The Apocalypse of Angers', 1373-87 (tapestry) by Nicholas Bataille. Photograph by Kimon Berlin, CC BY-SA 2.5-2.0-1.0, via Wikimedia Commons
"The New Jerusalem" number 80 from 'The Apocalypse of Angers', 1373-87 (tapestry) by Nicholas Bataille. Photograph by Kimon Berlin, CC BY-SA 2.5-2.0-1.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Dr. Andrew Perrin on the origins of the apocalypse in ancient Judaism.
Read More"Tobias' and Sara's Wedding Night" by Jan Havicksz Steen ca. 1626 – 1679 in Museum Bredius
"Tobias' and Sara's Wedding Night" by Jan Havicksz Steen ca. 1626 – 1679 in Museum Bredius
Dr. Devorah Dimant on marriage, demons, burials, and halakhah in Tobit and Qumran.
Read MoreConrad Cichorius: "Die Reliefs der Traianssäule", Zweiter Tafelband: "Die Reliefs des Zweiten Dakischen Krieges", Tafeln 58-113, Verlag von Georg Reimer, Berlin 1900
Conrad Cichorius: "Die Reliefs der Traianssäule", Zweiter Tafelband: "Die Reliefs des Zweiten Dakischen Krieges", Tafeln 58-113, Verlag von Georg Reimer, Berlin 1900
"In the field of classical studies, the 2008 publication of The Cambridge Economic History of the Greco-Roman World has effectively ushered in a post-Finleyan era in the study of Greco-Roman economies by incorporating methods developed in the field of New Institutional Economics. In what follows, we examine representative samples of three emergent methodological trends: (1) the turn toward New Institutional Economics in studies of Greece and Rome; (2) Roland Boer’s model of the economy of ancient Israel; and (3) K. C. Hanson and Douglas Oakman’s social-scientific approach in New Testament studies."
Read MoreGenesis Apocryphon Scroll (1QapGen) © The Israel Museum, Jerusalem
Genesis Apocryphon Scroll (1QapGen) © The Israel Museum, Jerusalem
Dr. Daniel Machiela on the linguistic makeup Aramaic at Qumran and the Bible.
Read MoreVincent van Gogh - Wheatfield with Crows (1890) Wikimedia Commons
Vincent van Gogh - Wheatfield with Crows (1890) Wikimedia Commons
"Rarely does the evidence available in textual remains invite us to see the underlying, generative way that conflict and competition textured religious cultures in the late ancient world. This study is an attempt to read Jewish and Christian history in the 2nd-3rd centuries, CE by and seeing the points of overlap and confrontation that can be seen beyond the frame."
Read MorePersepolis tablets with Aramaic. The Oriental Institute, University of Chicago
Persepolis tablets with Aramaic. The Oriental Institute, University of Chicago
Dr. Jonathan Ben-Dov on the ideology of language choice in ancient Judaism
Read More"Himmelfarb’s incisive reading of Sefer Zerubbabel greatly enriches our understanding of Jewish messianism between the Second Temple period and the rise of Islam. By exploring common themes and figures in a wide range of sources, Himmelfarb works “backward” to uncover a vibrant “Judaism” that actively appropriates key elements of the Christian messianic narrative, much to the consternation of the rabbis."
Read MoreThe River Nile. Michael Gwyther-Jones, 2008.
The River Nile. Michael Gwyther-Jones, 2008.
"Water was not simply part of the background of Jewish experiences in Egypt; rather, it was central to their lives as they developed new perspectives towards the land."
Read More"This is the theoretical point Morgan is interested in proving with this volume – that in the endless growth of language into new meanings, there are very few grand leaps and very many infinitesimal steps. The earliest Christians did not (yet) redefine faith, Morgan insists, but changed its focus – toward God and Christ alone, rather than that “shared circle of reasoning” that pistis/fides spun among gods and humans (p. 123)."
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