RANDOM THOUGHTS on the fake metal codices.

So just because one of the codices is a fake, does it mean they all are? Lets see. Some guy makes a major epigraphic discovery. So what does he do? He goes out and finds a forger and has the forger make up some very similar fakes and salts the real cache of codices with them. You believe that?

The tree iconography is the same on the demonstrably fake codex and one of the others. And they used the same mold.

Who puts alligators on their holy codices anyway?

I predict that someone is going to e-mail me to point out an alligator on an ancient holy codex. That sort of thing happens to me a lot.

Nevertheless, Im going to throw caution to the wind and just say all of the metal codices are fakes.

A guy who thinks science and religion can be reconciled by the study of energy vibrations got fooled by forged antiquities. What is the world coming to?

Be sure to read it all:  PaleoJudaica.com.

 

Iran Plans on Destroying Tomb of King Cyrus, Friend of the Jews – Jewish World – Israel News – Arutz Sheva

(IsraelNN.com) Iran is planning on submerging the tomb of King Cyrus (Coresh), the Persian King known for authorizing the Jewish exiles to return to Jerusalem to rebuild the Holy Temple.

According to a report by Omedia, an Iranian organization is demanding that the International Criminal Court take action against those responsible.

The Iranian ayatollahs are planning on destroying the tomb as part of a general campaign to sever the Persian people from their non-Islamic heritage; Cyrus was thought to be a Zoroastrian and was one of the first rulers to enforce a policy of religious tolerance on his huge kingdom. Journalist Ran Porat quoted a young Iranian who said that the measures being taken by the Islamic Republic%u2019s regime include the destruction of archaeological sites significant to this heritage.

…

A group of Iranian academics opposed to the regime’s policies founded a group called the Pasargad Heritage Foundation with hopes of getting the United Nations involved in protecting the historical site. Most recently, the foundation filed a petition with the International Criminal Court against the Iranian official in charge of maintaining the sites, charging him and his bureau with “crimes against humanity, due to the systematic state-sanctioned destruction of the culture of the ancient Iranian world and its historical heritage.”

Though the city of Pasargad is a ruin, Cyrus’s Tomb has remained largely intact and it has been partially restored to counter its natural deterioration over the years.

(Via IsraelNationalNews.com .)

 

Biblical Studies Carnival XXIII. John took a slightly different approach this time. It looks good to me!

The format of this carnival is simple. I link to representative posts from a wide selection of blogs. The purpose: to introduce a bunch of bloggers to each other who will come, hopefully, to see for themselves what nastiness and spite or fulsome praise I inflict upon a post of theirs, or that of a fellow. I ask questions. I desire answers. Polite bloggers will link to this carnival and comment as they see fit.

Be sure to check his addendum as well.

(Via Ancient Hebrew Poetry.)

 

Biblical Studies Carnival XXII

Via SansBlogue.

 

S19-54
Aramaic Studies
11/19/2007
1:00 PM to 3:30 PM
Room: Anaheim – MM

Michael Segal, Hebrew University of Jerusalem
From Joseph to Daniel to Antiochus: The Literary Development of Daniel 2 (20 min)
Discussion (10 min)

Robert R. Phenix, Jr., Saint Louis University
Investigation of Ezra 4:12 in Light of Syntax of Aramaic of Ezra (20 min)
Discussion (10 min)

Alejandro F. Botta, Southern Methodist University
Looking for Some Satisfaction: Egyptian Antecedents of ybbl by+ (20 min)
Discussion (10 min)

Michal Bar-Asher Siegal, Yale University
The Syriac Translation of the Book of Ben Sira: Differences between the Hebrew and the Syriac Texts Reconsidered (20 min)
Discussion (10 min)

Elitzur Avraham Bar-Asher, Harvard University
Syriac and the Other Eastern Aramaic Dialects (20 min)
Discussion (10 min)

 

Another Report From the Vienna SBL

This one’s from Darrell Bock, who reports on the Historical Jesus session at which he presented. His comments about trends are pretty interesting, so take a look. And Tommy Wasserman drafts what he describes as a “Final Report“. His concern being Textual Criticism, he summarizes a number of the presentations he heard.

UPDATE: The Austrian Press is reporting on the goings on at the International Annual Meeting. And unlike the American Press when it covers such things, is doing a great job of it. You can read the various reports here, here, and here. And the last one will be of particular interest to Mark Goodacre and Tyler Williams.

See also Philip Harland’s reports here.

(Via Dr Jim West.)

 

Today James Charlesworth presented an image of a fragment (in two parts) that he acquired on 25 October 2006. He said it had been in Zurich since the 50′s and reportedly came from Kando. Some details (and please note, these are Charlesworth’s comments and views):

• One fragment in two pieces under glass. (The sellers put the smaller piece in the wrong place, it goes below the larger piece.)
• Dimensions: I didn’t get those down…
• Back: abraided leather, no ink.
• No stitching.
• No guide lines, horizontal or vertical.

The text:

• Gen. 32:3-7a
• Matches MT where extant.
• A vacat is present before the first readable line.
• No corrections
• No sign of Qumran scribal school.
• JC’s view of the paleography is c. 50-110 CE.
• AMSC14 dates it from 95-195 CE.

JC believes it was found in the caves of the Dead Sea region. He wants scholars to report that he has tried to prove that it is a fake and he has been unable to so he asserts that it is authentic.

He also announced that he has acquired another 30 DSS fragments. They will all(?) be available online later in August at http://ijco.org/.

NB: The image that Lombatti posted is not that of the fragment shown by Charlesworth. It is pretty though. What fragment is it?

 

My favorite two headlines so far come from CT’s blog:

King Herod Still Dead
Haaretz updates report on tomb discovery.

and

Evil King Unearthed
Hebrew University prof digs up King Herod the Great.

OK.

Jim West’s coverage is here:

Herod’s Tomb: The Hebrew University Press Conference

The Hebrew University has issued a press release concerning the discovery of Herod’s tomb:

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 mausoleum itself was almost totally dismantled in ancient times. In its place remained only part of its well built podium, or base, built of large white ashlars (dressed stone) in a manner and size not previously revealed at Herodium.

Read the whole report.

UPDATE: Note that at the bottom of the Press Release is a link to a Word Document version which is a bit longer and contains a bit more information.

Another interesting section from the press release is the existence (and condition) of the sarcophagus.

Spread among the ruins are pieces of a large, unique sarcophagus (close to 2.5 meters long), made of a Jerusalemite reddish limestone, which was decorated by rosettes. The sarcophagus had a triangular cover, which was decorated on its sides. This is assumed with certainty to be the sarcophagus of Herod. Only very few similar sarcophagi are known in the country and can be found only in elaborate tombs such as the famous one at the King’s Tomb on Selah a-Din Street in East Jerusalem. Although no inscriptions have been found yet at Herodium, neither on the sarcophagus nor in the building remains, these still might be found during the continuation of the dig.

Worthy of note is the fact that the sarcophagus was broken into hundreds of pieces, no doubt deliberately. This activity, including the destruction of the monument, apparently took place in the years 66-72 C.E. during the first Jewish revolt against the Romans, while Jewish rebels took hold of the site, according to Josephus and the archaeological evidence.

(Via Dr Jim West.)

UPDATE: JW also pointed to more (and better) pics of the site from Der Spiegel. He also now has a running list of updates, so I will leave that to him and encourage you to visit his site for the latest!

 

Novum Testamentum Blog
A Weblog Dedicated to the New Testament and Cognate Fields
04.01.07
Biblical Studies Carnival XVI
Posted in weblogs at 9:18 pm by Brandon Wason
Welcome to Biblical Studies Carnival XVI, a highlight of blog posts on Biblical studies during the month of March 2007.

Be sure to read it all!

 

My intentions in getting this set up is to be able to call and interview some of our Schreyer Scholars and alumni for our podcasts. But it also occurred to me that perhaps we could do some home-grown podcasts right here at Targuman.org/blog! Perhaps starting with the wonderful crew of bibliobloggers that we know and love. So, if you are biblioblogger and would like to be interviewed, or if you have a particular biblioblogger you would like me to ask to be interviewed let me know!