Ancient Palestine

In a recent article published in JSOT, S.L. Richter suggested that Urdeuteronomium can be dated by the economic features in the text. She restored, supposedly by archaeological means, three "economies" of "ancient Israel" that fit three chronological phases of the Iron Age; and concluded that "the economy assumed in Urdeuteronomium is best suited to the late Iron I/Iron IIA era and/or to a rural and isolated sector of the Iron IIB era" (Richter 2017: 50). Berge et al. (2019) have criticized some issues with this article. In this paper I discuss other aspects, mainly archaeological and economic, which show that Richter's conclusion is not valid.

Toda la historia hebrea tradicional ha sido objeto de indagación y revisión en los últimos años, incluyendo nuevas versiones. El surgimiento del Estado en la región de Israel y Judá, a la luz de los hallazgos arqueológicos de las últimas décadas ha modificado la perspectiva sobre la historia del siglo IX a.e.c. Nuestro interés se centra en la dinastía omrida, y estamos persuadidos acerca de las razones que silenciaron sus voces.  Los autores que han abordado la dinastía omrida en todos sus niveles de análisis componen un grupo reducido proveniente de distintos campos como la sociología (Weber), los estudios bíblicos (Alt, Noth, Yafé, Ojwang), la historia y antropología (Soggin, Niemann, Thompson, Pfoh) y la arqueología (Finkelstein, Franklin) El objetivo central de este trabajo es abordar esta producción historiográfica en un arco temporal de cien años (1920-2020). Para ello seleccionamos y examinamos un número de variables concretas. Ellas son: las prácticas políticas del rey Omrí y sus sucesores, la fundación de la ciudad de Samaria como centro de poder para la dinastía omrida y el papel de las construcciones de la época omrida así como los recursos humanos y materiales utilizados para ellas, la dinámica sociopolítica en la sociedad israelita y los grupos dominantes en el siglo IX a.e.c., las relaciones con otras organizaciones políticas de la región, el advenimiento de un Estado con Omrí en Israel. Así al cotejar el uso de las evidencias en cada autor, podremos comparar los aportes relevantes de cada uno y proponer nuestra interpretación integral de las evidencias bíblicas, arqueológicas y epigráficas sobre la dinastía omrida y su  ruptura con el pasado hebreo tradicional.

The importance of the loss of water due to evaporation was first recognized during the Hellenic period. For example, the historian Herodotus of Halicarnassus (484–425 B.C.), who considered all knowledge to be within his jurisdiction and pursued with great enthusiasm his inquiries into a host of different things, was fascinated by the River Ister (Danube), which remained at the same level during summer as well as winter. The reason, explained Herodotus, was not very difficult to find. The Ister flowed at its “natural height” during winter as there was scarcely any rainfall in that period–only snow. The extra water brought to the river during summer, due to both melting of snow and rainfall, was counterbalanced by the greater power of attraction of the sun, and, consequently, the flow in the Ister remained at the same level as in winter. It should, however, be pointed out that his phraseology that the sun attracts or draws the water was probably a metaphorical term “intended to denote some more general and abstract conception than that of the visible operation which the word primarily signifies.” This abstract notion of ‘drawing’ is, in the historian, as we see, very vague and loose; it might, with equal propriety, be explained to mean what we now understand by mechanical or by chemical attraction, or pressure, or evaporation.

Resumen: La pequeña provincia de Judea y Samaría fue gobernada por procuradores romanos desde el 6 al 66 d.C. Algunos de ellos acuñaron pequeñas monedas de bronce, del valor del cuadrante, en las que se representaron, mayoritariamente, tipos neutrales o respetuosos con el judaísmo y se inscribieron leyendas en las que se mencionaba al emperador de turno y a algunos de sus parientes.

espanolDe los cinco periodos de monedas hebreas de la Antigua Palestina, el segundo corresponde a las pequenas piezas de bronce y plomo que acunaron los dinastas asmoneos entre el 135-37 a.C. Estas monedas tienen leyendas escritas en paleohebreo, arameo y griego en las que sedan los nombres de los gobernantes asmoneos y sus titulos de sumo sacerdote o rey. Sus tipos, en gran parte copiados de las monedas helenisticas, sufrieron un proceso en el que perdieron su posiblesimbolismo pagano para tomar uno neutro o judio. Un reducido grupo de tipos, totalmente judios, se representaron por primera vez en la numismatica hebrea en estas monedas. EnglishOf the five Hebrew Coins of Ancient Palestine, the second corresponds to the small bronze and lead coins that were coined by the Hasmonean dynasty (135-37 BC). These coins have leyends written in Hebrew, Aramaic and Greek languages that give the names of the Hasmonean rulers and theirs titles of high priest or king. Their symbols, mostly copie...

Silver coins were the first coins to be manufactured by mass production in the southern Levant. An assemblage of tiny provincial silver coins of the local (Judahite standard) and (Attic) obol-based denominations from the Persian and Hellenistic period Yehud and dated to the second half of the fourth century BCE were analyzed to determine their material composition. Of the 50 silver coins, 32 are defined as Type 5 (Athena/Owl) of the Persian period Yehud series (ca. 350–333 BCE); 9 are Type 16 (Persian king wearing a jagged crown/Falcon in flight) (ca. 350–333); 3 are Type 24 series (Portrait/Falcon) of the Macedonian period (ca. 333–306 BCE); and 6 are Type 31 (Portrait/Falcon) (ca. 306–302/1 BCE). The coins underwent visual testing, multi-focal light microscope observation, XRF analysis, and SEM-EDS analysis. The metallurgical findings revealed that all the coins from the Type 5, 16, 24, and 31 series are made of high-purity silver with a small percentage of copper. Based on these ...

If you are one of the countless Jews who join in celebrating the miracle victory of Judah Maccabee over the vicious "antisemite" Antiocus IV, you may never have wondered why the villainous king of Syria never prohibited any other religious affiliation or practice of ritual observances except for those of the Jews. He ruled a disparate conglomerate of Hellenized poleis, but singled out only the Jews for an end to their observance of Torah rituals and Jerusalem Temple sacrifices. Why? This paper offers a significant new perspective on the actual circumstances which explain Antiochus' motive for criminalizing Judaism, and the “Hanukkah War” which may well have been a defining moment in the survival of the Jewish religious culture as we know it today.

In questa videolezione tratteremo in maniera approfondita ed esaustiva tutta la vicenda della Passione di Gesù Cristo attraverso l’analisi della Sindone.
Relatore: Dott. Fabio Quadrini
Studioso ed esperto della Sindone
Specializzato in Studi Sindonici (Ateneo Pontificio Regina Apostolorum)

Some new, unlisted types of Samarian coins have appeared recently on the antiquities market. In the present paper, I would like to discuss some points concerning one of them, which is especially interesting because of its iconography. The coin appeared on the market in Autumn 2021. Its
reverse shows an image of a cavalryman with a spear or a javelin. Unlike the other images of the Iranian cavalrymen depicted on Samarian coins, the exemplar probably shows “the Great King like figure” having long beard and wearing a kidaris. So far, such an image is not only unique in
Samarian coinage, but finds only one analogy in the coinages of the Achaemenid period in general. The image of “the Great King like figure” on horseback is, on the one hand, an interesting extension of the iconographic repertoire of Samarian coins, and on the other hand, it complements my earlier findings concerning the images of the Iranian horseman on Samarian, but also broadly speaking, on satrapal coins.

Why did you translate the Hebrew word "tachash" as "sea cows" in Exodus? I understand that the meaning of the Hebrew word has been lost to time, and the translation in the 1984 NIV was also sea cows, but I've never liked this translation. The KJV has the word translated as badger skins, and other translations read dolphin skins or seal skins, but these are all unclean animals that God would not have commanded the Israelites to cover his sacred objects with. The only thing we really know about the word is that it was some type of high-quality skin or leather. Sea cow skins is a very specific translation of a very ambiguous word. Wouldn't it have been better to keep a more ambiguous translation such as "fine leather"? I feel that using the translation "sea cows" can send the wrong message to some people that God allowed unclean animal skins to come into contact with the sacred objects.

In this thesis, I argue that ancient Israel’s wine industry was an important part of the kingdom’s political economy. Not only was wine a staple in the diet of Israelites, it was a sacred drink used to divine the will of deities who intervened in the daily life of the Israelites. In order to reconstruct ancient Israel’s wine industry, I use Marxian economic theory. Marxian economic theory is helpful because it historicizes the economy (i.e., mode of production), breaks the economy down into its requisite components (i.e., base and superstructure), and explains the connection between the economic, social, and political institutions. I argue that two types of economies existed in Israel—the subsistence survival and palatine economic regimes—and that wine production looked very different between the two regimes. I rely on Boer’s proposal that these two regimes were connected through the social consciousness pervasive throughout Southwest Asia: deities intervened in daily life so kings and farmers, alike, must engage with and appease them. In light of Boer’s proposal, I argue that wine’s popularity did not stem only from its nutritional value, but from its sacred status. It was a sacred drink which enabled kings and farmers to divine the wills of the deities intervening in their lives.

RESUMO: O presente artigo tem por objetivo compreender, através da fusão entre fontes textuais e cultura material, a multiplicidade de experiências religiosas relacionadas à divindade semita Iahweh e sua circularidade no mundo mediterrânico antigo, a partir dos vestígios arqueológicos descobertos na ilha de Delos, na Grécia. A hipótese defendida é de que mesmo durante o período em que o segundo Templo de Jerusalém esteve em funcionamento (V aEC-I EC), o culto não se constituía como centralizado e monolítico, possuindo um caráter plural, como as inscrições de origem israelita-samaritana, dedicadas ao Monte Gerizim, demonstram. Palavras-chave: Delos-Javismos-Pluralidade Religiosa ABSTRACT: This article aims to understand, by the combination of textual sources and material culture, the multiplicity of religious experiences related to the Semitic god Yahweh and his circularity in the ancient Mediterranean world, from archaeological remains discovered on the island of Delos, Greece. The ...

Rain gauges, as already have been shown, were used periodically in various parts of the world at different times, viz., in India around the fourth century B.C., Palestine in the first century A.D., China in the thirteenth century, and Korea in the fifteenth century, but they were not used in Europe till about the seventeenth century.

The first to have done so on that continent was the Italian, Benedetto Castelli, who made some isolated experiments with a non-recording rain gauge around 1639. There too Sir Christopher Wren devised two of the earliest recording instruments,1 one of which was later modified by Robert Hooke. But it was not until the latter part of the seventeenth century that a widespread interest began to appear in the construction of various types of rain gauges and in obtaining systematic volumetric measurements of precipitation.

In the diplomatic messages of the Amarna letters from the 14th century BCE, we find plenty of data related to socio-political situations and practices active in the Southern Levant under Egyptian overlordship. These data are indeed most relevant to characterize a particular political ontology indigenous to the land, dealing with performances of hierarchy, reciprocity, loyalty and obedience, all features proper of what 20th-century social anthropologists have called "patronage" or "patron-client relationships" in relation to modern and contemporary historical contexts. Many of these socio-political aspects can also be found in the Hebrew Bible/Old Testament and, notably, in the New Testament as well. This lecture will attempt to show how these expressions of patronage appear in the Amarna letters and how they have also been transmitted into the biblical narrative, illustrating in fact a continuity of this political ontology in ancient Palestine through the centuries.

By means of inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectrometry (ICP-AES), metallurgical analyses of southern Palestinian coins of the Persian period were performed. The main group of analyzed coins consists of dome-shaped quarter sheqels (“drachms”), which were ...

RESUMEN
En líneas generales, el estudio de la Historia del Cercano Oriente Antiguo se cuestiona bajo el pretexto de que no responde a los intereses “nacionales”, esto es, que tales saberes son fútiles, absurdos o innecesarios por estar lejos tanto de la historia latinoamericana como - y más específicamente - de la realidad y las necesidades del presente. Sin embargo, la historia antigua de Próximo Oriente puede volverse un campo de estudio e investigación sumamente fértil y operativa si se evita su delimitación a partir de ciertos prejuicios historiográficos y antropológicos aún vigentes en los medios académicos. En este trabajo planteamos algunas consideraciones alrededor de la relevancia de la enseñanza y la investigación de la historia antigua del Cercano Oriente como una suerte de “laboratorio” desde el cual es posible pensar desde una perspectiva histórica todo un conjunto de diferencias socioculturales respecto de los modos de experiencia social más afines a nuestra contemporaneidad.

Patron-client relationships have been documented and studied by anthropologists and sociologists since the 1950s, from rural settings to urban locations, and virtually on every region of the world. It was, however, only in the last decades of the twentieth century that this analytical model was slowly incorporated into the socio-political interpretation of biblical texts and other ancient Near Eastern sources. The patronage model proves to be a useful interpretive tool, as it casts new light on many aspects of the history of Israel and of other socio-political communities in the southern Levant. Moreover, the concept of patron-client relationships clarifies many of the implicit socio-politics found in the stories and motifs of several biblical books.

This reader collects a number of studies by internationally renowned scholars dealing with different aspects and situations of patronage: in the context of Southwest Asia during the second millennium BCE, related to the history of ancient Palestine during the first millennium BCE, and lastly with notices of patron-client ties in texts of the Hebrew Bible. While these selected papers do not presume to offer a complete or exhaustive treatment of periods, historical cases and themes in ancient Palestine and Hebrew Bible literature, they variously illustrate the many possibilities of the concept of patronage to elucidate them.

By means of inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectrometry (ICP-AES), metallurgical analyses of southern Palestinian coins of the Persian period were performed. The main group of analyzed coins consists of dome-shaped quarter sheqels (“drachms”), which were ...

The Beersheba church is remarkable in many respects. Its exceptional internal full cross-shaped plan introduced a new type of church into the repertoire of ecclesiastical architecture of Byzantine Palaestina. The inscriptions contain a unique architectural term and a rare formulaic quotation, cited in the liturgy performed at the consecration of churches. The reference to the partition of the church allows a glimpse into the spatial perception of the church by its visitors. In addition, the dimensions and architectural complexity of the Beersheba church highlight the importance of Beersheba and its prominent place among the settlements of southern Palaestina.

Este trabajo se propone discutir las relaciones de patronazgo en el marco de una formación social en la que las condiciones de estatalidad están poco claras. El desarrollo de la democracia ateniense, expresión del poder del dêmos bajo formas plebiscitarias, no expresa relaciones políticas según lógicas representativas, por un lado, ni permite una exclusividad en el monopolio de la coerción, por el otro. En consecuencia, no hay separación entre sociedad civil y sociedad política, ni tampoco hay un aparato político que se distinga en su ejercicio sobre aquellos que constituyen el cuerpo soberano. De este modo, la existencia de relaciones de patronazgo en el interior del cuerpo cívico parece ubicarse en la tensión surgida entre los mecanismos de reciprocidad y redistribución que los miembros de la élite usufructúan como modo de adquirir prestigio y preponderancia política en el seno de su comunidad, a la vez que permiten articular las demandas del pueblo, de modo que a este último le resulta posible resignificarlas e instrumentarlas a su favor. En este sentido, el poder popular –al menos como se verifica en el caso ateniense– no inhibe el funcionamiento del patronazgo pero sí lo limita como forma de consolidación político-estatal en tanto le impide a la élite la consolidación de un poder que opere por fuera de los intereses del dêmos.

Updated Spanish version of  "Socio-Political Changes and Continuities in the Levant (1300-900 BCE)", in Ł. Niesiołowski-Spanò & M. Węcowski (eds.), Change, Continuity, and Connectivity: North-Eastern Mediterranean at the Turn of the Bronze Age and in the Early Iron Age (Philippika - Altertumskundliche Abhandlungen, 118; Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, 2018), 57-67.

Using the results of current researches conducted in Greece, in Cyprus and Palestine, this paper shows how archaeological and historical studies of regional fortifications help to reconstruct the defensive policies established  by the powers in control of each region.  The elaboration of this method of study of the territorial defences in Cyprus is first presented and then the application of this method to study the defensive policies of the Achaemenids and Ptolemies in Southern Syria (Syria Phoenicia). Then the first results of this method applied to the study of the defensive policies of Greek cities in indifferent regions of Greece (Argolis, Boetia, Thessaly, Achaïa),