I mentioned last thursday that Philo was very popular among the early Christian theologians. It is also a fact that it was the Christians, not the Jews, who took care of his writings and preserved them for the future. It took a long time before Philo became acceptable readings amongst Jews.
But time has changed, and to the profit of both, Jews and Christians can now study and evaluate together the value and influence of the works of Philo.
Last week I happened to come over a site that used the works and theology of Philo for a devotional exposition of a text from the Torah; Genesis 12,1ff. It is very interesting to see how Philo is here used as a witness for the theology the writer want to set forth. And he adds a brief review of the life of Philo.
Have a look at this Parasha Lech Lecha from nov 2000, on faith in God and on Abraham Abinu.
+++++++++
And then again; have a nice weekend!
Weather in Volda is wonderful today. The possibilities for skiing is great! ;-)
Friday, February 27, 2004
Thursday, February 26, 2004
More on the Therapeutae..
In a couple of earlier postings I have referred to works on the Therapeutae. You may (re)read them by clicking here or here.
The Society of Biblical Literature Early Jewish and Christian Mysticism Group has placed several of their papers online, in fact most of their papers from 2000-2002 seem to be online. The papers from the 2003 session in Atlanta are not online at this site, but can be accessed from the SBL site of that conference. Go here, and scroll a little down.
In the 2002 conference Celia Deutsch, (Barnard College), read a paper on "Study, Ritual, and Mystical Experience: Philo's de Vita Contemplativa." She believes that The Therapeutae was a real group, living somewhere in the neighborhood of Alexandria. In this paper she explores ways in which study becomes a ritual site for mystical experience. The article is quite interesting, and describes the various ways ritual is present in Philo's descriptions. Her own conclusion runs thus:
Celia Deutsch is Adjunct Associate Professor at Barnard College, Columbia University.
The Society of Biblical Literature Early Jewish and Christian Mysticism Group has placed several of their papers online, in fact most of their papers from 2000-2002 seem to be online. The papers from the 2003 session in Atlanta are not online at this site, but can be accessed from the SBL site of that conference. Go here, and scroll a little down.
In the 2002 conference Celia Deutsch, (Barnard College), read a paper on "Study, Ritual, and Mystical Experience: Philo's de Vita Contemplativa." She believes that The Therapeutae was a real group, living somewhere in the neighborhood of Alexandria. In this paper she explores ways in which study becomes a ritual site for mystical experience. The article is quite interesting, and describes the various ways ritual is present in Philo's descriptions. Her own conclusion runs thus:
Philo's De Vita Contemplativa presents a description of a group which exemplifies the contemplative life. According to that description it is a community whose life is framed by the temporal boundaries of the liturgical cycle and the spatial boundaries of the sanctuaries, individual and communal. These frames display clearly the sacred texts and its study which are intextricably associated with mystical experience through the oral reading which provides an aid to altered states of consciousness, as well as the metaphors which serve as the content of the visualization process.
Celia Deutsch is Adjunct Associate Professor at Barnard College, Columbia University.
Wednesday, February 25, 2004
o( Klh/mhj puqagori/zei
The influence of Philo on the early Christians, the socalled 'church fathers' was great. One article on his influence upon the thought of Clement is written by Eugene Afonasin, Novosibirsk State University, and published as
o( Klh/mhj puqagori/zei: Pythagorean Symbolism and the Philosophic Paideia in the Stromateis of Clement of Alexandria.
You can read it at the Paideia website. Part of its conclusion runs like this:
Importance of the Pythagorean tradition for Clement of Alexandria's philosophic development has recently been stressed by several researchers of Medioplatonic and early Christian doctrine. But as it was justly noticed some time ago by M. Tardieu, Pythagoreanism of Clement, both in his theoretical and moral philosophy, is still a terra incognita. (56) Thorough examination of Clement's use of Philo of Alexandria, recently undertaken by Annewies van den Hoek (57) and David Runia (58) are particularly illuminating for the purpose of analysis of the Neopythagorean and Medioplatonic elements in Clement's writings.
The questions I put in the present paper were (1) what at all did Clement know about the Pythagoreans and (2) how and to which extend did he make use of them in his own philosophic contemplation and theological speculations? Both of this question are difficult to answer due to (1) paucity of evidence about the intellectual climate of Clement's time and (2) controversial and pioneering nature of Clement thought. And while the former cannot be helped, the latter is in our hand, as long as we are able to perceive clouds of Clement's thought revealed in his own words. An analysis of the Pythagorean elements in Clement, combined with ad hoc observations of textual parallelism, found in Clement and Neopythagorean writings, constituted the goal, in which the present study was intended to aim. Now, in the present stage of research I do not claim to have the questions, complicated as they are, answered in full details. But still the pages of Clement's thought already unfolded, have given us certain hints and led us to some results to be summarized as following.
Ooops, I see that the Greek does not show up too well. Those of you who knows Greek, will probably understand it, the font used is SGreek.
o( Klh/mhj puqagori/zei: Pythagorean Symbolism and the Philosophic Paideia in the Stromateis of Clement of Alexandria.
You can read it at the Paideia website. Part of its conclusion runs like this:
The questions I put in the present paper were (1) what at all did Clement know about the Pythagoreans and (2) how and to which extend did he make use of them in his own philosophic contemplation and theological speculations? Both of this question are difficult to answer due to (1) paucity of evidence about the intellectual climate of Clement's time and (2) controversial and pioneering nature of Clement thought. And while the former cannot be helped, the latter is in our hand, as long as we are able to perceive clouds of Clement's thought revealed in his own words. An analysis of the Pythagorean elements in Clement, combined with ad hoc observations of textual parallelism, found in Clement and Neopythagorean writings, constituted the goal, in which the present study was intended to aim. Now, in the present stage of research I do not claim to have the questions, complicated as they are, answered in full details. But still the pages of Clement's thought already unfolded, have given us certain hints and led us to some results to be summarized as following.
Ooops, I see that the Greek does not show up too well. Those of you who knows Greek, will probably understand it, the font used is SGreek.
‘…as a little child’?
The Norwegian scholar Reidar Aasgaard has sent me a description of his ongoing research project. Though it may not be described as a philonic project, it is nevertheless supposed to draw on the wider culture of early Christianity, a culture of which Philo also was a part. Hence it may be interesing for philo scholars too to know about this.
Description:
‘…as a little child’?
An investigation of perceptions of children and childhood
in Early Christianity, related to the general culture of Antiquity
The ways in which a society deals with its “out-groups”, can often be seen as an indicator of its degree of humanity. Children are such an “out-group”, and have in the course of history often fallen victims to the vicissitudes of fate. Today there is, however, a growing understanding of childhood as a phase of life in its own right, and of the cultural history, characteristics and rights of children.
Late Antiquity (A.D. 30-430) was an epoch of upheaval, with parallels to our own time, and with children as an important “out-group”. In the hierarchical-patriarchal society of the period, children were at the lower steps of the social ladder, and they were often made invisible. Recent research confirms such a picture, but also points to elements in the sources of more positive attitudes towards children and childhood.
In the new religion of Late Antiquity, Christianity, and in its main collection of writings, The New Testament, the picture given of children and childhood is also ambiguous. However, in the gospel stories about Jesus children appear to play a more central and positive part than was customary.
The research project aims partly at mapping perceptions about childhood, partly at describing the living conditions of children in Late Antiquity, with special focus on early Christian sources. It puts special emphasis on how attitudes towards children and childhood are motivated ideologically and theologically, and on the interplay between different cultural impulses. The project employs a diacronic perspective, in order to trace possible changes in living conditions and in the attitudes towards children: Did the development of a Christian church and culture lead to a new understanding, or even an upgrading, of children and childhood?
The project will utilise a broad range of sources, both as concerns social origin and genre, such as literary texts, epigraphical material, and art. Interdisciplinary contact and co-operation will be central.
The research results are to be presented in a monograph, some minor studies (articles), a book of a popular character, and in teaching and lectures.
The main object of the project is to contribute to new knowledge about the status and living conditions of children in Late Antiquity/Early Christianity. But it also aims at giving insights into a society’s manner of dealing with marginalised groups, impulses to reflection on human worth and rights, understanding of strategies for religious and cultural formation, and contributions to a reform of Christian education within the churches of Norway. More generally, the project also intends to gain insight into the interplay between ideological and social changes within a society.
A more comprehensive description of the research project is available under his profile description at www.tf.uio.no:82/kompkat/?login=reidaraa (only in Norwegian).
Description:
‘…as a little child’?
An investigation of perceptions of children and childhood
in Early Christianity, related to the general culture of Antiquity
The ways in which a society deals with its “out-groups”, can often be seen as an indicator of its degree of humanity. Children are such an “out-group”, and have in the course of history often fallen victims to the vicissitudes of fate. Today there is, however, a growing understanding of childhood as a phase of life in its own right, and of the cultural history, characteristics and rights of children.
Late Antiquity (A.D. 30-430) was an epoch of upheaval, with parallels to our own time, and with children as an important “out-group”. In the hierarchical-patriarchal society of the period, children were at the lower steps of the social ladder, and they were often made invisible. Recent research confirms such a picture, but also points to elements in the sources of more positive attitudes towards children and childhood.
In the new religion of Late Antiquity, Christianity, and in its main collection of writings, The New Testament, the picture given of children and childhood is also ambiguous. However, in the gospel stories about Jesus children appear to play a more central and positive part than was customary.
The research project aims partly at mapping perceptions about childhood, partly at describing the living conditions of children in Late Antiquity, with special focus on early Christian sources. It puts special emphasis on how attitudes towards children and childhood are motivated ideologically and theologically, and on the interplay between different cultural impulses. The project employs a diacronic perspective, in order to trace possible changes in living conditions and in the attitudes towards children: Did the development of a Christian church and culture lead to a new understanding, or even an upgrading, of children and childhood?
The project will utilise a broad range of sources, both as concerns social origin and genre, such as literary texts, epigraphical material, and art. Interdisciplinary contact and co-operation will be central.
The research results are to be presented in a monograph, some minor studies (articles), a book of a popular character, and in teaching and lectures.
The main object of the project is to contribute to new knowledge about the status and living conditions of children in Late Antiquity/Early Christianity. But it also aims at giving insights into a society’s manner of dealing with marginalised groups, impulses to reflection on human worth and rights, understanding of strategies for religious and cultural formation, and contributions to a reform of Christian education within the churches of Norway. More generally, the project also intends to gain insight into the interplay between ideological and social changes within a society.
A more comprehensive description of the research project is available under his profile description at www.tf.uio.no:82/kompkat/?login=reidaraa (only in Norwegian).
Tuesday, February 24, 2004
No more Philo on EB
The cryptic headline above refers to the annoying fact that it is no longer possible to access articles on the Encyclopedia Brittannica online. I had a reference to the Philo article of EB on my resource Page, a fairly good article, as most of the EB articles are, but now that link is dead.
They are smart, those dot.com people. I remember -some time back - the EB was completely free and accessible on the Internet, then they changed the acess so you could only read the first sections of the articles. And now it is completely closed. (yes, I know there is a free trial period, and a paid online access possibility..).
Well, to be honest, as a business project, they have to earn money. I know, I know... It is just that I had to shovel a heavy load of wet, norwegian snow this morning to get out of my house... That's a hard way to wake up; with a shovel in your hand.....
Wanna see how it is in Volda this stormy day; have a look here! My office is on the second floor, to the right of the entrance. If the lights are on, I'm in! Have a nice day!
They are smart, those dot.com people. I remember -some time back - the EB was completely free and accessible on the Internet, then they changed the acess so you could only read the first sections of the articles. And now it is completely closed. (yes, I know there is a free trial period, and a paid online access possibility..).
Well, to be honest, as a business project, they have to earn money. I know, I know... It is just that I had to shovel a heavy load of wet, norwegian snow this morning to get out of my house... That's a hard way to wake up; with a shovel in your hand.....
Wanna see how it is in Volda this stormy day; have a look here! My office is on the second floor, to the right of the entrance. If the lights are on, I'm in! Have a nice day!
Philo and the Alexandrian Riots of 38-41
One of the few articles left on the LookSmarts FindArticles site, is one by Matthew B. Schwartz, 'Greek and Jew: Philo and the Alexandrian Riots of 38-41 CE,' Judaism Spring 2000.
The article is just as much an introduction to Philo's place in Alexandria and the Judaism of his time as to the riots of 38-41, and may thus serve as an introduction for those not too familiar with Philo. (Remember then to also read the articles by David T Runia available on the Philo page)!
The opening sentences of his article may serve as a summary to Schwartz view of Philo:Philo, the Jew of ancient Alexandria, was product and part of two worlds, Jewish and Greek. Much of his life and thought was devoted to sorting out the contradictions inherent in that situation and the personal dilemmas with which it burdened him. One answer he attempted was to seek tranquillity and quiet above the storm through a life devoted to the joys of philosophical contemplation and higher wisdom. However, although the dilemmas became more manageable, they did not disappear, and the wide world outside, impatient of philosophical solutions and ways, would intrude harshly, threatening to shatter Philo's contemplative calm, disrupting his peaceful and well reasoned order. Never was this more true than in the violent Alexandrian civil conflict of 38-41 CE between Jews and Greeks, perhaps a precursor to the Civil War of 115 CE, which concluded with the Roman destruction of the Jewish community. To my own annoyance, I have not been able to find out more about Matthew B. Schwartz. Is he the same M.B. Schwartz that have written some books on Judaism and Religion from a psychological point of view together with Kalman J. Kaplan. I really don't know. Do you?
The article is just as much an introduction to Philo's place in Alexandria and the Judaism of his time as to the riots of 38-41, and may thus serve as an introduction for those not too familiar with Philo. (Remember then to also read the articles by David T Runia available on the Philo page)!
The opening sentences of his article may serve as a summary to Schwartz view of Philo:
Monday, February 23, 2004
Tanach תנ״ך on-line.
Rubén Gómez has a posting about the Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia from the Michigan-Claremont electronic text at the Oxford Text Archivev now being available on the web.
Readers of Philo may also be interested in the Hebrew texts, without always having them available in book form. Hence this is a useful site too.The Tanach of the Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia is transcribed from the
Michigan-Claremont electronic text by Whitaker and Parunak as archived in the Oxford Text Archive (OTA)(biblheb.525). The standard version contains 4 of the 6 textual elements of the OTA document: consonants, vowels, cantillation marks, ketib-qere variants, and the paragraph (pe,samekh) marks. The morphological division marks and the end-of-line marks have not been included, but are available by request. The transcription was based on the "Supplement to the code manual for the Michigan Old Testament" by Alan Groves and includes the transcription notes defined there.
A listing of these notes can be obtained by clicking on the "Notes" link of the index page. Transcription notes appear as subscripts and can be viewed by clicking on them. Even though my Resource Pages are primarily for the New Testament, texts like these surely belong to the 'social world of the NT', to say the least..... Thanks to those making this possible.
Readers of Philo may also be interested in the Hebrew texts, without always having them available in book form. Hence this is a useful site too.
Michigan-Claremont electronic text by Whitaker and Parunak as archived in the Oxford Text Archive (OTA)(biblheb.525). The standard version contains 4 of the 6 textual elements of the OTA document: consonants, vowels, cantillation marks, ketib-qere variants, and the paragraph (pe,samekh) marks. The morphological division marks and the end-of-line marks have not been included, but are available by request. The transcription was based on the "Supplement to the code manual for the Michigan Old Testament" by Alan Groves and includes the transcription notes defined there.
A listing of these notes can be obtained by clicking on the "Notes" link of the index page. Transcription notes appear as subscripts and can be viewed by clicking on them.
Niffy things??
I have also followed some of my blogger colleagues in adding a tracking feature to my postings. Time will show if they will be used. But let me add; comments in the comment-field is especially appreciated.
I would also add that I also recommend the features of Bloglines; to use their own phrases, "Bloglines is a free service that makes it easy to keep up with your favorite blogs and newsfeeds. With Bloglines, you can subscribe to the RSS feeds of your favorite blogs, and Bloglines will monitor updates to those sites. You can read the latest entries easily within Bloglines." Really nice. You save time as you dont have to skim several sites. But is time -> money?......
I would also add that I also recommend the features of Bloglines; to use their own phrases, "Bloglines is a free service that makes it easy to keep up with your favorite blogs and newsfeeds. With Bloglines, you can subscribe to the RSS feeds of your favorite blogs, and Bloglines will monitor updates to those sites. You can read the latest entries easily within Bloglines." Really nice. You save time as you dont have to skim several sites. But is time -> money?......
Friday, February 20, 2004
Read this, -and have a nice weekend....
The Silver Mountain Software company will probably be known to many who use to work with the TLG texts on a PC. Another program from this firm was the Bible Windows. Due to Microsoft's concern about the name of that program Silver Mountain had to change it: it is now called Bibloi 8.0. What happened to Bible Windows? They say:After 10 years of Bible Windows without any confusion, we received a letter from the Seed "Intellectual Property Law Group" (www.seedlaw.com) which stated, "Microsoft is concerned that your use of the name Bible Windows for your software product could confuse customers. Consumers seeing your product name may think that your product is manufactured by, sponsored by or affiliated with Microsoft Corporation. As a trademark owner, Microsoft much [sic] watch for and take steps to remedy potentially confusing and dilution uses of its trademark." Although we deny that there has been any confusion of this sort, or any dilution of Microsoft's trademark name, we have no ability to challenge Microsoft. So, although we have been a loyal Microsoft customer for many years, we were forced to change our product name. Hence, no more Bible Windows, but Biblio. The version number is obviously taken over from BW as they call it Biblio 8.0. This version also have some improvements, and there is in particular one that I find interesting:The major new feature is the ability to add texts to the program. Bibloi includes a C# program that reads texts into an MS Access database that can then be used in Bibloi. The source code for this program will be available on request to registered users. So, while there are a number of formats supported, users could extend the import program to include other formats. The import program and Bibloi are Unicode compatible so that a wide variety of translations and texts can be imported. This obviously means that the users can import and add texts to the program. They mention that "The BibloiImport program can import texts from the Unbound Bible Project (http://undev.biola.edu). " This would certainly be interesting for those of us who work with other texts than the Bible texts, for instance the texts of Philo and Josephus. I hope Rubén Gómez or other reviewers will come up with a review of this program soon.
Thursday, February 19, 2004
La Rivelazione in Filone di Alessandria
Last September there was a conference in Bologne, Italy, on La Rivelazione in Filone di Alessandria: Natura, Legge, Storia ('The Revelation in Philo of Alexandria; Nature, Law, History'), and Francesca Calabi has been so kind as to inform me about the program. She also tells me that the lectures most probably will be published this year by an Italian publisher. The editors are Angela Mazzanti and F. Calabi.
Though I am not strong in reading Italian, I look forward to the publication, hoping that it also will contain summaries in English of each contribution. I know there are several Italian scholars working on Philo too, hence this will surely be a worthy contribution from Italy.
I provide a list of the topics at this conference below, You will probably understand the Italian. I tried to use the BabelFish but it didn't work out too well.) Nevertheless, I presume most of you can get an impression of what to look for when the publication is out.
Lunedì 29 settembre
Lucio Troiani , Università di Pavia; Natura e storia politica in Filone.
Clara Kraus Reggiani, Università di Roma “La Sapienza”; La presenza di Dio nella storia secondo Filone di Alessandria.
Mauro Pesce, Università di Bologna; Filone e il sacrificio.
Roberto Radice, Università Cattolica di Milano; Considerazioni sulle origini greche dell’allegoria filoniana.
Giulia Sfameni Gasparro, Università di Messina; Mosé e Balaam, propheteia e mantiké. Modalità e segni della rivelazione nel De vita Mosis.
Angela Maria Mazzanti, Università di Bologna; Creazione dell’uomo e rivelazione in Filone di Alessandria
Francesca Alesse, C.N.R. Istituto per il Lessico Intellettuale Europeo e Storia delle Idee, Roma; Il luogo del nous. Alcuni aspetti dell’antropologia di Filone Alessandrino.
Pierluigi Pavone, Pavia; Tò pathetón, materia preesistente o intero creato?
Martedì 30 settembre
Francesca Calabi, Università di Pavia, Ordine della città e ordine del mondo nel De decalogo.
Cristina Termini, Pontificia Università Urbaniana, Roma; Dal Sinai alla creazione: il rapporto tra legge naturale e legge rivelata in Filone di Alessandria.
Paola Graffigna, Università di Genova; Modelli di vita felice. Felicità e stabilità in Filone.
Antonio Cacciari, Università di Bologna; Presenze filoniane nelle Omelie su Numeri di Origene
Sara Mancini Lombardi, Università di Bologna; La versione armena di Legum allegoriae: osservazioni su alcune particolarità lessicali
Paola Pontani, Università Cattolica di Milano; La traduzione armena del De Abrahamo e i suoi rapporti con il testo greco (The Armenian translation of De Abrahamo and its relationships with the Greek text).
Though I am not strong in reading Italian, I look forward to the publication, hoping that it also will contain summaries in English of each contribution. I know there are several Italian scholars working on Philo too, hence this will surely be a worthy contribution from Italy.
I provide a list of the topics at this conference below, You will probably understand the Italian. I tried to use the BabelFish but it didn't work out too well.) Nevertheless, I presume most of you can get an impression of what to look for when the publication is out.
Lunedì 29 settembre
Lucio Troiani , Università di Pavia; Natura e storia politica in Filone.
Clara Kraus Reggiani, Università di Roma “La Sapienza”; La presenza di Dio nella storia secondo Filone di Alessandria.
Mauro Pesce, Università di Bologna; Filone e il sacrificio.
Roberto Radice, Università Cattolica di Milano; Considerazioni sulle origini greche dell’allegoria filoniana.
Giulia Sfameni Gasparro, Università di Messina; Mosé e Balaam, propheteia e mantiké. Modalità e segni della rivelazione nel De vita Mosis.
Angela Maria Mazzanti, Università di Bologna; Creazione dell’uomo e rivelazione in Filone di Alessandria
Francesca Alesse, C.N.R. Istituto per il Lessico Intellettuale Europeo e Storia delle Idee, Roma; Il luogo del nous. Alcuni aspetti dell’antropologia di Filone Alessandrino.
Pierluigi Pavone, Pavia; Tò pathetón, materia preesistente o intero creato?
Martedì 30 settembre
Francesca Calabi, Università di Pavia, Ordine della città e ordine del mondo nel De decalogo.
Cristina Termini, Pontificia Università Urbaniana, Roma; Dal Sinai alla creazione: il rapporto tra legge naturale e legge rivelata in Filone di Alessandria.
Paola Graffigna, Università di Genova; Modelli di vita felice. Felicità e stabilità in Filone.
Antonio Cacciari, Università di Bologna; Presenze filoniane nelle Omelie su Numeri di Origene
Sara Mancini Lombardi, Università di Bologna; La versione armena di Legum allegoriae: osservazioni su alcune particolarità lessicali
Paola Pontani, Università Cattolica di Milano; La traduzione armena del De Abrahamo e i suoi rapporti con il testo greco (The Armenian translation of De Abrahamo and its relationships with the Greek text).
Wednesday, February 18, 2004
Biblical Hermeneutics,- and some Philo articles
Those of you who read Mark Goodacre's NTGateway Weblog(who doesn't?), will have observed his reference to a new new website focusing on Biblical Hermeneutics. Biblical hermeneutics is important also for philonic studies. What I miss on this site, however, is a somewhat greater focus on Jewish hermeneutics related to the Hebrew Scriptures. As it is now, if focuses mainly on hermeneutics from a Christian or more general perspective.
The owner of the site, Holger Szesnat, has also published some articles on Philo of Alexandria, and made them available on the Internett:
Philo and Female Homoeroticism: Philo's Use of GYNANDROS and Recent Work on Tribades. Journal for the Study of Judaism 30 (1999) 140-147.
'Pretty Boys' in Philo's De Vita Contemplativa. Studia Philonica Annual 10 (1998) 87-107. (a zip file containing scanned pictures of the article).
Philo and the Presence of the Therapeutrides at Lake Mareotis. Neotestamentica 32 (1998) 191-201 (This page contains links to scanned images of the article. You may download these files for your personal use only. The images are saved in the form of six GIF files, compressed into a ZIP file).
The owner of the site, Holger Szesnat, has also published some articles on Philo of Alexandria, and made them available on the Internett:
Philo and Female Homoeroticism: Philo's Use of GYNANDROS and Recent Work on Tribades. Journal for the Study of Judaism 30 (1999) 140-147.
'Pretty Boys' in Philo's De Vita Contemplativa. Studia Philonica Annual 10 (1998) 87-107. (a zip file containing scanned pictures of the article).
Philo and the Presence of the Therapeutrides at Lake Mareotis. Neotestamentica 32 (1998) 191-201 (This page contains links to scanned images of the article. You may download these files for your personal use only. The images are saved in the form of six GIF files, compressed into a ZIP file).
Tuesday, February 17, 2004
Philo and Arithmology
Philo's use and understanding of the role of numbers are one of the more strange features in Philo's works. It is especially evident in De Opificio that he was interested in the symbolic value and role of various numbers, not at least the number 7.
Robert Kraft, University of Pennsylvania, has most recently mad available a paper on Philo's Treatment of the Number Seven in On Creation, a paper originally delivered for the SBL Philo Group, November 1996 (New Orleans). Here he has a confession that many others may subscribe to:It is tempting to say that the author of On Creation was inebrieated with thoughts of numbers in various connections and relationships. Whether and to what extent he might have been unusual for his time and training is one aspect of the problem. That he is usually perceived as unusual in this regard from our modern perspectives is obvious in the literature. My own interest in these matters is closely related to the fact that when I was first learning about the ancient Pythagoreans and their interpretations of reality in terms of number, I never could force myself, in scholarly empathy, into their world. Plato was difficult enough in his otherness. Now that I have been studying these issues for several decades, I find myself still largely an outsider. And this is itself seductive Philo's use of arithmology is interesting also because he refers to an other work in which he porbably dealt more extencively with arithmology, but this is lost to us.
Kraft has also made available another work on Philo's arithmology, namely Horst Moehring, "Arithmology as an Exegetical Tool in the Writings of Philo of Alexandria," pp. 191-227 in SBL Seminar Papers 1978/1.
In Kraft's own article he discusses the article of Moehring and the older work of Karl Staehle, Die Zahlenmystik bei Philon von Alexandreia (a 1929 Tuebingen dissertation published by Teubner in 1931).
I will include both this work of Kraft and the article of Moehring in my next update of my Philonic Resource Pages. But just to wet your appetite a little more, I'll quote the following from Kraft's conclusion:If I am forced to draw some tentative conclusions from all this, my feeling is that Op is a product of confident informed and enthusiastic youth, from an author who has not yet felt the sting of criticisms from his associates and others from whom he expected support. His discourse on seven is a draft of what he also included in On Numbers around the same time, but never introduced in such a full sampling in subsequent writings. If LA is based directly on that material, it is a faint and extensively reworked echo. It is easier for me to believe that Op is an improved version of what appears in LA, or perhaps simply an alternate version. I can also understand LA as a faint and toned down echo of the more inclusive and sophisticated tradition by an author who had lost or laid aside some of the boldness or brashness he once exhibited. Alternatively, but with less enthusiasm, I might resort to a theory of early and later editions of Op to explain how LA might reflect such a weak form of the "seven" tradition, being based on the early edition that was considerably strengthened later, after On Numbers had been completed. There are many paths; but they are all conjecture.
Robert Kraft, University of Pennsylvania, has most recently mad available a paper on Philo's Treatment of the Number Seven in On Creation, a paper originally delivered for the SBL Philo Group, November 1996 (New Orleans). Here he has a confession that many others may subscribe to:
Kraft has also made available another work on Philo's arithmology, namely Horst Moehring, "Arithmology as an Exegetical Tool in the Writings of Philo of Alexandria," pp. 191-227 in SBL Seminar Papers 1978/1.
In Kraft's own article he discusses the article of Moehring and the older work of Karl Staehle, Die Zahlenmystik bei Philon von Alexandreia (a 1929 Tuebingen dissertation published by Teubner in 1931).
I will include both this work of Kraft and the article of Moehring in my next update of my Philonic Resource Pages. But just to wet your appetite a little more, I'll quote the following from Kraft's conclusion:
Sunday, February 15, 2004
Porn attack?
I apologize to all who were attacked by some aggressive porn-related pop-up window while accessing my Resource Pages for Biblical Studies. I have no idea of how this function was linked to my page, but it has now been removed, and I do hope it will never appear anymore on any of my pages. Arrrrrgh....
Thursday, February 12, 2004
Philo and the New Testament
I would like to write a few words about a recent publication of mine, a kind of spin-off result from the Norwegian Philo Concordance Project.
It is a comparison of all Greek words in Philo and the New Testament. I have written a report on the comparison in the Festschrift to Peder Borgen last year Neotestamentica et Philonica. I followed up on this study by publishing a list of common words in Philo and the New Testament on Mellen Press A Comparison of Greek Words in Philo and the New Testament.
Other scholars have earlier studied hapax legomena in the two corpora, but today, with advanced personal computers, more thorough studies are made possible and affordable.
The statistical comparison shows great similarities particularly between John and Philo and Hebrews and Philo. This is not a big surprise, of course, but nevertheless - now it is also statistically demonstrated. Further comparisons in these tracks are naturally possible; the next step would perhaps be to include LXX.
It is a comparison of all Greek words in Philo and the New Testament. I have written a report on the comparison in the Festschrift to Peder Borgen last year Neotestamentica et Philonica. I followed up on this study by publishing a list of common words in Philo and the New Testament on Mellen Press A Comparison of Greek Words in Philo and the New Testament.
Other scholars have earlier studied hapax legomena in the two corpora, but today, with advanced personal computers, more thorough studies are made possible and affordable.
The statistical comparison shows great similarities particularly between John and Philo and Hebrews and Philo. This is not a big surprise, of course, but nevertheless - now it is also statistically demonstrated. Further comparisons in these tracks are naturally possible; the next step would perhaps be to include LXX.
Philo and the Law
Philo's view on the Law is important as a topic within the Philonic symbolic universe per se, but it is also interesting to see how his views on the Law are considered in the running debate on Paul and the Law in light of "the new perspective".
The announcement today of a review in the Review of Biblical Literature of the book of A. Andrew Das, Paul, the Law and the Covenant (Peabody, Mass.,Hendrickson, 2001), reminds me of these issues again. Das has a section on Philo in his book; unfortunately I don't have the book in my office, but as far as I remember, he does not find Philo to quite support the view of the Law in "the new perspective on Paul".
However, this is a complex matter. As the reviewer above also points out, we have a much more comprehensive account on the Law in various sectors of Judaism in the book edited by D. A. Carson , Peter T. O'Brien , Mark Seifrid , Peter T. OBrien, Justification and Variegated Nomism: I. The Complexities of Second Temple Judaism ([Wissenschaftliche Untersuchungen zum Neuen Testament, 2. Reihe, 140. Herausgegeben von Jorg Frey, Martin Hengel, Otfried Hosius] Edited by D. A. Carson, Peter T. O'Brien, & Mark A. Seifrid. Tubingen, Germany: Mohr Siebeck; Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2001. Pp. 619. Paper, $44.99.) . This anthology has a more comprehensive chapter on Philo written by David M. Hay. Readers interested in this topic should consult this contribution too. There are several reviews of this book out on the Internett; you may read one here or here.
Addenda half an hour later...
I just found, to my surprise, that Hendrickson has a sample chapter out of Das' book on Paul, the Law and the Covenant, and this is the chapter that contains the section on Philo! You can access that chapter here. You will find the section on Philo on pp. 23-27. Great! Tolle lege! :-)
The announcement today of a review in the Review of Biblical Literature of the book of A. Andrew Das, Paul, the Law and the Covenant (Peabody, Mass.,Hendrickson, 2001), reminds me of these issues again. Das has a section on Philo in his book; unfortunately I don't have the book in my office, but as far as I remember, he does not find Philo to quite support the view of the Law in "the new perspective on Paul".
However, this is a complex matter. As the reviewer above also points out, we have a much more comprehensive account on the Law in various sectors of Judaism in the book edited by D. A. Carson , Peter T. O'Brien , Mark Seifrid , Peter T. OBrien, Justification and Variegated Nomism: I. The Complexities of Second Temple Judaism ([Wissenschaftliche Untersuchungen zum Neuen Testament, 2. Reihe, 140. Herausgegeben von Jorg Frey, Martin Hengel, Otfried Hosius] Edited by D. A. Carson, Peter T. O'Brien, & Mark A. Seifrid. Tubingen, Germany: Mohr Siebeck; Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2001. Pp. 619. Paper, $44.99.) . This anthology has a more comprehensive chapter on Philo written by David M. Hay. Readers interested in this topic should consult this contribution too. There are several reviews of this book out on the Internett; you may read one here or here.
Addenda half an hour later...
I just found, to my surprise, that Hendrickson has a sample chapter out of Das' book on Paul, the Law and the Covenant, and this is the chapter that contains the section on Philo! You can access that chapter here. You will find the section on Philo on pp. 23-27. Great! Tolle lege! :-)
Tuesday, February 10, 2004
PACS
Finally, at last,--... but today I received from Brill the two volumes published in the Philo of Alexandria Commentary series. That will make up my reading for some days.... No blogging tomorrow; it's your turn, Kåre! :)
I ordered these volumes at the Brill booth at the SBL Annual Meeting last november in Atlanta; they had a good offer, but now I had almost come to the conclusion that my order had disappeared or been forgotten. Good! For those of you who don't know these volumes; the first commentary published was written by David T. Runia, On the Creation of the Cosmos according to Moses (De Opificio) (2001), and the second by Pieter van der Horst, Philo's Flaccus The First Pogrom (2003). Have a look at them, and consider your money...
I ordered these volumes at the Brill booth at the SBL Annual Meeting last november in Atlanta; they had a good offer, but now I had almost come to the conclusion that my order had disappeared or been forgotten. Good! For those of you who don't know these volumes; the first commentary published was written by David T. Runia, On the Creation of the Cosmos according to Moses (De Opificio) (2001), and the second by Pieter van der Horst, Philo's Flaccus The First Pogrom (2003). Have a look at them, and consider your money...
Monday, February 09, 2004
Article on the Thereapeutae (cont.)
Bible Software Review
It may seem somewhat remote from Philonic studies, but not necessarily so.... Hence I would like to direct your attention to the new Weblog by Ruben Gomez on Bible Software Review. (thanks to Mark Goodacre for the link info). He also runs a webpage on Bible Software Review. It promises to "be devoted to bringing you all kinds of information about the ever-growing Bible software scene." I am not quite sure how he defines Bible Software. My first impression is that it is rather traditional, comprising the software that is explicitly announced as Bible programs. I have challenged him (in a comment on his weblog) to also include programs that may seem more remote, but that also are very useful for writers of Biblical studies. Of course, those who know me, will understand that I am here thinking about my favorite program NotaBene, which has the biblical texts as supplementary modules, and even has a nice concordance function, not to speak about its textbase and bibliographic module. I can't understand why anybody are using any other word processing programs when writing scholarly biblical studies.......
Saturday, February 07, 2004
New book on the Therapeutae
As my comments feature (below the postings) is quite new, I would like to emphasize the comment posted by Ellen Birnbaum on my former posting on the Therapeutae. She directs my attention to the fact that Joan E. Taylor has just published a book on the Therapeutae:Jewish Women Philosophers of First-Century Alexandria - Philo's 'Therapeutae' Reconsidered (Oxford University Press; Price: £70.00 (Hardback) 434 pages). According to the announcement of the publisher, "this study focuses particularly on issues of history, rhetoric, women, and gender in a wide exploration of the group, and comes to new conclusions about the 'Therapeutae' and their relationship with the Jewish allegorical school of exegesis in Alexandria. The volume includes a new translation of De Vita Contemplativa."
Thanks for the comment, Ellen. I hope the comment feature will prove useful for more readers, whether that be additional information like this, or just comments of opinion.
Thanks for the comment, Ellen. I hope the comment feature will prove useful for more readers, whether that be additional information like this, or just comments of opinion.
Friday, February 06, 2004
Comments feature
I just added a 'Comment feature' to the postings: it makes it possible for you as a reader to comment on the various postings on this Philo WeBlog.
The enigmatic Therapeutae
I just discovered that Harvard theological Review has made all their articles from 1999- available on the Internet. Not much to find there about Philo, but here is one interesting piece:
Joan E. Taylor, Philip R. Davies, 'The so-called Therapeutae of 'De vita contemplativa': identity and character.' Harvard Theological Review, Jan, 1998.
Though this article is not new, I was not aware of the fact that it is available on-line. The summary of the articles runs thus:It has become quite common in scholarship to consider the community described by Philo in De vita contemplativa as a specific Jewish group comprising contemplative Essenes or people somehow related to the Essenes.(1) In this study, we shall explore the meaning of Philo's masculine and feminine designations, and consider the possibility that these words referred not to the male and female members of one group that was part of a Therapeutae sect, but to individuals whom Philo understood as exemplary devotees of God. We shall also consider a few matters concerning the character of the group. Overall, this study seeks to call into question the assumption that, in his De vita contemplativa, Philo is describing an Essene community in Egypt. The Therapeutae is in fact an enigmatic group. We really need a commentary on Philo's De vita contemplativa where he describes them. I for my part, do look forward to David M. Hay's commentary in the Philo of Alexandria Commentary Series (PACS). I expect that volume to be a definitive discussion for years to come on both this book of Philo and of the Thereapeutae.
Joan E. Taylor, Philip R. Davies, 'The so-called Therapeutae of 'De vita contemplativa': identity and character.' Harvard Theological Review, Jan, 1998.
Though this article is not new, I was not aware of the fact that it is available on-line. The summary of the articles runs thus:
Thursday, February 05, 2004
(More on) Associations, Synagogues and Congregations, - with a view from aside on megasites
This year it is - in fact - 20 years since I published my first article on the Greaco-Roman Clubs and Associations... It was a review article, written in Norwegian and printed in a small Norwegian journal. The reviw focused mainly on works on the associations, and how these had been or could be applied in investigating the social life of the early churches.
Since then, the interest and publications on both the associations per se, and their value for understanding the social lfe of both Jews and Christians have increased amazingly. The publication of S.G. Wilson and John Klobbenborg (eds.), Voluntary Associations in the Graeco-Roman World (1995) was one example of this interest, and several more, not at least from some of Kloppenborgs students, like Richard Ascough and Philip A. Harland have been published.
I my self became interested in this field as part of my efforts to understand the social world of Philo and the early Christians, and have tried to keep updated since. Hence, though I have referred to it before on this blog, I would again like to refer you to the site of Philip A. Harland on Associations, Synagogues and Congregations. It is regularly (?) updated, and his latest article provided in full text on that site; Imperial Cults within Local Cultural Life: Associations in Roman Asia (Originally published in Ancient History Bulletin / Zeitschrift für Alte Geschichte 17 (2003):47-69. Reprinted in accordance with the journal's policies. Copyright Philip A. Harland 2003), provide also a lot of bibliographic information in its footnotes.
Harland's site, in addition to being very nicely designed, is also an example of sites that focus in depth on a particular issue of the Graeco-Roman world and/ or its literature, and represent a type of sites very helpful for us trying to upheld "megasites" (vf. the debate on megasites initiated on this Weblog (ses also later postings on my site). In fact, this may be the way to go in the future: to build a site focusing on a specific, almost narrow topic, providing material that covers and promotes research in that particular field. When such sites are administered by persons who are real experts in the field, like Philip A Harland on associations, the sites become immensely interesting and profitable for other scholars. For the momens we have some such topic or more narrowly focused sites (examples; Felix Just on Johannine literature, Goodacre on the Joseph and Asenath, or the case against Q; or Vernon K Robbins on Socio-Rhetorical criticism; and- of course, my page :-) on Philo of Alexandria, and several others... ; I hope and believe that we will get more and more of these kinds of sites in the coming months and years.
Since then, the interest and publications on both the associations per se, and their value for understanding the social lfe of both Jews and Christians have increased amazingly. The publication of S.G. Wilson and John Klobbenborg (eds.), Voluntary Associations in the Graeco-Roman World (1995) was one example of this interest, and several more, not at least from some of Kloppenborgs students, like Richard Ascough and Philip A. Harland have been published.
I my self became interested in this field as part of my efforts to understand the social world of Philo and the early Christians, and have tried to keep updated since. Hence, though I have referred to it before on this blog, I would again like to refer you to the site of Philip A. Harland on Associations, Synagogues and Congregations. It is regularly (?) updated, and his latest article provided in full text on that site; Imperial Cults within Local Cultural Life: Associations in Roman Asia (Originally published in Ancient History Bulletin / Zeitschrift für Alte Geschichte 17 (2003):47-69. Reprinted in accordance with the journal's policies. Copyright Philip A. Harland 2003), provide also a lot of bibliographic information in its footnotes.
Harland's site, in addition to being very nicely designed, is also an example of sites that focus in depth on a particular issue of the Graeco-Roman world and/ or its literature, and represent a type of sites very helpful for us trying to upheld "megasites" (vf. the debate on megasites initiated on this Weblog (ses also later postings on my site). In fact, this may be the way to go in the future: to build a site focusing on a specific, almost narrow topic, providing material that covers and promotes research in that particular field. When such sites are administered by persons who are real experts in the field, like Philip A Harland on associations, the sites become immensely interesting and profitable for other scholars. For the momens we have some such topic or more narrowly focused sites (examples; Felix Just on Johannine literature, Goodacre on the Joseph and Asenath, or the case against Q; or Vernon K Robbins on Socio-Rhetorical criticism; and- of course, my page :-) on Philo of Alexandria, and several others... ; I hope and believe that we will get more and more of these kinds of sites in the coming months and years.
Wednesday, February 04, 2004
SBL Releases New Hebrew Font
The Society of Biblical Literature announces a new Hebrew font, and even better,- new Greek fonts to be released in the near future.Academic writers and those who publish books on the ancient world and the Bible can now use a Hebrew font that is visually pleasing on computer screen and printed page, and facilitates the exchange of texts between computers, thanks to the joint efforts of the Society of Biblical Literature, SBL Font Foundation, and Tiro Typeworks. Until now, texts composed with a Hebrew alphabet were not easily transferred from one computer to another, or would read well on screen but not on paper — annoyances familiar to those in the publishing world. The solution was to design a more readable font in Unicode, a text encoding standard that assigns a unique universal code for each character and works across diverse computer platforms. The new typeface, designed in a Sephardic style suited for screen and print readability, offers clear distinction between similar Hebrew letters.
The font is provided without cost to individuals for non-profit use; commercial use is reserved for members of the SBL Font Foundation. The font and more information about the foundation are available online at http://www.sbl-site.org. The SBL plans to release new Unicode fonts for Greek and Latin later this year, with other ancient languages to follow. The complete series will include all symbols needed to produce critical editions of biblical and related texts. You can read more on the fonts available at SBL here.
The font is provided without cost to individuals for non-profit use; commercial use is reserved for members of the SBL Font Foundation. The font and more information about the foundation are available online at http://www.sbl-site.org. The SBL plans to release new Unicode fonts for Greek and Latin later this year, with other ancient languages to follow. The complete series will include all symbols needed to produce critical editions of biblical and related texts.
Tuesday, February 03, 2004
Philo Christianus
In his book on Philo in Early Christian Literature(CRINT III,3; Leiden,1993), David T. Runia has an introductory chapter on 'Philo Christianus'; that is, on how Philo became 'a church father honoris causa'. Early Christian writers first made a connection between Philo and the Christians, later he even was considered a Christian. The first Christian writer to make a connection between Philo and Christians was Eusebius in his Ecclesiastical History. However, there is little historical values in this information. Runia himself surmises that the beginning of the legend of the Christian Philo may go back to a now lost work of Clement.
The reason I mention this here today is the article I found on the Internett last week, proposing that Philo wrote the Gospel of Mark.
The main arguments of the author of that article are fanciful, but not much convincing, and run like this:
He starts out with a doubtful premise already at the beginning: "In reality the only definite information pertaining to "Mark" was that it was the first Gospel composed and that it was written in the colloquial Greek of the Alexandrian Jews." Not only that, but " the hidden message within the cryptic Gospel is directed by a Jew of Alexandria specifically towards the Jews of Alexandria, Hellenized Jews. The latter is confirmed by the fact that the version of the Jewish Scriptures quoted in "Mark" is the Greek Septuagint. "
The only possible candidate he can find as the plausible author is Philo of Alexandria. This, furthermore, he argues along these lines: "Philo created Jesus as his vehicle. Firstly, Jesus would follow in the literary traditions of Socrates. Secondly, Jesus would be the literary personification of the Logos. The first point is argued by a list of issues in the life of Socrate and of Jesus he finds comparable; the second is argued by considering the Philonic logos 'doctrine' an invention of Philo, and a hidden way of depicting Jesus.
The author also considers "Mark" as esoteric literature, a vehicle for a hidden message, finally written during the "the religious oppression of the Alexandrian Jews by Caligula. It was this oppression which drove the Jews of Alexandria underground. This is the secret society steeped in Judaism … a secret society full of ritual, signs and symbolism." Here he also finds that "Philo of Alexandria incorporated events of the Maccabaean Rebellion into his cryptic, or secret, gospel for two main reasons. Firstly as a tribute to the Maccabees and their victory in the face of all odds, and secondly to give the Alexandrian Jews hope in the face of the current religious oppression under Caligula. Most importantly, only the Alexandrian Jews would be able to interpret "Mark" correctly. This again is tried substantiated by another list of alledged parallels between the story of the maccabees and the Gospel.
I'm not sure how to consider the article; is it a joke or not? probably not. The author have other articles on his site focusing on Egypt, and he seems to have a certain preference for finding aspects of early masonry in Egypt.
His arguments in the article mentioned above is strained. Its greek language and use of the Septuagint is no argument for an Alexandrian provenance. Did not also the other New Testament authors write in Greek and cited from Septuagintian versions? His list of parallels between Jesus and Socrate, or his alledged references in "Mark" to the Oppression of the Jews, under Caligula, or References in "Mark" to the Maccabaean Rebellion are all strained, to say the least. And he never copes with the question that would have to be answered; why is there no other references to Jesus or Christians in any of the other works of Philo.
For those who would like to learn more about Philo in later Christian literature, the abovementioned book of David T. Runia is most illuminating. Tolle lege!
The reason I mention this here today is the article I found on the Internett last week, proposing that Philo wrote the Gospel of Mark.
The main arguments of the author of that article are fanciful, but not much convincing, and run like this:
He starts out with a doubtful premise already at the beginning: "In reality the only definite information pertaining to "Mark" was that it was the first Gospel composed and that it was written in the colloquial Greek of the Alexandrian Jews." Not only that, but " the hidden message within the cryptic Gospel is directed by a Jew of Alexandria specifically towards the Jews of Alexandria, Hellenized Jews. The latter is confirmed by the fact that the version of the Jewish Scriptures quoted in "Mark" is the Greek Septuagint. "
The only possible candidate he can find as the plausible author is Philo of Alexandria. This, furthermore, he argues along these lines: "Philo created Jesus as his vehicle. Firstly, Jesus would follow in the literary traditions of Socrates. Secondly, Jesus would be the literary personification of the Logos. The first point is argued by a list of issues in the life of Socrate and of Jesus he finds comparable; the second is argued by considering the Philonic logos 'doctrine' an invention of Philo, and a hidden way of depicting Jesus.
The author also considers "Mark" as esoteric literature, a vehicle for a hidden message, finally written during the "the religious oppression of the Alexandrian Jews by Caligula. It was this oppression which drove the Jews of Alexandria underground. This is the secret society steeped in Judaism … a secret society full of ritual, signs and symbolism." Here he also finds that "Philo of Alexandria incorporated events of the Maccabaean Rebellion into his cryptic, or secret, gospel for two main reasons. Firstly as a tribute to the Maccabees and their victory in the face of all odds, and secondly to give the Alexandrian Jews hope in the face of the current religious oppression under Caligula. Most importantly, only the Alexandrian Jews would be able to interpret "Mark" correctly. This again is tried substantiated by another list of alledged parallels between the story of the maccabees and the Gospel.
I'm not sure how to consider the article; is it a joke or not? probably not. The author have other articles on his site focusing on Egypt, and he seems to have a certain preference for finding aspects of early masonry in Egypt.
His arguments in the article mentioned above is strained. Its greek language and use of the Septuagint is no argument for an Alexandrian provenance. Did not also the other New Testament authors write in Greek and cited from Septuagintian versions? His list of parallels between Jesus and Socrate, or his alledged references in "Mark" to the Oppression of the Jews, under Caligula, or References in "Mark" to the Maccabaean Rebellion are all strained, to say the least. And he never copes with the question that would have to be answered; why is there no other references to Jesus or Christians in any of the other works of Philo.
For those who would like to learn more about Philo in later Christian literature, the abovementioned book of David T. Runia is most illuminating. Tolle lege!
Monday, February 02, 2004
Inscriptiones Judaicae Orientis
The Mohr Siebeck announces the publication of the following work (German description here):
Ameling, Walter,
Inscriptiones Judaicae Orientis Vol. 2: Kleinasien
2004. ca. 668 pages (Texts and Studies in Ancient Judaism 99)
ISBN 3-16-148196-8 cloth € 119.00
Description:
This book collects all known Jewish inscriptions from the Graeco-Roman period (up to c.700 CE), in Asia Minor. It provides the mainly Greek texts of the inscriptions with German translations together with full bibliographies, discussions and indexes. The previous collection, Corpus Inscriptionum Judaicarum, published 1936-50, has been superseded by the discovery of more inscriptions, and over half the inscriptions included in this new collection were not in CIJ.
To all of us who are used to the Corpus Inscriptionum Judaicarum, this is great news. The bad news is the price of the volume: 119 euro means 147 USD...
Ameling, Walter,
Inscriptiones Judaicae Orientis Vol. 2: Kleinasien
2004. ca. 668 pages (Texts and Studies in Ancient Judaism 99)
ISBN 3-16-148196-8 cloth € 119.00
Description:
This book collects all known Jewish inscriptions from the Graeco-Roman period (up to c.700 CE), in Asia Minor. It provides the mainly Greek texts of the inscriptions with German translations together with full bibliographies, discussions and indexes. The previous collection, Corpus Inscriptionum Judaicarum, published 1936-50, has been superseded by the discovery of more inscriptions, and over half the inscriptions included in this new collection were not in CIJ.
To all of us who are used to the Corpus Inscriptionum Judaicarum, this is great news. The bad news is the price of the volume: 119 euro means 147 USD...
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