Ancient Judea

« Rendez à César ce qui est à César et à Dieu ce qui est à Dieu » : cette phrase bien connue des Évangiles s’éclaire d’un jour nouveau à mesure que se poursuivent les enquêtes historiques portant sur la fiscalité en Judée du tournant de notre ère.
Cette première synthèse complète sur la fiscalité de Judée invite à se demander si cette matière froide et technique ne serait pas, au contraire, une matière brûlante, « éveilleur de révoltes », à la fois un reflet et un condensé des complexités économiques, politiques, sociales voire théologiques ?
Quels sont les impôts prélevés ? Quels sont les moyens de paiement ? Est-il vrai que le temple de Jérusalem n’acceptait que les shekels de Tyr ? Pourquoi l’impôt romain dérangeait-il les contemporains de Jésus ? Quelle est la place des relations financières dans l’histoire politique de la Judée ? Ces questions, parmi tant d’autres, reçoivent ici une réponse à la fois à jour des découvertes les plus récentes et accessible au public spécialiste autant que curieux.

Over the past fifty years, archaeological excavations in Israel have unearthed about half a dozen ancient synagogues that were in use at different points in time between the first century BCE through the outbreak of the Bar-Kochba rebellion early in the second century of the Common Era.  In close proximity to each of these synagogues, a mikveh (ritual bath) has been discovered.  In contrast, no mikvaot have been discovered adjacent to any of the dozens of later synagogues that have been excavated and studied, with only one or two possible exceptions. 
At this point it is impossible to determine exactly when mikvaot ceased to be built in connection with synagogues, as the archaeological record reports very little about synagogues of the late second - early third century CE.  From an archaeological perspective, it is clear that at least from the second half of the third century, synagogues began to be built without regard for proximity to mikvaot.
Talmudic sources make no mention of a requirement to build mikvaot adjacent to synagogues. To date, no satisfactory explanation has been given for the evident connection between the synagogue and the mikveh in the early period, and the disappearance of such a connection in later periods of synagogue history. The objective of this paper is to present and explore a possible interpretation of this puzzling phenomenon.
  During the Second Temple and Mishnaic Periods, a rabbinical enactment was in effect requiring mikveh ablutions prior to engagement in Torah study and prayer for individuals who had experienced seminal emission. Careful study of the Talmudic sources reveals that this enactment was nullified early in the Amoraic Period, sometime during the second quarter of the third century CE.
It would appear that the mikvaot built adjacent to the earlier synagogues were intended for this precise function, serving visitors to the synagogue who required ritual ablutions prior to Torah study and prayer.  Once the rabbinical enactment regarding these ablutions was nullified, there was no longer need for such mikvaot, and hence the absence of mikvaot in proximity to the later synagogues.

The rhetorical impact of the explicit and allusive references to Gerizim and Jerusalem in the first seven books of the Hebrew Bible (Genesis-Judges) implies that all these writings originate from the territory of Ephraim, and not from Judah. Their rhetoric consistently highlights the importance of the central sanctuary of Yahweh in the region of Shechem in the territory of the tribe of Joseph/Ephraim, more and more clearly pointing to its location on Mount Gerizim. On the other hand, their allusive rhetoric presents the tribe of Judah, especially its historical capital in Jerusalem, in negative terms, thus conveying the idea of the superiority of the sanctuary on Mount Gerizim over the rival sanctuary on Mount Zion, as well as that at Dan.

In diesem Artikel werden zunächst die Gruppenbezeichnungen sowie die inhaltlichen Hinweise zum Zelotentum innerhalb der Schriften des Flavius Josephus untersucht. Die hieraus gewonnenen Grundmuster dieser gewaltsam-revolutionären Strömung werden dann auf latente, grundsätzlich nur schwach erkennbare Andeutungen innerhalb der neutestamentlichen Schriften angewandt und eine entsprechende zelotische „Atmosphäre“ der jeweiligen Situation hervorgehoben. Abschließend werden Schnittmengen sowie Gegensätze zwischen den zelotischen Anklängen und der neutestamentlich-christlichen Geisteshaltung herausgestellt.

The late Antique mosaic of Orpheus decorated a small room, approximately 18 m2 in area, connected with two even smaller ones, in 4 m2 and the other 2 m2 in area, belonging most likely to a small funerary chapel (or tomb) discovered in the ancient necropolis by the Damascene Gate in Jerusalem; it was discovered in 1901 by H. Vincent.
The author proposes a new interpretation of the iconographic program of the Orpheus myth used by wealthy Christians in a sepulchral context (see Olszewski M.T. «Orphée endeuillé de la mosaïque funéraire de Jérusalem», in Rey Mimoso-Ruiz, B. ed., Actes du colloque «Orphée entre Soleil et ombre», à l’Institut Catholique de Toulouse du 16 au 17 novembre 2007, Inter Lignes, numéros spécial – mars 2008, pp. 205-214, 226). He also proposes a new interpretation of the role Orpheus played in Roman funerary art, concentrating on the importance of the play on words and the visual and textual punning that was popular in ancient art and especially in funerary art. He rejects the popular interpretation of Orpheus as Christ in the Roman catacombs and proposes to interpret the image as that of Orpheus, bard of the departed souls, without any ahistorical connection with Christ. The program of the mosaic from Jerusalem is thus explained as a play on the words Orpheus-orphanos and Chiron (Chi-Rho) and Pan [Παν(τοκράτωρ)].The frequently used Christian funerary formula of resting in peace, Christ or the Lord corresponds
perfectly with the mood created around the mythical bard.
Orpheus’ universal role as singer and musician moving even the most stony of hearts, extolling the beloved departed, is absolutely justified in the context of a 6th-century Christian tomb. Orpheus is a popular and neutral figure, meaning that in effect it does not constitute a threat to Christian theology and can be tolerated by the educated Christians of Jerusalem.

Wounded Israeli soldier, Adam Zertal (1936-2015), became a giant in the field of modern biblical archaeology - this article honors his memory and highlights his important life's work and discoveries in Judea and Samaria, namely Joshua's Altar on Mount Ebal and multiple Gilgal sites from the early Israelite conquest period.

It is not often that the three disciplines of archaeology, ancient history and epigraphy come together to illuminate a particular event.  But this is precisely what happens in the case of Masada.  The desert fortress built by Herod the Great is still surrounded by the remains of Roman siegeworks built at the end of Rome’s first Jewish War. And, while Josephus provides the historical narrative, a detailed military career inscription brings Masada’s Roman captor to life.

This article aims to expand the possibilities of research about the historical John, the Baptist, suggesting new reading-keys for the phenomenon of formation of a Jewish resistance movement in Roman times, particularly the movement of John, the Baptist. For this, it is necessary to revisit the main ways of dealing historically with resistance movements arising in Roman Palestine, in particular, under the aegis of the concepts of "social banditry" and "messianism". With this, different perspectives on the movement of the Baptist are likely to be exploited, renovating and reopening debates already crystallized about this historical figure.

This article aims to understand the context of action of the movement of John, surnamed the Baptist, a Jewish leader who lived, approximately, at the same time of Jesus. The goal is to critically analyze, through the remnants of memory present in the works of Josephus and the New Testament literature, the history of John and his followers, not only as an individual element, but inserted in the endemic formation of movements and social groups of resistance in the Roman Palestine, during the first century of the common era. Thus the movement of John the Baptist will be investigated in the light of theoretical and methodological perspectives to deconstruct their liability status, in other words, a simply result of a clash between economic and social monolithic blocks of dominant and dominated.

This paper describes new research related to countermarks struck on Judean prutot. The author discusses the coins, the countermark types and styles, the countermark types’ relationships to the coin types, their relative quantities, their locations on the coins, die statistics and other new information.

The present study explores the origins of Jewish ritual immersion – inquiring when immersion first appeared as a rite of purification and what the reasons may have been for this development specifically at this time. Textual and archaeological evidence suggest that immersion emerged at some point during – or perhaps slightly prior to – the first half of the first century B.C.E. It is suggested here that the practice grew out of contemporary bathing practices involving the Hellenistic hip bath. Through a process of ritualization, full-body immersion emerged as a method of purificatory washing clearly differentiated from profane bathing. By way of a subsequent process of 'hyper-ritualization', some ventured further to distinguish purificatory ablutions from profane bathing by restricting use of 'drawn water' for purification and by assigning impurity to anyone who bathed in such water. Before us is an enlightening example of one of the many ways wherein Jewish religious practices evolved and adapted in response to Hellenistic cultural innovations.

No history of a population is, probably, as ‘mysterious’ as the Roma
(“Gypsy”) people. However, the contemporary mitochondria, DNA,
phylogenetic and population history research confirms the Classical Greek
writers such as Herodotus’ position that Europe is but peopled by people
from East Africa known as Ancient Cushites or Ethiopians or Egyptians.
The Roma are consistently clear—they count themselves to Ancient
Nubian-Africans. This paper hypothesized the Roma People cannot be
different from the Ancient African Cushites, who ruled, lived and civilized
the three oldest continents. Classical as well as contemporary Roma and
Oromo-Cush, as well as Ancient Egypto-Meroitic, linguistic and cultural
lexicons were collected and analyzed in the wider comparative culturalhistorical-
evolutionary perspectives. The findings indicate that there is
significant lexical, grammatical and cultural-historical similarity which
supports the Ancient Cushite origin of the Roma language and people. Key
implications have emerged. The Roma people cannot be different from the
whole Euroasians who populated Europe and Asia moving out of Africa in
the three Millennia preceding the Christian era as well as the first Millennia
of this era. The Roma people populated Euroasia in the same way and
time the rest peopled the two continents moving out of (East-North)
Africa. Europe is as much homeland to them as it is to the rest of their
friends. The whole Indo-European languages must have been the
offshoots of these pioneers of human civilizations. The continuing racism
against the Roma People is but an irrational and crazy existent in the
heart of the ‘Modern’ and ‘Civilized’ Europe.

Early Church Historians spare no efforts in blaming Emperor
Nero for the Great fire of Rome.Nero,on the contrary blamed the Christians for the fire and persecuted them.Who is the real
culprit? Christians or Nero?A journey into the history of first century A.D.Rome, Judea and Greece opens up many channels of information,hitherto untold by historians.
We can now locate Christ,Peter,Paul,Judas,John and several Biblical and historical personalities with new identities.A study of the Book of Revelations reveals stunning facts regarding the great fire of Rome,the evolution of Christianity from the vedic culture of the Indus valley civilisation etc.

A fonte mais conhecida e estudada sobre a Primeira Guerra entre judeus e romanos, certamente é Bellum Iudaicum de Flávio Josefo. Esta se trata da obra mais consultada quando queremos estudar as relações estabelecidas entre os judeus e os romanos no século I E.C., principalmente, quando objetivamos lidar com Identidades e Alteridades no Mundo Antigo. No entanto, outro autor dedicou um espaço em uma de suas coletâneas de livros. Falamos de Tácito. Este autor viveu entre 55-120 E.C., mas só passou a produzir obras a partir de 98 E.C., com sua Germânia e Vida de Agrícola. Mas foi em sua obra Histórias (105 E.C.), no seu quinto livro, que encontramos a narrativa desse conflito, cujas devidas atenções daremos nesta produção monográfica. Para o esclarecimento dessas relações judaico-romanas, segundo a ótica de um autor necessariamente romano, optamos por discutir temos como Imperialismo, Romanização e Identidade na Roma Antiga. Além destes, buscamos situar os romanos (os gregos) e os judeus no contexto que precedeu essa primeira guerra em 70 E.C., isto é, como se deram as negociações entre esses grupos humanos nesse período. As culturas judaica, romana e a de alguns outros povos, terão espaço célebre neste trabalho. Isto seria importante para buscarmos entender os alicerces por trás da eventualidade do conflito. Apresentaremos e analisaremos a fonte (o Livro V), em seus treze primeiros capítulos, incluindo uma tradução em língua portuguesa, objetivando o acesso dos falantes desta, à leitura na íntegra dessa fonte latina.

Following the removal of soil fill and stones from the Temple Mount compound and their dumping in heaps at several sites in the Jerusalem area, the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA) conducted an inspection of their contents and nature.  Debris from the Temple Mount was removed on several occasions to the following locations in the Jerusalem area: in December 1999 on the western slope of the Kidron Valley, east of the Lions Gate ; in September 2000 and October 2000 in an area south of Kefar Azaiyim, along side the road from Jerusalem to Ma’ale Adummim; and in December 2000 at the old Department of Public Works compound in the center of Jerusalem. The archaeological inspection of the heaps involved scanning by means of a metal detector and the examination of only a tiny fraction of the material.  At the same time, artifacts, most of them from the dumping in the Kidron Valley, were gathered up by citizens and turned over to the IAA. These artifacts are not published here.

Ritual baths (miqwa’ot) built adjacent to winepresses and olive-presses have been unearthed at about twenty sites dating to the Second Temple period, most of them in Judea and the environs of Jerusalem. While much has been written in recent years on the form and function of ancient ritual baths in general, little scholarly attention has been paid to miqwa’ot found in agricultural contexts.
The presence of these miqwa’ot suggests that the ritual purity of the wine and olive oil processed in these installations was of particular importance. The fact that these ritual baths were situated adjacent to winepresses and olive-presses suggests that agricultural laborers made use of these miqwa’ot immediately prior to commencing work in these installations, a practice which accords with the Pharisaic concept of tevul yom. These finds thus provide rare archaeological evidence for the observance of ritual purity laws based on the Pharisaic system of halakhah.

Resumen
La Revelación de Gabriel es una inscripción
pétrea encontrada en el lado
jordano del Mar Muerto de carácter mesiánico.
Se basa en la exégesis de Daniel,
al igual que otros textos de Qumrán que
proclaman la divinidad del Mesías. Juntos,
estos textos del Mar Muerto desvelan
que la creencia en un Mesías divino
que muere y resucita al tercer día existió
antes de que naciera Jesús de Nazaret.

Horvat ‘Ethri – Boaz Zissu and Amir Ganor
Horvat ‘Ethri is located in the Judaean Shephelah, on an elongated ridge. It was founded at the end of the Persian period and inhabited through the Hellenistic period. The village was at its largest in the first century CE, covering an area of c. 12 dunams. Based on finds of at least four ritual baths (miqwa'ot), stone vessels, pottery types, oil lamps and the coins assemblage, it's inhabitants were most likely Jewish. The village was abandoned following the Jewish War against the Romans (66-70 CE) and re-inhabited in the interval between the two Jewish revolts. It participated in the Bar Kokhba Revolt (132-135 CE) and was violently destroyed. The place was resettled on a partial scale during the Late Roman period by gentiles, and existed until the fifth century CE.
The most outstanding feature uncovered is a public building apparently a synagogue. The architectural complex contained a courtyard, a large miqveh and a vestibule opening into a rectangular hall with three pillars in its center. The structure was erected between the revolts against the Romans and used until the Bar Kokhba Revolt.

The aim of this paper was to comparatively analyze some
(Proto)Indo-European and Oromo-Cush phonological, lexical and
grammatical items and roots. It was triggered by competing
debates and models on (Proto-)Indo-European ((P-)IE) origin, one
of which is the Ancient Model pointing to Africa. (P-)IE and closest
relatives, Eurasiatic and Anatolian, data was collected from the
literature. Pertinent Oromo corpora and native speaker data were
collected. They were subjected to the Comparative Model analysis.
Quite intriguing results showing significant level of resemblance,
both in form and meaning, and implications emerged.

Klein, E., Sion, O., Ganor, A., Hamer, H., Cohen, H. and Amichay, O. 2020. 'Go Go to the Desert' – Preliminary Results from the Two First Seasons (2017-2018) of Judean Desert Caves Archaeological Project (JDCAP). Editors, Abadi-Reis, Y., Varga, D. and Lehmann, G. Desert Archaeology: Proceedings of the 16th 'South Conference'. Israel Antiquities Authority, Beer-Sheva. pp. 7-31 (Hebrew).

L'analyse des textes évangéliques mentionnant la rumeur montre que celle-ci était un élément bien intégré dans le fonds traditionnel concernant Jésus. Que Jésus ait été l'objet de la rumeur s'accorde par ailleurs avec le fait que les informations circulaient principalement de bouche à oreille dans le cadre d'une culture où l'oralité prédominait. Le rôle que jouait à cette époque la communauté dans la détermination de ce qui était honorable ou honteux explique que la rumeur ait influencé, en bonne ou mauvaise part, la renommée de Jésus. Les rumeurs à propos de Jésus faisaient écho à des préoccupations politiques et religieuses dont il est possible d'établir l'existence pour le Ier s. de notre ère. Si bien que ce qui se disait sur Jésus pouvait tout autant susciter l'espérance de ceux qui attendaient la délivrance eschatologique d'Israël que représenter une menace contre l'ordre établi que s'efforçaient de garantir les autorités judéennes.

An analysis of the Gospel texts that mention rumors shows it to have been a well-established feature in the traditional material concerning Jesus. That Jesus was an object of rumor makes sense given that information was mainly shared by word of mouth within a predominantly oral culture. The role of the community of that time in defining what should be thought of as honorable or shameful explains how rumor, construed either positively or negatively, had an influence on Jesus'renown. Rumors about Jesus echoed political and religious concerns that can be shown to have existed during the 1st century CE, so that what was said about Jesus could inspire hope in those awaiting the eschatological deliverance of Israel or, equally, pose a threat to the established order that the Judean authorities sought to maintain.

The authors describe a dolphin countermark on a coin of Herod, an LF(?) countermark on a 67/8 CE prutah of the first Jewish revolt and a III countermark on a 69/70 CE ‘eighth’ denomination of the first revolt that have recently come to light. The date, place and purpose of the applications of the countermarks are discussed.

In excavations conducted between 1997 and
1999 south of the Temple Mount, remains
dating from the Iron Age IIC until the destruction
of the Second Temple were uncovered. The
excavations were carried out in two areas: one
adjacent to the Triple Gate (sometimes called
the eastern Hulda Gate); the other next to the
southeastern corner of the Temple Mount.1*

Almost throughout its development and duration, the Jewish revolt was approached by the Roman administration with an attitude completely opposed to that generally witnessed in the subjugation of other provincial revolts. Various aspects of this different Roman treatment of the Jews – whether in Judea and Galilee or in Diaspora communities – have been noticed and analyzed by scholars. But there is a twofold risk in over-emphasizing only the differences; if we neglect to notice that the case of the Jews did not exist in complete isolation in the Roman world, we are liable to come to extreme conclusions regarding Jewish uniqueness on the one hand, and Roman innovation on the other. In fact, the relevant Roman actions can hardly be considered as unprecedented, if we only shift our perspective – as the Roman government must have done – to regard the rebelling Jews as foreign enemies of the Roman empire. Cestius Gallus, Syria’s governor, came to Jerusalem in 66 to subjugate the revolt in its early stages, and was humiliatingly defeated by the rebels. After this event, the long and generally friendly relationship of Rome with the Jews was put on a hold, as were all prospects for a prompt renewal of mutual trust in the region. Instead, the next campaign was prepared, executed, and later commemorated in the same manner as, for example, the invasion of Britain in 43. Most measures turned against the rebelling population stemmed naturally from Rome’s habitual policy in the case of foreign wars, and not from invention in the face of some perceived exceptionality in Judaism or the Jews.