Five Aramaic and Greek Inscriptions from the South Western Jewish Cemetery (original) (raw)
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Journal of Ancient Judaism, 2019
In a special thematic issue of Journal of Ancient Judaism edited by Jonathan Kaplan and Kelley Coblentz Bautch. Modern commentators on the Vitae Prophetarum have tended to assume that every prophet’s burial in this text was considered monumental in scale. A close examination of the language used to describe each burial yields a different picture. The monumentality of tombs is scarcely emphasized. Instead, the prophets are buried in one of three ways: in a more-or-less monumental rock-cut tomb just outside Jerusalem, in a rock-cut tomb on the prophet’s own property, or in an indistinct field grave. This typology agrees with the emerging archaeological record of socioeconomic distinctions in burial practices. Whereas Jewish elites were buried in rock-cut tombs around Jerusalem or, more modestly, on their own estates, non-elites were interred in simple trench graves. This study demonstrates that the Vitae Prophetarum corroborates this relationship between burial types and socioeconomic distinctions, placing priestly elites and landowners in rock-cut tombs but the humbler prophets in trench graves.
New Testament Studies The Cultural Milieu of Ancient Sepphoris
Recent New Testament scholarship has rightly emphasized the significance of urban features at Sepphoris for gospels and Historical Jesus research. However, some of these studies have greatly exaggerated the quantity of evidence for Greco-Roman influence in the first-century city. Most of the architectural features associated with the Greco-Roman city are missing, evidence for use of Greek is minimal, and signs of pagans are rare. In light of this, questions about the influence of Galilee's Hellenistic milieu on the Historical Jesus must be reconsidered.
Weiss and Miller, Sepphoris 3: The Temple and the Eastern Church in the Lower City, QR 15
Sepphoris 3: The Temple and the Eastern Church in the Lower City, 2024
The city of Sepphoris is situated in the heart of the Galilee region of ancient Palestine. Among the extensive remains of public and private architecture, the Hebrew University of Jerusalem’s excavations at the site have uncovered significant cultic buildings, including a temple, a synagogue, and two churches. These buildings, constructed and used by the pagan, Jewish, and Christian communities of the city, illustrate its religious diversities and evolutions. The focus of this volume is the result of the excavations in the insula southeast of the intersection of the city’s two colonnaded streets, where six construction phases were revealed, dating from the first through the early eighth centuries CE. Key findings include a Roman temple, a large church, a residential quarter, and shops. The studies of the architectural phases, decorative elements, and material culture presented in this volume provide significant insights into the city’s socio-cultural and economic characteristics. The findings underscore Sepphoris’s role as a significant urban center, reflecting its historical transformations and the complex interplay of religious and cultural identities. Beyond Sepphoris, the results of this study bear implications for broader understandings of changing religious landscapes, offering new perspectives on the nature and processes through which religious architecture and social structures are transformed.