Corpus Inscriptionum Iudaeae/Palaestinae , vol. 4: Iudaea/Idumaea
2019; Eisenbrauns; Volume: 29; Issue: 1 Linguagem: Inglês
10.5325/bullbiblrese.29.1.0130
ISSN2576-0998
Autores ResumoWalter Ameling, Hannah Cotton, Werner Eck, and their collaborators, from several universities in Germany and Israel, have published the fourth volume in their Corpus Inscriptionum Iudaeae/Palaestinae (CIIP; for a review of the first three volumes, see BBR 24.3), dedicated to inscriptions from Judea (without Jerusalem, for which, see CIIP 1) and Idumea. The main funding for the project has been provided by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, with additional support from the Hebrew University and the Israel Antiquities Authority.As in the previous volumes, the inscription(s) for each site are introduced with a review of the history of the town from earliest attestation to the Byzantine period (e.g., pp. 77–88 on Lydda, pp. 245–52 on Jericho, pp. 441–49 on Emmaus, pp. 635–39 on Bethlehem, and pp. 1305–11 on Hebron, all by B. Isaac), followed by the CIIP number of the inscription and a descriptive title; a description of the inscription, including measurements and findspot or present location, diplomatic transcription and photograph or drawing of the inscription; text of the inscription; transliteration in the case of Semitic language inscriptions; English translation; commentary; and extensive bibliographical references, followed by the initials of the editor(s) of the inscription. Many of the inscriptions have not been previously published.The largest number of inscriptions come from Gezer (nos. 2761–96, with a long discussion of the suggested interpretations of the Pampras inscription, here, no. 2763), Jericho (nos. 2807–2845), Choziba (nos. 2849–3074), Emmaus (nos. 3077–3115), Deir el-Mukalik (nos. 3153–81), Bethlehem (nos. 3217–77), Herodion (nos. 3325–93), Eleutheropolis (nos. 3467–3501), and Marisa (nos. 3502–3742; introduction by Ian Stern).Some inscriptions confirm information from literary sources, for example, Josephus mentions that, during the siege of Jerusalem, Titus sent high priests and the sons of high priests to Gophna for their security and comfort (B.J. 6.113–620): the ossuary of Yoʿezer the scribe, son of Yehoḥanan, found in Gophna (mod. Jifna), dates to the 1st/2nd century AD (no. 2682). The ossuary of Mariam, daughter of Yeshu‘a son of Qayafa, discovered in the Elah Valley (no. 3295, pp. 717–18, Price; editio princepsIEJ 61 [2011] 74–95), is most plausibly associated with the first-century tomb outside Jerusalem with two ossuaries bearing the name Qy/wpʿ (CIIP 1 461, 463), identified with Josephus Caiaphas known from Josephus, the NT, and rabbinic literature; this ossuary answers the objection that the Qypʿ of the Jerusalem tomb lacks any indication of priestly background: Qayafa/Caiaphas is identified as “priest of (the course) Maʿaziya from Beit ʿImri” (Maʿaziya is the last of the 24 priestly courses listed in 1 Chr 24:7–18; Beit ʿImri can perhaps be identified with the Arab village Beit ʾUmmar in the northern Hebron hills).A careful reading of CIIP 4 reveals numerous gems of information relevant for a contextual understanding of Second Temple (Hellenistic) Judaism and Early Christianity. Several inscriptions which contain abecedary document school activities (nos. 2788, 2803, 2828, 3329, 3330, 3332, 3400, 3356, 3843). An inscription from Gezer documents an agoranomos with the name Sosipater for 129/8 BC (no. 2784). Funerary inscriptions from Jericho written on ossuaries, dating to the first century AD, document the name “Goliath” (nos. 2816, 282227), a nickname that “probably designated the tall stature of those individuals rather than a family name” (p. 266, N. Kaye). A stone weight from ʿEin Feshkha records the date “Year 5 of the king,” most likely to be identified with year 5 (= 40/1 AD) of Agrippa I (no. 3279, Weiß; cf. CIIP 1 684). The mosaics of the synagogue at Naʾaran, which include Aramaic texts, date to the 5th/6th century (nos. 2730–36)—a period “when construction of new Jewish synagogues was forbidden, although existing ones were allowed to be maintained ‘in their present state’ (in sua forma permaneant, Codex Theodosianus 16,8,25 from the year 423 CE” (Yardeni/Price, pp. 134–35). The long community dedication belonging to the mosaic of the synagogue in Jericho/Tell es-Sultan (no. 2807) dates between the 6th and 8th century; God is described with the circumlocutions “king of the world” and “he who knows their names,” the latter being a unique description so far (p. 255). The infant whose bones were buried in the ossuary documented in no. 2827 had the nickname “the cinnamon.” Salona Maraiame had the nickname “the small” (no. 2847). A capital in Ionic style with the Greek inscription Εἷς Θεός (“One God,” or “God is One”) on one side and a Samaritan (paleo-Hebrew) inscription (“May his name be blessed forever”) on the other side, belonged to a Samaritan synagogue in Emmaus dating to the 1st or 2nd century (no. 3079). A Samaritan inscription from Kh. ʿAsafira dated to the 6th/7th century cites an abbreviated version of the decalogue, introduced with the first three words of Genesis (no. 2742). Mason’s marks on column drums found at Tell el-Judeiyida trigger an informative discussion of the practices of stone masons (pp. 827–29; D. Koßmann; see also no. 3906–3971, J. J. Price: 66 column drums with mason’s marks found at Masada). An inscription aiming to protect an aqueduct (“nobody is permitted to sow or plant inside the inner space within 15 feet from each side of the aqueduct”; no. 3431) is a Judean example of similar texts found elsewhere. The Greek graffiti in the burial cave at Kh. Zaʿaquqa document three generations of persons (presumably) belonging to the same family living in the late 4th and early 3rd century BC writing Greek and using Greek names. In the 2nd/3rd century BC, a certain Philinus owned a bakery with several employees in Beit Guvrin (no. 3498). The boundary stone found near Lachish, which provides centuriated land extending perhaps almost 19 km to the right of the decumanus maximus (no. 3766) illustrates, in all likelihood, the effects of the Bar Kochba revolt: the death, or flight, of the Jewish population allowed the Roman provincial administration to assign the land to veterans (W. Eck, pp. 1243–44).The inscriptions from Marisa (Maresha) in the Judean Shephelah document Idumean, Nabatean, Phoenician, Egyptian, Greek koine, and Judean influence, indicative of “a multiethnic society that was already involved in a syncretism of various local and Hellenistic culture” (Stern, p. 945). Altars with Greek inscriptions are dedicated to Demeter and Isis (nos. 3502, 3503). The long text of the Maresha stele that records the ordinance of Seleucus IV Philopator concerning Olympiodorus, the Seleucid high priest in the satrapy of Koilê Syria and Phoinikê dated 178 BC (no. 3511), gave the latter the authority to intervene in the affairs of the temple, thus encouraging the members of the Jerusalem priesthood “to compete for the favors of the Seleucid high priest” (p. 966, Dov Gera). Honorary statues had been set up for Arsinoe III (217–204 BC), sister and wife of Ptolemaeus IV Philopator (no. 3513) and for the latter (no. 3514), both being honored as Theoi Philopatores. No. 3515 documents two agoranomoi who had the authority to verify and sanction standards of measure and of weight (see also nos. 3671–83). The 145 funerary inscriptions document the fact that lovers used cemeteries and tombs as rendezvous places. The significance of an animal frieze is discussed in some detail; Greek captions above depictions of animals refer to a horse, leopardess, panther, bull, griffin, oryx, rhinoceros, elephant (no. 3552; the caption Αἰθιοπία above the man standing in front of the elephant [no. 3554] depicts the man as representing the country Ethiopia), crocodile, ibis, hippopotamus, wild ass, porcupine, lynx, and human faced lion. The graffito “Be miserable about this (dying) as well” (no. 3539) expresses someone’s view of human destiny. Astragali inscribed for Greek deities were used to predict the future (nos. 3661–70). A prisoner addresses a long petition (prayer) to a magistrate (or a deity) hoping that “today is the fitting time for salvation to come through you” (no. 3689 lines 15–16); other tablets originally analyzed by R. Wünsch are indeed Greek curse tablets (nos. 3690, 3692); one inscription exhibits Greek letters of a calendar of auspicious and inauspicious days (no. 3724, perhaps 2nd century BC).The military diploma found in or near Hebron, dated to 24/27 November 146 AD (no. 3827, W. Eck) is only the second diploma (cf. CIL 16, 87) found in the province Iudaea/Syria Palaestina. Of interest is the Hebrew and Aramaic mosaic inscription in the synagogue of ʿEin Gedi (no. 3853; 5th/6th century AD) that lists the 13 biblical ancestors of humankind (unique in synagogue inscriptions), the signs of the zodiac, the names of the months, the three patriarchs, Daniel’s three companions, the three benefactors of the synagogue, and a solemn decision taken by the community, including an invocation of divine punishment over “whoever reveals the secret of the village to the Gentiles”; the nature of the secret continues to elude scholars. The fact that neither the synagogue of Susiya (nos. 3870–87, 4th to 8th century) nor the Jewish community it served is mentioned in contemporary literary sources highlights the importance of epigraphy for historical research and serves as a warning of exclusive reliance on literary sources that plagues not a few NT scholars.NT scholars and church historians should note that, since CIIP publishes inscriptions from the time of Alexander the Great (4th century BC) to the end of Roman rule on account of the Islamic conquest of Palestine (7th century AD), it includes documentary texts on the history of the church in Judea in the Byzantine period. There are several building inscriptions (e.g., nos. 2669, 2694, 2752, 2809, 2814, 3080, 3084, 3140). Priests and bishops are described as “most God-loving” (θεοϕιλέστατος, e.g., nos. 2669, 2676, 3083, 3862), “Christ-loving” (ϕιλόχριστος, nos. 2746, 2870, 3197, 3896), “servant(s)” (δουλός/δούλοι, e.g., nos. 2672, 2705, 2748, 3325, 3758), “pious, devout” (ὅσιος, e.g., nos. 3140, 3141, 3153), “most holy and pious” (ἁγιότατος καὶ ὁσιώτατος, e.g., nos. 2674, 2675, 3862), “most pious” (θεοσεβέστατος, nos. 2814, 3195, 3313, 3895; εὐλαβέστατος, no. 3216), “worshipful” (σεμνοποίμενος, no. 2695), “blessed” (μακάριος, e.g., nos. 2810, 2865, 2868), “most blessed” (μακαριώτατος, nos. 2833, 3862), and “blameless” (ἀμύμων, no. 3469). Terms unattested in LSJ, Lampe, Sophocles, and TLG: χριστολαμπρός (“illuminated by Christ”), and σεμνοποίμην (“worshipful”); see no. 2695. The term ἔργον is used to refer to the pavement with mosaics in no. 2671.Of interest is the discussion of the tomb of Stephen (Stephanus), with Greek inscriptions (no. 3190), said to have been discovered in AD 415 (pp. 583–87; Ameling). The inscriptions of the monastic complex of Bir el-Qutt in the vicinity of Bethlehem, near Shepherds Field, dating to the 6th century, are among the earliest examples of Georgian writing (nos. 3201–04). The poems written by Jerome inscribed in Bethlehem, after the death of St. Paula, a member of an aristocratic Roman family born in AD 347, who founded three monasteries for women and one for men in Bethlehem, are discussed in no. 3263 (Eck). For the bracelet with medallion and quotation from Ps 90:1–3 LXX, with the invocation of the blood of Jesus Christ for protection, found near Bethlehem, see no. 3272 (Ameling). The bronze stamp with the inscription θεοῦǀ οἶνος, “God’s wine” (no. 3274) was perhaps used “to mark amphoras which contained wine for liturgical purposes” (Eck). Mosaics adorned some churches “for the salvation of the benefactors” (nos. 2674, 3328). The reference to a “curator of the orphans” is taken by Ameling to identify the inscription no. 2696 as Christian rather than a Jewish or Samaritan text (p. 92). A rich woman “gave (her) wealth and live [sic], and in exchange built a house for Christ” (no. 2728), that is, she seems to have taken up life in a monastery (Ameling; p. 130). A brick with a molding form for lamps, with a palm leaf between the holes, has the inscription, “May the light of Jesus shine for all” (no. 2745); the molding form is not dated.The chapel of the monastery of St. Georgius at Choziba in the Wadi el-Kelt, built by St. John, who arrived in the second half of the 5th century, displays in the north wall a painting of the crucifixion (no. 2851): Jesus, dressed in a sleeveless chiton and represented with two wings combined with a depiction of the son and the moon, hangs on a tau-shaped cross; two Roman soldiers, identified as Longinus and Lamachus, carrying a lance and a hyssop, respectively, stand to his right and left; further to the right and left are depictions of the two additional men handing on crosses, identified as “Dysmas the robber” and Gestas; further out are depictions of John and the Virgin, also identified by an inscription. The faces of the figures were deliberately destroyed (description, p. 320, Ameling). An undated Greek staurogram has two loops at the upper end of an engraved cross, “possibly intended to represent the figure of a man or the Christian symbol XP” (no. 3427, W. Ameling, quoting B. Zissu). The large Greek inscription in a cistern used as a hermitage with the exclamation “Jesus is here!” (Ἰεσοῦς ὁδε; no. 3753) documents a fundamental conviction of the hermits’ spirituality. Several inscriptions mention “holy Salome” (nos. 3792, 3794, 3796, 3797, 3798), probably a reference to the Salome who was one of the women present at Jesus’s tomb (Mark 15:40; 16:1; W. Ameling, p. 1268). The Christian amulet incised in Palestinian Aramaic on a thin sheet of copper dates from the 5th to the 7th century (no. 3834). The imperial rescript, found at Yarma, dated to the 6th century in favor of a church, or churches, in Palestine (no. 3972, Denis Feissel) puts refugees under the protection of the boundaries of asylia.The second volume of CIIP 4 ends with an index of personal names (pp. 1511–71) that contains all the names appearing in CCIP 1–4, beginning with Roman emperors and kings; the beginning of the list of general names (top of p. 1513) is not marked by a heading. Inscription no. 3193, part of the geometric mosaic carpet found in Beit Jimal (Beit Gamal), is an apt invitation for readers of CIIP 4: εἴσιθι ǀ χαίρων, “Go in with joy!”
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