The Damascus Psalm Fragment: Middle Arabic and the Legacy of Old Ḥigāzī

Ahmad Al-Jallad (with a contribution by Ronny Vollandt) has published an open access volume on a fascinating Arabic psalter written in Greek script: The Damascus Psalm Fragment: Middle Arabic and the Legacy of Old Ḥigāzī.

Abbreviations is Psalm Manuscripts

In this month's Genizah Fragment of the Month, Kim Phillips describes A Shorthand Psalter: T-S A43.8. Looking at this personal production—as well as the note sheet T-S A40.34—Kim shows how writers could abbreviate well-known psalms as reference guides for recitation.

Kaifeng Torah Scroll

Ilana Tahan posts an interesting discussion on a Torah scroll from Kaifeng, China, with background on the history of Jews in China.

Ariel Sabar on Dirk Obbink

Ariel Sabar has done another great exposé on the current controversies involving stolen papyri, Dirk Obbink, Scott Carroll, the Green and Stimer collections, and the Egypt Exploration Fund. It is a fascinating and revealing read in an ongoing saga.

HT ETC

Jodi Magness Tour of Qumran

I recently came across a series of YouTube videos of Jodi Magness giving a tour of Qumran, for those who are interested.

Virtually Unrolling New Dead Sea Scrolls

Ariel David gives a survey of ongoing work by Brent Seales and the IAA to virtually unroll additional Dead Sea Scrolls, beyond EGLev. These include a Herculaneum papyrus (which Seales is confident they will be able to read) and two more DSS: 4Q82 (4QXII^g) and 11Q4 (11QEzekiel).

Corpus Papyrorum Judaicarum, Volume 4

De Gruyter announces the publication of Corpus Papyrorum Judaicarum, Volume 4, a very helpful resource.

AUTHOR INFORMATION

Noah Hacham, Hebrew University, Jerusalem
Tal Ilan, Free University of Berlin.

OVERVIEW

The edition collects and presents all papyri and ostraca from the Ptolemaic period, connected to Jews and Judaism, published since 1957. It is a follow-up to the Corpus Papyrorum Judaicarum (= CPJ) of the 1950s and 60s, edited by Victor Tcherikover, which had consisted of three volumes – I devoted to the Ptolemaic period; II to the Early Roman period (until 117 CE); and III to the Late Roman and Byzantine periods. The present book, CPJ vol. IV, is the first in a new trilogy, and is devoted to the Ptolemaic period.
The present and upcoming volumes supplement the original CPJ. They present over 300 papyri that have been published since 1957. They also include papyri in languages other than Greek (Hebrew, Aramaic, Demotic), and literary papyri which had not been included in the old CPJ. Aside from quite a number of papyri in these categories, the present volume (of over 100 documents) includes 21 papyri from Herakleopolis in Middle-Egypt that record the existence of a Jewish self-ruling body – the politeuma. These papyri put an end to a long-standing dispute over whether such a Jewish institution had ever existed in Egypt.