historia

ATKINSON, K. A History of the Hasmonean State: Josephus and Beyond. London: Bloomsbury T&T Clark, 2016, 208 p. – ISBN 9780567669032.

Kenneth Atkinson tells the exciting story of the nine decades of the Hasmonean rule of Judea (152 – 63 BCE) by going beyond the accounts of the Hasmoneans in Josephus in order to bring together new evidence to reconstruct how the Hasmonean family transformed their kingdom into a state that lasted until the arrival of the Romans.

Atkinson reconstructs the relationships between the Hasmonean state and the rulers of the Seleucid and the Ptolemaic Empires, the Itureans, the Nabateans, the Parthians, the Armenians, the Cappadocians, and the Roman Republic. He draws on a variety of previously unused sources, including papyrological documentation, inscriptions, archaeological evidence, numismatics, Dead Sea Scrolls, pseudepigrapha, and textual sources from the Hellenistic to the Byzantine periods.

Atkinson also explores how Josephus’s political and social situation in Flavian Rome affected his accounts of the Hasmoneans and why any study of the Hasmonean state must go beyond Josephus to gain a full appreciation of this unique historical period that shaped Second Temple Judaism, and created the conditions for the rise of the Herodian dynasty and the emergence of Christianity.

Kenneth Atkinson is Professor of History at the University of Northern Iowa, Cedar Falls, IA, USA.

Table of contents

Preface
Acknowledgements
Abbreviations
1. Introduction
2. The Foundation of the Hasmonean Dynasty
3. John Hyrcanus: His Role During Simon’s Reign and his Consolidation of Political and Secular Powers
4. Judah Aristobulus: The Creation of the Hasmonean Monarchy
5. Alexander Jannaeus: A Period of Conquest and Expansion
6. Shelamzion Alexandra: A Hasmonean Golden Age
7. Pompey and the Hasmoneans: Hyrcanus II, Aristobulus II, and the End of the Hasmonean Monarchy
8. After the Roman Conquest
9. Conclusion: Josephus, Rome, and Hasmonean History
Bibliography: Primary Sources
Bibliography: Secondary Sources
Indexes

Leia um capítulo do livro na revista online The Bible and Interpretation – October 2016

A History of the Hasmonean State: Josephus and Beyond – By Kenneth Atkinson

Josephus cautiously avoided messianism in his history of the Hasmonean period. He appears to have been reluctant to document any Hasmonean history that involved the violent messianism of the type that had contributed to the outbreak of the First Jewish War. Instead, he stresses that the Hasmonean family’s rule had gone well until they had established a monarchy and allowed sectarian factions to influence politics. Josephus wrote his books partly to support the aristocracy, namely the rule of the Pharisees and their leaders. For Josephus, these groups represented caution and Roman aristocratic values. They were opposed to the religious zeal of the Zealots and related Jewish groups that had caused the rebellion against Rome. For Josephus, the priests and the aristocrats were the only legitimate Jewish leaders.

STOL, M. Women in the Ancient Near East. Berlin: Walter de Gruyter, 2016, X + 696 p. – ISBN 9781614512639.

Livro publicado em agosto de 2016 e disponível para download gratuito em formato epub e pdf.

Mulheres no Antigo Oriente Médio oferece uma narrativa lúcida da vida diária de mulheres na Mesopotâmia a partir do terceiro milênio a.C. até o início do período helenístico. O livro de Marten Stol é a primeira abordagem em grande escala da história das mulheres no Antigo Oriente Médio.

Women in the Ancient Near East offers a lucid account of the daily life of women in Mesopotamia from the third millennium BCE until the beginning of the Hellenistic period. The book systematically presents the lives of women emerging from the available cuneiform material and discusses modern scholarly opinion. Stol’s book is the first full-scale treatment of the history of women in the Ancient Near East.

Marten Stol, Free University, Amsterdam, Netherlands.

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Publicações Open Access na Walter de Gruyter

CHAPMAN, H. H. ; RODGERS, Z. (eds.) A Companion to Josephus. Chichester, West Sussex, UK: Wiley Blackwell, 2016, XVI + 466 p. – ISBN 9781444335330

 A Companion to Josephus presents a collection of readings from international scholars that explore the works of the first century Jewish historian Flavius Josephus.

• Represents the first single-volume collection of readings to focus on Josephus
• Covers a wide range of disciplinary approaches to the subject, including reception history
• Features contributions from 29 eminent scholars in the field from four continents
• Reveals important insights into the Jewish and Roman worlds at the moment when Christianity was gaining ground as a movement

Contracapa

Considered the most important historian of Jewish antiquity, the works of Flavius Josephus offer unparalleled insights into the world of Late Second Temple Judaism, the dawn of Christianity, and the early years of the Roman Empire. “A Companion to Josephus” presents a collection of readings that probe deeply into aspects relating to the four extant works of the first century Jewish historian Flavius Josephus. Featuring contributions from more than two dozen renowned international scholars specializing in Josephus and related studies, readings introduce the writings of Josephus, put them into historical contexts, explore their transmission and reception, and highlight contemporary scholarly approaches to two millennia of Josephan studies. Following an examination of the four individual texts and their manuscript tradition and situating the writings of Josephus among contemporaneous Greek, Roman, Jewish, and Christian works, a wide variety of themes are explored–the archaeology of Galilee, military history, the Jerusalem Temple, women, Jewish rulers, and more. Further readings follow the transmission and reception of the Josephan corpus along its remarkable journey from Late Antiquity through to the Medieval, early Modern, and Modern periods. In the first single-volume scholarly guide to Josephus, “A Companion to Josephus” sheds important new light into the writings of an eyewitness to a pivotal point in world history.

Blackwell Companions to the Ancient World

This series provides sophisticated and authoritative overviews of periods of ancient history, genres of classical literature, and the most important themes in ancient culture. Each volume comprises approximately twenty‐five and forty concise essays written by individual scholars within their area of specialization. The essays are written in a clear, provocative, and lively manner, designed for an international audience of scholars, students, and general readers.

As organizadoras

Honora Howell Chapman is Professor of Classics and Humanities at California State University, Fresno. She is a former co-chair of the Josephus Seminar/Group of the Society of Biblical Literature and has published articles and book chapters on literary aspects of Josephus’s writings.

Zuleika Rodgers is Lecturer in Jewish Studies and Director of the Herzog Centre at Trinity College, University of Dublin. She was President of the British Association for Jewish Studies (2013–2014).

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Flávio Josefo, homem singular em uma sociedade plural

King David and the Illusory Judah

By Mahri Leonard-Fleckman – Assistant Professor of Theology – University of Scranton, PA, USA

Publicado em The Bible and Interpretation – Maio de 2016

Judá aparece notavelmente poucas vezes como elemento central em 1–2 Samuel. Se o material de Judá fosse realmente fundamental para a história de Davi, a história entraria em colapso devido à falta de tradição autônoma e independente. Em contraste, a maior parte da história de Davi como rei concentra-se apenas no governo de Davi em Israel. A evidência bíblica nos convida a reconsiderar a paisagem política e social da monarquia primitiva, definida não pela chamada “monarquia unida”, nem por Judá apenas, mas por uma entidade importante nestes séculos: Israel.

Judah appears remarkably few times as central player in 1–2 Samuel. If the Judah material were indeed primary to the David story, the story would collapse from lack of self-standing, independent lore. In contrast, the majority of the story of David as king is focused on David’s rule of Israel alone. The biblical evidence invites us to reconsider the political and social landscape of the early monarchy, defined not by the so-called “united monarchy,” nor by Judah alone, by the one important entity in these centuries: Israel.

Recomendo uma visita ao Portal de Anais da Faculdades EST. E lá, à página dos Anais do Congresso Internacional da Faculdades EST, onde há muitos textos interessantes em pdf para download.

E, na minha área, o texto de Josué Berlesi: O Israel Antigo nos currículos acadêmicos de História: considerações preliminares.

Se a Bíblia não é história, o que é então?

Este volume analisa as consequências desta pergunta…

HJELM, I. ; THOMPSON, T. L. (eds.) Biblical Interpretation Beyond Historicity: Changing Perspectives 7. Abingdon: Routledge, 2016, 208 p. – ISBN 9781138889521.

Biblical Interpretation beyond Historicity evaluates the new perspectives that have emerged since the crisis over historicity in the 1970s and 80s in the field of biblical scholarship. Several new studies in the field, as well as the ‘deconstructive’ side of literary criticism that emerged from writers such as Derrida and Wittgenstein, among others, lead biblical scholars today to view the texts of the Bible more as literary narratives than as sources for a history of Israel. Increased interest in archaeological and anthropological studies in writing the history of Palestine and the ancient Near East leads to the need for an evidence-based history of Palestine.

This volume analyses the consequences of the question: “If the Bible is not history, what is it then?” The editors, Hjelm and Thompson are members of the Copenhagen School, which was formed in the light of this question and the commitment to a new approach to both the history of Palestine and the Bible’s place in ancient history. This volume features essays from a range of highly regarded scholars, and is divided into three sections: “Beyond Historicity”, which explores alternative historical roles for the Bible, “Greek Connections”, which discusses the Bible’s context in the Hellenistic world and “Reception”, which explores extra-biblical functions of biblical studies.

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Copenhagen International Seminar

Ou seja: por volta de 1550-1150 a.C.

Este estudo é baseado na tese de doutorado de Emanuel Pfoh, defendida em 2011 na Universidade de Buenos Aires.

PFOH, E. Syria-Palestine in The Late Bronze Age: An Anthropology of Politics and Power. Abingdon: Routledge, 2016, 246 p. – ISBN 9781844657841.

Syria-Palestine in the Late Bronze Age presents an explicitly anthropological perspective on politics and social relationships. An anthropological reading of the textual and epigraphic remains of the time allows us to see how power was constructed and political subordination was practised and expressed. Syria-Palestine in the Late Bronze Age identifies a particular political ontology, native to ancient Syro-Palestinian societies, which informs and constitutes their social worlds. This political ontology, based on patronage relationships, provides a way of understanding the political culture and the social dynamics of ancient Levantine peoples. It also illuminates the historical processes taking place in the region, processes based on patrimonial social structures and articulated through patron-client bonds.

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Copenhagen International Seminar

Este livro foi publicado em 2009 em capa dura. Agora retorna em paperback.

PFOH, E. The Emergence of Israel in Ancient Palestine: Historical and Anthropological Perspectives. Abingdon: Routledge, 2009, 236 p. – ISBN 9781845535292.

PFOH, E. The Emergence of Israel in Ancient Palestine: Historical and Anthropological Perspectives. Abingdon: Routledge, 2016, 192 p. – ISBN 9781138661134.

Taking advantage of critical methodology for history-writing and the use of anthropological insights and ethnographic data from the modern Middle East, this study aims at providing new understandings on the emergence of Israel in ancient Palestine and the socio-political dynamics at work in the Levant during antiquity. The book begins with a discussion of matters of historiography and history-writing, both in ancient and modern times, and an evaluation on the incidence of the modern theological discourse in relation to history and history-writing. Chapter 2 evaluates the methodology used by biblical scholars for gaining knowledge on ancient Israelite society. Pfoh argues that such attempts often apply socio-scientific models on biblical narratives without external evidence of the reconstructed past, producing a virtual past reality which cannot be confirmed concretely. Chapter 3 deals with the archaeological remains usually held as clear evidence of Israelite statehood in the tenth century BCE. The main criticism is directed towards archaeological interpretations of the data which are led by the biblical narratives of the books of Judges and Samuel, resulting in a harmonic blend of ancient literature and modern anthropological models on state-formation. Chapter 4 continues with the discussion on how anthropological models should be employed for history-writing. Socio-political concepts, such as chiefdom society or state formation should not be imposed on the contents of ancient literary sources (i.e., the Bible) but used instead to analyse our primary sources (the archaeological and epigraphic records), in order to create a socio-historical account. The final chapter attempts to provide an historical explanation regarding the emergence of Israel in ancient Palestine without relying on the Bible but only on archaeology, epigraphy and anthropological insights. This Israel is not the biblical one. This is the Israel from history, the one that the modern historian aims at recovering from the study of ancient epigraphic and archaeological remains. The arguments presented challenge the idea that the biblical writers were recording historical events as we understand this practice nowadays and that we can use the biblical records for creating critical histories of Israel in ancient Palestine. It also questions the existence of undisputable traces of statehood in the archaeological record from the Iron Age, as the biblical images about a United Monarchy might lead us to believe. Thus, drawing on ethnographic insights, we may gain a better knowledge on how ancient Levantine societies functioned, providing us with a context for understanding the emergence of historical Israel as a major highland patronate, with a socio-political life of almost two centuries. It is during the later periods of ancient Palestines history, the Persian and the Graeco-Roman, that we find the proper context into which biblical Israel is created, beginning a literary life of more than two millennia.

Como era a apocalíptica na época dos Macabeus? Os Macabeus tinham uma visão apocalíptica de mundo? Quais grupos desta época tinham uma visão apocalíptica?

Isto é o que procura responder este livro que será lançado no final de fevereiro de 2016, resultado de um seminário realizado por um grupo de estudiosos da área, como Lester L. Grabbe (Reino Unido), Gabriele Boccaccini (USA), Kenneth Atkinson (USA), Albert I. Baumgarten (Israel), Sandra Gambetti (USA), Gerbern S. Oegema (Canadá), Lorenzo DiTommaso (Canadá), John Kampen (USA), Anathea E. Portier-Young (USA), Edward Dabrowa (Polônia), Torleif Elgvin (Noruega) e Erich Gruen (USA).

GRABBE, L. L. ; BOCCACCINI, G. ; ZURAWSKI, J. M. (eds.)  The Seleucid and Hasmonean Periods and the Apocalyptic Worldview. London: Bloomsbury T & T Clark, 2016, 272 p. – ISBN 9780567666147.

Diz a editora:

This tightly focused collection of essays, from an invited seminar of international specialists, centres on the question of the apocalyptic worldview around the time of the Maccabean revolt. What was the nature of apocalyptic at this time? Did the Maccabees themselves have a distinct apocalyptic worldview? These questions lead to other, more specific queries: who of the various groups held such a view? Certain of the essays analyse the characteristics of the apocalypses and related literature in this period, and whether the apocalyptic worldview itself gave rise to historical events or, at least, influenced them.The collection begins with two introductory essays. Both the main and short papers have individual responses, and two considered responses by well-known experts address the entire collection. The volume finishes with a concluding chapter by the lead editor that gives a perspective on the main themes and conclusions arising from the papers and discussion.

Sobre os editores:

Lester L. Grabbe is Professor Emeritus of Hebrew Bible and Early Judaism at the University of Hull, UK. He is founder and convenor of the European Seminar in Historical Methodology.

Gabriele Boccaccini is Professor of Second Temple Judaism and Early Rabbinic Literature at the University of Michigan, USA. He is the Founding Director of the Enoch Seminar.

Jason M. Zurawski is a Ph.D. candidate in Second Temple Judaism at the University of Michigan, USA. His research focuses on Jewish Hellenistic literature and Jewish paideia during the Second Temple period. He is also the Secretary of the Enoch Seminar.

Um artigo que pode interessar foi publicado em dezembro por The Bible and Interpretation:

The Samaritans in Recent Research

By Reinhard Pummer – Department of Classics and Religious Studies, University of Ottawa – December 2015

We now know from the Dead Sea discoveries that texts similar to the Samaritan Pentateuch were circulating together with texts that foreshadow the Masoretic text and the Septuagint. No “sectarian” differences are present in these manuscripts, which means that the so-called pre-Samaritan texts were used side by side with the other versions. Thus, in its substance, the Pentateuch was common to Yahwistic Samarians and and Yahwistic Judeans long before the Samarian Yhwh worshipers parted company with the latter.

E um livro:

PUMMER, R. The Samaritans: A Profile. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 2016, 376 p. – ISBN 9780802867681.

Publicação prevista para 18.02.2016.

Most people associate the term “Samaritan” exclusively with the New Testament stories about the Good Samaritan and the Samaritan woman at Jacob’s well. Very few are aware that a small community of about 750 Samaritans still lives today in Palestine and Israel; they view themselves as the true Israelites, having resided in their birthplace for thousands of years and preserving unchanged the revelation given to Moses in the Torah.

Reinhard Pummer, one of the world’s foremost experts on Samaritanism, offers in this book a comprehensive introduction to the people identified as Samaritans in both biblical and nonbiblical sources. Besides analyzing the literary, epigraphic, and archaeological sources, he examines the Samaritans’ history, their geographical distribution, their version of the Pentateuch, their rituals and customs, and their situation today. There is no better book available on the subject.